Selwyn was a citizen of Strasund, a European North Baltic force who decided to rebel in 1630 when the imperial army of the legendary Warren Stein swept through Germany. The citizens' thirst for freedom suppressed their fear of destruction, and they resolutely refused to open the city to accept the imperial garrison, and prepared for a long battle to defend the city. Although they were supported by Sweden and Denmark, they barely held the city on the advantage of their opponents' inability to block the port.

But the losses are also enormous. The war ruined everything. Most of his family died in the war, and a city that was once full of life became lifeless. After nearly a decade of wandering, he accepted an offer from the Dutch East India Company to try his luck in Asia.

In Asia, he seems to have found his luck.

In 1642, he joined the 300 soldiers led by Captain Peter in the attack on the chicken coop. He bravely joined the death squads, braved the heavy fire of the Spaniards, captured the city of chicken coop, and made the Spaniards surrender. That battle not only earned him a bonus of 50 liels, but also allowed him to rise to the rank of sergeant, with fifteen soldiers under his command. Later, he took part in a series of counterinsurgency campaigns.

He was most proud of the fact that in 1645 he took part in an expedition led by the merchant Stian and Captain Bowen. That time, there were 210 of them, in order to open the way to the chicken coop and the northern part of Tamsui, and at the same time to teach a lesson to the students who were unwilling to pay tribute. Along the way, they burned down eight villages, destroyed the resistance of thirteen villages, and killed a total of 126 people, if not most of them surrendered quickly, many more would have died.

To everyone's astonishment, when they returned to Dayuan in 1646, they were unharmed. Governor Oward, who had just arrived, rewarded everyone. And promised that if there was another such feat, all of them would be promoted. It's really exciting.

The only thing he regretted was that he didn't have the same good position as Captain Peter and Bowen. One of them is responsible for the tax revenue of the freshwater area, and the other is responsible for the Keelung area. There is always a rebellion among the local students, so they can let the soldiers work part-time to pay taxes. But in reality, every rebellion was easily suppressed, and even as soon as the arquebus went off, they fled in all directions. There, they were treated like kings. In the East India Company, authentic Dutch lowlanders were able to rise faster and have a more haode position.

He could only take 15 people, rent a Han fortune boat, and check the fishing license on the beach. Both the Dutch merchant ships and the Han merchant ships in Dayuan needed to escort, and the main reason for escorting the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty was that they were afraid that they would go to Manila halfway. So, Selwyn had to hire fishing boats.

The Han people who fish are honest, almost all of them have fishing licenses, and they also take the initiative to pay tithes. So the job is not challenging for him. Still, he enjoyed the boring job. One was that when he checked the permits, and even shouted at them unreasonably, the cowardice and frightened look in their eyes satisfied Selwin. And, even if they didn't have any problems at all, they would steal some pieces of silver. At first, he didn't understand, but then he accepted it calmly, and even deliberately found fault, there will always be a harvest.

"It's a wonderful life, isn't it?" Selwyn said lazily to one of his men.

"Of course, Sergeant, if only it was the peak fishing season." Said one of his subordinates named Richie.

"It's going to be three months, we don't have the same good luck as them, and it's a good opportunity to collect taxes all year round."

Richie was a Slav, and he knew who the sergeant meant by them.

"I've heard that we're going to go south soon?"

"Yes, the Governor has this idea. There are no more empty spaces in the north. ”

"If only we could get a tax zone."

"It's my dream."

The Heart of the Ocean is racing fast, showing a passion that has never been seen before. On May 9, 1648, the sea conditions were good, and it was a good time for the yacht to go wild.

Sun Defa glanced at the radar screen and found a fishing boat, driving northeast at a distance of 12 nautical miles. He ignored it, just pondering the tactics that everyone had just mentioned.

Resolutely do not go ashore, see and leave in the outer harbor of Dayuan, resolutely drive during the day, and cross back at night. It is enough to figure out the basic information.

Sun Defa understands that a group of people suddenly have a dream of owning Shijie, and they will attach great importance to their own safety.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, they followed the map along the west coast of Taiwan and found the senior member.

Sure enough, it was a large port, and it was the first large man-made building that everyone saw after a day of driving.

Anyone with a little historical knowledge knows that the Dutch occupied Tainan in Taiwan in 1624 and built a castle in 1632: Geranza Castle. Its name also went down in history with Zheng Chenggong's successful recovery of Taiwan.

The group picked up binoculars and observed, the inner structure of the wall was about 10 meters high, but the entire castle, which was composed of three floors, was very visible. It has a semi-circular protrusion in the middle and a quadrangular turret in the south, on which you can see the protruding artillery, and the highest castle in the northwest has the Dutch flag fluttering. If you look closely, you can see what other fonts are on it. Whatever it is, everyone filmed all the way, and then went back with the information.

Sun Defa got as close as possible to the port in front of the castle in order to obtain more hydrological information. The people on the shore of the harbor screamed in unison at the strange ship, and talked and pointed at it. There were no big ships on the shore, only a few small boats of forty or fifty tons, all of which had dropped their sails and stopped on the shore of the harbor.

Some sailors were running around the ship, and some even began to fiddle with the ship's guns.

