In March, the northern country may still be in the cold spring, but the southern country is already shining brightly with the sea breeze. Quanzhou Port, which is shining with warm sunshine, looks particularly vicissitudes. Quanzhou Port was called the Tsutong Port in ancient times, and was the starting point of the ancient Chinese Maritime Silk Road and the largest port in the world in ancient China. It is located on the coastal harbor in the lower reaches of Jinjiang in southeastern Quanzhou, from Neiao, Meizhou Bay, Quanzhou to the north and Lianhe, Tong'an District, Weitou Bay, Quanzhou. The port has superior resources and a total coastline of 541 kilometers. It is one of the three major ports in Fujian Province.

Although Quanzhou Port in history was once extremely glorious, the wars and chaos in the late Southern Song Dynasty and the military chaos in Yisiba Xi at the end of the Yuan Dynasty made her gradually lose the glory of the past. The movement of the sea ban and the Maritime War Office in the Ming Dynasty made her gradually embark on the road of decline. The relocation of Jinghai and the closing of the country in the Qing Dynasty completely eliminated the prosperity of Quanzhou Port.

Just when the people of Quanzhou thought that Quanzhou Port would never be shining again, the Taiping Army came. At that time, the Qing army guarded Quanzhou was Lu Chaoan, the governor of the Zuoying, Fujian Dubiao. He was originally from Xiangshan, Guangzhou. He was a wealthy family in business. He was a martial arts master in the fourth year of Xianfeng. He then donated a guerrilla official position and finally arrived in Fujian. Because of his contribution to donating money and grain, he was promoted to the governor of Fujian by Li Tingyu, the governor of Fujian, and was responsible for guarding Quanzhou.

Although this person was born as a martial Jinshi, he prefers business and is good at engaging in the camp, but he will never fight to the death. When Li Kaifang's troops of the Taiping Army were approaching, Li Tingyu retreated to Xiamen, Quanzhou was hanging alone, and Lu Chaoan had only 3,000 soldiers in his hands, so he chose to open the city to surrender.

Lu Chaoan almost lost all his wealth for his official position. His parents died early and had no relatives in Xiangshan. Therefore, when Li Kaifang recruited him, Lu Chaoan surrendered to the Taiping Army.

He was not the first Qing general to surrender to the Taiping Army. He was not the last one, but he was the one who was the most fish in water. After surrendering to the Taiping Army, Li Kaifang did not appoint him to lead troops, but gave him the position of Quanzhou County County Magistrate and told him to manage Quanzhou Port well and could re-engage maritime trade.

So Lu Chaoan started his business mind and organized fishermen to rebuild sea boats, build docks, repair seawalls, and start maritime trade with Ryukyu again. After more than a year of hard work, although Quanzhou Port has not returned to its former glorious scene, it is no longer a dead port with weeds.

Today, there are three port anchorages such as Shihu Port, Neigang Port and Houzhu Port in Quanzhou Bay. The caravans that are commuting with Ryukyu trade in the mainland, and the sea ships fill the place with the Huajin, Xiutu and other port anchorages not far away are still under construction.

In addition to Lu Chaoan's contribution to Quanzhou Port, the Taiping Army's military use in Fujian was also a factor. Wars often brought damage, but there were exceptions. Quanzhou Port was an example. Because of the surrender, Quanzhou was basically not damaged. Later, the Taiping Army and the Qing army began a tug-of-war in Xiamen. In addition, Fujian was mountainous and the money, grain, ammunition, and medicine required for the front line were inconvenient. Therefore, Fujian began to increase maritime supplies, and the shipping of Quanzhou Port developed rapidly in this environment.

But today's Quanzhou Port is different from the past. There are many naval warships and sea ships carrying various supplies. In the port, there are troops from the 3rd Division of the newly formed First Army stationed in Fujian, which came here to board the ship.

Logically speaking, Lu Chaoan, the soldiers of the Third Division, should be very familiar with him. Lu Chaoan surrendered to them and handed over to Quanzhou. But more than a year later, the division commanders at that time had been replaced, and many subordinates were promoted, and many people Lu Chaoan didn't know him anymore.

