In mid-August, Maiden returned to the Golden City.

It is now the southwest monsoon season, and after leaving Jincheng, at the speed of the Adventure, if he sails at full speed, he can go home in half a month.

However, after leaving Batavia, he made planned stops in Banten, Palembang and Champer. Aceh didn't go by the way, and he didn't go this time.

Palembang and Champer are two independent sultanates in the southeastern part of Sumatra. In some cases they were nominally subservient to other powers, but always maintained their independence in substance. Palembang and Champet are pepper producing areas, and both have common characteristics and are able to rely on inland waterway shipping to radiate inland, so they effectively control a large raw material production area.

Although the Dutch had infiltrated the area for a long time, the effect had not been good. In Champe, the Dutch set up a merchant house several times and withdrew it several times. Palembang also had Dutch trading houses, but they have not been able to achieve a monopoly.

When Maiden, with the agreement signed with the Dutch, returned home to report to the Senate, he was, as he expected, really sprayed badly. Forced to resign from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate. It's just that this person sprays back, and since the plenipotentiary envoy has signed the agreement, he can only implement it. Credit is also the foundation of a nation.

Chen Shouxu had no choice but to find Maiden alone after the meeting.

Meet separately and talk about private matters first.

Maiden handed over a journal sealed on vellum paper: "I have forwarded your letter to Tasman, and he is grateful for the information you have provided, and I have asked me to give you a copy of his diary of a voyage to Japan and further north." ”

Chen Shouxu took it, "This will be very useful for us." Thank you for your hard work. ”

Maiden: "It's nothing to hand over a letter. It's just that what you said to him in your letter, Xiang Xiang participated in next year's expedition to the southern continent, and he said that he can't make a commitment now, and can only operate privately, whether it will succeed or not, it's hard to say now. ”

Chen Shouxu: "Well, do your best, you really can't force others." ”

After the private matter was finished, Chen Shouxu saw that Maiden still looked unhappy, so he comforted: "Although there are some unfairness in the agreement with the Dutch, I know that you did your best. We are a weak country now, and there is not much room for bargaining in front of the Dutch. ”

Maiden drank a large glass of wine, "You don't need to comfort me, I understand the attitude of the senators. It's just that this will not be in a good mood, and you can rest assured that it will not affect your future work. ”

Chen Shouxu: "That's good." Actually, I think the agreement you brought back, if you don't care about the name, it's actually pretty good. ”

Maiden finally had a smile on his face: "The Dutch don't allow us to cross Malacca, and it's not actually discrimination against us alone. Other countries are not allowed to cross Malacca either. Even British ships have sailed as far as Banten these days, and have never entered the South China Sea. ”

Chen Shouxu: "It's good that you can think of leaving a hole in the agreement and only promising them not to cross Malacca by sea." ”

Maiden: "Are there plans to build a road to the Andaman Sea?" ”

Chen Shouxu: "There is no written plan. That was just the initial assumption of Marmont and I. The existing trail is of little value, and the distance from Jincheng to the islands of Darudao and Lingjiawei in the Andaman Sea Pavilion is probably more than 200 kilometers, and the road is full of large areas of primeval forest. In the middle, we have to climb over a watershed with a drop of more than 100 meters and some river channels, and the amount of work exceeds our current capacity. I just asked Marmont to arrange some survey work if he could. It will be a few years before the road is built. ”

Maiden: "Yes, building roads now is also provoking the Dutch. It's better to wait for a few years for us to be stronger. ”

Chen Shouxu: "We can't carry too many goods by road alone, and we can't even eat up the trade in the South China Sea." I thought about building roads, mainly for the saltpeter of Bengal, and it would be better if I could take the opportunity to get in touch with the British. ”

Maiden: "The Dutch are really not easy to deal with, and hopefully the British will be better." ”

Chen Shouxu: "Regardless of the road. What do you think of Banten, Champet and Palembang? ”

Maiden: "Banten doesn't care about our rise, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with them. In addition to Borneo, Champet and Palembang were the main ports for the Chinese to collect pepper. The effect of my visit was not good, and these two countries did not say much about our credentials. As far as I can see, when we go to buy pepper, they don't refuse either. ”

