"Damn it!"

Zahn, chairman of the Dutch East India Company, scolded in a low voice, picked up the pipe, took out a silk cloth towel, carefully wiped off the dust on the pipe, and then stuffed it into his mouth again. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"Go and call Mr. Vanderbilt."

Zahn, who sat back in his chair, gave a hurried order to the guards beside him.

Soon, Vanderberg, the vice chairman of the board of directors, who was tall and thin and dressed well, walked in with the guards.

"Mr. Chairman, you call me 。。。。。。"

Zahn interrupted him with a wave of his hand, then handed Chunis's letter into his arms.

"Look at how the Dutch were driven out of Taiwan like a lost dog." Zahn smiled bitterly: "Poor Dutch, the British are copying our back road in India, and the Chinese are cutting off our front road in Taiwan, which is really a perfect combination." ”

Vanderbilt frowned, quickly put on gold-rimmed glasses with small round lenses, and quickly read Chunis's letter. After reading the letter, his face was very pale.

"Taiwan, just lost 。。。。。。"

Vanderbilt murmured, his eyes still full of disbelief.

"Yes, it's lost, the reality is so cruel, the devil has captured the castle, and God's people have no choice but to retreat." Zahn stood up, walked slowly to the delicate rococo carved arched window, and looked at the busy port of Batavia in the distance, and his face suddenly swelled with sadness: "The East India Company has suffered such a major setback, and I, as the chairman, really don't know how to explain it to such a guy in Congress." ”

Looking at Zahn's fat back, Vanderbilt suddenly felt a strange feeling of happiness in his heart.

If he had not been transferred back to Batavia from Taiwan in time, then the person who would have borne the responsibility for the loss of Tainan would have been himself, and it would have been really dangerous.

In this sense, this Chunis happened to become his own substitute ghost.

That Ming Dynasty man Li Xiao is really a hero-like character.

Thinking of this, he subconsciously touched the scar on his neck with his other hand.

This scar was cut by the sharp detoxifier when he was held hostage by Li Xiao's men that day. This life and death is only in a momentary moment of horror, and Vanderbilt still remembers it to this day.

Vanderbilt sighed. Remove the round lenses and place the letter from Chunis back on Zahn's desk.

"Mr. Chairman, perhaps, we can counterattack and regain lost ground." Vanderbilt's voice was low.

Zahn sneered, turned around, he blinked his gray-blue eyes, and said in a mocking tone, "Attack back? To put it mildly, if only it were so easy to attack back. ”

Zahn let out a long sigh, and he paced around the office like a trapped beast: "Now that Taiwan is lost, all the Taiwanese fleet is in the hands of the Chinese, and the military presence of our Dutch Republic in the Far East is basically only this Batavia city." If we want to mobilize all the fleets to counterattack Taiwan, not to mention the very likelihood that the British or the Spaniards will take advantage of the lack of our forces to seize Batavia. If our army wants to attack Taiwan, travel all the way by sea, and go on an expedition with labor, how can we easily defeat the Ming army that is waiting for work. If we are not defeated again, then the Dutch Republic will really have to withdraw from the Far East completely. ”

When Zahn said this, he stood still, and a wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Perhaps, now we should think about how to explain the process of losing Taiwan to the Congress, which is the most realistic approach." ”

Vanderbilt sighed helplessly, and he blinked and said: "In my opinion, perhaps we can only downplay the fault of losing Taiwan, and emphasize that it is our East India Company's credit for opening up a huge Chinese trade market that we can barely cover up this bad incident." ”

"Oh, can you elaborate on that?" Zahn's eyebrows twitched, clearly of interest in his words.

"Mr. Chairman, I think we can fully emphasize this point in particular." Vanderbilt loosened his bow tie and said eloquently: "My Dutch occupation of Taiwan for decades, can only trade with the local natives, really a few years ago, with the Ming army general Zheng Zhilong has a small trade, to be honest, the benefits from Taiwan, is really limited." However, since the beginning of this year, the trade between our Dutch merchants and the Ming Kingdom has increased substantially, reaching several times that of previous years, such as cigarettes, silk, raw silk, woolen wool, ironware and other commercial goods, all of which are very huge, and the profits of these products have basically increased several times after being transshipped to Europe. And the reason why this is the case is because Li Xiao, the general of the Ming army, agreed to start normal trade with us, so that we can get so many lucrative and very popular goods from the closed and self-defended Ming Dynasty. ”

