Chapter 3568
To deal with this kind of settlement with only a small number of armed personnel, Zheng Agui's company was basically able to control it with both hands, and no one was hit by the opponent's muskets during the entire battle. It can be regarded as clearing the level without any injuries.
The person who flew the white flag on the church steeple was a priest. Under his leadership, the Spanish in the settlement came out of the house one after another and lined up to surrender to the Haihan army that had surrounded the place.
However, not everyone had the chance to surrender. After searching these houses, the Haihan Army found more than a dozen corpses scattered everywhere. They were all unlucky people who had died in the battle just now.
Although there are many old, weak, women and children among these Spaniards who cry to heaven and earth, Zheng Agui will not sympathize with them. In wars between countries, it is inevitable that a large number of civilians will lose their families and their lives. Even if Zheng Agui is kind-hearted, he cannot let these people return to a peaceful life.
The greatest mercy he could offer was to preserve the lives of these Spanish civilians so that they could have a chance to live.
After gathering these prisoners together, Zheng Agui ordered people to conduct a simple inventory and registration. There are only more than 150 immigrants in this settlement. It is said that they only settled here at the end of last year, only about half a year ago.
Not all the houses in this settlement were built by them, at least more than half of them were the property of the previous landowners, the Dutch. In other words, these immigrants are just trying to occupy the magpie's nest.
However, Zheng Agui is not very interested in the dog-eat-dog stories between European colonists. What he has to do now is to complete the clearing of this place as soon as possible, destroy this settlement, and then continue to perform his mission.
These Spaniards did not have many valuable things in their homes. Many of them had already hidden the few silver coins they had with them when they came out to surrender. Zheng Agui's men searched and found only some bulk grain.
While escorting the prisoners to carry food, Zheng Agui called the priest and asked him the reason why Spain seized this settlement from the Dutch.
This place doesn't even have a port. If there weren't any special products here, the Netherlands and Spain would probably not have spent resources fighting for control of this place.
Zheng Agui's prediction was correct. According to the priest's explanation, there were large areas of natural sandalwood and cinnamon in the mountains and forests near the settlement. These were treasures that did not require capital. As long as they were cut down and transported back to Europe, huge profits could be made.
Western colonists may think these resources are treasures, but they are of little significance to Haihan. Zheng Agui felt a little disappointed after hearing this. He knew that the plants and trees that the boss was most interested in were not.
If there are any mineral deposits nearby, it may be reported and credited, but the things the Spanish priest said are common on Luzon Island, which is rich in vegetation, and the superiors will definitely not devote resources to develop this place.
Of course, even if he had no intention of occupying this place, Zheng Agui had no intention of handing it back to the Dutch. He ordered that once the search was complete, all the buildings in the settlement should be set on fire.
The order he received was to destroy all Spanish settlements in this area. Of course, it was not enough to just arrest the people. Infrastructure such as houses also had to be destroyed so that the Spaniards could not restart in the short term. Such a settlement.
Although there are only more than a hundred prisoners of war captured here, to take them all away will take up a certain part of the limited transportation capacity. Moreover, running around with prisoners is not a long-term solution. If a few more settlements are cleared later, the ships that cooperate with Zheng Agui's actions may not be able to accommodate them.
After returning to the beach and studying with several captains, Zheng Agui decided to set off to the west first. The chart shows that there are two relatively small islands in the sea about eighty miles away, which are most likely uninhabited islands. It might have been a cheaper solution to temporarily relocate the captured Spaniards there. The fleet arrived at the scheduled sea area before sunset that day, and indeed found the two islands. After Zheng Agui observed it with a telescope, he decisively chose the smaller one as his foothold.
The island is about four miles long from east to west and less than two miles wide from the south. Although there are some trees on the island, most of them are low shrubs. It is not easy to hide or make rafts. It is only suitable for use as firewood. It is just right. It meets Zheng Agui's needs for placing prisoners.
This small island is more than ten miles away from another large island to the east and more than twenty miles away from the south coast of Sumba Island. It is not easy to swim from this place by human power.
If more Spanish prisoners are captured on Sumba Island in the future, they can continue to be transported to this temporary prison.
Zheng Agui did not intend to leave these Spaniards on the island to starve to death. He returned the food collected from the settlements and some cooking utensils and tableware to the prisoners as rations during their temporary residence on the island.
These prisoners have hands and feet. As long as they catch some fish and kill some birds, it won't be too difficult to survive in the short term.
Before leaving the next day, Zheng Agui told the priest that his troops would return here within a month, and during this period there would be no guards stationed on the island. But when he returns to the island, he will check the number of prisoners on the island. He will see the prisoners alive and the corpses of the dead.
If the numbers don't match, then they probably won't have the chance to leave the island. If no one escapes, all prisoners will be given a chance to live again.
Zheng Agui also knew that this place might not be able to trap those young men who were capable of escaping. He could only treat the prisoners as one, which might also reduce the escape rate to an even lower level.
As for why he didn't leave anyone to guard him, Zheng Agui had no choice but to do so. His current manpower and supplies were extremely limited, and the tasks he shouldered were still time-limited. He really couldn't allocate any more to guard these prisoners.
And if a Spanish armed fleet patrols the area and discovers the situation on the island, it will be difficult for the people left behind to escape.
Although there were many problems in the process, Zheng Agui finally solved the problem of temporarily placing the prisoners and started looking for the next target the next day.
The interrogation of the prisoners last night still yielded some results, such as the approximate locations of several other Spanish colonial settlements on Sumba Island.
The nearest one is only a few dozen miles away from the small island where the prisoners are temporarily placed.
That afternoon, Zheng Agui's company successfully captured the second settlement and captured more than a hundred prisoners there.
Zheng Agui did not believe that such small settlements without built ports could provide supplies to the Spanish armed fleet, but leaving them there was a hidden danger after all. Taking this opportunity to clear them out would also make the shipping routes to the New World safer.