Surrounded by water on three sides, Constantinople is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It controls the transportation arteries of the Eurasian continent. Its geographical location has extremely high strategic significance.
After the Ming army settled in, Zhu Qizhen immediately dispatched troops to control the only roads around, then organized manpower to repair the houses and roads, and posted notices that the Ming court would treat everyone equally and would never engage in caste system.
, no matter men, women, old or young, no matter scholars, peasants and craftsmen, everyone is equal and there is no distinction between high and low.
The local people don't know why, but they do whatever they ask them to do anyway.
Later, it was discovered that these Easterners were not as scary as imagined, nor were they the legendary devils. They had a strict order, never disturbed the people, and did not engage in any robbery.
On the contrary, the former nobles, whose property was confiscated, did not dare to trouble the Orientals, and instead turned to sharpen their swords against the common people.
Because in their eyes, the status of civilians is no different from that of cattle and sheep.
"stop!"
A group of Ming troops patrolling the city heard a quarrel ahead and hurried over to check. As a result, they saw a group of people grabbing food.
This is a civilian area, similar to the slums of later generations, with dilapidated houses and mostly poor people living there.
It can be seen from the clothes of the people in front of them that this family is a father and daughter. The old man is holding on to a sack, and his daughter is struggling to push the other people away. However, she is delicate and thin and cannot push away at all.
move.
The ones who started to grab the grain were three men, all of them were tall and thick-looking. The man in front kicked the old man away, picked up the grain bag and left.
The sudden appearance of the Ming army caused them to immediately stop and their faces turned pale.
"Stop, what are you doing?"
The team patrolling the city consisted of seven or eight people, led by a general.
This man's name is Er Hu. He was originally an ordinary soldier, but for some unknown reason, he suddenly rose to the rank of commander.
Moreover, his eldest brother, Dahu, was also promoted.
Today was the first time Erhu led a team. When he saw someone committing murder in the street, he immediately stepped forward to stop him.
Due to the language barrier, the other party seemed a little confused and did not dare to act rashly.
Erhu raised the knife in his hand and shouted: "Put down the food and get out!"
When those tall and sturdy men saw the gleaming knives, they understood immediately. They quickly threw down the food, turned around and ran away.
The father and daughter at the scene were cuddling together, staring directly at the sacks containing grain, but they did not dare to move.
Their thinking has long been fixed. The nobility's henchmen grab food, and the soldiers also grab it. There is no difference.
Erhu stepped forward, grabbed the grain bag, opened it and took a look. It was filled with flour, but the texture was extremely rough, black and yellow. It seemed that the flour was mixed together during grinding.
He put away his sword and walked over with his pocket in hand.
The two women were even more at a loss and huddled together like two quails.
"Next time someone robs your things, come find us on the street!"
Erhu handed over the sack, and the other party took it carefully, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"thanks, thanks!"
The father and daughter finally came to their senses, their eyes filled with excitement, and they knelt down and kowtowed.
"What are you doing? There is no need to give this big gift!"
Although Erhu didn't understand it, he knew that the other party must be thanking him, and thanking him from the bottom of his heart.
I don't know why, but I suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of pride in my heart.
At this time, the old man took Er Hu's hand, then picked up his daughter and pushed Er Hu hard.
"Hey, what is this... for?"
Erhu was stunned, what do you mean?
And there are those who use their own daughters as thank-you gifts?
Besides, am I, Erhu, such a casual person...
"Don't be like this, I'm not that kind of person, I take it with my heart..."
Erhu pushed away and prepared to leave, but the old man held on to his clothes tightly and would not let go no matter what he said.
"You... are boring. I, Erhu, am not a casual person. Let me go. If you don't let go, I... I will treat you as disturbing public order..."
The old man didn't pay attention to it at all, or in other words, he couldn't understand it even if he wanted to. He just held on to Erhu's clothes and kept repeating this sentence in his mouth.
However, Erhu didn't understand, and he felt more and more that things were strange. In desperation, he ordered someone to go back and find a translator.
About a quarter of an hour later, two soldiers led Kalai and trotted over.
