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On September 1, 1468, Sultan Mansur of the Kingdom of Malacca wrote to the King of the Ryukyus: "To master the blue sea, people must go to the sea to do business, even if their land is so barren...... Through the sea, the land is connected as one, and all things are nourished by love. The ancestors worked hard, but their lives were never as rich as they are today. ”

Since the beginning of the 15th century, Malacca has gradually become the core of Southeast Asian trade, connecting the two trade circles of Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and even has direct or indirect trade relations with North Africa and Europe, which can be called the world trade hub before the dawn of the Age of Discovery.

In later literature on the study of world economic history, Southeast Asia is basically regarded as the core of Asia's maritime trade, and the entire Asian international trade is gathered in Southeast Asia, and its historical vitality is no weaker than that of the Middle East trade circle ruled by Persian or Arab merchants.

However, the mainstream research on Southeast Asian trade in later generations is still based on the one-way research perspective after the entry of Western colonizers, with a strong brand of "Eurocentrism", while ignoring the mature and stable traditional order of Southeast Asian trade circles long before the arrival of Europeans.

One researcher has written: "The region is a cohesive trading continuum of many local state entities that existed before the emergence of contact with foreign cultures. ”

This order, one in which everyone from the ruler to the common people is one, extremely active and peaceful, was already strong in the bones of the West when it was still in the Dark Middle Ages, and included even the largest central empire on the Asian continent.

Even before the arrival of the Europeans, Persian, Arab, and Malay sailors were the early historical backbone of Southeast Asia's maritime trade, and the most diligent transit porters stretched out. Southeast Asia is the starting area. In the surrounding area, many thriving bases for maritime trade have been established. A number of commercial cities along the coast of the Central Empire on the mainland are typical.

……

After a 24-day voyage, the Sino-American expeditionary fleet arrived at the port of Malacca, a Portuguese colony, on October 13, two days later than expected. The main reason was also the first access to the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca, even with the presence of Portuguese navigators. Commodore Zhang Chunrui, commander-in-chief of the expeditionary fleet, still adopted a very cautious navigation strategy, on the one hand, to ensure that nothing went wrong, and on the other hand, to arrange for manpower to survey and collect hydrological and meteorological information along the way.

The port of Malacca, which is full of multinational customs, has opened the eyes of a group of future generations. It's not just Islamic Malay culture here. It also has the European scenery brought by the Portuguese colonists, and it can't erase the traces from the ancient countries of the East.

History gives this assessment: "After the Crusades, which lasted for about two hundred years, Western Europeans began to consume meat in large quantities, and a frenzied demand for oriental spices followed. The moment Malacca appeared in the eyes of Europeans, it meant the dawn of a new era. ”

The rich peppery smell is probably the main smell of this port. Although the pepper business here is far inferior to the port of Aceh on the island of Sumatra on the other side of the Strait of Malacca, and the city of Batavia on the island of Java, the mountain of cloth bags containing pepper in front of them still surprised the whole fleet. It made the local Portuguese colonial officials even more proud.

Unlike the Dutch, who sold more than half of their spices to India or Europe, the Portuguese traded spices in the Far East in the 16th and 17th centuries. Basically, they were supplied to the Ming Empire. Public records show that as early as the second half of the 16th century, the Ming Empire's annual demand for pepper alone exceeded 4 million pounds (about 2,000 tons), accounting for more than half of Southeast Asia's pepper production. By comparison, all spices consumed in Europe during the same period combined were just over 1 million pounds. The Ming Empire's huge spice consumption capacity like a prehistoric giant beast is completely incomparable to that of Europe.

However, at this time, Malacca can no longer be compared with its original prosperity. From the beginning of the 17th century, Malacca was constantly blockaded and ostracized by the Dutch East India Company, and on several occasions the Portuguese in Malacca felt that they could no longer hold on. This situation was barely alleviated until a butterfly fluttered in from the direction of the Atlantic, and the resistance of the Portuguese Far East colonies, which were supported by Chinese military armaments, doubled.

Perhaps it was the Dutch East India Company that had reoriented its strategy, and the Strait of Malacca had been strangely quiet for several years, and Malacca had recovered once again after it had been dying. The only regret is probably that trade with Macao has been basically interrupted this year, and due to the large-scale maritime interception by the Dutch East India Company, the route from Malacca to Timor has also been forced to close.

