Lu Ming

Chapter 708 Take-up ([-])

Time: May [-], [-], morning.

Location: Zheng He Island.

Between the blue sea and the sky, the Conical Fortress on the black stone foundation suddenly appeared beside the coast, forcing the rude industrial civilization into the barbaric area in an extremely discordant way.

Gu Ming pushed open the wooden door hastily tied up with branches, and stepped out of the hut where he was staying.Immediately, he was dazzled by the strong tropical sun.

Shaking his head, when his eyes recovered, he looked around blankly.

The first thing that blocks the line of sight is the neatly arranged "shacks".

These so-called shacks, although they are different in length, are horizontal and vertical, obviously planned according to the military camp.

It is said to be a shack, but in fact the lower part is a standard brick-concrete structure, and even has glass windows.However, when it reached the waist, the building materials were all replaced by wood, branches, thatch, and various unnamed tropical banana leaves.

Neat planning, a solid lower body, coupled with a scribbled upper body, what happened here is self-evident.

From the pocket of the khaki cotton shirt, he took out a standard ZIPPO painted in army green, and took out a box of unbranded military cigarettes from the pocket of his trousers.After Gu Ming lit his cigarette, he let out a long breath, stepped forward, and walked along the straight stone road towards the gate of the fort.

The foundation of the vertical cone castle is a natural stone platform.After the stone platform was cleaned up, the total area measured was 1.6 mu.

The shape of the entire stone platform is an irregular quadrilateral.The first batch of builders used the red bricks and cement sent by the ship to repair the front and rear doors and some key buildings.

As for the rest of the wall, the reason why the flag was planted here was because it was a stone platform that was naturally more than five meters above the ground.Except for the specially reserved front and rear doors, the rest of the wall only needs to erect tree stumps to form a seven or eight meter high protection system.

Along the planned cross main road, Gu Ming smoked half a cigarette and walked to the main entrance.

The main entrance is the only exit facing the inner island.

The first gate built in the early days has been ravaged and torn apart in the fierce battle, and it has become a burning material.

Today's gate is a temporary building made of a few ship's masts as beams and wooden stakes tied together to form a gate, and the bark on the top is not even peeled off in time.

Looking past the sloppy gate and the circular fortifications piled up with sandbags behind the gate, Gu Ming looked at both sides of the gate.

Rough brick walls with a rough surface plastered with cement extend 20 meters to both sides of the gate.

The obvious traces of old and new piles, the stones mixed in the red bricks, and the knife marks, fire marks, and blood stains on the surface all tell the story of what happened to the two walls.

Strictly speaking, there should be four walls. The one facing outward is a thick low wall, and the back is a high wall with shooting holes.

At this moment, behind the high wall, there are about twenty pioneer team members wearing the same khaki shirts and fisherman hats, standing on the bamboo frame, with muskets on the wall, guarding against the outside world.

"Master Gu is here to check the sentry!"

Young Master Yusheng who was sitting in the circular fortification was bored in a daze, turned his head and saw Gu Ming, got up with a smile, and jumped out of the fortification to greet him.

Yusheng, the former literati young master, has been reborn as a capable cultural thief after following the war with the third master Wu in the past few years.

As the core figure of Wu Sanye's team, Yusheng's current title is vice captain and instructor.He is in charge of all the gunmen in the bunker, as well as the blasting personnel and blasting materials.

"I can't stay idle, just wander around."

Gu Ming took out a cigarette and threw one over, and walked forward: "How is today?"

Accompanying Gu Ming to the gate, Yusheng looked around through the gap between the tree trunks: "Today is about nothing again. There has been no movement for half a month."

Hearing this, Gu Ming only let out a "huh" in his throat, and stopped talking, just kept looking out.

The first thing that appeared in front of us was the gentle slope connecting the gate.

The slope didn't exist in the first place.When the cone fort was first built, considering the need to enter and exit personnel and materials, the gate and gentle slope were built at the position facing the inner island.

