"Jiansheng, I don't want to be He Liuhun, I really don't have any interest in the throne. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info" Liu Cheng smiled: "Maybe in your opinion, this supreme position is the most precious thing in the world, but in my opinion, it will only bind me and make me unable to do what I want to do." ”

"What do you want to do, sir?"

Liu Cheng thought about it, with an intriguing smile on his face, he walked to the window, pushed open the window, and the harsh north wind immediately poured into the house, blowing his clothes and hunting.

"Liu Mou's wish in his life, regardless of the hardships and hardships of the body, run the Quartet, appease billions of trillions, and hope to eventually open up thousands of miles of waves, and spread the power of the country in all directions!"

Taiwan, the sea off Dayuan Port.

Lin Heshui stood on the side of the boat, and under the subtropical sea breeze, he felt that his skin was sticky and very uncomfortable. Beneath his feet, the deck swayed, and everything was so calm, as if he had returned to his mother's arms when he was a child. At the end of the sea level in the distance, there is a shadow, that is, the northern line tail sandbar outside Dayuan Bay, this sandbar and another sandbar called a pineapple orchard by the Dutch isolate Dayuan Bay from the open sea, only two narrow waterways for large ships to enter, these two sandbanks keep the wind and waves out, making Dayuan Bay the most favorable harbor on the west side of Taiwan Island, and the stronghold of the Dutch East India Company, Geranza City, landed on the pineapple orchard.

Lin Heshui stood for a while, feeling that the sea breeze made his eyes a little astringent, and he couldn't help but turn his head and rub it. Behind him, thirteen great ships were at anchor: twelve large sand ships of eight hundred materials, loaded with a thousand soldiers, five hundred men, six siege cannons, their weapons, ammunition, twenty horses, and enough food for six months; A Spanish ship: the "Santiago", a dhow with a displacement of only fifty tons, compared to the "Queen Mary" on which he was riding, the "Santiago" was much smaller, but extremely light, could run at a speed of fourteen knots when downwind, and could sail along the "zigzag" channel even in a headwind, and his task was to be responsible for the liaison between the port of Dayuan and the city of Santo Domingo (the Spanish stronghold in Taiwan at that time, the specific location near the port of Keelung today). There were about three thousand follow-up troops there, and if the raid was successful tonight, they would come in a second convoy, and more than 200,000 taels of silver had been invested for the expedition, and the outcome would depend on tonight.

"See?" Silva's voice came from behind him, and Lin Heshui turned his head to see Silva draped all over, holding a saber in his hand, and his eyes were shining. Lin Heshui licked his chapped lips: "Not yet, sir, but you know that it is windy at night, and it is inconvenient to row out to sea-"

"No, no!" Silva interrupted Lin Heshui's explanation: "I'm not worried about anything, the conditions offered by the company to those Japanese are very generous. Salaries, settlements, land provided for free, freedom of emigration, their chiefs can become high-ranking officers of the company, as long as they are not fools will not refuse! ”

"Yes, they will never refuse!" As if to comfort himself, the sound of the river was particularly loud, and just half an hour earlier, four small boats with sixty Japanese mercenaries had been lowered from the "Queen Mary" to the sea, and they were to row to the port of Dayuan. According to the information provided by the Japanese mercenaries who served under the Dutch, the tide was at its highest in the month at the third watch of the night, and even a deep-draft galleon such as the "Queen Mary" could enter Dayuan Bay through the narrow and sandy waterway of Luermen, but before that, the castle on the sandbar at the end of the northern line must be captured, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable if it was discovered by the defenders inside the castle.

"Mr. Lin, you also have a god of faith, right?" Silva turned suddenly. Lin Heshui was stunned when he heard this, not knowing why this Spanish aristocratic officer, who always behaved extremely arrogantly on weekdays, suddenly asked such a strange question, he nodded: "Yes, I believe in Mazu!" ”

"Good!" Silva grinned, a strange smile squeezing out of his usual face: "Everything we can do has been done, now we can pray to our respective gods!" ”

Watching Silva kneel down on his knees, take out the cross hanging from his chest and put it to his lips, kiss and pray in a low voice, Lin Heshui also knelt down, folded his hands, and prayed to Mazu.

