At this time, Li Xiao remembered the specific information of the Spaniards sent by the intelligence officer of the Taiwan Security Department to his flying pigeon. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

It turned out that after Tainan was occupied by the Dutch, the Spaniards, who were unwilling to let the Dutch monopolize Taiwan, immediately sent troops from Manila and occupied Taipei.

In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, the Spaniards led more than 1,000 people to attack the North Taiwan Road by sea, first landed at Jilong Port, established a temporary stronghold, and through three years of infiltration and expansion, they occupied the Huwei area, thus officially gaining a foothold in the northern region of Taiwan.

After occupying Taipei, the Spaniards immediately began to enslave the rule, built Catholic churches, forced the local aborigines to believe in religion, and began to levy taxes in northern Taiwan, using some worthless small objects such as marbles and glass balls to exchange precious furs, antlers and other items from the hands of the simple natives to make huge profits. They even forcibly drove the local natives into the mountains to collect sulfur, copper ore, iron ore and other materials for them, and once the indigenous tribes refused to accept the management, the Spaniards immediately sent troops to these tribes to burn, kill, loot, and brutally suppress.

After seeing that the rule gradually stabilized, the Spaniards began to change the names of places in the northern part of Taiwan. The chicken coop mountain where they landed was renamed San Diego, and in the Peace Island in Keelung Bay, there was the first watchtower built by the Spaniards, so they renamed it Fort Salvador. In the Tamsui region, the city built with blood and tears by forcing countless natives to be built, the central stronghold of the Spaniards in Taiwan, was named the city of Santo Domingo.

In real history, the majestic city of Santo Domingo was demolished by the Spaniards themselves in the twelfth year of Chongzhen.

The reason for this is that the Spanish Empire, which was already in crisis and fell into a huge debt crisis, was increasingly unable to support the Far East's financial and military support, so López, the Spanish governor of the Philippines, planned to reduce the military deployment in northern Taiwan in order to reduce expenses.

As a result, the governor personally ordered the demolition of the main city of Santo Domingo in Tamsui and the transfer of a large number of garrisons back to Manila, and the entire northern part of Taiwan, with only a few hundred troops garrisoned, most of them stationed at the castle of San Salvador on Jonlong Harbor and Heping Island. Judging from these actions, the once powerful Spanish Empire has shown its old age and decay.

However, in this jungle world, an aging and weak elephant is often the best object for the beasts to compete for food.

In real history, after seeing Spain demolishing its castle and withdrawing its garrison, the Dutch immediately keenly smelled the decay and sinking breath of this once invincible huge empire, so the Dutch Gongzhiguo, this young and sturdy beast, the former Spanish vassal state, immediately declared war on the old master and sent troops to forcibly seize the land of Taipei.

After months of war, the Spaniards, who ran out of ammunition and food, surrendered to the Dutch, and the 16-year Spanish rule in northern Taiwan came to an end, thus opening the black curtain of the Dutch monopoly on Taiwan. It was not until 1661 that Zheng Chenggong sent troops from Fujian, and finally recovered Taiwan, driving out the Dutch, and the treasure island of Taiwan finally returned to the embrace of the motherland.

Under the cold sea breeze, Li Xiao, who had been standing on the side of the ship, bowing his head and thinking about history and the future, finally raised his head, his eyes were full of determination and determination.

After thinking about it for a long time, he had already thought of a battle plan against Spain in his heart.

Time at sea is actually much more difficult to pass than on land.

There is a vast sea everywhere, and staying on a ship that is as small as a stationary space is really tight.

After experiencing the novelty of starting to take a boat, many of the soldiers in the Pingnan Battalion had numb and tired looks on their faces, but fortunately, there were daily training, teaching, singing military songs and other activities, which finally allowed these soldiers to maintain a fairly strong morale in this boring sea journey.

As for the displaced people who took Zheng Zhilong's fleet, because of the crowded environment, the journey experience was even worse, but in such an environment, these displaced people who were running around for survival could only endure it silently.

At this time, Li Xiao and the Dutchman Joseph were talking on the side of the ship.

"Joseph, have you been here for more than half a year, are you still used to it?" Li Xiao asked with a smile.

Joseph twitched his brows, then pulled his blond hair and replied with a smile in Chinese, which he was already proficient in, "Lord Li, I can honestly tell you that the time I have come to the Ming Kingdom has been a very pleasant experience in my life. ”

Seeing Joseph's refreshing and direct answer, Li Xiao was also happy in his heart, so he smiled and said: "Very good, as long as you work hard and serve the official loyally, the official will never treat you badly." ”

Joseph immediately replied without hesitation: "As long as Master Li needs us, we are willing to continue to work for you." With such a high salary and a reputable employer like Mr. Lee, I don't want to go back to the Netherlands at all. ”

Li Xiao laughed loudly, he thought about it, looked at him with deep eyes, and asked tentatively: "Joseph, if this official is going to fight with the Dutch in the future, will you still help this official fight?" ”

The smile on Joseph's face froze suddenly.

