Chapter 386 - Searching for Weaknesses

She sat on the deck at the stern of the boat, pretending to mend a fishing net with her head down, observing the Australian port from under her conical hat.

The main port where the Australians moored their large ships was off-limits to civilian vessels, just as their main city was closed to outsiders.

Only a small area to the west of the city was open to civilian ships and outsiders. A small natural harbor had been renovated, and a street had been built around it as a commercial district.

This commercial district was open to everyone to come and go and do business. Although it was also surrounded by a fence and a moat, it was separated from the main urban area by a moat, and one had to pass through a guard post and a drawbridge to enter the main urban area—the Australians were very wary of outsiders.

Li Siya had already observed that the Australians had set up a battery and a tower on the top of Qishan. Her foster sister had said that their cannons had a very long range, and it seemed this was not an exaggeration—otherwise, they would not have set up a battery on the mountaintop.

Just from what she could see of the Australians’ scale and strength from the sea, Li Siya knew that no power in East Asia could destroy this city by “frontal assault.” Whether it was the Dutch, the Southern Fujian immigrant group, or the Spanish in the north of the island, they all seemed insignificant.

To make the Dutch and the Australians turn against each other would be extremely difficult.

Li Siya’s confidence wavered a little. But she soon thought that the Dutch had the entire East India Company behind them. If she could truly anger the Dutch and make them realize that the Australians’ existence was a matter of life and death, they would surely mobilize all their forces to fight a decisive battle with the Australians.

To achieve this, it would depend on her own skills and abilities.

“We’re about to dock,” the boatman reminded her in a low voice.

Li Siya nodded.

The fishing boat soon entered the harbor. Because the boat was flying the fishing permit flag issued by the Coast Guard, no one came to question them. The small fishing boat quickly moored at the pier.

The dock was piled high with wicker baskets and wooden boxes full of fish. Fish scales and scattered small fish and shrimp littered the ground. A strong fishy smell filled the air. From time to time, a man or a woman, in a group of two, would carry a heavy load of dripping seafood, grunting and groaning as they walked across the pier.

Not far from the pier, a large wooden house with a thatched roof was the purchasing point of the fishery cooperative, which also collected the fishing tax. A long row of “platform scales” was set up at the entrance—this was the first time Li Siya had seen such scales installed on the ground. The most common scales she had seen on the East Asian coast were the Chinese steelyard scales. Whether in Macau or Batavia, Chinese merchants always used steelyard scales of various sizes to weigh all kinds of goods for buying and selling, to the point that the Dutch and the English had to accept their system of weights and measures at times.

The fishermen placed their catch on the platform scales, and the weigher quickly announced the weight after a brief adjustment. The inspector examined the catch and quickly announced the name and grade of the fish: “First grade,” “Second grade,” “Special grade,” “Substandard”…

…

On a large blackboard nearby, a price list for various types of fish and their grades was written. Li Siya felt this was worthless because almost no fishermen could read. This concept of purchasing by type and grade also existed in traditional Chinese fish markets, but the market owners took advantage of the fishermen’s illiteracy and their dependence on small loans from the market to often misrepresent the quality and cheat them. The best fish and shrimp were often sold at extremely low prices. Sometimes, when there was a bumper harvest at sea, the fish markets would immediately close their doors and stop buying to drive down the prices.

Li Siya was not here to inspect the fishery, but she was very sensitive and knew that this was a way for the Australians to win people’s hearts. “Paying by quality” and “fair trade”—achieving these two points could immediately win over a large part of the people’s hearts. Especially the coastal fishermen, who had long been at the bottom of the “buy high, sell low” food chain, enduring layers of exploitation, often with a full hold of fish but unable to eat their fill.

The Australians’ ability to win people over was indeed as reputed. No wonder so many fishermen came here, not only from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou but also many from Guangdong, judging by their accents. Li Siya thought to herself that sometimes when she chatted with her foster sister, she would also occasionally speak well of the Australians, praising them for being “capable and kind-hearted.”

With such mixed feelings, she strolled along the street. On one side of the fish market was a shop selling fishing gear, grain, lamp oil, cloth, and other daily necessities for fishermen. The shop was large, and the goods were dazzling. Li Siya was not interested in this, but she could see that the fishermen were very interested in this place. People came and went, using the money they had just earned to buy goods, returning fully loaded.

Next to the shop was a bulletin board with a large notice posted on it. A person with a megaphone was shouting something, surrounded by a crowd of people. Li Siya originally wanted to go and see the notice, but she suddenly realized her current identity as a fisherwoman and stopped, listening from behind the crowd.

