1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 641 Peace talks in Jianye City ([-])

On March 1649, 12, Hanzhou, Jianye City.

When Cornelis van der Linn, governor of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia, boarded the Jianye Port Wharf, he had extremely complicated feelings in his heart.

I still remember that when I came to Hanzhou for the first time in February 1642, it was to attend their king's enthronement ceremony.At that time, he had just been appointed as the governor by the company, came to the remote East Indies, and immediately started to end the war with Hanzhou.

In seven years, many experiences of the past seem to be yesterday.Today, I was invited by the king of Hanzhou to have a formal meeting with him. The two sides will have an in-depth conversation, exchange opinions with each other, and conduct mediation and negotiations on the war that broke out between the two sides.

The company's senior representative for external affairs, Yvel Jimenez, sent someone back to report that Hanzhou was very sincere in ending the war between the two sides and restoring peace.However, there are still some differences of interest between them, so their king needs to have a face-to-face conversation with the Governor-General to set the final tone of the negotiations.

Regarding the safety of this trip to Hanzhou, Governor De Lin is not worried. Hanzhou is basically a relatively civilized country and will not do anything to harm the negotiators.But he was a little worried in his heart, whether the king of Hanzhou would humiliate him when he invited him to Jianye City.After all, Hanzhou temporarily has the upper hand in the current war situation.

However, under the sudden and fierce offensive of Hanzhou, the East India Company suffered a lot of losses.Although after several months of military adjustments, timely counterattacks have been made, but no effective results have been achieved so far.A month ago, the fast liaison ship sent back by the commander of the expedition fleet, Rear Admiral Gris Kopet, reported that they had achieved an initial victory in attacking the coastal towns of Hanzhou, captured seven ships of various sizes, and captured dozens of soldiers and civilians of Hanzhou. .However, in view of the low value of attacking some coastal towns, the fleet is leading the fleet to continue to search for the most suitable attack target.

All this made Governor Delin feel a little worried.For him, capturing any town in Hanzhou is extremely valuable.The report of the expeditionary fleet probably means that their military operations have not been very smooth and have not yet achieved substantial results.In this way, the king of Hanzhou has enough reasons to humiliate them.

However, after arriving at the Jianye Port Wharf, Governor De Lin received a grand reception from the other party. The Prime Minister of the Cabinet brought the Minister of Honglu Temple in charge of foreign affairs, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, the Minister of Immigration, the Minister of Culture, Education and Etiquette, and the officers of the Staff Department. A group of senior military and civilian officials came to greet him, which gave him enough face.

After a luxurious carriage brought Governor Delin into Jianye City, he was arranged to stay in a luxurious manor full of ancient oriental flavors.Along the way, he once again expressed his sincere admiration for this unusually clean and well-planned city.Although it is a tropical city like Batavia, there are not many ponds and ditches in Jianye City, and there are relatively few trees.

But Batavia is the exact opposite. In order to make the city look more like a Dutch-style town and to facilitate the transportation of goods, the East India Company dug many canals in the city.However, due to the lack of necessary management, these artificially dug canals are heavily silted and full of garbage, including various filth and dead animals, which makes the city a lot of mosquitoes, snakes and flies, and frequent outbreaks of malaria and other tropical diseases.

"Perhaps, in terms of urban construction and management, these Hanzhou people still have something unique, which is worthy of our East India Company's emulation and learning." Governor Delin withdrew his gaze, and then slowly walked back from the balcony on the second floor When he got to the study, he needed to study with the few gentlemen who had been stranded in Jianye City, how to deal with the king of Hanzhou tomorrow after meeting him.

In the early morning of the next day, Governor De Lin and his party were taken by several carriages to a royal garden by the lake outside the city. In a spacious and bright room, he met the young King of Hanzhou.

"Your Majesty the King, thank you for your hospitality and allowing me to spend a wonderful night here." Governor Delin nodded slightly to Qi Tian to show his respect.

After listening to the interpreter's translation, Qi Tian frowned slightly. What he said sounds so strange.

