Chapter 242
Subic Strait.
Seeing the main battleships of the Ning Navy retreating, the morale of the Zheng fleet, which was still a little uneasy at first, was greatly boosted. Hundreds of thousands of conch horns sounded at the same time, and the sound of whining echoed across the sea and sky.
Hundreds of warships from Zheng's fleet formed a huge waning moon phalanx. The same six routes were advancing at the same time, but the number was ten times greater than that of the Ning Navy fleet, and the momentum was naturally ten times more terrifying!
Pirates are not soldiers in the true sense. Although they are fierce, they are better at fighting against the wind. Watching Ning Haijun's naval fleet retreat, they have forgotten the scars of being beaten by Ning Haijun. The scars have really healed and they have forgotten the pain.
"Continue to retreat!"
Li Zhixiang actually does not want to fight such a battle with the Zheng fleet in Subic Bay. The main problem is that the Subic Strait is too narrow. Compared with the huge scale of the Ning Navy and the Zheng fleet, this strait is too narrow. .
There was no wide enough sea area for the Ning Navy's warships to take advantage of their speed. The main force of the Ning Navy retreated, as if they were afraid of the Zheng fleet.
Of course, the Dutch combined fleet located in the port of Subic avoided the fate of being wiped out. A total of six scarred warships and armed merchant ships survived.
Zheng Zhilong watched Ning Haijun retreat and knew that Ning Haijun wanted to distance himself and take advantage of Ning Haijun's naval gun advantage: "Catch up!"
In order to pursue Ning Haijun's warships, densely packed centipede boats appeared on the sea. The centipede boats had slender captains, and coupled with human rowing, they were very fast in a short period of time.
These small centipede ships did indeed close the distance with the Ning Navy warships. They began to fire cannonballs at the Ning Navy warships. It was just a pity that the guns of these small warships were too small. Although the cannons rumbled and the shells flew horizontally, the problem was, These shells that were lucky enough to hit had limited damage to the main battleships of the Ning Navy.
But everything has its surprises. An artillery piece lifted up by the waves hit the battleship Gaoyang of the Ning Navy's Sixth Squadron. The shell hit the mast. Although it did not break the mast, it broke the rope of the sail. Breaking, the ship's main sail fell off under the influence of huge gravity.
The speed inevitably slowed down, and more and more small warships rushed up. Most of the shells hit the sea. First, there was a puff of white smoke, and then a column of water rushed up.
But some of them still hit the battleship Gaoyang. The hit part made a heart-wrenching crackling sound, and flames started to rise. The temperature of the red-hot lead ball was too high, and it smashed into the wooden hull, so there was no fire. ghost!
However, compared with Ning Haijun's sulfur shells, the effect of this thing is a bit too poor, and the forward-loading smoothbore cannon's rate of fire is too miserable. Ning Haijun's navy has enough time to put out the flames.
But the problem is that the Gaoyang is too slow and is surrounded by dozens of warships.
Chen sometimes wanted to send his warships to rescue the Gaoyang.
However, Li Zhixiang ordered him to abandon the Gaoyang and retreat.
"Why?"
Li Zhixiang scolded angrily: "Compassion doesn't control soldiers. Fortunately, you are an old navy soldier. Look at it!"
Chen Ou took a closer look and found that a fleet of about 150 warships from the Zheng fleet on the right wing were rapidly surrounding them.
If they were surrounded by the right wing of Zheng's fleet, they might not be defeated, but they would inevitably have to fight a close battle, which they were not good at.
The Zheng fleet, which received the British large-caliber naval guns, has significantly stronger firepower than before, and the large-caliber naval guns pose a great threat to the Ning Navy warships.
Once they are entangled by Zheng's fleet, their losses will be even heavier.
"Gaoyang, the main fleet is retreating. You are responsible for the rear. If we are defeated, we are allowed to surrender to the Zheng fleet!"
On the battleship Gaoyang, the fire was actually already burning. The fierce artillery fire and the enemy ships rushing up one after another made it impossible for the sailors to take action to put out the fire. The most terrible thing was that the cannonballs that had no time to fire were burned and exploded. An earth-shaking explosion occurred. This terrifying explosion made the morale of the Zheng fleet even higher.
