Malacca Governor's Palace of the Dutch East India Company.
Campos, the governor of the Dutch East India Company, had moved his governor's palace from Batavia to Malacca, where he could board a ship to escape to Ceylon at any time. John Churchill, the special envoy of the King of England, also followed him to Malacca. . He also brought with him some veterans who had participated in the Franco-Dutch War and the invasion of India. Although the number was small, they had very rich military experience. These people will help the Dutch train the indigenous mercenaries in Malacca, and some of them will also wait for the opportunity to go to Annan to help the Zheng regime train troops.
According to John Churchill's plan, Malacca City, located on the edge of the Strait of Malacca, will become a stronghold for the Eight-Power Allied Forces to contain the Ming Dynasty!
The geographical location here is very advantageous. On the one hand, it is more than a hundred nautical miles away from the southeast entrance of the Strait of Malacca. Moreover, the Strait of Malacca is located in a windless area... It is not that there is no wind at all, but there are very few strong winds that can propel ships forward at high speed.
Therefore, it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty Navy to rush to the sea near Malacca City without warning. It can be regarded as having a certain strategic depth.
Malacca City, on the other hand, walked about a hundred miles northeast to the South China Sea coast of the Malay Peninsula...where it was easy to find a port to board a ship to Annam. Although the Ming Dynasty's navy was very powerful, it was impossible to completely control Annan's coastline. Therefore, the Eight-Power Allied Forces can still transport arms and instructors to Annan through the ports on the Malay Peninsula close to the South China Sea even if the Malacca Strait is controlled by the Ming army during the war.
After much calculation, John Churchill and Campos chose the treasure land of Malacca together!
However, they never expected that the Grand Duke of the Ming Dynasty would actually come up with a state between war and peace - sanctions!
The Ming Dynasty did not want to start a war with the eight Western countries with one enemy, but to impose sanctions...and instead of sanctioning the eight Western countries, it only sanctioned the Dutch East India Company!
"Marco, what did you say?"
In an office of the Malacca Governor's Palace, Governor Campos, who had just settled down in Malacca, looked in surprise at Marco Gurlitt, the chief executive of the Bintan Island Commercial House, who arrived on a Johor galley. He almost I can't believe my ears anymore.
"Your Majesty the Governor," Gullit said with a sad face, "our Dutch East India Trading Company has been sanctioned by the Ming Empire! Starting from the seventh day of July, all ships of the company are no longer allowed to travel between the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific through the Strait of Malacca. .....In addition, spices produced in the Maluku Islands and Banda Islands are not allowed to be transported to the West through the Strait of Malacca!”
"What?" Governor Campos suddenly stood up and roared, "This is an act of war. This is a war against the United Provinces of the Netherlands... At the same time, this is also a war against England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden. , His Majesty the Pope’s war with the Great Mongolia!”
While shouting, he looked at John Churchill sitting in his office - this guy came up with the bad idea of the trade war. Why did Ming Dynasty sanction the Dutch East India Company? Did they impose the wrong sanctions? They should sanction the British East India Company!
"Mr. Governor," John Churchill said calmly, "Obviously, this so-called sanction is an extremely barbaric act and a threat to the entire Western world...The Ming emperor tried to use the despicable method of interrupting trade. , forcing the entire civilized world to surrender to him. This is absolutely impossible to succeed!
We in England will always support the right of the Netherlands and the Dutch East India Company to trade freely anywhere in the world! "
"Thank you very much!" Campos said gratefully to John Churchill. "Can I understand that the Kingdom of England will join the Netherlands and the Dutch East India Company in going to war against the enemies who attempt to block free trade?"
"Start a war?" John Churchill said with a confused look on his face, "Mr. Governor... Of course we will go to war with the Ming Dynasty together!
Not only us, but the entire world will unite to fight against the Ming Dynasty! It will be a matter of time...but not yet, we are not ready yet! White sugar in India has not yet been produced in large quantities, our armies have not yet fully mastered the warfare of the sweet powder age, and we have not even completed complete mastery of the Indian coastline.