It turned out that the notice was a recruitment poster. The Australians were recruiting sailors and laborers. Anyone who was willing to come could have their families settled and be given a house.

“…Bring your whole family! We have plenty of houses and food!” the person with the megaphone shouted passionately in the Southern Fujian dialect. “The elderly, children, and women in the family can all work and earn money!”

To supplement the rapidly expanding fleet with enough sailors, the navy had set its sights on the fishermen here. Although the recruitment results were not very significant, they had still recruited several hundred people. The navy had set up a cadet training team locally to train these new recruits.

The Australians were recruiting sailors. Were they preparing for war? Li Siya thought to herself. Whether it was true or not, this sign was a good pretext for instigation. As she was pondering, she suddenly heard someone shout in the Southern Fujian dialect, “Wait a moment, miss!”

Li Siya was startled. She didn’t expect anyone to call out to her here. She quickly forced herself to calm down. At this moment, a plump middle-aged woman approached her. She was wearing the blue cloth short-sleeved pants and jacket that women under the Australians often wore, with a big smile on her face.

“Miss, where are you from?” the plump woman said familiarly, taking her hand.

Li Siya put on a shy look, lowered her head, and said, “Auntie, please don’t be so forward. I am from Zhao’an County.”

“I didn’t expect Zhao’an County to produce such a talent as you, miss!” The plump woman looked her up and down several times, as if she wanted to devour Li Siya, and praised her profusely. Li Siya couldn’t help but feel scared. Although she had darkened her face and braided all her hair to hide her Portuguese bloodline, her nose, which was higher than that of ordinary women, and her unusual features could not be concealed by makeup. Being looked at so closely could easily reveal her disguise. She was secretly anxious. If she was exposed, this was Australian territory. If she was caught, she would definitely be in trouble. Not to mention anything else, the matter of her kidnapping that “Chairman Wen” was enough for the Australians to cut her into a thousand pieces.

She suppressed her fear and said with a calm smile, “Auntie, please don’t make fun of me. I still have to buy things and go back to the boat…”

The plump woman nodded repeatedly, “I know, I know. I can see you are a fisherman’s daughter, braving the wind and waves every day. It’s rare for you to be so talented. Now, Auntie has a good opportunity for you, which will ensure that you and your whole family will enjoy endless benefits…” she chattered on, but Li Siya had already understood. It turned out that this plump woman was a matchmaker.

These matchmakers specialized in looking for “potential talents” among the daughters of poor families in bustling streets and then acting as go-betweens for wealthy families who wanted to take concubines or maids.

She didn’t expect to find one here! She was secretly puzzled. Where were the wealthy families here? But she immediately understood: could she be recruiting maids for the Australians?

She heard the other party continue to chatter, “…The Australian masters are now buying maids. I see you are tall and your features are very much in line with their requirements. If you are interested, you can come here with your family to sign a contract. Since your family is from Southern Fujian and you fish here, you should know the credit and ability of the Australians. Being their maid is more honorable than being the young lady of an ordinary middle-class family, and your family can also benefit a lot…” As if afraid she wouldn’t believe her, the plump woman also showed her identity card. “Miss, look, I am a real employee of the Australian Human Resources Department. In the Ming Dynasty, I would be considered an ‘unranked official’…”

Fortunately, Guo Huaiyi’s men arrived at this moment, and Li Siya took the opportunity to get away. She pretended to be shopping and strolled around the street again. The market street was very short. Besides the fishery cooperative’s purchasing station and shops, there was only a shipyard that provided boat repair services for fishermen, a shop that bought and sold deerskins and mountain products and sold daily necessities, and a small eatery that served simple meals. Further inside was a restricted area fenced off with a wooden palisade. Looking in from the outside, it seemed to be all warehouses and workshops. All kinds of fish seemed to be transported inside for processing. Several red chimneys stood tall, emitting black smoke, and a strange smell of rotten fish and shrimp mixed with coal smoke wafted over from time to time.

The people who came to this market, besides fishermen, were some nearby aborigines and Han Chinese hunters. They were almost all here to sell deerskins and venison, and also to buy grain, salt, and daily necessities.

Li Siya walked back and forth along the street twice but did not find any weaknesses worth exploiting. This place seemed open and relaxed: there were only some able-bodied men with clubs maintaining order on the street, and not a single soldier with a sword or gun could be seen. But the specific defense measures were completely invisible, clearly relaxed on the outside but tight on the inside. A surprise attack from the sea would have to face the threat of enemy artillery fire, and with their fleet so close, there was probably no chance at all.