open sea

Chapter 418
"Are you going back?"

The Battle of Guam made Lin Manjue, the previously unknown General Manager, a sweet pastry for the generals to show their favor. Whether it was Deng Zilong who discovered him earlier, or his direct boss Chen Lin, they didn't mind recording meritorious deeds. Much appreciated.

However, when Chen Lin led his army to cut off Guam's backup route by sea, and divided his troops into five posts by land, he rushed to the island. When he saw this fierce general under his command, he asked him what he wanted, Lin Manjue said that he wanted to go home .

Take all his men, dead or alive, home.

"Lin San'er, the imperial court won the battle of Guam. Your first-level merits are worthless. The singular merits and the first merits alone are enough for your subordinates to be promoted." Chen Lin frowned. He is Lin Manjue's old boss, and he is still Directly under the immediate superior, said: "You have made great achievements, and now you want to return to Pingyuan?"

"Sit down and talk."

The mansion where Chen Lin lived used to belong to the merchants of the Spanish royal family. It was specially repaired for this voyage. It was requisitioned by Major Mendoza some time ago. Now everything on the island belongs to the Ming army, and this mansion is no exception.

He looked at the religious painting on the ceiling, lowered his eyes and said to Lin Manjue: "Don't you know about Guangdong? Guangdong and Guangxi have fought over the years. There are many military officers and few positions. Let me just say you are Chaozhou. If I remember correctly, Chaozhou Wei There are no vacancies for commanders and generals, just last year, the hereditary officials of Chaozhou Wei who had no place to ask the general to intercede on his behalf had three thousand households and two commanders."

"Don't you want to go back to Pingyuan and continue to be the head of the township brave thousand? It depends on people's faces? The township brave militia, to Mo Chaoyu as a general of military strategy and to lead the military affairs of the Seven Departments, is already extremely meritorious, but isn't it just a fifth rank? In all fairness , your meritorious service is more than enough to be awarded to thousands of households in Guangdong, not to mention the fifth-rank martial arts generals, even the martial arts generals and the generals of the martial arts festival are enough."

Chen Lin said with both arms on the table, feeling a little awkward to speak like this, then moved the chair, got up and paced the room, raised his finger to the map that the Spaniards used to hang on the wall, and said: "Northeast of Guam, this map On the four islands, the fleet is going to explore the road and chase down the fugitives; there is an island named New Guinea more than [-] miles south of Guam, and the journey is far away and no ships have been sent to explore.”

"Whether this picture is true or not, the land of Guam will be guarded in the future. This is Chen Shuai's plan before the war started. He operated the route to the east. In terms of his familiarity with the island and his ability to prepare for invaders alone, so The general is willing to recommend you as the commander."

"A third-rank military officer in the Ming Dynasty, a big man makes great achievements, isn't it just for the honor of adding his wife and children to honor his parents and honor his ancestors?"

There are some things that even Chen Lin can't decide, but he must help Lin Manjue's official promotion.

When he needed a group of dead men to go to an isolated overseas island, he assigned Lin Manjue, a group of lowly Xiangyongs, to carry out the mission of narrowly escaped death. It was he who chose to let these people die.

Now that their battered survivors saw him again, he must give them a place worthy of the adventure.

Lin Manjue, who once lived with tens of thousands of enemy troops on an isolated island without the slightest timidity, seemed awkward when facing Chen Lin alone, especially when Chen Lin's restraint was almost aggressive. start.

But when he raised his head, his face was still firm and stubborn, and he saluted and said: "The commander-in-chief loves you, Lin San'er knows it well, it's just that the humble job must go back."

"More than [-] juniors who went to war with humble positions died in battle. Lin can't ask others to send a few taels of silver to his family to pay for his life."

Chen Lin was silent.

War is never beautiful, never romantic, maybe the winner will have the chance to be promoted, but those death lists handed over to the generals will never go back.

This made Chen Lin appreciate Lin Manjue even more. Few people, very few people can face the parents, wives and children of the subordinates who died in battle. It is common for generals and survivors to hold a banquet to celebrate the promotion of officials, while cronies hold silver plates They went door to door and were beaten and scolded.

A general who can do this is actually a qualified general, and more people will even waste money on pensions.

Lin Manjue knew the cruelty of war better than anyone else. In the jungle of Guam, they attacked the enemy army several times their own, and cleaned the battlefield over and over again to ensure that no one was left alive. Neither guns nor artillery caused the most casualties to his subordinates.

Almost no one was shot to death by a musket. Those unfortunate men who were shot generally died in the next few days. They still had knives and spears. After the lower abdomen was cut open by the knife, the subordinates lay on the ground calling for father and mother, and their intestines came out, but they couldn't hold them with one hand.

But it's not scary, as long as you start fighting, it's only a matter of life or death for a while, and nothing is scary if you go crazy and get red-eyed.

It would be terrible not to fight.

They were drifting at sea without food and water. Everyone knew that they would die, but they didn't know when.

In those days, Lin Manjue didn't dare to count his subordinates in the morning, let alone go into the sailor's cabin. He didn't know where he would see the subordinate who had stabbed a dagger into his chest on the couch the night before.

He just watched silently. Every few days, there would be boats carrying fresh corpses to the coffin ship.

At that time, even if there was only the slightest possibility, as long as he could kill everyone on the island, no matter what the price was - he was willing.

The only reason for him to survive and continue to fight is to go home, and what he fears most is going home.

The elders in the hometown, the white-haired old man asked him for a son, and the bride with cloud hair asked him for a husband.

Compassion does not command soldiers, and they can still lead soldiers after going through all this. They may not have a hard heart, but whether they face it or escape, they have to bear more than others.

Chen Lin couldn't say anything to keep him, he said for half a year.

"Chen has allowed your department to return to your hometown for half a year, and you are still in charge of the general position. The reward for the Nanyang leader has not yet been determined, but you will be allowed to get back all the war profits handed in by your department. You will also approve a pension from Chen Shuai and send it to you as soon as possible. Pingyuan."

Chen Lin shook his head. He didn't want to make this decision anymore, so he simply said to Lin Manjue: "As for whether you will stay or not, although Chen doesn't want to make things difficult for others, but... I will write a letter to Luzon, and ask Shuai Chen to make a decision."

After finishing speaking, Chen Lin sat back on the chair again, stroked the table with his fingers, looked up from bottom to top at the middle-aged general manager with a beard and ax on his waist, and said: "In the past six months, you should think clearly, Chen sent I hope you can hold an important position, we will continue to fight, and Pao Ze will continue to fight to the death."

"Because the shroud of horse leather is the glory of our warriors, the spirits of those fallen soldiers have only nostalgia and no complaints in their hearts."

"But let the thief have the only chance of glory in this life, even if the situation is desperate, show the fortitude, and lead his subordinates to survive-" Chen Lin faced Lin Manjue's face, "It is the duty of the school."

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)