Lin Furong, a Minzhuang who was about to go to Nanyang, was originally a native of Zhao'an, and when the Ming army attacked Zhao'an, he was recruited as a Minzhuang by the county order to assist in defending the city. Later, Chengpo was captured, and the Ming army originally planned to take him back to Xiamen, but he was an only grandson, his father and brother had been killed in battle, and his grandmother begged bitterly, so the Ming general Wang Xinyu took him back to Xiamen with his grandmother.

After coming to Xiamen, he lived with his grandmother. But he found that he didn't need to take care of his grandmother at all, and there were many family members in the camp where they lived, and those women would come to his "home" to help when they had nothing to do on weekdays. And Lin Furong was fortunate to be favored by a young woman in the Minzhuang camp, and under the supervision of his grandmother and the woman's father, the two got married.

The "home" in the Minzhuang camp was very small, just a small stone house, and what they had to do every day was to go to the beach to catch some fish, and if there were people who needed to repair boats, repair docks, or build houses, the Ming army would ask them to work. Lin Furong has been to various places on Xiamen Island during this time, and of course he is working. The food at home is also provided by the Ming army, and everyone has two or three taels of rice every day, and the other staple foods are sweet potatoes, as well as a little vegetables and small fish and shrimp.

Although life is not easy, at least it will not starve to death.

I think of the days in my hometown, when the Qing court imposed a sea ban, and the people within 15 miles were forcibly relocated, resulting in the land in the Zhao'an area being very crowded, and the peasants could not even pay taxes for what they planted, let alone feed their families. And every time the Ming army came, although they would collect grain, the Ming army would leave them with enough rations. In addition, the Ming army would also take some hungry people, alleviating the local land scarcity.

When you get here, you don't have to worry that your family will starve to death, these Ming troops are still very good to the people.

The camp is surrounded by a wooden fence and is quite large. In the camp, the captives built their own small stone houses, and those with families had separate rooms, while the bachelors lived with other people.

Compared with the local villagers of Zhao'an who willingly followed the Ming army to Xiamen, the lives of these captives were certainly not as good as those people. Most of the villagers who came to Xiamen were originally fishermen, and they were given fishing boats, which they could go to sea to fish to subsidize their families, and the Ming army also provided them with food for free.

But Lin Furong is already very satisfied with his treatment, he is a prisoner, not a citizen who came voluntarily, and it is already very good that a prisoner can have such treatment.

Just some time ago, an officer named Luo Xiang came to the Minzhuang camp and announced to those Minzhuang that if you want to go overseas to open up wasteland, please sign up! Gone over there, everyone reclaimed as much wasteland as they wanted! As long as the taxes are paid, the rest of the harvest is completely at their own disposal, and if they can't eat it, the Ming army will spend money to buy it. As for the family, the Ming army will take care of them for a period of time, provide them with food, and when they earn money overseas in the future, they can take their family out.

The conditions sound very good, but to be far away from home, there are not many people who are willing to take the initiative to sign up, Lin Furong felt that since he was married, he had to let his grandmother and wife live better, so he took the initiative to sign up.

However, because of the Chinese's love affair, Luo Xiang simply did not recruit four hundred people, so he had to use the method of drawing lots to force the decision.

In the end, 400 people were finally recruited.

Looking at the rice seeds, wheat seeds, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peanuts and other seeds sent to him by the officers and soldiers, as well as two calves, five piglets, and dozens of chickens and ducks, Lin Furong felt that his decision was correct. Because the officers and soldiers told him that not everyone has cows and pigs, these are breeding cattle and breeding pigs, because for the sake of his own registration, these animals will be handed over to him. And the rest, only through the lottery, lucky will be assigned to the animal.

The officers and soldiers also told him that the animals raised were raised and could be sold to other people, so that Lin Furong would have money in the future.

"General Wang is a kind man! In the future, our Lin family will make a fortune, we must thank General Wang well! Grandma said to Lin Furong, "Rong'er, you can rest assured!" The old man is here, with his granddaughter-in-law to take care of, and the Ming army will give us food. ”

The other people, in addition to those who took the initiative to sign up, those who were selected by lottery looked at these people who took the initiative to sign up with envy, they can have cattle and pigs, which means that the starting point of those who took the initiative to sign up is much higher than that of these people who were drawn by lot.

Someone went to the Ming army and demanded that it was unfair that he was not assigned cows and pigs.

Luo Xiang told those people: "You didn't take the initiative to sign up at the beginning!" And there is not much that our ship can hold, it is impossible for everyone to allocate so much! Later, we may ship another batch of pigs and cows! ”

Lin Furong looked down on those people and felt that they were unwilling to take the initiative to sign up, and now that they saw that others were beneficial, they went to ask the Ming Army again. Why can't you be self-conscious in the first place?

Next, something that made Lin Furong even happier happened:

Luo Xiang announced that Lin Furong was the head of the village, and after arriving overseas, he would be the head of a village. Four hundred people will be divided into four villages, and one village will have a hundred people. Each village chief is also required to conduct military training and distribute weapons. In addition, each village chief can also choose ten people from among the villagers to be his own escort.

Lin Furong was given a pair of bows and arrows, a waist knife and a set of armor. Obviously, Lin Furong didn't know that if he went there, he might have a war with the local savages in the future, and he thought that these weapons were for him to use against those disobedient villagers. In fact, when they arrived on Luzon in the future, the village chiefs also needed to organize military training for each villager to defend against possible incoming savages. It's just that Luo Xiang didn't tell those people that there were wild people on Luzon, so as not to be frightened and not dare to go to Luzon.

