Chapter 239
The biggest shock to Emperor Chongzhen from the Battle of Luzon and Mingxi was not that he got something for nothing, but that it opened a window.
It turns out that if you win the war, you can claim compensation from the other party.
This is a concept that ancient officials and emperors did not have. In fact, there are many examples of ancient claims. In the early Han Dynasty, the marriage proposal to the Xiongnu was actually a kind of war claim. Of course, the most famous ones are the Weishui Alliance during the Li Shimin period and the Chanyuan Alliance during the Song Dynasty."
However, the parties to compensate were all the Central Plains Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty's foreign wars were not without victory. Just like the Wanli Korean War, the Ming Dynasty won, and the Penghu Sea Battle, the Ming Dynasty also won, including the Liaoluowan Sea Battle, in which the Ming Dynasty was also the victorious party.
In fact, fundamentally speaking, after the victory of the Liaoluowan naval battle, due to the influence of Western ideas, and the fact that Zheng Zhilong also had Western staff around him, the negotiations with the Dutch East India Company included war claims, and the money was in the form of protection fees. The line was handed over to Zheng Zhilong.
However, the court did not benefit from it. Most of the officials in the Ming court were actually influenced by the Confucian golden mean, the Confucian golden mean. Don't be extreme and leave room for things to happen. To use a common saying, "give mercy to others when you have to."
From a human perspective, there is no problem in not being extreme and leaving room for things to happen. But the problem is that at the national level, this cultivation is a bit nondescript. It is not that Confucianism is not suitable for governing a country, but that it is not suitable for being placed in the jungle law of a forest of ethnic groups.
After the Wanli Korean War ended, the imperial court was affected by the financial crisis and was eager to end the war. It neither asked for war reparations nor compensation from Japan. It only asked for vassalage, not even tribute.
The result of the negotiation was: "1. The Japanese army quickly evacuated North Korea and Tsushima after being granted the title; 2. Only the title was granted but no tribute was allowed; 3. The rapprochement with North Korea was not allowed to be invaded." Ming Shenzong immediately enthroned Toyotomi Hideyoshi as the king of Japan. And according to the list provided by Xiaoxi, the Japanese ministers were canonized.
It wasn't until Cheng Shijie negotiated with the Dutch East India Company that he made a huge claim to the Spanish Empire. Of course, the court ministers fiercely criticized Cheng Shijie. Most of the ministers believed that Cheng Shijie had insulted the Ming Dynasty. Since he won the war, he should be punished. Degree, enough is enough.
Only then did Emperor Chongzhen realize that war can actually make money.
…
Cheng Shijie from Luzon misses the summer in Liaodong. Affected by the Little Glacier weather in the Ming Dynasty, although the summer in Liaodong is hot, there will be high temperatures of 35 or 6 degrees Celsius, but the problem is that 35 or 6 degrees Celsius is already the limit.
But during this period, the weather in Luzon was as high as over 40 degrees. Even the strongest man could not stand being in the sun for half an hour.
It was just after ten o'clock in the morning, and Cheng Shijie was already feeling uncomfortably hot. He didn't know what happened, but there was no wind. Most of the weather in Luzon was actually pretty good, but the extreme weather now was unbearable.
Zhu Weiti saw that Cheng Shijie was too hot, but there was no ice room in Luzon. Fortunately, he could use saltpeter to make some smoothies. When Zhu Weiti wiped Cheng Shijie's body with a towel, he found Cheng Shi standing at the arch and facing in. Looking around.
"What's the matter?"
Cheng Shijie knew that Cheng Shi was usually a discerning person, but no matter what the current situation was, he would not get involved here.
"Father, something happened!"
Cheng Shijie asked: "What happened?"
"Bad thing, a few days ago, the "Chengfeng", a Guangzhou ship belonging to a Chinese representative in Batavia, was preparing to come to Luzon to pay homage to my father, but the ship was seized by the Dutch East India Company..."
"What's the reason?"
Cheng Shi scratched his head: "I'm not sure. This news was sent by Mr. Wu Shangzhi. He is now waiting in the front yard for his father to receive him!"
After Cheng Shijie changed his clothes, he came to the front yard.
"Meet the Marshal!"
"No gift!"
