The first day of November

Zheng Zhilong, Li Zicheng and many other generals stood on the lookout of Orange City, watching the soldiers who came and went to transport supplies.

What they sent to the city was the first supplies that Mullen had sent to ransom them.

"This red-haired devil is really rich, where did he get so much silver?" Li Zicheng sighed.

The first shipment was a million taels of silver, followed by a million taels. At Zheng Zhilong's strong request, the rest was replaced with rice, a total of 1.5 million stones.

"General Li doesn't know anything, not to mention far away, just talking about Japan, there are countless amounts of silver. There is a mountain of silver in their island, which is like digging it inexhaustibly. I've seen once, when it's time to do business, the whole ship is pulled out. ”

Zheng Zhilong looked into the distance, as if he remembered the eventful years with Li Dan.

"It would be nice if Japan was our Ming."

"Hahaha! General Li said with a smile, the Tokugawa family is still very strong. Zheng Zhilong laughed when he heard this. Although Japan is not a large country, it is still very strong.

Li Zicheng didn't speak again.

Is it strong? Take a look at the battlefield in Liaodong and know what is really strong!

In Li Zicheng's opinion, he couldn't think of anyone else who could create weapons and equipment sharper than the soldiers in the Beijing camp at the moment.

Zheng Zhilong reported the results of the negotiations to Zhu Youzhen.

Zhu Youzhen agreed that driving out the Dutch was the first step in recovering Taiwan.

At this time, in addition to the Dutch, there were also Spaniards in northern Taiwan.

The Dutch were in the Jianan Plain and Pingtung Plain, while the Spaniards controlled the Taipei Basin and the Yilan Plain.

You have one head, and I have one head. Irrelevant.

In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, the Spaniards attacked Taiwan, first landed in Keelung, and established a stronghold. At that time, it was the time of the Jiannu rebellion, and the imperial court had no time to pay attention. So the Spaniards' offensive went smoothly and did not meet any decent resistance.

At the entrance to Keelung Harbor, they found a small island suitable for defense and named it Santisima Trinidad. A fortress was built on it.

In the second year of Chongzhen, they built a second fortress in Tangshui, Fort Santo Domingo.

Their soldiers and missionaries also started at the fort of Santo Domingo and went inland along the river of Shanshui. While preaching to indigenous tribes, he tried to expand his sphere of influence.

In their view, by occupying the northern part of Taiwan, they can establish a large territory with the water as the center. Then he controlled the route from Japan to the southeast coast, and obtained both silver from Japan and porcelain, silk and other goods from the Ming Dynasty that could sell at high prices in the international market.

And the northern part of Taiwan that they occupy will be closer to Japan, and trade will be more prosperous. It could even replace Manila as the main trading partner of the Viceroyalty of the Americas.

At the beginning, it was indeed as they thought, and there were dozens of foreign ships docking at Keelung every day. But the good times didn't last long, and there was a Zheng Zhilong on the southeast coast, under the banner of doing business, and he grabbed it when he saw the opportunity, so that they had to invest more armed forces.

Originally, one Zheng Zhilong was annoying enough, but later there was another Liu Xiang, who often stopped on the way to and from Japan to ask for tolls, and if he didn't give it, he would rob it.

Not only that, but they soon discovered other problems: not enough food to be produced and had to be transported from Manila. Then there's the fact that the indigenous ones are difficult to navigate. But even so, they never allowed to absorb more Ming Dynasty exiles, Luzon, or Japanese to develop new territory.

Even though it has only a small population, it fantasizes about relying on this single economic model to support the economic development of a region. It's just a dream. On the surface, although it seems to occupy a large area of northern Taiwan, in fact, it is doing a loss-making business.

Not only that, but they also forcibly expropriated Taiwanese deer skins, which could be sold at high prices in Europe, and often forcibly drove the Gaoshan tribes into the mountains to collect sulfur for them, causing countless deaths. When the aborigines of the Gaoshan tribe resisted slightly, they carried out bloody slaughter against the aborigines. As a result, the people's grievances are getting bigger and bigger, and the antagonism is getting stronger and stronger.

Now that the Dutch have run away, they simply beat the rabbits with grass and get the Spaniards together.

"Let the Frankians leave Taiwan, and if they don't leave, they will fight!"

Zhu Youzhen issued another order.

Zheng Zhilong was not surprised when he heard this, the Dutch people had run away, and they still cared about the Franky people.

"General Li, Your Majesty ordered us to attack Keelung in northern Taiwan, and I'm afraid we still need the general's help." After Zheng Zhilong received the order, he directly found Li Zicheng and asked for his help.

