In a corner where the fire could not be lit, dozens of figures quietly gathered together and whispered about things.

"Folks, everyone has seen today's events, our officers and soldiers have already called, see that this posture has to continue, if we continue to stay on the city wall, it can only be a dead end, either killed by the artillery of the officers and soldiers or whipped to death by the red-haired ghost, now everyone talk about what to do, right?"

An old voice said a little dejectedly: "What else can we do, we can only do this." Who let us be defenseless mud legs, if we have a good life, we can pick up a life, if we have a bad life, we will die directly on the city wall. ”

"Uncle Wang, your old man is almost sixty this year, of course he is not afraid of death, but we are afraid, I still have my wife and younger siblings to take care of, and I haven't even married my daughter-in-law, I don't want to throw my life here." This is opposed.

"That's it, why are we willing to wait here to die, and we were beaten to death by our own officers and soldiers, this is too unjust."

A group of people were disagreeing, and their voices became louder.

At this time, a young man's voice sounded: "Uncles, brothers, since the left and right are dead, we might as well fight, aren't our officers and soldiers outside the city, it's late at night, we might as well take this opportunity to open the city gate to welcome the officers and soldiers into the city." I've heard that this time it's the loyal and brave marquis of the imperial court who came to fight the red-haired ghost, and his old man is famous for his generosity, if we open the city gate for his old man, her old man will definitely reward us heavily, maybe we won't have to come out to earn this coolie money in the future. ”

"Xiaoman, you're crazy! If you let the red-haired ghost know that we are all going to be beheaded! A hoarse voice exclaimed.

"It's not going to behead, but you're sure you'll get a buckshot!" There are also cynical ones.

The person known as Xiaoman was naturally Gong Xiaoman, and I saw him sneering: "So you would rather be stoned to death by the artillery of our officers and soldiers than have a fight?" ”

Everyone was silent, and if they were lucky, the officers and soldiers would give a few rewards, and if they didn't even dare to fight, what awaited everyone was either killed by shells or killed by the Dutch colonists.

Under the threat of death. Someone began to compromise. In the dark night, a voice sighed for a long time and said, "Okay, it's better to fight anyway, maybe you can have a chance." Xiaoman, what do you say we should do......"

In a few moments, a regular flash began to light up in a hidden corner of the walls of the city of Geranza, and after two quarters of an hour the same flash began to sound somewhere a mile away from the city of Geranza, and the two places began to shine incessantly as if they were echoing each other.

…………

Time passed slowly, and soon it was time for the second watch. Most of the Dutch soldiers on the walls of the entire city of Geranza fell asleep with muskets against the city wall or some sheltered corner, and only a few patrol posts still walked around the city wall from time to time.

Since the Ming army shelled the south gate of the city of Geranza, Oward and others transferred most of their troops to the damaged south gate, and the defense of the remaining three city gates was much lax in terms of strength and attention, for example, the entire section of the city wall of the west gate was defended by less than a hundred Dutch soldiers, and the soldiers on guard were even less, only less than 20 people. In this way, people can take advantage of it.

Time slowly came to the fourth watch, this time is the time when people are most sleepy, Oward was sleeping in his governor's palace after a busy day, and suddenly a sudden explosion woke him up. When he opened his eyes dimly, he didn't have time to get up. Two more violent explosions were heard to the west.

"Boom...... Boom ......"

A series of sudden explosions finally blew away the last trace of Oward's sleepiness.

"Not good...... It's the Ming army that has come in! This was Oward's first reaction after he came to his senses.

At this thought, Oward jumped up at a speed that was not in keeping with his age, and within two minutes he was in the living room, and then he saw his lieutenant, Lieutenant Colonel Villa, running in in a panic. Breathlessly, he said to him, "Your Excellency, it's not good...... Ming Army...... The Ming army has entered the city! ”

"Ah......h

This sentence scorched Owardre like five thunderbolts.

"How is this possible...... With so many of our soldiers guarding the city wall, how could the army of the Ming Kingdom get in? Are all those soldiers dead? In a rage, Oward grabbed Villa by the collar and shook it vigorously.

Villa's face turned disastrous like a mourner. Said sadly: "Your Excellency the Governor, the Ming army came in from the West City Gate, and it was those damn Ming farmers who killed the soldiers guarding the city gate and opened the city gate to let the Ming army in!" ”

"The farmers? Damn, I know...... I knew those damn farmers couldn't be trusted, and I should have killed them all! At this time, Oward was completely in a frenzy.

