231 Timor Island

The construction of Timor Island has recently entered a critical period, and more than 300,000 yuan of loans have been accurately delivered. The local Portuguese colonial officials and the native-born white elite looked untouchable, they did not need the loan at all, and they did not like the sudden arrival of the East Coasters, believing that it would likely provoke fierce retaliation from the Dutch East India Company and plunge them into disaster.

But their opinion is insignificant. This was the will of the East Coasters, directly directed against the Dutch East India Company, and even their Governor of Goa did not dare to say anything about it, let alone the lower colonial officials and the native white aristocrats, who had no say in it, and could only follow in the footsteps of the East Coasters, whether they wanted it or not.

It's not that no one disputes this, like the Robles family, which has been running locally for two generations. The family owned two large estates in the eastern half of the island of Timor (henceforth known as East Timor), enslaved more than a thousand Malay workers, and was so powerful that the local colonial officials did not dare to do anything to them, and many things had to be consulted with them, or rather acted on by their faces.

Such a family is naturally arrogant on weekdays, and if the arrival of the people from the east coast can bring them benefits, it will be fine, and everyone will make money together. But if it doesn't bring good, or maybe even harm, then they may have something to say, such as preventing the East Coasters from turning this place into a military base.

The Robles family's move is undoubtedly a big taboo. However, given the family's influence in the area, the East Coasters ignored it for the time being and continued with the planned construction work. Although the Robles family had resorted to various means to temporarily halt some of the projects of the Easterners, they did not dare to be so mad as to openly oppose the Easterners, even though the representatives of the Dutch had come to warn them several times, even though they were already anxious because of the impact on trade.

However, the restraint of the Robles family was not recognized by the East Coasters. Major Lu Hsiao-chung of the Third Fleet plans to add a messenger to a quick liaison ship returning to Den Lai next month (May), and hand it to Commander-in-Chief Liao Degong Liao with his handwritten letter, asking him to order the transfer of two companies on the right wing of the Taiwan Marine Battalion, which are adapted to fighting in the tropics, to Timor Island, and temporarily authorize him to take command of the disobedient forces on this island, such as the Robles family, and replace them with forces that are obedient to the people on the east coast, so as not to cause trouble for themselves.

And this so-called "force that obeys the people on the east coast", in fact, Lu Xiaozhong has also been chosen, that is, the Pinto family, which has a close relationship with the East Coast Navy and has business contacts in the Bay of Bengal, Macao and other places. It just so happened that one of the members of the family had been operating on the island of Timor for many years, and he was not very welcoming to the arrival of the East Coasters, because he thought that it might hinder their business, especially some unspeakable private business with the Dutch East India Company.

But he was ultimately a member of the Pinto family, and often needed the help of other family members, especially when East Timor was still facing the Dutch threat from West Timor. In addition, the people on the east coast promised that their family would monopolize the trade route from Timor Island to the port of Jiaozhou, so they were immediately attracted to it.

Now, everyone has basically negotiated in private, just waiting for the arrival of the Taiwan Marine Battalion, and then they will wipe out the Robles family. The property was divided between East Bank and other local families, and the army and parliament were cleared, so that the whole of East Timor was once again a cohesive subject – under the leadership of the East Bankers.

Of course, before the Lobos family is cleared, the people of the East Coast will also get the understanding of the Governor of Goa, but they don't know if the time will come up. Either way, this must be done, unless the Robles suddenly change course and support the initiatives of the Easterners on the island, they will not be doomed. East Timor was a dagger that the East Coasters had planted in the waist of the Dutch East India Company, and they would focus on it no matter what, so they would not allow any internal problems to arise, and they did not hesitate to resort to some of the more drastic means for this purpose.

"We now have three professional warships in Dili Port, or sail warships equipped with steam propulsion systems, which can no longer be regarded as a small force." Seeing that the Malay slave laborers were struggling to reclaim the sea and build bridges (trestle bridges), Lu Xiaozhong nodded with satisfaction, and then turned his head to Wang Zhaowen and Hu Chi, the envoys of the Southern Pioneer Team who had just arrived here with the light cruiser "Terrier River Sky Spear", and said: "Although there are many ships of the Dutch East India Company, there are also many places that need to be taken care of, and it may not be able to invest much strength in Timor Island. What's more, many of the ships they can summon are armed merchant ships, not professional warships, and they still have to do business in peacetime, so they may be able to summon them when, which is another advantage for us. Three professional warships, but they can fight around the clock, and they can take some routes that the Dutch did not expect (i.e., they don't have to think about the currents and wind directions), causing a surprise effect, and the Dutch will have a headache to deal with. ”

