After Lee Sio-gi made his own declaration, he handed over the red cypress tree to Atta to perform, and the leaders and representatives of the surrounding villages and the village communities that had followed Kalaw were forced to stay, but the trading company did not need to stand up for Ata, but retreated to the Atayal village community in Taniguchi.

Slaves belonging to the Atayal were also driven back and knelt around outside the village community, where a group of Atayal people sang and danced, or hugged their relatives and wept bitterly, all of whom were the relatives of the free Atayal people under the trading community.

After they were captured, Kalaw did not treat them well, but divided the family of the lost men with his cronies, and they suffered greatly during this time. And now, their loved ones are back, still among the victors, and they have regained their freedom and dignity.

"This is our generous new owner........." When Gao Shan Lai saw Li Zhaoji sitting on an elephant, he cheered in the crowd.

Li Zhaoji stood up from the elephant and said to Gao Shanlai: "Alai, you are wrong, you are now a free man, not a slave of anyone. Because of your merits, your families are free people, and they will move around Tamsui to take my refuge. ”

"Yes." Gao Shan Lai shared Li Zhaoji's words with everyone present, and everyone cheered.

Li Zhaoji nodded to Tang Mu, Tang Mu took out a booklet, and read the names of more than 20 people successively, including Gao Shanlai, these people are all soldiers who made meritorious contributions or unfortunately died in the Battle of Boat Fort, Li Zhaoji said: "You are all meritorious people, such as you Gao Shanlai, who captured two bronze sword commanders, you will all be rewarded accordingly, there are silver coins, cotton cloth, and fields, but I will also meet your reasonable requests." ”

"I have two friends, both of whom are skilled hunters, and I want them to join the army like me and give them the opportunity to fight for their freedom." Takayama Rai said.

Li Zhaoji nodded: "Yes, they can join the Yicong Battalion." ”

"My uncle died at the hands of Kalaw, and his family became slaves, can I use my exploits in exchange for their freedom?" Another hero asked.

Lee immediately agreed.

These soldiers with the surname of Gao Shan, when they make their own requests, are related to their own clan, so there are fewer and fewer Gao Shan people outside the village community, but more and more people in the village community.

Zhao Wenji and Chen Ping watched from the side, and Zhao Wenji asked: "General Chen Ping, Li Zhaoji is going to accept the barbarians for his own use." ”

Chen Ping nodded: "Although these mountain barbarians are vulgar and arrogant, they are fierce and resolute, as long as they are trained and adjusted, they are all good soldiers." ”

Zhao Wenji looked bitter: "Li Zhaoji's guy is obviously enslaving these people, but he gave them hope and let them take the initiative to work for themselves, this kind of trick to play with people's hearts is really good." ”

"Mr. Zhao, I can't see through him at all." Chen Ping said.

Zhao Wenji didn't speak again, because he also felt that he couldn't see through Li Zhaoji.

In the main hall of the village community of the Atayal people, Li Zhaoji, Zhao Wenji and others enjoyed a roasted whole deer, the golden venison made a squeaky sound on the shelf, and several people chatted about something, at this time, Chunshu walked in.

"Are you all settled, Haruki, I left you a deer leg." Li Zhaoji said

Haruki stepped forward and said, "Great treasurer, there are seven or eight village elders who want to see you, they are all village elders who have been coerced by Kalaw or who have paid tribute to you. ”

Lee Siu Kee said: "Shouldn't this group of people revolve around Atta now? ”

"Big Brother Atta left with his army." Haruki said.

Li Zhaoji put down the knife to cut the flesh and asked, "Why?" ”

"He announced his policy under the sacred tree, demanding that all village communities pay him tribute, and asking the elders to send their sons and nephews to the Jinguashi camp." Haruki said.

"Did he ask for too much tribute?"

Haruki said, "It's only a fifth less than Kalaw's." Because of this, many people expressed dissatisfaction, and one of the Gaoshan village community directly refused, and Brother Atta led troops to recruit the village community where this person was located. ”

Li Zhaoji sighed and said, "Haruki, you go after it quickly, and tell Atta that as long as he gives me two hundred strong mountain barbarians or four hundred women and children, I will give him a war elephant." ”

"Big shopkeeper, that's a battlefield weapon." Chunki didn't expect Li Zhaoji to be so generous.

"Don't chase it yet!" Lee Siu Kee said.

Chunshu hurriedly went, and Li Zhaoji said to Tang Mu: "Tang Mu, order someone to roast two more deer, those elders are very greedy." ”

In a short time the elders came to the main hall, and each of them was given a deer leg or deer rib, and sat cross-legged on the ground, and put the venison on a rattan tablet, which he cut and ate with a knife, and on the side there was a plate containing cumin, peppers, and spices, and a bamboo tube full of wine.

"Honorable chief, what we get from you is delicious food, but what we get from Atta is reprimand and oppression." Gao Shan Lai was in charge of translating the words of these people, but seven or eight people were gossiping and chewing things in their mouths, so the expression was very confusing, and it was Gao Shan Lai who summarized and informed the cause and effect.

