1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 16 Despair ([-])

Cao Xiong held the monocular in his hand and looked at it for a long time, then sighed and put away the telescope.The ghosts of Zheng Zhilong's ship were still lingering. Last night, relying on the darkness, he thought he could get rid of their pursuit.But not long after dawn, in the thin mist in the distance, three Zheng Zhilong's ships still appeared.After discovering them, they stopped at the back three or four miles away, and fired a pyrotechnic bomb into the sky every hour, obviously calling the nearby Zheng's fleet.

After two days of fleeing at sea, the ships were separated and the personnel were exhausted.Last night, another Haicang boat got lost.A few days ago, there were more than a dozen boats and more than 700 fierce men, but now, there are only four boats and more than 300 brothers left. Most of them were lost, which can be described as a heavy loss.

Cao Xiong instructed the sailor and the watchman to pay attention to the surrounding situation, and if he found any enemy situation, he must run to inform him as soon as possible, then got off the bow and walked to the cabin.

As soon as he entered the cabin, there was a thick smell of blood, and nearly twenty wounded were lying on the floor, lined up in the cabin.Moaning, babbling, and a scream from time to time, as well as an unbearable swearing sound... It seems a little shocking and a little messy.

"Old ghost, Dalang...how is he?" Cao Xiong walked into the cabin, leaned down to check the injuries of his brothers one by one, and finally walked to the innermost, squatted on the ground, and looked down at the man lying on the ground.

"The situation is not very good....Although the injured arm was amputated yesterday, and the bleeding has stopped, he has been burning....Moreover, the wound has a tendency to fester..." A thin man in his 40s The man shook his head and said, "... As for whether he can survive it, it depends on his fate."

The injured person on the ground was Chen Dalang. When the ship broke through the siege that night, he was hit by the artillery of the Zheng's fleet, and the projectile flying at high speed broke his right hand at the elbow on the spot.A strong man with extraordinary martial arts looks so fragile in front of firearms.

Cao Xiong's brows furrowed even tighter. Chen Dalang was brought out by him from the Dengzhou navy a few years ago.Thinking of the three or four hundred brothers in the dozen or so boats that were lost last night made my heart ache even more.

"Liu Xiang, I'm fucking your ancestor!" Cao Xiong cursed in a low voice.He didn't have much hatred for Zheng Zhilong's side. Although all the damages were caused by the other side, it belonged to the war between the two armies after all. You can't blame others.Hateful that Liu Xiang, in the middle of the hard battle, suddenly turned and fled, putting them in an extremely dangerous situation.If he hadn't seen the opportunity early and broke through immediately, maybe all the brothers would have to explain it there and be surrounded and wiped out by the Zheng's fleet in one fell swoop.

"Master Cao, you have to find a way to find a place to rest. ... Otherwise, most of the injured brothers..." Old Gui Peng looked at the wounded on the floor anxiously. Navigating at sea was naturally an omission of conditions.Peng Laogui is the only doctor in Cao Xiong's department.In the past, he was just a veterinarian who looked at horses. Later, he occasionally treated people for trauma. Although his level was only two knives, for the pirates, he was the spiritual comfort of everyone and the hope of survival after being injured.

"...Find a place to rest, where can you rest?" It's easier said than done, the Zheng's fleet is chasing after them all the way, and there is no chance for you to breathe.Unless you drop Zheng Zhilong.But even if you fall, will you live?They are all from Denglai, Shandong Province, and I am afraid that most of them will not be tolerated by the Zheng clan, which is dominated by Fujian and Guangdong. They will either be slaughtered to vent their anger, or they will be sent to death as cannon fodder in the future.This thief, God, just won't give us a way to live.

Cao Xiong walked out of the cabin silently and looked up at the bright sun above his head.

Turning around and leaving the cabin, he came to the bottom cabin again, wanting to see how much food, fresh water and gunpowder projectiles were left on the ship.

"Mainland, how's it going?" Cao Xiong saw that Qi Tian was dressing the wound on Qi's back.

