After setting up camp, the brick-burning craftsmen went to find clay, and the lime-burning craftsmen went to find limestone. Boss Wei followed the squad leader around to search, determine the surrounding terrain, and draw a map. On this day, Boss Wei's class walked deep into the dense forest and discovered a raw camp.
Shengfan is the indigenous people of Taiwan Island. The civilization of these indigenous people is still in the stage of hunting, fishing and farming. There are different ethnic groups of Shengfan in Taiwan. The group of Shengfan discovered by Mr. Wei's class live in a house made of bamboo and thatch: the house uses thick bamboo inserted into the ground to make the roof truss, and other bamboos are placed on top of this bamboo frame to make the floor. and house walls, and then cover the roof with thatch to make a roof.
Those students wore colorful clothes, and both men and women wore skirts. Their faces are tattooed with patterns of various colors, and the color of their skin is invisible. After Boss Wei discovered these students, the students quickly discovered the eight soldiers in Boss Wei's squad. These students are very unfriendly to outsiders. As soon as they saw Boss Wei's eight men, thirty students howled and howled, and charged forward with swords and spears.
Boss Wei's squad leader ordered the soldiers to shoot freely. Boss Wei had already loaded the rifle with bullets. At this time, he raised his rifle and aimed at a leader who was rushing towards him a hundred steps away. The leader looked older and was holding an iron-tipped spear. The other students were surrounding the leader.
Boss Wei pressed the trigger, sparks suddenly burst out from the fire door, and there was a loud "pop". Then the entire rifle went back, and flames and smoke spewed out from the muzzle. Boss Wei's shoulder was pressed against the butt of the rifle. At this time, his shoulder was hit by the recoil of the rifle. When Boss Wei looked up at the Shengfan leader, the leader had already fallen to the ground and was twitching.
Boss Wei shouted excitedly: "I killed the leader!" However, no one paid attention to Boss Wei. Everyone was shooting and reloading. Boss Wei also quickly started loading again.
The soldiers here quickly fired more than a dozen shots, almost knocking down a student with one shot. Soon, the firepower here frightened the soldiers. They dropped the wounded on the ground and fled away.
The squad leader did not pursue these indigenous people, but led the team back to the camp and reported to Commander Guan. Guan Shan frowned when he heard that there was Shengfan not far away. In order to prevent accidents, Guan Shan asked soldiers to set up police posts outside the camp and monitor the safety near the camp in shifts day and night.
The three large ships have returned, and all the supplies on board are piled in the camp. The camp at the top of the hill is the core of this first batch of immigrants and must not be lost. The surrounding terrain has been basically figured out and the map has been drawn. There is no need to go out for reconnaissance. Boss Wei never left the camp again and only did basic training every day. The rest of the time he spent digging trenches to protect the camp. Sometimes I would go down the mountain and cut down trees with my comrades, build roads leading to clay mines and lime collection points, and do other miscellaneous things.
On December 24th, Boss Wei and a comrade were cutting wood under the hill. "Boss Wei, what do you think of Xiaoliuqiu, no, Taiwan Island?" Boss Wei slashed at the fir tree in front of him, and said, "This island is quite good, with sunshine and water." Boss Wei slashed at it again. On the fir tree, he paused and said: "It's just too deserted! What?" Boss Wei slashed the big tree with his knife again, "There is nothing but trees, just trees. What is this called? This is called the land of transformation!"
"Aren't there savages?" "Are those savages considered human beings? We can't even say anything. We went back after four months of expedition. Then we don't have to stay in this alien land!" "You can marry when you go back. Are you a daughter-in-law?" "My daughter-in-law, she is a handsome girl from all over the country, so she is worthy of me!"
Boss Wei's comrade smiled and said narrowly: "I heard, Boss Wei, when you first joined the camp, you said you would become an officer in one year!" Boss Wei's face turned red and he stood there speechless for a long time. He slashed the fir tree hard with his knife and said in a deep voice: "I was ignorant at that time." The two of them were chopping wood, but suddenly they saw smoke rising from the police post to the east.
Soon, the rally horn sounded on the small mountain camp. Boss Wei and his comrades looked at each other, threw away the woodcutter, and ran up the hill.
Boss Wei ran to the camp, where the company commander was already forming his team. Not long after, all the sentries from various police posts came running back. The sentry who lit the smoke and Commander Zheng were reporting something. Commander Zheng walked in front of the soldiers with a serious face and said loudly: "Shengfan is coming to attack us! Everyone, get into shooting position!"
