1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 98 The first cooperation with the Dutch ([-])

The road from Jianye City to Black Valley is extending forward every day.At the beginning of September, after all the staff were busy with spring ploughing.Qitian used six or seven days of free time to dispatch more than 9 people to the road construction site. Starting from Jianye City, he built a section of [-] to [-] kilometers in one go.As a result, it is less than five kilometers away from the closing of the highway, and the first highway in the Hanzhou continent is about to be built, although it is only a simple dirt road.

As a result, the two large brick kilns in the camp began to produce refractory bricks one after another. After the road was opened to traffic, they could be transported to the Black Valley, where two small blast furnaces were built, and local steelmaking began.

At present, wooden houses and camps have been set up near the Black Valley Coal and Iron Mine to prepare for the smelting of iron and steel.

The new camp was directly named Black Mountain Fort, only two or three kilometers away from the Black Valley Aboriginal Tribe.After the nearby natives saw it, they just watched curiously for a few days, and they stopped watching the fun.Because they need to hunt around for food and feed the elders and children of the tribe.

It seems that working for Jianye City can only maintain the food of the workers themselves, and it is impossible to save more food to share with the people in the tribe every day.

Sometimes, when Qi Tian saw the natives' desire for food, he couldn't bear it.But he did not dare to provide them with surplus food free of charge, and could only allow them to maintain their basic survival needs.After all, there are still more than 600 people in Jianye City who need to eat. After all, it will take three months at the earliest before Cao Xiong and the others return. Especially, the harvest period of the grain they planted will be three months at the earliest.

More than 20 days ago, the food shortage crisis made everyone very sensitive to food reserves.Although there are nearly 200 tons of various grains stored in the grain depot, such as rice, wheat, sorghum, corn, and potatoes, it is enough for everyone to eat for more than eight months.However, they still need to provide two meals for four or five hundred aboriginal migrant workers, as well as livestock and poultry such as pigs, cattle, horses, chickens, ducks and geese, which consume part of the food.So after careful calculation, it is not enough to reserve for eight months.

Not to mention the vigorous construction and production in Jianye City.Let's turn our perspective to Batavia, home of the Dutch East India Company headquarters.

After a [-]-day voyage, Cao Xiong and his party of five ships once again arrived at the port of Batavia.

Cao Xiong got off the boat with more than [-] people, drove directly to the warehouse area that had been rented when he left last time, and met Hu Wenjin.One is to check the goods that need to be purchased when heading to Daming, and the other is to inquire about recent events in Nanyang and Batavia.

Second Lieutenant Andrew Florent, the Dutch "supervisor", got off the ship and returned to the Batavia Fleet Command in a carriage.

Colonel Ajan van Dijk, commander of the fleet, listened carefully to Lieutenant Florent's report.He sketched a simple map on a piece of paper with a quill and presented it to Lieutenant Florent.

"Is their habitat roughly in this location?"

Lieutenant Andrew Florent took the drawing, looked at it for a while, then took up the pen, revised it again, and returned it to Colonel Ajan Van Dijk.

"Sir, the location is roughly in this place. But I think that when actually sailing, we still need to keep exploring. ... After all, on the sea, the wind direction, current, and the speed of the ship still vary greatly."

Colonel Ayan Van Dijk nodded in agreement with him.Although he didn't like this young lieutenant very much in his heart, he still recognized his seriousness in doing things.

"How big do you estimate the island they occupy?"

"It should be very big!" said Lieutenant Andrew Florent. "After the fleet approached the island, we sailed along the coastline for another day or two before entering the simple dock they built."

"How many are they?"

"There are about 900 civilians, including their crew, a total of [-] to [-] people....Oh, by the way, they seem to have controlled hundreds of indigenous people, helping to drive them to quarry and build roads."

Colonel Aryan Van Dijk shook his head. There were only 900 people, not as many as the nearby natives, and the voyage from Batavia was more than [-] days, so they should belong to an extremely low-threatening force.

"Okay, Lieutenant Florent, take a break and enjoy a rare few days of relaxation. You will be very busy in the future!" Colonel Ayan Van Dijk smiled and wanted to end the current conversation. He needed to go to the municipality to give a brief report to Mr. Ludwig.

