December 8, 1680 AH, Ternarte Island.

The inside and outside of the castle, where the Dutch governor's palace was located, had been hastily cleaned up, and the dense corpses in the vicinity of the city, where the fiercest fighting had broken out last night, had been removed and buried—the temperature here was too high for the corpses to be buried in a hurry, and by the end of the night they would be stinking and rotten, and the plague would have to spread. But the walls of the palace that had been beaten like honeycombs by cavity bullets, the walls and floors that had been blown up like smoke by wooden-handled grenades filled with black powder, and the houses of the Dutch Governor's Palace, which were still on fire, were left to take care of them.

Anyway, this temporary Sino-French combined fleet was bought for zero yuan, grab a handful and leave, and there are cloves on the Banda Islands waiting for the big guys to grab it. Because of the monopoly of free trade by Western colonizers, cloves, nutmeg, pepper and other condiments for cooking have been made to sky-high prices, and it is money to grab it!

Japanese mercenaries from the Satsuma Domain, Choshu Domain, and Tosa Domain staggered around the Dutch fortress and shuttled inside and outside, and everyone was extremely excited. Last night's night battle was so beautiful!

Less than 1,000 Japanese mercenaries suddenly attacked on the docks, knocking out the East India Company mercenaries who were guarding them and who arrived later. Those tall and burly Westerners turned out to be inflated and fat, and they were no match for Satsuma, Choshu, Tosaronin, and Corporal, who had suffered since childhood. As soon as the two sides came into contact, those vain and fat foreign devils fell into collapse!

And the mercenaries who came to support the East India Company were also a group of rubbish, what kind of phalanx was lined up at night, and what was even more ridiculous was what age it was, still using arquebuses, and after the arquebus was lit, the target was particularly obvious in the dark night, and it immediately became a live target for the Japanese mercenaries who used cavity bullets and flintlock pistols!

And the wooden-handled grenades thrown by the Japanese mercenaries who approached in the dark caused great damage to the phalanx of the East India Company mercenaries!

This wooden-handled grenade is said to have been invented by Li Yat-sen himself, called the "Shikai grenade", which is actually a traditional round cast iron grenade changed into a cylinder, and then equipped with a wooden handle that is easy to hold and throw. It's just such a small change that makes the round grenade, which is difficult to use, have higher accuracy and longer throw distance, and it won't roll around after landing, it's basically just throwing where to blow up!

Those short and nimble little Japanese grenadiers were highly motivated to fight, and they could actively seek fighters without the escort of officers, so they could carry grenades on their backs and spread out in formation, advance in the dark, and touch more than ten paces in front of the East India Company mercenaries, before taking out their fire folds and lighting the grenades' fire ropes, and then throwing them one after another until all the grenades were thrown or knocked down by the enemy's bullets.

But this is not the most powerful, the biggest blow to the East India Company mercenaries on the island of Ternarte is actually the prestige of the French Heavenly Soldiers!

The East India Company mercenaries were not mentally prepared for the latest tactics of the "French Heavenly Soldiers", which was a precise long-range shot, and a grenade thrown at close range, and the number of long-range firepower and grenades was still so large, so these East India Company mercenaries were stunned at once.

Then these scum from various European countries (who would go to the Dutch East Indies as mercenaries?) Immediately I thought of the invincible French Heavenly Soldiers of the Sun King!

They're fighting the French Celestial Soldiers!

I didn't hear the shouting "Louie!" Louis! "Yes? And they all came down from French warships, so what else could it be if it wasn't the French Heavenly Soldiers?

How powerful are the Sun King's French Heavenly Soldiers? On the European side, he single-handedly took out the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany and still had the upper hand. The mercenaries of the East India Company are fighting a dozen natives in Southeast Asia, and they want to go to the European battlefield to deal with the French army, so they are not looking for death?

At the thought that the Sun King's invincible French celestial soldiers had landed on the island, these East India Company mercenaries immediately collapsed, shouted "The French are coming, the French are coming", and fled to the fortress where the Dutch were stationed on the island.

Governor of the Spice Islands, Van Van. Morality. At this time, Ryan happened to gather another group of mercenaries and was leading them out of the fortress, only to run into these routs shouting "The French are coming".

Now the mercenaries he had finally gathered had no fighting spirit, and how could the East India Company mercenaries defeat the invincible French soldiers?

Where are the French troops brought out by Grand Condé, Dureny, Duke of Luxembourg, Marquis de Vaubana, and Marshal Crévin, where can they fight against these scum mercenaries who can only bully the natives? Their Prince of Orange was also defeated again and again by these men, and if it weren't for the money to mercenare, the Netherlands would have been gone long ago.

