In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, that is, in December 1639, a fleet of more than 40 Fu ships, five Western-style warships, and six or seven Western-style merchant ships appeared near the bay that should have been called Subic Bay in its original history, and was now named "Zhenyuan" by Zheng Zhilong. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Zhenyuan Bay is a bay trapped in the island of Luzon, and there are some mountains on the north and south sides of the bay that are not too high. And this wide bay looks like a canyon between two mountains. The mountains block out the howling sea breeze, so the waters in the bay are exceptionally calm, almost like a lake. The sea surface in the bay is wide, the last time the scientific expedition team came here, it had probed the water depth here, the shallow places here are more than seven or eight zhang deep, and the deeper places are even more than ten zhang deep, in the view of Yang Chaodong, who is responsible for the construction of the "Zhenyuan Port" this time, in terms of port conditions alone, this place is far more than the North Port, and even better than the Quanzhou Port.

"Lao Yang, look over there, do you see that island?" Chen Guang, who was his deputy and interpreter, pointed to the island in the bay and said to Yang Chaodong, "Look at how good the location of that island is!" ”

Right at the mouth of the bay, there is an island, which is not too big and not too far from either side of the bay.

"The location of this island is good, and the fort can be placed here in the future." Yang Chaodong said that he had always followed Zheng Cai to help with business, and later Zheng Sen governed Taiwan and needed manpower, so Zheng Cai recommended him to Zheng Sen to help deal with some business matters. Although he basically didn't stay in the army for long, he often went to sea to do business, and he still knew a little about military affairs.

"If it's our 18-pounder gun, as long as it's placed on this island, we can block the north and south routes, and no one can get in. It's just that the production of 18-pounder guns is insufficient, and it is said that there are new ships to be launched at the shipyard, and the 18-pounder guns of those new ships are not ready, so it will not be our turn for the time being. It's hard to say when it will be our turn, after all, the shipyard is also constantly building ships. So now only the Spaniards are in tatters for us. Chang Le on the side interjected. After the Battle of Jinghai, because of his bravery, he was promoted to battalion commander. Everyone knew that Zheng Sen sent him here this time, in fact, it was a training for him, as long as he performed well in Zhenyuan Fortress, there was still the possibility of continuing to be promoted.

Since the Battle of Jinghai, the "Model Army" has received more resources and expanded a lot, and now there are almost 7,000 people. This time, Changle brought a battalion, about 300 people, to take charge of the security of the port and the fortress.

"In this way, we still have to prepare to build three batteries." Yang Chaodong said.

"Even with an 18-pounder gun, three batteries were a must. In this way, a cross of fire can be formed. Chang Le glanced at the island in the middle, as well as the peninsula on both sides, and said, "It's just that this island and that side are a little steep, and it's not easy to build a fort on it." Do you think the Dutch and the big monkeys got by the British can do this kind of work? ”

"There's no need to worry here, you just need to make sure that the natives around here don't come out and make trouble. Honestly, I wish they had been a little slower. Yang Chaodong smiled and said.

The flotilla dropped anchor closer to the shore. Chang Le saluted Yang Chaodong and Chen Guang, and said, "Xiaguan is now going to organize the soldiers to disembark." I'm going to be out of company first. ”

"Camp Commander Chang's official duties are important." Yang Chaodong also replied with a smile.

By this time, some of the small boats had been lowered from the fortune ships and the battleships, and the rope ladders had been thrown down. The soldiers, carrying flintlock pistols on their backs, descended one by one along the rope ladder to the boats, which then rowed toward the shore.

The deep water of Zhenyuan Bay was also very close to the shore, so the place where the ships were anchored was actually only about ten steps from the shore, and about 300 people quickly landed on the shore.

"Each company checks its personnel and equipment and then controls the points according to the plan." Chang Le gave his first order.

Soon after Changle's soldiers went ashore, the Western-style merchant ships also lowered their boats, and groups of "big black-skinned monkeys" were also sent ashore.

These blacks belonged to the "Putmans Construction Company" of the Dutch East India Company and to a temporary British enterprise called the "Thompson Labor Export Company". According to the agreement reached between the Zheng family and them, they will provide the Zheng family with labor export services. The construction of Zhenyuan Port is the first cooperation between the two sides.

