Wednesday, April 26, 1645.

Two days ago, a passing tropical storm brought heavy rain to the overseas territory of the beautiful Far Eastern Pearl Island. Flooded tropical forests are filled with streams, farms are scrambled to drain water, and captive-bred freshwater fish from low-lying reservoirs are even burrowed into urban aqueducts.

The city's well-designed drainage system has been put to the test, with the city's more than 35,000 citizens being washed up in heavy rains, and shops, banks, hospitals, schools and ports in every neighborhood are back up and running.

In the naval anchorage of the port, the main warships of the Asian Fleet, which had been assembled two months earlier, had been intensively inspecting the condition of each ship for two days after the storm, preparing for a possible voyage at any time.

In the past two years, with the entry into service of four Peace-class light cruisers on the mainland, the Asian Fleet has incorporated more warships that have been "eliminated" from the mainland, and now has 14 combat ships, including the Princess Hosojun and Princess Kaneshiro, 3 transport ships, 1 hospital ship, and 1 work ship.

At present, there are eight warships assembled at the Pearl Island Naval Base, and together with the temporarily requisitioned merchant ships, there are also 12 civilian or naval transport ships berthed at Pearl Island, which is enough to carry a brigade of troops and combat materials to any port in East Asia at one time.

As soon as the official order of the Ministry of Defence is issued, the fleet will carry the fully loaded officers and men of the Wehrmacht Eastern Brigade to the Chicken Coop Harbor of the Grand Commander, and complete the rendezvous with the Foreign Legion Brown Bear Brigade departing from Hong Kong Island. Then, in accordance with the No. 2 plan formulated by the Army Command, he would go directly to Tianjin to land and draw a salary from the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which had not yet gained a firm foothold, and even if it could not conduct a protracted war, it would be able to disrupt all the Manchu Qing's southward deployment.

……

Drumming marching music emanates from the U.S. Army's Far East Regional Command's military base in the suburbs, through the humid forest, and into the rain-soaked city. A routine large-scale queue drill is underway.

The Eastern Brigade of the Chinese and American Defense Forces, stationed in the overseas territory of Pearl Island, increased its strength to 2,850 men at the beginning of the year after the addition of a light baggage battalion and a cavalry company attached to the brigade, and the vast majority of officers and men were marching in the square of the military base at this time.

Amid the neat beat of the drums, the army phalanxes in company units were moving slowly and staggering, and the young officers and men were fully armed and marching forward with concentration. Under the dense rifles and steel helmets are sweaty faces, and the emblem of the Oriental Brigade on the armband is clearly visible.

In addition to Deng Jian, the newly promoted commander of the Far East region, who was newly promoted to rear admiral, Brigadier General Li Fan, commander of the Asian Fleet, was also included in the viewing seats. and Senator Di Zugong, chief envoy of the "Congressional Far East Research Group and Far ASEAN Diplomatic Corps" who arrived from mainland China only a week ago.

Compared with Di Zugong, who had a leisurely expression, Deng Jian and Li Fan's feelings were not very good, and the other army and navy officers standing behind the two regional service commanders also had a peculiar solemn expression.

“…… Now that the Cabinet has halted the plan, the military operation here can only be postponed indefinitely. Di Zugong drank iced tea, and looked at the Ministry of Defense telegram from Deng Jian and others casually, as if he had expected it a long time ago, "If you get it like this, it seems that I am a little redundant to come here." ”

"Don't talk about it here. The Brown Bear Brigade has also finished recuperating in Hong Kong. This is good, after more than half a year of preparation and tossing, a telegram will not be counted. However, Luzon and the big man still have to work hard, Lao Di, you go to take a look. Sooner or later, this battle will have to be fought. When the time comes, the two of them will have to provide support. ”

Another group of officers and soldiers walked past the front of the viewing seat, and the officers and soldiers collectively raised their guns in a salute, and the corners of Deng Jian's mouth squirmed while saluting in return.

"China hasn't said how to deal with Hong Kong's affairs? I heard that the Nanhai business is now 'closed for rectification'. Ding Chukui, the governor of Liangguang, also forbade our merchant ships to dock in Guangzhou and Qiongzhou, and even Portugal's Macao was pulled into the water......" Li Fan took off his military hat and played with it a little angrily, with a hint of helplessness at the corner of his mouth. "The supply of coal has been reduced by more than half, and the stock of coal at the naval base is only enough for six months. Is it that in a few days, we will be going to bombard Guangzhou and help the Oriental Union Group to smash the field? ”

Li Fan muttered inadvertently, which suddenly made the expressions of several officers not far away change subtly. A middle-aged army officer wearing the rank of colonel had a slightly darkened look, and another navy colonel next to him was even more dumbfounded.

"Colonel, the battle plan has been postponed indefinitely, and until the latest instructions from the Army Command are received, the troops will be released from combat readiness and continue to recuperate."

No matter how good-tempered he was, he probably felt that he was a little self-inflicted during this time, Deng Jian lost the heart to continue watching the troops' drills, and simply issued an order to the current commander of the Eastern Brigade, Qiao Yan, to cancel the combat readiness.

"Colonel Ji, the fleet has been lifted from third-level combat readiness." Li Fan also waved his hand to another Chinese naval colonel in boredom.

"Yes, General."

The two army and navy colonels, Qiao Xi and Ji Chaohai, stepped forward to salute at the same time, and Qiao Xi also secretly glanced at the brigade sergeant major Makarov beside him.

"Damn, these are the most boring two years I've ever had, can't Congress find enemies in the East?" Makarov looked at the sky, his face full of loss.

