1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 367
Working together against the Dutch?This is undoubtedly the most heart-warming sentence that Enrique has heard since the beginning of contact with the Haihan people.

As a powerful empire that once divided the earth with Spain, Portugal has a deep fear of the rising star Netherlands.Although the Dutch entered Asia nearly a hundred years later than the Portuguese, their hands and feet are not slow at all. Up to now, the Dutch have owned the East Indies, Taiwan, the Coromandel in the Bay of Bengal, and India in the Far East. Malabar and a large number of colonies have achieved no less achievements than Portugal, and even surpassed another old empire, Spain.

Most disturbing to the Portuguese were the two colonies of Batavia and Formosa under Dutch control.Batavia has cut off the main shipping lanes for other western countries to the waters east of Java, while Taiwan's position controls the shipping lanes leading to the richest Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions of Ming Dynasty, as well as the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago, which is enough to make other countries Competitors are jealous.

If possible, Portugal would have already begun to drive the Netherlands out of the Far East, but the Netherlands has a powerful East India Company, which cannot be easily provoked.

The Dutch East India Company was a joint trading company established by the merger of [-] maritime trading companies, and was authorized by the Dutch National Assembly to enjoy a trade monopoly in the vast area between the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and the Strait of Magellan in South America.Of course, this company is not just doing shipping business, it has great authority, not only can organize mercenaries, issue currency, but also sign formal treaties with other countries, and has the power to implement colonial rule overseas.

The development of the East India Company is a history of opening up borders by force. Since Cohen, the governor of the East India Company, established the company's new headquarters in Batavia in 1619, the East India Company has continued to use force to occupy and rob colonies.In the original history, the biggest victim of the Netherlands entering the Far East was Portugal. In the past half a century, Portugal was robbed by the Netherlands of Galle, Managa, Colombo and other colonies in Sri Lanka. By 1659 In [-], the Portuguese strongholds along the coast of India were almost robbed by the Dutch.In fact, without waiting for decades, the Portuguese have already fully felt the pressure brought by the Dutch.

However, it is not easy to expel the Dutch by force. In the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company had 150 merchant ships, 40 warships, more than [-] employees and more than [-] private armed forces. Spain, a traditional maritime power, is afraid of it.In fact, after the Dutch established a stronghold in Taiwan, they tried to block the exchanges between Ming and Manila, and monopolized the foreign trade of Japan, North Korea and northern China. This made the Spaniards very dissatisfied, but the two sides fought many times. The East India Company was not driven out of the Far East, but became stronger and stronger.

To expel the East India Company, relying on the strength of the Portuguese alone is far from enough, not to mention that Portugal lacks a unified deployment command in the colonies in the Far East. Even if it can integrate resources, it will be difficult to support the Dutch. maritime armed forces.If Spain, a force that is both a friend and an enemy, has a better chance of winning, but the Portuguese are not willing to humbly go to Manila to plead with those arrogant Spanish nobles-in addition to rolling their eyes and ridiculing, they are very likely to Need to bear the military expenses of Spain sending troops to fight.

In contrast, the Haihan people seem to be much easier to deal with. Although Enrique can always feel the condescending superiority from the other party's speech and behavior, at least this is a group of gentlemen who can sit down and exchange opinions on an equal footing, not like the Spanish Shameless people like nobles who only make all kinds of harsh demands.Of course, the most important point is that the Haihan people have fully proved their strength in the military field through their performance on the battlefield.If there were doubts about the combat effectiveness of the Haihan militia at first, after watching the live ammunition shooting demonstration just now, Enrique can already draw the conclusion without hesitation that if the armed forces of the East India Company encounter Without the Haihan militia, the result waiting for them may not be any better than the peasant army in South Vietnam.

Enrique still calmly limited the scope of the battlefield to the land for the time being, because he had noticed that there were not many warships in Haihan during the time in Victory Port, and there were only about ten ships in total, which was far less than that of the Netherlands. people.And so far, Haihan's navy doesn't seem to have encountered a real opponent in actual combat - the Nanyue Navy that has been wiped out is definitely not qualified, even in the eyes of a layman like Enrique, the Nanyue Navy The division also seemed too amateur, and there were not even a few decent warships.

The Haihan people want to compete with the Dutch on the sea, Enrique thinks it is not the best time, he pondered for a while before responding: "Mr. Yan, please forgive me, the Dutch are not from Annan, they are The ability to fight at sea is not much worse than the means of doing business. If you have heard of the Dutch East India Company, you will know what I mean.”