Cheng Shijie drank a bowl of mung bean paste and felt that his body was still wet and a little uncomfortable.
In this kind of weather, swimming is the best choice, and of course it is also the best way to escape the heat. The premise is that you must learn to swim.
"Tell me, what's going on?"
"The life of the Chinese in Dutch Batavia is very bad. Their living conditions are similar to those of the Chinese in Luzon. They are suppressed by the Dutch East India Company and the local indigenous people. Originally they had no choice. No matter how difficult it is, it is better than in the Ming Dynasty. , at least they don’t have to go hungry there!”
Wu Shangzhi smiled bitterly and said: "After the general occupied Luzon, more and more Chinese moved to Luzon. Luzon originally had more than 45,000 Chinese, but now it has exceeded 70,000. In more than a month, there were two More than 5,000 people came to Luzon. The Dutch East India Company began to sense trouble and tried every means to stop it. A few days ago, the Li family, Lin family, Guo family, and Shen family of Batavia The four families sold their property and moved to Luzon with their entire family. As a result, during the trip, they captured the Li family’s ship, the Chengfeng!”
Wu Shangzhi was calm at this time and was not filled with indignation. After all, Cheng Shijie was now preparing to go to war with Spain, and the attitude of the Dutch was also very important.
"What did Putmans say?"
Cheng Shijie looked at Xie Jinglin who had just entered.
At this time, Cheng Shijie was really not angry, because the Dutch did not cause trouble for him, and he was also preparing to cause trouble for the Dutch. There was no doubt that the chief officer belonged to the Ming Dynasty. Before preparing to launch the offensive of the chief officer, he took care of the Dutch. It was originally planned to recruit the forces in the south.
Unlike the people of the Ming Dynasty, Cheng Shijie knew very well that whether it was Spain or the Netherlands, their fundamental focus was on Europe, and there was not much power in the Far East. At least until the outcome of the Thirty Years War was determined, they had no way to take care of the Far East. of.
Fortunately now, the Dutch actually came to the door.
The Netherlands, with a mainland area of only 40,000 square kilometers, had colonies in Southeast Asia covering more than 1.9 million square kilometers. These colonies were collectively called the Dutch East Indies and were under the jurisdiction of the East India Company.
Relying on the Strait of Malacca, the Dutch have made a lot of money just by collecting toll taxes in recent years. Being stuck in the Ming Dynasty's trade channels, European countries have contributed a lot of tax revenue to the Dutch East India Company.
Needless to say, the importance of the Strait of Malacca, Cheng Shijie is not willing to let others choke his neck.
The change of attitude of the Dutch East India Company is actually not surprising, to put it bluntly, it is about interests. There are many Chinese living in the territory controlled by the Dutch East India Company. These Chinese are the major taxpayers of the Dutch East India Company. How can the Kingdom of the Netherlands dare to challenge Spain with less than 5 million Dutch people in 40,000 square meters of company land?
You must know that the Spanish Empire has more than 5.5 million square kilometers of land in Europe, more than 23 million square kilometers of colonies, and more than 45 million citizens.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands relied on blood transfusions from the Dutch East India Company. As Cheng Shijie occupied Luzon, the Chinese who could no longer live under the Dutch East India Company naturally chose to immigrate. They themselves were immigrants and gave up their industries in the Dutch East India. , going to Luzon for development is also a good choice.
But the problem is that the Dutch East India Company relies on the Chinese for almost 80% of its production and operations. If it relies on the local indigenous people, these indigenous people are lazy and greedy. Apart from their instinctive reproduction and eating, they will not do anything else at all. Chinese immigration to Luzon violated the fundamental interests of the Dutch.
So conflicts will happen sooner or later.
"Commander, if you are angry, you will not fight. You need to calm down. I will negotiate with the Dutch side immediately and we must bring him back!"
"Hurry up, it's easy to have problems in this weather!"
Cheng Shijie decided to get the person back first, and as for revenge, he would wait until later.
Xie Jinglin said: "The subordinates will urge them to ensure the safety of the Chinese as much as possible, and try to ensure that no one is harmed." Now, does anyone care about the lives of the natives of Luzon?
No, Cheng Shijie wouldn't care.
"Tell the Dutch that if they dare to provoke a war, then be prepared to bear the revenge of Ning Haijun!"
"yes!"