"Uncle." When the Qi brothers saw Cao Xiong coming over, they stood up to say hello.

"Mainland, are you drinking again?" Cao Xiong smelled a stench of alcohol, "If you're injured, don't drink!"

"Uncle, I didn't drink!" Qi Dalu said, "It was the fourth brother who took the wine to clean my wound."

"Huh?" Cao Xiong turned to look at Qi Tian, ​​"Why do you use wine to clean your wounds?"

"It can be disinfected to make the wound heal better." Qi Tian was surprised when he saw the deep blood on the back of the third brother's shoulder yesterday, but he just wrapped it with rotten linen.If this is tetanus, it will kill people.He tore off the third brother's wound, first gouged out the rotten flesh with a hot knife, then washed it with the inferior wine from the ship, then burned the knife red to cover the wound, and finally wrapped the wound with a clean cotton cloth.Today, he used wine to clean the wound of the third brother to avoid infection.

Cao Xiong heard Qi Tian briefly talk about the treatment measures for the wound, and after thinking about it carefully, Peng Laogui didn't seem to do it. Does the fourth child's method work?

"Third uncle, the Zheng family's boat is still behind? Let's rush over and take care of the three boats behind! We keep letting them follow. If we encounter the Zheng family's boat in front of us, we won't let it go. It's better!" Qi Dalu suddenly interjected, interrupting his thoughts.

When Cao Xiong heard Qi Dalu's words, his heart moved, but after thinking about it, he rejected this crazy decision.Three to three, looking at the same strength, but he knows that the battle on the battlefield cannot be compared so simply.Our side fought fiercely from last night, then scattered and broke through, and then fled all the way, not to mention no morale, just all kinds of gunpowder, food, drinking water shortage, and even a lot of damage to the ship.Even if the other party's three ships were killed, there would still be a few people left on his side.

Qi Dalu saw that his uncle shook his head and did not agree with his suggestion. He was about to continue to make a noise, but he saw Cao Xiong's cold eyes. Suddenly, Nie Nie did not dare to say more.

"Fourth, you did well yesterday." Cao Xiong said warmly to Qi Tian, ​​"At sea, it's not as comfortable as when you were at home in Dengzhou. In this world, we poor people rely on reading to make a living. First, we don't have the financial resources, and second, we don't have the backing. , it was very difficult. Now, in this situation, it is estimated that there is no hope. In the future, like your brothers, pick up the knife and save yourself a life! "

Qi Tian sighed in his heart. Indeed, in the late Ming Dynasty, ordinary scholars are really useless.The parents tried their best to get their young son to study, trying to get rid of the tragic fate of generations of military households.However, the reality is cruel, not to mention that his aptitude is mediocre, even if everyone in the family is able to support him, he cannot completely let him go to study easily.Three years ago, during the Dengzhou Rebellion, my uncle and several older brothers were involved in the Kong Youde rebellion.If it weren't for the defeat of the rebel army, Cao Xiong insisted on not surrendering to Hou Jin, and led many brothers out of Hainan to become pirates, and later gathered under Liu Xiang's command.Otherwise, at this time, everyone would have to be the same as Kong Youde, holding an ugly money rat tail behind his head, and become the servants of the Manchu master.

"Third child, are you sure the injury on your shoulder is not in the way?" After Cao Xiong finished speaking, he looked at Qi Dalu with concern.

"I'm fine!" Qi Dalu shook his arm and said in a sullen voice, "The fourth said that the wound is no longer infected, and after seven or eight days, when the new flesh grows, it will be the same as before.  … It's all right!"

"Did you learn how to deal with wounds in a private school?" Cao Xiong turned his head and asked Qi Tian, ​​"Can this method save lives?"

"Ah, yes... It's taught in books.... As long as the wound isn't too deadly, this treatment will prevent the wound from festering and infection, and the wounded should be able to live." Qi Tian said uncertainly.

"Come with me!" Cao Xiong stood up long, since the fourth said it was written in a book, that's for sure, the injured brother must be saved.

(End of this chapter)