Weihaiwei is still as lively as usual, and countless craftsmen on the dock who have just finished breakfast are rushing towards the various docks one after another. Today's Weihaiwei has become a large shipbuilding base, countless timber is transported from Liaodong, North Korea and other places every day, eighteen docks are working day and night, Yueyang's goal for the docks is that each dock can launch a third-class battleship every year.

Yueyang's temporary residence in Weihaiwei has now been expanded into a mansion covering an area of nearly forty acres, after all, there are Yueyang's four daughters-in-law living here, especially Princess Kunxing's noble status, there are more than 100 palace maids and eunuchs serving around her, plus Wang Yue, Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan's subordinates and the guards in the mansion There are more than 200 people.

Today's weather is good, and Zhu Yujiao, whose belly has been obviously bulging, is a little bored, so she went to the courtyard next to her to talk to Li Xiangjun's three daughters, and the four daughters asked the maids to bring snacks and dried fruits to the pavilion in the backyard while enjoying the shade and gossiping, just talking and talking about their own men.

Zhu Yujiao reclined on the soft chair specially prepared for him by the palace maid, frowned and said to Li Xiangjun who was sitting next to her: "Sister Xiangjun, Xianggong has been gone for more than a month and hasn't even written a letter back, did he forget our sisters?" ”

Looking at Zhu Yujiao's pouting appearance, Li Xiangjun couldn't help laughing: "Your Royal Highness the Princess......"

"Wait......" Zhu Yujiao waved her small hand and said with some dissatisfaction: "Sister Xiangjun, I said a long time ago, since I married Xianggong, we are a family, there is no princess here, only sisters." Sister Xiangjun, did you call me Her Royal Highness the Princess, if you let Xianggong hear it, wouldn't he blame me for setting up a fight at home? ”

Looking at Zhu Yujiao's pouting appearance, Li Xiangjun couldn't help laughing, she walked to Zhu Yujiao's side and held her left hand: "Your Royal Highness Princess, after all, etiquette cannot be abolished, there is no doubt that you are indeed the eldest princess of my Ming Dynasty, although we are all at home, but you are the wife of your husband after all." And although Xiangjun is a few years older, they can't call your name directly, don't you say that's right? ”

After staying in Weihaiwei for so long, Li Xiangjun's three daughters have gradually become familiar with Zhu Yujiao's temper, although they are noble, they have never broken off the princess's shelf, and they are all kind and angry on weekdays, so they also like this young but polite princess. And they can also see that once Her Royal Highness gets acquainted with her, she will find that she is actually as cute and delicate as a little sister next door, although sometimes she is a little petty, but in fact, she is still very kind-hearted, so that Li Xiangjun's three daughters are willing to be close to her.

The fourth girl gossiped. Because Zhu Yujiao was four or five months pregnant at this time, her body had begun to become heavy, and people began to become drowsy. Seeing this, Li Xiangjun's three daughters looked at each other and smiled, and the three of them also began to lower their voices to speak.

The three of them re-entered the stone table and began to drink tea and chat. Wang Yue took a sip of tea, looked at Zhu Yujiao, and said in a somewhat envious and sour tone: "Her Royal Highness the princess has only been married to Xianggong for a few days and is pregnant. ”

Dong Xiaowan glanced at her with a squint, "I remember that Xianggong didn't work you." But if you can't conceive, who can you rely on? ”

"Eh!" Wang Yue's pretty face turned red all of a sudden, and she reached out and scratched Dong Xiaowan's armpits, "Sister Xiaowan, are you still laughing at me, I don't know who was sown by Xianggong, and a pair of little feet always turned tall and refused to put it down for a long time." You still have the face to laugh at others. ”

"Oh, you stinky girl is going to kill you!" This time it was Dong Xiaowan's turn to blush, and the two made a mess together.

