Fan? The handover formalities were carried out with the merchant of the original "Magdeburg", and the ship had only been in good condition after being refurbished for only a few months from the Netherlands. Because this time it is a voyage to the unknown port of Shili, there is a certain risk. The ship's staffing has been strengthened. The whole ship was equipped with one hundred and twenty sailors and forty soldiers. Originally, the ship was equipped with only 4 cannons, and 4 more were installed. Although the voyage to Hainan Island was a short voyage, there were still two military doctors on board to take care of the crew - although it is difficult to say how useful they were, and not once did the ship not throw more than a dozen or even dozens of corpses into the sea. Of course, there is also a priest on board to look after the souls of the crew.

Fan? Transtron and the Captain, Gonzalez,? Triny had a brief meeting. Governor gives Fan? Transtron's mission was to open up trade with the Australians and gather as much information as he could. The first step is to choose the right goods to trade: if Australians are not interested in what they are shipping, then neither trade relations nor intelligence gathering will be possible.

Fan? Derylon was very tricky, no one had ever traded with the Australians, and no one knew what they liked or needed. Since the Australians are on the coast of China, the goods of the Chinese: silk, raw silk, porcelain, etc., they will certainly be able to get sufficient supplies, and from them a large number of sugar and paper. From the perspective of glass products, they themselves have a very strong manufacturing capacity. Fan? Transtron thought about it, and the only product they were interested in in the whole of the East Indies was probably spices. Pepper, cinnamon, cloves are among the few goods that the Chinese are willing to import in bulk from the Dutch.

If you can't find the right bulk export commodity, Fan? Transtron had no choice but to ship large quantities of silver to trade with the Australians, which was the last thing the company wanted.

The Governor's Secretary gave him a pamphlet on the basic condition of Australians. Fan? Dertrand took a closer look at Australians' imports. They imported a wide variety of things, but the largest commodities were rice, timber, pig iron, various metals and cotton products. In particular, the import figure of cotton products is very large. Fan? Transtron was astonished because, according to the pamphlet, the cotton cloth and cotton yarn they had bought from India from a single trader had exceeded the total sales of various textiles to China over the years since the East India Company began its trade with China. In fact, the East India Company not only failed to sell much cotton products to the Chinese, but imported a large amount of "Nanjing cloth" from Chinese merchants every year.

Obviously they have a great demand for textiles. Fan? Transtron thought. However, I am afraid that he is incompetent in cotton products, and most of these things are sold by the British. Batavia had no stocks of cotton products unless a ship was sent to procure them from India - apparently too late.

Pig iron and metals are even more scarce, whether iron, lead and copper, which so far have been shipped either from Europe or imported from China and Japan. It was already quite scarce and could not be exported.

Batavia, however, has a large amount of Dutch linen - a major Dutch industrial export. Because of the low price, dumping is actually formed in the European market. At the time, it was described as so cheap that "even the poorest people could use it to make shirts". In addition, he is ready to ship some high-quality woolen wool. Although woolen wool does not sell well in China, it has always been bought as a luxury item.

After much consideration, I studied the booklet again and again. Fan? Eventually, Drantion arranged a manifest for Magdeburg, which was to be shipped to Lingao for sale: a large quantity of spices, Dutch linen and logs, and a small amount of high-quality woollen wool. Because he saw from the booklet that most of the clothes worn by Australians were blue and gray, he judged that Australians lacked dyes other than indigo. There are dyes such as hematosis added to the list of goods. Zuihou, he loaded hundreds of bales of local rice. Even Europeans in the East Indies could only rely on rice as a staple food.

Since none of the Dutch had ever been to Hainan Island, they knew the exact latitude and longitude of Lingao, and since the Dutch often traveled to Vietnam to trade, they were not ignorant of the local conditions. Referring to the charts and the information gathered, Fan? Transtron roughly knew that Lingao was in the Qiongzhou Strait. He only had to take the route to Vietnam, and after arriving in Vietnam, he would turn west and enter the Qiongzhou Strait to find Lingao.

After setting sail, the "Magdeburg" sailed through the Balinphong Strait, passed through Sumatra and the Philippine Islands, and after a 35-day voyage, arrived at Kimberland Bay.

