Beiyang new warlord

Page 785

The sky is foggy, gloomy and oppressive, light snow is falling non-stop, the snow in the town has buried the roads, and no one comes to clean it, this colony is not too small, judging by the size, people of all colors can almost have There are more than 5000 people, but compared to the vibrant, busy working but full of happiness immigrants from Xinghaizigang, the huge town seems to be a dead city.

This is called real wildness!

The disappointment was beyond words, he tightly tightened the fox fur cloak, leaning on the handrail of the landing ladder, Mao Xingjian got off the big ship "Black Pearl" which had been with him for more than four months.

From a distance, it looks like a lonely empty city, but when you get closer, the fear of the dead city is overwhelming again, everything is quiet, only the wind blowing through the eaves makes ghostly cries, and this has just reached the shore On the other side, in the snow, a frozen corpse of an Asian population was exposed, lying there stiffly.

It is estimated that this person has been dead for a while, the skin on his face is completely cracked and broken, his eyes are shriveled like the eyes of a dead fish, and his broken teeth are bared. Don't be horrified. Han Xiaomo couldn't help but stare. Trembling, but looking back at Mao Xingjian, who also had an ugly face, this girl was holding back her fear again, her small breasts puffed out like a hen guarding her cubs, and she blocked the prince behind her.

Unfortunately, Mao Xingjian frowned, and pulled her aside impatiently

A group of more than 100 people landed on the shore, but they went all the way to the gate of the village where the north wind blew and rattled, but they still didn't see a single person, and the old face of the first officer, Shangguan Lichu, who was full of sea wind wrinkles, was also revealed Full of vigilance, he pulled out the revolver with his right hand, and set his left hand back. Amidst the sound of clattering, the sailors of the Black Pearl who followed raised their muskets one after another.

But at this moment, a sound finally came from the town.

"Who are you?"

Leather boots rattled on the snow, Mao Xingjian and his party were vigilant, one was wearing long boots, a thick sheepskin jacket, and a leather cowboy hat with a notch on his head. He looked forty Up and down, the black and thin man came out gloomyly against the snow.

It can be seen that he is also full of vigilance. While walking, he still holds the handles of two police single-shot shotguns at his waist with both hands.

The opponent also had firearms. Ouyang Lichu, who was born in the flagship of the Royal Navy, immediately covered the prince with his body, and at the same time held a rifle with a gloomy face and wanted to scold him, but before he could say anything, Mao Xingjian was behind him. He stretched out his hand and pushed him away, and with a bang, he opened a yellow scroll of imperial decree vertically in his hand.

"Gu Nai is the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, appointed by His Majesty to be the governor of the Rocky Mountain Colony! Who are you?"

Obviously stunned by the name, after a while, the thick black man finally let go of the gun handle, and knelt heavily on one knee on the ground.

"The last cavalry captain, Song Yongzhong, belongs to the New Continent Dispatch Team of the Northern Group Army's Stormwind Legion Lushun Guards Regiment. Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

Chapter 765. The Predicament of the Prince

It turned out that the people in the town were not dead, but drunk.

As the largest military region in the Northern Ming Dynasty, Mao Jue's northern group army not only needs to shoulder the important task of defending the Liaodong border, but also needs to support the emperor's global expedition mission. Here, the third corps of the Lushun Army also set up a barracks with [-] privates. Stationed there, the barracks they built were the only neat buildings in the town.

On both sides of the large yard, war horses were chewing soybean meal, indifferent to the dangling humans. In the two-story wooden barracks, soldiers were lazily nesting in front of the table, some drinking strong wine to keep warm, some What’s more, by the weak light of the oil lamp, I read the newspapers of unknown years. On the top of the barracks, these soldiers even built a three-story watchtower. A big bell was hung on the top of the pointed tower. The cold wind was unbearable, and from time to time I could hear the faint ringing of a few big bells.

Even if it is more than ten meters high, but the sky is full of wind and snow, standing on the clock tower, you can't see very far. You can barely see the edge of the town. The cold wind makes Han Xiaomo shrink her neck like a little quail, but her back is straight. However, facing the cold wind, Mao Xingjian's eyes were fixed on the center of the town.

