In January, Admiral Anthony van Diemen took over as governor of the Dutch East Indies as the new master of Batavia, whose former governor had to return to Europe to recuperate after a fever.

As the founder of Batavia, the first Viceroy of the East Indies, Yan. Petersson. Kun's confidant, Anthony van Diemen, had been adhering to the aggressive colonial policy of his former superiors, trying to turn Southeast Asia into a Dutch colony and monopolizing trade between Europe and China, which was obviously a very different strategy from the former East India Governor-General, who wanted to maintain friendly relations with China and obtain a share of the profits from trade.

However, in Peter. After the departure of Natz and other employees who maintained friendly trade with China, most of the remaining employees in Batavia hoped that the new governor would take tougher measures against China.

On the one hand, maintaining the current policy of friendly trade with China will still benefit those colleagues who have been promoted back home, and it is difficult for them to achieve greater merit than this trade policy no matter what they do in Asia, which means that it is difficult for them to catch up with the former colleagues who have been promoted as a result of this.

Second, since the implementation of China's policy of opening up the sea, Chinese merchants have continued to occupy the share of Dutch merchants in the local trade by virtue of China's influence in Southeast Asia. In particular, after the Chinese seized the city of Malacca, they began to implement a policy of imposing high taxes on Indian cotton cloth, which directly dealt a direct blow to the trade of companies using Indian cotton cloth in exchange for spices in the spice islands and spices in exchange for cotton cloth on the Indian mainland.

Although Batavia has obtained Japan's Treasure Island and special rights and interests in Japan with the help of the Chinese, Southeast Asia, which should have been in the company's pocket, has now been forcibly taken away by the Chinese, and these Chinese businessmen are still infiltrating the Southern Islands, which makes the Dutch in Batavia feel a sense of crisis.

Fourth, China's foreign trade was treated equally, so that the Portuguese, Spaniards, and even the British and Swedes could obtain Chinese goods, and these European countries shipped Chinese goods back to Europe, breaking the intention of the Dutch East India Company to manipulate the prices of Chinese goods. To their dissatisfaction, Chinese businessmen also began to operate trade routes between China and Europe, which was simply a robbery of the company's profits.

Therefore, Anthony van Diemen had just sent off the former governor's ship at the port, and then he summoned Putmans, Abel Jansson Tasman, and other cronies to discuss how to adjust relations with China.

In the parlor on the second floor of the Governor's Palace in Batavia, Anthony van Diemen stood in front of a floor-to-ceiling window more than one person high, pointed to the window and said to the crowd: "Look at you, the company has sent us to Asia in search of wealth, and we have given the wealth we have collected in this land to China, just in exchange for such extravagant and useless objects.

Yes, we have opened the door to China and gained the opportunity to trade with this country. But instead of bringing us the wealth we imagined, this trade forced us to search the world for gold and silver to fill the currency shortages that arose when we traded with China.

Even if we cooperated with the Chinese to conquer Japan, the Chinese still took the largest share of the spoils. This situation is obviously not in the interests of the company, we need to maintain good trade relations with China, but how to maintain this relationship is up to us.

As Governor Kun once said, companies in Asia should not be outsiders, but should be local stakeholders. Here we will build a trade network as large as Europe: exchanging Gujarati clothing for Sumatran pepper and gold; exchanging Coromandel's clothing for Banten's pepper; exchanging sandalwood, pepper, and silver for Chinese gold, silk, and porcelain; exporting Chinese goods to Japan in exchange for silver; Sending incense and other goods to the Middle East for silver...

When we control the flow of goods and money across Asia, Batavia is the second Amsterdam and Java is our New Netherland. And to do that, we have to let the Chinese know that they should respect the power of companies at sea as much as we respect China's power on land.

So gentlemen, I need your help, we need to teach the Chinese a lesson, but not to make them angry. What can we do to get the Chinese to rein in their expansionist efforts on corporate turf? And force them to give us the monopoly of the trade in raw silk, silk and porcelain? ”

Tasman, who had been to Beijing once, was a little surprised and said: "But China is a continental country as powerful as Spain, and since they implemented the policy of opening the sea, the new ships in the port are enough to be worth half of the invincible armada." Lord Governor, now that you are in conflict with the Chinese, I'm afraid it is not suitable..."

Putmans, who was sitting across from him, interrupted him and said, "If the company wants to subdue the Chinese, I think now is the last chance." Today's China, with each passing day, their power at sea becomes stronger, and the more we go forward, the more difficult it is for us to win the conflict with China.

