When I woke up, it was already a red sun shining in front of the window.

Shouhan stretched his waist in satisfaction, and when he looked at his face, he saw an intoxicating greasy white inlaid with a little red. He thought hard, but he couldn't remember the name of this orchid, these people's names are longer than a piece of cloth! Forget it, don't think about it! Just go back and let Xiuzhu name them again! He found a reason for himself in his heart. He patted the snow-skinned jade buttocks of the Tianzhu orchid and motioned for her to get up and call for someone to come in and serve.

Looking at the orchid's stumbling footsteps, Shouhan couldn't help but be secretly proud, "Lao Tzu's body is still good!" ”

It has been two days since I returned to the General's Mansion in Hue, and I got along with several wives, and I wanted to hand over the public food accumulated in the past month, but I sadly found that several women were either pregnant and wanted to avoid this matter; Either he came to the monthly letter, and he couldn't talk to him. So, several wives chose a few of the orchids to serve in the mansion and sent them to the study to serve, so that Shouhan could feast on them.

A few maids followed the strange tone of the orchid, holding copper basins, towels, soap and other things with hot water in their hands. First, he used an ivory comb to comb the hair of the Shouhan, carefully grate it with a grate, pin it with a golden hairpin, and then rinse his mouth and change his clothes.

An errand on duty outside stood under the porch and asked, "Master, do you have breakfast by yourself or with your wives?" ”

"Have they used it?"

"Back to the master, several wives are useless, they are all waiting for the master."

"It's good! Let's eat together! ”

The messenger on duty turned around and was about to deliver the message, but was called back by the guard.

"Come back. Sue sù you in charge, add a seat for one. ”

Through the bamboo curtain, watching the messenger in the bamboo cloth robe trotting all the way to pass the word, Shouhan turned to look at the orchid, "Hurry up and freshen up and put on makeup, and I'll take you to breakfast later!" ”

The mother-in-law who was waiting for grooming whispered in Shouhan's ear, "This girl, will the master stay or not?" ”

The so-called stay or not refers to how to dispose of the seeds sprinkled by Shouhan on this Tianzhu land. If you say you stay, then you don't care about him. Go with the flow. If they don't stay, then these mothers-in-law in the inner house naturally have a way to wash and clean up the seeds from the land.

Looking at the orchid's faintly flushed cheeks, I remembered last night's amorous and madness. Shouhan said casually. "Keep it! Can the house be worse than this one?! ”

The solar term entered July. It was already very hot, and even though it was morning, it felt humid and muggy. Breakfast. It was placed on the long pavilion in the lake in the garden.

"There is water under the bridge, and the bridge deck is cool." The breeze brought a little bit of Orentherm, which made people feel much more relaxed.

I ate two bowls of fragrant japonica rice porridge with side dishes, and ate two pieces of dim sum from Daoxiang Village, and couldn't help but praise Shouhan twice, "The craftsmanship and mind of these masters are getting more and more ingenious, and they have used all the cocoa." ”

Only the orchid who was cultivated by the guards last night just lowered her head, with a low-handed attitude, and kept adding porridge to several wives and aunts.

"I've rested enough, and it's time to go to work in a while." Shouhan put down the bowl in his hand and smiled a little self-deprecatingly, "When I was outside, a person could eat such a pot, but when I returned home, I could only eat two bowls." Alas! It's a cheap life! ”

"If the master is cheap, then what should we do?" The fourth wife, Xiu Zhu, saw that this would be in a good mood, so she helped to make fun.

"Huh! You guys? Didn't Mencius say that the Qi people had a wife and a concubine? Shouhan smiled evilly, "I don't have more than one wife and one concubine." ”

What kind of wife and concubine, the orchid didn't understand, but I saw a few women who were high in the house on weekdays all with red faces, and they were about to fight with a small pink fist.

"Phew! Take your own pickles, and there is no one like you! What's that guy?! Can I compare to you?! ”

"Qi people have a wife and a concubine" is from "Mencius" "Lilou Chapter Sentences". The orchid didn't understand, but the five women in front of her did.

