1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 681 The Fangs of Nanyang Trading Company

November 1652, 11, Makassar, Sulawesi.

The Portuguese governor, Ogni Mateo, led a group of colonial officials, looking at three Hanzhou armed merchant ships docked on the pier with complex expressions, and teams of heavily armed village soldiers and native servants were constantly coming from Filed down from the boat.

"Governor Mateo, this time we only mobilized and organized more than 300 armed forces, plus more than [-] native servants, I think the military force is enough." Gu Rongtang said with a smile: "You know, for To organize this expedition, the manager of our trading company personally went to Xuanhua Island to lobby the general manager of the resident, and sponsored a large amount of development funds for them, so we managed to get so many troops here."

Gurongtang, as the shopkeeper in charge of the Sulawesi area under the Nanyang Trading Company, often travels to and from Makassar, and occasionally stays here for a period of time. He is quite familiar with the local Portuguese and can speak a little Portuguese .

Now, with several years of hard work, Nanyang Trading Company has sold a large number of industrial products of Qi State to Gova Sudan Kingdom, and soon caught up, replacing the Portuguese and becoming the largest trading partner of the Sudan Kingdom. They are full of commodities from Qi State, such as cotton cloth, sugar, paper, wine, iron agricultural tools and hardware, various grades of porcelain, refined
Refined table salt, whale oil, and high-end luxury goods such as glass, porcelain, and pearls.

The Qi State, on the other hand, exchanged a large amount of sulfur, tin, nickel, gold, silver, etc., as well as livestock such as buffaloes and sheep from the Govasudan Kingdom through trade, and was in an absolute dominant position in trade.

In recent years, the Kingdom of Gova Sultan has been at constant friction with the kingdoms established by several Bugis in the east, and border conflicts have often occurred.In addition, during the war between Qi State and the Dutch East India Company three years ago, the Buji people and the Dutch colluded and planned to jointly invade the Kingdom of Govasudan and take advantage of the situation to eradicate the Portuguese forces in Makassar.

You must know that from the first Sino-Dutch war, the Portuguese in the Nanyang region could almost be regarded as quasi-allies of Qi, and the two sides cooperated in all aspects against the expansion of the Dutch East India Company's power.After the war, the Portuguese also helped the Qiguo Nanyang Trading Company to enter the Govasudan Kingdom market, and assisted the Indian Trading Company to enter the Indian market. There is a very close business relationship between the two parties.

A few months ago, the Kingdom of Gova Sultan invited the Portuguese in Makassar to send out troops to jointly attack the Buji people in the east, so as to completely eliminate the threat to the kingdom's rear.Considering that they were weak, the Portuguese lobbied the Nanyang Trading Company to further expand their trade privileges in the Kingdom of Gowasultan, and asked them to dispatch armed personnel to participate in military operations against the Bugis, and then the trade tentacles of both sides extending to the East and Northeast.

Hearing that the trade market could be expanded, more trade privileges could be obtained, and a large number of seizures could be made during the war, Gu Rongtang immediately agreed, and then returned to the mainland of Hanzhou, and began to lobby several big shopkeepers of the trading company.It is stated that for the further trade expansion of the Nanyang Trading Company, it is extremely necessary for the Trading Company to intervene in the war between the Kingdom of Gova Sultan and the Buji people.

Nanyang Trading Company is the earliest foreign trading company established in Qi State. Its business area covers almost the entire Nanyang Islands. However, with the establishment of the Indian Trading Company, it soon surpassed Nanyang Trading Company in both trade volume and profit. The big shopkeeper felt the pressure and was full of vigilance.

What is even more surprising is that the Handong Trading Company, which has not been established for a few years, has also begun to rise rapidly. Relying on the monopoly authorization of the eastern waters and islands of Hanzhou, the trading company has vigorously developed and supplied almost all domestic whale oil and whale oil. Canned meat, seal skins, giant trees and other products, and also mining gold and nickel mines, the business is doing well.

Therefore, in the case of occupying a vast market area, Nanyang Trading Company is naturally not to be outdone. In the past few years, it has begun to accelerate its layout in various places, vowing to overtake the Indian Trading Company and regain the top spot in foreign trade.

After hearing that the treasurer of the Makassar market wants to obtain further commercial privileges in the region by supporting and intervening in the foreign wars of the Gova Sultan Kingdom, and thereby extend and expand the trade market of the trading company, after consulting the military After the staff took this attitude, they obtained tacit approval and immediately proceeded to implement it.

Wu Guoqing, the treasurer of the Hanzhou Trading Company, personally took a boat to Xuanhua Island (now Timor Island) and visited Hu Pingjiang, the chief executive of the station. Relying on the relationship of his old brothers in Dengzhou in the past, he sought support for the other party's military operations in Sulawesi Island. .

