On the sea outside Jindao, more than a dozen pirate ships that had just sailed out from Sunset City in the Japanese Kingdom were heading towards Jindao.
The person responsible for leading these dozen pirate groups is Stirling from England. He is a sea captain, merchant and pirate. He has extremely rich maritime operations. He is also a pirate leader who has obtained a privateering license from the King of England.
In addition, he has multiple identities: a French citizen, a down-and-out Spanish aristocrat, a Portuguese businessman, and an Italian painter. He is also proficient in the languages of various European countries and is familiar with the customs and geography of various countries. Therefore, when he is overseas, he often switches between different identities as needed.
Various identities.
At this moment, he was holding a telescope and carefully observing the island in front of him.
The Portuguese called it Formosa, which means beautiful place.
Of course, there are many places named this way by the Portuguese, and this name is considered a popular one.
The island is very large. It is one of the three largest islands in the Gulf of Guinea. It is covered with dense jungle. In the middle of the island is a huge crater with an altitude of three thousand meters. From a distance, you can see that it is high in the clouds, the mountain peaks are shrouded in mist, and the mountainside is dense.
The rainforest, when you reach the foot of the mountain and the seaside, the sunny beaches and beautiful scenery are really refreshing.
“It really deserves the name of Formosa!”
Looking at the beautiful scenery on the island, Sterling couldn't help but nod. It was indeed beautiful, so beautiful that it was intoxicating.
"Sir Sterling, do we really want to rest on this island?"
Next to Sterling, Kevin from France frowned and said: "According to the news, this island is occupied by a colonial trading company called Saber, and they are all composed of veterans of the Ming Dynasty army."
"If we want to capture this island, I'm afraid there will be a lot of casualties."
"And you also know that the people of Ming Dynasty are not easy to mess with. Once we provoke people of Ming Dynasty, I'm afraid we will have to flee to the ends of the earth and die."
Kevin couldn't help but shudder slightly when he thought of the bounty notices posted at various ports and colonial strongholds. Once a Ming citizen was killed overseas, they would be thoroughly investigated, and once the murderer was found, they would be hunted down to the end.
The key is not to hunt you down alone, but to hunt down your family and your clan together. The sky-high price of the reward is enough to make friends and relatives buy you.
What's more important is that under the powerful deterrence of the Ming Empire, even the countries behind you dare not protect you. Even the Ottoman Empire, as powerful as the Ottoman Empire, had to succumb under the huge pressure of the Ming Empire.
As for these countries in Western Europe, they were all beaten by the Ming Dynasty.
Hong Kong on the island of England was an overseas colony of the Ming Empire, contributing nearly 10 million taels of tax revenue to the Ming Empire every year.
As for the French, they still cannot forget the scene when Paris was bombarded by the Ming Empire fleet. Under the overwhelming artillery fire, Paris was almost reduced to ruins.
Portugal was not much better, Lisbon was also bombarded by the Ming Dynasty.
Although they are now pretending to be pirates, they are engaged in the business of losing heads.
But after all, there is the support of one's own country behind the scenes, and they are pirates outside. After returning home, they are all big businessmen and nobles, and can live a leisurely life.
But after provoking the Ming people, once they are traced, when the Ming Dynasty exerts strong pressure on their country, they will inevitably become the scapegoat.
"I didn't say I wanted to capture this island~"
"We just came here to rest, and we didn't provoke the Ming Dynasty people. Just give them some money."
Sterling smiled and said nonchalantly.
In fact, he has no choice now.
At the strong request of the Portuguese, they shelled Sunset City and severely retaliated against the Japanese.
But it also gave the Spaniards on São Tomé an opportunity.
According to the clues received, the Spaniards have patrolled ships all over the Gulf of Guinea and the route back to Europe. Once they discover them, they will bite them hard and it will be difficult to escape.
So he had to choose a place first to replenish fresh water and food in the Gulf of Guinea, so that he could make as few refills as possible when he returned to Europe.
As long as they did not enter the ports and colonial strongholds to make up for it, the sea was so vast that even if they guarded the route, it would be difficult to detect them, and it would not be difficult to avoid the Spanish.
After much deliberation and choice, I finally decided to rest and make up my mind here on Jindao.
Because there is only Jindao in the surrounding area, it is very remote.
Because no valuable resources were found on Golden Island before, the Portuguese did not occupy it. After it was occupied by the Saber Colonial Trading Company, the development here was very slow because there was not enough funds.
Looking at the simple wooden pier here in the harbor, you can see that everything here is just getting started.
