"Your Excellency the Governor, another Dragon King of the East China Sea has entered the port, and more than two hundred Han people are already heading to the dock, do you want me to take someone to intercept it."

Java, Batavia City.

In the palace of the Viceroy of Batavia, a second lieutenant in a naval uniform shouted to the Governor. In front of him was the Viceroy of Dutch-Indian Badavia, Anthony. Fan. Admiral Dimen.

The middle-aged man, who had been resident in Batavia for more than twenty years and had served as governor for four years, had already attained the rank of Dutch admiral ten years earlier.

Anthony was a merchant but not very successful, and later joined the Dutch East India Company and was based in Batavia.

At the beginning of his tenure, he was also ambitious, preparing to strengthen his monopoly on the spice trade in the East Indies, further blockade the Sibejans in Manila, and fight against the Portuguese in Malacca. He had planned to send troops to drive out the Spaniards in the north of Formosa, to monopolize trade with the Japanese shogunate and Tokyo, Vietnam, and even to completely monopolize the entrepot trade of the Ming Dynasty, to drive the Spaniards and Portuguese out of the East Indies, and to seize Manila, Malacca, Goa, Bengal and other places in India.

Unfortunately, not long after he took office, the Dutch warships he sent failed to capture Macao, and then failed again in the capture of Penghu, and were defeated by the small sampan fleet of Zheng Zhilong in Fujian.

Then, even more unlucky, before he could carry out his plan to seize the chicken coop, the Ming army was the first to hit the big man, and not only did he fail to drive out the Spaniards in Formosa, but even lost the big man that the Dutch themselves had occupied for many years.

The reinforcements after that were even more defeated, and in the end he had to sign a peace agreement with Liu Jun, and at the expense of the interests of the Portuguese, Singapore was assigned to Liu Jun.

Fiasco. Extremely fiasco, Anthony has had a very unpleasant past two years.

Facts have proven that the friendship agreement signed back then was completely a lie of the Han people, and the so-called comprehensive opening of ports to each other for trade is simply a liar. In recent years, Batavia has lost trade with Japan. At the same time, they also lost the entrepot trade of the big people, and now although the fleet can enter the ports of the Han Dynasty, they cannot buy goods, and the price of the goods they ship is always suppressed.

The board of directors of the East India Company had already expressed its dissatisfaction with him on more than one occasion, and the goods he had shipped back to Europe were getting smaller and smaller, and the most valuable Japanese gold and copper nuggets, and China's sugar, tea, porcelain, raw silk, and other explosive commodities were becoming less and less numerous year by year, and he could only bring back some less profitable goods such as Indian cotton cloth.

Extremely lucrative entrepot trade in the East Indies. Unable to do so, the Han East India Company was rapidly grabbing their market share. Today, the sugar trade in the Persian Gulf is completely in the hands of the Han Chinese East India Company.

Batavia, which the Netherlands has spent more than 20 years running, has finally gained some scale, but now it is facing a desperate situation of death.

In recent years, Batavia has brought nearly 10,000 people from China by sending ships to land along the coast of China to plunder, deceive, and buy. It is these honest, diligent, hardworking, gentle and timid Han people. Batavia was transformed from a ruin at the time of its occupation to the center of the Dutch East Indies. It became a bustling port.

Unlike those Javanese natives, who are lazy and disobedient to discipline, the Han Chinese are hardworking and willing to work. They helped build castles, helped with cultivation, grew grain, grew spices, planted sugar cane, and grew vegetables. Even open a store. Many Han Chinese merchants brought from the mainland all sorts of goods needed by Batavia, and the prosperity of the region was completely dependent on them.

These Han Chinese were not only traders who opened small shops, but also vegetable farmers, fishermen, tailors, carpenters, stonemasons, boatmen, and merchants.

There were very few Dutch in Batavia, and they even had these tame Han Chinese assist them in administering the city, appointing Han Chinese of high status as Kapitan.

Every Han Chinese living in Bacheng. The poll tax was paid regularly to the Kapitan province every month, and the Dutch collected the tax through the Kapitan officials they appointed to manage the Han Chinese.