As the new instructor, Kalai was already very busy, and he was dragged by others. He was panting and asked: "General Erhu, what happened?"
"This old man insists on giving his daughter to me, please help me refuse!"
Kalai knelt down, chatted a few words with the old man, and then nodded.
"General Erhu, he really wants to marry his daughter to you, or in other words, give it to you."
"No, no..."
Erhu waved his hands repeatedly and subconsciously ducked back.
"General, don't be impatient!"
Carle hurriedly explained: "The old man said that his daughter has been betrothed to the son of Baron Langlich..."
"Since you've already been promised a wife, what else can you say?"
"What the general doesn't know is that this Baron Langlich is not a good person and has done all kinds of bad things. Therefore, the gods are angry with his son."
"What's the meaning?"
"His son is a fool, with the same intelligence as a six-year-old child."
"That's not possible. Since we have already made an engagement, how can we go back on it?"
"No...their family was forced to do so!"
"Forced?"
After hearing this, Erhu immediately reacted and said angrily: "That baron, is he still alive now?"
"As far as I know, since the Heavenly Army entered the city, Baron Langlich took the initiative to donate a large amount of gold and silver. Therefore, he was included in the pardon list of His Majesty the Emperor."
"Since it's not a good thing, it shouldn't be forgiven!"
Erhu was angry, but when he thought that the list was decided by the emperor, he did not dare to say anything.
"The wedding is next month. If General Erhu refuses, this girl will have no choice but to marry that fool."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! After Kalai finished speaking, he shut his mouth and waited quietly for Erhu's reaction.
Through this period of contact, he has become very clear that Easterners are not cruel and murderous, on the contrary, they are a very friendly nation.
They fought unstoppably because it was life and death on the battlefield. If the Ottomans won, they would never let prisoners or leave the camp.
I think back then, the Ottomans captured Constantinople and killed all the Eastern Romans in the city.
No matter whether they are nobles or commoners, they cannot escape the bad luck of being tortured and killed.
Let's look at what the Orientals did. Their soldiers actually took the lead in repairing city walls and houses, distributing relief food to the people in the city, and distributing severance pay to captured soldiers.
Their army never bullies civilians, and even helps them.
Kalai could imagine that if such behavior appeared on an Ottoman soldier, he would be considered to be mentally ill.
As for the weak woman in front of her, she will not end up marrying a fool, but will become the plaything of the nobles, and the rest of her life will become a tragedy.
Her father knew this very well, so he pushed her towards Erhu desperately.
With an Easterner as his backer, Baron Langledge would give up this idea.
"General Erhu, I have something to say, please move on."
Kalai pulled Erhu aside and said, "If this girl gets married, she will definitely not survive for half a year."
"Isn't he just a fool? At most, he is a widow. How can it be as serious as you say?"
"no!"
Kalai shook his head and said: "Baron Langlich is a pervert, a... a beast. His stupid son married three wives, and none of them survived more than six months."
Erhu realized something was wrong and asked: "What exactly is going on?"
"In order to curry favor with other nobles, Baron Langlich will give away his women, including his stupid son's wife. Alas, forget it..."
Kalai didn't want to explain too much about these dirty things, but Erhu raised his eyebrows and turned back to the father and daughter.
"What are your names?"
Kalai hurriedly followed and translated, and then said: "This old man's name is Guzak, and his daughter's name is Lisa."
"Why is one surnamed Gu and the other surnamed Li?"
"It's not Li, it's Lisa, which means God's oath..."
Erhu didn't finish listening, so he said impatiently: "That's not right. Are these two fathers biological?"
Kalai said: "They are untouchables, they have no surnames, only first names."
"Not even a last name?"
"Untouchables don't have surnames."
"Damn it... no wonder the emperor has repeatedly emphasized that all people of the Ming Dynasty, regardless of high or low, is what he meant!"
Kalai added: "Ottoman has always been a caste system. The untouchables have the lowest status. Sometimes, they are not even regarded as human beings."
Erhu made up his mind and said, "Li Sha, right?"
"It's Lisa."
"Okay, just Li Sha, I, Erhu, are willing to marry you. Let me give you a happy word whether you want to marry me or not!"
