In the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty, winter, Malacca, Bintan Island, and the sea off the port of Guangdong.

The Dutch armed merchant ship Al-Provincial, flying the VOC-flagged, rolled up snow-white waves and slowly sailed into the Guangdong Harbor in the southwest of Bintan Island. The water is not as open as the port of Batavia, which is built in a narrow bay that seems to have been split by the gods with a great axe, and at the entrance to the bay is a small island in the shape of a goose egg, which is called Battery Island because of the coastal defense fort built on the island.

Spearman, the governor of Batavia, and Brouwer, the consul of the East India Company in Macao, stood side by side on the stern of the United Province, looking at the ports, forts, towns, and fortresses that seemed to be flying in front of them. There are also old locks crowded in the harbor, unloading people and supplies.

The Canton Port is theoretically the property of the Ming-Dutch joint venture of the Guangdong Trading Company, and it is a commercial port built by the Guangdong Trading Company leasing a corner of Bintan Island that did not belong to it from the Dutch East India Company—just a commercial port, at most a town, and a little fortification!

But now Da Ming is actually bad at learning, and he has learned not to be trustworthy! They went so far as to completely militarize the port of Canton on Bintan Island in violation of the agreement reached between the two sides.

The battery on Battery Island is a bastion! And it's not a so-so sandbag, but a very strong fortress made of a lot of stone!

On the north shore of the harbor of Guangdong Harbor, there is another fortress that covers a larger area and can be called a fortress, and the outer wall is also made of stone. It is located on the south shore of Guangdong Bay, next to the port and wharf. It's a Chinese-style city! The walls were also made of a large amount of stone, and the walls were close to the sea on one side of the bay, and only the southeast side could be spread by the enemy who tried to attack the city. So Spearman and Brouwer saw from a distance a tall wooden fence enclosing the east and south sides of the town's walls, as if it were enclosing a hill with a watchtower on the hill!

In addition, these Chinese also opened up many rice fields on the outskirts of the town, and the rice seemed to be ripe, and it looked like a golden patch from a distance.

And what makes Spearman and Brouwer even more speechless is that all this. Ports, forts, towns, forts, and farmland were all built in less than two years.

It's just two years.

In the case of Fort Santiago, which the Spaniards built in Manila, it would be possible to build at most half a wall, even if it was replaced by the "efficient" Dutch East India Company. It should be possible to dig half a trench more.

However, these Chinese actually quickly built a fortress group in the Guangdong harbor on Bintan Island that would allow them to exist permanently in the Strait of Malacca!

In the past two years, the governor of Batavia, Spearman, was busy helping the Mataran Sultanate to suppress Dunoru on the island of Java. Zuoyo's uprising didn't pay much attention to the Guangdong Company on Bintan Island, thinking that everything was under control. Although there was also information about the illegal deployment of Chinese and the construction of military facilities on Bintan Island, in order not to let the campaign on Java Island fall through, Spearman only ordered Brouwer to make representations and submit a report to Amsterdam at the same time.

But what he never expected was that the Chinese's ability to engage in infrastructure construction far exceeded his imagination, not only did the work work fast, but also the quality was good! This has nothing to do with Dunoru. Zyo's ability to build a fort on the island of Java is completely heaven-to-earth.

They are all Orientals, and the ability of the Chinese to build the city wall is so much stronger than that of the Javanese?

And two of the three fortresses are bastions! The remaining one, because there is a fence surrounding the wall, should not be easy to fight - the Chinese probably dug trenches inside and outside the wooden fence, and may have leaned against the wooden fence with sandbags on the breast wall.

Looking at the size of these three fortresses and the scale of the rice fields in the tuntian outside the town of Yuehai, we can know that the defenders that the Chinese can use on Bintan Island are at least thousands, and if they want to capture the three cities of Guangdong, the East India Company must mobilize at least 3,000 white troops and tens of thousands of indigenous troops! And also to completely cut off Bintan Island from the outside world!

Thinking of this, Spearman raised his binoculars and looked into the port of Guangdong Bay. But before he could count how many Chinese merchant ships there were, Brouwer on the side reminded in a low voice: "Governor, don't just look at the sea in the northwest in the harbor!" ”

"Northwest?" Spearman quickly turned around, and then followed the direction of Brouwer's finger and looked at the sea with a telescope, and his face became even more ugly. It turned out that in the strait between the west of Bintan Island and Batam, there were several British Galen ships with soft sails rushing out, and the sails of these Galen ships were embroidered with huge red sun and moon patterns - this is the latest pattern on the national flag adopted by the Republic of the Ming Dynasty, the sun and moon are bright, and the red symbolizes the Ming people's army.

"Galen?" Spearman was taken aback, "They also have a Galen ship?" ”

"They already had." Brouwer said, "When Zheng Yiguan was in charge of the Yiguan Party, he once imitated 30 Galen ships in Xiamen, and as a result, our East India Company's fleet was raided, and these Galen ships were all burned before they were put into service. Later, the Zheng family retreated to Dayuan Island, and they were temporarily unable to compete with us for the open sea, so they did not build Galen ships anymore, but they have been building old lock ships with Galen hulls. It is clear that they had the technology to build Galen ships.

