On the sea outside Tainan, the setting sun is like blood, the boundless afterglow fills the sea and the calm sea surface, golden red light waves are jumping, and large groups of seagulls scream and chase among the Navy ships of the Tiger Army, rising and falling.

In this quiet and peaceful atmosphere, Li Xiao, who was standing on the bow of the Shenglong boat, stood like a sculpture, and the cloak in the fresh wind was blown straight by the strong sea breeze.

But his eyes looked at his deputy chief of the navy, Joseph, the Dutchman, with a complex look.

At noon, Joseph asked Li Xiao to let him hang the Dutch flag to help paralyze the Dutch defenders of the Grand Secretary and take advantage of the chaos to seize the city. Li Xiao admired his suggestion very much and agreed immediately, and gave Joseph thirty taels of silver as a reward.

However, Li Xiao discovered that although Joseph had obtained the money, there was a vague worry and uneasiness in his eyes.

Li Xiao thought for a long time and decided to chat with Joseph alone before the fleet arrived at Dayuan Island.

"Joseph, do you feel quite guilty of conscience when you give me this advice today? After all, our army will go to war with your mother country next."

Li Xiao asked straight to the point, looking straight at Joseph with a embarrassed expression.

Joseph leaning on the side of the boat was dull. He didn't speak for a long time, and there was an inexplicable sadness in his sky-blue eyes.

"Mr. Li, I have thought about this question many times, so I decided to face the reality now." Joseph stood up, but had a wry smile on his face: "Now the Tiger Army is strong and well-equipped, and its troops are several times that of my Dutch army. Under such conditions, the Netherlands' defeat in Taiwan is actually just a matter of time. So I made suggestions to Mr. Li, just to end the war as soon as possible, so as not to die in the war."

"Your idea is very correct. If the Tainan War can be ended as soon as possible, it will be a good thing for both sides." Li Xiao said calmly: "Joseph, I can guarantee you that as long as we can successfully capture the Dutch stronghold in Taiwan, our army will never kill one person indiscriminately, and will make all the Dutch residents safe. In the future, whether they return to Batavia or the Netherlands, our army can let it go. And if they are willing to abide by our military laws, they can even continue to stay in Tainan to do business."

Joseph's eyes suddenly flashed, and he laughed loudly: "Mr. Li, you are a real knight. It is the most correct decision in my life to serve you. I thank all the Taiwanese Dutch people for thanking Mr. Li for the grace."

Another hour later, the sky was completely dark, but under the bright moonlight, the blurry shadow of the Dayuan Island could be seen.

"Mr. Li, there is the Grandmaster Island ahead." Joseph whispered.

Li Xiao said oh, his face becoming more and more solemn.

In his previous life, Li Xiao also had a brief understanding of this Dayuan Island when he listened to the historical story of Zheng Chenggong's recovery of Taiwan.

The Grand Master was transformed from the name of Taiwowan Society (teyowan), a Pingpu ethnic group in southern Taiwan. It originally referred to a coastal sandbank in southern Taiwan, also known as "Da Kunshi", which is located in Anping District, Tainan City today. Later, the term "Master" refers to a broader range, and sometimes it is also used as a synonym for the entire Taiwan island.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were eleven sandbanks outside Tainan, named "Haiweng Line", "Jiawu", "Chazi", "North Line Tail", "Big Kun Body", "Two Kun Body" and "Seven Kun Body". These sandbank islands form a lake and the coastline, called "Taijiang". Among them, the waterway between the North Line Tail and the Great Kun Body is the deepest, and can allow sea boats to pass through, and is the main port road to enter and exit Taijiang.

In 1624, the Dutch East India Company established the city of Jelan Cha on the Grand Marine, as a shopping mall and a ruling administrative center. The head of the Grand Marine was the highest administrative head and took charge of administrative affairs throughout the island. At the same time, it was established a council for the evaluation of the Grand Marine, which was the highest decision-making body. It was not until the Dutch advanced to the inland Taiwan and after the construction of Chichi City, the Dutch moved from the Chichi City to Chichi City in Taiwan.

With the changes of history, by the mid-17th century, these sandbanks gradually approached and even connected due to the accumulation of sea sand. By 1661, when Zheng Chenggong sent troops to attack Taiwan, the seven Kunzhen islands had already formed a long sandbank peninsula connected to the inland.

The inland sea of ​​Taijiang between the Kun-Sing Peninsula and Taiwan's main island gradually became shallow during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. In 1882, it encountered another major flood, and the harbor was filled with siltation and turned into flat ground, and finally land disappeared, connecting with Tainan.

