Chapter 3, Twenty-seven Moments of Chongzhen's Four Years (3)

The third moment: the confused Long Aotian

November of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Taiwan Strait, Penghu Island

On the top floor of the Penghu Governor's Palace, there is a private bathroom attached to the Governor's bedroom

“…… Whoa—"

“…… The evening breeze blows lightly in Penghu Bay, the white waves chase the beach, there is no coconut grove drunk sunset, just a blue ......"

With the sound of flushing toilets, the new "leader of the thieves" and the "expatriate veteran", Zhang Wei, the governor of Penghu, walked out of the bathroom unkempt while humming a song, tying his trouser belt and wearing a pair of slippers. Next, he took out a wooden toothbrush from the bamboo tube hanging on the wall, and then dipped it in a "high-grade" tooth powder made from a mixture of shell powder, refined salt, gypsum, spices, herbal powder, etc., and then walked to the balcony with a porcelain cup filled with water, overlooking the Penghu scenery in the early morning, while brushing his teeth with foam.

- Blue sky, white clouds, blue sea, golden beach...... Under the morning light, the scenery of the Penghu Islands is as beautiful and moving as in the past......

In general, the Penghu archipelago consists of three main islands and a few strings of small islands. Among them, Penghu Island is the largest, followed by Xiyu and Baisha Township. Combined, the three islands are about 100 square kilometers, accounting for the largest area of the entire archipelago. The island is either bare basalt landforms, or crushed coral reefs, and the area covered by vegetation and soil adds up to only two or three percent, and there is naturally less land for human farming, but if you rely on the sea to eat the sea, change the dietary structure, and use marine fish as the staple food, then life can still go on.

Therefore, as early as the Song Dynasty, Penghu Island already had the wharf for Quanzhou fishermen to rest and repair the boat, although the Ming Dynasty was abandoned in the early years, but to Zhengde, Jiajing period, and gradually flourished again, to the Wanli period, there have been thousands of islanders living here. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the "sea giant" Li Dan brothers operated here, Penghu has been quite prosperous, not only rich in seafood, but also guarding the main road of the Taiwan Strait, is a good port leading to Taiwan and all parts of the South Seas, Li Dan was originally settled in Penghu Island, more than ten years of operation, has formed the appearance of a small town.

Since then, Zheng Zhilong has continued to defeat heroes from all walks of life on the sea, seize Penghu as the foundation, and then gather heroes on the sea to harass the coastal areas of Fujian. At the same time, Penghu was used as a hub to develop trade with Japan and the South Seas, so as to make huge profits, which made the island prosperous for a while. It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, and as Zheng Zhilong was appeased, he became a guerrilla general, and his grandiose clothes returned to Quanzhou. The Zheng family, who was originally entrenched in Penghu, also landed in southern Fujian one after another, bought real estate, built mansions and manors, and never returned, and the Penghu archipelago became desolate again.

Of course, among the maritime heroes who originally followed Zheng Zhilong to gather in Penghu, in addition to the vast majority of people who moved to the prosperous land of southern Fujian, there was also a stunned young man, whose name was Zhang Wei, who was still Zheng Zhilong's sworn brother - did not follow Zheng Zhilong to Quanzhou to enjoy the wealth, but before Zheng Zhilong was appeased, he went to Taiwan, a place where birds don't, to reclaim the wasteland and dig food from the soil...... When all the sea heroes enjoyed the drunken gold in Quanzhou and were satisfied in the center of singing, dancing and drinking, they occasionally felt sorry for Zhang Wei, a nerd who went to Taiwan.

To get back to the point, in any case, for the Zheng Zhilong Group, which has moved to the Zhongzuo Institute in Quanzhou, after taking control of the six places in southern Fujian, Penghu has almost become a dispensable place, and the garrison force is naturally very sparse and slack. Therefore, when Taiwan's Zhang Wei suddenly raised the anti-flag and united with the "Australian" fleet on Hainan Island to fight back to Penghu from Taiwan, he took this place bloodless with almost no effort.

——At that time, Zheng Zhilong had already been defeated in southern Fujian, and the whole army was annihilated. And the Penghu guards only have hundreds of old and weak soldiers with incomplete armaments under their hands, and they don't even have a single warship, and they are not the descendants of the Zheng family, but Zhang Wei's old acquaintances, how can they still have the heart to fight to the death?

Then, Zhang Wei became the governor of Penghu, and at the same time reluctantly accepted the reorganization of the Senate and gave up the troops and foundations of his descendants in Taiwan - this is not only the trend of the times, but also Zhang Wei's own half-push...... Because he really can't think of anything else, what else can he choose?

