Chapter 794 Difficult choice

"So no matter what, I can't go back to El Salvador, right?" Jose was not stupid, and he immediately understood what Jin Ming meant.

"That's right, you have only two options. Cooperate with us and live, or sacrifice your humble life for Mr. Alcarazo in El Salvador." After Qian Tiandun expressed his attitude, Jin Ming became more direct.

Come on. He knew that a big shot like Qian Tiandun was unlikely to spend several hours watching him slowly interrogate Jose. If he wanted to perform well in front of him, he had to get useful information out of Jose's mouth as soon as possible.

OK.

Jose didn't need to look in the mirror to know how ugly his face looked at this moment. Even in his dreams, he never thought that his life would face such a sudden turning point. He just went to a tavern for a drink, how could he suddenly be forced to

Have to make such a big decision?

Jose's hesitation is not because he is patriotic, and he is not a pure Spaniard. Of course, the Spaniards are originally a mixture of multiple races. After the Arabs invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the 7th century AD, there was no pure Spaniard.

It's the Spaniards. After eight centuries of Arab rule, the Visigoths who originally lived in this land had very little blood left.

Whether it was the accession of Ferdinand I to the throne in 1412, which marked the union of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon, or the coronation of Charles I as Charles V in 1519, becoming Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, this country ultimately belonged to a small number of nobles.

Rather than ordinary people like Jose. As for the identity of this citizen, it will only be remembered by high-ranking officials when taxation and foreign wars require the recruitment of a large number of young men to fight on the battlefield.

Compared with his status as a Spanish national, Jose actually cares more about his blacksmith shop in Salvador City, Jilong Port. That is the total result of six years of hard work in the Far East! Now these Oriental people want to

Asking him to completely give up these properties, Jose does not have such a big heart to just say no. Although the shop is full of junk, if you really want to convert the assets, it will be at least several hundred silver coins. How can you say that it is not enough?

No more. If I can't go back, then it won't be all that easy for Mr. Alcarazo in the city.

Taking a step back, if Jose chooses to save his life, where can he live in the future? He knows that Akito doesn’t like outsiders like him at all, even if they come to El Salvador to do business with smiling faces.

Privately, he despised the Europeans as "Western Fans". If these people resettled themselves in the Ming Dynasty, it would be difficult to live for a long time. Jose thought about it and found it difficult to make a decision. Although he wanted to live, he couldn't.

I am willing to give up my previous living environment.

Seeing the hesitant expression on his face, Jin Ming could roughly guess what he was worried about, and immediately urged: "José, if you have any concerns, you might as well say it."

Jose responded: "After leaving El Salvador, what will I rely on for a living in the future? Should I go to Ming Dynasty? I don't think I can adapt to the environment of Ming Dynasty."

After listening to Jin Ming's translation, Qian Tiandun smiled and said: "It turns out that he is worried about the future... You tell him that if he is willing to cooperate, he can work for us in the future. For a craftsman with such skills as him, the Ministry of Industry will definitely

I'm happy to accept it."

Jin Ming nodded and persuaded Jose: "If you wish to continue working in your old profession, we can take you in and pay you to work. You must know that being able to work for Haihan is a blessing that no one can ask for.

point!"

After hearing this, Jose still had to think about it. Qian Tiandun had no patience to wait with him any longer: "Jin Ming, tell him that if he can't make a decision right away, then the meal he just had will be his final decision."

It’s my first meal.”

Jin Ming translated Qian Tiandun's words to Jose exactly as he said, scaring the little blacksmith's face from green to white. This time he did not hesitate for too long, nodded and said: "Okay, no matter what you want to ask,

I will tell you everything I know."

After Jose's attitude softened, it became much easier to continue questioning. Jin Ming started asking Jose one after another according to the list he made. The situation of the Spaniards on the island of Taiwan was also mentioned in Jose's account.

Becoming complete bit by bit.

