Chapter 587 Taking over Hong Kong Island

"Did you find anything good on that captured Dutch sailing ship?" Mu Xiabai asked subconsciously when he saw Tom Wang walking into the room excitedly. He had just received the news half an hour ago, saying that it was

The navy seized a Dutch sailing ship at the port that entered the port on its own. Judging from the emotion shown by Tom Wang, it was obvious that he had gained something on this ship.

"You've got your money back, you've got your money back!" Wang Tom said with a smile as he rubbed his hands: "I found a treasure this time, and I got my money back in one fell swoop!"

"Oh? There are gold and silver treasures on this ship?" Mu Xiabai became interested and asked quickly.

"It's not just treasure..." Tom Wang grabbed the water cup and took a big sip of tea. He raised his hand to wipe the corner of his mouth and said, "Where do you think this ship is going?"

Mu Xiabai responded with a smile: "Where else can we go? Either go south to Batavia, or go north to Taiwan. Is there a third destination on this route?"

"It's a ship bound for Taiwan." Wang Tom nodded and replied, "Their destination is the city of Relanja in Taiwan. The goods on the ship are various supplies destined for the local area, and there are a lot of good things."

After the Dutch East India Company seized Penghu in 1622, it used the place as an entrepot for maritime trade in East Asia. In 1624, the Dutch and the Ming Dynasty navy fought in Penghu for several months, and finally reached a ceasefire agreement. The Dutch withdrew from Penghu, and the Ming Dynasty

It will not interfere with the Dutch colonial occupation on Taiwan Island.

So the Dutch built a large-scale castle, Orange City, on the southern coast of Taiwan. It was renamed Relanje City in 1627. At this time when the Haihan militia occupied Amborna Island, the construction project of Relanje City

It is still not completed. In the original time and space, the first phase of the Dutch stronghold on Taiwan Island was not completed until 1632.

It is worth mentioning that in the original time and space, Zheng Chenggong captured the city of Jelanja 30 years ago, expelled the Dutch from the island of Taiwan, established the first Han Chinese regime in Taiwan's history, and brought the local people to power.

It was renamed Anping City, which is where Anping Castle, a famous tourist attraction in Tainan in later generations, was located. Of course, since the Haihan regime had already appeared in this era and regarded the Far East as its future territory, it would naturally not be possible 30 years later.

There will be no battle for the city of Jelanja, and the Dutch will no longer have the opportunity to gain 30 years of development time on the island of Taiwan.

Wang Tom took out a cargo list and explained to Mu Xiabai the supplies seized from the Dutch sailing ship that had fallen into the trap. In addition to the large amount of money needed to maintain the local operation and trade of the city of Geranje, this ship

In addition to silver, there are also some commodities shipped from Europe across thousands of miles, as well as spices, jewelry, etc. originating in India and Southeast Asia. The most important thing is that this ship also shipped a batch of brand-new weapons, including eight

Hundreds of matchlocks, forty cannons of different calibers and a considerable amount of ammunition. According to the crew, these weapons were sent to the city of Jeranja to arm the local Dutch. The total value of this batch of weapons and ammunition alone

That’s more than one hundred thousand taels of silver.

"According to preliminary statistics, this cargo is worth at least two hundred thousand taels of silver. Do you think we can get our money back in one fell swoop!" Wang Tom said proudly, and couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Take this cargo

Once it is dealt with, the Navy can add another battleship!"

"What's the point of co-writing without our army?" Mu Xiabai reminded: "This is a joint operation between the army and the navy. Commander Wang, don't take all the credit!"

"Yes, yes, you are right, of course there is also a part of the army in this!" Wang Tom knew he had made a mistake and quickly added to explain.

"Speaking of which, the Dutch are really courageous. They packed so many valuables and traveled on such a ship without even a single person to take care of them," Mu Xiabai sighed.

"Perhaps the Dutch think that no one can challenge their position in the Far East." Wang Tom responded: "What I want to say is that there are bound to be two cases like this, and there will definitely be Dutch ships coming to the island.

Stop for supplies, you know what to do."

"Needless to say, all the Dutch ships must be captured. What I want to know is if there are merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty docking here, what should be done?" Mu Xiabai asked.

Wang Tom responded: "Don't worry, we have specially trained a group of Southeast Asian sailors. When the time comes, we will arrange for these people to work on the dock. Everything will be done according to the previous rules. When the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty come, they will still charge for supplies."

