"Report~"
"Commander, good news, good news~"
Just when Chen Kan was about to order the entire army to set sail, he suddenly saw a small boat sailing towards the treasure ship at an extremely fast speed, shouting from a distance that there was good news.
Chen Kan was stunned.
The personal guards and Song Qing and other generals beside him were also stunned.
The good news at this time, what good news will it be?
Is there any point in guessing?
The speed of the cruising warship was so fast that it took off. Not long after, two soldiers with ecstatic expressions climbed up the ladder to the deck.
"Report, Marshal, good news, the thunderstorm has dissipated."
Chen Kan was ecstatic in an instant.
"Is this true?"
"He is really a handsome man. He will be watching from a distance on the sea with his own eyes as the thunderstorm dissipates and the sea area becomes calm."
The soldiers who reported the news were also overjoyed, which meant that they could really bring back the bones of their dead brothers.
Song Qing, Tan Cong and all the generals were a little unbelievable.
Just as the fleet was about to set off, the thunderstorm just stopped. Is there such a coincidence in the world?
"Is it possible that the dead brothers have spirits in the sky and don't want their bones to be buried at the bottom of the sea?"
Song Qing suddenly asked himself something, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.
"I'm afraid that's the case."
Song Qing raised the level of the matter to the level of ghosts and gods with one sentence, causing a group of generals to look at each other in confusion.
Chen Kan was the first to come to his senses. He pulled his neck and shouted: "Send the order, the fleet will be divided into ten blessing ships and thirty cruise ships. They will turn around in a net shape, with a distance of three hundred feet in the front and a hundred feet in the left and right. Go back and salvage our brothers." Their bones.”
After Chen Kan gave the order, he flew towards the ship's ladder like an arrow from a string.
Chen Kan would definitely go there personally to salvage the bodies of the dead soldiers.
Watching Chen Kanyuan go away, Song Qing, the deputy general, had no choice but to take over the defense of the fleet.
Now that Chen Kan is gone, there is no need for him to go.
The military system of the Ming Dynasty, which consisted of a master and a deputy, was based on the military supervision system of the pre-Song Dynasty, and was also designed to deal with this situation.
Ten blessing ships and thirty cruise ships turned around on the sea. The scene was extremely spectacular.
In order to dispatch so many ships for the sake of more than a hundred dead soldiers, in the entire Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that only a general like Chen Kan who did not follow the routine could do it.
If it were any other general, he would definitely choose to return to the north without looking back.
Although Chen Kan has been almost assimilated to the Ming Dynasty's environment and thinking over the years, deep down in his heart, he still has some compassion and respect for life.
Chen Kan led the search and rescue fleet to sail into the thunderstorm area again.
The current sea surface is exactly the same as the information reported by the scouts and soldiers. The sea surface is calm and the waves are calm, and the sky is clear above the head.
It is hard to imagine that before today, this place was still a thunderstorm area that stretched for hundreds of miles. Lightning was raging under the dark clouds, and strong winds and rains set off huge waves.
Simply two different extremes.
That's what the sea is like.
You never know when she will get angry or when she will calm down.
It came without warning, and it left without warning.
Perhaps Chen Kan had better luck. As soon as he entered the sea area of the thunderstorm area, the lucky boat Chen Kan was riding on found a body floating in the distance.
Directing the soldiers to fish out the body with a net, Chen Kan couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken.
It only takes a day for the body to become smelly and swollen after being soaked in seawater. The identity of the deceased can only be identified through the identification plate.
More than a hundred corpses are scattered over a hundred miles of sea, and the chance of recovering them all is very slim.
Chen Kan could only order the fleet to patrol the sea and retrieve what could be found. If he could not find it, there was nothing he could do.
When it got dark, the data collected from each ship made Chen Kan feel extremely bad.
Forty boats spent a whole day salvaging and found sixteen bodies, which meant that more than a hundred people were still missing.
After being silent for a long time, Chen Kan decided to let the fleet dock to rest for the night and continue searching along the coast tomorrow.
