Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 556 The Alliance Under the City
Honglu Temple.

In the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, the envoys of various countries are arranged in a courtyard, and their entourages are arranged in the outer city.

The Dutch envoy Van der Lang sat at the table and wrote a letter to the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia. He wrote it for a long time, and wrote only a few lines on the paper, and then he grabbed it and threw it on the ground.

On the ground, seven or eight balls of such waste paper have been thrown.

This letter is really difficult to write.

The legendary governor Van Diemen died of illness, and now Batavia is not at peace. The new governor has not yet been born. He was ordered by Van Diemen to lead the fleet to the north for reinforcements. After the defeat, he gave Van Diemen in Japan According to the report, the reply he received was that he was allowed to give up Taiwan as the case may be, and exchanged Taiwan for direct trade rights with Ming Dynasty.

But now that Van Diemen has died of illness and the new governor has not yet arrived, he is still a little bit hard to make up his mind, fearing that he will not be able to bear this responsibility, and even more worried that he will be held accountable afterwards.

Van Diemen sent troops to quell the aboriginal uprising on Ambon Island before, but the senior businessmen stationed there were tried in Batavia and sentenced to life imprisonment.

There was a knock on the door.

Van der Lang got up and opened the door, and it was Kui Yi, the former Batavia senior businessman and commercial curator in Japan, who was in his early thirties and came from Stockholm, Sweden.

He came in and looked at the waste paper on the ground, raised the wine bottle in his hand and smiled, "I knew you must be having a headache, so I brought you something special."

"I'm not used to this oriental wine, it's a headache."

"This is not white wine, it's sweet wine, and it tastes good."

The wine made from mare's milk grapes in the Western Regions tastes sweet. After taking a couple of sips, Fan der Lang couldn't help admiring that it tastes better than rum. "No wonder we've been trying to sell the wine to Ming Dynasty. These merchants from the Ming country refused to take it."

"Da Ming has a lot of good things." Kui raised his glass.

"Oh, yes."

"So we can't miss this opportunity. Didn't we go north to the Far East to trade with this rich Ming Empire? But because of the obstruction of those damn Portuguese, we have not been able to succeed. For this reason, we still have to fight with them." Many battles were fought, all of which were lost."

"But now such a good opportunity is in front of us. The emperor of Ming Dynasty is actually an enlightened monarch who understands the ocean and accepts trade. Why should we miss it? Is it because of the wild Taiwan to break the island?"

Kui Yi persuaded, "Besides, Taiwan can no longer be defended. Even if Batavia wants to defend Taiwan with all his strength, it is impossible. It will take time for them to send ships northward. If there is no monsoon, it will be even slower. And wait When they arrived, it was too late."

"The city of Zeelandia is left in Taiwan now, and it won't last long at all."

"We can't hesitate anymore, otherwise the opportunity may be missed forever. You must know that although the damned Portuguese and Spaniards are now fighting among themselves, they are very willing to join forces to deal with us."

Kuiyi followed him from Batavia to the north, first to Taiwan and then to Japan to take up his post, but he knew very well that in order to stabilize this hard-won position as the owner of the museum, first of all it was not Japan, but Daming.

If Taiwan falls and cannot cooperate with Ming, then the trade route from Batavia to Nagasaki will be cut off by Ming and the Portuguese and Spaniards.

In particular, the biggest profit of the Dutch in Japan before actually came from the entrepot trade. Using Taiwan as a base, they obtained Chinese goods, especially raw silk, tea, and porcelain from the Zheng family in Fujian, and then re-exported them to Japan, making huge profits. .

It is much more profitable than the spices and sugar shipped from Batavia.

If the route is cut off, he, the host, will naturally not be able to do it.

"But Governor Fan passed away." Van der Lang said bluntly.

Van Diemen is a legendary governor. In Batavia, he not only suppressed the Ambon uprising, but also captured several colonial points of Ceylon Island from the Portuguese, and took Malacca, an extremely important port, from Portugal. Take it from the hand.

And drove the Spaniards out of Taiwan.

Even against the natives of Southeast Asia such as Java, it was very tough, and many strongholds were seized.

He even once planned to capture Macau, which was occupied by the Portuguese.

With him, the 17-member board of directors of the East India Company also relied heavily on him, but if he was gone, Van der Lang would not have that weight. If he decided to surrender Taiwan, he would probably be held accountable afterwards.

Kui has always said, "Believe me, if you hesitate now, you will eventually miss the trade matter, and Taiwan will be captured by Ming in the end. Your result will be very miserable. You may not be able to escape life imprisonment. You have to do ten years in prison.