"There are no Dutch people on the island, which will eventually arouse suspicion." Mu Xiabai was still a little worried.

"We also have ways to deal with this." Wang Tom smiled and said: "Don't forget, we also have Western partners, so it is not difficult to pretend to be someone else."

"You mean... Portuguese?" Mu Xiabai reacted immediately.

"Yes, they are the Portuguese." Wang Tom nodded and confirmed Mu Xiabai's guess: "The Portuguese have been competing with the Dutch for colonies in the Far East in recent years. However, after the Netherlands established the East India Company, the Portuguese have been in a

They are at a disadvantage. They have relatively few colonies, which makes them slow to respond to trouble. Their maritime strength in the Far East is not as good as that of the Dutch. Sooner or later, as in history, the Dutch will take away all the cakes they have. Part 1

The Time Executive Committee specifically talked to Thomas, the Portuguese envoy, and asked them if they were willing to help us establish a stronghold in the South China Sea to fight against the Dutch together. He quickly agreed. The next time a ship carrying supplies comes here, it will probably

Bring thirty or fifty Portuguese immigrants, and then you can arrange the roles they will play."

Regarding the role that Ambon Island will play in the future, the Executive Committee and the military have planned a relatively complete camouflage strategy, striving to allow the Dutch to discover the changes here as late as possible. From Batavia to Taiwan

The voyage to the city of Relanja on the island is more than 2,000 nautical miles, and the journey time takes almost two months. And the communication conditions of this era are extremely backward. When the Dutch discovered something was wrong and started investigating, they didn't even know it.

How long has it been since this happened?

After capturing Amborna Island, Mushaba commanded his troops to conduct another drag-net investigation of the entire island, checking all the settled places to ensure that there were no Dutch people on the island who had slipped through the net.

existence. In fact, the Dutch colonists did not dare to disperse and live in the wild. After all, the transportation conditions on the island were relatively primitive, and it would be more troublesome to obtain supplies a little further away from the settlements. If they were sick or injured, it would basically be

It can only fend for itself.

On May 1st, exactly one month after leaving Hainan Island, the rested task force was preparing to leave Haihan's latest colony and return to Hainan Island. In order not to easily expose the true situation in the local area, the warships heading south this time will

They all leave and will not stay here. Only the six troop transport ships that joined halfway from Annan will stay here. After all, these ships are lucky ships and are not easily exposed. Follow this fleet.

Also returned were the captured Dutch sailing ship and all the captured Dutchmen on the island. Due to the limited loading capacity, there was no arrangement for the people on the island to move away with the fleet, and Mushaba was able to seize this labor force.

When sufficient resources are available, the construction process of ports and coastal defenses will be accelerated.

In this battle south, the Haihan militia suffered basically zero losses. Except for a small number of people who fell ill due to acclimatization, there were no casualties during the attack on the island. Not only that, the militia also captured some weapons during this period.

The large amount of wealth that originally belonged to the Dutch was not only able to offset the military expenses of this operation, but was also more than enough to add another considerable amount of income to the military's accounts.

While the Haihan militia secretly went south to seize the Dutch colony, their colleagues in the north were not idle either. The Hong Kong Island Town Nangang project, launched two years ago, has now divided the nearby area into seven, seven, eighty-eight, narrow areas.

The geographical area restricts the continued development of Zhennan Port. Seizing the entire Hong Kong Island, especially Lei Yue Mun, a key waterway in the northern part of Hong Kong Island, has become the next target of the military.

The Ming Dynasty Navy, which was originally stationed at Shau Kei Wan next to the Lei Yue Mun Waterway, is now getting more and more miserable. The former staff general who led this force expired and resigned at the end of last year, and the new staff general spent seven years.

Eight thousand taels of silver, a quota obtained through forced activities, but the person who came forward to pay for the money was a major shareholder of "Qiong Lianfa", so this general disappeared for a long time after taking office in Dianmao.

In order to create better objective conditions for Haihan to attack this area.

Since the end of last year, the Daming Navy garrison on Hong Kong Island has been in a state of unattended, with no one ordering or paying wages. Some soldiers and low-level officers who have the means have begun to sell military supplies in the water garrison.

