sjar Chapter 641 Victory Parade
Chapter 641 Victory Parade
Chapter 641 Victory Parade
One month later, at Hanshan Square.
A grand victory parade is currently underway.
After arriving in Fujian, Zhang Rongbao told Wang Wenzhou that her father's birthday was approaching and asked him to return to Nanjing to celebrate. Wang Wenzhou thought about it and, since things in Fujian were almost settled, decided to first take his men back to Hanshan to meet up with the other girls from Beijing before heading back to Nanjing together.
On the rostrum, Wang Wenzhou's babies, including Liu Rushi and Sheng Lan, lined up to watch the military parade with him.
Hanshan has held several military parades before, but although they were all touted as victory parades, they were not actually victorious. But this time, it was a truly grand victory parade.
Li Yajing, the host of the military parade, began by saying, "The military parade is just beginning. First up are the barbarian prisoners captured in this great battle, escorted by the Hanshan Youth Army."
As the military music of the female police band began to play, the students of the Youth Army marched in with great strides, escorting the prisoners into Hanshan Square.
Li Yajing said passionately, "In this great battle, the soldiers of the Youth Army always appeared in the most dangerous places. Many students sacrificed their precious lives to win the victory. These people are all heroes of Hanshan."
"Reclaim our territory! Defend Hanshan!" The students of the Youth Army shouted in unison.
Hou Fangyu, walking at the front of the column, frowned deeply. He couldn't understand why Wang Wenzhou would order his soldiers to shout such a slogan. Reclaiming lost territory was the right thing to do; they had abandoned their studies to join the army, hoping to expel the Tartars and recover Liaodong. But what did "defend Hanshan" mean?
Li Yajing continued, "Just a few months ago, the students of the Youth Army were just ordinary people like you and me. Tempered by the flames of war, they have been transformed. Let us give them a warm round of applause as they officially become good soldiers who defend our country."
"Clap clap clap..." The crowd erupted in enthusiastic applause.
At this moment, the prisoners, escorted by the young soldiers, came into view of the people of Hanshan.
The people of Hanshan immediately began to discuss the matter.
"Why are all these barbarians so pale?"
"Oh my! Look at them, their hair isn't black anymore! It's all blond like a dog's!"
"These are the savage monsters who dare to invade the territory of my Great Ming Dynasty! Kill them!"
At this moment, a commoner shouted loudly, and in an instant, the people began to shout for battle.
The people pointed at the prisoners and cursed them, hurling all sorts of insults, especially the older men and women, who were more experienced in cursing and their language was particularly offensive.
Leiden walked dejectedly among the prisoners. He was quite helpless; the Dutch governor of Taiwan, Van der Burgh, couldn't afford the ransom. So, Wang Wenzhou took them back to Hanshan, intending to make them slaves.
It wasn't that Van der Burgh didn't want to ransom the prisoners of war; he genuinely lacked the funds. Wang Wenzhou was demanding an exorbitant price—one hundred taels of silver for each ordinary soldier. In this battle, Wang Wenzhou had captured nearly ten thousand sailors, meaning the ransom alone would amount to one million taels of silver. Where would Van der Burgh get so much money?
In fact, Wang Wenzhou also gave Van der Burgh another option: to exchange Dutch colony native girls for prisoners of war, just like last time. But Van der Burgh couldn't provide that many girls.
The last time the Dutch abducted women from their colonies, it sparked a backlash from the local natives. Why should their own girls be taken by others to sleep with? The Dutch colonies in the East were not large to begin with, and there weren't many soldiers stationed there. With riots breaking out in various places, how could the Dutch dare to abduct women again?
So these poor prisoners were taken back to Hanshan by Wang Wenzhou. In fact, Wang Wenzhou also sent some prisoners to Beijing after winning a battle, and presented them to Zhu Youjian so that he could hold a ceremony to present the prisoners. Not only would this make Zhu Youjian, the emperor, look good, but Wang Wenzhou would also benefit.
In recent years, apart from Wang Wenzhou, no one else in the Ming Dynasty has won a major victory. Gao Yingxiang was defeated by Wang Wenzhou, and now Wang Wenzhou has quelled the pirate rebellion in the south, defeated the Dutch barbarians, and captured tens of thousands of prisoners.
In his memorial to Zhu Youjian, Wang Wenzhou did not claim credit for himself, but rather for his subordinates Liu Xiang, Zheng Zhilong, and others. On the contrary, the memorials of Fujian Governor Zou Weilian and Guangdong-Guangxi Governor Zhang Jingxin lavished praise on Wang Wenzhou's achievements, implying that a meritorious general like Wang Wenzhou should immediately return to court as Grand Secretary, otherwise it would be a disservice to the Ming Dynasty and a waste of Wang Wenzhou's talent.
These two men had truly had enough of Wang Wenzhou. Although Wang Wenzhou was the Governor-General of Fujian, his influence extended to Guangdong and Guangxi, and the troops in both provinces were under his control.
Wang Wenzhou's methods weren't particularly clever; he simply replaced almost all the officers in the three provinces' military units with his own men brought from Hanshan.
Zou Weilian and Zhang Jingxin were terrified. This was outrageous! If this continued, the three provinces would become Wang Wenzhou's territory! Although neither dared to say it directly, Zhu Youjian understood the implication. The two were eager to get rid of this powerful figure as soon as possible; their place was too small to afford such a deity.
The people watching the military parade grew angrier the more they cursed. These barbarian prisoners were shameless; they would just smile at you even if you cursed them.
It's really not the prisoners' fault; the Dutch couldn't understand Chinese either. A few days ago, they arrived in Hanshan and were completely stunned by what they saw.
Compared to Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, this place is simply paradise! And although they are prisoners of war, the food is really good; they can eat meat every day.
Europe at that time was truly backward. Although they ate bread, it wasn't the kind of bread we have today. It was all black bread, made from bran and wheat flour, so tough that people with weak teeth would break their teeth biting into it. This is why later, when Europeans were trading slaves, they would check the slaves' teeth. Because slaves with weak teeth wouldn't live long.
Wang Wenzhou wasn't giving these Dutch prisoners special treatment; the main reason was that Hanshan now had a fleet of fishing boats that made several trips a month. In this era, the sea was rich in seafood, unlike later times when, if the fishing season wasn't closed for a period each year, even small fish and shrimp could be caught up in the dead.
With so much seafood caught, the people couldn't possibly eat it all. The less palatable fish were used as feed for chickens and ducks. In Wang Wenzhou's view, these prisoners were meant to be slaves, so giving them feed was a fair sacrifice.
However, the Dutch felt that the treatment of prisoners of war in the Ming Dynasty was far too good. Of course, there was a downside: every so often, the soldiers in charge of managing the prisoners would force them to take a bath.
In this era, the people of the Pig Bar didn't bathe. At first, the captives resisted fiercely, but under the whipping, they had no choice but to obediently bathe. Over time, they also discovered the benefits of bathing.
Therefore, in the eyes of the prisoners, the Ming Dynasty was really lovely, and when they stepped into Hanshan Square, the people burst into enthusiastic applause, which the prisoners thought was the people of the Ming Dynasty welcoming them.
Now, the people of the Ming Dynasty were cursing at them, and they thought it was because the people were excited to see them, strangers from afar. Therefore, they all smiled and bowed and scraped to the Ming people who were cursing them.