1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3960

Despite his best efforts, Sukey tried to persuade Meng Jinfeng. While his promises sounded appealing, Meng Jinfeng insisted on waiting for concrete results before discussing further cooperation, demanding that the Dutch side fulfill their promises first.

In short, cooperation is negotiable, but expecting the Ming Dynasty to take the fall and shield the Netherlands is wishful thinking.

But how could the measures Sukeyi mentioned be easily implemented? Just the smuggling of weapons to the Ming Dynasty alone, if discovered by Haihan, would have unimaginable consequences. The best-case scenario was simply to secretly transport some through Burma, but a long-term, large-scale supply of weapons and equipment to the Ming Dynasty was simply out of the question.

Without military aid, nothing is negotiable—that was Meng Jinfeng's attitude toward the matter. In the few months he had been in Hangzhou, he had come to deeply understand the principle that "what cannot be obtained on the battlefield cannot be obtained at the negotiating table." As long as the Ming army could not defeat the Haihan army, all negotiating tactics would be futile, and as the defeated envoy, he would have no say at the negotiating table.

Seeing that he could not persuade Su Keyi, he could only leave dejectedly.

Meng Jinfeng stopped outside the study, watching Su Keyi leave, a cold smile appearing on his face: "A tiny, insignificant nation, yet you dare to play these tricks on my Great Ming. If we could go back a hundred years, we would have driven you out of the Great Ming's territory long ago!"

Although Meng Jinfeng looked down on the Dutch's manner, he also understood that times had changed and the Ming Dynasty no longer had the strength to put on airs. At least in front of the Dutch envoys, he should not act too tough, lest he make a fool of himself and push the other side into the opposing camp.

The Netherlands was not the only country that immediately thought of winning over the Ming Dynasty; the Portuguese were also in an awkward position.

Compared to the Dutch East India Company, Portugal had a much closer relationship with Haihan, and the two sides had been implementing their formally signed alliance for many years, with deep cooperation in military and trade matters.

However, the Portuguese could not remain indifferent to Haihan's ever-expanding reach into the Indian Ocean and had to find ways to slow down Haihan's overseas expansion.

Perhaps concerned that his identity might attract attention, the Portuguese ambassador to Hangzhou did not personally visit Meng Jinfeng, but instead sent one of his Han Chinese advisors as a representative to pay him a visit.

The Portuguese were not as radical as the Dutch. They did not demand that the Ming Dynasty send troops to the interior to contain Haihan. They only needed to make a show of wanting to reclaim lost territory. This would prevent Haihan from investing all its resources overseas, which would indirectly reduce the pressure on Portugal in the Indian Ocean.

In exchange, Portugal offered to speak favorably of the Ming Dynasty in diplomatic settings and promised not to participate in any military actions taken by the Han against the Ming Dynasty.

Meng Jinfeng wasn't stupid; of course he could tell that this was a scheme to get something for nothing, and it wasn't even as tempting as the Dutch's false promises.

But on second thought, it was clearly unrealistic to expect the Portuguese to make any concrete promises.

Nowadays, Portugal's trade activities in the Far East depend on others for them to proceed smoothly, so they dare not easily offend Haihan and cut off their source of income. Moreover, according to the information Meng Jinfeng saw, a few years ago, an important Portuguese stronghold overseas almost fell. If it weren't for the Haihan army's swift intervention, the stronghold would have been wiped out by the Dutch.

To protect itself, Portugal, even if it wanted to slow down Haihan's expansion, dared not openly confront it, and even dared not voice opposition. Meng Jinfeng felt that their approach to seek cooperation was somewhat of a desperate measure, a case of "take a shot if necessary." These people all wanted to use the Ming Dynasty as a tool! Meng Jinfeng understood this and politely declined their proposed cooperation.

Actually, the cooperation between Portugal and the Ming Dynasty predates the Haihan Incident. After the Ming army suffered a major defeat at Sarhu in 1618, the Ming Dynasty purchased cannons from Portuguese merchants in Macau. In 1623, the first group of Portuguese soldiers arrived in Beijing and were received by the then-reigning Emperor Zhu Youxiao.

However, these collaborations all ultimately failed and did not fundamentally improve the already lagging military strength of the Ming Dynasty. Portugal wisely chose the rapidly rising Haihan as its partner, gradually leaving the Ming Dynasty behind.

More than 20 years have passed, and now that they want to cooperate again, both sides lack trust in each other and it is difficult to offer any sincere cooperation terms.

Although no meaningful results were achieved in the cooperation talks, Meng Jinfeng did not come away empty-handed. At least from the words of these visitors and their quick approach in seeking cooperation, he could sense that they were indeed under considerable pressure.

This further confirms the significance of this new policy; even before its implementation, some countries have already felt the pain firsthand.

Meng Jinfeng was eager for these Western countries to take some concrete countermeasures to create obstacles for Hai Han's newly promulgated policies, thus relieving some of the pressure on the Ming Dynasty.

However, judging from the hesitant attitude of the Dutch and Portuguese, he knew that he shouldn't expect these guys to really muster the courage to fight against Haihan. They would most likely be gradually eroded, just like the current situation of the Ming Dynasty.

While all parties were still watching to see if the Executive Committee would come up with any implementation details for the new policy, three days later, the latest issue of the Haihan Times published an editorial related to the new policy, titled "Where to Go? Go to Where the Country Needs You Most!"

The content of this article has once again broadened everyone's horizons.

The article mentions that as the state centralized the salt industry, a large number of young people who were originally engaged in the salt business were likely to lose their jobs. However, these young people did not complain or stagnate; instead, they decisively chose a new path, leaving their original industry and hometown to go to the places where the country needed them most.

Their chosen destination was the special operations division's jurisdiction, which had just been included in the Western Development Plan by the Executive Committee. Many areas there were still in their infancy, with incomplete infrastructure and even incomplete, decent colonial settlements. Conditions were extremely harsh, and it was precisely the time when a large amount of manpower, material resources, and financial resources were needed.

These outstanding young talents, undeterred by long voyages, unfamiliar environments, or hardships, resolutely decided to go overseas to contribute to expanding the territory of Haihan. This is precisely the spirit of sacrifice for the country advocated by the Executive Committee, and the Executive Committee will certainly give important positions to these dedicated young talents.

Of course, the article did not deliberately mention the strong backgrounds of these people who went overseas. It simply referred to them as young talents who "urgently care about what the country is anxious about and think about what the country is thinking about," and called on people with aspirations to learn from them and actively participate in the development and construction of overseas territories.

Go to the West! Go to the places where the country and its people need you most! Do your best to build lasting achievements and enjoy a life without regrets—this article is full of inspiring power, which also shows the importance the Executive Committee attaches to this matter.

(End of this chapter)