Yan Chujie nodded and said, "We are very clear about the situation of the East India Company, maybe we know more than you. Please rest assured that we do not plan to confront the Dutch on the frontal battlefield right now."

Enrique was slightly surprised by Yan Chujie's answer. The Dutch East India Company has officially entered the Far East for less than ten years, and the Haihan people have only settled in Qiongzhou Island for more than a year. How did they learn about the East India Company?Could it be that they have dealt with the Dutch before?

Just when Enrique was in doubt, Yan Chujie added another note to him: "Not only the situation of the Dutch East India Company, but also the situation of the English East India Company, we are also well aware of it! If the information we have is correct, in recent years The British stole a lot of your limelight in India, right?"

Enrique was shocked when he heard that Portugal was suppressed by the British East India Company in India. This information is not known to ordinary people. Even in Macau, only the upper class knows the inside story.

The British East India Company was established at the end of 1600, two years earlier than the Dutch East India Company.However, due to various reasons, the development of this company in Asia, which was granted a royal charter by the Emperor Elizabeth I, is not very satisfactory, especially compared with the Dutch who entered this area at the same time, it is almost impossible. It can be described as not making progress.

However, in terms of fighting against Portugal, the British East India Company did not fall behind. As early as 1612, the East India Company defeated the Portuguese in an armed conflict and won the support of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir—— This was the ruler of 70% of the Indian subcontinent at that time, and he was a local snake in the true sense.Jahangir gave the British very generous treatment. In addition to the right to settle and build factories, he also got the free trade rights that businessmen dreamed of.Most importantly, the native emperor treated the English differently from the Portuguese, one as close friends of the royal family and the other as shameless predators and parasites.

This difference in attitude quickly allowed the British to outgrow the Portuguese in Goa and Bombay in India.In the original history, by the mid-17th century, the influence of the British East India Company on the Indian Peninsula had completely surpassed that of the Portuguese.The only thing to be thankful for is that the British did not use armed struggle as the main form of foreign competition like the Dutch did. Most of the time they still value actual commercial interests. Apply pressure, not rudely use force, to resolve disputes between businessmen of the two countries.

However, the main activity area of ​​the British is still on the coast of India, and they have not extended their tentacles too much around Daming, and it is unlikely that they will have too much direct contact with the businessmen of Daming. Enrique really doesn't understand How did the Haihan people living on Qiongzhou Island learn about the situation of the British East India Company thousands of miles away.The only thought that Enrique can think of at the moment is that since the Haihan people can grasp the movements of the Dutch and the English, it may be difficult to hide their own situation from them.

Looking at Enrique's slightly panicked eyes, Yan Chujie smiled and said: "You don't have to be so nervous, we are not in a hostile relationship now, the reason why I tell you this information is to hope that you realize that we are seeking cooperation sincerity."

Enrique took out his handkerchief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and replied repeatedly: "Of course, of course, I have fully felt your sincerity."

When Yan Chujie said this, Enrique naturally thought that if the Haihan people had malicious intentions towards their own side, they would definitely not reveal these hole cards for him to see.At this time, Enrique no longer intends to ask Yan Chujie about the source of the information, because he knows that it is useless to ask, and Yan Chujie will definitely use the previous excuse to prevaricate himself.But in any case, Enrique had to admit that the intelligence work of the Haihan people seemed to be doing very well, which had greatly exceeded his previous cognition.

"A smart partner is at least better than a stupid one." Enrique could only comfort himself silently in his heart.

"Why us?" Enrique suddenly asked an endless question.

However, Yan Chujie understood what he meant, and immediately responded: "Of course this is not a random decision. In fact, we have also gone through a long period of consideration and consideration. For the specific reasons, please forgive me for not being able to tell you one by one now." Explain clearly, because this also involves all aspects of interests, perhaps after we reach a cooperative relationship in the future, you will slowly feel it."

Saying it is the same as not saying it!Enrique was a little speechless about Yan Chujie's way of going around in circles. He really wanted to understand why the Haihan people chose Portugal as their partner among many Western countries, and this partner was on the battlefield not long ago. Opponents who have had direct conflicts.

The reason why the executive committee made such a decision was indeed after comprehensive consideration as Yan Chujie said.If the executive committee wants to sell the industrial products produced to the west, and even gradually control the import and export trade of the Daming region in the future, it must have a trading partner from the western world.And the scope of selection of this partner must be limited to a few limited targets that already have colonies in the Far East.As for the selection criteria, it is mainly based on the future development plan to predict and exclude objects that may have conflicts of interest in the future, and use the exclusion method to select the most suitable partner for Haihan.

