William thumped his chest: "I shouldn't have gambled with you." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info The fighting will of the soldiers of the Ming Army is so low, it is really a shame for the soldiers! Give a few hundred farmers a stick to last longer than they do! ”

"Haha, that's because you don't understand the national conditions of the Ming Dynasty, don't use the standards of European mercenaries to measure these soldiers who can't eat food."

Xia Nan laughed and got off the boat, and Yang Youji came to him with an officer who looked like an old man: "General...... The big treasurer, this is the deputy chief soldier of South Australia. Although he explained in advance not to use the usual name, but to change it to the tone commonly used by pirates, but he usually said it smoothly, and Yang Youji almost blurted out "general".

"I'll go!" Xia Nan looked this person up and down in surprise, "I'm also the deputy chief soldier, why is this virtuous?" "I think that when the Guangdong general army He Rubin conquered Bofu, the front and back hugs, the stars held the moon, and the soldiers under him were like clouds, what a scenery, this deputy general soldier of South Australia was only half a level lower, but the gap was simply the difference between cloud and mud.

The old man replied embarrassedly: "Good man, in fact, the youngest one is only forty-four years old this year, but the life on the island is too hard, and he has not eaten the last meal, so he looks ......old."

As he spoke, he secretly looked at the "big shopkeeper" in front of him. Judging by his demeanor, he looks more like an official, and where does he look like a pirate? Look at all the birds under his command, they are better than the officers and soldiers, when did the pirates have such professional bird guns again?

Although I don't understand why this group of people claim to be pirates and what their intentions are, but people are swordsmen and I am fish and meat, and now they are in a situation where they are slaughtered by others, and what they say is what they say. Don't say that they are pirates, even if they call themselves the Liukou of northern Shaanxi and the Tartars of Liaodong, they must follow their will.

Xia Nan asked, "Lord Deputy Commander-in-Chief, may I ask your name?" Why is there such a small number of people under the dignified deputy commander-in-chief? ”

The old man replied respectfully: "Back to the words of the hero, the contemptible Tang Baicai, as the local deputy commander-in-chief, commands the Guangdong battalion and the Fujian battalion. As for why there are only so many soldiers, that's a long story......"

It turned out that although there were two battalions on Nan'ao Island, both of which were composed of 1,560 people, or more than 3,000 people in total, because the Shangguan did not attach great importance to the defense of this place, and because Guangdong and Fujian provinces were jointly responsible for the allocation of food and salaries, the officials of the two places often passed the buck and always wanted the other side to share more, resulting in less than half of the annual food and salary, let alone feeding 3,000 people, or even feeding 1,000 people.

Tang Bai was a clever woman who could not cook without rice, and every day she was thinking about how to ask the officials for food and salary, and she was exhausted, and over time, she was only in her forties, and her hair was all white and her face was full of wrinkles, similar to that of a sixty-year-old man. Even so, because they could not endure such a hard life, the young and strong battalion soldiers all fled from Nanao Island to the mainland to fend for themselves, and now the remaining hundreds of people are old, weak, sick and disabled, with nowhere to go, so they can only rely on the maritime merchants who are anchored to shelter from the wind and replenish the "docking fee" to subsidize their lives.

"With this bit of silver, there is no guarantee that it will be recovered." Tang Bocai vomited bitterness, trying to win the sympathy of the "good man", maybe he softened his heart, and he didn't look for his bad luck, "The powerful maritime merchants, many of the strong men who specialize in protecting ships under their hands have seen blood, we may not be able to fight, only those small merchants, a boat out to sea, there is no one under the hand, will pay some silver to buy us a peace, by the way to replenish some water and vegetables." ”

Xia Nan was a little speechless, the battalion soldiers who were so miserable were not even much stronger than the guards and soldiers, and it was the first time he had seen them.

He couldn't help but ask Murong Longcheng, "Didn't you stop the boat here?" Why has the deputy commander of South Australia shrunk into a commander, don't you know? ”

Murong Longcheng sighed: "I am the little maritime merchant with one or two boats in his mouth, pay some silver to buy peace, and I have never fought with them, who knows how vulnerable it will be." ”

Xia Nan thought about it, there were only dozens of people under him at the beginning, and he couldn't carry it hard with the officers and soldiers, so naturally he couldn't try the reality of this deputy chief soldier who was strong outside and capable in the middle.

Tang Baicai asked tentatively: "Dare to ask who the hero is, and what are you doing on Nanao Island?" ”

Xia Nan smiled: "We are the shopkeeper under Liu Xiang, passing by Guidao and staying overnight for a few days." No comments, right? ”

Tang Baicai's head shrank and sneered: "No...... No comments. "I said this in my mouth, but I didn't believe it in my heart: just kidding, such a neat dress, such a sharp firearm, and this big ship made of a mold and a cannon like a crack in the sky, where is it like a pirate? If Liu Xiang had a few shopkeepers with such strength, I am afraid that he would have overpowered Zheng Zhilong and claimed hegemony in Fujian and Guangdong, so why hide in Tibet, dare not land in Fujian and Guangdong, and go to Dongfan Island to hook up with Hongmao.

He was slandering in his heart, and Xia Nan was also thinking about it. Since the so-called deputy commander-in-chief of South Australia is so weak, it is very surprising to him, since it is easy to control the officers and soldiers on the island, why not make good use of this island with a very advantageous geographical location? If this place is used as a temporary military base for the Qiongzhou Battalion Navy, it will be very convenient to fight Liu Xiang and the Dutch in Taiwan or Zheng Zhilong in Fujian in the future. Even after thoroughly mastering maritime supremacy, it is not impossible to use this place as a permanent military base to control the Taiwan Strait. Taking Qiongzhou as its base camp and setting up a naval base close to Fujian and Taiwan is tantamount to greatly expanding its sphere of influence -- the US imperialists in the old time and space did not do much of this, from Asia to Europe, and there were military bases all over the world, and with the aircraft carrier formation, countries and cities all over the world were within its strike range.

However, this is all for the future, and it is important to ensure the success of Operation Tiger for now. Xia Nan waved his hand, "Deputy Chief Tang, as long as you are obedient, I won't embarrass you." We're going to make a big deal in two days, but the goal is still there, so stay here for a few days and find us a place to stay. ”

When Tang Baicai heard that he was not here to trouble himself, he immediately agreed: "No problem, I will ask someone to clean up the barracks and make room for the heroes." ”

The soldiers of the guard and the sailors of the fleet lived in the South Australian barracks with great swagger. Fortunately, the barracks, which originally accommodated more than 3,000 people, were large enough to accommodate hundreds of people. In order to prevent accidents, the guards disarmed the officers and soldiers on the island, leaving not even a stick for them. On the contrary, they did their best to serve these "heroes," not only catching seafood every day, but also bringing the vegetables grown in their camps to the "heroes'" tables.