Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 780 Protection of Freedom of Trade Ripped off

Since the "old driver" is in such a hurry, it seems a little unreasonable to take the opportunity to beat him up and sell mineral water at a high price to the Dutchman who is dying. After all, the "old driver" is still quite capable after so many years of freight. Money.

After convening a meeting with the important ministers of the cabinet and the governors of the five armies, the Ming court issued a solemn statement in response to the demands of the Netherlands:
The imperial court of the Ming Dynasty has always adhered to the principles and policies of free trade, and is willing to carry out various trade exchanges with other countries to promote the economic development of each country, and looks forward to bringing more benefits to the people of the country through multilateral trade.

The Imperial Court of the Ming Dynasty resolutely opposes the separate enactment of discriminatory trade laws by relevant countries, and does not recognize this.

In order to curb the emergence and development momentum of trade protectionism, the army of the Ming Empire will take forceful measures when necessary to resolutely crack down on this behavior that endangers the economic development of various countries.

The Ming Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands have a long and friendly history of exchanges, and the two sides have very good cooperation and exchanges in many fields. His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire and the Ming court expressed satisfaction and recognition for this, and look forward to more levels and cooperation between the two sides. Closer cooperation in various fields has brought the relationship between the two countries to a new level.

In order to demonstrate the friendly relationship between the two countries, at the sincere invitation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the mixed fleet of the Ming Empire Navy will go to Europe to conduct joint military exercises with the Dutch Navy in "specific" sea areas, so as to promote the relationship between the armies of the two countries. The cooperative relationship has reached a new level.

In addition to this necessary statement, after a short period of negotiations, the Dutch side accepted the solution proposed by Daming.

The Netherlands will purchase a "Kunlun-class" warship that has completed sea trials at the Jinzhou Shipyard at a price of 40 taels of silver.

The design drawings of the "Kunlun" class and other warships have been kept in the Jinzhou Shipyard. After the first ship entered service, the craftsmen of the shipyard who had already explored the experience worked hard in several large shipyards and built them one after another within [-] months. One "Kunlun class" and two "Split Sky" battleships were launched, and then the sea trials of each ship were completed in a fully armed state.

In order to maintain the safety of maritime trade and prevent the reappearance of bills similar to the "Navigation Regulations", the two sides believe that the construction of the navy must be strengthened. The Netherlands will send shipbuilding experts to assist the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty to design and launch the Bureau at the Jinzhou Shipyard. Build new warships.

The preliminary plan is that the tonnage of the new warship is about 100 tons, the length is about 20 feet, that is, about 120 meters, the width is about [-] feet, or about [-] meters, and it is equipped with [-] to [-] guns of various calibers.

The Imperial Navy of the Ming Dynasty will jointly control the Strait of Malacca with the Dutch side, and will establish naval bases in relevant locations at an optional time.

Daming supported the development activities of the Netherlands in North America, opposed other countries' encroachment on the land developed by the Netherlands in North America, and was willing to jointly develop North America with the Netherlands.

The reason why this article is specifically mentioned is to prevent the hidden dangers caused by the British immigration to North America after defeating the Netherlands in history.

The mixed fleet of the Ming Dynasty Navy will consist of one "Kunlun" class warship, two "Pendian" and "Split Sky" class warships from the North Sea Fleet, two newly received "Split Sky" class warships from the South China Sea Fleet, and a total of 4000 other ships of various types. Composed of ships, there are about [-] officers and soldiers. Liu Guoneng, the governor of the North Sea Fleet, is the admiral of the fleet, and Zheng Zhibao, the governor of the South China Sea Fleet, is the deputy.

The cost of the "Kunlun" class battleship has been reduced to about 25 taels, and this time it can earn 15 taels of silver from the Dutch.

As the world's largest shipbuilding country, the Dutch are of course reluctant to buy a warship from Ming Dynasty, especially this warship was designed by the Dutch, but because the Netherlands lacks such heavy gunships, they know that building it themselves will save money. A large sum of money, due to time constraints, now I can only admit this matter with my nose pinched.

The cost of the Ming Navy fleet's voyage to Europe is expected to be about 50 taels of silver, which will be fully borne by the Dutch government and paid to the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty in installments within five years.

After the agreement is reached, the Dutch East India Company will send personnel to the Jinzhou Shipyard to receive the warships, and then go to Manila with the two newly commissioned "Split Sky" class warships and officers and soldiers of the North Sea Fleet to join the Ming Dynasty mixed fleet and head to Europe. .

After reaching an agreement with Ming Dynasty, both Pahlavitt and Van Bronhorst were overjoyed. They were able to obtain powerful assistance from the far east, which will be of great help to the Dutch Navy's next series of sea battles with the British Navy. .

Although the fleet sent by Ming Dynasty this time seems inconspicuous in terms of quantity, the Dutch are very clear that the firepower configuration of these sixteen warships is very powerful.

As long as the Ming and Dutch armies cooperate tacitly, have proper tactics, concentrate their superior firepower to find fighters, and strive to destroy the main fleet of the British Navy in World War I, then not only will the immediate difficulties be solved, but as the victorious country, the Netherlands will get more benefits from it. benefit.

The only thing that is worrying now is the naval commanding experience of the senior naval commanders of the Ming Dynasty, as well as their familiarity and adaptability to the complicated maritime geographical conditions after the war began. Dutch naval officers participated in the command and dispatch of each warship of the Ming Dynasty during combat, so as not to affect the process and outcome of the entire battle.

The Dutch concerns are not unfounded.

Compared with the South China Sea Fleet formed by the Zheng family, although the North Sea Fleet was powerful and had the most powerful warships at the time, Liu Guoneng, Zhang Wenyao and their generals still lacked experience in naval warfare. When the British navy, which is extremely experienced in naval warfare, is in a battle, a mistake in response may put the entire fleet in a very dangerous situation.

After learning of the Dutch's proposal, Zhu Youjian followed the good example and agreed to the request of the Dutch side, allowing the Dutch navy, which has a lot of naval combat talents, to send officers to board the Ming warship to "assist" in commanding the Ming navy fleet to fight.

For the problem of language barriers between the two sides, the members of the mission to Europe a few years ago came in handy again.

After careful selection, dozens of young overseas students who are proficient in Dutch were sent to various warships to act as couriers, so that Minghe's generals could communicate better.

As for how to cooperate between the warships of the two sides, in addition to the above-mentioned measures, the Dutch will also take out the treasure at the bottom of the box and share it with the Ming Navy, which is a new command method that has just been born - semaphore.

The semaphore is the latest invention of the British. It was tried in this naval battle with the Netherlands, and the effect was good. The Dutch also "learned" from the captured British naval officers. In order to ensure the victory of the war, the Netherlands Man "selflessly" contributed it.

The Ming Navy’s expedition is not going to join the war right away. The two sides will adjust for a period of time before deploying and deploying according to the situation. Everyone understands this basic common sense of war.

In September of the 18th year of Chongzhen, under the leadership of Dutch warships, the mixed fleet of the Ming Dynasty set off from Manila, crossed the turbulent Indian Ocean, and rushed to the European battlefield.

(End of this chapter)