The two armies of Ming and Western on the front line of the gorge in the eastern part of Acapulco were still facing each other, and the adventurers who sailed from the Ming Dynasty docked in Acapulco, stirring up the drums of the shore defense.

Chen Mu looked at the harbor from the second-floor balcony of the white-walled and orange-tiled Western-style port yamen, four ships slowly entered the port and docked under the guidance of the patrol militia, and nearly 200 people carried their bags and ended their long wandering with a blank expression.

The so-called shore patrol militia is a young and strong group assembled by the aborigines of the port village under the Lijia system, each one hundred and ten households is one li, there are ten households long, and the remaining 100 households are named Jiashou.

In normal times, there is an incumbent lieutenant in the first mile who leads ten leaders to serve as errand officers; When it comes to wartime, all the people are soldiers, and the ten lieutenant chiefs of one mile are all on duty, each leading ten first-class leaders, and one household is out of one ding, defending the township.

In terms of establishment, Chen Mu did not copy the Lijia system in the early Ming Dynasty, and on this basis, a small flag Beiyang Flag Army was added every ten miles, called the Li Instructor Team.

The instructor team is separated from the county government establishment, and teaches the people in the middle of the country to practice war, spread education, and manage public order; During the war, each flag army was temporarily promoted to the militia small flag officer, the lieutenant chief served as the deputy flag, and the former instructor Xiaoqi served as the duty officer, commanding 1,000 militia under the control of the county order, shouldering the duties of patrolling, reassuring the people, and guarding the palace.

Now is the wartime, there are more than 2,000 households in the port village, and there are more than 2,000 militiamen, most of these people have not received military training, both Chen Mu and themselves know that they have no ability to fight the Westerners.

The reason for setting up such an establishment is only to appease the hearts of the people, to embolden the aborigines, and to prevent people with good intentions from taking advantage of this opportunity to cause chaos.

It didn't take long for an instructor with his right arm bandaged on his chest to come to the port yamen, and was about to sign up for the flag army when he was stopped by Chen Mu on the balcony upstairs, and simply reported to Chen Mu: "Dashuai, it is four businessmen and their entourage from Shandong, as well as craftsmen and farmers who came by boat, and two teaching gentlemen, who can't live in the local area and come to beg for a living. ”

"The four ships are all sea vessels built in Linxin, Shandong, but they ...... There were many armors, swords, spears, and bows on board. ”

Chen Mu recognized this flag army that now belongs to the instructor team, and now when the troops are used, the flag army that can fight is stationed here even if they are not on the front line, and those who can be sent to the county government are all injured neither lightly nor seriously, it is difficult to say whether they are lucky or unlucky.

Let's say it's unfortunate, no matter how serious it is, you can't go to the battlefield anymore and even die, but you can say you're lucky, and you have to at least take care of your monthly injuries to be able to move freely.

"Soldiers? You wait below. ”

Chen Mu walked down the small building quickly, and then asked carefully, "What's the matter?" ”

If you can say it clearly, you don't need this flag army to come over to report, it is because he can't make up his mind that he came over, and said: "The armor can arm more than 30 people, most of them are Japanese armor, but they don't look like the Japanese people, brought here by the 100 households who are old in Majiagang, and the small one can't ask anything, he wants to get permission to pay homage to the marshal." ”

The so-called old man is a bear, and there is only one of the 100 households in Majiagang for the elderly, Chen Mu naturally has some impressions in his mind, and said: "It's a hundred households with a scar on their faces surnamed Zhou, right?" That's a veteran, you don't have to let him come, go, come with me to see what's going on with him. ”

Knowing that it was someone brought by Zhou Baihu from Majiagang, Chen Mu had a lot less doubts in his heart, and he was also very relieved, so he simply walked towards the port gate.

The so-called gate is just the language habit of the Ming people, and the port has nothing to do with it and no gate, but there are two small towers next to the trestle that can station a small flag army.

The instructor team has tried their best to guard against these people on the shore, and at the moment there are less than 200 guards around, and nearly 400 militiamen have gathered around, and there are banner troops in the distance with reinforcements.