Supplies, such as gunpowder, armor, weapons, etc. Even if the Haihan people don't take action, this place will collapse in another year and a half. During this period, Haihan benefited from Haihan in various forms, and was even directly bribed

There are indeed many naval officers and soldiers.

On May 7, five warships belonging to the Hoi Han Navy sailed around the eastern waters of Hong Kong Island, sailed from Lei Yue Mun Waterway into Shau Kei Wan, and directly blocked the entrance of this water village.

The internal agents who had made arrangements in advance quickly opened the water gate of the navy and let the Haihan warship enter the water village to dock. The Haihan militiamen who got off the ship did not even encounter any decent resistance and quickly took control without any blood.

Inside and outside the water village. Driven by the militia, the Ming soldiers in the water village quickly gathered at the entrance of the White Tiger Festival Hall in the center of the water village.

Chen Yixin, surrounded by a group of militiamen, entered the White Tiger Festival Hall of Shuizhai and sat down on the chair belonging to the water village general in the middle of the hall without hesitation: "Come here, bring me the roster of Shuizhai!"

Immediately, someone presented the roster of the water village, and no one seemed to think there was anything wrong with it. Chen Yixin also looked like it was natural, and he opened the roster and started tapping directly.

There are a total of 532 people on the roster, including officers, sailors, soldiers, doctors in charge of logistics, shipwrights, cooks, etc. However, after an hour-long roll call, there were an alarming number of vacancies, and only about half of the people were filled.

Arrive at the scene. Although Chen Yixin was prepared for the result, he was still shocked by the proportion of vacancies.

"Everyone, the situation just mentioned by name is already very clear. Not to mention the combat effectiveness, this water village lacks even the ability to protect itself!" Chen Yixin closed the roster and began to speak: "In order to keep the Ming Dynasty Navy as it should be.

In order to protect the safety of the local people, our Haihan Militia was entrusted by the Guangdong government to dispatch 420 combat personnel and five warships to join the Xin'an Water Village of the Ming Dynasty Navy. The original personnel of the water village can choose

Those who stay can also leave on their own, and those who want to leave will be given a severance pay of ten taels of silver. I am Chen Yixin, Major of the Haihan Militia. If you have any questions about future arrangements, you can ask me questions. I would like to emphasize one more thing here, Haihan Militia.

The Han militia does not raise idle people, so if anyone wants to stay in Shuizhai and earn a living, I advise him to get his severance package and leave as soon as possible!"

Someone below asked: "I am still a commander-in-chief after all. Is the severance pay the same as that of ordinary soldiers?"

Chen Yixin responded without changing his expression: "I don't care what official you are, your position was given by Ming Dynasty, and your severance pay was given by Haihan. Why do you use your official position in Ming Dynasty to ask for the amount of severance pay? If it's too little,

You don’t have to, we won’t force you.”

At that moment, someone else asked: "Then if we stay, will you really give us a more generous military salary than the Ministry of War as promised?"

Chen Yixin said: "We did promise that the military pay would be double the standard of the Ming Dynasty, but at the same time, there is a premise, that is, you must have real ability! If you want to wait for death, you have to get double the military pay. I'm sorry, this kind of thing cannot be done

It will happen in the Haihan Militia. As for whether they have real abilities, we will conduct special assessments and screenings, and those who pass will naturally receive more generous rewards."

Someone complained loudly: "Well, I have been serving in the army for many years, and now you are going to dismiss us with just one word. Where is the morality?"

Chen Yixin looked at the place where the voice came from and said coldly: "How many years have you been in the army? What have you done in these years? Is it fighting pirates or catching water bandits? How come I heard that two or three years ago, this place was still Liuxiang

Who has the final say? If I guessed correctly, many of the people present should have received benefits from Liu Xiang, right?"

There was dead silence below, and no one dared to respond to him on this issue. At that time, Liu Xiang was so powerful that the waters around Hong Kong Island were almost entirely under his control. Merchant ships entering the Lei Yue Mun Waterway had to pay a certain amount of tolls to him.

Safe passage, and part of the money was transferred to Shuizhai, becoming a regular source of income for Shuizhai. However, since Liu Xiang was beaten away by the Haihan militia two years ago, this part of the money has been cut off.

, and the people in Shuizhai are not bold enough to openly collect tolls from maritime merchants, nor are they strong enough to fall out with Haihan, so they can only suffer the loss silently.
Chapter completed!