On March 25, 1687, in the port of William II on the island of Mauritius, Captain Jan Isaac Reus from Enkhuizen was writing a letter to his superiors.

“…… The ship departed from the port of Cape Town on 15 January, and in order to sail safely to Batavia, we sold most of our European cargo and procured a full shipload of arms and ammunition. God forbid, on 12 February we crossed the southeast corner of New Huaxia Island and headed for Port Wilhelm II. On the way, we met the three-masted galleon 'Good Weather' and learned with great sadness that the sailing ship 'Samsun' that had been attacked by pirates one night and had been drowned at sea. After arriving at Port Wilhelm II, I learned that Mr. Christian and Mr. Reinze, who had gone to Xinhuaxia Island to purchase daily necessities, were detained by the East Coast Customs and were said to be sentenced to prison for not truthfully declaring all the purchased goods and suspected of smuggling, but I highly suspected that this was an East Coast fishing law enforcement, because I had never heard of such incidents before. ”

“…… Scarce medicines could not be procured, and sailors and residents of Port Wilhelm II complained to the authorities that they were overburdened with sick people. There was even a schooner whose sailors complained that their captain had just died of malaria and that there were no healthy enough sailors on board to afford the voyage. Therefore, they will auction the ships in Port Wilhelm II, and then all will settle in place, looking for opportunities to work. ”

“…… Three ships came from the English-controlled port of Beira (in Portuguese Mozambique, but this port belonged to the British and was a relic of history) and sold us a large quantity of food at fair prices, including 10,000 large apples, 10,000 oranges, 300 melons, 80 sheep, 5 cattle, and large quantities of flour, salted fish, coconuts, and palm oil. These are basically what they buy from the Portuguese in Mozambique, and God willing, the English of Beira can sail here in this difficult time for us to come and help us, so that we do not lose money because we are defenceless due to lack of food. Of course, when they left, they also took with them a lot of spices, precious stones, leather and gold, and they also made a lot of profits. ”

“…… The garrison of Port Wilhelm II fell ill, and now the Provisional Council took over all power. The gentlemen of the Council believe that all the misfortunes that have befallen the island of Mauritius recently seem to have their origins: the East Coasters! It may be too early to judge who is behind them, but the arrest of Christian and Mr. Reinzer seems to herald a change in their attitude towards us, that they no longer hide their hostility towards us, and that everything is beginning to get naked. Mr. Francis Peters Cornelis, who runs a large farm on the island of Mauritius, even speculated that the two ships that had recently disappeared were probably attacked by the East Coasters, who destroyed their bodies, burned or scuttled them, leaving the company unable to investigate, and that the sailors had probably been chained to some remote hot and humid plantation, toiling until they died. ”

“…… The islanders were among the willing sailors, including many Malays who had been sentenced to exile by the Batavia High Court, but all of them demanded a considerable increase in salaries, as the risk of going to sea had magnified dramatically at this stage. In addition, they demanded a better supply of food, two suitcases per person for personal cargo, and the fact that the captain could not torture the sailors at will without trial. In view of the current dire situation, the Council and the captains had to accede to this request, to the satisfaction of all the sailors employed in Port Wilhelm II. ”

After writing such a long paragraph, on the pier not far from the window, the coastal defense artillery was conducting artillery calibration again. Recently, the company brought in a number of cannons from Batavia, which were placed in the dangerous terrain around the port. To this end, Wilhelm II, with the consent of the Governor of Batavia, allocated funds for the construction of the above-mentioned facilities. The famous Dutch East India Company had invested so many resources in a small island colony, and the island of Mauritius was the first time in the world, and this was all caused by the coercion of the pagans on the east coast, and Captain Reus knew this very well.

Having been to the Far East several times (he was not yet a captain at the time), he had a very mixed impression of the people on the East coast. On the one hand, he was extremely excited about the fact that the people of the East could make a big difference on the Far Eastern continent, because they showed all the overseas colonists how they could pry open the closed market of the country, that is, to keep it at war forever, so that all sides would naturally trade with foreign merchants to improve the competitiveness of their own regimes. On the other hand, Captain Reus was dissatisfied with the fact that the East Coasters controlled a considerable part of the export trade of Chinese specialty goods, although they also provided many goods such as precious furs, whale products, fine flour, wine, and hardware tools (made in the East) to appease the company, and also signed a long-term agreement to import large quantities of grain, but this was still not enough to calm the sullen hearts of the Batavian top brass and make them change their perception of the East Coasters.

Captain Reus estimated that the deterioration of relations between the two sides was triggered by the East Coasters' unauthorized intervention in the struggle between the Portuguese and the company in India, and the strong entry into the island of Diu, officially starting their own colonial trade on the Indian subcontinent. This was particularly intolerable to the Batavians, who knew that the Portuguese were easy to deal with, and they only needed to take time, but the people on the eastern coast, who had a large presence in the western Indian Ocean, were definitely not easy to deal with, and they had too many colonies and men. Once in India, it was almost impossible to get rid of it, so it was a serious violation of the interests of the Dutch East India Company, and they had to react.

Increasing tariffs on essential goods exported to the East Coast, such as the food they desperately need, is just a small test to see how it reacts. But who would have thought that the reaction of the people on the east coast was so great that they launched a strong counterattack everywhere, causing some unprepared companies to suffer a lot of losses. For example, it is now difficult for them to get goods along the coast near Guangzhou, and the goods exported to them by Taiwanese banks have also been subject to high tariffs, and some have even been cancelled outright and no longer exported.

