"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 about this, he looked at him with disgust. The workers who expanded the New Derelanjia Castle—most of them were local Han immigrants. [Read the latest chapter] Labor shortage has always been a headache for Taiwan’s chief executive. The number of company personnel brought to the island by the Dutch, even including slaves and hired East Indian natives, never exceeded a thousand. And there's always attrition: some people are hospitalized, some people die. He had to hire Chinese to complete most of the civil engineering and reclamation operations, which cost a lot in manpower and worsened the already loss-making financial situation of the officials.
But when it comes to defense, he doesn't dare to be careless at all. The company has hundreds of thousands of guilders in cash and goods stored in the store of senior officials. If something goes wrong, the company will never forgive itself - the directors in the seven-province republic will not care about those who harm their profits. Have mercy - Peter? Naz's fate is very real.
However, things have turned around recently in terms of trade with China. The rise of Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xianglao has softened his attitude once again. At least his trade cooperation is not as rigid as in the past. Last month, Zheng Zhilong's 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 have been sold to Liu Xianglao. The greater the pressure on Zheng Zhilong, the more harmonious his attitude will be with the Dutch. Of course, Putmans thought, if Liu Xianglao had too much power, 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. discharge. Prepare to build 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 "many" and "countless", but this made the natives unable to count. People say that there are "countless" ships arriving at Dagou, at least a dozen or twenty, and they are all "giant ships." Although the natives are not very civilized, small boats of dozens of tons are often seen. They will never regard small fishing boats off China's coast as "giant ships."
What can be called a "giant ship" is at least a ship of more than 200 tons. Apart from Zheng Zhilong, the only ones who can mobilize so many ships in the East Asian waters 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 leader. Putmans has sent a reconnaissance ship to hunt dogs and explore the local details.
In fact, Putmans had some predictions about who would come: he was probably Australian. A few months ago, an Australian brigantine had come to hunt the dogs and killed dozens of Tagalyans at the time. This was probably done 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 large island in the Pearl River Estuary, it would have been content to carry out large-scale trade in the Pearl River Estuary. How could he end up in this desolate place? Another island full of savages came up. Not to mention, the disease here alone kills 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 worriedly - hoping that the visitor was not an enemy with ulterior motives towards the officials. His gaze shifted from the castle of Geranje, which was being expanded, to the other side of the harbor, to the east of the Taijiang River. Now there is only a simple walled city. Although it is also built with bricks and stones, it is very small. It could only accommodate fifty soldiers and a small number of artillery pieces. If the walled city can be transformed into a strong bastion, the two cities can form a 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.
It's a pity that his current resources are only enough to expand the castle of Geranze. We can only be content with minor repairs to other fortifications.
"Sir, the communication ship Bornstein is back." The servant came to report.
"Captain, please come to me at once!"
The news brought by the communication ship Bornstein confirmed his suspicion: it was indeed an Australian.
"The Australians have a total of twenty-seven ships anchored at Dog Fighting. All of them are brigs." The captain reported, "The smallest ship 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 is a large ship with the same size as the largest Spanish Galen ship, but the shape of the ship is much slender and beautiful. There were two masts, also smoking. The captain believed the ship might be the flagship of the Australian fleet. Because it has many different flags hanging 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. Meanwhile, about a dozen wooden houses have been erected on the shore.
"Are you serious?" Putmans opened his eyes in surprise - from the time he received the news of the Australian landing to now, it has only been ten days, but the Australians have already built so many buildings? You must know that just building a wooden trestle is a huge project. Initially, everyone used small boats to transport people and goods up and down.
"Yes, sir. I saw it with my own eyes."
"Okay, have the Australians responded to your arrival?"
"They just sent a small boat to ask me what I wanted to do," the captain reported. "I said I was on a voyage to Xiaoliuqiu Island to carry trade goods. They let me go." He went on to add, "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 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 dogfighting field, contacted the top officers of the Australian fleet, and tried to find out their true intentions in the 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 turned pale. Belief in witchcraft was a fatal crime in any Catholic or Protestant country.
"I don't believe that, my lord. I only believe in God Almighty."
"Very good, what do you think is this about the Australians' small boats that smoke black smoke and don't use sails?"
"I don't know, my lord," the captain said. "Sorcery 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 approximately 400 East India Company troops serving in Daguang. It was a mixed force composed of Europeans, East Indies Archies, blacks, and Japanese.
"I must tell you now that 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 Ming Dynasty's army, I will be 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 first starts 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 sir."
Watching the captain exit, Putmans thought about the inventory and cash in the warehouse and on the ship, and he was a little worried about his 25,000 livres' cargo. The Dutch United East India Company treated its employees very harshly. Even if he became a member of the Council, the salary of the governor in Formosa was very low. If he did not engage in smuggling activities to make money, he would not be able to save much money.
The Dutch immediately got busy in the office. Captain Weidenfeller ordered mines to be laid on the beach, and bamboo poles were used to heighten the walls on the northern end of the island and other simple fortifications. Some of the artillery stored in the warehouse were also taken out and used to strengthen each fort.
Soldiers sent out to protect missionaries and merchants were called back. Volunteers were recruited from the Japanese village near Dayuan, and some native Xingang people were also called up. A mixed team composed of natives and Dutch marched overland to Dagou, collecting intelligence along the way to see if there was any possibility of the Australians invading from land.
Under Putmans's order, all ships anchored in the harbor were prepared for battle. The three large ships moved to the entrance of the southern channel, ready to intercept enemy ships trying to break into the harbor at any time. As for the Northern Passage, the water is extremely shallow, and the Australian ships cannot pass it since they are large. In addition, there is already a fortress on the last island of the northern line, and the artillery fire on it is enough to block the northern channel.
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