In the blink of an eye, it was the twenty-ninth day of the lunar month, and the Gregorian calendar was January 29, 1661, and the Zheng Jiajun was celebrating Chinese New Year's Eve except for a few sentry soldiers.

On Xiamen Island, firecrackers are ringing and pigs and chickens are slaughtered everywhere. On the seaside wharf, fishermen carry loads of fresh fish, shrimp, crabs, and all kinds of seafood for sale. In the Gaoqi barracks, in the camp of the sailors, the leaders of the gang boiled steaming boiling water, plucked the freshly killed pigs, and deflattered the chickens and ducks. In the steamer, the aroma of steamed seafood and steamed braised pork wafted out.

From Xiamen Island to Kinmen Island, from Gulangyu Island to Siming Prefecture, there is a lively atmosphere of the New Year everywhere. However, on the sea, Zheng Jiajun's sailors did not relax their vigilance, patrolling scout ships cruising on the sea surface to prevent the Qing army from sneaking attacks. Spies disguised as civilians sent by the Ming army to the mainland were moving around, keeping an eye on the movements of the Qing army. It was the officers and men of the naval division who patrolled and were on duty, and those spies who were loyal to their duties, that ensured that the two islands of Jinxia could sit back and relax.

In the courtyard of the Wang family, the aroma of various delicacies wafted out, and Mrs. Wang personally commanded in the kitchen, and the cooks were nervously preparing the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. Wang Xinyu's younger brother Wang Shui, who should be called Wang Zihao now, also returned home from vacation, and the two brothers sat in the study and chatted.

"Brother, I have laid a piece of land in Qiongzhou, you should come with me." Wang Xinyu advised his younger brother to leave Zheng Tai. Because he vaguely knew that after Zheng Chenggong's death, Zheng Tai was killed by Zheng Jing.

Who knew that Wang Zihao was unwilling to leave Zheng Tai: "Big brother, Master Hou is as kind to me as a mountain, how can I betray my lord?" ”

Wang Xinyu saw that he didn't listen to the advice, so he had to give up the idea of persuading his younger brother. He was thinking in his heart, anyway, there was still more than a year to break with the Zheng family, and he would just find an opportunity to take his younger brother away during this time.

Outside the compound, dozens of children such as Wang Wuquan, Zhang Wang, and Liu Erzhu set off firecrackers and fireworks outside the door, and had a lot of fun. These children are a group of young soldiers recruited more than half a year ago, they are all homeless orphans, after being conscripted into the Ming army, Wang Xinyu not only provided them with food and clothing, but also hired a teacher to teach them to read. Of course, Wang Xinyu did not raise them in vain, all the boys had to train with adults, run every day, exercise physical fitness, and conduct queue training. After three months of basic training, he began to practice martial arts, learning swords, swords, halberds, bows, arrows, muskets.

Don't look at these children are not very old, but they train very hard, everyone is training with their lives, and now their combat skills are no worse than adults.

In the big courtyard, Wang Xiangyu and Zhang Yan took a group of little sisters to skip rope and kick shuttlecock together.

Mrs. Wang is a kind woman, she called all the orphans adopted by Wang Xinyu to her home to spend Chinese New Year's Eve together, treating them as her own children.

Thousands of miles away on Qiongzhou Island, the traces of the war that ended only ten days ago have faded, and the whole island is immersed in the atmosphere of the New Year.

In the Ming army barracks, people were busy killing pigs and cattle, chickens and sheep, scraping scales for fish, disemboweling and disemboweling, and preparing for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. On weekdays, alcohol is forbidden in the barracks, but today is an exception, except for a few sentry soldiers, other soldiers are allowed to drink, which is a happy day for those soldiers who are very addicted to alcohol and have been holding back for a long time.

Some soldiers set off firecrackers and fireworks at the entrance of the barracks, and held activities to celebrate the New Year.

Recruit Zhao Haisheng did not celebrate the Spring Festival with his partners, but sat silently in the barracks in a daze. The money rattail on the back of his head, which represents the shame of the Han people, has long been cut off and shaved into a big bald head. Since coming to Qiongzhou to join the army, Zhao Haisheng has worked harder than anyone else, every time he trains, he doesn't treat himself as a human being, and every time he voluntarily "eats" himself, run more than others, do push-ups more than others, and carry heavy loads more than others.

