Lu Ming

Seeing a group of people carrying fish loads walking towards the door, the rogues squatting in front of the green brick gate habitually sent someone to report inside—they had seen too many such scenes of carrying fish to the door, It's all poor ghosts who come to pay the rent and pay the debts.

258 The Way Forward

Not long after, Wang Fuqi brought two people from the inner courtyard to the vestibule.

The vestibule is the open space behind the gate.Because the ground is paved with bluestone slabs, the vestibule of Wang Fuqi's house is relatively luxurious. In the rural area, the style here is very high.

And the fishermen of Chengwei Village, who have been to Wang Fuqi's house many times, are already familiar with the way and put the fish baskets in the front yard, waiting for the owner to come out to inspect the goods.

Wang Fuqi is actually not very old, only in his 30s.This person is tall and slender, with a sharp and thin face, and he is wearing a royal blue brocade robe dangling like a bamboo pole.Generally speaking, this is a bad image of a born villain.

After bringing the two rogues to the vestibule, Wang Fuqi saw that it was Yu Chengde, and he couldn't help laughing: "Old Yu, you took your daughter with your front foot, and you came out of the hole with your back foot. I don’t believe it when I go to sea, I’m afraid I didn’t hide your wife’s knowledge and lived in Deyuelou for a few days? Haha!”

As soon as Wang Fuqi finished speaking, the gangsters around him immediately burst into laughter.But Yu Chengde, who was being teased, did not move at the moment, his red face remained calm.After standing there in a daze for a while, he saw that the rogues beside him stopped laughing, so he stared at Wang Fuqi and asked, "All the fish that went out to sea are here, where is the third sister?" ?”

"Fortunately for your family, the little servant girl is still locked in the back room." Wang Fuqi first took a puff of a copper pipe in his hand, and then said leisurely: "However, you can make a lot of salted fish. .Old Yu, the third sister paid for the 13 taels of silver, we folks in the village, you can't let me lose too much, can you?"

"If it's not enough, I'll bring a family heirloom."

"A family heirloom? This is going to be an eye-opener!" Wang Fuqi narrowed his eyes when he heard these four words, and he regained his energy.

And Yu Chengde didn't talk nonsense at this time, he took two steps forward, pulled out the army thorn in his lower back while walking, and then easily and effortlessly inserted the general thorn into Wang Fuqi's left rib .

Yu Chengde's knife was premeditated for a long time, so he didn't use too much force, and he quickly pulled out the knife.

However, Wang Fuqi couldn't even speak at this time: he was in a state of bleeding after his liver was punctured, but the bayonet did not hurt the vital parts of the heart, so Wang Fuqi not only survived, but was still alive and kicking. The wound rolled on the ground - he probably had five more minutes to live.

At the moment Chengde drew his sword, the six fishermen behind him also raised the fish at the same time... In the basket, there was only a layer of salted fish on the surface, and the bottom was empty, with knives and axes.

After drawing out their knives and axes, the ragged fishermen greeted their opponents with their dicks without hesitation.In the circle of thugs around him, five of them were knocked down in the first breath, and when the remaining three reacted, the second knife had already been slashed.

But after Yu Chengde stabbed Wang Fuqi, he let the guy roll on the ground, but he stepped over the other person's body without stopping, and walked straight to the backyard.

……

People like Wang Fuqi are essentially civil servants.

Unlike those old landlords who live together with clans and have dozens or hundreds of farmers under their hands, Wang Fuqi's kind is based on the system.Leaving the skin of the system, or in other words, when the opponent no longer obeys the system, the shortcomings of people like them are exposed: they have no hard power.

If it were any courtyard owned by the landlord Lao Cai, Yu Chengde and the others would never be able to walk out of the gate after they had finished pretending to be aggressive today.However, Wang Fuqi's family can do it: just like those bullying yamen servants on weekdays, they are ordinary office workers without official skins, and there are not hundreds of people around them to protect them at any time.

