Chapter 3568
Chapter 3568
Chapter 3568
Zheng Agui's company was basically able to deal with this kind of settlement with only a small number of armed personnel, and no one was hit by the enemy's muskets during the entire operation, so it can be said that they passed the level without any injuries.
The one waving the white flag on the church spire was a priest. Under his leadership, the Spaniards in the settlement came out of their houses one after another and lined up to surrender to the Hai Han army that had surrounded the area.
However, not everyone had the chance to surrender. After searching these houses, the Hai Han army found more than a dozen bodies scattered everywhere. They were all the unlucky people who had lost their lives in the previous battle.
Although there were many old, weak, women and children crying and shouting among these Spaniards, Zheng Agui did not show them any sympathy. In a war between countries, it was inevitable that a large number of civilians would lose their homes and families. Even if Zheng Agui was kind-hearted, he could not help these people return to a peaceful life.
The greatest mercy he could show was to save the lives of these Spanish civilians and give them a chance to continue living.
After gathering the captives together, Zheng Agui ordered a simple inventory and registration. There were only more than 150 immigrants in this settlement, who were said to have settled here at the end of last year, but only about half a year ago.
The houses in this settlement were not all built by them, at least half of them were the property of the former landlords, the Dutch. In other words, these immigrants were just occupying the nest of others.
However, Zheng Agui was not very interested in the dog-eat-dog stories among European colonists. What he had to do now was to complete the cleanup of this place as soon as possible, destroy the settlement, and then continue with his mission.
These Spaniards didn't have much valuables in their homes, and many of them had already hidden the few silver coins they had on their bodies when they surrendered. Zheng Agui's men searched for them, but they only found some bulk food.
While escorting the prisoners and transporting food, Zheng Agui called the priest and asked him why Spain had seized the settlement from the Dutch.
This place doesn't even have a port. If there were no special products here, the Netherlands and Spain would not have wasted resources fighting for control of this place.
Zheng Agui's guess was correct. According to the priest, there were large tracts of natural sandalwood and cinnamon in the mountains and forests near the settlement. These were treasures that required no capital. Huge profits could be made by simply cutting them down and shipping them back to Europe.
Western colonists might think these resources are treasures, but they are of little significance to Hai Han. Zheng Agui was a little disappointed after hearing this, because he knew that the higher-ups were not most interested in these plants.
If there are any mineral deposits nearby, maybe I can get some credit after reporting it, but the things the Spanish priest mentioned are common on the vegetation-rich island of Luzon, and the higher-ups will definitely not invest resources specifically to develop this place.
Of course, even if he had no intention of occupying this place, Zheng Agui had no intention of returning it to the Dutch. He ordered that all the buildings in the settlement be burned down after the search was completed.
The order he received was to destroy all Spanish settlements in the area. It was certainly not enough to just capture people, but infrastructure such as houses had to be destroyed as well, so that the Spanish would not be able to reopen such settlements in the short term.
Although there were only more than 100 prisoners of war captured here, to take them all away would take up a portion of the limited transportation capacity. Moreover, carrying prisoners around was not a long-term solution. If a few more settlements were to be cleared later, the several ships supporting Zheng Agui's operation might not be able to accommodate them.
After returning to the seaside and discussing with several captains, Zheng Agui decided to set off to the west first. The nautical chart showed that there were two relatively small islands about 80 miles away, which were likely to be uninhabited islands. Temporarily placing the captured Spaniards there might be a lower-cost solution. The fleet arrived at the designated sea area before sunset that day and found the two small islands. After Zheng Agui observed with a telescope, he decisively chose the smaller one as his foothold.
The island is about four miles long from east to west and less than two miles wide from the south. Although there are some trees on the island, most of them are low shrubs, making it difficult to hide or build rafts. It is only suitable for use as firewood, which just meets Zheng Agui's needs to accommodate prisoners.
This small island is more than ten miles away from another large island to the east and more than twenty miles away from the south coast of Sumba Island. It is not easy to leave here by human power.
If more Spanish prisoners are captured on Sumba Island in the future, they can continue to be transported to this temporary prison.
Zheng Agui had no intention of leaving these Spaniards on the island to starve to death. He returned the food and some cooking utensils and tableware he had searched from the settlement to the captives as food for their temporary stay on the island.
These captives have hands and feet, so as long as they catch some fish and birds, it won't be too difficult for them to survive in the short term.
Before leaving the next day, Zheng Agui told the priest that his troops would be back here within a month, and there would be no guards on the island during this period. But when he returned to the island, he would check the number of prisoners on the island and see if they were alive or dead.
If the number of people doesn't match, then these people probably won't have a chance to leave the island. If no one escapes, all the captives will get a chance to start a new life.
Zheng Agui also knew that this place might not be able to trap the young and strong people who were capable of escaping, so he could only treat the captives as one, which might reduce the escape rate to a lower level.
As for why he didn't leave anyone to guard the prisoners, Zheng Agui was also forced to do so. His current manpower and supplies were extremely limited, and the task he was assigned was also time-limited. He really couldn't spare any time to guard the prisoners.
Moreover, if a Spanish armed fleet were to patrol nearby and discover the situation on the island, it would be difficult for the people left behind to escape.
Although many problems arose in the process, Zheng Agui finally solved the problem of temporarily accommodating the prisoners and began looking for the next target the next day.
Last night's interrogation of the prisoners yielded some results, such as the approximate locations of several other Spanish colonial settlements on Sumba Island.
The nearest one is only a few dozen miles away from the small island where the prisoners are temporarily housed.
That afternoon, Zheng Agui's company successfully captured the second settlement and captured more than a hundred prisoners from the local area.
Zheng Agui did not think that such small settlements without ports could provide supplies for the Spanish armed fleet, but keeping them was a hidden danger after all. Taking this opportunity to clear them out would also make the route to the New World safer.