At that time, although scattered savages came to harass from time to time, this did not affect the strategic decision of the pioneering team.Even, considering that there will be mechanical devices entering and exiting through the gate in the future, the gentle slope foundation is poured with rocks and cement, which may not be firm.

Unexpectedly, half a year later, an indigenous raid with as many as [-] people opened the prelude to the Battle of Zheng He Island.

After that, the pioneering team, whose intestines were full of regrets, began to try to damage the road.

However, it's not that easy anymore.

The foundation at this moment is not only covered with a thick layer of rammed earth and sandstone, but also covered with a thick layer of corpses.

There were heavy casualties, and the exhausted pioneer team couldn't even finish the work of disposing of corpses required by the epidemic prevention regulations, let alone have the energy to break the road.

Later, the aborigines who realized the importance of gentle slopes would also carry mud bags and tree trunks to fill holes when they attacked the city. I don’t know who taught them the clever idea.

Today's gentle slope, because there has been no fighting for more than ten days, there are no corpses on it, only a layer of black air-dried blood soil.

Slowly raising his head, Gu Ming used his eyesight to look at the tropical rainforest opposite.

The dense tropical rainforest, like a thick blanket, stands on the beach line 50 meters away.From the altitude of Gu Ming, one can follow the top of the dense forest and overlook the central mountain range of the island.

The blue sea and sky, the golden sandy beach, the yellow-green rainforest belt, and the warm climate and moist air. Gu Ming, who comes from the extremely cold Taihang Mountains, likes everything about Zheng He Island except the locals.

Aborigines wrapped in grass skirts, masks, and covered in chalk.

Holding a bamboo knife and wooden spear, the aborigines are fearless and fearless.

Oh, by the way, in recent battles, more and more indigenous people have used metal knives.They even formed an arquebus suppression squad.

Scenes of tragic scenes slid in front of Gu Ming, reminding him that if he wants to live two more days in this good land without winter, he must first kill the natives in the dense forest opposite.

Taking a long breath, Gu Dangjia, who didn't notice anything unusual, straightened up, with a three-point smile on his face: "It's good that there is nothing to do, let's endure one more day."

Yu Sheng, who had experienced more bloody battles, fully agreed: "Master Gu is right."

After inspecting the front door, Gu Ming turned his head and went to the sick room.

The sick room is in the center of the small intersection.

The first batch of heroes from the Taihang Mountains totaled 200 people.

On the day of landing, the brave men had a fight with the natives immediately when their legs were weak and their feet were numb due to the discomfort of sailing. 50 people died.

There was no way, the pier had already been broken through by the natives without rushing off the boat with a knife at that time, and it would be burned down soon, so it was impossible to do nothing.

In less than two months, the Taihang heroes who were dismounted immediately after their arrival, due to frequent fighting, acclimatization, disease and many other reasons, successively reduced their staff by more than a hundred people.

Nowadays, the number of combat power is less than fifty.

Pulling open a door with a red cross drawn on it, Gu Ming lowered his head and got in.

Due to the sunlight leaking from the glass windows and the thatched roof, the light in the patient room is actually sufficient, and it is a little lower than the outside.

Along the wall was a row of wooden beds with green military quilts on which several wounded were lying.

Seeing Gu Ming come in, a young guy in a green coat with a stethoscope around his neck nodded to him.Gu Ming put on a smile on his face, and greeted politely: "Doctor Ma, let me see the wounded number."

"Generally speaking, it's okay." Dr. Ma got up after hearing the words, and took Gu Ming to check the beds one by one: "This one is recovering well, the broken arm is not inflamed, and he can get up after lying down for a few days."

"This is a life-threatening one. The high fever has subsided now. There is no special situation, and I can get up in a few days."

Gu Ming politely followed behind the young man, step by step, even a little bent at the waist: in his first half of life full of fighting and donating blood, he had never seen that a person with festering wounds could be rescued abruptly.

Among the eight wounded, five were from the north under Gu Ming's command.The reason for this is simple: Gu Ming's subordinates are all untrained wild hands.They can only fight the enemy hand-to-hand and cannot shoot, so the casualty rate is high.

