open sea

Chapter 658 Armor Clothes
Guangzhou Mansion, Hao Mirror.

As the customs tax brought daily heavy loads to the imperial court, the period of barbaric growth passed, and the small island of Haojing inevitably fell into the mundane tasks of receiving officials at all levels.

Most of the powerful generals of the Nanyang Ministries have their homes and mansions here, either returning home or transiting along the way. Outlying islands and entering Hong Kong are all warship troops. Which one of the local officials should not serve them? Think carefully?
In the past, there were many Fanships and few Mingships. Since the imperial court took the lion country of Malacca, customs were added there, and most of the Fanships only stopped at Malacca. The price of mirrors has been suppressed by a large number of Ming merchants, and the profits are not as high as in the early years. Except for rare objects, the transportation of ordinary things such as cotton from Malacca to Haojing has been controlled by Ming merchants.

When Yin Zhengmao was first promoted to Minister of the West, there were officials in Guangcheng discussing matters and wanting to go to the imperial court to promote Haojing as a county. People laughed and said that today Haojing does not need to be a county at all, it only needs a customs, not even a yamen. In addition, it is enough to add a post house dedicated to reception.

For this matter, all Nanyang and Western generals have been impeached before. Gao Gong took the lead in writing a letter of defense - the traditional southernmost border is Haojing.

On the south side of the island, a battleship with a picture of Kunpeng going out to sea is engraved on the prow. The warship carrying grain and horses approached Haojing. Although, the battleship has no forecastle but has a stern building. There are two smooth grooves on both sides of the much higher stern building, which are nearly ten feet long. The grooves protrude from the hull with four upper and lower wooden frames. Live in two zhang-long boats on the left and right.

At this time, as the warship slowly docked on the coast, the wooden frame was retracted into the ship, and the four small boats were lowered one after another. The sailors and the grain horse boats with a shallower draft approached the shore together. The sailors who landed first led their horses ashore from the shallow water bank. , Stepped on the huge stone steps and ran straight to the commercial city, waving a small flag to stop the guard of honor that had been displayed in the square yamen with the "avoidance of silence card".

Not far from the landing port, the Baihu Banner Army belonging to Haojing was standing in line holding guns, and they recognized the ship.

This ship is one of the few battleships in the Nanyang Military Mansion that can be named clearly. Since the ship was built and launched, it is the ship of Shao Tingda, the commander of Luzon. It has participated in the large and small naval battles since the establishment of the Nanyang Military Mansion. When it comes to every battle, you will be hurt, and every battle will hurt your enemy.

It was towed back to the port by the army three times from the abandoned state, and each time it took more wood and man-hours to repair than a new warship.

In the first repair, the ship changed from a [-]-material shark ship to a [-]-material shark ship; in the second repair, it changed from [-] material to [-] material, known as a thousand-material battleship; Become a ship of the thousand materials.

The guns on the ship are getting heavier and the boards are getting thicker each time, and the name, place of origin, life history and portraits of the dead sailors are ritually etched on the thin steel plate hammered by Su Gang every time they are repaired. Inlaid on both sides of the gun windows on the ship's side, General Mang called this the spirit armor.

Shao Tingda is greatly influenced by Chen Mu, and often tries to look down on the things of this era from the long river of history. Although he does not have the ability of a prophet like Chen Mu, he stubbornly hopes that future generations will have the opportunity to know about them He had fought bloody battles on the seas of the world, so even though the keel of the battleship Baigu was cracked when he landed, he did not abandon the ship.

He would rather dismantle the old ship and make new ones. In fact, this ship is no longer the warship it was at the beginning. It has been almost changed from the inside to the outside, but he must make this ship the same ship.

So far, there are 34 pieces of spiritual armor on this ship. In Luzon Sanwei, all the fleets are influenced by him, and they all agree and start to use this method to commemorate the death of the robe. Changmeng swore that if two strands of hair were cut off, even if the body was buried in the belly after death, one strand of severed hair would be buried in the countryside, and the other strand of hair would be forged into steel, and the soul would be used as a scull to give Paoze the last asylum.

