I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 545 Macau and Penghu

Dulac is the full commander of this raid. Since he has spoken and his analysis is indeed reasonable, others naturally have no objections.

Therefore, without delay, Dulac and others immediately sent people to Macau to demand a unilateral ceasefire.

Seeing the Dutch being so shameless really made the Portuguese Council in Macau and the commander of the Sino-Japanese trade fleet, Carvalho, breathless.

These Dutch country bumpkins and heretics have been incessant since independence in the last century.

Not only competing with them in Europe, but also reaching out to the Americas and Asia.

Especially in Asia, on the one hand, these heretics supported local indigenous kingdoms in places such as Ceylon, the west coast of India, and the Strait of Malacca, competing for territory with Portugal and Spain; on the other hand, they coveted their trade networks in Asia. Attacked Macau three times.

It's just that Portugal has a deep foundation in Macau, and the Netherlands was defeated by them in three attacks.

Unexpectedly, they were unwilling to give up and sent heavy troops to attack Macau again. This time, Carvalho was really angry and anxious. He was angry at the shamelessness of the Dutch and anxious about the decline of Portugal. He was bullied by the Dutch.

Therefore, when he knew that the Dutch wanted a ceasefire after seeing that the sneak attack failed, Carvalho flatly rejected the request for a ceasefire without even thinking about it.Not even willing to exchange prisoners or corpses, they drove the Dutch messenger out without even thinking.

But Carvalho knew the Dutch would never give up.He had been dealing with the Dutch for many years and knew that the Dutch East India Company's attack was not only to capture Macau, but more importantly, to gain trade rights with the Ming Dynasty.

Since the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India Company, which rushed into Asia, has always wanted to get involved in trade with the Ming Dynasty.Ignoring the blockades of Portugal and Spain many times, he rushed to the coast of the Ming Dynasty and made requests to the Ming Dynasty government to borrow land for trade. However, the Ming Dynasty court did not even think about it and was rejected.

But now the situation is different from the past. Ming Dynasty has abolished the sea ban policy, allowed Ming merchants to go to sea freely, and also welcomed European countries to trade with Ming Dynasty.

If the Dutch were allowed to do business in Ming Dynasty this time, wouldn't it be a major blow to Portugal's Asian trade?

When Carvalho thought of this, he knew that he could not take it lightly, so he immediately called for the Jesuit missionary Ai Julius in Macau and asked him to write a letter to Tang Ruowang and others in Beijing to see if he could ask them to persuade the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Let them not easily agree to the Dutch's request for trade.

After giving the instructions, he felt that it was unreliable and could not just rely on Tang Ruowang and others.

He knew that the Ming Empire had always had a bad impression of the Dutch. Twenty years ago, after the Dutch first attacked Macau to no avail, they began to attack Portuguese ships everywhere and continued to attack Macau.

When they sailed along the coast of Guangdong and Fujian, they also regarded the Ming Dynasty as a small tribe in the Nanyang Islands, with a rough and unceremonious style.As a result, the Ming Dynasty officials even issued a document asking them about the Netherlands.

After the Dutch failed to attack Macau for the second time in 1604, the Dutch were forced to replenish water sources in Penghu and wanted to further invade Penghu.But how could the Ming generals tolerate this? They immediately sent Shen Yourong to lead the navy to drive away the Dutch.

Thinking of this, he could be sure that even if these Dutch people sent greeting cards to Ming Dynasty officials, the Ming Dynasty officials would not look good on them.

So he thought for a while and immediately came up with a countermeasure. Then he called a Mingren translator and asked him to start writing a letter.

The letter was written to the magistrate of Xiangshan County, Guangdong. After all, if he sent it to the Chief Secretary of Guangdong, they wouldn't accept it, so Xiangshan County could only deliver it to him.

The content of the letter is also very simple. The main idea is that the Dutch pirates have attacked Macau again.And this time the Dutch came with great force, with nearly 2000 people and more than ten ships. More importantly, they also colluded with Japanese pirates.

Carvalho couldn't help but sneer when he thought of this. These heretics were really short-sighted and actually hired Japanese ronin to fight.

Don't they know that the Ming Dynasty was the most sensitive to this kind of thing, which gave him the opportunity to write a letter asking for help. When the Ming Dynasty officials saw it, they had to take it seriously.

So he then asked the translator to write in detail the details of the Dutch attack on Macau, and also informed the Ming Dynasty officials that the Dutch were now defeated by them, but he still wanted to "remind" the Ming Dynasty officials in a good way.These Dutch people colluded with Japanese pirates. The purpose of coming this time was not only to attack Macau, but also to continue to occupy Penghu. They would also wait for opportunities to plunder the Ming Dynasty in the name of trade.

After Carvalho wrote the letter, he sent someone to deliver the letter to Xiangshan County. Before going, he was afraid that the Xiangshan County government would not believe it, so he also asked some Japanese corpses to be taken there with the prisoners. In addition, he also sent an additional 2000 taels as a gift. , asking him to convey Portugal’s goodwill to the Chief Secretary of Guangdong.At the same time, he also asked people to call over all the officials from the three offices established by the Ming Dynasty government in Macau (responsible for inspecting the import and export of foreign merchant ships), preparing for Japanese pirates (preventing Japanese pirates and pirates), and patrolling (catching traitors).