If we really want to go to war with Ming Dynasty, the ideal battlefield should not be in Nanyang near Ming Dynasty, but in India and the Indian Ocean! "
Campos's face turned livid, "Then what methods are you, the English, going to use to support our Dutch East India Company's right to engage in free trade?"
John Churchill thought for a while and said: "Mr. Governor, I remember that the Strait of Malacca is not the only channel connecting the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. There is another strait between Java Island and Sumatra Island. What is it called?"
"Sunda Strait," Campos said calmly, "but the waves south of Sumatra are extremely strong. Every year during the Indian Ocean's windy season, the highest waves in the world appear in the waters south of Sumatra, which is very dangerous!
In addition, the one who controls the Sunda Strait is the Banten Sultanate, a vassal state of our Dutch East India Company. Once we turn a blind eye to the Ming Navy's seizure of Bintan Island and sit back and watch them cut off shipping in the Strait of Malacca, then the Banten Sultanate will be forced by the East India Company to seek protection from the Ming Empire... By then His strait will also be blocked by the Ming Empire! "
"That's right..." John Churchill frowned, "It seems we must try to recapture Bintan Island...and at the same time take appropriate measures to retaliate!"
"England is sending troops?" Campos looked at John Churchill gratefully, and then asked Marco Gullit, "Marco, how many people are coming from the Ming army? How many ships are there?"
"They came with twelve large sailing battleships, twelve light galleys, and more than thirty speedboats." Marco Gullit said, "There were about three thousand infantrymen who landed. But on Bintan Island Most of the Chinese were supporters of the Ming Empire. Almost all of them joined the Confucian sect, and they were all armed and had participated in some military training.
Most of the merchant ships engaged in trade east of the Strait of Malacca belong to Chinese merchants... These Chinese merchants are also supporters of the Ming Empire! Most of them, or their fathers and ancestors, came from Chaozhou Prefecture in Guangdong Province or Zhangzhou and Quanzhou Prefectures in Fujian Province during the Ming Empire. Many of their relatives followed Emperor Zhu to participate in the anti-Qing and Restoration War and established the Ming Empire. The new aristocracy!
In addition, the infantry of the Ming Empire's fleet arrived at Bintan Island in the name of assisting the Malacca Sultanate in regaining the city of Malacca! Maybe the Sultan of Johor will also... be bewitched by them! "
"What? The Sultanate of Malacca?" Campos was stunned. "This country has been disintegrated for a hundred years, right?"
“It has been more than one hundred and seventy years,” Marco Gulit said, “but the Ming Empire’s troops still claim that they came to help the Malacca Sultanate at the invitation of Sultan Muhammad Shah of the Malacca Sultanate. "
"What does this have to do with the Sultan of Johor?" John Churchill didn't know much about the situation in Southeast Asia, so he asked this question.
“Because the Sultan of Johor is a descendant of the Sultan of Malacca,” Campos said, “Now that someone is willing to help him restore the ancestral property of the city of Malacca, he is likely to be tempted... If Western countries cannot have freedom of navigation in the Strait of Malacca Maintaining a consistent and strong stance against the Ming Empire's illegal sanctions against the Dutch East India Company, the Nanyang princely states, including the Sultanate of Johor and the Sultanate of Banten, may fall to the Ming Empire!
At that time, we will lose the Strait of Malacca and the fertile territory east of it... The battlefield of our struggle with the Ming Empire will turn to the Indian Ocean! "
What Krampus said seems to make sense!
At this time, European rule over the Southeast Asian colonies was not particularly effective, and many of the Southeast Asian states that relied on the Europeans were somewhat dissatisfied. Moreover, although the suzerain country of Ming Dynasty has withdrawn from Nanyang for many years, the merchants of Ming Dynasty still control the money bags of Nanyang countries! Recently, these Chinese businessmen who control the money bags of Nanyang countries have become involved with Confucianism and Nanyang Trading Company. The barrels of guns, pens, and money bags are all alive! Can several sultanates in Southeast Asia remain unshakable?
If the Western powers give up at this time, then Ming Dynasty will have to collect dogs everywhere in the Strait of Malacca!
"Then... let's sanction the Nanyang Trading Company together!" John Churchill said, "We can prohibit the Nanyang Trading Company from entering the west of the Strait of Malacca, and prohibit the sugar, porcelain, silk, and cotton produced by the Ming Empire from entering by sea. West of the Straits of Malacca!”
