After Emperor Chongzhen read the report of the Fujian and Zhejiang Governor's Palace, he stayed alone in the study of the Qianqing Palace, and sat quietly, without saying a word, for more than half an hour. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

This situation frightened Shen Tingyang, who came to report the documents of the Military Aircraft Department, and thought that the emperor was too worried.

But seeing that Wang Chengen, the chief eunuch in the Qianqing Palace, stood with his hands down, without saying a word, Shen Tingyang did not dare to speak out, for fear of interrupting the emperor's train of thought.

Shen Tingyang was anxious, and suddenly saw that His Majesty the Emperor threw the bookcase in front of him that he had been holding in his hand, and took this opportunity to hurriedly say: "Your Majesty doesn't need to worry too much, the number of Dutch Hongmaoyi on Dongfan Island is only more than 1,000, and the reason why he can run rampant now is only because of the musket in his hand, which is far better than that of Dongfan Island." If you meet my Ming official army, you may not be able to take any advantage. ”

Shen Tingyang was right, but he misunderstood the emperor in front of him.

Emperor Chongzhen was not worried about the Dutch, he was worried about Zheng Zhilong.

Fortunately, at this time, he had already figured out many of these things that he had not had time to sort out before, and now that he had thought it through, he was not worried about the stability of the southeast coast.

Even for the Dutch and Spaniards on Dongfan, he was not very worried.

As Shen Tingyang said, no matter how strong the Dutch or Spaniards are, no matter how strong their ships and guns are, and how well they have firearms, they have a fatal weakness in the rule or colonization of Tainan, that is, population.

In the seventeenth century, although the Netherlands had many colonies and strong maritime power, it was known as the "coachman of the sea", but the total population of the entire country was only about 1.5 million.

Although Spain's maritime power is still very strong today, their garrison in the Philippines at this time has never exceeded 3,000.

In this era, most of the people who dared to follow the naval fleets of the Dutch or Spaniards to Southeast Asia to carry out colonial trade were merchants and adventurers, and few ordinary Dutch or Spanish nationals came to settle in colonies on this island at the end of Eurasia, half a world away.

So on the issue of population, give them another thirty years, and they will not be able to compete with the Ming Dynasty.

Take the Dutch occupying Tainan as an example, after the defeat on the waters of the Penghu Islands in the fourth year of the Apocalypse, the leader of the Dutch fleet, Captain Sanke, led the remaining ships and the remaining 500 people to Tainan.

Because the fleet led by Nan Juyi also suffered a lot of losses in the naval battle, they did not pursue, and later acquiesced to the fact that the Dutch were entrenched in Tainan.

However, the Dutch, who had been commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to fight the Spaniards and Portuguese in Southeast Asia for the colonies of the Spice Islands, did not have many troops, and almost all of them were mercenaries.

This is also the tradition of the Dutch, which is said to be a complete army, but in reality the whole country has no standing army at all, and whenever it comes to war, it is a temporary conscription from the people with high salaries.

In the seventeenth century, the Netherlands was already a republic, prosperous and wealthy, so not many people wanted to venture into the colonies of the world, which is why their colonies in North America were later snatched away by the newly rising British.

Because there were not many real Dutch citizens willing to move from the wealthy homeland to a savage colony on the other side of the world.

According to the records of the Dutch East India Company, until 1635, that is, the eighth year of the Ming Dynasty, the total number of Dutch troops stationed in Tainan was only 475 people, and the armed merchants mobilized by the Dutch East India Company to carry out colonial plunder, there are only more than 1,000 people on record.

With the size of the population of the Dutch, it is pure wishful thinking to compete with the current Ming Dynasty for control of Taiwan!

At this time, Emperor Chongzhen heard what Shen Tingyang said, looked at him and nodded slightly.

Seeing this, Shen Tingyang knew that the emperor recognized what Fang Cai said, so he continued: "Weichen's ancestors have lived in Chongming, and most of his father's relatives and friends have taken Beijing's maritime trade and shipping as their business. Weichen had received the grace of His Majesty a few years ago, and returned to Chongming's hometown for the New Year, during which he visited many relatives and friends, and many of his brothers, nephews and nephews went to the east to go to the east, so that he knew a little about the recent situation in the east.