……

The scene was chaotic.A group of hooligans known as the social brothers of Shuixiu Town were cut down by the fishermen who bullied and scolded them on weekdays.At the same time, Yu Chengde also stepped into the gate of the Second Court.

After stabbing the oncoming servant to death, Yu Chengde continued to walk inside while shouting "Sanmei, Daddy is looking for you!"At this time, the family members of the Wang family who heard him shouting also rushed out of the house.

Seeing a fat middle-aged woman in red and green coming out of the main room, Yu Chengde rushed forward without saying a word and stabbed her.Before the little maid who witnessed the tragedy opened her mouth to scream, a bloody army thorn was placed on her neck: "Say, where is the captured woman locked up?"

The little girl was also a wonderful person. She first pointed at the door of the wing with trembling fingers, then rolled her eyes and fainted on the spot.

At this moment, four fishermen who had cleaned up the rogues also ran in from the outer courtyard.When Yu Chengde saw them, he pointed to his nephew and shouted: "Follow me when you get out of the water, you guys go to the main room to find money!"

The door of the wing room was kicked open with a bang, and the Yu family and father rushed in.After entering the room, I took a closer look and found that my daughter had a cloth stuffed in her mouth, her hands were tied behind the foot of the bed, and she was looking at them with tears in her eyes, whining incessantly.

Sanmei is a typical fisherman's girl, with a round face, big eyes, and wheat-colored skin.She is the youngest child of the Yu family, who is only 15 years old now.There is no such thing as a girl's family name, and she has been called Sanmei since she was a child.

Since Wang Fuqi's original plan was to sell the third sister to the brothel in the town, the little girl didn't suffer much after being arrested-if a person is beaten, her "look" will be bad, and she will be killed by the old bustard. Bargain.

After Yu Chengde broke into the house, he tore off the cloth strips from Sanmei's mouth, then cut the ropes on her hands and feet, and helped his crying daughter onto Yu Chushui's back...His hands and feet were numb, he was hungry and The frightened girl could only walk away on someone's back.

After rushing out of the wing room, while protecting his nephew, Yu Chengde yelled twice to the main room, signaling to the people inside to stop making trouble and run away as soon as possible.

A few minutes later, when the three of them came to the gate, two fishermen with calico bags on their backs followed.At the same time, according to the plan that had been discussed in advance, the people who had broken the queen also set fire to the back house of Wang Fuqi's family.

After resting at the gate for a while, when the broken boy came running, the seven people shouted in unison, and rushed out of the gate of Wang Fuqi's house accompanied by blood all over their bodies and black smoke from the back house.

……

On the dilapidated wooden pier in Chengwei Village, two unanchored fishing boats were anxiously waiting to return home.

According to the plan in advance, all the old and weak in the village are now concentrated on the larger Herring: once Yu Chengde and the others do not return, the monkey will be responsible for bringing the Sibao and others to the elders... It can be regarded as a gift for the old After staying at home.

Fortunately, there is no such thing as an absolute path.When the old and the weak waited until six o'clock in the afternoon, a young man who was ambushing at the entrance of the village finally ran back dancing and said, "Uncle Yu and the others are back!"

Soon after, the two ships set sail with a clear purpose: to arrive at Cormorant Island before dark.

Chapter 259

The two fishing boats came to the familiar small bay of Cormorant Island before the last ray of sunset on the horizon.The reality is so ironic: yesterday everyone was still here to make money and treasures, but today they have become bereaved dogs and come here to seek refuge.

In the already dark night, Yu Chengde standing on the bow of the boat first looked back at the direction of the fishing village, then looked down at his feet - the bottom of the sea was the sunken ship that brought him wealth and disaster.

After a long sigh, he let go of his worries: What's the use of entanglement after the matter has come to this?Now that everyone has become a fugitive arrested by the Ming Dynasty, since there is no turning back, it is better to plan the way forward honestly.

Thinking of this, he turned his head to look at the endless strait in the east.The real danger is still ahead... It has to be said that it is an adventure for two dilapidated fishing boats to cross the strait.

