1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 767 Negotiations and Compromises

For the aborigines who are extremely scarce in living resources, a feast of color, flavor and taste may be enough to change their view of the world.Most of the world they knew in the past was limited to a radius of tens of miles, but when the Haihan people opened a window to the outside world for them and tasted some sweetness from it, many people would not be willing to live in the mountains and forests. I have spent my whole life busy.

After filling their stomachs, the three indigenous representatives left the Haihan camp contentedly, and took away all the unfinished food and drinks before leaving.Qian Tiandun will not be stingy with this effort. If it is not required by the mission, he even has the idea of ​​leaving the fleet's cooking team here for a period of time to help these natives correct their very unhealthy eating habits.

"Pack up your bags and get on the boat to prepare for departure." After dealing with this mess, Qian Tiandun immediately ordered the fleet to prepare and set off.The deadline agreed with the Dutch in Dayuangang has passed one day, and it is time to listen to the answer given by the Dutch.

One of the two reconnaissance boats that stayed in Dayuan Port yesterday went south to Dagou Port to report the situation for the past two days. The Dutch did not react too aggressively. All the armed merchant ships stayed in the port and never left the dock. , it seems that he does not plan to use strong means to fight against Haihan.

The fleet traveled north along the coastline, and soon arrived outside Dayuan Port.The Dutch were very self-conscious this time, and without waiting for Haihan to make any move, they sent small boats to Haihan's fleet, and the messenger was still the maritime merchant Philip who had dealt with Haihan before.

"Master Hans agrees in principle to reach a long-term peace agreement with you, but the details of the exchange conditions need to be revised." Philip respectfully presented Qian Tiandun with a letter from Chief Hans.

However, although Qian Tiandun is a high-ranking military officer, his foreign language proficiency is only at the level of being able to recite 26 English letters. This letter does not look much different from the Heavenly Book to him, so the content of it It is still necessary for Philip to dictate and then translate.

"Reduce the number of immigrants we provide each month?" Qian Tiandun shook his head after listening to Philip's story: "Mr. Philip, it was you who said that you would provide us with at least a thousand immigrants with specified conditions every month. I am interested in negotiating with you. If this basic condition cannot be fulfilled, then there is no need for us to continue the negotiation. "

Philip couldn't say it because he was suffering. Of course, this condition was not what he said for granted, but Hans' own idea, and he indicated that he could exaggerate appropriately.However, during the negotiation process, Philip found that Haihan's side was aggressive, and he didn't dare to add more details to it. He basically followed what Hans said.But the problem is that after the talk, when he went back to the report, Hans said that in actual operation, such a condition could not be fulfilled at all, and the number might be barely enough, but if all the immigration types were designated by Haihan, it would definitely not be possible.

Of course, the leadership’s mistakes still have to be remedied by the subordinates, so the unlucky Philip had to play the role of tinker again—if he couldn’t make it up, it is very likely that he would have to work full-time again, from tinkering to tinkering. Take the blame.

"Dear General Qian, we don't mean any disrespect, but there are still some difficulties in reaching the number of immigrants we agreed on before, and it is impossible for you to designate all the types of immigrants." Philip could only be careful explained.

"You are viciously consuming your own credit!" Qian Tiandun accused unceremoniously: "If you can't even comply with the conditions you put forward a few days ago, how can I believe that you will abide by us? What about the negotiated agreement? I negotiated with you based on my trust in the business reputation of the East India Company, but I didn't expect you to be such businessmen!"

Philip had no way to refute it, so he could only continue to explain: "There are some misunderstandings... Some of our merchant ships and personnel who were originally engaged in transactions with Japan, North Korea and other countries have recently been transferred back to Badawi. Ya, so there will be some disjointed situations in immigration matters... But General Qian, please don't doubt our sincerity, we can discuss the specific conditions slowly!"

Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "I'm still a little interested in the conditions you mentioned before, but if you can't do it now, you have to halve the conditions you negotiated before. I'm sorry, I can't accept this new condition. .If you can’t show the corresponding sincerity, there’s no need for us to continue talking.”

