Both Fabio and Lawrence were sent to the North Harbor to make sure that what was in the original ship repair yard could be used, that the equipment had to be procured, and that the facilities needed to be built. Pen, Fun, and Pavilion www.biquge.info and submitted a report to Zheng Zhilong respectively. And this errand further deepened the conflict between them. Because this will involve a series of purchases, and the benefits involved in this will naturally be more. So the disgust of both people towards each other has risen significantly.

……

In mid-March 1636, in the city of Geranza, Hans Putmans handed a document to his nephew.

"Hahn, Zheng Zhilong has made such an order to us, you can take a look."

Jayn Putmans took the document from his uncle's hand, looked at it, and after a while he looked up and said to Hans Putmans: "Isn't that what we expected?" Zheng Zhilong passed us very early and recruited shipbuilders. We've helped too. Isn't it logical that he wants to order these shipbuilding equipment now? Won't you sell it to them? If we don't sell it, will the Spaniards not sell it too? Even if the Spaniards don't sell, well, recently because of the security tax, the relationship between the Spaniards and Zheng Zhilong is not as good as before, but business is business, and the Portuguese will sell it. There are also the British, last time they sold a lot of cannons to Zheng Zhilong, and their shipbuilding level is also good. ”

"That's not what I'm talking about." "There's another document here that you can look at together." He said, handing a document to Hahn Putmans over and over again.

Hahn took the document and looked at it carefully, and after a while, he finished reading the document in his hand.

"Hahn, Zheng Zhilong has been rapidly immigrating to Taiwan recently. In just a few months, he sent more than 30,000 migrants to the island of Taiwan. Coupled with the successive immigrants in the past, there are now more than 100,000 Ming people on the island of Taiwan, and the number is still increasing rapidly. Moreover, we also observed that Zheng Zhilong seemed to be planning to build a city in Beigang. Therefore, I estimate that Zheng Zhilong is likely to build this ship repair yard in Beigang. In general, Zheng Zhilong's attention to Taiwan seems to have risen a lot, and it seems that he wants to establish a relatively tight rule in Taiwan. I'm worried that this will not create new contradictions between us and them. ”

"Uncle, what you said is indeed worth worrying about." Hahn Putmans thought for a moment and replied, "For a while, mainly after Zheng Zhilong defected to the Ming Kingdom, his attention to Taiwan declined. But now it seems that he is paying attention to Taiwan again. The Ming Kingdom is so close to Taiwan and has such a large population. He could have immigrated tens of thousands of people to Taiwan in a very short period of time, and the Netherlands was too far away. If Zheng Zhilong is determined to emigrate to Taiwan, we will not be able to stop them from doing so unless they use the means of war. But uncle, you also understand that in the Far East, at least for now, we cannot use force against Zheng Zhilong. So we can't stop that. The question now is, does Zheng Zhilong want to expel us from Taiwan? ”

Hans Putmans thought for a moment and said, "Probably not, at least not for a short time." Just like we need to trade with Ming, Zheng Zhilong also needs to trade with us. He won't kill us, the goose that lays golden eggs, at this time. Unless a gold mine is suddenly discovered beneath our city of Geranza. But it's hard to say in the future. ”

"Uncle, the future is the future, do you still want to be the governor of the Taiwan trade point forever?" Hahn laughed, "As long as there is no danger in the short term, isn't it?" As for the future, leave it to the future to worry about. By that time we had already returned to Amsterdam as heroes who had opened the door to trade with the largest country in the East. Moreover, the significance of Taiwan's trading point is not the same as that of the Spice Islands. The Taiwan Trade Point itself does not produce anything that is really particularly marketable, and the greatest value of its existence is as a transit point for our trade with the Ming Kingdom. As long as the door of Ming trade is open to us, it does not matter who holds Taiwan. ”

"Of course I know what you're talking about. I'm just wondering why Zheng Zhilong is building a shipyard in Beigang, and if it's just about convenience, why doesn't he expand his shipyard in Quanzhou? Hans Püttmans asked.

"Maybe he wants to use the wood from Taiwan nearby?" Hahn said.

"No, it's not just that." "He didn't want anyone else, especially the Ming government, to know that he could build Western-style sailing ships and that he had a fleet of Western-style sailing ships." Maybe he wants to do something with some boats pretending to be us or the Spaniards? For example, use such a fleet to attack the ports of other cities in the Ming Kingdom, and then blame us or the Spaniards. In this way, we will not be able to bypass Zheng Zhilong and trade with the rest of the Ming Kingdom. ”

Hahn Putmans thought for a moment, then said, "Uncle, this is really something I didn't expect. Zheng Zhilong is a typical pirate merchant, and he completely does such things. But at present, it is impossible for us to trade with people other than Zheng Zhilong anyway, if he wants to pretend to be a European for anything, it must be to pretend to be a Spaniard, because the Spaniards have other purchase channels besides Zheng Zhilong. Spaniards, hmph, let them die! ”

"Yes, the Spaniards are going to die!" Hans Putmans laughed too. Although in the long run, Zheng Zhilong's strength may threaten the interests of the Dutch East India Company, but that is a matter of the future, as an employee of the company, Hans Putmans only needs to ensure the interests of the company now.

