1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3728

Situations like the one in the Persian Gulf were not uncommon. Wherever Hai Han's commercial routes reached, Western counterparts would suffer defeat in the market, and Rui was no exception.

Even the ports along the coast of the Indian Peninsula, which have long been operated by Portugal and were once considered by the outside world to be an ironclad entity, have now begun to loosen up due to the direct visits of the Hai Han people. Some powerful businessmen have even organized their own fleets and are preparing to go to Hamban Port, Phuket and other places to conduct trade activities directly with Hai Han.

This is equivalent to skipping the middleman Portugal, and even Goa's trade volume has begun to decline significantly.

The statistics obtained by Goa Governor Fernandez showed that the most serious decline in trade was in the goods produced by Hai Han. There was no doubt that this part of the lost trade share had quietly slipped into Hai Han's hands.

It is worth noting that most of the supply channels of goods that were previously trafficked to Goa from Ming Dynasty, Korea, Japan and other countries are now controlled by Hai Han, so in fact the affected areas are far more than just Hai Han.

In particular, Ming, a major exporter of high-end goods such as silk and porcelain, now has no access to the sea, and all its sources of goods have been changed to Hai Han. Now Hai Han wants to take all of this business back to its own merchant shipping companies, and this part of the trade share has changed hands, with Portugal almost out of the picture, which has really caused Goa's foreign trade income to drop significantly.

Fernandez was very dissatisfied with this situation. He originally thought that everything would be fine after sending away the Hai Han fleet that visited last year, but he never expected that the aftermath would be so great that it had even begun to shake the trade foundation of the Goa colony.

And according to news from Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf, the situation there seems to be even worse, and trade has been affected more than in Goa.

Fernandez was not sure whether Rui was exaggerating, but Hai Han’s opening of a new port more than 200 miles away from Hormuz Island was not a friendly move no matter how you looked at it.

Therefore, Fernandez also sent a letter to Hamban Port, hoping that Qian Tiandun would, for the sake of the allies, reconsider the move to deploy ports in the Persian Gulf and other places, and adjust the prices of various commodities provided to the Mughal Empire.

Although the words were not said explicitly, the meaning was made clear. That is, it was hoped that Hai Han would take the initiative to give up the markets west of the Indian Peninsula and avoid commercial competition with Portugal.

Such a request certainly did not receive the response Fernandez hoped for. Qian Tiandun took this step with the purpose of squeezing out the market share of his European counterparts. How could he put the meat in his bowl back?

Qian Tiandun’s reply was simple and firm—Hai Han had no intention of competing with Portugal in business, but would never give up its existing controlled areas.

As for the alliance signed by the two countries, there was no clause in it that prohibited Hai Han from settling near Portugal's colonies, nor was there any restriction that Hai Han's trading partners could not overlap with Portugal.

This means that Fernandez’s request is groundless and will not be accepted by Hai Han.

Fernandez was furious when he received the reply, but he had no way to deal with his opponent Qian Tiandun.

In terms of military strength, the armed forces of the Goa colony are definitely no match for the special warfare division known as the best in Hai Han. Trying to subdue the other side through military means would only bring humiliation upon themselves.

There seemed to be no theoretical basis to defeat the other party in the essay battle. And even if there was such a basis, Qian Tiandun would not necessarily respond to it.

Ultimately, this world still relies on strength to speak. When the strength of both parties is not on the same level, don't expect to have an equal dialogue.

But the more cruel reality is that as the construction of Hamban Port continues to advance, the local port and supporting facilities are also being gradually improved. With Hai Han's ability to operate a trade port, it may only be a matter of time before the local trade scale surpasses Goa Port. April 1659, Hai Han National Day.

Although this year was not a major celebration like the fifth or tenth anniversary, various celebrations were still held in major cities in Hai Han.

The Executive Committee also took this opportunity to announce the newly revised version of the national map.

The last time the map was revised was during the 30th anniversary celebration of the National Day two years ago. Although it has only been two years, Hai Han's map has undergone some new changes.

Shortly after the National Day celebrations that year, Hai Han launched the second war against Ming. Through this round of fighting, it annexed a lot of territories that originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, completely turning the Ming Dynasty into an inland country without a coastline.

At the beginning of last year, the special operations division sent troops to Ceylon and occupied the area where the Hamban Port is located today.

In the middle of the year, the Xingdao Expeditionary Fleet arrived at the west coast of the Southern New World and began to build Swan Harbor there. Soon after, the Luzon Fleet also arrived at the north coast of the Southern New World and started the construction of another colonial port.

In addition to the two new ports of Fubo and Zhenhai opened in the Middle East by Qian Tiandun at the beginning of this year, these are the new territories gained by Hai Han’s territorial expansion in the past two years.

And this does not include some of the coastal areas that Wang Tom recently occupied in North America, nor the territories that the Luzon Region snatched from Spain in the western Pacific last year.

The Executive Committee included these regions in the latest national map and made them public, which is undoubtedly a declaration of the ownership of these regions to the world. It can also be regarded as a disguised display of Hai Han's powerful national strength.

However, the new national map was only made into a huge display board and displayed publicly in major cities, but it was not printed and sold to the public.

The reason is that the Executive Committee believes that although the country's current territory is large, it is too scattered. In order to include it in a map, they can only adjust the proportions. In that way, the territories of various overseas regions will become small dots scattered everywhere.

The main area controlled by Hai Han is like the territory of Annan, winding along the coastline of the East Asian continent, appearing slender and not very imposing.

Of course, some people have suggested that the entire Southern New World could be included in the territory of Hai Han. In this way, from the coast of the East Asian continent, through the various archipelagos in the Luzon region, it would be directly connected to the Southern New World, which would look much more magnificent.

This approach was naturally refuted by some people who believed that the New World in the South was currently just a barren land, and that incorporating it entirely into the territory would inevitably be seen as usurping the throne.

If this method had been used, then Wang Tom could have led his troops to the other side of the ocean seven years ago and included the entire North America in his territory. However, everyone at that time felt that there was no need to deceive themselves in this way.

This map change has also sparked heated discussions among the public, but people are not only concerned about the few "small dots" added to the map, but also about the world map that is gradually presented to the public as the territory expands.

It is through opportunities like these that many people realize that the world is far bigger than they could have imagined. Even for a powerful nation like Hai Han, its current territory is only a tiny part of the world.