Since being a prisoner of the Ming Dynasty, all the pride of Colonel Wallace has been shattered, especially after witnessing the fake execution of Tongshi He and Popov, and he is deeply impressed by the moodiness of the Ming general.

He had already planned to become a prisoner of the ranks, but the progress of the matter once again shocked him, and instead of punishing him, the Ming general made him the dean of the Naval Academy. And in Western society, being the head of a school is a coveted title for the aristocracy, an honor that even a thousand pounds of gold can't buy. The Western aristocracy did not have the Easterners' doctrine of death, they valued honor, but they also valued profit.

Wallace himself took refuge with the Dutch after a long period of exile in the Kingdom of England, and traveled with Putmans to the Far East. Hoping for the value of his life in advance here, but this hope was completely wiped out by a defeat on the Qinhuai River. Now, the reuse of the Ming Dynasty general has rekindled the flame of hope that has been extinguished in his heart.

With hope, there will naturally be gains and losses, and in addition to apprehension, Wallace is also a little flattered. He could not understand why the Chinese general had given such an honorable position to him, the captured general of the defeated army. Colonel Wallace waited for the Ming general to give him an answer in a complicated state of mind.

Soon, he was again arranged to meet with the Ming generals.

After several conversations with Wallace, Li Xin decided to appoint him as the head of the newly established Naval Academy, and had further plans. He looked at the Scotsman in front of him dressed in Han clothes and felt a little funny, and Wallace himself was obviously not used to this kind of robe and crown belt, and writhing his body from time to time, and a layer of fine beads of sweat gradually oozed from his head, and he didn't know if it was due to the high temperature in midsummer, or because of nervousness.

"Midsummer is falling, are you still used to living in our place?"

Wallace didn't understand much of the Chinese dialect, and he didn't understand a word of Li Xin's words, so he could only translate them one by one with the help of Li Xin's surroundings.

"It's okay, it's okay! Nanjing is in the north, which is much cooler than the hot and humid city of Relansha. "Actually, he still has something to do with it, that is, the Han family clothes on his body, not to mention the layers of superimposed, the people covered are covered with hot sweat, which is really unbearable. And in the barracks of the Ming army, he couldn't take a bath at will, and he could almost smell the rancid smell emanating from his body. Moreover, Wallace could clearly perceive that when those Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers dealt with him, they had obvious intentions to cover their mouths and noses.

In fact, Li Xin was also a little dazzled by the heavy smell of sweat on Wallace's body, and they all said that Westerners have a heavy body odor, but it will not be to the fox smell. But out of consideration for Wallace's self-esteem, Li Xin was inconvenient to make an obvious expression of disgust, so he had to endure it.

And he brought the topic to the weather, also to let this Wallace take a bath more every day, and the days of dealing with him in the future will be long, if every time it is a sweat smell, it is really an unbearable thing.

Li Xin glanced at the general affairs around him, this thing must have been smoked by the strong body odor on Wallace's body, and leaned back as much as he could, trying to get away from Wallace, but leaned his body against the tent behind him.

At this time, Wallace seemed to have some unspeakable secrets. Li Xin let him speak freely.

"Your Excellency, dear Marquis, can you also send me a set of your army's uniforms?"

The military uniform of the Three Guards had been the envy of him for a long time, wearing simple pants and blouses, and these days it was close to the height of summer, and he even saw people wearing tops with half of the sleeves cut off.

Hearing Wallace's request, Li Xin laughed, "Yes, yes, personal hygiene is also very important, it is indeed negligent to only give you this set of clothes, smell it, your body is almost rancid!" ”

Wallace deeply agreed with Li Xin's statement, and tightened his nose with an exaggerated expression, "My body has long been rancid, and now the officers and soldiers of your army have to cover their noses when they see me, it would be great if I could take a good bath!" He finally said what he wanted, and at the same time looked at Li Xin strangely.

"Your Excellency, Marquis, haven't you been smoked by the rancid smell of me?"

After Li Xin listened to the translation of Tongshi, he laughed out loud with an expression that you understand.

The conversation was light-hearted and pleasant, and Wallace swept away his sense of restraint, and for a moment his humorous nature was gradually revealed. However, this can cry Li Xin's affairs, his Dutch language is already half-understood, and now Wallace's words are a little stretched.

This caused a brief problem in the communication between Li Xin and Wallace, and Li Xin suddenly thought that since Wallace was Scottish, he might be able to speak English, so he said a few words to him in English.

