It is more appropriate to call the Fort of Geranza, or the city of Geranza in its later form, which is considered to be one of the few fortified cities in the Dutch colonies in the Far East. When Zheng Chenggong sent troops to attack the city of Geranza in 1661, although he had ten times the number of troops, he still had no good way to take this fortified fortress divided into three layers, and he could only adopt the simplest and most primitive siege tactics, and it took nearly a year, coupled with the heavy artillery provided by the Portuguese and the assistance of the Dutch traitors, to finally take this fortress.

The Dutch had nearly twenty years to complete the project before they fought Zheng Chenggong in the original history, and even had the spare time to build another fortress on the nearby coast. But in this time and space, whether it is Zheng Chenggong or his opponent the Dutchman Rro, due to the appearance of Haihan, an uninvited guest, they basically no longer have the opportunity to command this war that will be praised by future generations.

However, at this time, the Geranza Fort had only completed more than one-third of the overall design project, and the fortifications on the ground floor had basically been completed, but the upper two layers of the fortifications, which played a more critical role in the defensive battle, had just begun construction. With the previous construction efficiency, it probably won't be completed in three or five or seven years. Will the Haihan people have the patience to give them enough time to slowly complete this big project? The answer is obviously no.

When the Haihan conquered Hoi An and Hue in Annam three years ago, a small number of Dutch merchants from those warring areas brought the battle back to the East India Company. A fortified city like Hue could not hold back the Haihan militia for too long, so how could it be expected that Fort Geranza, which was only in the rough stage at the moment, would be able to perform well in the war?

As for the local maritime armed forces, the Dutch are even less confident. After the Haihan militia led by Qian Tiandun defeated the Dutch armed fleet in the waters near Nanri Island in July last year, only about two-thirds of the ships and personnel of the Dayuangang armed fleet remained, and the subsequent defeat of Shibazhi also greatly affected the trade income of Dayuangang, so that the local people could not come up with enough funds to reorganize the armed fleet. If it weren't for such an embarrassing form, Hans would not have been in a hurry to quench his thirst by providing immigrants with this method of quenching their thirst °F▼dǐng°F▼diǎn°F▼小°F▼ said, .≌.o◆s_(); It's time to appease the Haihan neighbors who are about to move.

"Order the guards to close the gates of the castle, and let no one leave the city without my warrant!" Hans angrily ordered: "Let the reserves be assembled! Send men to our southern harbor, and let them be ready to send ships to Batavia to call the police!"

Although Hans knew very well that sending a ship to Batavia to call the police would not help, it was a precautionary step that he had to take as a commander. Batavia is still semi-paralyzed after surviving this summer's fighting, and the local armed fleet does not dare to leave the South Seas lightly at this time, otherwise there will be no way to save Batavia if the Matarans fight for their lives and make another surprise attack. Far away on the island of Taiwan, Fort Geranza is more important than the city of Batavia.

Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if the Batavian side still has spare strength, it is willing to send reinforcements to Dayuangang, and in terms of the efficiency of the fleet in this era, it will be at least a few months before the reinforcements from Batavia are organized to Dayuangang. But the voyage from the Penghu Islands to Dayuan Port was only one day, and if the Haihan people wished, they could launch ten offensives from the sea every month while waiting for reinforcements at Dayuan Port, or they could block the access channel of Dayuan Port for a long time. I'm afraid that before the arrival of reinforcements from Batavia, the local economy and defense will collapse.

"Bring me my armor!" Hans knew that he could no longer sit in the office and command, and if he didn't hurry out and make an appearance, there might be rumors in the castle that he had taken the lead in escaping. But before going out to command the army, Hans didn't forget another thing: "Find Philip at once and bring him to me! I want to know what this bastard talked to the Haihan people in Penghu!"

Philip went to Penghu with the heavy responsibility of fighting for peace in Dayuan Port, and came back after talking for a few days, but he didn't expect Philip to arrive on his front foot, and the next day the fleet of the Han people had already forced to the gate of Dayuan Port. Hans's first reaction, of course, was that the report of Philip's return was not true, even if he did not collude with Haihan to betray the company, at least he was hiding it from himself, otherwise how could Haihan carry out such a surprise attack without warning?

In fact, Philip's mood at the moment is similar to Hans, hearing the news that the Haihan fleet has arrived outside Dayuan Port, his heart is also like 10,000 grass and mud horses galloping past - two days ago, he said that he would negotiate to resolve the current differences of opinion between the two sides, and before he left Penghu, the other party also promised to wait for the reply from the Dutch side, but how long has it been, and he came directly to the door with a gun and a cannon. Is this Haihan people still trustworthy? What about the good people to negotiate and resolve differences?

But before Philippe could hear anything further, Hans's men had already arrived. And the soldiers who came to his house this time were not as polite as when they invited him out of the mountain last time, and directly grabbed his arm and dragged him out: "Lord Hans needs you to explain some problems to him in person." ”

If it weren't for Philip's psychological routine, another person would probably think that this was the rhythm of dragging out and hanging himself. Fortunately, he also knew that the progress of his current negotiations with Haihan was in his own hands, and as long as this battle had not started, there was still room for maneuver.

Five minutes later, Philippe met Hans in a fit of rage at his temporary headquarters in front of the city gates.

"You've come just in time! Tell me what's going on? Didn't you bring us the good news of peace? Why did the fleet of the Haihan come to the door so quickly?" Hans was furious at the sight of Philip's face, and asked him like a cannon.

Philip could only report his innocence: "Lord Hans, I did have a good conversation with the Haihan people before, and they also said that they would not take force in the near future...... This is probably some misunderstanding. ”

"Misunderstanding??, in the past three months, you have been the only one who has been an envoy to negotiate with the Haihans, what misunderstanding can there be?" Hans didn't believe too much in Philip's words, he always felt that this chubby merchant had something to hide from him.