It's just that after the two of them quarreled for a while, Wang Yue leaned lazily on the stone table, put her hands on her cheeks, and said a little listlessly: "Sister." I don't know how Xianggong is doing in Dayuan now? There was no one to take care of him, and the people around him were all rough and careless soldiers, and Chen Dazhi was stupid. Xianggong must have lost weight. ”

"Well, that's right." Dong Xiaowan also entered a state of lovesickness, and the two sat at the table with some interest.

Li Xiangjun on the side couldn't help but laugh and scolded when he saw the appearance of the second daughter: "You guys, it's only been a few days since Xianggong went out, and he has started to spring, so don't be ashamed." ”

Wang Yue pouted and said: "Hmph, Sister Xiangjun, you are not the same, don't look at your mouth, but I don't know how much I think about it in my heart, and I don't know who is shouting Xianggong's name in my dream at night." ”

"Eh, Yue'er, you're dead!" This time it was Li Xiangjun's turn to be embarrassed.

The three girls made a fuss for a while, and Wang Yue suddenly thought: "Two sisters, how about you say that we should go to visit Xianggong?" ”

"Go to the big man to see the minister?"

Li Xiangjun couldn't help but be startled, and shook his head again and again: "No, the prime minister is in the big man, but he is fighting, if we go, wouldn't it cause trouble for him." ”

"Who said they were causing trouble for him?" Wang Yue's small mouth pouted again, "People are just worried that Xianggong has no one to take care of him, Chen Dazhi, you know, how can a careless person care about people, I'm afraid that three meals a day can't be eaten on time." ”

"This ......" Li Xiangjun hesitated for a moment, but shook his head and refused this mention, it was not a joke to run to the front line without authorization, if he let Yue Yang know, he might be angry. In fact, Wang Yue's mind is clear, since ancient times, women are mothers and children, and now among the women in Yueyang, whether it is Hai Lanzhu or Linglong sisters or even Zhu Yujiao, they all have children or are pregnant, but the three of them have no movement at all, plus the three daughters are from Qinhuaihe, and the sense of security is already low, and now they have been with Yueyang for almost two years but still have nothing to do, so they are naturally even more anxious.

It's just that he is in a hurry, but Li Xiangjun is becoming more and more cautious in doing things on weekdays, otherwise the background of the three of them is not good, and it will not be good to give people the impression of being pampered and arrogant.

It's just that the three of them just talked, but they didn't notice that Zhu Yujiao, who was already asleep on the side, blinked her eyes inadvertently......

………………

In a continuous mountain range in Tainan, Da Niu is walking on a mountainside with dozens of soldiers in full armor, this mountain is rich in vegetation, full of dense jungle, and the guide who walks in front sweeps the grass in front with a long wooden stick as he walks, and from time to time poisonous snakes come out of the grass.

"My mother, there are too many insects here, so how can I go." One of the soldiers who followed behind Da Niu shuddered. Said with some fear.

"yes, it's too evil here, there are no less than dozens of long worms we have encountered along the way, I really doubt that if we continue to walk, we will be bitten by long worms sooner or later." The surrounding soldiers were also a little weak-hearted, and these warriors who were fearless in the face of the enemy's charge on the battlefield all got goosebumps when they saw these crooked animals.

Da Niu scolded impatiently: "Don't talk nonsense, this road is like this, what do you still want, hurry up and keep up, if you can't get to the destination before dark, you know the consequences!" ”

The thought of camping on this mountainside at night made everyone shudder. I quickly quickened my pace and followed.

The group finally arrived at their destination, Tawang, a village in Alishan, just before dark.

When the guide and the bull came outside the village, they saw a group of small, ragged natives with wooden bows and spears, either behind rocks or from trees, staring at them as if they would fight at a disagreement.

Seeing this posture, the guide at the head hurriedly stepped forward and shouted a few words loudly in the local dialect, and then a middle-aged man with a low figure wearing a crown decorated with pheasant feathers walked out in front of him, but he was obviously stronger than the usual natives.