Cheng Shijie was feeling stuffy and hot now, and his heart was on fire.
"Order, Ning Haijun Navy, Tiaodang Camp, prepare for war!"
"yes!"
Cheng Shijie is actually not afraid of the Dutch threat of war. Whether it is the Dutch or the Spanish, the methods used by colonial countries to compete for colonies in this era are really a bit rough.
If Cheng Shijie were to participate in the colonial struggle, he would never resort to war. Just like the strategy of Da Yuan, he would first establish a good relationship with the aborigines, give them weapons and training, and let the aborigines take advantage of their familiarity with the terrain to attack The Dutch adopted guerrilla tactics.
In fact, what Cheng Shijie didn't know was that Batavia's seizure of the Chengfeng was also the Dutch East India Company's revenge on Cheng Shijie.
Just when Cheng Shijie was about to attack the Dutch, the restless Chen Dayong was holding a meeting of the Allied Forces to resist Dutch colonial aggression in Tamsui.
Colonial rule was unpopular wherever it was, even in servile India. The Dutch and Spaniards invaded and plundered Dajuan's mineral resources, timber, and land, and even spared no trace of the sugar produced by Dajuan. For this reason, they massacred and expelled the indigenous people, which had long caused outrage and resentment. No matter they are the mountain tribes or the mainland immigrants living in the coastal plains, they all hate them with gnashing teeth.
Now that Chen Dayong had ascended to the top and called out, a crowd of responders immediately gathered. Not only the young and strong people from the high mountain tribes in Tainan came to hear the news, but even the immigrants from the mainland who had always been regarded as weak and bullied also found ways to come to the valley to seek refuge. He almost effortlessly succeeded. A local team of more than 18,000 people was assembled.
Outside Tamsui County, the Atayal, Seediq, Puinan, Yami, Bunun, Tsou, Rukai, Paiwan, Thao, Ami, Taroko, and Sakilaya ethnic groups A dozen ethnic groups, a total of 113 tribal leaders, held a blood alliance with Chen Dayong. After offering sacrifices to their ancestors, they cut their wrists, let their own blood drip into the cow's blood, and dipped their fingers in the blood. Put your fingerprint on the covenant.
Chen Dayong held the blood wine and swore to the sky: "From now on, we will put aside our past grudges, work together to expel the Western Barbarians, and live and die together. If you surrender to the Western Barbarians without authorization or collude with the Western Barbarians to make peace, the people and gods will be angry, and the entire clan will be punished." , you are not allowed to enter the ancestral home after death!"
When the translator began to read Chen Dayong's words, the tribal leaders also raised their bowls at the same time and shouted in their own languages: "From now on, we will abandon our past grudges and work together to expel the Western Barbarians. We will live and die together. If we surrender to the Western Barbarians without authorization, Or if he colludes with the Western Yi to make peace, then humans and gods will be angry, the entire clan will be killed, and he will not be allowed to enter the home of the ancestors after his death!"
At the end of the alliance ceremony, Chen Dayong waved his hand, and dozens of carts were loaded with weapons and equipment. Of course, these equipment were mainly cold weapons, and the only hot weapons were actually grenades.
Chen Dayong distributed these equipment to the leaders of each department on a per capita basis. Ning Haijun would train these tribal warriors on how to use crossbows, how to make traps, how to use grenades, and how to maintain armor and other equipment.
Especially grenades, because they are not filled with black powder, they are quite powerful. The projectile made of pig iron has an absolute killing radius of seven meters, but in fact it is very dangerous even 35 meters away from the explosion point. Some shrapnel will fly. It is still lethal even at a distance of 100 meters, and getting hit by it is no joke.
With the end of the alliance, groups of tribal rebels began to walk out of Ning Haijun's temporary training camp. These Dutch people actually started to be in trouble.
The first to suffer was the Qitianling logging camp. It was originally a dense forest, covered with towering trees, some of which had grown for thousands of years, and was regarded as a holy place by the Atayal people.
However, the damn Dutch expelled the Atayal people and took the place as their own. They cut down the trees wantonly. Those ancient trees that had grown for more than a hundred years were made into ship materials to build large ships, and the smaller ones were used to build forts. Houses and Atayal people failed to recapture the forest farm after several attacks. The entire Atayal people regarded it as a great shame and humiliation.
