Friday, May 2, 1636.

Since last month, the Dutch diplomatic entanglement with Huamei has had to move from Amsterdam in Europe to Manchester City in North America. Dutch diplomats in Manchester City had been bombarded by newspapers and media in the Chinese capital three months earlier, and the news that the Dutch West India Company had been bogged down in Brazil seemed unlikely to be fake, and that the United States was sending high-profile reinforcements.

Now, the Dutch diplomats in Manchesterland, who were three months late in receiving domestic instructions, will basically run to the Chinese and American foreign ministries in three days. The first thing the new foreign minister, Yan Xiaosong, did after taking office was to go to the colony of Virginia, England, to negotiate with the local colonial parliament on the free people's referendum process. The new Deputy Foreign Minister Shi Wenbo even took his wife and children to Spain for a private tour with Emden. The Chinese and American diplomatic consul in the Netherlands, Elson, was also ordered to visit the Kingdom of Sweden, which completely left the Netherlands aside.

Representatives of the Dutch government, who had never been very clear about the size of the Chinese and American navy, saw six Chinese and American warships outside the port of Recife. On the way, he learned that the main force of the Chinese and American European fleet, which had forced England to sign a treaty under the city in Ireland, was approaching day and night.

It would not be long before the fleet of the Dutch West India Company, which was blocked in the port of Recife, would face an even larger Chinese navy. The English navy was completely annihilated with all its might, and the West India Company's fleet was sure to break through the naval blockade of the Chinese and American fleets unscathed.

With permission, representatives of the Dutch Governors' Federation were able to enter the port of Recife, which had been blocked by the Chinese Southern Fleet, by boat, for what was called "conflict mediation". However, while deliberately snubbing the opponent, the Chinese and American sides revealed that as long as the Portuguese side, one of the "protagonists" of the "two sides of the conflict," agrees to negotiate, the Chinese and American sides are willing to "cooperate" in taking actions to ease the situation.

There is meat to eat with Huamei, although this piece of meat almost choked to death before. With such a big face, the Portuguese, of course, had their chests as high as roosters, and when they turned around, they privately calculated how to make the Dutch West India Company bleed this time. to repay the hatred in my heart.

……

The commander-in-chief of the entire Dutch West India Company's Brazilian invasion fleet was Vice Admiral Tromp of the Dutch Navy, who was now only 38 years old. From a small lieutenant to vice admiral, Tromp was promoted in just 17 years, which is more exaggerated than Ruiter, another talented Dutch admiral in history.

This Dutch maritime genius, known in history for his tactical cunning and ferocity, created a military miracle at the Battle of the Downs in 1639. 13 small and medium-sized warships and 2,000 sailors overwhelmingly defeated the combined Spanish and Portuguese navies with 77 large and small warships and 24,000 sailors, and forced each other to death at the downs anchorage. This kind of naval battle completely shattered the hopes of the Kingdom of Spain to regain its prestige at sea, and confirmed the Netherlands' position as the world's leading maritime power in the 17th century.

But now, Tromp's predicament is similar to the battle of the Downs that he has yet to experience. Because now he was playing the role of the unlucky Spanish Admiral Oquindo in the future, the remaining 58 large and small warships were trapped in the port of Recife after the initial losses. The port breakout battle in the Age of Sail is destined to be difficult and high-risk. Moreover, the opponent is still the Chinese Navy, which is longer than long-range artillery battles.

As for the war on land, at present, based on the consideration of casualties and civilians, the Chinese and US Army did not adopt the previous offensive tactics, and after occupying half of Recife, it turned into a defensive posture, and the entire port of Recife has now entered a very mysterious state of offensive and defensive confrontation.

However, Tromp also knows that his passive insistence will sooner or later be broken by the change of Huamei's attitude. According to the military information from the scouts, the number of Huamei and Portuguese reinforcements besieging Recife combined exceeded 3,500, and they were increasing almost every week. If negotiations at the diplomatic level reach an impasse, the thousands of Dutch mercenaries in and around the port of Recife will be hit far more violently than before.

The success and failure are probably the biggest setback in Tromp's life in his golden years. But Tromp is well aware of the huge gap in tactics and equipment between the two navies, and in light of the numerous exchanges of paperwork between the two militaries. He knew that the fate of the current fleet of the Dutch West India Company was no longer on the battlefield, so he chose to avoid war and negotiate peace very wisely.

"Your Excellency, the Americans demand that we release all the Oriental expatriates in the city." A clerk of the West India Company carefully pinched a scroll of paperwork into the captain's room of the flagship ship, and whispered in front of a group of senior officers of the fleet and government representatives arriving from the Dutch mainland. "They also allowed us to buy the food and medicine that they were shipping."

"Well, it's always been very reassuring to deal with Americans." The local representative of the Dutch government blushed and explained, "I have reached an agreement with the board of directors of the West India Company. Will try to solve the difficulties of the fleet as much as possible, of course there may be some trouble leaving here. ”

"What about their other conditions?" Tromp frowned, he had never been very interested in the commercial representatives of the Dutch government and the board of directors from the West India Company, although he himself was from a merchant family, and this time he was also invited to command the fleet of the West India Company.