After the Zheng family recaptured Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, they spent a lot of money to build shipyards in Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and poached many craftsmen from us and the British at high prices, and then began to try to build British Galen ships. By the end of the previous year at the latest, they had completed the construction of two English Galen ships. Last year and this year, more Galen ships were completed.

By the autumn of this year, the number of British Galen ships owned by the Ming Navy and the Nanyang Trading Company should have exceeded ten, maybe twelve or thirteen!

And every time a large convoy of transports from the Ming Dynasty arrived, there would be a Galen ship to escort it. And those Galen ships will not enter the port of Canton, they will only cruise around Bintan Island."

Spearman snorted and gritted his teeth: "The Chinese are preventing us from sneaking up on the port!" He turned his head and glared at Brouwer, "They treat us as thieves, but you treat them as good people, you idiot!" No, you're not only stupid, but you're also greedy, and you must have taken a lot of bribes from them! ”

Brouwer was still a little unconvinced, and muttered in a low voice: "Mr. Governor, you also received money to lease the port of Bintan Island, and the Guangdong Company also gave you 150,000 guilders!" ”

Spearman glared at Brouwer viciously, "What nonsense are you talking about?" How dare you accuse me? ”

Brouwer knew that this governor was a ruthless man who killed people without blinking, and he was so frightened that he stammered: "I, I, I said wrong, I was wrong, Governor, I am talking nonsense."

Spearman snorted coldly, but he didn't kill anyone!

This was because Spearman, the governor of Batavia, accepted bribes, which were common among the East India Company's senior staff in Asia.

Everyone is greedy or not, why do you come to Batavia?

Basically, every Batavian governor of the East India Company can make 120,000 guilders a year, and the more may be hundreds of thousands or even millions! And their monthly salary is a measly seven hundred guilders, that is, more than two hundred taels of silver.

And Brouwer's monthly salary is sixty guilders, that is, twenty taels of silver, but his actual annual income is as high as tens of thousands of guilders - he is not only a consul, but also the company's commercial commissioner, all the goods purchased from the Ming merchants through his hands, according to the company's common practice, he has a rebate equivalent to 20% of the price! Of course, this money is not swallowed by him alone, but to share the fertilizer with the company's senior management, but in the end, there are still a lot of them in his hands.

That is to say, although the performance of the Dutch East India Company in the past two years was not very satisfactory, it often fell into the red. But the company's management is really making a lot of money.

However, the money that the management of these companies embezzled was eventually brought back to their home country, which prospered the Dutch and European economies (many of whom were not Dutch) and promoted the development of capitalism in the Netherlands and Europe.

In addition, the situation of the British East India Company was similar. The executives of the companies that have been in India have also made huge fortunes for themselves because of their bad nature (good people can't do this) and lack of regulation. For example, the one who made a great contribution to the British conquest of India. Klevu brought back as much as £250,000 of his fortune when he returned to England, while his assets in India provided him with an annual income of £27,000

And the financial situation of the British East India Company itself has not looked good for many years, and then it has been losing money year after year!

As for the colonization of the Spaniards and Portuguese, it was even more corrupt!

Therefore, the colonization of Westerners, at least on the books, is not very profitable for their governments, and often loses money. But for the European street walkers and magnates who participated in it, it was really rich!

In short, this colonial zero-yuan purchase business has indeed accumulated a large amount of private capital for European countries, obtained the raw materials and markets of the colonies, and at the same time gave the local scum and official scum a good place to behave indiscriminately, and the local government will naturally be cleaner.

The scumbag Brouwer was glared at and glared at Spearman, who had just done all the murder, arson and robbery on Java Island, and the whole person was trembling, but he still asked in a trembling voice: "Governor, are we still going to negotiate with Vice Minister Jia?" ”

Vice Minister Jia is Jia Liujia Guozhu! In addition to sending him, a "shogunate minister", the Ming General's Office also sent thousands of Chinese troops hired from Guangxi and Hunan to Bintan Island. It also mobilized thousands of immigrants from Hunan and Guangxi to Tuntian on the island. It also hired thousands of people from the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian to come to Bintan Island to work hard and quickly build infrastructure.

In short, it is a sentence, no matter what blood costs, Bintan Island will be turned into a big stronghold for the Ming Dynasty to compete for the South Seas!

Now that the three cities of Guangdong on Bintan Island have all done it to this point, it is really beautiful to expect to use negotiations to force the Ming Dynasty to back down.