There is also a big three-story house there, which is the only brightly lit place in the town. Faintly, shouting sounds can be heard continuously from that side, as well as the sound of drunks throwing plates and plates. There are more than 5000 people in the town. Almost 2000 people crowded there, and it was also the only entertainment facility in the town, the big tavern!

Looking there, Song Yongzhong couldn't help showing a look of contempt on his dark face.

"The gold mines near Xinghaizi Port in the north were all occupied by wealthy businessmen from the Liao region who went south to the capital. Last year, the empire sent more than 3000 Spanish slave laborers. This year, they continued to import Tianzhu slave laborers. These guys don't need For the wages, the mine owners all invested money to buy them, but it made the later Ming people lose their job opportunities. I don’t know who said that there are mines in the mountains on the gemstone sea. A group of people who are not willing to fish and farm, just carry the guys. Things went south."

Shrugging, he sighed helplessly again.

"I've been here for more than half a year, let alone a gold mine, a bunch of unmotivated guys who haven't dug up even a single piece of gold, they've all become drunks. Fatty Han, an Hui merchant, was also unlucky, he originally wanted to make a fortune from mining, but in the end, 10,000+ money was folded into it.”

"He's staying here now purely because of his title. His Majesty's pioneering method is enough to make him an uncle for more than a year. He probably has to pat his butt and go back to Daming. By then, this group of useless people will probably starve to death. It's over!"

After finishing speaking with emotion, turning around, Song Yongzhong bowed to Mao Xingjian helplessly: "Prince, if you want to make some achievements, this is really not the place, you'd better go back to Daming quickly, Nanyang, even Tianzhu, anywhere is better than here!"

Listening to Song Yongzhong's persuasion, Mao Xingjian finally looked away, but just nodded at him, without saying a word, Mao Xingjian turned around and went down the tower again.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Just like a follower, Han Xiaomo also hurriedly ran down amidst the thumping footsteps. As for Song Yongzhong, he sighed again and shook his head, then looked down against the cold north wind.

To be honest, the choice of accommodation here is not as good as that of the Black Pearl. At any rate, in order to cope with the long-term northern voyage of the Black Pearl, the entire ship’s accommodation area is heated by cast iron, but here is a wooden board that is filled with cold water. The wind and the barracks were not big enough, and more than half of the hundred or so sailors who followed Mao Xingjian off the boat were sent back.

Originally, Han Xiaomo also wanted to take Mao Xingjian back, but for some reason, the prince committed a temper tantrum and refused to leave. In desperation, Song Yongzhong had to give up his commander's room, which was regarded as the prince's temporary stay. He went to squeeze the wooden bed with the soldiers under him.

The night was getting darker and darker, and the thick snoring sound came out one after another from the opposite dormitory, and the people who heard it were disturbed, and the cold wind came in through the gap sharply like a ghost screaming, blowing an oil lamp to sway non-stop Sitting at the table and looking at the noisy tavern outside the window, Mao Xingjian was so irritable as if he had gotten into a swarm of wasps.

A large wasteland, a large group of drunkards, a Black Pearl, two hundred sailors, two hundred sailors, and finally, before leaving, his mother, Chen Jiao, exchanged all the four hundred thousand taels of money she had saved from living frugally. It became cash and gave it to him, which was the only resource he had at hand.

Mao Jue sent him here to stay with these drunks for a few years, but Mao Xingjian is really at a loss as to how to bring these unmotivated bastards to glory.

Just as he was worrying, the door creaked and was pushed open, and a layer of dust was plastered on his little face, but Han Xiaomo came in excitedly with a wooden tray, and a scent of fragrance came in. into the prince's nose.

"Nephew, supper is here!"

A large bowl of white flowers, sticky rice porridge, mixed with small pickles and oily duck egg yolk, the smell even Mao Xingjian couldn't help but salivate, didn't eat much at night, and was not polite to Han Xiaomo, picked it up The bowl, he just snorted and swallowed it in one gulp, then hurriedly grabbed the spoon.