Zheng Zhilong looked calm on the surface, but in fact, the hands hidden in his sleeves were clenched into fists, and the veins were exposed. Seeing that the battleship was smashed to pieces by the explosion, he let out a long sigh of relief and said with a smile: "We won!"
All the generals around him were equally relieved. Shi Daxuan even felt sorry for the bombed-to-shattered warship: "What a pity for such a good warship and the cannons on the warship..."
"It's okay. Once we win this battle, the battleships and cannons of those northern barbarians will be ours!"
Zheng Zhilong was not happy for long, because as the weather got later and later, the war was inevitably forced to stop.
Early the next morning, the two sides fought again on the South China Sea. The Ning Navy continued to bleed the Zheng fleet with the cavalry flying kites. Regardless of this one or that ship, as long as they were added up, the losses of the Zheng fleet would be successful. Straight up.
As the warships of the Ning Navy moved farther and farther away, the huge fireships and small warships of the Zheng fleet began to lose touch with their main warships due to speed issues.
Zheng Zhilong unknowingly discovered that they were being led by Ning Haijun's warships, and they were heading further and further north.
Shi Daxuan judged: "Admiral, Ning Haijun seems to be preparing to attack Xiamen or Quanzhou!"
"Chase!"
Zheng Zhilong has no better way. He is currently riding a tiger and cannot get off.
"Attack it and save it!"
This is the gift Li Zhixiang is preparing to give to Zheng Zhilong.
At the same time, news of the Dutch East India Company's massacre of Chinese in Batavia also reached Liaodong. As soon as the news came back, no one in the "Liaodong Times", "Liaodong Weekly", "Liaodong Business News" and other newspapers The exceptions are all front-page headlines: "We want to pay with blood."
Children are the hope for the future, and everyone in Liaodong knows this.
For a long time, immigrants in Liaodong have been mainly young people, with a particularly high proportion of teenagers and children. In addition to those families who came to Liaodong with their families, refugees in Liaodong will also take the initiative to find and send uncared children through various means. Go to Liaodong.
Because when you arrive in Liaodong with your children, whether you are looking for a job or settling in, you will receive preferential treatment than ordinary young men. Your children will receive better care and receive a good education in Liaodong. When they grow up, they will naturally have a deep appreciation for Liaodong and Cheng Shijie. There is higher recognition and more loyalty.
There are various newspapers in Liaodong, among which "Liaodong Times" is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Liaodong, with a daily circulation of 35,000 copies. As the official mouthpiece of Liaodong, many policies and notices of the Liaodong Management Committee will be published in "Liaodong Times" "It was announced above that "Liaodong Times" also has great influence in Liaodong.
Therefore, the newspaper's report of "The Dutch massacred the Chinese in Batavia" immediately aroused a strong response. Countless people took to the streets to petition the Liaodong Management Committee, demanding that the Management Committee immediately launch a war against the Dutch East India Company and let the The Dutch paid with blood.
When Bishop Robben arrived in Liaodong, he had an important mission, because Cheng Shijie's Ning Navy had a legion training group composed mainly of Portuguese people. Although these officer training groups no longer need to train Ning Navy soldiers, their so-called Ninety percent of the instructors are here to promote the teachings.
The Portuguese are a country with freedom of religious belief, but more than 97% of the people believe in Catholicism. Because the Portuguese officer mercenaries hired by Sun Yuanhua initially played a positive role in the Ning Navy's occupation of Liaodong, Cheng Shijie did not burn bridges and allowed They live in Liaodong.
As Liaodong developed better and better, Portuguese priests such as Lu Ruohan (Portuguese), Ban Ande, and Gongsha Silao, who had a close relationship with Sun Yuanhua, proposed to spread Catholicism in Liaodong.
At that time, Cheng Shijie hoped to obtain more Western cultural and scientific knowledge. In fact, he could get these things from later generations without any effort, but the problem was that he had to give Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua the face. In this way, Cheng Shijie agreed to establish a Catholic church in Liaodong, but the prerequisite was to build a church and the church must send him at least a hundred outstanding craftsmen.