In the early morning of the next day, two fishing boats with a "total tonnage" of less than 400 materials set sail toward the east without hesitation.After setting off from Cormorant Island, it took less than an hour for the fleet to arrive at the last landmark off the coast of Putian: Wuqiu Island.

Here is made up of two small islands.In later generations, this is the meeting point of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. The island guard soldiers on Meizhou Island can often observe their counterparts on Wuqiu Island with binoculars.

When Yu Chengde, a fisherman in the 17th century, came to the vicinity of Wuqiu Island, he saw only two desolate islands.There is no lighthouse, no barracks, the endless sea in front of him, and there will be no landmarks for him to refer to.

The fleet quickly adjusted its direction and sailed away from Wuqiu Island.An hour later, even though the sky was cloudless, Yu Chengde and the others could no longer see any small islands. Looking past, there was a vast sea all around, and two lonely boats were floating in it, stubbornly sailing towards the east.

……

Right now it is September when the south wind is strong, and the fishing boats can only resign themselves to fate after adjusting the sails at the last moment when they leave the sight of the island.

In the most ideal state, as long as the wind direction remains the same, the people on the fishing boat will see a certain coastline of Taiwan Island sometime tomorrow.

In the second-class situation, if the wind direction changes once or twice, and it is not too violent, then Yu Chengde and the others can use experience and memory to adjust the sail direction and maintain a general heading.

Worst case scenario is turbulent wind.As long as there are a few turbulent winds, fishermen without GPS will immediately lose their course, and at this time they can only let their boats drift with the current.

Probably God's test of the poor is not over yet. After Yu Chengde and the others drifted at sea for a whole day, the sky suddenly changed around 5 pm.

The originally clear sky gradually piled up thick clouds, and the sky and the earth gradually became dark.And the thing that the boatmen feared most also came - the turbulent wind.

It took only half an hour for the turbulent wind to completely plunge the people on the two fishing boats into despair: in the dark sea and sky, they had turned their sails countless times, and the course of the boats had long been lost. Headless flies.

A young fisherman even burst into tears on the spot.

"Bastard, your grandpa and I haven't died yet, what a fart!" Yu Chengde roared in time to stabilize the army's morale: "The wind and waves are not big, we have money in our hands, no matter where the wind blows, there is always a way out, panic What?!"

Yu Chengde grasped the crux of the problem: Although everyone is lost now, the wind and waves on the sea are not strong at the moment, and there is every chance that everyone will be blown to a certain land by the wind.It doesn't matter even if they go back to Daming, they can completely use silver to resupply near the shore and set off again.

Following Yu Chengde's roar, the emotions of the boatmen gradually calmed down.Then he ordered to go straight with full sail—since he was already lost, he might as well go with the wind with full sail, and maybe he could see land earlier.

Yu Chengde's idea is good, but the reality is far from so good: after a day's sailing, the fleet's position has reached the middle line of the strait.When he ordered the sails to follow the wind, the wind direction had actually changed back to the southerly wind, but the people on board couldn't locate the north, south, east and west at the moment, so they didn't know where the wind was coming from.

The two boats that originally sailed from west to east, now under the blowing of the southwest wind, have changed to go north from the center line of the strait. If it is bad, theoretically they will be blown all the way to the coast of Bangzi Country.

So sometimes ignorance is also a kind of happiness.

……

It was because Chengde and the others let themselves go, turned into seaweed, and not long after they swayed in the wind, probably God finally had enough, so between the sea and the sky, a savior with sparks and lightning appeared.

Five Chinese-style boats lined up in a line, slanting from the north to the south against the wind, met head-on with the two fishing boats going north.

While Yu Chengde was using the salvaged brass binoculars to observe the small black spots approaching in the distance, the opposite fleet was also observing the two small fishing boats.

The crossing fleet equipped with radar and half-meter-long telescopes spotted them as early as when the fishing boats were circling around the sea like flies.