"Governor Delin, I would like to have a private talk with you, is that okay?" Qi Tian looked at Governor Delin solemnly, "We think some of the conversations are sensitive and may involve the bilateral relations between you and us for decades to come. direction, and the development of the entire Nanyang region.”

Governor De Lin was stunned immediately when he heard the words, and talked alone without any entourage. This sudden situation was completely beyond their expectations.He couldn't help but looked left and right at the other East India Company colonial officials, then turned his head to look at the interpreter, saw that he nodded affirmatively, and then looked at Qitian with some doubts.

Qi Tian showed a kind smile to Governor Delin, then nodded to him, and said, "Of course, you can keep your personal assistant and interpreter."

Governor De Lin saw that several officials and guards around Qi Tian were withdrawing one after another, leaving only two young people standing behind him, who must be his confidantes.So, he also ordered the following East India Company colonial officials to leave the room.

"Governor Delin, do you know how many people we have in Hanzhou?" After the other people in the room left, Qi Tian said, "A rough estimate is that there are 31 people in Hanzhou, and one in Timor Island." There are more than 8000 people, and the other big island we occupy——Weiyuan Island, has more than 3000 people. This adds up to a total population of about 36. And all this has been achieved in less than 15 years .At the same time, our new immigration and birth population will add up to more than 3 people every year.”

"I sincerely admire the development and rapid population growth of your Hanzhou." Governor Delin smiled. The king seemed to be showing off the rapid development of Hanzhou to him.

"At present, our Hanzhou can produce more than [-] tons of steel per year. Although there was a war between you and us this year, it has not affected the industrial development of our Hanzhou at all. Perhaps our steel production will reach [-] tons this year. , and the steel output will exceed [-] tons. And this is the embodiment of our Hanzhou's strong strength."

"Oh, I didn't expect that your Hanzhou could produce so much steel. It's really amazing!" Governor Delin echoed with a smile, and praised the king's showing off without hesitation, and continued to praise him.

"We also have two large shipyards in Hanzhou. In theory, we can build six medium-sized professional warships every year, and they can be quickly installed in our navy to strengthen our maritime armed forces."

Um?Hearing this, Governor Delin couldn't help but frowned. Are you going to start showing off your force?

"Our navy currently has 2 battleships of more than 14 tons, 18 professional warships, and 600 armed merchant ships. In this area, the sea power is second only to your East India Company. We also have a strong land force. There are [-] officers and soldiers in the team, all of whom are full-time professional soldiers, and all of them are equipped with the latest guns and artillery. In addition, we have also established a nationwide reserve force of rural soldiers, which can recruit tens of thousands of people to the battlefield at any time. "

"Your Majesty, the military strength of your Hanzhou is indeed very strong, and our East India Company has already learned about it face-to-face." Governor Delin's face darkened, "However, in order to protect the core interests of our East India Company, We will not hesitate to fight, even if we pay a heavy price, we will not compromise on this!"

"Governor Delin, in any war, having a strong industrial foundation and strong military strength is one of the most critical elements to defeat the enemy, especially when facing a war that lasts for several years, or more than ten years." Qi Tian looked at it fixedly Governor Delin said, "We Qi State is in the war with your East India Company, although the absolute strength of the sea is still not as good as yours. However, if you want to fight a long-term war, your East India Company will inevitably fail. Among them, not including The huge business interests you have lost. I think this number must be incalculable."

"Your Majesty, may I think that you are using the threat of war to intimidate our East India Company." Governor Delin's face was livid, and he met Qi Tian's gaze, and said without showing weakness: "If you want to use the terrible war Consequences to threaten us in order to achieve your purpose of stealing the entire East Indies, I think, you are wrong. We East India Company will not bow to this, as I just said, we will stop at nothing to defend our interests The price is to continue the war!"

"Hehe..." Looking at Governor Delin who was a little bit angry, Qi Tian smiled, then shook his head and said: "Governor Delin, I just listed some data that can show the strength of our country. I didn't want to use this to threaten you. Favorable conditions have been obtained for the peace talks. I just want to take this opportunity to tell you that the strength of our Qi State is enough to deal the most painful blow to your East India Company, and even force you to be unable to carry out normal trade activities in the Nanyang region, and then If you can’t get the business benefits you deserve, you might even go bankrupt.”