If you fall into the sea normally, your first reaction must be to find a way to swim to the shore instead of staying in place and waiting for rescue.
Along the coast of the Malay Peninsula, you might even encounter living people.
Early the next morning, Chen Kan ordered the flag to be used as a unit, leaving only the sailors who controlled the ship, while the others all disembarked and searched along the island shore.
Including himself.
However, Chen Kan still had no intention of entering the rainforest. The rainforest was too dangerous, and torches were lined up on the shore. Seeing such a scene, if there were any living people, they would naturally come forward to join them.
A group of people moved along the coast, shouting the names of the missing soldiers in Ming dialect as they walked.
Chen Kan walked among the crowd. The further he walked, the heavier his mood became.
Because they had already searched for more than ten miles in advance, it was already bright.
But apart from a few tattered armors, no living person was found, not even a corpse.
At noon, a rocky mountain blocked everyone's path. There were many caves corroded by sea water on the rocky mountain, which were densely packed like honeycombs.
Li Lan, the leader of the team, looked a little ugly. The smooth cliff blocked everyone's path, which also meant that their search and rescue process was over.
"Go and report to the commander. The way forward is blocked and we can no longer continue the search."
The soldiers under his command received the order. After nodding in agreement, they turned around and trotted towards Chen Kan's team.
Just as Li Lan was about to sit down on a raised rock and rest for a while, his nose twitched and he suddenly smelled the smell of blood.
"This is?"
"The smell of blood!"
"If there is a situation, everyone is on alert~"
Li Lan shouted loudly, and the Ming army soldiers following him immediately became alert.
"Second brother, take a few people with me to have a look."
Li Lan ordered with a solemn expression. The soldier he called Lao Er was a little confused because he didn't smell any blood.
"Boss, are you too mentally stressed and mistaking the smell of the sea breeze for the smell of blood?"
"No, I can still distinguish the smell of blood and sea breeze."
Li Lan's face became more solemn. As a veteran, he was sure that he would not mistake the smell of human blood.
It stands to reason that the smell of blood now is most likely the smell of the missing brother who was washed up on the shore and injured.
But for some reason, he always felt something was wrong in his heart.
After hearing Li Lan's judgment, the second child was confused, but he still started to order people.
After a while, a dozen brothers were named.
"Boss, where does the smell of blood come from?"
Li Lan stood up, without saying much, but led the dozen or so people in the direction where the smell of blood came from.
It was a hidden cave, hidden behind a pile of rubble and difficult to find.
The closer you get to the cave, the stronger the smell of blood becomes.
Now the man whom Li Lan called the second child finally determined that this was the smell of blood and not the smell of sea breeze.
"anyone there?"
Li Lan stood at the entrance of the cave and shouted. The next second, a figure passed by another cave above the cave. The speed of the figure was very fast. Li Lan almost didn't have time to see the person's face clearly before the person jumped with a splash. Into the sea.
"Is it a woman?"
The second brother quickly led people to the beach, but the figure had disappeared on the sea, and no trace could be seen at all.
"Where did this woman come from in this barren mountain?"
Li Lan's brows furrowed, and the uneasiness in his heart became even stronger.
The second brother saw that the figure had disappeared into the sea, so he led the people back and asked: "Boss, can I take people in to take a look?"
"Let's go together, be careful, don't be some weird mandrill."
Li Lan responded and took the lead in drawing out his long knife and stepping into the cave. The soldiers following him also subconsciously raised their fire guns.
Mandrills, that's no joke.
The cave was a little dark, and as soon as he entered the cave entrance, the strong smell of blood hit his face.
A group of Ming army soldiers couldn't help but frown. With such a strong smell of blood, that man must have been injured a lot.
The cave is not big. After all, it is only corroded by sea water. Naturally, it cannot be very deep. However, there is a rock blocking the cave, and there is a hole above the rock. It is this hole that connects the upper and lower caves.
When they saw the man just now, he obviously drilled into another hole from here.