It can be said that in Batavia, although the Han Chinese are not the largest, they are definitely second only to the Dutch in status in this city. The Han Chinese were not only the business operators of the city, but also the growers in the farms in the countryside outside the city, and the management assistants of the Dutch colonists. This is something that the lazy and stupid natives of Java cannot compare, nor can those indentured slaves do.

It can be said that the Dutch conquered Batavia, but the Han Chinese single-handedly established the city, and it has been helping to manage the city all along. Even the annual round-trips of those Han Chinese maritime merchants have made the city continue to prosper.

But now, everything is changing.

Batavia's roots are running out.

The port city established by the Han Chinese in Singapore has continued to attract Han Chinese in the East Indies for the past two years, where they do not have to pay a heavy poll tax and will not be bullied. Whether in business or work, the income is higher than in Batavia, and the status is guaranteed.

Even the Chinese businessmen are increasingly preferring to go to Singapore rather than Batavia or Manila. Singapore has no entry duties, is completely duty-free ******, and is more prosperous and safer there.

More and more Han Chinese moved to Star City, and Batavia was dying day by day.

The Dutch merchant ships could not do entrepot trade, could not buy valuable goods, and their goods were no longer as profitable as in the past.

Anthony had thought about recruiting people to grow sugar cane by himself, but it turned out that the manpower was difficult, and the Han people in Batavia were still leaving day by day, and the city was becoming more and more depressed.

The merchant ships in the port became less and less, and the lack of Han Chinese in the city became worse and worse, and the Dutch in Bacheng even found that they often lacked this and that, but had nowhere to buy.

The once neat and clean city of Ba is now devoid of many Han Chinese, leaving only those lazy Javanese natives and damned African black slaves, and the city is getting dirtier and dirtier day by day.

Now, in the whole of Batavia, there are only more than 3,000 Han Chinese left.

After losing most of the Han Chinese, this once prosperous Bacheng is about to die.

"What reason do we use to intercept?" Anthony asked the second lieutenant.

"We signed an agreement with the Emperor of the Han Dynasty three years ago to open ports to each other. Han Chinese merchant ships were free to enter and leave Batavia at any time, and those Han Chinese were equally free to choose to come and do business or leave. We have no reason to intercept. ”

Moreover. Can you stop it if you want to?

If Batavia drives the Dragon King of the East China Sea away from Batavia Port today, and also stops those Han people who want to leave, no one dares to guarantee that the Han warships in Star City will come over tomorrow.

In the East Indies, there were many merchant ships. At the same time, it is also a pirate's paradise. And whether it is Spain or the Dutch or the British or the Portuguese, they are ostensibly the navies of various governments, but they often make cameo appearances as pirates and rob merchant ships, which is a tacit thing.

Not to mention the many merchant ships on this sea, which also often make guest appearances as pirates.

But since the Han Chinese occupied Singapore and began to build a port on it and it became bustling day by day, there have been many boats that have had the idea of fighting there, but none of the boats that want to get a ticket have appeared.

Later, some ships wanted to hit the main merchant ships in and out of Star City. I want to intercept it at sea nearby, but in the same way, those who want to make a cameo appearance as pirates end up at sea, or they are still hanging on the gallows by the docks of Star City's harbor to dry up.

The Dutch East India Company was also very strong in the East Indies as a whole, with warships stationed in Batavia and other islands, as well as merchant ships and warships cruising the seas. And many merchant ships also have cannons, which are armed merchant ships.

But Anthony, who suffered a big loss at the hands of the Han people three years ago. I made a mistake once, and I don't want to make it a second time. At that time, he also underestimated the Han people too much, and as a result, he lost dozens of ships before and after, which caused the Dutch and Indian companies to suffer heavy losses.

If you don't make a move, you must be sure.

Wait for the second lieutenant to leave. Anthony leaves the Doge's Palace to meet a mysterious guest in secret.

In that manor was an envoy of the British East India Company, which was also commonly known as John's Company, a company of London merchants trading in the East Indias.

Speaking of which. It was only after the Dutch defeated the British that they actually occupied Batavia.

But now, the former enemies are sitting together.

"Sir John, I wonder when the British warships will come, and how many?"

