Zhuoluo Mountain

  Crossing the Wugou River (note: also known as Dadu Creek), and continuing north for about 40 li, one leaves behind the former territory of the Dadu Kingdom, which Liu Kuo-hsuan had taken from the Plains Aborigines. This land was an alien wilderness to both the Dutch rulers of old and the present-day Ming-Zheng regime. However, with the footsteps of Hakka immigrants, this former wilderness is now filled with large and small settlements.

  As new settlements sprouted up one after another, the Tianxing Prefecture, which was located in Jiali Xing, Tainan, found itself somewhat unable to cope with its jurisdiction. In order to perfect local administrative units and ensure effective notification, Zheng Kezang proposed, Chen Yonghua seconded, setting up a new county north of Tianxing Prefecture. The two men's report was presented to Shi Ming, Zhu Jin happily named it Zluo County, and appointed General Chen Ke as the county magistrate. Although Zluo was only a "county", it did not belong to Tianxing Prefecture, but still directly belonged to Chengtian Prefecture. However, at this time, Chengtian Prefecture had a name but no reality, so in fact, it was equivalent to a centrally administered county of the Ming Zheng regime.

  Although the establishment of a new county has been decided, the question arises as to where the county seat should be located. According to the name given by Zhu Jinxi, the county town of Zhuluo County should naturally be set up in Zhuluo Mountain. "Zhuluo Mountain" is derived from the transliteration of the original name of the Hongya tribe, a plain aboriginal tribe, which was called "Tirosen" by the Dutch.

  Zhuolu Mountain was one of the major landing points for large-scale immigration from mainland China to Taiwan in the early years. In 1621, the pirate Yan Siqi, who was originally from Zhangzhou, Fujian, led a group of immigrants to land at Gangkou and began to open up and cultivate the area. In 1624, the Dutch occupied Taiwan and initially controlled the areas now known as Anping and Tainan City, but soon pacified the Pingpu tribe in the Zhuolu Mountain area and developed the region. The scenic Hongmaopi (now the Lantan Reservoir) was dug by the Dutch at that time.

  After Zhu recovered Taiwan, Zhuluo Mountain was once the northernmost part of Tianxing County (State), and according to Zhu Jin's naming intention, it is clear that he hoped to make this place the county seat of the new county. Zhu Jin's choice was naturally considering that the local people had been obedient to the Zheng regime for a long time, and the foundation of governance was stable, but it differed from Zheng Kezang's idea.

  "Mr. Chen, I think the Zhuluo Mountain can be separated from Tianxing State, but the county seat of the new county is too far south. I think that in order to better expand and pacify the North Road, the county seat should be moved as far north as possible." Zheng Kezang's finger pointed at a very simple map of Taiwan. "So, I choose here."

  "Longmu Spring?" Looking at the place Zheng Kezang pointed to, located north of Wuxi and west of Dabutai, Chen Yonghua took a cold breath. "World's grandson, isn't this too far north? The county seat is about the safety of the whole county, what if there are bandits coming to raid... no, it's too risky." Chen Yonghua negated Zheng Kezang's choice of location, but he also agreed with Zheng Kezang's suggestion that the county seat should be moved as far north as possible to facilitate the response to the colonization points north of Wuxi. "I think this one is better."

  "Zhu Tang?" Zhu Tang is located on the north bank of the Zhuoshui River, although it is farther north than Zhuluo Mountain, but closer to the core governance area of the Ming-Zheng regime than Longmu Spring, which was initially proposed by Zheng Kezang. Therefore, even with the presence of several Babuza tribes such as Erlin She, Meili She, and Dongluo She in the surrounding areas, safety is relatively higher, but this is not what Zheng Kezang wants.

  "It's still too south-facing," Zheng Kezang said, drawing a line on the map to allocate a considerable portion of the coastal plain to Tianxing Prefecture. "Mr. Chen, how about we establish the county seat of Zhuluo at Luzigang?"

