On Tuesday, May 1, 1629, the ninth day of the fourth month of the second year of Chongzhen in the Ming Empire.

In the water village of the sea water division on Kinmen Island, a large number of Ming officers and soldiers were going in and out in a chaotic commotion, one after another warships were making preparations before sailing, and several officers and men were showing their worries about the direction of the wind pointed by the big banner on the water village.

For the maritime forces in the age of sail, the biggest operational constraints are the seasonal currents and wind directions, and if you are familiar with this information, you can actually roughly grasp the rules of the opponent's activities. However, the Taiwan Strait is still dominated by southwest winds most of the time, and whether it is Kinmen or Penghu, the warships of the Jinpenghai Waterproof Division cannot immediately respond to the changes in the situation in the southern part of the strait.

"It's all bastard!" In the General's Mansion, Zheng Zhihu looked angry, pointing to an urgent military information letter on the table, and his fingers trembled, "Just watching that gorgeous ship swaggering into Anping Fort?" The army of Penghu is all wine bags and rice bags? Why don't you send troops to stop it?! ”

"My lord, when I found out, it was already sunset, and besides, the speed of the ship on the other side was not comparable to that of our patrol and defense speedboats......" A small military academy knelt in the center of the main hall with a red face, and did not dare to raise his head.

"Big brother, what should we do now?" Zheng Zhihu also knew that there were many inconveniences in this sea matter, so he could only look at Zheng Zhilong who was sitting with his eyes.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong was still looking down at another letter, and did not pay attention to the subordinates who were now in the main hall or angry, or whispering.

The letter was sent along with the military situation, and it was brought by the spies he had planted on Dayuan Island. What makes people a little uncomfortable is that these spies were "sent" back to Penghu by the Yan family, and judging from the feedback, basically all the spies in Anpingbao have been dug up.

The content of the letter is very interesting, it is not written by the Yan family, but a diplomatic official document sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America.

“…… The government does not interfere in the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty. Only the criminal acts of trafficking overseas Chinese and intercepting and killing domestic commodity cargo ships in collusion with European pirates will be combated...... It has been ascertained that Yang Liu, Guo Huaiyi and other pirate groups have been engaged in illegal activities for a long time and have been expelled by the local government of Dayuan Island...... and provide reasonable assistance to the humanitarian crisis on Dayuan Island. ”

Zheng Zhilong read the contents of the letter softly to himself, his voice became louder and louder, and in the end, he was no longer angry but laughed.

"What a Chinese Mr. Yan...... What a good one to work with Daming to arrest the pirates! Zheng Zhilong closed the letter and threw it aside, with a sneer on his face. Anping Fort has more than 20,000 stones of grain and grass, and he is no longer afraid of me and waiting. Yang Mou is like this, and it is magnificent, this country of Fanyi in the West Sea should not be underestimated. ”

"Hmph, they think it's their own bath, but they can come and go as they please?" Zheng Zhihu snorted, grabbed the diplomatic letter, and after reading a few lines, he couldn't wait to tear it apart. "Yuer Xiaobang, privately helping the rebellion in the East China Sea, doesn't you take my Zheng family in your eyes?!"

"But they put Da Ming in their eyes......" Zheng Zhilong closed his eyes slightly, as if continuing to ponder the hints in this letter. The words are 'Da Ming', how can my Zheng family say a word? Perhaps the whistle-blowing letter to the governor has the shadow of Mr. Yan...... If you really deal with them on these 'charges', I'm afraid that it will be in the hands of the Imperial Court and the Governor......"

The Ming Dynasty began with the Wanli Dynasty. There is a glorious tradition of "teaming up with outsiders" to pursue and suppress Southeast Asian pirates, far away is Lin Feng, the first fat pirate of the Ming Dynasty, and Yan Siqi is near. All of them were attacked by the Ming Dynasty and the European colonial powers in Southeast Asia. Although Zheng Zhilong is already an official of the imperial court, how can he not know the fundamental attitude of the Ming court towards Bianhai?

"Big brother, are you ......" When Zheng Zhihu heard this, he hurriedly unfolded the letter and read it from beginning to end, and finally his face changed greatly, "They have secretly had dealings with the imperial court?" ”

"It's hard to say, but I'm afraid that Yang Liu and them have been targeted at this time......" Zheng Zhilong suddenly opened his eyes and looked at his brother's face, "Zheng Cai sent a letter yesterday, Macao and Nanyang have no whereabouts, and the intentions of the Huamei people are clearly revealed, it depends on how we deal with it." ”

"Such provoking people, has the eldest brother endured it all the time?!" Zheng Zhihu was so anxious that he walked back and forth like an ant on a hot pot, and touched the saber on his waist several times, "Yang Liu is not a lamb to be slaughtered, it is better for the Kinmen fleet to go to sea quickly, and it is still too late to rush to Futou Bay!" ”

Zheng Zhihu's attitude aroused the side eyes of a room of confidants and military attachés, and there were several people who responded on the spot. Zheng Zhilong's future placement of Yang Liu and the others was well known to everyone, but they couldn't watch Yang Liu and the others be wiped out by a group of foreign soldiers like this, so that their flanks were directly exposed to the eyes of outsiders.

