"Such a big ship? How did that get into Dayuan Bay? Thomson asked, "Was it foggy last night?" I remember the moon in the sky was bright before going to bed. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"No, it should have come in from the Deer Ear Gate!"

"How is that possible?" Thomson's eyes widened in surprise: "A ship of up to one hundred and twenty tons can come in over there, and the channel is still very narrow, and it will run aground without a familiar navigator." But you say that damn Spanish ship has three hundred and fifty tons! ”

"My lord, I just asked a local native, last night was the highest tide of the month, and the enemy should have taken advantage of this time to come in!" Teller sighed: "I suspect that they have already figured out the rise and fall of the tide, first controlled the fort on the sandbar at the end of the northern line, and then let the big ships enter the bay from Luermen." ”

Thomson gasped to hear that the fort on the sandbar at the end of the northern line had probably been lost, and he now understood why his men had urged a messenger to Batavia as soon as possible—if his suspicion was true, then the only safe access to Dayuan Bay was already shared by both sides, and the Spaniards were already in a good position to advance and retreat freely, given that the Dutch had no water power worth mentioning.

"Well, the Spaniards shouldn't be able to hold out for long on that sandbar, there is no fresh water, no food, and no decent port, they shouldn't be able to hold out for long!"

"No, Lord Governor!" Teller shook his head: "They have come this time with a dozen large ships, at least a thousand men, and are building artillery forts and trestle bridges, and I suspect that their purpose is not just an attack, but to launch a long siege to capture the city of Geranza." ”

"A thousand? That's impossible! Thomson stood up suddenly: "The Spaniards are fighting with the Moros and Sulus, these two tribal alliances can come up with no less than 10,000 troops, the whole Spanish army in Manila is not enough, they already have a stronghold on this island, how can they send a thousand men to run here to besiege us?" Is this absolutely impossible? ”

Teller stretched out his right hand and made a gesture of please: "I suggest you see for yourself if I am lying!" ”

Thomson stood behind the battlements, motionless like a gargoyle. The morning breeze blowing from the sea dispelled the fog, the visibility of the air was so good that sailors with good eyesight could see the shape of ships even from kilometers away. Thomson could clearly see the ant-like crowd on the sandbar on the other side of the waterway busily digging trenches to build forts, and on the other side of the sandbar, he could even vaguely see someone building a wooden plank road jutting into the sea, with which he could transport supplies and personnel directly onto the sandbank, rather than the troublesome and dangerous transfer in small boats.

"Damn, why are there so many of them?" Thomson scolded, "But there should only be three hundred people here, right?" ”

"Yes, but that's not all! Come with me, Lord Governor! Thomson led him to the other side of the castle, pointed to the shore, and said, "According to those who fled to the sandbar in the morning, last night, at the same time as we were being raided, a large number of Ming soldiers came ashore and captured the streets of Prominsha, where all the goods and grain had fallen into the hands of the enemy. That Ming general freed all our people, including women and children. He asked those men to bring you a message - the whole of Formosa is the domain of their emperor, and we must surrender and sail away before the sun sets today. He can keep our lives safe and take away the property! ”

"The Spaniards actually joined forces with the Ming people to attack us?" Thomson spat on the ground: "May the devil take their souls, and they should join forces with the infidels against the Christians?" "Forget that just a few minutes ago he had been talking about the Dutch supplying weapons to the ****** natives to attack the Spaniards.

"Lord Governor!" Seeing Thomson cursing the Spaniards in all sorts of blasphemous language, Teller felt that he should say something, otherwise the governor, who was already a little out of control, might continue to curse like this, and it would be too late to delay, he tugged at the other man's sleeve and whispered, "I think we should do something." ”

"Yes, something should be done!" Thomson subconsciously repeated the words of his subordinates, and the alcohol and anger made his brain a little bad. Seeing this, Teller knew that he couldn't count on the other party too much, so he whispered: "First of all, we should send a ship to Batavia and report the situation here, the Spaniards and the Ming people have united, and this is not something that can be solved by our strength here alone." We had a triangular clipper, which was intact except for the sails of the other boats, which we could patch up with the sails of the other boats, and which could not be walked during the day, and the twelve-pounder cannon on the sandbar opposite could block the waterway, but we could wait until after dark. ”

"Yes, yes!" The suggestion of his subordinates made Thomson's already stuck head work again, and he realized that in fact, the information brought by Teller was actually beneficial to him - if only a Spanish warship was touched into the bay and caused such huge losses, the iron-masked officials at the Batavia headquarters would never let him go, and he would be reduced to prisoners or even executed for dereliction of duty; But if the Spaniards and the Ming joined forces to attack Dayuangang, it would be a different matter entirely, and how could the weak colonists resist a huge empire with only a few hundred mercenaries? Before that, the company had not made concessions in front of that vast empire, so it seemed that its guilt was much less.

"Teller, you go and have the ship repaired at once, and I'll go back to the office and write a report to Batavia!" Thomson gave the order and turned and ran towards the office, completely dejected from Fang Cai's dejected appearance. Teller, who still wanted to say something, looked at the back of his boss and had to sigh.

Prominsha Street.

"There are two hundred bags of salt, a thousand deer skins, a hundred and fifty pounds of pepper, and three thousand stone of rice in the warehouse? That's great! You take ten people with you, and you must make sure that the food is safe and sound! Du Gu gave the order in a rough voice, but kept counting the sue in his hand: "You take twenty people, take these sue bodies, a total of ten, first scare and scare those Hokkien Yankees, and then tell them: We are the official army of the Ming Dynasty, as long as they honestly send people to work for me, the leader will have official duties, I will not hurt them a single hair, and I will also pay wages, two taels of silver per month, but the food is taken care of, before I take the castle of the Dutch, I want to leave every grain of grain, understand?" ”

"Master Du!" Silva's voice came from behind him, and Dugu turned, his helmet stained with black blood, as did his armor, and a dark blue on his cheek, as if he had just come down from the battlefield.

