Horse on the World

Chapter 365 The Base
Seeing the thick smoke rising from the island, Yuan Gang was shocked. There were only dozens of guards on the island, and the rest were old and weak women and children. The few warships parked on the pier could carry at least a thousand soldiers. It's over now, the family on the island must be finished.

"General, help!" Yuan Gang turned around, knelt down in front of Zheng Zhiyuan with a bang, and begged loudly, maybe with the excellent equipment on this ship, he could defeat the ships that attacked the island.

Zheng Zhiqiang looked a little puzzled, "Brother, why does it look like our warship?" Zheng Zhiyuan was surprised and happy when he heard it, and after the Izumo had gone a little further, it really appeared in their field of vision. The two three-thousand-material warships and three thousand-material warships lost in the storm, and the other two thousand-material warships disappeared, Zheng Zhiyuan was overjoyed and sank again. The two ships were probably dead More bad luck than good.

At this time, the Izumo and the sailors driving the other two pirate ships cheered loudly. They also saw that it was the lost comrades who attacked the island. On the ground, it's over, it's over, and I was counting on these fierce gods to save the guys on the island, but they are actually in the same group.

At this time, they were also spotted on the other side, and a three-thousand-material warship separated out and came quickly to this side.

"General!" The commander of the ship, Song Ming, looked excited, "We have found you."

Grasping Song Faming's shoulder, Zheng Zhiyuan looked excited, "Brothers, are you all right, and there are still two ships?"

Song Ming said sadly: "General, those two ships failed to withstand the storm and sank, and none of the brothers on board were rescued. We only found the bodies of most of the brothers in the nearby waters after the storm passed. , and some brothers have not even found their bodies.”

Zheng Zhiyuan was silent for a while, and said: "Forget it, the generals will inevitably die in a hundred battles. They died in the sea, and they deserved to die. By the way, why are you attacking this island?"

Song Faming said: "We lost the news of the general, and after collecting the body of the dead brother, we sailed all the way east, thinking that the general is also heading in this direction, and maybe we will meet again. Coincidentally, we found on the way After entering this small island, everyone didn't intend to attack this island at first, and we were still in a hurry to find the general. Then, as soon as the people on this island saw us, they immediately lit a beacon fire, and even set fire to the pier. After a while, I knew that this island must be pirates. The big guy made a plan and planned to deal with them before rushing to talk. Then I knew that after attacking the island, it was a group of old and weak women and children. Now the big guy is in trouble, no Do you know how to deal with it?"

Yuan Gang jumped up all of a sudden, "How many people have you killed?"

Song Mingming glanced at him, wondering where this guy came from, but he still replied: "What are you killing? A group of old and weak people who can't even wield swords and spears are just guarding them. By the way, who are you?"

Zheng Zhiqiang laughed: "Master Song, this guy is the owner of this island, the pirate leader Yuan Gang, and the bandit number Black Eagle, led two boats to try our tricks, but we got rid of them instead. Well, now He is our prisoner."

Song Mingming laughed loudly, "Dare to attack our fleet, you really hang yourself for longevity, you think your life is too long, general, what should we do now?"

Zheng Zhiyuan waved his hand and said: "Go to the island first, everyone has been floating on the sea for so long, so it's time to go to the island to rest.

Lianshan Island, Fangyuan is about [-] kilometers away, and the coast is mostly steep cliffs, only one side is relatively flat. Yuangang's wharf was built here. There are two peaks on the island, and a relatively low small beam will The two peaks are connected together, and the mountains are lush and green. Along the hillside, some houses made of wood can be seen on the sunny side. At this time, on the pier, thousands of women and children are sitting on the beach with dull eyes. , Around them, heavily armed sailors of the First Legion were guarding them.

Zheng Zhiyuan glanced at them, most of these people were women and children, few were old people, and there were also many disabled people who lacked arms and legs, who might have been injured and disabled in their previous career as pirates. A string of pirates was escorted out in a single file, and the faces of these people showed even more despair, and the sound of sobbing was faintly heard from the crowd.

Yuan Gang followed Zheng Zhiyuan's side, trying not to look at these people, but he couldn't help scanning the crowd from the corner of his eyes, as if he saw something, Yuan Gang shook his head slightly.Seeing Zheng Zhiqiang's gaze, he quickly lowered his head and said to Zheng Zhiyuan: "General Zheng, this wharf and the wooden houses in front are the residences of the people below. My place is still halfway up the mountain. I will lead the general there. Although XX is not rich, he still has a net worth of tens of thousands of taels of silver, so I took it and sent it to the general."

Zheng Zhiyuan was about to speak, when in the crowd, a five or six-year-old child suddenly broke free from a woman's hand and ran towards this side, shouting as he ran, "Daddy, you are back. Daddy, hold me!"

Yuan Gang's face changed drastically, Zheng Zhiyuan saw that the child was running towards him and the others, and the woman behind him was chasing after him, but Yuan Gang was the only one on this side.The child ran up to Yuan Gang, stretched out his hands, and said in a childlike voice, "Daddy, hug me!" Yuan Gang's face was dripping with cold sweat, Zheng Zhiyuan smiled slightly, leaned over to pick up the child, looked at Yuan Gang and said: "Your son?"