"Of course, we have to negotiate!" Spearman's eyes finally eased a little, in order to negotiate with Jia Guozhu, this Brouwer still has to stay, "The seventeen-member council in Amsterdam has made a decision to ask us to avoid a military conflict with the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time use the Pacific route map to provoke the contradictions between the Ming and Japan, and strive for an alliance with Japan!" We are now going to negotiate with Vice Minister Jia just to avoid conflict! ”

Brouwer breathed a sigh of relief, and then whispered to Spearman: "Governor, in order to further paralyze the Chinese, when Vice Minister Jia gives you a silver ticket."

Spearman said: "Although I am an honest man, for the good of the United Provincial Republic, I will not refuse the enemy's attack on my money!" ”

Brouwer said in a flattering tone: "Governor, you are a man of high character! ”

Annam country, Hoi An port.

Located near Hue, the main city of Nguyen Thi in Quang Nam, this port is almost in the middle of the route from Malacca and Batavia to Canton, and merchant ships from all over the world will rest at Hoi An Port to recuperate and resupply. Over time, Hoi An became prosperous, with merchants from Guangdong, Fujian, Japan, and even Portugal settling here.

In the era of the Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of "Ming villagers" from Guangdong took refuge, turning this originally prosperous port city into a metropolis on the coast of Annam, and a city comparable to Hue, the capital of the Nguyen clan in Quang Nam.

But with the revival of the Ming Dynasty, Hoi An Port, where Chinese businessmen gathered, was suddenly remembered!

At the beginning, it was not Li Yat-sen, a "traveler", who was worried about Hoi An Port, but his son Li Fuchen. This Li Fuchen did not think that his son could be in charge of the Ming Dynasty at the beginning, his ideal at that time was to be a "king of the south" and take Guangdong, Guangxi, Annan, and Guangnan. He has so many sons! These sites just give one point to the sons, and if you do more knots, you can arrange more sons.

Therefore, he took advantage of Li Yat-sen's northward march to Nanjing to rebuild the Ming Dynasty, and sent Chen Shangchuan, Qiu Hui, Wu Qifeng and others to lead more than 10,000 people of the naval division and army to the south and forcibly occupy Hoi An!

Later, Wu Liuqi's son Wu Qifeng was appointed as the deputy general of Hoi An, and he occupied Hoi An and did not return it to the Quang Nam Nguyen clan, and once planned to set up a military town in Quang Nam and send Li Jiqing over to replace the Ruan lord of Quang Nam.

As a result, Li Jiqing rebelled by himself and stopped kissing his father. Therefore, his king of Guangnan is also yellow.

After the "Geng Juyi Crossing the Pacific Incident", the East Asian world has entered a new era - the Age of Discovery, which belongs to the East Asians, has come!

Crossing the Pacific Ocean and recovering the South Seas is the priority!

Therefore, Li Yat-sen's shogunate reformulated the "Annam Policy", changing the occupation of Quang Nam and the establishment of the Mo clan to become the lord of Thang Long, changing it to canonize the general of Guangnan, General Annam and King Li of Annam respectively, and exported the system of "virtual monarchy republic" and "general (prime minister) rule" of the Ming Dynasty to Annam.

Of course, General Quang Nam and General Annam were not canonized by King Li of Annam, but in the name of Emperor Daming!

In other words, King Annan Li will become a hypocrite who is even more virtual than the Ming Emperor!

General Guangnan and General Annam, together with General Zhengdong (Geng Juyi), General Zhendong (Yang Qilong), and perhaps General Zhengyi (General Tokugawa), would become subordinates of General Daming.

And Nguyen Phuc Binh, the lord of Quang Nam, was originally unwilling to be a general of Guangnan in the Ming Dynasty, and he was already angry with Li Fuchen for sending troops to rob him of Hoi An Port, if it wasn't for his limited strength, he had to guard against the southern expedition of the old Zheng family in the north, and he would have sent troops to counterattack as soon as he could.

But in the past two days, he heard that dozens of Western-style gunboats (mainly old lock ships) with sun and moon sails came to Hoi An Port, and there was also a Ming Southern King Li Fuchen and tens of thousands of Ming troops, and he immediately felt that it was good to be a general of the Ming Dynasty.

So he rushed to Hoi An from Hue with a generous gift, and said hello to the king of the south of the Ming Dynasty who came from afar.

When Li Fuchen heard that the old man surnamed Nguyen was coming, he was also very polite, and immediately withdrew the order to prepare to attack Hue, and personally went to the newly built tall city wall of Hoi An City to greet him, invited this old man of Annam into his line in Hoi An City, and then explained to him why General Li valued him so much as the overlord of Hoi An City.

"Duke Yang Jun (the title that Ruan Phuc gave himself), our Ming Dynasty is now a republic. That is, the king is a hypocrisy, and the phase is the reality! If there is chaos today, this reality is called a great general. And Yangjun Gong, you are the powerful minister of the Ming Dynasty, and the lord of Guangnan, you have always been loyal and patriotic, and you just happen to be the reality of Guangnan.

So my son was kind enough to ask the Son of Heaven for a general in Guangnan for you! I don't know what you think? ”

(End of chapter)