Cohen, who was dressed in a straight Western-style military uniform, saw Fang Yuan, still saluted respectfully and said, "Governor Fang, we meet again." ”

This Cohen was an old acquaintance of Fang Yuan, and he was the one who came to talk about the silk exchange shipbuilders on behalf of the Governor of the East India Company, Puttersman, one or two years ago.

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "I haven't seen you for a year or two, Vice General Cohen, the more you speak Chinese, the better." ”

Cohen exchanged a few polite words with him, and then ordered his entourage to bring a brocade box, and when he opened the brocade box, he saw that it contained two jade pendants, one large and one small.

Cohen said, "This is Shogun Tokugawa, Lady Yuan, who was given to Governor Fang by the Honriin Eagle Division, and the son and mother of your son Fang He. ”

Fang Yuan was slightly stunned, he thought that Cohen was here to talk about the treaty port, but he didn't expect that Cohen was a drunkard who didn't mean to drink, but actually came to the Tokugawa Shogunate to make peace. The old middle Sakai Tadakatsu sent by Tokugawa Iemitsu before was sent back by Fang Yuan without saying a word, and the Tony Deland people came to intercede again.

The so-called Godaisho is the main room of the shogun, the Takaji Godaisho is the main room of the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu - Takaji Takako, and the Honriin Temple is the honorific title of Takaji Takako.

Xiao Yuan didn't know who the gift was in the Eagle Division Imperial Observatory of the Academy, and when he saw that Fang Yuan was noncommittal, he asked the maid to take the jade of the son and mother, and the whole body was crystal clear, and it was indeed a top grade. But Fang He was born with a golden key, and he has seen a lot of treasures, if this son and mother jade does not have a special connotation, it is actually not a great treasure.

Xiao Yuan couldn't help but ask, "Vice Admiral Cohen, what is the origin of this Zimu jade?" ”

Cohen said truthfully, "This jade was given to Toyotomi Hideyoshi by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the only son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the only son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was born, and his mother's side room Yodohime. It is a very valuable treasure in Japan. ”

Xiao Yuan didn't know who Toyotomi Hideyoshi was in Japan, but listening to Cohen's words, he seemed to be a great figure in Japan, and this kind of treasure with historical connotations certainly made her excited.

Xiao Yuan glanced at Fang Yuan and asked for Fang Yuan's opinion.

Fang Yuan said, "Since it was given to you, you can accept it!" ”

Xiao Yuan happily made the maid accept, "Then I ask Vice Admiral Cohen to thank the Eagle Division of the Academy of Sciences on my behalf." ”

Fang Yuan asked slowly, "Vice Admiral Cohen, if you have any intentions, just say it!" ”

Cohen said straight to the point, "Governor Fang, we Governor Putsmann have something unclear, we Dutch people are good friends of Governor Fang, why does Governor Fang want to participate in Japan, Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the Portuguese, and the Britons against the Shogunate Alliance?" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "This is our grudge with the Tokugawa Shogunate, and it does not affect my traditional friendship with the Netherlands and with Governor Puttersmann!" ”

Cohen solemnly said, "Governor Fang, the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan is a friend of our Dutch East India Company, and Governor Fang is also our friend, we hope that the two sides will stop fighting, sit down and have a good talk, and be good friends." ”

At least half of Cohen was commissioned by the Tokugawa shogunate, and it seems that the civil war in Japan and the war situation of the Tokugawa shogunate are indeed not very optimistic! The Quadripartite Alliance did not need to destroy the Tokugawa shogunate, as long as Japan once again fought back to the Warring States melee before Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan, it would be the result that Fang Yuan liked the most.

Fang Yuan laughed and shook his hand and said, "The thoughts of us Chinese, friends of friends are not necessarily friends, but may also be enemies. We Chinese also have a saying, do not interfere in each other's internal affairs, our grudge with the Tokugawa shogunate, has nothing to do with Governor Puttersman, please do not interfere. ”

The current situation is that the Dutch have a complete monopoly on trade with Japan, and if the political situation in Japan changes, the Dutch will also suffer.

On a larger strategic level, the Dutch people in the Western Ocean were already small, and they played the role of sea coachmen, and only by monopolizing the trade in the East could they have a steady stream of goods and money to support a strong escort navy. If something goes wrong with the trade in the East, the Dutch maritime supremacy will be in danger of collapse.

