Dragon Sea Empire

Not long after Ye Hua sent the fleet to Europe, typhoons swept across both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and at the same time swept across the Quanzhou Prefecture after the earthquake. Only when they were sent to the shore, hundreds of thousands of victims of the disaster were able to survive this typhoon.

When the typhoon came, the port stopped operating, and merchant ships and fishing boats hid in the port to avoid the wind. The entire formerly busy port city of Taiwan seemed to have a temporary rest.

Yin Feng was not idle for a moment, and braved the wind and rain to come to the old camp of the guard base in the north of the city. Today, the opening ceremony of the intermediate class of the military academy will be held.

When the Zhonghua Company Military Academy was founded three years ago, there were no classes. All military students selected for admission had to take enlightenment literacy classes, basic tactics classes, and military art classes; In order to enable them to improve their quality and skills, it is necessary to teach the tactics and general strategic knowledge of various arms in the military academy education. Therefore, the military academy is divided into infantry school, artillery school and navy school. There are three parts, intermediate and advanced. The primary mainly trains junior non-commissioned officers and junior officers, the intermediate is aimed at middle and lower-level officers, and the advanced is to cultivate all-round strategic and tactical talents. Currently, there is no advanced class, and only junior and intermediate classes in military academies have started teaching.

The establishment of the Artillery School was strongly promoted by Yin Feng, who made the emergence of China's professional artillery school second only to France in world history.

This time, the opening ceremony of the intermediate class of the military academy in the lobby of the old camp gathered more than 300 intermediate cadets from various branches of infantry, sailors, and artillery, including artillery cadets Li Kuiqi, infantry cadets Yan Siqi, Zhao Xuanming and others. They all made military exploits At this time, the middle-ranking officer sat there with his waist upright, looking directly at Yin Feng on the podium.

"Opening up the sea to benefit the country, doing business and benefiting the people! This is the purpose of our China United Company, and it is also the purpose of our Chinese army. We are the army established to defend the Chinese business people in Taiwan, Luzon, Eastern and Western Oceans, and Southeast Asia. , we are the people of the Ming Dynasty, and we are also the defenders of all the people of the Ming Dynasty overseas," Yin Feng said eloquently on the stage: "We defeated the Hongmaoyi, Folangjiren, and Ganguanla people, and leveled the Dongfan people. All the natives have defeated the Japanese pirates and wiped out all the pirates in Fujian, what do we rely on,"

More than 300 military cadets below shouted loudly: "Determination, courage and weapons,"

"Well, determination keeps us clear of purpose, courage keeps us from fearing death, and weapons enable us to kill..."

More than 300 students were listening attentively to the lecture, and the junior class students who were on the sidelines were sitting at the back, also sitting upright, not looking sideways, only Chen Dagao, Chen Di's nominal nephew, was a little absent-minded.

Chen Dagao, Yu Zigao has been enlightened since he was six years old, and he has a good cultural and educational level since he was a child. He looks down on those children of fishermen, farmers or pirates who are studying together. Because of his high cultural level, he skips most of the students. The time to learn how to read and write is only needed to participate in queues and tactical training. However, the children of farmers, fishermen, and pirates are far more difficult than him, and they are more disciplined and obedient than him. Hurry up, he ranked low in the recent physical fitness test and shooting test, which dealt a heavy blow to his self-esteem. Therefore, he was a little depressed at the venue, and then he found an excuse of a stomachache to ask for leave, and slipped quietly to the Outside the lobby.

Since most of the cadets held meetings in the lobby, there was no one near the warehouse of the training department except a sentinel.

In the heavy rain and strong wind, even though the sentinel was huddled in the bamboo sentry box, he was drenched by the flying rain.

The "Death Wind Lantern" outside the warehouse door suddenly went out, and the sentinel stomped his feet and cursed: "Damn, bad luck, there must be no oil." The wind and rain, this flintlock gun is just a decoration, so his gun is equipped with a bayonet.

The rain immediately surrounded him, the splashing raindrops covered the whole world, and a black shadow rushed up from behind, but he was still unconscious.

The dutiful sentinel was attacked by the black shadow, received a heavy blow on the back of the head, and fell down without saying a word. The typhoon and heavy rain covered up all the movements.

The sentry lay in the mud until a group of junior cadets passed by and found him, when his flintlock musket was missing from the sentry box.

"What, the flintlock was stolen," Lin Xiao was shocked when he heard the news. This is not the first time someone has tried to steal a flintlock; a few days ago, a Dutch technician stole a sample of a flintlock from the weapon factory. As a result, he was discovered in time, and the person was caught and the stolen goods were confiscated. Later, through the Dutch business house, Yin Feng sent someone to intercede. In order to build a good relationship with the Dutch, Yin Feng drove the person away.

"Fortunately, the sentinel's gun is the first batch of flintlock guns we trial-produce. The trigger structure often fails, and the barrel is rough without polishing,"

In Yin Feng's study, Lin Xiao was reporting the results of the investigation to him. Zeng Rui, the chief of the guard's supervisory department, Mai De, the head of the first regiment, and Li Yue, the chief of the industrial department, were also sitting beside him.

Li Yue stood up and said, "Captain, it shouldn't matter if this is the case. This kind of gun is very difficult to use in practice. One of the three shots must fail to fire..."

