There are really many people in a small country like Johor who has tense relations with neighboring countries and whose own strength is weak. For example, Portugal, which has a deep festival with it, smelled the smell at the first time and took the initiative to send someone to Xingdao to inquire about the news.

Portugal's main stronghold in the Straits of Malacca is Malacca City, which is also the capital of the Kingdom of Malacca, the predecessor of the Kingdom of Johor, and is only a little more than 100 nautical miles away from Sing Dao, which can be completed in a day when the sea conditions are good. The Portuguese are not unwary of Haihan, who will expand their territory to the Strait of Malacca, and they usually pay attention to the situation in Sing Dao. A few days later, when I looked into the news, I learned that it was Haihan who had an armed conflict with Johor and the British, and it seemed that the battle was not small.

The Portuguese had been dealing with Haihan for several years, and they had a good idea of Haihan's armed strength, so they naturally did not doubt the outcome of the war. They are more concerned about whether Haihan will take advantage of the victory and pursue after the end of this battle and continue to carry out military strikes against Johor. The Portuguese, having won several victories over Johor and its predecessor Malacca over the past few decades, and had plundered large areas from them as their own colonies in the Strait of Malacca, would not mind following the mighty Haihan to fight the autumn breeze again, or see what chance they could give the British more trouble.

The Portuguese Costa, who is currently serving as the chief executive of Malacca City, is an ambitious official, and he is not willing to remain under the jurisdiction of the governor of Goa, and is bent on opening up a situation in the South China Sea, and then applying to the country for the establishment of a new local administration, when the time comes, he will have a great chance of winning the title of "Governor of the South China Sea".

Of course, it is not enough to get the country to agree to the establishment of a new viceroyalty in the Far East, but in addition to the quantifiable achievements of opening up a certain area of colonies and increasing the colonial population by a sufficient number of people, it is more important to keep Portugal's position in the region stable for a long time, and its influence among the countries in the region is enough to protect its own interests. Only after these points can the "Governor of the South China Sea" be able to turn from an idea into a reality.

This was still a distant target given Portugal's current de facto control over the South China Sea, and the influence it had built up in the Indochina Peninsula had long since been completely replaced by the Haihan, and there was not even a single Portuguese-controlled port between Malacca and Macau in the south of the Ming Dynasty, let alone a colony.

From a pragmatic point of view, the eastern coastline of the Indochina Peninsula has been controlled by the Haihan from north to south, and Annam and Champa are also nominal allies of the Haihan, and it is no longer realistic for Portugal to want to intervene in this region again. Further north, the Daming Coast is now also in the hands of Haihan, and it is very lucky to be able to retain control of Macau, the control area of Haihan is still extending northward, and the mainland coast leaves almost zero operational space for Portugal.

As for occupying a few scattered islands in the South China Sea as a colony, Costa is not interested, after all, Portugal does not have the strong development and construction capacity of Haihan, and it is impossible to make a scene as big as Ambuna Island on its own. So the most practical solution is actually to try to expand the territory nearby, with Malacca City as the center and radiate outward.

However, this plan also has obvious shortcomings, as a few dozen miles east of Malacca is under the control of Johor, and Costa's forces are relatively limited, even if the colonial border is pushed outward for a few dozen miles, it will be difficult to ensure the security of these areas at that time. However, if it is possible to unite with the Haihan and further suppress the ruling area of Johor, then it is not impossible to establish a colony that runs east and west across the Malay Peninsula and connects the two oceans by land. If such an outcome is achieved, Portugal's position in the South China Sea will be greatly improved, and the establishment of a special administrative governor in Malacca will be almost a certainty.

In fact, before Haihan and Johor used force, Costa already had this idea, but he also knew that Haihan had not gained a firm foothold in Xingdao, and he probably would not take the initiative to start a war with the outside world easily. Portugal had limited strength and could not play a leading role in such armed operations, so it could only wait patiently for the right moment.

