Chapter 943 The Hawaiian Islands

Author: Chongqing Lao Q

March 5, 1678, Fort Huaiyang, Hawaii Island (now Pearl Harbor, Oahu).

In the traditional Chinese geographical concept, mountains to the south and water to the north are called yang, and mountains to the north and water to the south are called yin. Huaiyang Fort, as its name suggests, is located south of Huaishan (today’s Waianae Mountains on Oahu), which is where the Qi people lived in the archipelago.

The first stronghold established.

The entire bay outside extends inland in the shape of a bird's foot. The entrance and exit to the anchorage is a narrow waterway with an average width of less than 400 meters, which is enough to protect the port and land strongholds located deep in the bay.

After nearly two years of construction, Huaiyang Fort has built a masonry wall with a circumference of 500 meters, which contains a grain depot, an armory, a commander's office, a repair shop, a mill, a blacksmith shop, and several rows of residential buildings.

On the outside of Huaiyang Fort, there is a simple fence made of wood and branches to prevent the natives on the island from intruding at will. On a high ground, a towering wooden watchtower was also built, supplemented by

Observing through the telescope, no movement within several miles of the surrounding area can escape the eyes of the observer.

There are only 165 people in the entire Huaiyang Fort, all of them are young and strong men, not a single woman, and more than 120 of them are local prisoners exiled.

The entire archipelago area, including Hawaii Island, was temporarily placed under the management of the Department of the Navy. Therefore, the management personnel and the armed personnel stationed on the island were all active naval officers and soldiers. The management method was naturally a rough and simple military control.

Compared with the extremely backward weapons in the hands of the indigenous people and the primitive social model without any organization, Huaiyang Fort has a solid city defense, as well as forty-five fully armed naval officers and soldiers. In addition, the more than one hundred exiled prisoners can, when necessary,

They can also be mobilized by organizations to participate in possible battles.

In this situation, which indigenous tribe can capture and conquer it?

"On Zhongzhou Island (today's Hawaii Island), more than 250 kilometers southeast of Hawaii Island, a unified indigenous tribal alliance seems to have emerged." Shi Linguang, the general manager of Weiyi Island and the Navy's Xuangjie Colonel (Major), smiled bitterly.

Said: "They heard that we have many rare things here, so they sent an envoy over a month ago, asking us to surrender to them and donate all our property and rare things."

"Haha..., that tribal chief on Zhongzhou Island didn't inquire carefully about your details, and just wanted to bring you under his rule so boldly?" Xiao Weizhi, commander of the squadron and Lieutenant Colonel of the Navy, couldn't help but

He laughed and said, "What's the matter? It's been a month. They saw that you didn't show any sign, so they didn't send troops to conquer your Huaiyang Fort?"

"Sir, maybe they are still deploying troops and generals." Shi Linguang said jokingly: "In order to resist the enemy army these days, I have spent a lot of effort. I not only recruited hundreds of local natives nearby, but also equipped them with wooden weapons.

We used spears and some leather armor as the vanguard, and trained more than a hundred prisoners in the fortress. But after waiting here and there, no natives came, which made me very anxious!"

"You're so anxious!" Xiao Weizhi laughed and scolded, "Maybe when the natives attack, they will flee as soon as they hear the sound of artillery. By the way, don't you have a small galley? Why don't you take people to Zhongzhou Island?

Go and have a look?”

"I originally planned to take people to see the arrogant indigenous tribe, but half a month ago, more than ten exiled prisoners in the camp developed high fevers, so we postponed the trip. I suspected that they had malaria, so I made a decisive decision In order to implement isolation measures, the dozen prisoners and two soldiers were placed alone in a temporary camp two miles away from the northeast side of Huaiyang Fort."

"Is anyone dead?"

"After the incident, I ordered everyone to take cinchona tree bark powder to suppress and prevent the spread of malaria. But as of this morning, five people have died, and three others are not in very good condition and are probably suffering from the disease. It won't be long." Shi Linguang said solemnly: "However, fortunately, there are no new patients with high fever in Huaiyang Fort."

"That's good!" Xiao Weizhi nodded, "This time, I have brought you more than two hundred immigrants, including more than sixty young women from Japan and North Korea."

"Aren't there more than 500 people on the three ships?"

"There are more than two hundred people left, and I will take them to the west coast of America to build a colonial stronghold there."

"Ah?" Shi Linguang couldn't help being surprised when he heard this, "The Weiyi Island stronghold has only been established for two years and does not have any support capabilities. Why did it rush to colonize the west coast of America?"

