NOVEL WEB Page 639
Therefore, Chinese ancestors called this sea "Zhanghai", and all the islands in this sea were called "Zhanghai Qitou".
See Yang Fu's Foreign Objects in the Eastern Han Dynasty "Shanghai Qitou, the water is shallow and there are many magnets", which means that the waters of the Qitou Island Islands in the swelling sea are shallow and there are many hidden reefs.
What is recorded here is the waters west of Wan'an Beach in the Nansha Islands.
"Sakitou" means an island.The Chinese Dictionary's interpretation of "Qi" is "the steep appearance of Qishan".
In fact, many islands in this water area are above 100 meters above sea level. Among them, the largest main island of Natuna has a peak of nearly 960 meters. Except for Taiwan Island and Hainan Island, there are no such precipitous offshore islands.
Moreover, this water area is also a shallow sea area, with the deepest depth being more than 100 meters and the rest about 30 meters, unlike Nansha, Zhongsha, and Xisha, which are thousands of meters deep.
During the Wu period of the Three Kingdoms, Wan Zhen Nanzhou Foreign Objects also recorded that "traveling to the northeast, with a huge head, out of the rising sea, in the middle of the rising and many magnets",
This refers to sailing from the Malay Peninsula to the northeast, which means that it has not yet reached the deep water part of the Nansha.
It means that in the section of waters sailing from the Malay Peninsula to the northeast, there are huge islands standing high in the rising sea, where the water is rising or often rising and there are many hidden reefs.
This written record is also very consistent with the situation in the sea area of the "Natuna Islands", and this "Great Head" is the main island of Natuna.
At the beginning of the 15th century, when Zheng He sailed to the West, he called "Zhanghai" "Shitang", "Zhanghai Qitou" as "Shitangyu", and "Jijiqitou" as "Wansheng Shitangyu".
According to the descendants of Zheng He's boatmen in Hunan, the largest island in Shitang in the South China Sea, Jiqitou, was once used by Zheng He's fleet as the first station on the sea, with a large number of barracks, a large number of living facilities, and a large number of personnel. on duty.
Due to the excellent natural resource conditions, the fleet has to fish, process, change and wash, overhaul, etc. here every time.
Among them, there are not only carpenters and bamboo workers, but also carvers, painters, and painters. They have all kinds of tools, and everyone has specialties.
Because it is tens of thousands of young people who call young and strong men as young people who often go back and forth to rest on the island, so people also call "Great Qitou" "Wansheng Shitang Island".
Moreover, this "Wansheng Shitang Islet", as an important symbol of my country's South China Sea, has been undeniably recorded in the world-famous historical map Zheng He's nautical chart.
The map not only has the name "Wansheng Shitang Island", but more importantly, its corresponding location is exactly the current location of "Natuna Islands".
This is also completely consistent with the legend of the descendants of Zheng He's boatmen. The reason why it is called "Wansheng Shitang Island" means that the island is the island where Zheng He's soldiers lived and produced.
The "Wanzhou" in Zheng He's nautical map is within the territory of Hainan Island. "Shitang" is actually Shitang Islet. The specific location is what Indonesia now calls "Yanambas Islands", which is the southwest border of the Huaxia Sea.
"Wansheng Shitang Islet" is what Indonesia calls Natuna Island. Like the "Yanambas" archipelago, it is an island in a stone pond.
And "Shixingshitang" is the general name of Huaxia Nansha, Zhongsha, Xisha, and Dongsha?
Because there is not much exposed on the water surface, most of the reefs are underwater, and because of the colorful coral reefs under the water, they shine like dense stars.
Therefore, people call this sea area "Shixingshitang". The ancients' drawings are not proportional, but the orientation is roughly accurate.
Counting from the period of Zheng He's voyages to the West, the people of Ming Dynasty have lived and lived on the island.
The island is now occupied by Zhang Jiexu, a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, who fled from the troubled times of the late Ming Dynasty.
After Zhang Jiexu led more than 300 people here, he regarded this place far away from his homeland as a paradise.
They cut through the thorns and thorns here, pioneered and built, and finally built the Natuna Islands into an independent state.
In order to show his aspirations, Zhang Jiexu founded the country in Natuna, but he did not set up a name, but only claimed to be the king, and continued to accept Han people from Ming Dynasty.
It is also because of the fact that Zhang Jiexu's "Kingdom of Natuna" has no diplomatic relations with its neighbors because of the fact that there is no account after the founding of the country.
They set up a trading company named "Nanhua Company" to carry out trade in the surrounding areas.
Because the island is dominated by mountains, only the coastal area can be cultivated, and fishing has become the main source of income.
At that time, there were no frozen storage facilities, so many large fishing companies had to choose some islands for drying, and then transport the fish after drying.
The important geographical location of the Natuna Islands has become the preferred drying place for many fishing companies.
After Zhang Jiexu and others took control of the surrounding 127 islands, they had the price to negotiate with neighboring countries, and the economy developed rapidly.
Gradually, the Chinese population on this island grew more and more, and everyone's life became better and better. Zhang Jiexu's status and ability were further affirmed by everyone.
In fact, Zhang Jiexu is the real king of the island country, but Zhang Jiexu is very smart, and he doesn't want to cause trouble for himself, so he chooses to keep a low profile.
He has always used "Nanhua Company" as the signboard of his island.
But in fact, everyone knows that Zhang Jiexu is the veritable "king" of this island no matter how he is judged.
When the Ming Navy fleet came to the waters of the island, the defenders on the island immediately noticed the arrival of a large number of warships.
At this time, the Dutch have not yet occupied this place, and the surrounding small countries have no large warships.
The Ming defenders on the island were frightened by the Ming warship, and the iron-clad warship was absolutely huge.
There are less than 1 people on the island. Although Zhang Jiexu is already equivalent to a king, he is still busy like ordinary people.
Suddenly, two soldiers panicked and Zhang Shao came to report:
"Island owner, something is wrong. Several super large warships have entered our waters, and it looks like they are going to land on the island."
Chapter 524
Zhang Jiexu was taken aback by the words of the soldiers under his command.
For so many years, no large warship has ever visited the small island they occupy.
When more than 300 of them landed on the island, the island was still an uninhabited desert island.
After a period of operation, the situation quickly improved. Generally, merchant ships came to the island to buy their fish and local specialties.
How can there be warships here today? Could it be that someone wants to occupy the island they have painstakingly managed?
Thinking of this, Zhang Jiexu was startled. He grabbed the soldier's arm and asked:
"Are you sure that there are warships coming here, are you not mistaken or delusional? Have you seen clearly which country's warship it is?"
The soldier was almost dumbfounded by his repeated questions, and hurriedly said:
"Island owner, how dare we lie to you. If you don't believe me, go and have a look. We really don't know where the warship came from."
Zhang Jiexu let go of the soldier's arm, and immediately issued an order:
"Quickly, tell all the young and middle-aged people to take a look at it immediately with firearms. If anyone dares to spy on our treasure island, we will fight them forever!"
"Yes"
There are not many people on the island, only more than 1000 people, but almost all of them are young and middle-aged, and all the people are soldiers when they encounter danger.
There are firearms on the island, more than 500 flintlock guns and Vulcan guns.
These firearms were bought by Zhang Jiexu at a high price from outside, with the purpose of defending the island where they lived.