Daming Yinghua

"Mr. Lufen, the one on the top of the mountain is the Mazu Temple built by the Chinese. It is said that it can protect them from going to sea safely."

"Yes Gullit, I see, that funny smoking house, like our bakery in Batavia. We should tear it down and build our own church in Formosa .”

In Bengang, a warm and pleasant island of Taiwan, Gullit, a Dutch businessman who had dealt with Zheng Haizhu more than once, was introducing the terrain near the port to Ruffin, a fleet officer of the East India Company.

Not far from them, sailors from various countries are pushing carts with wooden barrels to fetch fresh water from the river.

This natural harbor in the north of Taiwan Island has a village formed by the aborigines Pingpu people for generations, and Datun Mountain as a striking navigation pointer. After the world entered the era of great navigation, it soon became the European fleet that came to China's waters. The "transfer station".

The first to arrive here were the Portuguese.After experiencing the storm, the explorers at sea suddenly saw this lush land in front of them, so they named it after the Latin "Formosa", which means "beautiful island".

Therefore, later Spaniards, Dutch, and British all used "Formosa" to call Taiwan.

Gullit had dealt with the envoys of the Emperor of Heaven in Yuegang, and he was the first to report to the East India Company that Yan Siqi, a military attache of the Ming court, was stationed in southern Taiwan. The consultant instructed him to take advantage of the opportunity of coming to the coast of China in the spring of the new year to accompany Ruffin, the right-hand man of the East India Company Fleet Admiral Leiyoz, to plan how to establish a Far East stronghold.

"Mr. Lufen, the Mazu Temple was built by General Daming who already ruled the South Island," Gullit explained in a cautious tone, "The ships of that General Yan on the South Island are getting more and more Many. Although he has not interfered with our free trade in the future, he often raises his "Yan" flag, drives his Junk boat, and cruises outside the port. I asked a Japanese captain who knew our Hirado Kaikan , He said that General Yan rejected the gold sent by the captains of various countries, and only warned them not to harass the Pingpu natives here. And if he found them robbing Chinese merchant ships nearby, he would definitely retaliate."

"Oh..." Ruffin laughed, "this Chinese general, maybe the Japanese and Portuguese will be afraid of him, um, plus the Spanish. But we East India Company don't have to be afraid of him. We just occupied Batavia , is this General Yan more powerful than the prince there?"

Gullit looked awkward, and then translated to Ruffin in Dutch.

"Ah, Mrs. Zheng, my old friend, you are here too!"

She turned her head, and when she faced the two Dutchmen again, the coldness and arrogance in Ruffin's eyes faded a bit.

"people?"

Zheng Haizhu only nodded at Coulitt, and then glanced at Lu Fen who was wearing a sword on his waist.

The mixed-race woman translated to Zheng Haizhu in Chinese with an accent. Zheng Haizhu was worried about how to make gestures, but Gullit showed his signature winking.

Zheng Haizhu heard Gullit whispering to Lufen behind him, obviously introducing the origin of this Chinese woman.

The Japanese captain said a few more words to Zheng Haizhu, pointed to the direction of Zhu Yin's ship's cabin, and then bowed deeply and bid farewell to her.

Gullit said with great interest, "Mrs. Zheng, that Japanese captain respects you very much."

"Madam Zheng, I can understand the words of the Ming Dynasty now, you see, the words are not bad."

On Zhu Yin's boat, the Japanese who also came down at this time and looked like the captain, after seeing Zheng Haizhu, seemed to be quite polite, and talked to the mixed-race woman for a few more words, then turned around and scolded the sailors on his side, and then came to Gullit In front of Ruffin, he said a bunch of Portuguese with apologetic expressions.

The woman who looked a bit like a Europa spoke Portuguese.And the Japanese sailor can speak a few words of Portuguese.

Batavia is the Indonesian Jakarta of later generations.In 1619 AD, the Dutch did replace the Portuguese as the new masters of the trade center from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea.