But Costa couldn't have imagined that Johor would jump out to provoke the big evil star of Haihan, and Costa could only sincerely praise the British for their inciting role in the middle. If it weren't for these-stirring sticks, Johor probably wouldn't have mustered up the courage to take the initiative to provoke Haihan. Now that he heard that the sneak attack of these two countries was defeated by the Haihan garrison on Star Island, and probably captured a lot of people, Costa felt that the time he had waited for a long time had come, and if Haihan had the intention of retaliating against Johor, then he might as well push it harder.

After Haihan occupied Star Island, Costa also visited the local area once, and he had a relationship with Roger. Although there is no friendship between the two countries, the two countries also have a few years of trade cooperation foundation, so the two simply agreed on the basic principle of mutual assistance such as civilian ships and merchant ships can enter each other's ports to berth, and there is also an exchange of voices in normal times, and it is normal to send envoys to care about it at this time. Just as Ricardo, the Portuguese envoy to Ambuna Island, was about to return from his recent return to Malacca to deal with his official duties, Costa entrusted him with the task of testing Haihan's attitude.

The relationship between Ricardo and Roger is much more familiar, when Roger was still in charge of Ambuna Island, the two got acquainted because of their work, and they didn't look up and look down on the island, and they naturally became acquainted with each other after a long time. After Roger was transferred to Sing Tao, as long as Ricardo passed by here, he would usually stop at the port to visit him, which could be regarded as a bit of a personal relationship. Ricardo himself speaks some simple English, and Roger has learned some Portuguese after getting acquainted with him, and the two can basically communicate by mixing the two languages. It is precisely because of this relationship that when Roger heard about Ricardo's visit, he made a special time to go to the dock to meet this acquaintance.

At the reception banquet in the evening, Ricardo took the initiative to inquire about the recent fighting on Sing Tao, and said that if necessary, the Malacca side could organize armed personnel to rush to the aid of Sing Tao as soon as possible.

Roger thanked Ricardo for his kindness and briefed him on the results achieved. Ricardo was also shocked to hear that Haihan had captured more than 2,000 people in one go, including hundreds of mercenaries who worked for the British East India Company, and even the generals of the two countries who led the troops were left behind, although he and Costa both thought that it should not be too difficult for Haihan to win, but this level of complete victory was something they did not expect.

"A lot of weapons have been seized this time, and I am planning to find someone to dispose of them, so you can go back and see if you are interested in receiving them, and calculate a friendly price for you. Roger paused and added, "There are about a thousand arquebuses alone. ”

Ricardo said in his heart that these two families are really a blood loss, thousands of musketeers, who don't know how much money they spent just on training and arming, were so ended up by Haihan, how great is the difference in strength, and it will turn a battle into such a passive situation. However, his original intention was not to collect the rags, and he was not interested in this kind of business, so he immediately tried to bring the topic to the main matter: "The Johoreans are so undeclared, they should be punished properly! General Luo, what are you going to teach these barbaric natives a lesson?"

"War reparations are mandatory, and if they want to ransom the prisoners, they have to pay another ransom. Roger boasted proudly: "The treatment of the British is the same, this amount should make them uncomfortable for a long time!"

Ricardo said, "Is that all? Isn't General Luo going to use military means to retaliate against them?"

Roger slowly put down the chopsticks in his hand and said, "Whatever Mr. Ricardo wants to say, you might as well say it directly." ”

"Johor is a country with limited national strength, and it should be extremely difficult for them to organize a thousand-strong force using firearms, and they should not be able to organize a second equally armed force in a short period of time, so why don't Haihan take advantage of the victory to pursue and give them a profound lesson?" Ricardo hurriedly seized the opportunity to persuade him: "If Haihan has such a plan, then we can send troops from Malacca City to help and attack Johor from west to east!"

When Roger heard this, he already understood the meaning of Ricardo's coming, and immediately answered quietly: "My Haihan's business, and I have to bother your country to send troops, isn't it right?"