"Looking at the submission of the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, the Yamen Governor, and under the mutual corroboration, I feel that His Majesty migrated the victims of Fujian and Zhejiang last year, and enriched the wisdom and wisdom of the decision-making of the East.

"In Wanli, Taixi Zhuyi traveled to the east of the sea, because of the convenience of sea ships and the sharpness of guns, often only a few warships, three or five hundred people, and hundreds of guns were needed to wipe out a country in the South Seas.

"During the period from Yongle to Xuande, the state of Nanyang came to pay tribute to my Ming Dynasty several times, but now there is no news.

"However, compared with my Ming Dynasty, although the ships and artillery are more powerful than my Ming Naval Division, they have a fatal shortcoming."

Emperor Chongzhen looked at the thirty-six-year-old scholar in the Wuying Palace, and said slowly: "In Qing's opinion, what are the fatal shortcomings of Taixi Zhuyi compared to my Daming?" ”

After Shen Tingyang was admitted to the Jinshi, he was put by the emperor in the position of the scholar in the Wuying Palace, and he was on duty in the military aircraft department of the final military power today.

However, the imperial court has its own rules of the imperial court, and the cabinet and the military aircraft department are the center of the imperial court.

Now that he saw that the emperor was deeply worried, Tang suddenly said, the emperor not only did not blame, but also recognized it, and now he opened his mouth to ask, of course Shen Tingyang would not waste this opportunity.

Therefore, Shen Tingyang thought for a while, and immediately bowed down and said: "Judging from the deeds of the Three Treasure Eunuchs who went to the West back then, the Taixi countries are separated from my Daming Dynasty by a long ocean, and they are probably tens of thousands of miles away from my Dongfan Island. It was not easy for them to cross the ocean to get here, whether it was the supply of their garrisons or the transfer of immigrants.

"He is far away and I am near, he is outnumbered, he is at ease, and the Dutch Hongmaoyi and the inhabitants of the island do not understand the language, and the race is different, even if there are strong ships and cannons, it may be difficult to gain a lasting foothold on today's Dongfan Island.

And Weichen said that its fatal shortcoming, is here, since ancient times, the people have been the state, there are not enough Hongmaoyi, the Dutch will be difficult to gain a foothold in Dongfan after all.

When Shen Tingyang said this, he glanced up at the emperor slightly, and saw that the emperor was still listening carefully and had no intention of asking, so he continued:

"Judging from the current situation, unless the Dutch Hongmaoyi immigrates from their own country on a large scale, enriches the east, settles and cultivates, and then changes customs and naturalizes the indigenous people, it will not last long.

"However, whether it is a Francophile or a Dutch Hongmaoyi, although its people are prosperous by maritime, but in fact it is just a small country with a widow in Taixi, compared with the hundreds of millions of people in my Ming Dynasty, crossing the ocean and fighting for the east is just a mantis arm as a car, a grasshopper shaking a tree, and it is not within one's own power."

"Now, the Dutch Hongmaoyi is forced by the pressure of the immigrants from the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang in the Ming Dynasty, and has changed the previous strategy of treating the people of Dongfan, and changed to win over and divide for the conquest by force, which seems to be terrifying and powerful, but in fact it is a dog jumping over the wall in a hurry, and the more it is so, the more favorable it is for my Ming court.

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he stretched out his hand to interrupt Shen Tingyang and said, "How can Aiqing say this?" How should the imperial court deal with this? ”

Seeing the emperor's questioning, Shen Tingyang was encouraged and continued: "The minister heard that when the Dutch Hongmaoyi first entered Dongfan, he could win over the natives of the Matoushe in the south of Dongfan Island, and exchange the exquisite things of Taixi for the native properties, and he could still get along with the natives.

"Since my Ming Dynasty immigrated to the East, the people on the island have become more and more numerous, the Han people and the local people have flourished, and the interests of the Dutch Hongmaoyi have been greatly damaged.

"The Red Hairy Yi slaughtered the Matou Society in an attempt to convince the island's natives to turn away, which was a big mistake for the Dutch. However, for my Ming court, it is a rare opportunity. This move by the Dutch worsened the relationship with the Dongfan natives and restrained the power of the Zheng clan in the southeast sea.

"Yes, in the opinion of the ministers, in order to stabilize the southeast, Your Majesty can order the Zheng clan to increase the number of troops in the east to prevent and even expel Hongmaoyi."