The general administration area of ​​Xuanhua under Hu Pingjiang's control includes Xuanhua Island, Niu Island (now Yandana Island, Indonesia), Yimen Island (now Weta Island, Indonesia, north of Timor Island), Yanling Island (now Alor Island, Indonesia , north of Timor Island), Songling Island (now Indonesian Luodi Road, southwest of Timor Island), Yuanhe Island (now Indonesian Savu Island, southwest of Timor Island), guarding the north of Hanzhou mainland portal.

As the chief executive of the region, Hu Pingjiang naturally hopes to further expand the jurisdiction and make it radiate a wider area.The Xuanhan General Administration Area is backed by the Hanzhou Continent and faces many islands in the Southeast Asia. It is the bridgehead and logistics base for the Qi State to colonize outwards.When Wu Guoqing, the big treasurer of the Nanyang Trading Company, said that he hoped to further extend the influence and influence of the Qi State to the eastern and northeastern regions of Makassar, he naturally agreed.

To this end, he issued a call-up order in several counties and towns in the general area of ​​Xuanhua, mobilized more than 200 township soldiers, and organized more than [-] native servants. Several armed merchant ships came to Makassar.The Nanyang Trading Company paid [-] Hanzhou silver dollars for this, and promised to invest in the construction of several coffee plantations on Xuanhua Island.

The township soldiers on Xuanhua Island did not reject the recruitment by the government and Nanyang Trading Company, but actively signed up for it.Compared with the military action to conquer the aborigines on Weiyuan Island (New Guinea), the country soldiers of Qi State are more willing to attack the native kingdoms on the Nanyang Islands.These native states that have established political organizations are much richer than those poor natives on desert islands.

As for the danger, it is not non-existent.However, compared to the generous captures obtained in the battle with the Tubang Kingdom, a little risk is worth it.As long as the towns and strongholds of the Tubang Kingdom can be broken, the property looted is enough to be worth the harvest of the fields for several years.At that time, building a brick house, marrying a wife, and having a litter of cubs will all be no dreams.

With the support of the Qi State, the Portuguese stronghold of Makassar has grown to a population of more than [-] people after more than ten years of development. It can be said that the growth rate is astonishing, and it once aroused the dread of the Dutch.

The coastal stronghold of Ming Dynasty - Haojing (today's Macao), due to the ban on trade with Japan (influenced by Japan's sequestration order) and the civil strife in Ming Dynasty, it seems to be declining day by day, and its business is becoming more and more unsustainable.As a result, many Portuguese in Haojing avoided Makassar, which indirectly increased the population here and prospered the local economy.

The Portuguese have a complicated view on the Qi people. Threatened by the Dutch East India Company, they are extremely dependent on Qi’s support and help economically and militarily, but they feel an inexplicable sense of loss about their subordinate status. And unwilling.From the 15th century onwards, the Portuguese and the Spaniards set off a great global geographical discovery activity and established their respective colonial empires. They were once in an absolute dominant position in the East Indies.
In the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, a European, whether he was a Portuguese, a Spaniard, a Dutchman, an Englishman, or a Frenchman, when he first met an African slave, a native of the East Indies, or an American Indian, would Instinctively and naturally, these people are several social classes lower than the servant class in other countries without any privileges.

The reasons could not be more obvious. On the one hand, these dark-skinned ethnic groups did not accept the Christian culture that Europeans considered an important channel of salvation; on the other hand, they did not have the technology to resist European conquest.At that time, even the Ottomans, who were militarily strong and politically organized, were regarded with contempt as heretics.

For the European colonists, the local people were savages, to work for masters who belonged to the white race, to be Christianized if possible, and to be disposed of like vermin if necessary .

But now, the Portuguese, who used to be aloof, need to live in Makassar with the breath of the Qi people, which makes many proud people of God a little unaccustomed and awkward.But the world is changing like this, and they can't help being willful. As long as the other party gives up their support, I believe the Dutch will launch an expulsion action against them, just like the example of Ambon and Malacca back then.
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On November 11, the Qi State and the Portuguese dispatched five large armed merchant ships, more than a dozen galleys, and flat-bottomed boats, carrying more than 21 landing troops, and bypassed the southern tip of Sulawesi Island to attack the Burji people established in the east of the island. The Kingdom of Nasultan (BONE) launched an attack. At the same time, the Kingdom of Gowasultan dispatched an army of 4000 people to attack the Kingdom of Nasultan from the west by land, forming a two-sided attack with the Qi-Portuguese coalition forces.

The landing point of the coalition forces is located on the coast of Sinjay, which is more than ten kilometers away from the King City of Berna Sultan. A river that flows into the sea directly leads to the city, but the river channel is relatively narrow and the water level is shallow. A flat-bottomed boat, paddling upstream.