Boss Wei was not only negligent, he took off the rifle from his back and began to load and load the rifle. After loading his ammunition, he stood behind the trench and prepared for battle. Three deep trenches were dug outside the camp, and it was expected that the soldiers would not be able to rush up. Boss Wei waited for half a quarter of an hour before he saw the students appearing at the foot of the mountain.
In twos and threes, those students walked out of the woods and stood at the foot of the mountain. They looked towards the camp on the top of the mountain for a while and found that there was no danger at the foot of the mountain, so some people ran into the woods, probably to report the situation. After a while, several stout men wearing colorful hats with long feathers on their hats, obviously the chief's descendants, came out. Following them, more and more students came out and gathered at the foot of the mountain.
Boss Wei quietly grabbed his rifle and waited for the Shengban to gather. Finally, he found that more than two thousand Shengban had arrived. These students had their land taken away by Yang Peng's men, and all other surrounding tribes were called to help. A large group of wild animals gathered at the foot of the mountain, which looked quite spectacular.
The students were all wearing colorful dresses and coarse cloth hats. They held swords and spears in their hands, and kept shouting when they gathered, as if to encourage the people around them. After shouting at the foot of the mountain for about a quarter of an hour, the students' courage reached its highest peak. A Shengfan chief shouted a few times and pointed his spear toward the top of the mountain. The students grabbed their weapons and walked towards Master Huben on the top of the hill.
Three hundred steps away, two hundred steps away, Boss Wei aimed at a student who was walking in the front. The raw man wore a round hat with a long feather on his head. He looked very strong. One hundred and forty steps away, Boss Wei's platoon leader shouted loudly: "Fire!"
Boss Wei pressed the trigger, only to hear a loud snap, and Boss Wei's body was pushed back by the recoil. The strong man wearing a feathered hat in the distance had blood splattering on his body and fell to the ground. Mr. Wei laughed, gave up the shooting position on the left, and retreated from the right. He retreated to the last row of the three-line gun formation and loaded the rifle with gunpowder and bullets as quickly as possible.
While Boss Wei was loading the bullet, the two columns in front had finished shooting, and they all walked behind Boss Wei, finally letting Boss Wei move to the front again. Boss Wei picked up his rifle, and this time he aimed at a shirtless, short and short student. The raw man seemed to be stunned by the firepower of the rifle on the mountain. He kept looking left and right at the corpses around him and took a few steps forward for a long time.
"Shoot!" Boss Wei pressed the trigger and held the rifle back with his shoulder, confusing Boss Wei's vision. When Boss Wei looked forward, he saw that the short and thick man had been shot, and he fell on the way up the mountain, clutching his stomach.
It seemed as if he was knocked to pieces by Boss Wei's shot. As soon as Boss Wei fired the shot, Liang Qian Sheng Fan began to run away. Where have these students ever fought against such a powerful enemy? Like a group of frightened goats, they collapsed down the hillside in panic.
The chiefs at the foot of the mountain also turned and fled back the way they came. After a while, the two thousand students escaped completely and disappeared into the woods. The soldiers of the trap group on the top of the mountain laughed when they saw how easy the battle was. Boss Wei patted the rifle proudly, took out his bayonet and carved a horizontal line on the rifle's handle. There is already one horizontal line on it, and with this horizontal line, there are two horizontal lines.
A comrade on the left looked at Boss Wei's gun handle and asked, "Boss Wei, didn't you kill two of them just now? Why did you only carve one line?" Boss Wei raised his head and said, "Can these soldiers compare with the Khitan? A Khitan makes a horizontal mark, and three Shengfans also mark a horizontal mark. These days, if three Shengfans are killed, a horizontal mark will be carved."
On December 28, Yang Peng's three pointed ships returned. The ship came back almost empty, with only three messengers on board besides the boatman. Yang Peng took three messengers to the General Military Mansion and inquired about the development of the colony. "Squad Leader Di, did you successfully set up camp on Taiwan Island?"
When the squad leader surnamed Di heard Yang Peng's question, he stood up suddenly and stood upright and replied: "Back to the city lord, Commander Guan found a small hilltop with a small river at the foot of the mountain. He set up camp on the top of the hill and dug three holes. It's a trench." Seeing that the squad leader was a little nervous, Yang Peng waved his hand for him to sit down and asked with a smile: "Are the local students attacking the camp?"
The squad leader slowly sat down and replied loudly: "Back to the Governor, we detected a Shengfan tribe in the woods. But when we set sail back on the 18th, the Shengfan had not yet attacked the camp."
