"Did you find anything good on that detained Dutch sailboat?" Mushaber asked subconsciously when he saw Wang Tom enter the house in high spirits. He had just received news half an hour earlier that the navy had detained a Dutch sailing ship that had entered the port on its own and docked on its own.

"It's back to the basics!" Wang Tom smiled while rubbing his hands: "This time I picked up the treasure, and I will return to the original at once!"

"Oh, there are gold and silver treasures on this ship?" Mu Shabai was also interested when he heard this, and hurriedly asked.

"It's not just treasure...... Wang Tom grabbed the water cup and poured a large sip of tea, raised his hand to wipe the corners of his mouth, and said, "Where do you guess this ship is going?"

Mu Shabai replied with a smile: "Where else can I go? Either I go south to Batavia, or I go north to Taiwan, is there a third destination for this route?"

"It's a ship to Taiwan. Tom Wang nodded and replied: "Their destination is the city of Geranza in Taiwan, and the goods on the ship are all kinds of supplies transported to the local area, and there are a lot of good things." ”

In 1622, after the Dutch East India Company seized Penghu, it used it as an entrepot for maritime trade in East Asia. In 1624, the Dutch fought with the Ming sailors in Penghu for several months, and finally reached a cease-fire agreement, the Dutch withdrew from Penghu, and the Ming did not interfere with the colonial occupation of the Dutch on the island of Taiwan.

So the Dutch built a large castle on the southern coast of Taiwan, Orange City, which was renamed Geranza City in 1627. At this point in the occupation of Ambuna Island by the Haihan militia, the construction of the city of Geranza was still unfinished, and the first phase of the Dutch stronghold on the island of Taiwan was not completed until 1632.

It is worth mentioning that in the original time and space, Zheng Chenggong captured the city of Geranza 30 years ago, expelled the Dutch from the island of Taiwan, established the first Han regime in Taiwan's history, and renamed the place Anping City, which is the location of the famous scenic spot Anping Castle in Tainan in later generations. Of course, since the Haihan regime has appeared in this era and regards the Far East as its future territory, there will naturally be no battle for the city of Geranza in 30 years, and the Dutch will not have the opportunity to gain 30 years of development on the island of Taiwan.

Tom took out a list of goods and explained to Muchiber the supplies seized from the Dutch sailing ship that had thrown itself into the net. In addition to the large quantities of gold and silver needed to sustain the local operations and trade of the city, the ship also contained some goods that had been transported from Europe across thousands of miles, as well as spices and jewelry originating in India and Southeast Asia. On top of that, the ship also carried a batch of completely new weapons, including eight hundred arquebuses, forty guns of various calibers and a considerable amount of ammunition. According to the crew, the weapons were sent to the city of Geranza to arm the local Dutch. The total value of this batch of weapons and ammunition alone is more than 100,000 taels of silver.

"According to preliminary statistics, this cargo is worth at least 200,000 taels of silver, do you think we will return to our capital all at once!" Wang Tom said proudly, and couldn't help laughing: "Dispose of this cargo, and the navy can add another capital ship!"

"What is the matter with our army?" Mu Xiabai reminded: "This is a joint operation of the army and navy, Commander Wang, don't take all the credit!"

"Yes, yes, you're right, of course, there is also a part of the army!" Wang Tom knew that he was speechless, and quickly added.

"Speaking of which, the Dutch are really bold enough to carry so many valuables, and they actually travel on such a boat, without even taking care of them. Mushaber sighed.

"Probably the Dutch think that there is no one in the Far East who can shake their position. "What I want to say is that there must be two things for this kind of thing, and there will definitely be Dutch ships coming to the island to dock for supplies, you know what to do." ”

"Needless to say, the Dutch's ships must have been detained. What I want to know is what to do if a merchant ship from the Ming Dynasty comes to dock here?" asked Mushabai.

Wang Tom responded: "Don't worry, we have specially trained a group of Southeast Asian sailors, and when the time comes, we will arrange for these people to work on the docks, and as soon as they do it according to the previous rules, the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty will still charge for supplies." ”

"The sight of the Dutch on that island would eventually arouse suspicion. Mushabai is still a little uneasy.

