Although this city looks quite tall, it is all made of rammed earth.
This place was actually a military camp. Until the 11th year of Chongzhen, with the regular entry of Qing troops into the customs, Wanping City was officially built in order to strengthen the defense of Marco Polo Bridge, an important bridge on the Yongding River.
The original rammed-earth city walls of the military camp were covered with bricks, and two north and south gates and urns were built.
The city wall was further heightened and magnificent towers were built, forming the scale we see today.
At this time, there were five hundred battalions stationed in the city, whose main tasks were to guard the bridge and collect taxes.
Seeing a large number of Japanese pirates approaching, the defenders were frightened and immediately closed the front and rear gates.
Wang Xichuan stood on the tower and rubbed his teeth as he watched. There were more than a thousand Japanese pirates, all wearing armor and carrying matchlock guns with bayonets on the gun heads.
Just looking at the formation, you can tell that they are all elite.
"Master Qianhu, what should we do, fight or not?" Shi Qingchun from Baihu asked tremblingly.
"What the hell, our whole Qianhu household doesn't even have half of the actual soldiers, so what can we fight with? Didn't you see, those Japanese pirates are carrying blunderbuss? There are also Folang machine guns, did you see them? There are five of them.
.Hurry up and send someone to block the front and back doors with rocks. If you don’t go quickly, you idiot.”
Wang Xichuan kicked this tough guy angrily. If he hadn't been his brother-in-law, he would have been unable to stand him, this stupid pig.
Shi Qingchun crawled away and led people to block the city gate.
There were more than thirty Japanese pirates on horseback at the front gate, cruising in front of the city gate. They were very arrogant and guarding the city gate, seemingly disdainful of these soldiers.
There was a huge uproar on the pier, and everyone and the boat were detained.
Zhang Geda quickly selected thirty large ships, and a group of people boarded the ships and set sail immediately.
It was already dark by this time, and Wang Xichuan and others were so frightened that they did not dare to come out. Seeing the cavalry at the front door leaving, they did not dare to come out to check.
It wasn't until noon the next day that 10,000 people from the Beijing camp arrived. They dared to remove the stone blocking the door and come out to see Zhang Shize.
By this time, Yang Fan and the others had already disappeared.
Yongding River, known in ancient times as Zhishui, Shuishui, Sanggan River, Lugou, Hun River and Wuding River, is one of the seven major water systems in the Haihe River Basin.
It flows through Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin and merges with the Beiyun Canal at Qujiadian. Part of the floodwater flows into the Haihe River from the Beiyuncanal, and most of the floodwater flows through the Yongding Xinhe River into the Bohai Sea at Beitangkou, Tianjin.
Boating down here, the tributaries of the Haihe River intersect with each other, the water network is developed, and there are many lakes. You can go to Jizhou, Zunhua, Tianjin, Beitangkou, and Dagukou.
The hydrology of the Yongding River is relatively complicated, so we didn’t dare to sail too fast at night, and we didn’t arrive at the gate of Tianjin until the early morning of the next day.
Yang Fan, Lin Yueru, and Taozi had nothing to do and played poker all night.
Happy Landlord Fighting.
Yang Fan was unlucky and lost all his pocket money this month.
On the contrary, it was Taozi, a newbie, who was extremely lucky. Newbies all had their own good luck bonus, so they killed everyone and made Lin Yueru a lot of money.
In the early morning of the next day, the three of them got out of the cabin with panda eyes and saw the towering city wall of Tianjin.
A thousand people guarding the city had been waiting at the foot of the city for a long time.
In the past few days, many soldiers have begun to gather around Tianjin, but they have not yet dared to attack.
The defenders ignored them. After all, Yang Fan's order was to look at the way back and not to worry about other matters.
After joining the Tianjin defenders, the group continued down the Haihe River. After passing Tianjin, they reached the main channel of the Haihe River. The water surface is wide and deep, making it especially suitable for large ships to pass.
The water was deep enough for sailing, and we arrived at Dagukou in the afternoon.
After the Beiwa camp in Dagukou was broken up, some of them fled to Laoting County, and the other went to Hejian Prefecture with the governor of Tianjin. They have not dared to come back yet.
Watching the pirate group and the religious group board the ship, Lin Yueru and Taozi also handed over 3,000 flintlock rifles as a reward for Taozi's help this time.
The eighteen million taels of gold and silver stolen from the Li family this time belong to Yang Fan.
Taozi obtained Japan's exclusive gold and silver exchange business during this expedition, 3,600 sets of all-steel armor and weapons, an artillery team of ten heavy cannons, 200 Arabian pack horses, and finally 3,000 flintlock muskets.
.Most importantly, her troops gained actual combat experience for the first time.
It can be said that Taozi is very satisfied and happy. There are not many opportunities for this kind of low-intensity, very safe combat. Her army has experienced the baptism of war for the first time, and their spirits are completely different from when they came.
.
But at this time, she was about to board the ship. The pirate group was going to Jeju Island, and she was going to take the religious group back to Nagasaki. She and Yang Jun were about to be separated. This time we said goodbye, we didn’t know when we would see each other again.
