That night, in the tent of the Dutch stronghold on Baisha Island, Penghu Island, the Malay-Portuguese woman, Mabel, did not feel sleepy at all.
She was waiting for the news that should arrive at dawn.
Not far away, in a simple shack built of wood and palm leaves, lived the first batch of men from the Ming Dynasty who were transported to Baisha Island as slave labor.
A few days ago, as soon as they got off the ship, the Dutch officer Ruffin immediately ordered them to transport wood and carry stones.
The Dutch sailors whipped them like cattle.
Mabel became more and more convinced that Zheng Haizhu was right. These Dutch people, like the Frankies, had absolutely no word "mercy" in their minds.
They cannot be allowed to occupy even a small island on this land.
There were snoring sounds coming from the direction of the shack.
Mabel envied those men for being able to sleep.
Of course she already knew that they were actually soldiers from the Ming Dynasty.
Perhaps because of their experience in the battlefield, they were able to be so calm and calm before the upcoming war, quickly falling asleep to conserve their strength.
Mabel, who was already in a state of excitement, simply got up, got out of the tent, and walked to the beach.
Although she couldn't see it, Mabel knew that behind the thick fog in the night sea in the east was the island of Taiwan where she had lived for two years and planned to call her home for the rest of her life.
At this moment, young Yun'er must be sleeping soundly next to her aunt Wen Akun. I just don't know if her husband Wen Apeng has been suffering from hysteria these days.
Mabel stopped for a short time and suddenly heard the sound of a piano and gentle singing coming from behind the nearby rocks.
She remembered that yesterday, the Dutch sailors patrolling nearby rescued a monk carrying a wooden instrument. The monk gestured to the Dutch for a long time, and managed to make them understand that he was crossing the sea from Japan to the Ming Dynasty, and the sailing boat he was on capsized in the wind and waves. Fortunately, he carried the planks of the boat and floated to Penghu.
In order to squeeze out the Portuguese, the Dutch tried their best to show their goodwill to the Japanese shogunate and the feudal lord. The Japanese monk in trouble was also treated by Officer Ruffin as a matter of course, and received food, water and a separate tent.
Mabel stepped on the moonlight and walked away.
What suddenly made Mabel feel intimate was that the Japanese monk in front of her was playing the piano and singing a song that she had heard the Chinese sing when she was in Malacca.
"After the new rain in the empty mountains, the weather is late and autumn comes. The bright moon shines among the pines, and the clear springs flow up the rocks."
That's right, the Chinese in Malacca pronounce "moon" as "bent" and "stone" as "evil".
Mabel, who does not have any Chinese ancestry, fled back to Taiwan with her lover Wen Apeng, and learned this song to the old chief of Siraya, Grandma Wen. Upon hearing it, Grandma Wen told her that the lyrics came from China. A poet from thousands of years ago. Later, Mabel learned it from Yan Siqi. Yan Siqi said that it was sung in southern Fujian Mandarin, called "Nanyin".
At this moment, after the Japanese monk finished singing, Mabel asked in Chinese: "Can you speak Ming dialect? Are you from Ming Dynasty?"
The monk raised his head and clasped his hands in salute, but his face was full of apology and he still spoke in Japanese that Mabel could not understand.
When the sentence was about to end, the monk patted his qin and then himself, and said in a thick and tough accent: "Master Ming."
Mabel seems to have realized something. I think it was the people of the Ming Dynasty who taught this Japanese monk the art of playing the piano and singing.
The qin is not an instrument used in the "Nanyin" of Zhangquan, but in the school in Tainan, several teachers invited by Yan Siqi from Fujian can play the qin, so Mabel knows this instrument.
Unexpectedly, the piano, which had been soaked in sea water, could still be played after being carefully wiped by the monks and dried in the shade under a coconut tree.
It is almost dawn, and the morning light is faintly appearing.
Mabel was about to sit down and continue to listen to the monk playing the piano and singing, when the monk's peaceful eyes looking towards the ocean suddenly started to ripple.
"Tang Chuan, Tang Chuan." He pointed to the sea and said in Japanese.
…
Ruffin pulled on his shirt. This kind of Chinese textile is really wonderful. It feels so light and soft, but actually has a solid thickness. Wear it on a spring morning and the coolness of the sea breeze will not invade your skin.
Ruffin did not put on the woolen military uniform handed over by the guard. He took off the telescope from the shelf and hurriedly got out of the tent.
The patrolling sailor on duty came up and reported: "Sir Ruffin, the Junk ship has flagged down and said it will not attack us. This is a summons."