After a few beds, Gu Ming and Dr. Ma came to the last bed.

Lying on the bed was a pale young man about sixteen or seventeen years old.The young man gritted his teeth, was sweating profusely, hugged the quilt tightly, and was shaking non-stop.

Seeing this, Gu Ming stepped forward, stretched out his hand to hold the young man's shoulder, and softly called out, "Second boy!"

The boy named Er Yazi trembled all over and didn't answer.

"Doctor Ma, this?"

Stepping forward to open the boy's eyelids, Dr. Ma looked helplessly: "He has a relatively serious malaria reaction, which may be complicated by some kind of organ allergy, which is very serious."

Gu Ming couldn't understand the technical terms, so he just asked, "Will it kill you?"

"Hi" Dr. Ma, who was used to life and death, drooped the corners of his eyes, and looked at Er Yazi with that kind of eyes that looked at the dead: "Ninety-nine percent of this is hopeless. You can contact the health team tomorrow, I guess the next day almost."

"Is there really no medicine?"

"Tch..." Dr. Ma turned his head and walked towards the desk, and then floated over, "Is there anything you don't know?"

Gu Ming stood there in a daze, with a complicated expression on his face.

It stands to reason that there will be no malaria patients in Lizhuobao, which has strict health regulations.The transmigration group, which has always regarded malaria as the number one enemy of expansion, has always attached great importance to this aspect.

When building the infrastructure of Fort Licone, even if precious explosives were spent, the reservoir and drainage ditches had to be excavated as soon as possible.The priority of these two works, even before the dormitory.

However, no one expected that the battle with the natives would be so tragic.

The pioneering team, which was attacked by countless natives, had to defend from the very beginning.In every battle, countless corpses would fall under the fort wall.

The gurgling blood donation flowed around and gathered into a pool.The overwhelming tropical rain mosquitoes came one after another, greedily sucking the lunch contributed by human beings.Next, the rain mosquitoes flew in all directions, looking for the dinner of the day nearby.

Thus, large-scale malaria symptoms appeared.As of now, almost everyone in Fort Licone has had malaria once or twice.

And because of the cut off of supplies, all malaria drugs were used up half a month ago.A critically ill patient like Er Yazi can only wait to die now.

Gu Ming stood by the bed, dazed for a long time.

He was recalling the scene when Er Yazi joined the group.

The second child is the only son of the seventh aunt.When Gu Ming almost starved to death as a child, Aunt Seven saved his life with some yams.Then one day, Aunt Seven, who was about to die of illness, took Gu Ming's hand and handed the second child to him: "There is a severe drought in the mountains, and the family can't support themselves. Let's earn your life with you."

"Huh..." Thinking of this, even the hard-hearted Master Gu, who has been trained by the troubled times, finally couldn't help but let out a long sigh: "Go beg, let's take care of today first."

The next moment, he reached into his arms and took out a small brown glass bottle.After shaking it, he found that there was only one-third of the pills left in it. Gu Ming turned around and walked over, and poured the pills in front of Dr. Ma: "Are these enough to save Er Yazi's life?"

"Hey, there are still stocks!" Dr. Ma looked at Gu Dangjia in surprise: "With these quinines, there should be no problem. He is allergic to this, and as long as the malaria subsides, the allergic symptoms will disappear."

Clutching an empty bottle in his hand, Mr. Gu walked out of the medical station with a blank expression on his face.

Spreading his palms, Master Gu stared at the small medicine bottle through gritted teeth, muttering to himself, and suddenly turned his back to the sky, as if he was cursing something.

After a while, he raised his arm, as if about to throw it away. However, the next moment, he stopped his movement and put the vial back into his pocket: "You need to fill it with Crane Crown Red and return it to relieve your hatred!"

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After inspecting the front door and the clinic, Gu Ming went to his own place.

The northern detachment from Taihang was assigned a barracks in the southwest corner of the base.The people who originally occupied several Datong shops are now stored in only two.