The sea made Yuji Yamada sick to his stomach, not only was he afraid of drowning, but he also hated the shaking of the ship, and he hated the undulating deck under his feet, when he was on the "Queen Mary", the ship did not shake so violently, but on this small boat, the deck under his feet shook more and more violently. As his "first battle", Yuji was originally excited and nervous, he carefully wrapped his lock sickle oil cloth so as not to be wet by the seawater, and the knife was sharpened incomparably, but now his stomach seemed to be kneaded by an invisible hand, and the food for dinner was surging in his throat, and he could vomit at any time, he subconsciously stretched out his hand to cover his mouth.

"What's wrong, isn't it feeling well?" The deep voice of Yoshida Okiji came from behind him, and Yuji Yamada forcibly suppressed his discomfort and turned back and said, "It's nothing, Uncle Yoshida." ”

"Want to throw up? Just take a sip of wine and press it down! Yoshida Okiji looked at Yuji Yamada's pale face, untied the gourd on his waist, and handed it to Yuji Yamada: "Come, just take a small sip and swallow it!" ”

Yuji Yamada took the gourd, pulled out the stopper, took a small sip and swallowed it, a strong burning sensation immediately filled his mouth and esophagus, and the boy coughed violently. Yoshida Rush patted him lightly on the back twice, and handed him the water bag again: "Come, rinse your mouth, do you feel better?" ”

"What kind of wine is this, why is it so spicy!" Yuji Yamada poured two mouthfuls of water in a row, and only then did he feel that the burning sensation in his mouth gradually subsided.

"Ming people's shochu." Yoshida Okiji took the gourd back and tied it back on his belt: "How is it, it's better, right?" ”

Maybe it was because of the stimulation of the soju, the discomfort disappeared, Yamada Yuji nodded, at this time their boat was only more than a hundred steps away from the northern line tail sandbank, Yamada Yuji could clearly hear the sound of the waves hitting the beach, he opened his eyes wide, trying to find the figure of the answerer, but all he could see was a vague outline.

"Ignition, signal!" Yoshida Okiji whispered, and one of the soldiers took out a bamboo tube, pulled out a dry wooden stick from it, and then gathered next to the flint, and the sparks splashed by the collision of steel and flint fell on the wooden stick, and the torch soaked in clear oil and sulfur immediately burned. Yoshida took the torch and raised it above his head to draw three circles, which stood out against the backdrop of the night. As if echoing Yoshida's signal, a moment later a fire also rose on the sandbar on the shore, and three circles were also drawn.

"Great!"

"All this hard work has not been in vain!"

"God forbid!"

The atmosphere on the ship suddenly came alive, and even a smile appeared on Yoshida Okiji's stone-like face, and he dipped his torch in the seawater and said in a deep voice, "Go ashore!" ”

When the sampan was only twenty or thirty steps from the seashore, the soldiers jumped into waist-deep water and dragged the sampan to the shore with their hands. The sea pounded on my body, but it was a wonderful feeling to finally step on solid ground under my feet! I must occupy this place and turn this place into my own land, Yuji Yamada secretly made up his mind.

"Yoshida-sama!" Yoshihiko Yamada respectfully saluted Okiji Yoshida, and behind him, Ichiro Ono was holding a torch and was alertly observing the surroundings.

"Quickly tow the boat ashore, move the contents out, and check if the weapons are wet with the sea!" Yoshida Okiji stepped forward and patted Yoshihiko Yamada on the shoulder: "You guys have worked hard, how many enemies are there in the fortress?" ”

"There are thirty people, and ten of them are our people!"

"There are only so few people in such an important place?" Yoshida asked suspiciously, frowning.

"Yoshida-sama, don't you know that for the Dutch here, it is a chore to hold a fort on the northern line of the tail sandbank, unlike the pineapple orchard, the north line of the tail sandbar is barren, as far as the eye can see only yellow sand and pebbles, every drop of fresh water and food must be transported from the land, there are no taverns, no brothels, not even a decent bed. Therefore, there are usually only so many people here, and when there is a situation, they will send additional troops from the city of Geranza. “

"Great!" Yoshida Okiji nodded, he turned around and ordered: "Matsumoto, you take five people to watch the boat, and the rest of the people leave all the firearms, and only use bows and arrows, spears and knives later, so as not to alarm the Dutch on the other side of the channel!" ”

