"These hateful yellow-skinned monkeys, they only know cannons and matchlock guns! Only by giving them a severe beating will they learn how to get along with others!" When Putmans thought this, he looked at him with disgust.
The workers who expanded the New Dejelandia Castle - most of them were local Han immigrants. The shortage of labor has always been a headache for Taiwan's chief executive. Even the company personnel shipped to the island by the Dutch included slaves and hired workers.
Including the East Indian natives, there have never been more than a thousand people. And there is always a constant attrition: some people are hospitalized and some people die. He had to hire Chinese to complete most civil engineering and reclamation operations, spending on manpower.
The increase has been quite high, which has worsened the already loss-making financial situation of senior officials.
But when it comes to defense, he doesn't dare to be careless at all. The company has hundreds of thousands of donuts in cash and goods stored in the store of senior officials. If something goes wrong, the company will never forgive him - in the seventh
The directors of the Provincial Republic showed no mercy to those who harmed their profits - Peter Nutz's fate was a real one.
However, things have turned around recently in terms of trade with China. Zheng Zhilong - the rise of Liu Xianglao has softened his attitude again - at least his trade cooperation is not as rigid as in the past. Last month, Zheng Zhilong's
The envoy also brought him a letter to explore the possibility of support from the Dutch.
Putmans got the news that the Council had agreed to give Liu Xianglao secret support. Two old brigs had been sold to Liu Xianglao. The greater the pressure on Zheng Zhilong, the more harmonious his attitude with the Dutch would be.
Of course, Putmans thought, if Liu Xianglao was too powerful, it would be quite detrimental to the officials. Pirates are always difficult to control.
However, now he has one more thing to worry about. According to the natives selling deer skins in Ljelanze, they learned that a fleet of "countless giant ships" has arrived to fight dogs and is heading to the coast.
Unloading goods. Preparing for building a house.
Putmans had some doubts about this news: first of all, the natives had a bad concept of number. Once the number was too large, they could not count clearly. They could only use concepts such as "a lot" and "countless", but this could make the natives confused.
People say that there are "countless" ships arriving at Dagou. There are at least a dozen or twenty ships, and they are all "giant ships." Although the natives are not very civilized, they often see small boats of dozens of tons. They will never
Consider small fishing boats along China's coast as "giant ships."
What can be called a "giant ship" is at least a ship of more than 200 tons. The only ones who can mobilize so many ships in the East Asian waters, besides Zheng Zhilong, are Liu Xiang, the Spaniards and the Australians.
No matter who the visitor is, they must have bad intentions if they land less than ten miles away from the generals. Putmans has already sent a reconnaissance ship to hunt for dogs and explore the local details.
In fact, Putmans had some predictions about who would come: they were probably Australians. A few months ago, an Australian two-masted clipper came to fight dogs and killed dozens of towers at that time.
Galliyan people. This is probably for reconnaissance for this landing.
Australians, why are you interested in this place? Don’t you have Hong Kong Island? Putmans thought to himself. If the company could occupy such a good big island in the Pearl River Estuary, it would have been content to develop in the Pearl River Estuary.
Large-scale trade. How could it come to this deserted island full of savages? Not to mention, the diseases here alone kill dozens of soldiers and sailors every year.
As a businessman and soldier in the seventeenth century, Putmans could not understand the important position of Taiwan in the new industrial system established by the Senate.
He looked at the busy construction site with worry - hoping that the visitor was not an enemy with ulterior motives for the officials. His eyes shifted from the castle of Relanjia, which was being expanded, to the other side of the harbor, to the east of the Taijiang River. There is currently only one Although the simple walled city is also built with bricks and stones, it is very small. It can only accommodate fifty soldiers and a small number of artillery. If the walled city can be transformed into a strong bastion, a strong fortress can be formed between the two cities. The pattern of mutual support, coupled with the fortress on the last island of the northern line, the safety of the entire team can be fully guaranteed.
Unfortunately, his current resources are only enough to expand the castle of Geranze. He can only be satisfied with a slight repair of other fortifications.
"Sir, the communication ship Bornstein has returned." The servant came to report.
"Captain, please come to me at once!"
The news brought by the communication ship Bornstein confirmed his speculation: the man who arrived was indeed an Australian.
"There are a total of twenty-seven Australian boats anchored at Dog Fighting. All of them are brigs." The captain reported, "The smallest boat weighs 150 rasters."
