"Brother, Chen Hui is back with the boat." Zheng Zhibao hurried to the Quanzhou Dudu Mansion and found Zheng Zhilonghui to report.

"Have the Dutch come to Xinsheng Island?" Zheng Zhilong asked calmly.

"They came with eight large ships." Zheng Zhibao said: "Chen Hui was worried that there would be heavy losses, so he did not fight with them and returned directly to Quanzhou Port via Guangzhou."

"Is the loss big?"

"They lost two large ships, eight small ships, and more than 200 people." Zheng Zhibao said, "However, they intercepted three Dutch merchant ships and gained a lot."

"That's good! By the way, have you brought back the 18-pound cannon that Hanzhou promised to us?"

"They gave two doors."

"Hanzhou is too stingy!" Zheng Zhilong said with a smile: "They must have more than two 18-pound heavy cannons on that island."

"They are going to face the Dutch attack, so they probably want to stay on defense!"

"It is impossible for the Dutch warships to sail to the island." Zheng Zhilong said: "They will not land and attack the island."

"Not attacking the island? Do the Dutch want to spend more time and energy blocking that island?" Zheng Zhibao asked.

"No, they may use the power of Guangnan to capture the island." Zheng Zhilong said meaningfully: "What the Dutch like to do most is to use other people's power for their own use."

"Guangnan Kingdom? The Annan people may not be able to capture that small island." Zheng Zhibao said: "Chen Hui said that on that island, there are two large fortresses and five or six small fortresses. Moreover, the Hanzhou people have many firearms, and even more

And they still have three thousand strong men on the island. With the strength of the Annan people, they probably won’t be able to capture that small island.”

"We know the strength of that small island, but the Annan people may not know it." Zheng Zhilong said with a smile: "Maybe they are brave enough to just rush in!"

"Haha..." Zheng Zhibao laughed, and then asked: "Brother, what do we need to do?"

"Didn't you propose last month to attack the Dutch stronghold in Taiwan?" Zheng Zhilong said seriously: "Go down and gather people to discuss a strategy."

"Brother, why did you suddenly change your mind?" Zheng Zhibao asked in surprise. A month ago, he proposed to Zheng Zhilong that capturing Taiwan would not only weaken the strength of the Dutch, but also serve as a basis for the mainland in case something unexpected happens.

There is a way out. But Zheng Zhilong has never given a positive response.

"In mid-February, the Houjin slave thief Dorgon led his army to plunder Hebei and Shandong, and crossed the canal to return eastward. Along the way, the officers and soldiers from various places did not dare to stop him and allowed him to return north safely." Zheng Zhilong said slowly.

: "It's a service, the Tatars are here

It lasted for half a year, penetrated 2,000 miles, captured one prefecture, three states, fifty-five counties, and two passes; killed two of our Ming governors, and over a hundred generals above the garrison; captured more than 400,000 people, and looted countless gold and silver

, tens of thousands of livestock.”

"Brother,...how does this have anything to do with our intention to capture Taiwan?" Zheng Zhibao asked in confusion.

"The emperor ordered Yang Sichang to discuss the crimes of civil and military ministers." Zheng Zhilong said: "Afterwards, he summoned Huaiyang Dao Councilor Zheng Eryang to the platform to inquire about military training and payment."

“We are in Fujian, so it’s not our fault to blame, right?”

"It is not our turn to discuss crimes, but the matter of raising wages will be sent to Quanzhou in ten days." Zheng Zhilong shook his head and said.

"The emperor wants to ask how much we want?"

"How can Long Live Lord ask us for money!" Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but laugh when he heard his third brother's question. "The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing have jointly decided that Nanzhili should raise 500,000 yuan to the capital for military training.

The governor of Fujian asked us to take 200,000 taels and send them to the north."

"Give it to him!" When Zheng Zhibao heard that he only had 200,000 taels of silver, he didn't care at all. The Zheng family received tens of millions of taels of silver a year. Although most of it was needed to maintain ships and troops, the cash in his hands was

, there are as many as two million taels per year.

"Our northern part of the Ming Dynasty is completely corrupted!" Zheng Zhilong sighed: "How do you know that there will be no trouble in the south of the Yangtze River in a few years? Let's go to Taiwan first and make some preparations."

-------------------

Van der Burg was the fifth governor of the Dutch East India Company in Formosa (he took office in 1636). After the Dutch East India Company suffered a defeat at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay on the coast of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong's maritime power expanded rapidly.

In this extremely unfavorable situation, Governor Bolger was asked by the company to work hard to build Formosa into an important fulcrum that could effectively support the East India Company's trade routes with the Ming Dynasty, Japan, Korea and other countries.

The Dutch East India Company had two adjacent strongholds on the island of Formosa, namely Chikan City and Relanjia City. In the battle for Penghu in 1624, the Ming Dynasty used more than a thousand large and small warships and tens of thousands of soldiers.

Defeat the Dutch. Despite this, they still allowed the remaining 500 Dutch soldiers to break through and leave. The Battle of Penghu ended.

Later, the defeated Dutch fleet, led by captain Song Ke, did not run back to Batavia. Instead, it turned around and landed in the Yikunshen (now Tainan City, Taiwan) area in southwestern Taiwan. Then it used both hard and soft tactics.

Using various methods, two fortresses, Chikan City and Relanjia City, were built successively. So far, it has been 15 years.

