The waves rocked the ship and it sailed towards the north. Occasionally, seabirds flew by and made a few calls.
Guo Dajing was sitting in the cabin with a smile on his face, listening to Wu Jiucheng's report on the situation of setting up a base in Shandong.
"It cost a total of four hundred and twenty taels of silver to purchase land, houses, and two boats in Shangqingdao Village at the entrance of Qingdao. Zheng Chengjun led the business, mainly selling groceries, and occasionally going out to sea for fishing..."
There must be a stronghold or base in Shandong. It is the closest to Liaodong and the most convenient to purchase supplies.
But Guo Dajing knew that Denglai must be avoided, so as not to prevent any ships from leaving the sea when Governor Yuan banned the sea.
Rather than being under the jurisdiction of Denglai, Guo Dajing only favored Qingdao and Rizhao. But Rizhao was far away and the port was not open, so it was not as convenient as Qingdao.
Qingdao is named after the ancient fishing village Qingdao. It was named "Qingdao" because the island is lined with green trees and is lush all year round. It was later recorded for the first time in Wang Shixing's "Guangzhi Yi" during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty.
The bay where Qingdao is located is named Qingdao Bay after the island, and a small river flowing into the sea is also called Qingdao River.
A port was built at the mouth of the Qingdao River during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and was called Qingdao Mouth; the two villages on both sides of the river were named Shang Qingdao Village and Lower Qingdao Village respectively.
Guo Dajing listened to Wu Jiuzheng's report and occasionally interrupted to ask a few questions, expressing his satisfaction with Wu Jiuzheng's work.
As the purchasing officer of Guanglu Island, Wu Jiuzheng is relatively serious in his work and does not commit corruption or waste. He has gained Guo Dajing's trust.
"After the autumn harvest, taking advantage of the low price of grain, we purchased more than a thousand shi of grain, which cost..."
It was only more than a thousand dan. Guo Dajing pursed his lips. This was not as good as stealing a fraction of the grain. However, this stronghold in Shandong was for the long term, and he did not have that much money to collect grain normally to support Dongjiang Town.
"Okay, I'm very satisfied with what you did." After listening to the report, Guo Dajing praised: "Dongjiang Town may face great difficulties in the future. How to purchase grain and grass supplies from outside is very important."
Wu Jiuzheng nodded and said: "The imperial court has cut off food and salary for two months, and the people on the island are a little worried. If it hadn't been for the tens of thousands of stones of rice and food shipped by you in advance, I am afraid that people would have been panicked."
Guo Dajing lowered his eyes and said: "I am also worried about this, so I don't dare to stay outside for too long."
After a pause, he waved his hand and said, "Okay, you go down and rest!"
Wu Jiuzheng bowed and resigned, and Guo Dajing's face became gloomy.
If it was just Guanglu Island, Guo Dajing could handle it more than enough; but this was the entire Dongjiang Town, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians. Even though he used the moving method to steal a large amount of food, and even tens of thousands of money, he still felt it was difficult.
The key point is that cutting off Dongjiang Town’s food and salary is not just this time, it will happen one after another.
In history, Dongjiang Town was not defeated by the Jianqi, but by its own people.
The death of Mao Wenlong gave Huang Taiji reassurance; Dongjiang Town was extremely short of food and wages, and people died of starvation everywhere. This was also the reason why Huang Taiji dared to plunder the capital and was not afraid of Dongjiang Town attacking his home base.
Guo Dajing is now quite conflicted. He wants to leverage his development trajectory at a critical juncture in history, but he is also afraid that if he works too hard, the Jianlu movement will no longer be launched and this good opportunity will be lost.
But if he was asked to watch thousands of people starve to death in Dongjiang Town, just waiting for the opportunity, he couldn't do it.
Moreover, Dongjiang Town's vitality was severely damaged and people's hearts were in confusion. Even if the opportunity came, how could he use enough power to deal a heavy blow to Jianlu!
Guo Dajing sighed, and his thoughts returned to the issue of how to survive several salary cuts and maintain Dongjiang Town.
Unless the country can become self-sufficient in the short term, it will be difficult to sustain itself in the long term simply by transporting food from outside and stealing food.
Planting will be promoted next year, and there may be relief after the autumn harvest. If we can capture Jinzhou and significantly increase the land area, the effect will be better.
As for the cut off of pay this time, Guo Dajing planned to spend tens of thousands of dan of food to try to prevent the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town from starving to death. However, tens of thousands of dan of food could not satisfy everyone and could only be maintained.
It can not only prevent the people from starving to death, but also maintain sufficient supplies for the army, ensure combat effectiveness, and not affect next year's Jinzhou operation.
The sound of footsteps interrupted Guo Dajing's thoughts, and Hide Fujino walked in. After getting close to Guo Dajing, she became much gentler, and her clothes also changed from neutral to feminine.