"In this way, we can do this business, don't you say?" Hans Putmans laughed.

"Of course, I just don't know if those guys in Batavia will agree." Jaén Putmans replied.

"They'll agree, because the money I've made for them this year far exceeds what they've gained from trading with Japan, and they wouldn't have been able to maintain their trade with Japan if it weren't for my efforts. At such a time, who of them would dare to veto my proposal? ”

"Uncle, do you think Zheng Zhilong will propose such a similar procurement contract to the Spaniards?" Hahn burst out laughing.

"Quite possibly, even definitely. Spaniard...... Hehe...... They probably should also be able to see Zheng Zhilong's calculations, but most of them will agree to sell, because if they don't sell, we will sell. Hans Putmans smiled wryly and shook his head.

……

It was already very late at night, but Zheng Zhilong's study was still brightly lit. On the desk, on top of the seven-branch candlestick given to Zheng Zhilong by the Jesuit priests, the seven candles illuminate the study as bright as day, and Zheng Zhilong is sitting on the big chair behind the desk, looking seriously at some of the documents placed on it.

Zhuang took the two maids and walked in quietly. Seeing that Zheng Zhilong had his back to him, he didn't notice that he had come in, so he walked over, picked up a cloak from the clothes rack, and gently draped it over Zheng Zhilong's shoulders.

Zheng Zhilong didn't look back, just reached out and covered Zhuang's hand and said, "Why haven't you slept yet?" ”

"Hasn't the master slept yet?" Zhuang said, "I saw that the old man was tired, so I asked the kitchen to prepare ginseng soup, although the matter is important, the old man should still take care of his body." ”

"I don't know, it's just that things are suddenly crowded into a heap, and it won't work if you don't deal with it." Zheng Zhilong smiled bitterly.

Zhuang gently withdrew his hand from Zheng Zhilong's hand, turned around and picked up a small blue and white bowl from the tray in the hand of a maid, held it in both hands, and brought it to Zheng Zhilong.

"This hot and cold is just right, the master will drink a bowl of ginseng soup first and then get busy." Zhuang said.

"It's hard for you to be so attentive." Zheng Zhilong smiled, took the bowl, and drank the ginseng soup in one go.

Zhuang took the bowl, handed it to the maid standing on the side, turned around and walked behind Zheng Zhilong, and stretched out his hand to help him massage his shoulder.

"That's the point, huh...... It's very comfortable, and your craft is getting better and better. Zheng Zhilong praised.

"If you want me to say, there are some things that the master should let go of a little bit, just let Ah Hu and Ah Leopard do it, it's better than doing everything by themselves, it's all their own brother's, shouldn't they help their brother pick up a burden?" Zhuang said leisurely.

"You don't want me?" Zheng Zhilong said with a wry smile, "I won't talk about the second child, he is either not smart, or he doesn't want to put effort into it, you want him to jump ship and cut people, that's no problem at all, let him deal with these small affairs, and when he finishes dealing with it, you have to deal with it again for him." He was just willing to help, and I didn't dare to let him help, only the more he came, the more he helped. The third child is an average talent, so he can only do that. As for Zhifeng, alas, ......"

Zheng Zhilong let out a long sigh and said, "Zhifeng is a good person, and his thoughts are relatively detailed, but Zhifeng, well, what did Yuan Shao say in the Three Kingdoms?" ”

"More resourceful and less decisive?" Zhuang said.

"Well, that's what it means. Zhifeng, a person, always thinks a lot about things, but the more he thinks about it, the more chaotic his heart becomes, and then he doesn't know what to do, hesitates, and finally can't do anything. Maybe it's okay to let him check and fill in the gaps on the side, let him make a decision, it's better to be the second child. Speaking of this, Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but sigh again, "You said that my brothers are just one ......?"

"Don't be too dissatisfied, no one is perfect." Zhuang said: "Several brothers are actually good and have strengths, it depends on you, the eldest brother." Well, how is Ah Cai? ”

"Ah Cai, except that you can't fight, everything else is okay." Zheng Zhilong said, "But he has enough things, and he is not a ...... after all."

"Alas, if Arsen ......"

"Arsen? If you want to deal with these things, he is the most suitable person in our family, better than me. It's a pity that he's about to take the test, and I can't distract him now. Fortunately, it's only been a few days since the test. Zheng Zhilong finally said.