"But we also have difficulties now, and there are still many of them." After talking about the comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the two sides, Major Lu Xiaozhong changed his words and talked about the difficulties he is facing now, only to hear him say: "First of all, we still lack a ship, a coal ship. How can a sail ship sail a long way without a coal ship by its side? Wouldn't that greatly limit our range? That's not going to work! So this point needs to be approved by the superiors. In addition, we need a small ammunition production base, preferably in the port of Dili, to produce our own ammunition to support our operations on the sea. We don't need to be able to produce guns, we can just stock them up, but we have to have ammunition, and that's critical. ”

In fact, Lu Xiaozhong had already talked about this issue with Wang and Hu before, and the East Indies, like Japan, had a lot of sulfur resources. And the climate was hot and humid, which made it suitable for the construction of a nitrifying bacteria culture system and the production of nitrate in batches – in addition to the fact that it could be procured from the Bay of Bengal through the Pinto family – with nitrate and sulphur, black powder was not a problem at all. You know, this is not a new type of gunpowder that is being researched and trial-produced locally, the requirements for the type and purity of raw materials are not so harsh, and it is very simple to manufacture, and even the Malay natives of the island can do it, so they can send some skilled technicians from the gunpowder factory in Denglai Yangma Island.

And with sufficient gunpowder, the navy and army of the people on the east coast had sufficient war support. Just like Timor Island, if you can provide enough food, produce enough gunpowder, and store some tents, tools, medicines, clothing, mechanical parts, cannonballs (if you can build a small iron factory and make your own cannonballs), then a fairly self-sustaining military base will be built.

This base, north of the Bandarhai to attack many spice-rich islands, harass the Dutch money bags; Sike entered the vicinity of Batavia and threatened the Dutch center of domination, leaving them at rest; To the east, it is even possible to connect with the port of Motu, which is now home to a large number of merchants and fishermen on the east coast - that is, the port of Moresby in later generations, the territory of the Motu people, where the people of the east coast bought a piece of land as a shelter and managed the logging, fishing and commercial activities of the people of the east coast in the area - it can be said that it is a relay between all parties, and the geographical location is very important.

In fact, some time ago, Major Lu Xiaozhong led three "Star"-class light cruisers, using their steam propulsion system, to the north into the Banda Sea, intercepting 10 small offshore boats carrying grain and cloth to Ambon Island - the Dutch East India Company controlled more than 10,000 of these small boats nearby - after transferring the grain and cloth to his own warship, these small boats were burned, and the personnel were all captured and imprisoned in a secret prison on the outskirts of Dili Port.

Lu Xiaozhong speculated that the attack would probably cause chaos on Ambon Island for a while. In order to control the production and trade of spices, the Dutch East India Company has been pushing for the simplification of the islands' industries for many years, that is, using various means to subdue the princely kingdoms and chieftains on the islands, destroying the grain planting industry on the islands, clearing shrubs and miscellaneous trees, and planting spices in a unified manner.

This economic model was extremely beneficial to the Dutch East Indies, but very disadvantageous to the ordinary Malays on the islands. First of all, they relied on the Dutch-controlled small boats for food, cloth, salt, daily necessities, and other supplies for their daily needs. For example, their food was transported from Batavia (much of it was purchased by the Dutch), salt and cloth were purchased from India, and daily necessities were produced partly in Batavia and partly through trade, all in the hands of the Dutch. The islands' only economic activity was to grow spices and sell them to merchants of the East India Company in exchange for all kinds of necessities.

There is no doubt that in this process, the natives did not have any bargaining power, and the price of spices was decided by the Dutch, as was the price of grain and salt. Even when the international spice market fluctuated, and the Dutch reduced their purchases to maintain the price of spices and grab the maximum profit, the people of these islands were miserable! They would not have enough money to buy all kinds of necessities, and they would not have the ships to smuggle with the outside world (if they were discovered by the Dutch, they would face a massacre in retaliation), so life was not uncommon, and starvation was not uncommon, and the Dutch colonists did not care about this in the slightest. In their opinion, the natives are all lowly races, so what is the point of a few deaths? Not a big deal.

It can be seen from this that the living system of many islands in the Spice Islands is actually very fragile, and they are very dependent on the transportation of materials from the outside world due to their extremely poor self-sustaining ability. Therefore, when the three ships of the navy on the east coast set off from the port of Dili and headed north into the Banda Sea, they could put Ambon Island in great trouble with just a small test. And this time it was actually only a robbery of ten small boats, if they continue to be active in the future and rob dozens or even hundreds of small boats near the sea, then probably many islands will have a famine, right? At that time, the inhabitants of these islands will probably cut down the spice trees and replant food in order to survive, and the Dutch will not be able to suppress it.

Therefore, the fact that the people on the east coast advanced into Timor Island can be called "stable", "accurate", and "ruthless", and it hit the seven inches of the Dutch East India Company at once, making them very uncomfortable. It's been a few months since they got the news, and the company is still in a state of confusion, no one has clearly stated how to deal with the situation, and the only thing they have done is probably send a few representatives to Dili Port to protest.

