Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 103 Guandu Base
"We plan to agree to Shopkeeper Lin's request and ask the great wizard to divine." A group of elders surrounded Wu Lang's mother and said.

Wu's mother is over 60 years old. She has experienced several men in her life and has more than ten children. Wu Lang is her youngest son.

The old woman's eyesight was no longer working well, and she had been sitting there half-closed. Only when she heard the sound of cannons, her eyes suddenly widened.

Although she has never left Tamsui River Estuary in her life, this place is not closed, so she has experienced many things. The first man in her life was killed by a cannonball.

In that sudden disaster, many people died in the village. Elderly people like her still remember it vividly, and the fear that penetrated their bones has not been diluted by half a century.

"I had a dream last night." Wu Mu's voice was low and slow, with a strange accent.

"I dreamed of my distant ancestor. He told me that my youngest son was about to return to the village. The messenger of the ancestral spirit would come with him and bring long-term peace and prosperity to the village..."

Most of the elders were overjoyed when they heard this. Basai people have many divination methods, including bird divination, stone divination, water divination, bamboo divination and grass divination, but it is said that the most effective one is dream divination.

Their belief is animistic, which originated in the Paleolithic Age. The most important spirits to the village community are the dead spirits of their ancestors.

Since it was the ancestral spirit who entrusted the dream, there was nothing wrong with it. In this case, the Ming people in front of them were the messengers who brought them the gospel.

But there are a few people who are relatively calm, especially the older man who was elected to talk to Lin Hai. His eyes are even full of worry.

But he didn't say much. He had personally experienced the disaster half a century ago, so he understood the great wizard's intention.

They had no room for resistance against the Ming people in front of them. As for whether agreeing to his request was a blessing or a curse, they could only leave it to fate.

Although the great wizard's eyes were cloudy, his heart was still sharp.

The willingness of both parties to cooperate was thus reached, and Lin Hai couldn't help but secretly sigh that it was better for the cannon to speak for itself.

The Dutch ruled the entire island's indigenous villages with guns and cannons alone, but it took more than 20 years. He didn't plan to take that long, so he chose to find a native king to support him.

Hundreds of chainmail shirts and more than 300 steel knives were quickly handed over to the Shabari Society. Almost all the young and strong men in the village came out and paddled canoes to the other side early the next morning, preparing to bloodbath the Balizo Society.

Lin Hai did not go over to join in the fun. Firstly, the people in the Shabari Society did not want him to go with them. Secondly, he was really not interested in watching this kind of village fight.

The Gump lowered a small boat and sailed up the Tamsui River.

Lin Hai was sitting on the small boat and saw undulating hills on both sides of the river. The ancient trees on the mountains were towering, and the grass was everywhere under the mountains. There were wild hazelnuts everywhere, and there seemed to be little traces of human modification.

At this time, the population density of Dongfan was very low. The total number of indigenous people on the island was only 30 to [-]. This led to the formation of a population mediation mechanism like Chucao.

There is nothing we can do about it. The productivity of fishing, hunting, gathering, and wandering farming is so low.Based on the natural conditions of Baodao, if we have agricultural technology comparable to that of the Ming Dynasty, it should be no problem to increase the population ten times. This is really a virgin land that needs to be developed.

"Ba Lao, have you been to this Tamsui River before?" The boat traveled about eight or nine miles, and Lin Hai suddenly asked Yuan Jin beside him.

"Returning to Mr. Lin, I have been to Tamsui Port, but I have never gone deep into the interior." Yuan Jin's attitude was respectful.

Lin Hai chatted with him these days when he had nothing to do, asking about the customs and customs of Dongfan. He also mentioned that he had donated a thousand households in Zhoushan.

Regarding the future arrangements for these prisoners, Lin Hai also informed him that everyone, including him and Wang Minzheng, would be placed in Dongfan.

Like Wang Minzheng, Yuan Jin and his dozen or so soldiers were exempted from slave status in advance and were responsible for managing other prisoners without having to work hard for three years.

Of course, this is just what Lin Hai said.

This time he came to Toban and brought more than 200 ronin led by Umino Zuobei, all of whom were Ou Huayu's old troops. Ou Zuoji continued to stay in Nagasaki to recruit troops, and would go to sea with him after receiving the Zhusin Certificate. Convergence.

At present, these ronin are actually responsible for guarding the prisoners. If they can be regarded as prison guards, then Yuan Jin and his soldiers can at best be regarded as the prison bosses appointed by Lin Hai, and they are essentially the objects of imprisonment.

Yuan Jin knew this very well, but he didn't have any extravagant expectations. To be honest, if he committed the shocking crime of robbing the mission, he would definitely kill all the prisoners and Lin Hai could give them a way to survive. It's already been extremely merciful.

"You will live here permanently in the future. You have been in the north for a few years. Are you still used to the climate here?" Lin Hai then asked.