"The Qi people have a wife and a concubine and live in the room. If his beloved comes out, he will eat wine and meat, and then he will turn back. and his wife shall be rich and noble when he asks what he eats and drinks. His wife told his concubine: "If a lover comes out, he will eat wine and meat, and then turn back, and ask him and those who eat and drink, and he will be rich and rich." and no one who is evident comes. I will □ the place of my beloved. "Flea rises, give from the beloved, there is no one to talk to in the whole country, and the sacrifice of the Dongguo □, beggar, insufficient, and take care of him: this is the way to be satisfied. When his wife returned, she told her concubine: "Those who are good will look up to them for life." If this is the case! "Crying with his concubine and his beloved, and weeping in the atrium. And the beloved person did not know it, and Shi Shi came from outside, arrogant of his wife and concubine. From the gentleman's point of view, the reason why people seek wealth and wealth is that their wives and concubines are not ashamed and do not cry each other. ”

After reciting some of the original texts, Li Muhua squinted and glanced at Shouhan, "You don't want to sue me, you have gone out to fight in the past few years, conquered the city, and asked for it from others?" Not only did they ask for Hue City, but they also asked for Thang Long City, Champa City, Lao Kingdom, and by the way, they also asked for two beautiful sisters in Ayutthaya of Siam. ”

"Yes! I'm going to talk to them! I went with tens of thousands of men, lined up hundreds of large and small cannons under the city, and cried out to the defenders of the city, 'I beg you, surrender!' I don't want to kill! Then they opened the city and surrendered! ”

"Haha! It turns out that you used such a trick under the city of Ayutthaya that day? Mei Shan also began to tease.

"Of course, otherwise where would I go to find such a beautiful and bewitching two mothers-in-law?!"

Seeing Mei Shan get up and wave her pink fist to fight, Shouhan hurriedly held it gently, "Slow down, don't flash your waist, it's not good to move the fetus." ”

Shouhan gently helped Mei Shan to sit firmly, and explained to Yan Mei'er, who was sitting next to him.

"Mei'er, you and the two of them have my flesh and blood on your body, you must be careful, and someone must follow you. At least four people. In addition, from today, a new rule has been established in the prefecture, and the monthly money will be doubled during pregnancy and breastfeeding. ”

"But," he continued, "in the future, whoever you have children will be, including you. Shouhan pointed to the Tianzhu orchid who couldn't even remember the name, "I was born and passed the age of one year." He was to be sent to his wife to raise him. Do you understand?! ”

As soon as these words came out, the five women immediately reacted differently, some were shocked, and some were completely fine. There are those with happy faces. Numerous. And so on.

Leaving a group of women there with their own concerns, Shouhan came to his signing room. Here, Li Peilin, Chen Tianhua and others have been waiting for a long time.

"All brought?"

"I've brought them all."

Pei Lin returned the sword seal, arrows and other items. They began to report on the military and political situation of the past month one by one.

"You can let go of the others first, what is the situation of combat readiness in the various camps?"

"Besides, the newly cast cannons are also on the battery?"

Although Shouhan has been out for more than a month, and he has been working hard in the house for the past two days, he does not dare to slack off on his own one-third of an acre.

The two glanced at each other, exchanged glances, and Pei Lin spoke as the person who responded.

"You have been at sea to Ryukyu since May of this year, and there are some things in Ryukyu that you have not had time to ask you for. The Dutch are only afraid that they will fight with Zheng Zhilong! ”

"! The Battle of Liuluo Bay, this is coming?! ”

Shouhan scolded in his heart.

The cause of this war is to put it mildly, in order to exclusively occupy trade with China, the Dutch East India Company issued an order prohibiting the Spaniards from intervening in trade with China in order to monopolize trade with China, taking advantage of the heat of war in Europe.

The Dutch-appointed governor of Formosa, Putmans, led eleven ships, including the flagship Fort Middle, the Chinese junk ship, and 50 pirate ships, to harass China's southeast coast in an attempt to force the Ming court to sign a treaty of trade exclusivity with the Dutch.

