Sun Jingting, Gan Hui and others actually thought wrong.

It was the big man who decided to start fighting, and it was only the captain who stopped the fighting.

The Governor of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia, the supreme leader of the Company, and the supreme responsible person who was accountable only to the major shareholders, Governors Jane, Peterszonn, and Cohen.

This is an out-and-out big man, under his rule there are millions of colonies, millions of colonized natives, hundreds of thousands of Chinese merchants, he has hundreds of large and small merchant ships, from a group of wealthy Dutch businessmen were supported by the government to set up a company with equity capital a few decades ago, but the development in the past few decades is to the current scale, in the entire East India Company was established for nearly two hundred years, the Netherlands itself sent 1,772 merchant ships and warships to the Asian part, About a million Europeans made 4,789 voyages to Asia, with 25,000 employees and about 12,000 sailors and 10,000 mercenaries in each of the East India Company's Asian strongholds.

The company could form its own mercenaries, issue bonds, issue currency, and be given the power to sign treaties with other nations and rule the colonies.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company has more than 70 shareholders, and the real power is the 17-member board of directors, and Cohen has the unreserved support of the 17-member directors. Thirty years later, the company had grown to the largest private company with 150 large merchant ships, 40 large warships, 50,000 employees and 10,000 mercenaries, a large number of colonies throughout Asia, and a huge wealth that was inferior to that of other countries.

Cohen is now in the prime of life, he has been governor of the company for less than a decade, but he has already made a pretty strong record.

The company's headquarters was set in Batavia, which was later Jakarta, Indonesia, and the company seized the entire colony of Indonesia and the East Indies, the company defeated the Portuguese, occupied Sri Lanka, obtained the right to trade cinnamon, and at the same time began trading in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc., establishing a complete Asian trade circle......

Cohen is not yet forty years old, and at this age he is not qualified to take on a major position in China, and at least he is worried that he is not qualified and experienced, but he has been in the governorship for several years, has made excellent achievements, has achieved considerable achievements, and is respected and relied on by the whole company......

"I'm sorry, Governor." The captain apologized repeatedly, but said quite resolutely: "Forgive me for not obeying my fate, your life is more important than all the results of the battle." ”

"I know that ship,......" Cohen said with a wry smile: "It was Gao Wenlu's ship, which was captured by the Ming people and fell into the hands of the Hutchison Company, and now it is also their most important warship, judging from their preparations, there must be an important big man on this warship." ”

Cohen mused, "It's very likely that they are important people, and it is possible that we have missed the most critical point in this war. ”

The captain didn't think so, but he couldn't refute Cohen directly, so he had to say: "The Hutchison Company is too small compared to us, how can their big men compare with your safety, Lord Governor." ”

This sentence is not bad, Cohen smiled slightly, expressing his affection, but then said: "Hutchison's size should be not small, after all, I heard that their main foundation is in the north of the Ming Kingdom. Judging from the fact that they traded with the Russians in the north and brought a large number of Russians to the island to help, it is estimated that their northern foundation is not small. Judging from the current situation in Taiwan, they have not panicked and have always held their ground, and our many provocations and frictions have not caused them to lose their bearings, and they have shrunk again and again, so we have to take measures that we are most unwilling to take...... Besiege the port of Shizhai. ”

Shizhai is the early foundation established by Yan Siqi, the shoddy part of the village has long been bulldozed, when the Batavia passed through the port area of Shizhai, the rainstorm is like a note, the sky space is a mist, the trestle to the port area is not very clear, but you can see that there are several stone batteries more than ten meters high on the shore of the port area, the scale of the fort is very small, only three or four guns are placed on each battery, but the port area that stretches for miles has built more than a dozen batteries, dozens of large-caliber guns, it is estimated that eighteen to twenty-four pound guns are placed on the gun emplacement, All of them have appeared in the past six months, which shows that Hutchison has always been aware of the fact that the areas where rivers go to sea and ships are berthed in ports must be safe, so that at least people will not be pressed to the ground, and ships at sea can flee without fighting, and the speed of schooners is very fast, at least to ensure that goods and trade can continue under frictional conditions......

Cohen watched very carefully, he also came from Batavia because of the imminent war, Taiwan is a very important part of his Asian trade circle, although it cannot be compared with Batavia, Ceylon and Japan, but with Taiwan it controls the trade circle to Japan and southern China, which is too important......

The fort is quite professionally repaired, the bottom of the brick is covered, the position of the gun emplacement on the sea surface is just right, and there seem to be several barracks at the bottom, and you can go to the fort or go to the shore to support at any time.

There are a lot of ships docked in the pier area, and Cohen knows that this is the reason why the Hutchison side has been pressed too hard lately and has contracted aggressively.

There were still many people in the harbor area busy in the storage area, and Cohen looked at the busy Chinese...... with curious eyes The southern Chinese are about the same size as the Nanyang people, and their complexion is darker than that of the northerners, except for their clothing and hairstyle. Cohen was a little confused about the difference.

The crowd on the shore was like an ant colony, constantly carrying supplies back and forth.

