1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 534 Confrontation ([-])

"Why is your majesty so sure that the Dutch will eventually reach an agreement with us to withdraw from that stronghold?" Qi Dajiang asked.

"Do you all have doubts about this?" Qi Tian said with a smile: "At the meeting just now, I saw that you all showed doubts, but you still kept it in your stomach and didn't dare to ask. Why, they instigated you to ask me?"

"The main reason is that your majesty's previous decisions have proved how wise and forward-looking you were in the past. Therefore, even if everyone has doubts in their hearts, they still believe in your judgment and decision." Qi Dajiang looked at Qi Tian, In my heart, I tried my best to match his appearance at this moment with the image of the frail younger brother ten years ago, but I couldn't match him. I always felt that he was two completely different people.

"I can make the right decision, but it doesn't prove how wise and powerful I am, and it doesn't mean that I have any foresight." Qi Tian was a little distracted, smiled bitterly, and said: "What I borrow is nothing more than the existing ones. The general trend of history. But in this world, there are still many things that I have not understood and known.”

"Huh?" Qi Dajiang looked at Qi Tian in puzzlement.

"In the future, if your military has any doubts, you must raise them immediately. As the saying goes, one person counts weaknesses, two counts strengths, and three people are better than Zhuge Liang. Many affairs are complicated. If I make arbitrary decisions every time, it is not right I am a blessing to the country." Qi Tian solemnly said: "So, we have established a staff system in the army, and a consultative and deliberative system in the Prime Minister's Office, in order to avoid individual supervisors' assumptions and arbitrariness."

"This time we insisted on resolving the dispute with the Dutch through negotiation, which was the best choice made by the staff after several rounds of situational deduction. Four years ago, we were able to strengthen the city defenses of Jianye City, Xinxiang City, Zhenhai City and other places to resist The invasion of the Dutch. Today, in the eastern part of Hanzhou, Weiyuan Island and other areas, dozens of pioneering points are scattered everywhere, and the city defense is weak. Our naval ships are not enough to maintain the local sea control. Once we tear ourselves apart from the Dutch, Of course they will suffer huge losses, and we will also suffer a lot. More importantly, the war will seriously affect our early layout in Ming Dynasty."

"Will the Netherlands definitely compromise and finally dismantle that stronghold?" Qi Dajiang nodded, acknowledging Qi Tian's concerns.In the past four years, the strength and population of Qi State have increased, but with the expansion of the territory, the difficulty of defense has also increased accordingly.

"The Dutch came to Nanyang from far away Europe to colonize and gain wealth." Qi Tian said leisurely: "If we show our determination to fight at all costs, they should make some concessions. We are now There are many pioneering points, and the Dutch are enough to pose a serious threat to us. But at the same time, after ten years of development, the strength of our Qi country is not to be underestimated, and it is also the biggest threat to the Dutch East India Company. Therefore, both of us Both will regard each other as the biggest geographical rivals, but under the premise of not having absolute strength to crush or eliminate the other party, no one will easily attack the other party. In this case, the only way to sit down and talk is to try to eliminate the existence of war factor."

"Hehe..., we and the Dutch are afraid of beating wolves with a stick." Qi Dajiang smiled, and then asked: "When we develop for another ten years, may we compete with the Dutch?"

"The Dutch are actually nothing to worry about." Qi Tian shook his head and said: "They are a merchant country with limited industrial output, and the capital in the country tends to short-term, flat and fast overseas trade, and their development potential is definitely insufficient. Our Qi country will develop for another ten years, and the strength Not to mention that it can catch up to the level of the Dutch mainland, but it should not be difficult to deal with a Dutch East India Company."

"Well, we add two professional warships every year. After ten years, there will be more than 20 ships. We should have some confidence in dealing with the large number of armed merchant ships of the Dutch."

"At that time, even if our naval skills were a little weaker, we could win against the Dutch if we fought against them." Qi Tian said with a smile.

At the end of February, according to the rough population statistics of various places, the mainland of Hanzhou and several affiliated overseas territories such as Weiyuan Island and Timor Island had a population of more than 14.The immigrants who arrived this year have not been included in it, but they will definitely not be less than 4000. In this way, when the immigration season ends in March, Qi will have a population of 17.

What is even more rare is that the native-born population has also begun to grow steadily. Last year, the native-born population and several neighboring overseas territories reached a record high of more than 300.

According to a more optimistic estimate, the annual immigration and native-born population can make Qi's population grow at a scale of more than 3 per year. After ten years, the total population will definitely exceed 50.

