"Yes!" Liu Cheng smiled bitterly and arched his hand, he felt that there was no place in his body that was not sore at this time, and he couldn't help but sneer in his heart: "This kind of "favor" should be left to others, I can't afford it anymore." ”

Back at the residence, just after entering the gate, Liu Chengcheng shouted loudly: "Pack your luggage and set off back to Ningxia tomorrow!" ”

Taiwan, Dayuan Port, Utrecht Fort.

Bang!

Ensign Teller poured the last sip of wine from the cup into his mouth, slammed his old tin glass on the table, and shouted in his Dutch voice, "Pour! ”

"But, Mr. Ensign, there is no more wine!" Orderly Kent replied timidly.

"No wine?" Old Teller turned his head sharply and stared at the orderlies with his reddened eyes, which were famous for his one-eyed in the city of Geranza, and few people could face his one-eyed gaze.

"Yes, Ensign!" Kent mustered up the courage to reply, "I have finished drinking, and now that typhoon season is approaching, there are few merchant ships, whiskey, and rum are almost finished, and Governor Thomson has ordered that liquor be included in the restricted rationing—"

Hearing the name of Governor Thomson, Second Lieutenant Tuller lowered his head, if there was anyone else in the city of Geranza who could restrain him, it was Governor Thomson, as the highest representative of the board of directors of the East India Company, for the good of the company he could recruit soldiers, declare war on the natives, collect taxes, divide anyone to death, in short, he was the uncrowned king here. Even an officer like Thomson, Governor Thomson had the power to send him to the gallows to feed the crows.

At this moment, there was a cannon shot outside, which meant only one thing in Utrechtburg, that is, a ship approached, and Teller jumped up from his chair, and while hanging his sword on his belt, he shouted loudly: "Blow the rallying horn, let the rabbits go to the fort!" ”

"Mr. Lin, that's the Dutchman's fortress, and behind those two sandbars is Dayuan Harbor." The captain pointed to the fortress on the sandbar in the distance and said to Lin Heshui, his attitude can almost be said to be a little groveling, before leaving Mr. Cheng Er, Mr. Cheng Er had told him to do everything according to Mr. Lin's orders. Lin Heshui nodded, walked to the bow of the boat, squinted his eyes and looked in the direction of the captain's finger, only to see that behind several disconnected sandbanks, the coastline was sunken in, forming a deep bay, between the sandbanks there were two narrow entrances, both of which were defended by artillery forts, and the larger sandbar extended a narrow headland, almost connected to the shore, and from the angle where Lin Heshui was, it was impossible to determine whether the two were really connected. Different from the city of the Ming Kingdom, the fortress of the Dutch is much shorter, the outermost layer is only more than one zhang high, and the outer side of the fortress is surrounded by a ditch and a wide embankment, and the periphery of the whole fortress is an irregular polygon, with many prominent sharp corners, and an orange, white and blue tricolor flag fluttering above the fortress.

"Which one is the main entrance to Dayuan Port? Which one is the deer ear gate? Which one is the Narrow Gorge? Where is the main city of the Dutch? Lin Heshui pointed to the sandbar in the distance and asked the captain.

"The one to the north is Luermen, and the one to the south is the main entrance to Dayuan Port. Not only is the waterway twisting, but the water depth is very shallow, and the big boat can only be taken at high tide. The main city of the Dutch is on the sandbar to the north, and the local natives call it 'Yi Kun Fish', and the Dutch call it the pineapple orchard, and the waterway between the pineapple orchard and the coast is called the narrow gorge, where the water is shallower, and you can even wade up from the shore at low tide. “

"And that's the one in the city of Geranza?" Lin Heshui asked, pointing to the fortress with the orange, white and blue flags.

"No, it's just a branch fort guarding the waterways!" The captain shook his head: "The main city of the Dutch is on the side of the bay of that pineapple orchard, and it cannot be seen from the open sea, only when we enter that waterway!" “

"These Dutch walled cities are cleverly chosen," Lin Heshui was stunned for a moment, and then understood the intention of the Dutch to do this, so as to avoid the secret of the fortress from being spied on by the enemy in the open sea, and secondly, even if the enemy had an absolute advantage in the fleet, unless he entered the narrow waterway (which was undoubtedly to die), he could not shell the main city of the Dutch. Even if he landed on the pineapple orchard, as long as Ke could not take the city of Geranza, the enemy's fleet would not be able to enter the bay, and could only be exposed to the open sea, and in the event of a storm, it would fall into a desperate situation of total annihilation.