Yang Peng thought for a while and nodded. Seeing that Li Zhi stopped asking, the squad leader said: "City Lord, we encountered nine large ships of red-haired barbarians on our way back. Those red-haired ships seemed to be on the way to plunder, and they came up to rob us as soon as they saw our ship."
"Red hair" is what people in the Song Dynasty called the Dutch in this era. During this era, Dutch merchants or pirates had already reached East Asia, sometimes doing trade and sometimes plundering, and fought many wars with the Song Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty was plundered several times, the Dutch were prohibited from landing in the Song Dynasty, which caused the Dutch to lose the supply of goods from the Song Dynasty.
The Dutch armed merchant ships were active in the waters north and south of Taiwan. Yang Peng was stunned. Unexpectedly, the three ships encountered Dutch pirates on their way back, and asked: "What happened next?" "City Lord, later Guan had to let us three ships go east. Our ships were fast and we avoided the red pirates." Hairy pirate.”
Yang Peng nodded and said: "These Dutch pirates are looking for death! When we have more ships, we will blow them all into the sea." The three messengers reported to Yang Peng the various situations on Taiwan Island. Yang Peng listened carefully. He sat and chatted with the messenger for a full hour. Yang Peng's three large ships stopped in Daku for two days, and before waiting for the New Year, they carried a thousand people to Taiwan. Yang Peng was determined to strengthen the armed forces at the Guanshan camp, so he sent another two hundred soldiers there this time. Except for soldiers, the other personnel who went to Taiwan this time were all farmers who were recruited to open up wasteland. After arriving in Taiwan, these farmers will start building canals to reclaim wasteland and strive to clear the land and start sowing by March.
Fang Laosan is the platoon leader of the Trap Regiment. He joined the army in the third year of Zhidao and is now a four-year veteran. Relying on the military exploits accumulated in previous battles, he became the company commander. This time, even before the New Year, Fang Laosan led forty soldiers on board the ship and sailed to Xiaoliuqiu. This was Fang Laosan's first time on a sea ship. The pointed ship looked quite big, but it was bumpy on the sea. The big boat rocked up and down with the waves. Fang Laosan vomited more than a dozen times on the way, and his intestines almost came out. It took ten days to arrive in Taiwan, and Fang Laosan rested in the camp for several days before finally recovering.
But when he arrived in Taiwan, Fang Laosan looked around and immediately understood that the journey of thousands of miles to Taiwan was worth it. This is a fertile virgin land. Looking around from the hill where we camped, we could see lush broad-leaved forests everywhere. Fang Laosan knew that the reason why the woods grew so densely was because the land was fertile. As long as the woods were burned with fire, the land would become fertile farmland, and the ash produced by the burned woods was the best fertilizer.
A quiet river cuts through a plain, making it easy to get water. As long as a dragon-tail car is set up by the river, the river water will continue to irrigate the paddy fields. There are no officials who scrape the ground, no officials of the Ming Dynasty who oppress the common people, and no despicable gentry who stare at the land of small farmers all day long. There is only inexhaustible sunshine, water and land. As long as farmers work hard, they will soon become rich.
I heard that the General will give every man and strong woman who opens up wasteland twenty acres of paddy field with irrigation canals. Every five men and strong women were lent one buffalo, and the land rent was 60%. The climate in Taiwan is warm and humid. You can grow two crops of rice in the morning and evening in a year. In one year, you can harvest two and a half kilo of rice per mu, which is more than enough.
Calculated in this way, excluding the 60 dan land rent for the general, a farmer and his wife can collect 40 dan grain for storage. What is this concept? You must know that one stone of rice sold to the governor's cheap grain store can get two taels of silver, and forty stones of grain is eighty taels. This is equivalent to a monthly income of three to three taels for each strong man. What kind of good life is it to earn more than three taels of silver per month?
Nowadays, as long as young people in Tianjing New City enter a factory in Tianjing New City, they will become the most popular young people, and they can be chosen by any girl nearby. The income of these workers is only two taels of silver. Even including the food provided by the general, the workers' monthly income is only three to two or five cents.
Farmers work in the fields and do not need to go out early and come back late to work in factories. They do not need to compete with others for worker positions. They can live a prosperous life with a monthly income of three to two or three yuan. The couple earn more than six taels of silver per month and can support eight people!