While scolding Hans in his heart for being so harmful, Philip continued to persuade Qian Tiandun with a smile on his face: "General Qian, the conditions are negotiable. I have taken the initiative to visit again and again, which is also a manifestation of our sincerity... How about The number of immigrants we supply every month will add another 100 people?"

Qian Tiandun said with a stern face: "Mr. Philip, we are talking about a transaction now. It's not like we don't give money. If you add 1000 people, I will give you 1000 people's silver. Can you be more straightforward? We are talking like this Is this interesting?"

According to the terms of the transaction previously agreed upon by the two parties, after Haihanfang obtained qualified immigrants, it still had to pay the Dutch a certain fee, which naturally included the cost of the Dutch organizing the transportation of immigrants from Northeast Asian countries.However, Li Dou, who was in charge of the negotiation at that time, had already lowered the unit price to a very low level. The Dutch could only keep their capital in this business, and there was really nothing to talk about.Moreover, considering the fact that large-scale transport of immigrants to the Haihan people is tantamount to accelerating suicide, the Dutch are not willing to make too much of this trade of giving blood transfusions to their opponents in exchange for their own living space. To control the emotions of the Haihan people, it is enough to prevent them from taking radical measures against Dayuangang in the short term.Besides, even if more immigrants are sent to Haihan, it is obvious that Haihan will not be satisfied with the current sphere of influence, and will only accelerate the encroachment of the area around the Dutch ruled area.

For Haihan, what is more important is not the total number of immigrants that the Dutch can provide, but the part of the immigrants that can be specified.These immigrants with certain specialties or skills are the ones that Hai Han is willing to pay for. Otherwise, it is better to directly absorb war refugees from Ming Dynasty without discrimination, and the cost will be lower.

In addition, there is now another reason for Qian Tiandun to continue this negotiation or the peaceful state between the two parties, and that is Haihan's future colonial development of the Dagou Port area on the west coast of Taiwan Island.Although it is true that if the Haihan militia really wanted to use force, Dayuangang would not be impossible to take, but the war price paid for this may not be worthwhile.After Qian Tiandun went to see it on the spot, he thought that even if Dayuangang was captured, it would not be as suitable for long-term construction as the environment of Dagougang. Moreover, in terms of the current strength of Dayuangang, it is actually not as strong as before the military. As big a threat as expected.

Of course, this also has something to do with the previous Batavia war. After all, the East India Company's backbone was severely damaged, and branches such as Dayuan Port would naturally be affected by this.Judging from the information obtained, the East India Company will definitely not be able to recover within a year or two.The current attitude of Dayuan Port also reflects the current situation of its declining strength and serious lack of confidence from the side.Now that the security of the Penghu base can no longer be threatened, Qian Tiandun will naturally revise the military's previous plan.War is only a tool to achieve political goals, but if the goals can be achieved at the negotiating table, there is no need to use this last resort.

What Qian Tiandun wants to achieve now is to suppress the influence of Dayuan Port in the Fujian sea area as much as possible, and gradually let Haihan control this area.At the same time, it is necessary to build a colony on the island of Taiwan to form a sub-base of Haihan in the southeast coastal area of ​​the mainland that has real production and self-sustaining capabilities.After all, Penghu is too small to be used as a military base and immigration transfer center, but there is little room for development.If you want to transfer the construction model of Sanya, it still has to be placed in a place like Dagou Port.

On the basis of achieving these conditions, if more value can be squeezed from the Dutch, for example, through their channels to obtain some high-quality immigrants from several small countries in Northeast Asia, it will basically be considered an additional gain part of it.

November 1632, 11, September 11th of the fifth year of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty.Qian Tiandun, commander of the Penghu base of the Haihan Militia, and Hans, the chief executive of the East India Company, met on the Sankunsha Island outside Dayuan Port, and signed the "Haihan-Netherlands Agreement" later known as the "Singles' Day Agreement". Penghu Supplementary Clause to the Armistice Agreement.