In July 1633, Putmans led a fleet of thirteen Dutch warships led by the flagship of Fort Middle, attacked Nanao, Xiamen and other places, and took advantage of the emptiness of the above-mentioned areas to burn and sink 15 ships on the Chinese side (Zheng Jun 10, Ming Court 5), and landed on the shore to "plunder". After the initial purpose of the sneak attack was achieved, the Dutch were repelled by the Zheng family's army, but cruising in the nearby waters with sea power posed a great danger to Xiamen Bay, the foundation of the Zheng family, and at the same time forced the ships passing through the waters near Jinxia to pay high transit taxes to the Dutch to make up for military expenses, and at the same time, threatened the nearby villages, asking the villagers to supply the Dutch pigs and cattle and other non-staple food, and at the same time sent a letter to the Fujian governor Yamen, asking the Chinese side to open up trade.

However, in the face of the Dutch's proposal that the Chinese side immediately stop trade with Spain, Portugal, and other countries, and that they could only trade with the Dutch, otherwise the war would start again. The reply given by the Chinese side was that the Dutch should first compensate for the war losses and return them to the generals, and then it would be possible to negotiate commercial issues.

The gap between the two sides is simply too far away. Therefore, what you can't get at the negotiating table, you have to get through the guò cannon.

Putsman began further military operations. First, he attacked Xiamen, and was attacked by the Ming army commanded by the guerrilla Zhang Yongchan stationed here and Xiong Rulin of Tong'an Zhi County, killing more than a dozen Dutch soldiers. The sailors pursued to the outer ocean, but due to the unfavorable wind direction, they failed to meet the enemy after two days and nights. The defeated Dutch army cruised on the sea for more than 20 days, and did not dare to attack Xiamen again, so he turned to peep into Haicheng from Liuluo Bay, and Liang Zhaoyang of Haicheng Zhi County led his troops to cross Kinmen Huyu at night, attacked the Dutch army, burned three of its boats, and captured five.

After the Battle of Huyu, the two sides entered a strange period of strategic calm, the Dutch did not dare to attack rashly because of successive losses, and the local officials in Fujian were also waiting for the imperial court's opinion on the handling of this conflict, which was obviously not a trivial fight, so throughout the typhoon gap in August and September, the two sides only maintained a small range of contact, and each other was waiting and accumulating strength.

During this period, Zheng Zhilong sent Zheng Zhibao to Hue to purchase military supplies. From the mouth of the leopard, Li Peilin also heard some front-line situations.

"My brother's intention was to give the red-haired rebels of the Dayuan a trade route and allow them to trade from the Dayuan to Fujian. Unexpectedly, this group of traitors was not greedy enough, and they actually took the opportunity of our army to go out to suppress bandits. Large-scale sneak attack on my Kinmen and Xiamen fundamentals! ”

mentioned the sneak attack that day, Zheng Zhibao was a little angry, but also a little proud. In that sneak attack, ten of Zheng Zhilong's ships were burned, and five of Zhang Yongchan's ships were also burned. Zheng Zhilong's dozens of ships repairing and replenishing in the bay of the fleet parked in Xiamen were all exposed to the guns of Dutch tulips!

"What a blessing in misfortune!" Zheng Zhibao put down the teacup in his hand and let out a long sigh of relief.

On the same day, Princemann led the Dutch fleet to attack Xiamen, and victory was already in sight, and after destroying and sinking 15 warships of the Zheng family and the Ming army, he was about to expand the victory. In one go, the dozens of Zheng family fleets anchored in the harbor were all sunk. The fort on Huli Hill began to wield.

The eighteen-pounder cannon was pouring shells into the Dutch fleet at sea on the still-incomplete battery, and the Zheng army, which had been a little flustered by the surprise attack, was given a precious respite to reorganize under the leadership of officers and assistants at all levels. Launch a counterattack on the ships of the Dutch.

"The cannons, wrought iron, and burnt ash that your army sold us that day. We used stones, ashes, and iron bars to follow the instructions of your gentlemen. In conjunction with the construction of the Hulishan Fort with Sanhe clay and granite, some of my brother's men made iron bars from wrought iron and laid them on the granite floor of the fort. Iron wheels were installed under the gun carriage, so that each cannon could move back and forth on the rails, and one cannon could be used for several cannons! The cannon fired from the Huli Hill Fort pierced a Dutch plywood boat with a single shot, giving the Dutch a blow to the attack! My brother and the shipowners rushed back to Xiamen after the war, and listened to the brothers below talk about the situation that day, and they were full of praise for the 18-pounder cannon of the Nanzhong Army! ”

"Zhibao came this time, in addition to thanking the brothers of the Southern Central Army for their help, there are other things that I want to trouble everyone in the Southern Central Army."

