1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 934 Weighing the pros and cons
The talk of raiding Macau is of course just a moment of anger by Van Longen. He wants to send an armed fleet to attack a port [-] nautical miles away. Confidence, you have to carefully consider Haihan's possible reaction to this.You must know that the armed stronghold of the Haihan people at the mouth of the Pearl River is only [-] to [-] nautical miles away from Macau, and it is unlikely that they will stand by.

However, Van Diemen does not think that this trading system is dominated by the Portuguese. He believes that it is impossible for the Haihan people to let their defeated opponents ride on their heads to control the overall situation. Fan Dimen never believed that Hai Han could be instructed to do this or that.Moreover, Yan Chujie deliberately mentioned the information on the European battlefield during the meeting. Obviously, it is unlikely to be intelligence from the Portuguese. The Haihan people have a more detailed understanding of the European war situation than the Portuguese, so there is no need for them to provide reference information.

"Gentlemen, I think the focus now should be on the demands made by the Haihan people. We need to evaluate the consequences of refusing or agreeing to them, and consider how to do what is the most beneficial choice for the company, instead of being angry. Sprinkle it on the Portuguese!" Fan Dimen knocked on the table and said, signaling to Fan Longen not to take the topic too far: "We don't need to make unnecessary attempts to fight Macau!"

Van Longen also knew that what he said just now was not very logical, so he blushed and sat back in his seat.The Dutch once attacked Macau in history. In early 1622, Governor Cohen considered joining the British army to directly attack Macau and occupy the local area.In June of that year, 130 warships and more than [-] soldiers led by Cornaris Reyoz launched a landing battle in Macau.However, Commander Reyoz seriously underestimated Macau's defense capabilities. After two hours of fierce fighting, the ammunition of the landing troops was exhausted. At this time, the Portuguese launched a counterattack, causing heavy casualties to the attackers.In this battle, the Dutch expeditionary force suffered a disastrous defeat, with [-] people killed and more than [-] captured. This result was even more casualties than the Dutch fleet's two-year battle with Ming in southern Fujian.For the East India Company, the Battle of Macau was indeed a painful old scar, and no one wanted to mention this disgraceful achievement.

At present, Haihan has given the East India Company two options. One is to join the trade alliance, but the price the East India Company has to pay for this is to give up the shipping and trade in the area north of Ambuna Island, and hand over all of them to Haihan for management.The second option is to refuse to join the alliance, but the consequences of this may be more serious. The East India Company will be boycotted by members of the trade alliance, and there may even be old enemies like Mata Languo to take the initiative looking for trouble.

Judging from the results, in fact, no matter which one is chosen, the East India Company will suffer huge losses in the short term. The only difference is that the former choice may receive a certain degree of compensation.

Of course, Haihan boasted very well about the prospect of joining the trade alliance. Dutch businessmen only need to place orders on Ambuna Island or even Batavia, and the rest of the production, procurement, and transportation links will all be handled by other members of the alliance. The country teamed up to finish.What the East India Company needs to do is to prepare the cash and pay for the delivery at the time of the transaction, and then transfer these goods produced in the Far East back to Europe.The performance of the Haihan cargo ship can support it to go back and forth between Sanya Port and Batavia almost without interruption in a year, and the total amount of cargo that can be provided to the East India Company will also greatly exceed the current self-operated East India Company. Level.If you only consider the cost of goods procurement, it is obviously more cost-effective to have the trade union act as an agent than the East India Company to organize the procurement and transportation by itself.

However, the East India Company was not a purely commercial organization. To a certain extent, it also carried the task of expanding the territory of the Netherlands in the Far East. Many things cannot be considered purely based on commercial interests.The East India Company invested huge manpower, material and financial resources in the past few years to build a colony of Dayuan Port in Taiwan and open up trade routes in Northeast Asia. Control of the island of Taiwan made it a Dutch base in Northeast Asia.Of course, this plan has tended to fail with the sudden appearance of the Haihan people, and they are no longer satisfied with keeping Dayuangang in captivity, and plan to completely expel him from the area.

"The Haihan people only agree to keep the company's office in the local area. All business activities must submit an application and be implemented after their approval. This is equivalent to abolishing Dayuan Port. Gentlemen, we cannot agree to such a request , Without Dayuan Port, it is equivalent to handing over Northeast Asia to the Haihan people! This means that all our efforts in the past ten years have been in vain!" Van der Wegen is also one of the opposition, but everyone present knows that he He feels the same as his father and son with Chief Chief Hans, and this kind of objection sounds more or less mixed with some personal emotions.

"If you want to protect Dayuan Port, you have to keep it." The speaker was Philip, who is currently the import and export trade commissioner of the East India Company. The reason is also very subtle, because the slave trade he operated created a lot of profits for the East India Company after the war, but the target of the slave trade was the Haihan people who were forced to come here this time.

"With all due respect, if the Haihan people want to use military means to solve Dayuan Port, it will probably be over in the first half of this year. But they didn't attack Dayuan Port, they just circled around the gate, and then went north to beat up the Spaniards Gentlemen, although I don’t want to admit it, the fact is that Dayuan Port is not something we can keep if we want to.” Philip looked around at everyone present and said slowly: “If we are destined to lose Dayuan Hong Kong, it is better to think about how to use it in exchange for more favorable conditions for the company.”

"Mr. Philip, I think you are expressing your opinion from the standpoint of the Haihan people!" Van der Wegen said with a livid face: "The importance of Dayuan Port to the company cannot be denied by you in just one or two sentences! Don't forget How much painstaking effort we spent and how many people died in order to get a port in the Taiwan Strait!"

"Of course, we will not forget the soldiers who died in the battle of Nanri Island, but because of this, we need to take the warning of the Haihan people more seriously." Philip immediately countered: "Mr. Van der Wegen, I think you should be right This is the most empathetic person.”