"This is an order issued personally by His Majesty, bypassing the cabinet and the military." Xiao Weizhi said solemnly: "Moreover, the order instructs our Ryukyu fleet to go all out in the process of colonizing the west coast of America, regardless of the cost."

"Your Majesty's move... is a little too eager." Shi Linguang said: "According to the news from Spanish America, the Spanish do not seem to have the intention to extend their influence to the west coast of North America, and are still content with the Mexican area they currently occupy. "

"For more than 40 years, our Qi State has been deployed all over the world and occupied many maritime strategic points, allowing our Qi State Navy to traverse the two oceans. This all proves your Majesty's foresight." Xiao Weizhi glared at Shi Linguang, "Today's Although we still don’t know what the purpose of the layout and establishment of points on the west coast of America is, we can’t just personally arrange it and discuss His Majesty’s orders in private!”

"Sir, I'm afraid of being in such a low position!" Shi Linguang was horrified, and immediately stood up and bowed his head to Xiao Weizhi to admit his mistake.

"Okay, take your people and settle down the new immigrants first." Xiao Weizhi waved his hand, "In a few days, let's take a boat to Zhongzhou Island to see if there really is a unified indigenous tribe. , then it must be broken up again to avoid eventually developing into a primitive kingdom."

"As you command, sir!"

——

Cui Yunze followed Feng Yiliang step by step, his clothes soaked with sweat, and his breathing became heavier and heavier. It had been five days since he landed, but he seemed to feel like he was still shaking from time to time. When he woke up in the morning, he was also confused. For a long time, I didn’t know where I was.

"In the past few days, I have traveled to so many places and inspected the water, soil and climate environment here. Do you think food crops such as rice or wheat may be grown on the island?" Feng Yiliang stopped and looked at the vast wilderness in front of him. , lush and lush vegetation.

"Sir, the climate here is... warm and the water is abundant. I think... we should be able to grow... rice." Cui Yunze bent down and answered, speaking stumblingly in Chinese.

Cui Yunze was originally a farmer from Jeolla Province in North Korea. With the cooperation of local North Korean officials, he was coaxed and deceived by Qi businessmen and put on an immigration ship. Along with more than 30 other North Koreans, they were sent to this isolated place on the ocean.

The island in the center.

After two years of development on Weiyi Island, the most basic food needs are still not completely self-sufficient. It also requires fleets to transport thousands of miles away from Japan and Ryukyu, which is time-consuming and laborious. As for the more than 100 prisoners on the exile island, they are also

None of them are serious farmers. They only grow some potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables and other crops on the island, supplemented by wheat and rice imported from outside, and barely maintain their basic daily life.

Therefore, this time the three transport ships specially recruited hundreds of farmers with many years of planting experience from Qin, North Korea, and Japan, and spared no effort to achieve basic food self-sufficiency on the island, so as to provide the limited space on the transport ships to

Other more urgently needed materials and valuable manpower.

Of course, tropical islands like Hawaii have a variety of plants and fruits, and a large number of various animals and birds. The surrounding fishery resources are extremely rich, and there are also a huge number of whales. Even if there is no rice, wheat, etc.

of food crops, there is no risk of starvation.

However, the immigrants who arrived here are all from the civilized world after all, and of course they cannot live the ignorant and wild primitive life like the indigenous savages on the islands, who cultivate slash-and-burn farming, collect food, hunt animals, and eat live fish.

.

Furthermore, Qi State wants to build this archipelago into a strategic core point in the Pacific. How can it not vigorously develop and construct it?

"I need your affirmative answer." Feng Yiliang stared at the North Korean in front of him expressionlessly, and asked coldly: "Can rice be grown here?"

"Reply to your lord..." Cui Yunze avoided the other party's eyes in fear, "Here... you can grow rice."

"Okay." Feng Yiliang nodded and said: "Tomorrow, I will allocate one hundred people to you, and they will all obey your arrangements and immediately open up a rice field. This year, if you can't eat rice, you will be used to feed the savages."

"Sir..." After Cui Yunze heard this, he felt like he was mourning for his heir.

Is there any royal method here? Whether rice can grow in the ground cannot all depend on me!

"Du...du...du..." There was a rally call from Huaiyang Fort in the distance, short and passionate.

"Are we about to go on an expedition?" Feng Yiliang murmured, looking at the bay in the distance, but a passionate excitement surged in his heart.

After being exiled to Hawaii Island two years ago, because of his status as a naval officer and the attention of many military colleagues, Feng Yiliang was not forced to perform hard labor like other exiled prisoners.

He was appointed as the deputy general manager of Huaiyang Fort, assisting the general manager Shi Linguang in handling all matters of the island.