But the problem is that after this agreement was reached, with the help of Godfather Mason, Portugal sent more than 300 outstanding talents to Liaodong, including the famous mathematician Descartes, who is now 41 years old.
Descartes now serves as a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Liaodong University. This professorship is different from the professorial title of later generations. In Liaodong, it was similar to that in medieval Europe. Professorship was equivalent to the position of dean.
As Portugal sent famous and talented people in Europe who were persecuted by Protestants to Liaodong, it not only gained the favor of Catholics, but also avoided direct conflict with Protestants.
In this way, four Catholic churches were established in Jinzhou, Xinghai, Zhenhai and Gaizhou in Liaodong. The funds for these churches were not provided by Cheng Shijie, but were raised by the churches themselves. Even Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua donated 30,000 yuan each. Two and ten thousand taels of silver.
As the influence of Catholicism in Liaodong grew, Bishop Robben, a Protestant, became uneasy. If Liaodong was just a barbaric land, they would have no interest in spreading the gospel of the Lord in Liaodong.
But the problem is that the population of Liaodong has exceeded five million, which is almost the same as that of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Robben also learned from Lu Ruohan's method and brought more than a hundred craftsmen from the Netherlands to establish a Protestant church covering an area of 15 acres. Church, but he can only use candies, towels, fruits, dried fruits and other things to attract people to come to the church.
Before Bishop Robben opened the situation, he heard the news that the Dutch massacred the Chinese in Batavia.
"Those nobles are really stupid. They don't even know how powerful Liaodong is!"
Robben looked at Father Sean angrily and said: "Even if they really don't know, they should find out from us or the Portuguese. What is the situation now?"
"What else can we do? The public sentiment is aroused, not only in Jinzhou, but also in the entire Liaodong. There are many articles in the newspapers, demanding that Marshal Cheng not be soft and pay with blood. People spontaneously took to the streets to demonstrate, demanding that the management committee expel us as soon as possible. Ning Haijun’s army has already started taking action, and maybe the elite troops of Ning Haijun will appear in Batavia tomorrow.”
"It's terrible. All our followers ran away in an instant!"
Robben said angrily: "I once asked a devout believer why he quit religion. I told him that we are a religion, not a secular country. We cannot be affected by national affairs. He told me that there is no home without a country..."
"That's it. Now no one from the Ming Dynasty is willing to sell us vegetables, and no one sells us eggs or milk. Now we even have to drink water ourselves. However, along the way, those Ming people seem to want to eat us. , I told them that I am Portuguese and I don’t dare to reveal my identity as Dutch at all!”
"God, I wish I could get out of here tomorrow!"
Robben stood up and said: "No, I want to write a letter to the Pope and ask him to intervene. The great situation was suddenly ruined by these damn bastards!"
"I'm afraid it's too late to write a letter, right?"
"It's better to be late than to do nothing!"
"Our current Jinzhou has a population of 500,000. Is this a city? Many European countries do not have a population of 500,000. Not counting the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong alone has as many as seven cities with a population of more than 200,000. If we include the entire Ming Dynasty, there will be hundreds of such cities, and there are countless excellent craftsmen here. As long as we can raise enough money, we can build a large city in Liaodong that is not much inferior to the Vatican Cathedral. church!"
Father Sean said: "Before I came to Liaodong, I thought that "Marco Polo" was a fabrication. I called this ancient country the Golden Kingdom, claiming that there was gold everywhere, and there were piles of gold on the streets. The silver has made many Europeans fascinated and crazy about it. The great Columbus set sail to find this imaginary golden country. Unfortunately, he took the wrong road and ran to America. He never saw the real country until his death. East. Now I'm here and I've seen it. I don't want to brag like Marco Polo, but... who can believe it? In this spacious house, I am living a life that would make even the Pope go crazy with envy. Life!"
"It's a pity that these lives are going to disappear because of those idiots!"
