Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

During the journey with the army, Liu Qingjiang first applied to the officer in charge.

He ordered his three hundred men to advance ahead, which would allow them to scout the situation ahead and burn some facilities, thus conserving the main Dutch force's energy for the battle.

The team leader, Hunter, readily agreed to Liu Qingjiang's proposal without much objection.

Because his view was the same as Moore's, that Liu Qingjiang and his men were nothing but a rabble, otherwise why could the Dutch occupy Taiwan for so long?

Now, they would be more than happy to volunteer to do these dirty and tiring jobs.

In other words, it's not easy to refuse such a kind offer from an allied force.

After obtaining Hunter's consent, Liu Qingjiang led his three hundred men away from the main force and dispersed ahead.

Only after the Dutch troops disappeared from his sight did Liu Qingjiang give further instructions on the next steps of the battle.

"Everyone should be divided into ten groups of thirty and dispersed to search the surrounding area. If you encounter any Spanish people, report back immediately. However, if you encounter any of our Ming Dynasty citizens, try to approach them and tell them to take their belongings and run up the mountain, or they will be killed."

"Does everyone understand?"

"Understood!"

"Disperse immediately!"

Liu Qingjiang also personally led a team of men to sneak towards the due north direction.

With winter approaching, even in Taiwan, the roads across the island become wet and difficult to walk on. Since it's too easy to be spotted if you walk directly on the main road, you have to detour to the side paths, which are full of potholes and you might step into a mud pit if you're not careful.

The main problem is that this road greatly affects the speed of travel and is very physically demanding.

As they made their way through, everyone was puzzled by how quiet it was.

Although Taiwan has been occupied for many years, many people from the coast had moved to this island before. Even if the population is not large, surely I have walked all the way north without seeing a single person?

With this suspicion in mind, Liu Qingjiang felt more and more that it was a trap, but his intuition told him that it was probably not a trap, but rather another situation that was not so acceptable.

He led them north, and after walking for an unknown amount of time, just when everyone was exhausted, they finally saw a place where people lived.

But upon closer inspection, the small village not far ahead was completely deserted, with most of the houses burned down and not a single livestock left.

Clearly, this small village before us had been ravaged by burning, killing, looting, and atrocities, and the methods used were extremely cruel.

Because the bodies were lying haphazardly everywhere, bloodstains covered the walls of almost every house, and the dead all had horrific expressions on their faces, with most unable to close their eyes.

This is within the Spanish sphere of influence, so naturally it was the Spanish who did this.

Although Liu Qingjiang had seen many dead people and had personally killed many, and had also experienced the battle near Xiangshan County, he should have some experience in dealing with the disaster in this village.

But after seeing this scene, I still felt a chill in my heart, and even a little scared.

What he feared was not the methods of the Spanish, but the fact that more people would suffer the same fate. Although they were strangers, they were all considered to be on his side.

"Damn it, these Westerners don't treat the island's inhabitants like human beings," said a subordinate beside him, sheathing his knife.

"Brother, should we bury them all?"

"No," Liu Qingjiang said after a moment's hesitation, shaking his head.

"Why, brother?" The subordinates were puzzled. In their view, Liu Qingjiang was not such a cold-blooded person, but this action was indeed somewhat cold-blooded.

"It would take too long to dig a hole and bury them. This is Spanish territory, and we don't even know if we'll run into them. It's too dangerous. And if the Dutch see this, they'll probably become suspicious of us."

"But..." The subordinate hesitated, understanding the logic Liu Qingjiang was talking about. They were now in a situation where they had no choice but to submit.

"What if a fire burned them down?"

Liu Qingjiang turned his head and looked around the village, but couldn't find anything to burn.

"What else can be burned?" he asked slowly.

Finally, he sighed, had his brothers carry the bodies together, and then found some relatively dry wood to burn them.

This is perhaps the greatest dignity one can show to these residents.

Afterwards, the brothers who had gone out all returned, and their reports were largely the same, but overall they were not what Liu Qingjiang wanted to know.

He originally thought that the Spanish had only committed arson, murder, looting, and atrocities within the Dutch-controlled area, and that they were probably not so cruel to the people in their own territory.

But that's just how Westerners behave.

When anger arises, the innocent are always spared; when war breaks out, the innocent are completely ignored. At that point, all talk of gentlemanly conduct and God's mercy becomes mere words, never truly understood.

All the surrounding villages were burned down, and not a single survivor was found.

Liu Qingjiang clenched his fist and gave the order to continue probing forward.

This time, he did not disperse the three hundred men again. At this point, he had lost all interest in informing his compatriots.

From his perspective, if the outer areas were burned so cleanly, the interior must have suffered even more.

Now all he has to do is check the situation of the Spanish stronghold ahead. If he can find a few isolated individuals, that would be ideal.

Soon, as Liu Qingjiang continued toward the chicken coop, he noticed some movement.

These commotions did not come from the Spanish in front, nor from the villages that had survived the fires, but from the mountains.

"Brother, listen." The subordinate walked up to Liu Qingjiang and pulled him aside. "There seems to be some movement in the woods over there."

Liu Qingjiang stopped and told everyone to stay put and listen carefully to the sounds coming from the forest.

"Someone's here!" he said.

"Could they be villagers who have taken refuge in the mountains?"

"It's possible, but the villagers in the mountains probably wouldn't dare to make such a loud noise. I feel it might be those Spaniards."

"What was that foreign devil doing in the woods?"

"What do you think?" Liu Qingjiang asked his subordinate in return.

Without a doubt, if the voices coming from the woods are Spanish, then there's definitely something wrong.

Foreign devils know how to choose their territory; otherwise, they wouldn't have occupied this precious island.

They certainly wouldn't go into the woods casually, as there's nothing good about the woods.

If you go, then there are only two possibilities.

First, there's wealth in the forest, and they want to rob it.

Secondly, there are people in the woods, and they want to kill them.