Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

Hearing Master Chi's cold laugh, Liu Qingjiang was stunned for a moment and asked the master why.

"Qingjiang, you're honest, a truly honest man." Chi Honghai walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder.

"Master, this...?" Liu Qingjiang was a little confused by Master Chi's evaluation. He didn't understand why he had been so obedient. He looked at Master Chi for a while but still couldn't figure it out: "Please enlighten me, Master."

Chi Honghai shook his head: "You say they don't have enough resources? If they don't have enough, then they don't have any extra. Have you ever seen a family that doesn't have enough for themselves and has to sell it to others? Don't they all feed themselves first and then sell what they have extra? They're just taking advantage of your lack of understanding of the ways of business."

Hearing what Master Chi said, Liu Qingjiang finally realized that he had been tricked by those red-haired barbarians. He clenched his fists in anger: "These red-haired barbarians, I will definitely tear them apart in the future."

Chi Honghai did not stop them. These people deserved to be torn apart. They occupied other people's land and accused others of robbery and murder. Their skin was truly thick. Besides, although Liu Qingjiang did not have a direct grudge against these red-haired barbarians, he did have an indirect one.

Although Liu Qingjiang was tricked, the situations he witnessed were indeed very important.

After all, the information Chi Hung-hai only knew from the English was that the Dutch and the Portuguese had a feud and both wanted to dominate Taiwan, but he didn't really know what was happening on the island or how far things had progressed.

Now it seems that not only the two families, but also the people who originally lived on the island and were subjects of the Ming Dynasty do not welcome them. They are hoping for the return of the royal army, and if the royal army does not return, they will not give up resisting.

But right now, this is just a seed of opportunity; it's not mature yet, and we still need to wait.

We should wait until there's a major event on the island and until our strength has developed. Right now, with only our current forces, even if we manage to get onto the island, we might just be pushed back into the sea.

I absolutely cannot bear such a huge failure, because one failure means everything is ruined, and it will be difficult to turn things around again.

Therefore, for Chi Honghai, it is necessary to develop and strengthen his military power as much as possible and find an opportunity to intervene in the affairs of the island.

After all, he knew that in real history, when Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan, he made full preparations and even issued a special announcement that he would not attack Taiwan, which made the Dutch take it lightly. Even so, the situation of attacking Taiwan was not optimistic, especially when besieging Fort Zeelandia, which took more than half a year.

This was only because the defending troops surrendered voluntarily after running out of ammunition and food. If the city had enough food and ammunition, who knows how long the siege would have lasted. I had been to Fort Zeelandia once, and if I hadn't known about its fortress before my transmigration, no one in the Ming Dynasty would know just how difficult it was to conquer.

Even decades later in Europe, when faced with such bastions, there were almost no cases of direct assault; the usual methods were siege, cutting off water and food supplies to force surrender.

Chi Honghai thought for a long time, and Liu Qingjiang remained silent. When he came to his senses, he realized that Liu Qingjiang had been standing beside him for a long time.

He waved his hand, telling Liu Qingjiang to go and rest. Zeelandia was indeed a good place, and Chi Honghai also wanted it. Although he was not strong enough now, he might be able to in the future. However, it was better for as few people as possible to know this news, in case it got out.

Not to mention that Zeelandia is wary of me, if she were to resort to desperate measures and self-destruct, it would implicate Guangzhou Prefecture and then me, and we would all be implicated. Moreover, I still have many Dutch craftsmen on this island, and I still need them in shipbuilding, craftsmanship, training, and so on. If they knew that I had this plan, they would most likely be unwilling to cooperate anymore.

The food issue has been resolved, but the round trip cost 300,000 taels of silver. However, Chi Honghai wasn't too bothered by it. 300,000 taels for the unwavering loyalty of tens of thousands of people was still much more worthwhile than the Tianquan ship.

Moreover, with Chen Qian and the English paying tribute every year, even if he didn't rob to earn extra money, he wouldn't go hungry. The net income of 800,000 taels a year was simply wonderful for Chi Honghai.

However, the drawbacks are also quite obvious. Once you've taken the money, you still have to do what you're supposed to do. Moreover, this money is similar in nature to protection money; once you've taken someone's money, you can't rob their boat.

While it's not uncommon to do such shady things under the guise of piracy, doing so at this juncture, in this chaotic situation, still carries risks. If discovered, it often leads to a series of explosions.

This was bound to happen sooner or later. For him, and for everyone on Hong Kong Island, the current pretense will eventually be stripped away, and when it is, there will be a battle.

Therefore, Chi Honghai's most urgent task is to arrange everything on the island and train the army he envisions, so as to prepare for the defense of this initial base of power and for the subsequent attack on Taiwan.

He himself was well aware that although Hong Kong Island was good, with its excellent natural conditions, good geographical location, and a fine harbor for ships to dock, it was still a good place to do so.

But this place is ultimately too close to the mainland, especially to Guangzhou Prefecture. Chi Honghai knew that the Qing army would move south in the future, and he also roughly understood that Guangzhou Prefecture would one day be restless and turn against him.

Being too close means too much danger, too little reaction time, and not enough time to develop. If the other side attacks, they can move by land or sea. Before one's strength becomes great enough to be feared, neither the Qing army nor the Guangzhou Prefecture will be easy to deal with.

Although Hong Kong Island seems quite good now, it is situated across the strait and has outposts and fortified military facilities to the north. It can handle small-scale military situations, and even larger-scale ones are supported by naval guns.

However, once the military scale reaches a certain size, the drawbacks of Hong Kong Island become apparent. It lacks sufficient depth and width, especially in terms of depth. If there is a significant disparity in strength between the two sides, defense becomes a major problem.

If one wants to expand and face Zheng Zhilong, Guangzhou Prefecture, and Westerners head-on, relying solely on Hong Kong Island is absolutely insufficient; there are deficiencies in industry, manpower, and so on.

Therefore, if you want to grow bigger and stronger, or at least establish a foothold in the southeastern sea area, Taiwan is an excellent place.

Moreover, Taiwan was originally the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The Taiwanese occupied Taiwan for decades, and it's time to return it!

At this point, Chi Hung-hai couldn't help but feel excited, although it was still too early to say that he could actually control Taiwan.

He stepped out of the room, glanced at the row of ships moored at the harbor, and watched the people carrying planks in the distance. He couldn't help but say: "Foreign troubles have entered the bay."