1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 594 Indian Affairs ([-])

August 1647, 8, west of the Straits of Malacca.

The three armed merchant ships under the Qi State Indian Trading Company wandered around an island for half a day, and finally chose to land in a long and narrow bay.

Fleet commander and "Fengqing 2" armed transport ship Jiang Genquan holds the latest binoculars in both hands, and carefully observes the landing site. The lush rainforest stretches as far as the eye can see, and there is no sign of any human activities. , Occasionally, a few flying birds passed by, crossed the sails, and swept towards the inland farther northwest.

"Just here!" Jiang Genquan stretched out his finger and pointed to the narrow and long peninsula area in the northeast, "Seeing that the terrain is relatively flat and the trees are relatively sparse, we can build a camp here to provide necessary supplies for our merchant ships traveling to and from India in the future. "

After the landing order was issued, more than [-] natives of Timor Island who came with the boat were quickly lifted out from the bottom of the cabin, boarded several small boats, and rowed towards the designated landing point on the island.

The landing operation took more than half a day. Food, cloth, salt, spears, swords, and some production and living tools were unloaded to the beachhead of the landing point one by one. The natives, led by a few Annans, began to cut down Nearby trees, prepare to clear out a living camp.More than a dozen armed sailors, all wrapped up tightly, held muskets and short knives, and began to investigate the situation of the landing point with a radius of hundreds of meters.

"Ruan Chun, I won't tell you any other nonsense. Let's stop here for one night and leave for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) tomorrow morning. You are temporarily in charge of this place." The trading company in charge of the trade to India The shopkeeper Jiang Fubao looked at the thin Annan man in front of him, "Your task is to set up a temporary supply station here after we leave, so as to provide necessary fresh water supplies and temporary personnel for the ships of trading companies traveling to and from India in the future." Rest. The sailors also checked the surrounding situation just now, and there should be no wildlings and natives, and there is no danger."

"The more than 50 natives are all managed by you guys. Don't let them slack off. After that, we will send supplies to you every half a year at most. Also, this place is densely forested and the climate is hot and humid. Be careful Everyone should protect themselves daily, and don't let mosquitoes bite. Otherwise, you have to fight, and it will kill you."

"Boss, what should we do if we encounter a Western gunboat?" Ruan Chun was very resistant to putting them on this deserted island to build a so-called supply point.However, his own identity is just a boy. Two years ago in Nanping (now Jinlan City, Vietnam), he was shipped to Hanzhou mainland by Hanzhou people. First, he followed many new immigrants in Yongxing City (now Adelaide, northern Australia) Small town of Fufu) to open up wasteland and cultivate land in the settlement area.Because, with the experience of killing fish on the pier (not fishing experience), he was recruited by the Indian trading company last year and became a buddy and sailor under the trading company.

"Hehe..." Jiang Fubao chuckled a few times when he heard the words, "If you encounter a ship from the Western barbarians and you don't want to be slave labor for the rest of your life, then hide in the woods before they land and catch you Go... However, ordinary barbarian ships will not come here to this place where the birds don't shit."

At dawn the next day, a group of ships from the Indian trading company left the small island named Daxi Island and continued westward to Ceylon.The location they used as a temporary supply point was near the small town of Tengla on Great Nicobar Island on the west side of the Strait of Malacca in later generations.According to the authorization of the Qi government to the Indian trading company, all the islands and strongholds they discover and establish are owned by the trading company and have the right to operate for 30 years.During this period, if it is expropriated by the government, the corresponding redemption fee shall be paid.

On August 8, the fleet of the Qiguo Indian Trading Company encountered two armed merchant ships belonging to the Dutch East India Company near the coast of Galle in the southeast of Ceylon. They saw the red yellow dragon flag hanging on the bow, and knew that it was Hanzhou. Indian trading ships.After hesitating for a moment, he still drove over and asked the purpose of the Hanzhou people coming here.

While ordering the sailors on board to prepare for the battle, the commander of the fleet negotiated with the Dutch, declaring that the fleet was a merchant ship under the jurisdiction of Qi, and was going to trade in India, via Ceylon, and warned the other party not to be hostile. act.

The Dutch ship wanted to board the ship to check what was on board, to see if it was loaded with weapons and ammunition, but was flatly refused by the Qi people on board. Don’t think that you are rampant in the waters of Ceylon and India. Want to dispose of our Qi merchant ships at will.It should be noted that many of your Dutch East India Company's merchant ships approached our Hanzhou mainland and the merchant ships in the waters near Timor Island, and we have never intercepted and inspected them.If this happens, do you want to have a sea friction with us Qi?

After struggling for a long time, the two Dutch merchant ships gave up blocking the merchant ships of the Qi Kingdom, but out of caution, they followed them from a distance, with a hint of surveillance.

