"Condominium on the Abuna Islands?" Tao Donglai couldn't help but smile dumbly after hearing the report: "The Dutch are forcibly trying to save face......! How did Xiaobao reply to them?"

Xiaobao bit it to death, only saying that civilian ships were allowed to dock in the local area, and did not mention the management rights at all. £∝," referring to Yu Xiaobao's proud protégé, Schneider was also proud: "After dealing with these Dutch envoys for more than a month, Xiaobao's progress is indeed obvious, I think that when this negotiation is over, Xiaobao can be allowed to directly enter the Ministry of Commerce." ”

"What about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?" Gu Kai didn't agree beside him: "Didn't you already decide to let Xiaobao work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before?"

"Let's slow down the affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are too many things at the Autumn Fair, and now the Ministry of Commerce is too busy at all, and it needs to transfer people to help, Xiaobao is not a cadre like Xiaobao who can work without training, so don't fight with me for the time being. Schneider didn't even mean to give in.

"Xiaobao's work assignment issue will be put aside for a while, and then we will talk about getting down to business!" Tao Donglai had to pull back the direction of the conversation that was about to be crooked: "Since the Dutch now have a tendency to give in, let's strike while the iron is hot and finish the negotiations as much as possible." It is best to avoid the eyes and ears of the Dutch as much as possible in the affairs of the Autumn Fair, after all, there is a great conflict of interest with them. ”

Tao Donglai's "conflict of interest" mainly refers to a series of trade agreements that Haihan will reach with all parties during the Autumn Fair. These trade agreements would help the Haihan to attract maritime merchants to the various ports under the Haihan as their final destinations. These measures were bound to affect the daily trade of the East India Company, and merchants who would have traveled thousands of miles to Batavia to trade might have chosen the Haihan port, which was closer and had significantly lower tax rates, as a distribution center for goods.

Of course, the conditions that influence the choice of merchants are not only distance and tax rate, but also the local market conditions, port conditions, products, security, and the government's attitude towards merchants, etc., are all external conditions that need to be comprehensively considered. After these conditions are combined, Haihan's advantages will be further highlighted.

Batavia has a lot to offer, but Hainan Island can now produce most of them, and what is lacking is only a few locally produced crops, and the economic value is not high. On the contrary, the various Haihan specialty products produced on Hainan Island are often scarce goods that cannot be seen in the Batavian market, and many of them are supplied to the market for a limited time, which means that only those merchants who maintain a good cooperative relationship with Haihan, such as voluntarily signing a reciprocal trade agreement with the Haihan Ministry of Commerce, can have the opportunity to buy these high-value and high-profit goods.

In order to attract more Chinese to settle in the area, the East India Company set up the Kapitan system and handed over the local retail business, including the right to contract coastal trade, to the Chinese chieftain Kapitan. Of the 21 taxes levied by the Batavian authorities on retail, gambling, import/export trade, entertainment, etc., the Chinese contracted 17 of them. From the perspective of tax rate alone, Haihan does not have any obvious advantages, but some details are better than the other party, such as the statistics of the value of goods and the means of tax settlement, etc., and the operational efficiency is much higher than that of the Dutch in Batavia.

In terms of port conditions, Haihan has a clear advantage. Although it is difficult to reach the level of later generations in terms of engineering technology, the development of the lot and the design of the port are almost all based on the data of later generations, coupled with the more advanced port management system and the widespread use of mechanical loading and unloading methods, its operational efficiency far exceeds that of its competitors of the era. All the merchant ships who have been to Haihan Port have obvious feelings, whether it is loading and unloading goods or going through customs clearance procedures, the time spent in Haihan Port is only about one-third of that of other places, which also saves the time required for maritime merchants to run a few more times a year in disguise.