Therefore, the Dutch would never allow the Britons and the Portuguese to extend their influence east of Malacca. If these two countries find allies in this base in Japan, or even establish a naval base, then Taiwan, occupied by the Dutch, will lose its strategic value and will completely subvert the political and trade pattern of Westerners east of Malacca.

Fang Yuan knew the subtlety of this, but he could never sit idly by and watch any country in the West grow in the East, not the Dutch, nor the British or Portuguese. Fang Yuan's goal was to expel these Westerners from the military power in the East, and they could only do business in a proper manner.

It's just that the civil war in the Ming Dynasty has not yet ended, and Fang Yuan can't spare his hand to deal with these Westerners, and the endless struggle between these Western maritime powers is the best situation. Only when they eat each other dog-eat-dog can Fang Yuan recover Taiwan, defeat Japan, and recover the South China Sea east of Malacca at the lowest cost.

In terms of eloquence, Cohen, a pirate-born officer, is far behind, and he is not ready to fight with Fang Yuan anymore, but bluntly commanded Fang Yuan's army, "Governor Fang, what conditions do you need to withdraw your support for the Shimazu family." ”

No matter what the conditions, Fang Yuan will not withdraw his support for the Shimazu family, unless the Shimazu family has the upper hand and wants to unify Japan, then another matter.

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "The Shimazu family gave me the Ryukyu Islands, hey, what island can Governor Puttersman give me?" ”

Cohen hesitated for a moment and then spoke, "Governor Putsman has long heard the news of the battle between Governor Fang and the Zheng family in Zhejiang, and we can send the Penghu Islands to Governor Fang. As long as Governor Fang stationed a naval division on the Penghu Islands, he could easily capture the Zheng family's Kinmen Island, and he could also directly land and attack the hinterland of Fujian, and the Zheng family would definitely be defeated! ”

Since Fang Yuan has never forgotten the island of Taiwan, the bottom line of this negotiation is that the island of Taiwan cannot be returned, but the Penghu Islands in the western part of the island can be returned.

Fang Yuan heard the sound and knew that the Zheng family had been trying to recover the island of Taiwan as a base camp for overseas secession, so a large number of fleets were stationed in Kinmen, showing an aggressive posture.

The Zheng family's offensive put tremendous pressure on these Dutch people, and they had to separate part of the naval division to garrison the Penghu Islands. Now that the Dutch people are willing to return the Penghu Islands to Fang Yuan, they actually want to borrow Fang Yuan's sailors to relieve the pressure on the Zheng family's sailors, killing two birds with one stone.

The fleet of the Xuanjia Army is only a little bit of a climate now, and if it rashly goes deep into the dangerous places where the forces of all parties wrestle with Kinmen and Penghu, maybe a single negligence will spit out all the previous wins. If you want to conquer the Zheng family on a large scale, you must wait for the water master to become a climate, which is not in a hurry.

Fang Yuan didn't want to think about it, so he immediately rejected Cohen's proposal, "The Penghu Islands are too small, I want Taiwan Island, and I told Adjutant General Cohen before." ”

When Cohen heard that he was about to get back the island of Taiwan, his face sank, and he said unhappily, "I'll talk about the matter of the island of Taiwan later, Governor Fang, please give us Governor Putsman a clear answer, can you withdraw your support for the Shimazu family?" ”

Fang Yuan gently stroked the teacup and said, "Actually, what does the war in Japan have to do with me?" If the Tokugawa shogunate agrees to use Sekigahara as a boundary with the Shimazu family, I can withdraw my support for the Shimazu family. ”

Sekigahara is the dividing line between the eastern and western forces of Japan, and Fang Yuan's proposal to use Sekigahara as the boundary is to completely split Japan into two countries, the east and the west.

The Tokugawa shogunate would never agree to this condition, because Kyoto, where the Japanese emperor was located, was in Kansai, and the shogunate would rather fight to the end than give up Kansai.

The Dutch East India Company would not accept this condition, because the best foreign trade ports in Japan were all in Kansai, and this condition was to make the Britons and Portuguese occupy the best foreign trade ports in Japan, so how could the Dutch people gain a foothold in Japan?

Cohen said angrily, "Governor Fang is tyrannical and unreasonable!" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Vice Admiral Cohen, please calm your anger, it's not appropriate to talk now, let's seek common ground while reserving differences, let's talk slowly!" ”

Cohen coldly threatened, "If Governor Fang is so stubborn, we, Governor Puttersman, will join forces with the Zheng family sailor to cut off Governor Fang's foreign trade routes." ”