Fang Laosan thought this place was really good, so he decided to write to his eldest brother, sister and younger brother and ask them to sign up to come to Taiwan. Instead of just guarding the more than 30 acres of dry land at home in Tianjing New City, eating chaff and drinking water, it would be better to go to the south to open up a new world.
Fang Laosan has attended the General's night school over the years to learn literacy, and now he can write letters. Brothers and sisters in the family are illiterate, but they can find someone who has read to read letters. Three large ships go back and forth between Tianjin and Taiwan once a month. Fang Laosan's relatives will soon receive Fang Laosan's letter.
Thinking about the good life of his relatives in this new land in the future, Fang Laosan fell in love with this virgin land more and more, and he was in a good mood when doing things. Commander Guan has planned the location of the first batch of farmland these days. These first batch of new fields are located on both sides of the river, stretching for more than 30 miles, just on the east and west sides of the camp, and are enough for five thousand farmers to farm. Eight hundred farmers and four hundred soldiers were dispatched to cut down and clear a grass-free isolation zone outside the planned new field, preparing to burn the forest.
On January 13th, before the Lantern Festival was over, Fang Laosan and fifty soldiers were busy near the woods, when they suddenly saw a cloud of smoke rising in the distance. Fang Laosan was stunned for a moment, suspecting that he had made a mistake, and looked at one of his squad leaders. The squad leader under Fang Laosan also had a look of astonishment, and Fang Laosan knew from his face that he was right.
Could it be that the birth episode is coming again? Fang Laosan shouted loudly: "Everyone go back to the camp, everyone calls it a day! Go back to the camp!" Forty soldiers followed Fang Laosan and hurried to the camp. After half an hour, Fang Laosan returned to the hill where the camp was set up. Fang Laosan walked into the camp from the gate and shouted to the soldiers standing guard next to the gate: "What's going on? Is Shengfan here?"
The soldier on guard replied: "It's not Shengfan, but Hongmao is here!" Fang Laosan was stunned, but he didn't expect that it was Hongyi who came this time. I heard that the Hongyi are all very tall, with red hair all over their bodies, like red-haired ghosts. These red barbarians drink blood and eat raw meat, just like wild beasts. Hongyi's fleet had been plundering along the coast of Fujian for a long time and killed many Ming people. I don’t know how many red hairs came this time, and whether the red hairs that came are powerful.
Fang Laosan arrived at the assembly point with forty of his men, and the commander Guan Shan was there with his hands on his hips to encourage morale. "Only a few hundred red-haired people came, which is not worth mentioning. We have even killed the Khitan, so how can we be afraid of these hundreds of red-haired people?" Guan Shan paused and said loudly: "I just hope that the people on their ship will Everyone get off the boat so we can kill them and seize their boat.”
After hearing Guan Shan's words, the soldiers laughed and gradually became less nervous. Guan Shan waved his hand and said: "These red-haired people probably discovered our camp suddenly. They underestimated us and were probably ready to come in and grab a handful. Let's show them some color! Let them know that we are not easy to mess with."
"Two companies of 400 men are guarding behind the trench. Wait for the red hair to come and charge the trench, and we will kill them all in front of the trench." At this time, the three large ships in the harbor outside had already left the harbor and headed north. There was nothing to do outside the camp. Robbed. After Hongmao disembarks, he will probably rush straight to the camp. There are pigs, sheep, cloth, ironware, grain and other supplies in the camp. If these supplies are robbed by Hong Mao, the development of Taiwan will be ruined.
The two company commanders shouted orders and began to arrange their teams. The soldiers and officers ran to their respective camps, put on their armor, took out their rifles and ammunition, and then ran out to stand in line. Fang Laosan's platoon of forty men, who had always dared to fight, was now placed at the forefront of the west side of the camp, with forty soldiers standing on the front line in three columns.
Fang Laosan, wearing an officer's uniform and holding a steel knife, stood beside the team and commanded. The winter military uniforms of the soldiers in Tianjing Xincheng are the same color as the mandarin duck jackets that were not available in the Song Dynasty, and they are both dyed red. However, in order to adapt to the needs of densely packed shooting formations, the hems and cuffs of the Huben Division's military uniforms were made very small. The left and right lapels of the military uniform are fastened together with buttons, which are very strong. The trousers are relatively wide, and underneath the trousers are long leather boots that are easy for off-roading. The soldiers wore leather belts around their waists, and fixed bullet pouches were hung on the belts, making the entire outfit look very close to later generations of modern military uniforms.
