The beach is soft and the fine sand is soft. When you step on it, it's like stepping on a quilt. It's so soft that you sink into it unconsciously.
Seagulls fly in the blue sky and chirp from time to time, showing their mood.
The waves carried a wave of heat, but also seemed to have a bit of coolness. Zhu Cixiang licked his lips, and the sea breeze here seemed to be more relaxed.
"Brother!"
Picking up the musket, Zhu Ding walked over tremblingly: "There are a hundred of us, excluding the young and old, only thirty of us can hold a gun."
"I know." Zhu Cixi nodded with a calm expression.
The third child, Zhu Yong, also came over. He seemed to have been frightened when he was young and had a timid temper: "There are savages everywhere here, how can we survive?"
"If you have a musket, you can live."
Zhu Cixiang said in a deep voice: "Shaowu hasn't done anything yet, we still have a glimmer of hope."
Zhu Ding, the second eldest brother, looked at his eldest brother, who was full of energy and exuded a different kind of aura even though his temples were white.
He was startled: "Brother, should we restore our old name?"
"No need for now."
Zhu Cixi said in a deep voice: "It's not suitable at the moment."
After saying that, he made an arrangement, asking some girls and young children to work together with three or five strong men, and the second one was responsible for protecting them and taking care of the supplies.
Fortunately, the supplies included cinchona to treat malaria.
Obviously the so-called Europe is just to let them live peacefully on the road.
Although the dock is somewhat deserted, there are still a few wooden houses that can withstand the sun's heat.
"We are short of food and clothing here, so we have to go to the castle first."
He led about thirty people, holding muskets, and headed towards the wooden castle on the cliff ahead.
The wooden castle is on the top of the mountain, and a winding path leads up from the simple pier to connect it.
Although the Jaffna stronghold looks small, with a radius of hundreds of miles, it was snatched by the Portuguese from the Kingdom of Kandy.
The Dutch took their place, and Tao really didn't care about this operation. After all, there were too many strongholds, and he wouldn't cherish those he stole.
There was dense jungle along the way, and it was obvious that no one had been there for several months, and the gravel road was covered with weeds.
After a few hundred steps, a simple wooden castle appeared in front of you.
A moat and a suspension bridge are all available.
This made Zhu Cixi feel relieved.
At least it can initially ensure safety.
After entering, there are several wooden houses, a warehouse, a stable, and a stone mill, that's all.
The most important thing is the two coastal guns.
Although the barrels are rusty and there are no shells, its importance is self-evident.
Although it has accumulated a lot of dust, it is already a safe place.
However, looking from a high position, there is a lake not far from the wooden castle. It is green and endless, with waterbirds inhabiting it, the waves are rippling, and it is very lively.
"This is a good place."
Zhu Cixiang looked to the left and right, and a large amount of grassland came into view. These were future farmlands, enough for thousands of people to cultivate them.
Watering the ground with good quality water is enough to ensure that there is no need to worry about food and drink.
The family moved in happily, but the problem of food was the most pressing issue.
"Brother, there is only enough food for three days, and there is still a lack of salt!" Zhu Ding said solemnly.
"There is a lake nearby. You can catch some fish to eat. There are muskets for hunting. There are also many fruits on the mountain to fill your stomach."
Zhu Cixiang said softly, his words were very soothing: "Don't worry, no one will starve to death here."
"No matter how difficult it is, how difficult it was when we were in the mountains?"
These words calmed people's hearts.
At night, in a small house, the lights are brightly lit.
The three Zhu brothers were kneeling on the ground, their bodies upright.
In front of them, a tablet was erected:
The spiritual position of Emperor Liezu of the Ming Dynasty.
One afternoon, under the auspices of Zhu Cixiang, the three brothers expressed dissatisfaction with the temple name of their father, Emperor Chongzhen, Sizong, and decided to change it to Liezu.
This also means that they have officially spread their branches and established a foundation overseas.
The name of Liezu can also confuse others.
After all, among the dozen or so emperors of the Ming Dynasty, there were only two ancestors, Taizu and Chengzu. Who could have thought of Liezu?
When things are accomplished, more than a dozen ancestors will naturally take their place.
"From today on, this is our Ancestral Temple."
The three brothers knelt three times and kowtowed nine times.
After the matter was over, Zhu Cihong sighed: "Although I have wronged my father, there is nothing we can do about it."
"Brother, can you also invite the empress mother and concubine's tombs?"
Zhu Yong, the third child, said softly: "We have not worshiped for many years, so we are already unfilial. Now let him enjoy the incense."
"There's no rush at this moment."
Zhu Cixiang shook his head: "You are still too eager. The most important thing now is to solve the problem of food first!
