The Governor didn't quite believe that there could be such a large ship made of iron in the world - not to mention where so much steel could be made. More importantly, it was rumored that this ship did not need sails. Sail on your own. [No pop-up novel website] In his opinion, if there is such a thing: it is either a miracle of God or more likely a trick of the devil.
Although there are such legends everywhere, the Governor is still skeptical about this rumor-if the Australians really have such a huge maritime advantage, why do they only stay on a remote island off the coast of South China? They can drive large iron ships to settle in other more prosperous and product-rich places.
But what he is more interested in is the so-called Australian goods - are they shipped from "Australia" or are they manufactured in Lingao? There is no record of "Australia" in the library of the Dutch East India Company - as for "Lingao", they only know that it is a small city with no commercial value - there are hundreds of thousands of such small cities in China. The Governor could not imagine that such a small city could suddenly produce so many novel and high-quality goods.
The Australian in Lingao had too many mysteries, which was the main reason why he couldn't wait to spend a large sum of money to hire Li Siya to get information. "Small shopkeepers" never spend money recklessly. Four thousand guilders may be a lot, but it is nothing to figure out the future maritime situation in Southeast Asia and even East Asia as a whole.
Only with enough intelligence can the Batavia authorities formulate appropriate policies towards Australia. Should we be a trading partner or ruthlessly attack it and completely destroy this new force? Or what means should be adopted to exploit and contain the presence of Australians in the South China Sea?
The Dutch East India Company was the world's first "real capitalist enterprise". Its capitalism was thorough, ruthless, and based on the most naked commercial monopoly and huge profits. Companies are equally ruthless toward their partners, friends, employees, and enemies. He is a complete profit-oriented person. Even among the company's senior employees, the Dutch East India Company was the most successful force in applying the law of the jungle in the East Indies.
To the Governor-General, Australians were neither enemies nor friends. What role the Australians will play depends on the strength of the Australians and their position in the entire East Asian trading system.
If the Australians are weak and unable to shake the company's monopoly, they can act as a suitable trading partner and provide goods to the Far East like the Ming Dynasty; if they are strong and have a monopoly on the East India Company, Threat, containing the Australians will become a priority. Just as they spared no effort to contain and exclude the British in the East Indies, attack the Portuguese in Japan, and suppress Zheng Zhilong on the coast of China - the East India Company did not like competition.
"You can go down and rest." The governor took out a check from the drawer, "Go to the treasurer to get the money. You can have a good rest for a few days."
"Thank you, sir." Gonzalez bowed, picked up the check and exited.
The next day, the Governor carefully read the German version of Lisya's answers to these 125 questions. She answered all the questions posed by the council, and even those to which she answered "don't know" were accompanied by some speculation, rumors, and her own personal comments. The governor felt that Li Siya's performance was worthy of the reward she asked for.
First, Li Siya clearly answered the question about who Australians are.
Australians are Chinese - this can be confirmed from their language, writing and national identity. However, although they consider themselves "Chinese", they are very different from the Chinese - they have completely different cultures, systems and etiquette. Li Siya said in the report: The difference between them and the Chinese is as big as the difference between Europeans and Chinese - maybe even bigger. In addition, there are people of European ancestry among Australians. There are at least 2 to 3 people. According to intelligence, these Europeans also enjoy the status of so-called "elders".
There are about 500 to 600 "seniors" in Lingao. A European-style "council" system is implemented among the senators. There are nine most senior councilors who hold all the power. But formally all senators enjoy the same political power and form an institution called the "Senate". In theory, all major policies must be decided by a majority of the Senate.
Li Siya said in the report: What they have seems to be a joint-stock cooperation relationship, because the elders will use words like "shares" and "dividends" from time to time in their conversations. From time to time there were disputes over the power of the so-called elders.
"Is this the Australian East India Company?" Seeing this, the Governor couldn't help but said.