"We have a way to deal with that. Wang Tom smiled: "Don't forget, we also have Western partners, and it is not difficult to impersonate." ”

"You mean...... Portuguese?" Mushaber reacted immediately.

"That's right, the Portuguese. Tom nodded and confirmed Mushabai's speculation: "The Portuguese have been fighting with the Dutch for colonies in the Far East in recent years, but after the Dutch formed the East India Company, the Portuguese have been at a disadvantage. They have relatively few colonies, they are slow to react to accidents, and their maritime strength in the Far East is not as good as that of the Dutch, so sooner or later, as in history, the Dutch will snatch all the cake from their hands. Some time ago, the Executive Committee talked to the Portuguese envoy Thomas and asked them if they would like to help us establish a foothold in the South China Sea region and fight the Dutch together, and he readily agreed. The next time a ship carrying supplies comes here, there will probably be thirty or fifty Portuguese immigrants, and you can arrange their roles when the time comes. ”

As for the role that Ambuna Island will need to play in the coming period, the Executive Committee and the military have planned a relatively complete camouflage strategy, and strive to let the Dutch discover the changes here as late as possible. The voyage from Batavia to the city of Geranza on the island of Taiwan was more than 2,000 nautical miles, and the travel time was almost two months, and the communication conditions of this era were extremely backward, and when the Dutch found out that something was wrong and investigated, they did not know how long it had passed.

After the capture of the island of Ambuna, Mushaber commanded his troops to conduct another dragnet survey of the island, inspecting all the places where people had settled to make sure that there were no Dutch survivors on the island. In fact, the Dutch colonists did not dare to disperse to live in the wilderness, after all, the transportation conditions on the island were relatively primitive, and it would be more troublesome to get supplies if they were a little farther away from the settlement, and if they were sick or injured, they would basically have to fend for themselves.

On 1 May, exactly one month after leaving Hainan Island, the regrouped task force prepared to leave Haihan's newest colony and return to Hainan Island. In order not to lightly expose the real situation in the locality, all the warships that went south this time will leave and will not stay here. Only the six troop transports that joined in from Annam will stay here, after all, these ships are all lucky ships, and it is not easy to be directly exposed. The fleet returned with the captured Dutch galleon, as well as all the captured Dutchmen on the island. Due to the limited loading capacity and the fact that no arrangements were made for the island's people to leave with the fleet, Mushabai was able to seize this period when the labor force was still sufficient to speed up the construction of the port and shore fortifications.

In this southward operation, the Haihan militia basically suffered zero losses, except for a small number of people who fell ill because of the lack of adaptation to the water and soil, and there were no casualties in the process of attacking the island. Not only that, but during this period, the militia also seized a large amount of wealth that belonged to the Dutch, which not only covered the military expenses of the operation, but also more than enough to add a large amount of income to the military's account.

While the Haihan militia secretly went south to seize the Dutch colony, their colleagues in the north were not idle. The Zhennan Port project on Hong Kong Island, which was launched two years ago, has now divided the surrounding area into seven or eight areas, and the narrow territory has restricted the continued development of Zhennan Port, and the seizure of the entire Hong Kong Island, especially the key waterway Lei Yue Mun in the northern part of Hong Kong Island, has become the next target of the military.

The Daming Sailor, who was originally stationed in Shau Kei Wan next to the Liyumen Waterway, is now becoming more and more difficult. The former general who commanded this army had expired at the end of last year and left, and the new general spent seven or eight thousand taels of silver to force a place to come back, but the person who came forward to pay this money was a major shareholder of "Qiong Lianfa", so after this general took office, he played a long-term disappearance, so as to create better objective conditions for Haihan to attack this area.

Since the end of last year, the Daming Naval Division on Hong Kong Island has been in a state of unattended, and no one has ordered or paid them. Some soldiers and low-level officers have begun to sell the military materials in the water village, such as gunpowder, armor, weapons, and so on. Even if the Haihan people don't make a move, in another year and a half, this place will collapse by itself. During this period, there were quite a few officers and soldiers of the Navy Division who received the benefits of Haihan in various forms, and even were directly bribed.

