“

The Portuguese gloated about it, the Dutch pretended to remind us, the Spaniards kept silent and seemed to be the most suspicious, the Britons patted their chests and said they must help us, and the French looked innocent as if they didn't know anything. If you ask me which Europa country is going to send an army to trouble me, I still don't know what kind of country is going to do it, but...... It's just to hear such rumors spread around. ”

In the Nanyang Gongyuan Division Hui'an Commercial Pavilion, An Lu also looked confused, and at the same time had a hint of fear. Everyone knows that among the countries of Europa, there is really a country that wants to raise a navy to sweep the South Seas, and it is really difficult to resist with the existing sea power of Britain and China.

But now the confusion is that everyone can't figure out which country will do it. This news has gone through several stages of development, and Xiao Sheng originally heard it from Shi Shifat, and the related foreigner is still the Netherlands. After that, Yongzheng's side also passed on to the incident in a semi-intimidating way, and after investigation, the clues were also traced to the Netherlands.

The Dutch swore that Kangxi and Shi Shibiao had indeed been in contact with them earlier, but after the Anglo-Chinese promulgated the "Foreign Trade Order" and the two sides signed an armistice treaty at Xiangqi Port and normalized relations, the Dutch had no intention of provoking a war again. The Dutch East India Corporation and the Viceroy of Batavia both reminded the Anglo-Chinese and the South Seas Corporation from the front or side that there were rumors unfavorable to Anglo-Chinese on the European side, and they were not too clear about the specific details, because they had also heard about them.

Hu Hanshan raised his eyebrows, the party had to be An Lu's words were worthless, An Lu hurriedly waved his hand, he knew that this young admiral had a great temper.

"So, like all of you, I came to Hoi An to see what happened, hoping to find some clues. I was attacked by local Chinese and Japanese businessmen just now, which gave me a revelation... He pulled out a scroll and said as he unfolded it.

"Why do you want to look for answers in other people? We should find an answer to this matter from ourselves, and see what we have done in Nanyang, and those people hate us the most, so they want to target us with hatred. ”

Hu Hanshan calmed down, this idea suited his stomach very well, and everyone calmed down, watching An Lu unfold the scroll, it was a map, Nanyang Pond map, the top is Guangzhou, Aoyuanmen, Xiangpiang, Xiamen in the Central Kingdom, on the left is Hung Ji and Haiphong in Cochin, Hoi An, Yan Gun, Chai Stick, Ha Than, all the way to Bangkok in the Gulf of Siam. From right to bottom are Luzon's Manila, Borneo, and Sumatra. At the bottom left of the map are Bataxiongya and Malacca.

An Lu began to teach the class, telling everyone about the history of trade in the South, of course, the main body is actually the history of the expansion of the Europa people in the South Seas.

The first Spaniards, and then the Portuguese and the Dutch, all had delusional hopes of establishing a direct foothold in the mainland of the Central Territory or in a frontier such as Taiwan Bay. But even though the Ming Dynasty had begun to decline, they still did not succeed, and the most successful Portuguese only rented a small piece of land for a dead end.

After that, the Spaniards concentrated on Luzon, while the Portuguese began to decline, and could not afford to trade in the ocean alone. The Dutch, who ran into a wall in Taiwan Bay, built Batavia as a stronghold and used spices as bait to attract Chinese people to trade in Batavia. At the same time, the merchants of the Central Empire, mainly Fujianese, passed through Manila and maintained long-term trade with Spain.

At this time, the Britons and the French were still only based in India. The Britons reached Canton through the "port-foot trade" of the East India Corporations and retail merchants, and the French could only reach Canton, and the two countries had no decent foothold in Nanyang at this time.

However, the trade in the South Seas is not all undertaken by the countries of Europa, and the people of the Zhongyuan country also occupy a very important position, not to mention in the Ming Dynasty, even in the Qing Dynasty, there is still a very large scale. In addition to running errands for the Dutch and Spaniards, he is also running routes such as Siam and Hoi An. Even after the Japanese shogunate closed the country, it still controlled the smuggling and sea trade with Japan.

Until the early Qianlong period, such a situation continued, as far as the maritime trade of the Zhongyuan State is concerned, in the Nanyang area, although it cannot occupy the main body, it still has a very broad living space.