Three days ago, Xiao Weizhi, the commander of the squadron who arrived at Hawaii Island, approached him and asked if he was willing to accompany more than two hundred immigrants to the west coast of America to preside over the development and subsequent construction of settlements there.

Although Xiao Weizhi had an inquiring tone, Feng Yiliang naturally had no right to refuse given his current status. He immediately expressed his obedience to the commander's orders and promised to complete all tasks assigned by His Majesty and the military.

But before leaving, Feng Yiliang still started to arrange the food planting plan of Huaiyang Fort very conscientiously. After all, the American colonial strongholds he would be responsible for in the future would probably rely on the support here.

——

On March 12, around 1:00 p.m., after a day and night of sailing, three motor-driven sailing ships from Qi State arrived near the waters on the west side of Zhongzhou Island.

Before they even got close to the shore, several canoes were speeding towards them. Qi's ships were immediately on alert to prepare for the attack by the natives. Dozens of muskets poked out of the ship's side and aimed at the approaching canoes.

There were three to six people sitting on each canoe. They were brown-skinned, of medium build, and strong. Most of them had their hair cut short, while some had long, messy hair, and a few had their hair cut loose.

They tied their hair up and put it into a bun on the top of their head. It can be seen that their hair color is black, but many people don't know what dye they used to dye their hair into brown or a burnt color.

They all had beards, wore no ornaments, and were clothed in three colors: red, black, and white. These natives who arrived at the Qi ship seemed to be very gentle, and they did not carry offensive weapons, only some small stones.

For self-defense. They spoke a language similar to that of Qi's South Pacific territory Paradise Island (today's Tahiti), and seemed to want to express their desire to trade with Qi people.

"These people are probably the natives on the island who have not yet been conquered by that powerful tribe." Shi Linguang saw Xiao Weizhi looking over and said with some uncertainty: "How about we inquire about the information from them first?"

Several natives were pulled onto the deck by cables. After they boarded the ship, they were immediately stunned with surprise, their eyes darting around, and they looked dizzy. Their rude expressions and dazed movements showed their ignorance of the civilized world.

Known.

These indigenous people have no idea about the goods of the Qi country. Although they know that iron tools are a good thing, they have only heard about them. They only know that iron tools are harder and sharper than other materials and can be used for cutting.

Several sailors showed them some glass beads. It was obviously the first time for the natives to see them. They curiously asked questions such as what they were and whether they could be eaten. The sailors asked in rapid succession whether there was a powerful being on the island.

Tribal alliance, is it extremely aggressive, and asks where that tribe is.

This difficult communication took more than half an hour. The officer in charge of the inquiry even guessed and learned that the indigenous camp that was beginning to have the nature of a tribal alliance was located on the east side of the island. The number of people was about a thousand, and all the people on the island were there.

The indigenous tribes need to pay tribute to them to show their submission.

Normally, the powerful tribal leader would not bring "soldiers" or send envoys to interfere with the daily life of these indigenous people, allowing them to maintain their original way of life. But if there is a dispute between the tribes, when they are found,

There will also be some kind of mandatory ruling.

Considering that it was getting late, the fleet looked for a suitable anchoring place in this bay, preparing to rest here for a night, and then sail to the east side of the island tomorrow to defeat the "powerful" indigenous tribe.

At about six o'clock in the evening, the fleet found an anchorage about 700 meters offshore. During this process, more and more indigenous people came to the Qi ship in canoes, bringing live pigs with them.

And a particularly small potato was traded with the people of Qi.

A long nail worth five cents can be exchanged for several piglets. However, the local pigs are very small and rarely exceed 25 kilograms. However, these natives rarely bring fruits and vegetables. It can be seen that,

This island is obviously not a place rich in fruits and vegetables.

Looking towards the island from the coast, traces of volcanic eruptions can be seen everywhere (Hawaii Island is a famous active volcanic island). Although the erupting volcano has not caused any devastating damage to the island in front of you, the impact of the volcanic eruption can be seen with the naked eye.

There are signs of damage in nearby areas.

It seems that when choosing a suitable base in this archipelago, the explorers of the Navy Department still put a lot of thought into it and came up with the best plan to build Huaiyang Fort on Weiyi Island where the conditions were better.

The next day, at seven o'clock in the morning, just as the fleet was having breakfast, the responsible lookout on the mast suddenly issued a warning.

From the northeast of Zhongzhou Island, under the rising sun, countless canoes, densely packed, were sailing towards the fleet at high speed. Each of the dark-skinned indigenous people, naked to the waist, held up a tree
Chapter completed!