Walking behind Guo Dajing, Fujino Hide stretched out his hand to hold Guo Dajing's shoulders and said softly: "In at most two months, my father will be back!"
What if you come back and you can turn against me to settle the score? I didn’t do anything to you?
Guo Dajing leaned back more comfortably in the chair, closed his eyes slightly and enjoyed it, and said slowly: "Well, I will tell Mr. Fujino that we won't be shy about this matter."
It’s not that I don’t want to do that, there have been plenty of opportunities in the past month. Fujino Hide wouldn’t resist if I thought about it, and he would probably give it a half-hearted push.
But Guo Dajing really has no energy. If he steals food and property, he will have to work hard to move it!
I remember the most tiring night, Guo Dajing worked almost all night in the warehouse of an official gentry's house, and the next day he could hardly lift his arms.
He didn't just steal from wealthy locals when he met them, even if they were on the list, Guo Dajing also specially selected the wealthiest officials and gentry, and stole at least 8,000 dan at a time.
Granaries and houses are usually separated, and the degree of tightness of guarding is also two levels of difficulty. Guo Dajing tries not to enter the house unless he knows the exact location of the stored property.
With his skill in infiltration and disguise, he basically encountered no trouble during this tour. But there is no guarantee that he will not be able to grasp the importance of things, and some accidents may happen if he is stunned.
But these were not considered by Guo Dajing. Even if he killed someone because of this, he would not feel much guilt or burden.
Along the way, Guo Dajing also saw the lax armament of the officers and soldiers in the mainland. He guessed that in addition to the border troops, even the garrison in the Gyeonggi region was unable to fight.
It is no wonder that when Huang Taiji raided the Gyeonggi area, he was not only able to run rampant, but also plunder a large amount of money, materials and people, and retreat safely.
After receiving the promise again, Fujino Hide smiled happily, lowered his head and kissed him, then he leaned against Guo Dajing's face and asked suspiciously: "Why did you go out secretly for a few nights? Did your sweetheart ask you out?"
This is also the reason why Guo Dajing did not have a relationship with Fujino Hide. Once there is a second time, it is better to sleep separately. He is free to do whatever he wants.
Obviously, Fujino Hide may not know that he went out at night, maybe Zhou Lu leaked the news.
"Yeah! You didn't even let me sleep with you, so you went to a brothel to have fun." Guo Dajing said with a bad smile: "You can't even lift my arms if you don't look at me. I can do not only 1,000 but also 800 push-ups."
Fujino Hide snorted, not believing Guo Dajing's nonsense. But he also wondered what kind of work this guy went out to do at night. The next day he was as tired as a disabled person.
"I have heard people say that there is a miraculous thief in Shandong. He has good doors and windows, and no large or small vehicles for transportation. He stole all the food in a warehouse." Fujino Hide raised his face and looked at Guo Dajing.
expression.
Guo Dajing nodded slightly and said: "It's really amazing. I wish I had such a method. If I can meet him, I will worship him as my teacher."
Seeing Guo Dajing's serious look, Fujino Hide dispelled some of his suspicions. Originally, no matter how capable Guo Dajing was, he couldn't empty the granary by himself.
Listening to people talking in the restaurant, there were also different opinions. Even ghosts and gods were involved in the transportation. No one knew how those wealthy officials and gentry were stolen.
Moreover, thieves mostly target property. They rarely go straight for food. They steal a whole warehouse in one go. They are not afraid that the target is too big or the items are too heavy.
It's quite heavy. One bag weighs more than 100 kilograms. There are thousands of bags. It almost broke my waist and made my arms dry.
Guo Dajing leaned back, changed the subject, and said: "Massage, massage, I don't know how to feel sorry for anyone at all."
Fujino Hide punched Guo Dajing's belly angrily, but still stood behind the chair and massaged him.
The reason why a secret is called a secret is that only one person knows it. It is very uncomfortable to keep a secret, and Guo Dajing decided to make himself uncomfortable forever.
………………
The waves were undulating, and the ship was bumping forward. The sails had all been lowered, but the speed was very fast.
Qin Dahai stood at the bow of the ship, holding on to the side of the ship tightly and staring at the sea surface with the buoy exposed in front of him.
"Get ready to launch!" he shouted loudly, wiping the seawater from his face.
The crossbow machine has been tensioned. The crossbow arrow is like a javelin, with an iron leaf as a feather. The three-sided barb of the arrow is shining with cold light, and a rope as thick as a finger is tied to the tail of the arrow.
The tall and round crossbowman Li Wang controlled the crossbow machine and aimed at the sea ahead, gritting his teeth and widening his eyes.
Just now, when he saw the black back half exposed from the sea, Li Wang started the crossbow. The crossbow arrow with the rope and buoy shot out, piercing the whale's body fiercely.