"
"If everyone is starving to death, where will the incense come from?"
The next day, in order to completely shock these slaves, Zhu Cihong took out his imperial edict and announced it, and compiled:
"This king belongs to the clan of the Ming Dynasty. Now I am entrusted by your majesty to run the vassal state here, just like the Qin state and the old affairs of the Qi state."
"As long as you help the left well, it's no problem that you will be awarded officials and titles when the time comes."
"I'll wait to see His Royal Highness—"
The slaves knelt down one after another, unable to believe it.
Subsequently, Zhu Cihong, as the king of Ceylon County, appointed the second oldest Zhu Ding as the commander-in-chief of the army, and the third oldest Zhu Yong as the prime minister, responsible for civil affairs.
Several sons and nephews have heavy responsibilities and serve as six ministers. Although it is a bit absurd, the sparrow is small but has all the internal organs.
All in all, there must be an individual to figure it out.
Regarding the army, Zhu Cixi organized thirty men into three commanders in accordance with the regulations of the county patrol camp, and appointed and dismissed corps commanders and commanders.
Since there were not enough people, they were all reduced to musketeers.
Fortunately, the popularity of muskets is very high. Even hunters have a shotgun, so they can barely use a matchlock.
After practicing for a long time, the men were already able to put it on, although it was not accurate.
At this time, Zhu Cixi knew that he had to attack.
Looking around from the mountains, there are only a few small villages within dozens of miles.
Obviously, the native people had been scared away by the Portuguese.
Leaving ten men to garrison the wooden fort, he led twenty musketeers down the mountain to the nearest village.
It was a small island in the mountains, and the rugged area was difficult to navigate. It took two full hours, with the sun rising high in the sky, for Zhu Cihong and his party to arrive at the village.
A fence as tall as a group of people is the protection of the village.
Several naked children were playing at the entrance of the village, while women were washing animal skins in the nearby stream, or washing rice and vegetables.
In appearance, the woman is short in stature, with dark skin, a small and flat nose, and curly hair.
Their clothes are made of traditional homespun cloth, with scarves covering their heads and exposing their arms and feet. To the Han people, there is no shame at all.
As soon as they saw the stranger women and children holding muskets, they immediately panicked and quickly returned to the village.
The entire village was also buzzing with noise, with a large number of adult men holding bows, arrows, and spears, showing signs of fear.
After a while, a lot of food was thrown out. Roughly speaking, there were about thirty bags, and each bag weighed about twenty or thirty kilograms.
Zhu Cixiang took a look and said, good guy, he has been trained by those Western barbarians.
Immediately afterwards, a burst of jabbering words came out, which he could not understand.
"Walk--"
I picked up the grain and opened it and saw that it was rice.
Although it’s so slender that it’s difficult to understand, it’s still rice after all, isn’t it?
There was a harvest on the first day and everyone was overjoyed.
In the following days, just after walking around, three or five nearby tribes contributed nearly 3,000 kilograms of grain, which is 20 shi.
For a hundred of them, it was enough to feed them for a month.
Everyone was satisfied.
Zhu Ding, the second eldest child, said with a smile: "As long as we go shopping every month, we will have enough food and clothing."
"This place is hot and humid, and can produce two crops a year. I have seen that each village has as little as a thousand acres, and as many as two or three thousand acres, so there must be a lot of grain stored in it."
Zhu Cixiang was not so optimistic. He said in a deep voice: "This is because those native people are afraid of the Western Yi and regard us as one of them."
"As time goes by, they will definitely notice the difference, and then they will be in danger."
"Troop training."
Zhu Cixi stood up, looked at everyone and said: "From now on, we will train troops for half a month."
"Brother, do you know how?" Zhu Ding couldn't help but widen his eyes.
"I have read some of Qi Shaobao's "New Book of Ji Xiao", such as round shooting and so on."
Zhu Cixi said unconfidently.
Immediately, he added: "Nowadays overseas, even women have to practice musketry. Every more person means more help."
Taking this opportunity, Zhu Cixi named the wooden fort Yanbao.
It means swallows returning to their nests.
In fact, it means the lineage of King Yan.
Soon, several tribes near the wooden castle communicated with each other and immediately learned the information about the disappearance of the Dutch.
After all, they know the Dutch best, or the indigenous people of Portugal. The Chinese and Westerners are all very different in language, appearance, and clothing.
For a time, evil arose in his guts.
After all, Jaffna occupies the best land nearby and the entire lake, which was originally theirs.
The wooden castle is in an important location and is a good place to go.
Now that the Westerners are gone, people who don't know where they come from dare to take their things, and most importantly, they dare to steal food. It's really abominable.
