1635 Han style rises again

On April 1659, 4, Guangning Fort (now Cilegon City in the northwest of Java Island, Indonesia).

Ishizuka Junichi led a dozen soldiers to a valley, and under the guidance of two farmers, he looked towards the stream ahead.I saw more than 20 natives gathered there, with a few goats lying down beside them, and the scene was a lake of flesh and blood. They seemed to be dividing up the mutton, and they were screaming excitedly from time to time.

"Are you sure where are the two lost sheep?" Ishizuka Junichi asked in a low voice, holding the long knife at his waist.

"Captain, our two lost goats must have been caught by these natives. Look, God damn it, they have already slaughtered the goats. Half an hour ago, the old Zhang family His daughter-in-law even came forward to ask for it, and not only was she rejected by them, but she also acted thieves, trying to plot something wrong! So, why don't we find you quickly." A thin man said angrily, his hands clenched Holding a spear tightly.

"These natives are so brave that they dare to plunder the livestock of our country of Qi." Ishizuka Junichi slowly drew out his long knife, turned to the soldiers with a fierce face and said, "Masters, the natives are savages. Bullying our villagers, this trend must not be encouraged, and must be severely punished. Now, I will take you there to recover the captive livestock and demand corresponding compensation."

"Captain, we all listen to you. If these natives dare to refuse, we will kill them all!"

"These barbarians, it's not easy to teach them a lesson, maybe they will come to our territory to make trouble in the future! We must teach them a lesson!"

"Ishizuka-kun, we will firmly follow you and teach those barbarians a lesson..."

More than a dozen village soldiers who came with them waved their swords and spears in their hands, and they were so angry that they didn't pay attention to the more than 20 natives in front of them.

Ishizuka Chunichi was born in the loyal and righteous army of the Qi State. After three years of service, he obtained the identity of the Qi State and came to settle in Guangning Fort with the immigrant ship.Here, [-] mu of land has been allocated, including paddy fields, dry land, and some forest land.

Because this place is a relatively important military stronghold of the Qi State, besides daily farming, the local young and strong men need to spare time every ten days to conduct a certain degree of military training with the local garrison.

In return, these settled immigrants will take a very low percentage of the annual agricultural harvest, and from time to time, they will also get some low-priced daily necessities shipped from the Xuanhua (now Timor Island) area.Although the small life is not considered rich, it is also well-fed and well-fed. Compared with Japan back then, it is much better.What's more, you can still eat rice that daimyo and gongqing can often eat from time to time.

It is said that in the next few years, the government will buy some women from Annan, Johor, and India, and distribute them to them so that they can start a family, start a business, and reproduce.

Therefore, as a wandering samurai who used to be wandering and helpless, Junichi Ishizuka was grateful from the bottom of his heart for everything that Qi State had given him, and decided to defend the country with all his might to express his loyalty and Chicheng.

He knew that the land they occupied now belonged to the Kingdom of Banten, but it was forcibly leased by relying on the power of Qi and the incompetence of the natives.But he took it for granted that in this world, the strong should be respected and the weak should submit.This piece of land, no matter what the situation is, should belong to our Great Qi Kingdom.

...

During the nearly two years of living in Guangning Fort, they took advantage of the strong national power of the Qi State to continuously expand towards the borders of the surrounding natives.Today, with Guangning Fort as the core, the area with a radius of three or four miles has become the scope of the Qi State's leased land, far exceeding the area specified in the lease contract back then.However, from Ishizuka Junichi's point of view, this is not enough. It is better to occupy all the fertile and vast plains southeast of Fort Guangning.In this way, the living space of Guangning Fort can be greatly expanded and improved.

How unfair it is that the natives here are lazy and stupid and have such fertile land!

With a bit of disdain and contempt, Ishizuka Junyi led more than a dozen local soldiers aggressively to the group of natives who were slaughtering and dividing up the mutton, loudly ordered them to put down their knives and tools, and all knelt down on the ground.

The group of natives suddenly saw Qi Guoxiang soldiers surrounding them with knives and guns, and suddenly panicked, shouting loudly, as if they were trying to distinguish something.

"Put down the knife!" Ishizuka Junyi pointed at a native holding a broken blade with a long knife in his hand, and yelled, "Everyone, put down your weapons and tools. Those who resist will be killed!"

Seeing a group of soldiers from the Qi State with obvious malicious intentions, these natives were startled and angry. They couldn't understand for a while why these Qi State people would cross the border and come to them, threatening them with knives and guns.Could it be that they want to snatch the mutton here and kill us?
A terrified native with a bit of fear on his face suddenly turned his head and ran back, trying to break out of the loose encirclement of the Qi country soldiers, shouting something loudly.

"Ah!" Before the native could run far, a village soldier stood up and stabbed him with a spear, knocking him to the ground.