"Zheng Zongbing's words are serious, when he came, His Majesty said, let me cooperate with all the actions of Zheng Zongbing!"

"Good! Then we'll fix it for a few more days and make a plan for the attack. When my two brothers returned, they set out. ”

With Li Zicheng's help, Zheng Zhilong was very confident in attacking Spain, but if he wanted to capture Spain, he had to consider another force.

Potbelly Kingdom

If you want to open up the land route, you must not be able to avoid the Potbelly Kingdom.

This is a cross-ethnic quasi-kingdom composed of five races: the Babula, the Maowu, the Bazehai, the Hongya, and the Daukas, and the current monarch is Alamy, and the aborigines call him the King of the Day.

Zheng Zhilong didn't plan to have a conflict with him for the time being, so he sent his brother Zheng Qiu to take the familiar fan who knew the local dialect to the big belly and met Alami. Told Alamy of his intentions.

Alamy hesitated, saying that he couldn't be the master and that he had to let his mother decide.

In fact, Zheng Zhilong didn't know that the social composition of the big belly country was matrilineal, and the big belly king himself was not the same as the "monarch" of the feudal centralized system. He was more in charge of distributing prey, mediating tribal disputes, and presiding over sacrificial ceremonies. So it's normal for him to not be able to do such a big thing.

After a while, Alamy's mother came out, an old woman with gray hair, who looked very dignified.

"I have only one request, we can let you pass, but you can't disturb our lives."

"Our chief soldier said that it will never disturb your life. And this time, we also brought 100 iron pots and 100 kitchen knives as a token of appreciation! ”

The old lady was delighted to hear this. None of their tribes had the ability to produce this thing, and most of the iron tools they used in their daily lives were exchanged for the Han people on the island, and they had to pay a great price. In her opinion, iron pots and kitchen knives are more valuable than gold and silver.

Zheng Zhilong is also smart, and when he gives gifts, he has to give what others need.

The courtesy is in place, and everything is easy to talk about.

The old lady wanted to leave them for dinner, but Zheng Qiu refused on the grounds that she would go back to restore her life.

After the matter of borrowing the Tao was discussed, Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao also returned to Orange City with their subordinates one after another.

November 11

Zheng Zhilong sent Zheng Zhihu to stay behind, and he and Zheng Zhibao each led 5,000 people and Li Zicheng all the way to the north.

Since he saw the power of the wolf's heart cannon last time, he didn't bring many people this time.

A few days later, they arrived in the realm of the Potbelly Kingdom, and Alami had already informed the people of the tribe to be vigilant and not to provoke these well-groomed soldiers.

In fact, they didn't dare, the troops led by Zheng Zhilong were about to catch up with the total number of their tribes.

In order to avoid causing a conflict and unnecessary panic on the other side, Zheng Zhilong ordered to move forward at full speed. Passed through the area of the Potbelly Kingdom and stopped in the northern part of the Potbelly Kingdom.

They plan to trim up the day and move on.

At this time, it is late autumn, and the temperature in the northern part of Taiwan is already lower than that in the south. At this time, it is even cooler, and there are no mosquito bites. Without mosquitoes, there is no need to worry about the spread of malaria, and with their own weapons of mass destruction, they are confident in attacking the city. So everyone's hearts are relaxed.

Naturally, it was much faster.

November 17

They entered the sphere of influence of the Spaniards, and most of the Spanish armed forces stationed in Taiwan were composed of natives from Luzon.

Zheng Zhilong ignored these small groups of soldiers and went straight to Fort Santo Domingo, which was built in the water.

There was a river south of Fort Santo Domingo, and the crossing of the river was delayed for another day.

November 19

Zheng Zhilong, who came from the south, finally arrived near Fort Santo Domingo in the north.

The Spanish defenders in the city panicked and stood at the top of the city and asked loudly what they were doing here.

Zheng Zhilong smiled, do you still need to ask? If you don't shoot with muskets and cannons, you will still send you warmth?

"I am Zheng Zhilong, the governor of Fujian in the Ming Dynasty. His Majesty our great emperor said that Taiwan is the territory of my Ming Dynasty, and let you withdraw from Taiwan as soon as possible. If not! I'm going to kill you all! ”

"You're Nicholas Official?"

"Exactly!"

"We have been operating in Taiwan for many years, how can we just give up? What are the conditions? ”

"Don't talk nonsense! To retreat or not to retreat? ”

"No retreat!" The guards in the fort also lost their temper, and when we were dogs, they said to hurry.

Zheng Zhilong stopped talking nonsense, and said to Li Zicheng on the side:

"General Li, I'm tired of you."

"Duty!"