As he spoke, he turned his attention to Sir Child, the governor-general of the British East India Company.
This knight came here from Madras, a colony of the British East India Company, to greet Baron John Churchill. Unexpectedly, he encountered a "sanction war" in Malacca City.
"We should indeed ban the Nanyang Trading Company from entering the west of Malacca..." Sir Child said, "But we have never allowed ships flying the flag of the Nanyang Trading Company to pass through the strait, so those despicable profiteers have been Western-style merchant ships were used for smuggling, and we suspect that the sweet gunpowder used by the Ottoman Empire was sent to Basra through the smuggling trade of the Nanyang Trading Company."
"Anti-smuggling must be strengthened!" Campos slammed the table.
Sir Child nodded and added: "It is beneficial to us to ban the import of sugar and cotton from the Ming Empire...The sugar and cotton from India can just replace it. However, it is difficult to ban porcelain and silk. Because Europe The porcelain and silk produced cannot be compared with the products of the Ming Dynasty at all, but we can implement strict import quotas. The amount of silk and porcelain imported every year can be reduced by fifty percent in order to severely hit the porcelain and silk industry of the Ming Empire. .”
After hearing Child's words, Campos almost scolded the profiteers.
Now that the Dutch East India Company has been sanctioned by the Ming Dynasty, its merchant ships cannot engage in East-West trade at all. After the Spanish Empire lost the Philippines, the galleons trade could no longer be carried out.
Therefore, the silk and porcelain exported to Europe will inevitably be greatly reduced... The dozens of ships relying on the British East India Company and the French East India Company will definitely be busy to maintain 50% of the input!
And if the quantity of porcelain and silk imported to Europe is reduced by half, it will inevitably push up prices!
British profiteers are going to make a lot of money now!
"This is good!" John Churchill nodded heavily. "This can not only attack the Ming Empire, but also maintain supply... But we should still unite to help the ships of the Dutch East India Company break the Ming Empire's blockade. .”
"Our ships can fly the flag of England!"
"No, no..." Baron Churchill immediately shook his head, "This is not a good idea. We should unite! We must let the Ming Empire know that we in the West are united when facing the East!"
"Baron, how are we going to let them know?" Campos asked.
"Ships from all our countries formed a formation with ships from the Dutch East India Company to break into Bintan Island together!" John Churchill said, "I don't believe that the Ming Governor on Bintan Island really dared to unite Merchant ships from Western countries opened fire...unless they really want to cut off trade with the West!"
"Okay, that's it!" Campos nodded and agreed to John Churchill's plan.
…
The capital of the Sultanate of Johor, Batu Sawal.
When Campos and John Churchill discussed how to show Western unity like the Ming Empire.
Mahmud I of the Johor Sultanate, together with his prime minister and several Tiangongs, led his palace guards and stood outside the south gate of the fortified Batu Sawal City, frowning and looking into the distance. The open road ahead is a bit confusing!
What confused Ma Mo I was the unbelievable news brought back by Tian Meng Gong who guarded Bintan Island - the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty actually died because of a letter asking for help sent by one of his ancestors more than 170 years ago. The letter sent a large fleet equipped with thousands of musketeers. Come and help him seize the city of Malacca and restore the ancestral legacy of the Malacca Sultanate... This thing doesn't sound very real!
Was the Ming Empire so righteous? It's been more than 170 years... If this Ming Dynasty is so righteous, what did it do more than 170 years ago?
Moreover, after the Ming Dynasty recaptured Luzon Island from the Spanish, nothing was returned to its original owner. Instead, he established a Lu State on his land and granted this state to a prince of the Ming Dynasty!
With this precedent, Ma Mo I always felt that the Ming Dynasty's fleet and infantry were ill-fated. Maybe he wants to seize his sultanate and then arrange for someone named Zhu to be the new sultan.
But he didn't dare to risk the dynasty tomorrow by jumping out to resist... So he could only send an envoy to Malacca City to inform the Dutch about the matter; Together, we went out of the city to meet the team of the special envoys of the Great Tomorrow.