Robben smiled bitterly and said: "Compared with Liaodong, we in the Netherlands are simply a barbaric zone. Just like this cup of tea in front of us. If we were in Europe, only the Pope, the King of England, and the King of France, the most powerful figures in the world, could participate in the grand ceremony. During festivals, we use a little bit to entertain the most noble nobles and enjoy the envious eyes of everyone, but here, it is just a daily drink for us..."
"Actually, I didn't expect it either!"
"What didn't you expect?"
"The empire of the Ming Dynasty is experiencing a terrible disaster. Terrible natural disasters swept across the country. Rogue bandits like locusts ate up countless towns, drank up countless rivers, and spread crazily across the country. The ruler of this huge empire Every effort is being made to exterminate these locusts, and the troops still loyal to the empire are exhausted..."
Sean looked at Father Robben and said, "This scene should be very familiar, right?"
Bishop Robben nodded.
"When a country is about to perish, evildoers will appear!"
Although there is no such idiom in Europe, history often has striking similarities. The Ming Empire has now lost its administrative capabilities. Some stubborn and incompetent characters occupy the center of the empire. They turn a blind eye to such a critical situation and only care about Use the power in your hands to exclude dissidents and crazily grab profits, without any regard for the life and death of the people.
Many of the decrees of the rulers of the Ming Empire could not be implemented at all, except for tax increases. The emperor asked the common people to pay an extra ten cents in tax to use as a special fund to exterminate the bandits. This group of shameless officials could be given an additional one or two cents. The most shameful thing is that those who own thousands of acres, tens of thousands of acres or even hundreds of thousands of acres Large landowners with hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land do not pay a penny of tax. They are proud of tax evasion and ashamed of paying taxes. Such heavy taxes all fall on the common people.
Most of the armies of the Ming Empire have lost their combat capabilities. They cause more harm to their own people than rogue bandits, and officials are more capable of harming the people than officers and soldiers... Natural disasters, man-made disasters, rogue bandits, foreign enemies, cruel government... These most terrifying things are pushing this country into the abyss of hell, and many people of insight are lamenting that this country has run out of energy.
Sean sighed and said: "Any empire that reaches this point will inevitably fall apart."
"This is how the great ancient Rome came to an end."
"However, the situation in this country is very special. Even at such a desperate moment, the first thing that the most outstanding generals think of is not to separate themselves and attack each other, but to fight with all their strength and try to use their own blood to end the war that has begun. The broken country was re-glued into a complete whole, and there seemed to be an invisible but awe-inspiring force driving them to stand up and use their own shoulders to hold up the fallen sky."
Sean looked outside the church. At this time, in order to protect the church from being smashed, smashed, looted and burned by the angry people, Ning Haijun soldiers were standing outside the church like a statue.
"The Duke, who was born as a commoner, led a group of outstanding people to work with him and built this Garden of Eden in just three years."
"He seems to be a hero from this country's classical golden age. With the help of the gods, he crossed the river of time and came to this tragic, dark and desperate troubled world. He wanted to hold up the collapsed sky with his own hands. , leading his beloved nation to a more glorious and brighter future."
Father Robben solemnly said: "Under his rule, the Chinese civilization, which had been severely damaged by the Mongols and slave-builders, wiped away the dust and began to shine with an extremely dazzling light. How far can he go? What? I think even God is curious about this?"
Sean said: "How do you think His Excellency the Duke will respond?"
"There is no choice but to war! Those nobles are really seeking death."
Robben said helplessly: "I know our Duke very well. I'm sure that he has already slashed his knife at the Dutch East India Company. It's a pity that we can't do anything now!"
…
In fact, Bishop Robben’s guess was not entirely correct.
In the Batavia port area, of course, it cannot be called Batavia. Jakarta is a famous city with a long history. Hundreds of years ago, it was already a famous seaport exporting pepper and spices. It was called Sunda Garaba, which means "the land of dense coconut palms" or "the world of coconut palms". In 1527, the Muslim leader led the Indonesian people to defeat the Portuguese colonizers' fleet, recaptured Gongda Garaba, and renamed it Jaya Garda, which means "Victory City" and "Glorious Fortress". The name of Jakarta is It evolved from this.
Batavia is just the name given to Jakarta by the Dutch.