According to this rule for selection, the first to be excluded is the Dutch.The method of force expansion they adopted has already indicated that there will be a war with Haihan in the future, and the Executive Committee has regarded Taiwan Island as its own since before crossing, and the military aid to Fujian is also for entering the Taiwan Strait in the future To do this, in addition to eliminating the existing "Eighteen Zhi", the Dutch entrenched on the island of Taiwan must also be expelled.Of course, the Dutch, who took a lot of effort to establish a stronghold on Taiwan Island, will not be caught without a fight. At that time, the two sides will turn their faces and fight. own major trading partners.

The second one to be excluded is the British. The reason is very simple. Their colony is too far away from Hainan Island, and it is inconvenient to contact them. It is useless to say anything.Even if trade relations can be established in the future, it is very unlikely that there will be a large scale of trade.Moreover, the UK is one of the main countries participating in the 30-year war in Europe. The Executive Committee believes that it will be difficult for it to stay out of future arms sales and play a double-sided role.

The next options are only Spain and Portugal.Spain, like Britain, was also an active player in the Thirty Years War, which to a certain extent affected the final decision.As a slave country, Portugal's investment in the European battlefield is relatively limited, and they want to break away from Spain's control. Let Spain continue to consume strength in the quagmire of war, which will undoubtedly be a result that the Portuguese are very happy to see.The Portuguese are at odds with the other three parties because of conflicts of interest, which greatly reduces the possibility of several European countries joining forces to trap Haihan.

In addition, the location of the Portuguese colonial stronghold in the Far East is also a condition that the Executive Committee attaches great importance to.In addition to Macau, a very convenient base for communication, the Portuguese also occupied Malacca, the throat of the Far East in later generations, Malacca.If there is no external force to intervene, then this place will change hands in a few years and be taken away by the vicious Dutch East India Company.This kind of situation is definitely not what the executive committee wants to see. Instead of losing this crucial location from the Portuguese, it is better to find a way to take it over from them and manage it yourself.

After fully considering various factors, the executive committee finally chose Portugal as the future western trading partner.Of course, this does not mean that everything will be fine after the selection. After all, the two sides had conflicts not long ago, and it will take a lot of work to establish a mechanism of mutual trust and mutual benefit.After repeated weighing, the Executive Committee decided to use the arms trade as an entry point to pull the Portuguese into their big boat.

The arms trade is a very sensitive business, and it cannot be sold as soon as it is sold. If the attitude is too proactive, it will be difficult to explain if unnecessary misunderstandings are caused.After several high-level discussions, they decided to arrange a trick of inviting the king into the urn to lure the Portuguese envoy to offer the arms trade.Through the display of weapons, let the opponent understand Haihan's real advantage in weapon manufacturing, thereby dispelling the opponent's idea of ​​using the purchased weapons to fight Haihan.In addition, through repeated explicit hints, Enrique realized the common ground in the interests of both parties, as well as Haihan's exclusive advantages in intelligence and situation judgment, and turned his fear of Haihan into Awe and reliance in the future.

These things are not complicated to say, but in practice, we must be careful everywhere. Once we make a wrong step, the Portuguese's understanding of Haihan may be biased to the other extreme. After losing trust, it will be difficult to restore the image.Fortunately, so far, everything has gone very smoothly. As planned by the executive committee, Enrique stepped into this pit step by step, and has already begun to walk forward involuntarily according to the ideas arranged for him.

"As for the status of the weapons, let's visit here today. As for the specific procurement plan, we can talk about it tomorrow." Yan Chujie also knew that the amount of information poured into Enrique today is too much, and he probably won't be able to digest it for a while. He took the initiative to propose to postpone the negotiations on the arms trade for one day.

Enrique didn't object to this either, it was really hard for him to concentrate on what kind of weapon to buy now.Now this is not just the scope of the arms trade. According to the Haihan people, the cooperation between the two parties is likely to involve the future development prospects of the Portuguese in the Far East. To put it more seriously, it will even affect Portugal's future national fortune!He had to digest it well before deciding how to bargain with the Haihan people.

When the executive committee members saw Enrique the next day, his eyes were bloodshot.Enrique was not insomnia, but spent the whole night drafting a letter to the Macau Council.In addition to mentioning his many experiences during the Victory Port period, the letter mainly reported to the council the latest progress of the negotiations between the two sides, as well as Haihan's idea of ​​cooperation starting with the arms trade.Although Enrique is a special envoy, after all, there are some things that he has no right to make decisions directly, and must be reported to the Macau Council to make a decision.If all goes well, he, João Enrique Bardac Thomas, is likely to become a hero in Portuguese history because of what he is doing now.

(End of this chapter)