[The Spring Festival holiday is coming to an end, I wish you all a happy holiday, the author has been delaying the writing of "The Wandering Earth" in the past few days, forgive me, > _, <]

Twenty days later, the Dutch East India Company envoy met His Highness Sutampanambahan Agung in a military camp outside the city of Surabaya (present-day Surabaya, Indonesia).

Originally, the owner of Mataram did not want to attack the last remaining independent trading port in East Java in such a short time, after all, he had conquered many cities around Mount Brahma in recent years.

The merchants from India, Persia, and Daishi in the port of Tammu provided him with a steady stream of wealth, and the interior of Java surrounding the cities of Pajang and Pasar Gede (the capital of Matalan) provided him with a large number of believers and soldiers.

Of course, the shark fin bird's nest of Du Pan and the gold and gems of Jinshi can also be of great benefit to the cause of the lord as long as they can be sold to Annam, Japan or the Ming Dynasty.

But the conquest of so many territories in such a short period of time also made it take more time for the emerging religious kingdom to digest, and the rebellions of the foreign races in the interior were always occurring, and the pagans in the coastal trading ports were doing the same, unwilling to proselytize, unwilling to pay higher religious taxes, and of course, unwilling to die for it.

The attack on Surabaya was not possible, and the original plan was still three or four years later.

It is the gateway to Java's second largest harbor, and thanks to its convenience on the sea route, it is now one of the best trading places in the whole of Java, not only for its wealth, but also for maintaining its military power. Among them were both Hindus and Zhangquan Chinese, and the city's army was more composed of mercenaries from Luzon, Aceh and Turkey, and it was one of the strongest in the whole of West Java, which was able to hold out for so long under the Mataran army.

This time, however, it was a little different, as Mataran had unprecedentedly raised an army of 30,000 to besiege Surabaya, and before meeting with the East India Company's envoy, Khao Jac-ki, Su Tan believed that within a month, the city and his innumerable wealth would fall into his pocket.

"You're a heretic?"

In order to inherit the glory of the Majapahit Empire, His Royal Highness Panam Bahan Agung deliberately asked questions in the Middle Javanese language, but he still had to use loanwords about the word pagan, which is a proof that the island of Java was once extremely closed, and this also made Kao Ci Ji barely understand what he meant, after all, most of the loanwords in Javanese at this time came from Chinese, Portuguese and Dutch, and these languages were more or less involved in Kao Ci Ji in addition to his mother tongue.

"Honorable Maharaja, please believe that I am not in the slightest offending to your faith."

As he said this, Kao Ja Ji quietly tucked the cross around his neck into his collar, and he was not sure if the interpreter beside Su Tan could accurately convey his meaning, so he could only pray that he would not be the target of the cannon because of the problem of understanding.

"Tell us about your company's intentions? Why did you come here? I remember that after losing the scramble for Yacha Garda, your business has been withdrawn from Java. ”

Fortunately, the maharaja's mood seems to be good today, and he is even willing to spend some words on ridicule, rather than climbing too much with the other party because of the issue of faith, after all, religion is more of a tool for the superiors.

Kao Ciji hurriedly explained: "The Maharaja is thinking about a mistake, and this time I came to your country as an envoy of Guangnan Kingdom. ”

"Quang Nam Quoc ...... Emissary? ”

Hearing this name, Su Tan was a little puzzled, now in those ports in the north of his territory, many Hindu merchants came from the Cham country on the other side of the sea, but they were displaced because of the continuous invasion of Guangnan Kingdom. The persecution of Hindus in Quang Nam had nothing to do with Su Tan, Su Tan himself was doing the same thing, and the pagan people wanted to live in Mataram, although they didn't have to worry about their lives, they still had to pay an additional tax.

As far as Guangnan is concerned, what is only wanted is the land of the Cham people, and the Cham people can serve the envoys, but there is no reason to go overseas to kill them all.

