1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3959

After news of the "Western Development Strategy" spread, the reactions of ambassadors from various countries stationed in Hangzhou to the Executive Committee's new policy varied, with some rejoicing and others lamenting.

The happiest were naturally the vassal states like Korea and Annam, which had close ties with the Han Dynasty. The stronger and larger the suzerain state, the more opportunities they had to share in the spoils—this was an obvious truth.

Although the far west is very far away, since Haihan has sent its elite special forces division to clear the way, judging from past experience, this move must be profitable. As long as we follow Haihan, we will surely be rewarded.

The most worried are naturally the Western countries that have begun to compete with Haihan. Their century-long monopoly on East-West trade through maritime trade is being gradually eroded by Haihan. This new policy from the Executive Committee will undoubtedly accelerate this process significantly.

But they knew that speaking out against it would be of no use. The Haihan Executive Committee would certainly ignore their protests as always, and inciting public opinion would be even more useless. Public opinion would only be more radical than the government's attitude, and they would be eager to include all the land in the world into the Haihan territory.

In this atmosphere of public opinion in Haihan, it might be more difficult for outsiders like them to break out and stir up trouble than to defeat the Haihan army on the battlefield.

Besides the eager vassal states and the worried Western countries, there was another type of country that actually welcomed Haihan's new policies, and the representative of this type of country was the Ming Dynasty.

Ambassador Meng Jinfeng saw the newspaper introducing the new policy as soon as it was published. After reading it, he was still incredulous and read it several more times to confirm that it was true. He then exclaimed, "Heaven blesses the Ming Dynasty!" and ordered the old steward to add more dishes and wine to celebrate this rare good news.

In Meng Jinfeng's view, Haihan's new policy likely means a shift in the direction of expansion in the future. The executive committee's attention has returned to overseas, and the pressure on the Ming Dynasty will be reduced accordingly. It may usher in a relatively long period of peace, giving the Ming Dynasty, which has just suffered a defeat, a chance to recover.

At this moment, Meng Jinfeng was already thinking about his connections in the Haihan officialdom and who could get in touch with the specific implementation of this new policy. He wanted to find out the details as soon as possible and estimate the impact of Haihan's move.

He couldn't help but recall how, in his efforts to bolster his position in negotiations with Haihan, he had visited numerous embassies seeking allies, only to receive no support whatsoever. Especially those deep-set-eyed, high-nosed Europeans, who desperately wanted the Ming Dynasty to fight Haihan to a standstill, yet refused to step forward to support the Ming, preferring to sit back and watch the show.

Now that this new policy has been introduced, the roles have been reversed, and it's the Ming Dynasty's turn to be the spectator.

The thought that those Europeans might be in chaos in their respective embassies made Meng Jinfeng feel much better. He wondered if these colleagues were also frantically searching for allies to fight against Haihan, just like he had been back then.

The Europeans reacted even faster than Meng Jinfeng had anticipated; that very evening, the Dutch ambassador, Suker, paid him a visit.

Su Keyi's purpose was clear: he hoped that the Ming Dynasty could maintain a balance and take some measures to restrain Haihan, so that it could not quickly implement the new policy that had just been announced.

"The purpose of Haihan's new policy is to monopolize the sea routes between the East and West. Once successful, its power will increase significantly, and when it turns its attention to the Ming Dynasty, your country will find it even more difficult to resist. The best solution is for your country to continue to hold Haihan back, preventing it from deploying resources and troops overseas. Our country is willing to secretly assist the Ming Dynasty's national salvation efforts, enabling your country to confront Haihan!" After hearing Su Keyi's words, Meng Jinfeng merely scoffed: "Letting our Ming Dynasty take the lead and restrain Haihan for you foreign nations, you've certainly played your cards right!"

Sukeyi shook his head and denied Meng Jinfeng's accusation: "No, no, this is not to shield our side from criticism, but rather a self-preservation measure by the Ming Dynasty. Besides, we will not stand idly by. For example, we can find a way to supply your country with the guns and firearms that your country needs most."

Meng Jinfeng sneered, "Now that the entire sea border of the Great Ming has fallen into the control of Haihan, and your ships cannot enter the inland, how are you going to supply them? If it were just three or five guns and one or two cannons, perhaps we could smuggle them into the Great Ming, but our country needs far more than that. How can you transport them over?"

What Meng Jinfeng said was indeed the current situation of the Ming Dynasty. Without permission, Dutch merchant ships could not enter the upper reaches of major rivers such as the Pearl River, the Yangtze River, and the Yellow River, and it was impossible for them to transport the weapons and equipment that Sukey mentioned into the Ming Dynasty.

Without enough advanced weapons, how could the Ming Dynasty possibly cope with the fully armed Haihan Army? Based on past experience, even if the Ming army risked their lives, they usually couldn't hold out for long.

However, Su Keyi had already prepared a solution for this, and said seriously, "Lord Meng, there is no need to worry. Our merchant ships can detour to Myanmar to dock, unload their cargo there, and then transport it by land. They can then enter Yunnan via Myanmar. As long as we use some covert methods, it will not be difficult to do so without anyone noticing."

Sukeyi's method is theoretically feasible, as these regions have not yet fallen under Haihan's control and there is still room for utilization.

However, the distance from the Burmese coastline to the Yunnan border is at least one or two thousand miles, and two-thirds of that area is mountainous and jungle, making transportation difficult. Transporting large quantities of supplies would not be easy, and the cost would likely be astronomical. Otherwise, how could trade between these Western countries and the Ming Dynasty have been completely severed simply because the Ming Dynasty lost its coastline?

Although Meng Jinfeng had never been to Yunnan, he was not entirely ignorant of the situation there. In the half-year he had been in Hangzhou, in addition to completing his duties, he had also read a great deal of miscellaneous books and materials, especially those concerning the world outside of the Ming Dynasty. His knowledge of the world outside of the Ming Dynasty was arguably more than that of more than 90% of the officials in the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty.

Su Keyi's method might work to fool those Ming officials who lacked knowledge, but it was not enough for Meng Jinfeng, who had already opened his eyes to the world.

Meng Jinfeng coldly said, "Your Excellency might as well follow this method and first transport several thousand guns and dozens of cannons to Yunnan. Payment will be made immediately upon delivery, so that our country can confirm that this method is indeed feasible. It's not too late to discuss further cooperation after we receive the goods."

Su Keyi was well aware of the perilous nature of the route through Myanmar, but he truly had no other options. His original plan was to drag Meng Jinfeng into the mess. Seeing that his trick had been seen through, he could only force himself to agree.

As for whether they will actually try to open up this land route, Sukey has little confidence that he can get the support of the Batavian authorities.

Although the Dutch East India Company had established a permanent office in Burma as early as 1627, under the command of the Batavia authorities, its development in the region was very limited. Its influence on the Toungoo Dynasty of Burma was even less than that of the Ming Dynasty, let alone getting Burma to risk getting involved in such an international conflict.

(End of this chapter)