choke element

Chapter 155

Chapter 155

I heard that if you go to the east of Laizhou, if you take a boat out to sea in that direction, the sea water you will see will be dark blue, but Aluhan has never been there.He stayed in Haicang Town for most of his life, and he served in the army twice and went to Huaixi and Hedong, but there was no sea there.

Here in Haicang Town, the sea water in summer is usually slightly yellow.That's because glue, Weishui, Danshui, and the Xiaoqing River and Beiqing River in Yidu are often flooded, pouring muddy river water into the sea day and night.In winter, the sea surface will slowly freeze, and the large ice cubes will appear off-white, while the sea water under the ice cubes will be dark black.

Only in autumn, the sea water will look clearer, blue with green in it.

As for red...

Today's north wind is a bit strong, and it hurts my eyes.Aruhan rubbed his eyes inadvertently, and turned to look elsewhere.

Where does the red on the sea come from?

That should be the color of the seaside large piece of salt wormwood.This year's Salt Artemisia blooms and bears fruit very early, and the leaves are already turning red at this moment.If there is no way to borrow food from the saltworks, the only way is to bring people to pick salt and Artemisia to eat.

It's not like I haven't eaten salt wormwood when I was young and yellow in the past.But those are the young shoots picked in spring and summer. In autumn, the leaves of Artemisia sativa turn red, bitter and astringent.

Thinking about it one after another, Aruhan gradually became sleepy, so he leaned against the stone wall of the fortress and dozed off with his eyes closed.After a while, the companion sitting across from him yawned slowly, then pointed to the sea and shouted: "Fleet! A fleet is coming!"

Aruhan hurriedly turned his head to look.

"What a fleet! So many ships!"

The port of Haicang Town is not large, and the fleet of ships that usually stop here to replenish drinking water will not exceed twenty ships.The leader of the boatmen who led the team basically recognized Aruhan.

Most of those ships are old, mainly a group of marine tank ships built by the imperial court during the Ming Dynasty.Somehow, it later became a private ship of a sea merchant.The style of the tank boat continued the specifications of the Zhenglong period. It was the so-called Tongzhou-style sloop with a length of only seventy feet and one hundred feet.So even if they are gathered on the sea surface, the hull of the boat will not be conspicuous as it walks through the waves.

But at this moment, as far as he can see, there are at least fifty masts that can be counted, and the white sails are hanging high behind, layered upon layer, how many are there?A hundred ships? 150 ships?Or, two hundred?

Aluhan knew that it was King Lu of the imperial court who put Lugu Bilameng on top, and that King Lu had a big business in Liaodong, Shandong and other places.But even under Lu Wang's command, it is impossible to have such a large-scale fleet!

At the forefront of the fleet, a large ship has lowered half its sails and is slowly entering the port.

Aruhan rubbed his eyes and tried his best to see.I saw a bright red flag hanging high above the empty mast.The humid air on the sea soaked the flag, making it cling to the mast sometimes, and sometimes the strong sea breeze raised the flag high, rolling and flying with a heavy weight.

There are no patterns or words on the flag, it is just a big bright red flag!

This is weird... Which nobleman opened a new business?Using so many ships, there must be a lot of materials to be transported!

"Damn, get up, hurry up and serve!" Aruhan stood up.

Seeing the laziness of his companions, he shouted: "There are so many boats, it's all business! It's time for us to have a full meal!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" At this moment, most people got up and followed.Someone walked a few steps empty-handed, turned back, and took a knife and gun.

After all, they are all Jurchen farmers.Even if you can't mix in everywhere, eat and drink spicy food in the mansion, and are a little poor, you still have your feet, and you can't compare with ordinary ant people.

For example, Aluhan, Mouk, who is in charge of arresting civilian households, is a real fifth-rank official, theoretically equal to the county magistrate, and equivalent to the Jiedu deputy envoy.

In the early years, such a Mouk could walk sideways on the entire Shandong Road.After the Ming Dynasty, the local fierce Anmuke fell into disuse, and the prestige of the Moukes was far less than that of the past.But even if they can't get any benefits from the fields, they have always maintained the operation of the sea warehouse port.

