After more arduous negotiations with the Dutch, Shou Xu gradually eliminated his differences. Trodenius gave the lead to the negotiations to Lamaire, who repeatedly emphasized the Tamsui merchant house, and in view of the good hydrological conditions of the Tamsui River, which could avoid the north and south winds, the Dutch demanded that Tamsui provide them with shelter and anchorage if necessary during the wind season.

Shou Xiang used the provision of a safe haven as a bargaining chip, and won the Dutch the condition of dividing the north and south of Taiwan with the Da Belly Creek, where the Potbelly Kingdom is located. The Potbelly was a powerful tribe, and the Dutch were powerless to conquer it. Ramel agreed.

In addition, Shou Xuan also spent money to buy three manuscripts of maps of Taiwan surveyed by the Dutch. Although he had a more accurate modern atlas in his possession, the shape of Taiwan's coastline at this time was very different from that of later generations, especially in the south. At this time, a large part of the Jianan Plain, the largest granary of Taiwan, was still located below the sea surface of the Taijiang Inland Sea, and the location of the Jianan Dazhen, which the Japanese spent a battleship to build, was a piece of turquoise sea.

Taiwan is basically a mountainous island, and the few coastal plains are mostly washed by streams that collect rainwater. These streams are wide and shallow, with frequent flash floods, irregular river changes, and innate agricultural conditions. Heavy rains can cause floods, and when it doesn't rain, there are droughts. As a region with abundant rainfall, Taiwan now has very few paddy fields. It takes a lot of effort to build water conservancy projects before the Jianan Plain becomes a granary. The Dutch developed the Canan Plain for more than ten years, and only the area of 7 kili north and south of Geranza was roughly of a certain size, and this area also concentrated 450,000 Han people under the control of the Dutch. The area at each end of their actual control area is about 8 miles each, and for the time being, it is still controlled by the Fan Society. The Holy is a large unit of length, about 5 kilometers long.

The Dutch were content to charge a certain amount of tax to the Fan Society, and ruled through the joint meeting of the Fan Society and the Chinese Kapitan and Chinese shipowners held regularly in the castle of Geranza. At the congress, the land boundaries of Fanshe would be finalized, and the Han people cultivated outside the scope of Fanshe, and as more and more Han immigrants came, Fanshe gradually had a tendency to be divided and surrounded by Han people.

Shou order is more earthy, and what he values most is land. Even if he can't afford to develop it now, he wants to try his best to enclose more territory. He didn't really care about the terms that some Dutch liked. Taiwan is mountainous, and if you don't consider those small mountain basins, the most important plains are the Jianan Plain, the Taipei Plain, the Pingtung Plain, the Yilan Plain, the Taichung Basin, and the Taitung Rift Valley Plain. As for the Taitung Rift Plain, considering that the Dutch-controlled Beinan community at the southern end of the Rift Valley and the Dutch had always mistakenly believed that there were gold mines in the mountains there, the Order was ignored intentionally or unintentionally.

As a gesture of goodwill, the Order hinted that Trodenius and Lamaire could offer them some additional personal benefits. Trodenius and Lamaire were extremely satisfied with this, and the subsequent negotiation process became much faster.

Finally the two sides signed the agreement of Geranza, and Trodenius opened a bottle of wine, "Gentlemen, God witnesses, may we start a long-term friendship between our two countries." ”

Maiden also raised his glass, "God will judge those who betray the alliance." ”

Taiwan did not provide any assistance to the orderly fleet, and the orderly fleet was not counted on. He urgently procured a shipment of supplies from the Dutch, using silver from the looting of Borneo. Most of the gold and silver obtained by Suqadana were brought back to China to fill the hole in the Ministry of Finance, and only a few were left here, plus the money extorted from Machen, all of which were paid to the officials. A shipment of gunpowder, ship materials and cotton cloth was purchased. After the supplies were loaded onto the ship, Shou Xian immediately set off for the staff. The ship anchored in the open sea always made him feel uneasy, and he really couldn't stand the big man's breaking of the port.

After the order was gone, Trodenius and Lamaire sat down and drank the opened bottle of wine.

"Max, what do you think?" Trodenius asked, shaking his wine glass, to Lamail.

"Jincheng may be a good partner to work with. At least for now, it would be better for them to occupy Taipei than for the Spaniards. As for the future, you are right, and you must continue to observe. ”

Trodenius thought for a moment, "I think the situation may be a little more optimistic than you estimated. You can try to work with them further without incurring losses. ”

"Paulus, at least they've covered nearly a third of our losses today." After Jincheng occupies Taipei, there will definitely be a great demand for foreign procurement. If we can reach the scale that I just mentioned, I am confident that I can completely erase the losses since last year with a little bit of accounting. ”

Trodenius nodded, "Yes, smooth out the loss, it's important to me." Whether I can enter the East India Commission or not, this year's trade situation is the most important indicator. ”

Ramel seems to be a little impatient, and with Trodenius' promotion, his status can rise with the tide. "Paulus, you have the most contacts with the Chinese, what do you think of the Chinese leader in Jincheng?"

