When they returned to the port in the afternoon, the Military Police Department brought back twenty-seven pirates who had surrendered, and found the bodies of three pirates washed ashore by the waves. As for the dozen or so pirates who are missing, the Military Police Department no longer intends to waste manpower and material resources to go into the mountains to chase them down, and let them fend for themselves in nature. In this wave of confrontation with pirates, the traversers eventually got a hundred free laborers and four sailing ships.

The more than 20 pirate corpses that were originally going to be dug and buried were also ordered by Tao Donglai to be temporarily put on hold until the executive committee made a final decision on Luo Shengdong's matter. If the shape can really proceed according to what Luo Shengdong said, then the benefits that these pirate corpses can bring to the traversing crowd are probably far greater than those hundred or so living people.

But there is no doubt that regardless of whether Luo Shengdong's plan is carried out or not, these new prisoners will be put into labor camps, and they will have to work hard if they want to continue to live. If they can persevere through a long period of hard labor, perhaps some of them will have a chance to regain their freedom in a few years.

After listening to Tao Donglai's introduction, Yan Chujie expressed a cautious attitude: "It sounds good, but there may be many accidents in the actual implementation, such as whether Luo Shengdong's rhetoric can really deceive his boss? How sure is he that he can be promoted because of merit? Even if the previous one goes smoothly, what if he can't transfer labor to us in the end? The most important thing is that we can't be sure whether Luo Shengdong is really reliable. ”

"This person is very smart, and he also sees the shape very accurately. I believe that during his time in the labor camp, he must have been observing us every moment, pondering us, and calculating how to find a suitable reason to convince us. With his knowledge, he may not understand what kind of existence we are, but he does notice our shortcomings. Tao Donglai slowly said his thoughts: "The social system we want to build and the production system we want to replicate must be based on a large population. The solution proposed by Luo Shengdong is indeed a shortcut to solve the problem of our current situation. ”

"You mean, we should try his method?" Yan Chujie and Tao Donglai, who had been friends for many years, immediately heard the meaning of his words.

Tao Donglai nodded and said, "Luo Shengdong is unreliable, no one dares to pack tickets." But I don't think that's the point, the point is that we know what he wants and what his purpose is. If he just wanted to get out, then I don't think he would have waited so long in a labor camp to speak. Since he didn't plan to go back empty-handed, it means that he really wants to seize this opportunity to be promoted and make a fortune. ”

Shortly after two o'clock in the afternoon, the soldiers marched inland with this large group of pirate captives. Because of the large number of people, the military police department did not choose to take a boat upstream from the waterway at the expense of fuel, but followed the previous method of escorting them to labor camps, tying their hands behind their backs with straps, and then using tough climbing ropes to directly connect them in units of 20 people. This will not affect the normal movement, and even if someone tries to escape on the way, it will be ruined by the involvement of others. He was accompanied by Luo Shengdong, who was exempted from the treatment of tying his hands upside down this time, but if the discussion of the executive committee did not go through his proposal, then the result waiting for him could only be to go back to the labor camp and continue to work as a coolie leader.

The road that runs inland along the Tiandu River from Base 1 is about three meters wide, and the road surface has only been basically filled, and construction methods such as road hardening are estimated to remain on paper for a long time. Along the way, you can see a large number of logs piled up along the way, which are all trees that were cut down when the road was opened and have not yet had time to be transported. With the recent addition of a large number of laborers, the speed of opening up this land artery is also accelerating, and according to the Ministry of Construction, it will take three or four days at most to complete the full line.

After the road is completed, the traffic time between Base 1 and Base 2 will be greatly shortened, and a large number of ox carts may appear on this road in the future Up to now, more than 40 cattle have been sent from the Li people as trade objects, and most of these cattle will join the transportation team as a new force after spring ploughing.

Upon arrival at Base 1, the pirate captives were immediately driven to a labor camp. They would be divided into more than a dozen groups, each of which would include two or three Ming prisoners who were already familiar with the rules of the labor camp, and would do their best to put the labor force on the construction site where they were supposed to go. After a few days of re-education, some of the skilled ones, such as sailors and carpenters, will be selected and sent to work elsewhere.

