The Castelliku was moving slowly on the turquoise sea, and the weather was good today, and the sea breeze in mid to late April was quite pleasant. The winds in this part of East Asia have now gradually changed from howling north winds to mild south winds, which is very conducive to all kinds of expeditions to the north.

No, the two armed merchant ships "Castellco" and "Bregens", which had rushed from Batavia to Formosa, were now carrying out such expeditions. They had arrived in the city of Geranza two weeks earlier, and after a few days of rest after unloading a shipment of ammunition, the two ships left Formosa to continue their expedition north.

Led by Captain Fries, who had arrived in the Lands of Congress and the Company a few years earlier, their main mission was not to find any more nonsensical tasks such as Treasure Island - this had been reduced to a secondary mission, and their main mission was now to find the city that the fabled Easterners had occupied in the "Land of Jeso". If the city did exist, it would be a threat to the Dutch Republic, as the fleet would easily threaten the Dutch trade between Formosa and Japan. Governor Van Diemen of the East India Company was concerned that the trade in Formosa and Japan had become an extremely stable cash cow within the company at a time when the company's financial situation was deteriorating and the local board of directors was increasingly dissatisfied with it. Van Dimen did not allow the two cows to be threatened in any way, so Captain Fries was on his way north.

The fleet followed a familiar route from the eastern coast of Japan to the north, crossing the Friesian Strait (the waterway between the islands of Setsu and Tofuku) and heading west into the Sea of Okhotsk. Captain Fries is familiar with this stretch of water. On his last expedition, he had pretty much walked through the place. So he crossed Cape Aniva with ease. Entered Aniva Bay.

The outline of the land appeared in the distance, and Captain Fries, holding up his binoculars, saw dense forests everywhere, and thick trees everywhere. From time to time, a herd of deer ran out of the edge of the forest, which made Captain Fries's heart move. It's a great place for summer hunting, if companies can set up a base here to conquer or hire local natives to hunt deer and buy their pelts. It's probably good business. And the Chinese seem to be very keen on some other strange parts of the deer, and if you trade them with them, you can make a lot of money.

"Captain, we found two ships! No, it's three! The lookout at the lookout shouted in Dutch, with a thick Saxon accent.

What the?! Captain Fries was startled, then rushed out of the bridge and climbed onto the gun deck on the third floor of the stern in one go. At this time, he could clearly observe without a telescope that three ships had appeared on the western sea. The three ships were in an inverted triangular queue and were not very fast, about 4 knots. The first two are three-masted galleons with crosssails on the foremast and midmast. The backmast is sailing, but strangely enough, there is also a large chimney in the amidship that is constantly emitting black smoke. Captain Fries was puzzled. The last ship was the flute-shaped ship that the Dutch were quite familiar with, and it seemed to be larger than the two ships under his command, but it was not much bigger.

The opposing ship had apparently spotted Captain Fries and the others as well, and they adjusted their course, and two strange ships with black smoke spewed straight towards them. The flute-shaped boat did not come, and continued to move slowly northeastward, with a deep draft and appeared to be fully laden with cargo. Could it be that they also have a port over there? The question crossed Captain Fries' mind.

But there wasn't much time left for him to think. Two strange ships flying the flag of the Republic of China on the east coast of China sailed at a speed of 7-8 knots, and they followed the southwesterly wind blowing on the sea, but the speed was incredibly fast, God, when were these ships able to travel at a high speed of more than 7 knots at such a high speed? Captain Fries was a little shocked, but he didn't forget what he was doing.

Under his command, the sailors of the armed merchant ships "Castelliku" and "Bregens" ripped off the gun's armor, then carried ammunition, adjusted the guns, and prepared for fire. And the captains are also trying to adjust the course of their ships, ready to seize the upper hand at any time.

The distance between the two sides was rapidly approaching, and when they were less than three nautical miles apart, the two ships of the other side lowered some of their sails, slowing down their advance, which made Captain Fries wonder if they were not ready to engage us.

After continuing on for a while, the boat at the front of the other side lowered a dinghy and rowed towards the Castelliku. Captain Fries told his men not to attack, and he decided to talk to the people who came over on the other side.