"Sir is right!" The captain nodded: "These Hongmaoyi came from the ocean, there are few people, few ships, and they are biased and domineering to the extreme, they are only a few hundred people, and they have pressed tens of thousands of natives and Fu Lao around them to dare not speak out, relying on the three advantages of sailing and manoeuvring boats, firearms, and city building skills. “

"Hmmm! You say they are acting domineering, so will they rob the cargo when we come this time? “

"That won't be!" The captain smiled: "Although these Dutch are domineering, but only at sea, we will never do anything when we come to their port to buy and sell goods, after all, they come here to do business and seek profits, if even our merchants who come to buy and sell are robbed, who will dare to go to their port in the future?" Wouldn't that be shooting yourself in the foot? “

"I'm too worried!" Lin Heshui smiled, and then there was a cannon sound on the sandbank. Lin Heshui turned around and ordered the captain: "Let the boat go down and tell them that we are merchants from the Ming Kingdom, and we have come to buy deer skins and sulfur, and that we have high-quality raw silk and tea on our ship, as well as all kinds of daily groceries." “

"Yes, Mr. Lin!" The captain hurriedly stepped back and gave orders, and Lin Heshui walked to the cabin, took out white paper and charcoal, returned to the deck, and skillfully drew a map.

"Second lieutenant, there is a small sampan on the ship, and the people on it say that they are from the Ming Kingdom, and they have come to buy deer skins and sulfur, and they also have raw silk, tea, and some daily groceries on board!" A soldier reports to Teller, who is holding a telescope. Teller did not speak, but carefully observed for a while, and confirmed that it was a sand boat, this kind of flat-bottomed sea boat is common on the southeast coast, but it is a little risky to appear in the sea near Dayuan in this season. Seeing that there were two old-fashioned guns on the deck for self-defense, a disdainful smile appeared on Teller's face: "Let them lean over, we have to go up and check!" ”

The waves crashed against the side of the ship, and the deck under his feet shook a little violently, Lin Heshui carefully parted his legs to avoid falling, and looked at the soldiers on the shore, from the outside, this group of soldiers can be described as a hodgepodge: there are Western Europeans with high noses and deep eyes, Southeast Asian natives with dark skin, sunken eyes, and prominent cheekbones, as well as Japanese, with yellow-brown skin and traces of the head of the moon dynasty on their heads, and finally he even found a black African, these soldiers were tortured by the subtropical sun and sea breeze one by one to describe haggard, But the armor and weapons on their bodies shone with a cold glow peculiar to metal, and not far from the shore, the cannons on the fortress were already aimed at him, which made his throat a little dry.

Bang!

A heavy gangplank was on the side of the boat, Teller took a few soldiers into the boat, he waved his hand nonchalantly, and the soldiers went to the bilge to check, Lin Heshui hurriedly stepped forward and said in Spanish: "I am a merchant of the Ming Dynasty, and the ship is loaded with raw silk and tea and some miscellaneous goods, which are used to exchange sulfur and deer skins." “

Teller ignored Lin Heshui, he looked at the soldiers who came back to pray, and when he confirmed that there were no prohibited items on the boat, he turned his head and looked directly at Lin Heshui with a pair of eyes: "Is there any wine?" “

"Yes, of course!" Lin Heshui was frightened by the other party's actions, and hurriedly turned to the captain and shouted, "Quick, hurry up and give those good wines to this gentleman!" ”

Teller, who got the wine, went straight back to the shore, he took two steps, suddenly stopped, turned his head and shouted to Lin Heshui: "You can sell your goods here, don't go where you shouldn't go, remember, pay taxes!" ”

At the command of the pilot, the boat raised its half-sail again and headed down the waterway towards the bay. Standing on the deck, Lin Heshui saw more and more sand dunes appear on the sandbar, and then, as if suddenly the Creator had suddenly changed his mind, he made a sharp turn to the inner side of the bay, like a wizened finger pointing to the main island of Taiwan, where the main city of the Dutch was located. The castle is backed by several sand dunes and faces the waterway at the main entrance, which brought an endless supply of raw silk, porcelain, tea, and silver, making it one of the most profitable trading posts for the entire East India Company. At this time, the sky above the pier was empty, and only the sea water crashed against the stone pier that penetrated into the waterway, and the white waves were spreading. Standing on the deck, Lin Heshui couldn't see what was inside the castle, because the entire city of Geranza was built on a rock high above the ground, and the thick walls blocked his view.

