I

  Chapter 662 659 [Friends of life and death]

  Li Dingguo stood on the beach and observed the city of Zeelandia on the island with binoculars.

  The island is located at the mouth of the river. It is a sandbar alluvial by the Taijiang River. It is somewhat similar to Chongming Island.

  The island has a castle on one side and a residential area on the other.

  Li Dingguo could only see the outside of the castle, but couldn't see what was inside. But just the peripheral defense gave Li Dingguo a headache, and it was this kind of **** bastions again.

   Yes, Bastions!

  There is an earth **** on the outermost periphery, and the second defense is the city wall.

  The front building has a semi-circular fort and two prismatic firepower platforms on the side. This is the office of the governor and officials of Taiwan. Once the siege party breaks through here, all personnel can withdraw inside.

  The first line of defense inside is a semi-circular fort on each side. The four corners are all prismatic enemy towers, and there is a square firepower tower on the front.

   There is a second line of defense inside, a total of two semi-circular forts, with four bastions at the four corners.

  There is almost no difference between sending 10,000 people to attack such a well-designed bastion group and sending 100,000 people to attack.

  The siege artillery of the seventeenth century could not be forcibly destroyed. It was nothing more than filling it with human life and using human life to consume the ammunition of the defenders. Digging a Z-shaped tunnel is useless, at most it can break through a few outer defenses. After attacking, there is no way to dig a hole. The four innermost bastions and one half-round fort are too unreasonable.

   "If we attack by force, I am afraid that more than half of our divisions will be killed or wounded to attack. This is because the number of defenders is not large, otherwise it will be useless to fight a division." Li Dingguo sighed.

Wu Hualong said: "The general has been here for a few years. The red-haired ghost's Taiwan City (Zelandia City) has only been built for a few years. The outer semi-circle city wall (Semi-Circle Fort) was also built at that time. Some angular walls (bastions) in the upper city were also newly added.”

  Li Dingguo said: "If you don't fight, you have to fight. You can only besiege the city and fight for reinforcements, forcing the defenders to surrender after running out of food."

  Wu Hualong said: "I'm afraid it will take more than half a year to be surrounded. There are wells in the city and a lot of food." As he said, Wu Hualong was very angry, "If I knew this, I shouldn't have helped the red-haired ghost build the city!"

  The entire Zeelandia bastion group, the Tainan Han people were the main builders, and the local aborigines cooperated with the coolies. The Dutch colonists only needed to design and command.

   At this moment, a group of aborigines came to Chixian City.

  They wore linen trousers, most of the men were topless, and the women covered their chests with a piece of cloth. Moreover, all of them are sallow and emaciated, which can be seen as long-term malnutrition.

Li Dingguo went to meet the leader, and Wu Hualong introduced: "This is the native of Huweilong. More than ten years ago, the red-haired ghosts sent troops to attack, burned all their houses, and robbed them of all their food. A large tribe of thousands of people , Nearly half of them died of starvation that year, and after that, they could only honestly pay tribute to the red-haired ghost."

  The leader was very excited when he saw Li Dingguo. He wowed, danced and danced, and finally leaned on an earthen spear and knelt down to Li Dingguo on one knee.

Wu Hualong translated and said: "This is Uma, the patriarch of Huweilong. He heard that the general led troops to attack the red-haired ghosts. He brought all the clan members who can fight. These women and children can also fight, although they usually don't have enough to eat. They have nothing to eat, but they have been insisting on practicing their skills, just waiting for the day when they can kill the red-haired ghosts for revenge. If the general doesn’t like them, they can help move things. When attacking the city, they can also rush to the forefront.”

   Li Dingguo looked at these aborigines. They were ragged and emaciated, but even the old and weak women and children looked at him expectantly.

  These people really came to fight, and they were determined to die.

   Li Dingguo suddenly stopped complaining about Wu Hualong. The Han people launched an uprising in advance, and they must have been forced to die. Just like these natives, if there is hope of revenge, they will fight even if they die.

  Because if you don't fight, you will die sooner or later, and you will be exploited by the Dutch until you die!

After pacifying the aborigines, Qian Huanyong, the chief missionary officer, pulled Li Dingguo aside and said, "The people's hearts are available, so we can send people back and contact the navy. The nearby sea is blocked and the Dutch are not allowed to transport food and supplies from other places. Then , Our army has transported food so far, and distributed some to the Han people and indigenous people to help them tide over the difficulties."

   "If the food is distributed to the common people, we may not have enough food." Li Dingguo said.

Qian Huanyong came up with an idea and said: "Your Majesty treats the families of the soldiers preferentially. The first batch of more than 3,000 people who migrated over, each household had food donated by the court, and the family members themselves brought grain. Talk to the soldiers and their families and let them Lend the grain and return it after the imperial court replenishes the army."

  Li Dingguo nodded and said: "This plan is feasible."

  If it was placed in the late Ming Dynasty, let alone borrowing food from soldiers, even if there were rumors of this, the entire army would be full of resentment, and there might even be a direct mutiny.

  The Datong court, both the government and the army, has always had a very good reputation.

   If you say it’s a loan, it’s a loan, and it’s absolutely impossible to renege on your debt.

