In 1636 AD, Dafeng Village, located in the northeastern corner of Taiwan, underwent great changes due to the arrival of a man. Based on the original village, the newly built houses expanded several times to the surrounding areas.
There are many workshops in these newly built houses that were not possible before. There are workshops for blacksmithing, workshops for producing steel crossbows, workshops for digging coal, and workshops for making bricks using yellow mud and coal.
Everything is so prosperous, and the people who have suffered a lot show a rare smile.
But now the situation on the entire island is not optimistic. The Dutch were on the verge of overtaking the entire island.
Groups of Dutchmen wearing roll-brimmed hats and holding matchlock guns attacked everywhere. They snatched everything that could be moved. Adult men were taken back as slaves, and the old, weak, sick and disabled were mercilessly killed. The island was filled with thick smoke from the burning thatched huts.
Those who were lucky enough to escape hid in the mountains and never dared to show their faces again.
In a sea area south of Taiwan, a huge fleet sailed quickly with full sails blown by the sea breeze. This fleet had nearly fifty sail warships, each of which was fifty or sixty meters tall. Long, lined up in a single column, giving people tremendous pressure.
"Everyone" Bunuco pressed his hands gently.
The music and conversation in the captain's cabin of the flagship Dora Queen slowly stopped.
Bunuco smiled slightly: "Thank you very much for speaking for our family at this imperial meeting, which enabled me to get the position of Governor of Keelung. We have already reached a consensus. This time I go to Keelung City, Taiwan, and I will pay the total income according to the agreement. Half of it will be given back to you.¡±
There was warm applause in the room. In the corner on the right, a man with a smile on his face said loudly: "My Lord Governor Bunuco, the Dickey family has declined; Carlos Dickey has been the governor of Keelung for two years, but for such a long time He won¡¯t be able to fully control the northern part of the island for a while, so there is no need for us to support him now.¡±
Bunuco's eyes slightly touched him, and then he smiled tacitly: "Carlos Dickey is old, and he just wants to live a stable life, so this time His Majesty decided to recruit him back. "Having said this, he took the wine glass on the table, raised his hand to signal, took a sip slowly and continued: "I brought a total of 46 warships this time, with a total of nearly 20,000 personnel; I promise to Within a year, we will completely control the northern part of the island and join forces with Governor Sandy, who currently controls the southern part, to completely incorporate the island of Taiwan into our territory."
The room burst into warm applause again.
The smile on Bunuco¡¯s lips became even brighter
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"Liang Yong" Wu Yiping looked at the information in his hand and frowned deeply. "Who do you think this Ping Hailong is?"
"He is just a pirate, a big pirate." Liang Yong glanced at his mouth and leaned over to look at the information in Wu Yiping's hand. He continued, "He is definitely a cruel and cunning island! In my opinion, he must be playing some conspiracy again."
The intelligence in Wu Yiping¡¯s hands clearly stated: Lianhua Chengping Hailong raised his banner to defend his homeland and attack the Dutch. He hoped that people with lofty ideals would contact him to fight against the Dutch together.
"No, no matter what kind of person he was before, since he has made such a banner now, I have to go and see."
"Instructor!" Liang Yong suddenly became anxious and said with worry on his face: "You can't go! What if you encounter danger? This Ping Hailong is definitely not a good person. If you don't believe it, you can ask the old village chief "
"Okay!" Wu Yiping waved his hand, interrupted Liang Yong, and continued: "I'm not as stupid as you think. I won't go in the name of the captain of the village protection team" Wu Yiping stopped here. After thinking about it for a moment, he continued:
"We are very short on food now. I have long planned to leave for Lotus City to sell some dried fish. I will see if I can exchange it for some sweet potatoes. Now that it is better, I can also take a look at what this Pinghailong is like."
Seeing that Wu Yiping was determined, Liang Yong had no choice but to say: "Instructor, you must bring more people."
