"I can go to Japan when the engine project officially starts." Ping Qiu Sheng thought and regretfully gave up the Japanese business group plan. Concentrate all efforts on preparing for Southeast Asia inspections.
The main target of the Southeast Asian inspection planned by Ping Qiu Sheng was the Indochina Peninsula, which is now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, and does not involve the current places such as Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Because the main purpose of the Planning Institute's support for this inspection was to obtain food. In addition, the Spanish and the Dutch have strong colonial powers in the latter areas, and they are intertwined with each other. The Senate does not intend to fall into such a chaos at the moment.
On the ship heading to Southeast Asia, Ping Qiusheng originally expected to get a 901 as his own ship - the black-smoking warship majestically broke into the barbarian land and set up several cannons on the coastline to force them to pay tribute. , this is such a colonial thing!
But the imminence of Operation Engine put an end to his ambitions. Not only was it impossible for him to get any of the 901 ships, he was also basically unable to get hold of larger and better sail warships.
He could only choose ships from the Southeast Asia Company's fleet. What finally fell into his hands were two Guangzhou ships. Each ship has a displacement of 200 tons and is a common cargo/fishing vessel along the coast of this time and space.
The condition is the two best in the Southeast Asian company's fleet. After reading it, Ping Qiusheng thought it could roughly meet the needs of Southeast Asian inspections.
The commander of the two ships that went to Southeast Asia this time was He Congfu, a former pirate leader.
He Congfu is an old pirate who is known as a slippery man among the gang. He is a small pirate but has been relatively successful. From a small fishing boat to a boss with five large boats. When Zhu Cai's gang collapsed, he finally escaped with two boats.
Since voting for the Senate, he has been watching the development of the Australians. There is not one such person, but most of them in Southeast Asian companies.
The merchant fleet that joined the Southeast Asia Company at the time were all old pirate leaders who had doubts about the "thieves" and wanted to preserve some of their own strength as a way out. With the continuous expansion of the power of the Senate, the implementation of the unified personnel system of the fleet, the implementation of the unified remuneration system and the political transformation of grassroots personnel, the personal control of the old bosses over the sailors of the fleet has basically disappeared. The so-called preservation of strength to see what happens has become Become an empty talk. Even a ship of which they themselves were captains could not act without permission from the Admiralty.
After the victory of the second counter-encirclement and suppression campaign, the navy troops entered the Pearl River Estuary and bombarded Wuyang Post. In order to catch the Conglong Express, these people finally decided to sell themselves completely. To this end, they unanimously sold their ownership of the ships to the Planning Institute. To show your loyalty. In this way, their personal influence on the ship is completely eliminated, leaving only dividend shares at a discount on the ship's value.
He Congfu had been to Siam before and was familiar with the sea route. Of course, it was not the optimal route. Ancient Chinese sailors generally preferred to choose sea areas where they could visually see the coastline. At worst, there would also be a series of islands as a reference for the route.
However, such a route is very suitable for Southeast Asian business groups: their main purpose is to inspect the coastal conditions and conduct trade, and the coastal route is exactly what they want.
The senior seaman's uniform worn by He Congfu is actually the officer uniform of the Senate Navy, except that all the emblems he wears are those of the merchant navy. The sleeveband is embroidered with the "Southeast Asia Company Chartered by the Senate" mark. The newly issued binoculars hung in front of his chest, looking majestic.
Flying from the mast were the Morning Star flag of the Senate and the corporate flag of the Southeast Asia Company: a reduced Morning Star flag in the upper left corner, and nine red and white stripes on the rest. The informal name is "Nine-Dan Banner".
Finally, there is Ping Qiucheng's personal elder heraldic flag, which is red with a family crest designed by himself.
Quark has never been able to figure out the meaning of the newly emerged "nine-segmented flag" of the Southeast Asia Company, but in his opinion, this flag is very similar to the flag of the British East India Company, especially the red and white stripes.
The red and white stripes of the East India Company are the colors of the St. George flag. I wonder what the Australians mean by using such a color scheme? Quark became very interested in this. But even He Fanghui and Heping Qiu Sheng couldn't explain why.
The actual reason is: When Dr. Zhong designed the flag for the Southeast Asian Company, he directly copied the layout and creativity of the British East India Company's flag.
In Dr. Zhong Lishi's view, the British East India Company was a very successful enterprise. Although it was still very weak in this time and space, the British's achievements in the end were far greater than those of the Dutch. Plagiarizing the banner of such a company is very "lucky".