"Your Excellency the Governor, it's useless to talk about this now, now you better hurry up and decide what to do, right? Now that there are more than a hundred soldiers outside, are you going to take them out of the siege or surrender? ”

Lieutenant Colonel Villa's words finally pulled Oward back from his mania, and he sat down in the chair behind him as if he had lost all his strength, and only after a long time said in a murmuring tone: "We can't escape, so let's surrender." ”

The Dutch army finally surrendered, and the Ming army suddenly appeared in the city of Geranza with lightning speed, completely breaking their confidence, some surrendered, some tried to escape, and some wanted to take advantage of the chaos to loot, and the whole city of Geranza was in chaos. By the time the sky began to whiten, the city of Geranza had already fallen into the hands of the Ming army.

Escorted by hundreds of personal soldiers, Yue Yang rode slowly into the city of Reranza, and there was still green smoke in many places in the entire city, that is, some buildings that had been set on fire last night were still burning.

When Yue Yang came to the Governor's Mansion in the center of the city, he saw a fallen plaque on the steps in front of the door, he picked up the plaque and looked at it, and found that the plaque had a line written in Latin and Chinese respectively.

"The Doge's Palace!" Yue Yang read softly. He blew off the dust on the plaque and handed the plaque to Chen Dazhi behind him, and casually ordered: "Put him away, we can build a museum in the future, and put this piece in it to let future generations know what their ancestors have done." ”

"Museum ......," Chen Dazhi repeated with some confusion.

Yue Yang was a little speechless for a while, and after thinking about it, he explained, "Oh...... This is...... It's a word that means to build a big house, put things in it and keep it safe, and then let people see and remember it for hundreds or even thousands of years to come. ”

Chen Dazhi scratched his head and was puzzled, "Master Hou, the last general still doesn't understand, what's the use of letting future generations see things hundreds or even thousands of years ago." Could it be that something will be worth more than a hundred years of storage? ”

"Damn...... I just don't understand it with you, the elm head. Yue Yang glared at him viciously, feeling that he really didn't have a common language with this guy.

"Alright...... Don't pestle here, you go and tell Sù Shunbao to get the matter done quickly, and then report the situation to me. After visiting the Governor's Mansion for a while, looking at the Governor's Mansion that had become a little messy, Yue Yang was also a little excited, waved Chen Dazhi out, and sat down on a chair in the living room to take a nap.

The climate in July was very hot, and Yue Yang, who was sitting in a chair, quickly dozed off, and I don't know how long it was. There was a sound of footsteps coming from outside, and soon a voice was heard outside.

"The last general, Yue Shunbao, asks to see him!"

"Oh...... It's Shunbao, come in. ”

Yue Yang woke up from his sleep, slowly sat up straight, stretched out his hand to signal Shunbao at the door to come in, and asked. "Shunbao, how are things handled outside?"

"Young Master Qiqi, the results of the battle have been counted, and we have won a big victory today. The whole army suffered less than 20 casualties before the Dutch were completely annihilated, and in this battle 251 Dutch were killed and captured, 637 of their officers and soldiers, as well as more than 2,300 family members, merchants, and Yi monks here. What a victory! Shun Bao's words were filled with excitement that could not be concealed.

"Hmm......" Yue Yang nodded, and then asked, "What about the people who opened the city gates for us?" ”

Hearing this, Shunbao's face changed slightly, "The losses of those people are not small, a total of more than 400 people were killed and wounded, most of them were killed by artillery in yesterday's shelling. ”

Yue Yang sighed lightly: "That's it, I remember that last night it was a meticulous work of Youchuan Division who mobilized the people and killed the four Dutch soldiers guarding the city gate before opening the city gate and welcoming us in. In addition, those who had made meritorious contributions to opening the city gates last night also had two choices, either to receive a reward of 100 silver dollars per person or to give 10 acres of land to each person, of course, the land of the great man, and let them choose for themselves. ”

"Yes!"

Shun Bao answered, and then asked: "By the way, young master, we also caught the governor of the red-haired ghost, but this guy is clamoring to see you, do you want to meet him?" ”

"See me?" Yue Yang hesitated for a moment, in fact, his heart was like a mirror, these Dutch colonists wanted to see him, it was nothing more than that.

After thinking about it again, Yue Yang was still a little curious about the Dutch governor, and he hesitated for a moment to signal Shunbao to bring people.

Soon, a middle-aged man wearing a somewhat dirty red and black military uniform was escorted in by two personally armed soldiers, and when they saw Yue Yang, they stretched out their hands and saluted in a military salute and said loudly in stiff Chinese: "The Governor of the Dutch East India Company, O'Ward, has seen His Excellency the Marquis of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

"Do you speak Chinese?" Yue Yang, who was sitting in the chair, asked with interest.

"Yes." Oward said very frankly: "As the governor stationed in the Dacheng, it is necessary to learn the local language, otherwise how can you deal with the officials of the Ming Dynasty." ”

"You're being honest." Yue Yang smiled slightly: "I heard that you want to see me, I don't know what is the matter?" ”

"Your Excellency Marquis, as a matter of custom, as the defeated side has the right to atone for oneself with gold coins, so I ask you to allow me to redeem myself and my family with gold coins." Oward looked at Yue Yang, a sincere look in his eyes.

