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Chapter 983 Governor Cohen 4
"Very good. I like to cooperate with smart people. You have five days to organize the manpower and guides, and then set off with the fleet in five days!"

Seeing Cohen being so sensible, Hong Tao was very pleased and took the initiative to extend his right hand to make a verbal agreement first. What? It's not safe without writing it down... That's for ordinary people. Anyone who dares to go back on his word with the emperor is really tired of living.

"But your majesty, we cannot gather enough men and supplies in five days. To occupy a port, even a small one, we will need several hundred troops and the corresponding supplies."

Cohen did not immediately extend his hand to shake the emperor's. He had practical difficulties to solve, mainly the lack of manpower. He could not take all the mercenaries in Batavia away, otherwise it would be like a bear trying to break a stick.

"No, you have a lot of manpower, but you just haven't discovered and utilized it. Think about it carefully, I have just mentioned it!" Hong Tao shook his fingers, with a strange light flashing in his eyes.

"…But I haven't reached an agreement with the Minangkabau yet, and I don't have time to arm their soldiers." Faced with this look, Cohen didn't even have the courage to continue lying. He sighed and told the truth.

When it comes to how to deal with the indigenous people, the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch have found quite a few effective solutions during the century-long colonial trade process, which can be summed up in four words: divide and rule.

There are different nationalities and ethnic groups everywhere, and the interests of these nationalities and ethnic groups are inconsistent, so there are bound to be more or less contradictions.

As long as they can keenly discover who has a deeper conflict with whom, and then properly provoke and incite them, they can achieve the effect of one against a thousand. The Minangkabau people are a pawn that the East India Company is preparing to use to deal with the various indigenous peoples on the island of Sumatra.

This ethnic group has lived in the central and western parts of Sumatra for generations, and has very unique and ancient traditional customs, and maintains a matriarchal social system. The Minangkabau people do not marry wives but husbands, and family property is inherited by women, who have a high influence in social activities.

As a result, the Minangkabau people were naturally opposed to Islam and were the least influenced by Islam among the Southeast Asian countries. The East India Company discovered this and prepared to help the Minangkabau people fight against the surrounding Muslim groups, especially the Sultanate of Aceh.

Unexpectedly, such a secret plan was discovered by the Ming Emperor before it was actually implemented. Although Cohen did not hear such expressions, he was very sure that the Ming Emperor knew about it. At this time, gritting his teeth and refusing to admit it would not have any effect, but would offend the emperor.

“I have the machetes and guns with me. You just need to continue to fulfill the agreement with the Minangkabau leaders, distribute the weapons to them and communicate effectively. That will be enough help.

In addition, this time we will follow the old rules. Capture more Acehnese slaves. I will take some of them with me on the ship. The rest will be imprisoned on the island first, and then sent to Da Nang in batches by your ships."

Now that he was here, Hong Tao would not ignore any details. This plan was not a sudden whim, but was carefully calculated and designed by the General Staff. It had been revised two or three times and took two years.

Whether Cohen is willing or not, he must provide full assistance, otherwise his dirty deeds of secretly capturing slaves and selling them to Ming merchants will soon be known to the top leaders of the East India Company, and he will be listed as an unwelcome person by the Ming Empire.

That's right, Wang Datou's men had been secretly acting as human traffickers with their subordinates under the guise of Ming merchants, exchanging various goods for slaves. Two years later, they were discovered by Cohen, who then got involved in the temptation of high profits.

With the governor's tacit approval and covert support, the slave trade has grown bigger and bigger, and has now developed to the level of hundreds of people per batch. Over the years, the governor's profits from it are probably many times higher than his salary. According to the ambassador to the Netherlands, Cohen not only bought new real estate in his hometown, but also had his family secretly invest in several companies. He can definitely be considered a hidden rich man.

"…Why didn't Your Majesty stop this?"

At this moment, Cohen had completely lost the demeanor of a governor. The muscles on his thin cheeks kept trembling, his gray eyes flickered, and his hands were involuntarily clenched together very hard. It took him a long time to compose a question.

"Why should I stop it? There is no provision in the Ming Dynasty law that prohibits foreigners from trading slaves. Those slaves who came to the Ming Empire were no longer slaves, but immigrants. There is no provision in the Ming Dynasty law that prohibits immigration.

Although the business you are doing may be criticized from a moral perspective, it does not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, so I have no reason to interfere, unless you are trafficking in Ming Dynasty citizens!
I remember telling you that anyone who benefits the Ming Empire, no matter where they come from or what they have done, will be rewarded. Now it is proven that I have kept my promise. Oyani, Silva, and you, the Governor, have all received the prizes you deserve.

Well, it is enough to know these things in your heart. You don't need to talk about them all the time. That will make our relationship very unnatural. I heard that the war in Europe is still going on and getting more and more intense. Do you have any new news to tell me? "

Hong Tao would not only not stop it, but would also take the initiative to find the legitimacy of human trafficking for Cohen, and then dispel his concerns from a legal perspective. He mentioned this matter only to make him less cunning and cooperate 100% with this operation, not to humiliate him in person. Of course, it would be a good thing if it could further the cooperation relationship.

"Two envoys from His Majesty just returned by ship from Rotterdam two months ago. They know more news than me, especially outside of business."

Although he was under the control of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and had to submit against his will in many matters, Governor Cohen did not intend to surrender completely and would say a few strange words from time to time.

"They are still young and have little understanding of the world. Besides, not every country accepts permanent envoys from the Ming Empire. For example, the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Persia are quite resistant."

Cohen was right. Hong Tao received at least two or three reports from Europe every year, and even more reports from East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia and other places. All in all, it was indeed more comprehensive than the East India Company, which focused more on commercial operations.

But there are exceptions. For example, most countries and forces in the Middle East and the Indian Peninsula are rather hostile towards the Ming Empire. They not only refuse to send envoys to each other, but are also very resistant to Chinese businessmen.

It is rather troublesome to obtain their intelligence, and it is necessary to infiltrate secretly through various covert means. Besides being dangerous, it is also not very stable. In addition, the speed of information dissemination in this era is not comprehensive enough and accurate enough.

They can't be good people, the Ming Empire, which never invaded them, became the bad guy, while the Europeans who were always poaching and cheating could come and go freely. The Portuguese and the Dutch had trading posts in Hormuz and the eastern Mediterranean coast, so they should have a better understanding of the local situation.

(End of this chapter)