The Dutch East India Company's port warehouse in Batavia can be divided into two parts: the West Bank Warehouse (Westzijdsche Pakhuizen) and the East Bank Warehouse (Oostzijdsche Pakhuizen). The West Bank Warehouse consists of four building units and was originally used to store daily necessities such as peppers, nutmeg, coffee, and clothing for maritime voyages.
Now the warehouses on the east coast, originally used to store flour and grain, were in disrepair and had no repair value. The Dutch built new warehouses, and it became a concentration camp for Chinese. In addition to the Chinese on the Chengfeng, there were also some captured people, totaling more than 1,500 people.
Although the abandoned warehouse is not small in size, the problem is that it must be very painful for so many people in the sweltering hot weather. The turbid air is mixed with the stench of sewage, garbage, various feces, and sweat, which is very unpleasant.
Although Cheng Shijie had already declared war on the Dutch, the Dutch East India Company did not declare war on the Ning Navy, nor on the Ming Dynasty. When Cheng Shijie dispatched the main warships of the Ning Navy to sail to Subic Port, Cheng Shijie's ship did not have any The artillery's Eighth Princess also sailed into Batavia Harbor.
When the Eighth Princess arrived at the port, Xie Jinglin did not disembark directly. Instead, he waited on the ship for the arrival of the Dutch. There were a total of thirty-five Ning Navy soldiers on the ship, and the leader was named Feng Lei.
Feng Lei said: "Mr. Xie, someone wants to see you!"
"who is it?"
"It is said that he is from the Lin family of Batavia. What is his name? Lin Bufan!"
Lin Bufan was actually forced to come here. The first moment he saw Xie Jinglin, he looked at Feng Lei beside him and said, "This general..."
"My name is Feng Lei, Commander of the Fifth Post of the Third Division of the First Commander-in-Chief of the Ning Navy Guards Division. You can call me Commander Feng!"
"Chief Feng, how many of you are here?"
"Thirty-five people!"
Feng Lei looked at Xie Jinglin's other diplomatic staff, including translators, documents and others, and said, "If you include Mr. Xie and his party, there are a total of seventy-nine people!"
"There are only seventy-seven people!"
Lin Bufan was somewhat disappointed.
Xie Jinglin asked: "How is the situation now?"
"not too good!"
Lin Bufan smiled bitterly and said: "The weather is too hot, and there are too many old, weak, women and children. There is a lack of medical care and medicine. There is also little food, and most of it is spoiled pig food. Hundreds of people have contracted malaria alone, and ten of them have died." How many people..."
Xie Jinglin glanced at Lin Bufan and said: "Contact me the Dutch East India Company. Whether it's war or peace, it all depends on their attitude now. If you don't want to fight to the death, just have a better attitude!"
Batavia, headquarters of the Dutch East India Company. It is also the Governor's Palace of the Dutch East India. This Governor's Palace, completed in 1626, is the most typical European-style building. Successive Dutch governors have issued orders to defend the interests of the Dutch East India Company in this sea and land.
At this moment, the current Governor-General of East India, Hendrik Brouer (the author spelled it out himself, I don’t know whether it is correct or not, and there is no Chinese translation of his name in the data.) Brouer is the eighth Governor-General of the Dutch East India and became He faced his greatest crisis since becoming Governor.
Debauer, the commander of the East India Combined Fleet, submitted a report to him. In this report, Debauer comprehensively assessed that even with Zheng Zhilong included, Ning Haijun's chance of winning was as high as over 80%.
Because the warships of the Ning Navy are all European third-class battleships, especially the manufacturing capabilities of the Ning Navy's warships, this huge fleet was only built by the Ning Navy within two years. Even if they mobilized the Dutch East India Company All the warships are trying to defeat the Ning Navy Fleet at the expense of both sides, but the problem is that in at most two years, the Ning Navy Fleet will create another super fleet.
When Brewer saw this report, he asked: "What if the Spanish Far East Fleet is added?"
"The Spanish only have a few warships. Counting armed merchant ships, they can mobilize up to thirty warships. But by the time the Spaniards complete their assembly, it is already too late!"
