In April, as the southwest monsoon began to rise, the Dutch and Indian governor Masuik could no longer pass the exam.

More and more news has been sent back from various aspects6, and with the information ascertained by various spies sent by Military Attache Dick, all kinds of information can almost form a complete chain of evidence.

The city of Geranza was indeed occupied by a group of pirates, but there were some conflicts over the details.

The beautiful city of Batavia was in a panic for a while, and the Dutch people in the city were talking about it.

How long did it take those abominable pirates to storm the city of Geranza?

Of all the messages, some say they used a day, some say they used a month.

Batavia's leadership team, plus the local business elite, was in a meeting at this time.

After researching, they determined that the latter was the most likely.

Historically, the governor of Batavia could only be appointed by the board of directors of the East India Company.

The governor of Batavia was the local military and political leader, and was responsible for the personnel of the merchant houses in East Asia. The heads of the departments under the Governor were also appointed by him.

How many of those abominable pirates are there?

In all the news, some say there are only a few hundred in total, some say thousands.

The crowd automatically chose to believe the latter.

How many arquebuses and cannons were there among those abominable pirates?

In all the reports, everyone said that their guns could be connected, and no other claims have been heard.

Everyone in the conference room turned their eyes to Military Attache Dick, a handsome single man under thirty years of age.

"I've analyzed this point, it's very simple, there are more firearms, there are more artillery, and the effect of their concentrated fire will sound like a ...... A qiē in nature is understandable......"

Military Attache Dick smiled, and he casually took out his analysis report, he knew that this was his watch moment.

The report, which took him a week's worth of effort, synthesized the intelligence of more than a dozen spies, and included an investigation report from a Ming merchant who threatened to see it with his own eyes.

The military attaché Dick, the son of a fur merchant, attended parish school, where he excelled and learned swordsmanship and firearm shooting at his own expense.

Unlike those desperate scumbags who had no way to join the East India Company, he took the initiative to participate in the recruitment of the East India Company. In his various actions to exclude the Spanish, Portuguese, and British, he showed courage and wisdom. Of course, his swordsmanship is not as good as that of Captain Bowman in Redhairy City, but he is far more intelligent than Bowman.

He had a long talk with his father, and expressed that he wanted to go to the East India Company on his own initiative, saying that he was optimistic about the future of the East India Company.

As a young man, his father bought furs from the mountains of northern Germania and shipped them to Genoa, Italy, to be sold. Later, he saw that the Genoese were far more profitable than him, so he opened a leather processing workshop on the outskirts of Amsterdam.

At that time, Dutch merchants not only controlled the exchange of goods in the North Sea and Baltic regions, but also replaced the Hanseatic League in the northern trade and became the monopolists of grain, timber, iron, flax, leather and other goods from the Scandinavian countries and Russia.

In particular, after the success of the bourgeois revolution, the Dutch workshop and handicraft industry developed rapidly on the basis of the original, and many new concentrated handicraft workshops were established in various sectors, especially in the textile industry and shipbuilding.

At that time, a large number of textiles were sold abroad, and the woolen fabrics of Leiden, the linen of Haarlem, and the silk fabrics of Utrecht were well-known throughout Europe. The production capacity of the shipbuilding industry has increased dramatically, much more than the rest of Europe combined. They owned three-quarters of Europe's merchant ships, or could not be called "coachmen of the seas".

Breaking the feudal system's shackles on man and industry, and breaking away from the shackles of the feudal socialist family, the bourgeoisie exploded with great vitality.

From this, it can be seen that the mentality of the traversers is to hate the revolutionary victory of the other bourgeoisie, and the mentality of these traversers is a bit like that.

Then again.

Dick's father, after listening to his son's complaint in silence, turned to his only son, Dick, and said, "My son, you are right, wealth always comes from abroad...... Go ahead, your mother and I will pray and bless you, and God will take care of a brave and motivated youth! ”

At the East India Company, Dick soon won the admiration of his superiors with his cousin, rose to the rank of military attache in Batavia within a few years, and gained the trust of the Dutch and Indian governor, Masuike.