Zheng Zhilong left the main position and began to walk slowly in front of his subordinates, and several times he couldn't help but want to speak, but there was always a strange feeling in his heart that made him unable to make the decision to send troops.

"Report! Report to the general! Just when the main hall was in a state of indecision, a personal soldier hurriedly came at this time with an urgent military situation, "Inform the general, there is a report in Penghu that the Huamei military ship only stopped at Anping Fort for two days, and a few days ago went out to the sea and westward against the wind, and its whereabouts are unknown. ”

"Thunderbolt is ......" Zheng Zhilong was stunned for a moment, and finally muttered.

In less than ten days, Hua America's fleet has done so many things at such a fast pace, which is simply dazzling, and this efficiency has shocked Zheng Zhilong's subordinates.

"The day of the army is to be discussed, and we will explore it again!" Zheng Zhilong looked around at the people who were in a bit of an uncomfortable atmosphere, and finally made up his mind, no matter how anxious his brother was at this time, he walked directly into the inner hall.

……

The gale from the open sea was already as high as level 7, and it seemed that a storm was coming, and the Huamei expeditionary fleet had to sail into Futou Bay to anchor. The operation of landing on the Caiyu Islands to collect "trophies" continued, and on a small island, a group of officers and soldiers of the Foreign Legion was still driving a number of pirate prisoners of war to carry some sundries, while at the same time, the remnants of the pirates were still being wiped out on several small islands.

A nearby pirate den has been set on fire, the flames snorting in the wind, and several former pirate ships under repair have been destroyed. Dozens of boatsmith households that had been hijacked by Yang Liu and others, as well as hundreds of civilians who had been captured from the inland and taken as slave laborers, were being driven onto ships by the Chinese and US Army. Although they were very grateful to these soldiers who suddenly broke in and saved them, as soon as they heard that they were going to be sent somewhere they didn't know, they wept and kowtowed one by one. It's another confession. Unfortunately, they were faced not only with well-intentioned rice porridge or dry food, but also with shiny bayonets.

"Captain Scott, the 2nd Company has completed the clearing of the western islands and has found a camp with more than 300 civilians, many women and children, supposedly prepared by pirates to be transported to the South Seas." Qiao Yan walked over at this time and reported to his boss who was writing a letter in the simple command tent, "There are many patients among them, I'm afraid we should send a medical team over first." ”

"Gather them all here. I've applied to the admiral, there will be a naval medical team coming. Scott folded the letter paper, carefully packed it into the envelope, and then looked up with a smile, "Lieutenant, I heard that your hometown is nearby?" ”

"Yes...... Qiao was stunned for a moment, couldn't help but glance in the direction of the north, and then puffed up his chest.

"The General Command has received the comments of some Wehrmacht companies, and we will deal with the soldiers' demands in the future. But now, I need you to do your best to complete our mission this time. Scott walked up to Qiao Yan and patted the other party's shoulder, "The hardships of these civilians are beyond my imagination. You and others should play a bigger role. I don't want them to come on board with hatred. ”

"Yes, sir!" Qiao Yan watched his boss go away and understood.

……

It was night, and kerosene-poured bonfires crackled in the camp. The strong wind had deformed many of the tents, and piles of officers and soldiers of the gorgeous Foreign Legion were leaning against the lee, munching on canned food, bacon, or rice porridge. Some of the veterans held hot coffee or mixed with rum from thousands of miles away, and laughed at the few pirate families or women who had been captured by pirates in a nearby prisoner of war camp.

“…… I've already decided to marry that widow when I go back!" ”

Looking sideways at several young women of the Ming Dynasty who were silently cooking rice porridge in the distance, Makarov seemed to be a little drunk, his eyes flashed with a strange light, and he poured another sip of rum, wiped his mouth, and brought out a cluster of wine: "When the time comes, I will buy a manor in West Point and have a bunch of children......"

As soon as the conversation began, the Foreign Legion soldiers sitting around the campfire were all energized, and those who were already married smiled silently like passers-by, and a few young men let out a coaxing shrill laugh.

"Hey, Qiao Yan, when did Martha Monkey get in touch with the widow in West Point?" In another corner, Yu Shan was wiping his rifle and spitting disdainfully at the laughing crowd not far away, while flipping a wild duck pierced on a bayonet on the fire, "I don't know which widow will take a fancy to his big man." ”

After speaking, Yu Shan tore the roasted wild duck back and forth with his fingers alternately, pulled out a duck leg and handed it to his side, but found that the other party didn't seem to pay attention to his side at all.

