Since returning from the arrest of nearly 1,000 students, the manpower of the Oriental Trading Company has suddenly become sufficient, and all aspects of work have been carried out simultaneously.

In and around Tamsui City, Li Zhaoji planned the residential area, and drove the Atayal people to cooperate with the craftsmen to start building the house, and the house was only in the stage of laying the foundation, it had been allocated, only twelve sets were reserved for the high-level of the trading company, and the rest were all given to meritorious officials, even Chen Ping, who was far away in Guangzhou, Li Zhaoji left him a set, which was next to his own house.

Industries such as brick kilns and lime factories have also begun to be built on a large scale.

Li Zhaoji put down the knife, picked up the paper and pen, and interacted with the craftsmen every day, planning the grass and trees of the fresh water, now he is extremely busy, only occasionally asking about the war in the chicken coop area, whenever he heard that the Dutch siege was not going well, Li Zhaoji would nod with satisfaction, and then leaned over to continue the work at hand.

Chicken coop, outside San Salvador.

If there is anything similar between Spain and the Ming Dynasty in this era, it is that it is good at building cities.

The city of San Salvador is one of the largest bastions in the East east of Malacca, and its scale can be seen in the ambitions of the Spaniards in the East, which is much larger than the Dutch city of Geranza, and the design is more professional.

It was dark, and another autumn rain fell, and the moisture filled the entire battlefield, leaving everyone slimy.

Paul and Carl walked in a ditch full of sewage, their necks hunched so that they could expose as little as possible. The Spaniards hit their muskets so accurately that some of the unlucky ones would have an extra hole in their heads and become unlucky.

Suddenly, the man in front of him stopped, and Paul followed, and when there was silence, Paul, the governor of the Netherlands, understood why everyone had stopped.

The slight sea breeze brought with it the music of San Salvador, which was the Spaniards doing Mass, and as a Protestant, Paul certainly didn't do Catholic religious ceremonies like Mass, but this kind of music made him a little unfamiliar with his former life.

He had forgotten about the solemn priesthood and the tall church, and there were only fierce soldiers and filthy trenches in front of him.

"Leave it alone, move on." Karl said angrily: "Those are some heretics, lackeys of the Pope, and God will throw them into the oil pot." ”

Some smiled in agreement, but others looked vicious, and when Paul looked at them, they turned their heads away from Paul's gaze.

Carl then realized that he had lost his words, but he didn't say anything, and cursed a few swear words viciously.

In the 17th century, the Netherlands was still the center of seafaring, but the labor costs of ocean navigation were so high that the Dutch would hire people from other countries to operate in the East, after all, not to mention the Netherlands, one of the seven provinces, even if you count the other provinces, the entire Dutch Republic of the Netherlands had just over 2 million people.

The poorer and more chaotic the place, the easier it is to contribute manpower to the Dutch East India Company, which mainly includes the German region that experienced the Thirty Years' War, the Italian region where the seafaring industry was lonely and the sailors were unemployed, and these places were either Catholic territory, or a mixture of Protestant and Catholic places, resulting in a large number of Catholics in the Dutch East India, the Du Company and now Paul's men.

After more than a month of siege and exhaustion on both sides, Paul prepared to launch a new offensive, so he brought Carl to comfort the soldiers, hoping to boost the morale of the soldiers and lead them to a decisive victory in a crucial battle, but Carl apparently played the opposite role.

Walking in the trenches until we reached the front line, behind the hazy fog, we could see the walls of the city of San Salvador, where the most elite soldiers were arranged, but with exhaustion written on everyone's faces.

There is no clean water at the front, no fresh food, half a pint of beer is the only thirst-quenching drink, rats and weevils in bread are fresh food, everyone is dirty, and some people have been at the front for half a month, and they smell all over their bodies, like lean pigs tumbling in a mud pool.

The siege was so torturous that the occasional Spanish bombardment was chosen in the sleepy evenings and afternoons, and when there was a slack, someone from inside would come out and stab some of the unsuspecting ones in the trenches.

The protracted war of attrition was a torment for both sides, but the Spaniards were clearly better supplied and did not have to dig fortifications with great effort, while the Dutch, with intermittent supplies, doubled the suffering of everyone.

Paul had already tried his best to persuade him to surrender, and he told Leo of Pol, who was guarding inside, that if they surrendered, everyone could leave and that they would be sent to Manila, but at first Pietro's massacre of the Dutch made Leo of Pol unable to believe such lenient conditions.

Paul's efforts to convince him, including swearing, signing a treaty, and returning the captured Spaniards, had some success at first, but now, even if Leo of Pol believed it, his experienced officers would not believe it.

The soldiers knew very well that the Dutch had been tormented in the stinking trenches for more than a month, and that they had accumulated too much resentment and hatred, that these things would be vented, that the massacre was inevitable, that Paul was a military chief, not the direct leader of the army, and that he could not control the army.

From the prisoners who were released, the Spaniards also knew that the Dutch were sad about the lack of strong laborers in the barracks to provide services, the absence of brothels and the lack of alcohol. Now the suffering of the Dutch will be inflicted on the defenders when the city is broken, and the end will undoubtedly be tragic.