Standing on the dock of Shihu Harbor, Lu Chaoan sat upright on a small stool. The entourage beside him handed a hookah, and Lu Chaoan calmly sucked the clouds and mist. Zhang Wenxiang, the commander of the Third Division, frowned and said, "Sir Lu, our division must complete the boarding of the ship the day after tomorrow, and the supply materials required must also be loaded, but now you can see. The dock is full of merchant ships. Can you afford to delay military information?"

Lu Chaoan pressed his palm slowly for a few times and said, "Master Zhang, please be careful, don't be impatient. I promise you will be able to take a boat the day after tomorrow. Come on, sit down and taste my fresh tobacco leaves. To be honest, I still can't use your cigarettes."

Zhang Wenxiang sat angrily on the stool beside him, but he still looked solemn and majestic, very military. He shouted loudly: "Mr. Lu, it is hard to convince you that your cynical look is! Remember, if our Zhao Zilong Division cannot take the team on time, I will definitely settle the score with you!"

Zhao Zilong's Division is nicknamed the Third Division. The Third Division has always been brave in combat. In addition, Zhang Wenxiang, a general who was a commander of the cavalry regiment, became the division commander. The Third Division even fought fiercely and was nicknamed Zhao Zilong's Division. It is said that when the Western King mentioned the Third Division of the First Army in Fujian, they called Zhao Zilong's Division instead of the number.

Zhang Wenxiang led the cavalry into Fujian to fight, and his military achievements were outstanding, and he was soon promoted. He is now the commander of the Third Division. This time, he received the order from the General of the War, and ordered the Third Division to board the ship at Quanzhou Port the day after tomorrow, that is, before March 9, Zhang Wenxiang deliberately led his troops to Quanzhou Port to take a boat one day in advance. However, he did not expect that when Wanyu's troops were still waiting at the shore station, he still could not board the ship. In a hurry, he came to Quanzhou County Magistrate Lu Chaoan to argue.

Lu Chaoan smiled and said, "Teacher Zhang, maybe I am not as good as you in wars, especially with such Western firearms. But when it comes to port shipping, you have to listen to me. The port is limited in capacity. When I received the official documents, the port was full of commercial goods. If you don't clear the goods first, your soldiers' supplies will have no place to be placed in the port, right? Don't worry, this is the last batch of merchant ships. After clearing the accumulated goods in the port, there will be a place to accommodate you to load them. The port shipping cannot be messed up. If the rhythm and order are messed up, it will delay time."

After hearing this, Zhang Wenxiang's anger became less, but he still kept shouting: "Mr. Lu, the military order is like a mountain. You'd better do what you say, otherwise we will end up in the military court together!" After that, he left.

Lu Chaoan smiled and said to Congren with a tepid heart: "This Qiu Ba's temper is really interesting."

Zhang Wenxiang heard it, but he endured it and prepared to go back and wrote a document to complain to the Ministry of War. Lu Chaoan was so outrageous and showed signs of dereliction of duty.

After returning to the station, Zhang Wenxiang returned to the tent of the command center angrily. Seeing the division commander's expression was not good, several staff officers who were sorting out their combat plans and making plans were so scared that they didn't dare to come out. However, the instructor Zheng Yantuo brought him a cup of hot tea and said with a smile: "Have you gone to find Lu Chaoan?"

Zhang Wenxiang said angrily: "This guy is a typical old official in the Qing Dynasty. He is careless in everything he does. Our division is afraid that he will miss the date of departure!"

Zhang Wenxiang was promoted to the commander of the division. After Zheng Yantuo was transferred to the Second Division as the chief of staff for a period of time, he recently transferred to the Third Division as instructor. He was an old partner with Zhang Wenxiang. Knowing his temper, he smiled and said, "Quanzhou Port is not a small place. He made a profit of millions of taels of silver in trade with Ryukyu last year. Lu Chaoan was able to achieve his current scale in a deserted abandoned port, and he was not as unbearable as you said."