The rest lasted for more than a week, and finally allowed the expeditionary fleet, which had been on sail for more than half a month, to get a full rest. The arrival of the Huamei Expeditionary Fleet surprised and delighted the local Portuguese colonial government, and after reading the domestic official documents, the relevant cooperation work was indeed in place. Groups of Malay women carried fresh fruits and vegetables to the port in an endless stream, making the officers and men of the expeditionary brigade, who had been cut off from the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables for many days, like wolves. Under the threat of the halberds and muskets of the Portuguese soldiers, dozens of indigenous pearl divers were driven to the sea to clean the sea attachments from the bottom of the warships of the Chinese and American Navy, and the thousands of dollars in silver paid by the fleet for this were all privately divided by the Portuguese.

Yang Xiaohua, who was deeply influenced by Ren Changle and Yang Wenwen, started the preliminary business almost as soon as he got off the ship. After a brief conversation with the Malacca colonial officials, he rented a warehouse. Several other guts and nouveau riche who teamed up with Yang Xiaohua to participate in the "Homecoming Visit Wèn Group" took the opportunity to sell some of the gorgeous goods they brought with them, and made a small profit. Perfumes, glassware, stainless steel products, iron farm implements, matches directly here are 200% more profitable than the European market. It is no wonder that the Portuguese, after obtaining the monopoly agency of most of the Chinese and American goods in the Far East, will follow the Chinese and American as the younger brothers.

After some "negotiations" that had been going on since the beginning of the country, a Huamei United Commercial Center was officially established in Malacca, but it was only a temporary trading office at the beginning. A few European-American followers were left here to serve as business leaders, preparing to buy in large quantities camphor, shellac, sandalwood, musk, cloves, rhino horn and other high-end commodities or raw materials that had to be obtained at higher prices from the Portuguese who traveled between Europe and India.

Interestingly, aside from paying taxes, there don't seem to be many places where you can directly use silver coins for trade, and a small amount of goods from home is enough to cover almost all of the cost of purchases. made Yang Xiaohua and the others smile again.

A large number of Chinese Army officers and soldiers were also allowed to come out of the makeshift camp and take turns relaxing. The officers and men made a generous move. The soldiers of the Foreign Legion, in particular, rushed into the downtown area to privately sell all kinds of fancy small goods that they carried with them, and then all kinds of purchases. Counting on the return trip, I can make a lot of money.

In particular, Yu Shan actually used a few strings of pure glass bead necklaces to exchange several emerald gemstones from local Malay merchants, and it seems that the other party has a high valuation of this kind of "crystal necklace" that is so round and transparent that it is incredibly transparent.

The few Ming maritime merchants stranded in the port of Malacca were taken aback by the large number of "mixed faces of Huayi" from Taixi. Listen to the accent. It seems to be a dialect in Liaodong, but whether it is clothing or temperament, it is obviously completely different from the Ming Dynasty. Seeing the terrifying rows of giant ships docked in the harbor domineeringly, the local Fran soldiers looked like they were waiting carefully, and these Ming maritime merchants were even more shocked.

The gossip will inevitably spread to the mainland with the Daming maritime merchants who left in a hurry, but at this time, the people of the expeditionary fleet did not intend to do anything to cover up, but just walked around the local area with a big grin, replenishing all kinds of nautical supplies like sweeping goods, and the large purchase fees made the local Portuguese colonial officials smile and squint. The coal carriers accompanying the fleet stepped up their efforts to replenish the ships with coal.

……

The 17th-century Natuna Islands, also known as the Ambona Islands. Ming Dynasty fishermen called it "Wuxia Island" or "Guogai Island", which is the southernmost part of the South China Sea and a vast group of islands, the largest of which is Natuna Island, with an area of about 2,000 square kilometers.

The Natuna Islands are bordered by the Anambas Islands in the west, about 1,100 nautical miles from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty in the north, and about 400 nautical miles from the entrance to the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca in the southwest. When the trade winds of the Age of Discovery swept through the East, the Natuna Islands became a geographical indication for Europeans to enter the sphere of influence of the Ming Empire, and became a paradise for Southeast Asian pirates, and it was the Ming pirates who occupied the absolute hegemony here. The complex geography of the island here made the pirates of the Ming Dynasty haunted, even like the strong ships and cannons of the European colonial powers, for a long time, they never dared to touch this thorny place.

The history of Natuna is fragmented and difficult to assemble, but it is undeniable that almost until the 20th century, the inhabitants of Natuna were also overwhelmingly Chinese, and in another sense, it was like an orphan separated from his mother, alone on the border of the South China Sea.

