1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 241 Killing Each Other ([-])

"Enemy attack!" The Portuguese soldiers who reacted screamed.

More than 200 Portuguese Musketeers hurriedly reached out to touch the muskets on their backs, preparing to fight back against the enemies on both sides of the street.

"Fire!" Qi Dalu swung down the dagger fiercely.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..." The marines on the roofs on both sides of the street fired their muskets almost at the same time.

Captain Hewitt Stern felt a shock in his ribs, and then a sharp pain came. He bent down in pain and knelt on the ground with one leg.

"Oh, God! There is an ambush among us!" Captain Hewitt Stern murmured, "Am I going to die here..."

The battle near the city gate can no longer be called a battle, but a unilateral massacre by the Hanzhou Marine Corps.The volley of guns continued for three rounds. At least 80 Portuguese soldiers fell down, and the rest wept and dropped their muskets, or lay down on the ground, or raised their hands high, shouting to surrender.

From the houses on both sides of the street, hundreds of soldiers from the Kingdom of Wahala poured out one after another. They rushed forward excitedly, kicked all the standing Portuguese soldiers to the ground, and then tied them all up.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." The artillery at the top of the city also fired, and began to shell the Portuguese servants camped below the city.

The Hanzhou Marine Corps quickly jumped down from the roof, organized the team, and rushed out of the city with hundreds of soldiers from the Kingdom of Wihali, to make a final blow to the soldiers of the Kingdom of Larantuca, a Portuguese vassal outside the city.

"What's going on?" Hearing the sound of the artillery, Major Conrad Costa stood up and looked up at Dili City in the distance.

"It seems to be the artillery fired from Dili City." A Portuguese officer said: "Could it be that the enemy is hiding in the nearby forest and launched a surprise attack on our returning troops after landing?"

"No!" Major Conrad Costa held up the binoculars, his face became very ugly, "The enemy came out of Dili City, and they are attacking the soldiers of the Kingdom of Larantuka!"

"The enemy from Dili City?... Dili City has been captured by the enemy?!" Several Portuguese officers panicked, "Then, the enemy fleet may be nearby."

"Anchor! Anchor! . . . "

"Hoist the sails! Hoist the sails! . . . "

On the Portuguese armed merchant ship, many officers and sailors were busy preparing to sail the ship away from the dock to avoid the possible approaching enemy fleet.

"It's too late..." Major Conrad Costa watched the three armed merchant ships appearing outside Dili Port, slowly approaching.And their ships haven't even hoisted their sails.

"Portugal is flying the white flag!... They have surrendered!" The lookout on the ship cheered loudly.

"It's a bitch, it's still wise!" Qi Dajiang couldn't restrain the joy in his heart, "Rush over and prepare to capture them!"

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"Boom! Boom! Boom!" More than a dozen armed merchant ships from the Portuguese interception fleet kept bombarding the dock fort at a distance of 800 to [-] meters from the port of Jishuiwan.

The Dutch were caught off guard by the arrival of the Portuguese attack fleet.This colonial stronghold seized from the Kingdom of Aceh is now the most important transit supply point for the Dutch East India Company in the Malacca Strait area.

The Jishuiwan colonial stronghold is connected to Batavia in the east, India in the west, can threaten the Portuguese Malacca across the strait in the northeast, and can suppress the chaotic Kingdom of Aceh in the southwest.In the past two years, the fort and city defenses have undergone some renovations, adding powerful 18-pound and 24-pound heavy artillery, which can easily protect themselves from general force attacks.

However, the Portuguese attack fleet included ten armed merchant ships from Ceylon and three armed merchant ships from the colonial stronghold of Malacca.In order to pull out the nail of the Dutch in the Strait of Malacca, Portugal has made a big bet.The shipped landing force consisted of more than [-] Musketeers and more than [-] native servants, most of whom came from Malacca.

At this moment, one kilometer away from the east side of the pier, the Portuguese soldiers and native servants had already landed, and began to walk along the jungle along the coast towards the port of Jishuiwan.

Irwin Wayne, the governor of the East India Company stationed in Rapid Water Bay City, stood at the head of the city, looking seriously at the direction of the dock fort.They were unprepared for the Portuguese attack.A week ago, he also raised supplies and personnel in Rapid Water Bay, and accompanied the fleet that landed on Ceylon Island.

But why in the blink of an eye, the Portuguese brought many ships and personnel to attack Rapid Water Bay?They shouldn't be guarding the island of Ceylon, they should be guarding against our Dutch attack on them!What went wrong?

"My lord, the Portuguese landing force has come ashore, and they are trying to attack the pier fort. Lieutenant Nevet asked the city to send support troops!" A Dutch officer hurried to the city, asking for support.

"How many people came from Portugal?" Governor Irwin Wayne asked.

"Roughly estimated, there are more than 500 people."

"More than 500 people!" Governor Irwin Wayne was taken aback. In the entire Rapid Water Bay City, there were only more than 300 mercenaries and native servants. "Is there... a mistake?"