When Paul and Carl arrived at the front line, on the hill in the distance, the rumbling of artillery was heard, and almost everyone stood up, because it was their own heavy artillery shelling the round fort on the top of the hill, but after listening carefully for a while, everyone sat on the ground in disappointment, without the excitement just now.

Because the sound of the cannon was familiar, it was a nine-pounder gun unloaded from a warship, not a real siege gun, which had proven incapable of destroying the Round Fort. Even if the round fort is defeated, it will not hurt San Salvador.

Paul looked at the disappointed eyes of the soldiers around him, and was speechless for a moment, because this was carefully arranged by him, preparing to give a speech after a salvo, but now it seems that the shelling had completely the opposite effect.

"My lord, I have already told you, at this time, a bowl of fresh broth is more effective than those forms." An officer whispered in Paul's ear that this was Major Glade, who had been stationed in the city of Geranza and had amassed a great deal of prestige in the past campaigns against the natives.

But after the officers lost too much, Paul had no choice but to let him arrive on Guo Huaiyi's ship, but in the face of the current predicament, Major Glade did not have a good solution.

Karl complained: "Guo Huaiyi's ship is always missing, and this time another one was lost in the storm. The people of the Ming Kingdom are not trustworthy, and those junk ships are even less trustworthy. ”

"Can you say something useful?" Paul was fed up with Karl's complaints and incompetence and scolded.

Karl stretched out his hands, he had lost faith in the expedition, and his patience was almost exhausted, and he had absolutely parted ways with Paul, so he said: "Well, Lord Doge, I have delayed you from showing your oratory, and now the stage is handed over to you. ”

Knock knock.

The sound of a spoon striking a barrel was heard, and the man came with the food and began to distribute the meal.

Salted meat boiled with beans was the only soup, and the staple food could be chosen from brown bread and dry bread, and only salted fish was the only one to adjust the taste, which was sufficient, because the Oriental Trading Company began to produce pickled fish, but after eating too much of it, the ration of drinks was not enough.

"What about bacon, why isn't there bacon in today's soup?"

"Even the salted fish is only half a piece, and why is there only dry bread and no bread?"

"Oh my God, it's like a layer of jam on this piece of bread."

Bursts of grumbling came from the soldiers who had received the food, and the soldiers were in a hurry.

Both Carl and Paul sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere, and at that moment, someone shouted, "No beer, no half pint of beer, what is this?" ”

"Phew, it's water, from the river, and weeds and sediment, and our beer!" The other chimed in.

"Shut up, drinks are only available in the evening, no beer, only rum." Glade shouted at the top of his voice, overpowering all the soldiers.

Everyone knew Glade, many people here had eaten his whip and had his life saved, and everyone respected and feared him.

Seeing that everyone was temporarily shut up, Glade whispered to the two people around him: "Lord Governor, Lord Karl, you leave first, the atmosphere here is starting to be wrong, dissatisfied soldiers can do anything, and the whip can't control the current scene."

I'm staying here, and besides, don't send rum at night, at this time, send a glass of rum mixed with water, the effect is worse than not hairing. ”

"You can tell the soldiers that Guo Huaiyi didn't protect the boat full of alcohol." Paul got up and told Glade that he didn't want his longtime friend to be embarrassed in front of his subordinates.

But Karl looked around and saw the restless soldiers, and he insisted, "Come with us, Glade, don't stay here." ”

"If I'm gone, the soldiers will riot." Glade said.

Karl took his hand and said, "But if you don't follow us, I'm afraid you won't be able to get out at all, and they seem to be tearing me apart." ”

Glade had no choice but to say to the soldiers: "There is a problem with today's diet, I will go back immediately to solve it, half an hour, you endure for half an hour, I will give you an answer." ”

With that, Glade took the two of them and left in a hurry.

"Half an hour? If half an hour can be solved, why give us something like this that pigs don't eat. "Someone just threw the food on the ground.

"The beer is gone, the bacon is gone, the bread is gone, what do we have?" Someone shouted.

And the person who answered him was full of yin and yang in his language: "At least there are still many enemies, and they still have cannons, batteries and more and more hatred." ”

Someone else said, "Then let's wait here, I'm afraid that when we go to the Doge's, we'll see a table full of omelettes and caviar." ”

"And whiskey, that's a must."

"Well, let's go see, if we're eating what the pigs don't eat, and they're eating omelette and whiskey, I think I'll know who to aim with my musket!" The soldier who had just thrown the bowl said loudly.

Out of fear of Glade, only a dozen soldiers participated in the protest, and most chose to stand idly by, but when they arrived at the back camp and explained their intentions to the soldiers there, hundreds immediately joined in.

The reason is simple, the soldiers here ate half an hour earlier, and now, many people have diarrhea and vomiting.

The soldiers flocked to the docks and formed a semi-encirclement of the Hague.

In order to show that they were with the soldiers, a month ago, all the Dutch were stationed on Joncoop Island, except that Paul and the others mostly stayed on the ship.

"These untouchables want to rebel!" Karl, who had returned to the Hague, had just cowered in the fortifications, but instead held a gorgeous knife and shouted, he shouted frantically: "Open fire at once, blow up this group of untouchables!" ”