"Chief Ruffin, on that hill is the Mazu Temple built by the Chinese, which is said to bless them with a safe voyage to the sea."

"Yes Gullit, I see, that comical smoking house, like our bakery in Batavia. We should have demolished it and built our own church in Formosa. ”

In the warm and pleasant port of Bengang on the island of Taiwan, the Dutch merchant Gullit, who had dealt with Zheng Haizhu more than once, was introducing the terrain near the port to Lu Fen, a fleet officer of the East India Company.

Not far from them, seafarers from all over the world were pushing carts with wooden barrels to the river to fetch water.

This natural harbor in the north of Taiwan Island has a village formed by the aboriginal Pingpu people after generations of reclamation, and there is Datun Mountain as a striking navigation guide, which soon became a "transit station" for European fleets coming to Chinese waters after the world entered the Age of Discovery.

The first to arrive were the Portuguese. After a storm, sea explorers suddenly saw the lush land in front of them and named it after the Latin word "Formosa", which means "beautiful island".

Therefore, later Spaniards, Dutch, and British all used "Formosa" to refer to Taiwan.

Gullitt had traded with the envoys of the Great Emperor in Yuegang, and was the first to report to the East India Company that Yan Siqi, the military attache of the Ming Court, was stationed in southern Taiwan, and Governor Cohen regarded him as a "China expert" and promoted him to the company's special adviser, instructing him to take advantage of the opportunity to come to China in the spring of the new year to accompany Ruffin, the right-hand man of the East India Company's fleet commander Rejoz, to plan how to establish a stronghold in the Far East.

"Sir Ruffin, that Mazu temple was built by General Daming, who has already ruled the South Island," Gullitt explained in a cautious tone, "That General Yan, there are more and more ships in the South Island. Although he is not yet interfering in our free trade, he often hoists his "Yan" flag and cruises outside the harbor in his junk boat. I asked a Japanese captain who knew our Hirado Kaikan, and he said that General Yan refused the gold offered by the captains of various countries, and only warned them not to harass the Pingpu natives here. And if they were found robbing Chinese merchant ships nearby, he would definitely retaliate. ”

"Heh......" Ruffin laughed, "this Chinese general, maybe the Japanese and Portuguese will be afraid of him, well, plus the Spaniards." But we of the East India Company need not be afraid of him. We have just occupied Batavia, is this General Yan more powerful than the princes there? ”

Batavia is the later Jakarta, Indonesia. In 1619 AD, the Dutch did replace the Portuguese as the new masters of the trade center from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea.

Of course, Gullit was also proud of this, but he also wanted to make money for a few years of entrepot trade while the Chinese had not yet reacted, so he was a little worried that Ruffin's arrogance would anger the Ming Empire too early.

Sure enough, then, Ruffin patted him on the shoulder and said: "Gullit, when our fleet builds a fortress on Penghu Island and sets up cannons, you can go and talk to the officials in Fujian, and we ask for the privileges of northern Formosa and Penghu Island just like the Portuguese got Macau." If they don't agree, we'll go straight to war. ”

The proud officer finished speaking with great ambition, but saw a Dutch sailor hurrying from the harbor.

"Chief Ruffin, Mr. Gullit, the Japanese, the Japanese are going to duel with us!"

……

In front of a vermilion ship by the sea pond, Japanese and Dutch sailors, armed with Japanese swords and swords, confronted each other.

"These Japanese have just been fetching water from the river, and we didn't provoke them. The strongest of them suddenly lifted the bucket and threw it at our companion. ”

The Dutch sailors crackled as they ran.

Ruffin asked Gullit, "Did you rob this ship of its cargo before?" ”

Gullitt looked up at the Japanese ship that had just docked into the harbor, and said to Rufen, "Surely I haven't encountered it at sea." The point is, Sir Ruffin, how could we rob the Japanese ships when we had gone to great lengths to establish the Dutch Kaikan in the port of Hirado and get the opportunity to sell goods to the Japanese? ”

As soon as Gullit's words fell, he heard a woman's Chinese words behind him: "I guess it is because of your hardships that the Japanese want to find your bad luck." ”

He hurriedly turned around and saw Zheng Haizhu and a young woman with a high nose and deep eyes and a fair complexion, standing side by side.