  "Luzi Port?" Chen Yonghua thought for a moment, the place name of Luzi Port was said to be named after the large export of deer skin during the Dutch period. There is a relatively primitive Mazu temple on the side, but this tribe has extremely weak military power and has long been under the control of the Ming Zheng regime, so there is absolutely no problem with safety.

  "Not possible." Unexpectedly, Chen Yonghua rejected Luzi Port without hesitation, which he thought had great potential for development in the future.

  "If this port were to be heavily fortified, what if the Qing army lands directly from here?" The tense military situation between the two sides was the main factor in Chen Yonghua's rejection of Luzi Port.

  "I think it would be better to put it at Xiushui instead."

  The distance from Lugang to Xiushui is less than twenty kilometers, which means that if Zheng Kezang did not repair the cement county road, it would take more than a day's journey. Therefore, setting up the county town in Xiushui may have obtained sufficient warning time. However, this is only possible. Once the Qing army really landed at Lugang, the county town of Xiushui could do nothing but close the door and defend itself or abandon the city and escape within one day or even less than a day's warning period, and there was no time to call in reinforcements to launch a counterattack.

  So Zheng Kezang still wanted to argue, but when he looked up, he saw that the temples exposed under Chen Yonghua's official hat had already turned gray. Zheng Kezang was moved and decided to yield to the other's opinion on this non-essential matter: "Then let's report it to His Majesty as Mr. Chen said."

  ??”

  "It's all so stifling." In the scorching summer, ordinary people would feel like they're being roasted alive even if they were walking around naked under the sun, let alone this group of boy scouts who had just marched in full gear. However, this lethargic state was clearly not what Hong Hui, who had just been promoted to leader, wanted to see, so he stood at the front and loudly commanded, "Drink water."

  A group of boy scouts took off their canteens from their waists, and the experienced older ones just took a small sip, while the newcomers who had just joined this year drank big gulps. The plain boiled water in the canteen didn't taste sweet at ordinary times, but now it was as refreshing as a sweet rain to the boy scouts.

  Seeing his subordinates sigh in relief, Hong Hui gave a satisfied command. "Continue advancing, sing the poem 'From Military Expedition' by Wang Changling, its third verse!"

  "Qinghai's long clouds and dark snowy mountains, a solitary city gazes out at the Jade Gate Pass. Yellow sand, a hundred battles wear golden armor, without conquering Loulan I will not return."

  ??”

  Young warriors sang in unison, although their dialects were slightly different, but the same was the unstoppable vitality. After one song, the rekindled Boy Scouts did not wait for Honghui to continue ordering, and Wang Changling's seven From Military Songs were recited one after another, with the high-pitched singing shocking the birds resting on both sides of the forest.

  "The Hu bottle falls, the purple sweat is thin, the broken leaves gather in the west of the city on an autumn night. The imperial edict arrives swiftly, the precious sword is sealed, bidding farewell to you for one night to take Loulan."

  ??”

  "Sir!" A young soldier suddenly shouted while singing. "Look," he pointed, and in the direction of his pointing finger, everyone saw a column of smoke rushing into the sky. "It's the Fifth Regiment Camp!"

  Hong Hui stood firm, his eyes fixed, and then swept a glance at the soldiers around him. He gritted his teeth and ordered: "Everyone, put on your armor!"

  The scouts immediately obeyed the order, unloading the issued cuirasses from the driven cattle carts, one piece per person, helping each other, and dressing neatly within a short span of forty snaps.

  "Company A and Company B, each leave one group to guard the luggage, the rest follow me!" With that, Hong Hui led the way forward. Under his leadership, except for the ten soldiers left behind to guard, the 40-man team quickly advanced towards the scene of the incident. "Ba Er Zi," Hong Hui instructed the messenger soldier beside him as they marched, "you go ahead and scout out the enemy situation."

  ??”

  They ran nearly five miles, which was not enough to exhaust the energy of these young soldiers who had undergone at least a year and a half of physical training. However, due to the unclear enemy situation, Hong Hui still arranged for them to take a break to ensure their strength in battle later on. This was actually a small trick that Hong Hui learned from following the Brave Guard Army into battle, but he didn't expect to use it in his first independent command.