Among them were the black-smoking clippers reported by the high consul in Linlin. The size of one ship left a deep impression on the captain. This was a ship with the same size as the largest Galen ship in Spain. A big ship, but much slender and more beautiful. It has two masts and is also emitting black smoke. The captain believes that this ship may be the flagship of the Australian fleet because it has many different flags flying on it.
According to the captain's report, the Australians have built a wooden trestle in Dagou Port and built a three-story circular fortress next to the trestle. At the same time, about a dozen wooden houses have been built on the shore. .
"Are you serious?" Putmans opened his eyes in surprise - it has only been ten days since he received the news of the Australians' landing, but the Australians have already built so many buildings? You know Just building a wooden trestle is a huge project. Initially, people and goods were transported up and down using small boats.
"Yes, sir. I have indeed seen it with my own eyes."
"Okay, have the Australians responded to your arrival?"
"They just sent a small boat to ask about my purpose," the captain reported. "I said I was on a voyage to Xiaoliuqiu Island to carry trade goods. They let me leave." He then added, "They used The small boat does not use sails or long oars, it is very fast, and it constantly emits black smoke."
"You answered very well." Putmans nodded. "You will take a rest first, then ship some trade goods, and then go hunting for dogs. I now appoint you to serve as the junior commercial officer on the Bornstein. Your task is to In the name of trade, we entered the dog fight, contacted the top officers of the Australian fleet, and tried to find out their true intentions in the local area. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir, I will make arrangements right away," the captain said. As he spoke, he bowed and took a few steps back to go out. Putmans stopped him.
"Captain, do you believe in witchcraft?"
The captain's face suddenly turned pale. Belief in witchcraft was a fatal crime in any Catholic or Protestant country.
"I don't believe it, sir. I only believe in Almighty God."
"Very good, what do you think is this about the Australians' small boats that smoke and do not use sails?"
"I don't know, sir," the captain said. "Whether it's witchcraft or not, I won't hesitate to shoot them if necessary."
"very good."
After the captain left, Putmans thought for a while and called the garrison commander, Captain Heinrich Weidenfeller. This German veteran commanded about 400 East India Company troops serving in Daguang. It was a troop composed of
A mixed force of Europeans, East Indies Archies, blacks, and Japanese.
"I must tell you now, a battle is likely to break out here soon..." Putmans said, "How confident are you about the security guards?"
"Sir, it depends on who the enemy is..." Captain Weidenfeller said politely, "If it is a Chinese, whether he is Liu Xiang, an official, or the army of the Ming Dynasty, I am sure to deal with it -
One of my soldiers can fight twenty-five Chinese."
"I'm very happy that you are so confident. But the opponent is probably a stronger enemy than the Spanish..."
"Then I need to strengthen the defenses and recruit everyone who can use weapons."
"Recruiting personnel, you start on a small scale - recruiting sailors must follow my instructions. I authorize you to immediately strengthen the existing defenses. I know that the fortifications are being expanded and repaired. You first use the conditions at hand to strengthen the defenses of various fortifications.
Double duty every night! I don’t want to be caught off guard when the time comes.”
"Yes, my lord."
Watching the captain exit, Putmans thought about the inventory and cash in the warehouse and on the ship. He was a little worried about his 25,000 livres of goods. The Dutch United East India Company treated its employees quite harshly, even if
The salaries of members of the council and the governor of Formosa are also very low. If you don't engage in some smuggling activities to make money, you can't save much money.
The Dutch immediately got busy. Captain Weidenfeller ordered to lay mines on the beach, and at the same time used bamboo poles to heighten the walls on the last island of the northern line and other simple fortifications. Some of the artillery stored in the warehouse were also removed.
Come out to strengthen each fort.
The soldiers sent out to protect missionaries and businessmen were called back. Volunteers were recruited from the Japanese village near Dajuan, and a part of the native Xingang people were also called up. A mixed team composed of natives and Dutch came overland to fight against the enemy.
The dogs set off, collecting intelligence along the way to see if there was any possibility of the Australians invading from land.
Under Putmans's order, all the ships anchored in the port were prepared for battle. Three large ships moved to the entrance of the southern channel, ready to intercept enemy ships trying to break into the port at any time. As for the northern channel, the water is extremely shallow, and the Australians
Since the ships were too large, they could not pass. In addition, there was already a fortress on the island at the end of the northern route, and the artillery fire on it was enough to block the northern channel.