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 Salvador City." After Qian Tiandun expressed his attitude, Jin Ming spoke more directly. White. 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.
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. I just went to a tavern for a drink, why was I suddenly forced to make such an important decision?
Jose's hesitation was not because he was patriotic, nor was he a pure Spaniard. Of course, the Spaniards were originally a mixture of multiple races. After the Arabs invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the 7th century AD, there was no such thing as pure Spaniards. That's what the Spaniards said. 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 merger of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon, or the coronation of Charles I as Charles V and the Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, this country ultimately belonged to a small number of nobles. Not 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 people 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 would make him give up these properties completely with just one word, but Jose didn't have such a big heart to just take them away. Although the shop is full of scrap metal, if you really want to convert the assets, it would be at least several hundred silver coins. How can you just say it's gone? If he couldn't go back, then it wouldn'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 knew that Akito didn't like outsiders like him at all, even though they would come to El Salvador to do business with smiling faces, but in private they despised Europeans as "Spanish". If these people resettled themselves in Daming, it would be difficult for them to live for a long time. Jose thought about it and found it difficult to make a decision. Although he wanted to live, he was unwilling to give up his 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 skilled craftsman like him, the Ministry of Industry will definitely I’m happy to accept it.”
Jin Ming nodded and persuaded Jose: "If you want to continue doing your job, 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." Points! ”
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 time to eat.”
Jin Ming translated Qian Tiandun's words to Jose exactly as he said, which scared the little blacksmith's face to the point where his face turned green and 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."
Once Jose softened, it became easier to continue questioning. Jin Ming started asking Jose questions one after another according to the list he made. The situation of the Spaniards on the island of Taiwan also became complete bit by bit in Jose's narrative.
After the Spanish established a colony in Manila, Luzon Island in 1571, they used the place as the trading center of the Spanish Kingdom in the Far East and gradually conquered nearby islands. Although Taiwan is not far from Luzon, Spanish policymakers at the time chose spice-rich areas such as Mindanao and the Maluku Islands south of Luzon as their preferred expansion direction. Later, when the ambitious Toyotomi Hideyoshi planned to use Taiwan Island as a springboard to attack Luzon Island, the Spanish realized the strategic value of Taiwan 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. He died of illness in Fushimi Castle, Kyoto, and his plan to go south naturally came to nothing. Once the Manila authorities saw that the threat from the north had been mitigated, 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 the Spanish faced changed from the Japanese to the Dutch. The hostility between the two sides on the European battlefield due to the Dutch War of Independence inevitably spread to the Far East. The Dutch East India Company noticed that Manila's prosperity mainly came from the Ming Dynasty's silk trade and the American silver trade, and decided to attack ships entering and leaving Manila from these two places. However, due to the limited navigation level of this era, the Dutch found that their limited number of armed merchant ships could not completely blockade Manila, and they 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 resort to the next best thing and move to Tai Yuan Port in the south of Taiwan Island. It was not until this time that the slow Manila authorities realized the seriousness of the problem. In order to be able to confront 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 Spaniards, in order to gain a foothold in peace, 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 designed in the shape of a bastion that was easy to defend.
The person who designed and supervised the construction of this castle was Antonio Carreno de Valdes, the first governor of Jilong 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. Four small circular bastions are built around the castle as a means of external 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. The locals refused to sell them food and supplies, and Manila's supply ships Due to the inability to provide timely assistance due to the typhoon season, many Spaniards experienced a very miserable period in the area. At that time, Jose, the blacksmith who was sent to the local area as the first batch of immigrants, even had to rely on eating rats to satisfy his hunger for a period of time. The miserable situation can be imagined.
By 1627, the food shortage situation in El Salvador had not been alleviated. Valdes was not allowed to send a team of soldiers to the Tamsui River area to prepare for negotiations with the indigenous people of the nearby Guijou community to purchase food. However, the local tribes united to drive away the Spanish. 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, where they defeated the local natives and plundered food. In the end, the indigenous people negotiated peace with the Spanish on the condition of ceding land, and Guillou 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. Juande Alcarazo became the second governor of the chicken coop. In the same year, Luis de Guzman became the first freshwater governor.
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, Alcarazo sent 80 soldiers 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 these two water veins were later 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. All the crew and passengers on the ship were killed by the local Karmalans. This 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 Karmas. The Lan people retaliated. Of course, this fertile coastal plain has been naturally taken into the hands of the Spaniards since then.
But although the Spaniards expanded their territory in the northern part of Taiwan Island faster than the Dutch in the south, their business conditions did not become better. Due to the strong intervention of the Haihan people in Fujian in recent years, the Fujian government and people are more inclined to do business with the "pro-Ming" Haihan people. There are not many Ming merchants willing to go to Jilong Port to trade, and the prices of the goods supplied There is no advantage over Manila. Japan has been in a state of isolation in recent years, and it is difficult to open the door to trade. There is not much profit to be made by just squeezing the local indigenous tribes.
In order to maintain garrisons in chicken coops, fresh water and other places, the Spanish operations in northern Taiwan had to rely on subsidies from Manila. However, on the one hand, Manila had to cope with the successive battles with the Green Religion countries in the South China Sea, and on the other hand, it had to face the current situation of declining silver production in the Americas after 1630. It became increasingly difficult to support daily operations. In the past, Jose had to work overtime with his four apprentices, but now he has more time to spend in the tavern. The reason is that the overwhelmed Salvador City authorities have cut military spending.
If there was no intervention of the Haihan people in this time and space, then according to the original historical development, by 1637 the Spaniards 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 Chicken Coop, captured the area and completely expelled the Spanish 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 nearly suffered a disaster, Damuan Port was able to obtain fewer and fewer supplies from the southern base camp, and it also had to face the The Haihan fleet, which may appear at its doorstep at any time to block the waterway, is no better off than 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 the major events in the area. Many of these are situations that Qian Tiandun has not grasped before. After all, everything Haihan knows comes from vague historical records, but the speaker in front of him is a person who has personally experienced these things. The situation is far more detailed and credible than the records. Jin Ming was translating, and Du Rong next to him was taking 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. I noticed that the other party was paying attention to the chicken coop area, and such attention was by no means well-intentioned. Even if Jin Ming didn't say anything, Jose could feel that the Oriental man sitting in the middle and staring at him must be a senior military officer, and the unconcealed coercion and murderous intent on his body were definitely not something ordinary people could possess.
Why is Officer Haihan so concerned about the condition of the chicken coop? Jose believed that there was only one possibility, and that was that the Haihan people, like the Dutch, coveted the territory owned by the Kingdom of Spain in Taipei. However, Jose did not think that the Haihan people would really take action against the chicken coop. After all, the Dutch had been planning for several years and did not dare to attack the chicken coop easily. Of course, if Jose truly understood the record of the Haihan Militia over the past five years, he might not be so optimistic.
(End of chapter)