During this period of Christmas, New York is the coldest time of the year, and the temperature at night is often below minus ten degrees Celsius. This era has not yet been fully equipped with the social security system in the 21st century. Although Li Mu lives in the Governor's Island as warm as spring, the poor in the city are in trouble. Almost every day, more than a dozen homeless people are frozen to death, which has caused a lot of trouble to the New York City Police Department.

It is also during the arrival of the New Year, Ryukyu, located at 128 degrees east longitude and 26.5 degrees north latitude, is as warm as spring.

Thanks to the warm and humid airflow in the Pacific Ocean, Ryukyu has almost no concept of winter. Although it is also at the lowest temperature of the year, the daily temperature is about 16 degrees or seven degrees, and the temperature difference between day and night is not large, which is really warm like spring.

On such days, the most suitable thing is to invite three or five friends to bring a picnic basket to the beach for a picnic. If you are lucky, you can still see whales. Even if you do nothing, lying there basking in the sun and watching the blue sky and white clouds is a great enjoyment.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this reason that Japanese people have been coveting Ryukyu for a long time, and they can't wait to take this beautiful island into their pockets. As for the people who originally lived on the island, the Japanese probably don't want to accept it very much.

This is true for the native Ryukyu people, and the Japanese wish they could get rid of the Chinese descendants living in Ryukyu.

Putian, 12 kilometers away from Shuri, the capital of Ryukyu, is a gathering place for Chinese descendants in Ryukyu.

Putian's city is not large in size, with a radius of about four or five square kilometers. There are about 6,000 people living here, all of whom are Chinese, including descendants of the 36 surnames and new immigrants who moved to Ryukyu over the years.

Although these Chinese are now de facto citizens of Ryukyu, in fact, they still retain the original Chinese tradition, speaking Chinese and writing Chinese characters, and even because they have not been poisoned by the Qing court, most of them still retain the traditional Chinese hair accessories and traditional clothing. Only those new immigrants will have a yin and yang head that is neither male nor female.

Like the countless cities on the continent opposite the sea, Putian is surrounded by a circle of stone walls. There are arrow towers above the city gates, brackets and eaves, symmetrical from left to right, and you can tell at a glance that it is a traditional Han style.

The streets within the city wall are horizontal and vertically connected. Most of the streets are made of stone structures, and all doors and windows are quite narrow. If all these doors and windows are blocked, the house will immediately become a solid fortress.

The entire city is built on a mountain top with a relatively high altitude. The city is surrounded by sea on three sides and surrounded by pine forests on the other side. There is only a not-so-spacious path leading directly to the foot of the mountain.

In short, this is a town with a distinct military color. These Chinese people who are lonely overseas use this almost conservative method to stubbornly stick to their traditions. No matter how the situation changes, I will remain unmoved.

Because of the Chinese's special status in Ryukyu, the King of Ryukyu did not send civil affairs officials to Putian, nor did he send troops to station him. Putian was like a country in Ryukyu. Pan Tingzhen was recognized as a patriarch and was also the lord of Putian City appointed by the King of Ryukyu.

In the past, Putian was quiet and peaceful. People returned from sunrise to sunset, and their lives could be called stable and happy. However, this happiness has become farther and farther after the Japanese entered Ryukyu. If they really followed the Japanese's requirements, Putian should be the main one, just like asking for other places, and be under the jurisdiction of the Ryukyu vassal.

The Putian people, who have always been conservative and xenophobic, are naturally unwilling to accept such an ending, so Pan Tingzhen's trip to the United States was born.

Since Pan Tingzhen left, Yang Wei, the leader of the Putian Ministry, would look at the cliffs in the back mountain every day, hoping that Pan Tingzhen would bring back good news as soon as possible.

But as time goes by, hope has become smaller and smaller. Although Yang Wei is anxious, he never dares to write his anxiety on his face.

Pan Tingzhen is not here, and Yang Wei, who is in the age of dynasty, is the backbone of everyone. At this time, Yang Wei is absolutely unable to be anxious.

As usual, after breakfast, Yang Wei, wearing a sky-blue robe, came to the cliff of the back mountain again. While begging God to bless Putian, he hoped that a steamer would arrive on the sea far away.

In fact, this cliff has another mystery. The entire cliff is almost vertical like a knife and axe carving. The cliff is more than ten meters deep and can be docked with large ships. For hundreds of years, the people of Putian have carved a small platform under the cliff. There are ships under the platform all year round. When it is really a critical moment, this is Putian's last retreat.