As for security, Haihan's undefeated record in recent years has been illustrated, and no one doubts whether Haihan is capable of protecting the safety of the port. Because even the most powerful pirate gang in the Far East, Shibazhi, has suffered several defeats under Haihan in recent years, and even a big leader of Zheng Zhihu's level died at the hands of Haihan. In terms of results alone, the Haihan Navy's record in recent years has even surpassed that of the Daming Naval Division. One of the main reasons for the Haihan troops stationed in Annam, Guangdong, and Fujian was to ensure that the commercial trade related to the Haihan could be safeguarded.

This is not just talking, the waters north of Hainan Island, from Annam to the entire coastline of Guangdong, there are almost no pirates now, because all of them have been wiped out by the Haihan militia. And the defeat of the unfortunate Dutch in the Ambuna Islands has been deliberately publicized by some well-intentioned people - the Dutch can't even deal with a group of pirates, so how can we ensure the safety of the lives and property of the maritime merchants?

The various departments of the Haihan used various means, either explicitly or covertly, to publicize the trade advantages of Hainan Island over Batavia to the merchants of various countries participating in the Autumn Fair, with the aim of competing with Batavia for the position of the trade center of the South China Sea. If the Dutch envoys had found out what Haihan was doing, it would undoubtedly have exploded immediately, much worse than the armed conflict in Fujian and the dispute over the sovereignty of small islands in the South China Sea, and it would not only shake the prospects of Batavia, but also the entire East India Company's trade base.

Of course, with the end of the Autumn Fair, sooner or later, these methods of Haihan will also spread to Batavia through various channels, but when the East India Company can react, it will be next year at the earliest. And this time was enough for Haihan to complete the fortifications of Ambuna Island and prepare the battle plan to deal with the Eighteen Zhi in Fujian. When the time came, the East India Company would have lost its lead if it wanted to turn around again.

Five days later, negotiations between the East India Company and Haihan finally came to an end, and the two sides signed a draft peace agreement. Of course, this draft could not take effect immediately, as it was only the result of the current phase of negotiations, and the East India Company's mission had to return to Batavia with the draft and submit it to the board of directors for discussion and communication before notifying Haihan of the exact date of entry into force. If the company's board of directors thinks that there is a problem with the content of this draft, then there may be a back-and-forth, and maybe it will have to make changes to it and then go to Sanya to continue to bargain with Haihan.

In this draft, the East India Company agreed in principle to sever all forms of contact with the Eighteen Zhi gangs in Fujian and to refrain from any military assistance to them. However, out of consideration for its own interests, the East India Company also required Haihan to keep the contents of this agreement confidential and not to publicize it publicly, otherwise the agreement would automatically lose its validity. Haihan did not have much objection to this, and the Executive Committee only cared about the result, not the form. Taking 10,000 steps back, the Executive Committee actually hoped that the East India Company would not really carry out the agreement thoroughly, and that it would be better to leave some handles, so that in the future, Haihan would have more sufficient reasons to take action against the Dutch stronghold on the island of Taiwan.

As for the sovereignty dispute over the Anbuna Islands, the East India Company could only swallow its anger. Although the Middle East India Company did not admit that the ownership of the area had changed hands to the Haihan, it also explicitly promised not to expel the Chinese or Haihan people from the island by force - this was the most tactful wording that Van Longen and others could think of to save the face of the East India Company, at least in this way it seems that the East India Company had taken the initiative. Of course, as for the condominium they demanded, it was not mentioned in the draft at all, except that "the East India Company could have a commercial representative there, and the local ports would allow Dutch merchant ships to enter and exit freely and receive supplies."

The East India Company made such a concession, of course, not without quid pro quo. In fact, Van Longen also put forward corresponding demands, such as the Haihan side must promise not to support and not participate in the hostile actions between any third party and the East India Company, not to carry out any further provocations, interceptions, attacks and other acts against Dutch ships in Fujian waters, to release the Dutch crew members captured in the naval battle of Nanri Island in Fujian, and to abandon the claims previously made by Haihan against the East India Company, and so on.