The mercenaries whispered in reply, and soon the crowd ran along the coastline towards the Dutchman's castle, the sand muffled under their feet, and soon they saw the destination of the trip in the moonlight, the Dutchman's fortress was located on top of a huge sand dune in the middle of the sandbar, and they had flattened the upper part of the dune with manpower, and then built a brick fort on top of it, which could easily block the main waterway into Dayuan Bay from the cities of Geranza and Utrecht across the sea. It could also be used as a watchtower to monitor the Luermen Gate, a mooring near the sandbar outside the sandbar at the end of the northern line, and if it weren't for the darkness of the night, the expeditionary fleet's fleet would have been spotted by the lookouts on the fort.

"My lord, the Dutch are on the second floor at night, do you want to smash the door open?" Yoshihiko Yamada said in a low voice. Yoshida Okiji looked at the castle, he saw a protruding wooden wirl outside the window on the second floor, he pointed to the wooden wrinkle and said to Yamada Yuji, "Yuji, you go up and open the door first." ”

"Yes, sir!" Yuji Yamada, who was excited about his first battle, nodded nervously, his hand already reaching for the lock sickle around his waist, this strange weapon was composed of a short-handled scythe and a fist-sized lead-filled iron hammer, with a chain about four meters long between the two, and a strip of cloth had been wrapped around the chain to prevent unnecessary noise. The wielder can attack enemies from a distance with a hammer, slash with a short scythe at close range, take and strangle enemies with a chain, and use it as a tool to climb castles. The scythe does not require much arm strength from the user, but it does require a high level of eyesight, coordination of hands and feet, and agility, and in the hands of a skilled user, the scythe is a far more terrifying weapon than a katana. Among the Japanese mercenaries was a samurai from the eastern kingdom who was proficient in the technique of Bu Chuan Liu's lock and sickle, and five years ago, by chance, Yuji Yamada showed an amazing talent for this weapon, and thus became a disciple of that samurai, and now he has done his best.

Yuji Yamada looked at the wooden whirl, roughly estimated the distance, and then shook the hammer at the end of the scythe twice, and with a flick of his wrist, the hammer flew over the wooden whirlpool like an eye, and then wrapped around it a few times, Yuji Yamada pulled hard, confirmed that it was firm enough, and then climbed up flexibly like a monkey, and carefully peeked into the second floor of the fort for a while, and after confirming that everyone was asleep, he got in, and after a while, the door on the second floor opened silently.

"Ryohiko, you take twenty people up, leave the officers alive, and kill the rest!"

"Yes, Yoshida-sama!" Yoshihiko Yamada pulled out the sword, and the murder weapon had been coated with black oil to avoid flashing missteps at night.

After giving the order, Yoshida Okiji found a clean stone and sat down. From upstairs came the dull screams of a dying man covered by a blanket, followed by a crash, a beating, screaming, a sword slashing at flesh and a bed. A man rolled down the stairs and fell to the feet of Yoshida Okuiji, his eyes widened, and he stretched out his right hand to grab something, but blood gushed out of his mouth, and the light of the living quickly disappeared from his eyes.

A few minutes later, the upstairs calmed down again, and Yoshihiko Yamada panted and came down from the stairs with a blond man with a blue nose and swollen face: "My lord, there are twenty people in total, except for him, all of them have been disposed of!" ”

"Judas, you Judas!" The captive stared angrily at Yoshihiko Yamada, if his gaze could kill, Yoshihiko Yamada's body would have been riddled with holes. Yoshida Rush ignored the angry captive and calmly ordered: "Yoshihiko, you take this person to the basement, this is an important prisoner, don't let him die, clean it up again." Yuji, you go back to the Queen Mary at once, and tell Mr. Lin and Mr. Silva about the situation here. ”

Lin Heshui didn't know how long it took, but Lin Heshui felt that his knees were already numb, and he turned his head, only to find Silva still kneeling on the deck, praying to his god sincerely.

"This group of red-haired barbarians is really strange, they are not tired after kneeling for so long!" Lin Heshui secretly thought, although he had also knelt for so long, but Silva's whole body was draped, how could he have twenty or thirty pounds more than himself, and the burden on his knees was very different. (To be continued.) )