These officials had all experienced yesterday's war and knew the "cruelty" of Dutch pirates best.After they arrived, Carvalho first gave them gifts and then enumerated the atrocities committed by the Dutch.

These officials were "filled with righteous indignation" when they saw this. They all experienced it personally and found that these red-haired barbarians were indeed guilty of piracy.So they all expressed to Carvalho that they must report truthfully and let the court punish these red-haired barbarians.

With the factual basis of "silver money" opening the way for the Dutch invasion, the news that the Hongmao barbarians colluded with the Japanese pirates to attack Macau and wanted to further invade Penghu and plunder the coast was quickly sent to the desk of Hu Yingtai, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

As expected by Carvalho, Hu Yingtai originally did not care about the news of the Red-haired Barbarians invading Macau. After all, there were many disputes among the Westerners, and he would only need to send people to drive them away.

But now after seeing the news that he was colluding with Japanese pirates and preparing to invade Penghu and plunder the coast, he finally couldn't sit still.Immediately, people were called to Guangzhou Chief Envoy Zhang Minggang, Haidao Inspection Envoy Yu Ansheng and others to come over to discuss the matter.

"According to the documents sent by the Portuguese and Xiangshan County, the Red-haired Barbarians are coming in force this time, with about 2000 people and more than ten large and small warships. It seems that their purpose is not small."

Seaway Inspector Yu Ansheng is usually responsible for opening up the sea in Guangdong, so he was worried after receiving the news.

"What purpose can it have? Isn't it because they want to trade with the Ming Dynasty? The Red Mao Yi came to the Ming Dynasty three times before. Three times they wanted to follow the example of Macau and occupy land to trade with the Ming Dynasty, but they were rejected by the Ming Dynasty. But they still Unwilling to do so, he tried to invade Penghu in the 32nd year of Wanli, but was repelled by Shen Yourong, the commander-in-chief of the Fujian Navy of the Ming Dynasty. I didn’t expect that this time he would not die, and even colluded with the Japanese pirates. He is really worthy of death."

Zhang Minggang, the chief envoy of Guangzhou, had no good impressions of these Westerners at all. After hearing Yu Ansheng's analysis, he immediately scolded the Dutch. After speaking, he stood up and faced Hu Yingtai, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, with his hands clasped in fists and saying:

"Mr. Governor, you also know the document issued by the cabinet at the end of January. It said that Your Majesty feels that Macau is too cheap for 300 taels a year. And according to the report, Your Majesty already knows that there are forts built in Macau and that there are Westerners in the city. There were so many people with muskets, and they looked very angry.

In addition, since the Portuguese came to Macau, Western countries have followed them, and wars have been frequent. The Red Barbarians attacked Macau alone, and this time there were four times.Not to mention that other Western countries also covet Macau very much. They either attack Macau or imitate it. If they want to lease land from the Ming Dynasty, it is really like entering uninhabited territory.

Therefore, after I received the document, I also asked the Dusi Yamen to discuss policies. This time it just gave us an opportunity.Taking advantage of today's opportunity, I would like to take advantage of the situation to mention rent and strengthened control.If not, get out and stop doing business. "

Zhang Minggang was actually more willing to expel these Westerners from Macau, but now that the Ming Dynasty had just opened the sea, Macau was a very important transit point for trade with the West, so he was still unable to do so and needed to be patient for some time.

Hu Yingtai stroked his beard and read the cabinet title book. The meaning behind his words was the same as what Zhang Minggang said.Moreover, the Red Mao barbarians' attack on Macau did give them a good opportunity to take charge of Macau.

But compared with this matter, he was more concerned about the Japanese pirates.

This matter really gave him a headache. After all, although there was a word difference between Japanese pirates and pirates in the Ming Dynasty, the attitude towards them in the Ming Dynasty was definitely very different.

If you encounter pirates, you can fool around with them, but if they are Japanese pirates, they must be eliminated without any possibility of relaxation.

"The rent and jurisdiction of Macau is easy. Let you, the Chief Secretary of Guangdong, handle this matter. It's just that the red-haired barbarians have colluded with the Japanese pirates to station troops off Macau and even plunder the coast. We all know the strength of the Guangdong Navy. , now it’s neither a fight nor a fight, so what should we do?”

Seeing what Hu Yingtai said, Zhang Minggang laughed secretly in his heart and quickly persuaded:
"Mr. Governor, there is no need to worry about this kind of thing. The red-haired barbarians came from Southeast Asia and are in large numbers. They must be in need of supplies. They have long been interested in Penghu and I believe they will set off soon. At that time, they will not be ours. The problem is now between the Chief Secretary of Fujian and Governor Yuan."

As soon as these words came out, Hu Yingtai suddenly realized that Penghu was under the jurisdiction of Fujian. If the red-haired barbarians stayed in Penghu and refused to leave, then Fujian should send troops. Why should they panic?

Yu Ansheng, the sea channel patrol officer on the side, seemed to have thought of something and said with great interest:
"Master Shen's words are very true. Since Governor Yuan took office as the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, he built ships, trained the navy, and transferred Shen Yourong as the admiral of the Fujian and Zhejiang Navy. Now the power of the Fujian and Zhejiang Navy has greatly increased. Besides, the current status of Penghu But it is extraordinary. If the red-haired barbarians invade Penghu, Governor Yuan will definitely not agree."

　This year Macau was indeed attacked by the Dutch, and the Dutch did hire Japanese to attack Macau.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)