A group of people walked behind the rock. When they saw the scene behind the rock clearly, a group of old men turned pale with fright.
"Hey, this, this, this, that woman just now was a man-eating mandrill?"
The second child said something tremblingly, and Li Lan immediately shook his head and denied with a solemn expression: "No, that's a person. She is eating people."
Yes, what was lying in front of a group of Ming soldiers was a corpse that had been chewed to pieces.
Two arms fell off, two thighs were eaten away, the skeleton was exposed, and the blood still flowing under the body showed that the body had just died.
His eyes were wide open, and he looked like he was determined to die.
The most important thing is that the corpse is still wearing the clothes of the Ming army.
Li Lan knelt down and inspected the body with a gloomy face, and finally found an identity plate around the body's neck.
The name on the nameplate showed his identity. He was one of the more than 100 Ming soldiers who disappeared during the thunderstorm.
"There are traces of being hit with a blunt instrument on the back of the head, but the wounds are not deep and are not fatal. If I guess correctly, he should have been blown to the shore by the wind and waves, and was attacked while seeking shelter in a cave. But the real cause of death But he was eaten alive and died."
After lifting the body and closing his eyes, Li Lan stood up and slowly told the cause of death of the Ming army soldier.
After listening to Li Lan's speculation, the faces of the group of soldiers surrounding the corpse suddenly turned ugly. They were all veterans who had spent the rest of their lives in battles. How could they not know how painful it was for a person to be eaten alive to death?
What kind of hatred does this man have towards the Ming army that he would choose such an extreme way to take revenge?
Yes, that person is taking revenge on the Ming army, and it can only be revenge.
Because there is no shortage of food at the beach.
The seafood left behind when the tide recedes is enough for a person to survive for a long time. There is no need to choose to eat human flesh to survive.
Unless this person has a deep hatred for the Ming army, so much so that he would even resist a sneak attack, he must wait for the Ming army soldiers to wake up and eat his flesh and drink his blood.
They are all veterans, so it is not difficult to deduce the truth based on the condition of the corpse.
Li Lan said with a gloomy face: "Please report it to Lord Ming."
The second child turned around and trotted out of the cave, while Li Lan led others to collect the bones of the Ming army soldier.
...
...
Not long after, after receiving the news, Chen Kan led his guards to the rocky mountain.
Li Lan had already led people to get the body out of the cave and placed it on the beach.
Looking at the unrecognizable corpse, Chen Kan's expression was exactly the same as that of Li Lan, so gloomy that he looked like thunder from the Nine Heavens was about to rain down.
"Women, eat people..."
"When will the soldiers of our Ming army become food for others?"
Chen Kan gritted his teeth and asked this question, making a group of soldiers tremble with fear.
"My general ordered us to divide our troops into two groups. We will patrol the sea and search the coast. We will dig three feet into the ground to find this person."
Chen Kan gave the order, and the soldiers on the shore began to take action quickly.
Soldiers of the Ming Dynasty could die in battle, old age, or illness, but they could never be bitten to death.
This is not only provoking Daming, but also provoking them Qiu Ba.
After sending the soldiers under his command away, Chen Kan waited at the place under the protection of his personal guards.
After finding a big stone to sit on, Chen Kan began to wait boringly.
At noon, Zhang Dong lit a fire and grilled some fish for Chen Kan's lunch.
Every time Chen Kan ate, it was impossible for Chen Kan to still be in the mood to eat after something like this happened.
"Master Hou, please eat a little."
Zhang Dong comforted him softly. Chen Kan shook his head and refused and asked, "Zhang Dong, who do you think would hate Ming Dynasty so much?"
Zhang shook his head and said honestly: "Our fleet of the Ming Dynasty came all the way to Nanyang. I don't know how many people were frightened. The city of Malacca was razed to the ground, the treasure house of Sumatra was emptied, and the former leader was expelled. People who hate me, the Ming Dynasty." There are too many, and my subordinates are not sure."
Chen Kan nodded slightly and asked no more questions.