At the strong request of the Atayal people, Chen Dayong listed the Qitianling logging camp as his primary target. After Red Lady's reconnaissance, there were 51 Dutch soldiers stationed at the logging camp, and a total of more than 300 Tagalog soldiers. The colonial army had a strong fortress, and a forceful attack might cause heavy casualties, so they decided to be smart.
On a misty morning, two Saiyami huntresses staggered across the intersection of the lumber camp carrying a wild boar, which immediately attracted the attention of the Dutch soldiers.
You must know that the two female hunters of the Yami tribe are both beauties, with strong bodies, pretty and wild looks, bright clothes, and the wild boar that took a lot of effort to hunt is also huge. Surprisingly, it weighs more than three hundred kilograms. No matter which one they are, they are enough to attract attention.
The eyes of more than a dozen Dutch soldiers were bright, and they said in their hearts that things were better now. Pork and beauties were automatically delivered to their doorsteps. Where could such a good thing be found? Maybe they really didn't regard the aborigines as human beings, so they didn't even have to bargain, and just rushed out and grabbed them.
The two Yami huntresses screamed in fright, dropped the wild boar and ran away. The Dutch, who were already obsessed with collective semen, were not willing to let them go. They gave chase with a strange smile and followed the two Yamei huntresses who were running like flying on the steep mountains into a forest near the forest farm.
Then, after a burst of screams, the heads of a dozen Dutch soldiers became trophies hanging on the waists of the hunters.
Then, dozens of Atayal hunters covered in smear, armed with crossbows and steel knives hanging from their waists, rushed into the lumber camp like tigers descending the mountain. The remaining dozens of Dutch soldiers had already moved their heads before they knew what was happening.
The Atayal people fought several times and failed to recapture the forest farm. Chen Dayong only used a small trick to capture it. Fifty-one Dutch soldiers were not spared. Although more than 300 Tagalog colonial troops were killed by the Dutch, After that, they immediately surrendered, but the colonial troops of the Yami and Atayal tribes, who had the custom of headhunting, also beheaded their heads.
Only three Confederate soldiers who participated were killed and a dozen were slightly wounded.
Early the next morning, on the road twenty miles away from Chikan City, a small group of Dutch soldiers escorted six four-wheeled carriages appeared in front of them. There was nothing to be polite about. They shot over and knocked down one of them, and then rushed up. Stabbing with bayonets and chopping with machetes, the eleven Dutch soldiers saw God in a daze. Six four-wheeled carriages loaded a large amount of gunpowder, flour, wine and more than a hundred flintlock muskets, and more than two thousand rounds of ammunition were all converted into Got the spoils.
Of course, the Dutch East India Company was not aware of this matter yet. The Allied forces were out of control and attacked the Dutch mountain stations everywhere. They set up ambushes on the roads to ambush passing convoys and small groups of Dutch troops. They hit and ran. It went away like the wind, making the Dutch people restless.
In just one week, six logging camps, two mines, and three farms were destroyed, resulting in the deaths of more than 200 Dutch soldiers and more than a thousand of their servants.
The roads are even worse. The flat cement roads that were originally the Dutch's hope for developing the Tainan area have now become shooting ranges. Within a week, there were 21 ambushes on the highways, an average of three times a day, giving the Dutch Regardless of the amount of damage caused, the fear of being shot at any time or even losing your head while walking on the road is enough for the Dutch.
The security situation in Tainan has deteriorated rapidly. There are beacon fires everywhere outside Dayuan City and Chican City. Although the fortresses have not been attacked yet, everyone is in danger and is frightened overnight.
Now that the Dutch are provoking trouble, no matter what measures are taken, Cheng Shijie will never compromise with the Dutch. The persona he has finally built up will collapse once he compromises.
Following Cheng Shijie's order, the war machine of Luzon's Ning Haijun quickly started to work. The Tiaodang Camp soldiers who were on vacation immediately canceled their vacation and returned to camp. The Ning Navy soldiers on the street also began to prepare for war. Massive supplies were moved out of the warehouse and transferred to the battleship.
The battleships were quickly maintained, repaired, and prepared for war.
"Mr. Wu, what did the commander say?"