"I think the conditions of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty are not bad. Opening up so many ports to us at one time is tantamount to fully liberalizing trade. In the future, the Portuguese will no longer be able to monopolize the Ming country's trade, and we don't need to find Zheng's business at all. How much profit do you have to bring? The board of directors will also regard you as a hero!"

Fan der Lang took a sip of his wine, "The emperor of the Ming Dynasty is a bit too tough."

"He has this strength," Kui said bluntly.

"Then we let Zeelandia surrender?"

"There is no other choice."

"Ok."

Van der Lang finally made up his mind.

The next day, Fan der Lang asked Hong Luqing to see him, and expressed his hope that he could have an interview with the emperor again.As a result, the Minister of Honglu Temple said bluntly that His Majesty the Emperor is very busy during the Chinese New Year and has no time.

"Your Majesty's adopted son, General Zhu Chenggong, the admiral of the imperial camp in Fujian, will soon return to Taiwan after the new year. When he sets foot on Taiwan, it will be the day of the final attack on Zeelandia."

Van der Lang panicked.

"I want to meet His Majesty precisely for this matter. On behalf of the East India Company, I am willing to make the defenders of Zeelandia City surrender, hand over Taiwan, and conclude a friendly trade agreement with Ming!"

"Do you have the final say, can you represent the East India Company?"

"Yes, I have obtained the authorization of the governor before."

Honglu Siqing smiled.

"Then I will report to His Majesty, you wait for the arrangement."

······
in the palace.

The emperor drank tea with Zhu Chenggong and Zhu Shengli.

While drinking tea, I listened to Zhu Chenggong talk about the battle of attacking Taiwan. Although Zhu Yihai thought the battle was a bit slow, for the young Zhu Chenggong, this was the first time he really commanded a party, and even took the fierce Dutch I am very proud of the fact that I am losing every battle.

This battle has been fought for a long time, but the difficulties encountered are not only the Dutch, but also the uncooperative nature of the Zheng family, and the difficulty of reorganizing the soldiers and horses of Fujian, Guangdong, and Guangxi. He also integrated them while fighting.

The army in Lingnan is not strong in combat effectiveness, but the Guangxi wolf soldiers are quite strong, but they are very disciplined.

Fujian Zheng's navy is capable of fighting, but it doesn't work hard.

It all depends on the three provinces to provide money and food support. It can be said that Zhu Chenggong is fighting with all parties. In the end, he can integrate all parties and achieve such a victory. He is very satisfied.

Zhu Shengli also has a deep understanding of these things in Huguang, and he admires Zhu Chenggong's success.

The Zheng family in Fujian did not make a mutiny or anything, which is already quite rare.You must know that since Zhu Yihai started his army, he has been constantly cutting down on the interests of the Fujian Zheng family and even the entire official party.

In the past, the Zheng family monopolized the foreign trade in the southeast and signed an agreement with the Dutch. Even merchant ships going to sea had to plant their command flag and pay the command flag fee.

Later, when Zheng's strength became stronger, they even started to get rid of the Dutch. They shipped goods directly to Japan and seized a lot of market share from the Dutch. The Dutch used to rely mainly on entrepot trade in Taiwan. In the important market, they took Chinese silk goods from the Zheng family, shipped them to Japan for trading and made money, and exchanged them for Zheng's goods.

As a result, Zheng directly traded with the Japanese, grabbing some of their shares, and reduced the supply of silk to them. At the same time, their ships back to Batavia were often not full.

But when Zhu Yihai rose, he copied Zheng's story again.

Zhu Yihai not only directly traded with North Korea, but also directly traded with Japan and Ryukyu, and even took the initiative to liberalize trade with Portugal and Spain. Together with the Zhengs, the Dutch's trade share is shrinking rapidly.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty opened the moon port for foreign trade in Zhangzhou. After the rise of the Zheng family, the trade center has been transferred to Xiamen.

As a result, under Zhu Yihai's dominance, foreign trade ports are blooming everywhere. Not only Macau has been revived, but Guangzhou, Ningbo,

Hangzhou and other ports have risen rapidly.

It used to be that a lot of goods were shipped to Xiamen, Fujian, but now there is no need for such trouble, and they can go to sea directly at the nearest port.

The water here is very deep, but under the power of Emperor Shaotian, even Zheng Zhilong was forced to enter the court, step by step backing down, not letting go, Zheng Zhilong didn't have the courage to directly confront Da Mingzi.Moreover, the conditions that Da Tianzi exchanged with him were not bad.

The Zheng family didn't make much effort to fight Taiwan, but they didn't make any effort, and they didn't dare to be too obvious. The determination of the emperor.

