Chapter 13, the twenty-seven moments of Chongzhen's four years (13)

The thirteenth moment: the dormant Dutchman

In the fourth year of Chongzhen, in the winter of 6-1 AD, Dayuangang, Taiwan (the ancient city of Anping, Tainan City)

Although it is winter at this time, in Taiwan, except for a slight chill in the morning and evening, the weather during the day is still quite warm.

Facing the refreshing sea breeze, a luxuriously dressed middle-aged Dutch man sits on the balcony of the Dutch Merchant House in Dayuangang, soaking up the bright sunshine while waving a knife and fork, and enjoying a sumptuous lunch of schnitzel, grilled fish, vegetable soup, pastries and fruits.

The man had a haughty and murderous demeanor, sharp eyes, a broad forehead, and two slender beards around his mouth, which made his face even thinner. After years of bathing in the tropical sun, his once pale skin has long since turned a tan. This man was the fifth Dutch East India Company administrator in Formosa: Hans. Putmans. He had all the hallmarks of a senior executive of the Dutch East India Company: shrewdness, ruthlessness, scheming, and perseverance - and only with such a primacy could he establish himself in a strange and foreign land.

However, the Governor of Putmans today was evidently ill, and after a few hasty bites, he pushed aside the white porcelain plate with most of the meal remaining, and then took a glass of rum and took a sip overlooking the view of Dayuan Harbor outside the balcony: the sparkling sea, the lush virgin forest, the castle of Geranza, which was still under construction, the ever-bustling taverns, the drunken sailors and natives in the streets, the Dutch, who brought large quantities of Ali from Batavia and from Hainan Island, It was used exclusively to exchange leather goods with the natives. Because the natives became addicted to alcohol, this was the usual method of many trading companies in the Age of Discovery. The natives with a lower civilization generally did not need to buy too many bits and pieces, and forced the natives to come and trade frequently. Only use your brains more on hobbies such as tobacco and alcohol that you can't quit. Once the natives became addicted to alcohol, they became pitiful creatures that the East India Company could exploit at will. From the Americas to Africa to the Spice Islands, this scene is happening everywhere in the world of the Age of Discovery.

Of course, as a seaport city, the most striking thing here is always the bustling wharves lined with masts – the number of merchants who come to Dayuan Trade this year has skyrocketed several times compared to previous years. The wharf was moored with ships of all sizes, most of which, with the exception of a few Dutch ships, were Chinese ships such as Canton and Fu. Rows of new warehouses and yards have also been built on the docks, and mountains of goods waiting to be loaded are piled up.

“…… Dayuan Port ...... It's really getting more and more prosperous......"

With some indescribable entanglement, Governor Putmans muttered in a low voice, while casting a complicated gaze on a ship slowly departing from the harbor - a large ship the size of the Spanish Galen, but much more slender and beautiful, with black smoke rising from the chimney between the two masts, and at the top of the mast a morning star flag with a blue background and white stars......

This is the source of the Governor Putmans' joy and distress in recent years, and at the same time the nightmare and savior of the Dutch colony of Dayuangang.

“…… But...... The island of Formosa is no longer part of the United Province of the Netherlands......" he sighed helplessly.

Looking back in 162, when Governor Putmans first came to Dayuangang to take office, this small colonial stronghold was in an extremely embarrassing predicament: on the one hand, trade with China came to a halt due to the struggle of pirates along the coast of Fujian, and trade with Japan was also interrupted due to diplomatic conflicts (the Dutch wanted to set up customs in Taiwan to tax Japanese merchants who came to Taiwan to trade, but Japan did not recognize Taiwan as Dutch territory, and the two sides broke out conflicts). The natives and Chinese immigrants from Formosa (as we all know this is the Dutch name for Taiwan) have also not been able to squeeze enough oil and water, and the financial situation of the Dutch Merchant House in Dayuangang has been in deficit for many years. On the other hand, the Spaniards in the Philippines also set their sights on the island, not only building castles in the north at the chicken coop (Keelung) and Tamsui, but also sending armed fleets from the Philippines to attack Dayuan Port, which was almost doomed to fall if it had not been for a miraculous storm that blew this Spanish fleet apart.