"You..." Van der Wegen's face turned from blue to red, and his fists were clenched tightly. If it weren't for the presence of many important people at the moment, he would really like to go over and smash his fists on Philip's face, and teach this arrogant man a lesson. slave trader.

In the Battle of Nanri Island two years ago, the Haihan Fleet defeated the maritime alliance formed by Shibazhi and the Dutch, and the officer who commanded six Dutch armed sailing ships to participate in the battle was Van der Wegen.That battle caused heavy losses to the garrison at Dayuan Port. Only two of the six ships that participated in the battle escaped the battlefield safely, and the other four were captured by the Haihan people after being injured in the battle. The sum of the two battles in Penghu was even more.

For the East India Company, this was a tragic failure, and the control of the FJ Strait began to gradually change hands. Since then, it has never raised its head in front of Haihan.For Van der Wegen personally, this is a stain that can never be erased in his career. As long as he has something to do with Hai Han, he will be listed as an example of failure at any time—just like what Philip is doing now. Do the same thing.

Philip ignored him at all, and continued: "Compared to two years ago, the size of the Haihan fleet has almost doubled. Maybe they have developed some new secret weapons. It is hard to say. If you want to rely on force to keep the big Yuan Gang, I would like to ask everyone, how many armed sailing ships need to be sent to the local area? What will happen to Batavia's maritime defense after they are sent out? I heard that the Haihan fleet going south this time has fifty or sixty ships. The Governor should have seen part of it when he went to negotiate this time, right?"

Seeing Philip throwing the topic to himself, Fan Diemen had no choice but to respond: "According to the agreement, the Haihan people only sent one warship to pick up the negotiators, but the ship they sent was the flagship of the majestic class. I must It must be admitted that the tonnage, firepower, and performance of the warships made by Haihan are beyond the reach of our armed sailboats in the Far East. But fortunately, the number of such large warships is extremely limited. There are only two."

"I would like to add some information." Philip continued after receiving the affirmation from Van Diemen's eyes: "Everyone knows that I have traveled to Ambuna Island many times in the past year to contact the Haihan people, so I have heard a little about the situation of the Haihan Navy. The Haihan people have installed a device called a 'steam engine' on their warships. After using this device, their sailboats can travel at a maximum speed of It easily exceeds ten knots, and the dependence on wind force and wind direction is also greatly reduced. If we cannot break through this technical barrier, we will not be able to talk about competing with it in the Far East Sea. You are people who know how to sail, and you should be able to understand this technology mean something."

The fact that the Haihan people installed propulsion propulsion devices on some warships is actually no longer a secret. Many people even know that the propulsion devices are all made of steel and are powered by burning coal.However, how to implement it, and how to convert heat energy into power that can propel ships on the sea, is unknown outside Haihan.

Two years ago, when the Dutch mission went to Sanya for peace talks with Haihan, as representatives, Su Keyi and others had seen the large iron ship docked in Shengli Harbor, and heard related introductions, and knew that the Haihan people had ships other than sails. Advance technology.But this technology is 100% confidential to the outside world, even the allies of the Haihan people are no exception.The existence of this kind of black technology has greatly widened the gap between Haihan and the Dutch maritime armed forces, and now this gap has extended to the field of commerce and trade, which means that Haihan has begun to civilianize this military technology and use it to compete for The share of sea trade in the Far East.

Now that this topic has been mentioned, Fan Dimen also talked about the situation he has by the way: "According to the information we have collected, after the Haihan people arrived in Sanya, they went to a remote place in the north of Annan to build a In the port, we all know that they dig coal in that place, and transport the coal back to Sanya continuously. In the past, we thought that their demand for coal was to make iron, but now it seems that things are not that simple , They probably planned to apply their special technology to sailboats from the very beginning. I believe that if their steel production is high enough, then the construction of iron ships will appear sooner or later."

Someone asked: "Mr. Governor, may I take it that you mean that compared with Haihan, you are not optimistic about our competitiveness in navigation?"

"Very pessimistic!" Van Diemen said very bluntly: "From the various information we have so far, the Haihan people are far ahead of us in terms of navigation and shipbuilding. Please pay attention, gentlemen, I The big part is not the number of ships, but the height of the technology. Maybe it will take us ten years, 20 years, or even longer to develop these technologies, but I can no longer imagine the Haihan people at that time. How far has the nautical industry developed? After all, it only took them six to seven years to develop from nothing to the present. This technological gap may gradually increase over time, to the extent that We can't catch up."

"Your Excellency, you don't have to think about things so pessimistically. I don't think the situation is so bad." Su Keyi continued: "The Haihan people mentioned in the negotiations that their merchant ships can ignore the direction of the monsoon and go back and forth regardless of the season. Between hainandao and Java Island, it is probably that this technology is going to be extended to the people. As long as we can afford it, it will not be difficult to buy this kind of device, and even the craftsmen who made it will be able to buy it back. .At that time, we can draw a ladle according to the gourd and imitate it.”

Be smart!Fan Dimen gave Su Keyi a bad review in his heart, but his face remained calm, explaining to him: "You are right, as long as Haihan sells things, we will always have a way to buy them." In the past, we bought many weapons produced by Haihan for research. However, the weapons sold by Haihan people are not as good as their own equipment, and their performance is deliberately weakened. Even if they are imitated, they can only imitate inferior weapons, and The cost is much higher than their selling price. If you want to imitate, it is better to buy directly from them to save money and worry.”

　Today I found that the names of provinces have also become sensitive words, all of which were automatically changed to pinyin abbreviations by the background, and the full pinyin names will be used in subsequent chapters, please forgive me

　　
　
(End of this chapter)