1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 932 Solutions
How to deal with the relationship with the Dutch has always been a key project in Haihan's foreign policy research.The Dutch were called sea coachmen in this era, and they were the main force in global maritime trade. In the long run, they must be one of Haihan's main competitors, but is it possible to use war to compete with them? Slowly weakening the Netherlands' control over the Far East in a relatively peaceful way, and whether the Netherlands' global shipping capabilities can be used to benefit Haihan, these are issues that the relevant departments have been studying and discussing over the past few years.

Haihan's own development speed is extremely fast, but the time in this time and space is still short. One of the negative effects brought about by the leap-frog expansion of the territory is that the sea transportation capacity has always been very tight.Although Haihan is expanding its shipyard every year, the speed of shipbuilding still cannot keep up with the growth rate of capacity demand.What's more, Haihan has always attached great importance to armaments. At least half of the shipyard's production capacity is occupied by military orders. In many cases, Haihan's official freight needs can only be completed by private carriers like "Zhan's Shipping". In wartime, a large number of civilian ships must be requisitioned to complete the transportation task.

This long-term shortage of sea transportation capacity is definitely not good for Haihan's development. The leaders of Haihan's executive committee have no ambitions to quickly open some long-distance routes, and even go to the SD Peninsula to transport war refugees. The task of going south is handed over to outside maritime merchants, while their own cargo ships are concentrated on Qiongguang, Qiongmin, and the routes with the largest cargo volume from HN to the Indochina Peninsula, in order to satisfy the business needs first. activity needs.Of course, after Haihan occupied the Zhoushan Islands, the northward route was extended to the vicinity of the mouth of the Yangtze River, and the transportation capacity became more tense accordingly.

Under such circumstances, if we rashly attack the Western colonists in the South China Sea, especially the major players like the Netherlands, while Haihan drives them out, it will also mean that the Maritime Silk Road that carries the trade between the East and the West Big hurt.Although there are still secondary players such as Spain, Portugal, Britain and France, the Dutch carry nearly half of the cargo volume in the current East-West trade, and it is difficult for other companies to fill this vacancy in a short period of time.

In this era, the route from Europe to the Far East needs to go south from the Strait of Gibraltar, bypass the African continent, and then pass through the Arabian Sea and the Indian subcontinent. The entire voyage is tens of thousands of miles long, and it takes nearly two years to go back and forth.It took almost a year for the dramatic changes in the Far East to be reported to Europe, and then Western countries made new deployments based on this, arranging more sailing ships to go to the Far East.During this period, the trade volume between the East and the West will definitely be greatly affected by the decline in shipping capacity. Haihan wants to monopolize the entrepot trade in Northeast Asia, so naturally he cannot personally cause such a situation to happen.

It is not difficult to fight the Netherlands, but the difficulty is how to make up for the gap in maritime transport capacity after driving away the Dutch.If after defeating the Netherlands, they will also be negatively affected by the chain reaction, the Haihan executive committee will of course have to be cautious about the decision to do it.To solve this problem safely, in addition to strengthening Haihan's own shipbuilding capabilities, it is also necessary to make reasonable arrangements for partners and competitors that carry capacity on western routes.The control of the South China Sea must be seized, but we must also find a way to leave some soup for Western counterparts, so that the entire East-West trade system can continue to operate normally.

These thoughts of Haihan, as competitors of the Netherlands, must have been unexpected. Although global routes have appeared as early as the last century, the thinking of globalization will not mature until human society evolves into the industrial age. In this era, no one will consider the needs of long-term development from such a high perspective.From Van Diemen's standpoint, he naturally would not regard Yan Chujie's proposal as a practical solution, but subconsciously believed that it was Haihan's attempt to completely drive the East India Company out of the Far East. means.

In the preparatory meeting before going south, he had simulated the possible reaction of the Dutch more than once, and Van Diemen's worries did not deviate from Haihan's expected range.Yan Chujie could understand where his reaction came from, but this deviation in understanding could not be explained clearly in a few words, not to mention that Hai Han himself did not have much kindness towards the Dutch, and the purpose of all the proposals was It is to force the Dutch's range of activities and control back to the south of the equator, and it is best to compress it directly to the line of Java Island.

Yan Chujie decided to persuade Fan Dimen from a different angle according to the predetermined plan: "I understand Mr. Governor's concerns, but I would like to ask Mr. Governor a question. You have traveled so far to the Far East. What do you want to do here? What is the real purpose to be achieved?"

Without waiting for Fan Dimen to think clearly about his answer, Yan Chujie continued: "Please allow me to make a bold guess. The purpose of your coming here is actually for wealth. Oriental porcelain, silk, tea, spices... have So many good things, as long as they are shipped back to Europe, they will get a lot of gold and silver in return. You colonized the Far East, explored routes, launched wars, and supported agents. All these measures are actually to earn more Fortune. Mr. Governor, am I right?"

Fan Dimen couldn't deny Yan Chujie's statement. He could never say that the people from the East India Company traveled thousands of miles to the Far East to bring well-being to the aborigines here. The spirit of internationalism.Yan Chujie is right, everything is for money, to earn more wealth.Aren't the tens of thousands of East India Company's subordinates in the Far East working and fighting for this purpose?
Fan Dimen was trying to make up a few clichés to confuse this question and not give Yan Chujie an excuse, but Yan Chujie did not wait for his response, but continued: "It doesn't matter if you admit it or not, Mr. Governor, because this is the truth. .All the adventurers who come to the Far East, no matter if they are Spaniards, Portuguese, British, French, or you Dutch, actually come here for the wealth. But there is no order in this area, whose Whoever has a big fist can snatch more territory and resources. This state of disorder actually slows down the speed of making money for everyone. Mr. Governor, please imagine if all parties competing in the Far East can let go of their prejudices Stop the war, sign a peace treaty, and then carve up this huge market together, will the East India Company’s profit-making speed be doubled because of this?”