"Let's go, don't take any chances." Wu Dapeng said after collecting a few more data with a rangefinder.

Sun Defa made a beautiful head in the northeast direction and walked away. I had just walked a short distance when I heard a cannon shot.

In the evening, the official residence of the governor of the castle of Geranza.

Governor O'Ward, the ninth governor of Taiwan, listened to the report of the sailors on the port with a restless heart.

A white, glittering boat? A sailor in a suit of colours? Can you sail at speeds of up to 20 nautical miles without sails? Peek into the harbor and castle?

He really didn't believe the sailor's report, and if it weren't for the many sailors who saw it, he would rather believe that the sailor was talking gibberish after drinking too much rum.

"If you don't have sails, you can only row them by human or animal power, but how can you reach 20 nautical miles?! Unless there is divine power, but if there is divine power, how can it be driven away by the small cannons of the sailors? "Governor Oward's logical reasoning was so rigorous that the sailor was speechless.

Governor Oward ignored the dejected sailors and made a direct judgment: damn the Spaniards, they must be pretending to be ghosts! Unwilling to be kicked out of Taiwan, he came to spy on the big man again! Haha, come, this majestic and impregnable castle of Geranza will be your place of death!

Governor Oward threw a liel at the sailors and said, "Your information is not accurate, but at least your loyalty is commendable." ”

The sailor nodded and walked away.

Governor Oward said to Haber, the guard officer beside him, "Inform the people of Tamsui and Keelung, that they must be careful of the provocations of the Spaniards. Also, strengthen the guards of the harbor and tell that lucky fool Selwyn not to always think about blackmailing the poor fisherman, and to patrol and warn. ”

Haber nodded respectfully. He had a visceral respect for Governor Oward.

In the early period when the Dutch occupied the majority, due to the construction of the city and various personnel costs, as well as the dispute with the Zheng family, the income of the eldest was only equal. After Governor Oward took office, in view of the continuous war on the mainland, he resolutely gave up the trade of raw silk and silk, increased the export of sulfur, lead, rice, sugar, and venison, and at the same time brought in a large number of displaced people from the mainland, not to mention the cultivation of rice and sweetness, and expanded the source of taxes. It is expected to reach 400,000 lirs of revenue this year. That's twice as much as when he first took over.

What made everyone more respectful was that he took the initiative to increase the income of the staff and the garrison, and did not hand over all his income to the headquarters in exchange for the position of deputy governor of the East Indies, as the last governor who was a kitchen assistant, Garon, in exchange for the position of deputy governor of the East Indies, ignoring the meager salaries of his subordinates.

Governor Oward soon stopped paying attention to the strange ship, so what could he do? He had the majestic castle of Geranza and 700 fully armed and loyal soldiers, and with the exception of the castle of Batavia, it was the most impregnable place in all of Asia.

His mind quickly rested on pepper.

The pepper business was the stroke of genius of Governor Oward. Although a major spice business, pepper was trafficked around by the Dutch East India Company at an early age. It was purchased from Batavia at a price of 10.5 riels per quintal, and then sold to the Daming mainland at a price of 14 to 15 riels, about 8,000 quintals per year, which is a normal business. However, after Governor Oward took over, he decisively increased the purchase to 16,000 quintals by studying the war situation in the Ming Continent, and raised the resale price to 18 liels.

Both the merchants of Batavia and his employees were shocked by his actions. When the mainland is in turmoil, it stands to reason that the consumption of pepper should be reduced, and the collection should be increased and the price increased, is this doing business?!

Governor Oward ignored the private rumors of others, but ordered a large amount of pepper to be delivered in 1648, and the amount was as high as 20,000 quintals.

The result was so surprising that by 1648 all the peppers in the Dayuan merchant house had been sold, and even a batch of zuihou was sold for 19 liels per quintal. Profiteering, profiteering, everyone is red-eyed. Strictly speaking, according to the proportion, less than 100% profit in foreign trade business is really nothing. But this cost performance is too high, how far is Batavia to Taiwan? How far is it from Taiwan to the mainland? It's like stooping down to pick up money. What's more important is Governor Oward's superhuman vision, which is really admirable.

At a ball, Governor Oward triumphantly explained the reason to the merchants who had stammered him: "It's easy to say. The first point is that cured meat will increase greatly in times of war, which requires pepper; Second, the war is moving to the south, so the north will be more stable, which is conducive to the transportation of goods; Thirdly, mainland merchants have a habit of hoarding goods, and I bet they still do. Luckily, I won. ”

Many ladies and ladies applauded him warmly and offered him flattering eyes. The men cheered for him. Governor Oward humbly saluted them all. But at that time, he was absolutely proud in his heart, and it was easy to say, but an accurate business judgment could only come from a brilliant brain and detailed analysis.

The 20,000 quintals of pepper that were ordered last year will be delivered soon. Governor Oward knew very well in his heart how much of the praise of the Governor of Batavia, the praise of the merchants, and how much of it was the idea of beating 20,000 quintals of pepper. Who made him book 70 percent of the production on the market?

Governor Oward felt that he really had to do a good job, not for a little money, but for how the pepper could help him sit on the throne of the governor of Batavia.