choke element

Chapter 940 The Origin (Part )

Chen Zixin has always felt that his temperament is different from that of his brother, and he is destined not to be able to do things. My elder brother endured hardships while studying medicine and had the courage to venture into the world, but Chen Zixin did not.

He is lazy, prodigal and timid. He is not good at reading or studying medicine. If it were not for his brother's support over the years, I am afraid he would have become a gangster that everyone in Chenli Village would want to beat up. So his only advantage is probably that he listens to his brother.

But in the past two months, he began to suspect that this advantage may not be reliable. It is also more likely that my brother's order this time was unreliable.

Previously, he left Fuzhou with the credentials and two pieces of money given by his brother, and rushed to Yangzhou to sign up. According to the plan, he could become a medical officer by picking up a few tricks on the road, and then he could find an opportunity to find out the details of the Beiren and see how ferocious those warriors were.

The most important thing is, if the ferocity of the northern warriors can still be tolerated, then let's find out whether there is really any benefit to be gained by working for northern merchants or nobles. As for the benefits, I don’t want as many benefits as traveling on the sea, but I want stability and protection.

But after arriving in Yangzhou, Chen Zixin found that something was wrong.

First, Yangzhou was obviously an important Jiangfang town in the Song Dynasty, but in fact, the influence of the Northerners in Yangzhou was terrifying. Whether in the big city or the fortress, there were at least a dozen trading houses opened by the Northerners, occupying a series of houses and mansions. , with countless manpower.

There are also dozens of people who are called caravan guards, often riding on the road with bows and arrows, and it seems that the city guards cannot see them.

They are already living and working peacefully in your home. Do you still need to find out the details of these people? The two eyes above the nose just need to be opened wide to look at them!

Both... When Chen Zixin saw this situation, he had no intention of applying for the recruitment. He just wanted to wander around the city for a few days and then return when he had the opportunity. But when he first entered the city, he didn't think much of it and stayed directly in a trading stronghold in Jiacheng. The person in charge of this trading company's stronghold had been to the South China Sea with Chen Zixin's brother and had some friendship, so Chen Zixin's name was entered into the book that day.

Early the next morning, Chen Zixin had just finished his porridge and wanted to go out. The people from the commercial firm responsible for supervising the shipment swarmed in and quickly put him and a large group of people on the northward ship in the blink of an eye.

Chen Zixin wanted to find someone to explain and find a way to get out. However, many merchants in Yangzhou city are recruiting people. At most, there are more than a hundred people gathered in a single merchant, which is not very eye-catching. When they are gathered together for shipment, it is a huge crowd. He shouted in the crowd and spoke in dialect. Who could understand? No one cares even if they understand.

I have gone through so many explanations, confusions, and chicken-to-duck talk on the way, and now there is no need to say more.

Eventually Chen Zixin was settled on this island.

After he was noisy for a while, he found that there was sea on all sides. He is a native of the Jiangnan water town, and his swimming ability is good, but he can only use it in the gentle rivers in the south of the Yangtze River, but cannot use it in the deep and violent sea. There was nothing I could do, I couldn't run away, so I had to accept the situation as it came.

Compared with Chen Zixin, his friends who also came from the Song Dynasty were generally more depressed.

Before communicating with them, Chen Zixin never thought that there would be so many miserable people in the Song Dynasty. Among them, there were small farmers who owed usury to local annexing families, were tortured to the point of death by powerful slaves, and escaped across the river by chance; there were some who bitterly told the Northerners that they were not trustworthy and unreliable, and offended local wealthy families who were both officials and businessmen, and were knocked unconscious by a sap. , a stupid scholar who was tied up and sent to Yangzhou; a weaver who originally worked in a weaving field outside Yangzhou City, but unexpectedly the weaving field closed down at the beginning of the year and his family had no food and clothing, so he had to try his luck in the city.

Many of them have quite tragic stories. The weaver even watched his mother and son starve to death.

When he first arrived on the island, he had a look of indifference on his face. It was not until he spent more than two months on the island and was slowly trained by the collective life that he gradually returned to his normal mood. While the man was drinking soup, Chen Zixin came from the front of the queue, took a spoon, and poured some pickles into his soup bowl.

The man showed a shy smile and thanked Chen Zixin.

This island is located east of Haizhou, deep in the sea. It has a name called Cangwu Mountain. Across the sea, you can see two large islands called Yuntai Mountain and Donghai Mountain. I heard from Beiren who was also recruited to the island that those two islands are important bases for the navy of the Great Zhou Dynasty. They are equipped with shipyards, docks and fortified walls. Thousands of people live on the islands every day, and there are also Marshal-level people of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The important generals often come and go to supervise.

Compared with the busyness of the two islands, Cangwu Mountain can be described as desolate and lonely.

There is no decent flat land on this island, so crops cannot be grown. There are only continuous rocks and primeval forests. There is a stone carving on the pier that you must pass when you land on the island. Chen Zixin recognized that what was engraved on it was a poem written by Dongpo when he was an official in Haizhou in his early years.

The poem goes: "The mountains are lush and green, the abbot of Penglai is always around. I heard from the past that the plants and trees are all magical medicine, and I want to abandon my wife to guard the city."