He replied in a loud voice: "Lord Li, didn't you sign an armistice peace agreement with the Dutch governor?" Why are the two countries at war? ”

Li Xiao sighed lightly and said: "The shape is easy, and many things are not transferred by personal will. When the time comes, it will be best if you can continue to serve this officer. However, if you really don't want to, the official can send you back first, and he will never embarrass you. ”

Joseph's blue eyes blinked, his lips pursed, and a wry smile unconsciously spread across his face.

Li Xiao's huge fleet rode the north wind, rounded the tip of the Shandong Peninsula, went all the way south, and arrived at Lukang in central Taiwan twenty days later, that is, in the early morning of the 10th day of the twelfth lunar month.

The whole voyage was quite smooth, because there were doctors all the way with the ship to take care of them, among the 550,000 displaced people, only about 1,000 old and weak, because they couldn't stand the rough waves, long-term seasickness, and died of illness on the way, and the rest of the immigrants all arrived in Taiwan in good health.

When the ship approached the coast of Lukang, in the brighter and brighter subtropical morning light, Li Xiao could see that through the gradually dissipating sea fog, the white and boundless beach had clearly appeared in front of him.

Li Xiao was pleased to see that on both sides of the Datuxi River, patches of newly opened rice fields were already boundless, extending into the dark blue and towering Taichung Mountains in the distance.

At this time, the late rice harvest in the field has already been completed, and the rice field has been planted with green potato seedlings, and the green leaves are swaying happily in the morning breeze. The stalks of the late rice that were cut down were piled up with tall towers, like silent sentinels, standing quietly in the sea of rice fields. From time to time, you can see children in short jackets, laughing and running back and forth on the ridges, the laughter seems to be faintly audible, and as far as the eye can see, this originally barren potbelly area has been filled with a leisurely and distant southern rural style.

At this time, Ding You, the head of the Taiwan colonization regiment, took Ma Huaxing, the deputy head of the regiment, Li Dingguo, the commander of the Pingnan battalion in Taiwan, Luo Zheng, the deputy battalion commander, and others to welcome Li Xiao on the Lukang wharf.

At this time, Zheng Zhifeng and Zheng Cai saw that the delivery task had been successfully completed, and their faces were full of lightness. The two were thinking about it, and hurriedly unloaded the supplies brought by the passengers and Li Xiao, so that they could return to Penghu with the commercial goods loaded with more than 50 large ships to ask Zheng Zhilong for credit. Therefore, when Li Xiao invited him to go ashore to rest, both of them politely refused.

Seeing that the two were reluctant to go ashore, Li Xiao was on the shore, thanked them again, and said goodbye to the two.

Subsequently, under the leadership of Ding You, Li Xiao stepped on his mount and led a group of guards to Changhua City, which had already been built and was located in the second forest of Turbid Water Creek.

Although Li Xiao and the others left first, the loading and unloading work on the dock was orderly.

In order to avoid confusion, ships take turns unloading full of passengers and supplies on the docks. The more than 550,000 displaced people who got off the boat were led by civil servants of Taiwan's Department of Civil Affairs to register on the spot, and then went to the tents that had been built in various places to settle down, and began to bathe, eat, and rest. All kinds of ordnance, money, commercial goods, etc., on the ship, were also registered and stored in batches according to their types.

After a long sea trip of 550,000 displaced people, almost all of them are in rags, dove-shaped faces, with a withered expression, and they are very excited to see the beach and the earth in front of them, many of them shed tears, and some even cry loudly, I don't know if they are crying for joy when they finally arrive in Taiwan, or because the journey is too hard and tired and their hearts are sad, perhaps, both.

As the ships set up their gangways in the harbor, the 550,000 displaced people, like a sea of people rushing out, rolled down from the boats.

These 550,000 displaced people, after going ashore for a day of rest today, will be arranged by the Department of Civil Affairs tomorrow to go to 12 large townships and towns under the former Datui, Erlin, and Nanshe to be granted land, settle down, and officially become permanent residents of Taiwan.

As for the soldiers who were supplemented to the Pingnan battalion, there were officers and men of the former Taiwan Dispatch Army, who counted the number of troops on the shore, sorted out the types of troops, and prepared to lead the troops to the Changhua City military camp after transporting all the ordnance and artillery ashore.

