Sunday, September 11, 1636.

In the South Atlantic breeze, the snow-white light cruiser Princess Buncheng, accompanied by the frigates Camellia and Rose and the transport ship Moby Dick, slowly approached a verdant island.

The Princess Wencheng will become the new flagship of the Indian Ocean Fleet (formerly the South African Fleet), while the frigates Camellia, Rose and Moby Dick will go to the Far East to join the Asian Fleet. Now the temporary formation led by the Princess Wencheng is about to make a short stopover at the Green Island Naval Base (St. Helena) occupied by Huamei.

In accordance with the relevant personnel adjustment instructions of the Navy Command, Wen Tuo, who was promoted to Commodore of the Navy, also took the Princess Wencheng to Nanshan Overseas Consulate this time and re-appointed as the commander of the overseas fleet; Former South African Fleet Commander Colonel Wang Zhihua returned to China to replace Bai Jun as president of the Long Island Naval Academy; Brigadier General Bai Jun, who had been grinding his edges and corners on the shore for several years, was finally released from prison by Admiral Wang Tiehammer and began to serve as the commander of the home fleet; Brigadier General Sun Yang, who had been at sea for many years, entered the Navy Headquarters as Chief of Staff of the Navy, reducing Zhang Chunrui's work burden.

On the foredeck of the Princess Wencheng, Cromwell, dressed in an old coat, looked at the approaching island with a blank face, ignoring the Chinese and American naval officers and sailors who were wiping the twin 120-mm heavy naval guns not far away, as well as several Chinese military policemen following behind him.

"The Green Island base is almost here, and all units are ready to enter the port!"

The order of the new Lieutenant Commander Li Fan, the new captain of the Princess Wencheng, came from the loudspeaker, and the officers and men on the deck began to speed up their movements, and Cromwell also returned to the cabin under the reminder of the Chinese military police, ready to pack his luggage.

"This should be St. Helena, what is it called now?" Cromwell turned his head as he walked into the passage of the cabin, and asked a gorgeous young officer in his thirties who was closely following him.

"In your words, it's the 'Green Island'. Simple and easy to remember. Lieutenant Colonel Cheng Peng, a former soldier of the armed police and now commander of the Chinese military police, politely replied in English, "There is a small town up there, and your destination is there, and you will get along with many neighbors in the future." ”

After looking at each other quietly for a few seconds, Cromwell nodded slightly, and slowly walked into the cabin.

After the signing of the "Peace of Emden", Cromwell, as a war criminal mentioned in the "emphasis" of the Chinese and American sides, still failed to return to England. Cromwell, who spent several months in temporary detention at the detention center of the American Concession Police Station in the Azores, was eventually sentenced to life exile after a simple trial.

Many people once expressed their dissatisfaction with the Cromwell plan led by the Chinese and US Foreign Ministries. In particular, Dai Qingqing, who had several of his old subordinates of the Military Intelligence Bureau who had died at Cromwell's hands, even threatened to "shoot Cromwell on the spot."

Now, Cromwell, who had spent several months in prison and some of the richest life in the American Concession of the Azores, arrived here with another group of exiles on a Chinese warship, where he would spend the rest of his life in exile.

……

Before the construction of the Suez Canal in the Middle East, St. Helena, the midpoint of the Indian Ocean-Atlantic shipping route, was still unknown for hundreds of years in the era of sailing because of the direction of the wind and currents. Whether it was a Portuguese, English, French or Dutch navigator. Visits are also made at intervals of several decades.

Historically, in the second half of the 17th century, Portugal and the Netherlands, who were well aware of the geostrategic value of St. Helena, still owned this original island with an area of only more than 120 square kilometers. Several bloody naval battles were fought, and in the end both sides were exhausted, and the question of who the islands should belong to gradually fell into place, and finally the English took advantage of it.

But St. Helena is remembered for the greatest impression of the world. Or at the beginning of the 19th century. Emperor Napoleon, the French tyrant who swept across Europe, was bullied by dogs after the Battle of Waterloo, and St. Helena became his place of exile. Napoleon spent his last days in a small castle on the island and left behind many historical suspenseful anecdotes.