"Kill!" Seeing the natives start to stir, Shi Zhongchun yelled, brandished his long knife and slashed at the natives in front of him.

Years of military training, coupled with well-equipped armor and swords, Ishizuka Junichi and other local soldiers killed 15 natives and escaped [-] with only three minor injuries and one serious injury.They then took advantage of the situation to plunder the nearby tribe.

When a group of Marine Corps soldiers came after hearing the news, they found that this group of lawless local soldiers, leading cattle and sheep, driving chickens and ducks, and carrying large and small bags of looted property in their hands, happily hurried back.

"Damn it, these country soldiers, indiscriminately, murdered the native tribes over there. Damn, isn't it provoking trouble?" Song Bingxu, the commander of Guangning Fort, could not help cursing after learning about this. Again and again.

"I heard that the natives over there robbed our villagers of two sheep." Niu Yuanfeng, Captain Renyong (Lieutenant) of the Marine Corps stationed at Guangning Fort, said thoughtfully: "So, the natives were attacked by us." It is also reasonable for the villagers to fight back."

"But, didn't you say later that the two sheep that the villager lost were found again?"

"Really?" Niu Yuanfeng blinked, "Those natives crossed the border to our Guangning Fort border, robbed livestock, killed and wounded villagers, and then left. For this, our Guangning Fort should send people to the Wandan Kingdom , issued a serious protest, and demanded the murderer."

"...Huh?" Song Bingxu looked at Niu Yuanfeng in astonishment, you are talking nonsense, slandering someone as a thief, and beating him up!

...

"Commander Song, don't you think the scope of our Guangning Fort's control is too small?" Niu Yuanfeng said fiercely: "Besides, this land is leased to the Wandan Kingdom. What's even more annoying is that they still want to I am determined to take back this piece of land. You must know that the Guangning Strait (Sunda Strait) is guarded here, which is the key to the mainland of Hanzhou. How can it not be in the hands of Qi. So, we might as well go through this incident, Get this out of the way once and for all."

"Completely solve it?" Song Bingxu looked at Niu Yuanfeng, who was eager to try, and felt tens of thousands of grass and mud horses galloping past. These soldiers are not too serious, but they want to use this oolong incident of the loss of livestock to provoke a war with the Kingdom of Wandan , and then completely occupy the land of Guangning, mastering this important sea port.

"If we do this, does it count as... being good at provoking sidelines?" Song Bingxu asked with some concern.

"It was the natives who crossed the border to provoke first, and I, Guangning Fort, fought back later." Niu Yuanfeng said eloquently: "So, this is not a dispute we provoked on our own initiative."

"But..., but we only have one land company of yours in Guangning Fort. Even if we mobilize all the township soldiers, there are only two or three hundred people. There is more than enough defense but not enough offense. How can we forcibly challenge the Wandan Kingdom?"

"Immediately dispatch the Flying Fish Clippers to seek help from Dog Island (now Christmas Island, Australia) and Xuanhua."

"Isn't this the case? What if the Wandan Kingdom surrenders and admits its mistakes, handing over the murderers who killed and wounded our villagers, and paying certain compensation, suppressing the matter. What should we do?"

"Huh?" Niu Yuanfeng frowned as he looked at the somewhat pedantic Guangning Fort commander.We have found such a good excuse for war for the Daqi Kingdom to seize control of both sides of the strait and fully grasp this key sea point. What are you writing about?

When Niu Yuanfeng returned to the barracks, he immediately found the village soldier captain Ishizuka Junichi who provoked the incident.

Looking at Niu Yuanfeng with a serious face, Shizuka Junyi couldn't help feeling uneasy.Last night, when they returned to Guangning Fort with a full harvest, they were shocked to learn that the two goats lost by the villager had been found again.Immediately realized that he might have killed those natives by mistake, and led more than a dozen village soldiers to loot the tribe in retaliation.This may have brought serious diplomatic disputes to the adults above, and even caused unnecessary troubles to Qi.

"Sir, I did something wrong." Ishizuka Junyi bowed deeply to Niu Yuanfeng, "All the guilt is borne by me alone. Please don't punish other town soldiers. Please!"

"You're right." Niu Yuanfeng smiled and patted Ishizuka Junichi's shoulder, "Guarding the villagers and protecting our property, what's wrong?"

"Sir..." Shizuka Junyi looked at Niu Yuanfeng in astonishment.

"A few natives, if you kill them, you will be killed." Niu Yuanfeng said indifferently: "But now, we still need to deal with the aftermath. Are you willing to do it?"

"Please order, sir, I will die!"

"Go to the Kingdom of Wandan." Niu Yuanfeng handed him the saber that Shizuka Junyi had untied, "The Kingdom of Wandan must give an explanation for this unprovoked invasion of our Guangning territory and the killing of the villagers of our country. So..., you go and give them an ultimatum!"