Seeing this, the guide hurriedly spread his hands evenly to show that he had no malice and shouted a few words loudly, and the middle-aged man nodded and motioned for the guide to go over. The guide trotted all the way to the middle-aged man and whispered a few words, and the middle-aged man asked a few words with an incredulous look on his face. The guide nodded again and again and patted his chest to make an ancestral spell and swear, the middle-aged man still looked suspicious, and finally the middle-aged man pointed to the big cow and them, and the middle-aged man looked at the big cow and his party with some doubts. Half a ring, he walked up to Da Niu and his party and asked in a suspicious tone.

"You...... You are...... Is it someone sent by the Ming court? You defeated those red-haired ghosts? ”

Da Niu nodded and said affirmatively: "Yes, we are the officers and soldiers of the Ming Imperial Court." A few days ago we defeated the Dutch devils in the city of Geranza, and now the city of Geranza has fallen into our hands. ”

"What...... That's impossible? The middle-aged man exclaimed, "Those red-haired devils are very powerful." How could you have defeated them. ”

The big bull pursed his lips, and it seemed that the Dutchmen must have left a shadow on this guy's heart, so much so that when he heard the Dutchman, he was frightened like this bird.

The big bull didn't speak, but pouted backwards. The two soldiers approached with a dejected red-haired ghost. The middle-aged man was also stunned at first glance, he not only knew this red-haired ghost but also was very familiar with it, he was the tax collector who often brought those Dutch people to their village to collect taxes, the name of the middle-aged man did not know, but he remembered the high-spirited appearance of this Dutchman in the past.

Since the Dutch came to Dayuan, in the first few years due to the lack of troops, the Dutch showed an amiable appearance, and sent many missionaries to go deep into the fields and even deep mountains and old forests, for the inconvenient Gaoshan people to solve problems, medicine diagnosis and treatment, and the appearance of "living in harmony", but when the Dutch built the city of Geranza, their faces immediately changed, from the second year of Chongzhen (1629), the Dutch tore their faces, Began the eight-year bloody conquest of the aboriginal tribes on the island of Taiwan, they sent troops to forcibly burn down all the houses in some villages, wanton killing, the vicious Dutch also brought smallpox epidemic in Europe at that time, leading to the local plague rampant, only the village where the middle-aged people were located died of the plague in those years more than 300 people, under the heavy oppression of the Dutch, they were forced to sign a contract with the Dutch, had to swear allegiance.

The thought of this made the middle-aged man feel itchy at the root of his teeth, and he grabbed the dejected Dutchman by the collar and punched him in the nose. The "bang" beat the Dutchman to a nosebleed, and the middle-aged man didn't stop and stepped forward to continue beating people, but was stopped by the big bull.

"Enough...... Don't fight any more, he'll be killed if you hit him again. I didn't bring him here today to make you angry, we came here to sue you, the demon will be under the jurisdiction of the Ming court from now on, and you are all the people of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"The Ming Dynasty?" The middle-aged man looked at Da Niu and asked a little unwillingly: "What are the benefits of being under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty?" ”

"Of course there are benefits." Da Niu smiled slightly and said: "First of all, you will be protected by my Ming court, our loyal and brave marquis is the biggest official sent by the Ming Dynasty, in the future, your clansmen can freely go down the mountain to cultivate, and any taxes such as land taxes will be exempted." ”

"What...... Is there really such a good thing? "The middle-aged man was a little sluggish. He knew very well how greedy the Dutch were, and whether they were buying sugar, candles, tobacco, fish, or even killing pigs for the New Year and heating in winter, they had to pay taxes according to the goods, and even had to pay tolls to go down the mountain, so much so that a senior official of the East India Company at the time said: "We can't think of it." Is there any other way to get money from the hands of these indigenous people. ”

In view of the fact that the Dutch collected so many taxes that the mountain tribes had become impoverished today, and there were even examples of people dying of starvation, they were all stunned for a moment when they heard that the big bull said that they would not collect taxes.