Seeing Liang Yong¡¯s worry, Wu Yiping smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take the waterway this time.¡±
"Ah! Instructor" Liang Yong opened his mouth wide and said in disbelief: "You want to drive the Dafeng to Lotus City? Then you must take me with you!!"
"What are you thinking about?" Wu Yiping glared at Liang Yong and said with veins popping out on his forehead: "Am I that prodigal? The Dafeng needs several tons of fuel an hour, and the less it uses, the less Do you really think I¡¯m a fool?¡±
"This time I took the bus from the DafengGo to the lowered lifeboat. This kind of lifeboat has its own motor. Although it is slower, ordinary boats cannot catch up. "
The most popular thing in Dafeng Village now is dried fish. Not only is a large amount of dried fish dried everywhere, Wu Yiping also built several large warehouses for storage.
With an order, the two lifeboats, which were more than ten meters long, were filled to the brim. Wu Yiping brought 20 people as a escort this time. Each man is equipped with steel swords, steel crossbows, and on two ships medium-sized steel crossbows.
At dawn, Wu Yiping had already boarded the ship and sailed to Lianhua City. For safety, Wu Yiping took all the experts from the village protection team with him, while Lu Mingyu and Liang Yong stayed on the battleship to train the village protection team and handle matters in the village. .
The rising sun shines on the sea, making the sea crystal clear. There is no wind and the sea is very calm. In some places, there are still clouds of mist, making the sea view very beautiful.
In order to save fuel, the motor will not be used except in emergencies, so the two boats were rowed along at a relatively slow speed.
We walked along the coastline without incident. After almost five or six hours of paddling slowly, we finally approached the waters of Lotus City. We can already see some small wooden boats spearing fish using the most primitive method, and some people with good water skills dive into the water to catch fish.
Looking at the small fishing boat beside him, Wu Yiping said to himself: "I wonder what this Lotus City occupied by that Ping Hailong looks like. You won't let me in, right?"
If you have the opportunity to take a bird's-eye view from the air, you will find that Lotus City is located at the northern end of the Taitung Rift Valley. It is surrounded by mountains and the sea, and faces the Pacific Ocean to the east. It is the most important city in eastern Taiwan. Lotus City has a population of about 20,000, making it the most densely populated place in eastern Taiwan.
Wu Yiping knew that Lotus City had a lot of mineral resources, which Wu Yiping needed urgently now, so this time he was nominally selling dried fish and seeing if Ping Hailong really planned to fight against the Dutch. In fact, he wanted to inspect this place more. .
Looking at the reef that looks like it has been cut with a knife, and the cliffs tens or hundreds of meters high next to it, it gives people a sense of depression. The soldiers of the village protection team originally thought that the Dafeng was very huge, but now it is as insignificant as an ant compared with these cracked rocks and cliffs.
Two unfamiliar lifeboats were blocked by three small boats five kilometers away from Lotus City. There were six or seven people on each small boat, wearing all kinds of shabby clothes, some holding bows, and some carrying harpoons.
A man was shirtless, holding a machete, and raised his hand to point at Wu Yiping, who was standing in the middle. The soldiers from the village protection team stood up one after another and pointed their strung crossbows at the people on the boat. If only one person on the other side had not pointed a knife at Wu Yiping, they would have shot him without saying a word.
After some exchanges, I found out that these people were the peripheral patrol team of Lotus City. The other party knew that Wu Yiping was here to sell goods, so they did not do much to stop him, but sent a small wooden boat to lead the way.
Soon we docked at a small port. To be honest, when he saw the city wall on the sea side of Lotus City, Wu Yiping felt a little like the tall city wall on TV. It is more in line with Wu Yiping's own imagination.
This wall is a huge city wall built with huge stones. It spans the entrance of the entire sea and is several hundred meters long. The height is more than ten meters, and the shortest place is five or six meters. There are many soldiers standing on it. The thickness of the city wall is estimated to be two to three meters, which was considered a very grand project in this era. There are recessed shooting ports on the wall. From Wu Yiping's point of view, as long as one or two thousand people are deployed here, it is impossible to attack this wall without three or four times the force.