Officers' uniforms are darker than soldiers' uniforms. Although the soldiers and officers all wore captured chainmail, the color of the clothing underneath could still be seen through the gaps in the armor. Another difference between officers and soldiers is the helmet tassel: the platoon leader's tassel is blue, which is different from the red tassel of the soldier. The company commander is yellow, the battalion commander is green, the regiment commander is black, and the division commander Li Zhi's tassel is white.
At this time, Fang Laosan was standing on the far right side of the team wearing a dark red military uniform. He wore a set of chain mail outside the military uniform and a blue tassel armor on his head. Fang Laosan waited behind the trench for half an hour before he saw the Hongyi sailors slowly approaching. These Hongyi sailors are very tall, generally a head taller than the soldiers of the formation group. They wore wide-brimmed hats on their heads and skirt-like military uniforms. They wore a brown jacket outside the military uniform and a bag slung across their body. Most of the Hongyi soldiers were holding matchlock guns and holding a matchlock gun holder in their hands. Some Hongyi soldiers raised their spears to protect the matchlock gunners.
Like the formation group on the mountain, the Hongyi soldiers also lined up in three rows. The first two rows of soldiers were arquebusiers, and the last row of soldiers were spearmen. Fang Laosan took a closer look and realized that not all of these red hairs were red-haired. There were some blond haired ones and some black-haired ones.
There were about eight hundred Hongyi sailors. They stood at the bottom of the hill and observed the top of the hill for a while. It was obviously those trenches that made the Hongyi officers at the bottom of the mountain a little suspicious. They gathered in front of the military column to discuss for a while.
Fang Laosan raised his right hand and shouted: "Reload the rifle!" The forty soldiers quickly finished loading the bullets and pointed their guns at Hongyi below the hill.
Several Hongyi generals discussed for a while and finally decided to attack the mountain. I only heard the few Hongyi officers shouting something to the soldiers, and the military drums in the Hongyi army started ringing. Amidst the drumbeats that sounded like firecrackers, the Hongyi soldiers held up their matchlocks and pressed against the 400 soldiers of the Trapping Regiment on the hill.
At a distance of two hundred steps, one hundred and eighty steps, one hundred sixty steps, and one hundred and forty steps, the Hongyi soldiers entered the firing range of the trapped group. Fang Laosan yelled: "First line of fire!" Thirteen rifles spurted out tongues of flame, and the thirteen soldiers paused and tilted their bodies in the thick mist sprayed by the rifles. After shooting, the soldier took a rough look at the results of the shooting and quickly retreated from the right.
Fang Laosan's first column had just finished shooting when another platoon next door also started firing. Soon, all eight platoons fired their first salvo. The Dutch sailors who were marching to the beat of the drum fell down one after another as if they were called by name. Before these Hongyi sailors understood what was going on, dozens of them fell in a pool of blood, shouting, convulsing, and screaming miserably. The still-living Hongmao in the front row was splashed with blood, and his whole body turned red.
The white smoke on the hill became thicker, and there was a choking smell of saltpeter and gunpowder everywhere. Fang Laosan looked at Hongyi in front of him and felt that they were suddenly stunned. The Hong Yi people did not expect that the Ming people on the mountain also had matchlocks and could shoot so far. There are no such powerful matchlock guns in Europe. If a European matchlock gun can hit a dense formation of enemies at a distance of 150 yards, or more than 130 meters, it is considered lucky.
Even the Hongyi drummer, who was playing the drums, stopped playing the drums for a while, wondering whether he should continue moving forward. Finally the Dutch officer jumped out and shouted something. The Dutch took courage and marched up the mountain again. Fang Laosan sneered and raised his left hand. To his left, the second column of thirteen riflemen had already aimed at Hongmao, waiting for Fang Laosan's order.
"Shoot!" Fang Laosan's platoon once again jumped ahead of the other platoons and started shooting in the second column. Thirteen rounds of bullets were fired at Hongmao's line array, leaving bloody flowers on the bodies of the Hongyi soldiers who were advancing against the hail of bullets. The sailors from Europe were accustomed to firing matchlocks, and they simply did not wear armor to protect against cold weapons. The mini bullets easily tore through the clothes and skin of these Europeans, penetrated into the flesh and stirred fiercely.
Next to Fang Laosan, other platoons also started shooting. Amidst the crackling gunfire, the Dutch soldiers at the foot of the mountain fell one after another. After they screamed a few times, they fell to the ground one by one like stone pillars that had lost their souls, and rolled down the hillside to the foot of the mountain.
If you want to know what happens next, let’s look at the breakdown in the next chapter.