After the Spanish established a colony in Manila, Luzon Island in 1571, they used the place as the trading center of the Kingdom of Spain in the Far East and gradually conquered nearby islands. Although Taiwan is not far from Luzon Island, the Spanish decision-making at that time

However, they chose spice-rich areas such as Mindanao and the Maluku Islands south of Luzon as their first choice for expansion. Later, when the ambitious Toyotomi Hideyoshi planned to use Taiwan Island as a springboard to attack Luzon Island, the Spaniards realized that Taiwan

The strategic value of the island.

However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched the Bunroku Keicho Campaign at the end of the 16th century (i.e., the "Imjin Japanese Rebellion" in Korean history, and what the Ming Dynasty called the "Wanli Aid Korea") and was ultimately defeated. Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself also died in the second half of 1598.

After he died of illness in Fushimi Castle, Kyoto, the plan to go south naturally came to nothing. Once the Manila authorities saw that the threat from the north had been alleviated, they gave up the idea of ​​going north and continued to keep Taiwan out of their expansion goals.

But by the beginning of the 17th century, the threat that the Spanish had to face changed from the Japanese to the Dutch. The hostility between the two sides on the European battlefield because of the Dutch War of Independence inevitably spread to the Far East. Attention of the Dutch East India Company

The prosperity of Manila mainly came from the silk trade of the Ming Dynasty and the silver trade of the Americas, so they decided to attack the ships entering and leaving Manila from these two places. However, due to the limitations of the navigation level in this era, the Dutch found that their limited number of armed merchant ships were difficult to deal with.

Manila carried out a complete blockade, but soon realized that the effect of this strategy was limited. So they decided to change their strategy and follow the example of the Portuguese in establishing a stronghold near the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Dutch's plans to seize Macau and Penghu with arms failed one after another, and they finally had to settle for the second best, moving to Taiyuan Port in the south of Taiwan Island. It was not until this time that the slow Manila authorities realized the seriousness of the problem.

Being able to fight against the Dutch, they finally made up their mind to establish their own stronghold on Taiwan Island.

Since the Dutch took the lead in occupying Damuan Port on the west coast of Taiwan Island in 1624, the backward Spanish, in order to gain a foothold with peace of mind, could only land at Jilong Port at the northern end of Taiwan Island, far away from Damuan Port in 1626, and exited the harbor.

Settlement began to be built on Jilong Island, which was later named Heping Island. Of course, in accordance with the usual practice of Western colonists, the island was also renamed San Salvador Island, and the settlement was also designed to be easy to

Defensive bastion profile.

The person who designed and supervised the construction of this castle was Antonio Carreno de Valdes, the first governor of Chicken Cage Port. The fortress, named San Salvador City by Valdes, has a circumference of about 400 meters, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. There are also buildings surrounding the castle.

There were four small circular bastions as a means of peripheral protection. However, the Spanish colonial activities did not go smoothly. After they landed, they plundered nearby indigenous villages such as Jinbaoli Society and Dajilong Society with armed forces, and the locals refused to give them to them.

Selling food and supplies, and the supply ships in Manila were unable to provide timely assistance due to the typhoon season, many Spaniards experienced a very miserable period in the area. At that time, the blacksmith He was sent to the local area as the first batch of immigrants.

They were so sluggish that they even had to rely on eating rats to satisfy their hunger for a period of time. You can imagine the misery.

By 1627, the food shortage situation in El Salvador had not been alleviated. Valdes sent a group of soldiers to station in the Tamsui River area to prepare to negotiate with the indigenous people of the nearby Guijero community to purchase food. However, the local tribes united to drive away the Spaniards, and some

Seven Spaniards were killed in the conflict, and the remaining people fled back to Jilong Port. The following year, Valdes sent more troops to Tamsui, defeated the local indigenous people and plundered food. In the end, the indigenous people ceded the

In exchange for land, they negotiated peace with the Spaniards, and the Guillou community moved away from the local area, so Valdez ordered a new stronghold there, which was later named Santo Domingo.

In 1630, Valdez resigned and returned to Manila, where Juande Alcarazo became the second governor of the Chicken Coop. In the same year, Luis de Guzman became the first governor of Tamsui.