If it were to be replaced by other colonial sites, each colony would have been well developed, with a larger population, and more communication with the outside world, which would also mean that it would be easier to expose one's whereabouts.
It's remote and development is slow, so their security is higher.
Moreover, the territory of the Ming Dynasty was such that Spain could never dream of it. He and others dared to go to the territory of the Ming Dynasty for rest, recuperation and supplies.
"The location here is very good, not attracting attention, and it is still the territory of the Ming Dynasty."
"As long as we establish a good relationship with this Saber Colonial Trading Company, we may be able to come here often for supplies in the future, avoiding the Spanish eyes and ears, and we may even be able to sell stolen goods here in the future."
Sterling is thinking very far, and he is not just thinking about how to avoid Spain and return to Europe.
This is also the reason why he has always been able to live a comfortable life overseas, because he can always consider longer-term things, such as learning multiple languages and characters, becoming familiar with the customs and customs of various places, developing multiple identities, etc.
Right now, he is also thinking about coming to the Gold Coast to rob again in the future.
When several countries form a pirate alliance, they will naturally not simply grab a few colonies and just stop with a few ships. Such things will inevitably become the norm in the future.
If you want to hang out on the Gold Coast, you will need to find some remote and unknown hidden places, such as some unknown islands, which can be used to rest and hide treasures.
Pirates, pirates~
The reason why you can travel wildly on the sea and master some islands that are unique to you is a compulsory course.
At the same time, it is also necessary to have some places that can provide you with shelter, repairs, supplies, and even the sale of stolen goods, so that you can travel lightly and travel across the world.
Originally, all the Portuguese colonial strongholds on the Gold Coast were very suitable for this, but they were taken away by the Japanese and Spanish one after another. They suddenly lost their strongholds, and Sterling had to take the risk to try it on Golden Island.
Tried it.
After thinking about it, in this overseas country, only the Ming people were the only ones that no one dared to provoke. Hiding in the territory of the Ming people, there was nothing Spain could do.
More than a dozen pirate ships were getting closer and closer to Jin Island. On Jin Island, Huang Chong, Li Meng and other members of the Saber Colonial Trading Company also acted quickly.
Women, children and the elderly quickly moved to hidden places in the mountains. The remaining young and strong people were all wearing armor and holding muskets, bows and arrows, swords, etc., ready to welcome the pirates.
The Saber Colonial Trading Company was so poor that it didn't even buy cannons.
Of course, this kind of poverty is only compared to other colonial businesses and colonies. In terms of itself, these people with military backgrounds actually have no worries about food and clothing, and their incomes are quite high.
However, this little money seems to be too much for overseas colonization. It is difficult to even buy a ship, let alone a cannon. It is enough to still have muskets, bows and arrows, and swords.
"Oh, it's our ship!"
Li Meng looked at the three ships moored in the harbor. The ships were not big, but they were the most valuable things in the hands of Saber Colonial Trading Company. They relied on these ships to communicate with the outside world and transport some necessary living supplies.
of.
It's too late to drive away these ships now, and now we have to take advantage of the pirates in front of us.
"If the boat is gone, you can buy it again. As long as people are around, everything will be available."
Huang Chong looked at the three ships and said calmly.
They have discovered gold mines on Jin Island, and the output is quite good. As long as you give them some time, everything will be available.
After living here in Jindao for a long time, everyone gradually fell in love with it.
Although it is not as prosperous and lively as the big cities of the Ming Dynasty, the land here is fertile and the scenery is pleasant, just like a paradise. These members of the Saber Colonial Trading Company gather together to live on this island. Their small life is also very comfortable. I like it.
On everything here.
Therefore, no matter how difficult it is, they will not give up here and decide to settle down here. They will live here for generations and spread their branches here.
More than a dozen pirate ships slowly entered the harbor. The natural deep-water harbor is very suitable for ships to berth, and the surrounding terrain structure is a perfect haven.
“What a nice place!”
Sterling observed everything around him carefully, nodding his head as he looked.
Soon, more than a dozen ships arrived at the simple pier of the harbor. The three ships of the Saber Colonial Trading Company were much smaller than the dozen or so large ships.
A group of pirates who were already tired from being bumpy on the sea were about to land on land, and they could see many houses and buildings built by the Ming Dynasty. They immediately cheered and couldn't wait to get to the island.
Rest.
However, at this moment, Huang Chong came to the dock with a dozen people wearing armor, holding muskets, bows, arrows, and swords. He shot an arrow directly on the mast of a ship, swearing his existence to these pirates.