"Ah, Mrs. Zheng, my old friend, you are here too!"

Zheng Haizhu only nodded at Gu Li, and glanced at Rufen with a sword hanging from his waist.

Fang was far away, and Zheng Haizhu couldn't see the details of the people who traveled with Gullit.

At this moment, the moment her eyes moved upward, she caught the "voc" embroidered logo on the collar of Ruffin's uniform, which was more like a military uniform, and then met the sharp and cold gaze of Ruffin and Gullit, which was completely different, and her heart was also cold.

VOC is an embroidery mark of the Dutch East India Company.

Although in today's bureau, Zheng Haizhu was waiting for Gullitt to jump in, but she really didn't expect that she seemed to have encountered the soldiers of the East India Company at the same time.

Zheng Haizhu quickly retracted his gaze in a sheep's pretend, said a short word to the woman next to him, and pulled her to the Japanese sailor who was about to lead the fight with the Dutch.

The woman, who looked a little Europa-like, opened her mouth, and sure enough, it was Portuguese. And the Japanese sailor even spoke a few words of Portuguese.

Gullit, whose mind was spinning quickly, suddenly understood something.

On the Zhuyin ship, the Japanese who also walked down at this time looked like a captain, and when they saw Zheng Haizhu, they seemed to be quite polite, and after talking to the mixed-race woman for a few more words, they immediately turned around and reprimanded the sailors on their side, and immediately came to Gullitt and Ruffin, and said a string of Portuguese words with apologetic expressions on their faces.

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The mixed-race woman translates to Zheng Haizhu in accented Chinese, and Zheng Haizhu looks worried about how to compare, but Gullitt shows his trademark eyebrows and eyes.

"Mrs. Zheng, I can understand Mingguo's words now, you see, it's not bad."

Zheng Haizhu smiled: "It's good if you understand, sure enough, as I just said, these Japanese are Portuguese Catholics, and after you Dutch people come to Japan, they say bad things about the Portuguese church, of course they hate you." ”

Gullitt looked dumbfounded, and then translated it into Dutch to Rufen.

Although Rufen was a murderous and aggressive officer, he also remembered the company's current order not to engage in conflict with the Japanese, so he held back his anger and showed a forced smile to the Japanese captain.

The sailors on both sides took their own business and returned to the ship with the buckets.

The Japanese captain said a few more words to Zheng Haizhu, pointed to the direction of the ship's cabin, and then bowed deeply and said goodbye to her.

Zheng Haizhu heard Gullitt talking to Ruffin in a low voice behind her, apparently explaining the origin of the Chinese woman.

When she turned her head and faced the two Dutchmen again, the cold arrogance in Ruffin's eyes faded a little.

Gullitt said with interest: "Mrs. Zheng, that Japanese captain, I respect you very much. ”

Zheng Haizhu pouted: "It's just because I help him make money." ”

"Oh? Do you also sell me those incomparably beautiful silks, and delightful black tea? ”

"No, they don't drink black tea, and they're not interested in silk, and they ask me if it's a person."

"People?"

Gullitt looked at the vermilion ship again, and his eyes were filled with complex colors.

"Mrs. Zheng, don't you ......?"

Zheng Haizhu shrugged his shoulders in Gullit's habit and said disapprerovingly: "You Dutch can do the slave trade, can't I?" Mr. Gullit, I heard that you occupied Batavia this year. It's a good place to grow sugar cane, do you want to buy some Fujianese? ”

Gullit's mouth opened wide in surprise.

How can a woman speak so indifferently about her fellow citizens.

You see, at the banquet in Batavia, when the Governor's wife heard that some of the black slaves sold by the Netherlands to the Americas would die at sea, she was very sad, and she took the Governor by the way, and drew a cross on her chest several times.