"This battle was successfully fought very well, showing the strength of a famous general." Zhu Yihai affirmed Zhu Chenggong's achievements, "The Dutch are finally willing to surrender now. This is a good thing. The next step is to continue to develop Taiwan Island."

"Successful, you wait for the trade wind to rise, take the battalion and take the fleet to Guangdong first, and encircle Macau."

"Waiting around Macau?" Zhu Chenggong was taken aback for a moment.

Hasn't the imperial court always had a good relationship with the Portuguese in Macau?
"The Portuguese have stayed in Macau for a long time. Before they bribed local officials in Guangdong, they obtained some powers that they shouldn't have, such as building a fort in Macau, owning an army, and even self-government. The Governor of Portugal and India even sent a governor to Macau. They built their own city council, set up their own courts, privately owned an army, and even collected taxes. Although Macau is still owned by Ming Dynasty, in fact, Macau now has the taste of a country within a country. Got it?"

Zhu Yihai is of course willing to make more friends, but the premise is to keep the boundaries.

The Portuguese have seriously crossed the line in Macau.

"First the ceremony, then the soldiers. You lead the troops to surround Macau first, and then come to have a good talk with them. If they cooperate with each other, the imperial court will take over the forts, castles, forts, ports, docks, etc., and set up yamen there. Garrison guards, etc. The Portuguese can continue to live there, but they must fully accept our management,

If they don't know how to do it, they will send troops directly to take back Macau. "

"Trade belongs to trade, but some things cannot be overstepped."

Portugal has occupied Macau for many years, developed here secretly, and established colonial autonomy. On the surface, it is still managed by Daming Xiangshan County. Taxation by tax authorities, etc.

In the early years when Macao’s trade was booming, they could bring back more than 400 million taels of silver every year from trade with Japan alone, and trade with Manila, Luzon, and bring back more than 200 million taels of silver a year.

In addition, they also have routes from Macau to Malacca, Goa to Lisbon via India, routes to Hue, Annan, Brunei, Ambon, etc., four major trade routes, and the trade volume is very amazing.

But they only give Daming 2000 taels of silver every year.

After Zhu Yihai cooperated with them, they didn't change this point. Buying guns and cannons with them, and hiring mercenaries, they were even more open-minded.

Now that Zhu Yihai has negotiated trade terms with the Spaniards and the Dutch, and after he settled the Zheng family in Fujian, and even established direct trade relations with North Korea and Japan, he will naturally no longer manipulate the Portuguese.

In fact, the Portuguese have not had a good time in the past few years. The earliest maritime empire, which was once the earliest, has now weakened in an all-round way.

A few years ago, the Portuguese finally stopped having the Spanish king concurrently as their king. They got rid of the Spanish, but their weakness has been irreparable. From Africa to India, to Malacca, and Southeast Asia, they are losing colonies every year. Snatched by the French by the British by the Dutch.

For example, the loss of Malacca in the past two years has made them now have to pay protection fees for the merchant ships between Macau and Goa. Even if the money is paid, merchant ships are often robbed.

Because of the breakup with Spain, the Portuguese merchants refused to recognize the Spanish king as king, so Manila cut off trade with the Portuguese in Macau, which made the Portuguese in Macau even worse.

But because of the expansion of Catholicism, they offended Japan, an important trading partner, and lost their qualifications to trade with Japan. Although they later sent someone to apologize, the little Japanese were not used to them, and directly killed their four envoys Yes, refuse to accept.

Once they occupied Macau and monopolized trade with China.

But in recent years, the situation has been declining, the Dutch and the Spaniards have blocked and attacked them, and Japan has banned Portuguese businessmen from trading in Japan.

Only by bribing the officials of Guangdong in Ming Dynasty, and relying on the influence of the Jesuits in the upper echelons of Ming Dynasty, they can continue to suck blood to survive with Daming in their arms.

Before, Zhu Yihai sent officials to discuss the current situation with the Governor of Macau, and proposed to take back the powers they obtained illegally, but the Portuguese were confused about the status quo and refused Daming's request.

So Zhu Yihai also planned to directly transfer Zhu Chenggong's soldiers to encircle Macau.

If you don't understand good words, then come hard.

With a land rent of 500 taels a year and a tax of 2000 taels, how could Zhu Yihai give Macau to the Portuguese?

Dream it.

We must seize this opportunity to take him back. If we want to continue trading in Daming to make money, we must follow the rules of Daming.

If you still want to establish a colony on the land of Ming Dynasty and exercise foreign rule, don't even think about it!

(End of this chapter)