Gollum~

Seeing how delicious he was eating, Han Xiaomo couldn't help swallowing secretly.

Coincidentally, this scene was witnessed by Mao Xingjian, who raised his head in surprise and asked, "Didn't you eat?"

"No, no, I'm full by the time I cook the porridge! Hurry up, drink up, I have to wash the dishes later!" Han Xiaomo urged angrily, waving her little hands and forcing a smile.

Mao Xingjian was very lonely when he was a child! He was imprisoned in the capital as a hostage, and he couldn't leave the house on weekdays, and he didn't have any peers to play with him. He developed an extremely withdrawn character, but a withdrawn person reacted exceptionally to others sensitive!

Not to mention that Han Xiaomo, who is not good at lying, is already very happy to be able to coax herself to eat every day. This is the first time she has urged her!

However, this does not mean that Mao Xingjian pushed the bowl away in a gentlemanly manner. In the eyes of this girl, he hurriedly grabbed the bowl to drink up the bowl of porridge, and then pushed the bowl back without saying anything.

Picking up the bowl, Han Xiaomo also hurriedly left the room.

There must be a problem, but Mao Xingjian was so upset that he didn't have the time to follow him out to find out. He listened to the door being closed behind him, and he sat in front of the table dully, thinking hard about a solution. Simply take the boat back to Daming, the big deal is that the crown prince is wrong.

But as soon as he thought of his mother's disappointed face and Mao Jue's annoyed and disdainful expression, he shook his head, and Mao Xingjian threw this thought out of his mind.

There are always such coincidences in the sounding of major events in history. Just as Mao Xingjian was thinking hard, a gust of cold wind blew into the room again. After being blown away, Mao Xingjian's eyes straightened in the next second.

The main task of the New World Expedition Team is to explore all the conditions of the North American continent. Mao Jue, who has studied geography in high school, has roughly drawn the outline map of the New World. With dense content.

The piece of Victoria Bay where they are located is now named Gemstone Sea. On the side is the Rocky Mountain, which Mao Jue directly named, and the towering coastal mountains. Mao Xingjian has seen this before, but behind the long mountains, there are several The long and flowing river is revealed again, and further east, apart from the river, there are no more ups and downs marked on the map, which means that from here, it is all an endless plain!

Moreover, on gentle slopes and plains, Song Yongzhong also densely marked piles and piles of annotations in small characters with a sharp pen.

The Sioux! The Apache! The Nuzhi cadres! The Quakters!

Each marked name draws a huge arc on the map in a strange swirl.

For a long time, Mao Xingjian’s impression of the New World was that it was an ancient prehistoric, desolate and primitive Gobi Desert, lifeless, but looking at the records of the expedition team, this continent is not only lifeless, but also has aborigines. , there are still a lot of people!

And not only the aborigines, but also the plains, relying on the vast plains on both sides of the river, which represents agriculture! And Mao Xingjian's most ideal way of governing the country is the Confucian way of doing nothing, persuading farmers and businessmen, and casting pastoral style In his opinion, the empire and the plains that can be cultivated are much more important than the navigation, trade, and gold mines that Mao Jue regards as treasures!

Short of breath, his eyes were straight for a long time, he grabbed the notebook suddenly, Mao Xingjian turned it backwards hastily!

As expected of the Imperial Expedition Team, even in such a difficult environment, everything can be done in detail. The places discovered everywhere, and the resources that may be hidden everywhere are clearly recorded, especially those left by the contact with the aborigines. Mao Xingjian was completely fascinated by the records. With the help of a dim oil lamp, he read the expedition information for the whole night.

Just when the last sliver of grease from the oil lamp turned into light with the suction of the flame, in the east, a burst of bright sunlight finally climbed out from behind the towering Rocky Mountain peak, sweeping away the obscene Xiaoxue that had been hazy for several days, in the A layer of bright golden color was applied to the thick snow.

The sky finally cleared.