The whale was hit hard again, and its running speed became faster again, but after a while, it slowed down again.
"Get ready to launch!" Qin Dahai's voice was full of excitement and excitement. It could be seen that the whale was almost exhausted and would soon become a huge harvest for the fishing fleet.
Li Wang agreed excitedly and controlled the angle and direction of the crossbow. One more arrow, one more strike, and this astonishingly big guy would be finished.
The shadow of a clipper appeared on the side, and it was also a member of the fishing team. The shape of the boat was slightly smaller, but the speed was faster than this. However, the whale was really strong. It was hit by two arrows in a row and could still drag it.
The large boat, more than 20 meters long, ran very far.
The exhausted whale was hit by another arrow, struggled for a shorter time, and soon floated to the surface of the sea, no longer moving.
Qin Dahai and others tightened the rope and stood beside the boat, watching the huge whale floating and sinking in the sea below.
"This guy -" Qin Dahai swallowed and sighed, "I'm afraid it weighs tens of thousands of pounds, right?"
Li Wang chuckled and said, "Not only that, I think it weighs more than 20,000 kilograms."
This is a small dolphin whale that is abundant in the Yellow Sea. It usually weighs about ten tons and is eight or nine meters long.
The sailors around him laughed heartily, pointed, and talked, feeling happy and excited about the harvest they had worked so hard for.
"Hang up the sails and return." Qin Dahai issued an excited instruction to tow the whale first.
The fishing fleet has special fish transport ships equipped with lifting facilities with pulleys. But Qin Dahai couldn't wait any longer and ordered the sailors to set sail and return.
"It's a pity that we met a big guy last time." Li Wang was still holding the side of the boat to look at the whale meat, and said with regret: "It's about the same length as our boat, and it weighs more than 100,000 kilograms."
Qin Dahai shrugged his shoulders. Although there was regret in his heart, he was more filled with joy and excitement.
I can finally explain to Mr. Guo that although this is only the first whale I have hunted, I have chased whales several times in the past few days and gained a lot of experience.
Another crossbow aircraft should be installed on the bow of the ship, the fleet's dispersed search and outflanking and hunting formations should be improved, and the signals for communicating with each other should be simpler...
Qin Dahai was thinking in his mind, perfecting the whaling plan, and his confidence was gradually increasing.
In addition to the fishing fleet stationed in Taiping Bay on Ocean Island, Guo Dajing also relocated nearly a hundred households to live on Ocean Island, reclaimed more than 200 acres of wasteland, fished and cultivated seafood in Guanmenzui.
In general, although Haiyang Island's output this year is not self-sufficient, it is similar. Of course, this does not include the harvest of the fishing team.
The fishing fleet not only hunts whales, but also goes out to sea to catch other fish.
As the number of veteran fishermen continues to increase and their fishing skills become more proficient, the fishing fleet is providing more and more seafood to the military and civilians of Dongjiang Town by taking advantage of the unique advantages of the Haiyang Island fishing ground.
…………….
In the late autumn of October, the ship Guo Dajing was on docked at the dock of Guanglu Island.
"No one came to greet me!" Fujino Hide held the side of the boat, looked at the dock, and shrugged his shoulders.
Guo Dajing smiled faintly. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he reached out and patted his buttocks, "Let's go, get off the boat and go home."
Fujino Hide was ashamed and angry, and he took two steps to catch up and wanted to take revenge, but when he saw the sailors on the boat, he had to bite his lip and gave up.
"Sir." When the soldiers on the dock saw the chief officer stepping off the boat, they hurried forward to salute.
Guo Dajing nodded and said: "Bring three horses, I want to rush to the military camp immediately."
The soldier bowed to the order and ran to report to the officer on duty. The officer soon led the men and horses over in person.
"I won't go. I'll talk about it tomorrow if I have something to do." Fujino Hide yawned and said, "I'll help you send your things back so that Sister Xiu will be happy to know that you are back."
Originally she didn’t know you were with me, so when you went to notify her to deliver something, did you just tell her clearly?
Guo Dajing knew that he would have to tell Axiu about this matter sooner or later, and there was no point in hiding it, so he and Zhou Lu got on their horses and went straight to the military camp.
At the gate of the military camp, the sentry saw the chief officer, saluted quickly, and pushed aside the barricade blocking the way.
All the way to the office, officers and soldiers greeted me constantly, with expressions of joy and expectation on their faces.
Obviously, cutting off pay for two months will have an impact on military morale.
Although they are not starving yet, they are still worried. The return of Guo Dajing, the backbone of the army, seems to have brought hope to the soldiers.
Liu Xingzuo and other major officers were away and should be busy training. Guo Dajing directly sent someone to invite Chen Youshan to learn about the island's material reserves first.