If Li Shi is here, he will also add some "future history" to them. In the history of Li Xian's previous life, in another twenty or thirty years, the history will be completely different. It can be said that the rise of Yinghua is on the threshold of the transformation of Nanyang trade. In 1756, the board of directors of the Dutch East India Company established the Central Committee in Amsterdam, opening up a direct trade route to Guangzhou, and Batavia was no longer a transit route, and the Dutch began to operate it as a direct colony. As a result, the merchants of the Chinese countries who lived on the route from Guangzhou to Batavia had no room for survival, and at the same time, the Chinese people who lived in Batavia also became a thorn in the side of the Dutch to run the local area. Earlier, in 1740, such signs were revealed by the "Red River Massacre", when the Dutch slaughtered nearly 10,000 local Chinese under various pretexts.

At the same time, the Britons began to enter Southeast Asia in large numbers, and after the Seven Years' War and the Fourth War with the Netherlands, the Britons gained many footholds in Southeast Asia, and by the capture of Malacca in 1795, the Britons began to replace the Dutch as the dominant players in the South Seas trade. During this time, the "port foot trade" promoted by the British East India Corporation, that is, the retail trade, was a direct voyage to the Central Kingdom, completely squeezing the maritime trade merchants of the Central Kingdom, and the root cause of the Opium War actually came from this earlier.

At this time, Nanyang is still "Nanyang is yours, it is mine, in short, it is everyone's", An Lu said: "But after we entered the Nanyang Public Park Division, the pattern has changed greatly. ”

He pointed to a place on the map, and everyone could see clearly, it was Kunlun Island and Jin Selenium.

Earlier, everyone still didn't understand why Li Shi spared no effort to occupy Kunlun Island and develop it into a military port, and at the same time open up the wasteland south of Jinse, six or seven miles away from the firewood stick, which was called "Nanhe Immortal" by everyone.

Looking at it now, these two points are like two steps embedded in the pattern of the South Seas that echo each other. With the Eagle Yang Harbor on Kunlun Island, the southern detachment of the Nanyang Fleet can gain a foothold in the hinterland of the South Sea, and with Nanhexian, the military port can directly obtain supplies, and at the same time, the military port can also directly cover the Nanhe Xian.

The fall of these two flying steps did not have an immediate impact on the situation in Nanyang at that time, because it was still barren land, and no one was willing to invest there. At the same time, it was also the wasteland of the Khmer Imperial State, and not much attention was paid to the sick Khmer Imperial State, that is, Cambodia. Siam in the west and Quang Nam in the north can't go so far. You must know that at this time, the firewood stick (Saigon) and Quang Nam relied on the Chinese for development and indirect rule.

"Now let's look at Hoi An...... Then An Lu turned the topic back to Hoi An, what is the importance of Hoi An? There are three points, one is that Hoi An is a transit point for the Chinese countries, Europeans and Japan's maritime trade. In a way, Hoi An is Japan's gateway to the sea. Secondly, Hoi An is the trade gateway of Cochin, Quang Nam and even Siam. Thirdly, Hoi An also undertook a part of the bulk trade between the Chinese countries and the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries. In summary, Hoi An is the northwest trade hub of the South Seas.

Despite Hoi An's importance, because it was owned by Quang Nam and not other princely states in the South Seas, the Europa people were never directly involved and had a relatively independent status.

"But now, our Nanyang Corporation Division has reached into Hoi An, last year the Corporation Division had hundreds of big ships to live here to trade, Hoi An's status is changing, just like Siam ......" An Lu then pointed to Siam Bangkok on the map, this place has been marked as a red dot, which means that it is already a trading base under the control of the Nanyang Corporation Division.

"Bangkok, Nam Ha Than, Kunlun Island, it looks like Hoi An should be fast, so that the west of the South Seas, from Siam to Cochin, this whole line is in our hands!?"

Although he doesn't understand trade, Hu Hanshan can easily make deductions by using this map as a military map. "That's right! If Hoi An is firmly under control, the situation in Nanyang will be divided into three parts! To the west is us, to the east Luzon is Spain, and the Dutch are going to be completely crushed to Java in the south! Who is most upset about this? Or the Dutch, right!? This Dutch into it is cunning! ”

Xiao Xie also had his own inferences, but Chen Xinghua shook his head.

"As far as the overall situation of Nanyang is concerned, the Dutch are certainly not happy to let us take the initiative in maritime trade, but if we lower the trade threshold, the Dutch can still accept such a change. As far as Hoi An is concerned, the Dutch have little power in Hoi An, and they have made great efforts to bribe the king of Quang Nam and want to set up a lotus pavilion here, but it was destroyed by the Portuguese.