Yin Feng interrupted him politely: "That's not what you said. The latest flintlock gun is improved on the basis of this gun. We can improve it, and so can others. The problem now is; Which side did the gunman belong to, the Hongmao, the Frangji, or the Japanese, or the officers and soldiers on the other side,"

"The only ones who can enter the military academy are the people from the Red-haired country, the Franji people, and the government's undercover agents who may be in the academy." Zeng Rui stood up and analyzed: "I checked, and there are any Western mercenary instructors who were not at the meeting yesterday. There are more than ten people, and the officers of the military supervision department who monitored them reported that they were all drinking or going to the theater in the city, or they were staying at their own homes, and it was impossible to steal guns."

After Zeng Rui became the head of the Military Supervision Department, he has been busy with loyalty education in the army and perfecting the training of the Military Supervision Department personnel. He has never encountered such a big case, so now he is somewhat excited, walking back and forth in the room He said: "Then, the rest is the possibility of the college committing crimes. After checking all the students, we found that three people left the hall halfway,"

Yin Feng waved his hand and said: "Go and investigate this, Lin Xiao will assist you, this gun cannot be hidden in the military academy, there must be someone outside to respond, Lin Xiao, inform Mai Dahai that a warship will be sent to strengthen the coast after the typhoon stops. Patrol, strengthen inspection in the direction of the port, but, Ruizi, do you know what's wrong with you?"

Zeng Rui blushed, lowered his head, and Yin Feng said slowly: "There is a rule in the guards that the sentries in warehouses and other places are all light and dark sentries plus double guards. Why is there only one person on duty this time, and you are in charge of the security of the military academy? The military academy is also part of our army, and everything must be done in accordance with military regulations. Although you are a first-time offender, I must punish you; your salary will be deducted for three months, and training will be held tomorrow morning. The results of the punishment must be reported to the entire school and army.”

Zeng Rui's face was livid, he gritted his teeth and nodded, and exited the study. Lin Xiao stepped forward to persuade him, "Boss owner, A Rui is still young, so negligence is inevitable. He is thin-skinned, so there is no need to report punishment in public."

Yin Feng shook his head: "No need, you have to follow the rules. It's true that he is my brother-in-law, but you have to follow the rules. Do you understand?"

……

It was the first time that the flintlock was lost in Zhonghua Company. Even on the battlefield, the soldiers of the guard team had to retrieve the guns of their fallen comrades. They were absolutely not allowed to be lost. Therefore, after the storm passed two days later, the guard team and the company's security department Thousands of people were dispatched to investigate in the city, and many people who sneaked and abducted, drank too much and made trouble, and fought, but they didn't find the shadow of the flintlock gun. Among the three students suspected There was Yu Zigao, but the security personnel searched his residence repeatedly, but found nothing.

Even the residence of Chen Di, who was temporarily teaching at the military academy, was secretly searched, but nothing was found. The other two people had witnesses and turned around immediately after going out to pee. There was no time and opportunity to commit crimes, and the flintlock disappeared. The investigation of the case reached a dead end.

The large-scale investigation lasted for three days, but the backlog of goods in various ports during the typhoon was busy shipping after the typhoon, and the port was suddenly very busy and crowded with people. Even if all the escorts were dispatched, it was impossible to check all the ships and personnel in detail. At this time There are a lot of fishing boats and merchant ships coming to Taiwan, most of which are owned by merchants who go to Nanyang trade in winter to stock up; while those who leave Taiwan are merchants who trade with Chinese companies all the year round, or fishermen and small traders on the other side, thousands of ships There is no way to check one by one.

The monk Dasmarinas has been staying in the church in Taiwan for a while, and offered to help the bishop of Taiwan, Baradas, to do missionary work. The security personnel who monitored him saw that he was honestly busy in the church every day, so he relaxed. However, this day was Sunday, and during worship in the morning, Deng Hanyang, a Jesuit trainee monk in the church, discovered that Brother Dasmarinas was missing.

At first he thought that the Spanish monk was going to help the small church in Yaogang. Recently, Yin Feng approved the Jesuits to build a small church outside the base of the navy in Yaogang, so that the Manila refugees in the navy could worship.

Friar Dasmarinas did not appear until dark.

Knowing that something had happened, Deng Hanyang hurriedly asked Bishop Baradas. The bishop told him that Brother Dasmarinas left the church last night, saying that he was going back to Japan. He left quietly in the middle of the night. Wrote a note and left it to the bishop.

Deng Hanyang stomped his feet and sighed, and immediately threw it out of the church and reported it to Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao immediately connected the sudden departure of the Dasmarinas monk with the loss of the flintlock gun, and hurriedly sent someone to the dock to check, only to learn that the merchant ship of the Sendai Domain in Japan had left the port in the morning, and the port administration The personnel recalled: I did not see any Western missionaries boarding the ship, but there were indeed thieves in the dock operation area last night, which alarmed the guard dogs and guards, but no one was caught.

Lin Xiao thumped his chest and shouted: "It must be him, it is him. It's already evening, and it's meaningless to send a boat to chase after it. The Sea Soul is still in Luzon. If the Sea Soul is still there, maybe there is still hope."

He immediately brought the request of Bishop Baradas to the company headquarters. After some investigation, he found out that the monk Dasmarinas was the son of the former governor of the Philippine colony of the Spanish Empire.