"Master Xie Lin is concerned. I am originally from Fujian, so there is nothing wrong with me." Yuan Jin's attitude was still respectful, but his tone was cold.

Lin Hai didn't feel dissatisfied with this. After all, Yuan Jin had a young family in Dengzhou, and his life and death were still uncertain. It was impossible to make Yuan Jin appreciate his kindness of not killing.

"In the opinion of the eight elders, what kind of place would be better for me to choose?" Lin Hai continued to ask as if nothing had happened.

The reason why he wanted to go upstream in a small boat was to find a place on the north bank of Tamsui River as the initial base for colonizing Dongpan.

"That place is good." Yuan Jin pointed to a flat land covered with grass in front of the left side of the boat.

Not far in front of the plain, there is a tributary about dozens of feet wide that merges into the Tamsui River. Both sides of the tributary are covered with tall and lush trees.

"Ba Lao, tell me, why is this place good?"

"This land is wide and relatively flat. Moreover, water transportation is convenient, and it will be convenient to do business with other native villages in the future. Also, I don't know what the name of the river is. There are many trees on both sides. After cutting them, It can float down in the water and is also convenient for building houses.”

"Heroes see the same thing. The Eight Elders are indeed seniors who have colonized Dongfan. They are indeed rich in experience." Lin Hai clapped his hands and laughed. He had performed missions on Treasure Island in later generations, so he knew the origin of that tributary. name.

That tributary was called the Keelung River in later generations. It is the only river in Baodao that can be named a river. The other is the Tamsui River that the Keelung River merges into.

There are only two rivers in Dongfan that can be fully navigable. They are both in the same water system. The place where the two rivers meet is named Guandu in later generations.

The Keelung River is more than 170 miles long, and its radiation range is not too small. Although it cannot go directly to Keelung Port, it flows not far from Keelung Port.

For Lin Hai, this is also an important material transportation channel in the future, connecting the Tamsui Immigration Base and Keelung Military Port. After all, ocean transportation is more affected by weather, and inland water transportation is more reliable.

In addition, the minerals in the northern part of Baodao are mainly in the Keelung River Basin, except for sulfur in the Datun Mountains, which is closer to the Tamsui River.Lin Hai didn't need to tell Yuan Jin about this. He was quite satisfied with Yuan Jin's answer. This person didn't seem to be an ungrateful person.

Thinking of this, Lin Hai said to Yuan Jin: "Ba Lao, I heard that you have a young family in Dengzhou. I wonder if you have any tokens that can win the trust of your family?"

Yuan Jin was a little confused when he heard this, and he didn't realize what Lin Hai meant.

Just listen to Lin Hai say again: "After I return to the Ming Dynasty, I will immediately send people to Dengzhou to find out the news. If your family members are arrested by the government, no matter how much money I spend, I will try to rescue them and get them to Dongfan to reunite with you. .”

"Seriously?" Yuan Jin couldn't stand it anymore, "If Lin Qianhu can really rescue Yuan's family, Yuan Ba's life will be sold to you from now on!"

"The old man said something serious. You are a senior colonizer in the east, and you are familiar with both the south and the north. Lin will definitely be able to borrow from you in the future."

Although Lin Hai said this, he knew in his heart that Yuan Jin would never be able to leave Dongfan unless one day he was strong enough and was not afraid of the truth of the heinous crime of robbing the mission being revealed.

He believed that this day would not last long. After all, during the Chongzhen period, the world was in a different situation.Slavery was rampant and rogue bandits were on the rise. Even Zhang Yichuan, who had plundered the Zhu family's ancestral graves, could be recruited. As long as he had a strong army, no one would dare to accuse him.

After Lin Hai and others returned to the mouth of Tamsui River, the Shabari Society's revenge against the Baliza Society had been completely victorious.

The battle process was very short. With the armor and weapons provided by Lin Hai, the battle situation showed a one-sided trend from the beginning, and the Shabari Society won effortlessly.

Seeing that the situation was not good, everyone in Baliza Community quickly abandoned the village community and fled. The fishing, hunting and nomadic people are so free and easy, and do not have as many constraints as settled farmers.

The Shabarians looted their warehouses, then set fire to Balizashe, and then went out in groups to raid their crops, and the large army returned in triumph.

However, Wu Lang did not return to Shabari Society until dark. He chased him all the way into the dense forest and ran for more than ten miles on the mountain road to get three heads. He won the championship in the Gartou Competition and was worthy of the first place of the Basai people. The title of a warrior.

The three heads are all young and strong men, which is already a pretty good record.After all, the natives may not be very good at fighting, but their ability to escape is extremely good.

Ten years later, the Dutch chief executive Putsmann personally led 29 soldiers equipped with matchlocks and attacked Madou Society with his ally Xingang Society. The latter had a population of three to four thousand, but only [-] people were killed in total. people.All the captured heads were taken away by the natives of Xingang Society, many of whom were old, weak, women and children.

