In the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty, winter, Malacca, Bintan Island, off the coast of Guangdong Harbor.
The Dutch armed merchant ship United Province, flying the VOC flag, rolled up snow-white waves and slowly sailed into the Guangdong Harbor in the southwest of Bintan Island. The water here is not as open as the Batavia port. The port is built in a long and narrow bay that seems to have been split by a giant axe. There is also an oval-shaped island at the entrance of the bay. Because the island is built There is a coastal defense fort, so it is called Fort Island.
Governor Spearman of Batavia and Brouwer, the East India Company's consul in Macao, stood side by side on the stern of the United Province, looking with livid faces at the construction that seemed to be flying in front of them. There are ports, forts, towns, and fortresses. There are also old lock ships crowded in the port, unloading people and supplies.
Theoretically, the Guangdong Sea Port is an industry owned by the Guangdong Trading Company, a joint venture between the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands. It is a commercial port established by the Guangdong Trading Company by leasing a corner of Bintan Island that did not belong to it from the Dutch East India Company - just It is a commercial port, and at most one town can be added. If it reaches the sky, add a little more fortifications!
But now Daming has learned to be bad and learn not to be trustworthy! They actually violated the relevant agreements reached by both parties and completely militarized the Guangdong Harbor on Bintan Island.
The fort on Fort Island is a bastion! And it's not just made of sandbags, but a very solid bastion that uses a lot of stone!
On the north shore of the Guangdong Harbor, there is another bastion with a larger area that can be called a fortress. The outer wall is also made of stone. The town located on the south bank of the Guangdong Bay, close to the port terminal, is a Chinese-style city! The city wall also uses a large amount of stone. One side of the city wall is close to the bay and the other side is close to the sea. Only the southeast side can allow enemies who want to attack the city to deploy. So Spearman and Brouwer saw from a distance a circle of tall wooden fences surrounding the east and south sides of the town's city wall. It seemed that there was also a hill enclosed, and there was a watchtower on the hill!
In addition, these Chinese people have also opened up many rice fields outside the town. The rice seems to be ripe now, and it looks golden from a distance.
What makes Spielman and Brouwer even more speechless is that all of this, including ports, forts, towns, fortresses and farmland, were all built in less than two years.
Just two years.
At the pace of the Fort Santiago built by the Spanish in Manila, at most half of the wall could be built. Even if it were replaced by the "highly efficient" Dutch East India Company, it should be possible to dig half more trenches.
But these Chinese people actually quickly built a fortress group in the Guangdong Harbor on Bintan Island that allowed them to have a permanent presence in the Malacca Strait area!
In the past two years, the Governor of Batavia, Spearman, was busy helping the Mataram Sultanate suppress Dunoru Zoyo's uprising on Java Island, and he did not pay much attention to the Guangdong Company on Bintan Island, thinking that everything was over. In control. Although he also received news about the Chinese illegal defense and construction of military facilities on Bintan Island, in order to prevent the war on Java Island from being abandoned halfway, Spielman only ordered Brouwer to make representations and submit it to Amsterdam at the same time. reported.
But what he never expected was that the Chinese people's ability to build infrastructure far exceeded his imagination. Not only could they do the work quickly, but the quality was also unbelievably good! This is completely the same as Dunoru Zoyo's ability to build fortresses on Java Island.
They are all Orientals. How come the Chinese are so much better at building city walls than the Javanese?
And two of the three fortresses are bastions! The remaining one, because there is a fence surrounding the city wall, is probably not easy to attack - the Chinese probably dug trenches inside and outside the wooden fence, and may also have built a breastwork with sandbags against the wooden fence.
Looking at the size of these three city fortresses and the size of the rice fields outside the town of Guangdong, we can know that the Chinese can use at least thousands of defenders on Bintan Island. If they want to capture the three cities of Guangdong, the East India Company At least three thousand white troops and tens of thousands of indigenous troops must be mobilized! Moreover, the traffic between Bintan Island and the outside world must be completely cut off!
Thinking of this, Spearman raised his telescope and looked into the Guangdong Bay Port. But before he could count how many Chinese merchant ships there were, Brouwer on the side reminded him in a low voice: "Governor, don't just look inside the port, look at the northwest sea!"
"Northwest?" Spielman quickly turned around, then followed the direction of Brouwer's finger and looked at the sea with a telescope. His face became even more ugly. It turns out that in the strait between the west of Bintan Island and Batam, several British galenic ships with soft sails were filing out. The sails of these galenic ships were all embroidered with huge red sun and moon. Pattern - This is the pattern on the national flag adopted by the Republic of Ming Dynasty. The sun and moon are bright, and the red color symbolizes the people of the Ming Dynasty.
"Galenic ship?" Spearman was shocked. "They also have a Galenic ship?"