In his early years, Yang Wei did not take this retreat to heart, believing that a generation of Putian people would never start this retreat like their ancestors. However, since the Japanese set foot in Ryukyu, Yang Wei had to face reality, not only to ensure that this retreat is worry-free, but also to increase transportation capacity as much as possible.

The cliff top is about 50 meters away from the water surface, and there is no road for people to climb. If you want to safely reach the small platform under the cliff from the cliff, you can only rely on a hanging basket. But how much transportation capacity can a small hanging basket provide? It can carry up to three adults at a time. Considering the 6,000 population in Putian City, Yang Wei really has to think of a way.

"How are the rope nets ready?" Yang Wei glanced at the sky with the same color as the sky, and asked a young man beside him in a deep voice.

The young man is about 20 years old and has a similar figure to Yang Wei. He wears a sleeveless short jacket and a pair of thin-soled fast boots on his feet. He looks really smart and neat.

Before answering, the young man looked at the sea in the distance, and then bowed and replied, "Brother, you are all ready."

In order to shorten the evacuation speed, Yang Wei ordered people to prepare a huge rope net, which was enough to cover this cliff. At that time, young and middle-aged people could climb down the rope net, while the elderly, weak, sick and disabled people would ride up and down the basket, which would greatly improve the capacity and evacuate as much as possible in a shorter time.

"Organize brothers to practice more..." Although I was looking forward to the day when the rope net would never be used, Yang Wei still had to prepare for the future.

"Don't worry, brothers, you guys are used to sailing and driving. Climbing a net or something is no problem." Yang Bang was full of confidence, his face was full of vitality and resilience that he should have at this age.

"Let the net be opened tomorrow and try to make it familiar to everyone who can crawl... including women." Yang Wei made up his mind. Even if at the last moment, all the men will fight to ensure that women and children can escape.

"I'll go back and arrange it..." Yang Bang's voice lowered, and his emotions were inevitably affected.

"Be more energetic, maybe Uncle Pan will come back with good news in a few days. We are just preventing problems before it happens." Yang Wei cheered Yang Bang up, although he himself was a little bit confident.

"Brother Wei, Brother Wei..." A young man dressed in the same way as Yang Bang shouted and ran over.

"What's the matter?" Yang Wei turned around halfway, holding the musket behind his back with one hand, and holding the hilt of the knife around his waist with the other.

"Brother Wei, someone is coming to Shuri, and he is still bringing a Japanese." The young man looked angry and panting, while not forgetting to hold the bird gun in his hand tightly.

Unlike the Qing Empire, which guarded the people more than defended the Sichuan, the people of Ryukyu could not help but firearms, so Putian had a large number of muskets and even copper cannons. This is thanks to the hard accumulation of generations of Ryukyu people, so that they would not be able to resist when facing threats.

Of course, although the official firearms cannot be stopped, the Putian people do not have very advanced weapons, and they do not even have a real rear-mounted rifle. Most of them are bird guns with little power. Considering the weather conditions here, they actually have more applications for cold weapons such as swords.

"Let's go and have a look." Yang Wei turned around and looked at the empty sea surface, turned around and left decisively.

What should come will come after all, and I will face it sooner or later.

Under the towering city gate, a middle-aged man in Ryukyu civil servant uniform surrounded by a dozen guards around a middle-aged short and fat man in a Japanese kimono.

Dozens of militia members holding bird guns on the city gate tower lined up, and both local cannons had taken off their cannon coats and opened the fire door. The black muzzle pointed directly at the only downhill passage down the city tower. The militia members by the fire door had lit the incense in their hands.

There are many pine trees in Ryukyu. This kind of earth cannon is to choose pine trees surrounded by one person, split them from the middle and dig out some tree centers, then close them, and put a few iron hoops on the outer ring. A simple cannon is made of this.

Because of its poor sealing, this kind of artillery cannot be said to have a range or accuracy, but it is powerful within a short distance. After being equipped with iron sand and gravel, it can be said that it is a person blocking and killing Buddhas within dozens of steps.

Looking at the members of the armed militia who were waiting on the city wall, the Ryukyu officials looked embarrassed, while the short and fat man had a gloomy face. Before they arrived, they knew that Chinese people like Putian were not easy to deal with, but they did not expect that Putian's attitude was so decisive.