As if it was raining overnight, before Governor Putmans arrived, two Fujian immigrants from Taiwan, Zhang Wei and He Bin, set off a rebellion against taxes, beating the Dutch tax collectors who went to collect taxes in kind to half death -- well, Governor Putmans privately admitted that the previous governor not only imposed a poll tax on these Chinese, but also confiscated all the sugar produced by their painstaking sugar cane, which was indeed a bit excessive. But if this is not the case, what should the mercenary pay for the mercenary in Dayuangang, which has not been made into a maritime trade for several months in a row?

(To clarify, in the early days when Taiwan was not yet opened, the "bulk" commodities exported were venison and deer skin.) After the large-scale cultivation of sugarcane in the Chongzhen period, there was cane sugar that could be exported, which was also an important source of wealth in Zheng Chenggong's era. But sugar cane plantations were not built in a day, and around 63 years ago, Taiwan was able to export very little sugar. Moreover, compared with the lucrative and huge scale of trade with Japan and China, such a pitiful production on the island of Taiwan at that time was not enough for the Dutch merchants, who were known as "sea coachmen," to even plug their teeth. If the Dutch were forced to loot the islanders to make a living, the overwhelmed islanders would really have to rebel. ）

As a result, as soon as Governor Putmans took office, he had to do his best to gather troops and launch a counterinsurgency war to punish the Chinese. Initially, with the usual contempt for the natives of East Asia, Putmans thought that he would soon be able to crush the resistance of the Chinese with the four hundred soldiers cobbled together by the Dayuangang side, whose mercenary commander boasted to the governor that one of his soldiers could defeat twenty-five Chinese.

But the reality gave him a heavy slap in the face -- a famous and legendary general of the Ming Empire on the other side of the strait actually secretly sent his descendant troops "Fire Battalion", an elite army that has been in the battlefield for a long time, has flint guns and field artillery, and can put on a large Spanish phalanx, to support the rebellion of these Chinese immigrants on the island of Taiwan. As a result, after only one battle, Governor Putmans lost half of his army, took a shot himself, and had to flee back to Dayuangang in disgrace, not only failing to restore his rule and oppression over the Chinese immigrants, but also fearing that they would enter Dayuangang to retaliate: at that time, the castle of Geranza had not yet started, and in the face of the modern firearms troops, Dayuangang had no defense at all.

In the first half of the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India Company was certainly a multinational monopoly with more than 20,000 employees, and its regular mercenary army alone numbered nearly 4,000 people, and if you count the slaves who could go to war with a little armament, the total number of troops in the world was 20,000 or 30,000 - but note that this was the total global strength of the Dutch East India Company, and naturally it had to be used in the global theater of war, and these valuable forces needed to be used in the global theater at the same time, and these valuable troops needed to fight against the Malayan natives, the South African Black Uncle, the Portuguese colonies, the English pirates, A series of opponents around the world, such as the Nordic fishermen (fishing ground grabs), are used to protect the company's efficiency and the income of its shareholders, so it is impossible to invest many troops in a remote area like Taiwan, which is losing money all the time.

Fortunately, Chinese immigrants in Taiwan do not seem to have the idea of attacking Dayuangang for the time being, whether it is He Bin, who is entrenched in Beigang, or Zhang Wei, who is even more annoying in the "dog-fighting" area...... The war ended in a humiliating peace treaty: the Dutch East India Company conceded defeat to He Bin of Beigang and Zhang Wei of the "dog beater", relinquishing their suzerainty and not imposing any more taxes on Chinese immigrants.

(Kaohsiung, formerly known as "beating dogs", is said to have planted a large number of thorny bamboos near the village to protect the village in order to avoid external intrusion and internal strife. As for the name Kaohsiung, it was created by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation based on the Japanese pronunciation of "beating dogs". Both the pronunciation and meaning of the words are much more elegant, so it has become the official name. Just as Keelung replaced the chicken coop. ）

Since then, the last stable source of money for the Dutch Merchant House in Dayuangang has been cut off, and it can only rely on its past savings to eat nothing, or rely on the occasional trade with China, as well as the provision of fresh water and supplies to the passing ships, to earn a pitiful service fee......

