1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 72 Revisiting the Old Place
On May 1627, 5, the first day of April in the seventh year of the Ming Dynasty.

At about 10 o'clock in the morning, the Yulinjiao Outpost sent an alert to the No. [-] base and the nearby training camp, saying that a sailboat was approaching Shengli Harbor from the direction of Luhuitoujiao.But only [-] minutes later, the alarm was lifted before the militiamen had assembled, because the sentry had already seen Luo Shengdong standing at the bow of the ship through the binoculars.

Luo Shengdong stood straight at the bow of the ship, looking at the approaching Victory Port, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion in his heart.Forty days ago, he was defeated and captured here, and became a hard labor of the Haihan people, thinking that he would never have a bright future. 20 days ago, he successfully persuaded the Haihan people to let him go back to the water village in Yazhou, and escaped by chance.Four days ago, the commendation order issued by Qiongzhou Fucheng had been sent to Shuizhai, and Luo Shengdong was promoted to the originally vacant post of general manager as he wished.In this short period of more than a month, Luo Shengdong was thrown down by fate, and then sent to the top of the wave. The ups and downs were so fast that he couldn't believe it.

But there is no doubt about one thing, Luo Shengdong is very clear that it is these mysterious Haihan people who have turned his fate, and if nothing else, whether his future career will be smooth or not will also be affected by them. Influence, even if I regret it now, I am afraid I will not be able to get off this pirate ship.Although I vaguely feel that my actions are a bit unworthy of the trust of the emperor and the Ministry of War, but it benefits my family a lot, and the latter seems to be more practical.

After Luo Shengdong returned home, he did not hide the experience of these days from his father, but said it all, hoping to get some pointers from his father.His father, who had been fighting all his life and finally only managed to become a hundred bosses, thought for a long time after listening to it, and then said a word to him: "Since you know the Haihan people so well, then think about it carefully, instead of being an enemy, instead of being a friend, Which option is more beneficial to you."

This choice is not too difficult for Luo Shengdong. Instead of being friends, Luo Shengdong can continuously get money from Haihan. This is something that several leaders of the Haihan people have made clear, and there is no need to doubt their sincerity. .In the future, if pirates invade the Victory Harbor area, or even Yazhou, the Haihan people promise to take action. At that time, they will have their share of the military exploits.

Instead of being an enemy, Luo Shengdong's back began to break out in cold sweat at the thought of this thought.How my subordinates were easily killed by the Haihan people without any power to fight back, and how I was captured and put into hard labor for more than 20 days, I still vividly remember.Sometimes when he woke up, Luo Shengdong even had the illusion that he was still locked in the stinky iron cabin.Moreover, when he released himself back to Yazhou a few days ago, that Chief Tao said harsh words. If we meet again on the battlefield next time, no prisoner will say anything. Done right.

That being the case, let's cooperate well with the Haihan people!As long as he sticks close to these Haihan people, Luo Shengdong believes that even if he doesn't make much progress in his career, at least he can become a rich man.The last time I accompanied the Haihan people to two commercial firms to negotiate, Luo Shengdong watched the whole process. He had never seen those exquisite items before, and the Haihan people made hundreds of taels of silver in just one day. The speed at which he makes money is also amazing to him.You must know that there are hundreds of people in the entire Yazhou water village, and the total annual military salary is less than 2000 taels of silver.The Haihan people are so good at making money, it's no wonder they are willing to spend tens of thousands of jin of refined iron to build that strange iron boat.

When driving into the harbor, Luo Shengdong heard a loud bang from the coast on the right, and he squatted down subconsciously - such a loud noise can only be made by artillery!

After a long time, Luo Shengdong slowly stuck his head out from the side of the boat and looked towards the shore. He saw a group of people pushing two black cannons on the sandbar on the right.Luo Shengdong rubbed his eyes vigorously, and once again made sure that he was not mistaken—that is, two cannons. When Luo Shengdong went to Qiongzhou Fucheng to participate in the exercise, he had seen similar Hongyi artillery.

Perhaps it was because the omnipotence of the crowd left Luo Shengdong's psychological imprint. After seeing this scene, the first thought that popped into his mind was not where the Haihan people got the guns, but these people. You can even make guns!
They can build strange ships that don't need sails, have sharp firing guns, and now even have cannons with huge lethality. Luo Shengdong has no doubt that if these Haihan people want to take Yazhou Water Village or even Yazhou City, I am afraid it is not difficult.Luo Shengdong didn't understand why these people were so aggressive but they didn't attack nearby towns, but at least the existing peace would not be broken in a short time - otherwise, they wouldn't have to spend money to buy a house in Yazhou City.

When the boat docked at the dock, Luo Shengdong noticed that some migrant workers on the shore were carrying baskets of stones, and several hills had been piled up not far away.There are also a large number of logs stacked next to them. These woods have obviously been processed. Not only have the bark been stripped, but also the length and thickness are the same.Some of the logs were also sharpened, apparently for piling.

"This is about to repair the wharf..." As a navy general, Luo Shengdong naturally saw the purpose of these building materials piled here at a glance.