Countries like Nanyang basically have reasons to hate the Ming Dynasty, but they are unable to lock in a clear target.
However, Chen Kan did have some guesses in his mind.
It's just that he doesn't understand, how did that woman survive the endless fire?
Song Qing came back and said that he had blown that woman's boat into pieces, in the true sense of the word.
After a long silence, Chen Kan stood up from the bluestone and walked to a row of corpses salvaged from the sea.
There are seventeen bodies in total, sixteen of them were fished out of the sea and one was found in the cave.
Looking at the unrecognizable corpse, Chen Kan couldn't help but be stunned.
According to Li Lan, the body's blood was still flowing and the body was still warm when they arrived.
In other words, if they could have come just a little earlier, he would have survived.
At this moment, Chen Kan couldn't help but feel slightly regretful.
Why did you have to rest last night?
If we had just searched for him at night, he might not have died, and he would have become one of the miracles of escape at sea.
After being dazed for a while, Chen Kan and his guards began to carry firewood from the rain forest.
Most of these corpses have begun to stink. In this place in Nanyang, corpses are prone to breed various bacteria once they are left for a long time. If they are not burned in time, they are likely to cause diseases.
A fire became the destination of these warriors who had fought for the Ming Dynasty for many years.
The fire burned all afternoon.
They are all Paoze brothers, and it doesn’t matter whose ashes are in which pile. Just find a big clay pot and put them together and take them back to the Ming Dynasty. We can continue to be brothers in the next life.
In the evening, the sea began to push the tide, and the moon rose into the sky.
The search team on the road gradually began to return, but everyone had a look of mourning on their faces.
Nothing!
Chen Kan was not surprised by this. There were so many places to hide in the rainforest, including any rock crevice, a big tree, or even a dense patch of grass.
What's more, the woman jumped into the sea and no one knew which direction she would swim from.
Leading the team on the road was Baihu Li Lan. He knelt down in front of Chen Kan with a shameful look on his face and blamed himself: "Commander, my subordinates failed to find any trace of that woman. Please punish me, Commander."
Chen Kan shook his head and said expressionlessly: "I don't blame you, get up."
Li Lan was still a little embarrassed, and sighed secretly: "If I had known this, when the woman jumped into the sea, the general would have led her men to chase her into the sea."
Chen Kan was noncommittal, just watching a row of flames on the sea gradually approaching the shore.
The water was at low tide and the Fuchuan could not reach the shore. The only thing that could pick them up was a flexible cruiser.
The man who led the fleet to search the sea was Liu Ting, another hundred households.
After getting off the cruiser and trotting towards Chen Kan, Liu Ting also had a look of despair on his face.
"Commander, I will finally live up to the responsibility of the commander-in-chief, so I ask the commander-in-chief to punish you."
"Okay, let's go back."
Chen Kan waved his hand and slowly walked towards the cruiser.
There is no trace of the woman on land, and even less on the sea.
The fleet had already wasted enough time in this sea area. No matter how much Chen Kan hated it, he could not continue to waste time here.
The fleet continued to set sail.
Only this time, all the soldiers were in low spirits.
Everyone also made a tacit agreement not to talk about the cause of death of the Ming army soldier. It was really hard to talk about.
At dawn, the search and rescue fleet merged into the fleet.
As soon as he returned to the ship, Chen Kan lay down in his room and began to catch up on his sleep, not even bothering to talk to Song Qing.
Song Qing was a little confused, watching the uninterested Chen Kan walk away. Even the soldiers who came back with Chen Kan had expressions of mourning, and couldn't help but hold Zhang Dong who wanted to leave. .
"What's going on? After the commander went out for a trip, why did he seem to have lost the battle?"
Zhang Dong paused and told Song Qing that the Ming army soldiers had become a woman's rations.
After saying that, he walked down the cabin without stopping, ready to sleep for eternity.
Song Qing stayed alone on the deck. After being stunned for a while, his face suddenly became ugly.
He thought about it too.