Since there is only one waterway connected to the outside world, this city of Relan, built on Dayuan Island, has become an extremely dangerous place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In addition, the Dutch also built Sicao Fort on the Beiyi Island and Rebefirm Village Fort on the Haiwen Island. These two small castles, one on the left and one on the right, formed a gust of the city of Relan on the Dayuan Island.

On this night with bright moonlight, Li Xiao's fleet was like a hidden dragon, quietly coming to the estuary of Neijiang, near the side of Sicao Sea Fort.

On the Sihai Fort, a torch was immediately lit. The Dutch army guarding the fort climbed to the top of the fort. After observing with a thousand-mile mirror, they waved the torch and sounded a few whistles, as if they were sending some signal.

"Mr. Li, are they asking whether we are the Dutch fleet returning from Lugang, or the ships coming from Badavi?"

Seeing the Dutch defenders sending this signal, Joseph, the deputy chief of the navy, whispered.

Li Xiao was secretly proud of himself. Seeing that his fleet had taken the banner of the Dutch, he had successfully paralyzed the Dutch guarding the fort. They had regarded their fleet as Dutch ships without any doubt.

"Tell them that we are returning from Lugang and are now going to Lelan Rio City." Li Xiao said with a smile.

Joseph nodded, and immediately made a series of rhythmic whistles sounds.

When Li Xiao saw that the Dutch defenders heard the continuous sound of the whistle, he did not hesitate, so he waved the torches a few more times, responded to the whistle, and then retreated to the stairs.

"Mr. Li, the signal is up, they said we can pass." Joseph also smiled.

"Very good. The entire fleet passed through Neijiang and headed towards Relan Rio City, and then acted as planned." A strange smile appeared on Li Xiao's face.

Half an hour later, all Li Xiaojun's ships successfully crossed the Neijiang Seaway and came to the bottom of the Dayuan Island.

At this time, Li Xiao and the guards had already put on the helmets of the original captured dragon cavalry.

Li Xiao, who wore the exquisite steel armor of the former commander-in-chief of the Dutch Army, with family badges, was carefully examined in the bronze mirror, and was very satisfied with his heroic and handsome look.

After the guards changed into Dragoons, the 600 rampant team members changed into Dutch spearmen, and the other 600 Manchu infantrymen were replaced with the costumes of a mature servant army.

These soldiers wearing Dutch uniforms felt interesting to see this strange appearance that was completely different from the past and made fun of each other.

"Okay, stop laughing, everyone is ready. Let's disguise yourself into the city and catch the Dutch off guard with Lord Li later!"

Li Dingguo, the battalion commander of Pingnan Battalion, who also disguised himself as a Dutch army spearman, held back his smile and issued serious orders to the soldiers.

Soon, the Shenglong put down the shore and was led by Joseph, the chief leader of the navy who was also dressed in a dragoon. Li Xiao led a hundred fake dragoons, 600 fake Dutch spearmen, and 600 fake familiar servants from the ship one after another, heading straight towards the city of Gerland in the center of the island.

Not long after, under the hazy moonlight, Li Xiao's army passed by a small hillside, and a very Western-style castle appeared in front of them. This castle was the city of Relan Fold.

"Mr. Li, there is the city of Relan in front of it." Joseph whispered, pointing his hand.

Li Xiao nodded and stopped and took a closer look.

The city of Rhlan in front of me is indeed much larger and more majestic than the Four Grass Sea Fortress I have seen just now. In history, the predecessor of this city was named Olenji City. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, it was renamed Rhlan in the city of Rhlan. The Han people often called it Taiwan City, which is the oldest castle in Taiwan.

This city of Gerland was originally a temporary fortress. Later, when the Netherlands saw that it was dangerous and easy to defend but difficult to attack, it decided to spend a lot of effort to build the fortress and rebuild the city into a large-scale castle Orange. In 1627, it was rebuilt and named Zeelandia after the Dutch province's name Zeelandia. It was completed in 1632. From then on, this castle was the main hub for the Dutch to rule the entire island of Taiwan and foreign trade.

In 1662, Zheng Chenggong captured Relanzha City, successfully expelled the Dutch from Taiwan, and established the first Han regime in Taiwan's history. The Zheng family also changed the city to Anping City, which is the origin of the modern Anping Castle. The three rulers of the Zheng family dynasty all lived in this city, so it is also called the royal city.

In 1683 (Guihai, 22nd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty), the Qing Dynasty naval admiral Shi Lang defeated the Ming Zheng army, and Taiwan was included in the Qing Dynasty territory. The government was moved to Dong'anfang (now Tainan city). The royal city has since lost its glorious status and was changed to the Taiwan Military Costume Bureau. The importance of the castle has decreased day by day, and the walls have been mostly disrepaired, and Anping City has gradually been abandoned.