"Oh, welcome, Major Silva!" A fake smile appeared on Du Gu's face, and he stretched out his right hand: "You did a great job, I can see very clearly from the shore, all the boats have been destroyed by you!" ”

Silva ignored Dugu's outstretched hand and asked directly: "Why did you let all the Dutchmen go?" They are important captives! ”

The smile on Du Gu's face disappeared, and he withdrew his hand: "Because it's more advantageous to do this!" ”

"Advantageous? I erected a dozen stakes on the sandbar and hung these damned heretics one by one on top of them, so that the Dutch could see what happened to the betrayal of the king and God! ”

"That's right!" Du Gu sneered: "Then those Dutch people in the castle will fight to the death to the last breath, use up the last gunpowder, kill as many soldiers as possible, and then be killed, may I ask what good it will do us?" ”

"You want to get these Dutch to surrender?" Silva had a sneer on his face: "You are dreaming, the Dutch will never surrender to our Spaniards, he knows what will happen if you do that!" ”

"Yes, but they will surrender to our Ming army, because he knows that I will not hurt them in the slightest!" Du Gu patted Silva on the shoulder: "Don't forget, you only have two hundred people, and the rest are my people!" ”

"You let six hundred people go and added six hundred hands to them at once, how much more blood are we going to shed for these two hundred hands!"

"But I've added six hundred mouths to the castle." Du Gu smiled: "Actually, there are only two hundred pairs at most, and many of the men I let go of are children and women, and many of the men are old people and businessmen, and they are not suitable for being soldiers." Besides, when the reinforcements arrive, we will have more than 4,000 soldiers, so what does it matter if there are more than 600 or 600 less? ”

Silva snorted coldly, he was already out of words, but he was unwilling to bow to Dugu, he looked around, and suddenly asked, "I just heard that you are going to give these natives and inhabitants official positions?" ”

Du Gu smiled slightly, he also sensed that this red-haired man was changing the topic to avoid showing weakness. By these days he had seen the great technological superiority of the Spaniards in naval warfare - such as the "Queen Mary", which could easily defeat the Ming warships ten times his size if in the wide seas. It's bigger, stronger, more adaptable to all winds, and most importantly capable of carrying more and larger guns, which can be used to destroy enemy ships rather than just kill people or set fire. Compared to this kind of warship, the sea harrier boats, clippers, chain boats, and mountain-shaking boats of the Ming Sailors are just some ridiculous toys. For this brand-new warship, Dugu was full of curiosity. Obviously, if you want to learn how to command such a warship, it is essential to gain the favor of the person in front of you.

"Major Silva, you've worked hard all night, why don't we sit down and have a glass of wine and talk while we drink?" Du Gu pointed to a stool next to him and smiled. Silva looked at the other man's smile and nodded.

"Someone, bring a jug of wine, and two glasses!" Du Gu commanded his soldiers, and then sat down with a smile: "Mr. Silva, you don't know, this island is only a water away from my Daming Fujian Province. Many locals crossed the sea to make a living here. Most of these people are treacherous people who are not tolerated in the township, and they simply came here after eating a life lawsuit in their hometown, and over the years, they have some industries, and some are still the owners of pirates' nests, which can be regarded as a local tyrant. After the arrival of our army, these people have ghosts in their hearts, and they are afraid that they will play something behind their backs. We besiege the Dutchman's castle here, and we don't know how long it will take, but thousands of people eat and eat here, and it costs a lot. If it's all shipped from Zhejiang, then what's the deal? When I give them these official positions, I tell them that as long as they honestly give food and people, and obey orders, the past will be erased! “

Silva took a sip and asked, "What if someone is disobedient?" ”

"Then I'm going to bother you!" Du Gu sneered: "It is a favor to give the official lord, but it is not enough to be kind, it must also be powerful, if they want to go to the fortress of the Dutch, they must take a boat." As long as you catch the real evidence, they will naturally look good! ”

"Well, that's nature!" Silva nodded: "Don't worry, I'll step up patrols!" ”

"Good!" Du Gu raised his glass, "Major Silva, what do you think is the most important thing for us right now?" ”

"The most important thing?" Silva thought for a moment and replied: "I think there are two things that are most important: first, to ensure that the sandbar at the end of the northern line is under our control, so that we can block the waterway into the bay, even if the Dutch send reinforcements from Batavia, they will not be able to enter the bay through the waterway, but can only anchor in the open sea, and in the event of a storm there is only a dead end; Second, to ensure that the "Queen Mary" is intact, so that we can secure the supremacy of the sea in the bay, and victory will be a matter of time. “

"You're right!" Du Gu nodded: "Then we should speed up the construction of the fort on the sandbank, the Dutch originally had two twelve-pounder guns, and then I transported two more guns, a total of two hundred soldiers, this should be enough, right?" ”

"No!" Silva shook his head: "I've just seen it, your batteries are not strong enough, I suggest demolishing these houses, using those bricks and stones to build batteries, as well as ammunition depots, and stock up on enough fresh water to avoid accidents!" ”

"Very good, you are an expert in this area, I brought a total of five hundred small workers this time, I handed over two hundred people to you, and two sand boats, all at your disposal!"

Silva looked at Dugu, and saw that the flat face was full of sincerity, and he thought for a moment: "Okay, my adjutant is an Italian, and he is the best at building fortifications, so I can leave this matter to him!" ”

"Lord Du, Major Silva!" Lin Heshui's voice interrupted the conversation between the two: "There are a few local leaders who want to ask to meet!" (To be continued.) )