Chapter 94: Farewell, Candidius

Qian Tieshan, in full grass-pattern camo and standard mosquito-proof gear, led the way with an assault rifle in hand. Seeing the village stockade gradually reveal its outline in the distance, he called back over his shoulder, and the Transmigrators in the squad along with the civilian laborers carrying poles all quickened their pace.

As a transmigrator who had only arrived in the Great Ming two months ago, Qian Tieshan's adaptability was among the fastest of the entire group. Of course, this had to do with his training: a former member of the Shuizhuyu Military Region's Cihu Special Forces Brigade, adjusting his mindset and bodily functions to rapidly adapt to a new environment were essential skills for him.

After crossing over, Qian Tieshan quickly found a place in the Army — a seamless transition. Right now, the Army Department was pitifully bare, with officers but no soldiers, yet Qian Tieshan himself was fairly optimistic about the future: at least for the moment, he was the only one among the Transmigrators who had received formal special forces training.

Considering the enormous equipment gap between the enemy and themselves in the New World, and the unique cost-effectiveness advantage of special operations, Qian Tieshan was very confident that he would form a special forces unit in the future. There were no resources now, but once conditions were ripe, he believed the decision-makers would surely recognize the benefits of special warfare.

Walking beside him was Wei Hu, a big dark guy 1.8 meters tall who looked like a thug. In truth, he was an accountant — thuggery was just a side gig. This gentleman was responsible for data and statistics in the Human Resources Department. These office ruffians who managed the "laboring masses" of various ethnic groups were, in fact, all thugs; a good person couldn't keep that labor force in line anyway.

Since the squad was heading to a native village, the golden duo of Xishan Xingjian and Professor Luo naturally couldn't be left out.

Two days had passed since the negotiations at Dazhang Village. In those two days, the Great Office had rolled out a series of policies targeting the natives, including a native census, recruiting native youths to study Chinese, policy propaganda sessions, and so on. Qian Tieshan's team had the task these two days of visiting every village in the Xingang Society.

The big shots could condescend to make one visit, but the follow-up drudgery and hard labor naturally fell to the third-, fourth-, and fifth-tier hands. Aside from Xishan Xingjian, the translator who couldn't be replaced for now, the other three Transmigrators in the squad were all this type — including Professor Luo, who had once again jumped ship to the Human Resources Department. Why "once again"?

Today's destination was a village — well, its original name is now lost to history, so we'll tentatively call it "Lijia" Village, a settlement of the Xingang Society.

Just the day before, after Cai Feiming had hung the VIP token on Village Chief Gongda, the freshly minted Guide Party member secretly told them a piece of information: there were Dutchmen in the neighboring Lijia Village.

The comrades went back, checked the records, and more or less guessed who this person was.

He was a Dutch Protestant pastor, whose name should be George Candidius. This man had arrived in Dayuan in May of this year and, historically, had lived long-term in a Xingang village to preach.

This "Lijia Village," a Xingang settlement, had left a mark on history. In terms of reform and opening up, Lijia Village was actually earlier than its neighbor Dazhang Village, except their opening was purely passive, similar to our Qing Dynasty.

The first stop of the Dutch religious invasion was chosen right here. The natives had no way to resist a foreign pastor backed by matchlock musketeers, so they could only allow Gandius to live in the village and preach doctrine day and night.

At this time, wind was blowing from the other end of the bellows: the Japanese merchant Hamada Yahyoe, due to the Dutch–Japan trade dispute, had coaxed sixteen natives from Lijia Village in July of this year to board a Red Seal Ship and sail to Japan, planning to pull a "natives offering land" stunt to first secure the legal claim to Tainan before the Shogun. The leader of these natives was called "Lijia."

The poor natives caught in the bellows could neither refuse the Dutch pastor nor the Japanese. Conducting a secret operation against the Dutch while the Dutch pastor was running amok all over the village — the outcome was predictable.

When those eleven natives returned next year (five had died on the journey), Lijia and the others would be bound in iron chains on a ship and tortured by the Dutch, on the ludicrous charge of — treason.

This incident was also one of the fuses that sparked the "Hamada Yahyoe" Incident. After the incident ended, Lijia Village would still suffer Dutch revenge; everyone would flee into the mountains, villagers would die one after another, and only after extorting enough grain and pigs would the Dutch allow them to return home.

Of course, now that the Transmigrators were here, everything was different. One of the objectives of Qian Tieshan's squad on this trip was to capture Candidius.

The outsiders rumored among the Xingang people had finally come knocking today, and the villagers of Lijia Village naturally dared not be neglectful; they had long been tormented to exhaustion by outsiders of every stripe.

Fortunately, the "Kun" people who came knocking today did not look fierce: the native language was not that complex, and from the translator they only needed to learn one dedicated syllable to represent the Transmigrators: "Kun."

The "Government's" grand opening sale was staged once again. This "miscellaneous goods to the countryside" activity, which waived logistics fees and slashed prices deeply, was something every subordinate village could enjoy once. Of course, what came with it was the ongoing census and the selection of some native youths who looked a bit clever to serve as "attendants." These youths were kindling; they would be taken along by the Transmigrators to learn Chinese. In the future, they would wear leather shoes, speak full of industrialization, return to their villages to smash the clay idols — they were the Guide Party 2.0.

A modest bamboo hut was kicked open, and several fierce outsiders rushed in, dragging out the pastor "Gan."

The natives stood in a circle, watching in awe as everything unfolded before them. They were powerless to refuse anything. When Pastor "Gan" moved in, they were powerless to stop him. After the change on Dayuan Island, the natives still provided Pastor Gan with food and water. Today, when the "Kun" people, carrying fire-spitting iron tubes, wanted to enter the village, the Village Chief hastily ordered the gate opened. Now, as Pastor Gan was dragged out, they could still only watch.

George Candidius had once preached in Batavia. Like other pastors who came to this savage wilderness to preach during this period, he was resolute in character and full of passion for missionary work.

In real history, he achieved the feat of baptizing all members of the Xingang Society in 1640. Moreover, he used the Latin alphabet to transcribe the Xingang language, and the hybrid script he compiled became the standard writing for contracts and agreements among the Tainan natives for centuries to come. When the Dutch withdrew, dozens of church schools had already been established in Taiwan. Christianity took root in Taiwan, and Pastor Candidius's contributions were indelible.

In a sense, in bringing civilization to savagery, Pastor Gan had done everything he could; he was a rather great man.

And so, precisely because of his greatness, Pastor Gan was currently being beaten.

"They are bandits, we are heroes" — the reverse was also true.

In the documents the Great Office made public on the forum, monotheistic pastors had already been classified in the "dangerous elements" tier. That is to say, right now, perhaps due to some diplomatic concerns, the Crossing Faction could not publicly execute a pastor like Candidius, but where conditions allowed, they still had to find a way to kill him — dying of natural causes would be best.

Therefore, Pastor Gan, who was devoted to brainwashing children and youths and stealing the Transmigrators' business, was now being brutally beaten under the gaze of all the natives.

One "Kun" man, not tall but with a neck and body as wide and thick as two men put together, and another "Kun" man, tall, dark, and fierce-looking — these two were savagely smashing Pastor Gan's head with their rifle butts. Pastor Gan rolled on the dirt, his face covered in blood.

After it was all over, the villagers stood at the village entrance, watching the departing squad with mixed feelings. In the squad were two villagers going to Dayuan for medical treatment, several youths going to serve as attendants for the "Kun" people, and Pastor Gan, bound with deer sinew, stumbling along at the very back.

Farewell, Gandius.