Seeing Su Tan's puzzled look, the envoy stopped selling Guanzi, "The lord of Guangnan will use troops against the Australians entrenched at the mouth of the Kowloon River in the near future, and I hope the prince will help." ”

Originally, I thought that the envoy was talking about trade under the banner of Quang Nam, but I didn't expect to hear interesting news this time.

"Will Guangnan use troops against the Australians?" Panambahan Agung raised an eyebrow.

"It is absolutely true that His Royal Highness Nguyen Phuc Yuan, the lord of Quang Nam, personally negotiated with our company, hoping that we would contact in the middle and ask Su Tan to send troops together."

Agung snorted, "Quang Nam is far overseas, they want to deal with the Australians, go to the Khmer and Siam to talk about it, what are they going to Java for?" ”

Agung had heard that it was at least 3,000 miles from Java, and it was not easy for even the most seafaring Dutchman to cross the windless belt in this season in only twenty days. Now it seems that it is really not a trivial matter, and it is actually the idea of letting yourself deal with the Australians with them.

Although, as he had said earlier to the nobles of the country, the Aussians were indeed like a barb stuck in his foot, which was extremely uncomfortable and even dangerous to cause 'ulcers all over his body'. But reason wanted him to refute it, after all, neither the Dutch, nor the Quang Nam country, which was allegedly represented by the East India Company, which did not know whether it was true or not, had not yet made a bid.

He turned to sit down on a chair from China, picked up an old-school reed tube, and asked the attendant to add a square-headed bonkus cigar to himself. But Su Tan is obviously extremely hostile to those short-haired Chinese, and tries to avoid untimely associations with outsiders in life.

"Yacha Garda is not at the mouth of the Kowloon River." Kao Ciji didn't light a cigarette, but replied lightly.

The messenger's words ruined Su Tan's sense of ritual, and he slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, pondering the meaning of the other party's words, "What does this have to do with Yacha Garda?" ”

"Didn't the Maharaja want to dominate all of Java?" As he said this, Kao Ciji glanced meaningfully at the red and white flag fluttering outside the tent, which was the color of the complacent Boyi, and just looking at the shape of this flag, it really made no sense to say that Agung had no ambition.

"So what?"

"Unified Java, at this time, if you don't take this opportunity, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the Maharaja to achieve his goal in the future."

"Your envoy may think too highly of the Australians, although the Australian fleet in Yacha Garda is strong and artillery, but when it attacks from land, they are only two or three thousand, and when I capture Surabaya, I will naturally take care of them."

"It seems that the Maharaja has already sent spies, but for the Australians, I advise the Maharaja to be lenient to the enemy, since it is impossible to compete with its fleet, then the Maharaja should also know that the Australian reinforcements in Borneo can rush to help Java at any time, if you can't capture Yacha Garda within a month, it will be troublesome, the Spaniards are a lesson from the past, I heard that the Australians captured Manila with only a few thousand."

"When is Quang Nam going to do it?"

"It will take more than a month to prepare, when the late rice in the north will be ripe and ready for troops, while Javanese has just entered the rainy season, and it is inconvenient to navigate, but a surprise attack on land can be taken by surprise."

"Your company is so concerned about this matter, I guess it's not just to avenge the expulsion of Australians, right?" Agung understood the Dutchman's intentions, and smoked more comfortably.

"It's not a secret, after the matter is completed, the company naturally still wants to reopen the Batavia trading station, which is also one of the conditions for us to agree to participate in this matter, so that Su Tan can know."

"Involvement? Like what your company does in Banda? ”

Listening to Kaociji's words, Agung showed a trace of displeasure on his face, Yacha Garda was something he regarded as a bag, and he would not allow the Australians to touch it, and certainly would not be willing to change to the Dutch, Portuguese or English, and he had a very bad opinion of the Dutch.

In January of this year, the Dutch East India Company sent twelve warships to block its routes in order to monopolize the cardamog trade in Banda, and the East India Company's troops slaughtered and plundered more than 10,000 people on the islands.

When they took Solol Island from the Portuguese at least eight years ago, thus monopolizing the Timor sandalwood trade with the Ming Dynasty, they did not show such excesses, and it is clear that they have been irritated lately.