Early the next morning, the Shabari people gathered around the first altar to hold sacrifices. Although Wulang had joined the Zhenjinbaoli Society, the two societies shared the same ancestral spirit, so they were invited to participate.

After the sacrifice, Lin Hai asked the Shabari Society for the land near Guandu.In accordance with the agreement, the Presbyterian Church allocated about a thousand acres of flat land to him and presented him with a sapling. This is a symbol of land delivery in Dongfan indigenous customs.

The work of logging and building houses began that afternoon, and Lin Hai specially invited Wu Lang to visit Guandu.

"The iron guy is easy to use. Such a big tree was knocked down easily. What did you call this iron guy just now?" Wu Lang witnessed the process of the prisoners on the Ganfu using saws to cut down the wood. No. The first conversation with Lun was without exclamation.

"What did he say?" Lin Hai asked Lun No. [-].

"He said it would be easier to chop down trees with an iron tool." Lun Yi's translation was concise and to the point.

"Don't you use iron tools to chop down trees?" Lin Hai asked Wu Lang with great interest after hearing this, "I think the big tree you used to build the canoe is much thicker than this one."

"Are you talking about using an iron knife or an iron axe?" Wu Lang shook his head repeatedly after hearing this, "We are reluctant to use these treasures to chop down big trees, we use fire."

"Use fire?" Lin Hai was a little surprised. He knew that the iron weapons of the Dongfan natives were very few, and they were mainly iron arrowheads or spear heads, so knives and axes could be considered treasures, but he did not expect that the natives would actually use them. Fire comes to cut down trees.

"Yes, use fire." Wu Lang explained with words and gestures, and it took him a long time to explain clearly to Lun Yi, who then relayed it to Lin Hai using both hand and mouth.

It turns out that the Dongfan people cut a flat hole in the big tree first, then piled charcoal and fish oil inside, then ignited the fuel, and then used a reed pipe to blow towards the expected section until the area near the section was burned to a soft Coke, and with one last push, the tree fell.

Although this method is complicated, it is not low in efficiency. Although it is far not as fast as a saw, it is not much different than a knife or ax.

Lin Hai was amazed after hearing this. He didn't know that this was a great crystallization of human wisdom in the Stone Age. In his original time and space in Cambodia, there were still people who still used this tree-cutting method that was born tens of thousands of years ago.

"Is your canoe made in this way?" Lin Hai suddenly remembered that some strange black burnt surfaces can often be seen on the canoes of the indigenous people. Now he thought they were traces of fire.

"Yes, we cover the area that does not need to be hollowed out with wet mud, and then bake the area that needs to be hollowed out with fire. Once it is soft, we use a stone ax to chisel it. After digging a layer, we continue to bake it until the ship is dug out. shape."

What Wu Lang is talking about is actually the fire-scorching method. It is probably because making canoes is more delicate than cutting wood, so they did not use fire directly, but roasted it. This efficiency can naturally be imagined.

After the raft, our ancestors relied on the fire-scorching method to create the second type of water vehicle in human history - the canoe.

This is a unique achievement of Homo sapiens. None of the previous Homo erectus, including Neanderthals and Denisovans, invented this technology, and therefore never reached the Americas and Oceania.

"Wulang, do you want to come with me to the Ming Dynasty? There are many good things in the Ming Dynasty that you have never heard of, especially the variety of shochu. What you drank in Keelung is not a good wine at all." Lin Hai smiled and said. Di said to Wu Lang.

More than ten days later, a bamboo fence was built on the wasteland of Guandu, and more than 200 simple thatched houses were built inside, all modeled after the indigenous stilt houses.

This type of dry-rail building is indeed suitable for humid and rainy wilderness areas. It can not only prevent waterlogging but also prevent wild animals.The only thing is that I am more afraid of typhoons. Fortunately, it is easy to build and I don’t feel bad if the house collapses.

In Southeast Asia of this era, everyone from princes and nobles to common people lived in this type of house, which they called an att house. The social status of the owner of the house could be basically judged by the number of pillars under the att house.

Lin Hai also planned to widely adopt atap houses in the early colonial period. This is the result of Southeast Asian people voting with their feet for thousands of years, which fully illustrates its practicality.

Lin Hai left half a year's worth of food and set off back to Fujian. Wu Lang was tempted by the wine and boarded the Ganfu again, so Lun Yi naturally wanted to go with him.

Before leaving, Yuan Jin, Umino Zuobei and others said goodbye at the mouth of Tamsui River.Lun first saw that Zhang Yong was not on the ship, so he asked Lin Haidao: "Isn't Yong going to Fujian?"

Lin Hai replied: "He still has something to do here."

Lun saw that Lin Hai didn't say much, so he stopped asking.

　Thanks to the Yuan Ying period ancestor for the reward of 2000 taels of silver!Thanks to Zhouguang Walker for the reward of 1500 taels of silver!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)