1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 468 The layout of the Dutch in Annan
On March 3, Zhang Wenqi left Bin Thong Long, the capital of King Champa by boat, and arrived at Lin'an Bao (now Vung Tau City in southeast Vietnam) in the evening of the same day.

Stay here for five days to check the various infrastructures and cultivated land reclamation of Lin'an Fort.

There are more than 1000 to 400 people in Lin'an Fort, including more than 300 Annans and more than [-] Khmers. However, under the strong force of the Hanzhou people, they are completely in a subordinate position here, unlike those Ming people , was directly awarded the field by the local Qi civil affairs officials.

As second-class citizens, the Annan people and the Khmer people may only be classified as their own by the Hanzhou people, given their official status, and awarded Fields and houses.

After Zhang Wenqi inspected the construction and land reclamation work of Lin'an Fort, all the results were quite satisfactory.Most of the core castle with a circumference of 800 meters has been completed, and the main functional facilities such as the dock fort, official hall, residence, warehouse, barracks, well, and watchtower have been completed. The cement trestle has not yet started.

However, considering that Lin'an Fort has deployed two companies of marine soldiers and several small armed sailboats, the nearby Cambodian army may not dare to attack.Even if there are police here, as long as they can hold on for five or six days, the support from Xinsheng Island will arrive soon.Therefore, Zhang Wenqi is quite at ease about the safety of Lin'an Fort.

On April 4, Zhang Wenqi left Lin'anbao and returned to Xinsheng Island.

And just in the evening, Zhang Wenqi and his group of two small armed sailboats encountered an armed merchant ship flying the flag of the East India Company "VOC" and sailed from the northeast to the coast of Cambodia.

Seeing that the two ships were about to meet before dark, Zhang Wenqi immediately ordered the two small armed sailboats to separate. The boat he was on continued to sail southwest, while the other boat turned around and headed back towards Lin'anbao.

Although Qi State has signed a peace agreement with the Dutch East India Company for more than a year, on this boundless ocean, if it is sunk by a Dutch armed merchant ship and no one sees it, as long as the other party does it clean, your side will There is no evidence to accuse the other party, and in the end it can only be determined that the ship had an accident.

Zhang Wenqi is also a person who has experienced storms at sea for a long time. He will not pin his fate on the gentlemanly demeanor that Dutch armed merchant ships will pay attention to.

At sea, no one who sails a boat is a good person.If you see a merchant ship that is alone, and its force is far inferior to your own, the stronger party will not mind playing the role of a pirate, snatching the other party clean, and finally killing everyone, or selling them all Served as slaves to the natives of Shengfan.

"Those two small boats seem to belong to Hanzhou people." On the "Helder" owned by the Dutch East India Company, the captain Rosie Durham put down the binoculars in his hand and smiled at a [-]-year-old man beside him. The man said: "Also, they are very alert, and they are heading in two directions very quickly. I don't think we have a chance to sink them. The people on their two boats should have identified us."

"Since this is the case, we have been following the small boat ahead, and let them pray to the Almighty God with fear." Fred Upton, senior commercial counselor of the Dutch East India Company, said with a smile.

"Mr. Upton, as far as I know, the Hanzhou people don't believe in our God." Captain Rossi Durham shrugged.

"Oh, then let them pray to the gods from all walks of life in the east." Fred Upton said indifferently: "The Hanzhou people seem to be very active in this area. Do they also want to get involved in the business of this area?"

"They seem to only do grain trade in this area, as well as a small amount of cloth, medicinal materials, and daily necessities. I think these trade activities are all around their immigration affairs. As for selling their own goods, it seems that there is only one commodity, Weapons!" said Captain Rosie Durham.

"We, the East India Company, can also sell weapons." Fred Upton said: "The Annan regime in the north has found us, hoping to obtain a large number of artillery and muskets to deal with the Guangnan country in the south. However, this For one thing, we still need to ask the governor for instructions. After all, that Guangnan country once had a close cooperative relationship with us."

"Guangnan Kingdom?" Captain Rossi Durham frowned, "Four years ago, we united with this country and attacked the nearby Xinsheng Island of the Hanzhou people. Unfortunately, we failed to win. Later, Guangnan organized another attack, which resulted in a disastrous defeat and almost wiped out the entire army. Subsequently, in order to retaliate against Guangnan, the Hanzhou people attacked many of its coastal towns for several years."