These requirements are not too difficult for Haihan, nor will they hinder Haihan's next series of development plans, so the Executive Committee does not make too many difficulties for the other party. As for any other changes in the future, the Executive Committee does not hesitate to tear up the so-called peace agreement. In fact, both sides know very well that the agreement reached this time is only a buffer, and as long as there is a huge conflict of interests between the two sides, sooner or later they will do it.

In the end, it was Gu Kai who came forward to sign on behalf of Haihan, and after completing this draft agreement, both sides breathed a sigh of relief. The Dutch certainly felt that a catastrophe had been spared, and the Haihan side also felt that the pressure had finally been reduced, and there was no need to worry about the Dutch sending troops in the South China Sea all the time. Of course, the expulsion of the Dutch mission, which had been in Sanya for more than a month, could be regarded as saving an unnecessary daily expense. In addition, the vacated villa should also come in handy immediately, there are too many foreign businessmen who have recently arrived in Sanya, and no matter what grade of reception place has begun to be urgent.

On October 10, 1631, the fleet of the East India Company led by Van Longen finally left the port of Sanya and returned home. Before leaving, Van Longen and the others were allowed to tour the commercial district near Victory Port and the Avenue of Views, accompanied by diplomats. And they finally got what they wanted, and saw with their own eyes how pomp and circumstance the so-called "first port in the South China Sea" in the mouth of the Ming merchants in the past was.

There is no doubt that the commercial atmosphere here far exceeds that of Batavia, and the rows of shops and the unseen merchant fleet on the docks have also amazed the well-informed Van Longen, who believes that only a golden port like Amsterdam can match the prosperity of Sanya.

In the 17th century, Amsterdam was the center of European shipping and capital flows, with a large number of merchant ships destined for the Baltic Sea, North America, Africa and the Far East, and the foundation of the global trade network can be said to have originated here. Amsterdam merchants accounted for the majority of the East India Company's stockholders, and it was the place where the world's first stock exchange appeared. Even in the heat of the current European war, Amsterdam's prosperity has not been greatly affected by the war, and it has maintained its position as the center of the European economy.

After seeing the situation in Victory Port, Van Longen also realized how terrible the Haihan people's construction ability was. It took nearly 300 years for Amsterdam to become a European economic and trade center in the early 17th century, from the 14th century when it was granted city status, and it took nearly 300 years to build this great port city. In just a few years since the Haihan people arrived, they have already developed a thriving city, and although the city here is still far less than Amsterdam, just think about the terrible history of this small city, and Van Longen can't help but be wary. If the Haihan people are given 10, 20 or more years to develop, what will become of this place in their hands?

Before boarding the ship, Yu Xiaobao once again hit Van Longen with a sentence intentionally or unintentionally: "In a port city of Sanya's size, there are at least two other ones under construction on this island. ”

What Yu Xiaobao refers to is naturally Qiongzhou and Danzhou in the north, and the natural conditions of those two places are indeed not bad, and it is reasonable that they will develop into regional business centers over time. However, Fan Longgen obviously understands that there is a little deviation, he thinks that the other two places mentioned by Yu Xiaobao have reached the scale of a city like Sanya, and the strength of Haihan has to be raised to a higher level.

If it weren't for coming here to see the situation in Sanya, it would be hard for anyone to believe the rumors among those sailors, saying that the Haihan people in Sanya were so rich that they couldn't use up the steel so much that they could not be used up to build large iron ships and put them in the harbor as decorations, and the coastal defense batteries were built all over the mountains and fields, and there were hundreds of thigh-thick artillery pieces alone. After actually going here and looking at it, I realized that the rumored absurd scene was actually true, and it could not fully describe the strength of this place, and the whole row of warships docked at the military dock on the east side of Victory Harbor alone made Van Longen tremble - any one of them would be much larger in tonnage than the flagship of his own fleet.