"The enemy is indeed more than 500 people, and...just a lot more!" The Dutch officer said bitterly.

"The support... is it still useful?" Governor Irwin Wayne murmured.

Everyone was silent.

"Let's all withdraw." Governor Irwin Wayne: "Blow up all the artillery and evacuate all personnel into the city. Gentlemen, we will usher in the most difficult time. Get up and prepare to meet the Portuguese Now! Either drive them back, or we will be taken prisoner by them and taken to their labor camp."
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"What do the representatives of the Dutch say?" Sebastian Coquera, the Spanish governor in the Philippines, asked coldly.

"They demanded an exchange of prisoners and a temporary truce," said Colonel Rohrscheidt, commander of the navy.

"Captives can be exchanged." Governor Sebastian Coquera pondered for a moment, and then said: "The exchange of captives cannot be done in a one-to-one form, and all must be exchanged."

The Dutch expeditionary fleet successively broke through the Zamboanga Fortress in the Philippines, the Holy Name Jesus City (now Cebu City in the Philippines), the Cavite Shipyard and the Fortress, and captured a large number of Spanish colonial officials and soldiers. In the hands of the Spaniards, less than 400 Dutch naval officers and soldiers were captured.Therefore, Governor Coquila proposed that the two sides exchange all prisoners, instead of engaging in a one-to-one exchange.

"Your Excellency, I think the Dutch may not agree." Colonel Rorscheidt said, "They propose that the extra captives from both sides need to be exchanged for ransom."

"It's really a bunch of commodity dealers who get into the eyes of money!" Governor Sebastian Coquera cursed in a low voice, and he paced back and forth in the room.

The captured natives and Chinese servants are naturally not counted, so the three or four hundred Spanish captives, as the main basis for the rule of the Philippine colony, must be exchanged.Not only does it involve the morale of the army and the people, but it also involves the supplement of Spain's ruling power in the Philippines.After all, on this broken island group, the Lord's people are too few, and it is not easy to replenish.

"Go talk to the Dutch representative again, and try to keep the ransom for the captives as low as possible." Governor Sebastian Coquera said, "Oh, and also, the officers and soldiers who were lost in that Hanzhou two years ago also talked with them. .”

"Hanzhou?" Colonel Rohrscheid was taken aback, "They didn't send a representative to Manila!"

"Isn't that Hanzhou a vassal of the Dutch? Then, the captive exchange and the ransom are confirmed, and the Dutch should be able to make the decision." Governor Coquera said.

Colonel Rollscheidt opened his mouth, and wanted to tell the governor that the Hanzhou, leaving aside the Dutch, clashed with the Portuguese on Timor Island in the south. Judging from their behavior in the past few years, the Hanzhou Not necessarily a real vassal of the Dutch.

However, seeing the Governor turned his head and discussing with tax officials to impose a special tax on the businessmen in Manila in order to deal with the later captive ransom, Colonel Scheit wisely shut his mouth, intending to find an appropriate opportunity to share with the Governor. talk about it.

"A special tax is imposed on all Ming people in Manila, and each person pays twenty pesos." Governor Sebastian Coquera said: "Those who cannot pay the full tax will be levied to Calamba for reclamation."

Due to the joint attack of the Netherlands and Hanzhou in the early stage, almost all trade in the Philippines stagnated.It wasn't until April and May that Ming and Portuguese merchant ships came to Manila one after another.However, the most scarce food in the Philippines has never been relieved.For this reason, the Spanish colonial government temporarily canceled the mooring tax for ships carrying grain to Hong Kong, in order to encourage merchants from various countries to transport grain to Manila.

However, as a shrewd maritime trader, bringing a ship of grain to Manila for trade is far less profitable than pulling a ship of porcelain, or high-value goods such as silk and cloth.Therefore, except for the use of Spanish merchant ships to transport grain by the Philippine colonial government, merchants from other countries and regions did not respond to the Philippine colonial government's grain transport requirements.

In desperation, Governor Sebastian Coquera began to promote the Kalamba farming plan to those Ming people.In order for the entire Philippines to achieve food self-sufficiency as soon as possible, a large number of Ming people must be forced to relocate to reclamation.Otherwise, when the Dutch fight again someday, wouldn't all the Spaniards be hungry to fight.

"In this way, will it aggravate the dissatisfaction of those Ming people?" The tax official has some doubts. Since the conquest of Hanzhou bandit gangs two years ago, the Philippine colonial government has carried out several apportionments and compulsory tax collections. The business environment in the entire Manila area is very bad, the market is also extremely depressed, and various goods are in extreme shortage.

"They won't." Governor Sebastian Coquera said: "Ming people's endurance and management regeneration ability are the most unique in this world. We only need to leave them a little hope, they will obey us."

After countless trials, the Spaniards seem to have thoroughly figured out the limits of the Ming people in the Philippines. They are really like those European Jews, very good at creating wealth, and compared with the Jews, the Ming people are more able to endure hardships and stand hard work.

However, the only bad thing is that there seem to be too many of them.

(End of this chapter)