"Yes, the Hanzhou people have a strong sense of revenge." Fred Upton said: "However, I heard that they suddenly shook hands and made peace last year, and instead jointly attacked Annan's northern regime. And repelled the invasion of the north, and caused a lot of losses to the other side. This is also the reason why the Annan northern regime wanted to buy a large number of artillery and guns from our East India Company. I personally think that they should be supported. This is very important to contain Hanzhou The development of people here is of positive significance. At the same time, we can also establish in-depth trade relations with this country with millions of people.”

Captain Rosie Durham nodded in approval.The purpose of their trip was to deliver supplies and personnel to a nearby small island, and prepare to restore the stronghold on the island (now Kunlun Island, Vietnam), which had been breached by the Hanzhou people and set fire to it. up.As a senior commercial counselor, Mr. Upton came here with the ship to inspect the business environment in this area.

They then went to a seaside city of the Zheng family in Annan to land, and went to Thang Long City (now Hanoi, Vietnam) to visit officials of the Zheng family.

In Thang Long City, the officials of the Zheng family who had contacted the Dutch immediately proposed to buy artillery and guns, and also tentatively asked if they could obtain one or two Western gunboats.Last year, the warships of Zheng's navy had little power to fight back against several Hanzhou gunboats, and most of the ships were lost.

As for the bilateral trade requested by the Dutch, Zheng's officials declared that as long as a large amount of firearms could be obtained, other types of goods trade requests would be accepted.

Although the other party set some trade prerequisites, Upton was still quite satisfied with Annan's trip.He was also sure of persuading Governor Delin to let go of the arms deal with the Annan Zheng family.After all, Annan is far away from the East Indies controlled by the Dutch, and the opponent's sea power is also very weak, which is not enough to threaten the East India Company.

The "Helde" followed the small armed galley of Hanzhou from a distance, and only sailed southward when it was dark and the other party's figure could not be seen.

More than ten days later, the "Helde" returned to Batavia. On the pier, they encountered two more Hanzhou ships.Different from the two Hanzhou small galleys encountered in the waters of Cambodia before, the one that appeared at the Batavia Wharf was a professional warship of the Hanzhou people.

One is about 600 tons, and the other is more than [-] tons. Both of them have double decks and are full of muzzles, showing a formidable combat effectiveness.

Captain Rosie Durham and Fred Upton looked at each other with a look of fear in each other's eyes.You must know that in order to maximize commercial profits, the East India Company also has a very economical utilization rate of all ships. The ships transported in the Far East and to and from Europe are all armed merchant ships, and even some transport ships are basically No force.

If a single armed merchant ship encounters a professional warship, it will be at an absolute disadvantage both in terms of firepower density and driving (escape) speed.

To deal with these two professional warships in Hanzhou, the East India Company must organize at least four or five armed merchant ships in order to win the battle.If they have more than a dozen professional warships, the maritime hegemony currently maintained by the East India Company will inevitably be seriously challenged.

"Fortunately, the Hanzhou people have very few professional warships. In the short term, they cannot pose a threat to us." Captain Rossi Durham said: "Moreover, the overall combat quality of their naval personnel is lower than that of Compared with our East India Company's navy, it is still much worse. Therefore, they still need to spend a lot of time to further improve and improve before they can form an effective threat to us."

Fred Upton nodded, thinking that what Rosie Durham said was very correct, Hanzhou people should not think that they can challenge our East India Company by building many professional warships.The once powerful Spanish navy and their "Invincible Fleet" were still severely damaged by us when they encountered our inter-provincial navy. They are still in a state of depression and can no longer pose any threat to the inter-provincial navy.

"However, we should speed up the layout and integration of the East Indies, occupy some important maritime points, and lay the foundation for complete control of this vast sea area in the future." Rossi Durham said.

"It is not difficult for us to occupy some key points in the East Indies." Fred Upton said: "However, in the future, after the outbreak of war, we must be able to hold these points and play their due role." However, it is a test of our castle building ability and mercenary combat will."

"The cement used by the Hanzhou people to build the castle should be a good building material for us. It's a pity that they actually prohibit the export of this building material to us."

"Yes, the Hanzhou people are really stingy. However, I believe that we will eventually get this building material called cement." Fred Upton's eyes shone with a strange light.

(End of this chapter)