Wearing a bear-patterned breastplate, the adopted son of the general, who is ill, hangs a pistol dagger on his waist and holds a long-handled anchor axe. He leads a team of relatives to stand upright on the unique black sand beach in Haojing. disembark.

Last year, Chen Mu got his son Chen Hailong. Shao Tingda asked the storyteller Shi Qi to name his adoptive son. Because the sick child was promoted to a thousand households with military achievements, he couldn't even have a name, so he named him Bianjiao and encouraged him to enter the sea and become a dragon. Big picture.

This time, they are really going to enter the sea, the biggest sea in the world.

Shao Tingda, wearing a silver-scaled helmet, is wearing a scarlet lion official robe, with a painted lion breastplate on the outside of the robe, gold-scale armbands around his hands, and a scale skirt underneath. He wears a pair of short soap boots with cowhide soles. Waving iron greaves with lion's head and cloud pattern on the periphery of the row, he stepped off the boat majesticly, looked around, and frowned slightly as he stood on the beach as two rows of island guards, but his brows relaxed in a blink of an eye. , when the horse took the first step onto the boulder steps in Haojing Nangang, a knowing smile appeared on his face.

He still remembered that these stones were originally intended to be built by Buddhist monks, but his elder brother got them to be the stepping stones of the black sand beach.

At the end of Jushi Road, Lou Qimai, who was called General Iron by Guangdong Nanyang, was walking towards him. Even though he was wearing a sandalwood mask covering his face, Shao Tingda could still recognize him at a glance.

Many of the Nanyang Army wore iron masks, but they were mostly used in combat. The only one who wore sandalwood masks on weekdays to not show his face was the Iron General, who used firecrackers to destroy his face in his early years.

Aside from his fierce face, he is often assigned to scare people's work, but his heart is not evil.

In the distance, Lou Qimai stood and cupped his hands, the cheekbones behind the mask were slightly pulled upwards, showing a smile, but he spoke in a low voice through the mask, and said: "From now on, Nanyang will not have you as a tiger and a storyteller. It's up!"

"The storyteller hasn't come back yet. He's picking up a boat to transport rice to the west of Malacca. I'll wait for him for a few days before we set off together. But speaking of it, you've longeded for us to leave, right?" Shao Tingda waved his hand to make the sick child change Jiao followed Lou Qimai's entourage, Wu Bian, and walked slowly side by side with Lou Qimai. He made a gesture and took a step back, cupped his hands and said: "As soon as we order, you General Tie and Lao Huang will be promoted to the official position in a blink of an eye. , divided into Fujian and Guangdu Division, Lou Dudu!"

"I am the commander of Guangdong. The chief officer of the Guangdong Guards drills, and is only on the same level; Lao Huang is the one who is on the rise. The Xia family in Fuzhou has already attacked Fujian. He used to be the commander and acquaintance. From the second rank, How majestic! But we are content!"

Lou Qimai said that Shao Tingda raised a finger, and said slowly: "The most correct thing Lou has done in his life is to be stupid when he should be stupid, and honestly let go of the gun! Otherwise, he will direct the matter now." ? Heh, I don’t know where I was buried as a flag soldier.”

Shao Tingda knew that Lou Qimai was referring to the blunderbuss that blasted his own face. Back then, the situation was critical against the Japanese. Several bludgeoners fled, rushed forward despite orders, and were killed by the Japanese jumping and slashing. Only Lou Qimai was punished by the military law, so he was one of the five small banners under Chen Mu's command.

Naturally, because of that blunderbuss, there is today's Commander with the surname Lou.

Without waiting for Shao Tingda to say anything, Lou Qimai waved his hand and said, "It just so happens that you are coming back this day, you came from Shenglong, those who came back from Baigu and Luzon, and Lao Fu who has been in Guangzhou, it is rare to get together. Before I leave, I will have a good time with the banquet... I really want to go with you!"

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)