"Don't stop, you lazy pig! If you slow down like this, you won't want to eat your next meal!"

Luo Shengdong's attention was attracted by the shouting from the construction site. He turned to look and saw a small man kicking a migrant worker's ass.The man seemed to sense Luo Shengdong's gaze, and turned his head to look at him.

Luo Shengdong immediately recognized this man. He was one of the pirates who were captured last time. This guy is said to be a warrior among the Japanese pirates. He had some prestige among those pirates. .If he hadn't been afraid of the rules of the labor camp, Luo Shengdong would have tried to clean him up several times. It seems that after returning to Yazhou, this guy had already seized the opportunity to get out of the way and replaced himself in the labor camp. Location.

"Bah! Japanese pirates!" Luo Shengdong spat bitterly.But his voice is not small, and everyone near the pier probably heard it.

"Humph! The general of the defeated army!" Gao Qiaonan, who has been studying Chinese hard recently, also threw a mockery without showing weakness.He naturally recognized Luo Shengdong. From his point of view, this incompetent general of the Ming army only got his seat as the leader of the labor camp because of flattery. If it weren't for the magnanimity of the executive committee, this guy would have Should be in a labor camp until death.

The two stared at each other from the air, both posing as if they were going to do something if they didn't speak a word.

"Luo Shengdong, why can't you get along with people as soon as you come back?"

As soon as he heard this voice, Luo Shengdong was instantly jolted. He hurried down to the pier in three and two steps, and respectfully clasped his fists and saluted, "I haven't seen you for a long time, sir, how have you been?"

It was Ren Liang who came. As Luo Shengdong's former immediate boss, he was also a little surprised by Luo Shengdong's respectful attitude now, and he couldn't help thinking to himself: "This guy has only been under my command for more than 20 days. Put it back, and now he is still acting so docile, how much psychological shadow did I cause him back then?"

"Gao Qiaonan, you've seen it before, and now I'm in charge of helping me manage the labor camp. You can get closer in the future." Ren Liang pretended to be unaware of the contradiction between the two.

In front of Ren Liang, Luo Shengdong didn't dare to make a fool of himself, but he wouldn't bow his head to Gao Qiaonan because of this, he just clenched his fists slightly as a courtesy.Gao Qiaonan also bent slightly and made a bowing motion, but the range of motion was less than one-tenth of when he bowed to Ren Liang.

"Sir Ren, is this about to build a wharf?" Luo Shengdong didn't want to entangle Gao Qiaonan too much, so he quickly changed the subject.

Ren Dianguang nodded and said: "Yes, there will soon be merchants from Yazhou, Qiongzhou and even Guangzhou to come here to trade with us. We must build a bigger wharf. The main part of the upstream dam project is almost completed. I will transfer the people from the labor camp here to prepare for the construction of the wharf. By the way, if you can appear here at this time, if I guess correctly, it should be a promotion, right?"

Luo Shengdong straightened his body unconsciously, and said with a proud face: "Luckily, Luo did not disgrace his life. He was promoted to the leader of the water village the day before yesterday. At present, he is in charge of the Yazhou water village and dispatches ships on his own. Manpower."

"Congratulations!" Ren Liang said with a smile: "Now that the merit has been established, and the official has also been promoted, you will not forget what conditions you promised us at the beginning, right?"

"How dare Luo Mou forget each other!" Luo Shengdong quickly put away his reserve, and said respectfully: "I came here this time, in addition to buying some coal, saltpeter, tung oil, cloth and other items in Yazhou according to the request of Chief Tao. In addition, on the grounds of repairing the ship, they transferred 17 people from five families of shipwrights under the water village, and now they are on the ship. You only need to be responsible for their daily food and lodging. As for the time limit, it doesn’t matter. Make arrangements at the village."

"Oh? This is good news. Wait a minute, I'll notify the shipyard to come and lead someone." Ren Liang found out his PHS, called Sun Changmi, and asked him to come as soon as possible after telling the whole story. Lead people here at the pier.

"There are only seventeen people, is it too few?" Ren Liang suddenly remembered this question after hanging up the phone, and couldn't help but ask Luo Shengdong.

Luo Shengdong thought that Ren Liang felt that he was incompetent, and quickly explained: "Sir Ren, there are very few people in Yazhou who are engaged in the position of boatmen, and there are only ten boatmen in my water village, who are in charge of warships. The daily repairs. Now that you have transferred five households to your side, I have done my best."

"So that's it..." Ren Dangliang nodded in approval of Luo Shengdong's statement, and waved to Gao Qiaonan: "Taoqiao, let them stop moving stones, and unload the cargo from this ship first!"

"Yes!" Gao Qiaonan raised his chest and raised his head in response, then stared at Luo Shengdong with provocative eyes before turning around and leaving to organize people to carry out Ren Liang's order.

"This dwarf dwarf..." Luo Shengdong grumbled angrily, but he also had to admit that this guy seemed to be doing better than he was in his current position, at least he wasn't in the face of the chief executive before. Saw this look of admiration.

"It must be that I did not meet the boss in the right way before, and I have to practice hard in the future." Luo Shengdong couldn't help but have a strange thought.

(End of this chapter)