The year goes back to 1630. As a satellite town on the outskirts of the American capital of Manchester, the founding of New Rochelle provided a happy refuge for French Protestants in exile. In the United States, where the conflict between the old and new religions was strictly controlled, the town of New Rochelle adopted a relatively moderate and cautious policy of mixed resettlement of migrants from multiple regions for quite some time.

But the Department of Homeland Security, which was under Liu Yun at the time, failed to prevent the hostility between European-American and old Christians. In the spring of 1633, the originally relatively harmonious town of New Rochelle erupted for unknown reasons when violent clashes broke out between old and new Christians. Hundreds of Germans, Scottish, French, Dutch, and other residents of both camps fought one night, and even a small number of religious Chinese were involved.

Overnight, people who regarded each other as "heretics" fought each other and the police could not stop each other, until the armed military police of the Department of Homeland Security and the National Guard of the Capital entered the city to hunt and kill some of the most arrogant thugs, and this "pocket version of the North American Wars of Religion" was suppressed.

In Huamei, all acts involving religious extremism are the culpability of the whole family, and more than 200 "troublemakers" and their families are all imprisoned. But on the whole, these people who are surging in blood used to be just poor low-level craftsmen or peasants Qiu Ba.

Since the brawls are not entirely ignorant new immigrants, but even older immigrants with a high level of education, and the Ministry of Immigration and the Ministry of Civil Affairs also oppose the Ministry of State Security's draconian religious restraint policy, the handling of these criminals has become a problem.

In the end, it was the Minister of Immigration, Li Xiang, who came up with the ideal plan, that is, to establish a penal colony overseas, and then all domestic criminals and their families who committed crimes that did not fall to death were sentenced to life exile there.

At the end of 1632, the St. Helena Island Transit and Supply Depot, which had been occupied by the navy, was chosen by the Cabinet. St. Helena, renamed Green Island, welcomed its first convicts nearly 200 years earlier than in history.

……

Green Island was not originally a national administrative area, and at the beginning of the occupation, there was only a small supply dock and a coastal defense fortress, which belonged to the navy. Even in the internal roster of the Navy, it was included in the sequence of "frigates" and was called "Green Island".

But since the arrival of the first exiles a few years ago, a small village and town has taken shape along the valley of the river that flows into the harbor and deep into the heart of the island. The climate here is pleasant and the vegetation is abundant. The land is also more fertile, and the people who have been re-exiled here can only settle down here after countless days and nights of weeping and remorse.

At the beginning of 1636, the town of Green Island officially obtained the local administrative establishment and was under the jurisdiction of the Nanshan Governor, and now it has been adjusted to the jurisdiction of the Nanshan Overseas Territory.

The successive small religious frictions in China have gradually "plumped" the population of Green Island Town, and now it has nearly 900 residents, young and old. Of course, without exception, they are all unlucky families who have been exiled over the years because they have offended the Ministry of State Security. Here, from the mayor, doctors, tax collectors to the police. All are poor people who have done something before.

After a large amount of war proceeds poured into the navy, the Green Island Naval Base finally solved the problem of construction funds, and an artificial military port wharf that could accommodate three warships to dock and replenish at the same time began to be in full swing, and other supporting naval bases and other infrastructure facilities also had corresponding construction plans and schedules.

Almost every week, a merchant ship from Nanshan Port or Butterfly Island Twin Ports docks and unloads a large number of personnel and materials, which surprises the island's residents who used to see a merchant ship passing by in the past one to two months.

"It's really nice here, I wonder if there are any beautiful bar girls?"

The snow-white and beautiful figure of Princess Wencheng slowly leaned onto the dock. The officers and men on the deck all looked curiously at the small port area and pointed around. However, what is destined to disappoint them is that in addition to the small scale of the port area buildings, there are the most eye-catching. Or the black slave laborers in shackles, far from the glitzy overseas base life they imagined.

Numerically, there were at least 400 black slave laborers who assisted the engineers in the construction of the naval base, and they were busy in the bay and in the nearby mountain valleys. Carrying building materials or mining gravel, a number of local police officers and officers of the naval base were on the lookout for the site, and the slightest slack was beaten and kicked.