Taozi threw herself into Yang Fan's arms and hugged Yang Fan tightly, unwilling to separate.
Parting is not a simple matter in this era. This era is full of dangers, diseases, and accidents. It is really difficult to say goodbye when we meet, and a separation may be the last time we see each other.
"Yang Jun, will Taozi see you again?"
"Of course, when the cherry blossoms bloom next year, I will go to Nagasaki to see you."
"Ah, is it true? Tao Zi is so happy."
"real."
"After you go back, try your best to compromise and don't stand up for anything. General Tokugawa is probably about to lose his patience. At this time, the rafters that stand out will rot first. If the sky falls, there will be tall people holding it up. There are so many groups in Japan's Jili Chidan, and it will take another turn.
I don’t need you to protect me. No one pays attention to you, and no one knows your strength. There is no need to study how the old Tokugawa turtle killed all the enemies."
"Well, well, Taozi understands. Taozi will miss Yang Jun day and night in Nagasaki, and hopes that you will come and meet Taozi soon." After saying that, Taozi stood on tiptoes and kissed Yang Fan gently on the lips.
After a moment, he turned his head and resolutely stepped onto the gangplank to board the ship.
Lin Yueru sighed in her heart, this is a woman who can afford to take things on and let them go, she is a person who does great things.
Taozi gently wiped away the tears that came from her eyes with the back of her hand, and waved to Yang Fan and others on the side of the ship. As the large Anzhai ship shook, the ship gradually left the dock.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! A shadow of a sail sails towards the depths of the Bohai Sea and gradually disappears in the sunset.
"Master, we can't see anymore. We should go back." Lin Yueru put a cloak on Yang Fan. The sea breeze at night was still a bit cold.
"Well, let's go too, go to Beitangkou to pick up the horses and return to Zunhua."
At this time, the servants all returned to their original attire. Those Japanese pirate-style armors were basically equivalent to acting props. Now that the play was over, they were useless and they were all given to Taozi to take away.
The group left Dagukou and headed for Beitangkou Town.
In Liaodong, the night in early summer is very quiet. The sky is densely covered with stars, and the round moon casts its clear light on the earth. A group of more than fifty people, each with three horses, galloped on the official road.
They came out of Jinzhou and had already entered the territory of the Qing Dynasty.
"My boss, if you walk thirty miles further, you will reach Xipingbao. There will be a post station only when you get there. Just hold on and take a bath and feel comfortable when you get there."
This journey is about to break up the young boss. He was born in the Fan family of Shanxi merchant family in Jiexiu, Shanxi. He is the eldest son of the contemporary generation, Fan Yongdou.
At this moment, Mr. Fan looked more like a frail scholar than a businessman.
At this time, Mr. Fan looked tired. This was the first time for him to travel such a long distance.
After arriving at Xipingbao, we still have more than 300 miles to the northeast until we reach Shenyang, the capital of the Qing Dynasty.
He also didn't expect that he would suffer so many hardships on the way to Shenyang, but he couldn't entrust this matter to others. He had to go and see it himself before he could feel at ease.
"I can still hold on, let's hurry up. If we delay any longer, we will have to spend the night in the wilderness."
The sound of wolves howling in the distance made him shudder.
Ever since we left Jinzhou and crossed the Daling River, the territory of the Qing Dynasty was like a dead land, everything was quiet and lifeless.
Along the way, the villages were dilapidated, and the collapsed houses were covered with bones. The crop fields were all deserted, and the weeds were as tall as one person. It was just like what Cao Cao wrote in his poem, with bones exposed in the wild and no roosters crowing for thousands of miles.
He is now beginning to doubt whether Mr. Liu's report is true. He said that there is gold and silver everywhere here, and a horse can be sold for three hundred taels of silver. The prices are ridiculously high. Just buy anything here and sell it for a hundred times.
profit.
Old Man Liu has watched him grow up, and he is now a senior old man. He even calls him Uncle Liu.
No matter what, he is trustworthy. Seven generations of the Liu family have worked in the Fan family. There is no doubt about their loyalty, and their ability and vision have been proven, so he decided to come and take a look.
Only by seeing it with his own eyes can he understand what it is like here and whether it is worthy of the Fan family's attention.
But what he saw along the way gave him a blow.
This is a complete scene of economic collapse, social decline, and a doomsday scene.
Looking at this, the Qing Dynasty, which had just been founded, might not be able to hold on for long before it collapsed.
If I invest here, I'm afraid I will lose a lot of money.
Although this cannot shake the status of his eldest son and direct grandson, the brothers in other houses have a lot of room for manipulation.
However, now that I'm here, I'd better figure out the situation here first.
If something goes wrong, it must be a monster. If the Qing Dynasty was really full of money, how could it be like this?
What on earth is going on? He felt a headache and pressed his temples while riding his horse quickly.
After climbing over a hill, Xiping Fort gradually appeared on the horizon in the distance.