Ruffin confirmed the semaphore in the telescope and turned to another Peranakan translator sent by the Batavia headquarters: "You and the two sergeants, paddle over in a small boat."
Not long after, the translator came back and handed over the document with the red seal, as well as Gulit's clothes, pipe and pocket watch with a fearful expression.
"Sir Ruffin, the captain who sent the message said that the Ming Navy Commander seized our slave ship and detained our Gulit advisor, all the sailors, and the bad woman named Zheng on Kinmen Island for you to , oh no, please go to negotiate, return the Ming slaves here, and promise to lead the fleet back to Batavia."
Ruffin grabbed the document and stared at the red square at the end of the letter: "Whose seal is this?"
The translator didn't know how to accurately translate "Navy Commander" in Dutch, so he said vaguely in desperation: "It's their navy commander Yu Zigao."
"Commander of the Navy?" Lu Fen kicked the translator down and yelled, "Where did the navy come from in the Ming Dynasty? There is a damn navy commander! They only have greedy eunuchs and arrogant civil servants who know nothing. And bullshit generals fighting each other like pirates for their own turf!”
The translator got up in embarrassment and responded grovelingly: "Yes, sir, ah, sir, you are absolutely right. This Yu, he had a conflict with Yan from Taiwan a few days ago at sea, even the natives of Penghu We all saw them open fire. If they were all troops loyal to the king, how could they aim their guns at their own warships?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Mabel rushed over from the beach not far away.
"Mr. Translator, please tell me, what happened?"
The translator glanced at Ruffin timidly, saw him waving his hand coldly, and told Mabel in simple Chinese: "The Cod was detained at Kinmen by your employer's motherland army. They threatened us to evacuate."
Mabel stepped forward and grabbed Ruffin's sleeve: "Please, sir, promise the Ming people first, otherwise they will cut off my wife's head. At worst, we will bring more warships from Batavia after a while." We promise that we will get more cheap and strong slaves for your country in the future."
Ruffin stretched out his index finger and lifted the chin of the unique mixed-race woman in front of him.
The Dutchman suddenly changed his gesture, gave the woman a hard slap, and said angrily: "I thought your boss was such a powerful woman, but she failed the second time. Her stupid head deserved to be cut off. !”
Then he turned to look at the Junk ship, which had already sailed out of the range of the cannon, and ordered his guards: "Go and invite all the brave captains to come before me."
The captains of the three Dutch warships anchored in Penghu, the Groningen, the Hope, and the Victoria, quickly gathered in Ruffin's tent.
】
Putmans, the captain of the Hope, was originally a pirate and was bloodthirsty and warlike. He was the first to speak: "Sir Ruffin, we should be happy. The stupid Ming army gave us the best excuse to go to war. Theirs It’s not like we haven’t seen ships in the past two years. They are not as good as General Yan’s ships in Taiwan. Not to mention small ones, they often only have one decent cannon on the bow, and the rest are just small 300-pound ships (fal). . The twenty iron cannons on our Hope can completely sink ten such little sheep-like Junk ships."
The captain of the Victoria echoed: "Yes, Putmans is absolutely right. There is nothing to negotiate with the Ming people. It is not that our East India Company has not proposed conditions for underwriting Ming silk, and the price is not as high as The Portuguese are low-cost, but the Ming people have been unwilling to give us exclusive rights in Penghu and the North Island of Formosa (Taiwan) just like they recognized Portugal's control of Macau. Chief Rufin, it's time to use cannonballs to speak . We should use Penghu as our base and take the initiative to go west and attack Kinmen."
Michel, the captain of the Victoria, is the nephew of the late Dutch admiral Wei Malang. More than ten years ago, Wei Malang, who was born into a noble family, was driven out of Penghu by Shen Yourong, a naval general of the Ming Dynasty, without even a single soldier. Michel regarded his uncle as a disgrace to the family. Therefore, Michel, like Putmans, had long been holding back his energy and wanted to fight the Ming army fiercely.
Lu Fen's hawk-like eyes clearly showed some satisfaction.
He immediately turned to Captain Byrne of the Groningen: "General Byrne, what do you think?"
The Groningen is the largest warship currently anchored in Penghu, with a tonnage of 700, a crew of 200, fifteen cast-iron cannons, and more than 20 small guns.
The Cod, which was intercepted by the Ming Dynasty this time, also belonged to the Groningen.
Byrne was well aware of the intrigue within the company.