He was familiar with the situation, but his mind was not limited to trade. "The Portuguese are very strong in Quang Nam because they have the support of the Otomun Gate. In a country of Quang Nam, there are countless parishions of the Portuguese, and there are as many as 30,000 or 40,000 believers in the country. Hoi An is the gateway to Quang Nam, and if this place is controlled by our Yinghua, the most unhappy people are afraid of the Grape Ya people. Hu Hanshan clapped his hands: "That's the Portuguese!?" They just lost the Ao Gate, and now that we get Hoi An, the Portuguese will no longer have their own territory in Nanyang, so ...... The enemy is Portugal! ”

Lang Shining interjected: "As far as I know, the Portuguese should not have the ability and courage to dare to directly confront my Yinghua. If they were looking for the Spaniards, it might be possible, but it seemed impossible for the two countries to get along to such a point. ”

An Lu said: "From the perspective of maritime trade, I am afraid that the Chinese merchants who control Japan's trade are still those Chinese merchants who control Japan's trade, because our Nanyang Corporation Division has easily robbed them of their business, but do they have the strength to pose a threat to our Yinghua?" ”

Chen Xinghua frowned, he was very aware of the strength of the local Chinese businessmen: "They don't have that strength, but they have the strength to move the king of Guangnan, and the king of Guangnan doesn't have the strength to threaten us, but he has the strength to collude with the Europeans." ”

At this time, Xiao Xie, who was not very clear about Guangnan's affairs, understood why the king of Guangnan had not said anything to Yinghua, because he felt that he had something to serve.

Hu Hanshan said disdainfully: "Who else can he collude with?" Didn't the Dutch get into his eyes? Isn't it the Portuguese? ”

Chen Xinghua shook his head: "No, it's not just the Grape Man......" He pointed to the map, that is, the area circled by the Nanyang Public Park Division. Including Siam, Khmer (Cambodia), Lancang, Quang Nam and Cochin, "this piece...... And a France. ”

Lang Shining coughed, this matter involved his other identity, and he said a little unnaturally: "The Holy See divides Asia into six dioceses, Siam, Khmer and Annam are one diocese, and in this diocese, French missionaries can directly converge with the Holy See without having to go through the Calcutta Catholic ......"

He then explained what happened to the missionaries in Quang Nam, and it turned out that the French had come to Annam very early and had a stir in Cochin and Quang Nam, which also led to conflicts between Portuguese missionaries and French missionaries. Later, after Cochin was banned from public religion, French missionaries have been active in Quang Nam, and even designed a set of Roman characters for the Jing language. Although the Portuguese were powerful in Quang Nam, the French missionaries of the Society of Jesus developed rapidly here as the Holy See adjusted the diocese district.

Chen Xinghua also thought thoughtfully: "Speaking of which, more than 30 years ago, the French were still making a lot of trouble in Siam, and once controlled Siam's trade rights, and even let the King of Siam cede an island. Later, the Siamese rebelled and drove the king and the French away. "Hu Han Mountain is as big as a fight, just in Hoi An, I saw the many influences of Yinghua's intervention in Nan Xiang, both in trade, in political governance, and in Zongyuan. The Europeans involved were both Portuguese and French, and the Dutch were not on suspicion, as their trade dominance in the South Seas began to be threatened. At the same time, the Spaniards and Britons were not completely innocent.

"After talking for a long time, who will it be?"

Xiao Xie's head was also a little dizzy, trade, political governance, sectarianism and other factors were mixed together, even if he had a good brain, he couldn't cope with it.

In a courtyard in Hoi An, Li Shun was pinching his leather bag, and his eyes were a little dizzy, who should he choose?

In front of him walked three young women with Chinese blood, although their complexion was not white, but their bodies were slender, their faces were upright, and their temperament was even more supple, and they were standing timidly in front of him. For Li Shun, who is a bitter baby in the countryside, these three young girls Mei Lan are all extremely beautiful, and if he chooses only one, he really can't make up his mind.

"It's all over! These three girls are all Jiaozhi people, their parents said, ten taels of dowry is good, as long as they can raise a good girl, they will be very happy, better than sending to that kind of place to be worthy of conscience. ”

Seeing that Li Shun seemed to be reluctant to give up, the matchmaker shouted anxiously.

"Ah...... Three? ”

Li Shun's heart almost jumped out, he had exactly thirty taels of silver, but he was just ...... "old man......"

The three girls couldn't help but speak, and at the same time shouted crisply in unfamiliar Chinese.

Li Shun felt that his whole body was hot, and the strange pores felt even more wet, three ah......, it took a long time before he scratched his head and muttered:

"I ...... I can't afford it. ”

In fact, he said in his heart, I can't afford to enjoy it......

(To be continued)