Therefore, Lord Governor, we should take advantage of the present time to give some warning to the Chinese to force them to recognize that the south of the 0th meridian is the trading territory of the company, and that Chinese merchant ships should not enter the Maluku Strait. And officially determined that Dayuan Port is the company's territory, and the border between the two sides in South Taiwan is the border.

Otherwise, when the Chinese build a naval fleet comparable to the Invincible Armada, we will have little capital to demand that the Chinese recognize the special interests that companies have in these places. ”

Anthony van Diemen, who had not yet been to China, listened to the speeches of the two cronies, and couldn't help but ask with some skepticism: "Do you think the Chinese are building an invincible armada?" Does China really have such a powerful force? ”

Without hesitation, Puttermans said: "Your Excellency, if you have been to Tientsin, you will find that it is not much different from Amsterdam, and if there are no earth-shaking changes in China, their national policy of going to the sea will surely help them build a huge navy." Not to mention the fact that there are many British people helping to train Chinese crews, and I believe that there should not be much time left for the company. ”

Anthony Van Diemen walked back and forth in the room a few times before he made up his mind and said, "Okay, then let's test China's determination to defend its overseas interests, and then decide how to teach them a lesson."

Tasmanton, you go and warn the Chinese merchants that from next spring, Chinese merchant ships will not be allowed to trade in the Spice Islands. When you go to Tientsin in the spring of next year, you will apply to the ASEAN Association for exemption from the surcharge on the transportation of Indian cotton cloth by Dutch merchant ships, otherwise we will impose the same amount of surtax on Chinese cotton cloth in the area controlled by the company.

In addition, from next year, the construction of the city of Geranza will be restarted. As for the gold and silver mined on Sado Island next year, leave the gold not to exchange for Chinese banknotes, and see how the Chinese will react..."

Just as the Dutch were trying to test the importance that the Chinese attached to maritime interests, the Weddell fleet sent by the British king finally arrived in Malacca. Due to the direct establishment of Sino-British trade relations, the British no longer had to negotiate with the Portuguese in order to seek trade through the Portuguese-controlled Macao, so Weddell's fleet did not stop in Goa when it arrived on the Indian mainland, although they did not know that Macau was no longer under Goan jurisdiction at this time.

As a close confidant of the British King, Weddell certainly knew that his trip was not only to complete a trade with China, but also to express friendship to the Chinese Emperor on behalf of the British King, so as to ensure that Britain would gain a great ally in the East. Whether it was the goodwill expressed by the shareholders of the East India Company for the Emperor of China; Or the Chinese trading company won the favor of the British woolen merchants with the trade income * British woolen wool; Or on behalf of the Emperor of China on the British mission, Ida, who was canonized as an Earl's Lady by the British King, had influence in Britain that made Captain Weddell dare not make a mistake with the Ming delegation escorted.

Of course, as a British naval officer who admired Sir Francis Drake, Captain Weddell did not consider nations and countries outside of Europe to be members of the civilized world, even if the Chinese brought the British cowpox cultivation technology to prevent smallpox. Especially after he landed on the rich Indian continent and saw the ignorant customs of those Indians, he lost faith in another rich and civilized Asian power.

As the fleet circled the Indian mainland, they established merchant houses at Bertkar and Cochin, and then came to the city of Malacca. To the surprise of the British, the city of Malacca, boasted by the Portuguese as difficult to capture, had become a place for the Chinese.

It was at this time that Captain Weddell mentioned a little bit of respect for China. Any great power that dares to expand into the seas can be regarded as a real great power, this is what Captain Weddell has always believed.

As a veteran naval officer, he also affirmed the Strait of Malacca's status as an important gateway into Southeast Asia. The Portuguese lost this place, almost losing everything in Southeast Asia. And the Chinese obtained here, which is equivalent to mastering the first gateway to China's waters.

However, given the current close relationship between the British East India Company and China, Captain Weddell also believed that the strait was in the hands of the Chinese and was obviously more beneficial to British merchant ships than in the hands of the Portuguese.

In the days when the fleet was anchored in Malacca, he had seen at least seven or eight British merchant ships replenished in Malacca and was able to continue his journey. If it was the Europeans who controlled the city of Malacca, he was not sure that the British merchant ships could leave without paying high taxes.

In Malacca, Weddell had already witnessed the Chinese's ability to govern the city, and he thought that the Chinese tax collectors were much more polite than the British customs officials. At least the Chinese will not turn out the crew's carry-on luggage to find out whether the other party is suspected of tax evasion.

Therefore, he couldn't wait to see what the local Chinese people were like. It's just a pity that they will have to wait here until March or April next year, so that they can take advantage of the monsoon that changes the direction of the wind to move north.