In Chen Mu's opinion, the two small flags stationed in the port tower were enough to guard against them, and even if there was any problem, the twenty-two well-equipped Beiyang flag troops could completely fight as one when facing an enemy without armor.

The militia wore a single shirt and a spear, some wore a sweatshirt and held a long bow, some were barefoot and pressed the waist knife, and some were wearing the standard clothing and armor of the Ming army or the chain mail of the Western army.

However, these people were not in a hurry, some sat in place to rest, and some boldly took a large number of surroundings, after all, they were not enemies themselves, and the few who were afraid in their eyes were most likely not good people themselves before crossing the sea, and several such people in the crowd lowered their heads for fear that others would find out about them.

But in fact, in Chen Mu's opinion, this kind of appearance of wanting to cover up is what makes them appear from the crowd at a glance.

Afraid of what?

At the front, there was Zhou Junan, who was wearing the armor of the elite soldiers of the Liaodong Army and wearing a Beiyang helmet, holding a bear and standing with a knife, what was there to fear?

Chen Mu's personal soldiers opened the way, and the militia on both sides who were clamoring for their courage were immediately silenced, and each salute flashed a path, most of the people here have not yet learned all the Chinese, but the actions of the military salute are learned very quickly.

Seeing Chen Mu walking out of the crowd, Zhou Junan, who was sweating profusely in the tropical cold zone armor, was quite flattered, and the color of the scars on his face seemed to be more red, and he hurriedly bowed down and said: "Humble Zhou Junan, meet the handsome!" ”

Chen Mu was only halfway through the action of raising his hand, when he saw Zhou Junan turn his head and whispered to the bear soldier he was leading: "Lame salute!" ”

Zhou Cripple looked a little stronger than Chen Mu when he was in Majiagang, the salient feature was that the Liaodong helmet with a helmet gun was already smaller, like a melon skin hat buckled crookedly on the bear's head, as if he could understand Zhou Junan's words, he lifted the two front paws high and put them on the ground, the bear's head was a little bit, and the helmet fell to the ground, and everyone couldn't help laughing.

But although Zhou Cripple is still cute at this time, no one dares to underestimate it, from a small thing to a big guy, and now it weighs more than 100 pounds, and can easily knock people down from behind - no one will forget that this is a fierce beast.

Chen Mu smiled, this week Jun'an is also interesting, named the bear Zhou Cripple, he raised his hand and then finished what he didn't finish, and said: "Get up, the Beiyang Army doesn't pay respects, what's going on with these Shandong people?" ”

Zhou Jun'an got up, and there was a flag army behind him to put on a helmet for Zhou Cripple, he turned his head to look at the people on the shore, with a little pity on his face, he turned around and hugged his fists and said: "Last year, it was cold in Shandong, the counties were covered with snow for several feet, the doors were blocked, the livestock froze to death, and the people froze to death, and the fields could not be cultivated and the people could not eat. ”

"At a time when a merchant craftsman Wang Chaozuo built a sea ship to go to Asia to do business, there was an endless stream of people boarding the ship."

The abnormal climate in this era is already common for Chen Mu, Guangdong can be all icy, let alone Shandong, he raised his eyes to look at those people, and slowly asked: "Does the government have disaster relief?" ”

"Yes, it is said that His Majesty transferred 400,000 stone rice grains from Beijing to Shandong in the winter of last year, in case of this year's spring cold and heavy snow, peaches and plums are no flowers, yes, and also assigned Beiyang recruiting officers to Shandong, this year's Beiyang Army is only allowed to recruit Shandong soldiers, and the whole family is fed when one person is recruited."

And this operation?

Chen Mu frowned and smiled, he never thought that Beiyang military recruitment would also become the emperor's means of disaster relief, but think about it, in a disaster year, the ladder-style generous military salary of the Beiyang Banner Army is indeed enough to feed a family, and it is more than enough to feed a family with many Dingkou.

"The idea of mixing the local military sources has failed, but this is not a bad thing, since ancient times, there are many righteous soldiers, what is the matter with the Japanese soldiers on their ships?"

Zhou Junan heard Chen Mu ask this, suddenly paused, and then smiled.