On 7 May, five warships belonging to the Haihan Navy bypassed the waters east of Hong Kong Island and sailed into Shau Kei Wan from the Lei Yue Mun waterway, blocking the entrance of this water village.

Neiying, who had already been arranged in advance, quickly opened the water gate of the sailor division and let the Haihan warship enter the water village and dock. The Haihan militiamen who disembarked from the boat did not even encounter decent resistance, so they quickly took control of the inside and outside of the water village without bloodshed. Driven by the militia, the Ming soldiers in the water village soon gathered at the gate of the White Tiger Festival Hall in the center of the water village.

Surrounded by a group of militiamen, Chen Yixin entered the White Tiger Festival Hall in Shuizhai and sat down on the chair belonging to the Shuizhai staff general in the middle of the court: "Come on, bring the roster of Shuizhai!"

Someone immediately submitted the list of water villages, and no one seemed to think that there was anything wrong with it. Chen Yixin also looked as a matter of course, opened the roster and began to click directly.

There were 532 people on the roster, including officers, sailors, soldiers, logistical doctors, shipwrights, cooks, and so on. However, after an hour-long roll call, there were frightening vacancies, with only about half of the people present. Although Chen Yixin had prepared for this result, he was still taken aback by the proportion of this vacancy.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the situation just named is already very clear. Not to mention the combat effectiveness of this water village, even the ability to protect itself is very lacking!" Chen Yixin closed the roster and began to speak: "In order to enable the Daming Navy Division to maintain its due combat effectiveness and to protect the safety of the local people, our Haihan People's Regiment was entrusted by the Guangdong government to send 420 fighters and five warships to join the Xin'an Water Village of the Daming Water Division. The original personnel of Shuizhai can choose to stay or leave on their own, and those who want to leave will be paid ten taels of silver and severance pay. I, Chen Yixin, Major of the Haihan People's League, if you have any questions about the future arrangements, you can ask me. I want to emphasize one more thing here, the Haihan militia does not raise idlers, if anyone wants to stay in the water village to eat leisurely, I advise him to take the severance pay and leave as soon as possible!"

Someone below asked: "It's also a general flag under the fire, is the severance pay the same as an ordinary soldier?"

Chen Yixin replied without changing his face: "I don't care what kind of official you are, your position is given by the Ming Dynasty, and the severance pay is given by Haihan, why do you use the official position of the Ming Dynasty to demand the amount of severance pay? If it is too little, you can do it, we will not force it." ”

At that moment, someone asked: "Then if you stay, will you really give a more generous salary than the military department as promised?"

Chen Yixin said: "We did promise that the military salary would be doubled compared to the standard of the Ming Dynasty, but at the same time, there is also a premise, that is, you have to have real skills! If you want to eat and wait for death, you have to get double the military salary, sorry, this kind of thing will not happen in the Haihan militia." As for whether there is real ability, we will conduct a special assessment and screening, and those who know guò will naturally have a more generous reward. ”

Someone complained loudly: "Then I have been in the army for many years, and now you want to dismiss us with a word, what is the morality?"

Chen Yixin looked at the place where he spoke out, and said coldly: "You have been in the army for many years? So what have you done in the army all these years? Is it to fight pirates or catch water bandits? How did I hear that two or three years ago, Liu Xiang still had the final say in this place? If I guessed correctly, many of the people present here should have taken benefits from Liu Xiang in the first place, right?"

There was a dead silence below, and no one dared to respond to him on this question. At that time, Liu Xiang was powerful, and the waters around Hong Kong Island were almost under his control, and merchant ships entering the Lei Yue Mun waterway had to pay a certain amount of road fees to him in order to pass safely, and part of this money was transferred to the water village, which became a regular source of income for the water village. However, since Liu Xiang was beaten away by the Haihan militia two years ago, the money for this part has been cut off, and the Shuizhai gang is not bold enough to openly collect tolls from maritime merchants, and they don't have enough strength to turn their faces against Haihan, so they can only silently suffer this loss.