In fact, as a Long Aotian-style traverser who has always felt very good from himself, Zhang Wei also had some extraordinary ambitions at the beginning of the crossing, and when he was eating under Zheng Zhilong, he deliberately wanted to recruit celebrities in history and form his own team.

It's a pity that he came too early, and among the "Three Heroes of Taiwan" in the future, Liu Guoxuan and Feng Xifan have not yet been born. As for General Shi Lang, who pacified Taiwan and destroyed the Zheng family in the future, he was still just a few years old - I don't know if it was because the arrival of Zhang Wei and Huangshi changed the history of the late Ming Dynasty, not long after Zhang Wei took refuge in Zheng Zhilong, Shi Lang's father Shi Daxuan died in a naval conflict, which made Shi Lang an orphan at a young age in this time and space, and the Yiyu Jian'er who was originally gathered under his father's banner was also scattered, leaving only a few loyal old family members and a small boat...... The pirate gangs at the end of the Ming Dynasty were probably like this, if it was prosperous, I don't know how many people were eating in a pot, and things were a little unsmooth, everyone immediately dispersed, and there was absolutely no loyalty and cohesion at all. Zhang Wei took the opportunity to take advantage of his good popularity among the Penghu group of heroes, and tried to make a big deal of it, and finally took this little Zhengtai Shi Lang under his command, barely satisfying a little celebrity collecting habit......

Next, Zhang Wei "begged for hardship" in the laughter of the Penghu Qunhao, and did not do the maritime trade of making money every day, but took Shi Lang to Taiwan to reclaim the wasteland and farm, and by the way, he received some immigrants left by the two predecessors of Yan Siqi and Li Dan in the past (Yan Siqi and Li Dan, the two predecessors of the pirate industry, once migrated some displaced people from Fujian to Taiwan to reclaim the wasteland and farm, and wanted to open a sub-base, but after Zheng Zhilong took the throne, because the Zheng family returned to Fujian, So no one took care of the rudimentary sub-base that had just been built on the Taiwan side, and finally fell into the hands of the Dutch), and then complacently managed this territory of his own - with the foresight of the traverser and some subtle good luck, Zhang Wei soon reclaimed a large area of rice fields and sugarcane fields in Taiwan, and built small towns and cottages, as if they were all thriving.

However, only a year later, the situation changed drastically - after Zheng Zhilong swept southern Fujian with high spirits, he fought a big defeat in Xiapu in northern Fujian, and was beaten so badly by Huangshi, a famous general who had just been transferred from Liaodong, that he had to flee back to Penghu Island in disgrace, licking his wounds and preparing to fight again. Even Zhang Wei was extorted a lot of food and supplies, and even wanted to make Zheng Jiala Zhuang Ding in Taiwan...... For the above request, at this time, Zhang Wei, who had not completely broken away from the Zheng family group, had not yet gained a stable foothold in Taiwan and had no strength to refuse, so he had to knock out his teeth and swallow it in his stomach. To add insult to injury, the Dutch who colonized Taiwan also took the opportunity to force Zhang Wei to pay heavy taxes, making the previous prosperity come to naught.

Then, after collecting the achievements and legends of this Huangshi, Zhang Wei immediately had a terrifying judgment: this is definitely a traverser.

At the same time, Huang Shi and Huang Dashuai, who are on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, also keenly noticed Zhang Wei and his gang on the island of Taiwan......

As a Dragon Aotian-style traverser who has always felt excellent from himself, Zhang Wei immediately naturally regarded Huangshi as his biggest opponent. But Huangshi, the Fujian general soldier, is obviously not easy to deal with, the other party not only has a great record that terrifies the Eight Banners Force, as well as the strongest battlefield command ability in this era, but also has a modern infantry that can break the Jurchen Iron Cavalry with a spear array head-on, known as invincible in the world...... Fortunately, Huangshi's soldiers and horses could not cross the Taiwan Strait, so Zhang Wei still had time to think about countermeasures.