There are countless women throughout Nanyang who hate Ming Dynasty, but he can only think of one who hates her to this extent.
After a long silence, Song Qing ordered to the soldiers: "Ask Wu San to come see me."
Wu San is Qianhu who followed Song Qing on a secret mission.
When the deputy commander summoned him, Wu San came very quickly, but what greeted him was a curse from Song Qing.
Wu San was stunned by the scolding.
"Commander, what mistake did you make, General?"
Seeing the confused Wu San, Song Qing couldn't help but get angry. She sealed his collar and carried him behind the side of the ship.
After looking around and confirming that there was no one around, he couldn't help but cursed fiercely: "Damn you, you can't kill a woman even if I ask you to, so the Japanese women are still alive and have eaten the flesh and blood of one of our soldiers... ..."
From Song Qing's curses, Wu San gradually pieced together the truth about why he was scolded.
He couldn't help but said blankly: "No way, that Japanese girl's ship was smashed into pieces by the subordinates who personally controlled the artillery. There is no reason for her to be still alive..."
...
...
Chen Kan slept on the ship for three days and did not step out of the deck until his fleet encountered a Ming fleet.
The fleet is a caravan, very large, with hundreds of ships and thousands of sailors.
Originally, the Ming Dynasty's warships did not allow any civilian ships to approach, but there were exceptions to everything.
This caravan under the banner of Hengfeng is the exception.
Because the Hengfeng is now nominally Chen Kan’s property.
Since this fleet has a relationship with the commander of the army, the generals on the ship can only choose to turn a blind eye.
Chen Kan stood on the deck, watching the fleet of Hengfeng gradually approaching the fleet, and couldn't help but feel refreshed.
It's here, it's finally here.
Of course, the fleet of the Hengfeng cannot approach the Ming warships for no reason. Moreover, the fleet of the Hengfeng mainly deals with business on the Luzon side. Although it also does business on this side of the strait, it is only occasionally. After all, The main mission of the Hengfeng is to open the route from Luzon to Australia.
The reason why they appeared here this time was of course because Chen Kan needed them.
As early as when Chen Kan decided to hand over most of the fleet's warships to Zheng He, Chen Kan had already sent people to the sea to search for the fleet under the Hou Mansion.
The purpose is to ensure that the logistics of the army can smoothly support the Ming Dynasty Navy back to the Ming Dynasty.
The fleet of the Hengfeng stopped a few miles away from the Ming warship, and Chen Kan immediately ordered the messengers to raise flags.
Not long after, a small boat sailed out of the fleet of the Hengfeng.
The small boat entered the fleet, the treasure ship lowered the ladder, and two men dressed as merchants climbed onto the treasure ship.
"The villain has met the master of the house."
The two knelt down in front of Chen Kan, with excitement in their eyes.
This time, the news about Chen Kan taking his fleet to Yang Wei's territory has spread throughout Nanyang.
Many countries can't help but change their colors whenever the Malacca incident is mentioned.
The head of the family has made such great achievements, and as slaves of the Hou Mansion, they are naturally honored.
Chen Kan helped the two of them up with a smile.
"Old Liu, Old Lin, we are all members of the same family, why should we be so polite?"
As soon as Chen Kan helped the two of them up, Zhang Dong led someone to bring two stools to them.
As Chen Kan said, we are all a family, with a relationship where everyone is prosperous and everyone suffers, so naturally we are not so reserved when we get along with each other.
"Sit down and talk."
Chen Kan said hello, and the two of them were not polite and sat down in front of Chen Kan.
Then he took out a list from his arms and handed it to Chen Kan.
"Master Hou, this time the two of us brought 10,000 shi of japonica rice, 600 shi of polished rice, and about a thousand shi of soybeans, and..."
Lao Liu spit out a series of names of supplies. With these supplies, the more than 15,000 people under Chen Kan no longer have to worry about lack of food and grass.
Chen Kan glanced at the list roughly and asked with a smile: "Have the bills been reported to the household department?"
