In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, the reason why the Spaniards took a fancy to the Chicken Coop Harbor in northern Taiwan was not only for naked colonial plunder, but also for the reason to compete with the Dutch for trade routes with the Japanese in East Asia. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Spaniards did not have the idea of fighting the port on the southeast coast of Daming, and like the Dutch, they were very interested in the relationship between the Portuguese and the Chinese at that time, and they also wanted to learn from the Portuguese to occupy or rent a piece of land in a port area on the southeast coast of China, but they did not get their wish.

To say that the court and officials of the Ming Dynasty at that time were still able to eat a trench and grow wise, after being in the hands of the Portuguese, they had a heart and eye when dealing with the Spaniards, Dutch and other Tessie red-haired ghosts.

After the Spaniards occupied Luzon, they had always wanted to go north to conquer China, but unfortunately, the Chinese pirates entrenched around Luzon alone made them anxious for many years, and they simply did not have enough strength to go north.

In the twenty-seventh year of Wanli, that is, in 1599 AD, the Spanish admiral Samdeo, who had finally assembled an army, led a fleet to Macao at that time, wanting to copy the methods of the Portuguese and ask for a stronghold to be established there to carry out trade.

As a result, at this time, the Ming officials already knew the routines of these red-haired devils, so they directly rejected Samdeo's request.

The furious Samdeo refused to give up, and despite the warning, he landed in the vicinity of Macao, that is, in the area of today's Zhuhai, without authorization, and was defeated by the Ming Guanghai Guard Army, which was waiting for the battle, and more than 200 people were killed, wounded and captured.

Although Samdeo successfully escaped back to sea, from then on, the Philippine governor stationed in Manila, who was in charge of Spain's eastern policy, no longer dared to peep into the ports on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty, nor did he dare to conquer China lightly.

However, the Spaniards did not die of their thieving desire to establish a colonial base in East Asia and compete with the Dutch for maritime trade.

After the Dutch failed in Penghu and moved to Taiwan for two years, the Spaniards found that the officials and troops of the Ming court were not able to do anything to the Dutch, so they became thieves again and started the idea of Taiwan.

Since the Dutch had already occupied Tainan and a large number of Chinese pirates were entrenched on the west coast of Taiwan, the Spanish had to bypass the waters off Dongfan Island and come to the north, so they built Fort San Salvador on Sheliao Island outside Jonlong Harbor.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong soon knew about the situation of the Spaniards landing on Sheliao Island to build forts and carry out colonial plunder.

Because the chicken coop is only separated from Tamsui, a stronghold of the Zheng brothers in the north of Dongfan Island, it is only separated by a few not tall mountains, and the straight-line distance is only more than 100 miles.

It is precisely because Zheng Zhilong knows this that since the sixth year of the Apocalypse, Zheng Zhilong and a few of his subordinates with a little brain have the idea of accepting Zhao'an and joining the imperial court.

Because there are Dutch red-haired ghosts in Tainan, and there are Spaniards in Taipei, if they continue to be enemies with the official and military sailors of the Ming Dynasty on the sea to the west as in the past, then what awaits the Zheng brothers is only a dead end in the end.

The conflict of interests between Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch and Spaniards decided that his attachment to the Ming court was the best choice.

This conflict of interest is trade with the Japanese.

In the late Ming Dynasty, after the defeat of the Japanese in the battle against the Ming army, the more aggressive Toyotomi Hideyoshi soon died, and the Tokugawa shogunate, which succeeded in taking the throne after a struggle, soon pursued a policy of seclusion and seclusion.

In the whole world, only China and the Dutch traded with each other, and like the Ming Dynasty at the time, there was only one treaty port in the whole country, Nagasaki.

The reason why the Dutch wanted to build castles in the Tainan area was not only to carry out colonial plunder, but also to protect the maritime trade route between the Dutch East India Company and Nagasaki, Japan.

Today, the Spaniards have come to East Asia for the same purpose.

Therefore, Zheng Zhilong and the Dutch and the Spaniards were all competitors in maritime trade, and Zheng Zhilong plundered the merchant ships of the Dutch and Spaniards.

Zheng Zhilong knew that there was no possibility of reconciliation between him and the Dutch and Spaniards.

The annexation to the Ming court was completely different, firstly, the sea forces along the coast of Fujian suffered heavy losses in the battle against the Dutch, and it was not enough to exterminate the pirates, and if he had been annexed to the past, he would almost certainly be relied on as the Great Wall of the southeast sea.

Second, after being attached to the imperial court, the brothers under his command have an upright background, not only can they go ashore to glorify their ancestors, but also can legalize the roadblock robbery at sea under the banner of the imperial court.

In the end, the last straw that prompted Zheng Zhilong to accept the appeasement of the Ming court in May of the first year of Chongzhen was the construction of the city of Santo Domingo.

In March of the first year of Chongzhen, that is, in 1628 AD, after the Spanish successfully built the city of San Salvador on Sheliao Island, they immediately went ashore in Jilong Bay, advanced along the Jilong River to the northern plain area of Taiwan, and began to build the city of Santo Domingo at the junction of Taipei and Jilong in later times.

The occurrence of this incident made Zheng Zhilong and his subordinates very frightened.

Because the Jilong River is an important tributary of the upper reaches of the Tamsui River, you can reach the Taipei Basin without going over mountains and mountains all the way west along this river, and the Tamsui Port is at the exit of the Taipei Basin to the west coast.

What does this mean?

This shows that the Spaniards have opened the eyes of the Zheng brothers.

The Dutch came earlier than the Spaniards, but the Spaniards were more ambitious than the Dutch!

In this way, Zheng Zhilong convened his backbone brothers to discuss, and soon attached himself to the imperial court.

This time, after receiving a report from the Governor's Office of Fujian and Zhejiang on the current situation of Dongfan Island, Emperor Chongzhen, who came from later generations, was awakened by this report to many memories that were sleeping in the depths of his mind.

After combing back and forth, not only did he further understand the objective reasons behind Zheng Zhilong's attachment to the imperial court at this time last year, but also understood the reason why Zheng Zhilong remained silent although the opening of the imperial court this time was detrimental to the interests of the Zheng family.

It's not that he doesn't want to object, it's not that he doesn't dare to object.

If there is anyone among the officials of the Ming Dynasty during this period who knows the sea situation on the southeast coast the most, then this person must be Zheng Zhilong.

Backed by the Ming Dynasty, it was in the greatest interest of the Zheng family to compete with the Dutch and Spaniards for sea supremacy in the seas of East Asia, so as to control the maritime trade to Japan.

After combing through all the aspects that could be thought of, Emperor Chongzhen, who had secretly hung his heart for a long time, finally let go.

Everything in this world is like this, there must be a cause if there is an effect, and there is a cause and there is an effect, and no one can escape this law.

On today's Dongfan Island, there are Spaniards in the north who are not dead and continue to build cities and advance, and there are Dutch red-haired ghosts in the south, who have been trying to continue to go north to the inland.

At this juncture, Zheng Zhilong will not, and he will not dare to tear his face with the imperial court.

Because his real enemies were not the Ming court in Beijing, but the Dutch and Spaniards who were close at hand and could really threaten his Zheng family's maritime foundation.