"They already have it," Brouwer said. "When Zheng Yiguan was in charge of the Yiguan Party, he had imitated 30 galenic ships in Xiamen. As a result, our East India Company's fleet raided these galenic ships. All the Galen ships were burned before they were put into service. Later, the Zheng family was defeated and retreated to Da Yuan Island. They were temporarily unable to compete with us for the open sea, so they did not build any more Galen ships, but they have been building old lock ships with Galen hulls. Very soon. Apparently, they had the technology to build Galenic ships.
After the Zheng family retook Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, they spent huge sums of money to build shipyards in Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. They also poached many craftsmen at high prices from us and the British, and then began to try to build British-style Galen ships. . By the end of the previous year at the latest, they had completed the construction of two British Galen ships. Last year and this year, more Galen ships were completed.
As of this autumn, the number of British Galen ships owned by the Ming Navy and the Nanyang Trading Company should have exceeded ten, maybe twelve or thirteen!
Every time a large transport fleet from the Ming Dynasty arrived, it would be escorted by Galen ships. Moreover, those Galen ships will not enter Guangdong Harbor, but will only cruise around Bintan Island."
Spielman snorted and gritted his teeth and said, "The Chinese are trying to prevent us from attacking the port!" He turned his head and glared at Brouwer, "They are treating us as thieves, but you think they are good people. , you idiot! No, you are not only stupid, but also greedy, you must have taken a lot of bribes from them! "
Brouwer was still a little unconvinced and murmured in a low voice: "Mr. Governor, you also paid for renting the port on Bintan Island, and Guangdong Company also gave you 150,000 guilders!"
Spearman glared at Brouwer fiercely: "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you dare to accuse me?"
Brouwer knew that the governor was a ruthless man who killed without blinking an eye. He was so frightened that he stammered: "I, I, I said something wrong, I was wrong, Governor, I was talking nonsense."
Spearman snorted coldly, but he didn't kill anyone!
This was because Spearman, the governor of Batavia, had accepted bribes that were common among senior East India Company staff stationed in Asia.
Why come to Batavia if everyone is greedy?
Basically, every Governor of Batavia of the East India Company made one or two hundred thousand guilders every year, and some could earn hundreds of thousands or even millions! And their monthly salary is only 700 Dutch guilders, which is more than 200 taels of silver.
Brouwer's monthly salary is sixty guilders, which is twenty taels of silver, but his actual annual income is as high as tens of thousands of guilders - he is not only a consul, but also the company's commercial specialist. For the goods purchased from Daming merchants, according to the company's common practice, he will receive a kickback equivalent to 20% of the purchase price! Of course, he did not swallow the money alone, but shared it with the company's senior management, but in the end a lot of it still fell into his hands.
In other words, although the performance of the Dutch East India Company in the past two years was not very satisfactory, it often fell into losses. But the company's management is really making a lot of money.
However, the money obtained by the managers of these companies was eventually brought back to their home countries, which prospered the economies of the Netherlands and Europe (many company managers are not Dutch) and promoted the development of capitalism in the Netherlands and Europe.
In addition, the situation of the British East India Company was similar. Those company managers who dominate in India have made huge fortunes for themselves because of their bad nature (good people can't do this) and lack of supervision. For example, Robert Clive, who made a great contribution to the British conquest of India, brought back as much as 250,000 pounds of property when he returned to England. At the same time, his assets in India could also provide him with 27,000 pounds a year. income
In fact, the financial situation of the British East India Company itself did not look good for many years, and later it suffered losses year after year!
As for the colonial undertakings of the Spanish and Portuguese, they were even more corrupt!
Therefore, the colonial undertakings of Westerners, at least on paper, were not very profitable for their governments, and they often suffered losses. But for the European streetwalkers and powerful people who participated in it, it was really a fortune!
In short, this colonial zero-dollar purchase project has indeed accumulated a large amount of private capital for European countries, obtained the raw materials and markets of the colonies, and also provided a good place for local scum and officials to do whatever they want, so the local area will naturally be cleaner. .
The scumbag Brouwer was stared at again and again by Spearman, who had just committed murder, arson, and robbery on Java Island. His whole body was trembling, but he still asked in a trembling voice: "Governor, we Are you still going to negotiate with Vice Minister Jia?"
Vice Minister Jia is Jia Liujia Guozhu! In addition to sending him, an "important minister of the shogunate," the Ming Dynasty General Office also sent thousands of Chinese troops hired from Guangxi and Hunan to Bintan Island. Thousands of immigrants from Hunan and Guangxi were also mobilized to work on the island. Thousands of civil servants from the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian were also hired to come to Bintan Island to work on infrastructure construction.
In short, in one sentence, no matter how much money is spent, Bintan Island must be turned into a stronghold for the Ming Dynasty to compete for Southeast Asia!
Now that the three Guangdong cities on Bintan Island have reached this point, it would be too good to hope that Ming Dynasty would be forced to give in through negotiation.