Although it repelled the attack of the Dutch, however, the Zheng army also suffered heavy losses, ten large ships were destroyed by the Dutch, and five ships under the command of Zhang Yongsan, a guerrilla of the Ming army, were also sunk, such a loss is something that Zheng Zhilong has never had since he led the army alone. So, this field must be recovered!

If this field can't be recovered, how will it be mixed at sea in the future? Wasn't the golden sign of the jade dragon smashed?! This golden route between Japan and the mainland is about to be ceded to this group of stinky Dutchmen!

After listening to Pei Lin's relays about Zheng Zhibao's coming to Nanzhong, Shouhan finally had a more intuitive understanding of the war that took place in the coastal areas of Fujian, "What else did he say?" ”

Listening to him, Zheng Zhilong is now gathering all his people and horses, and at the same time issued the highest level of mobilization order, and all the heroes who have had contacts and cooperation with the Zheng family have been summoned to the Jinxia sea area, Baozhu Island, Shrimp Island, Hongyu Island, Jingtai Island in the northwest, Xiangyu, Zhongyu, Gousheng Island, Huyu Island Group in the northeast (this island group has been connected with Xiamen Island and become Dongdu Port Area and Xiangyu Free Trade Zone, which has become a historical term. Huozhuoyu, Datuyu, Xiaotuyu and Baituyu islands in the middle; The southern Monkey Island, Lantau Island, Gulangyu Island Group, and the islands of Tong'an Bay are all like clouds. ”

"However, although there are many ships, but there is not enough artillery, gunpowder and other materials, he came to Nanzhong this time to propose to us to buy at least 100 large Franc machines, 2,000 barrels of gunpowder, and 1,000 guns. so that they would not be short of money when they fought the Dutch. In addition, he also wanted to purchase four more 18-pounder cannons to guard Gulangyu Island and other islands near Xiamen. ”

"You're damn it! It takes so many guns and gunpowder in one breath, this Zheng Zhilong is really rich! "Shouhan couldn't help but secretly calculate in his heart, a hundred large Furlong machines cost 800,000 silver dollars, two thousand barrels of gunpowder cost 4,000 silver dollars, and a thousand guns are also 50,000 silver dollars!" This arms sale is indeed a good deal! ”

Pei Lin smiled bitterly and handed over a stack of letters and contracts and other documents, "Lord, just look at this." ”

"What?"

With doubts, Shouhan took the stack of texts.

The letter was written by Zheng Zhilong to Shouhan, and the general content was to be polite, thanking Shouhan for selling him wrought iron and other things very righteously last time, and praising the excellent performance of the weapons of the Nanzhong Army, "quite loved by all the soldiers and soldiers", and the next words were to hope that Shouhan could continue to fight righteously and sell it to him, no, to be precise, buy him the above-mentioned weapons and gunpowder on credit.

There are two reasons: one is that the Dutch fleet haunts the sea from time to time, and they dare not bring large sums of gold and silver to Nanzhong, for fear that if they lose, a situation of heavy capital will be formed against the enemy; second, that is, now that a big war is imminent, there are a lot of expenses for rewarding military salaries everywhere, and the resources are quite scarce, and I hope that the Nanzhong army can understand.

Accompanying the letter was an IOU written by Zheng Zhilong himself, and his Five Tiger Guerrilla General Seal and private seal were used.

"Owe me a million dollars?! This one is happy, anyway, they owe money, so they simply owe more! ”

"It's not a white wolf with empty gloves," Pei Lin has been with Shouhan for a long time, and he is comfortable with many words, and he feels that this word is a very appropriate description of the situation of trading with Zheng Jiajun.

"Although Zhibao did not bring any money, he left behind five hundred sailors, who knew that our army's sailors were always understaffed, so they used this as collateral. When they said that they would send money after the war, they would go back. ”

In addition to the above-mentioned artillery, muskets, and gunpowder, Zheng Zhibao also carried thousands of funeral guns and knives.

These things will be fully used in the battle of Liaoluo Bay in the near future.

"Alright, let's discuss how we should clean up the red-haired rebels!"

Shouhan ordered the IOU to be put away. (To be continued......)