1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 663
Before resolving the troubles on Natuna Island, Batavia also suspended all shipping tasks that needed to cross the South China Sea in the direction of Northeast Asia to ensure that no sailboats belonging to the East India Company would fall into the hands of these pirates.The loss that the interruption of maritime transportation will bring to the East India Company is also a number that cannot be ignored. Those who are eager to let the company send troops to conquer Natuna Island again are mostly the ones who suffer losses because of this.

This account is very easy to calculate. It has been nearly four months since the merchant ships disappeared repeatedly in April.That is to say, one-third of the whole year has been wasted because of this, and the sufferers are not in the mood to delay this matter until the next year to solve it.

If there is a main battle, there will naturally be a main peace. Not everyone is used to using force to resolve disputes, not to mention that the results of using force before are still so bad.Some people pointed out that the Ming merchant ships that passed through the Natuna Islands were not robbed during this period, which shows that the local pirates were consciously targeting the Dutch merchant ships, but no one knew why they targeted the East India Company so much. Know.The Zhuhe faction suggested finding a businessman from the Ming Dynasty to act as an intermediary, first discuss the conditions with the other party, and figure out the whole story before we talk.If there is really no agreement, it will not be too late to resort to force.

The war faction naturally scoffed at this. If the dispute can be resolved through negotiation, why does the company still support thousands of armed forces?They have already made so many votes, and they are targeting Dutch merchant ships, which means that they are not afraid of you at all. They have already stepped on their own face. How can you still have the cheek to negotiate?If you can still swallow your anger like this, it will be a shame to the East India Company!

Governor Cohen himself is actually more inclined to use force to resolve it, because this opponent with an unknown background appeared with obvious malice from the beginning, and Cohen did not feel the slightest possibility of reconciliation from the other party's behavior.Moreover, the company's armed forces suffered heavy losses on Natuna Island this time, and even Browar died in battle. If retaliation is not implemented, what will the company's face be, and how will it explain to the families of these victims?

But how to do it, this really made Governor Cohen a little embarrassed.If Spikes' description is not exaggerated, the company must at least organize a larger army than last time to recover the Natuna Islands from the pirates.However, this was not an easy task for the East India Company. In addition to recruiting combatants from various colonies in the Far East, the funds and materials needed to prepare for cross-sea expeditions were not small.

In addition, it is extremely troublesome to appoint who will lead the army. Both Spikes and Brower have fought for the company, and their abilities are quite outstanding. Cohen also arranged for them to go out together in order to buy a double insurance.Except for them, there are only a handful of senior officers in the company who can command large-scale military operations, and most of them still have their own positions, and it doesn't mean that they can get out immediately after being transferred.After thinking about it, Cohen felt that the only one was Anthony Van Diemen who had just returned to Batavia from Ternate.

Due to the outstanding results of Van Diemen's expedition to the east of Java, Cohen has submitted an application to the domestic parliament, suggesting that Van Diemen be promoted to the admiral of the Far East. In terms of professional qualifications, Van Diemen is definitely qualified for this position .However, in view of the previous disastrous defeat, Cohen still has doubts about whether Van Diemen can bring back a victory for the company. Before further understanding the strength of the opponent, Cohen dare not easily bet on Natuna Island up.

While Cohen began to secretly mobilize manpower and prepare supplies, he ordered the company's intelligence department to collect information from the Chinese sea merchants who traveled between Daming and Batavia in recent months, trying to figure out who the pirates on Natuna Island were. What's the background.However, Haihan had anticipated this situation in advance, so after occupying the local area, they carefully concealed their identities—for this purpose, they sent hundreds of Portuguese to replace the Dutch, and used this method to fool the The former Daming Maritime Merchant.Although there are actually many differences in the appearance of the people of the two countries, for ordinary Daming maritime merchants, they cannot distinguish these high-nosed and deep-eyed people from their appearance.

So from the confession of the Daming Maritime Merchant, the Dutch learned another important fact—there were probably a large number of Europeans on the island, and in terms of appearance, they were most likely the Portuguese, old friends of the East India Company.

But according to Spikes, when the Dutch army attacked the local area, they did not see any traces of the Portuguese at all. The personnel fighting on the battlefield must be East Asians with yellow hair, dark skin and thin stature.No matter how dizzy Spikes is, he will never mistake the Portuguese for East Asians, and the previous evidence does not seem to be able to confirm whether the Portuguese were directly involved in this matter.But this group of people actually came up with such a way to make Li Daitao stiff and hide the truth, which shows that they have indeed planned to occupy the local area for a long time, and it was not a temporary act.

With more and more information, Cohen became more and more convinced that the opponent was targeting the East India Company, and because of this, Cohen became more cautious about launching the island seizure operation again, because the opponent should also expect the East India Company's attack. Response, so as to carry out targeted preparations on the ground.

After nearly two months of suspicion and anxiety, another party involved in the Battle of Natuna, Van Longen, finally returned to Batavia.However, before the board of directors convened the nth hearing on the Battle of Natuna, Van Longen had already met Cohen immediately and reported another bad news to him—the armed fleet of the stationed officers had recently been captured by Daming and the Navy. Han's combined fleet was defeated off the coast of Fujian, losing four armed galleons and over three hundred sailors.

"Why did Hans send troops to fight along the coast of Fujian? The mission of these armed sailing ships is to protect Dayuan Port and the northern shipping lanes, not to fight against the Ming Empire!" Governor Cohen's anger was written on his face, he really couldn't tolerate his subordinates Such folly—especially so soon after the Natuna accident—was like a leaky night for the East India Company.

Moreover, judging from the time mentioned by Van Longen, the war in Dayuan Port broke out after he arrived there. Another battlefield.If Hans wasn't trying to compete for performance at this time, it was because the fever had burned his brain out.