With a huge population, coupled with strong industrial production capacity, if it can't crush a colonial company, then it is too useless for Qi.

Rick Wolf, the representative of the Dutch East India Company in Qi State, walked out of the Prime Minister's Office building with a serious expression. He had just been summoned by the Prime Minister of the Qi State Government and the Minister of Honglu Temple, and told them that the East India Company had set up a secret stronghold in the northern part of Hanzhou without authorization. For one thing, a stern warning was issued.For this reason, the Qi government demanded that the East India Company immediately dismantle this stronghold and evacuate all personnel and armed forces from Hanzhou mainland.Otherwise, the Qi government will take necessary decisive measures.

The so-called "decisive measures", Rick Wolfe knew what it meant. The secret stronghold established by the Hanzhou people for the East India Company had already issued a threat of war.

When passing through the Jianye City Square, Rick Wolf was surprised to see countless armed men in military uniforms gathering here from various places in the city. The loud horns, short and powerful passwords, and the neat and solemn queue, like Xu Rulin bayonet phalanx, and more than a dozen cannons drawn by pack horses...

Oh, God, did the Hanzhou people have just issued a warning to their East India Company, and then turned their heads and started to start their war machine eagerly?
Teams of soldiers who had completed their review, under the leadership of the officers, began to march out of the city one after another.The long queue passed through the wide street. Amidst the cheers of the crowd on both sides, majestic slogans erupted from time to time, one after another, instantly igniting the desire for war in the entire city.

No, war is avoidable!Rick Wolf stopped watching and feeling the war atmosphere in the city, and hurried to the business hall with a few subordinates.He must report everything here to Batavia immediately, and the Hanzhou people seem to be angered by their East India Company's actions.

After staying in Hanzhou for nearly three years, Rick Wolf thought he still had a certain understanding of this country.Their population is growing rapidly, and the variety and scale of industrial materials they produce are also expanding year by year.

Although I don't know their shipbuilding capabilities and the development of their maritime armed forces, as many as [-] or [-] ships are constantly traveling between Jianye Port and other areas of Hanzhou to perform immigration tasks in June, July, February and March. , he can also roughly estimate Hanzhou's sea power from it.Compared with the war four years ago, Hanzhou's ships must have increased by at least [-]%.

If war breaks out again, the Dutch East India Company may not necessarily lose, but the losses suffered may far exceed those last time.In view of this, presumably the Batavian colonial authorities do not want to have a conflict with Hanzhou.
-
On March 3, in the northern part of Hanzhou, Hollenburg (now Kitts Harbor in northern Australia).

Gorol Kahn, governor of Hollenburg, stood on a reef on the shore, held up his binoculars and looked at it for a long time, and then let out a little breath.The warships of the Han people obviously did not intend to directly attack Hollenburg. The two warships that came had lowered their sails and stopped at a distance of one kilometer from the shore, apparently blocking Hollenburg.

Half a month ago, the mercenaries on duty at Hollenburg discovered the Hanzhou sailors who broke into the vicinity, and then, led by the officers, rushed out of the castle quickly, trying to catch those Hanzhou sailors who were peeping at Hollenburg.

But unfortunately, on the shore, the other party left four sailors, holding muskets and shooting at the chasing mercenaries, covering the evacuation of other companions.Although in the end, the mercenaries surrounded them from three sides by virtue of their superiority in numbers, killed one person, injured one person, and captured the remaining two people, but the other party's boat docked on the shore left quickly.

At that time, Governor Gorol Kahn became nervous, and they were finally discovered by the Hanzhou people.You know, there are only 220 people in Hollenburg, of which there are only more than 60 mercenaries, and the rest are Java natives and black natives captured from nearby.

The country of Hanzhou is a local power that can mobilize thousands of people at any time. Since they have found out the location of Hollenburg, they will inevitably attract their ships and armed landing personnel.Holenberg had just received a supply a month ago, and it would take two months for the armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company to come to provide supplies again.

God, in two months time, maybe the Hanzhou people were attacking Hollenburg, killing them all, and the corpses are starting to rot, and the staff of the East India Company may not know everything that happened here.
-
March 3, Timor Island, Kupang.

Two armed merchant ships under the East India Company moored at the port were shocked to see five Hanzhou warships suddenly appearing outside the harbor. They first intercepted several fishing boats and drove them all back to the shore.Although no attack was made, the deep hostility revealed still caused the ships and personnel in Kupang Port to panic.