In the evening of the same day, the first batch of more than [-] troops of the coalition army was caught off guard by the Bernard Sultan Kingdom, and quickly landed two miles away from the royal city and established a temporary camp.At night, the coalition forces repelled a night attack launched by the Bernard Sultan Kingdom by virtue of the hastily built refusal horses, killing and wounding more than [-] natives, and firmly guarded the camp.

In the afternoon of the next day, the second batch of more than 3 coalition forces arrived by boat and brought two [-]-pound land guns.The officer leading the team didn't delay anymore, and immediately led the troops towards the royal city of Bernasudan Kingdom. If they moved quickly, they might be able to break through the city before dark and enjoy a feast of looting.

"Is there a Dutchman in the city?" After the troops entered the royal city several hundred meters away, several rural soldiers quickly reported the situation of the enemy troops that they had investigated in advance to the chief. The army has only more than 1000 people.However, no less than five or six artillery pieces were deployed at the top of the city, and some of the defenders still held muskets, which made the coalition army scratch their heads.

However, several men with European faces were found at the head of the city. Needless to say, they must be mercenaries of the Dutch East India Company.This made the Marine Corps officer who led the team feel a little trickier.

"Get some more artillery and come ashore." The officer leading the team said harshly: "I don't believe it. With nearly a thousand troops attacking the city, how many East India Company mercenaries can stop us outside the city?"

"The mercenaries who beat the Dutch won't cause confrontation between us?" An officer said hesitantly.

"I'm afraid! We have worked so hard to come here, can we still retreat? I didn't see that the eyes of the brothers were all red, and they all wanted to rush into the city. Besides, our country Qi He didn’t send out the economic control army, so it’s considered a civilian action. How dare he, the Dutch, turn his face against our country Qi because of this?”

"But it will cost a lot of casualties..."

"...Let the natives and Portuguese attack first, and we will see the situation later before attacking."

Before dark, the coalition forces launched a tentative attack, which was repulsed by the artillery and muskets at the top of the city without accident, leaving behind a dozen corpses, and had to temporarily set up a temporary camp under the city, waiting for more artillery the next day arrival.

However, at night, a mercenary officer from the East India Company came to the coalition camp to discuss how to end the armed confrontation between the two sides here.

"Do you want to seize [-]% of the city?"

"Yes, we need [-]% of the city to be captured." The mercenary officer said indifferently: "I think we are eligible for this reward. Because our withdrawal will allow you to quickly occupy the city and avoid unnecessary casualties. What do you think, gentlemen?"

"Twenty percent!... At most, I can only give you two percent!"

The Qi and Portuguese officers who led the team looked at each other, and they were both a little moved.These East India Company merchants and mercenaries from Batavia were only responsible for defending their trading posts and cargo security here, and had no obligation to help the Bernard Sultan Kingdom in combat.

You must know that most of the army of this kingdom has been assembled to the western border to deal with the invasion of the Kingdom of Gova Sultan. In the face of the attack of the Li-Portuguese allied forces, even with the help of a dozen mercenaries, at most it is nothing more than Just hold on for a few more days, this royal city will be breached sooner or later.If the city is broken, there is no guarantee that the opponent will be angry with the mercenary defense and make retaliatory killings.

That being the case, why not sell this royal city to the other party, not only saving your own life, but also gaining an extra wealth.As for how to maintain trade with the local area in the future, I am afraid that I can only report to Batavia truthfully afterwards and wait for further instructions from the company.War, this kind of force majeure event, is not something they, employees with meager salaries, can deal with.

In the early morning of November 11th, the city of King Bernasultan - Sinjay was sold to the Qi-Portuguese coalition forces by a group of unscrupulous businessmen and mercenaries. A looting campaign against the Buji people lasted for more than ten days. Treasures, gold, silver, tortoiseshell, and rhinoceros horns were divided up, and thousands of pigs, cattle, and sheep were looted...

In the next few days, the army of Gova Sultan Kingdom also broke through the army assembled in the west of Berna Sultan State, captured the Sultan of the country, and destroyed the small country established by the Buji people.

When the Gowa people were about to come to take over the Xinjayi King City, they were surprised to find that the Hanzhou people had already occupied the town, and declared that the [-] miles around the city and the nearby coastal areas were all owned by Nanyang Trading Company, and Gowa was forbidden The army of the Kingdom of Sultan entered.

Sultan Hassan-Uddin of the Gowa Kingdom heard about it, and immediately ordered the army to withdraw from the area claimed by the Hanzhou people, and tried their best to avoid any conflict with it.But the eyes of the wise and wise King Hassan Sultan, who once showed joy in defeating the Buji people, were immediately filled with gloom.

(End of this chapter)