Vanderbilt paused and continued: "Therefore, I think that if we can emphasize this point to the members of Congress, so that they can realize that although we have lost Taiwan, the commodity trade with the Ming Dynasty has not been interrupted, but will be more numerous and more profitable, then, in the face of the gold and silver coins that come like flowing water, our congressmen will naturally know how to treat this Ming Empire, the oldest and largest empire in the East. ”

After listening to Vanderbilt's persuasion, Zahn's face softened slightly, he nodded and smiled: "Very good, your analysis is very reasonable." No fool is going to have trouble with gold. If we could get such a greedy guy in place, maybe all the unhappiness and quarrels would have disappeared. “

Zahn took a few more steps in the room and said quietly: "However, in my opinion, the trade between our Netherlands and the Ming Dynasty is basically just a trade between us and that Li Xiao. This Chinese of the Ming Dynasty can support such a powerful business group with his own strength, which is really a powerful person that cannot be underestimated. ”

Vanderbilt leaned in and whispered, "What does the chairman mean?" “

"Now that the war is over, the past can only be passed in this way. At present, our Dutch Republic needs to maintain a good relationship with this Li Xiao, so that the trade volume and variety of goods between the two sides will continue to expand, so as to obtain more and more lucrative profits, which is the focus of our East India Company's work in the future. Zahn's eyes were very complicated, and he sighed: "This Li Xiao, although he is just a general of the Ming Dynasty, but in my opinion, this person is extraordinary, brave and strategic, and has an extremely ambitious future." Maybe one day, this person will finally create an empire of tomorrow. ”

When Chairman Zahn lamented Li Xiao, the entire island of Taiwan was still immersed in the festive atmosphere that had just passed the New Year.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Li Xiao set up a feast in the governor's palace of Chiji City, entertained a group of civil officials and generals, and gathered for a feast together.

Originally, Li Xiao wanted to have a banquet with a group of generals and officials on the 30th day of the Chinese New Year's Eve to celebrate the arrival of the New Year and discuss the future direction of Taiwan's development. But considering that the Chinese New Year is the moment when the family is reunited, Li Xiao is also an adult, giving the whole army a three-day holiday and going home for the holiday, so he didn't drink and discuss matters together until today.

At the banquet, every general and official of the Tiger Army who came to the banquet was happy, and they were deeply proud that they had the opportunity to have a banquet with Chifeng Bo Li Xiao and discuss things.

Being able to attend Li Xiao's banquet shows that Li Xiao treats himself as a confidant, and such attention naturally makes them happy in their hearts.

And Li Xiao himself, looking at this group of Taiwanese generals and officials, is also very happy, he personally held the pot, poured wine for many people to drink, greatly eliminated the distinction between upper and lower ranks, the whole banquet, staggered, more harmonious.

After the banquet, Li Xiaofu invited everyone to the meeting room of the Governor's Mansion and began to talk to everyone about his plans and ideas for Taiwan.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that Taiwan is my territory, we need to plan for a good life." Li Xiao said eloquently: "First of all, the original Dutch castle, like the original Spanish castle, needs to change the name of my Chinese city. In Benbo's opinion, this red embedded city, the city is high, and it can be renamed Kaohsiung Mansion Keya, and this place is used as the capital city to dominate Taiwan. ”

"What a Kaohsiung Mansion, this name is imposing!"

Zhao Wencai, who had been promoted by Li Xiao to the director of the Pingnan Camp for his efforts to persuade the Dutch to surrender, was the first to praise him, and everyone also opened their mouths to praise.

Seeing that everyone praised this place name, Li Xiao smiled.

Unexpectedly, I just copied the name of Taiwan's important town in later generations, but I could be praised by the officials present. Li Xiao secretly thought, looking at his own "plagiarism", it can be regarded as borrowing flowers to offer Buddha.

In fact, Kaohsiung in later generations was not in the place of Chijicheng. The current Chichicheng was renamed Tainan City in later generations, and the real Kaohsiung City, Taiwan in later generations, is in the south of Chichicheng. At present, Kaohsiung, a famous Tainan powerhouse in later generations, is just a small coastal fishing village called Doggozi.

The official name of Kaohsiung was in September 1920, when the Japanese colonial rulers began to carry out administrative reforms, and then renamed this small fishing village of Dagouzi, which has the best and best natural deep-water harbor in Taiwan, to Kaohsiung Prefecture, and finally to Kaohsiung City.