"...Okay, sir!" Lieutenant Andrew Florent originally wanted to report on the efficient organization and rapid construction of Jianye City, and the boy named Qi talking about the issue of military standardization.But seeing that Colonel Ayan Van Dijk had lowered his head and started working on some documents, he shut his mouth, saluted, and turned and left the room.Maybe none of these issues matter.

"The people of Sulu have been scattered!" After Hu Wenjin and Cao Xiong inspected the goods in the warehouse area, everyone returned to a large room and began to talk about the events circulating in Batavia.

"That Flang machine, um, is the Spaniard mentioned by Xiaotian, who invaded the island where the Sulu King City is located, and was exhausted by the Sulu people. In early August, the Spaniards had difficulty supplying supplies, half The main force returned to Luzon to replenish supplies. The three hundred Westerners and one thousand natives who stayed on the island stayed behind and stationed in the Sulu King City."

"As a result, the Sulu people attacked at night and defeated the left-behind Westerners and native soldiers in one fell swoop, beheading all the people they captured, whether they were Westerners or vassal natives, and stuck their heads on the seashore with wooden poles. ."

"The number of Westerners who fled back to Luzon by boat was less than thirty. The Westerners were angry, and they gathered a large army to attack Sulu Island, slaughtering any Sulu people they saw. At this point, the Sulu people could only hide in the mountains and forests to avoid the west. People and soldiers are at the forefront. Moreover, looking at the posture, the Westerners are afraid to slaughter the Sulu people. In the original Sulu King City, they fortified the city walls, built fortresses, hoarded materials, and made plans for a long-term siege."

"Fortunately, the Boni Kingdom was afraid of the constant encroachment of the Dutch by the Dutch, and would withdraw all the soldiers who attacked the Sulu to Borneo to fight against the Dutch. Otherwise, the Sulu would have nowhere to go!"

When Cao Xiong heard this, he couldn't help but feel deep sympathy for Sulu.As Qi Tian said, in this era of the strong feeding the weak, the weak cannot even guarantee the right to survive, and only the strong can decide his future and life and death.

Therefore, in order to develop, we must continuously enhance our own strength.Cao Xiong once again felt the same way about Qi Tian's eagerness.

"Old Hu, after we go to Daming, you are here to think of a way to order some war horses, draft horses, and merino sheep from those Westerners. Xiaotian said, the more the better, don't be afraid to spend money I only brought 2 taels of silver to Daming this time, and the rest are treasures from the Boni Kingdom. The remaining 7 to [-] taels of silver are all left to you!" Cao Xiong said solemnly.

"Buying a war horse? Hanzhou doesn't have a strong indigenous force, is that necessary?" Hu Wenjin asked in surprise.

"I bought it back, of course not to hunt savages!" Cao Xiong explained with a smile: "Xiaotian said that the purpose of buying it is to expand the horse population, so that we can improve the horses from Daming in the future. We are in Jianye If there are more than 100 cavalry in the city, they can control the surrounding area for three or four hundred miles!"

Batavia, City Hall.

"They're back?" Connet Ludwig raised his head, looked at Colonel Ajan Van Dijk, and smiled.

"Colonel Van Dijk, aren't you troubled by the inability to dispatch ships to those Borneo colonies three days later? Now, you don't have to worry about it. It seems that there is a good support fleet with you here!"

"...Huh? Mr. Ludwig wants us to help transport immigrants and materials to Borneo?" Cao Xiong looked at Mr. Ludwig's red-bearded butler, Anri Credo, in astonishment.

"Yes, Mr. Chao." Anri Credo said with a smile: "Mr. Ludwig specifically asked me to ask you if you would like to help the East India Company transport a batch of personnel and materials on the way to the Ming Kingdom. Of course, in return, the company will give you some artillery guns for free, ... and a boatload of spices, half price."

Cao Xiong nodded, transporting a shipment of spices at half price to Daming would earn 3 to [-] taels of silver, which can be regarded as extremely favorable conditions.

Going to Daming, you have to pass through Borneo anyway, so go there.After all, it was the first time the Dutch had asked him for such a favor.

(End of this chapter)