Chapter 222: The Dutch in Dayuan

There's a saying that goes: "Ideals are full-bodied, but reality is bony."

Poor Hans Putmans — his ideals lasted only half an hour at the gates of Dayuan.

Before the eyes of the crowd, the Kucken was blasted apart like a lantern stuffed with firecrackers; the enormous explosion and the sight of chain fireballs shooting skyward seared into the eyes of every man in the fleet.

In fact, most of the crew believed it was some kind of magic. No one had ever seen a cannonball that could fly one league and still strike a ship with precision. Moreover, the red dot that flashed through the air, and the explosion after hitting its target, were beyond their understanding: it seemed more like a wizard's spell — a fireball technique?

Only a handful of people on the flagship knew the truth.

But even they only understood one part of the truth. Everyone near Tang Qiao at the time heard him give the order to fire, but no one knew how the enemy gunners received the command...

A battle of such vast technological disparity ended just like that, lasting less than a minute from start to finish. Though brief, the effect was excellent: as the Kucken sank, the Dutchmen's ambitions were sent to the seabed along with it.

And so, half an hour after the Kucken went down, the fair-weather brothers reconciled at a jaw-dropping speed. Everyone chatted merrily about rum and dancing girls, as if nothing had happened — everything was fine, except that Comrade Putmans, who had been posturing too hard earlier, was feeling rather awkward now.

As for the poor Kucken... the crew probably scuttled the ship themselves. May God bless them.

By the time everything was settled, it was already evening. The sky was pitch black, and the rainstorm arrived right on schedule, so Tang Qiao hastily took his leave. As for the Dutch Fleet, they had no choice but to drop anchor outside Dayuan Port for the night.

The next morning, the rain cleared and the sky brightened, and the Dutch Fleet began entering the Dayuan Channel.

The Middelburg, which they had thought could only anchor in the open sea, entered the channel with ease this time. The Dayuan Channel, which in earlier years had been divided by sandbars, now had its obstacles completely cleared away. The main channel was now thirty meters wide, so the 550-ton Middelburg met no obstruction whatsoever.

What followed was a string of exclamations: the Seabed Scoop, still deepening the channel, taught the outsiders a lesson with its unchanging, eternal motion and immense power.

The second lesson was the pilot ship.

The small pilot ship was piled high with wooden blocks, with a rain canopy rigged at the stern. Beneath the crude canopy sat a cylindrical gasification furnace, a coal gas engine, and a cast iron propeller system. After seeing these strange ships that could move without sails, the Dutch once again confirmed the rumors of Eastern sorcerers in this place.

After passing through the Dayuan Channel and reaching the entrance to Taijiang, the Dutch Fleet furled all sails. What followed was a performance by the pilot ships: the roaring vessels effortlessly towed the Middelburg to the wharf at Beixianwei Island, north of Dayuan Island.

Large-scale construction on Beixianwei Island had been underway for some time. This year was unlike the last; Dayuan Port had now made a name for itself across the land, so with the arrival of the summer monsoon, European ships were sure to come to Dayuan Island one after another.

To receive these Europeans — who carried cargo and gold and silver, but also all manner of infectious diseases — the Transmigrators had thus given Beixianwei Island a thorough overhaul.

Previously, Beixianwei Island had been desolate; its elevation was so low that during high tide, one part of it was often submerged by seawater.

Later, with the creation of the Seabed Scoop, some of the island's low-lying areas were gradually raised and leveled with sea sand. Still later, as the Sand Embankment on the north side continued its extension, the island's northern tip — which already curved overhead and was very close to the main island — was now completely linked into a single sand causeway by the sea sand dredged up by the excavator ships.

With the Sand Embankment came water.

At the mouth of the stream closest to the Sand Embankment on the main island, a Water Station was quickly built, and then the cast iron water pipes produced in the Kiln District were put to use. The pipeline running along the Sand Embankment delivered fresh water into the underground reservoir at the island's northern section, thus solving the daily water problem for foreign crewmen on the island.

With this water supply system in place, the planned physical quarantine of large numbers of outsiders became feasible. These outsiders included crewmen and slaves from various nations, who would henceforth spend the majority of their time waiting for ships on Beixianwei Island.

From this, one could see the Transmigrators' terror of all kinds of infectious diseases. It must be understood that even Dayuan Island's own daily water was still transported by water boats every day; the leaders had not yet enjoyed such high-end configurations as the Sand Embankment pipeline.

With water, there also had to be buildings.

The first structure built on the island was naturally the Dun Tai. The Dun Tai on Beixianwei Island was separated from the Dun Tai on Dayuan Island by just one channel, and was similarly equipped with heavy machine guns, soldiers, and iron wire traps.

Next came the preparation of a money-siphoning town. The crewmen of this era were all scum who didn't know if they'd live to see tomorrow, so their spending power was immense... The Transmigrators would not look down on the money in these scumbags' pockets just because they lacked refinement.