Gao Shan Rai said: "Great treasurer, these people thought that when Kalaw died, the oppression of them should disappear, but they never thought that Atta had inherited Kalaw's ferocity. They were about to obey, but after Atta left, they unexpectedly met the elders of the Dawcas.

It was the four village communities that sent troops, and their elders told them that because the village communities sent troops to the trading houses during the war, and there were always fifty people serving in Tamsui City, they did not have to pay any tribute to the trading companies. And these elders want to be like the four Dawkas village communities to join our rule. ”

Zhao Wenji said with a smile on the side: "What a group of stupid barbarians, isn't the blood tax a tax?" ”

Li Zhaoji was noncommittal and said to Gao Shanlai: "You tell them that Atta is my friend, and everything was agreed in advance. It can't be changed, and I can only protect them if they appear in my territory. ”

The elders listened to Gao Shanlai's translation, and all of them had sad faces.

Li Zhaoji thought about it, took out a cloth bag from his arms, took out something from it and stuffed it into his mouth, and motioned to Gao Shanlai to give each of them one.

"It's sugar!" An elder shouted out, and the sugar word in it shouted that the word was correct and round.

Obviously, they had already been exposed to these things in their trade with trading companies, and Li Zhaoji knew this, and he had just noticed that these people were very skilled in drinking, and after cutting the venison, when dipping it in the seasoning, they also knew to dip it in the peppers and salt grains, so as to ensure that it was not too salty and spicy.

They've enjoyed it, there's no doubt about it.

"Yes, this is sugar, a very important and precious cargo. All businessmen love this kind of thing. Do you know how it came about? Li Zhaoji asked.

Tang Mu had already taken a few sugarcane, peeled them, and distributed them to everyone, and the elders followed Li Zhaoji's example, took a bite, chewed it in their mouths, and then put the dregs on the table.

Although the sweetness was much lighter, they understood that the sugar cube just now was taken from this sugar cane.

"This is sugarcane, and there is sugar in the juice that comes out, and after processing, it can form various sugars. And this ........ ”

Li Zhaoji pointed to the residue on the table and said, "The wine you drink can be brewed from this." ”

A group of barbarians felt like they were magical, and in their cognition, it was like a fairy spell.

Li Zhaoji carried an unbroken sugarcane and said: "Sugarcane is a kind of plant, just like the grass and trees you see. You haven't seen sugar cane, but you've all grown rice, and it can be grown like rice. ”

"Really?"

"It's amazing."

The elders said excitedly, and Li Zhaoji continued: "Atta asked you to pay the tribute tax, what do you want, I guess it is deerskin, golden sand, and rice. ”

Everyone nodded, Li Zhaoji knew this very well, because Kalaw wanted these things, and with Atta's elm head, he couldn't think of anything new.

But everyone blamed one after another, Gao Shanlai maintained order, figured out the reason, and said: "The big shopkeeper, they said, rice is okay, everyone can plant, but it is very difficult to send the golden melon stone." The Atta chieftain also asked for deerskin and golden sand, which were rare, and their village community had no gold mines, so they could only dig a little bit in the bend of the river, and there was no guarantee of how much they would produce each month and every year.

Deer can go, in order to meet the tax of Kalaw, everyone hunted deer, for which there was a hunting dispute, not only infighting, but also less and less deer, to go farther and more dangerous places to hunt deer. ”

Li Zhaoji nodded: "Actually, everything Atta wants can be exchanged for gold and gold or silver, and if you give him the equivalent of gold and silver, he will not ask for deerskin gold and rice again."

And where does the silver come from, you can grow sugar cane, and send the sugar cane to my Tamsui City, and you can exchange it. ”

There seemed to be an anxious look on the faces of the elders, and Li Zhaoji said, "I know that you don't have sugarcane seeds, and you can't plant them. It's very simple, next year, when the weather is warm and you can grow sugarcane, I will send my people to your village, and you will each choose ten families, there are men and women, and it is better to have livestock, and you must be able to grow rice.

Then take them to Tamsuida, and my people will teach them how to grow sugar cane, and give you the sugar cane seeds to send to the village community. It's going to take a few months, so you can use that time to reclaim some more wasteland, and next year when it's warmer, you can grow sugar cane.

In fact, not only sugar cane, but also indigo that can be dyed, and hemp that can be braided can be taught to you to grow. ”

The elders cheered, and Lee said, "Yes, you need money now, too, so I can teach you a way to make money right now - cut down trees!" ”

"What do you do by cutting down trees?" The crowd asked.

Li Zhaoji smiled and said: "Shipbuilding, haven't you seen my ship fort, I want to build a bigger ship fort and load more artillery." ”

An elder cautiously asked something, and Gao Shanlai translated: "He said that there are mountains around Tamsui Fort, and where there are mountains, there are trees, why let them cut down trees." ”

Li Zhaoji laughed: "If I want my ship fort to be indestructible, I have to make it from the best wood, and this is oak." ”

"What kind of tree is that?"

Li Zhaoji thought for a while: "Maybe just like I give you seeds and teach you skills so that you can produce sugar cane, I will also send my people to teach you what kind of trees to cut." ”

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