By the way, Formosa has also been a bit unstable lately. Zheng Jing, the king of Fujian who had colonized the northern half of the island, did not know what to think about, and preferred to destroy the friendship that had been built up between the company and them over the years, but also to create friction on the part of the island and encourage the people under his rule to move south.

Governor Hugo Rolle of Geranza sent several times to negotiate, but to no avail. In desperation, Governor Rohr sent soldiers to expel the Hokkien people who had crossed the border, demolished their shacks and huts, and regained the lost land. But the men and horses of the king of Fujian soon returned, this time accompanied by soldiers, and there were several skirmishes between the two sides in the border area, and things suddenly developed in an uncontrollable direction.

Another rather disgusting thing for the people on the east coast was the formation of a joint fleet of the eastern, Portuguese and western regions in Macao, under the unified command of naval officers on the east coast. Although the fleet was small, it was sometimes active in the coastal waters, saying that it was anti-smuggling, but many times it was engaged in piracy, and it focused on overseas merchants such as the Dutch East India Company, so that some of the company's merchant ships had to fly the flags of other countries to avoid risks.

All in all, the people on the east coast have tossed around in the Far East seas, the trade volume of the Dutch has been greatly reduced, and the Formosa trading station, which originally contributed one-third of the company's profits, seems to have been stolen overnight, and the books are ugly.

As a last resort, the company's merchants had to venture to sail longer distances to Xiangshui Port, an important trading port of the Qing Dynasty, to purchase tea, raw silk, brocade, porcelain, and other goods supplied by the Qing Dynasty, but this faced fierce competition from merchants from France, England, Portugal, and other countries, who did not necessarily gain the upper hand, so the harvest was generally limited and could not make up for the loss of the southern market.

Captain Reus was not very aware of everything that was happening in the Far East. But he had some friends over there, and he had more or less known the general situation for several years, and then he was shocked and envious of the unparalleled influence of the East Coast people in Chinese mainland. This ability to mobilize resources at will is the so-called influence that the Dutch East India Company has always pursued, but it is a pity that they have never been able to do so.

Captain Reus felt that the head of the governor of Batavia must have been caught by the door, the trade sanctions could not cause much harm to the people on the east coast, the grain could be imported from North Korea instead, and although there were fewer channels for Nanyang specialties, it could not be said that there were none, so their life was not uncomfortable, and the real uncomfortable was the Dutch East India Company, the initiator of the trade war.

And the Far East seas are like this, how can the people on the East coast, who have such a huge power in the western Indian Ocean, not use their advantages to squeeze the Dutch East India Company more deeply? And so you can see that the combined fleet of East and Portugal was formed again, and although it was also very small, it gave the Portuguese in Goa the courage to dare to fight to the death against the Dutch East India Company. No, having lost their presence on the islands of Ceylon and the Coromandel coast, the Portuguese put up a strong resistance along the Malabar coast, fighting the East India Company with all their might.

The Batavian side was also rather depressed by this, as the Portuguese were clearly supported by money and weapons from the East Coast, and could therefore survive the battle against the deep-pocketed East India Company, and had recently grown stronger and more courageous, to the surprise of the East India Company. Their most arrogant occasion was to thwart the East India Company's attempt to blockade Goa by the East India Company's fleet of the East Coasters. This time the two sides almost fought, but fortunately they were still restrained, and the East India Company saw that the East Coast was standing behind the Portuguese, and the blockade plan could not be completed, so it finally withdrew decisively.

The failed lockdown was frustrating for many within the East India Company. Some have even offered to close the port of Malacca and not allow east-coasters to berth – about 8-10 migrant transport ships take this route each year – and let them take care of their ships and house the sick during the storm. Fortunately, the governor and his top brass were not stupid enough to do so, and they did not close the port of Malacca to the east coasters, but still allowed it to berth and sail freely, so as to avoid a deep deterioration in relations between the two sides.

It can be seen from here that even if the two sides have reached this point, the Dutch East India Company still does not want to completely tear its face with the East Coasters, just as the East Coasters do not intend to completely fight with the East India Company, and the tacit understanding between the two sides is still quite interesting. The two sides are playing this confrontation game very measuredly, there is no escalation of the situation, but it is not over, now it depends on who is more patient on both sides.

Captain Reus was not very optimistic about the patience of the East India Company's top brass. With heavy performance pressure, they were naturally at a disadvantage when competing with opponents like the East Coast Republic, and this time the two sides were at a bad position because the East Coasters did not communicate with the Dutch in advance, and then joined the big chess game of India. But now that the facts have been created, and the people on the East Coast have been operating on Diu for many years and can no longer be easily driven away, then does the East India Company need to change its policy and no longer fight them for anything, but try to solve problems and distribute benefits through dialogue and communication.

Especially now that the people on the east coast are suspected of dispatching the Second Fleet of the Navy, the island of Mauritius and Port William II are feeling unprecedented pressure, and if it continues for a long time, the harm will definitely be great. As a senior employee of the company, Captain Reus naturally has the responsibility to reflect and express his opinions upwards in order to facilitate negotiations between the two parties as soon as possible and end the tense situation as soon as possible. After all, this is not the same as in the past, the East Coast people have strong capital, and if the Dutch East India Company, which is subject to restrictions everywhere, does not want its business to be greatly affected, then it will probably have to accept some conditions of the East Coasters.

Maintaining a stable and prosperous trade route was always the main pursuit of the Dutch East India Company, and it was clear that it could not do without the people of the East Coast. Captain Reus has already responded to his superiors in the letter, it is best to establish a long-term dialogue mechanism with the East Coasters, communicate in advance if there are problems, and make a memorandum, so that everyone can understand their respective demands, which is very beneficial to both sides.