On the high ground in the northeast corner of the town of Aikawa, at the entrance to the fortress built by the Dutch, a group of local miners surrounded it. The open space at the entrance of the fortress was now erected with a large platform, and on the west side of the platform was a row of gallows. The executioners, who were placed in front of the platform by a group of soldiers, were a row of Dutchmen of very different appearances.

Although the Japanese shogunate was strong at the beginning, it has always been free to deal with the southern barbarians. But since the Southern Barbarians united with the Tang Fleet to force the Edo Shogunate to sign a peace treaty, the Southern Barbarians in Japan have become more and more presumptuous. Whether it was the feudal lords of Eastern and Western Japan, or the Osaka and Edo shogunates, the conflicts between the Nanban and the Japanese were also more and more biased towards the Nanban, which also made the Japanese view outsiders worse and worse.

In particular, Sado Island, which was occupied by the Dutch, if these Nanban people were still afraid of the criticism of various countries in the Japanese archipelago, then for the inhabitants of Sado Island, they completely revealed the nature of colonizers. Not only did they extend the miners' working hours, but they also refused to increase their wages and humiliating searches of the miners who entered and exited the mines, which made the residents of Sado Island resentful of the Dutch.

After the conflict between the Tang people and the Dutch people on the island, the residents of Sado Island immediately sided with the Tang people, and when the Dutch on the island began to capture the Tang people as hostages, they covered the Tang people in the town. And when Li Chenfang landed on the island with the Osaka Division, they actively led the way for the Osaka Division, and finally let Li Chenfang capture Xiangchuan Town, a Dutch fortress, at the smallest cost.

Now that they had heard that the Tang were going to interrogate the Dutch, the townspeople left their work and hurried over to see what had happened to the Dutchmen. While these Japanese were happily waiting to see the Dutch being hanged, Zhang Anping, who was recuperating from his wounds, also hurried to the execution ground after hearing the news.

It's just that he didn't come to see the Dutch being hanged, but instead came to persuade Li Chenfang not to use the punishment, "Li Dudu, I beg you to stop this punishment for the time being." Hanging these Dutchmen, who had already surrendered, would put us at a disadvantage in the negotiations that followed. The war between us and the Dutch is only for profit, not to turn into an irresolvable feud with them. ”

Li Chenfang, who was standing in the shadow of the fortress door, looked at Yoshikawa Kosuke, who was reading out the charges on the high platform more than ten meters away, and said softly to Zhang Anping beside him: "The exchange of interests with the Dutch is not something I should consider.

When I was taught by His Majesty's side, His Majesty once said to me: Soldiers can consider political influence when doing things, but they cannot use political influence to think about how to do things.

As a member of the Ming soldiers, my only task is to protect the interests of the Ming people and the country from being violated. Since the Dutch attacked our nationals without declaring war, they had to pay with their lives to make amends for their mistakes.

Attacking the Ming diaspora with impunity is undoubtedly encouraging bandits from various countries to attack our diaspora. In the current pattern of mass emigration, it is impossible to provide an army for every expatriate, so only the most violent action can intimidate those who are outlaws abroad.

Therefore, it is your responsibility to make the Dutch give up their interests. As for my responsibility, it is to let those villains know what will happen if they violate the Ming Dynasty. ”

Seeing that the other party directly raised the name of His Majesty the Emperor, Zhang Anping suddenly couldn't persuade anymore. After thinking about it for a while, he hesitated to continue to Li Chenfang: "Then can you put Fan. Derian excluded? He was the beginning of everything and the reason for our war against the Dutch, and I don't think it would be appropriate to execute him here. ”

Li Chenfang glanced back at him and said, "Of course, when you return to China the day after tomorrow, he will hand it over to you." As for now, he should first learn some lessons, let him know the consequences of provoking war against Daming..."

The Dutch East India Company's Sado Island Governor Fan was mentioned by the two. Drion, at the moment, is tied up with the prisoners who are about to be hanged. Looking at the elated onlookers in front of him, Fan. Drien's face turned pale, and he prayed silently in his heart in despair, and even lost the consciousness of begging for mercy.

After reading the execution list to the townspeople under the high platform, Yoshikawa Kosuke couldn't help but feel a little dry because of his expression. But he didn't care about these for a while, just looked back at the city gate cave behind him, and Li Chenfang, who was looking at the shadows, nodded at him, and then shouted hoarsely to the soldiers on the side: "Start the execution..."

The soldiers under the high platform immediately shot into the sky with guns to signal the beginning of the execution of the prisoners. The crisp sound of gunfire frightened the birds in the nearby woods, causing them to flee to the sky, including a beautiful crested ibis. This large white bird, which spreads its wings and glows in the sunlight, has long been regarded as a good omen by the Japanese.

The ibis quickly disappeared from view and flew towards the northwest coastline. As it flew to the shoreline, there was a rumbling cannon sound from the distant sea, which immediately caused the ibis to lower its altitude and fall into the jungle below.

The rumbling of the cannons that frightened the toki was not a fleet fighting at sea, but two whaling ships experimenting with a new way of whaling, and they loaded the bow with a javelin to replace the previous whaling method of throwing javelins in small boats.