As the ship sailed, the city of Geranza was soon left behind, and Lin Heshui saw a building in the shape of a Dutch mansion, a church, a storehouse, and a merchant's house. Lin Heshui guessed that this was the "lower city" of the Dutch, and there was an obvious advantage to doing so - the salient of the sandbar jutting out of the island formed a natural breakwater, and the Dutch fleet could be safe even if there was a big storm; And even if the invaders had landed on the sandbar, they would not have been able to attack the Dutch warehouses, civilian quarters, and docks unless they had conquered the city, because the city of Geranza would have kept the lower city in its way, and the Dutch could have refused to fight on land and destroyed the enemy's supply lines with their fleets.

Seeing that the Dutch had such a strong defense of the sea, Lin Heshui had to turn his eyes to the other side of the waterway, and he could only pin his hopes on the waterway known as Luermen, and he saw that in the central part of the sandbar called the end of the northern line on the opposite side, between several sand dunes, there was a fortress under construction, and it was obvious that the Dutch had not forgotten the other channel, which made Lin Heshui's mood more and more heavy.

When the merchant ships docked, the Lin River was well received, and the Dutch, who were shrewd merchants, were glad that the Chinese merchants were willing to come here to sell raw silk and tea, rather than directly to Manila or Japan, because it meant that the port of Dayuan was rising in the East Asian trade network. The Dutch merchants generously paid for raw silk and tea in cash, and other daily necessities were more popular, while the Dutch needed time to buy deerskins and sulphur from the natives, after all, there were not many merchant ships here when the typhoon season was approaching.

When night came, the clear moonlight reflected on the sea, flashing silver light, except for the sentry, the vast majority of the people in Dayuangang had fallen asleep, but Lin Heshui was not included in the vast majority of people, he cautiously came to the shore, and the captain carefully jumped on a small sampan prepared in advance, and rowed towards the Luermen located on the southwest side of the sandbar at the end of the northern line. In order to avoid being discovered by the sentries next to the city covered by Relan, Lin Heshui and his men rowed the sampan along the coastline, until the sentry's view was blocked by the sandbar at the end of the northern line, they left the coastline and rowed vigorously in the direction of Luermen. He took measurements as he wrote, and soon beads of sweat were on his forehead.

"Mr. Lin, Mr. Lin!" The captain patted Lin Heshui on the shoulder, pointed to the direction of the sandbar at the end of the northern line, and said in a low voice: "It seems that someone is coming over there!" “

"Damn it!" Lin Heshui looked in the direction of the captain's finger, and sure enough, he saw a little fire just around the sand dunes, this should be the sentry of the Dutch, I didn't expect them to patrol so tightly. Lin Heshui looked left and right, there was no shelter on the empty sea, where was there a place to hide? In a hurry, he knocked down something with his right hand, and when he looked down, it was a fishing rod and a bucket, and there was half a bucket of sea crabs in it, which the owner of the boat should have forgotten to take back.

"You will learn from what I do, and you will not make a noise later, and I will handle everything!" Lin Heshui whispered, put the fishing rods into the water one by one, leaned on the side of the boat on his back, lit a lantern and put it on the side of the boat, it looked like a night fishing!

Almost in the blink of an eye, the sentries saw the sampan on the sea, and they ran quickly towards the shore, and as they ran, they took off the arquebus from their backs, set it on their forks, and made it look like they were aiming and shooting, and shouted loudly for them to come to them. Lin Heshui pretended to be frightened, and while answering in Hokkien, he leaned over the boat.

"What kind of person, what are you doing in the middle of the night?" When I got ashore, I saw that these two sentries were short and sturdy, and they were actually Japanese, perhaps because they had more dealings with the maritime merchants of the Ming Kingdom, and they were quite proficient in Hokkien dialect.

"We are all maritime merchants who docked today, and there is no place to spend time here at night, and we can't sleep when we go ashore, so we go out to catch a few crabs and go back to make snacks!" Lin Heshui smiled and lifted the bucket containing the crabs and approached the two of them: "Two, do you want to take a few too?" (To be continued.) )