Java, Batavia.

In this Dutch colonial city, which was becoming more and more like a pool of stagnant water, representatives of the two Anglo-Dutch East India Companies finally waited for the envoy of the Spanish Governor of the Philippines, who had arrived belatedly.

Unlike the Dutch and British colonization of the eastern Indian Ocean, the Spanish colonial control of the Philippine Islands was not pioneered by colonial companies, but by officials sent by the Spanish king. Originally, the Philippine Islands were also part of the Spanish American colonies and were a supplier of raw materials.

In order to get involved in the spice trade of the East Indies, Spain sent five expeditions before and after, and it took great efforts to finally gain a foothold in Luzon. In 1521, Magellan's expedition reached Luzon. In 1565, Spain invaded Luzon and captured the island of Cebu, and in 1571, invaded Luzon and built the city of Manila.

The name Philippines comes from King Philip II of Spain, and the Philippines is used to show respect for Prince Philip at that time.

From the time the city of Manila was built to the present, the Spaniards have been in the Philippine Islands for seventy years. During this period, there were wars with the natives of Luzon and naval merchants from the Ming in the north. But in the end, they became the biggest force in the Philippine archipelago, the governor of the Philippines, the emperor of Luzon.

In the past two years, the Filipino governor of Manila has not had a good time. First, the Dutch, who had been their domain, became independent and formed the United Provincial Republic. While Spain was fighting on the Continent for the glory of Catholicism, these pests were speculating everywhere, even going all the way to the East to compete with them for the trade interests of the East Indies.

These damned Dutchmen united with the English to collude with pirates off the coast of the Ming Kingdom to blockade Manila and intercept the merchant ships of the Ming Kingdom to trade with Manila, and at the same time blockade the coast of China and prohibit Spanish merchant ships from trading along the coast of China. The Spaniards managed to break the blockade. They also seized a piece of territory at the northern end of Formosa, but the damned Dutch instigated the Japanese shogunate to ban Spanish merchant ships from trading with Japan.

In the thirties, the Spaniards were somewhat beyond the reach of the East Indies, and were suppressed by the Dutch and English at every turn.

After the Han Empire in the north suddenly produced an extremely powerful Liu Jun, the situation of the Luzon Spaniards was even worse, the stronghold of Formosa was taken, and many mercenaries and ships were captured. The five-nation agreement that was signed in the end proved to be nothing more than a trick of the Han State.

It is precisely for this reason that in the end, Britain, Spain, and the Netherlands, who were originally hostile to each other in the East and repeatedly fought openly and secretly, sat together this time. Nor do they care that the English and Dutch are devilish Protestants.

"Alright. Now that we are finally sitting together again, I am sure we all understand the difficult situation we are facing, and if we don't join forces, we will all have to get out of the East Indies. Those damn Han people, they have completely denied us the slightest chance, these people eat meat by themselves, and they don't even give us some soup to drink, we will never tolerate it! ”

The British envoy John shouted loudly. In fact, the English have been trying to intervene in the East Indies all these years, but unfortunately they did not come earlier than the Portuguese. In the East, the strength has always been inferior to that of the Spanish and Dutch, and here, after many years of hard work, it is at most a share of leftovers. Fortunately, they have quickly adjusted their direction over the years, mainly attacking the direction of India, and they have also gained good, but the Han Empire has risen strongly. It was also a serious threat to the interests of the English East India Company.

Today's meeting was a re-division of the spheres of influence of the three colonial powers of the East India Company and the formulation of new trade regulations. to break down the differences and unite against the rise of the Han Empire.

The British East India Company was the leader of this alliance, and John had almost agreed with the Dutch and Indian Company that they had agreed that the Portuguese colonies in India would go to the British, and the Portuguese territory in Malacca would go to the Dutch. What they gave to the Spaniards was the Northern Spice Islands.

However, the Spaniards were not vegetarians, and they were willing to come because they did feel a serious threat from the Han Empire, but it did not mean that they were willing to be led by the British and Dutch. What's more, the king of Portugal is still the king of Spain. The interests of the Portuguese in the East Indies should naturally belong to them.

"I think we should talk to the Portuguese first, maybe they are willing to draw a line with the Han and work with us against the Han people."

"Those Portuguese are now shamelessly hugging the thighs of the Han Chinese. Not long ago, they had ordered several warships and more than a dozen merchant ships from Dahan. "The envoy of the Dutch and Indian governors hated.

John didn't want to talk to the Portuguese, not to mention that the Portuguese had a really good relationship with the Han Chinese, not to mention that they were eager to take this opportunity to swallow up the Portuguese commercial port in India, Goa had been stared at by the British for a long time.

"It's okay to talk about it, as long as the Portuguese cancel the shipbuilding order with Han and work with us to impose sanctions on Han."

The terms of the peace talks were that the Portuguese would join them, and that all the merchant ports from Luzon to India to the Persian Gulf would not be allowed to enter the Han merchant ships or be allowed to resupply.