The Eastern Brigade has been established for more than two years, except for the second half of last year, when the whole brigade went to Temasek in the name of a live-fire exercise, and helped Liu Xiang, a member of the Lan Fong Free Territory, fight a small-scale war against the remnants of the Kingdom of Johor on the Malay Peninsula, and spent most of the time doing nothing.

Training troops for Lan Fang and Luzon, and stationing them on Pearl Island and Hong Kong Island became the daily routine of most officers and non-commissioned officers of the Eastern Brigade, and for Makarov, this life was even worse than staying on the mainland.

The only thing that made Makarov feel meaningful was that he and Yu Shan's private trade in the Far East was lucrative, and within two years, he and Yu Shan had already made thousands of dollars in profits. In order to consolidate the results of the business, Makarov even continued to pull Qiao Yan and Yu Shan into the gang, and the three of them specially registered a small trading company in Mingzhu City, and hired a local small businessman to manage it.

Yu Shan, who is currently serving as a military adviser to the Yan family, continues to exert the spirit of pervasiveness to expand his business with Makarov in Dongning City.

……

At night, the main streets of Mingzhu City and the port area are lit up again, and on the most prosperous section of the commercial street, a restaurant that has been reduced to an army club in the past two years. Another wave of guests was ushered in. The low-ranking officers of the Wehrmacht's Eastern Brigade, who had been disarmed, used it as a place to vent their frustration after their nervous excitement.

Occasionally, a few small movements of the hot-blooded head set off bursts of laughter and trembling flowers in the dim corners. The young Asian women who have been displaced to Pearl City are not recognizable by their faces alone, whether they are from the Ming Dynasty, Japanese or Koreans, but they just wander around the bar in gorgeous and popular oriental-style dresses, serving drinks and food to young army officers.

In a private room, three young army officers were drinking alcohol, and a young girl waitress was quietly serving in the corner. Judging by the empty bottles in front of them, a new record had been drunk.

"Brother Ren. I heard that the termination of the military operation was due to the Ming Dynasty's rejection of our kindness and the sealing of the trade port to Hong Kong. "It was Deng Jiaqiang, a second lieutenant officer who was assigned to the first battalion of the Eastern Brigade at the end of last year.

Deng Jiaqiang is the eldest of Deng Mingquan, chairman of the board of directors of Huamei Wood Group, who is only 21 years old this year and has fine skin and tender meat. Like An Jie of An Shaoqing's family, Deng Jiaqiang lost his biological parents when he was 2 years old, and he had long forgotten all the memories of his childhood when the Deng family grew up.

Because the personal relationship between the Ren family and the Deng family is very close, Deng Jiaqiang did not see Ren Xingzhong when he was a child, so he called Ren Xingzhong more affectionately.

"Then the trade of the OUCC in the Far East will lose a lot. I'm afraid that Congress is considering using military means to solve the problem, right? When Lu Yuzhou was still in college, he was accustomed to the country's tough stance on foreign trade interests.

While saying this, Lu Yuzhou also secretly glanced at Ren Xingzhong, who was speechless. In Lu Yuzhou's eyes, Ren Xingzhong, as the eldest son of Ren Changlejia, the boss of the Oriental Union Group. Much more than the weight of an army captain.

"Well, I've read the local newspapers. The Ming government rejected the diplomatic plan to renew the lease of Hong Kong, and arrested local officials of the Ming Dynasty who had good relations with us, and there is still a stalemate. Ren Xingzhong didn't notice the strangeness of his companion. Frowning and still pondering.

"Then it's a headache, are we going to help them fight the barbarians, or do we beat them? Don't they know who their real enemies are? Deng Jiaqiang touched the back of his head. Studied but cannot comprehend.

"This vast empire has its concerns and self-esteem, and perhaps we are violating their traditional order. So, in a sense, we are probably about the same as the barbarian Tatars who are invading them. ”

Compared with the two soldiers from authentic backgrounds, Lu Yuzhou, who had just been promoted to lieutenant, was more like a senior intellectual young man who had just walked out of campus, touching his wine glass and showing a helpless smile at this time.

"Haha, Brother Lu seems to know that country better." Deng Jiaqiang smiled and glanced at the restaurant waitress serving in the private room, and then suddenly reached out and touched the other party's chin, with a hint of banter on his drunken cheeks, "Miss, are you a local?" ”

The girl who looked to be at most sixteen years old and dressed in a gorgeous oriental dress turned red, and quickly buried her head: "No...... Slave...... The slave maid is a native of Qingzhou, Shandong...... ...... who was sold here last year with his younger brother"

"Hehe, do you think we look like barbarians?" Probably drunk, the strong-blooded Deng Jiaqiang hugged the barmaid into his arms.

This action suddenly frightened the girl's tears and her whole body trembled, but she didn't dare to break free of Deng Jiaqiang's arm, she just lowered her head desperately: "The slave doesn't know ......"

"Enough, second lieutenant! She's just a regular hostess here! Lu Yuzhou's face sank, and he grabbed Deng Jiaqiang's shoulder.

"Just kidding, don't take it seriously." Deng Jiaqiang smiled awkwardly, let go of the girl in his arms, and grabbed the wine bottle again, "See, a weak empire that is so downcast that even women have to sell it is qualified to bargain with us?" ”

"The slave maid heard that the military masters are going to Daming to fight the Tartars...... The slave's father and mother were killed by the Tartars a few years ago...... "The restaurant hostess who was sold to Nanyang by human traffickers and worked with her younger brother on Pearl Island seems to have already accepted her fate. ”

After speaking, the weak restaurant waitress covered her face and withdrew from the private room. For a while, Deng Jiaqiang, Lu Yuzhou and Ren Xingzhong all looked at each other.

"A woman remembers the hatred of the country and the family, why are their government officials so brainless......" Deng Jiaqiang, who was sobered up a lot by this scene, suddenly muttered. (To be continued......)