Although the distance between Jilong and Danshui is not far, the coastline between the two places is too rugged, and the sea route is limited by the monsoon and ocean currents. The Spaniards began to look for another land passage. In 1632, Alcalazo

80 soldiers were sent upstream along the Tamsui River to find the water veins of the Keelung River, and finally found an inland passage connecting the two places in the Taipei Basin. The indigenous tribes along the two water veins later also

Conquered by Spanish forces.

In April 1632, a major event occurred in the northern part of Taiwan Island. Due to weather conditions, a Spanish ship drifted to the Lanyang Plain on the east coast of Taiwan Island, which later became the Yilan County area of ​​Taiwan. The crew and passengers on the ship were all attacked by local Karma.

The massacre of the Malan people gave Alcarazo, who had long coveted this place, finally found a reason to take action. He sent troops to destroy seven local villages and killed many Kamalan people in retaliation. Of course, this area

Since then, the fertile coastal plain has been naturally taken into the hands of the Spaniards.

However, although the Spaniards expanded their territory in the northern part of Taiwan Island faster than the Dutch in the south, their operating conditions did not become better. Due to the strong intervention of the Haihan people in Fujian in recent years, both the Fujian government and the private sector have

They are more inclined to do business with the Haihan people who are "pro-Ming". There are not many Ming merchants willing to go to Jilong Port to trade, and the prices of the goods they supply have no advantage compared to Manila. In recent years, Japan has

The country is in a state of isolation, and it is difficult to open the door to trade. There is not much profit to be made just by squeezing the local indigenous tribes.

In order to maintain garrisons in chicken coops, Tamsui and other places, the Spanish operations in northern Taiwan had to rely on subsidies from Manila. However, Manila had to deal with successive wars with the Green Religion countries in the South China Sea, and on the other hand it had to face the post-1630

The silver production in the Americas is decreasing year by year, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to support daily operations. In the past, Jose and his four apprentices often had to work overtime, but now he has more time to spend in the tavern.

The reason is that the overwhelmed Salvador authorities have cut military spending.

If there was no intervention by the Haihan people in this time and space, then according to the original historical development, by 1637 the Spanish were already in dire straits and had to abandon their stronghold in Tamsui and retreat to the chicken coop. By 1642, the Dutch launched a massive attack on the chicken coop and seized the local area.

and completely expelled the Spaniards from Taiwan Island.

Of course, after the Haihan people came to this time and space, many things became different. For example, the Dutch in southern Taiwan were far less prosperous than they had been in history. After Batavia almost suffered a disaster,

Damuan Port is getting less and less supplies from the southern base camp, and it has to face the Haihan fleet that may appear at its doorstep at any time to block the waterway. Life is not much better than that of its competitors in the north who are chronically short of food and clothing.

Being able to organize the timeline so clearly is also due to the fact that Jose came to the chicken coop early enough and experienced almost all major local events. Many of them were situations that Qian Tiandun had not grasped before.

, after all, everything Haihan knows comes from vague records in history, but the narrator in front of him is a person who has personally experienced these things, and the situation described is far more accurate and credible than the records. Jin Ming was translating, and beside him

Du Rong was writing notes. These important information were not easy to obtain and will be sent back to the Sanya base camp for archiving in the future.

Jose is just a small person. He doesn't understand how the appearance of Haihan people affects the situation on Taiwan Island, nor does he know what Haihan's attitude is towards Spain, but he can feel it from the questions Jin Ming keeps asking.

He noticed the other party's attention to the chicken coop area, and such attention was definitely not in good faith. Even if Jin Ming didn't say it, Jose could feel that the Oriental man who had been sitting in the middle and staring at him must be a senior military officer, with that kind of

The unconcealable coercion and murderous intent are definitely not something ordinary people can possess.

Why is the Haihan officer so concerned about the situation of the chicken coop? Jose thinks there is only one possibility, that is, the Haihan people, like the Dutch, covet the territory owned by the Spanish Kingdom in Taipei. But Jose does not have it in his heart.

I think the Haihan people will really take action against the chicken coop. After all, the Dutch have been planning for several years and do not dare to attack the chicken coop easily. Of course, if Jose truly understands the achievements of the Haihan militia in the past five years, he will

Maybe it won't be so optimistic.
Chapter completed!