Ricardo was not very firm in hearing his resignation, and hurriedly continued to persuade: "Sing Tao is too far away from Haihan mainland, and there are restless villains like Johor who covet them, and our two countries have always had good relations, of course we have to help each other." If it were Malacca City in trouble, I believe General Luo would definitely help us, wouldn't he?"

Roger didn't believe that the Portuguese would have such a noble ideological consciousness, and their initiative was certainly not the reason Ricardo said, if it wasn't for the pain of idleness, then it had another purpose. Thinking of this, Roger decided not to continue going around in circles with Ricardo, and asked directly: "If we send a joint army to attack Johor, what do you hope to get from Johor after the matter is completed?"

"Land. Seeing Roger ask so bluntly, Ricardo knew that his intentions had been seen through by him, so he simply stopped making unnecessary cover-ups, and simply said Costa's plan to divide Johor: "If the two countries jointly send troops, then after the matter is completed, it will be based on the city of Malacca to the east coast of Johor, with the south going to Haihan and the north going to our country." ”

With a little calculation in Roger's heart, he already understood the true purpose of the other party. What the Portuguese needed was not just land, but a control belt from the city of Malacca across the Malay Peninsula to the east coast. If Johor were to be divided according to the dividing line drawn by Portugal, then more than one-third of Johor's territory would be occupied by the Haihan. Regardless of whether Johor is destroyed by then, there is still a lot of room for Portugal to operate.

If Portugal had taken possession of the demarcation zone as it wished, the Malacca colony would probably become the largest colony in the Far East after Goa, India, and would certainly play an invaluable role in its future development in the South China Sea. This meant a lot to Portugal, and even the risk of starting a war was worth it, but for Haihan, it was not necessarily a happy one.

Although the two countries are openly cooperative, Haihan has a very clear understanding of the moral level of these Western countries, and has always consciously or unconsciously suppressed Portugal's development in the South China Sea, allowing it to keep only a port like Macau, and it is easier to cut off the local connection with Malacca if necessary. Of course, the Portuguese also wanted to try their best to get rid of the shadow of the Haihan and win more benefits for their country in the Far East, and the colonies were one of the most important ones.

Roger couldn't imagine Costa's vision and desire for the governor of the South Seas, but the Portuguese wanted to use this crooked brain under the nose of Haihan, and also tried to use Haihan's power to achieve his goals, which made him feel a little unhappy. Although it is indeed a very begging move for Johor to do this, whether or not to retaliate against Johor and how to retaliate is also Haihan's own business, and outsiders are not allowed to interfere.

In fact, Roger believes that military retaliation is not a necessary means, and even if a large army is mobilized to completely destroy Johor, it will be difficult to bring much benefit to Haihan in a short period of time. The Portuguese wanted to take advantage of this incident to fan the flames, and Gong Haihan sent troops to attack Johor, which was actually contrary to Roger's idea, and he would definitely not support the military retaliation measures proposed by the Portuguese.

Roger didn't want to give a blunt answer that would make Ricardo unable to step down, so he reasoned that the matter needed to be further discussed with local administrators. Ricardo did not doubt him, so he planned to stay for a few more days, and wait for a clear result on Haihan's side.

Unexpectedly, the Dutch envoy also arrived here the next day, with almost the same purpose as the Portuguese who had arrived the day before, and after hearing the news of the end of the war, they rushed to persuade Haihan to raise an army to take revenge on Johor and divide up its existing territory.

The information on Johor's movements was first provided by the Dutch to Sing Tao, which shows that they also have their own unique features in the operation of the intelligence network. However, Roger believed that the Dutch's purpose was mainly to exclude the British from the South China Sea by the hands of Haihan, but he did not expect that they also had a strong interest in the land of Johor. There is also a delicate situation in which neither the Netherlands nor Portugal intend to play with each other.

(End of chapter)