In fact, the main force of the Dutch East India Company's fleet is not in Batavia. If it were, it would be much easier to handle and just fight. But the problem is, it’s not there!
"Can you persuade Portugal to join the war?"
"It's impossible. The conflict between Portugal and us Dutch people is too deep!"
Batavia, the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, was snatched from the hands of the Portuguese. They also thought about grabbing Macau, but they failed. It was precisely because of the threat from the Dutch that the Portuguese unswervingly Stand on Ming's side.
"Then the only thing left is negotiation!"
"It seems that this can only be the case, unless Spain is willing to send their invincible fleet to the east!"
Debauer smiled bitterly and said: "With the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding capabilities, when the Armada and the Kingdom of the Netherlands' main fleet arrive in the east, I am afraid that the Ming Empire's warships will have doubled again. By then, we will have no advantage!"
Under this circumstance, Brewer met with Xie Jinglin and his party.
"Welcome, Mr. Xie, welcome to beautiful Batavia!"
After listening to the translator's translation, Xie Jinglin said expressionlessly: "Your Majesty the Governor, I came here on the orders of Duke Hai. I only want to do one thing, which is to formally inform you that I have arrived on the Eighth Princess of Duke Hai. Batavia, this is a ship without artillery. If you don’t want to declare war with the Ning Navy, then release the Chinese detained by you. This is a prerequisite. If you think this is a threat to you, you can go to Spain. Let’s understand the true strength of our Ning Navy!”
It can be said that Xie Jinglin's words were very straightforward and did not give the Governor Brewer face or a naked threat.
The problem is, this is what the Dutch do.
Brewer hurriedly explained: “Mr. If you can promise not to pursue this matter again, then the Chengfeng can set off at any time, and of course, the Chinese in Batavia can also leave freely."
Brewer didn't know who Cheng Shijie was before, so he naturally didn't care about the war threats issued by Cheng Shijie. However, with the in-depth investigation of the intelligence, they found that they could not defeat the Ning Navy, and there was no possibility of trickery, especially with the huge production capacity.
As early as 1588, Britain defeated the Spanish Armada with the help of storms, but has the Royal Navy truly risen?
In fact, no. The real rise of Britain was not the Anglo-Spanish Naval War, but the Glorious Revolution. After the Industrial Revolution, as Britain became stronger and rose through the Seven Years' War, this was a war that covered Europe, North America, China and the United States. Wars in America, the West African Coast, India and the Philippine Islands.
The Netherlands has not yet become a sea horseman, and their strength is no better than Spain. Now Spain has the same internal and external troubles as the Ming Empire.
If we really want to give an example, the rise of the Netherlands is just like the rise of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. While the Spanish Empire was trapped in the Thirty Years' War and was attacked by the European Catholic League, the Netherlands was just taking advantage.
If there were no natural or man-made disasters in the Ming Empire, without Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and they relied solely on the power of the slave builders, they would not even be able to break through the Shanhaiguan Pass, and the city of Beijing would fall directly. If Wu Sangui did not surrender to the slave builders, they would not be able to enter the pass.
The Netherlands also fought a crucial victory in the Battle of Downs with Spain. When Emperor Chongzhen was still alive, Jiannu had only one sneak attack.
Xie Jinglin looked at Brewer and smiled lightly: "Your Majesty the Governor, are you a child?"
Brewer was stunned for a moment and replied subconsciously: "No!"
"No, then why did you make such an innocent request?"
Xie Jinglin's voice rose an octave: "Do you think the Duke of Haiguo will make such a promise to you now? Wake up, Your Excellency, Governor. Continuing to detain the Chengfeng will only make our Duke of Haiguo even more angry, and lead to an even more embarrassing act. If we develop in a controlled direction, the final result... will definitely be something you don’t want to see!”
"This is a misunderstanding!"
"Your Majesty the Governor, do you want to threaten Duke Hai with the Chinese on the Chengfeng or the Chinese in Batavia? I can tell you formally now that Duke Hai will never accept any threats! Daming Ming Dynasty The nobles of the empire will never compromise!”