Wu Shangzhi had just returned to the Wu family compound in Zhenghe Port District. Li Shiji, the Batavia Chinese representative and the second son of the Li family, immediately greeted him.
Wu Shangzhi pointed outside: "What did you hear?"
"Bang bang bang..."
Rhythmic footsteps came.
Li Shiji immediately reacted: "The commander-in-chief wants to send troops?"
"Ning Haijun has entered a state of combat readiness. Now we just have to wait and see the reaction of the Dutch!"
Wu Shangzhi smiled and said: "The commander-in-chief is ready to send troops. If the Dutch don't let them go, they will have no choice but to fight!"
At this moment, a young man with a panicked face ran in.
"Second Young Master, it's not good!"
Li Shiji's heart tightened. He knew this man. It was Gu Changsheng, the eldest brother's attendant. He called out: "Changsheng, why are you here?"
Gu Changsheng hugged Li Shiji's thigh and cried loudly: "Second Young Master, the Li family... the Li family is finished..."
The Li family in Batavia is one of the representative local Chinese families. The head of the Li family, Li Shiji's father Li Shichang, had his eldest son Li Shimao marry a Dutch white man in his early years.
This Dutchman was an employee of the Dutch East India Company. Of course, he had a low status, but he was a powerful person. For the sake of the bride price of 80,000 taels of silver, the other party agreed to this cross-border marriage. With the help of the Dutch, the Li family quickly transformed from an ordinary family to a famous wealthy Chinese family in Batavia.
But the problem is that Li Shichang actually wanted to move his family to Luzon. This was a betrayal to the Dutch. They couldn't stand it. Thousands of natives targeted the Li family's plantations, shops, and businesses in Batavia. The Li family's old residence launched an attack.
To be fair, the Li family is not weak in strength. There are more than 500 armed servants. Without the Dutch colonial army, these thousands of natives would not have succeeded in breaking into the Li family's old house.
But the Dutch colonial army was different. They had artillery and muskets. The Li family's old residence was breached in less than half an hour. The mansion covering an area of more than 150 acres was breached, and more than 260 armed servants were killed. , the rest surrendered.
The entire Li family in Batavia was killed, a total of forty-one people, including eight children. Li Shiji's eldest son was only three years old, followed by his son who was born in February of the seventh year of Chongzhen and is now only more than five months old. He was also killed. He was killed and dozens of female family members were raped, including Li Shiji's wife.
Li Shiji fainted at that time.
…
Zhenghe Port Administration Department.
Putmans stared at Xie Jinglin and said: "Our request is that you must immediately stop supporting the Danguan Aboriginal people and promise that you will never..."
While Putmans was speaking, a soldier from Ning Haijun came to the venue and whispered softly into Xie Jinglin's ear.
Xie Jinglin's face changed drastically. He stood up and said to Putmans: "Hans, I'm very sorry. This negotiation is meaningless. The two countries are at war. Bu Zhan is here. You are an envoy and a diplomat. You can immediately Leave Luzon or suffer the consequences!”
Putmans' expression changed greatly: "Thank you, something happened!"
"You have already started to attack. More than 300 Chinese people in Batavia died, including 14 babies and 63 children under the age of twelve. You are really worse than animals. We in the Ming Dynasty have no habit of negotiating with animals. We want him to leave and pay with blood!"
Putman suddenly had a headache: "Damn those bureaucrats!"
In Putmans' view, the Dutch East India Company has not yet recognized the reality, that is, the Ming Dynasty has re-emerged.
Meanwhile, Cheng Shijie signs his name on an order that reads "Operation Hurricane!"
Operation Hurricane specifically refers to the strategy for the big players, which is to prepare to let Chen Dayong play.
If the Dutch still have certain advantages at sea, then the war on land is completely the absolute home field of Ning Haijun.
The war to regain the great members begins first.
Cheng Shijie reviewed the officers of the Ning Navy Fleet in Luzon Port. He looked at the officers and said: "I just received the news that the Dutch massacred more than 300 Chinese in Batavia, including 14 babies. , sixty-three children, I have only one sentence, blood must be paid with blood. Soldiers, as the commander-in-chief of Ning Navy, I order all Ning Navy officers to show no mercy to the executioners, let alone accept them. Their surrender!”
"Complete the mission resolutely!"
(End of chapter)