There were about twenty people, some lying down, some lying down, setting up a Longmen array on the bunks.Seeing the big boss coming in, everyone greeted him one after another.Seeing the brothers, Gu Ming finally had a normal smile on his face.Even the newly added scar on the left cheek stretched out.

Talk to the brothers one by one, pat this and point to that.In the end, he simply went to bed, took out a cigarette to diffuse the light, and smoked together.

Good times are always short.

"Dinner is ready!" With a loud shout, a middle-aged cook in a white apron and an apprentice pushed open the door and brought in two buckets of lunch.

Lunch quality is pretty good.To the naked eye, the snow-white Siamese rice has distinct grains, and you can smell the unique aroma of tropical carbon water across a section.

In the other bucket, there should be tomato and minced meat chowder.Beautiful chunks of red tomato, white fish fillets, and a few other ingredients come together for a flavorful topping.

"Oh, I'm so hungry, serve it to me!"

Seeing the food coming in, Mr. Gu clapped his hands, took the lead, served a bowl of rice, then poured a full iron spoon of toppings on it, and started digging.

The heroes behind also served their meals one after another, and began to eat more or less quickly.

For a moment, there was only the sound of chewing in the room.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man who was squatting at the base of the wall burst into tears for no reason.While crying, he howled to Gu Ming who was sitting on the bunk: "Boss, I can't eat it~"

"The grandson of Rimeng!" A wrinkled and bald old man next to him stretched out his hand and slapped back the crying and crying of a half-child: "Every year we suffer from disasters and flee from famine every year, and we survived. Yes, who doesn’t eat two meals of human flesh? You are hypocritical!”

After scolding, the old man was still angry, pointing at the young man and said to Gu Ming: "I'm begging for a bag, but I'm making a fool of myself after eating good meat!"

Gu Ming put down the bowl, looked at this scene, and sighed: Yes, I was too full, so something went wrong
Half a year ago, when the heroes of the Taihang were escorted to Tianjin Haozi Camp by the cavalry regiment descended from the sky, everyone was in despair.They don't know whether what awaits them is endless hard labor, or the bustling Caishikou drama.

Who ever thought that the heroes who had been hungry for a few days were first escorted into the Daxiaochang by the soldiers with live ammunition.Afterwards, the officer in riding boots pulled shopkeeper Gu out alone, and then held up a horn and told them: Everyone is considered to be Marshal Cao.Starting today, the brothers will follow your shopkeeper Gu and join Mr. Cao's group.

Following the words, what was kicked down by the officer were silver round boxes that rolled down in all directions.Along with the rolling silver coins, there are buckets of white rice and braised pork.

The heroes who have been hungry for a few days can no longer care about anything at this moment.Everyone's eyes turned green, and they all shouted: "Join the gang, join the gang."

In this way, three meals a day with good wine and meat were served for a few days, and after a brief lecture on some Nanyang knowledge, hundreds of northern men were stuffed into the cabin.

The big ship with black smoke was steady and fast.When the heroes left the cabin again, they had already arrived at Shanghai Beach.

In Shanghai, there are still three meals with good wine and meat.While fattening, the heroes were also organized to visit Shanghai No. [-] Cotton Spinning Factory, Shanghai Shipyard, and Shanghai No. [-] Steel Factory, which had just started to tap steel.

After a few days of repairing on the beach and being stuffed into the cabin again, everyone’s resistance has been much less. The spectacular scene of thousands of machine spinning, and the terrifying scene of the giant press smashing everything All distracting thoughts, all emotions, all dissatisfaction.

Next, it is Guangzhou.

It's still a lot of fish and meat.But at this time, the appetite of many people has become normal, and the scenes of eating large pieces of meat are rare.

The eccentric Guangzhou, which clearly bears the banner of Ming Dynasty, looks like an enemy country.

The arrogant young officer stepped on the cannon, pointed his thumb up at the giant ship like a mountain behind him, and said contemptuously to the bumpkins in the north: "It's not too late to get on the ship of the commander. Spiritual, wait until the day when the grandpas go to the Northern Expedition, together with Chongzhen's children, they will be packed together and shot to death! Die! They all have to die!"