Chen Shouxu: "I was negligent in this matter, and I should have asked Lin Tongwen to send someone to go with you." We have no strategic objectives in these countries. It's just to provide a better business backer for the Chinese to move their families to Jincheng. And to achieve this goal, it is not necessary to go to Champet and Palembang to achieve it. ”

Maiden nodded, "yes, would it be nice to show them a few battles." We have the strength, we are reasonable, and we take everyone to make more money than before. It's a prospect that the two of us have discussed a long time ago. ”

"We proved it all to the sea in the South China Sea with time and effort." Chen Shouxu couldn't help laughing. Thinking back to the days and nights when he and Maiden planned together in the Caribbean, it really feels like something is wrong.

Maiden stood up and went to get the map, "Anthony. Fan. Dimon gave us two combat missions. ”

Chen Shouxu looked at Maiden's back and asked, "What do you think of Anthony. Fan. What kind of person is Dimon? ”

Maiden sat down and thought for a moment, "That's what I met with him. It's hard to describe it all, but he gave me the intuitive impression that he was very elegant in appearance, but very strong in substance. ”

Chen Shouxu: "Such people are the most difficult to deal with. He knew very well what he wanted, and it was difficult to impress him except for the actual effort. ”

Maiden: "It's okay, it's a big deal to put up with him for a few years." The head office of the Dutch East India Company was not the king, and he had to leave as soon as his term of office was up. Come and see, where is Formosa? ”

Chen Shouxu pointed to an island on the map very close to Chinese mainland, "I was about to say this. Formosa is called Taiwan in China. The Spaniards now occupy chicken coops and freshwater in northern Taiwan and see several castles. He didn't say that after we captured the Taipei area, we were not allowed to garrison troops there, right? ”

"I've thought about it on the road, and it's probably not surprising," Maiden said. Since the Spaniards also have an eye on the northern part of Formosa, there must be some value in the area. The Dutch may have feared that if they did not garrison the area, the Spaniards might come again. If you are stationed, this cost is another problem. Since we are enemies with the Spaniards, and he is sure to suppress our homeland in the South Seas, it is reasonable for us to station troops in Taiwan and take on the task of defending against the Spaniards. ”

Chen Shouxu said: "You are right. You don't know enough about China, Anthony . Fan. There is another meaning to Dimon doing this. Remember Nikolai. An official, Zheng Zhilong? ”

Maiden: "Are you referring to the general in Fujian Province of China who monopolized Sino-Japanese and Sino-Dutch trade?" ”

Chen Shouxu: "That's right. The Dutch had been hoping to break Zheng Zhilong's monopoly and preferably squeeze him out of the Japanese route entirely. For this reason, they did not hesitate to fight Zheng Zhilong, but unfortunately they were defeated in Liuluo Bay. This shows that the Dutch are powerless to break Zheng Zhilong's offshore sea supremacy. Since the military means are ineffective, the Dutch can only use money to open the way, they give Zheng Zhilong preferential loans, and are willing to help him run the Japanese route, promising to share the profits between the two families. was still rejected by Zheng Zhilong. ”

Maiden: "That means that this General Zheng is soft and hard?" He must maintain the autonomy of the route, and there is no way to do it. ”

Chen Shouxu: "Zheng Zhilong worked as an employee of both the Portuguese and the Dutch when he was young, and he knows them very well. He also lived in Japan for a while, and his current wife is also Japanese. His eldest son, who is the de facto heir, is also of mixed Chinese and Japanese descent. ”

Chen Shouxu was a little excited when he said this, Zheng Sen, Zheng Damu, and the surname of the country was successful. A national hero of China, the first celebrity in history he could have come into contact with.

