1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 298 "Cow Island"

"Are there still many people suffering from malaria in Xinxiangbao?"

After staying in Xinxiangbao for three or four days, Qi Tian and Chen Dalang inspected five or six nearby settlements, and it seemed that everything was in good condition.The people are generally quite satisfied with their current life. Not only do they have clothes and houses to live in, but they can also eat a full stomach every day, and they can also eat some seafood and fish and shrimp from time to time.

Although, occasionally, natives would come out of the forest to attack the villages and towns, taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the villagers, stealing some clothes and food, and if they were not careful, they would be infected with malaria.But all of this is far better than starving to death in Daming.

"I tried to raise fish in reservoirs and rice fields last year, and used the fish to eat the eggs laid by mosquitoes. The effect is still there, and the number of mosquitoes is much less than before. However, mosquitoes are still unavoidable in the fields on the edge of the jungle. Gather. Since the beginning of this year, twelve immigrants have died of malaria, but this is slightly less than last year." Chen Dalang shook his head and said.

If the island were mosquito-free and malaria-free, it would be a real gem.

"Old ghost Peng has been trying to figure out how to prevent and treat malaria, but..." Qi Tian also shook his head.During this period, there was basically no treatment for malaria in tropical areas, especially tropical rainforests, and only prevention was possible.However, Hanzhou has done a good enough job in this regard.

Don't you see, Kupang in the southwest of Timor Island, which was first controlled by the Dutch, has developed for decades. Up to now, there are 40 or [-] East India Company employees and mercenaries who die every year.In the entire Kupang and several nearby strongholds, there are only four to five hundred people from the European East India Company.Even in Batavia, the center of their rule in the East Indies, close to a hundred people die of malaria every year.

Therefore, Qi Tian coveted the cinchona trees produced in the Peruvian region of South America controlled by the Spanish, and once wanted to wait for them to come to Hanzhou to redeem the captives and extort some cinchona bark and saplings.Even if the occurrence of malaria cannot be completely eradicated, at least more lives can be saved by taking anti-malarial cinchona bark powder afterwards.

Otherwise, it would be a very regrettable thing for both Hanzhou and the immigrants themselves to pull immigrants from Daming all the way, and because of a momentary negligence, they would contract malaria and die immediately.

"Director, our Xinxiangbao is expanding to the west, can the mainland of Hanzhou support some small boats." Chen Dalang put aside the annoying topic of malaria, and chatted with Qi Tian about how to expand to the west.

"No problem." Qi Tian happily nodded in agreement, "After returning, ask Jianye Shipyard to produce more galleys. You can take a boat along the coast to the west and build colonization points when you choose. And there are many rivers on the island. There is no problem with some small boats under a hundred tons. After all, water transportation is much faster and more convenient than traveling through the jungle!"

"I don't know which rivers can lead to the vicinity of Dili City." As soon as Chen Dalang finished speaking, he regretted it.Qi Dalu is still in Dili City, and the Dutch fleet is still blocking the Dili Port. So far, no news has been sent back, and no one knows what the situation is.

Qi Tian couldn't help but looked towards the north, feeling a little worried.When leaving Jianye Port, the third sister-in-law Su Miaoyan was hesitant to speak, clearly worried about Qi Dalu's safety, but in the end she didn't come to ask about his situation.

"Where is Feiyu 1 now?" Qi Tian asked.

"A few months ago, when Commander Qi Er attacked Ambon, he occupied an island in the east. Li Gengsheng delivered some supplies to the left-behind people on the island more than ten days ago. I guess he will come back in a few days." Chen Dalang said : "At that time, I will ask him to go to Dili Port to find out the situation."

Qi Tian is silent. It has been more than five months since the war with the Netherlands at the end of October last year. What is the situation in Dili City?

"Considering that the conditions of your fields here are relatively good, and there is also a large amount of forest land. When granting land to those immigrants who have reached the age of three years, you might as well limit it to [-] mu. As for how to divide the cultivated land and forest land, your Xinsheng Castle will formulate a plan according to the actual situation. Come up with a plan."

Qi Tian saw many captured island natives in the farmland, driven by the soldiers, working hard.In the past, these natives just randomly inserted rice seedlings into the field, or grabbed a handful of sago seeds and sprinkled them on the ground, and then waited for the harvest.For them, such intensive farming in the field has never happened before, which makes these lazy natives very uncomfortable.If they were not afraid of Master Hanzhou's whip, they would surely lie down in the wooden house and sleep comfortably.

"Boss, Commander, the flying fish boat is back." A village soldier happily ran up to the two, "They also brought back two buffaloes!"