The captain said to Cohen: "I have to admit that the Ming people are a hundred times more industrious than those monkey-like natives under our rule, and they are also very smart, and they are very shrewd in business, and it is difficult to take advantage of the Chinese merchants." The Spaniards had to carry out two large-scale massacres of Chinese merchants in Luzon, otherwise the local natives and the colonial government would have taken their money and controlled the economic lifeline by the Ming. ”

"Then they can't talk about being smart, they can only be said to be clever, shrewd and short-sighted." Cohen chuckled, "Wealth without the guarantee of force is like pigs in captivity, the fatter they grow, the more dangerous they are, don't they even know this truth?" We Dutch were also wealthy, but we knew that we had to hold our muskets, so we were able to be independent, and to repel the attacks of the Spanish and Portuguese, to hold our spears, and to be vigilant at all times, so that we could live peacefully with others. ”

The captain praised: "Your Excellency the Governor is so right! ”

Cohen smiled and nodded.

At this time he saw several groups of musketeers passing by on the shore, and it was obvious that the neat queue and uniform gray military uniforms were obvious, because the battleship was close to the shore, so that he could see very clearly, and in the mist, the bayonets of the spears on the shoulders of those soldiers were quite conspicuous, giving people a strong sense of threat. In this era, the muskets of the Europeans have not yet been equipped with bayonets, whether it is the Swiss phalanx or the Spanish phalanx, the main defense system is also relying on long pole cold weapons, such as halberds and spears, which is also the same as the core concept of the phalanx of the current merchant army, muskets are used to attack and kill the enemy, and the spears stabilize the front, which is a moving metal Great Wall......

The bayonet was also a novelty to Cohen, and it made him feel a faint sense of unease.

In addition, the soldiers also carried small artillery, this kind of small artillery is also very novel in Europe, because the small sample Franc machine is also larger than this small cannon, and due to the reasons of foreign development, most of them rely on large ships and huge guns, and the operation of the small sample Franc machine is also very complicated, and it is almost eliminated in Europe.

At this moment a troop of cavalry passed by, and the rumbling of horses' hooves could be heard several miles away.

Infantry, cavalry, and artillery operating small artillery, several types of troops passed in front of him in an instant, and even Cohen was a little distracted.

He said to the captain, "Is Hutchison really a company?" How many mercenaries do they have? ”

"It's really a company." The captain has been here in Penghu for more than half a year, and he has also gone ashore and to Macao, and he has heard a lot of news from Hutchison. He explained to Cohen: "There were many Ming people who opened big trading houses, but only Hutchison formed a company, and Hutchison also issued a silver coin, which only circulated within their company and in the barbarian occupation areas in the north, and their currency was not allowed to pass in the areas ruled by the Ming court. In addition, Hutchison gives officers and soldiers shares in the form of converted share capital into land, and a portion of the annual profits are used to distribute dividends. However, it is said that their finances have been quite difficult in the past two years, and the dividends on equity have not increased, but they have not been reduced, and they still make the company's employees and mercenaries earn more than ordinary Ming people as much as possible, so the company's internal cohesion is very strong, and it also makes their people very loyal...... Our attempts to buy some Hutchison people last year have all failed. In addition, their mercenaries are not called mercenaries, they are called merchant group training, which is the meaning of the civilian spontaneous guard armed forces allowed by the emperor of the Ming Kingdom, which is very interesting, at least in our opinion, the mercenaries of Hutchison are quite professional and powerful, and they are not at all self-organized guards by the people, and they are much stronger than the regular army of the Ming Kingdom. ”

"You're right." Cohen was a little depressed, scratched his head and said, "If it weren't for Mingguo, our career would be much better......

The captain also had a worried expression...... Yes, if there was no Ming Dynasty, the whole of East Asia would be in their pockets, silk, spices, gold, tea, porcelain...... It would be nice if the Ming Dynasty was a rich and weak country.

Of course, at this time, they could not imagine that the civilized and powerful Ming Dynasty would die in less than 20 years, and then barbaric and backward countries would appear on this land, and when the Europeans re-examined the countries on this land two hundred years later, the whole of China would have become a barbaric and extremely weak, extremely impoverished country of pure barbarians.

The wind speed was very fast, and Cohen's ship was about to leave the Shizhai port area soon, and Cohen suddenly pointed to the port and said, "I feel that the Ming people have a conspiracy. ”

"What does Your Excellency Governor mean?"

"They don't expect to negotiate with us at all." Cohen said coldly: "We sent a mission to cover our eyes, and the same is true of the people in Hutchison, they are just dragging their feet. ”

The captain said in disbelief: "Could it be that they have any killer features?" ”

"I don't know." Cohen said: "But they are obviously not unaware, in this case, I think it would be better for us to do it in advance." ”

Cohen regretted more and more that he did not insist on giving the order to fire just now, and he might catch the Ming soldiers on the opposite side by surprise, and he might hit the Ming big man on the warship, causing internal chaos in Hutchison, but he also knew that the captain's concerns were right, the matter of the naval battle was difficult to say, and it was possible that the cannonball did not hit the big man of Hutchison on the opposite side, but a cannonball flew over and hit himself...... It's really hard to say, and if you think about it, you don't have to criticize the captain for anything, just say: "Don't stop, hurry up and go to the city of Geranza!" ”