These blacks. It was the survivors of the aboriginal riot led by the governor of Nanshan last year, and now they are divided into several teams and taken to various overseas construction sites to engage in urgent construction work. And when they have "nothing to do", they will be sold to Brazil. The Portuguese colonies in Brazil, which were now in ruins after the war, had offered $350 per person for the black slave laborers, who would then spend their lives on plantations or mines in Brazil.

Cromwell stepped off the board of the ship in the midst of the small crowd of exiles, stretching his body and taking deep breaths, feeling the freshness of the island in the South Atlantic.

The coast width of the entire Green Island port area is less than 500 meters, a few small fishing boat sampans are left in the corners, and many buildings in the port area are still under construction, and a large number of building materials are piled up from the inland or overseas of the island. A rudimentary asphalt gravel trail runs from the river at the mouth of the bay into the interior of the valley, along which you can see farmhouses and vegetable fields. In the distance, smoke smoky from the turquoise peaks and valleys of the town's homes made it look like the townspeople were cooking lunch in their homes.

The town of Green Island is sparsely populated and has no special products, the townspeople grow grains, vegetables and fruits, catch fish and raise livestock, and the so-called high-end industry is nothing more than a small winery, carpentry and quarry. The townspeople's biggest source of income was to do odd jobs for the local naval base, and to sell fresh produce to passing warships or merchant ships for supplies, and then buy some of the livelihood goods from the latter.

In the whole town of Green Island, apart from the mayor's residence, the health center, small shops, and a humble school that provides elementary literacy education, there is only one tavern run by the townspeople, and in order to communicate with relatives and friends in the native town, letters must be delivered through the naval base or passing merchant ships. Compared to the once colorful and gorgeous local life, life here is extremely simple.

“…… Yes, Your Excellency, there is no shortage of anything here now, and every month passing merchant ships provide us with goods. This year, the fruits and livestock in the town are good, and the prices are very cheap, I don't know if His Excellency the General is willing to ......" An old European man carefully accompanied Brigadier General Wen Tuo, who disembarked from the ship, was more particular than ordinary townspeople in terms of dress, and should be the local mayor.

"Well, we just need to replenish some fresh food, this is the newly appointed commander of the Green Island Naval Base, Lieutenant Collock, you can discuss the procurement of supplies with him, but we will be leaving the day after tomorrow, so please grasp the time." Wen Tuo gave a military salute in a dashing manner, and walked towards Cromwell, who was in a daze, with a few officers.

"It's a good place, General." Along the way, Cromwell had already had contact with the Chinese and American admirals in front of him many times, and was even invited to a dinner by the other party, so when he saw the other party coming, Cromwell also greeted him very politely first.

"Well, it may seem a little remote now, but it would be a good place to retreat." Wen Tuo still has a lot of respect for Cromwell in history, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs deliberately exiled the other party here, and Wen Tuo guessed something.

"Mr. Cromwell, this is Mayor Angel and Sheriff Carlos, who will arrange your lodgings, but your servant may not be able to live alone with you, though he has volunteered to accompany you to the island. As for the pen and paper supplies you need, the small shops here will provide them at a fair price. As a side judgment in court, you can receive a special living allowance of $20 per month. Lieutenant Colonel Cheng Peng, commander of the Huamei Military Police, walked over with a smile that could not be refuted.

"Thank you, I'm happy with this arrangement." Tightening his coat, Cromwell strode down the valley trail, his servant following with a large duffel bag.

"He doesn't seem convinced, Brother Wen." Lieutenant Commander Li Fan, the captain of the Princess Wencheng, who participated in the Irish War, said helplessly, amusing this Englishman who made the Chinese and American military jealous of the proud rooster even now.

"In Su Zining's thoughts, Cromwell still has the value of use." Wen Tuo smiled indifferently.

On the afternoon of the third day, the temporary formation of the Chinese and American Navy continued to set off, and Cromwell stood alone on a hill near the harbor, quietly watching the white Princess Wencheng disappear at the end of the other side of the island, and then silently lowered his head. (To be continued......)