At this time, Luo Shengdong would no longer have any special treatment, and returned to his familiar environment again to carry the hoe. However, he was soon brought forward separately, because the special meeting of the Executive Committee had already begun, and Tao Donglai needed him to come forward for an "on-site defense". Rao is Luo Shengdong had been prepared in advance, but he was still dizzy when asked by a group of crossing committee members, and in the end, he didn't know if he had said anything wrong, so he could only keep swearing that he had no two hearts.

Tao Dong came to see that everyone had asked about it, so he asked Luo Shengdong to take him away. The next thing was to come up with a unified opinion, and the focus of the debate was still on the reliability of Luo Shengdong, and there was little controversy about the feasibility of this plan. Almost all of the commissioners agreed that this was a good opportunity to open the window of trade and population introduction, and if it could be implemented, it would be worth it to drag all the pirates out and cut them down, let alone pay a few pirate heads. But the crux of the matter is how credible Luo Shengdong himself is, whether he will change his mind after letting him go back, and how to ensure that this guy will not mess around.

In the end of the meeting, it was Tao Donglai's theory of interest bundling that prevailed, Luo Shengdong wanted to be promoted and make a fortune, this time he had to rely on the help of the traversal, and the follow-up cooperation will make Luo Shengdong gradually realize that his interests and the interests of the traversal are closely related and inseparable.

No matter how much he gambled and swore it, it was not as reliable as the actual gain. Tao Donglai finally summed up his opinions in one sentence.

After voting, the intention to deal with this matter was basically determined, and the crossing people would hand over the pirate head to Luo Shengdong, and let him take a few personal soldiers to return to Yazhou in the captured pirate Xiaoguang ship, and then repay the merit in the name of exterminating the pirates. As for the future plan, it depends on whether this first step can be implemented smoothly.

Although the matter has been decided, there are still many concrete things to be done to implement it. For example, after Luo Shengdong returned to Yazhou, how to keep in touch with him through the crowd was a big problem. Although the sea distance between Shengli Port and Yazhou is not too far, if the ship of this era encounters some wind and waves on the road, it will take two or three days to come and go. Of course, a high-tech gadget like a radio station can't be handed over to Luo Shengdong to use, but if you want to send a traverser who can use the radio to go to Yazhou with him, it seems to be too risky, who knows if this guy will change his mind as soon as he enters Yazhou City and arrest the traverser to ask for credit.

In the end, the Military Police Department came up with a proposal and sent a special task force to Yazhou on a catamaran to follow them, but did not sail into the mouth of the Ningyuan River, because that place already belonged to the jurisdiction of Yazhou Water Village. In addition to the crossers of various relevant departments, this special task force will also bring a few reliable local Ming people, whether it is to buy supplies locally, or send them to Yazhou to inquire about the news, or to contact Luo Shengdong, they can come in handy.

In addition to the head of the pirates, the executive committee also planned to hand over the most damaged Xiaoguang ship to Luo Shengdong to take back for repair, plus those captured pirate weapons, it is enough to prove that Luo Shengdong and his subordinates had a fierce battle with the pirates during this sea inspection, so that by the way, it can also explain the Ming soldiers killed in the battle and the "repairing" Haicang ship.

In the end, the executive committee gave Luo Shengdong a quota of six people, which was also the minimum number of people needed to drive the small boat. Luo Shengdong, who got the notice, almost jumped up with joy, and hurriedly went to the labor camp to pick out five cronies, and then the military police department escorted these people back to Victory Harbor before dark, and the bodies of those pirates have been parked for a day. Moreover, the matter of cutting off the head of a dead man is not done by any of the people, and this can only be done by Luo Shengdong, who is bent on making meritorious contributions, with his people.

The soldiers of the military police department, after providing lime and machetes, resolutely retreated far away. However, Luo Shengdong and several of his subordinates had a strong psychological endurance, and they picked up the machete and crackled for a while, cutting off all the more than 20 heads, and then immediately pickled them with lime. Someone brought in a few wooden crates from the pirate ship, and more than twenty heads were loaded with three full crates. After the incident, Luo Shengdong and his men dragged the headless corpses to a nearby hillside, where a large pit had been dug last night to bury them.

After burying these corpses, Luo Shengdong was so tired that he sat on the ground. I didn't sleep last night, and today I walked back and forth between the two bases, and then dragged the corpse and filled the pit, and he had exhausted all his body. Despite this, he was very excited in his heart, because he knew that he had made the right bet, and he would not suffer in vain for most of the month, and his promotion and fortune were close at hand.