The chiefs of the three families gathered together to discuss important matters.
At this time, northern Ceylon was inhabited by Tamils, who believed in Hinduism.
Although they are all chiefs and Kshatriyas, they are also distinguished by superiority and inferiority.
Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Sudras are just the four major castes. Within a certain major caste, there are also a large number of sub-castes, which number in the tens of thousands.
For example, aristocrats, generals and captains of lower classes must be of different sub-castes according to their occupations, civil servants and military officers, grain officials and financial officials, etc.
In this way, nearly two hundred people from the three families gathered and headed towards Yanbao.
The women were terrified, the children were crying, and the slaves were terrified.
Only Zhu Cixiang remained calm and collected.
He immediately asked someone to find a few stones of suitable size and use them as cannonballs to fill the rusty barrel.
"Brother, will this explode?" Zhu Ding couldn't help but ask.
"who knows?"
Zhu Cixiang said casually: "As long as this cannon can fire, we will definitely win."
"It's really no good. There are so many muskets, so it doesn't hurt to guard Yan Fort."
I'm just afraid that this group of people will not attack me!
Yanbao doesn't have that much food.
Two hundred people climbed up from the bottom of the mountain in an aggressive manner, which was extremely laborious and resulted in a loose formation.
"It's time to kill. If we had found some big rocks, we would definitely have won."
Zhu Cixi regretted his mistake.
Still have too little experience.
"Where's the artillery?"
"Brother, do you really want to let it go?" Zhu Ding held the fuse with mixed feelings in his heart.
"Aim for me—"
"How to aim?"
"Just aim the muzzle at that group of people."
A few people were confused and finally adjusted their direction.
"ignition--"
Boom——
The huge recoil caused the artillery to retreat several feet, and the suppressed stones and soil were also shaken away.
The rocks, on the other hand, crossed the curve and did not hit the slope at all. They only accidentally hit a few lone natives.
In an instant, the entire Yanbao fell silent.
The natives who were attacking were also suppressed.
Crash--
A large number of natives ran down the mountain without hesitation, without any formation at all.
"It seems that they are as afraid of the Western Yi as a tiger."
Zhu Cixiang laughed, and then commanded about thirty big men to open the door and rush to kill them.
Each person only fired one shot and wounded a few people, leaving the natives to run around with their heads in their hands and flee in panic.
Half an hour later, Zhu Cihong returned with Sanwu as a prisoner.
The next day, he continued his efforts and directly swept through these three tribes.
They were quite sensible about this, and even though they couldn't understand the language, they still handed over a satisfactory tribute.
The nearby tribes, large and small, also offered food, enough for them to eat for half a year.
Dozens of captives also obeyed and began to live as slaves.
The first thing is to reclaim wasteland.
The lake was also named Yanhu Lake.
In Zhu Cixiang's ambition, he planned to cultivate thousands of acres of land.
Everything is so prosperous.
A month later, a ship arrived at Yanbao.
He is a Portuguese man who can speak Chinese.
"I'm from Goa!" the Portuguese said with a smile.
"Dear Prince, you have come to Jaffna to establish a colony. Do you need our help?"
Zhu Cixiang was confused.
Portugal explained softly that the Portuguese strongholds on the east coast of India were all occupied by the Dutch, and Jafson was no exception.
But the Portuguese had thousands of elite soldiers in Goa and still controlled the ivory trade in the Kingdom of Jaffna.
Therefore, when the Dutch were fighting with the Kandy Dynasty in Colombo in the south of Ceylon, the Kingdom of Jaffna in the north was already a puppet of the Portuguese and took all orders from him.
"In other words, those people before were ordered by you?"
The Portuguese chuckled and said: "I thought the Dutch were back again, but I never thought they were friends from the Ming Dynasty. I'm really sorry."
"As the envoy of the Governor-General of Goa, I am willing to give you the entire Mannar Peninsula as a gift."
Zhu Cixiang was shocked.
No wonder the Dutch gave up here so easily. It turned out to be because of the Portuguese's troubles.
"As the saying goes, pie doesn't fall in the sky, just tell me your requirements!"
"It's nothing." The Portuguese said seriously: "I hope to use your connections to consolidate the relationship with the Ming Emperor."
"After all, you are also a county king, aren't you?"
Zhu Cixiang was silent.
"I need to trade."
"Of course." The Portuguese said with a smile: "Even if you want the Kingdom of Jaffna, we are willing to sell it to you, as long as you can pay a good price."
Facing the power of the fox and the tiger, Zhu Cihong relied on the momentum of the Ming Dynasty to gain a firm foothold in Ceylon.