The reason why the Dutch are like this is that in the past year, the Portuguese in Colombo suddenly had a surge in force. The coastline raided Negombo and destroyed the Dutch forward position closest to Colombo.

In retaliation, the Dutch East India Company dispatched eight armed merchant ships carrying [-] mercenaries and more than [-] native servants to unite with the Kingdom of Kandy and storm Colombo. The most important stronghold in the city, instead of losing troops and generals, was beaten into a panic by the numerous artillery deployed by the Portuguese on the top of the city.

From this, the Dutch believed that the Portuguese on Ceylon must have received assistance from the outside world. It may be Goa in India, or it may be the mainland of Portugal in Europe.In addition, the Dutch also suspected that the Hanzhou people secretly provided a large amount of firearms to the Portuguese in Ceylon.Otherwise, how could the Portuguese, who had been defeated repeatedly over the years, suddenly increase their strength to such an extent.

"What should we do? The Dutch seem to suspect that we are going to deliver weapons to Portugal on the island of Ceylon." Jiang Genquan observed the two Dutch armed merchant ships following behind him for a while, then turned to ask Jiang Fubao.

"Hehe, it's doubtful! We originally sent some weapons to the Portuguese when we came to India for trade." Jiang Fubao said with a smile: "Unexpectedly, the Dutch are very cautious, and they have been following us. Forget it No, we will not go to Colombo, but go directly to Calicut (now Kozhikode, a port city in southwestern India). Hand over the weapons to the Portuguese there, and how to transfer them to Ceylon is their business."

Ever since Hanzhou mainland received information from Batavia, it was said that the Dutch were planning to secretly contact Jiannu and sell a large amount of firearms to the other party, and even provide some ships to transport troops.This immediately shocked the whole country of Qi. This Dutchman is really challenging the core interests of our country!

Uncle can bear it, and auntie can't bear it either. Don't the Dutch know that if they do this kind of thing, it's tantamount to telling Qi Guo clearly that I'm going to cut off your source of immigration from the mainland, and I'm going to unite with slaves to eradicate your neighbors near Daming. All forces and political and commercial interests.

Aren't they afraid that Qi will take the initiative to launch a war against the East India Company?
As a company, if you don't manage the business here well and earn the wealth you dream of, why do you want to intervene in the situation on the mainland, and also want to use this to weaken the strength of our country Qi.Believe it or not, our country of Qi directly turned the table, and then used all the power of the whole country to smash your colonial system to pieces, and instantly wiped out the trade channels and monopoly positions that you have established over decades.

Therefore, out of countermeasures against the Dutch East India Company, Qi State began to secretly arm the Kingdom of Mataland and the Kingdom of Banten on the island of Java again, and decided to increase support for the Portuguese in Makassar and Ceylon to strengthen the The strength of the Portuguese against the attack of the Dutch.

In addition, Pan Qifeng, Prime Minister of the Qi Cabinet, summoned Rick Wolf, the representative of the Dutch East India Company in Hanzhou, and emphasized to him the special interests of Qi State in Daming. Resolutely oppose sending ships to transport troops for a certain force in the territory.Any foreign forces that attack or assist in attacking the Ming regime are considered unacceptable.

Rick Wolf immediately stated that the East India Company went to the mainland only for the purpose of trade, and would not deeply intervene in the situation on the mainland, let alone support a certain force in the mainland to attack the existing regime of the Ming Dynasty.The East India Company will, as always, respect and understand Qi's immigration to the mainland and the political and commercial interests it has obtained in the mainland.

Perhaps because he was worried that the Dutch would not understand the warnings of the people of Qi, Pan Qifeng finally declared to him that Qi would make the most decisive response for its own core interests. One of the most core interests.

The trading ships of the Indian trading company were entrusted by the General Staff of the State of Qi. In addition to shipping a large number of industrial products, they also carried [-] cannons, [-] muskets, more than [-] swords and spears, and various armors. Go to Ceylon and deliver it to the Portuguese to help them resolutely resist the Dutch invasion.

On August 8, the fleet of the Qiguo Indian Trading Company arrived in Calicut. Wei Linchuan, the representative of the trading company who stayed here, was delighted and reported an unexpected news to Jiang Fubao.

"Sell the land to us?...Ke Qin?" Jiang Fubao couldn't help being surprised after hearing Wei Linchuan's report, "Where is Ke Qin?"

"Cochin is more than 300 miles south of Calicut, on an island off the coast of the mainland." Wei Linchuan said: "The Portuguese have established this stronghold for more than 100 years, and they established it the earliest on the Indian mainland. One of the colonial points, it is said that its status is very important."

"It's such an important place, and it's been in business for so long, why should the Portuguese sell this place to us?" Jiang Fubao was full of vigilance, "Don't they take us for a fool and try to trick us?"

(End of this chapter)