Yuan Gang wanted to reach out to snatch it, but he stretched halfway. Seeing the smile on Zheng Zhiyuan's face, he retracted it in horror, and said dryly, "Yes, it's the dog. He just turned five years old this year!" The stranger held him in his arms, but his father refused to hug him. He grinned and burst into tears. Yuan Gang was startled and frightened. He was afraid that the child would offend Zheng Zhiyuan, so he stretched out his hands nervously, as if to prevent Zheng Zhiyuan from taking the child. Falling to the ground, at this time, the woman also rushed over, crying: "Liang'er, Liang'er!"

Zheng Zhiyuan smiled, and handed the child to the woman, "Yuan Gang, is this your wife?" Seeing his son being taken over by the woman, Yuan Gang heaved a sigh of relief, "Exactly, exactly Jing."

Zheng Zhiyuan nodded, "Well, let's find a place to rest for a while. Everyone is tired too."

Most of the sailors lived on the boat, and only the marines and some sailors went ashore. The old and weak on the island had already been released, but their men were still imprisoned.Zheng Zhiyuan settled down in a wooden house, took a short rest, and then opened the chart on a simple table, and marked the location of Lianshan Island heavily in one of the places.

Looking at the geographical location of Lianshan Island, and thinking about the size and steepness of the island, Zheng Zhiyuan couldn't help but have an idea in his mind. Didn't Commander Deng say that he would build an island chain in the far sea to lock up the southern navy? , this Lianshan Island is a large island suitable for building a fortress that I have encountered since I went to sea, and it can be used as the first supply point for Fuzhou Shuiyu to go to sea.

If they wanted to build a fortress on Lianshan Island, what would Yuan Gang and his group do?Zheng Zhiyuan couldn't help but felt troubled, he couldn't kill them, most of these people were old and weak, women and children, they could be killed with peace, and he couldn't do it himself.After turning around the room for a few times, the face of the previous child suddenly flashed in my mind, and my eyes couldn't help but brighten up. That's right, if this Yuan Gang is used properly, he will become his powerful helper. After so long, I must be very familiar with the hydrographic channels in this area. With this guy, I don’t know how much effort I have spent on my exploration. However, this guy has been a pirate for a long time, and he is definitely not used to the strict discipline in the army. Find something to restrain him and make him willingly serve the Fuzhou Navy.

A smile appeared on the corner of Zheng Zhiyuan's mouth, and he stretched his waist a long way. He was exhausted today, so he should sleep well and talk to this Black Eagle tomorrow.

Not far from Zheng Zhiyuan's residence is Yuan Gang's house. Compared with the ordinary pirate's house, Yuan Gang's residence is not much better, it's just bigger, and the layout of the house is more particular.

The previous woman was holding her son, sitting on a chair, and was nervously asking Yuan Gang, "The head of the family, what should we do now? Will they kill us?"

Yuan Gang glanced at the two guards standing outside the door, and shook his head, "They won't kill us, they are just passers-by, I was unlucky, I bumped into them, and lost troops, I heard from the general in charge, only I will replenish some supplies on our island, and then I will leave."

The woman breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good. We'll give them whatever they want tomorrow. In short, it's decent to send them away earlier."

Yuan Gang smiled wryly and said: "Is it up to us? If they really just replenished some supplies and left, then I would not give up my life or money. It's just that I have a bad premonition that this matter will not be so simple. .”

The two were relatively speechless, this year was really unlucky, and they encountered such evil spirits.

The next day, Yuan Gang, who was restless and sleepless all night, was brought in front of Zheng Zhiyuan. Zheng Zhiyuan was leaning over to look at the chart. When he saw Yuan Gang coming in, he said with a smile, "Yuan Gang, sit down!"

Yuan Gang laughed dryly, "General Zheng, don't you want to replenish the supplies? I have ordered them to prepare them. Water, food, dried meat, in short, as long as there is something on the island, I will take it all out."

Zheng Zhiyuan glanced at him with a half-smile, "Are you in such a hurry to drive me away?"

Yuan Gang quickly waved his hand, "No, no, no, as long as the general is willing, you can stay here as long as you want." As soon as the words came out, he felt that they were too blunt, obviously not right, so he stopped in embarrassment.

"Sit down!" Zheng Zhiyuan pointed to the chair opposite him, "Yuan Gang, do you know who we are?"

Yuan Gang shook his head blankly, "General, judging by your attire and behavior, you should be the navy of the imperial court, but we know very well that there is no such thing as you in the Sanfang branch navy in the south."

Zheng Zhiyuan nodded, "That's right, do you know General Li Qing Li in Dingzhou?"

Yuan Gang was startled, "You mean Li Qing of Dingzhou who destroyed the grassland, you, you belong to him, I, I have heard people say that Marshal Li of Dingzhou is a great hero. State Navy, why did you appear here?"

Zheng Zhiyuan said: "That's right, we are the Fuzhou navy, why we appear here is a military secret, but I want to tell you something now, I'm afraid you will be very disappointed, we are going to build a bridge on Lianshan Island Base, for the time being, we will not leave here!"

(End of this chapter)