There was a red-nosed John who smiled and asked, "I wonder how many warships His Excellency can muster again?" ”

"Seventeen battleships." Anthony did not avoid this topic, since he wanted to cooperate, he had to be sincere, "If necessary, our Dutch East India Company can also assemble a group of armed merchant ships." ”

John smiled, "Seventeen battleships, I don't know how many battleships are there according to the classification of the warships of the Han Kingdom?" ”

"There are two first-class ships, five second-class ships, and ten third-class ships, according to the classification of the warships of the Han Kingdom, these seventeen warships are all battleships and capital ships. Both the Novobatavia and the Novosiwen Province both had 86 guns and three gun decks. The other five second-class battleships were also all seventy-four gun battleships. All three ships had sixty-four guns. ”

John smacked his lips, "Eighty-six, seventy-four, sixty-four, if you battleships had been placed a few years ago, they would indeed be called capital battleships." But today, these warships, which are 1,000 tons or even less than 1,000 tons, are somewhat outdated. ”

He continued, "According to the latest information I know, the Royal Navy of the Han Empire has recently raised the standard of battleship class, with four gun decks, carrying 13 to 140 guns, and displacement numbers of at least 2,500 tons, which are called special first class battleships. Only those with more than 90 three-tier gun decks and more than 1,500 tons are called battleships, of which 100 guns are called first-class battleships, and more than 90 guns are called second-class battleships. ”

According to this standard, none of Anthony's seventeen battleships were enough to meet the standard of battleships.

"The seventeen battleships of Your Excellency Admiral are at most cruisers, and the Han Empire called battleships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons, with double gun decks, and equipped with 60 to 80 guns, cruisers, and ships of the third and fourth ranks. The third- and fourth-class ships can barely be regarded as capital ships, but even the flagship of the Han army detachment is not qualified to serve as the flagship. ”

said something that made Anthony's face very bad.

Of course, the Netherlands did not lack large warships of more than 1,500 tons, and even more than 2,000 tons. But such a battleship is extremely expensive, and the Dutch will not build too much. It's not that they don't have money, it's that the Dutch have a lot of money, and their navy needs multiple fleets, not just a few superships.

It is in that line of thought that the Dutch Navy and the Anglo-Spanish navies are about the same, with a large number of warships, but not many top-tier warships. The kind of big warships with more than 90 guns, there are only a dozen or twenty ships in each country, and most of them are used as the flagships of the fleet.

The main warships of various countries are still dominated by 74 or even 64 guns, and the tonnage is about 1,000 tons.

However, now the ports and shipyards of various countries are also stepping up to build a new batch of warships. These new warships are basically much larger than the previous warships, and the smallest ones are 1,500 tons, and even the large ships of more than 2,000 tons. The continuation of the war in Europe and the competition for trade profits on the seas have led countries to embark on a new round of naval warship arms race.

However, in the East Indies, far from the European mainland, the best warships of various countries are not deployed here.

After being surprised in his heart, Anthony sneered, "What's the use of the Han Empire even if the level of the warships is set at a high level, do they really have so many high-level warships?" As far as I know, most of the warships of the Han people are still armed with merchant ships. Like Zheng Zhilong before, you made hundreds of ships, which are called hundreds of warships, but in fact they are just small boats, which are just fire attack ships. Besides, ships alone are not enough if there is no good navy. ”

"Our John Company has mobilized a fleet this time, including ten warships, twenty armed merchant ships, and fifteen fire attack ships."

"Megaship? What grade? Anthony asked, cheering up.

"Seventy-four guns, three gun decks, and a thirty-two pounder cannon on the top floor." John was still confident in his ship. This fleet is now anchored in India.

Anthony did not laugh at his huge ship, the seventy-four gun battleship, which is already the main warship of the current mainstream, Britain has ten seventy-four gun battleships, and the Dutch East India Company can mobilize seventeen, which is not a small force.

"I don't know how many capital ships the Spaniards can mobilize!"

Naval supremacy, especially fleet naval warfare, relies on capital ships.

"The envoy of the Governor of the Philippines will arrive soon, and Your Excellency will personally ask him to be." John Dao. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you Shan Qingying, I love my sister and my brother for the reward, and thank you for your monthly pass, thank you!