Every time there is a fleet of ships, everyone can lead them into the port and provide fresh water, and they can more or less make a fortune.Not to mention that it is not difficult to ask for some food and fodder support, if you encounter soft persimmons, you will use the identity of Jurchen Meng'an Mouke to extort and extort, and even occasionally kill people and rob money... It is also possible.

At the moment, everyone cheered up. Some people complained while going out, saying that the north wind has blown up in the past few days, and it is the time when the tank boats from Zhongdu are heading south. They should have gone to the port and waited in advance. exhausted.

To the west of Haicang Town, there are tidal flats, and ships cannot dock.Only to the north of Tunpu, not far from the mouth of the Jiaoshui River, there is a huge continuous reef near the sea. The reef blocks the mud and sand from the tidal flats to the west, forming a bay sunken inland.

Tunpu is located on a higher ground, separated from the port by some distance.There is a road connecting the two places, but due to years of disrepair, several sections of the road have collapsed into muddy beaches, making it difficult to walk; moreover, the road follows the terrain, and the sea makes two extra circles.

Everyone was eager to visit the port, so they stepped directly on the reef and walked through the slippery huge rocks.

It was the time of low tide at this moment, and the sea water gushed out from the gaps in the huge reef, and the waves beat against the towering black rocks repeatedly, making dull roars and splashing white foam all over the sky.Everyone had hope in their hearts, and felt that the sound of their footsteps stepping through the accumulated sea water was very crisp.

Across the two most rugged reefs is the beach.

Aruhan ran here out of breath, his footsteps stopped suddenly, and the people behind him followed closely, all stunned.

It turned out that in the short time they arrived here, dozens of ships had parked in the harbor, some were leaning against the old trestle, and some were leisurely approaching the shallows.And those ships are not loaded with cargo, but teams of soldiers with knives and guns and bags on their backs.

On the coast, someone blew a sharp whistle to signal the landing soldiers.

Others were running back and forth with bundles of flags in their hands.In their hands, most of them are small triangular flags.Every three or five feet, small flags of a certain color were pierced into the ground, marking the direction of travel of different troops.

Most of the marching directions marked by flags lead to the higher seawall on the south side of the harbor.

Those flags have various colors such as black, white, blue, red, yellow, blue, etc. Most of the flags have no patterns, but are marked with simple numbers.Some larger square flags, with different styles of lace, looked confusing at first glance, but the soldiers could easily recognize the meaning of the flags, and naturally walked in the direction marked by the flags.

Aluhan vaguely recognized that the people arranging the flags were the leaders of Haicao who had passed through Haicang Town many times.This kind of people, who live on the water for half a year, are the most rebellious, but now they look very serious when viewed from a distance.

Aruhan turned to stare in the direction of the fleet again.

After watching for a while, although Daikin's tank boats all looked the same, he still recognized several familiar boats and the sailors on board after watching for a while.

Haicang Town was really deserted, and there were no washhouses or wine shops in the harbor, so after the ships docked, the sailors were not in a hurry to go ashore.But in the old days, at least they would gamble with dice or row and fight.

At this moment, they were very quiet, just waiting on the boat obediently, watching the soldiers disembark batch after batch.

It can be seen that this landing army is well-trained, but most of the soldiers are not suitable for sea transportation.

Many people staggered and couldn't stand after getting off the boat, and some people vomited.So the officers arranged for them to sit down and rest, and let the troops who landed behind pass them and move on.

The troops who landed behind were marching, while laughing at the robes who were resting beside them. Some soldiers who were sitting were annoyed, so they grabbed sand and stones and threw them over, which caused more and more violent ridicule.

This kind of vindictiveness among acquaintances stopped immediately after the officers arrived, and the troops moved faster and faster.Groups of swordsmen and spearmen arrived at the seawall, sat down neatly, and there were still capable men riding forward to patrol.

At the edge of the line, a young officer jumped from the bow of the ship, stepped through the mud without pausing, and looked around.

The attendants accompanying him noticed Aruhan and his party standing under the reef.A servant pointed to them and said something to the young officer.

The young officer nodded slightly, and then from the line, a young man strode up and waved repeatedly.

The companions around Aruhan were overwhelmed by this military threat, and suddenly lost their spirits, many of them had already started to bow their heads.

Aluhan sighed, straightened his leather armor and waist knife, and hurried forward.

(End of this chapter)