Military Attache Dick now had a very relaxed expression at the meeting. He knew in his heart that if he panicked at this time, there would be no benefit at all except for increasing the uncertainty in vain.

The Dutch and Indian governor Masuik gave the young man a maroon look of approval, and thought to himself that, judging from the young man's current appearance, he was capable of taking on a large merchant house on his own. He has very good control.

Out of the corner of the military attaché's eye, he could feel the approving gaze of the Dutch and Indian governor Ma Suike, and he smiled slightly in his heart, and his movements became more chic. He raised the report in his hand and said:

"Gentlemen, this report did not come easily. We mobilized people from Macau, Guangzhou, Manila, and even sent a few Ming people to Taiwan to investigate. So it's more reliable.

Everyone knows that now our armed forces in Batavia are the weakest in years...... In winter and spring, neither our merchant ships nor warships are suitable for going north, and only a few small fortune ships, with their hard sails, can easily go against the wind.

Therefore, when we were born in the city of Geranza, Taiwan, we first deduced that those so-called pirates must have been premeditated, so we chose such an opportunity.

Moreover, from the diary of Geranza, which was sent in December, we now have only nine hundred soldiers there. It is also the lowest number of people in recent years, and in our plan, it will not be possible to fill the gap of 500 people there until next year, which is another gap in manpower.

As it turned out, they had the right time......"

Attache Dick paused at this point, and with his little thumb delicately picked a few strands of length that had slid across the ear chakra.

At this point, Batavia's commercial manager asked, "What if we knew they were premeditated?" What does it mean? ”

The Dutch and Indian governor, Maszk, leaned back in his chair, stroked his chin with one hand and hugged his shoulder with the other, waiting for Dick's answer.

Military Attache Dick whispered: "Dear Mr. Manager, at least the following points have been explained: first, they have internal responsibilities, and they know quite well the situation in the city of Geranza; secondly, they are not rich in experience, and even familiar with the situation in Batavia; Third, they gave their gang a Mingren-esque name, and they still had a lot of power to rely on. ”

The Dutch and Indian governor Maszke said softly: "There are Spaniards behind?" ”

Military Attache Dick spread his hands evenly, shrugged his shoulders, and said: "It's still not quite like it, I have already reported to you about the situation in Manila, and I haven't seen any changes there, but there are more Ming merchant ships going to trade with them......"

Hearing this, many Dutchman's hearts ached as if they had been stabbed with a knife.

In the past, these merchant ships had to be "protected" by Dutch warships to trade in Batavia. Although the price given is "a little less" than that of the Spaniards, we don't charge you the protection fee of the merchants.

The Dutch-Indian governor Maszke said: "So you say that in Taiwan, our warships may be all finished?" ”

The military attaché Dick thought to himself that the Dutch and Indian governor Maszke had always been known as a "gentleman among the rude Dutchman", and this time he spat out the vulgar word "finished", which showed how much resentment he felt in his heart.

Military Attache Dick put away his pretended ease and replaced it with a solemn expression.

"Your judgment is wise, Honorable Governor Masuik. If our warships were still there, it would be impossible for the Ming merchants to trade with the Spaniards; If our warships were still there, even if they were adrift in the open seas, they would have come back by now. So ......"

"It's all over!" The Dutch and Indian governor, Maszk, scolded angrily in his heart.

"Who's in the best interest of this? Or Spaniards. ”

Military Attache Dick said seriously: "So I sent people to Cebu and other cities to investigate, such a big operation, no one can do it, there will definitely be signs." ”

"There are a couple of more cases. We have to pay attention to the fact that there are a lot of peppers, venison jerky, deerskin ...... there in Macau and Guangzhou."

"Cargo from the city of Geranza!" The crowd shouted out in almost unison.