Fan Diemen's answer this time was very firm: "It's impossible, General Yan, with all due respect, you probably don't understand the relationship between Western countries, and you want to make all the families who come to the Far East be honest. It is simply impossible to do business with a truce. This is not just a matter of money, but also involves a more complicated issue of relations between countries. I think you think things too simply."

"It's actually not as mysterious as you said. Although Europa is very far away from the Far East, we still know a little about the situation in your countries." Yan Chujie replied with a smile: "Currently Europe is divided into two camps to fight against each other. , on one side Denmark, Sweden, France, Holland, England, Russia, German Protestant princes, and on the other the Holy Roman Empire, German Catholic princes, Poland, and Spain.”

"The French want to dominate Europe and divide Germany; Denmark and Sweden want to carve up German territories and seaports in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea; and the British and you, the Netherlands, want to contain the expansion of the Spanish Empire in Northern Europe. Although this war was originally due to It is caused by religion, but at this stage, religious belief is just an excuse for the participating countries. As for now, if I remember correctly, it should be the Swedes who are leading the battlefield? But Gustav II They died in battle last year, so the Swedes must not have many good days."

After Yan Chujie finished speaking this time, the surprised expression on Fan Dimen's face could no longer be concealed.He really didn't expect that the Haihan people had such a detailed understanding of the international situation in Europe, and even the recent situation of the European War. Even though the Portuguese gave them relevant intelligence information, the degree of care is really amazing.After all, the Far East is too far away from Europe, and the situation in Europe has no direct impact on Haihan, but the understanding of Europe by Haihan people is much greater than that of Europeans on the international situation in the Far East.

The European War has been fought for 1618 years since the Bohemia uprising against the Holy Roman Empire in 15.The Netherlands did not go well in the wars of the previous few years. The anti-Habsburg alliance formed with Britain, France and Denmark was defeated by the mercenaries of the Bohemian nobleman Wallenstein. Yue was forced to sign the "Lübeck Peace Treaty", promising not to intervene in German affairs, thus declaring the temporary defeat of the anti-Habsburg alliance.

However, in 1630, the French paid for Sweden, and King Gustav II of Sweden led an army to land in Pomerania and start a war against the Holy Roman Empire.After a year-long war, the Swedes occupied Pomerania and defeated their opponents at the Lech River the following year. Even the commander of the imperial army, Count Tilly, was killed on the battlefield.As a result, the Imperial Army was defeated again and again, losing important towns such as Mainz, Augsburg and Munich one after another.

However, at this time, the Holy Roman Emperor once again used Wallenstein as commander in chief, and defeated the Swedes in one fell swoop in the Battle of Lützen in November 1632. Gustav II was killed in this battle, which also made the The Swedish army never recovered.

The news that the King of Sweden was killed in the European War, Van Diemen only got the news recently, and he can be sure that his source of news must be faster than the Portuguese, because the owner of the ship who sent the news came after the Battle of Lützen. They set off from Europe immediately the next day. At that time, the news of the death of the Swedish king had not yet spread. It was at least a month or two before the Portuguese got the news. That's why Van Diemen was surprised that the Haihan people had grasped the news. Such "time-sensitive" intelligence.

Of course, Van Diemen didn't know that the history of Europe was not a secret to Haihan. If necessary, Yan Chujie could even say that the troops Wallenstein used in the Battle of Lützen included Germans, Austrians, and Czechs. , Italians, Hungarians, Poles and Croats, and the arms of this unit are divided into cuirassiers, musketeers, dragoons and Croatian light cavalry.Even the entire battle process of this battle, Yan Chujie can repeat it to him like a few treasures - after all, this battle is one of the classic battle cases studied in Haihan Military Academy. Yan Chujie has guided the students' sand table deduction more than once. Very familiar.

Yan Chujie looked at the surprised expression on Fan Dimen's face, and knew that his words had already had the effect, so he continued: "We are very clear about the grievances and grievances between you and other countries in Europe, and the conflict of interests between countries is indeed not something that businessmen can reconcile. Yes, the measures and attitudes you have taken in the Far East also represent your country to a certain extent. But Mr. Governor, what I want to say is that this is not Europe. There will be exclusive rules of the game in the Far East. Those who abide by the rules Players can stay here, and those who want to play tricks here will be punished accordingly."

Fan Dimen had recovered from the shock just now, and responded coldly: "General Yan, do you want to say that you Haihan are the makers and executors of the rules of this game?"

"We are the ones who initiated the formulation of the rules of the game, and the executors will be every player who participates and is willing to abide by the rules." Yan Chujie showed a hand, and began to point fingers one by one: "At present In addition to our Haihan, those who are willing to join are Daming, Annan, Champa, Portugal, and there may be Ryukyu and Matalan in the future, and more and more countries. We came to Batavia , I want you to have the opportunity to choose between war and peace, of course you have the freedom to choose to keep your usual practice, but you can also choose to join in and earn innumerable wealth while enjoying peace."

"This is impossible, the Matalan people will not live in peace with us! We will not give up our revenge on the Matalan people!" Fan Dimen shook his head again and again, refusing to accept this statement.It has only been a year since the war between the two sides, and both sides have suffered heavy losses in this war, how could it be possible that Haihan came out to say hello and immediately resolved this hatred.

"In the face of tangible interests, is there any hatred that cannot be resolved?" Yan Chujie smiled and shook his head and said, "Matalan people need money to build a powerful fleet, and you need money to rebuild Batavia. Isn't this reason enough for you to put down the war and concentrate on making money?"

(End of this chapter)