Captains who represent the interests of different shareholders are not fuel-efficient lamps.
Now, the people and ships detained in Kinmen are all under his command. If he is inclined to seek peace, not only will it be meaningless in terms of a one to three vote, but it will also be more likely to bring negative evaluation to the shareholders behind him.
"Sir Ruffin," Bourne said solemnly, touching his newly shaved chin, "I completely agree with Putmans and Michelle, but sir, Penghu is too close to Formosa (Taiwan) Island. Well, if our warships all sail to Kinmen, will General Yan from Formosa not come to rescue General Yu because of the festival, but will he come to destroy our fortifications in Penghu?"
Captain Putmans of the Hope smiled sarcastically: "Bern, if you are afraid of the Ming people, you can stay in Penghu with your ship. There is no need to use General Yan as an excuse for cowardice."
Bourne turned his head, maintained his demeanor, and said calmly: "Putmans, we have 700 tons in Groningen, which is two and a half of your Hope. Of course you should stay, and I will follow Commander Ruffin to get it." Kinmen was razed to the ground.”
Putmans said angrily: "Bourne! Do you look down on me?"
Michelle quickly separated the two.
Ruffin said sternly: "Do you think this is a competition for women in a brothel in Amsterdam? A competition of size?"
Michelle also smoothed things over: "From the chart, we can see that both Xiamen and Zhangzhou have Ming Dynasty garrisons, which are very close to Kinmen. In order to prevent their reinforcements from arriving in time, we should send all three warships there."
Ruffin lowered his head and thought. Of course he understood that behind Groningen and Hope, there were different forces in the company. Judging from their actions over the past six months, the two captains secretly had constant small conflicts.
This officer, who was deeply trusted by Governor Cohen, had already decided that Byrne and Putmans could not appear at the same time in the first official battle with the Ming army.
Ruffin then adjusted his tone and said gently: "Brave generals with supreme glory, we should not fall into internal fighting like the people of the Ming Dynasty. What you said makes sense, so I decided to ask Badawi Asia then requests three to four warships.”
As Ruffin spoke, he sat down at the wooden table, picked up a quill, dipped it in ink, and started writing quickly.
"Bourne, please send another small boat to escort my soldiers and send this handwritten letter of mine to the Golden Gate, saying that I must obtain authorization from the Governor of Batavia before I can sit at the negotiating table. Authorized The date is estimated to be ten days later. After you arrive at Kinmen, you can take a look at the coastal defense situation there."
"Putmans, today you will ask your first mate to pilot the merchant ship Gullit left in the harbor, quickly return to Batavia, hand over my war report to the governor, and be sure to persuade him to send the "secret" The USS DePaul, the USS Orange and the USS Prince came to help."
"Michelle, you go to sea tomorrow and check out the movements of General Yan on the Taiwan side. His fleet, well, if those broken ships can be called a fleet, are mainly near Tai Yuan Port."
After finishing the assignment, Ruffin raised his head and saw Bourne's brows, which were even more furrowed than a moment ago.
"What's wrong, Bourne, do you have new worries?" Ruffin asked.
Bourne nodded and said: "Sir Lu Fen, although the translator just said that the Ming Dynasty regards the businesswoman surnamed Zheng as a criminal, we cannot trust the cunning Ming Dynasty people. I don't know, the Ming Dynasty slaves on Baisha Island are currently Are they really slaves? To be cautious, I suggest killing them all."
When he finished speaking, Putmans laughed strangely.
Putmans is also a veteran of the world. From his boss Ruffin's deployment, he has realized that his ship may stay in Penghu with the smaller of the warships sent by Batavia to come to the rescue.
Putmans put away his smile, glared at Bourne, turned to Ruffin and said: "Sir, those Ming slaves are timid and obedient, and they work very efficiently. Kill them all? Then who will build the fortifications? Ours Sailors, haven't we started a war with the Ming people yet, are we already paralyzed on this small island?"
Ruffin felt that Putmans' statement was reasonable and was not just an objection to Byrne.
But today's changes really made him unable to stop thinking about whether there would be any problems with the businesswoman named Zheng.
Ruffin walked to the tent door and looked out.
He saw that the slaves of the Ming Dynasty had been driven, working in pairs, to transport the thick tree trunks up the high slope.
His gaze changed direction again.
Outside another tent, Mabel was hugging her knees, curling up like a snail, staring at the vast sea in a daze.
Ruffin turned back to the guard and said, "Let all the slaves come to the beach and bring that woman with them."