Maiden didn't notice Chen Shouxu's strange expression and asked, "You mean, in addition to letting us defend against the Spaniards, the Dutch also have the purpose of hoping that we will have a conflict with Zheng Zhilong and make the situation in Formosa change in favor of the Dutch?" ”

Chen Shouxu: "That's right. I think the second purpose is what Van Dymen intended. Saving money for a castle garrison that is difficult to make money is not what he likes. As long as we go, we will inevitably come into contact with Chinese businessmen, and as a country with a heavy sense of discourse on China's sea, it is easy for us to contradict the Zheng family. ”

Maiden hesitated and said, "Then do we still want to go?" You all say that General Zheng is very strong, and if the friction goes wrong, it may affect the overall situation of trade. ”

Chen Shouxu smiled, "Go, we must go." The importance of the northern part of Taiwan, the Dutch did not know. A possible contradiction with Zheng Zhilong is not a problem. We will also have to develop for a few years if we go, and there will be no substantive conflict with him in the short term. In a few years, the situation in China will change drastically, and everyone but us will be caught off guard, and then there will be no need to think about the Zheng family. ”

Here it is again, and Maiden has long been surprised by Chen Shouxu's mysterious prophecies. "You can't be talking about Tatars, are you? Although China did not have an advantage in the war with the Tatars, China was so big, what could the Tatars do. ”

Now the Europeans in Jincheng are willing to take the time and energy to understand the situation in China, which makes Chen Shouxu very happy. However, mentioning Jianzhou still made Chen Shouxu sigh. "Not only the Tatars, but also other forces. Anyway, you'll see. In my country, 300 years is a big hurdle, and now this court has been established for almost 300 years.

Maiden blinked, "Okay, we must go to Taiwan." But now that the southwest monsoon season is almost over, it will be next year. Let's look at the more recent goal. Southwest Borneo, Sukkadana. ”

To be honest, this goal made Chen Shouxu a little surprised, "The port of Suqadana is only more than 300 nautical miles away from Batavia, and the voyage will be a few days downwind, why don't the Dutch go and end the port themselves, and let us go?" ”

Maiden said: "I also asked someone to inquire in Batavia. This port of Sucadana was conquered 19 years ago by a fleet led by Susuhu Nanagung of Mataram, the only enclave outside the island of Java. The port of Suqadana is an important transshipment port for their rice trade and is currently the trading center of Borneo. ”

Chen Shouxu interrupted him, "What do you mean by Susu Hunan?" ”

Maiden: "Translated into our language, it literally means the noblest boots." The implication is that all the sultans under his rule should kiss his boots. The Sultan of the Sultans, the meaning of the Emperor. ”

Chen Shouxu pursed his lips, "A sultan on a broken island dares to be the emperor." ”

Maiden: "You know that Agung once laid siege to Batavia. Although the Dutch won the battle, Van Diemen's benefactor, Cohen, the then chief of the city, died of disease during the siege. Since then, Van Diemen's relationship with Agung has been very poor. ”

Chen Shouxu: "It's understandable. Someone as strong as Van Dimen must have regarded that battle as a disgrace and would definitely want revenge. ”

Maiden: "Mataram has always been a great power, and although the Dutch have annihilated Mataran's fleet, the board of directors in Amsterdam has always forbade Van Dimen to go to war directly with Matalan. This made Van Diemen very depressed. ”

Chen Shouxu: "So Fan Dimen found us?" While cracking down on the Mataram rice trade, he also took revenge on his personal vendetta. ”

Maiden: "That's what I guess. Although the Dutch did not pay, they promised to dispose of a shipment of arms to us. The Adventure brought back 18 9-pounder guns. The Dutch indicated that by the time we officially sent our troops, some arms would be handed over to us outside the port of Sukkadana. In addition to this, they also allow us to indirectly recruit people in Dutch-controlled areas. ”

Chen Shouxu held his chin, "In this way, we may still not be able to make money." Although rice is also a material we need to stockpile, it is not very cost-effective to transport only grain during the voyage of more than 700 nautical miles. ”

Maiden: "And people, we can get slave replenishment. ”

Chen Shouxu: "For the sake of a little slave, you have to run so far and tear your face with a middle power?" Is it appropriate? Chenla is closer, more populous, and of higher quality than the indigenous people of Borneo. Don't get me wrong, I'm behind you. It's just that the troops have to be persuaded by the Senate so that the army and navy can accept it. ”

Maiden handed over a piece of paper, "I know there will be these problems, so I have also gathered some other trade information from the port of Sukkadana, and they don't just have rice. ”

Chen Shouxu took it and looked at it, then stood up, "Iron? ”

Maiden nodded, "Borneo is now the largest iron exporter. Plus, they have diamonds. ”

Chen Shouxu walked back and forth in the room a few times and made up his mind, "It seems that I am going to revise the battle plan." ”