"Take it."

When departing from Guangzhou, most of the people were convinced: it is common sense for those who come out to hang out with the red top and white.Now that the leader of the League of Cao is very powerful, it is not shabby to do business together. Isn't it just to chop off a few savages who disobey the leader?Brothers are good at this job.

In Siam, they ate and drank a lot, and after gaining a lot of fat in the end, the two hundred heroes who took the lead, under the leadership of Mr. Gu, boarded the boat.

Facts have proved that Uncle Cao's white rice is not so delicious.

On the day when the two hundred heroes disembarked, they broke three stops within ten stops.

After that, there is endless fighting.Then, there was a big storm at sea, and then there was the disease and the lack of food. The fat that the brothers had raised at the beginning was not less than an ounce, and Uncle Cao returned it, not to mention a hundred lives.

"I don't want that rich man's life." The encounters of the past few months flashed through Gu Ming's mind like fast-forwarding.

With a bit of pity, he looked at the half-sized boy in the corner who couldn't swallow the meat.Gu Dangjia finally let out a long sigh, got up and went over, pulled all the white fish fillets from his bowl to the boy, and then picked up all the meat pieces from the boy's bowl.

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After the meal, Gu Ming, who was full of worries, hesitantly opened the door of the headquarters.

The so-called headquarters is the only suite in the castle that is completely made of brick and concrete materials.Needless to say, the one who sits in the headquarters is the loyal dog of the empire. I have a hundred suites on the Bund, Mr. Wu Meng and Mr. Wu.

There were people coming and going in the headquarters, and staff officers and secretary officers were busy.

And Wu Sanye, who was waiting for the telegram in the telegraph room, heard Mr. Gu coming, and greeted him with a big laugh: "Brother, I was calling you to drink, but you just came."

The third master was in high spirits today, he grabbed Gu Ming and pulled him to the marching table in the corner, took out a green military jug from his private stash, poured two glasses of Gu Yue Long Shan, and was about to invite Gu Ming to drink.

In all honesty, Mr. Wu did not treat the brothers from the north at all, and treated them equally.

Ever since the Taihang gang came ashore, the third master Wu has publicly stated his position, acknowledging Mr. Gu as another big hilltop of Lizhuobao.

The jargon is "partnership in business".

In addition, the supply of materials, including a batch of military supplies, food and fodder, Wu Sanye is also a bowl of water, which is no less than a mouthful of Taihang Gang.

It is also because of this that the Taihang Gang can go all out in the next battle and maintain the situation.

Picking up the enamel tea mug and touching it hard, the third master put down the mug, wiped his mouth, then lowered his voice, and secretly said to Gu Ming, "It's stable this time, the large fleet of [-] ships has already left Saigon today."

Such great good news, but Gu Ming smiled lightly: "Let's talk about it when we get there."

In the past few months, due to continuous storms, the transport fleet departing from Saigon was either damaged or returned halfway, which directly led to the negative result that the reserve of materials and personnel in Fort Licone had completely bottomed out.

Shopkeeper Gu was skeptical, but the third master had no doubts about the technology of the empire: "I heard that it was built to observe the ocean view, and this time it will be worry-free."

"really?"

Gu Ming also regained his spirit: as long as the large fleet of [-] ships can arrive at the port, all the problems at the moment can be solved easily, and if Lizhuobao speaks, he can push the front line back to the savage territory.

"The thing about the fleet is absolutely true. Just."

"Ok?"

Wu Sanye, who was originally in high spirits, suddenly became worried: "Brother, you came late, and there are some things you don't know."

Picking up the jar, and having another sip with shopkeeper Gu, Mr. Wu still whispered, "In ten more days, the rainy season is coming."

"rainy season?"

Gu Ming, who was born in the northern mountains, did not have the concept of rainy season in his mind.However, Chinese is a binary language with a very large information load.Even unfamiliar words can be guessed at a rough rate.

"Rainy Season. Rainy Season"

After Gu Ming smacked the word a few times, his color suddenly changed.

(End of this chapter)