Thus, Wood Town, with three bars and five inns, rose from the ground. The town was planned to accommodate two thousand people, with supporting facilities including a boiler room and a bathhouse all fully provided. Additionally, the Great Yuan Police General Bureau had set up a Police Sub-bureau here, deploying a large amount of manpower and equipment, ready to deal with drunken, brawling crewmen.

The buildings above were mainly concentrated on the eastern side of Beixianwei Island. This side bordered Taijiang, offering beautiful scenery, and after dark one could enjoy the lovely night view of the opposite shore.

As for the island's western side... there lay the Slave Camp and a hospital that looked more like a prison.

Anyone detected with an elevated body temperature would be seized and thrown into the hospital at the first moment, whether crewman or slave. Inside the hospital, these people would receive simple care and isolation for observation.

Common cold patients who managed to pull through would be discharged. As for those diagnosed with an infectious disease — no matter what kind — they would be taken out and their bodies dumped in the open sea.

As for medicines, what the Transmigrators could currently provide were some simple topical hydrogen peroxide, medical alcohol, and cotton gauze. As for the extremely scarce lab-produced aspirin and sulfonamide, the crewmen and slaves on Beixianwei Island were not qualified to use them.

It was under these circumstances that the Dutch Fleet entered Taijiang. After being towed into position by the pilot ships, the Middelburg first unloaded the majority of its crewmen and the slaves from the lower decks at the Beixianwei Island wharf. Next, it would be towed further to the Chikan Wharf on the opposite shore, where it would unload the rest of its cargo.

Short in stature and stark naked, the Javanese slaves came off the ship and soon, under the direction of a large number of guards wielding clubs and whips, staggered into the Slave Camp.

To prevent these starving slaves from eating themselves to death, large pots of mixed-vegetable thin gruel had already been prepared in the Slave Camp. After these people finished their bowl of entry gruel, they would be herded into lime-sprinkled pools for disinfection. Only then would the subsequent procedures follow: distributing clothing, assigning dormitories, and physical examinations.

Since this was the first transaction, the Dutch, harboring some doubts, had only brought a total of eight hundred slaves this time. Of course, to ensure the slaves' survival rate, the Dutch had initially loaded the ships based on a count of twelve hundred.

After several slave ships finished "unloading," one point brought great relief to both buyer and seller: after over a month of sea voyage, the number of slaves who could finally walk off the ships was 1,050. This number far exceeded the traders' expectations and proved that the slave trade route proposed by the Transmigrators was viable.

Xia Xianze, in a considerably good mood upon learning this news, received the Dutch East India Company's official representative, Hans Putmans, at noon that day, accepting the trade agreement, Governor-General Coen's letter, and gifts that the latter presented.

After this, Putmans soon received a Land Coupon worth a staggering 260,000 taels — the Slave Trade Special Fund.

Later that evening, the Dutch people's old friend, Comrade Cai Feiming, also made an appearance. Cai Feiming and his party first arrived at the garden-style Dutch Trading Post, which had long since been built, to have dinner with Putmans and his group.

Next, Tang Qiao fulfilled his promise: in the largest Pirate Bar on Beixianwei Island, the guests sampled high-grade rum brewed with later-generation techniques. In the aftermath, the Dutchmen, including Comrade Putmans, all got drunk and were carried back to the boat and shipped to the Trading Post — the country bumpkins had simply drunk far too much.

The high-ranking members of the Dutch fleet received excellent hospitality in Dayuan, and the Dutch crewmen also fared quite well.

During unloading, the majority of them had already disembarked in town: Chikan Wharf had gas cranes and didn't need so many crewmen. The crewmen who came into town were immediately herded into the bathhouse by the local police: no one who hadn't bathed could register for a bed at an inn.

When the grumbling crewmen entered the bathhouse, they were soon stunned by the warm water columns flowing from the cast iron pipes overhead. After these fellows finished bathing under the direction of "bathhouse security" — men carrying batons and wearing large shorts — they were astonished to find that the bathhouse had actually issued them a set of new clothes, and were then informed that their old clothes had been taken away for washing and disinfection.

The new clothes were mandatory issue, made from the cheapest hemp cloth. As for the style... anyone who has gone to a sauna in later generations would understand. Yes, it was that loose-fitting, waist-belted design, plus a pair of large shorts.

Note: all of the above services were paid items.

Thus, when the scumbags had registered for their beds at the inns and stepped out onto the streets, a comical scene unfolded: the streets of the entire town were filled with scum of all nations, all wearing straw slippers and brown sauna suits.

The town, of course, did not only have Dutchmen. A large number of short-statured Japanese crewmen, sporting the moon-head hairstyle and very accustomed to sauna suits and straw slippers, were watching the Red Hairs coldly from the other side of the street. In addition, there were some Chinese crewmen who had come here from Fujian and Hangzhou.

And so, as expected, multiple mass brawls broke out that night.

The newly established North Line Tail Island Police Sub-bureau was run ragged that night, arresting large numbers of drunks in the bright bars and on the streets illuminated by gas street lamps, then hauling them all back to the station...