Zheng Sen was reluctant to buy black slaves directly, not entirely because of the so-called moral cleanliness or anything, but because of two considerations, one is that in the long run, China is not short of population, especially now that there is a general famine, there will be no shortage of population. The second reason is that I don't want to have too many black uncles in my control area in the future, even if it's a black uncle as a slave. Because in the long run, black slaves will be emancipated sooner or later, and sooner or later they will become citizens of the country.

And this time, the reason why black slaves were used was mainly because they were worried about casualties in the process of construction.

Therefore, on behalf of Zheng Sen, Yang Chaodong signed an agreement with the Dutch and the British, according to which the Zheng family outsourced some of the related projects of "Zhenyuan Port" to the Dutch and the British, and they were responsible for the construction of these projects. And the Zheng family paid them for the project. One third of the project has already been delivered to them, and the remaining two-thirds will be delivered to them after the project has been completed and accepted. Of course, if the project is not delivered on time, both the Dutch and the British will have to pay a penalty for the length of the delay.

And for the Dutch and the British, the sooner they got that money, the sooner they could use it for their next business. Therefore, they themselves are very concerned about the speed of construction. As for the blacks, oh, no, no, no, in order to avoid moral trouble, both the Dutch and the British, when talking to the Zheng family about these people, tacitly refer to them as "black apes", and even refer to the white overseers as "animal tamers". They tell the good Chinese that they use these "black apes" to work, just as the Burmese work with elephants and the Chinese work with cows, without distinction. Of course, the "naïve" Chinese also immediately expressed their understanding, and as for those "black apes" who can understand human speech, well-informed Chinese have said: "This thing is really human." "What, you say that this "black ape" will also learn to speak human language? What's there? The ancients have long said: "A parrot can speak, and it is not separated from a bird; Orangutans can speak, and they are inseparable from beasts. So, even if they can speak human language, they should still be considered "apes" in terms of classification. Well, to be honest, the seventeenth century, for a racist, was a golden age.

The "black apes" came ashore under the control of the "animal trainer" with a whip. Then they were immediately sent out to cut down trees. This is a rainforest area full of vines and trees. In order to get a vacant land, all the trees on it must be cut down.

The Dutch and the British provided the slaves with saws, and their feet were tied with ropes to prevent them from escaping. The "trainers" stood by with whips or muskets to supervise their felling of trees.

Another team, the "black apes," was sent to dig holes in the lime circles drawn by white designers on the ground. When they had dug the pits, other black slaves came with some logs that had just been unloaded from the ship, and they were to build the first wooden houses and wooden walls.

……

There are a lot of mosquitoes in the rainforest, but the soldiers of the "Model Army" have long been prepared, and they are coated with a special ointment with a strong smell of peppermint and other medicines on any exposed part of their bodies, and their clothes are also treated with realgar, so generally speaking, mosquitoes and leeches will not find them. But the "black apes" are different, and although their hometowns are also tropical, that doesn't mean they won't get malaria. Just half a month after construction began, the first case of malaria appeared. Given the incubation period of malaria, this almost meant that the hapless black slave contracted the disease as soon as he came ashore.

With the first patient appeared, soon, the second, the third, and more patients appeared one after the other. In order to control the epidemic of the disease and avoid contagion. Although the Dutch and British regarded these blacks as non-human apes, they also knew that the diseases of these "apes" were contagious to them. At that time, although these Europeans had already learned from the soldiers of the Model Army that as long as they were not bitten by mosquitoes, they would not get malaria, and they also spent some money to buy some ointments from the Zheng family that were specially used to repel mosquitoes. But how could these precious ointments be given to those "great apes"? Moreover, they were also skeptical of the Chinese's claims, and to be on the safe side, they did some treatment of the "apes" who suffered from malaria. To put it simply, it's just thrown into the bay.

At the same time, these Europeans also understood that the appearance of a large number of patients also meant that the expiration date of this batch of "black apes" was approaching. Obviously, reducing the labor intensity may make these "black apes" die more slowly. But neither the Dutch nor the British did so, because the attrition of the "black apes" was completely economically acceptable compared to the progress of the project, and the economic benefits that might result from it.

Strange to say, although in Chang Le's opinion, even if they really treat livestock, the Dutch and British are too harsh and ruthless, although every day a few "black apes" who began to have a fever are pulled out and thrown into the sea, but those "black apes" have no resistance, and they do not even try to escape.