1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 764 Coercion
"For the safety of our industry and personnel in the Penghu area, and in order to completely eliminate the remnants of the pirate gang Shibazhi in the Fujian Strait and continue to do evil, our fleet will conduct irregular military training and maritime patrols in the waters near Penghu. We The training and patrols are not aimed at other people, including the East India Company, and will not interfere with the normal operation of Dayuan Port. I hope you will not worry too much about this. The passing of Dayuan Port this time is just an ordinary sea cruise. .”

Philip was stunned by Qian Tiandun's "notification". He really didn't expect that the Haihan people would use such high-sounding reasons to interpret the naked military threat in front of them as a reasonable action.Nearly ten Haihan warships were lined up on the sea about two nautical miles away from Dayuan Port, and Qian Tiandun actually called them "passing by" in an understatement. This really refreshed Philip's three view.

"Dear sir, I don't know how long it will take for your fleet to 'pass' through the local port?" Of course Philip did not dare to reprimand Qian Tiandun in the current environment, so he could only swallow his anger in a tactful way. Tone to ask.

Qian Tiandun smiled and said: "This is our military secret, so it is inconvenient to disclose it. In fact, our maritime patrol is also beneficial to the safety of Dayuan Port, isn't it? With the Haihan fleet here to protect, there will be no pirates." It has appeared in the surrounding waters, which is also a good thing for maritime merchants who come to Dayuan Port for trade.”

Philip thought to himself that your fleet is lying outside Dayuan Port. Everyone thinks that this is a posture of going to war. The maritime merchants who heard the news may not come to Dayuan Port again in the next few months. This kind of behavior is malicious. Harassment, what protection are you talking about!As for the pirates, since Shibazhi withdrew from the strait, there have been no large groups of pirates in the hundreds of nautical miles around, and the sporadic pirates have the guts to dare to act wild on the Dutch territory, even if the Dutch can't do it. Han militia, but it is more than enough to clean up the pirates in the Far East.

But regarding the true nature of this matter, Philip knew that it would be useless even if he forced himself to argue with the other party. After all, the other party came with the purpose of coercing the big officers into submission. What are you doing?Although Philip was unwilling, he could only respond in a low voice: "Actually, I have reported the conditions discussed with you last time to Mr. Hans, but at this time we need to coordinate the opinions of all parties, so it is still necessary to make a decision." some time."

Philip's statement finally hit the point. Qian Tiandun asked: "I believe what you said, and I also believe that the East India Company is indeed sincere in reaching a deal with us that was previously negotiated. But everyone's time is precious, if It would be great if you could give an answer as soon as possible. I think that for such a big matter... one day should be enough to make a decision, right?"

The turning point of Qian Tiandun's last sentence almost caused Philip to sit on the ground. He originally thought that he could at least get a consideration period of ten and a half months from the Haihan people, so that Dayuangang would still have time to think about how to deal with Haihan. The transaction conditions proposed by the Han party.But it was clear that the Haihan people didn't have that much patience at all. They didn't even want to wait for the reply. Instead, they chose to bring the fleet directly to the door to ask for a reply.The method was simple and rude, and Da Yuangang was in a mess immediately, not knowing how to fight back.

"One day is indeed too hasty, can you delay for a few days?" Philip was also very anxious, but after talking, he only found that his own situation was getting more and more passive, so that he couldn't use a tougher attitude to deal with Hai The Han Chinese communicated.

Qian Tiandun coughed dryly and said, "However, our army did not arrange a multi-day itinerary for this patrol, so we didn't bring much supplies. If you can provide supplies, then I can wait here for a while." One day. Remember, only one more day."

Philip complained, you should go back to Penghu if you didn’t bring enough supplies. If you don’t go back to such a nearby place, you must supply at Dayuan Port. Isn’t this a rip-off?

But the slander is the slander, and Philip still squeezed out a full smile on his face: "That's easy to say. After I go back next time, I will send a batch of supplies to your fleet. As for the time limit, I hope you Fang Duo is more forgiving."