As for sending warships to blockade the port of Dili, to be honest, the Dutch are considering it, but if they really want to make up their minds to implement it, I am afraid that it will still need to be discussed. At the very least, given that the East Coasters had not yet infringed on the interests of the Spice Islands (and the Dutch had not yet ascertained the reason for the ship's failure), rash action would only make things more unpredictable. In Batavia now, although there are some hardliners, they generally do not have the upper hand, and everyone still tends to use negotiation to solve problems.

Of course, this is the result of a recent spate of "bad news". A year ago, there were many more hardliners in Batavia than there are now! It can also be seen from this that the Dutch are cheap, and if you don't do something about it, they will not see the situation clearly, think that you are weak, and think that the Strait of Malacca and the grain trade are indispensable to the people on the east coast.

Now the Dutch were probably clear-headed, and the troubles of Formosa, the concerns of Port Wilhelm II, and the possible threat to the Spice Islands all forced the Dutch East India Company to reassess the situation it was facing. They were originally dissatisfied with the fact that the East Coasters had entered the Indian market and formed a de facto alliance with the Portuguese, which clearly harmed the interests of the East India Company and frustrated their hopes of dominating the Indian market, so they decided to take some countermeasures to express their displeasure with the arrogant East Coasters.

Moreover, they think that these countermeasures are very measured, such as imposing tariffs on goods exported to Denglai and Ningbo, so that the people on the east coast can pay more. They didn't even close the port of Malacca to ships on the east coast, lest things get even more out of control. Therefore, the Dutch attack is actually very useful, if you really stand on a fair and objective standpoint, the East Coast people are doing things everywhere at the same time, although it is a retaliation in response to the actions of the Dutch, but the intensity of this revenge is inevitably a little too high, and the so-called unequal is also.

It's like you punched me, and I killed your whole family, and the strength of the revenge is not at all a level, so the Dutch East India Company is a little confused and a little aggrieved. But this world has always spoken with fists, and the people of the East Coast have so many cards to play in the Far East and the Indian Ocean, and the cards are so good, you can't stand a few random cards, who can blame it? The Dutch are not fools, and after synthesizing information from all sides and conducting research, the number of hardliners has significantly decreased, and the overall view of the Batavian top has begun to focus on negotiations, avoiding direct armed conflict as much as possible, and restoring the original trade order.

However, since there are negotiations, it seems inevitable that the East Coasters will have to recognize their presence in the Indian region and that they are one of the best players in the Indian chess game, which has caused some people to feel quite painful. Originally, they were about to defeat the Portuguese and take control of the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, but the emergence of the people on the east coast reversed the situation, and in the future, they probably will never have the opportunity to obtain Goa, Daman, Diu and other places, which cannot but be said to be a pity.

But that's all there is to it. Acknowledging that the presence of the East Coasters in India was inevitable, the East India Company's next main goal was probably to negotiate the departure of the East Coasters from the island of Timor, thereby keeping the Spice Islands away from all threats. While this may not seem like an easy task, how do you know without giving it a try? The Spice Islands are the company's most important asset, and it is clear to all that there is no room for error.

"The Dutch might ask us to leave the island of Timor, but it doesn't really matter. But we need to prepare in advance, such as relocating a large number of immigrants from Ningbo to settle here, and at the same time organizing them for militia training. Of course, the factories must also be controlled by them, and at most they will give the Portuguese some dividends. All in all, through all of the above, we will strengthen our presence on the island of Timor and be able to return at any time in the future if we do leave. Major Lu Xiaozhong stood on a coastal defense battery, looked at the open blue sea in the distance, and said with a smile: "There are ship repair facilities, ammunition factories, grain and fruits, as well as barracks and batteries, it can be said that there is everything." The Portuguese are now being cleaned up by us again, and they can knead as much as they want in the future, so what does it matter if Timor Island remains in their hands for the time being? ”

Of course, Lu Xiaozhong did not say some things in front of Hu and Wang. That is, even if they want to leave Timor Island in the future, it is imperative to clean up the Portuguese native white families on the island, and families like Robles must be cleaned up and replaced by the Pinto family, which is the premise and the key to the remote control of the situation on Timor Island by the East Coast people in the future.

Let the Pinto family contain other Portuguese families on the island, and let the Ningbo immigrants monitor and contain the Pinto family, this kind of routine of controlling each other and influencing each other is the core to ensure the long-term stability and always controllable future of Timor Island. As for what the Portuguese governor of Goa would think, it was secondary, and even for various reasons, he might be glad to see the people of the east coast clean up the unruly native white families on the island for him, so that he and the Goan government could have more prestige on the island.