In 1874, Shen Baozhen, the imperial envoy of the late Qing Dynasty, came to Taiwan to deal with the "Mudan Society Incident" in which the Japanese were murdered. After negotiating with the Japanese, in order to strengthen Taiwan's military protection, the wall bricks of the outer city of Anping City were demolished in large quantities and transported to Erkunshan Island to establish the "Yizai Jincheng". At this point, this once noisy Anping City no longer regained its original appearance, leaving only some broken walls for future generations to pay tribute to.

In the late Ming Dynasty, this majestic castle built on the Dayuan Island covers an area of ​​about 40 acres and is nearly 200 meters long and wide. To the southeast is the Dayuan Town. The Rhlan Castle and the Town are collectively called Dayuan, which is the political, economic and military center of the Dutch East India Company in Taiwan. Since Dayuan was the most prosperous place in Taiwan at this time, Dayuan is often used as a synonym for Taiwan.

This Relan Fold City is a typical modern European prism. The castle is strong and has complete defense facilities. There are trenches surrounding the surroundings, and the sloped earth embankment is the base, and the walls are made of red bricks. The city circumference is more than 200 meters long and more than 3 meters high. It is divided into three layers. The lower layer is more than 1 meter deep underground. "The city wall is made of sugar water, glutinous rice, oyster shell, gray sand, and is pounded and stuck to it, and red bricks are built up to the stone." The four corners of the city protrude outward, and dozens of cannons are placed.

In addition, the city of Relan is divided into two parts: the inner city and the outer city. The inner city is square, with two upper and lower floors. Both lengths and widths are 115 meters, the city wall is about nine meters high, one meter two thick, and the four-angle ridges are 1.8 meters thick. The basement is a warehouse for storing ammunition, food and miscellaneous items. The upper floor is equipped with the office of the chief executive, church, lookout stand, soldier barracks and other facilities. The four corners of the outer city are rectangular, 160 meters wide and 77 meters wide, slightly lower than the inner city, and there are various public buildings such as service residences, staff dormitories, office meeting halls, hospitals, warehouses and other public buildings.

If there are more than a thousand garrisons in such a castle, it can basically resist the siege of ten thousand people for half a year or even a year. This is also the main reason why Zheng Chenggong had to siege the city for 8 months when attacking Relan Rio City.

At this time, Li Xiao came back from the myth of history and began to issue orders to generals such as Li Dingguo.

"We sent our army orders and our army went straight to the gate of the Raran Castle. Everyone kept silent and noisy. After entering the city, listen to Benbo's orders and take the next action."

"I understand below."

After Li Xiao finished whispering the order, he turned to Joseph and said, "Joseph, you will be the one who will lead you to open the city gate and enter the city. If the enemy has not yet seen through it after entering the city, he will go straight to the lord's mansion and force his lord to surrender."

Joseph nodded: "Don't worry, Lord Li, I will do my best."

Soon, Li Xiao and his army arrived not far from the gate of the Raran Fold Castle. Joseph rode his horse and walked alone outside the gate of the fort.

Immediately, a soldier shouted loudly in Dutch, asking them where they came from and what happened to the city of Rhelan.

Joseph hurried forward and replied loudly to the questioning soldier: "We are waiting for the city of Relange, but we are here at the order of the Governor, in order to strengthen the garrison and prevent the Ming army from sneaking into Relange, please quickly enter the city to report to the guards and let us enter the city to rest."

The soldier looked up and down at Joseph, then looked at the fake Dutch troops not far away in the darkness, and shouted: "Do you have a letter of introduction from the Governor?"

Joseph was stunned. He didn't expect that the guard guard was so vigilant. He thought for a moment and said, "Of course there is, but this letter is secretly involved. There is a secret order from the Governor, so he can only be handed over to the generals to watch, but it is not something you can see."

After hearing what he said, the guards guarded the city stopped asking more questions, so they asked him to wait outside the fort gate and entered the city first to report.

Soon, Colonel Albert, the guard general stationed in the city of Gerland, received news from the gatekeepers.

"Oh, these bastards came at a bad time. They came so late to garrison the Relan Rim?"

Albert, who was about to take off his clothes and sleep, listened to the military report, but couldn't help but yawn for a long time, and his face was filled with dissatisfaction.

"Yes, they were waiting outside the fort gate. The second lieutenant of the Dragoon also said that he had an important letter with a secret order from the Governor, and he would hand it over to you in person." The guard replied.
Chapter completed!