Chapter 719 New Year on the Warship (3rd update, please subscribe)
After leaving Xie's house, Li Songmei walked along the riverside road towards her home. Along the way, she would occasionally cast her eyes towards the new Qinhuai River on the side. She has been in Daming for six years. Since she started working, she always liked to take a walk along the bank of the new Qinhuai River, not only because of the beautiful scenery and fresh air here, but more importantly, the carefully planned plants and trees here are reminding her that this is Daming, the best place.
Li Songmei is a Japanese immigrant. Six years ago, her father sent her on a ship to Nanhua, not as a maid, but to escape from Japan.
"Go to Daming. At least there, you are not the daughter of a loser."
A loser, his father was a loyal samurai of the shogunate. When the shogunate failed, his father lost everything as a loser and even had to sell the family house to make a living.
At the beginning, she didn't know why her father sent her to Nanhua. Now she understood that from the moment her father put down the knife, his heart was dead, and sending her to Nanhua was his father fulfilling his final responsibility.
In the past six years, she passed the high school ability test, graduated from the normal school, entered the school and became a teacher. No one even knew that she was Japanese, thanks to the Nanjing dialect taught to her by her father when she was young. Even when she boarded the ship, no one knew that she was Japanese except her father's friends.
Now, in Yingtian, everyone thought that she was originally from Nanjing, and that she could start over here. She even lived a life that she could never have imagined in the past. If she were in Japan, she would never be able to become a respected lady like she is now.
"Father, actually, you should come here too."
Li Songmei couldn't help but miss her father silently. Where is his father now?
When she thought of her father, she remembered the handsome naval officer she met here a year ago. They only spent a few months together before he went to East Asia with the fleet.
He... should be in Japan now.
Thinking about the news she had read in the newspaper, Li Songmei pondered to herself.
Would he run into his father, if he were still alive?
More importantly, is he... okay?
"Mr. Zhao, you must protect yourself! I will pray for you every day!"
…
"January 31st, light snow, nothing to worry about!"
When he got up early in the morning, Zhao Haitao took a look at yesterday's records in his diary. Writing a diary was a habit he maintained in the military school. Everyone who graduated from the military school had this habit.
After casually closing the diary, he glanced at the photo inside the diary. It was a photo of him and Song Mei.
Looking at the petite and lovely girl in the photo, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly and he talked to himself.
"It's such a pity that I can't spend the New Year with you."
In fact, they had just known each other for just over a month, but he knew that the girl was the one he wanted to marry.
"I will propose to you when I return home."
As he spoke, he reluctantly put the photo back into the diary and then put it in the drawer.
When he walked out of the officers' cabin, he saw that the corridor was already filled with the atmosphere of the New Year.
Although the Ming Dynasty used the Gregorian calendar, they still maintained the tradition of celebrating the lunar new year. From the Dragon Boat Festival to the New Year, the Gregorian calendar was the Gregorian calendar, and the lunar calendar tradition had to be continued.
According to the lunar calendar, today is New Year's Eve. It is very lively on the "Nanhua". Everyone is busy. A piece of "Spring" written on red paper is posted on the door of all the cabins.
The New Year has special meaning even for these sailors far away overseas. In the kitchen, the sailors are making dumplings and preparing meals for the New Year's Eve dinner.
The New Year's dishes were extremely rich, with pork, beef and fish being available. On the way to the upper deck, Zhao Haitao nodded and greeted the sailors from time to time. Today, on this special day, there was no need for everyone to have a clear class distinction as in the past. When officers passed by, the sailors did not need to stand by the aisle to salute, but only needed to smile and say "Happy New Year".
Arriving on the deck and at the gangway, Zhao Haitao swapped shifts with the officer on duty. When taking over, he received a travel book. Only those whose names were listed in the book could leave the ship and go ashore.
Although Hiroshima is now under the control of the rebels, it has no impact at all on the officers and soldiers of the Ming fleet.
In fact, the fleet had already made corresponding deployments when the rebellion just broke out.
For example, on the day of the rebellion, Shen Yaozu directly sent troops to take over the coastal defense fort in Hiroshima under the pretext of safety. When the rebels tried to seize the fort, their actions were of course repelled.
And then what?
The two sides negotiated, and in response to the Japanese request for the Ming Navy to return the artillery batteries, Fleet Commander Shen Yaozu firmly refused.
"Under the circumstances where we cannot determine who is the enemy, we will never hand over the artillery that may affect the safety of the fleet to anyone!"
In this regard, Kawamura Junyi was even more determined than Shen Yaozu - the artillery position must not be handed over to the rebels.
There are not only cannons in the fort, but also thousands of rifles. Handing the fort over to the rebels would only strengthen their power. Tokyo certainly agrees with this. In fact, some desperate senior officials of the Meiji government even think that if the rebels can clash with the Ming army, it would be a blessing from God.
Unfortunately, although most of the rebels were samurai, they were not fools. On the second day after the rebels took control of Hiroshima, they took the initiative to say that the city had returned to peace and everything was back to normal. Of course, the Ming sailors could also go ashore and relax.
As the saying goes, skilled men are bold. The same was true for the daimyo's sailors. On the day the market returned to normal, the sailors resumed their trips. As for safety issues, they were not worried at all.
It's not that they weren't worried, but the fleet in the port gave them the courage to be confident. After all, no matter who faced them, they were not just facing a few sailors, but the entire fleet.
Why did the people of "our great Qing" kneel down habitually when they saw foreigners? What they feared and worried about was never the foreigners themselves, but the country behind the foreigners.
Just like now, what the Japanese fear is definitely not the sailors who come ashore, but the Ming Dynasty behind these sailors, and of course, more importantly, the fleet behind them.
He had just completed the handover and began to check the personnel who were going to disembark, their travel permits, and their names. Every sailor who was about to disembark seemed a little impatient. After all, the sailors on the "Nanhua" only had one chance to go ashore every five days, and the number of personnel on the ship had to maintain a certain standard, and 80% was the basic number required to maintain combat readiness.
"Happy New Year, Lieutenant Zhao."
Tohachiro smiled and handed over his travel permit.
Looking at the several lieutenants behind Dong Balang, Zhao Haitao asked curiously.
"Happy New Year, Captain Dong, you are..."
"It's Chinese New Year now, let's take some officers shopping and buy some local specialties to bring back home."
After returning the travel permit to them, Zhao Haitao said.
"You have to be back before 8pm."
Tohachiro laughed.
"Don't worry, it won't waste any time."
(End of this chapter)
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