Philip did lack a basis for self-justification on this issue, and after the Han people occupied Penghu in May, Dayuangang did not have direct contact with the Han people, and only occasionally passed on news through some maritime merchants of Ming or Ryukyuan nationality. The tacit understanding between the two sides is basically in accordance with the armistice agreement signed at the end of last year, and there is neither new progress nor major changes, and the East India Company will naturally not take the initiative to change its shape. It wasn't until recently that the Haihan sent troops to land on the island of Taiwan, and the Dayuangang side panicked and hurriedly sent Philip to negotiate with the Haihan.

But the person who went to negotiate was Philip, the person in charge, who had specifically talked about what he had with the Haihan people, and Hans could only listen to Philip's report, and there was no way to find the Haihan people to verify it. And Philip has no circumstantial evidence, and it seems that he can't prove his innocence by self-testimony alone. If he wants to clear himself, he will have to take another risk.

"Lord Hans, if you allow me, I would like to go and interview the Haihan people again at once, right now!" The only way Philip could think of to prove his innocence was to go to the Haihan again. Although he also knew that if the Haihan people really had the heart to start the war, then even if he went, he would probably be regarded as a sacrifice of the flag, but if he did not do so, he would not be able to clear his image as a "traitor" in the eyes of Hans.

Hans was about to agree, but then shook his head and said, "Wouldn't it be just right if you went directly to the Haihan people after leaving the port?"

Philip cried and laughed: "My property and family are in the castle of Geranza, if the adults are not at ease, please send someone to row a boat to send me out of the port." If I choose to defect to the enemy, then please dispose of my property and my family as I please!"

Since Philippe made such a heavy bet, Hans had to choose to believe him, and immediately sent a team of people to take him out of the city to the docks to take a boat.

"A ship has come out of Dayuan Port!"

About an hour later, the sailors in charge of keeping an eye from the mast reported their findings to the deck. After Qian Tiandun got the news, he immediately came to the bow of the ship and used a telescope to observe the small sampan sailing out of Dayuan Port. Such a small ship, which was less than five meters long, obviously did not come out to fight against the Haihan fleet, and the "O" flag on it representing the East India Company already indicated its identity.

"When the ship arrived, they brought their men to me. Qian Tiandun commanded succinctly. He knew very well what the purpose of the Dutch was sending a small boat out at this time, and he had come with the Fourth Fleet to show off his strength, and he needed such a channel to convey the message and show his purpose to the consuls of Dayuangang.

Philip had not met Qian Tiandun during the negotiations a few days ago, but he also knew that Penghu was a place with a military management system, and the person who made the decision was a senior Haihan officer - probably the Haihan officer surnamed Qian in front of him. And to be able to command such a fleet, its status should also be one of the best in Penghu. Based on this judgment, Philip immediately said the words he had just figured out on the way after the meeting.

"Dear sir, we Dutch people believe that mutual relations require honesty on both sides, and I reached a verbal agreement with your gentleman surnamed Li in Penghu only two days ago, and he also assured me that Haihan would not take the initiative to take force against Dayuangang. Philip's tone rose sharply: "But what do I see now? a heavily armed Haihan fleet has brazenly blockaded Dayuan Harbor without warning, which is an act of banditry, and I would like to protest against it on behalf of the East India Company!"

After listening to the translation, Qian Tiandun replied unhurriedly: "First of all, I want to correct one of your statements, we have not taken military action against Dayuan Port now, let alone blockaded Dayuan Port. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that our fleet is not as close to the port of Oyuan as you say, at least it is still out of the range of the guns of both sides. In addition, we did not show any hostility towards Dayuan Harbor or the ships entering and leaving Dayuan Harbor, and as you can see, we did not even remove the artillery jackets. ”

Philip sneaked a glance at the gun emplacements on both sides of the deck, and sure enough, the deck guns as far as the eye could see were still covered with waterproof gun suits, and they didn't look like they were about to start. Of course, as for whether the condition of the lower artillery deck is the same, it is unknown. As Qian Tiandun said, the Haihan fleet did not get too close to the harbor when it came to Dayuan Port, but kept cruising a distance outside the coastline. To say that the Haihan fleet blockaded the port, it seems that there was indeed a diǎn reluctance, after all, the Haihan ships did not block the passage in and out of the port, nor did they use force against any target.

"Then what is the purpose of your fleet coming here? It can't be that you came here to fish, right?" Philip thought of a wording that was dissolved by Qian Tiandun with a few words, and he was also a little annoyed.

"This is a very ordinary daily sea training, but we just happened to be near Dayuan Port. Qian Tiandun smiled and said, "I believe that your country's navy will conduct similar training, which is not unusual, isn't it?"

Philip is not a fool, naturally he will not be "just right" as Qian Tiandun said, and the army's actions will be planned in advance, how can it be so "just right"? Moreover, this time is inevitably too coincidental, he has just returned from Penghu, and the Haihan fleet has arrived, is this not an intentional demonstration to Dayuangang?

"Dear Sir, whether it is for the purpose of naval training or for any other purpose, this kind of action without prior notification is very likely to cause misunderstanding, and I suggest that you try to put an end to such behavior from now on, so as not to affect the armistice agreement between us, as well as the content of the negotiations that have not yet been completed. Although Philip was furious, he still tried to maintain restraint and bargained with Qian Tiandun as calmly as possible.

"It would be a pity if you mistook our normal military training for other purposes. Qian Tiandun said: "I agree with your statement, and I should indeed report it to you." However, since there has not been a major misunderstanding, it must be too late to report now. ”

"Huh?" Philip faintly smelled an ominous smell from Qian Tiandun's tone.