"You...... Are you telling the truth? The middle-aged man's body had begun to tremble slightly.

"Of course...... Our Hou Ye is a talker. Da Niu replied in the affirmative.

The middle-aged man nodded and finally agreed, "Okay, as long as you can do this, we will be obedient to Da Ming, so what?" ”

The next thing is very simple, the middle-aged man motioned to the clansmen to get out of the way, and the others entered the village, and when the big cow and the others gave them the courtesy they brought today. When a sack of refined salt was filled, the whole stockade boiled. Salt was a very precious gift for the people of these years, and the mountain people bought the coarse salt from the Dutch. had to risk going into the mountains to hunt deer, a good deer skin can only be exchanged for half a catty of coarse salt, and now this first meeting of the Ming soldiers actually gave themselves a sack of refined salt, this gift for them is simply heavier than the mountain.

That same evening. A bonfire was held throughout the village to welcome the generous guests, and it was only then that Da Niu knew that the middle-aged man was the head of the village. The name is Azza.

Piles of bonfires were lit, bowls of rice wine were served, groups of young men began to sing and dance around the bonfire, Da Niu and his companions were also pulled by the enthusiastic girls, the big cow who had drunk an unknown amount of wine that night finally fell, and the next day when he got up he found in his arms a girl with a somewhat dark complexion but a very beautiful silhouette, and she was looking at herself with curious eyes.

Seeing Da Niu wake up, the girl muttered a series of words to him, Da Niu didn't understand it, and it took a long time to know that this girl was called Ayi, looking at Ayi's attachment to him, he knew that he had a big deal.

Sure enough, when the big cow got up, Aza came over to him and told him that this girl had taken a fancy to him and wanted to be his daughter-in-law.

Da Niu was stunned for a moment, he never thought that he had been ordered to go up the mountain and get a daughter-in-law. I wanted to excuse myself, but seeing Aza Yan's expression and the girl's eager look, he couldn't say anything, and in the end he could only tell Aza about it, and he had to go back to report to the commander in the army to decide, and Aza also generously agreed.

After Da Niu and the others stayed on the mountain for two days, they went down the mountain with Ayi's reluctant expression. After returning to the barracks, Da Niu reported this matter to his commander, and his commander was also a little stunned when he heard it, so he reported it step by step and finally reported it to Yue Yang's ears, Yue Yang laughed after hearing it, and with a wave of his hand, he not only agreed to this matter, but also ordered to send a rich congratulatory gift to Da Niu, so that the matter was settled.

"My lord, are you too kind to these natives?" Seeing Yue Yang's actions, Shunbao, who was his confidant, was a little puzzled.

"How...... Don't understand? Yue Yang turned his head to look at Shun Bao, who was standing next to him, waved him to sit down, and began to explain to him.

"You know, if we want to occupy the Dayuan for a long time, we need to have a good relationship with the local natives. Of course, we can also subdue them with the guns of fire in their hands, as the Dutch did, but such a rule will eventually lead to disaster. Moreover, the alpine natives are not useless, they have lived here for generations, and they are very familiar with the local environment, especially in the mountains for a long time. ”

"Mountain troops?" This fresh term made Shunbao a little confused again.

Seeing Shunbao's inexplicable appearance, Yue Yang had to explain: "Eh...... Nowadays, most of our soldiers were born and raised in the plains, and they are not familiar with the terrain of the big soldiers, and once they fight in the mountains, they will suffer a lot, so I plan to build a mountain army composed of mountain people, who will be responsible for fighting in the mountains, so that we can be more sure of fighting those Spaniards. ”

"Oh...... There's still such a stubble! Shunbao suddenly realized, feeling that Hou Ye is going to make use of resources, but if you think about it carefully, if you can form a force composed of Gaoshan people, you will definitely have an advantage in mountain warfare in the future. (To be continued......)