...
-

April 4, Batavia.

"If our East India Company increases the purchase of cotton cloth from Hanzhou, what can we gain from it?" Victor Flores, the senior commercial counselor of the Dutch East India Company, looked at the representative of Qi State in Batavia with a smile. Peng Zhonghui, "You know, the quality and price of Indian cotton cloth is not much worse than your Hanzhou common cotton cloth. In addition, our merchant ships can carry a large amount of goods for sale in India, and they can be shipped directly after the space is vacated. Indian cotton cloth, return to Europe. If you purchase additional cotton cloth from Hanzhou, it will take up a lot of space."

"We can promise that the two types of commodities we export, glass products and hardware products, will be reduced by ten points on the original basis. I think the extra profit will be enough to make up for your so-called empty freight. " Peng Zhonghui said solemnly.

"Is there any more?" Victor Flores had a gleam of surprise in his eyes.

"Depending on the amount of cotton cloth your East India Company purchases, we can appropriately reduce the import taxes and fees on your cetacean products." Peng Zhonghui said, "I think this should be a good deal for the dozens of whaling ships under your East India Company." It's good news."

"Really?" Victor Flores leaned back on his chair lightly, "But, I think the benefits to you Hanzhou of relaxing the import control of cetacean products are far greater than those hard work. The profits of the whaling warriors."

"Oh, that's it!" Peng Zhonghui shook his head, "Mr. Flores, you must know that in the whaling industry, the whaling ships under your East India Company are far behind in terms of technology and scale. It far exceeds the whaling fleet of our country. In order to protect their income, we can completely ban the entry of your cetacean products. As the largest consumer of whale oil, although our domestic whaling fleet supply is not very large, But it is not a problem to meet the needs of millions of residents in our country."

Since more than ten years ago, many whaling fleets in the Netherlands learned that there were a large number of whales distributed in the southern waters of Hanzhou, and they flocked to hunt and kill whales in this sea area.In this regard, some local whaling personnel in Qi State have continuously reported to the government, demanding that these outsiders be expelled by force, and the import of the cetacean products they catch is prohibited.

However, with the vigorous development of Qi's industry, there is a huge demand for whale oil. If only those two-handed whalers in China provide whale oil, it may not be able to meet the needs of the industry at all.In addition, the domestic population is growing rapidly, and the consumption of lamp oil for residents' lighting is also increasing day by day.Therefore, for these foreign whaling ships, the government of Qi State is still reluctant to expel them.

However, the necessary maintenance of sea rights is still necessary.For this reason, the Qi government conducted several rounds of negotiations with the Dutch East India Company and decided to regulate and restrain these whaling ships.It is required that the whaling ships of these many single gangs must be registered with the East India Company and be managed by it, and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs of Qi State will issue whaling licenses before they can enter the vast waters of southern Hanzhou to hunt whales.

As for those whaling ships without any formalities, the local fleet under the Qi State Navy would send warships to inspect the east and west coasts of Hanzhou and the southern waters from time to time.Once a whaling ship without any formalities is found, all persons and ships will be seized.Although those innocent detained ship owners and sailors continued to protest, saying that this ocean should belong to the international public waters.Qi's violent "law enforcement" does not have any public international law and maritime traditions, and is a kind of banditry.

...

However, the rude Qi naval officers and soldiers ignored these unnecessary protests and expelled them after imposing a high fine.If the fine cannot be paid, the ship will be confiscated and the personnel will be forcibly sentenced to one year of hard labor.

In this regard, although the Dutch East India Company complained in their hearts, they paid an extra sum of money for the management and calling fees of whaling ships every year, so they shut their mouths knowingly, and only paid for those poor whalers. With deep sympathy.

After several days of trade negotiations, the East India Company finally agreed to purchase no less than 30 pieces of cotton cloth from Qi each year, and in the next five years, depending on the sales situation in Europe, they will negotiate whether to increase or decrease the purchase volume .

"Mr. Flores, I wonder if your East India Company is interested in changing the border of Batavia a little bit?" After talking about the trade issue, Peng Zhonghui seemed a little relaxed, took a sip of the green tea in his cup, and smiled. asked.

"Dear Peng, I don't understand what you mean." Victor Flores froze for a moment, looking at the other party through the smoke surrounding the teacup.

"I think that your Batavia's eastern border can be extended to the Chisada Ni River, suppressing the forces of the Banten Kingdom to the west." Peng Zhonghui said with a smile.

"Oh?" Victor Flores seemed to hear something from it, "Then where is your Hanzhou planning to expand the eastern border of Guangning Fort?"

"Wandan River." Peng Zhonghui said casually.

"You...you Hanzhou have such a big appetite!" Victor Flores was stunned for a moment, and then said with a wry smile: "The royal city of the Wandan Kingdom is on the Bank of the Wandan River!"