As the chief executive of Dayuan Port, the aspiring Mr. Putmans certainly does not want the Dayuan Commercial House to go bankrupt and close down in his own hands. Under the financial pressure of being heavily indebted, he began to build the castle of Geranza and a series of fortifications around the Grand Commander in order to improve the defensive state of the stronghold. At the same time, he continued to work hard to open up channels for direct trade with China -- most of the Europeans who came to the East from far and wide had read Marco Polo's famous travelogue, and even illiterate hillbillies had heard the phrase "the East is full of gold."

Although Europeans who have really arrived in the East know that this sentence is a bit exaggerated, the richness of the Eastern world is still an eye-opener for Europeans, especially the Ming Empire, which is across the sea from Dayuan Port. The porcelain, silk, and all sorts of fine crafts that flowed from this land, as well as tea, which was gradually becoming the fashion of the upper class of Europe, were so exciting. If anyone can monopolize trade with this great eastern country on his own, I believe that even God will be jealous of his wealth

However, unlike the Europeans' extreme desire for goods from the East, the Ming Empire, which was self-sufficient for most of its supplies, showed little interest in the goods of the Western world. Although they also opened up several trade ports, they were more out of the factor of calming things and not wanting to cause trouble, rather than for profit. Even at these trading ports, the Ming government refused to trade directly with European merchants, and all goods had to be sold through guò middlemen. Not to mention the loss of a layer of profit for no reason, the quality of the goods is often affected, and the quantity is often not enough.

What was even worse for the Dutch was that they could not intervene in even the kind of trade with China that was resold by guò middlemen - it was monopolized by the Portuguese in Macao. And the relationship between the Portuguese and the Dutch in the East was really bad: since the rise of the Dutch, they had almost robbed Portugal of its overseas colonies in Asia, and if it were not for the support of the Ming Dynasty, perhaps even Macau would have been lost. How does this relationship work?

Therefore, the Dutch staying in Taiwan could only intermittently purchase some Chinese specialties from the hands of various pirate groups in Fujian and Guangdong, which were both expensive, pitifully small in quantity, even worse in quality, and limited in profit, and could never obtain a stable and reliable purchase channel.

-- The maritime trade between the Dutch and the Ming Dynasty was entirely dependent on pirates, and Dayuan Port was a den for selling stolen goods...... This is a sad truth.

Governor Putmans tried to open the way by all means, but the successive failures were despairing: his most important ally and commercial agent, Zheng Zhilong, who had worked for the Dutch East India Company for many years, was always erratic and only prevaricated about the Governor's demands.

The Ming court and officials were also elusive: they did not respond to any demands for negotiations made by the company, they also closed the port from time to time, and used all kinds of means to obstruct trade, and the Dutch were of no use for requests, bribes, or threats. As for the Chinese merchants at sea, they were either reluctant to enter the port of Dayuan to trade and sailed directly to Manila; Or they promised to purchase the goods, but they took away the company's advance deposit and fled.

(What the poor governor of Putmans didn't know was that this qiē was actually his "ally" Zheng Zhilong, who was making trouble with the Dutch, and at the same time using force to prohibit Fujian merchants from trading in Dayuangang by force, in order to ensure that he could dominate the trade channels of the Fujian Sea.) ）

By the time of '63, that is, last autumn, the shape of Formosa had become completely hopeless—trade with China could not be opened, and although trade with Japan had been restored, there was no oil or water in the port of Dayuan: the Dutch could of course collect taxes on a small number of Japanese merchants who came to Taiwan, but the Japanese side could also withdraw the taxes paid in Taiwan from the Dutch merchants in Nagasaki and Hirado on the island of Kyushu. In this way, the Dutch East India Company suffered more losses, and as a result, under the pressure of the company, the port had no choice but to continue to implement a zero-tariff policy for Japanese merchants. The huge losses year after year have accumulated to the point where Cheng dù is unbearable for the Batavia headquarters. The Governor of Putmans' insistence on the huge cost of building the castle of Geranza made the stingy directors of the company almost jump to their feet: why should they continue to invest money when they have lost money like this? Shouldn't you decisively cut the meat and stop the loss?

-- Although the Chinese think that Taiwan's Dayuangang is a Dutch colony, in the eyes of the Dutch, it is just an armed trading station, which belongs to the nature of the concessions of China's major cities in the Republic of China era: it is well managed, profitable, and can naturally continue to expand; If the business is not good and it loses money year after year, then it should be decisively closed and left - just like the modern big conglomerates will close down those loss-making overseas branches after failing to invest.