"Of course we have to negotiate!" Spielman's eyes finally softened a little. In order to negotiate with Jia Guozhu, this Brouwer had to stay. "The Seventeen-member Council in Amsterdam has made a decision asking us to avoid an outbreak with Ming Dynasty. Military conflict, while using the Pacific route map to provoke conflicts between Ming Dynasty and Japan, and strive to form an alliance with Japan! We are going to negotiate with Vice Minister Jia now to avoid conflicts!"
Brouwer breathed a sigh of relief, and then whispered to Spielman: "Governor, in order to further paralyze the Chinese, wait until Vice Minister Jia stuffs you with banknotes."
Spearman said: "Although I am an honest person, for the benefit of the Federal Republic, I will not refuse the enemy's financial attack on me!"
Brouwer said in a flattering tone: "Governor, you are really a man of noble character!"
Annan Country, Hoi An Port.
This port is located near Hue, the main city of the Nguyen clan in Guangnan. It is almost in the middle of the route from Malacca and Batavia to Guangdong. Merchant ships from all over the world will stop at Hoi An Port to rest and replenish supplies. . Over time, Hoi An became prosperous, and businessmen from Guangdong, Fujian, Japan, and even Portugal settled here.
At the turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a large number of "Mingxiang people" from Guangdong took refuge, turning this originally prosperous port city into a metropolis along the coast of Annan, and becoming a city comparable to Guangnan Ruan A city comparable to Hue's capital.
But with the resurgence of the Ming Dynasty, Hoi An Port, where Chinese businessmen gathered, suddenly became a concern!
It was not Li Zhongshan, the "traveler", who was thinking about going to Hoi An Port at first, but his father, Li Fuchen. Li Fuchen never thought that his son would be able to take charge of the Ming Dynasty. His ideal at that time was to be the "King of the South" and conquer Guangdong, Guangxi, Annan, and Guangnan. He had so many sons! Just one share of these territories can be allocated to the sons. If more Jiedushi are appointed, more sons can be arranged.
So he took advantage of the moment when Li Zhongshan went north to Nanjing to rebuild the Ming Dynasty, and sent Chen Shangchuan, Qiu Hui, Wu Qifeng and others to lead more than 10,000 navy and army troops across the sea to seize Hoi An!
Later, Wu Liuqi's son Wu Qifeng was appointed as the deputy general of Hoi An. He occupied Hoi An and refused to return it to the Ruan family in Guangnan. At one time, he even planned to set up a military town in Guangnan and send Li Jiqing to replace the Ruan leader in Guangnan.
As a result, Li Jiqing rebelled on his own and stopped kissing his father. So his King of Guangnan became obsolete.
After the "Geng Juyi Crossing the Pacific Incident", the East Asian world entered a new era - the Age of Discovery for East Asians has arrived!
Crossing the Pacific and regaining the Nanyang are the top priorities!
Therefore, Li Zhongshan's shogunate re-formulated the "Annan Policy" and changed the occupation of Guangnan and the support of the Mo family into Thang Long to the canonization of General Guangnan, General Annan and Prince Annan respectively, and the "Republic of Virtual Kings" of the Ming Dynasty. And the system of "general (prime minister) in charge" was exported to Annan.
Of course, General Guangnan and General Annan were not canonized by King Annan Li, but in the name of Emperor Ming!
In other words, King Annanli will become a more imaginary emperor than the Ming Emperor!
Generals Guangnan and Annan, together with General Zhengdong (Geng Juyi), General Zhendong (Yang Qilong), and perhaps General Zhengyi (General Tokugawa), will become the subordinates of the Ming Dynasty General.
And Ruan Phu Bin, the Nguyen Lord of Guangnan, was originally unwilling to be a general of Guangnan in the Ming Dynasty. He was already angry that Li Fuchen sent troops to rob his Hoi An Port. If his strength was not limited, he would have to guard against the southern expedition of the old Zheng family in the north. He immediately sent troops to counterattack.
But in the past two days, he heard that dozens of Western-style gunboats (mainly old lock ships) with sun and moon sails came to Hoi An Port, and Li Fuchen, the southern king of the Ming Dynasty, and tens of thousands of Ming troops came, and he suddenly felt Being a general of the Ming Dynasty is also quite good.
So I rushed from Hue to Hoi An with a generous gift to pay my respects to the Southern King of the Ming Dynasty who came from afar.
When Li Fuchen heard that the old man surnamed Ruan was coming, he was very polite. He immediately withdrew the order to prepare to attack Hue, and personally went to greet him outside the newly built tall city wall of Hoi An City, and invited the old man from Annan to join him at the meeting. He then explained to him why General Li valued him so much as the overlord of the Annan Kingdom.
"Dong Duyang (the title that Ruan Phuc Bin gave himself), our Ming Dynasty is now a republic. The king is a virtual king, and the phase is the reality! Now the world is in chaos, so this reality is called the general. And Duang Jun Your Majesty, you are a powerful minister of the Ming Dynasty and the lord of Guangnan. You have always been loyal and patriotic, and you are the real person of Guangnan.
So my son is kind-hearted and asks the emperor for you to be General Guangnan! I wonder what you think? "
(End of chapter)