"Redeem it." Yue Yang chuckled, "Your Excellency Governor Oward. You are now my captive, and all the qiē here has become my spoils, what else can you use to redeem you? ”

"This ......" Oward was a little speechless for a while, and he gritted his teeth: "Your Excellency Marquis, if I may, I ask you to allow me to write a letter back, asking my family or company in the country to pay a ransom to ransom me and my family." ”

"That's it!" Yue Yang waved his hand a little impatiently, "The evil deeds you committed in the Dayuan cannot be redeemed with gold coins, but in view of the fact that our Ming Dynasty has a tradition of not killing prisoners since ancient times, you and your subordinates must do twenty years of hard labor in the Dayuan as atonement, and after twenty years, I will naturally let you regain your freedom." ”

"What...... You can't do this. I am the governor of the compound! When Oward heard this, he was immediately dumbfounded, he has been doing hard labor for twenty years, God, he is forty years old this year, and it is not clear whether he will live to sixty, if he still has to do hard labor at this age, it is estimated that he will have to go to God for two years at most.

"Governor?" Yue Yang sneered, "If I remember correctly, it has been more than three years since you came to the Dayuan, how many evil things you have done in the Dayuan in the past three years, and I didn't drag you out and shoot you." Do you still want to return to the Netherlands safely? Okay, I don't have time to talk nonsense with you, someone will take him out! ”

"No...... You can't do that to me...... I am the Governor of the East India Company, and you will be punished for doing so! "Even though Oward struggled desperately. But he was still dragged out by two pro-soldiers.

"This bastard ......"

Yue Yang snorted lightly, these Dutch colonists have come to the territory of the Ming Dynasty for so many years, how can they not pay a little price, this is too easy. But then we have to think carefully about what to do with these people. It seems a bit of a waste to drive them all to do coolies, you must know that there are still some talents among these people. Thinking about it, Yue Yang fell asleep in a daze......

The city of Geranza was conquered, which was a big deal. The chief Yue Yang fell asleep. Some of the officials in charge of civil affairs that he brought from Shandong were very busy. Early the next morning, the slums in the southern city of Geranza were bustling with activity, and thousands of people from the coastal area of the Ming Dynasty surrounded a group of soldiers and civil officials, listening carefully to their explanations.

"Folks, Master Hou said, from today onwards, the members will belong to our Daming land. From now on, if you want to live in Dayuan, Hou Ye will distribute ten acres of land and farm tools and seeds to each family, and you can also go back to pick up your family, and Hou Ye can send you a coil on the road. Looking at the bustling people around them, these civil affairs officials spoke hoarsely one by one, and their whole bodies were too tired to move.

Not far from these officials, Gong Xiaoman was also surrounded by many people, these people were all people who had made meritorious contributions to opening the city gate with Gong Xiaoman last night, and now these people are surrounding Gong Xiaoman to show favor to him.

Erdan, who has a good relationship with Gong Xiaoman on weekdays, salivated and asked: "Brother Xiaoman, you give me an idea, the adult said, give us two choices, either take a hundred silver dollars or give us ten acres of land, what do you say I want?" ”

"How do I know that?" Gong Xiaoman said with a smile: "If you like silver, go and get silver dollars, with these silver dollars, you can build a three-entry big tile house when you get home, and then buy a few acres of land, and the rest of the silver can also be entrusted to someone to talk about a family matter, isn't it good?" ”

"Hmm...... That's not bad. Erdan nodded and just wanted to speak, but was knocked on the head by Uncle Wang on the side, "You bastard, although the silver is good, the day when it is used up after all, in my opinion, it is better to ask for ten acres of land." You must know that with these ten acres of land plus the ten acres promised by the Shicai government, it adds up to twenty acres of land, and these things can be passed on to future generations, as long as you are diligent with your hands and feet, you will never starve to death, isn't this better than anything else? ”

"Uncle Wang is right, I think this is very good."

"It's good, but our family is in Fujian, so if the whole family moves here, can we do it?"

"If you can't do it, you can do it yourself."

Everyone has different opinions, but in the end, most people still tend to ask for land, after all, the importance of land has been deeply imprinted in the bones of Chinese people.

Seeing these people scrambling to discuss the topic of asking for silver or land, Gong Xiaoman had a satisfied smile on his face, and for the first time, he felt that what he had done in the past finally had meaning.

Just as he was smiling, he saw a group of people pressed down from the street not far away, and this group of people was explaining loudly to the officers and soldiers who were escorting him.

"This military master, we are all people from Fujian, and we are all here to beg for a living, you can't arrest us."

"Yes, we are all good citizens, wronged ......"

Seeing these guys who claimed to be good citizens, Gong Xiaoman's face showed a trace of anger...... (To be continued......)