As the Dutch's strength in Chikan City and Relanjia City grew, they changed their appearance of living in harmony with the local feudal vassals and began to conquer by force. Relying on mass killings and force intimidation, they forced the nearby vassals (Gaoshan tribe) to

) Madou Society signed a contract with the Dutch, swore allegiance, paid various taxes, and collected local products such as deer skins hunted by their tribe.

In 1636, after Governor van der Burg took office, in order to frighten the small and large tribes in the west of the island from forming vassals, he dispatched ships and mercenaries to launch a large-scale attack on the Xiaoliuqiu Islands. In order to "kill the chicken to show the monkeys", they even

A genocide was carried out locally.120

0 residents of Xiaoliuqiu Islands, more than 400 people died in the war and massacre, and more than 100 young adults were selected by the Dutch and sold in batches to the East Indies as slaves. All women in the tribe were assigned to soldiers

As a "gift", the entire Xiaoliuqiu Island was almost exterminated.

The move was so drastic that it even alarmed the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company. The 17-member board of directors of the Batavia East India Company issued a statement after voting and determined that this approach was "not very appropriate."

Of course, the so-called "not very appropriate" means that casually speaking, "inappropriate" things should be done. However, the Dutch are not always cruel in dealing with things. They do not exterminate some tribes, but sign contracts with them.

, to establish rule. One of the purposes is to

In order to facilitate the conquest of their population, and then conquer other tribes, it not only saves effort, but also stirs up hatred among the tribes. It can be said that it kills multiple birds with one stone. After more than ten years of continuous conquest, all the major mountains near the city of Relanja were conquered.

Most of the tribes have been incorporated into the colonial power of the East India Company.

Compared with the natives of Shengfan (Gaoshan people), the Dutch "turned against" quickly, but the Dutch were slower to "turn against" the Ming people who colonized the island of Taiwan because the Ming people were not as easy to bully as the original people of Shengfan.

, and it is very close to the Ming Dynasty. The two cities of Chikan and Relanze also have Chinese areas dedicated to the Ming Dynasty, and the economic relationship has always been close.

According to statistics from the Dutch colonial agency in Formosa, in a normal year, there are more than 1,000 ships plying between the two sides of the strait, and the total number of Ming immigrants who immigrated here exceeds 10,000. The arrival of a large number of Ming immigrants from the coast

, had a profound impact on the economic structure of the island of Taiwan. As early as the sixth year of Chongzhen (1633), the Han people who came to Taiwan from the mainland to reclaim the wasteland brought sugarcane to Taiwan. This crop later became Taiwan's pillar industry.

A more important impact is the promotion of cattle farming. As of last year (1638), the total number of cattle on the entire island of Taiwan has exceeded 800. Most of them were brought by ships from the mainland by the people who reclaimed the wasteland. They used rice.

Mainly and cane sugar, supplemented by tobacco, hemp, ginger, cotton and other cash crops. The total number of acres of cultivated land has also increased rapidly. According to incomplete statistics, the total amount of cultivated land in Taiwan at this time has exceeded more than 260,000 acres.

It can be said that after several years of development, the southern Taiwan area under Dutch control has basically achieved self-sufficiency in food, and can provide the East India Company with a large amount of sugar cane, deerskin, medicinal materials and other raw materials, and has begun to continuously provide the Dutch with

colonial interests.

Beginning in 1639, in response to the sudden Sino-Dutch War, the Governor of Batavia requested an increase in the delivery of silver and sugar cane raw materials. Therefore, the Formosa colonial authorities promulgated a new trade law. Han people were required to pay taxes when buying salt and were not allowed to buy salt.

Deer skins were purchased privately and sugar cane was not allowed to be sold privately. They could only be sold to the Dutch authorities at low prices so that the Dutch could make sugar and make huge profits.

For the war that broke out in the East Indies between the Batavia authorities and Hanzhou, the Governor of Formosa, Van der Burg, was not very worried. Hanzhou was just a small follower of the East India Company.

Perhaps, it won't be long before those Han Chinese who overestimate their capabilities will succumb to the Dutch.

However, recently, Governor Van der Burg received some very bad news from the northern part of the island. The Spaniards in northern Formosa seem to have received reinforcements from the Philippines, and have gathered many armed soldiers and

A few warships. They gathered force, and their purpose was naturally not to head west to the behemoth of the Ming Dynasty. Then, it was obvious that they were going to target the Dutch.

Governor Van der Burg was a little confused as to why these arrogant Spaniards wanted to attack the Dutch stronghold in Formosa. I remember that last year, the two sides also exchanged prisoners and signed a truce agreement. This has not happened yet.

How long will it take for the Spaniards to stir up trouble again?

In order to deal with the Spanish threat, Governor Van der Burg urgently dispatched a messenger on a merchant ship returning to Batavia to report the situation here to the company. He believed that if the Spanish really wanted to attack them,

It will definitely carry at least 400-500 soldiers, and there may be four or five warships. It is a serious threat to the Dutch.

In addition to sending people back to report the news, Governor Van der Berg also issued a recruitment order to the Shengfan tribes around the stronghold, requiring them to send more than 500 soldiers to Chikan and Relanja during war.

service.

Formosa is the most important trading stronghold and route supply point of the East India Company near the Ming Dynasty. It must not be taken away by the Spaniards. Moreover, after more than ten years of development here, it has been able to steadily create ten years for the company.
Chapter completed!