As for land reclamation, not only is the return rate slow, but it is also not easy to bring in a large number of displaced people from Fujian -- at least for "foreigners" like the Dutch, not to mention that even if the population is gained, the Fujian peasants who come to Taiwan will soon be overwhelmed by the excesses of the Dutch and miscellaneous taxes, and they will try their best to escape from the rule of the Dutch, either to Beigang in the north or to Kaohsiung in the south. Even the Japanese Village, which was originally attached to Oengang, has been emptied for most of it, and the population of Oengang has been in negative growth for a long time, and the satisfaction of companies and residents has continued to decline.

The only news that made Governor Putmans a little happier was that Zhang Wei, the hated rebel leader in the port of Kaohsiung in the south, had been subjugated by another powerful armed group, the "Australians" entrenched on Hainan Island and the mouth of the Pearl River, and had since been absorbed and left the island. But the "Australians" who took over the port of Kaohsiung were even stronger, and He Bin of Beigang also took refuge in them, and the company was still unable to restore its rule over the Chinese immigrants on the island.

Moreover, because Kaohsiung and Beigang sandwiched Dayuan Port in the middle, the Dutch could no longer find room for conquest and development on the island.

Moreover, to the shock of Governor Putmans, even the powerful Zheng Zhilong, who had many ships under his command, was raided and exterminated by this group of "Australians" - Zheng Zhilong's death was not a pity, but Dayuangang lost its most important source of Chinese goods.

Unable to conquer the natives of the island or open a window for trade with China, what use was the East India Company having to maintain the fortresses, officials and army of Dayuan Harbor year after year with huge sums of money? Purely acting as a relay post for trade with Japan? It's also a waste

However, just when Governor Putmans was completely desperate for the future and fate of Dayuangang, and even began to think about how he should close the Dayuangang commercial station as decently as possible, and how to maintain his life after being fired from the company and returning home, an incredible miracle was born.

-- The headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia successfully signed a trade agreement with the Australians. A large number of cheap and high-quality Chinese goods were obtained from Lingao, Hong Kong and other places under the control of Australians, and even better, they could also use all kinds of goods instead of scarce silver to pay for the goods.

Although it is not known how these "Australians" completely opened up the Chinese market and did what the East India Company had not been able to achieve for many years, the silk, tea and porcelain in hand were not fake, so the Batavian side was very satisfied with this breakthrough.

And for Governor Putmans, who was trapped in the poor countryside of Dayuangang, he was even more happy:

After the signing of a trade agreement between the Dutch East India Company in Batavia and the "Australian" Senate on Hainan Island, Dayuan Port immediately got rid of the half-dead state of the past, and turned from a forgotten remote corner into an important trade port between the two sides.

Earlier, Governor Putmans, who had run into a wall everywhere, had already lost confidence in opening up trade with China: in his opinion, Chinese merchants were too cunning and treacherous, and it would be difficult for the company to make a decent breakthrough in its business if it did not use force to protect trade. Unfortunately, the situation along China's coast has been so chaotic in recent years, and the company's military presence in East Asia has been too weak.

However, after the signing of the trade agreement between the Batavia head office and the Australians, the situation at Dayuan Port changed almost immediately, and Australian ships began to enter Dayuan Port in a steady stream, bringing with them countless Chinese goods that the Dutch once coveted - silk, tea, porcelain, and a large number of "Australian goods" that were becoming more and more popular. And since the opening of the port in Kaohsiung, the supply cycle of Australians has been shrinking - Governor Putmans soon appeared, and the Australians set up huge transit warehouses in Kaohsiung, stockpiling large quantities of goods to sell to the Dutch and Japanese.

Compared with Zheng Zhilong, the main supplier of the Dutch Merchant House in Dayuangang in the past, Zheng Zhilong, who always changes the order and likes to constantly put forward conditions, and other pirate groups, the "contract spirit" of these Australians is obviously very in place, and they have always been exactly the same in the performance of contracts. Of course, they have always been so strict and even strict when they ask others to fulfill their contracts.

