Huang Chen was delayed in the market for more than ten days before going out to sea again. It was close to mid-October. The Fujian fishing boat was destroyed several times and the hard bones were knocked off one by one. Finally, he stopped resisting and the pirates of Dachen Mountain successfully divided up the last piece.
Benefits. So far, the Dachen Fishing Ground has returned to calm, with few fights and a peaceful scene. This is exactly what Huang Chen wants to see. The number of people under his command has suddenly expanded from a dozen to more than 80 people. The mob is not enough to describe it.
They were a mess and he needed some time to knit them into a team.
There was another thing that made him laugh and cry. He had a nickname - Huang Liulao. Huang Chen didn't know why at first, until Zhao Hongyi explained to him with a strange look: Huang Liu was the nickname of Huang Chao in the past, and the six Chao brothers, their behavior
Liu is more cunning, so today people call cunning people Huang Liu. In other words, this is a nickname full of derogatory connotations.
"Huang Chao? If I were the Qing Emperor in his future years, would I be rewarded with peach blossoms?" Huang Chen was quite happy when he heard that he was compared to Huang Chao, but when Zhao Hongyi finished speaking, his face suddenly dropped, cunning? How can this be said?
Get up? It didn't take Huang Chen long to figure it out. It must be Wang Bin who was not willing to be humiliated and was orchestrating him behind the scenes.
October is the turn of autumn and winter. The wind is getting colder every day, the waves are getting stronger every day, and there is not much happening on the sea. Huang Chen simply stops sailing frequently, but he does not let his men have any leisure, almost every day
Don’t be lazy in practicing every day.
Now that there are more and more manpower, Huang Chen, in addition to forming a pike team, also followed the example of Hu Erlao and established a firearms team of forty people, divided into three teams: artillery drill, musket-wielding and fire-fighting teams. There is no problem with the training of the latter two, but it is artillery training.
We have encountered some difficulties. At present, only Zhao Hongyi and a former fisherman know some artillery skills. Both of them are half-assed. How can they teach good apprentices? In fact, Huang Chen has set the standard too high. In ordinary pirates,
If you can put lead powder into the barrel and fire it out, you are considered a qualified artilleryman. After all, artillery is not the decisive force on the pirate ship, and boarding operations are their special skill.
Huang Chen paranoidly borrowed a gunner from Hu Erlao who was said to be the most accurate gunner. Facts have proved that this person's skill is not much better than Zhao Hongyi. When it comes to teaching students, Zhao Hongyi can at least tell the story according to the military manual.
Chou Yinmao came, but this person was relying on intuition to make sex, and he was also stupid and did not know how to express himself. What he said with his hands made everyone confused and confused. Huang Chen had no choice but to send him away.
The outsiders gave up completely and ordered Zhao Hongyi to teach everyone the art of artillery.
On the other side, Yimu Lao Shizhong captured another large fishing boat, bringing the number of boats in the entire village to sixteen. His ambition rapidly expanded and he wanted to become the third overlord of Dachen Mountain. He changed his past conservative style and frequently contacted the bandit leaders. Everyone may have
Worried about Lin Qilao and Zhou Lao, they either were not optimistic about his momentum, or simply did not want his rise to disrupt the balance of Dachen Mountain. There were very few candidates. Even Wang Bin, the three pirate leaders who had fought side by side, only wanted to fight, and Yimu Lao's ambition was thwarted.
, hibernating again immediately.
Huang Chen was not surprised by this. Yimu Lao was too eager. What he should do now is to lay a solid foundation and quietly accumulate strength. When his strength is further strengthened next year, he will have the capital to fight against Lin Qilao and Zhou Lao.
The one who responds to your call is like a cloud.
Entering November, the winter solstice festival is gradually approaching. The land of Wu and Yue attaches great importance to the winter solstice, and is known as "the fatter winter and the thinner year".
The ancients' reverence for their ancestors was unimaginable to modern people like Huang Chen. From the beginning of the first lunar month until the New Year's Eve, all festivals must include worshiping ancestors, and the Winter Solstice Festival is no exception. Huang Chen calculated carefully in his mind, he
Traveling here in June, we experienced ancestor worship on the 15th of July on the Ghost Festival, on the 15th of August on the Mid-Autumn Festival, on the 9th of September on the Double Ninth Festival, on the first day of October, on the first day of October, plus the upcoming Winter Solstice Festival.
In just five months, we worshiped our ancestors five times, once a month on average...
Huang Chen was filled with emotions while buying sacrifices. They had nothing to do with the Huang family's ancestors, but were just to appease his grandmother's heart.
The sea is much deserted around the winter solstice, and 30% to 40% of fishermen from Wenzhou, Taizhou, and Ningbo in Zhejiang Province choose to return home for the festival. They will not come back again until the fish news comes in May or June next year. In December, all Zhejiang boats left.
Some Fujian ships also sailed back on the northeast trade wind. The number of ships leaving reached its peak on the 24th, the "New Year's Day", and the sea surface was completely empty. Those who stayed behind were obviously preparing to celebrate the New Year at sea.