Originally, the Ming army planned to distribute a bird gun to Lin Furong, but Lin Furong said that he could shoot arrows, so the officers and soldiers assigned him a pair of bows and arrows.

"Grandma, my grandson is leaving tomorrow! I don't know when I'll be able to make money and take you out. On the last day before departure, Lin Furong reluctantly said goodbye to his family.

His wife comforted: "Ah Rong, you can rest assured!" Grandma, here's me! You hurry up and make more money, and take us there in the future. ”

At this moment, someone outside shouted: "General Wang has arrived!" ”

All the people in the camp were boiling, and everyone walked out of their huts one after another, knelt on the side of the road, and greeted Wang Xinyu.

"Rise up, everybody!" Wang Xinyu waved his hand.

At this time, Lin Furong was very happy to find that Wang Xinyu actually walked over to his "home"!

"It's the man from this family, the first one to take the initiative to sign up?" Wang Xinyu asked his own soldier Luo Xiang.

"Lord Hui, it's this family!" Luo Xiang pointed to the room with a big red banner hanging at the door.

Wang Xinyu nodded: "Let's go, let's go over and have a look!" ”

Seeing Wang Xinyu walking to the door of his "home", Lin Furong's family hurriedly knelt down.

"Grandma, get up!" Wang Xinyu was very unaccustomed to the old man kneeling down for himself, so he hurriedly helped the old man up.

The old grandmother burst into tears: "My lord, you come here in person, there is nothing to entertain at the grass people's house, I am afraid that I will neglect the adults." ”

"Grandma, your grandson is the first to sign up to open up overseas wastelands, and he will go down in history! In the future, he will be a hero of my Chinese nation! He deserves a visit from General Ben! Wang Xinyu said.

Walking into Lin Furong's "home", Wang Xinyu inquired about the situation, and then said to Luo Xiang: "Lin Furong is the first to sign up, he is a meritorious person, and his family still lives in such a dilapidated place?" Hurry up and make arrangements to find a better house for their family! ”

"No!" Luo Xiang retreated.

"Thank you, sir!" Lin Furong's family knelt down to thank them.

Wang Xinyu helped them up: "Lin Furong, go over there, the things to pay attention to, the general's personal soldiers have already explained!" When you get there, you can open up the wasteland in peace! Your grandma and wife, we'll help take care of it! You were the first to go, and more and more people went later, and those of you who went early in the future will be the local gentry over there! But remember, if you don't work hard, the people who come after you can outweigh you at any time! If you can't satisfy the officer, then the officer can take back the treatment to your family at any time! ”

Hearing that they could get ahead overseas, Lin Furong's family was naturally very excited.

After Wang Xinyu and his party left, the grandmother said to her grandson: "Rong'er! You'll have to do your best in the future! Sooner rather than later! This is not only a reward for Lord Wang, but also for our Lin family to get ahead! ”

At this time, Lin Furong's wife also felt that she was marrying the right person, and she believed that Lin Furong would definitely work hard to get ahead: "Ah Rong, you made money early, so that you could become the gentry that Lord Wang said." In the future, our family can eat and dress well every day! ”

After Wang Xinyu left the Minzhuang camp, Luo Xiang asked very puzzled: "My lord, is it of great significance for us to explore wasteland overseas?" This Lin Furong is just the first to sign up, my lord, you actually said that he will go down in history? ”

"Going down in history, I encouraged him! If he does well, then he will really go down in history! Of course, if he doesn't work hard himself, that's a different story! Wang Xinyu smiled, and then his face turned blank, "But then again, the Tartars are about to implement a sea relocation order that is more severe than the sea ban!" If we don't open up overseas wastelands sooner, our food supply will become the most serious problem in the future! We do this to get ahead of the tartars and prepare for ourselves the source of food! ”

After leaving the Minzhuang camp, Wang Xinyu personally went to the blacksmith workshop and gunpowder workshop to explain to Chen Shuijie.

First of all, Wang Xinyu asked people to replace the 1,000-jin Franc cannons on the other ships, and the original two sides were three jack Franc cannons, all of which were replaced by a 2,000-pound Franc machine, and two jack Franc machines were installed on the stern rudder. Subsequently, Wang Xinyu asked people to take a batch of flowering shells from the blacksmith workshop and the gunpowder workshop. Because of this voyage, there is a possibility that you will encounter pirates or Dutch warships. With the sharp weapon of flowering shells, plus the penetrating power of the 2,000-pound Franc cannon, and the cooperation of chain bullets and shotguns, as long as the Dutch did not come to more than ten big ships at one time, one or two warships, with Wang Xinyu's seven warships, they could completely win.

The reason why the original jack Franc machine was replaced was because there was a serious air leakage phenomenon in that kind of gun, and the penetration of the shells was obviously insufficient, and the ability to deal with the Dutch battleships was inadequate.

The ships were reinforced to withstand the recoil of the redcoat cannons.

As it got dark, Wang Xinyu asked the selected soldiers to take a night off, and if their home was in Xiamen, they were allowed to go home to say goodbye to their families.

That night, a dinner was held in the barracks to see off the officers and men who were about to sail away.