In addition to the four daughters who were sold to others, their parents, their wives, and their only son, all died, leaving Zhao Haisheng alone. If it weren't for hatred, he wouldn't have survived.

After coming here, although most of the staple food eaten is coarse grains such as sweet potatoes and sorghum, and the dishes are fried greens, roasted cabbage, fried dried tofu, roasted tofu and the like, and occasionally there is rice and white noodles, but at least it is full, and sometimes you can eat a piece of meat, or a small fish. What moved Zhao Haisheng even more was that Hong Xiguan did not break his promise. Three days after he came here, someone from the Heaven and Earth Society tied up Steward Chen and Master Zhang!

The enemies were very red when they saw each other, and Zhao Haisheng raised his knife and cut off the heads of the two enemies who had ruined his family.

Zhao Haisheng, who was the enemy of the sword, cried a lot, and then devoted himself wholeheartedly to training, hoping to join the war as soon as possible and overthrow the Tartar puppet court that had harmed his family and countless coastal people.

Although it is winter, the sun in Qiongzhou is still so poisonous, and the weather is still hot. Under the scorching sun, Zhao Haisheng gritted his teeth and did not complain. Within a few days, his skin, which had been pale from long-term malnutrition, had regained its original blackness as when he was a fisherman, and his muscles were bulging.

"Zhao Haisheng, it's time to eat!" A recruit, also with a shaved head, came to call him.

All the bald soldiers, like Zhao Haisheng, came from the coastal seaside, and after they came to Qiongzhou, they cut off their braids, took off their horse coats, and changed into Hanfu shorts.

Walking into the pergola that serves as a dining room, there are large pots of braised pork, beef stew with potatoes, stewed bones with radish, stewed pork with taro, and large plates of roasted fish, stewed chicken and duck on a long table made of square tables. The staple food is white flowery rice, and the rice can be eaten with your belly open, and you can eat the dishes yourself.

Looking at the table full of delicacies, Zhao Haisheng burst into tears, thinking of his wife and children who died tragically, he only felt angina. When I came here, there were so many delicious foods, but unfortunately they didn't have a share; I don't know how to spend my monthly salary, and I save all the money.

"Open the meal!" Officer Jiang Zhiping shouted.

The Ming soldiers who had already picked up the dishes and chopsticks surrounded them, desperately putting vegetables into their bowls first, filling the bowls first, and then going to the rice bucket to serve rice.

By the time Zhao Haisheng woke up from his contemplation, the vegetable basins on the table were empty!

If you run out of vegetables, you might as well pour some broth. Zhao Haisheng thought in his heart, and was about to reach out to get the vegetable pot of braised pork, but he grabbed an empty one, and the vegetable pot had already been snatched away by a big-headed soldier, and a large bowl of rice was deducted into the vegetable pot.

Zhao Haisheng reached out to get the other vegetable pots again, but he didn't get any of them, and all of them were snatched away. In the end, even the fish plate was gone, and a large number of soldiers squatted on the ground, holding a vegetable pot and vegetable plate in their hands, and poured rice into their mouths.

Zhao Haisheng, who was helpless, had no choice but to pick up the white rice, which was real white rice, white rice without any vegetable soup, and poured it into his mouth.

"Well deserved! Who made you in a daze! A soldier beside him, who also had a shaved head, sneered.

Zhao Haisheng jumped up as if he had been stepped on by his tail, and twisted the collar of the soldier: "What did you say?" Give it another try! ”

The soldier did not show weakness, pushed away Zhao Haisheng's hand, and said again: "Do it yourself!" ”

Zhao Haisheng was furious and punched the soldier in the face.

"Stop!" Jiang Zhiping roared, "Zhao Haisheng! You beat your comrades-in-arms and shut them up for three days! Chinese New Year's Eve dinner in the evening, no more of you! ”

At the refugee settlements, local soldiers came to help maintain order, and refugees who had only recently moved from the coastal areas lined up in long lines to get food.

"Line up, don't mess around! There's something for everyone! A wolf battalion soldier shouted.