Zhang Wenxiang was stunned and said, "Then why did I see him leisurely smoking hookahs and drinking tea in the port, rather than busy directing the ships at the port to ship and unload them?"

Zheng Yantuo laughed in silence and said, "Didn't we arrange the combat plan and wait for news in the command center? Can you, a division commander, go to the front line to command a company to fight?"

Zhang Wenxiang said dissatisfiedly: "But we can't do that either."

Zheng Yantuo smiled and said, "Lu Chaoan is angry with you. He was considered a general back then and was forced to surrender to our Third Division. He was deliberately angry with you."

Zhang Wenxiang said in a daze: "Is he so stingy?" Zheng Yantuo laughed and said: "He is a businessman with a strong habit. He pays off his debts and will naturally get it back if he loses face. But don't worry, he will definitely not miss our itinerary."

In the evening, Zhang Wenxiang was still unable to sleep while lying on the camp bed. He listened to each other and gradually became louder. He got up, grabbed his sword and short gun and snatched out of the tent and asked, "What's going on?"

The guard at the door replied, "I don't know the division commander. There are many people outside holding torches and heading towards the dock."

When Zhang Wenxiang wanted to ask, a battalion commander who was serving as the guard sent a messenger to report: "Team Commander, there are tens of thousands of strong people in Quanzhou who are holding torches toward the wharf, and I don't know what happened."

At this time, Zheng Yantuo also came. Zhang Wenxiang pulled him without saying a word and said, "Go, take two companies to the dock to take a look."

When the two of them led two companies to the dock, they saw Lu Chaoan standing under the cargo warehouse archway not far away with a big buckle. At this time, it was drizzling. From the people holding oil paper umbrellas, Lu Chaoan looked at the endless stream of young and strong people to the dock with a calm look on his face. Then they formed several teams, and they lined up from the cargo warehouse to the cabin of the dock, and then the cargo in the cargo warehouse began to be transported to the ship like flowing water.

This transportation mode is different from the delivery of goods to the ships one by one during the day, and the efficiency has suddenly increased several times. The young and strong people shouted loudly, and torches were inserted into the wooden fence beside them. More than 10,000 torches illuminated the entire Shihu Harbor.

Zhang Wenxiang looked at him in amazement for a while, until Zheng Yan carried him to Lu Chaoan's side that he came back to his senses and said, "Mr. Lu, what formation are you posing?"

Lu Chaoan stood up and bowed to Zhang Wenxiang with fists and said, "Teacher Zhang, the people of Quanzhou have always been grateful for the kindness of the Kingdom of Heaven. If it weren't for the Kingdom of Heaven, Quanzhou Port would have been abandoned like this. The people would not have a good way out for a living. It was the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven that brought good days to everyone. Therefore, during the day, I called on the young and strong people in the city to prepare to transport supplies onto the ship overnight. I really couldn't get the goods in the port. The goods in the port were all signed with contracts. We cannot break our trust in the trade of the small Ryukyu country when we went to court, right?"

Zhang Wenxiang replied with apologized: "I'm sorry, Lord Lu, I'm not doing well in the daytime."

Lu Chaoan smiled and said, "I was deliberately angry with you, and it was also a puff of the anger of surrendering back then, haha."

The three of them looked at each other and laughed, and a storm was revealed. Then, that night, all the equipment and supplies of the Third Division boarded the ship overnight. The next morning, the horses of the Cavalry Regiment boarded the ship, and the soldiers boarded the ship in the afternoon. The whole process was orderly and arranged in an orderly manner, which showed Lu Chaoan's talent.

In the early morning of March 9, Zhang Wenxiang and Zheng Yantu boarded the last one. Before leaving, they bid farewell to Lu Chaoan Yiyi. Looking at the fleet gradually fading under the escort of dozens of naval red single-ship warships, Lu Chaoan murmured to himself: "This is going to fight Guangzhou. It seems that the heavenly kingdom will expand its territory and expand its territory. The treasure at that time was the right one..."
Chapter completed!