In the early morning of October 24, an expeditionary fleet of 17 large ships of the Chinese and American Republic appeared on the horizon east of the island of Natuna.

When he was resting at the port of Malacca, Yang Xiaohua inquired more than once about the next arrangements, but Brigadier General Zhang Chunrui, the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, only smiled. Now, when the fleet sounded a series of sharp first-class combat readiness alarm bells, everyone knew that a long-planned landing battle was coming.

On the medical ship Huaqingchi, all the returnees of the Yan family looked at the coastline of the island in the distance with mixed feelings, and exchanged heads and ears. They knew that this was once the territory of the Yan family, and that Yan Siqi had subjugated several pirates here in the past few years, and became the core stronghold of the Yan family to control the South Seas and curb the ambitions of the Dutch.

Now that the situation is changing, the Yan family was instantly knocked to the bottom, and they are surviving on Dayuan Island, what will Zheng Zhilong, who is very good at demagoguery, do, and what kind of attitude the Ming Dynasty pirates who once entrenched here will be, basically everyone can guess a rough idea. But now, this place will be occupied by Huamei in exchange for the relief of the Yan family, and the fate of the pirates above who have taken refuge in Zheng Zhilong can be imagined.

At the same time that the officers and men of the army and navy were entering the first level of combat readiness, in the conference room of the flagship of the expeditionary fleet, a meeting was being held with the participation of all the crossing people.

"Well, according to the battle plan, this landing will be first carried by the infantry company of the Foreign Legion carried by the light cruiser Black Crystal, the follow-up batches on the Ao Bing and Ao Shun, and the other ships will only be responsible for vigilance. We are not sure if there is a big threat above, so there may be a military clash in the event of a landing, but as a last resort, we will not use artillery fire. Sun Yang had a little stick in his hand. It points to the southern part of the South China Sea, sandwiched between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Kalimantan. I saw only a few vague dots on it.

"Why is it going to start fighting as soon as you come. Didn't you say that the Dutch would be given a dismount first? Yang Xiaohua, who was listening to the soy sauce fighting, always felt that things would not be so simple, otherwise the entire expeditionary fleet would not use force against the Ming Dynasty forces lightly, and in his historical knowledge, the Natuna Islands were a place where Chinese pirates in Southeast Asia were rampant in the early 17th century.

"Good weather. If nothing else, it should be able to take it in a day. Zhang Chunrui, who was standing in front of the lookout window, held up the binoculars, looked at it for a while, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"And then?" Yang Xiaohua still didn't quite understand.

"Occupy it." Yan Xiaosong said coldly on the side. Except for the naval officers, everyone else was a little surprised.

"Yes, occupation! Renamed the 'Pearl Islands', it was used as an overseas military base in the Far East in the early stage, and then established our most distant overseas territory! The Yan family had previously pacified the Ming Dynasty pirate group in the Natuna Islands, but this time the great turmoil was likely to lead to the loss of order there, and even the Dutch could appear on it. The Natuna Islands are extremely important and have a history of development, and the main island covers an area of more than 2,000 square kilometers. So with the help of the Yan family who returned to Daming with us this time, we are determined to win! Lieutenant Colonel You Nanzhe, commander-in-chief of the army, also spoke. The last sentence "ambition must be obtained" is accented word by word, and the expression is strict.

"The whole fleet will use this as a forward base, and a lot of supplies will be unloaded to build a small naval base first. The light cruiser Dark Crystal was to be anchored here, sweeping away pirates and privateers of the Dutch East India Company. If one qiē shun lì, the main force of the fleet will go to Batavia a week later to 'chat' with the Dutch. At the same time, it sent personnel to negotiate with the port of Manila, a Spanish Philippine colony, in order to obtain logistical support from the port of Manila. After that, Brother Yan took the lead in implementing the follow-up diplomatic plan. ”

After saying it in one breath, Sun Yang grabbed the water tank on the side and drank it violently, and after drinking, he looked comfortable.

"Damn, you're really getting your hands here! Haha, I love it! After hearing this, Yang Xiaohua showed an excited gaze, rubbing his hands again and again, and the army and navy officers around him showed disdainful expressions.

……

In the early morning, the temperature has risen to more than 25 degrees Celsius. On the edge of a lush tropical forest, in a slightly recessed cove, hundreds of miscellaneous boats of all sizes crowded the bay docks, some of the sparse sailors on board, with the sparse sailors on board the bay.