Xie Jinglin's attitude was also what Cheng Shijie meant. If the Dutch continued to naively suppress these Chinese and force Cheng Shijie to compromise, this would be impossible.
If Cheng Shijie compromised, he would not be saving the Chinese, but causing them to fall into a bottomless abyss, and they would suffer even more brutal massacre by the Dutch.
Xie Jinglin said casually: "You have more than 100 Dutch people in Liaodong, more than 100 people in Luzon, and 2,000 people in Dayuan. We haven't had time to count how many people there are in Daming. I can tell you now. You, as long as a Chinese dies, we will cut off the head of a Dutchman. Of course, you can be proud, because the Dutch in our hands are not as many as the Chinese in your hands, come on, let's hurt each other!"
Brewer's head hurt. He felt like his head was as big as a bucket.
There are indeed not many Dutch people in the Ming Dynasty. Due to the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands, the Ming Dynasty officials are not interested in the Dutch. However, the Dutch people living in the Ming Dynasty now, almost without exception, pretend to be Spanish.
Of course, they are not pretending. The Netherlands is still a dependent country of Spain, just like a colony of Great Britain. Although it has the nationality of Great Britain, it is a second-class citizen.
"Sober up, Your Majesty the Governor. The best way is for you and our Duke Hai to have a duel between nobles. How about the loser bearing everything and the winner having everything?"
The same is true for Cheng Shijie. Since the Dutch flipped the table first, Cheng Shijie will definitely take revenge. How to retaliate is Cheng Shijie's right.
At this moment, a Dutchman whispered in Debauer's ear.
De Baoer's expression changed drastically.
"What the hell is going on?"
After hearing what Debauer said, Brewer roared loudly, and then his eyes became dull and his face turned pale.
The news that De Baoer received was exactly what happened more than 20 days ago. The Ning navy had captured Orange City. There were more than 1,000 Dutch people in Orange City, including the surviving troops, totaling 2,000. Fifty-two people were captured by Ning Haijun!
Xie Jinglin smiled lightly and said, "What's wrong?"
"Why are you attacking... the senior officials?"
"You are really ridiculous. You dare to seize our Chinese merchant ships and massacre defenseless Chinese people. Don't you allow us to retaliate against you?"
Xie Jinglin said calmly: "I can responsibly tell you that this is revenge from Haiguo Gong and Ning Haijun. In fact, I have already reminded you that once Ning Haijun takes revenge, the consequences will not be something you can bear. It's just the beginning...Okay, since this is the case, I already understand your attitude, can I declare that the negotiation has broken down? Farewell!"
Xie Jinglin immediately turned around and walked towards the door.
"etc!"
Xie Jinglin turned around and smiled lightly: "What, your Excellency, the Governor, is going to detain me?"
"No, no, no!"
Brewer hurriedly explained: "You misunderstood..."
"Then you are planning to... prepare to kill me?"
Xie Jinglin smiled easily: "I can tell you, this doesn't make any sense. You may not know our Duke Hai, do you know? Our Duke Hai was just an ordinary officer more than three years ago, about the equivalent of Your colonel, in just over three years, he became a Duke of the Ming Empire with a thousand households, what do you think is the reason?"
"To show our sincerity, we can release the Chengfeng and leave immediately!"
"not enough!"
"All Chinese who are willing to leave can leave!"
"that's all?"
"To show our sincerity, we...we..."
Only then did Brewer realize that the Dutch East India Company really had no advantage over Ning Haijun. It could be said that there were no cards to play.
"We can seize the British ship "Joseph" in the port of Medan!"
"What kind of sincerity do you show to us by seizing British ships!"
"The Joseph is an 800-ton armed merchant ship, carrying 169 artillery pieces. These artillery pieces were purchased by Zheng Zhilong from the British!"
Zheng Zhilong was betrayed in this way.
"We're not interested in these old cannons!"
"We can order the Dutch combined fleet to withdraw from the battle, or we can cooperate with you to attack the Zheng fleet!"
In order to appease Cheng Shijie's anger, Brewer sold Zheng Zhilong without any psychological burden.
(End of chapter)