So these mercenaries give Fan. Morality. Ryan came by mishearing the news and fled. So a large group of people rushed to the gate of the castle, and there were many small people, and they all wanted to squeeze inside, and as a result, there was a congestion! At this time, the French soldiers who shouted "Louis, Louis" caught up, still with the three-plate axe, first with flintlock pistols to shoot the volleys, then throwing grenades, and finally with bayonet charges. Directly turned the inside and outside of the Dutch castle into a slaughterhouse!

The mercenaries of the East India Company, who were cornered, also found out at this time that it was not the French soldiers, but the small Japanese soldiers, so the fighting spirit rose again, and they began to fight to the death - not to fight to the death! How ruthless the Japanese mercenaries were, the mercenaries of the East India Company knew. Because before the Tokugawa shogunate closed the country, the Japanese mercenaries who overflowed from the Warring States period were the gold medal fighters on the battlefield in Southeast Asia, known for their fearlessness and ruthlessness!

If you fall into the hands of the French soldiers, you can still be a prisoner, but if you fall into the hands of the Japanese mercenaries, you will be lucky if you don't give eight pieces!

Because of the stubborn resistance of these East India Company mercenaries, the battle for the castle lasted all night, and it was not until the early morning of the next day that the battle was basically over, and Qiu Rong and Yu Qilin, who were in charge of commanding the two improvised Japanese mercenary battalions (composed of elites drawn from the Satsuma battalion, the Choshu battalion, and the Tosa battalion), divided their troops into two ways, Qiu Rong led his men and horses to clean up the aftermath inside and outside the Dutch castle, while Yu Qilin led his troops to occupy the sultan's palace on the island.

Although a small volcanic island, Ternarte is the land of the Sultanate of Ternarte and the capital of the Sultanate - a small island, but it produces some of the best nutmeg in the world along with Tidore, another small island right next to it!

Relying on these spices, the owners of the two islands developed into the two major sultanates in the Maluku Sea, which were once quite prosperous. However, after they were subdued by the Westerners and became semi-colonies, their strength also weakened rapidly, and they could only survive on the protection of the East India Company.

Now the Sultanate's patron and godfather, the East India Company, was defeated overnight by the French Celestial Soldiers. What other tricks can the Sultan of Ternart have besides surrendering and preparing to recognize his new father?

Just when the Dutch fortress and its surroundings were completely wiped out, Yu Qilin had already driven to the Sultan's palace with hundreds of dwarf soldiers and a few Chinese merchants who could speak Malugu invited from Sulu Island.

The Sultan of Ternalte had already known that the Dutch were finished, and they also knew that it was the Heavenly Soldiers of the Kingdom of France who were calling - don't look at the remote location of this Ternart, but the indigenous princes of the island knew the prestige of France, and the French Kingdom had been beating their suzerain, the Netherlands, to death for the past few years.

Although the Dutch East India Company had been declaring victory over their homeland, the people of the Sultanate of Ternarte had also noticed that many Dutch people on the island were learning French, and that the schools where the Dutch illegitimate children on the island were studying had also opened French classes.

Now that the godfather is ready to be a Frenchman, the prince of the Ternalt Sultanate must also be consistent with the godfather!

So the Sultan also secretly prepared the French flag and learned a few words of French.

At this moment, I saw a group of "French soldiers" dressed in white robes and carrying flintlock pistols heading towards the palace, and without saying a word, they immediately asked their men to wave the French flag, carry out the gold and silver treasures and the finest nutmeg, which had been prepared long ago, and then a large group of people stood at the gate of the palace to greet the heavenly soldiers.

Before the heavenly soldiers approached, the gang began to cheer in French: "Long live Louis, King of France!" King of France"

After shouting for a while, everyone stopped, because they had already seen the people coming, not like the French! Aren't the French Westerners? How do the leaders look similar to the Chinese? Also, why are the ones who carry guns in the back so short? Is it a child? No, most of the dwarfs have beards. Whose kid has a big beard? That's too old-fashioned, isn't it?

Yu Qilin can also speak a little French now, and when he saw these natives playing France, he was not very angry when he heard them shouting "Long live Louis, King of France" - he had inquired with people on Sulu Island, what is the name of this "spice country", it is a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, a vassal of the Sulu State, and theoretically the grandson of the Ming Dynasty, how can he recognize France as his father-in-law now?

At this moment, I heard that these Molucas outside the palace gate stopped shouting again, and all of them stood there as if they had been immobilized, and immediately pressed the handle of their swords with their hands, and asked in Chinese with a gloomy face: "Why don't you shout?" Are you not ready to take refuge in France? ”

The Chinese merchants who came to Sulu Island, who had followed him, immediately translated these words into Maluku. The Sultan of Ternart was a middle-aged man in his thirties and forties, with very dark skin, thick facial features, a bit of half-earth, and a flintlock pistol in his belt, and he looked majestic.