  Nowadays, the salaries of officials are paid with official tickets, and the military pay of soldiers is paid with military tickets. Both kinds of tickets can be cashed at the nearest Datong Bank. Due to the extremely high credit of the court, officials and soldiers have the habit of storing bills, instead of cashing them as they got them at the beginning.

   It is also because of this that in the face of successive years of natural disasters, Zhao Han can continue to send troops to fight without increasing the exploitation of the people.

  You must know that due to the severe damage in Henan and Shandong provinces, all lands are only collected half of the land tax, and the collection of full land tax will not be resumed until next year. Many prefectures and counties in Beiping, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Liaoning, Yunnan, and Guizhou are also in the state of land tax reduction and exemption.

  Especially in Hebei, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Liaoning, and Beiping, the policy of free land tax will continue for several years!

  Even scholars like Mao Pijiang, who were not used to Zhao Han’s policy of seizing land from landlords, couldn’t help feeling: “Since ancient times, the emperor’s benevolent government has not been as good as that of the current dynasty. How lucky are the farmers.”

  The Annan Zheng family, with a population of 3 million, can support more than 50,000 standing troops (one-third of the land is used to support the clan and nobles, and officials, scholars, and soldiers do not pay taxes). The Annan Nguyen family has a population of 1 million and can support more than 20,000 standing troops. Annan Mo's family has a population of 100,000 and can support 8,000 standing troops.

   Zhao Han, with a population of 90 million, only supported 200,000 troops, and he often felt that the military food was not enough. It is because in a large number of provinces, the land tax is either halved, or not collected at all, and money and food have to be allocated for disaster relief, and money and food continue to be spent on immigration.

Qian Huanyong continued: "While using military rations to help the Han people and the indigenous people, let the missionary officers in the army temporarily act as local officials, and first set up the official shelf here. Especially the indigenous people, I heard that there are more than 200 tribes around There are thousands of people in large tribes, and only one or two hundred people in small tribes. You can ask local Han people to be general guides. While going into the mountains to distribute food and relief to the aborigines, you can also preach policies to establish villages and towns. Let the local people be the chiefs of the villages and towns to avoid conflicts In this way, before the enemy's castle is besieged, the people here will be used by me!"

   "Okay, you can handle this matter." Li Dingguo was very good at fighting, but he was so-so in governing the people.

  The place that has just been conquered is automatically regarded as an area under military control, and the army can temporarily appoint officials until the imperial court makes corresponding instructions.

  A few days later, Wan Bangyan came with the Taiwan fleet and cruised to blockade the waters near the city of Zeelandia. They didn't dare to get too close. Each bastion of Zeelandia City was equipped with 12 city defense guns. There were nearly a hundred guns in total, which could bombard the sea from all angles.

  Similarly, the Dutch warships did not dare to sail out of the port.

   Four Dutch warships, one of which went to Batavia to rescue soldiers. The remaining three ships dare not be tough with the more than 30 ships of the Datong Navy.

  After blocking the sea area, they began to transport grain to Chixian City. Every time, the time of high tide is pinched, and with the help of the tide, it lands at Luermen, and continuously transports grain to the Han people and aborigines.

  As for the soldiers and their families, this year they have to tighten their belts and live a hard life before the army rations and supplies arrive from the mainland.

   But the effort is worth it, and the results are immediate.

  The Han people and aborigines in Tainan are increasingly exploited by the Netherlands. When the Datong Army came, even if they just announced tax exemption for this year, they would all be grateful, not to mention sending food relief.

  Nearby indigenous leaders spontaneously gathered for a meeting, and then came to thank them together.

  They knelt down in front of Li Dingguo.

  Mona killed the leader supported by the Dutch, and became the patriarch of the Madou Society himself. He knelt in front of him and said in Chinese: "The general is our great benefactor. From now on, the deerskins we hunt will only be sold to the general. The grain we grow will also be paid to the general. If the general is short of people If you want to fight, just let us know, even if there are not enough warriors, the women in the clan are willing to fight for the general!"

Li Dingguo quickly helped him up, and said to the other leaders: "Brothers, please get up quickly. His Majesty the Emperor said that all brothers in the world are brothers. The responsibility of being an elder brother, how can there be a need for younger brothers to bow down?"

  As soon as this remark came out, Mo Na was so moved that he burst into tears. The native warrior actually shed tears on the spot.

  He translated Li Dingguo's words to the other leaders, who were also inexplicably moved. All of a sudden, there was a quarrel, and they all clamored to be sworn brothers with Li Dingguo. Some directly tore off the necklaces on their chests, holding them in both hands and giving them to Li Dingguo as gifts.

   Those necklaces are their amulets, mostly made of animal bones or teeth.

   Either the prey was caught for the first time, or a large beast was captured. They will grind animal bones or teeth and string them into necklaces. Once they are given away, they will be regarded as life and death friends, and they can die for each other at any time.

   Li Dingguo didn't know why, but also felt that this kind of bone chain was not valuable, so he accepted it all with a smile.

  Seeing Li Dingguo accepting the necklace, the leaders were even happier.

   It wasn't until several days later that Li Dingguo realized what he had received.

  Where is this necklace?

   This is the friendship of many tribes in Tainan. In the future, if Li Dingguo gives an order, all the aborigines in Tainan will be dispatched.

  (end of this chapter)