Fortunately, this is also the strength of the Dutch: how can the Dutch do business all over the world without even a minimum of the spirit of contract?

As a result, Governor Putmans' performance soon flourished, and the head office in Batavia praised him. And his personal benefits rolled in - to the guilt of Governor Putmans, who was somewhat ashamed of the fact that he had taken advantage of the head office and not by his own efforts.

In short, less than half a year after the signing of the agreement, Dayuangang had gone from a bankrupt trading stronghold that had been almost abandoned to a "jewel" on the Dutch East India Company's performance list, especially since these "Australians" were not as obsessed with silver as the Chinese merchants of Fujian and Canton, but had an excellent appetite for the company's ability to supply all kinds of goods, from metal to wood, from dyes to leather, slaves, and linen...... Almost everything is acquired. This greatly alleviated the "silver shortage" situation in the Dutch East India Company's trade with China.

Then, in the course of more than a year, the huge profits that rolled in not only turned the financial situation of the port of Dayuan into a profit, and the staff and mercenaries paid the arrears, but also gave the governor enough funds to continue the construction of the castle of Geranza, which had been forced to stop.

On the basis of the bilateral trade agreement of the Batavia head office, Governor Putmans had to sign a supplementary agreement with the Australians who had entered Taiwan, recognizing Taiwan as Australian land, and then Australia divided Dayuangang and part of the surrounding land into a Dutch concession for a period of 25 years, and the rent was a symbolic guilder, after which the lease could be renewed. In addition, the Dutch were allowed to travel freely outside the concession, but were not allowed to engage in activities outside of trade, such as taxing or forming alliances with the indigenous people.

From then on, the power of the Dutch East India Company in Taiwan was suppressed in the vicinity of Dayuan Harbor - although limited to meager manpower and material resources, they had only occupied such a small area of territory on the island before, but this did not prevent the governor of Putmans from planting the Dutch Prince of Orange flag on the entire island on the map. But now, he can only sit back and watch the Australian army and immigrants pour into Taiwan like a tide, and build Kaohsiung City in the dog-beating area with an astonishing degree, and at the same time quickly sweep away the surrounding headhunter aborigines, reclaiming patches of rice fields, vegetable fields and sugar cane plantations......

Long before the Australians ascended to 6, that guy named Zhang Wei had already exterminated the indigenous people of the Tagariyan Society, which was closest to Kaohsiung. In the autumn of this year, with an unprecedented and bloody sweep, the Australians destroyed the Madou Society, which had defeated the Dutch, and it is said that Mona, the leader of the Madou Society, led his people to fight to the last soldier with great bravery, and his wife and children also heroically chose to commit mass suicide...... But in the face of the great strength of the "Australians", their resistance is like a praying mantis in front of the wheel, and they are destined to be crushed from the beginning.

With the destruction of the Madou Society, all the indigenous tribes in southern Taiwan fell to their knees at the feet of the Australians in horror. Including the natives of Xingangshe, who had been attached to the Dutch for a long time, they also did not hesitate to change their masters and went to Kaohsiung to kowtow to Nagong, which made Governor Puttmans feel very uncomfortable. But no matter what, the natives who originally posed a great threat to Dayuan Port, and often "came out of the grass" and "headhunted" outside the city, have now been basically defeated and tamed by the Australians, and the 6th road from Dayuan to Kaohsiung has also become safe, and the Australians have even begun to build a road between the two places.

At the same time, another more powerful Australian army, also under the cover of naval warships, launched an attack on the Spanish colonial stronghold of San Salvador in the chicken coop area of northern Taiwan. Sadly, the will of resistance of the Spaniards in the city was even worse than that of the indigenous warriors of the Madou Society, and it is said that the offensive and defensive battles lasted less than 48 hours, and more than 100 Spanish mercenaries who could not bear the shelling took the initiative to sacrifice the city of San Salvador. Next, the city of Saint-Domingo in Tamsui took the initiative to send emissaries to negotiate the terms of surrender - they had only twenty very poor men in all, and they were also infected with the plague, and they could not hold out for even an hour in front of the strong army of the Australians.

