Taiwan was called "Yingzhou", "Yizhou", and "Liuqiu". By the Ming Dynasty, people were generally named after the names of the island's cities, some were called "Jilong", some were called "Beigang", some were called "Daguan", some were called "Taisheng", and some were called "Taiwan" and "Taiwowan"... The official name of the Ming Dynasty was called "Dongfan", while the European powers continued to use the name given by the Portuguese and called it "Formosa".

Since the middle and late Wanli period, the administration of the Ming Dynasty gradually became corrupt and the party struggles were serious. The navy of the southeast coast gradually shrank and was unable to take care of the Dongfan, which was isolated overseas. Japanese pirates and the Dutch began to rage on Baodao. During this period, although the navy general Shen Yourong landed on the island three times to expel the Japanese pirates and Dutch people occupying Baodao, no Ming officials paid attention to Dongfan after Chen Yourong, so that Dongfan was occupied by the Dutch until the sixth year of Chongzheng.

Xu Tianqi should be the first Ming official to set foot on Dongfanbao Island in the past decade. However, he did not come as an official, but pretended to be a maritime merchant. He was not a local official or a navy general of the Ming Dynasty, but a thousand households of the Jinyiwei.

He was also a secret spy from the Jinyiwei under Wang Zhengnan, the governor of the Jinyiwei. This time he did not come alone, but brought all the secret spys from the Jinyiwei under him!

In order not to attract the attention of the Dutch people on the island, they did not come together. Some of his men dressed as maritime merchants, some dressed as fishermen, some dressed as refugees, some dressed as fugitives, and even some dressed as pirates. At least dozens of people, they came in groups. The more than a hundred people he brought were the first.

By the way, was he bringing so many secret spies of the Jinyiwei to engage in special operations, killing all the Dutch people in one fell swoop and regain Dongfan Baodao? Of course not, Zhu Cijiu would not be so stupid as to give such an order. You should know that when Zheng Chenggong regained Taiwan in the Southern Ming Dynasty, the first batch of 25,000 was not captured, and the six thousand people mobilized later still did not catch them. In the end, the Dutch defenders surrounded were only to surrender. Although the historical books have always concealed the number of casualties in the Ming Zheng army, it is generally believed that the casualties of at least 10,000 were at least 10,000, otherwise they would not have transferred reinforcements!

The spies of the Jinyiwei were all selected by thousands of fighters. Zhu Cijing naturally would not consume them in such a battle with no chance of winning. This time they came to collect intelligence and prepare for the army's attack on the Eastern Front.

It is much more convenient to go to Dongfan to investigate than Java Island, because most of the islands are Han people, and there are basically no language barriers. Even after Xu Tianqi and his big ship docked, they all came to check the Han people. After the Han people in the team checked it a little on the boat, they came to Xu Tianqi with a smile and asked politely: "Dare you ask this shopkeeper, is it your first time to come to Formosa, but you are here to do business?"

Xu Tianqi pretended to be a businessman's careful look and replied in a cautious tone: "Yeah, the first time I'm here, I want to do some small business here."

The leader was not in a hurry to collect the money, but continued to ask with a smile: "Oh, are you going to stay in a hotel or rent a house?"

Xu Tianqi felt aroused when he heard this. It was inconvenient to contact the boat after all, and there was no cover on all sides of the sea. A group of people who always ran on a boat would definitely arouse suspicion from others. He originally planned to stay in a hotel, but although there were many people, it was better than being on the boat. Unexpectedly, there were houses for rent on the island. He couldn't help but tentatively: "Is there houses for rent here? I am a hundred people. Except for leaving a few people to guard the boat, everyone else has to go down to find a place to live. Is there such a large house in the city of Dazhong?"

The leader of the team saw that the business came to the door and smiled even more. He quickly introduced: "There are more people coming here to do business. How can we stay in the inn? Lord He specially built many courtyards for merchants from all over the country to rest. A hundred or ten people are nothing, and even thousands of people have a place to live."

Lord He? He can actually build so many houses in Dayuan City. It seems that he is the confidant of the Dutch man. Xu Tianqi secretly remembers it in his heart, but he did not ask the situation of the Lord He who led the team directly, but pretended to be glad: "That's great. I just have to stay here for a while and be familiar with the transactions here. It is naturally more convenient to rent a yard than staying in a hotel. I wonder how much the price of this yard is?"

The leader of the team immediately said enthusiastically: "Don't worry, I won't kill you, the price is very reasonable. It only costs 100 taels of silver per month to live in a yard of about 100 people, which is much more cost-effective than staying in a hotel."

Xu Tianqi didn't care much about this price. He would rent it no matter how expensive it was. But one hundred taels was really cheap. He couldn't help but say gratefully: "I would like to thank this lord, I don't know where to pay the rent."

The team leader saw that the business was settled, and he was happy as if he was a little bit away. He smiled and said, "Just hand it over to me directly. I will take you there later. But I have to pay one hundred taels of tax first. There is no way. This is to be handed over to those red-haired devils."

The Red-haired Devils? It seems that these people are not so loyal to the Dutch. This is a very useful information, and he secretly remembers it in his heart. He was a newcomer and couldn't catch people asking questions, so he had to pay the tax first, and then follow the team to the courtyard for rent in the city.