Trodenius tapped his fingers on the table, "At least his attitude is frank." If you compare it with Zheng Zhilong, our dear Nikolai. An official will easily agree to all your requests. ”

Ramel nodded, "And then none of them will be executed." His Excellency is serious about negotiations, and he will argue with us carefully one by one, and it seems that he will abide by the agreement with us. ”

Trodenius: "I think we all like that better, at least we know what he's going to do in the near future. ”

Ramel: "In the near future? Do you mean that it may not be in the long run? ”

Trodenius shook his head slightly, "Lamaier, in my experience, the final result of all agreements must be torn up by the people who signed the agreement, maybe it's them, maybe it's us. Didn't the agreement signed by Natz and Zheng Zhilong also be rejected by Putmans in the end? ”

Ramel was surprised, "Then you still support further cooperation with them?" ”

A smile tugged at the corner of Trodenius' mouth, "Lamail, you have to learn to look at this with a political lens. In the Taiwan Strait, the company can accept all changes, the only thing that cannot be changed is the right to rule as the honorary representative of the Orange flag on our heads. ”

The Orange flag is actually the flag of the Orange family, and the United East India Company has always emphasized the Prince of Orange's right to rule when communicating with local countries in the East.

Lamail: "Paulus, I believe they have no ability to threaten us in the near future, but their leader is Chinese, and they do have an advantage over us in some aspects. What if they grow up to threaten us? ”

Trodenius smiled a little incomprehensibly, "Lamail, as long as we can ensure the company's rule in Taiwan during your term of office, and appropriately expand externally, we can gain more for ourselves in Batavia and Amsterdam." ”

"You're right, it may take more than a decade or more for them to grow up," Ramel said. ”

Trodenius's words were explicit, "Lamaire, in a few decades, things are not something you and I need to think about. The United East India Company is a business, and we are employees. Neither the hereditary aristocracy of this colonial empire nor the shareholders of the company. We can do things well in the near future, and we are already responsible for the gentlemen who are far away in the Netherlands. ”

Ramel reached out and gently touched his glass with Trodenius, "I see, Paulus. Cheers. ”

"Cheers, Max."

……

If the Dutch helped him with the order, it was by providing him with a guide who was familiar with Taiwan and had explored the Wesselling of the Jinguashi mining area in Tamsui.

The orderly fleet headed north along the coastline of Taiwan, and he invited Witherling to the stern deck. He pointed to a round fort on starboard and asked Witherling, "Is that Harbour?" ”

"Yes," said Withering, "Yes, the island of Calleco and Forrichenenburg, 7 kilos north of the city of Geranza." ”

Shou Xian noticed that there was also a main channel into the Taijiang Inland Sea near the island where the port was located, "Mr. Witherling, I think this channel is also quite wide, why are there no ships coming and going?" ”

"We call the channel of the port the Northern Channel, and when the company first came, the Northern Channel was also 12 feet deep, and it was one of the main ports in Taiwan to undertake Chinese immigrants. Because it is directly opposite the mouth of the Hachijo River, the silting rate of the channel is faster than that of the main channel in the south and the Luermen channel. ”

Shou Xuan knew that Bazhang River was the boundary river between Tainan and Chiayi later. He casually asked, "How thick are the walls of Forrichenenburg?" You haven't completely conquered the natives yet. ”

Withering also did not hide that it was not a secret, "The thickness of five Chinese bricks, for the natives, Fori Hingen is an impregnable fortress. ”

Shou Xuan nodded and said, "This is also the rear base you once provided to Zheng Zhilong, right?" ”

When it came to Zheng Zhilong, Withering was more cautious, "Your Excellency, when Zheng Zhilong was a pirate, I had not yet entered the company, and I didn't know the history at that time. ”

Shou Xiang smiled, no longer asked, and talked about the geography of Taiwan.

According to Witherling, Taiwan's finest natural harbors are undoubtedly the ports of Dagou (Kaohsiung) and Keelung, located in the north and south, although the Portuguese used Formosa but they did not survey the terrain of the whole island. The Dutch slowly explored the whole island after Dayuan gained a foothold, and they began to even think that the chicken coop and the freshwater were the same place, or after the Spanish occupied Taipei, the Dutch found that the two places were six miles apart, two different ports, and the hydrological conditions were better than Dayuan.

Shou Xiang compared the map of the Netherlands with the terrain of Taiwan in his recollections, and found that except for the Taipei Plain, the Taichung Basin and the Taitung Rift Valley Plain, the other plains were quite different from the coasts of later generations, such as the Jianan Plain, which was more narrow and long than later generations, and it was a one-and-a-half-day walk from the coastal areas to the mountainous areas.

Although the Taipei Plain is not as large as the Jianan Plain, which is occupied by the Dutch, Taipei has the best navigable river in Taiwan, the Tamsui River, which is especially important for early development without infrastructure.

According to Dutch estimates, there are about 100,000 indigenous people in Taiwan, plus 450,000 Han Chinese concentrated near the Taijiang Inland Sea, bringing Taiwan's population to about 150,000. Shou Zhi knows that Taiwan's population at the end of the Qing Dynasty was close to one million, which is probably the upper limit of the population that Taiwan could feed before there was no modern machinery. There must be fewer in this era, and there is less plain land suitable for farming, and the upper limit of 700,000 in Taiwan is a more reasonable speculation. The area north of Datui Creek, Taichung, Taipei and Yilan, which he obtained, can feed about 200,000 people, and if you add the Hualien part of the Taitung Rift Valley Plain, it can barely reach 250,000. 200,000 peasants, 40,000 non-agricultural productive population, 10,000 troops, this is a long-term plan to keep order.

Note: Trodenius is aware of Batavia's penchant for money, but Van Dimen has never been able to catch any conclusive evidence. Witherling's adventures are quite interesting. By the way, Munda is also a historical figure, he is the son-in-law of Su Minggang, and like others, the name Munda is also translated back from Dutch back to Chinese.

There is also a shift in the evening.