On the shore, a humble fishing village is hidden under a large coconut grove and wild banana trees, and groups of lazy Ming pirates are standing or squatting or lying down in boredom, everyone seems to be at ease.

Some people bite a piece of leaf in their mouths to cool off under the tree, some hold a broken bowl and drink rice porridge, some people shout and gamble and throw dice, some people juggle and compete with themselves, and occasionally you can see some women, children, old and weak walking around and working in the fishing village.

Inland behind the side of the small fishing village, a thin wooden fence encloses a vast refugee camp, surrounded by a number of guard wooden buildings, on which pirates with knives and guns walk back and forth, and even small cannons of the Furlong machine are set up on the wooden buildings of the department, staring at the desperate or numb refugees in the refugee camp.

In terms of size, there were at least 2,000 refugees and captives held by pirates, most of whom were young and middle-aged men. However, most of them lay weakly as if they were dead, and only a few of them were wriggling as if they had lost their tendons, showing a slightly more vigorous life than others.

A group of pirates came from afar from the coast, led by a stocky young man who looked extremely strong in his flesh. The young man was followed by a dozen equally strong guards, as well as a skinny middle-aged European man. Seeing these men approaching the camp, several of the pirates in charge of the guards greeted them with a smile on their faces.

This person is Liu Xiang, one of the famous "Eighteen Zhi" pirate leaders in the late Ming Dynasty. Under the instigation of a certain butterfly wing, Liu Xiang, a small pirate leader from Li Dan's forces, successfully came out after Li Dan's death with the help of Zheng Zhilong's influence.

However, Liu Xiang is not sincere with Zheng Zhilong all the way, in Liu Xiang's eyes, Zheng Zhilong, a person with shallower "qualifications" than himself, can take advantage of the situation, so how can he continue to look at other people's eyes to live?

With this kind of thinking, and also relying on his own not weak pirate fleet, Liu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong maintain an attitude of mutual non-aggression and mutual cooperation. In this great change in the East China Sea of the Ming Dynasty, it also began to carve up its own territory.

took advantage of the fact that the Yan family was besieged and blocked by Zheng Zhilong. After Liu Xiang took advantage of the fire to rob and eat most of the Yan family's property in Macau. He resolutely concentrated his fleet of soldiers and horses to go south to the Natuna Islands, and almost did not spend much money, coercion and temptation, and re-incorporated and attracted the pirates of the Ming Dynasty in the South Seas who had belonged to the Yan family. The few stubborn ones were exterminated or taken prisoner.

In this way, the entire Natuna Islands fell into Liu Xiang's hands, and together with all the pirate families and ships on the island, Liu Xiang's "spoils of war" became Liu Xiang's "spoils". Then, in just half a year, Liu Xiang brought thousands of displaced people from the mainland, along with some captured pirates. One after another, they were sold as piglets to the Dutch in Batavia in exchange for silver and armor. Liu Xiang had great ambitions, and was ready to use Natuna Island as a shelter and Macao as a base for mainland contact to control the maritime smuggling trade in the South Seas.

I have to say that the butterfly wings of the great changes in the East China Sea have caused these Ming refugees who have been displaced to the coast to suffer unprecedented disasters. Dutch free traders, under the strong command of the Dutch East India Company, also participated in the blockade of the Portuguese routes, stopping the transportation of refugees to the more distant China and the United States, and instead trafficked a large number of Chinese refugees to Batavia on the island of Java at the request of the Dutch East India Company. to build military forts and towns in Batavia. In the eyes of the Javanese governor of the Dutch East India Company, the "civilized Cheng dù" of these Chinese pig laborers was far higher than that of the barbarian natives of Java. Also more obedient.

……

"Big boss, if these piglets don't make a move, I'm afraid they won't live for many days." A little pirate with a short knife in his hand ran to the leading young man with an extremely stammering attitude, nodding his head.