The yard is indeed not small, but the location is a bit remote, but it happens that he doesn't want to be in a downtown area, so it's also inconvenient to act like that.

Xu Tianqi paid the rent for half a year with politeness. After sending the team away, he settled a little and sent his subordinates to get familiar with the situation everywhere and leave a secret code for the later Jinyiwei to come and wait for the dispatch.

The Jinyiwei was established in the Dongfan contact point. Xu Tianqi pretended to be a merchant and inquire about the market conditions of various goods, while sending his subordinates to secretly investigate the situation of the Dutch, and soon gained a rough understanding of the Dutch in Dongfan.

It turned out that the Dutch did not live in the city of Dayuan, but built a castle not far from the city. All the Dutch lived in it and usually sent some people to patrol. Many specific matters were handed over to the so-called comprador.

In the Eastern Fan, there were two largest compradors of the Dutch, one was He Bin, the person who led the team, who was mainly responsible for the affairs of the port and the city of Daren; the other was Guo Huaiyi, who was mainly responsible for the management of economic crops in various places and the taxation of local civilians.

He Bin and Guo Huaiyi are not ordinary people. To talk about their origins, they are both sworn brothers of Zheng Zhilong, the King of Zhennan!

Before Zheng Zhilong became rich, he was not called Zheng Zhilong, but Zheng Yiguan. He was not the most powerful person under the sea merchant Li Dan at that time. At that time, the second person under Li Dan was named Yan Siqi. However, Li Dan and Yan Siqi died one after another. Zheng Yiguan joined forces with Li Dan's 18 pirate merchants and became sworn soldiers in the Eastern Federation, known as the pirate "Eighteen Zhis". Zheng Yiguan was therefore renamed Zheng Zhilong.

Later, Zheng Zhilong accepted the requisition of the Ming Dynasty. Shibazhi did not all join him in the Ming Dynasty. Some continued to be pirates, some continued to be merchants, and some did not know where to go. He Bin and Guo Huaiyi were the two Zhis from Shibazhi. Somehow they actually became compradors for the Dutch!

These two people naturally became the focus of Xu Tianqi's investigation. At the same time, he also decided to go to the Dutch castle in person to take a look.

On that day, Xu Tianqi brought a few hands to a forest three or four miles away from the Dutch Castle. After arranging the post, he found a big tree, and then climbed up a few times. After climbing the tree, he found a strong branch to stand, then took out a telescope and pointed it at the Dutch Castle, and carefully observed it.

Oh, he is it. As soon as he looked at the appearance of the castle, he couldn't help but curse. The Dutchman is so scared. It's okay if you say you can build a castle, but he has to build three more floors. Each floor is two or three meters high. How can people climb up?

Xu Tianqi became more and more frightened the more he looked at it. The defense of the castle was too strict. Dozens of cannons were installed on each floor, and the fortress and shooting holes were all available. How could this be attacked?

There will be no armor-piercing bombs or high-explosion bombs. It is almost impossible to use shells to smash the thick city walls. Xu Tianqi could not think of how to capture such a turtle castle. Fortunately, he is not a navy general, and this problem is not within his responsibilities. After he carefully wrote down the layout of the castle, he flew down the tree and led his subordinates back to draw sketches.

After more than a month of investigation, Xu Tianqi finally got to know the situation in Dongfan. He left a few hundred households to continue to investigate here, and he rushed back to the capital to report to Wang Zhengnan in person.

.............

As the secret spies from Jinyiwei from all over the place passed the news back one after another, Zhu Cijiong's brows became deeper and deeper. This Dutchman was really hard to deal with.

It is now certain that the Dutch's navy in the South China Ocean had fifty super battleships, more than 100 other small battleships, and more than 20,000 naval forces. In addition, the Dutch East India Company had 40 super battleships. In terms of the number of super battleships, the Dutch were almost twice that of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the Netherlands also had an escort fleet, which escorted a team of gold transport ships to swim around the Dutch's strongholds every year. The fleet was not small in size, but there was no need to worry about this. Just start the battle when the fleet returned to Europe. Now there was no satellite phone number, so it was impossible for them to return to help.

In addition to warships, the Dutch also had countless armed merchant ships traveling across Southeast Asia. Now they almost monopolized all the spices, peppers, metals, medicinal materials, linens, cotton, grains, etc. The Portuguese, Spaniards, and British people could only do some small business in their own colonies!

Now the Dutch fleet alone and the armed forces of the East India Company are not something that the Ming Dynasty can handle, not to mention that they have countless armed merchant ships, all of whom are carrying cannons, which is comparable to the Dafu ships transformed by the Ming Navy.

In other words, if we regain Dongfan Treasure Island now, we will definitely be retaliated by the Dutch. Although they may not be able to attack the inland of the Ming Dynasty, the sea will definitely be blocked by them. By then, the dream of the Ming Dynasty dominating the sea will always be a dream.

After careful consideration, Zhu Cijiu decided to endure it first, at least wait for the next batch of fifty super battleships to be built. Then, by then, the number of super battleships in the Ming Dynasty will slightly exceed the total number of super battleships near Nanyang by the Dutch. Not to mention that they will be beaten to death, at least they should not be blocked by the sea.
Chapter completed!