When Huang Chen asked a fisherman under his protection why he did not go home to celebrate the New Year, the other party was speechless and finally sighed: "Who doesn't want to go home to celebrate the New Year? Life is not easy!"
Huang Chen then sighed. No matter how hard the coastal fishermen work, whether they are fishing or stealing... they can always find a way to survive. Farmers in the interior, especially in the north, are unable to meet such a humble requirement of survival in the face of successive years of natural and man-made disasters.
.
Huang Chen completed the last cruise in the fifth year of Tianqi, and sealed off the boat to celebrate the new year with peace of mind. Huang Chen was especially kind during the year and granted his men ten days off, during which they did not have to drill. The crew members cheered and wanted to do some somersaults to celebrate.
Chen couldn't see their useless appearance and waved their hands to get out of here. Everyone wanted to get out of here and dispersed in a hurry.
On New Year's Eve, Huang Chen gave a chicken and a goose to more than a dozen of his subordinates whose families were in difficulty, so that they could have a prosperous New Year. Only the people below him gave gifts to people above him, and the superiors did not send gifts to people below him. He was so warm.
His heartfelt actions made those tough-as-nails men choke with tears. Even if Huang Chen told them to die immediately, they probably wouldn't even frown.
Mrs. Zhang believed that her family was small, so she proposed to invite Zhang Xing and Hu Tai's family to celebrate the New Year together for the sake of fun. Zhang Xing's mother and Hu Tai's wife had been with the Huang family for several months, and their relationship had become as deep as a family. Grandma
Of course Huang Chen would not object to the suggestion.
There are six members of the Zhang family. Zhang Xing has two younger brothers and two younger sisters. Except for the younger sister, who is still in her infancy, all of them are already sensible. The two younger brothers and Zhang Xing are carved out of the same mold. They are as dark and thin as an escaped monkey. They are big and tall.
The younger sister is seven or eight years old, but she is different from her elder brothers. She is extremely fair-skinned, and she timidly hides behind Zhang's mother and looks around. The Hu couple have two sons and one daughter, making a total of five children. All the children were warned by the adults when they came.
, so he appeared to be extraordinarily quiet, but after all, it is the nature of a child, and after a while he gave up his courage and made a fuss.
Starting in the afternoon, Mrs. Zhang took the wives to prepare for the New Year dinner, while Huang Chenze, Zhang Xing and Hu Tai sat in the lobby chatting. The way of employing people is to appoint people on their merits, but more importantly, they need to be nepotistic, otherwise there is the risk of being sidelined. The two of them and Huang
He has a close relationship with Chen and is regarded by him as his confidant. Hu Tai currently serves as the small boss on the ship and is in charge of ten people. Zhang Xing is too young to control people, so he temporarily follows Huang Chen to convey instructions.
"Captain, I have something to ask you to do."
"Oh?" Huang Chen smiled and said to Zhang Xing, "It's rare for you to make requests like this, so tell me."
Zhang Xing hesitated and said: "I will be sixteen after the Chinese New Year. Do you think I can go down and take care of people?"
Huang Chen was slightly surprised. This was beyond his expectation. He laughed and said, "Do you know how many people below are jealous of your current position? But you told me that you don't want to do it anymore?" What Huang Chen said was true.
Zhang Xingcheng's actual status as his personal attendant was much higher than that of the little boss. From Zhao Hongyi down to the ordinary crew members, everyone respected him and did not dare to show any slights.
Zhang Xing remained silent and his attitude did not change.
Hu Tai said with a smile: "You are so blessed that you don't know how lucky you are."
Huang Chen thought for a while and said: "The fact that you have this idea shows that you are ambitious and unwilling to be an errand boy, but this matter cannot be rushed. If you continue to practice by my side for half a year, I will take you away even if you don't want to leave."
Drive them away."
Zhang Xing nodded without joy or sorrow.
Mrs. Zhang and her wives were busy in the kitchen for several hours, setting a table full of sumptuous dishes. More than a dozen people from three families sat around the table. Zhu Er looked at the countless chickens, ducks and fish in front of him, and his mouth watered with greed, so he grabbed them with his hands.
Come and eat. When the adults were about to scold them, Mrs. Zhang hurriedly waved her hands to stop them. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she had few heirs. Mrs. Zhang especially loved children, and there was no problem in even calling them names. She was very kind.
After drinking and eating, Huang Chen took out a lot of fireworks and firecrackers, and asked Zhang Xing to take his two younger brothers and the second son of the Hu family to set off outside for fun. Suddenly, fire shadows were everywhere, light smoke filled the air, and colorful fireworks images such as flowers, birds, fish and insects appeared in the sky.
, is vivid in my mind, like a hanging painting. Fireworks are definitely a rare thing in the village, and both adults and children in the village rush out of their homes to watch it.
After Zhang Xingdian set off the only remaining bunch of fireworks, he felt a great pain in his body. In just a short time, he burned three or four taels of silver. It was so extravagant! Huang Chen didn't think it was a waste. It was a Chinese New Year.