The Dutch and Indian governor-general, Masuik, whispered: "The Portuguese have also been dispatched?" ”

"Nope!" Military Attache Dick said earnestly, "The Portuguese soldiers in places such as Macao or Goa have not been moved, and no new warships have been transferred, and they have only three broken warships that have been parked at the Macao pier and have not been dispatched." At most, it's some information, but we can't prove it. ”

"But we have good news, a merchant has given us real information. It is said that the Ming Shang and the Su family have always been world friends. Seeing that the crowd was a little disappointed, he continued, "There are not many of them, as everyone knows, about a thousand...... They just took advantage of the defenselessness of the city of Geranza to shamefully sneak attack, and there was an internal response. It is a two-knot guide road that lives in the area of the two-story Xingxi. Many merchants have seen them practicing maneuvering our two warships! ”

Everyone started to talk with a bang, no wonder, there is an internal response, and there is a strong enemy sneak attack outside......

So where did the pirates come from? Where did you join forces with the Spaniards?

"That Ming merchant said that those pirates claimed to be the Han Tang Group and came from the big city of Antarctica......"

Everyone banged again, the big city of Antarctica? Never heard of ......

"The point is, they are of the yellow race, and they can speak Hokkien and Cantonese, and they look similar to the Ming people, but they are taller and stronger than them." Military Attache Dick said coldly.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, it turned out that the yellow race occupied it, as long as it was not guarded by the Spaniards, it would be really troublesome if they didn't want to capture it.

There was also important information, which Dick did not want to say here, for fear of scaring these people.

In the evening, in the office of the Dutch and Indian Governor Maszk.

Military Attache Dick gave a detailed account of all the information he had gathered.

The Dutch and Indian Governor Maszek's brain was about to explode, and his face changed: "A four-wheeled iron car that can walk on its own? An iron ship as big as a mountain? And the fast boats? At night, there are pillars of light that split the night sky like a sharp sword? The guy you're talking about is reliable? ”

Military Attache Dick nodded heavily and said, "The people of the Su family are still worthy of our trust. ”

The Dutch and Indian Governor Ma Suike also nodded and said: "A friend of more than 20 years, worthy of our trust. What are you going to do? I mean militarily, we can't do without the city of Geranza, let alone Taiwan......"

"When I was researching the information, they had allowed anyone to do business in the city of Geranza, and I had heard that it was fair, that they only asked the sailors to be 'quarantined for three days' before disembarking, as if to do some checks, and the man could not say clearly. But the Portuguese have also been there, and they seem to have made a deal. The Spaniards, on the contrary, did not show up...... It seems that they can move freely in the market......"

Military attache Dick clenched his fists, long lost the indifference he had at the meeting.

The Dutch and Indian Governor Maszke thought for a moment and said helplessly:

"We only have 7oo mercenaries and 5oo indigenous ...... I've thought about transferring some of the guards from the other merchant houses on the one hand, and reporting to the head office on the other hand, hoping to get some reinforcements......"

"In that case, we will have to wait about two years, and we will lose too much...... The board will not let us go! ”

"Dick, do you have a better way?"

"Grotius's philosophy of politics has given us a good solution......" Dick's eyes sparkled.

"Tell me about it."

The Dutch Viceroy of India knew that he was an ardent fan of the Dutch philosopher Grotius, whose two books, On Freedom at Sea and War and Peace, had been memorized by heart, and even often dragged others to discuss them.

But what can a philosopher do?

"Grotius's theory of natural law says that every human being has natural rights, including ownership, property, life, and liberty. This universal human right is a creed of natural law that even God cannot change. The ownership of property is inherent to human beings, and once recognized, natural law instructs that it is illegal for one person to take what one person has taken from another. So - let's go take it back! Take it back! I want to use their method......

We're going to recruit more mercenaries, even if it's a Ming person!

No matter how strange things they have, there are too few of them. Man is the sum of the forces of nature! ”

"Akito too? They are a lot like those people......"

"Like, but no. We know that the Ming people are docile and obedient, and they only care who gives them Lille...... So we can provide weapons and let them fight for us, as long as they follow orders—I've figured out a better way—"

Thank you Yezhongye, Melochi, and three old friends for their silent encouragement, this book now has 19o subscribers, which is great. Keep it up, there will be more.

Man is the sum of the forces of nature!

-- The sample is stylish

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