At the same time, the Dutch would blockade the Sunda Strait, and the Portuguese would have to block the Strait of Malacca, prohibiting Han merchant ships from passing through. And the Portuguese had to sign an agreement with them to prohibit the sale of spices to the Han State, in short, to completely block the passage of Han merchant ships through the East Indies, to drive them out of the East Indies, and not to interfere in the European seas.

Portugal also had to ship out and prepare to attack Singapore together, and completely drive the Han people out of the eastern Indian Ocean islands.

The Dutch also added that the Portuguese's territory in the Moluca Spice Islands had to be handed over to the Anglo-Dutch countries and completely withdraw from the Spice Islands.

This is an extremely demanding condition.

But the Spaniards were willing to talk to the Portuguese, because they wanted to deal with the Han and did not want to see the Dutch and British expand too much in the eastern Indian Ocean.

However, their expectations were disappointed, and the Portuguese did not pay any attention to the good intentions of the Spaniards. They hated the Spaniards more than the Anglo-Dutch, and they were angry that the Spanish king had cheated the Portuguese throne through the heir game.

Moreover, they have long discovered that Britain and the Netherlands and other countries covet their territory in the eastern Indian Ocean, and they are a group of greedy poisonous snakes, in contrast. Although they were also taken to Macau by the Han Chinese, at least the deal after that was good.

"The Han man-made boat is cheap and saves time, why should we look for the Dutch? Unless the Dutch can give a lower price and a faster completion time, we will never stop the shipbuilding order with the Han Chinese. ”

The Portuguese in Malacca also did not want to go to war with the Han State, they no longer had the time to dominate the sea, and now they were not enough to defend Chengdu, how could they talk about such ambitions.

The rejected Spaniards returned to Batavia. The thing that illustrates the union of the Portuguese was abandoned in favor of another proposal.

The Spaniards wanted to occupy Malacca themselves.

The Dutch have long been interested in Malacca, they now control Batavia, they control the Sunda Strait, but if they can control the Strait of Malacca, then the East Indies region is really unique.

But the Spaniards were determined not to let the Dutch succeed, and the Dutch had already taken control of the Sunda Strait and wanted him to occupy Malacca again. Well, although the Spaniards said that they had a secret Pacific route of their own, which could lead directly from the Timor Sea to the Americas, they did not want the Dutch to take advantage of it.

After repeated negotiations. Eventually, representatives of Britain and the Netherlands reached a preliminary agreement in Batavia.

The Dutch and the British were not allowed to establish colonies in the Malay Peninsula or sign any treaties with the local rulers, and both countries recognized Spain's rights and interests in Malacca.

Britain and Spain were not allowed to establish colonies on the island of Sumatra or sign any treaties with local rulers. The two countries recognize the Dutch rights and interests in Sumatra.

The Dutch and Spain were not allowed to establish colonies in Britain or sign any treaties with their local rulers, and they recognized British rights and interests in India.

Spain and the Netherlands will have all their bases and interests in India. All handed over to the British.

Britain transferred to the Netherlands and Spain, with the Netherlands owning the southern Moluccas, and Spain owning the northern Moluccas.

Under the treaty, Spain would have all of the Philippine Islands and the Malay Peninsula, while the Netherlands would have all of Java and Sumatra, and Britain would have India.

After dividing the spheres of influence, they also made trade agreements.

For example, the merchant ships of the three parties can enter the territory of the other two parties, but they need to pay a fixed fee agreed upon by both parties.

The three parties must not hinder each other's trade with any local power, and cooperate against the Han and eliminate the pirates active in the East Indies Sea.

In addition, the three parties also have detailed plans to fight the Han people together.

In this plan, the Dutch were to send seventeen battleships with more than seventy-four guns, the British to send ten battleships with more than seventy-four guns, and the Spaniards to send ten battleships.

The three will take the initiative to dispatch 37 capital battleships, and will also gather hundreds of small and medium-sized ships to form a huge combined fleet at sea to attack Singapore for the Han Chinese, Malacca for the Portuguese, and Aceh for the Acehnese.

The representatives of the three countries are full of strong confidence in their combined fleet.

Thirty-seven battleships, even in Europe, are equally powerful, and the whole of Britain now only has more than a hundred capital ships in service, although they still have twice as many capital ships in active service, but those battleships are in mothball.

Unless there are special circumstances, the British Navy has only more than 100 capital battleships. Now the three have put together thirty-seven battleships, which is equivalent to the strength of two or three fleets.

"Even if those Han people can steal the shipbuilding technology of our Dutch, but in just a few years, they will never be able to steal advanced maritime combat capabilities. The Dutch toasted arrogantly.

"When it comes to naval warfare, who in today's world can compare with our Spanish Navy? The Spanish Navy is the strongest in the world! The Spanish envoy also raised his glass, nostrils pointing to the sky.

The British and Dutch envoys glanced at each other, and they all smiled mockingly.

The Spanish Navy has long been gone, and today's maritime powerhouse is us! The British and Dutch envoys thought so. (To be continued.) )