Next, with a batch of modern haberdashery that suddenly appeared on the market, as well as a secret letter written in Hanyu Pinyin sent by Huangshi, Zhang Wei finally realized in extreme frustration that he was not only not the only protagonist in this world, but not even the only two - Huangshi Huang Dashuai, the legendary hero who shocked Liaodong and killed Nurhachi, was actually just a pathfinder of a huge crossing group that was about to arrive in Lingao County, Qiongzhou

Zhang Wei really thought that Huangshi made a cameo appearance in Rambo, sneaked into Liaoyang alone and killed Nurhachi, and was almost scared to death by this person. ）

After a while, the spies sent in advance sent back the news from Lingao that there was really an incredible big iron ship coming...... So, after a long sigh, Zhang Wei had to put away Long Aotian's arrogance, and completely died of the idea of dominating the world: no way, if he was a Ming official, maybe he could also use the power of the imperial court to nip this crossing group in the bud - although this is difficult to do. But his identity at this time was just a small leader of pirates, a real "foreigner" and "evildoer", in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty government, I am afraid that he is even more annoying than the Mongolian Tatars, and there is nowhere to borrow if he wants to borrow power. And the traverser group on the Lingao side is not only well-prepared and has strong comprehensive strength, but also has the Fujian General Soldier Huangshi, the No. 1 ghost in the sky - it is conceivable that the government of the Ming Dynasty will choose to trust Huangshi or choose to trust itself?

(Regarding the fact that Huangshi was attacked and excluded by the Donglin Party because he was once attached to the eunuch party, Zhang Wei was not very clear as an outsider at that time.) ）

Zheng Zhilong? Not to mention that at this time, he Zhang Wei has gradually revealed his intention to break away from the Zheng family, and it is impossible to continue to gain Zheng Zhilong's trust. Even if Zheng Zhilong has the intention to eliminate the Lingao Crossing Crowd, and there are still a group of old opponents such as Liu Xiang, Li Qikui, and Zhu Cailao around him who have not yet been eliminated, it is impossible for the Zheng family fleet to leave the Minhai Sea and expedition to Qiongzhou, otherwise it will be tantamount to exposing his weakness and letting an old enemy stab him

As for Zhang Wei's own strength in Taiwan, it is even more not. In total, there are only 5,000 people, more than 300 soldiers, and six sea ships - one of which belongs to Shi Lang, and two of which belong to He Bin and Guo Huaiyi, the early immigrants of Taiwan, and they are all merchant ships, not war ships. There were only two or three firearms, and the soldiers had never had any decent experience in large-scale combat. Due to the expropriation of the Dutch and Zheng Zhilong, Zhang Wei's finances were barely enough to maintain the status quo, and for the time being, he could not come up with more money to recruit displaced people in Fujian and Guangdong...... It is conceivable that in the next time, if he can't get rid of the shackles on his head, it will be difficult for his strength to expand significantly.

Therefore, as a person who is still rational enough, Zhang Wei thought about it in Taiwan, and finally decided to restrain Long Aotian-style arrogance, and from then on he fell low and became small, and took refuge in the traverser group in Lingao County, Hainan Island, which was called "the thief (short thief)" by the scholars of the Ming Dynasty...... At the same time, relying on his own foundation in Taiwan and his connections in Fujian as a bargaining chip, he tried to win a better treatment as much as possible.

In the end, after some bargaining, for the sake of the same traverser, Zhang Wei finally got the title of a senator, and basically successfully integrated into the collective - under Huangshi's strong insistence, the Lingao Traverser Senate had already given him several henchmen such as He Dingyuan, Jin Qiude, Zhao Slowxiong, Zhang Zaidi, etc., and also won the qualification of "alternate senator" (enjoy the treatment of the senator, such as the division of maids, but without the power of the senator). Since even the natives of this time and space can be the patriarchs, there is naturally no reason to turn away Zhang Wei, who is also from modern times.

In this way, Zhang Wei was disheartened and gave up the small private group he ran in Taiwan, forgot about the Wang Tu hegemony he had once fantasized, and integrated into the large group of the Lingao Traveler Senate. Although the loss is not small, the gain is also a lot, the main thing is to live a comfortable life that is more similar to that of modern people - for example, he finally used coconut oil soap again, smoked cigarettes, and lit a relatively bright kerosene lamp......

Of course, even with the current strength of the Lingao Senate, it is far from being able to replicate the daily life of the 21st century, and many things can only be made into some specious imitations, such as the use of tooth powder instead of toothpaste, and the odd taste of candy. But for Zhang Wei, having these is already very pleasant. In particular, the white porcelain toilet in his bedroom bathroom made him feel so moved: it would be difficult for anyone who had not experienced the poor hygiene of the seventeenth century to understand his feelings.

Hey, no matter what, even if it is the protagonist of the traverser, not everyone can be called the emperor and the king, after all, there is only one throne of the emperor Lao'er. I remember that in those urban or officialdom novels, if the protagonist can be the CEO of a large company, a famous director, or the secretary of the county party committee, he can already be regarded as a winner in Long Aotian-style life. He is now also a prince of Penghu, and he is at least a leader at the level of the secretary of the county party committee in later generations, no matter how you look at this kind of life, it can be regarded as a very successful life, not to mention that there is a chance to continue to climb up in the future...... Zhang Wei comforted himself so in his heart.