The content of this "Supplementary Clause" is mainly the exchange condition negotiated by the two parties this time, that is, the Dutch side will provide immigrants for a long time in exchange for Haihan's commitment not to take any form of hostile actions against the Dayuan Port area.

Although the scale of immigration supply that the Dutch finally negotiated did not reach the original promised figure, Qian Tiandun was still basically satisfied.No less than 200 immigrants will be transported to Penghu by Dutch merchant ships every month, of which no less than [-] will be immigrants of the type designated by Haihan.This number is definitely not comparable to the war refugees recruited from the coast of Shandong, but it is still a useful supplement to some extent.Especially when Qian Tiandun has reported to the executive committee that he is going to open a sub-base in the Dagougang area, the continuous introduction of immigrants is particularly important.

The Dutch also got the peace they wanted. Haihan promised that the area south of Zengwen River and north of Erren River, which spans about forty miles, would belong to the East India Company.However, this peace is only temporary, because the validity period of the supplementary clause is only two years. After two years, the two parties will agree on whether to renew or terminate the contract depending on the actual situation.

Of course, the Dutch wanted to extend the validity period of this agreement, but Qian Tiandun only gave them two options, one was two years, and the other was not to sign. The helpless Dutch could only choose to accept the former.

The reason why Qian Tiandun chose the time point of two years is also to learn from the early experience of Sanya and Heitu Port. Two years is enough for Haihan to build a large-scale colonial port in the Dagou Port area.At that time, no matter whether it is to continue to squeeze the Dutch or drive them out of Taiwan Island depending on the situation, the initiative will be in Haihan's hands.

"The cooperation is pleasant. I hope that the agreement we signed today will become the basis for the development of bilateral relations in the future." After signing the agreement, Qian Tiandun stood up and extended his hand to Hans with a smile on his face.

Hans was a little surprised that this Haihan officer could understand this kind of western social etiquette, but he squeezed out a wry smile and shook hands with Qian Tiandun: "General Qian, I am a peace-loving person, and I hope this agreement can make The peace between us will last longer."

Qian Tiandun raised his eyebrows, out of courtesy, he did not refute his statement face to face.The Dutchman had the nerve to say that he was peace-loving. It seemed that he had consciously forgotten the fact that he sent an armed fleet to Shibazhi last summer, but was defeated by the Haihan warship and fled.However, Hans probably didn't know that the officer who commanded the battle on Haihan's side last year was Qian Tiandun in front of him.

Of course, Qian Tiandun would not believe the weakness of the western colonists. If the Dutch had won the battle last summer, and if Batavia hadn't faced that tragic battle this year, then Hans probably wouldn't treat him so humbly. this negotiation.What is more likely to happen is that the Dutch mobilize their troops from the South China Sea to go north and drive Haihan out of Penghu and even the Fujian Strait.

Of course, this kind of hypothetical situation can no longer happen in this time and space. The Dutch followed each step slowly. Although they entered the Fujian Strait to manage their colonies several years earlier than Haihan, the current situation is clearly that Haihan is catching up. , and gradually replaced the influence of the East India Company in this area.After the Haihan colony in the Dagou Port area is established, it will basically become a foregone conclusion for Haihan to come from behind.

Of course, Qian Tiandun's signing of this agreement with the East India Company was not due to his personal recklessness, but had been authorized by the Executive Committee.The military insisted on implementing the development plan of "going east first, then going north" and first chose Taiwan Island as the next colonization point. In the end, the civil service department still couldn't beat the military, and agreed that Qian Tiandun would work with the Dutch on the local settlement in Fujian. Governance issues are negotiated.

Undoubtedly, this negotiation chaired by Qian Tiandun gave Haihan a lot of advantages, and even the colony site has been inspected on the spot, and a decision has been made, and the executive committee has nothing to criticize about it. up.In addition to authorizing Qian Tiandun, what the executive committee can do is to get the civil affairs, shipping and other departments to start taking action to prepare the materials and corresponding professionals for the initial development of the first Haihan colony on Taiwan Island. .After setting up the springboard for this step, Haihan can confidently and boldly continue to expand his sphere of influence northward.

(End of this chapter)