  "Master Baihu," Little Eight, Song Baogen's eighth son, ran back panting. "There are almost seventy or more bandits," Song Baogen said, gasping for breath as he squatted down to draw a diagram in the dirt. "They're all concentrated at the main gate of the village." Since the outer walls of the newly built village were made of bamboo-reinforced concrete, the only ways to breach them were to build ladders or break down the gate directly. "Just now they started setting fire to the gate, but although the fire is burning well, it's too big and the bandits haven't charged in yet."

  "Alright!" Hong Hui's heart slightly put down, and then commanded his subordinates who had just sat down for less than half a moment. "Form up! Eight of you stay behind, the rest of you line up properly, we'll have a fair fight with these Society thugs."

  ??”

  Hong Hui commanded a team of long gunners, but the third class was replaced by arquebusiers. As a result, two teams of long gunners and one team of arquebusiers were formed into three mixed teams, each consisting of two long gun classes and one arquebus class. This mixing method can provide both close combat capability and long-range firepower support under the condition of ensuring the troops' close combat ability. In Taiwan, where the intensity is extremely low, they can already operate independently, and can also implement rotation in the mode of one team on duty, one team on standby, and one team training. If it were not for the current shortage of arquebus teams in the Boy Scouts, He Qian would have tried to form a module with one class of knife shield hand, one class of arquebus hand, and one class of long gun hand. Of course, as the elite artillery team of the whole camp, they will not be assigned to this level of armed patrol.

  The appearance of the Boy Scouts also startled the besieging villagers, who looked at the red and blue triangular flag. The villagers quickly split into two groups. Seven or eight continued to block the entrance of the village, while nearly sixty rushed towards Hong Hui with a shout, thinking that they could use their numbers to defeat him first before attacking the village.

  The gunner who had loaded the cannon had already placed it on the stand, and saw the fierce and formidable enemy troops dancing with various strange movements. Some of them were even trembling with fear. At this time, Hong Hui shouted loudly: "Steady, listen to my command!"

  One hundred paces, eighty paces, fifty paces. With a loud order from Hong Hui, the musketeers who had their hands on the triggers pulled them with all their might. Very good! Out of sixteen musketeers in one company, fifteen guns went off. In the instant when white smoke rose, several brave warriors at the front of the enemy's formation fell to the ground, and their charging momentum was halted.

  The gunner who didn't fire hadn't had time to regret it when Hong Hui continued to order: "Again!"

  Apart from the gunner, the remaining fifteen people followed the strict training procedure to clean, load, compact, aim and fire, although some of them missed the command for the second shot due to nervousness, but thirteen guns fired again this time.

  "Third platoon, fall back! Reload and wait for an opportunity to fire!" Hong Hui commanded. "First platoon, second platoon, move forward, let these devils taste the power of the Tongziying rifle formation!"

  Although the two rows of guns added up to only two columns, and there were only ten people in front, the attack radius of the three long guns and the fierce thrusts of the Boy Scouts quickly made this group of social bandits suffer. The snow-white gun pierced through the opponent's body in an instant, and the fresh blood that splashed out from the bloody gun head was enough to make even the bravest feel terrified. However, what made the social bandits even more fearful was that when they finally broke through the long gun array and appeared in front of the Boy Scouts, they found that their weapons could not break through the opponent's defense. Before they could understand what was happening, another wave of thrusts came one after another.

  ??

  He reached out and pulled the arrows shot onto his armor, Hong Hui looked at the fleeing mob with a disdainful gaze. "Gunners, reload; others, report casualties and survey the battlefield."

  In the sparse and scattered gunfire, the older boy scouts cut off the dying social bandits' heads with their short knives, while the new recruits who had just turned regular this year charged at the corpses one by one, vomiting. However, when the leader of the village, Aka, walked out of the burnt gate with a grateful face, everything was already settled.

  "What a weakness!" Hong Hui sighed while responding to the flattering words of Jia Baoyu. "When can we really have a good fight with the Tartars?"

  ??”