After finally letting the other party relax, Philip didn't want to stay on the Haihan warship for a second, so he hurriedly said goodbye and disembarked, and returned to the port in a small boat rowed manually by the sailors.

Of course, Qian Tiandun didn't really expect that the Dutch would be able to coerce the Dutch to submit immediately when the soldiers approached the city. I don't want to start a war with the Dutch during this time period.Now that the other party had already taken another step back, he stepped down from the donkey and let go with the help of the ladder that Philip handed over.Anyway, half of the purpose of this trip is indeed to conduct actual combat training at sea. Going around Dayuan Port to scare the Dutch is just a incidental act of raking grass and beating rabbits. It is enough to have an effect, not really eager This hour and a half will get things done.

"These Haihan people... are just... bastards..." After listening to Philip's report, Hans was so angry that he couldn't even speak smoothly.Back then, Zheng Zhilong had tens of thousands of people, but every time he came to visit him in Dayuangang, he always accompanied him carefully, lest he would offend him.These Haihan people actually stared at each other like this, which he never thought of before.If it hadn't been for the consideration that the current Dayuan Port did not have any armed forces, he would really have the urge to directly order the war.

Of course, at least this temporary negotiation is not fruitless, at least they know the real purpose of the Haihan fleet coming here and their withdrawal conditions.Hans is not a fool, so he can naturally understand from Philip's report that Haihan's side also does not intend to start a war, otherwise they would not have put forward conditions.

It took Hans 5 minutes to regain his composure, and then he began to issue orders: "Philip, I grant you temporary authority to immediately organize a batch of supplies in the castle and deliver them to the Haihan people, keeping them away from the port." a little!"

Philip tremblingly took out a piece of paper: "Here is the list of supplies that Haihan asked for..."

Hans took it over and saw that the translation had remarked the content on this list.To be honest, the supplies that Haihan asked for were not too much. They were basically food, but all of them required the freshest ones—for example, the meat had to be live poultry, not slaughtered.However, this requirement is not difficult to understand. Obviously, the Haihan people are afraid that someone will poison the ingredients, and live poultry will minimize the risk.Hans took a rough look, and found that the city could basically buy it, so he decisively returned it to Philip: "Get it done as soon as possible, and don't make any more mistakes!"

"If I take this kind of job again, I'll chop off my hand!" Philip muttered and left the temporary headquarters, secretly regretting how he had listened to Hans's instigation before and took over the job of negotiation.Not to mention the fact that he didn't get any benefits, but instead caused a lot of trouble. Hans blamed Philip for all the problems that occurred during the negotiation.Negotiations are fine, after all, you only need to use your words, but he has to handle the organization of supplies, Philip is not happy, and feels like he has become a servant doing errands.

Philip led a team of soldiers sent to him by Hans to rummage through boxes and cabinets in the castle. After spending more than two hours, he finally gathered the supplies requested by the Haihan people before dark, and then quickly shipped them out of the port and handed them over to the Haihan people. on hand.

"Please keep your fleet back to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding." Philip saw Qian Tiandun again, and his tone became weaker: "Mr. Hans has promised to trade within two days." Make a final decision on the matter, and then you can send envoys to Dayuan Port to discuss the details."

"Okay, since you guys can give a clear timetable, then I won't urge you anymore." Qian Tiandun responded unhurriedly after his subordinates inspected the goods: "Then we will see you in two days. Bar."

To be honest, Qian Tiandun was really worried about letting the fleet spend the night outside Dayuan Harbor, and originally planned to retreat to a place a little further away after nightfall.Now that the Dutch are cooperating so much, Qian Tiandun is taking advantage of the situation to save face.During this free time, I just continued to go south to investigate other planned targets.

