Wu Yingxiong jumped onto the dock of Batavia in embarrassment and looked at this red port city.
Batavia is not big. There are only a few Dutch warships, a dozen Dutch merchant ships and a dozen Ming sailing ships parked on the pier. It is still June, the south wind is not yet stable, and merchants from the Ming Dynasty are still stranded.
On the pier of Batavia, we are waiting for the day to return in August.
Wu Yingxiong glanced at the pier and saw many Han people loading goods to Hongyi and Daming merchant ships. Each of them had a yellow face and skinny muscles, as if they could be blown down by a gust of wind. But these thin Han slave workers were carrying heavy goods on their backs.
Carry it to the boat with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
The Javanese natives holding whips in their hands were obviously of a higher status and would beat them on the ground from time to time to scare the Han people who were carrying things.
Wu Yingxiong asked the maritime merchant next to him in surprise: "Uncle Liu, why are these natives beating the Han people with whips?"
The maritime merchant next to Wu Yingxiong looked at the porters, frowned and said: "Major General, those porters are slaves captured by Hongyi from the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong. A few years ago, when Li Zhi had not yet risen, Hongyi would
They all sent fleets to attack the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty, and the Han people they captured were sent to Batavia to do hard labor and slaves."
"These Han people were not paid for their work. They only had two half-full meals a day and worked on the dock until they died of exhaustion. Every year, 20 to 30 percent of the Han people died of exhaustion and illness in Batavia. In recent years, Hongyi was beaten and frightened by Li Zhi.
No longer daring to go to the southeast coast to rob slaves, Batavia's manpower is becoming more and more stretched, and the slaves who are still alive are working harder and harder."
When Wu Yingxiong heard this, he was stunned for a long time without reacting.
After a long while, he asked angrily: "Uncle Liu, what will Hongyi do to us?"
Wu Yingxiong was the son of Wu Sangui. After Wu Sangui's death, Li Zhi executed the nine Wu Sangui clans and sent Han Jinxin's people south to arrest the Wu family. But Wu Yingxiong escaped quickly and rode horses all the way from Nanchang to Guangzhou. In Guangzhou, he found Wu Sangui stationed there.
Liu Xin, the envoy who contacted the Dutch, and the merchant he called Uncle Liu, fled to Batavia by sea ship.
However, he did not expect that when he arrived in Batavia, the first thing he saw was the miserable situation of Han slave workers. Wu Yingxiong was frightened and began to doubt the fate of defecting to the Hongyi.
Liu Xin sighed and said: "Major General, these Hongyi are the most cruel to us Han people. In the past, we got the benefits of the Hongyi and naturally didn't care about these things. Now, Major General, you have come to join the Hongyi. You must be more careful."
.Be more humble in your words and deeds, and be sure not to offend those red barbarian officers."
"Li Zhi is pursuing the nine Wu clans, and now Li Zhi's power is spread all over Nanyang. Now you, the young general, can't find a place in these places, so you have no choice but to defect to Hongyi. Now we can only hope that Hongyi will be righteous and give us
There is a way to survive.”
Wu Yingxiong stood on the pier, feeling filled with sadness for a moment. He bowed his head and felt uncomfortable for a long time.
Liu Xin stood with Wu Yingxiong for a while and saw a Javanese native approaching with a whip. Liu Xin quickly urged Wu Yingxiong: "Major General, we can't stand on this pier for a long time. We'd better go to the Dutch official hall to report.
"
Wu Yingxiong looked at the Javanese supervisor who was approaching in panic. He did not dare to stay on the dock anymore and quickly followed Liu Xin to Hongyi's fortress.
The two walked quickly to the front of the bastion. Liu Xin passed the three-layer guard inspection with the documents given by the Dutch and entered the Dutch bastion. A Red Yi secretary took the two to a clean reception room.
inside, and then left alone.
The two of them stood in the reception room, not daring to sit down, and waited impatiently for the Hongyi people to summon them.
About half an hour later, a tall, slightly fat Dutchman walked into the reception room with two attendants.
Liu Xin quickly said to Wu Yingxiong: "This is Governor Kuhn of Batavia."
Kuhn walked into the room, looked at Wu Yingxiong, and said, "Are you Wu Sangui's son?"
Wu Yingxiong knelt on the ground with a bang and said: "Master Governor! I am Wu Yingxiong, the eldest son of Wu Sangui. My father attacked Li Zhi with you and died in the Ming Dynasty capital!"
Kuhn frowned when he heard the translation by the translator next to him. Apparently Wu Yingxiong reminded him of the Dutch defeat again, which made him feel very bad.
He raised his chin haughtily and said, "So what are you doing in Batavia?"
Wu Yingxiong looked at Kuhn longingly and said, "I have no other choice, so I came to seek refuge..."
However, before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Liu Xin. Liu Xin laughed with him and said loudly: "Your Excellency, the Governor, the Major General traveled from thousands of miles away to provide the Governor with information about the battle under the walls of Beijing."
of."
Liu Xin knew that if Wu Yingxiong was of no value to the Dutch, he would be immediately kicked out of Batavia by Kuhn. The only thing Wu Yingxiong could do now was to describe the battle in Beijing to the Dutch.
After hearing this, Kuhn became interested. "We are indeed very interested in the details of that battle."
He decided to spend some time with Wu Yingxiong, sat on a chair, and asked: "Why can Jiangbei Army have such advanced weapons, but still cannot defeat Li Zhi's Tiger Army?"
Although Wu Yingxiong did not witness the battle in Beijing, he talked to several captains who escaped in Nanchang and knew what happened in that battle. "Your Majesty Governor! Li Zhi's weapons are becoming more and more terrifying. He has created a weapon that will
A steel chariot that walks on its own!"
Kuhn was stunned and asked: "Steel chariot?" "It's exactly a steel chariot! These chariots spray thick smoke from their tails and are covered in heavy armor. They can move forward without the need for oxen and horses to pull them. Even the governor
The red cannon sold to my father can’t do anything with these tanks!"
Kuhn frowned, as if he had heard a fantasy.
However, Li Zhi always builds things that people can't believe, such as ironclad ships that don't need sails. "So how do these steel chariots fight?"
Seeing that Kuhn was very concerned, Wu Yingxiong began to realize his own value. He quickly stood up, waved his arms and said, "Sir Governor, then Li Zhi sent soldiers behind the tanks to throw bombs into our trenches!"
"Bombs?" "Yes, Li Zhi's soldiers have a lot of bombs. Their infantry guards behind the tanks to prevent us from attacking the tanks, while the bombers throw bombs from behind the tanks to blow up our trenches." "Ours
Section after section of the trench was destroyed by these bombs, and the soldiers soon collapsed."
Wu Yingxiong began to describe the various events of that battle vividly.
Kuhn frowned as he listened to Wu Yingxiong's account of that war, and finally said to the secretary beside him: "Write down the words of the Ming people. This is very important information. We need to organize military officers to analyze how to deal with Li Zhi's new type of war.