Kalai translated these words, and the other party was stunned again.
Guzak just wanted to give his daughter to someone else. Even if he became a cheap servant, he could at least survive.
However, what people are talking about is getting married, which is different.
If his daughter marries and becomes the wife of an Oriental, his status will change drastically. Doesn’t this mean that his status as a pariah will also change?
Guzak's eyes shone, but he was very worried. He didn't know whether the other party was sincere, or was he just taking pleasure in himself?
Seeing this, Erhu reached out and took out a few gold coins from his arms. These were the wages that had been paid recently, and they were all bright gold.
Of course, they were all stolen from the Ottomans.
As if it wasn't enough, he begged some from seven or eight people behind him, a total of twenty gold coins.
"This is the betrothal gift, have you seen enough?"
Guzak looked at the gold coins and wanted to reach out to catch them, but he was shaking and couldn't muster the strength.
Erhu simply put the gold coin in his hand and said: "From now on, your daughter is my wife. Don't worry, from now on, no matter what bullshit baron, no one dares to touch her!"
After finishing speaking, I took a peek at Lisa. She looked pretty good, but was too thin, but... she had a bit of a skinny look...
Within half a day, word spread that Erhu had married a foreign wife.
After returning home, Dahu immediately called him over.
"Brother, what's wrong?"
Dahu asked with a straight face: "I heard that you married a foreign wife?"
Erhu nodded: "Yes!"
"Right to what?"
Dahu glared angrily and said: "Marrying a wife is a lifelong event. What matters is the order of the parents and the word of the matchmaker. Our father and mother are gone, but your eldest brother and I are still here!"
"This is not...it happened suddenly. I wanted to come back and tell you..."
"snort!"
Dahu snorted coldly and continued to ask: "Tell me, what is going on?"
At that moment, Erhu narrated everything that happened during the day, and finally said: "I was also excited at the time, but later I thought about it, we brothers will never go back in the future. If we don't marry a foreign wife, we will be single."
"I'm not against it. You should at least discuss it with me about such a big matter!"
"It's not too late to discuss it..."
"Stop talking to me!"
Dahu glared at him and said: "Tomorrow I will find someone, let's just call him Kalai. Let him be the matchmaker and bring the betrothal gift to propose marriage. It should be more formal."
"Brother, there's no need to be so formal, right?"
"Of course it's necessary!"
Dahu suddenly laughed and said: "You are such a fool, but you are so lucky. You have caught up with such a good thing!"
Erhu hurriedly said: "He is just an ordinary citizen, not some beautiful lady..."
"I'm not talking about women!"
Dahu said in an almost roaring tone: "Do you know that this accidental collision happened to be in line with the emperor's wishes!"
"ah?"
Erhu was confused, I married a foreign wife, how could I still be related to the emperor?
"Brother, what do you mean? Can you be more direct? I don't understand!"
Dahu then said: "The emperor may be going back. Before leaving, he will issue an edict to encourage interracial marriages. Now that the edict has not been issued, you have made a start. Isn't this a stroke of luck?"
Erhu didn't understand and asked: "Why should we encourage intermarriage?"
"His Royal Highness King Xi will lead the troops to stay behind. If intermarriage is not encouraged, where can we find wives for soldiers like us?"
"So that's it..."
Dahu continued: "Not only that, the emperor also said that if you want to teach people here to learn Chinese and write Chinese characters, the fastest and most effective way is to intermarry."
Erhu nodded thoughtfully. The truth was a bit profound, but not obscure. If you think about it carefully, you can still understand it.
"Then my side..."
"You don't need to worry about it. I will make arrangements tomorrow. Let me tell you, you are famous now. Even the emperor knows about you!"
"ah……"
Erhu was completely stunned and at a loss.
"The emperor said that you are too horny. Just a few days after the war, you started looking for women!"
"No, that's not what I meant..."
"Okay, just listen to me!"
Dahu glared at him angrily and said: "The emperor also said that when you get married, His Highness King Xi will personally witness the marriage. Your boy is really prosperous!"
Erhu looked confused, but also with a bit of happiness and joy.