After carefully brushing his teeth, washing his face again, and tidying up his appearance slightly in the mirror, Zhang Weicai walked down the stairs and went to the restaurant for breakfast. The white tablecloth table is already lined with delicate cutlery and hearty food: porridge with preserved eggs and lean pork, steamed dumplings with bean paste, fragrant grilled salted fish, and small bottles of pepper to accompany the meal. Whether it is a plate, a rice bowl or a spoon, it is all bone china fired in the porcelain kiln of the Lingao Senate, on which the "national emblem" of the Senate is uniformly fired: the gear wheat ears under the wings of the golden double-headed eagle and the "holy ship" pattern.

Shi Lang, who lived in the governor's palace with Zhang Wei, had been eating for a while, and next to him was being given his armed belt and combat boots by his orderly, who was actually an old cronie who had served the Shi family for several generations. I saw the middle-aged man sitting on a small bench, carefully oiling Shi Lang's little boots, and using the powder made from broken tiles to polish the metal parts on the armor belt, trying to make them look shiny.

- This year's Shi Lang is only ten years old, although his life has been changed repeatedly, but in general he is still a very naïve little boy, very fond of all kinds of fresh and exquisite utensils: after receiving the "general version" of the boy scout uniform specially ordered for him by the Lingao Senate, Shi Lang was fascinated by this exquisite and powerful luxury uniform, and he had to wear this dazzling outfit every day, and swaggered through the streets and docks of Penghu.

Zhang Wei greeted Shi Lang very casually, and was about to sit down to eat, but he heard Shi Lang ask, "...... Uncle Zhang, in two days, you will sail to Liaodong with the fleet, and follow that Huang Dashuai to Dongjiang Town to shelter the homeless? ”

“…… yes, how? Do you want to follow along and see the scenery of the north? Zhang Wei asked casually while drinking preserved egg and lean pork porridge.

“…… I didn't hear that Liaodong is very cold right now, and it can freeze people's noses" The chubby little Zhengtai Shi Lang hurriedly shook his head again and again, "...... I just think it's not cost-effective, there are a lot of displaced people in Fujian, why do you have to go all the way to Liaodong to get the population? It's so expensive."

——When Zhang Wei was engaged in reclamation in Taiwan before, he did not avoid Shi Lang in calculating various income expenses, and he also instructed him in a little arithmetic when he was free.

“…… There's no way, those people are old acquaintances of Huang Dashuai, and the travel expenses will be a little more expensive, anyway, it's not for us to pay."

Zhang Wei dealt with it with a haha, and Shi Lang did not continue to dwell on this issue, just quickly finished the last few bites of breakfast, hummed "March of the Warship" and slipped off the table, ran to the cat nest next to the windowsill, and teased a little flower cat that he had just gotten yesterday.

In fact, in Zhang Wei's heart, he was also very dissatisfied with Huangshi's insistence on sending ships north to contain the soldiers and civilians in Dongjiang Town. The main problem is not that the shipping distance is long and the cost is too high - in this era when the population is the war potential, it is nothing to be able to obtain hundreds of thousands of people at one time, and it is nothing to spend more, anyway, it is just a matter of selling more "Australian goods" to Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

But the problem is that behind Dongjiang Town, there is also a scheming town in Dengzhou, Shandong, and this northern armed group, which was also pulled up by the traversers, seems to have a very unfriendly attitude towards these southern forces. It's hard to say whether Huangshi would have been attacked from behind by the Dengzhou Township Water Camp when he was recruiting refugees in Dongjiang Town—although certainly not an opponent of the Senate fleet, it was more or less a nuisance.

Moreover, although Huangshi once had a great reputation in Liaodong and the generals returned to their hearts, it was a few years ago after all. As the saying goes, people go to tea and cool, and now Huangshi has erected a banner in Liaodong, and it may not have such extraordinary appeal as in the past...... Of course, since Huangshi Huang Dashuai insisted on going to Liaodong for a while, and got the collective vote of the Senate, he Zhang Wei naturally had to sacrifice his life to accompany the gentleman. Besides, even if things don't go well, at least it won't be very dangerous - neither Dengju Town, nor the Later Jin Army, nor the Koreans will be able to defeat the steam warships of the Lingao Senate.