"The Americans refused to make any objection to the peace talks, except for the release of civilians and the surrender, and it was the Portuguese from San Salvador who made demands...... It would make God unhappy to say that the price offered by the governor of San Salvador of Portugal was 50,000 florins per ship, 500 florins per sailor, and 300 florins per land mercenary. In addition, compensation was made for plantations and workshops outside the cities of Olinda and Recife...... In total, it was 11 million florins. The representative of the board of directors of the West India Company on one side gritted his teeth and dragged another diplomatic document that had not yet been published, as if the contents had killed his entire family, "These damned Portuguese, this is definitely the most shameful war blackmail I have seen since Jesus came to earth!" ”

"The English are more unlucky than us in comparison...... They paid the price of more than 20 million florins. The representative of the Dutch government smiled wryly, as if this was the best result that could be seen so far.

"It should still be possible to talk to the Americans, the role of the West India Company in the Caribbean trade is irreplaceable, they should be clear!" The representatives of the board of directors of the West India Company were still distressed about this war reparations, and seemed to be fantasizing that the vice admiral in front of him could give him hope.

"But whether you occupy this place or not. The West India Company would all face bankruptcy. ”

Tromp sneered, he had long known the operating conditions of the desperate West India Company, if it were not for the Dutch Governors' Federation to fund this time, I am afraid that the size of this fleet would be more than half smaller, even so, the West India Company's finances were on the verge of collapse.

Tromp's words were a bit prescient, and historically went bankrupt precisely after the West India Company's military occupation of Brazil in 1637. It was only able to survive by borrowing money from the Amsterdam credit market and the East India Company, but it did not last long, and all the territory, operating equity and debt were taken over by the Dutch government.

"Nope. This should not be a reason for the West India Company to bear the losses alone! As if stepping on the tail, the high-pitched voice of the representative of the board of directors of the West India Company almost pierced the thick wooden deck.

"Then you can calculate another night, how much we have to give up to make it more worthwhile! Or tomorrow I can try to break through and make the number of settlements in the fleet a little less. After saying these sarcastic words, Tromp walked out of the captain's room without looking back.

Now that the West India Company fleet had clearly become meat on the adversary's agenda, and Trump had relinquished command, his only fear was that the money-loving West India Company board would abandon thousands of experienced sailors because they could not afford such a high indemnity or ransom.

……

4 Wehrmacht infantry battalions, 2 Foreign Legion infantry battalions. and hundreds of Portuguese colonial troops in Brazil from San Salvador, constituting the land forces besieging the port of Recife.

After intermittent fighting in the early stage, the main districts of Port Recife now fell into the pockets of the Chinese and American Army, and the remaining 2,000 or so mercenaries of the Dutch West India Company were compressed into a peninsula urban area of less than half a square kilometer. Even the former Portuguese colonial governor's palace was lost.

After a brief storm, the humid and hot climate swept in again, and the corpses of Dutch mercenaries buried in the rubble began to decompose, and the whole of Recife was filled with a disgusting stench of corpses. Countless flies, maggots, and all sorts of scavenging birds and animals haunt the dark, damp corners. It makes the scalp tingle.

A team of Chinese Army soldiers wearing masks and a number of health and epidemic prevention personnel who arrived from Butterfly Island were slowly cleaning up the bodies in the rubble on one side of the battle line, but the ruins of the buildings destroyed by direct fire from 75-mm field guns were too difficult to excavate. Progress is extremely slow.

"God witness, this is the ugliest Dutchman I've ever seen! Damn, this area must be cleaned up today! ”

Makarov, who was inspecting the ruins of the neighborhood near the defense line, saw the body of a Dutch mercenary who had been killed in the battle half a month ago and was already highly decomposed being dug up and carried away, resisting the urge to cover his nose with his hands, and roaring at Yu Shan and others who were wearing masks and listless next to him.

He ...... Their corpses were everywhere, as if new ones were growing out of the ground every day......" Yu Shan undid the mask covering his mouth and nose, and leaned down and vomited heavily, even vomiting bile, "Boss, do we have to endure these disgusting things better than them in the city?" ”

"As long as we hold on, they'll be more unappetizing than we are! I swear, they'll pay the price! Makarov glanced contemptuously at Yu Shan, who was not focused, and deliberately took a deep breath, but at that moment, Makarov felt that he was about to be stunned.

"Sergeant Major, look!"

Ren Xingzhong, who was carefully checking the ruins under his feet, suddenly noticed a figure on a street corner in the distance, so he quickly threw away his mask and unloaded his rifle from his shoulder.

"These bed bugs from Guyana! Get ready for battle! ”

It was a group of mercenaries of the Dutch West India Company, the number of which was unknown, but Makarov directly gave the battle order to Yu Shan beside him.

Throwing away the excavation tools and masks, the officers and soldiers of the Chinese Army unfastened their rifles one after another as if they had exploded, looked for defensive cover on the terrain, and fell to the ground one after another, opening the weapon insurance.

"My mother, I'm sure there's definitely something down here!" As soon as Yu Shan took Ren Xingzhong to crawl behind a pile of rubble, he smelled a foul smell wafting from the cracks in the broken stone and wood blocks under him, and immediately covered his nose and shrank to the side.

The Chinese officers and soldiers were ready for battle, but the Dutch mercenaries who were slowly approaching in the distance raised their hands, shouted vigorously and waved a few clubs tied with rags.

"Oh, don't shoot! Haha, that's great, they finally stink out! After seeing the other party's dynamics clearly, Makarov finally cracked his mouth and laughed. (To be continued......)