Prior to this, whaling was similar all over the world. Usually after seeing the whales, the large boats lower their dinghys and 5 or 6 whalers, usually 8.5 meters long and equipped with whaling halves with barbs. Once the whale has been stabbed, it flees with a rope until it surfaces from exhaustion, where the pursuing whalers kill it with a whaling gun (a longer form of whaling heralium), then drag it to the side of the large ship with a rope, cut the grease with a bladed spear, and abandon the remaining carcass.

Since the Ming Dynasty began to participate in the whaling industry, many improvements have been made to whaling vessels and equipment. Unlike the Europeans, the Ming people did not only hunt whales for whale oil, but also for all parts of the whale body that could be used, they wanted to use it as much as possible.

Whale skin can be used to make shoes and leather products, and whale meat is an excellent meat product, even those residues and whalebones left over from oil refining are excellent fertilizers. The East Asian waters are much narrower than the Atlantic Ocean, and whales caught near the shore can be quickly sent to the shore for processing; The high latitude of the whale sea, the development of ice storage and salt industry, allowed ships to process those whale products directly at sea.

The efficient use of whale parts by the Ming people and the lush population of East Asia also made the whaling industry much more profitable for Europeans. The short supply of cetacean products has also made those who invest in whaling ships rack their brains to improve the whaling efficiency of their own ships.

The two brothers, Lu Changrong and Lu Changgeng, found inspiration in the engagement of the Ming warships shelling Japanese ships, and they saw their own whaling industry and whales as two ships fighting at sea, so why couldn't they turn the former hand-to-hand combat into long-range shelling? After obtaining the permission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they received strong support from the Ordnance Warden, and it took nearly a year to finally successfully drive two javelins into the back of a gray whale nearly 12 meters long today.

Seeing that the gray whale struggled violently in the water and could not get rid of the javelin on its back, the crews of the two whaling ships immediately cheered, which meant that the whaling cannon had finally succeeded. The two brothers, Lu Changrong and Lu Changgeng, kept directing the crew on the boat, constantly lowering the rope when the gray whale dived, and quickly followed and tightened the noose when the gray whale dived forward.

After more than an hour of non-stop pursuit, the exhausted gray whale finally surfaced, forming a dark red blood path behind and under it. The two whaling ships lowered four dinghys, killed the whales that surfaced, and then dragged them to the side of a whaling ship, where they were hoisted to the bow deck with iron cables and pulleys for separation.

The 12-meter-long gray whale weighs about 20 tons, but for the nearly 600-ton "Evergreen" whaling ship, it can still lift the weight, but it will take a long time. Through the success of this whaling operation, the two brothers Lu Changrong and Lu Changgeng not only confirmed the reliability of the whaling cannon, but also proved that the improved whaling ship was more suitable for whaling in the past.

Since this date, the whaling industry of the Ming Dynasty has undergone a seismic change, and the invention of the whaling cannon not only reduces the danger of whaling for crews, but also speeds up the killing of whales. Shoot with * from 20-30 meters away, and it's always easy to row a small boat to the whale and throw a javelin.

In the past, a whaling ship killed up to 20 whales a year. But now, a whaling ship can kill at least 100 individuals, and the only concern is what to do with and preserve the cetaceans. However, I dare not say that the whaling industry has gone from a lucrative business to an extremely lucrative one.

A large amount of capital was invested in this industry, and the ever-expanding whaling fleet, which began to recruit from the natives of the Ming Dynasty, Korea, Japan, and even the Chuko Peninsula, always made the owners feel that there was a shortage of crews, which also provided a large crew reserve for the Ming fleet.

When the two brothers Lu Changrong and Lu Changgeng were happily cutting the gray whale with their crew, Zhang Xiangku finally forced the last Ainu tribe on Fusang Island to surrender to him, completing the task of unifying the Fuso Ainu tribe.

Zhang Xiangku, who is 30 years old, although he still has the characteristics of the vigorous hair of the Ainu, his speech and demeanor are completely similar to that of a Ming person. At this time, he had not only taken over the position of the leader of the Ainu tribe in the Hidaka region, but also the Fuso garrison appointed by the Ming Dynasty.

Since his return from the Ming Dynasty five years ago, he has devoted himself to two things: first, the unification of the Ainu people on Fuso Island; The second is to reform the bad habits of the tribes and order the tribesmen to be fully Chinese.

After the surrender of the last Ainu to him today, these two things finally came to fruition a little. However, Zhang Xiangku, who has studied in the Ming Dynasty, knows very well that the reason why he was able to successfully unify Fusang was, in the final analysis, the support of the Ming Dynasty.

There were only about 35,000 Ainu on the entire island, and even if they were completely unified, they were only on a par with the Matsumae Domain, which occupied Tsugaru Prefecture. If it weren't for the Ming people to deter him, the Matsumae Domain would not have given him a chance to unite the Fuso Ainu people at all.

Therefore, after signing the agreement, Zhang Xiangku immediately rushed to Otaru and made a statement to the Ming officials stationed there.

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