"When I'm blind and can't see? Get lost! Liu Xiang kicked over the little pirate in front of him with a direct kick, and then proudly pointed to the refugee camp in front of him and looked at the Dutch businessman beside him, "You can just pick these people, I won't bargain, just like Zheng Yiguan!" Half of it is paid in cash, and half is paid in cash. ”

“…… Oh no, these people are too weak to be worthless, honorable Archon. The Dutch merchant just glanced at the piles of "corpses" in the refugee camp in front of him, spread his hands regretfully, looked embarrassed, and spoke extremely awkward in Chinese, "You should understand that your General Zheng and I will never make any deal for this kind of goods, they are more like a group of people waiting for relief than qualified craftsmen who can be sent to Batavia." ”

"General Zheng? Mr. Roland, you are probably mistaken, I am not Zheng Yiguan's follower! He walked his Yangguan Road, and I crossed my single-plank bridge! He likes to be an official of the imperial court, and I am willing to do my business! Don't use his name to scare me, I, Liu Xiang, am not scared! Liu Xiang's eyes widened, and he sat down viciously on the stone on the side, then pulled out the musket at his waist and played casually.

The surrounding Ming Dynasty pirates shouted and cooperated like singing, waving the knives and guns in their hands, and if this deal can't be done, they will "not play with you".

"Uh...... You're probably mistaken, I mean, maybe I can't buy these people at a normal price. The Dutch merchant smiled quickly, and helplessly took a scroll of paper out of his pocket, and then spread it out and looked at it for a while, "If you are really sincere in making a deal, then I can bid 10 silver coins for everyone here." ”

"10 Dutch silver! There are a lot of big bosses, and there are more than seven taels of silver...... "An elderly pirate hurriedly bent down and whispered a message to Liu Xiang, who was deliberately absent-minded.

"Fifteen!" Liu Xiang put away the musket and slapped it brutally, indicating that this was his bottom limit.

"Twelve!" Asking for the price all over the place, sitting on the ground to pay the money, the Dutch merchant stretched out his palm and raised two fingers almost without thinking.

"Huh! I said you're a businessman, you're still energetic, aren't you......"

"Big ...... The Great Master...... Oh no, no! ”

Liu Xiang was about to have a seizure, and just when he touched his hand to his waist, a little pirate with a panicked expression ran from afar, out of breath.

"Damn you, you! What's wrong with it, someone has escaped? Liu Xiang thought that it was some pirates who had been coerced and appeased who were clamoring or fleeing.

"No...... No, the big boss, the east side...... Boats, fleets! The little pirate gasped and pointed in the direction of the sea to the east, his face turning white with fright.

"East? Could it be that Zheng Zhilong's hand can be stretched so long at this time? Bullshit! Liu Xiang spit out a mouthful of thick phlegm and pulled out the musket at his waist, "Let the brothers get ready, and see which guy who doesn't have long eyes dares to come to our territory!" ”

……

In addition to the light cruiser Black Crystal and a number of logistics support ships responsible for the landing on the beachhead, the main force of the Huamei expeditionary fleet began to maneuver to the north, in the words of the seventh uncle of the Yan family, there was a small bay and a small fishing village where ships could be docked, and the Yan family had placed all the pirates in the South Seas there in the past, and sometimes even used as a temporary resting place to transport displaced people to North America.

With the help of this natural stronghold, the Chinese merchants who used to travel to and from Nanyang were all "protected" by the Yan family, and the best relationship could even get rest and supplies here, which naturally brought a lot of income to the Yan family. And once there is no order here, the maritime security of the surrounding waters will be lost, and it will also be a disaster for the Chinese merchant ships passing by.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the main force of the fleet saw the small bay, and saw as many as 100 small sea ships and sampans rushing in the bay in a disorderly manner, and groups of ragged Ming pirates were scurrying around like ants that had blown up their nests, without any sign of attempting to resist.

At this time, on the shore, in the village, and on the ship, groups of pirates were scattering and fleeing, while a few brave ones grabbed their weapons and stood up in surprise, looking at the approaching fleet on the southeast sea, and opened their mouths one by one. No matter how long or short he has been a pirate, almost no one has ever seen such a large, mighty and beautiful strange warship, and the blue and white flag flying on the mast is so strange.

A thousand meters southeast of the bay, on several light cruisers of the Huamei Oriental Expeditionary Fleet, one after another the naval guns were aimed at the distant islands and raised their barrels, and the officers and men took their positions, one shell after another and the cartridge was stuffed into the barrels, waiting for some unsightly move from the other side.

"There are many more pirates on the island than we thought...... Stay vigilant and warn of shelling if there is resistance. Let the Yan family be ready, and once the troops take control of the beachhead, let them send representatives up. Zhang Chunrui put down his binoculars and gave an order to Sun Yang, the commander of the fleet beside him. (To be continued)