Thinking about it like this, Zhang Wei hastily finished breakfast, wiped his mouth, and began to habitually smoke "a cigarette after dinner" - the cigarettes produced in the Lingao Senate are divided into several brands, the most high-end is called "Holy Boat Brand", the middle range is "Bairentan", and then "Gaoshan Ridge", the cheapest low-grade cigarette is "mass production", but whether it is high-end cigarettes or low-grade cigarettes, Zhang Wei's feeling of smoking is the same: the tobacco of water chestnuts is always falling down, After a few puffs, you have to burn your fingers to avoid burning your lips when the cigarette is about to burn out. He had to use a hollow tube made of bamboo, wood or cardboard, or a cigarette holder, to attach to the cigarette roll to smoke. But no matter how uncomfortable these shoddy cigarettes were, at least they were slightly stronger than the dry tobacco pouches of this era, and Zhang Wei could only reluctantly smoke them.

However, recently Zhang Wei has a new choice: "Wen Dengxiang" from the mysterious town of Dengzhou, Shandong...... Zhang Wei took out a cigarette from the hard paper cigarette box of "Wen Dengxiang" with a complicated expression, compared with Lingao's cigarettes, Shandong's "Wendengxiang" already has a filter, and it is claimed to be soaked with more than ten kinds of herbs, even including the aphrodisiac aphrodisiac of the sea dog whip So, Zhang Wei hesitated for a long time, and finally put away this box of "Wendengxiang" and did not dare to smoke: for the ingredients of "Wendengxiang", after all, he is not as knowledgeable as Lingao's cigarettes, God knows what is added to this filter, What if the people in Shandong have a very low temperament and use opium in order to make the buyer addicted?

However, just as Zhang Wei took out a "Holy Boat Cigarette" from another cardboard box and was about to light it, the herald hurriedly broke in and disturbed his foggy Yaxing, "...... Report to the Governor, there is an express telegram from the central government"

Zhang Wei frowned and took the telegram and looked at it, the expression on his face suddenly changed unpredictably, and after a long time, he explained to Shi Lang's little chubby dun who came over curiously, "...... The plan to go to Liaodong was urgently canceled, and Uncle Zhang didn't have to go to the ice and snow in the north to freeze this time."

“…… Oh? Is that so? Sounds great, but why? Shi Lang asked curiously.

“…… Because Australians are coming to Qiongzhou, we all have to be ready to welcome them" For some reason, Zhang Wei was obviously a little stubborn when he said this.

“…… Australian? Uncle Zhang, aren't you, Huang Dashuai, and those uncles and aunts in Qiongzhou all Australians? Shi Lang was even more puzzled.

——In order to explain their origin and identity to the natives of the Ming Dynasty in this time and space, the group of people who traveled through Lingao in Qiongzhou called themselves "Australians" to the outside world, and also drummed up a set of sayings that "the remnants of the Great Song Dynasty were scattered in the sea after the death of the country, and they were in Australia and then established a state". Zhang Wei, who was also a traverser, naturally had to pinch his nose and call himself an "Australian" after joining Lingaozhong: although at the time of his crossing, it was estimated that there were only kangaroos, koalas and aborigines with stone tools on the Australian side...... But the situation is different in Australia now......

I remembered that at the end of last year, when Lingao received a radio signal from Australia for the first time, the entire Senate was shocked, panicked and shaken...... Zhang Wei couldn't help but want to grin: Should this be said to be Li Kui meeting Li Kui? Or is it true when it's true?

- Although the group of traversers entrenched in Australia at the moment may not be able to claim to be "Australians" with confidence......

“…… It's not us guys who have been sent outside a long time ago, it's the big officials from Australia who are coming, and they have to drive a big, big iron ship over," Zhang Wei thought for a while, and said in words that Shi Lang could understand, "...... When the time comes, let's go see the excitement together, okay? ”

“…… Big iron ship? Is there a holy ship that is as big as the one on the heights? Shi Lang blinked and continued to ask.

“…… It should be bigger than the iron ship in Lingao, maybe a few kangaroos will be brought to open our eyes - it is the kind of giant rat that stands taller than a human and is very powerful in boxing and wrestling......" Zhang Wei casually said nonsense, but at the same time silently lamented in his heart: The days since this crossing have really been like a heartbeat game, and the noise is so noisy that people can't stand it

- If even Zhang Wei, a guy who spends his days leisurely in the sun on the beach, feels that this day is like a heartbeat game. So on the distant battlefield of Liaoxi, a certain darling of the original era, the lord of destiny, was about to be stimulated by various heartbeat games to the point of heart attack.

“…… What the? The walled city of Ningguta was burned down by a group of big iron birds? What the hell are you talking about? ”

“…… Everything the Great Khan's servants said was the truth," looked at the furious Huang Taiji, and a certain Jurchen general replied tremblingly.

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