This fleet departs from Hangzhou.The first two ships are 500-ton passenger-cargo dual-purpose shallow-draft new lock ships that are being mass-produced by Taijiang Shipyard. The model is S500.

This kind of gas engine sailing ship with hard sails but a Western-style hull is the standard transport ship type determined by the country. They are gradually replacing the old Fuchuan on the Hangzhou route. In the future, there will be a thousand-ton model such as the S1000.

After observing the two fishing boats opposite, the commanders who were bored on the flagship suddenly became interested.

You know, since the Zheng family was destroyed, the two sides of the strait have already been swept away N times by a certain force.Under the brutal strangulation of radar, telegram, high-speed destroyer and drone, pirates big and small either surrendered or fed the fish. The whole coastal area of ​​Fujian has now been turned into a sick situation where they never close their homes at night—the "monk soldiers" under Cao Guerrilla can already Stop the child crying at night.

Under such circumstances, there are still ships that dare to sail on the center line of the strait: they must have come out to be pirates.

Commander, you don't think these two small fishing boats with fishing nets are merchant ships, and you don't think they went to the middle line of the strait to catch fish, let alone that these two boats are destined for Dazu... Who told them to go north and south at this time? And what about the line?So the Commander has completed the identification at this time: these are two small pirate ships that ran out to rob.

"Go forward and check, and the soldiers are ready for contact." When the order was transmitted, the fleet quickly responded: the flagship turned on the engine and accelerated towards the direction of the fishing boat, while the other ships kept their original course.

But when they saw the strange big boat getting closer, there was cheers on the fishing boat at the moment: the monkey who had been to Dayuan not long ago recognized this weird boat shape, this is the boat of Master Kun!

Chapter 260 Arrive at Taijiang

The strange ship that kept making "chug" noises completely ignored the laws of nature and rushed towards it in the headwind.When the big boat with [-] materials approached quickly, the people on the fishing boat also fell silent: the coming was too aggressive and murderous.

Yu Chengde, who reacted suddenly, quickly ordered the sail to be lowered loudly: this action is equivalent to Erha showing his belly and surrendering.

Seeing the two fishing boats lower their sails, the atmosphere on the field eased up a little.In a short while, the big boat deftly stopped on the water more than ten meters away from the fishing boat.

"What are you doing?" Before the boat stopped, an officer wearing canvas shoes, cropped trousers, and a blue canvas training cap stood on the side of the boat and began to shout loudly with the horn in his hand.

At this moment, cold sweat was streaming down Yu Chengde's head: on the side of the big ship, a row of hair-haired sailors in double-breasted jackets were pointing long guns at their own family members, fearing that something wrong would turn around and bombard them.

Fortunately, Houzi, who has been traveling all the year round, spoke up in time, and he put his hands around his mouth and shouted: "Deputy Master, the little ones are going to vote for the big ones!"

"Tou Kun? Why did Tou Kun go north?"

"I'm lost in front of my head!"

"What's in the cabin?"

"No stock, just family members."

"Let the family members come out!"

When the people on the big ship saw the white-haired old man, women and children coming out of the cabin, they believed the monkey's words: Pirates would not drag a boat full of old and weak to go out to work.

"Follow the tail of the team and take you to the big staff."

At this moment, the bright door opened.

……

The two fishing boats easily followed the team: except for the leading motor sailboat, the other boats in the team were ordinary sailboats with heavy loads, full of people and cargo.In terms of speed alone, the fishing boat is a little higher.

From this moment on, the fishermen who have experienced sorrows and joys are considered to be under the Buddha's light of the time-traveling forces.Even though this group of people didn't even get a temporary work permit, they still felt the power of light: at the moment of approaching night, two white beams of light appeared on the sea in the 17th century.

Considering that the two fishing boats sailed at night for the first time, the flagship cast an extra beam of light tonight.Yu Chengde and the others quickly adjusted the sails in surprise, and drove their boat into the beams of light.

