Bang bang…
Gunshots rang out as rifled guns hit targets 400 meters away. At this moment, twelve Dutch soldiers put away their flintlock muskets.
Claire looked proud and said to Xiao Ming, “Your Highness, now it’s your turn.”
“This is surprising. I have to admit we are a bit behind in firearms. We don’t have guns that can shoot 400 meters,” Xiao Ming said.
Out of sincerity, Xiao Ming had Lu Fei and his soldiers perform a demonstration. The results were no different from the Dutch soldiers’, which already shocked Claire.
In Europe, a ten-thousand-man musketeer unit could easily take a rich colony. And now, the Qi Wang faced who knows how many such armies.
“Your Highness, don’t be discouraged. These rifled guns cannot offset the flintlock muskets’ battlefield advantage. For now, they are only a surprise weapon. If you wish, I can sell you the manufacturing method for these rifled guns,” Claire said with a sharp look.
Xiao Ming chuckled. Claire was quite the clever man, already trying to squeeze profit from him. He casually asked, “How much are you asking for?”
“Following Great Yu’s trade style, how about five million taels of silver? Of course, this silver can be replaced with tea, porcelain, or raw silk,” Claire said.
Xiao Ming laughed silently. These three were extremely popular luxury goods in Europe. Shipping a full cargo of these meant huge profits. This was why the Cao family and King Chu had accumulated massive wealth over the years.
To pay for these goods, the Dutch brought large amounts of silver from Europe in exchange. That was how the Cao family could establish a money house spanning Great Yu.
This money house was built on a foundation of vast silver reserves.
Looking northeast toward King Chu’s territory, Xiao Ming couldn’t help but drool. When docking at Ningzhou, he saw the bustling scene at the dock. Compared to Qingzhou, Chu’s land was still a gathering place for merchants—much stronger than Qingzhou. These merchants mostly traded overseas as maritime merchants.
But because King Chu provoked the Dutch, these merchants lost their sea trade routes. For Xiao Ming, once he reopened sea trade routes, this group would be the first fat sheep to slaughter.
“No need,” Xiao Ming said after thinking for a while, giving Claire a disappointing answer. Buying military technology from Europe? What a joke. But he noted Claire’s price; it wouldn’t be long before Claire begged him to buy military weapons.
Claire’s disappointment was obvious. He believed that handing flintlock manufacturing to Japan would have them pay millions of taels of silver, yet Xiao Ming showed no interest in this higher-level firearms technology.
Looking at Xiao Ming’s calm face, Claire’s joy from winning earlier faded. He began to suspect Xiao Ming already possessed this technology.
Sighing, he said, “Alright then, let’s start the artillery demonstration.”
Xiao Ming nodded. Next was the field artillery shooting. Like flintlock muskets, Qingzhou’s field artillery and Dutch field artillery were evenly matched.
This gave both sides a clear understanding of each other’s weapons.
However, Xiao Ming thought Dutch weapons didn’t represent Europe’s highest level. By the eighteenth century, the Netherlands had declined. The main European powers—England, France, Prussia, and Austria—represented the highest standards.
After the brief test, Xiao Ming and Claire discussed troop arrangements. According to the agreement, Xiao Ming would leave two thousand soldiers in Fort Zeelandia to maintain order with the Dutch soldiers.
Claire accepted this calmly and decided to hand over the western barracks of Fort Zeelandia to the Qingzhou soldiers.
After settling this, they decided to rest locally for two days.
On the third day, Xiao Ming and Claire’s fleets began blockading the Ryukyu main island. Some warships patrolled around the island to prevent Japanese pirate reinforcements to Michira Castle.
Their army also started landing on the island. Along with Dutch troops, the landing force totaled twelve thousand musketeers and seventy-two field cannons.
“Your Highness, our soldiers have completed the siege of Michira Castle,” Lu Fei reported half a day after landing.
Claire looked relaxed. He believed that unless something unexpected happened, the Japanese forces could only fight them after running out of food.
“Stay alert. Prevent any Japanese pirates from sneaking in for surprise attacks,” Xiao Ming ordered. In this era, relying only on sight for observation, every defense had gaps.
Though they patrolled the sea, they couldn’t guarantee no enemy slipped through.
While Xiao Ming arranged the siege, Sakai inside Michira Castle observed everything on the island.
When a fleet entered Fort Zeelandia’s harbor, they realized trouble had come. They hadn’t expected the Dutch to bring reinforcements, especially Great Yu’s Qi Wang, because they had seen these warships in Dengzhou.
But even after seeing the fleet, Sakai wasn’t panicked. Michira Castle was not easily taken, especially with over ten thousand soldiers inside.
However, after the siege circle was completed, his confidence disappeared. He realized they faced a long siege.
“Lord Sakai, the Dutch and Great Yu people plan to besiege us. Should we just wait here? Food is running low and won’t last long. Their fleet blocks the coast, so no resupply from the sea,” a pirate leader told Sakai.
Oda Nobunaga’s rise was bloody. These pirates were his wandering samurai, sent to plunder merchant ships and build war capital.
Now Nobunaga could unify Japan after defeating other daimyo, thanks in no small part to these pirates.
“We samurai will not starve in the castle. That would shame our honor. Lord Sakai, for us samurai, it’s better to die fighting than starve. Let us leave the castle and kill these miserable weaklings. Our samurai swords will cut them in half,” one samurai said.
“Right! For Lord Nobunaga, we can die without hesitation, without regret, without doubt,” another samurai said.
“Fight! Fight!” the other samurai shouted.
Looking at the furious samurai, a ruthless gleam flashed in Sakai’s eyes.