Li Xiao and others, all the way forward, are endless pastoral scenery, as far as the eye can see, are endless verdant and pleasing potato seedlings, has been with Fujian, Guangdong and other places, almost no difference. Seeing this prosperous scene, Li Xiao was very happy in his heart.

Li Xiao suddenly remembered something and asked Ding You on the side: "Head Ding, last time this official sent a message to you, in order to speed up the development of Taiwan, the quota of land granted to each family was increased from five mu per household to ten mu per household, but has this matter been completed?" “

Ding You hurriedly replied: "Master Li, the students have already arranged this matter, and now in these 12 townships and towns in central Taiwan, each family has been granted ten acres of land, and the total amount of land opened up is 1.13 million mu, but the area of land has more than doubled when Master Li left Taiwan last time." ”

Li Xiao was greatly surprised, and hurriedly asked: "How did you open up a lot of land?" ”

Ding You said with a smile: "Lord Li, these are the people of Fujian and Guangdong, I heard that Lord Li has a policy of granting ten acres of land to each household, and there are preferential treatments for cattle and seeds, so there are nearly 20,000 households, about 70,000 or 80,000 people, who came to Taiwan spontaneously to get more land." ”

Li Xiao laughed and nodded, "Very good, very good!" This land of Taiwan is not easy to relocate, so the official is thinking that it is necessary to settle down in Taiwan on more favorable terms and attract the people, so that they can not only eat and clothe themselves in this land of Taiwan and support their families, but also make a fortune and live in this overseas land, so that they can have a greater attraction to the people who plan to settle down in Taiwan. ”

Ding You was also happy, he stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Now that the 55 homeless people have come to Taiwan, it is estimated that there are at least 120,000 households among them, but at least 1.2 million acres of barren land can be carved out." In this way, there are 1.33 million mu of land in the central part of Taiwan occupied by our army alone, and the annual grain output is really considerable. ”

After listening to Ding You's reply, Li Xiao was even more overjoyed.

With these 1.33 million mu of land, if taxes are collected at eight buckets of rice per mu, 1.06 million stone of grain can be collected every season, and a total of more than 2.1 million stone of rice can be collected in two seasons a year, which is enough to support several times the number of soldiers and civilians that Li Xiaojun needs to support himself.

According to the output of at least 2 stone per mu of land, each household still has at least 24 stone of grain left a year, and Li Xiao left all these grains for the people to eat or sell.

What's more, there is a season of horse potatoes planted every winter, because its yield per mu is as high as 6 to 8 stones, according to Li Xiao's tax collection standard, it is an output of 2 stones per mu, so that in a year, another 2.66 million stone potatoes can be eaten by the military and civilians, and each farmer can have at least 40 stone potatoes, which can be eaten or sold by themselves.

The water flows low, and the people go high.

Taiwan, which was originally a wild place, has become a dream place to make a fortune, which naturally makes a large number of residents of Fujian and Guangdong yearn for it.

After traveling six or seven miles, Li Xiao saw that next to the tributary of the Turbid Water Creek that was in a hurry to the west, this piece of gentle wasteland, which was originally only in the Erlin area, had risen majestically as a big city.

This place of Changhua City, the terrain is gentle, the transportation is convenient, the line of sight is broad, and it is very convenient for immigrants from Datui, Erlin and Nanshe to come to the city.

Li Xiao saw that this Changhua City, which he had personally planned and built, had a circumference of eight miles and a square shape, because it was not far to the east, it was the Taichung Mountain Range, which was towering and barbaric, and it was still a primeval forest, so there was no need to open the city gate. Therefore, this Changhua City, there are only three gates in the west, south and north, and there are moats dug all around, which are just filled with the tributaries of the Turbid Water Creek to make it pass around the city.

Each city gate, at any cost, designed to hide the way of the jack pendant, on the four city walls, like the urn city, the city tower, the corner tower, the gun emplacement, the female wall, the pheasant moat and the like, have all been built, there are many teams of soldiers on the repeated patrol. In addition, like Chifeng Castle, this castle is designed in the style of a castle height of 15 meters and a wall road width of 6 meters, which greatly strengthens the castle's defenses.

Seeing that Li Xiao was looking carefully, Ding Youfu interjected on the side: "Lord Li, since you waited for the north to return to Shandong, due to the sufficient supply of manpower and materials, it has been all built in just over three months, and the whole city is covered with green bricks, which is very solid and reliable. Due to the speed of construction, the arrival of the typhoon season was also avoided. ”

Li Xiao nodded, praised him a few more words, and then, everyone passed through the lively trade market outside the West Gate, and entered the city through the city gate and moon road.