Qiao Xian...... Are you looking at Lu Ao? ”

Yu Shan slowly lowered his hand and looked in the direction of his companion's gaze. The moon is bright and the stars are scarce, but the direction of the Luao Peninsula in the northeast of the island is dark, and the distance of that homeland seems to have been stretched by something.

"Where is our home, Yu Shan." Qiao Yan did not change the direction of his gaze, and his tone was very calm.

"My mother is in the village, but the third sister is still in West Point Town......" Yu Shan was stunned for a moment, and gradually lowered his head, chewing the duck meat gently, "Qiao Yan...... I don't think my mother has survived all these years, I mean seriously, I'm afraid to go back to Lu Ao, I'm afraid to see ......"

"At least we're alive...... And none of us are Ming people. Qiao Yan turned his head, grabbed the wine bottle beside Yu Shan, poured it hard, and got up and walked away.

"But you're already an official, and I'm still a small soldier." Watching the other party's back disappear into the night, Yu Shan habitually sneered.

Just when Yu Shan was taking a sip of wine and a sip of barbecue, there was a burst of laughter in the camp surrounded by the families of Ming refugees and captured pirates in the distance. Looking through the firelight, I saw more than a dozen soldiers of the Foreign Legion staggering around the edge of the camp, presumptuously pointing at a few Ming women in the camp who were trembling in terror.

"Damn it!" Seeing this scene, Yu Shan's hand trembled, and the fragrant duck leg fell to the ground, and he couldn't help but curse, but he didn't know whether to scold the soldiers who harassed civilians after drinking, or to regret his barbecue.

Makarov, who was already even more drunk, got up drunk, and with a strange smile, walked towards the crowd where the woman was already crying and screaming.

"Hey, what a cute little sheep!" Catalyzed by the warm atmosphere and alcohol, a small soldier of the Foreign Legion could no longer control himself, and walked directly to several Ming women who were hugging each other, sat on the ground, and put his arm around the shoulders of one of the young women, and spat out Polish words that only Makarov and others could understand.

"Hmm...... The military master spared the little girl, and he will make you a cow and a horse for the rest of his life! ”

The young woman was so frightened that she turned around and moved a distance, and then knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing, tears raining down, and the other women around her bowed their heads like rabbits and foxes, but they didn't dare to speak. The men, on the other hand, shrank into the night in fear, and only a few gritted their teeth.

"What a beautiful sound! You know, I can give you a lot to eat and money! ”

This time, the Polish soldier simply hugged the woman who was kowtowing with a hippie smile, and his action immediately triggered the other Foreign Legion soldiers around him to follow suit, but in a few seconds, the camp was full of crying, and more than a dozen women were forcibly grabbed by the veterans with colored eyes, and there were even a few recruits who only joined the army last year.

"Haha, what a happy night!" Makarov also walked to the middle of the camp, looking around at the remaining frightened women, their shiny muscles exposed under the buttoned uniforms, and their blood-red eyes looked full of desire.

The soldiers around them whistled when they saw that the sergeant major had joined the ranks, and some of them even couldn't wait to tear the woman's dress.

"But have you asked my opinion?!"

Makarov suddenly broke the face of a soldier who was about to kiss the Ming woman next to him, and punched him out. In the screams, the soldier who was concentrated in the face was knocked back several steps before lying on his back on the ground, a stream of blood blooming on his face.

The defeated creep fainted on the spot, and the chaos of the crowd instantly stopped, and the crying, laughter, and shouting came to an abrupt end at the same time.

"You unflattering little white face......"

There was a frightening silence in the camp, but Makarov still swayed, paced in front of another soldier who was still clutching the hem of the woman's skirt next to him in a daze, lifted the collar of the other man, and put his face directly on the other man's nose with a frightening scar.

"You're new here, private?"

"Sergeant Major Makarov, I, I'm sorry...... Ah! ”

Another figure rose into the air, and then landed heavily in the middle of a crowd of onlookers, letting out a scream.

“…… And then what do I want to say? Makarov turned around, looked at the stunned soldier like a devil, and slowly pulled out his revolver from his waist, "Although the General Headquarters and the gendarmes are not on this island, you all seem to wish you had a choice between being hanged or shot early tomorrow morning?" ”

As soon as he raised his hand, Makarov pulled the trigger in the air, and the piercing gunfire rang out, and the camp was filled with exclamations, and the soldiers, who had been awakened by Makarov's drunkenness, retreated.

"The lads are brave, they just get drunk and forget something."

Makarov turned his head and smiled at the Ming people in the camp, and then slowly sat down by the fire, tilted his head and body, and actually fell asleep.

The people of the Ming Dynasty, who were sitting tightly together, had not yet recovered from the mutation just now, and just stupidly watched a big man lying in his own pile of people and falling asleep.

At this time, Yu Shan, who had been watching in the dark, finally breathed a sigh of relief and quietly put down his rifle. (To be continued......)