In the midst of this series of war storms full of blood and fire, the Dutch in Dayuangang were able to enjoy the tranquility of watching the fire from the other side - under the protection of that peace treaty, the Australians have always shown no malice to the Dutch in Dayuangang, and it can be called full of goodwill:

Not only can the Dutch come to Kaohsiung to buy fresh food to fill their monotonous tables, but they can also buy novelty drinks such as cigarettes, alcohol and salt soda as a pastime. If you are willing to pay a lot of money, you can even buy ice cubes to cool off, I don't know how the Australians got it, so that the Batavian side thought that there was no need to send any supplies to the Dacheng again, because "everything could be bought" in Kaohsiung except gunpowder and guns. This frees up space to transport more trade goods for trading.

Dutch sailors and soldiers in Dayuangang have also been frequenting Kaohsiung's business district for recreation and recreation lately – there is no doubt that Kaohsiung's business district has more options than the humble bazaar of Dayuangang. If they are sick, they can also be treated by Chinese doctors in Kaohsiung, who are always slightly more effective than German doctors who only know about enemas and bloodletting.

Australian-made rum, salt soda and kvass are the favourites of the Dutch and sailors from other European countries.

As time went on, the hundreds of Dutchmen in Dayuangang became more and more dependent on supplies from the Australians in Kaohsiung, and they generally wore undershirts, shirts and trousers sewn from imported Dutch linen from Kaohsiung quilt factories, rattan sandals made in Hainan Island, and rattan sandals - which were more suitable for the Formosa climate than the Dutch's originally cumbersome and stuffy European-style clothes.

Later, even the ship repair work was outsourced by the lazy Dutch to the ship repair yard in Kaohsiung, where there were large docks and heavy cranes, which were much better equipped than those in Dayuan Port, and repaired and maintained a few Dutch round ships.

-- Rare peace, prosperous trade, abundant financial income, and abundant leisure life...... A qiē looks so good.

However, as a shrewd businessman and a calm and cunning adventurer, Hans. Governor Putmans was not fooled by the good fortune of the "Australian-Dutch Concord" - the new Australians, their new neighbours, were not "peace-loving" in any way, and their massacres of the island's natives and expeditions to the Spanish strongholds in the north showed that they would not show mercy when the time came to do so, and their methods could be called cruel. The atmosphere of peace and friendship between the Australians and the port of Dayuan is nothing more than that they still need to trade with the East India Company. If one day this trade is no longer important to them, they will surely come and attack the Lords and take over the entire island of Formosa.

However, even with this in mind, Governor Putmans could not come up with an effective countermeasure.

How can the continued existence of the Dutch East India Company in Formosa be ensured? Obviously, it was useless to resist by force, and no matter how strong the Dutch built the fort, and because of the disparity in strength between the two sides, once the company broke out with the Australians, the governor of Putmans did not think that the garrison of Dayuangang could be much stronger than the Spaniards at Tamsui and Chicken Coop.

Although the construction of the castle of Geranza continued to be carried out today, after all, the company had invested a large amount of money in the castle, and it was impossible to give up halfway, and it was always a good thing to preside over the construction of the castle, but the Governor was not at all interested in strengthening the defense of the port of Grand Commandery, and was roughly what the company instructed him to do. Once, after drinking a few more glasses of rum from the Australians, he even turned his head at the commander of the garrison, Heinrich. Captain Weidenfeller shouted, "...... Do you really think that Dayuangang is still in the hands of the company, relying on the four hundred black slackers and German scum with arquebuses under your command? No, we can stay here purely because of the company's agreement and the kindness of the Australians."

Since military means are useless, it seems that we should follow the example of the Portuguese in Macau and rely on "soft power" such as bribery, flattery, and proselytizing to win a firm residency. But the problem was that the Australians around him were not the foolish Ming Empire, and they seemed to be as shrewd and ruthless in their way of thinking as the board of directors of the Dutch East India Company, who was served by Governor Puttmans. If the time came for a serious conflict of interest, Governor Putmans believed that no amount of past friendship would prevent the Australians from turning against him.