Seeing that everyone was talking for a while, Li Xiao replied: "Everyone, with the intention of this official, the Relan City located on Dayuan Island will be renamed Anping City after its meaning of guarding safety. As for other castles such as Promincia Fort and Rebefita Fort and other castles, Ding You, the head of the Taiwan colonization group, drew up a detailed plan for changing the name to the official, just to make it simple and easy to read. ”

Ding You stood up and arched his hand: "Master Li, don't worry, this matter will be handled by the student council as soon as possible." But I don't know how Master Li plans to set up the state and county next? ”

Li Xiao pondered for a while and said, "In Benbo's opinion, this land of Taiwan can be divided into four major regions. That is, Kaohsiung Prefecture, Changhua County, Taipei County, and the Taitung region, which has not yet been included in the rule of our army. Among them, Kaohsiung Prefecture is the entire Tainan land originally owned by the Dutch, Changhua County is the Taichung area acquired by our army from Zheng Zhilong's department, and Taipei County is the place where the Spanish were originally entrenched. ”

Ding You and Ma Huaxing got up at the same time and promised Li Xiao loudly.

Li Xiao paused, and then said to everyone: "As for the Taitung region, as well as the Taichung Mountains and other places, it is still to implement the policy set by Ben Bo before, vigorously melt and absorb the fresh blood of the Taiwanese aborigines as our Chinese Han people, let them know Han Chinese calligraphy, wear Han clothes, know Han etiquette, and marry each other with Han immigrants, so as to gradually encroach on the gentle way, all the indigenous tribes in Taiwan are fully integrated into the Han people. The lands of Taitung and the Taichung Mountains can gradually be taken over by our army without war. ”

Li Xiao's words, everyone also agreed.

To tell the truth, now Li Xiao has basically taken possession of Taiwan's plastered land, and the economic value of this barren and wild Taichung Mountains and Taitung region is actually not very large, and the way of gradual encroachment and annexation should be the best and most appropriate measure.

At this time, Li Xiao suddenly thought of something, so he asked Ding You: "Now that our army has recovered Tainan, has Commander Ding ever counted the specific situation of Tainan's land?" ”

Seeing Li Xiao's question, Ding You hurriedly said: "Lord Li, according to our statistics in the past few days and field measurements, this southern part of Taiwan, with many rivers and flat terrain, can be regarded as the most fat and lush place in Taiwan. Under the rule of the Dutch, 300,000 acres of land have been reclaimed, but the developable land in Tainan is more than 5.2 million mu, which is more than twice that of Taipei! “

Listening to Ding You's answer, Li Xiao was very pleased.

Because he remembered that according to the report of Ding You and others, in Taipei, there are about 2.6 million mu of developable wasteland, and in Taichung, it is 3.2 million mu, plus the current 5.2 million mu of land in Tainan, then the total developable land area in Taiwan has reached more than 11 million mu!

In fact, this figure is far from the real developable area of the whole island of Taiwan, you must know that in modern Taiwan, the existing cultivated land area of Taiwan is 16.2 million mu, which is much more than the amount of wasteland that Li Xiao has discovered now.

However, according to the statistics of the modern National Taiwan University, 20% of Taiwan's cultivated land is located in the scattered land zone of the Taitung region and the Taichung Mountains, where the mountains are high and the forests are dense and the miasma is frequent, and the cost of development is too great now, so Li Xiao will not consider it for the time being. After all, it will take many years to fully develop and utilize all these 11 million acres of cultivated land.

At this time, Li Xiao suddenly sighed in his heart.

How can such a rich and prosperous treasure island not be coveted by many powers? And such a treasure island, the mediocre Ming Dynasty government, gave up in extreme ignorance, which really makes people speechless.

It is no wonder that in real history, after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan, which made Japan, from the emperor to the subjects, go crazy with excitement, and almost everyone cheered and celebrated. Because these greedy robbers knew that with this treasure island rich in natural products, Japan would be able to provide enough food and clothing for all the islanders in agriculture alone.

"Excellent! It seems that our army must hurry up the immigration from the mainland, develop as much land as possible in Taiwan, and make sure that this treasure island of China will forever be owned by the people of the Han Dynasty and passed on from generation to generation! This treasure island of Taiwan, even if it is protected with the blood and lives of the Han people, it is not hesitated! ”

When Li Xiao said this, he was obviously moved, and there was an inexplicable luster flickering in his resolute eyes.