Kao Ciji didn't know what Agung was thinking, and said to himself: "Although the company lost the battle with the Australians for Java, the fleet is still there, as long as it is not against the big iron ships of the Australians, there is still some certainty that it can hold back the other party in the rainy season." And judging from our intelligence, the ships used by the Australians to transport troops are still mainly sailboats, as long as the company's fleet can be harassed along the way, I believe it can also buy the Maharaja some more time, and so to launch a surprise attack on the Australians at such a distance from the north and south, but also to make the group of short-haired villains unable to take care of each other, this is exactly the plan of the company's upper echelons, I want to use these as an exchange for some privileges of the Batavia trading station, this transaction is not too much. ”

"How many boats can you make?" The negotiations are finally beginning to get to more practical issues.

"Twenty-two." "They are the best fast warships in East Asia today, not much inferior to the Australian warships, and this time the commander is Captain Cornelis Reyertsz." ”

Although Agung was not as familiar with the name as Cohen, it was clear that Kao Porchi's words had an effect, and this way of reporting himself to his family had won Su Tan's trust.

Agung silently calculated in his heart, now that the army is attacking Surabaya, according to this, I am afraid that it will have to be delayed for more than half a month, and even if the city is captured, the equipment and army will have to be repaired, and it will be too late to echo the action with the north. But Yacha Garda was so tempting that if he occupied it, Banten would bow down to him, and when he conquered Java, he would even dare to compete with the Australians across the sea. Moreover, he is now coveted by the wealth accumulated by Yacha Garda, and judging from the news obtained from various sources, it is already the largest port in Java.

Thinking of this, he called the herald into the account, "Send messengers to Surabaya, and say that it is my will, that if they are willing to open the city, I can promise to exempt them from taxes and labor for three years." ”

But Su Tan didn't intend to let the enemy misunderstand his 'good intentions', he just wanted to end this doomed war as soon as possible, so that he could devote his energy to the more intractable enemy, "There are almost three hundred deserters captured in the past few days, all of them are put in front of the battle and beheaded, so that the warriors of Java and those in the city can see clearly that the determination of this lord has not wavered." ”

…………

Escorted by a group of Javanese warriors, Agung was escorted to a tent not far from his tent, where an Acehnese envoy dressed in plain clothes was already waiting.

"I've seen the Maharaja."

"No need to be polite, I came here to say sorry, it seems that the conditions negotiated before are about to change."

"What? Didn't the Maharaja agree a long time ago? ”

"Things can change at any time, and I might as well tell you that Quang Nam intends to use troops against the Australians, and I have promised to join forces with them. However, because the Franc machine will send troops with Quang Nam, I can only regretfully postpone the request for Gui Sutan. ”

Perhaps because of the same origin, Agung did not appear aggressive, and even continued to explain in front of the messenger.

"Please also tell His Highness Muda (Iskandar Muda, King of Aceh) that the greatest enemy at present is the Australians, and as long as he is willing to send sailors to help me capture Yacha Garda, then Java will not only immediately stop exporting rice to Manraka, but will even send troops to help him expel the Franco. Just for now, please bear with me. ”

Aceh's troops are now pointing directly at Manraka, and anyone with a discerning eye can see the king's thoughts, and most of Manraka's food supplies come from Java, which is why this envoy arrived. But now, new problems are in front of the two countries, and the masters of Mataran have set up a common enemy for them.

[References]

1、《Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450-1680》Anthony Reid

2, "Sea Language" Huang Zhen

3. "Nanyang Yearbook"

4. "A Preliminary Study on Zheng He's Spread of Islam in Java and Other Places" by Xu Younian

5, "Emperor Ming Shi Law Record" Chen Renxi

6. "Zhucheng Weekly Consultation" is strict and simple

7、《The Rise of Ayudhya》Charnvit Kasetsiri

8, "History of Overseas Chinese in Nanyang" Chen Bisheng

9、《Chinaese in Southeast Asia》Victor Purcell