The thick wooden door wrapped in iron slowly opened, and Yang Wei was alone and smiled and bowed out: "Sorry, sorry, Lord Pan is in a bad condition and cannot meet guests, so you have been waiting for a long time."

When Yang Wei spoke, he used neither Japanese nor Ryukyu, but Chinese, which is familiar to both Japanese and Ryukyu people.

The influence of Chinese culture in the East Asian cultural circle is unparalleled. Although Japan already has its own writing at this time, until the early Meiji year, Chinese has always been the official language of Japan. Although Japanese people speak Japanese, as long as they form texts, they almost always use Chinese. In Japan, only upper-class people with noble identities will learn Chinese, which is completely a symbol of identity in Japan.

Not to mention Ryukyu, Ryukyu itself is greatly influenced by Minnan. The official language of Ryukyu is also Chinese, so Yang Wei doesn’t have to worry that they don’t understand Chinese. If Japanese and Ryukyu people want to be officials these days, Chinese is their compulsory course, just like the English CET-4 in the 21st century…

"Oh, Huo Huo, so that's the case, it's okay. Since Lord Pan is in good health, I happened to take this opportunity to visit him. Please..." The short and fat man took the initiative to speak. Although he was polite, the smell of domineering was still very strong.

This short and fat man really knows Chinese, and he knows it in Beijing.

"Sir, please be a little bitch. The disease that Lord Pan is infected with is smallpox. In order not to affect others, Lord Pan locked himself in the room and saw no one. If this adult is interested in visiting him, he needs to prepare in advance. If he gets sick, it will be very bad." Yang Wei said neither soft nor hard, and in order to get rid of it, he didn't bother to accumulate virtue.

Smallpox is definitely an incurable disease that makes people scared of these days. The horror of this disease is not that it cannot be cured, but its contagiousness. Generally speaking, as long as one person in a city is infected with smallpox, the city can basically be determined to be a dead city. Because of the sequelae of smallpox, even if the entire city does not die, survivors will be rejected by the entire society.

For the Japanese, smallpox is also a terminal illness, and it is an unavoidable terminal illness. Japan's population density has become quite terrifying these days. Once an infectious disease breaks out, it will not be possible to kill 18,000 people. Until the beginning of the 20th century, every large-scale infectious disease in Japan would cause tens of thousands of deaths. Even if it is just a flu, the death toll will reach tens of thousands.

Just like what Yang Wei thought, almost just heard the word "smallipore", the short and fat man immediately covered his mouth and nose and took a few steps back, looking at Yang Wei with horror.

"Let's go, hurry up..." The Ryukyu officials also knew each other and bowed their hands to perfunctory things. Seeing the posture, they immediately wanted to turn around and run away.

"Stop!" The short and fat man spoke urgently, flipping his dead fish eyes and ordered the Ryukyu officials: "Go and visit Lord Pan..."

"I, I..." The Ryukyu officials were stunned, probably already cursing the 18th generation ancestor of the short and fat man in their hearts.

"Yes, it's you, go and visit Lord Pan on my behalf..." The short and fat man is really a dead fellow Taoist, and his tone is decisive.

Although the weather was not hot, there were still large beads of sweat seeping out from the forehead of the Ryukyu officials. Feeling the short and fat man's insistence that the Ryukyu officials finally accepted: "Yes, the subordinates obey the order..."

"So, please..." Yang Wei led the way sideways.

God knows what the Ryukyu official felt when he walked into the city gate, so he probably followed the Ghost Gate. Anyway, Yang Wei felt that the Ryukyu official was breathing extremely heavy and his body was even more shaky.

After entering the city gate, Yang Wei and the Ryukyu officials disappeared from the short and fat man's sight.

As soon as he disappeared from the short and fat man's sight, Yang Wei gave the Ryukyu officials a tip.

"Sir, the smallpox is coming in a very powerful way, and it is not something that ordinary people like us can resist. Therefore, please understand. Just talk to Lord Pan across the wall. You must not get too close, otherwise it may be difficult for you to explain." Yang Wei's words came at the right time.

In fact, it doesn’t matter whether you are close or not. All the short and fat man wants is to confirm Pan Tingzhen’s condition. If he can get a positive answer, he may not be able to go back even if he wants to go back.

Just kidding, what if the virus is brought back to Shunli...
Chapter completed!