Most of the goods used by Australians for trade were manufactured in Lingao. Li Siya used exaggerated lengths to elaborate on the strong manufacturing industry owned by Australians in Lingao - in fact, neither Li Huamei's nor Lando's reports gave much description of Lingao's productivity. Li Huamei is generally not allowed to enter the core area of Lingao, and the report Lando gave her was specially modified by the Foreign Intelligence Service. The Foreign Intelligence Service did not want outsiders to truly understand the productivity level of Lingao. However, Lisya wanted to promote the Dutch war against Lingao and exaggerated the two reports. Describing Lingao as a place extremely rich in material also exaggerates the productivity of Australian factories. Finally, she spent four full pages vividly describing the luxurious life of the Australian elders in Lingao: from facts to rumors. Chief among them are their extravagant toilets and bathrooms.
She believed that this rich booty was enough to incite the strong greed of the Dutch. This led the Dutch to attack the Australians. Of course, the Dutch are no match for the Australians. A fight between the two sides would consume each other, which would be of great benefit to her.
Sure enough, this large paragraph of gorgeous text made the governor's eyes sparkle. The fingers wearing rings also curled up and tapped the armrest. But it didn't take long for the governor to calm down: he was a sensible Dutchman after all. He will not be easily moved by exaggerated Latin words. In his opinion, this is the same as when the Spaniards came to America and advocated gold and silver everywhere: it was authentic, but it eliminated the difficulty of obtaining gold and silver.
The Australians in Lingao are certainly very wealthy, but the fact that they were able to occupy a city under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, which had a very rigid attitude towards foreign affairs, shows that the strength of the Australians is extraordinary. At that time, the East India Company launched several expeditions to China, but none of them achieved the expected results.
Regarding the strength of the Australians, the report stated that in addition to the Australian elders, there are the local Chinese who were collected by the Australians in Guangdong and the indigenous people in Lingao who are dependent on them. The total population is unknown. It is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000. These people worked as slaves, soldiers, serfs and craftsmen for the Australians.
The exact number of troops owned by the Australians is unknown, but there are at least three to four companies of well-trained infantry - except for a small number of officers, all composed of indigenous Chinese. The infantry is trained in European style, well-equipped, and has better firearms than Europeans. The weapons used by the army were lighter and more powerful - better than any small firearm in Europe. Li Siya specifically described the Minie rifle and Deringer pistol. The Australians also had artillery, which was also very good. But the quantity is small. Li Siya gave a detailed description of Bobu's coastal heavy artillery - and also mapped out the specific location, terrain and artillery firing range of the coastal fort. This surprised the governor: Li Siya was indeed an extraordinary woman, and he began to pay more attention to her.
In terms of maritime power, which the governor is most concerned about, they have about a hundred ships, all of which are "junk ships" collected in Guangdong. Except for a few ships, the tonnage is not large. They also owned several European-style ships. In addition, there were four iron clippers brought from Australia.
Li Siya laid an ambush here. She knew very clearly about the power of the "iron clippers" owned by the Australians from Li Huamei and Lando, but she was not very specific in the description - only that there were, but not how many. sharp. She does not want the Dutch to have the feeling that the Australians are very powerful at sea - once the Dutch are afraid of the high sea power, they will not easily launch military attacks on the Australians.
It took the Governor a whole morning to read the report. Through this report he gained a full understanding of Australians. Obviously, the Australians are a powerful force, but they currently do not have the ability to get involved in long-distance maritime trade routes. This is a huge opportunity for the company. It seems necessary to open a trade route between Danyuan and Lingao as soon as possible.
He opened the map on the table, carefully looked at the height that had just been standardized not long ago, and measured it with a ruler. He felt that Lingao's location was not too remote on the Southeast Asian trade routes. It should be a good trading port.
De Carpentier was thinking. There was a knock on the door outside.
"Come in." He raised his head, and it was his attendant who came in.
"What's up?"
"The representative of Liu Laoxiang from Guangdong is here. Have you met him?"
"Of course." De Carpentier nodded, "Invite him in."
Liu Xiang has a certain degree of cooperation with the Dutch - of course this cooperation is caused by Liu Xiang's strength. After the Liu Xiang gang suddenly emerged on the coast of Guangdong in the late years of Tianqi, they quickly controlled the waters near the Pearl River Estuary and once became the The overlord of Guangdong ocean noodles. During the expansion to the ocean of Fujian, they gradually came into conflict with Zheng Zhilong; and the Dutch also needed a force that could restrain the growing Zheng Yiguan, and the two sides hit it off. . ..