"So..., what do you want to gain by saying this?" Governor Delin asked in a deep voice.

"Cooperation!" Qi Tian said: "We Qi State really want to carry out in-depth cooperation with your East India Company, and we also hope to push the commercial and trade activities in the entire Nanyang region to an unimaginable height. Ten years ago , you lost Taiwan, you lost the coastal trade of Ming Dynasty. Three years ago, you almost completely lost the Japanese market. So far, your East India Company’s trade volume and profits have not been able to return to the peak of ten years ago time."

"Your Majesty, you really know the current situation of our East India Company very well. You must know that ten years ago, the Ming Dynasty and Japan were the most important links in our Asian trading system. The absence of these two markets not only made us The trade volume of the East India Company has dropped significantly, and it has also caused us to lose the most important source of goods and currency." Governor Delin was a little excited, is it true that the king is planning to cooperate with the East India in order to gain major benefits in the East Indies? Companies unite to help them seize Taiwan and regain the Japanese market?

"Therefore, the cooperation between Qi State and your East India Company can completely make up for the lack of these two aspects." Qi Tian said: "We have no shortage of gold and silver currencies in Hanzhou, which can greatly promote the liquidity of commodities in this region. In addition, we have also established a preliminary industrial system, which can provide you with all kinds of commodities you need. Of course, our current output of various industries is not very rich, and we cannot make up for the damage caused by the civil strife in Ming Dynasty. However, I believe that with the continuous accumulation and development of Qi’s industry, the production scale and product categories will also expand, and in time, it will definitely replace Daming’s position as the largest commodity exporter.”

"We have obtained excellent porcelain craftsmen from Daming, who can produce porcelains of the same quality as Daming; we have large-scale cotton spinning factories and advanced machinery, which can provide you with high-quality cotton cloth; we have highly skilled and hardworking Our embroidery workers can produce exquisite silk for you; we also have abundant fur (leather), which can produce a variety of leather goods; we can also provide you with the growing demand for tea and tobacco in the European market... as long as You make a list of products, and we, Qi State, can manufacture them for you.”

After hearing this, Governor Delin was a little dazed, paused for a moment, and then said: "Do you want our East India Company to find more markets for the products produced in Hanzhou? Or, do you want to use our many Commercial channels, help your Hanzhou to develop faster and grow faster? So, what can our East India Company get from it?"

"If we deepen our trade cooperation with each other, you will gain year-by-year trade profits, more trade commodity categories, and even a huge trade market." Qi Tian said: "As far as I know, In your trade commodity system, spices account for nearly [-]% of your total trade volume, and the rest are commodities such as porcelain, silk, cotton cloth, indigo, etc. Among the spice products that account for more than half of your trade volume, in addition to cloves and cardamom, you can To achieve an absolute channel monopoly position, other products such as cinnamon and pepper are still facing competition from countries such as Portugal and England, especially pepper, which is mostly produced in the inland areas of Sumatra and India, and you cannot control its supply channels. Therefore, your trading product system is actually very unhealthy, once someone threatens your Spice Islands, the entire trade will be severely hit."

After hearing this, Governor Delin was silent for a while, but he was shocked in his heart.Hanzhou has such a deep understanding of their East India Company, even the composition and proportion of their trade commodities, and they are more aware of the fragility of their trade system, that is, the spice products Extremely dependent.And Hanzhou, through this war, directly concentrated its powerful naval power and directly attacked their vital points, which proved this point even more.

"In addition to strengthening economic cooperation with your East India Company, we can also cooperate to a certain extent in other political, military, and even concerted actions against foreign forces." Qi Tian said with a smile: "You know , Not only in the Nanyang region, but also in India, Burma, and Africa, there are many competitors who are eyeing the commercial interests of your East India Company, and want to get a share of your rich table."

(End of this chapter)