The Dutchman Van Diemen is actually a real big shot. If his ridiculous name is translated more accurately, it should be Anthony Van Diemen. He was born on Christmas Day 1593, and his birthplace was Kullenberg, a city in the United Provinces of the Netherlands. When he grew up, he worked as a sailor and merchant, and once owned his own merchant ship. However, due to bad luck, he failed in business and had to join the Dutch East India Company to work.
However, he was very comfortable in the Dutch East India Company and did many big businesses. From 1618 onwards, he was sent to the East by the company and was stationed in Batavia, the headquarters of the Dutch East Indies. He worked his way from captain to commander of the Dutch East India Fleet, and also received the rank of admiral.
By 1636, his official career was even more prosperous and he became the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies!
Two years after he served as governor, he provoked a war against Portugal's eastern colonial forces! And in 1641, he occupied the Portuguese colony in Ceylon, and in 1644, he occupied the Portuguese colony in Malacca, and forced the Portuguese governor of Goa to sue for peace with the Dutch East India Company.
While at war with the Portuguese, Anthony Van Diemen also went to war with Spain, the mortal enemy of the Dutch. The war between the Dutch and the Spanish began in 1568 and ended in 1648, lasting 80 years. Called the "80 Years War", this era is the end of the 80 Years War. The Spanish Empire gradually declined, while the Dutch Republic flourished! Therefore, the Netherlands also won the war with the Spanish in the Far East, and the stronghold on Taiwan Island was captured by the Dutch from the Spanish...
In addition, during his reign, Anthony van Diemen also opened up trade between the Netherlands and two eastern countries, Vietnam and Japan.
However, such a successful European colonizer also encountered major setbacks in his adventure in the East.
This is not the 19th century... China, the great empire that rules the Eastern world, has reached a time of internal and external troubles, but it is precisely because of the weakness of the central dynasty that the originally suppressed Chinese maritime merchants (pirates) have gained great development. Among them, the most powerful "Eighteen Zhi" went a step further and became the "sea lord" of the Ming Dynasty. It also established a powerful offshore navy with the big bird ships and the half-Chinese and half-Western Junk ships as the main force.
And defeated the Dutch East India Company's navy in the Great Battle of Liaoluo Bay in 1633!
After this naval battle, the Dutch lost the right to trade along the coast of China, which was equivalent to squeezing the Dutch East India Company out of the huge Chinese market!
Although the Dutch East India Company is doing national affairs, its essence is still a company with the purpose of making money. Losing the Chinese market means losing huge profits!
Therefore, after Anthony van Diemen took over the post of Governor of the Dutch East Indies, his top priority was to reopen the door to the Chinese market... But he could not use his best method, which was war. deal with China.
Because he couldn't defeat Zheng Zhilong's large offshore navy... Even if he mobilized a huge fleet from the Netherlands, it was not enough to completely destroy Zheng Zhilong's navy and force the Central Dynasty to surrender.
As long as the Central Dynasty did not surrender, Zheng Zhilong could quickly rebuild the fleet. Even if he could not defeat the Dutch in a fleet battle, he could still use piracy tactics to continuously attack the Dutch merchant ships, thereby cutting off the Dutch East India Company's Japanese trade lines.
Losing the two major markets of China and Japan at the same time was simply a disaster for the Dutch East India Company's financial statements - the company's shareholders wanted profits and dividends, not how many Chinese pirate ships the company's fleet had sunk. .....
Therefore, during the more than ten years that Anthony van Diemen was in office, the Dutch East India Company could only wander around the periphery of the Chinese market, with nothing to do... Of course, it was not completely without a plan to launch a land invasion. War may force the central dynasty to surrender.
But Anthony Van Diemen only has available troops, which are more than 1,000 army troops in Taiwan. With this, he may not even be able to successfully expel the Zheng family's thugs on the island of Taiwan!
And more armies...that means more investment and greater uncertainty. With the financial resources of the company, it is simply impossible to make such a huge gamble - let alone losing, the company will go bankrupt even if it is a protracted war!
Just when Anthony Van Diemen completely gave up on the Chinese market and began to plan a comprehensive conquest of Java Island. His nephew, Bruce Van Diemen, who was also the company's trade representative in Japan, suddenly came to Batavia and brought shocking news.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Regent of the Central Dynasty hoped that the Dutch East India Company could send a high-level delegation to visit Nanjing. .Because the Central Dynasty is encountering an unprecedented crisis, and the northern territory of the empire is occupied by the Tatars. In order to regain the lost territory, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is seeking help from the West, especially the help of the powerful United Provincial Republic of the Netherlands!
For Anthony Van Diemen, this is simply a piece of pie in the sky, because arms and mercenaries are originally the company's business scope.
Now that the Chinese Crown Prince has come to visit, why is the East India Company so polite? Of course, the big knife was sharpened again and again, and he was ready to kill hard.
Open trade is no longer an issue—how can we buy and sell arms and provide mercenaries without openness?
Anthony van Diemen wants more! For example, the concession area is the same as Hao'ao, as well as the free trade monopolized by the East India Company, and of course the freedom of navigation of East India Company ships on China's coast and inland rivers...
So Anthony Van Diemen couldn't wait for the plague that killed him in history to start to spread in Batavia, so he boarded a Galenic ship and hauled in a shipload of guns and gunpowder. Heading north, during the voyage, he and his brother Bruce eagerly prepared a thick pile of unequal treaties for Zhu Cixiang!
Just waiting for the signature and signature of the Chinese Crown Prince who scared the Northern Tatars...
In the autumn of 1645, he finally arrived at the "Shanghai Free City" under construction, and was warmly received by the "mayor" Luo Dagong.
The ports and streets of the "Shanghai Free City" are under construction, as well as the unexpected efficiency of Chinese officials, as well as the prosperous cities seen along the way from Shanghai to Nanjing, developed water and land transportation networks, prosperous industry and commerce, and relaxed The weapons and equipment gave Anthony Van Diemen the hope of inducing the Chinese Crown Prince to sign a treaty in favor of the Dutch East India Company!
"This is impossible... Your Excellency, the Governor, I can assure you that you will return from China with great achievements and become a hero of the United Provinces. But the Crown Prince of China will not sign this treaty. It is completely impossible. , your request is too ridiculous, how could he agree to lease Shanghai to the Dutch East India Company? Are you preparing to go to war with the Ming Empire? Are you bringing all the armies of the United Provinces to Taiwan?"
On the morning of the first day of August in the 18th year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty, a group of Westerners, accompanied by Ming officials such as Han Lin, Grand Duke Luo and Xu Ermo, were waiting to watch the triumphant appearance of the new Ming army on the gate tower of Nanjing's Yifeng Gate. Among them was Tang Ruowang, who was both a Westerner and an official of the Ming Dynasty.
Tang Ruowang was standing next to Anthony Van Diemen at this time, talking to him about the treaty in French - Anthony Van Diemen arrived in Nanjing a day ago, and Tang Ruowang, who served as the director of the Tongwen Hall of the Ministry of Rites, was in charge Entertaining Van Diemen and his party. Van Diemen took the opportunity to give Tang Ruowang a consulting fee, and then gave Tang Ruowang to study the unequal treaty he had prepared.
"Why do we need so many troops?" Van Diemen was a little confused.
Tang Ruowang just smiled: "You will know soon... you will know soon!"