The two East Coast emissaries were quickly pulled onto the deck of the "Castelliku" by the boatswain. On deck were two young men, and a man in a sky-blue uniform in front of him seemed to be the one who was talking. He looked at the deck of the Castelliku, and then at the tattered boatswain who had brought him up, and then said in French with a slight Spanish accent: "I am Second Lieutenant Juan of the Navy of the Republic of China, and I need a gentleman to speak to me." ”

The boatswain blushed and stepped aside, feeling humiliated. Captain Fries stepped down from the bridge and came to the young man, surrounded by a group of officers or sailors, and said in the same French: "I am an adventurer of the East India Company of the United Republic of the Netherlands. Gerlitz Song. Captain Fries, you'll keep that name in the future. Now, arrogant East Coasters, please tell me what you are here for. ”

"Good, I don't like to waste time either." Second Lieutenant Juan withdrew his looking around, then focused on Captain Fries, and said, "Unfortunately, Captain Fries, this is already the territorial waters of the Republic of East China. It is a great offense that your company's vessel has entered our territorial waters without permission, and I ask you to leave immediately. Please don't enter this sea again, because it's not safe, and I think you know what I mean. ”

"It's ridiculous, the last time I came here, there were only some barbarians here, and no country or organization from the civilized world has ever claimed sovereignty over this place." Captain Fries said dissatisfiedly, "This is the high seas!" On the high seas where any ship can sail freely! You can't claim sovereignty over this place, there is no city, no port, or any facilities for your people on the eastern coast! ”

"But now there is." "Here is our city, here is our port, there is our people, and at the same time our fleet!" Please exercise strict restraint and refrain from acting in unwise ways that undermine your relationship with us, as it will not do any good. In accordance with the memorandum of understanding that was just signed between your company and our government in the first half of last year, vessels or personnel of both sides should exercise great restraint and refrain from arbitrarily making disruptive, provocative, insulting or targeted unfriendly acts. Captain Fries, I hope you don't blatantly undermine your company's credibility. ”

Captain Fries was a little silent. In fact, he did see such a large number of company documents brought by a communication ship a few months ago. This point was also emphasized by the messenger who had arrived from home on behalf of the shareholders of the Board of Trustees, in the presence of Governor Van Diemen and the gentlemen of the Council of East Indies Affairs. Captain Fries did not know what the attitude of others was to this matter, but he was well aware that Governor Van Dimen was extremely unhappy with this memorandum signed by the top management of the local company with the East Coasters, and he even considered it a "betrayal". Just as the East India Company defeated the British in the Far East, while the mainland suddenly signed an armistice with the British, and then sent people to the Far East to inform them, it aroused the dissatisfaction of the governors and high-ranking officials of the colonies of the East Indies.

But this time there are some differences from the last time. The last time the Dutch had the upper hand in the East Indies, the British could not stand it at all, but the mainland sent people to declare an armistice with the British, and at the same time to form a joint fleet with the British to jointly maintain order in the East Indies. This agreement was very perplexing to the gentlemen of Batavia, and their resistance was quite strict, and they used all kinds of small means and tricks to exclude the British.

In fact, Captain Fries understands the thoughts of all parties involved. The mainland was facing a serious threat from the Spaniards at the time, and the government was reluctant to deteriorate relations with the British at this time, so it was eager to sign a peace or even alliance agreement with the British. But the gentlemen of the Far East do not think so, they have fought the British here for many years, and now have the great upper hand, and have taken most of the spice production into their own hands. But the natives suddenly told them an immediate truce with the British, and that they were to give a third of the spices to the British to bring back to Europe to sell, and not only that, but they even had to form an alliance with those hated enemies to form a combined fleet, how could this be!

Therefore, the gentlemen of the East Indies Affairs Committee were so angry that they spoke out against it, so that the envoys who came from the country were embarrassed. Later, it took a great deal of time and effort for the envoy to persuade the gentlemen to reluctantly agree to cooperate with the British. (To be continued......)