The governor of Kupang ordered a small boat to go to the Hanzhou Fleet, and asked what the other party's intention was. Is there a war with the East India Company?

As a result, the sent representatives were ruthlessly refused to board the ship by the Hanzhou people, refused to communicate, and did not give any explanation.It is just that any ships in Kupang port must be inspected and questioned by the Hanzhou fleet when entering or leaving the port, and ships carrying weapons and military personnel are prohibited from leaving the port.

After the governor of Kupang heard the news, he was extremely angry.When will our East India Company's trading base be blocked by the Hanzhou people, and they dare to inspect our ships entering and leaving the port!This is Chiguoguo's war threat, are the Hanzhou people crazy?
However, after thinking about it for a while, I feel that the Hanzhou people seem to be some distance away from the road to war.Their five warships only approached the port of Kupang, but they did not make any offensive behavior, and even allowed the ships to enter and exit, but they were subject to inspection.This shows that they still maintained a certain degree of restraint and did not want to let the situation worsen to the last step.

The governor of Kupang immediately sent a fast liaison ship to Batavia to report what happened here.The Hanzhou people suddenly showed abnormal aggressive behavior. It must be that our East India Company angered them on a certain matter, so that the other party aggressively sent ships to Kupang for demonstrations.
-
October 3, Batavia, Governor's Palace.

An impromptu emergency meeting was being held in the council hall of the Governor's Mansion. Governor Cornelis Van der Lin glanced sternly at the dozen or so colonial officials present, and then said in a deep voice, "That's how things are, Han The Europeans do not know how to know the existence of Hollenburg, and also find its location accurately. Now, they have issued a serious warning to our East India Company, demanding that we immediately remove all personnel and armed forces from this stronghold. Gentlemen, please share your opinions on how to deal with this matter."

"We heard the news from the Hanzhou Commercial Station that the Hanzhou people have begun local mobilization for war. Armed forces of as many as 1000 people are gathering in their Jianye City, and countless war supplies have also begun to flow from their inland factories. Constantly transported to Jianye Port Wharf." Senior Commercial Counselor Fred Upton said slowly: "It seems that the Hanzhou people were stimulated by the Hollenburg we secretly set up, and they issued threats of war. And I think their threat will turn into a real war action at some point. Therefore, we must attach great importance to this."

"According to statistics, by the end of last year, our bilateral trade volume with Hanzhou had reached 120 million dong, and we have become an important trading partner of our East India Company. Except for grain and timber, almost most of our daily necessities are from Hanzhou Provided. Moreover, sugar, cloisonne, wood carvings, mirrors, steel knives, soap and other commodities produced in Hanzhou were transshipped by us to India, Persia, Ottoman, and Europe, which brought us extremely considerable profits.”

"If it really falls into war with Hanzhou again, I think it will seriously affect the trade surplus of the entire East India Company. You know, Hanzhou is not like those kingdoms in the East Indies. They have a very good land war team strength, and a small but extremely capable navy. It is reported that their navy has at least eight to ten professional warships. Once a conflict occurs, it will inevitably cause us a certain degree of loss. Therefore, I suggest removing that Holenberg, restore peace with Hanzhou."

"If only relying on the war blackmail of the Han people, we immediately dismantle that Hollenburg, will it appear that our East India Company is too weak?" Rear Admiral Grigoris Kopet, commander of the Batavian Navy, shook his head and said. : "I remember that when a military officer introduced the situation of the Hanzhou people to me, he mentioned a piece of news that interested me very much. In June and July last year, when a large number of ships from Hanzhou went to the Ming Dynasty to immigrate, they brought many soldiers with them. It is estimated that there are at least 800 people. They seem to be particularly concerned about the turmoil in the Ming country, and a large number of military personnel and military supplies have arrived near the Ming country. What does this mean?"

Major General Grigoris Kopet nodded to Governor Delin, then looked at the other colonial officials sitting, and then continued: "This means that Hanzhou has invested a lot of resources in an attempt to interfere with the Ming Dynasty. In other words, the people of Hanzhou want to gain some personal benefits from the chaotic situation in Ming Dynasty. The distance from Hanzhou to Ming Dynasty is so far, even though it is a so-called regional power with a population of 10,000+, It will inevitably involve most of Hanzhou's energy and resources. May I ask, under the circumstances of Hanzhou, do they have the ability and determination to go to war with our East India Company?"

(End of this chapter)