Since Li Siya provided the approximate latitude and longitude of Lingao, the voyage was very smooth. In early February 1631, the Magdeburg sailed past Bailongwei Island, and the sailors on board discovered the land, which according to their charts was Hainan Island.

The "Magdeburg" carefully sailed along the coast - so far not a single European ship has ever entered the Qiongzhou Strait. After a few days of sailing along the coast, they finally found the narrow strait entrance. However, at this time, the sailors who were looking from the top of the mast issued a warning that "a ship is approaching".

The "combat-ready" captain immediately gave the order.

Hearing the news, Fan was driven out of the stern? Transtron immediately shouted: "No shooting, no order"

He was deeply afraid that the ship would be an Australian ship, and in the event of an armed conflict, it would have an unfavorable impact on his mission.

Sure enough, from the two compass points on the port side, a dhow gradually appeared on the sea level.

Fan? Drantron propped his hands on the bow side armrest, staring at the dhow, which was speeding with full sails. Such ships are very rare in the waters of East Asia. It is a typical European ship, this ship looks small, and the boat shape is very beautiful. He remembered the dhows he had seen on the shores of the Mediterranean and in the English Channel.

At the top of the mast fluttered a flag he did not recognize, and he looked at the stern of the ship, where a blue and white flag fluttered - exactly as the pamphlet said, it was the Australian navy

"It's a strange boat." Gonzalez said, "Where did they get the dhow? I've never seen anyone use this kind of ship in East Asia."

The merchant glanced at the officer who was talking next to him, it was a West Bank-Fan? Transtron hated all the Spaniards. He had never heard of the horrors committed by the Spaniards during the War of Independence.

"Lower the pennant" fan? Transtron ordered. This is a tribute to the other party and a sign of no malice. Of course, it is difficult to say whether the other party understands the meaning or not. But Fan? Drantion thinks that since the Australians used a typical European-style ship, they probably knew the navigational signals.

Sure enough, the other party reciprocated the same gift. And the sailboats are gradually coming up.

Loeb? Trini also came out, holding his sketchbook. He quickly drew a sketch of the sailboat in a notebook with charcoal strips, and asked, "What do you say they want to do?" They were waiting on our route. Is it to get in touch with us? "Leib? Trini was visiting East Asia for the first time, and it was the first time he had made a voyage.

"I don't know. Maybe you want to get in touch with us. Maybe it's going to attack us. Immediately get everyone on their guards. "Their boat was small, and they had a maximum of fifty people. Moreover, the side of our ship is much higher. Even in the event of a white-knuckle fight, there is an advantage. Have all the rotating cannons loaded. ”

Fan? Transtron ordered: "Don't drop the sails, keep sailing." "It's dangerous to be at sea with unfamiliar ships. It is not uncommon for large ships to be attacked by small boats, and zuihou to be captured by white-knuckle battles.

“…… The ship's inspection ...... "Someone on the other side is shouting.

"Oh, it seems to be Spanish? What are they talking about? ”

The shouting from the boat opposite "stop the ship for inspection" was louder, and although it was in Spanish, the tone was strange.

"Strange, they speak Spanish," Gonzalez frowned, "and asked us to stop the ship and check it." ”

"We're clearly flying the Prince's flag."

"Maybe they don't know the Prince." Gonzalez had no affection for the Dutch, and certainly no affection for His Royal Highness.

"Oh, the first time I've encountered something like this," the Spaniard hahadaxiao up. "What do you think about it? Dear Mr. Clerk, Let them board the ship and inspect it on this vast sea? ”

"Of course not, it's not safe – and they don't have to be Australians." Fan? "Keep sailing." ”

But the other side sailed fast, and the ships were much more agile than they were. Soon the dnaker was on par with them. This will allow them to see each other more clearly. The dhow, which looked very new, should have been launched not long ago, there were guns on the deck, and the gun jacket had been removed. Some sailors in short blue coats were running on the deck.

Everyone was nervous. The gunners and musketeers lit the arquebus, and the sailors of the "prince's team", who were not on duty, were armed with weapons such as broadswords, axes, daggers, etc., ready to go into battle at any time.

At this moment, a figure appeared on the stern of the schooner, who put a conical sleeve on his mouth and said something loudly in Chinese.