Although spring has arrived, it is only the beginning of spring. The cold wind is biting, and most people will hide at home and not come out unless there is something important.
When Zhong Jinwei led the death camp to Tianjin Wei, although his face was protected by a mask, he still felt a cracking dry pain. And Zhong Jinwei's hands had frostbite as usual. Although he applied the ointment given by the Tai Hospital,
, but the scope of chilblains is still slowly expanding.
Zhong Jinwei knew that this was due to his physical constitution. Southerners were not used to the northern climate, especially the severe cold of the Little Ice Age.
Of course, these are all trivial matters. Zhong Jinwei looked at the clearly visible Tianjin Guard in the distance and asked the guards around him with a smile: "Have you ever come here to invest? There are shops and houses. This Tianjin Guard is much better than our last time."
When I came here, it was expanded a lot."
He was surrounded by his own family, so he naturally had no scruples. Gu Baichuan faced Zhong Jinwei, which happened to be in the direction of the cold wind. But he still opened his mouth and replied with a smile: "The way to make a fortune pointed out by the Marquis, my subordinates
Of course I won’t miss it.”
"Brother Wang even went to Weimin Bank for a loan!" Li Laosi also joined in the fun and revealed on the side.
When Wang Peng heard this, he looked at Li Laosi in surprise and asked him: "I went to get a loan, how did you know?"
"Hey, it's because I went there that day too. I just saw your back and didn't have time to say hello." Li Laosi didn't hide anything and told the reason.
Hearing this, Zhong Jinwei turned to Li Lao Si and asked with a smile: "Lao Si, didn't I give you money? Why did you pay back the loan?"
Li Laosi scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and confessed to Zhong Jinwei: "I want to make more money and save some money for my wife!"
When the other guards heard this, they all made fun of Li Laosi. Li Laosi was also thick-skinned and just laughed.
They stopped for a moment and then continued to lead the death camp towards Tianjin Guard.
At Tianjin Wei's wharf, the construction work was suspended due to the harsh winter, and it will take some time before construction can be restarted.
But even so, the military dock has been built. There are densely packed sea-going ships parked at the port. Most of these ships are newly built, and several of them have bows with more than 400 materials. As for the 6,000-material blessing ships,
Only a small part of it has been built, so it will naturally not appear here at this time.
These ships were ordered to gather after the sea surface thawed, preparing to transport the Liao army.
On the left side of the military dock is a military camp. It will be provided for the lord's army to temporarily stay in the future. But now the lord's army has not been formed yet, so naturally there will be no troops inside.
Zhong Jinwei led the death camp and came straight here.
The commander of Tianjin Guard had already received news of the arrival of the army, so he waited at the intersection. As soon as he received Zhong Jinwei, he enthusiastically led him to the military camp.
"Master Marquis, the army's expenses have been fully prepared. Once the Beijing camp enters, it can be safely repaired." The commander named Liu Da respectfully reported to Zhong Jinwei.
Riding a horse, facing the cold wind, it was really difficult to open his mouth, so Zhong Jinwei nodded to show that he understood.
Due to the weather, there were not many pedestrians on the road. Coupled with the movements of thousands of cavalry, scattered passers-by had already moved to both sides to make way for the death camp.
When they arrived not far from the military port, Liu Da pointed to another place and introduced to Zhong Jinwei diligently: "Master Marquis, there are the prisoners escorted there, those who are preparing to be exiled overseas."
Zhong Jinwei looked from a distance and found that the scale was not small. He remembered something and no longer cared about the cold wind. He tilted his head and asked loudly: "Has the censor come to verify the charges of these prisoners?"
Liu Da nodded quickly and replied loudly: "I came here once a year ago. About eighteen cases were found to have doubts and were sent back for retrial."
Zhong Jinwei nodded and said no more.
The army quickly passed through the military dock and arrived at the military camp. Zhong Jinwei took a short rest and saw that it was still early, so he called Liu Da and asked: "Where is the Naval Academy? Is it close?"
"Not far, just behind the military camp." Liu Da quickly replied.
"Let's go and take a look." Zhong Jinwei ordered.
Liu Da secretly admired him. It was rare for a majestic Marquis of the Ming Dynasty to brave the severe cold for inspection.
This thought only happened in a moment. He immediately put aside the thought and concentrated on leading the way and introducing Zhong Jinwei. He was doing his duty as a landlord and at the same time in order to leave a good impression on Marquis Zhongxing.
After leaving the back door of the military camp and walking not far, Liu Da pointed to a building in the distance and said: "Master Marquis, please see, the building near the coast is the Naval Academy. The small pier in the harbor also belongs to the Naval Academy.
From the Naval Academy, I often saw people from the Naval Academy playing with those Western warships a few years ago."
Zhong Jinwei listened to the introduction and looked over there. The most eye-catching thing was the Dutch warship with four bows leaning on the pier, which occupied almost half of the ship's space on the pier.
He knew that there were seven Dutch warships in total, and the other three bows were used as model ships in various shipyards for Ming shipbuilders and Portuguese craftsmen to study and imitate them.
Liu Da sent his men to report the news to the Naval Academy first, so when Zhong Jinwei and his party were about to arrive at the Naval Academy, a group of people crowded out of the door.
"See you, Lord Marquis." When the group saw Zhong Jinwei, they immediately clasped their fists and shouted loudly.
Zhong Jinwei saw that the person in the front was his brother-in-law Yan Yingyuan, and the person slightly behind was Zheng Zhilong. They were all old acquaintances. He immediately laughed and said, "I'll stop by to visit."
Everyone gathered around Zhong Jinwei and headed into the Naval Academy. As they walked, Yan Yingyuan introduced the situation of the Naval Academy to his brother-in-law.
The weather is too cold now, so the students of the Naval Academy, including the political commissar Jinyiwei, are mainly studying cultural courses. If it is another school, it is still a holiday at this time. But the Naval Academy is different. Its students will soon graduate and be assigned
Go to the bow battleships to escort large supply points. Therefore, you can only seize the time to learn.
Zhong Jinwei listened briefly and basically understood the situation of the Naval Academy. No matter what, the human resources of the Ming Dynasty are here, and even if you pick one out of a hundred, it will be more than enough to gather the first batch of students.
Therefore, this first batch of trainees are basically skilled sailors from various places. They can quickly master the operation of Western warships. What needs more training is just the fighting style of Western warships.
"Master Marquis, the Naval Academy can guarantee to provide enough sailors to form the first real naval fleet." After Yan Yingyuan finished introducing the situation, he assured Zhong Jinwei.
In such a public place, he also called Zhong Jinwei "Master Hou" like others, lest others think that he was showing off Zhong Jinwei as his brother-in-law. This kind of misunderstanding was not what he wanted.
Zhong Jinwei nodded with satisfaction, and when he was about to walk into the lobby of the Naval Academy, a child jumped out from inside, which surprised him.