Zheng Haizhu quickly looked back pretending to be indifferent, said something short to the woman beside him, and pulled her to the Japanese sailor who was going to lead the fight with the Dutch.

In front of a Zhuyin ship by the seawall, Japanese and Dutch sailors confronted each other with Japanese swords and sabers respectively.

Sure enough, next, Lufen patted him on the shoulder and said: "Gullit, after our fleet builds a fort on Penghu Island and puts up cannons, you can go and talk to Fujian officials. We want to be like the Portuguese. Get Macau, get the privileges of northern Formosa and Penghu Island. If they don't agree, we will go to war directly."

At this moment, when her gaze moved upwards, she caught sight of the "voc" embroidered logo on the collar of Ruffin's uniform, which was more like a military uniform, and when she met the sharp and cold eyes that were completely different from Ruffin's and Gullit's, she felt a chill in her heart.

Gullit looked up at the Japanese ship that had just parked in the harbor, and said to Lufen: "I must have never encountered it at sea. The point is, Mr. Luffin, we have worked so hard to get here in Hirado. The Dutch Guild Hall was established in Hong Kong, and we got the opportunity to sell goods to the Japanese, so how could we snatch Japanese ships?"

Of course Gullit was also proud of this, but he still wanted to earn money from re-export trade for a few years before the Chinese could react, so he was a little worried that Ruffin's arrogance would offend the Ming Empire too early.

"These Japanese were also fetching fresh water from the river just now, and we didn't provoke them. The strongest among them suddenly picked up a bucket and threw it at our partner."

The proud officer finished speaking smugly, but saw a Dutch sailor rushing from the port.

Gullit, whose mind was spinning quickly, suddenly understood something.

Gullit looked at Zhu Yinchuan again, complex colors appeared in his eyes.

"Mr. Ruffin, Mr. Gullit, the Japanese, the Japanese are going to fight us!"

Voc is the embroidery logo of the Dutch East India Company.

Although Ruffin was a bloodthirsty and aggressive officer, he also kept in mind the company's current order that no conflicts with the Japanese were allowed, so he held back his anger and showed a reluctant smile to the Japanese captain.

Zheng Haizhu smiled: "It's good if you understand. Sure enough, as I said just now, these Japanese are Portuguese Catholics. After you Dutch people came to Japan and spoke ill of the Portuguese Church, they certainly hated you."

……

"No, they don't drink black tea, and they're not interested in silk. They asked me to buy it, and it was people."

Zheng Haizhu pouted: "It's just because I help him earn money."

It was just far away, and Zheng Haizhu couldn't see the details of Gullit's traveler.

Just as Gullit finished speaking, he heard the Chinese words from the woman behind him: "I guess, it is because of your hard work that the Japanese want to seek your misfortune."

The sailors on both sides took their jobs and returned to the ship with buckets.

The Dutchman ran, crackling and reporting to Ruffin.

"Oh? Those incomparably beautiful silks and delightful black tea that you sold me, do you sell them too?"

Although Zheng Haizhu was waiting for Gullit to jump in today's round, she really didn't expect that she also ran into soldiers from the East India Company at the same time.

Ruffin asked Gullit: "Did you rob the cargo of this ship before?"

He hurriedly turned his head and saw Zheng Haizhu standing side by side with a fair-skinned young woman with high nose and deep eyes.

"Madam Zheng, don't you..."

Zheng Haizhu imitated Gullit's habit and shrugged, saying disapprovingly: "You Dutch can do slave trade, but I can't? Mr. Gullit, I heard that you occupied Batavia this year. There are sugarcane growers there. Good place, do you want to buy some Hokkien people?"

Gullit opened his mouth wide in surprise.

How can a woman speak of her fellow man so indifferently.

You know, at the banquet in Batavia, when the governor's wife heard that [-]% of the black slaves sold by the Netherlands to America would die at sea, she was very sad, she pulled the governor and drew a cross on her chest several times.