Since Governor Putmans could not think of a solution to the problem once and for all, judging by all indications, it seemed that the current good situation of "Australia-Dutch Concord" could be maintained for a long time, so he simply stopped thinking about these distant future things, but decided to make a big deal out of his tenure, and then leave this mess to the next governor to have a headache

Therefore, in order to make a huge profit that he can live without worrying about food and clothing for the rest of his life, in addition to using his power to participate in trade with China, Governor Putmans also made a very big deal with the rulers of Japan this summer, but the problem is that this business may be smooth sailing, or it may be lost, and it may even seriously violate the interests of Australians and bring disaster to Dayuan Port...... As a result, there was a tremendous amount of mental pressure, which made the poor governor suspicious and sad all day long, and even on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

-- Ever since the "Seicho War" in 62 AD, the seemingly huge shogunate army was first smashed in front of the modern fortress of the Mori family of the Choshu domain, and then defeated by the new army of the modern Choshu army trained by Huangshi, the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan, was greatly shocked and stimulated, and realized that its military strength was so backward.

As a result, after negotiating peace with the Choshu Domain and barely stabilizing the domestic situation, the Tokugawa shogunate began to regard the build-up of military strength and the establishment of a new type of army as a top priority. If the Tokugawa army's armies could no longer suppress the daimyo of the feudal domains, the tide of overthrow would soon rise throughout Japan

After all, it was only more than 20 years since the fall of the Toyotomi family, and the rule of the Tokugawa family was far from being rock-solid.

In this way, an unprecedentedly large order for arms and a plan to recruit military instructors fell on the Dutch merchants in the ports of Hirado and Nagasaki - although from the end of the Warring States period, Japanese craftsmen had been able to make very good arquebuses (called "iron cannons" by the Japanese), which were not much worse than the muskets in the hands of the Dutch today, but the fact that the casting of artillery was so bad that even the Koreans had to rely on outsourcing. However, the Dutch merchants in Japan did not have so many artillery on hand, let alone military instructors with sufficient experience in the 6th war, so they asked for help from the rear.

Then, Governor Putmans, who had received the news from the Dutch merchant house in Japan, immediately smelled of a huge profit—he had a large number of high-quality artillery guns that had been intended to arm the castle of Geranza, and dozens of veterans of the war should be able to make it together. Anyway, now that there are Australians who are suppressing the natives and sweeping the maritime frontier, the security situation around Dayuangang is unprecedentedly good, even if some armed forces are withdrawn, it doesn't matter. If the Australian army is going to fight...... So what's the use of keeping these artillery pieces and soldiers?

Therefore, he sent a merchant ship to Japan with more than 50 guns and supporting equipment to sell to the shogunate, and by the way, the commander of the garrison, Heinrich. Captain Weidenfeller and more than thirty German mercenaries were dispatched...... In the end, the results were quite good, and the Tokugawa shogunate readily bought all the guns and paid for them with the purity of gold, which has now been shipped to Oin Port. Captain Weidenfeller and others, who took the initiative to come to the door, also received an employment contract and a generous reward from the Tokugawa shogun, and everyone was very happy.

But the problem is that even the less well-informed Governor Putmans vaguely knew that the Australians on Hainan Island were in league with the Shogun Yellowstone in Fujian, who had been an ally of the Japanese Choshu Domain for several years, and that the Tokugawa Shogunate was a traditional enemy of the Choshu Domain... Although the war between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Choshu domain had been over for a long time, the Australians joined forces with the Choshu domain this year to attack the Satsuma domain, another powerful prince of Japan, and expelled the Satsuma domain's power from the Ryukyu Island, which shows that the relationship between the Australians and the Choshu domain was very close.

In this case, after the news leaks out, what will the Australians think of this arms sale by the Dutch side?

So, after the euphoria of making huge profits, Governor Putmans began to become worried, lest an Australian envoy come to Dayuan Hong Kong one day to ask for his guilt, and even threaten war...... Although such a thing has not been born, he still can't help but bear huge mental pressure, he can't eat or sleep all day, and even his body has lost weight, I don't know how long it will take to adjust his mentality.

In fact, Governor Putmans could have kept the gold in his pockets without fear of any further trouble, for the Dutch artillery he had sold to the Tokugawa shogunate had already been turned into scrap before they could pose any threat to the "Australians" and their allies in the Choshu domain, and more than half of the military instructors he had sent to Japan would soon be reduced to minced meat and char

-- In December of the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, another sudden catastrophe fell on the head of the Tokugawa shogunate, which had been unfavorable recently......

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