There were also ministers around him who could understand some Chinese, and they immediately whispered a few words in his ear, so he asked in Maluku: "Are you Chinese?" What is the purpose of your visit to Maluku? ”

His words were translated into Chinese, and Yu Qilin smiled: "We are French, you were not mistaken, I am an authentic French from Paris!" We were ordered by King Louis XIV of France to rob us like this. It's a little nutmeg and nutmeg saplings! ”

His words were translated into Malugu by a Fujian businessman who held back a wicked smile.

Now the Sultan of Ternarte already knows that it is bad, and he can still tell whether the other party is French or not. And this is not the most troublesome, the most troublesome thing is that the other party actually asks for nutmeg saplings!

Can this thing be given to the Chinese? The Chinese are the most proficient, give them saplings, and are not allowed to grow nutmeg into cabbage?

Seeing this Sultan stunned there, Yu Qilin lowered his voice and said: "Sultan, the Dutch on the island have already called us French Heavenly Soldiers to kill them, from now on, you are no longer a Dutch dog!" We don't want anything, we just want you to make a little nutmeg and nutmeg saplings as a condiment for cooking, and you don't give it to you?

If you don't give it, we're welcome! Someone's coming."

As soon as he shouted, the Japanese lackeys screamed, and they all took their bayonet-mounted flintlock pistols off their shoulders and aimed them at the Sultan and his men.

This frightened the Sultan of Ternalt, why are these Chinese so fierce? It's terrible!

"Give, give, I'll give." Where does he dare to say "no"? Quickly nodded in agreement.

Yu Qilin was finally satisfied, and said to the king of the sultan: "Sultan, please go with us, go to the Dutch castle for a while, and wait for your people to collect the saplings and nutmeg, and then let you go back to the palace, don't try to cheat, we also have people who know the goods here!" ”

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and several Japanese mercenaries with flintlock pistols rushed forward, and took the Sultan of Ternart to his side, and the Sultan's men all stood there, not daring to move.

Seeing that the Sultan himself had been controlled, Yu Qilin knew that this was stable - when he was studying in the Guangdong Lecture Hall and the Chongming Island Naval Academy, he had studied that the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Dutch were all engaged in "zero yuan purchases"? Among them, the seizure of the indigenous royal palace and the extortion of gold and silver treasures are "Spanish law".

Of course, the Sun King of France would not have killed the Sultan. Take him away at most. Take it to Nanjing to declare yourself to the Ming Dynasty!

When Yu Qilin swaggered back to the castle with the gold, silver and cardamom gifted by the sultan and the sultan, a first-class battleship was already on the dock not far from the castle, which was the giant ship of more than 2,000 tons with the French name Royal Sun and the Chinese name Liaodong.

The actual commander of the entire formation, Kodontanko, had already landed at the castle and was counting the harvest with Qiu Rong. It turned out that when Qilin went to the Sultan's palace to arrest the Sultan of Ternalt, Qiu Rong's men had already seized the Dutchman's treasury where the spices were stored.

Baskets of cloves, pepper, and nutmeg were laid out outside the castle. These things weren't worth much after the spice monopoly was broken, but in the 17th century, it was a big deal!

When Europeans bypassed Africa in search of new routes to Asia, the first thing they thought of was not silk or porcelain, but spices from Southeast Asia and India!

To put it bluntly, it was because of greed that he embarked on the Cotai Avenue of colonial expansion.

However, after these European colonizers got the Asian spices that the European people liked to see, they did not expand production and turn the high-flying spices into cheap mass consumer goods, but instead of expanding production, they also destroyed many existing spice plant plantations, limited production to a few small islands, and took the road of high-priced boutiques to make cooking condiments into luxury goods.

In fact, European merchants have a similar attitude towards porcelain and silk, and they want to monopolize the high price, so what the Netherlands came to China to pursue is also "monopoly free trade", and after being rejected, there were a series of conflicts with the Ming Dynasty!

And Li Zhongshan's way to deal with the Dutch this time is to buy zero yuan plus anti-monopoly!

But now the monopoly has not been broken, so looking at the spices that cover a large area of land, Cotentan is a little out of breath with excitement, how many livres does this cost? These spices plus porcelain, silk, sugar, tea that have been shipped to France. If they are all sold, at least a few hundred million livres!

Louis XIV's military spending was suddenly abundant again, and now the Spaniards, Dutch, and English could bear it!

"K-Junmen," Yu Qilin had already brought a dejected Sultan to Codontan at this time, and said to him in Chinese, "the spices here are divided in half between the Ming and the French, and half of the gold and silver plundered are divided equally between the two countries, and the rest is distributed by all the officers and soldiers who participated in the war according to their ranks. As for the nutmeg sapling, someone will send it later, and this one will belong to Daming. What do you think? ”

His words were quickly translated into French, and Codontan smiled and nodded: "Okay, let's hurry, there are Tidore and Banda Islands waiting for us. Go grab it! ”

(End of chapter)