In addition to the Dayuan Port currently occupied by the Dutch, in the southern part of Taiwan Island, there is actually another port with better natural conditions, which is the later Kaohsiung Port.However, the name of this place at this time is not Kaohsiung, but "Bamboo Forest" named by the indigenous Macadao people, and its pronunciation is similar to "Dagou" in Hokkien, so the Han people call the place "Dagou" , the natural port is also known as Dagou Port.As for the name was later changed to Kaohsiung during the Japanese occupation period, it was because the pronunciation of "Kaohsiung" in Japanese happened to be similar to "dagou" in Hokkien.

The real development of Dagou Port began after Zheng Chenggong took over Taiwan. For a long period of time, it was mainly a fishing port. Until the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government was forced to fight with Britain and France because of its defeat in the Second Opium War. The United States signed the "Tianjin Treaty", which identified Dagou Port as one of the four trading ports in Taiwan for housing openings, and the other three were Jilong, Huwei (Tamshui), and Anping (Dayuan).Only then did Tagou Port change from a fishing port to a commercial port, and the Tagou Customs was established in 1864.

At present, this place is still a land without owner - the aborigines will naturally not be counted. Qian Tiandun believes that if Taiwan Island is to be developed as a whole in the future, this port is also one of the areas that Haihan must take over.The distance from the local area to Dayuan Port is only more than 20 nautical miles, and it takes half a day to arrive. It really doesn't make sense not to go around here.

Although he knew that the Dutch were unlikely to make any more provocative actions at this juncture, Qian Tiandun still carefully left the two reconnaissance boats in the waters near Dayuan Port and continued to carry out surveillance operations.He wasn't afraid that the Dutch fleet would suddenly come out to bite his tail, but that if the Dutch took the risk and went directly to Penghu for a surprise attack, it would be very troublesome.This time almost all the ships capable of fighting came out in full force. Penghu had no local coastal defense forces to rely on. Qian Tiandun had to be careful when he was away from home, lest he be copied by his opponents.

That night, the Fourth Fleet sailed south for about ten nautical miles before lowering its sails near the shore.Early the next morning, the fleet continued southward, and soon reached its destination.

The fleet slowed down about one nautical mile from the coast and moved slowly along the coastline.Qian Tiandun stood on the deck, carefully observing the coastal terrain, and at the same time checked the satellite map data on hand to find out the difference between the actual terrain and the map, so as to correct the data.

Although the Haihan military has a very detailed satellite map available, hundreds of years of natural changes will also cause changes in the terrain.For example, the actual topography of Dayuan Port, which was visited before, is very different from the map held by Qian Tiandun.The coastline outside Dayuan Port is still a series of sandbars. Even Zeelandia Fort was built on a sandbar that was not directly connected to the land. In later generations, these places were all connected to the land due to mud deposits.It seems that the Haihan Fleet has indeed blocked the main channel to and from Dayuan Port, but in fact there are several waterways in the harbor where small draft boats can bypass the Haihan Fleet's blockade and leave the port.These details are absolutely impossible to grasp if you don't check them in person.

However, the situation in Dagou Port is obviously much better than that in Dayuan Port. According to the preliminary survey results at sea, there is not much difference between the terrain here and later generations, and this situation is more in line with historical facts.In the original history, Dayuan Port gradually lost its status as the number one port in Taiwan because of too much siltation, while Kaohsiung Port became the largest port in Taiwan in later generations, and even ranked third in the world in terms of container throughput. second only to Hong Kong and Singapore.

In Qian Tiandun's view, this long and narrow harbor is not only suitable as a commercial port for cargo handling, but also has a large anchorage area in the harbor waters, and there are large forests nearby, so it is entirely possible to build a large shipyard here—and later generations There is indeed a large-scale shipyard in Kaohsiung Port, which is also the shipbuilding center of the entire island of Taiwan.

Of course, if the Haihan people occupy this place to develop the shipbuilding industry, the Dutch who are probably close at hand will feel very upset.Although there is also a small shipyard in Dayuan Port, the tonnage of ships that can be built is less than 700 tons, which is not enough to compete with Haihan Shipbuilding nearby.And if Haihan can build another large shipyard [-] nautical miles away from Sanya, it will be self-evident to help expand the sea control area.

(End of this chapter)