Qi Tian and Chen Dalang looked at each other, thinking in their hearts, could it be that the sailors of "Flying Fish 1" robbed the native tribe on a certain island?
-----------

The former commander of the Batavia fleet, Colonel Aryan Van Dijk, stood at the bow of the ship with a silent expression, looking at Batavia, which he had served for ten years.For ten years, I have fought and worked hard for it, but now, I am leaving in such a very disgraceful way.In addition to unwillingness, there was more anger and resentment in his heart.

Returning to Europe by boat today, no one, whether it was the former colleagues of the Batavia fleet or other mid-level and senior staff of the East India Company, came to give some.It seemed that it was just an ordinary Netherlander who left, a little man who had served the East India Company.

For this, Colonel Aryan Van Dijk is even more resentful. Batavia is a group of snobbish and snobbish people. You will definitely pay the price for your actions.

The rumble of cannons was faintly heard in the distance. It was sporadic fighting in the Dutch stronghold on the eastern outskirts of Batavia.After a month of bitter fighting, the mighty Matalan Sultan Kingdom has successively cleared several former strongholds of the East India Company on the outskirts of Batavia.

As many as 8000 soldiers of the Kingdom of Mataland appeared in the eastern and southern suburbs of Batavia.For this reason, the entire city has been fully mobilized. Mercenaries, ordinary company employees, colonial officials, and even sailors who have no transport mission ships near the docks have taken up arms and gathered near the city walls to resist the attack of the natives.

The ship that Colonel Aryan Van Dijk is on will, together with six other armed merchant ships, carry a large amount of spices, Ming Dynasty porcelain, silk, and part of the profits turned over by the company last year. Earth, back to Europe.

He was about to leave Batavia, and he was going to Europe to enjoy the countless wealth he had accumulated over the years, and he would no longer have anything to do with the humid, hot, and disease-prevalent East Indies.Colonel Aryan Van Dijk looked coldly at the shipyard on the west side of the port, and said softly: "Destroy, everything is behind me, destroy!"

In the shipyard on the west side of Batavia Port, because most of the Dutch armed forces have been transferred to the east and south of the city to deal with the attack of the Kingdom of Mataland.As a result, the huge port area is only guarded and defended by seven or eight armed merchant ships and pier fort soldiers.And their attention is always on the sea outside the port.
-
"We didn't rob any native tribe!" Li Gengsheng said with a smile: "These two buffaloes were caught on that island. When the left-behind soldiers drove the captives from Ambon to cut trees in the forest, they found a pond There were seven or eight wild buffaloes here, so I caught them. These goddamn buffaloes couldn't bear their hunger, so they ate two of them in half a month."

"They only found seven or eight wild buffaloes on the island?" Chen Dalang asked, "Have you continued to explore the forest, maybe you can find more buffaloes?"

The buffalo is a good way to plow the land, which can greatly reduce the burden of the farmers on the farmland, and has a great role in promoting the agricultural production of Hanzhou.By the end of last year (1638), there were more than 460 horses, more than 750 cattle, more than 800 sheep, and more than 300 donkeys and mules in the mainland of Hanzhou.These large animals are far from meeting the farmland demands of Hanzhou farmers.

Therefore, whether it is the Hanzhou mainland, Xinxiang, Weiyuan and other outlying island territories, the demand for large livestock is extremely eager.

"They continued to investigate deep into the forest, but they only found three wild buffaloes." Li Gengsheng said: "Later, they felt that the environment in the deep forest was unknown, and there were many mosquitoes, snakes and ants, so they stopped investigating."

"Since wild buffalo can be found from the coast, there must be more wild buffalo in the dense forest deep in the island." Qi Tian said: "We must organize people to go to the island to catch these wild buffalo!"

"Get more natives over there, and let them explore the way ahead!" Chen Dalang continued, "Bring some buffaloes back, and we can share more in Xinxiangbao."

Xinxiangbao immediately mobilized more than 50 rural soldiers, picked more than 200 natives, carried hunting tools and a large amount of food supplies, and shipped them to the "Yangbo". When they went to Weiyuanbao, they transported them to the island with wild buffaloes superior.

"Since this island may provide us with a large number of wild buffaloes in Hanzhou, why not call it Niu Island!" Sun Guangping, the captain of the Yangbo, said to Qi Tian with a smile.

"Niu Dao?" Qi Tian was taken aback, remembering that there was a small island near Jeju Island in Bangzi Country called Niu Dao, a relatively famous tourist destination.The whole island is shaped like a lying cow, hence the name "Cow Island".Should our current island, where a large number of wild buffaloes have been found, also be called this name?

"Okay, from now on this island will be called Niu Island." Qi Tian said, "We are Niu Island in Hanzhou."

(End of this chapter)