The bright beam of light dispelled all deadly dangers.Even when it rained in the middle of the night, the fishing boat still firmly controlled itself in the safe area through the beam of light.The fishermen who took the high-tech night voyage for the first time were very excited. They roared loudly on the dark sea, crying like ghosts and wolves all night.

In the early morning of the next day, the fishing boats following behind the fleet began to eat: the fishermen salvaged several sealed iron buckets dropped from the previous boat, which contained fresh water and warm brown rice.

The long voyage just got easier.And the two fishing boats that traveled thousands of miles to cast their boats, after another night voyage guided by the beam of light, finally saw the Dayuan channel in the early morning of the third day.

…The fishermen who came to the legendary place after experiencing hardships, like all bumpkins, are watching the western scenery on the deck at the moment.Yu Chengde held his third sister with his left hand, and supported Grandpa Ba with his right hand, surrounded by a spitting monkey giving everyone directions, everything seemed so beautiful.

Today's Dayuan waterway is already busy.There is an endless stream of merchant ships coming here from all directions and ships sailing from the Taijiang River. The increase in passenger flow has forced the installation of traffic command boats with electric horns on masts and eye-catching red body paint at both ends of the channel.

The channel that has been widened to 40 meters is now divided into two, with buoys installed in the middle, forming a road pattern that does not interfere with each other.

The hero who caused all this: Comrade Haidilao, still parked beside the waterway like an eternal sculpture, digging the sand slowly, as if digging until the end of the world.

There are also many more landscapes on both sides of the channel.The artificially pruned, neat sand-fixing plants formed a large green belt around the island, and the imperial city in the distance, flashing blue light, was quite a majestic building in the eyes of the wise.

The imperial city has now become a real symbol of rule: whenever night comes, the Jianyuan Hall, which also serves as a lighthouse, will always shine brightly, projecting the internal lights onto the nearby sea through the blue glass curtain wall.

And the busy figures of those in power who use these lights to work will always make the ancients watching from a distance feel like they are looking at fairy paintings.This unique visual effect quickly became famous and became a scene for everyone.

A lighthouse is a must.The current ship throughput on both sides of the Taijiang River is no longer what it used to be. There is an endless stream of ships from Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Nagasaki, and Nanyang. ensure the safe navigation of ships.

You know, as early as the ancient Roman period, there was already a lighthouse on the Spanish peninsula-the Hercules Lighthouse.It is a miracle that this lighthouse is still functioning in the 1900st century after 21.

The crossing people not only "replaced the tower with a city" on Dayuan Island, but also built lighthouses in Penghu, Kinmen, Xiamen and other places.

The lighthouse built by Kinmen is crucial: ships can now set off from Kinmen at four or five o'clock in the morning and use the lighthouse to guide eastward across the strait.In this way, when the sky is bright, the ship has already traveled [-] to [-] kilometers in the strait.

This voyage does not seem to save much, but when the lighthouse on the western island of Penghu lights up before nightfall, the voyage saved on both sides is more than 50 kilometers.

You know, the straight-line voyage from Kinmen to Penghu West Island is only 130 kilometers in total.That is to say, as long as the ship maintains an average speed of 4 knots, it is completely possible to travel from Kinmen to the vicinity of Penghu in one day.

After that, it became easier: the distance between Penghu and Tainan is completely within the visual range of the two lighthouses, and ships can swagger from Penghu to Tainan at night.

Therefore, Yu Chengde and the others still suffered from lack of information.

If they had known that Jinsha had already built a lighthouse, then everyone could run south from Putian, and when they arrived at Jinmen, they could take a few merchant ships to Dayuan and set off.

If you are still worried about the daytime voyage, you can go to Xiamen and wait for the "liner".Now every three days or so, there will be a liner boat with radar and searchlights from Xiamen Zhongzuo Wharf.Whenever the eldest brother set off, the mighty merchant ships and even small private cargo ships with only a few people would follow behind, and the scene was extremely spectacular.

Fortunately, different routes lead to the same goal.Yu Chengde and the others were lucky. They met the Hangzhou fleet on the middle line of the strait, and today they came to Taijiang without any danger.