The poems of Dongpo layman are naturally good. But how can ordinary people be as free and easy as this old man? Everyone responded to the call of the northern court because they wanted to earn benefits in a business or somewhere, not to be prisoners. I was trapped on this deserted island for more than two months. Although the food was good, I was inevitably upset.

Chen Zixin had long made it clear that he was a doctor on the road. Although his actual medical skills were not as good as those of ordinary apprentices in the pharmacy, the medical books taught by his brother were indeed brilliant, and he was indeed quite capable of boasting. The medical officers on the island were very polite to him. Ask him for help from time to time.

So he also knew that in the past two months, several people who landed on the island had developed fevers, showing signs of the plague. They were immediately placed on the other side of the island. Some of them recovered day by day, while others were not in good health and died of illness.

The bodies of the deceased were not thrown into the sea, but were specially cremated. The bones were also packed in clay pots, and it is said that they will be sent back to their hometown with help in the future. This is really kind. Since those infected with the disease have been picked out, everyone else is healthy. I guess that in these few days, the superiors will arrange a place for everyone.

With this thought in mind, Chen Zixin made another bowl of mung bean soup and drank it in large gulps.

The past few years have been getting weirder and weirder. Winters are so cold that it makes people nervous, and summers are as hot as a furnace. There are many shadows on Cangwu Mountain and there are many trees. It can barely escape the summer heat. However, because the weather is too hot, the flies in the forest are so rampant that they fly around in groups all day long, like clumps of flies. smoke.

The person who was bitten immediately developed large and small bulges on his body, which were painful and itchy. Even if he scratched until blood flowed out, he could not be relieved. At this moment, almost everyone eating pancakes and drinking mung bean soup had scratch marks all over their bodies.

Several people were also poisoned by insect poison, and their limbs became swollen and their wounds fester. Chen Zixin, a doctor who had become a monk by the way, had to step forward and use a silver knife to remove the rotten flesh from the patients. The process is really difficult and painful.

Fortunately, when the company was delivering supplies a while ago, it specially sent mosquito repellent liquid and realgar incense. Everyone also summed up their experience and lessons. No matter how hot the weather was, they still wore long-sleeved clothes and tied the cuffs and trouser legs tightly with straw ropes.

While everyone was eating, ten steps away, under a watchtower on the edge of the camp, Wang Erbai complained: "The weather is hot and unbearable. There are not only mosquitoes and flies on this island, but also snakes! Do you believe it? There was a The snake crawled onto my stomach! It’s so long!”

Wang Erbai gestured with his hands to show the distance to his partner Xu Zhuer.

Xu Zhuer, a military student who was born in the Laizhou Military Academy and whose brother's memorial tablet is enshrined in the Martyrs' Shrine, originally participated in the construction of a shipyard here and was temporarily assigned the task of guarding the camp. After all, he had no experience, so he tried his best to do it well, but it was inevitable that there would be omissions here and there. One of the omissions was his failure to prepare medicines to prevent snakes and insects in advance.

Hearing what Wang Erbai said, Xu Zhuer was surprised and asked quickly: "Wang Chuantou, are you okay? Is that snake poisonous?"

"Of course I'm fine." Wang Erbai smiled proudly: "That snake is definitely not poisonous."

"It turns out that Wang Chuantou has the ability to identify poisonous insects."

"That's not true."

Wang Erbai said confidently: "After I caught the snake, I threw it whole into the pot where we cooked porridge in the morning. If the snake was poisonous, all of us would have been poisoned to death by now... Since we didn't Death, it shows that the snake must be non-venomous.”

This makes damn sense.

Xu Zhuer couldn't help but want to curse, but he didn't know what to curse.

He touched his lips and suddenly felt his lips and throat were numb. After finally catching his breath, Wang Erbai said: "Hey, didn't you praise me this morning that the porridge was delicious? I thought you knew this."

After a while, Xu Zhuer said in a deep voice: "It is unavoidable that the island is difficult, but our life is already better than those of the common people. Wang Chuantou, let's not talk about these snakes and insects. Let the common people hear it later. They What do you think?"

Wang Erbai nodded and said, "That's right. Maybe some people don't like eating snakes. It's not like I am from Haizhou, but I prefer the taste of Lingnan."

Is it all about taste? This Wang Chuantou is just as the rumors say, his thinking is a little different from ordinary people!

Xu Zhuer's face turned pale. Fortunately, Zhao Bin came over at this time.

Zhao Bin was the first veteran to participate in maritime affairs on behalf of Ding Haijun, and he was able to speak in front of Emperor Guo Ning of the Great Zhou Dynasty. He has many legendary experiences, which are as well-known as his shining silver hook.

The two of them quickly stood in silence. Zhao Bin nodded to the two of them and said, "It's begun!"

Far away on the road leading to the dock, a group of people walked over. Some of them were dressed as civil and military officials, and some were dressed luxuriously, like senior executives of commercial firms.

Zhao Bin glanced at us from a distance and said: "Everyone, cheer up. We are selecting and training people. Don't let the employees come and see the joke."

(End of this chapter)