Li Xin's words made Wallace stunned for a long time before he came back to his senses, and then said in an exaggerated tone of disbelief: "Your Excellency the Marquis can speak English?" ”

Wallace really couldn't have imagined that there was a marquis in the Far East Empire who could speak English, and although his grammar and accent were a little strange, he could understand it anyway. Wallace was a little excited, and finally he didn't have to go through the word of the word to communicate directly with the marquis.

"At present, the conditions are limited, and the teaching facilities of the Naval Academy can only be mainly on galleons, and food and accommodation need to be on sailing ships. The cadets selected by the Three Guards will be assigned to the ship, and the old sailors will play the role of instructors. So ......"

Hearing that Li Xin had turned the subject to the newly established Naval Academy, Wallace pricked up his ears intently, for fear of missing a word.

"So, Mr. Wallace, you are both the head of the academy and the commander of the fleet!"

"Oh! My God! I heard you right! My dear Lord Marquis! ”

Before Li Xin's words fell, Wallace was surprised and incoherent, in addition to being the dean of the Naval Academy, he should continue to be the commander of the fleet, which really made him unbelievable, and he couldn't believe why the Chinese general was so confident that he would continue to be the commander of the fleet.

"I'm sorry Your Excellency, Marquis, please allow me to interrupt you, may I ask, did you just say that I should continue to be the commander of the fleet?"

Li Xin nodded solemnly!

"Not only that, but you will also be awarded an official position by the imperial court. Sun Butang has already issued an order, from today onwards, you can be the commander of the fleet with the rank of general, so it is justified! ”

The sound of Wallace's rapid and excited breathing sounded in the military tent, and after a long time, Wallace danced happily, and looked at the general who was hanging aside, and his heart was too undetermined.

Wallace's dancing was not entirely due to excitement, he had fought with the commander-in-chief Zheng Zhilong many times in Fujian, and this person had great energy to meddle in the military trade routes of the southeast sea, so he also knew the power of Zheng Zhilong. When he heard that the marquis of the Ming Dynasty was going to let him serve as the chief soldier, many of the various ideas that usually remained in his mind poured out at this moment, and he was ambitious for a while, and immediately said his plan that was still in the making.

At that time, there was no narrow national concept, and the national consciousness of Western countries was also very vague, so Wallace was ready to serve the Ming Empire in the East There were few psychological obstacles.

The preparatory work of the Navy was in full swing, and Mi Yan, who was the head of the Naval Preparatory Office, naturally participated in the preparatory work of the Naval Academy, and Mi Yan was entrusted with the post of supervising the army. Li Xin originally planned to create another position, but he had to give up because of the effect of authority and the possible opposition.

After all, Mi Yan has a reputation for showing talent, and he can barely explain it in front of the old men in the political hall when he takes up the position of supervising the army. And seeing that there are still three months to go to the autumn test, when the time comes, let Mi Yan make a name for himself, and he will have the foundation to establish himself as an official.

Li Xin didn't expect Mi Yan to be admitted to the Jinshi, in fact, the current Mi Yan is entangled in official duties, and he doesn't have the extra energy to study the eight shares, and he has the status of a person, except that he can't be ranked in Hanlin, whether he is a local official or an important official position, it is enough.

It should be known that the total number of Dengke Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty did not exceed 25,000, and in the 270 years of the Ming Dynasty, the average annual Dengke Jinshi was only in the early nineties, and now there are only 3,000 officials who have been born as Jinshi in the past 30 years. I'm afraid that half of them will stay in Beijing, and the other half will be scattered in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and there will be few of them.

In fact, Miyan was quite satisfied with his position as a superintendent, and he was resolutely opposed to allowing old sailors to board the ship from the beginning, especially the appointment of Wallace as the director of the Naval Academy, and at the same time as the chief officer in command of the fleet.

However, after Li Xin explained his initial plan to him, he accepted this kind of personnel appointment and dismissal. First of all, the number of sailors who can return to the ship must not exceed one-third of the original total, and this third is also selected, preferably from the Ming Dynasty. Except for extremely important technical positions, there is no substitute for the people of Fanbang, who can be dealt with separately and allowed to return to the ship.

That is to say, on each big ship, there will be more than two-thirds of the cadet sailors of the Three Guards, and one-third of the soldiers will be the old sailors, as long as this is under mutual restraint, even if someone has bad intentions, it will be difficult to set off any storms.

Since the important position of the fleet and the academy is in the hands of the officers and cadets selected by the Three Guards, even if Wallace is appointed as the commander of the fleet, he can only command the entire fleet within the scope of his authority, and it is absolutely impossible to do something against the Three Guards!

Therefore, Wallace's power as a general soldier is very limited, and if he learns about his situation that is different from Zheng Zhilong's general soldier, I don't know if he can be as excited as before.