"According to Mr. Hans, this war broke out because the opponent launched a surprise attack on our fleet and suffered such a heavy loss when we were caught off guard." Van Longen said while meditating in his heart: Mr. Hans, I can only help you here.

When Van Longen was a senior officer, he thought that the reasons Hans and his nephews thought were simply untenable. Governor Cohen was far smarter than them, and these little tricks would definitely be seen through at a glance.It's just that Hans gave him a lot of benefits in private, and entrusted him to act on his behalf after returning to Batavia. Van Longen was also taking money from others to eliminate disasters for others.It's just that Van Longen is not optimistic about how effective this can be.

Sure enough, this statement was refuted by Cohen: "Sudden attack? Why did our fleet appear on the Nanri Island you mentioned? As far as I know, it is close to the coast of Fujian. Doesn't Hans know that this will happen?" Invite the attack of the Ming army directly? I think he just wants to show off at this time!"

Since the battle with the Ming army in the reign of Tianqi, the East India Company chose to withdraw from Penghu, retreated to Dayuan Port, and tried to avoid another military conflict with Ming.This is not because the East India Company is afraid of war, but out of interest considerations.

One is that a long-term battle with a behemoth like Ming Ming will inevitably consume a lot of resources and energy of the East India Company. Although the opponent's military strength is not strong, the East India Company is an outsider after all, and the war will definitely not consume Daming if it continues.

Secondly, the war between the two sides also directly affected the East India Company's trade with Daming. Although the Ming government did not agree to establish a trade relationship with the East India Company, in fact this kind of trade relationship not only existed but also had a huge amount. Even Xu Xinsu was in the early years. Made his fortune from smuggling with the East India Company.Once an armed conflict breaks out between the two sides, trade will have to be suspended. This is not a scenario that the Dutch are happy to see.

In the past two years, in addition to the above two reasons, a new reason has been added: try to avoid the opportunity for Haihan people to intervene in Fujian affairs.

The rapid rise of Haihan has actually attracted the attention of the East India Company, and it is not a matter of a day or two for them to secretly provide military assistance to the Fujian government. In Cohen's view, their ambitions have been clearly revealed. Sooner or later, these Haihan people They will all reach out to Fujian, just like what they did in Guangdong.

But Hans obviously didn't understand this spirit very well. Using troops along the coast of Fujian undoubtedly gave the Haihan people an opportunity to take advantage of.In particular, Fan Longen also mentioned that when the Haihan Mission visited Zhangzhou three months ago, Shibazhi sent assassins to assassinate them and failed. As a result, the Haihan people retaliated and directly captured Nanri Island, which was originally occupied by Shibazhi. It was also the direct trigger for the intervention of senior officials.

Shibazhi made trouble, at least Daming and Haihan would not directly point their guns at the East India Company, although they might also know who was behind Shibazhi.But when Hans rolls up his sleeves, the nature is different. On the one hand, Da Ming can use this opportunity to avenge the apocalypse, and on the other hand, Hai Han can use his status as an ally to participate in this war openly come.

Cohen lost his temper and couldn't help coughing violently again. His physical condition was already quite bad. If it weren't for several Chinese doctors helping him recuperate, he would have already become a historical figure.

After finally regaining his strength, Cohen said weakly: "Tell me carefully about the battle process you know."

"Your Excellency, Mr. Van der Wegen, who led the army to fight this time, has also returned with me. Perhaps it will be more detailed for him to describe the battle process." Don't want to stay here any longer.

"Okay, let him come to see me as soon as possible. Also, you stay in the city, and the board of directors will summon you soon to inquire about the war on Natuna Island. During this period, don't go out and walk around, let alone talk to Spike. Get in touch with him, understand?" Cohen urged.

"Of course, I will obey your orders." Van Longen took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Cohen respectfully: "This is a letter from Mr. Hans from Dayuan Port."

After completing the handover, Van Longen finally breathed a sigh of relief.Although there are still procedures such as hearings to go, generally speaking, he has been relieved.

When Van Longen left Batavia two months ago, Cohen also promised him that as long as this errand goes well, he can inherit Van Diemen's position and be in charge of maritime trade in the colonies east of Java when he returns. affairs.However, the errand this time turned out to be unsatisfactory beyond imagination. The Natuna Islands and the senior staff that Van Longen arrived at had suffered varying degrees of failure, and he dared not mention this matter again after he returned.If he had a choice, he didn't want to go to the northern waters for activities in the near future.

Van der Wegen was actually waiting outside the Governor's Mansion. After seeing Van Longen coming out, he hurried forward to inquire about the news.Van Longen coughed dryly and said: "Governor Cohen is going to see you now, but don't rush to shirk responsibility after you go in, the Governor may ask you about the process of the battle in detail, answer his questions first, remember not to Hit him."

It was precisely because of Van Longen's instructions that Van der Wegen was much calmer when he went in to meet Cohen, which prevented Cohen from further deteriorating his impression of him.In Hans's letter, he did not blindly evade responsibility, but spent more space analyzing the political situation in Fujian and explaining his reasons for sending troops, which also restored Cohen's perception to a certain extent.

After reading Hans' letter, Cohen realized that Haihan's influence in Fujian could no longer be ignored. The Fujian government's attitude towards Shibazhi and the East India Company was largely due to Haihan's support.Especially in terms of military affairs, Haihan is no longer satisfied with selling arms to the Fujian government and assisting in the training of the army. He directly dispatched an armed fleet to station along the coast of Fujian. This is undoubtedly a terrible signal, and it will definitely affect the The interests of the East India Company in the Fujian area.From this point of view, Hans's attempt to intervene in this process by force actually has a valid reason, but his actions were inappropriate, leading to serious subsequent consequences.

(End of this chapter)