However, Quark was dissatisfied with the state of the East India Company to which he belonged. The British East India Company was a "vulnerable group" in the East Asian ocean in the 17th century. It occupied some isolated strongholds and business halls on the vast sea. The trading territory it occupied was very small, and it was also very scattered. Not only was there little in the most profitable trade Being able to take turns with them, and being constantly beaten by various competitors, he has struck a gold mine. This is the second time Quark has transported slaves to Sanya. With the successful experience last time, as well as the high-end sugar, rum and various Chinese products of such high quality that they had never been seen before, Banten's British store became a sensation. This time, the people who came to visit me continuously were more interested in everything about Australians. Even the British's less friendly neighbors, the Dutch from Batavia, came.
Coupled with the report of a Dutch businessman visiting Lingao, it became a piece of information that was already fermenting rapidly. Some adventurers gathered around Quark like flies smelling blood. Money, ships, and slave supplies continued to appear.
He also acted quickly. In less than three months, the second ship of nearly 1cc slaves was transported to Sanya. The cabin on the return journey was filled with raw silk, sugar, rum and various Chinese groceries.
The huge profits allowed Quark to quickly raise enough funds. Now Quark's fleet already has two large cargo ships with a displacement of 300 tons. However, such a scale is still a bit thin. His fleet must go through the Guangnan Kingdom for a long time before going south. On the coast, the king there now has good cooperation with the Portuguese. This makes Quark quite worried that he has suffered from the Portuguese, and the goods on these ships are very valuable. The heavily loaded merchant ships have neither firepower nor speed. Once someone relies on help, there are not even enough sailors to fight hand-to-hand. It is a typical big fat meat on the sea.
During these days of staying in Sanya, he found out that the Australian trade group was going south to Siam. Since they were going to Siam, they would definitely have to pass through Guangnan. As long as they followed the Australian fleet and safely passed the coastline of Vietnam, they would be there later. No need to worry too much. Thinking of this, he immediately conveyed the idea to He Fanghui and expressed his willingness to serve as the pilot and local guide of the Australian fleet. The Australians readily agreed. So Quark immediately handed over the command of his fleet to Captain Higgins, and he himself boarded the flagship of Southeast Asia Company's large ship Ping Qiu Sheng.
The fleet set sail southward following the wind and soon reached the waters of Hue. At this time, the Le Dynasty of Vietnam had been split into the Northern and Southern Dynasties by the powerful ministers Zheng and Nguyen. In 1620, the powerful minister Nguyen Phuc Yuan in the north officially refused to transfer taxes. handed it over to the court in Hanoi, and then refused the edict requiring the Nguyen family to submit to the authority of the court. Zheng Song died in 1623, and his son Zheng Jili died. Zheng once again formally asked the Ruan family to surrender, but Ruan Fuyuan also repeatedly refused. An open war between the Zheng family and the Ruan family finally broke out in 162.
After four months of continuous fighting between the two sides, the outcome was still undecided. The entire Le Dynasty and Vietnam was divided into northern and southern parts. The Zheng family controlled most of the north and the Nguyen family separated most of the south. The dividing line between the two sides is on the Truong River in Quang Binh Province. This boundary is very close to the 17th parallel of north latitude that later divided North and South Vietnam.
The Nguyen clan also had some advantages over the Trinh clan, which ruled a much more densely populated territory. First, they are on the defensive. Secondly, the Nguyen family benefited from their contacts with Europeans, especially the Portuguese, and were able to purchase more advanced European armaments and hire European military experts in city defense. Third, the geographical situation is favorable to them: large-scale organized armies are only suitable for plain wilderness, and such locations are very rare in Vietnam. In Vietnam, the mountains are almost squeezed into the sea.
The main stronghold of the Nguyen clan in the south is in Hue. After repelling Trinh's attack for the first time, Nguyen established two main lines of forts across the narrow strip of flat land between the mountains and the sea. The city wall was erected near the city of Dong Hai, north of Hue. It is said that the European-style fortress complex built under the guidance of Portuguese military engineers, combined with cannons and matchlocks, formed a solid defense system, making it difficult for the Zheng family's army to break through.
In order to break through these walls, Zheng invested 100,000 soldiers, 500 war elephants and 500 warships in front and back campaigns. The first attack on Nguyen's wall defenses failed, and repeated attacks continued for several years. The battle is still going on in front of this "Great Wall". Countless Vietnamese farmers have been reduced to cannon fodder in this protracted war, and tens of thousands have died.
For the Senate, this war also had a very bad impact. The warehouse set up in Haiyang has gradually lost its advantage in purchasing cheap grain. Rice grains were diverted for military use, farmers were captured to serve as soldiers, often never to return, fields were left desolate, and markets became depressed.
Because the Ruan family's "Great Wall" on the front line was very effective, Zheng family raids in the south from the sea often happened. The South also retaliated with tit-for-tat, and the battle between the two sides at sea was also fierce. ! .
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