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Chapter 985 Undeclared War
"That is a problem... But there is a way to solve it. I can make some adjustments to the style of the guns and engrave Japanese characters and patterns on them, so that they look like they have nothing to do with the Ming Empire."

After Cohen reminded him, Hong Tao suddenly realized the problem and slapped his forehead with a look of melancholy. But soon his mood turned from cloudy to sunny, and he revealed the warm solution with a sly smile on his face.

Why did the Turks stop buying Ming goods after the Ming Empire attacked the Sultanate of Aceh? This is quite interesting. The two countries are so far apart, but they have very close ties.

When the Sultanate of Aceh was first established, some merchants from the Ottoman Empire participated in it. Later, many Turkish officers were hired to train the army, and even the muskets and artillery used were purchased from the Ottoman Empire.

It cannot be said that the Sultanate of Aceh was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, but it could be considered a traditional ally with an agreement. After being invaded, it would definitely ask the Ottoman Empire for help as soon as possible.

The Turks certainly cannot spare the energy to come across the ocean to provide large-scale support, let alone the ability to counterattack the Ming Empire, but it is indeed possible that they will take measures to ban the sale of Ming Empire's products, which can be regarded as a statement.

"…This is indeed a solution. I can send someone to try it."

Such a dirty solution made Cohen refresh his understanding of the emperor. But he couldn't refute it. From a businessman's perspective, the emperor was very competent and could find a suitable position in the East India Company even without the title of emperor.

"Well, don't force it, and don't lower the price. Now let's talk about who has a better chance of winning, the Turks or the Persians, and how long will this war last?" In fact, Hong Tao didn't care too much about how many muskets the Turks would buy, but was more concerned about the outcome of the war between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Dynasty.

This war may be relatively unknown in later generations, with no impression left in people's minds. We can only ask people about the inside story and roughly estimate its intensity, severity, scope and duration. This is then used as a basis to calibrate and adjust the speed and timing of the Ming Empire's expansion in the Arabian Sea.

In the first month of the 1635st year of the reign of Emperor Jing (300), the Ming Empire Navy suddenly appeared on the southwest coast of the Sultanate of Aceh with 3000 large warships and armed cargo ships, carrying more than Dutch mercenaries and more than Minangkabau soldiers.

Starting from a village called Saong, they drove northwest along the coastline. Whenever they came across a gathering place of Acehnese people at the seaside or not far from the shore, they used small boats to send Dutch mercenaries, Minangkabau soldiers and a small number of Marines ashore.

The Dutch were responsible for commanding the Minangkabau soldiers to surround the village and capture any Acehnese they saw. Marines generally did not participate in this work and would only intervene when there was fierce resistance or when a breakthrough was needed.

A Guangzhou-class armed merchant ship could carry more than 500 people. No, it should not be "loaded", but "stuffed". From the bottom cabin to the deck, all the space that did not affect the operation was filled with Acehnese prisoners. When a ship was full, it would be taken away and sailed directly to the sea outside Batavia Port.

There is a series of small islands several dozen kilometers away from the port, where indigenous fishermen used to live. After the Dutch arrived, they moved them to the vicinity of Batavia City and used the largest island as a military fortress, building two artillery batteries on it as the gateway to Batavia Port.

The beach on the island has now become a temporary prisoner camp. All captured Acehnese will be gathered here first and guarded by Dutch mercenaries. After the Battle of Aceh is over, they will be loaded onto armed cargo ships and returned to Da Nang with the fleet. The rest will be handed over to Cohen, who will find ships to transport them to Da Nang in batches.

As neighbors living on the island of Sumatra, the Minangkabau people's attitude towards the Acehnese is very resolute. It is no exaggeration to say that they hate them to death.

If it weren't for the constant supervision and efforts of the Dutch and the Ming Dynasty's Land War Guards, there might not be many Acehnese left alive in the attacked villages and cities. How should I put it? Sometimes distant relatives are indeed not as good as close neighbors, but sometimes close neighbors are as good as sworn enemies. What's even more incredible is that when the fleet arrived at the capital of the Sultanate of Aceh, it was bustling and peaceful. The harbor and the river were crowded with large and small ships, including side boats that are very common in Southeast Asia, and triangular sail row boats with a strong Arabic style.

Faced with the sudden appearance of the huge fleet, the Acehnese people did not recognize its identity at first. Instead, they cheered enthusiastically and set off fireworks, as if they were welcoming guests from afar.

But it was impossible for so many people to be confused, and soon there were rapid horns and dull cannon fire on the shore. Then the panic spread out layer by layer, the crowd began to riot, and the ships were like headless flies running around looking for what they thought was a safe place to hide.

"They are celebrating a festival. Every year at this time, more than half of the pilgrims from various countries in Southeast Asia will board ships from here to the Holy Land. There are also tens of thousands of people gathering to see them off. It seems that there will be no fewer than that."

As the fleet got closer, Cohen came out with some not-so-nice news. However, his expression did not show any worry or anxiety. Instead, there was a lot of smile hidden in his silk stockings.

"Oh, no wonder so many people gathered. If you hadn't reminded me, I would have thought that the navy's intelligence was wrong. Navigator, pass the order, the fleet lowers the sun and moon flag and replaces it with the Prince of Orange flag.

Every wrong has its perpetrator, and the East India Company will be the biggest beneficiary here in the future. I will help the Governor-General spread his reputation further, so that the whole island of Sumatra will be moved by it."

Hong Tao could understand why Cohen had a fake smile on his face. He was waiting to see whether the Ming Empire had the courage to offend the devout believers in most of the Southeast Asian countries.

If there is, there may be more trouble in the future, and the East India Company can act as a good guy to profit between the conflicting parties. If not, the East India Company can also take the opportunity to touch the bottom line of the Ming emperor, which will be of great help in formulating corresponding strategies in the future.

But this kind of political trick, which is similar to an open conspiracy, is basically ineffective against Hong Tao. He is not a politician himself, has no politician's qualities at all, and does not agree with the politicians' rules of the game.

If you talk to him nicely, he would be willing to suffer a little loss to pretend to be righteous even though he could obviously take advantage of him; but if someone tries to play tricks on him, he would dare to turn a win-win situation into a lose-lose situation.

"…Please forgive my previous recklessness, but Your Majesty must believe that I didn't know about this festival before. I only heard about it from the Minangkabau leader two hours ago."

Now Cohen really couldn't laugh anymore. How could the relatively closed-minded natives tell who were the Ming Dynasty navy and who were the East India Company mercenaries? The easiest way to identify them was to look at the flags.

If the Ming Navy really flew the flag of the East India Company, then the blame would be firmly put on it and it would not be removed for a long time, and the troubles that followed would also be lingering.

Although as a colonist he was not too afraid of this level of trouble, trouble was still trouble after all, and any trouble would increase the cost. If it could be resolved with a sincere attitude, he was still willing to admit his mistakes.

(End of this chapter)