The two brothers, Chen Shuigen and Liu Baorui, stood in the queue with rice bowls in their hands and waited. There were a lot of people in line, and Chen Shuigen and they were far away from the pergola where the food was distributed, but they could smell the smell of meat wafting out of the pergola from so far away. From time to time, there were people walking past the line with rice bowls after finishing their meals.

When Wu Shuisheng, who had made a meal, passed by them, Chen Shuigen poked his head out to take a look, only to see that the rice bowl was full of white rice, and there was a large piece of fragrant braised pork on it, and some other dishes, but he didn't see it clearly.

It was easy to drain into the pergola, and at this time Chen Shuigen saw that the steamer in the pergola steamed a basket of fragrant rice; A large iron pot stewed with Chinese cabbage; Another large iron pot is fried pork slices with cucumbers; There is also a large iron pot with golden needles stewed tofu; The whole shed is filled with the smell of food from the burning charcoal in several charcoal stoves, the fragrant braised pork and dried tofu stewed in a crockpot, and the mouthwatering beef stew with potatoes in a crockpot.

Lined up at the front of the line, Chen Shuigen handed over the rice bowl.

The soldier who made the meal gave Chen Shuigen a pot of rice, and then shouted: "Next!" ”

"Master Jun, this is too little, can you give me more?" Chen Shuigen begged.

"At noon on Chinese New Year's Eve, eat casually, there will be dinner in the evening, eat less at noon, and keep it for the bottom night." The soldier said.

After eating, Chen Shuigen went to cook again.

The soldier first put a large spoonful of Chinese cabbage, a spoonful of stewed tofu with golden needles and a spoonful of fried pork slices with cucumber, and then marked him with a piece of braised pork and a small spoonful of potato stewed beef.

"That's good! The rich man may not have eaten so many good things at home, and there are even better dishes at night. Liu Baorui said with a sigh.

"I didn't expect that the government here really loves the people like a son!" Chen Shuigen praised.

Potatoes were something that the refugees had never eaten before, and after a few bites, they all felt good. Wu Shuisheng asked the locals, only to know that this thing had just been planted in Qiongzhou, and the yield was still very high.

Outside the refugee camp, children who had just had lunch played to their heart's content, and adults gave fireworks to the camp from the government to play with the children.

"Crackling" firecrackers roared, and children happily set off firecrackers and played and frolicked. After the children of these refugees came to Qiongzhou, they quickly forgot the hard life they had lived in their hometown and the feeling of starvation. Although they will remember starving as a child in a few years, the unfettered life here makes them feel like they have come to heaven on earth.

Not everyone celebrates this Chinese New Year, and there is no New Year's atmosphere in the mercenary camp. After these foreigners followed Wang Xinyu, they were still used to eating their Western food and eating bread. Although Chinese food is delicious, it is impossible for these foreigners to eat it every day, just as Chinese cannot eat Western food every day.

Because of the Chinese New Year, the foreigners also got much better food than usual. The foreigners took the pork and beef they received, slaughtered the geese assigned to them, and made exquisite Western food. A few foreign cooks are roasting pork, frying steaks, frying eggs, and someone taking steaming bread out of the oven. When these foreigners are in their country, they can rarely eat such good things, here they can enjoy the exquisite food that only their domestic nobles can enjoy, and they can also receive a high military salary, which makes the foreigners feel that following Boss Wang is the wisest decision in this life!

Before the Chinese New Year, these mercenaries received double their salaries. Here they could not buy the wine and beer they liked, so they had to save part of their salaries and part of them to buy silk, porcelain and tea.

Not all mercenaries were so idle, and the officers and men of the Navy never rested.

The flagship, the Drake, with a sixth-class ship, cruises the seas.

The smell of grilled steak wafted from the Drake's kitchen. Since the ocean-going cruiser became an offshore patrol ship, the crew no longer had to deal with maggot-covered bread, green fresh water, beef jerky hard enough to be carved into a work of art. They had fresh bread to eat, fresh fresh water to drink, and fresh beef.

"The only fly in the ointment is that there is no rum or beer here." Albert sighed. Although the Oriental liquor is mellow, it is too strong and not suitable for seafarers to drink. There was rum originally, but Wang Xinyu didn't bring much back from Manila, and he drank it in a few days.

PS: Newcomers ask for collections, recommended