Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 229 Sword and Account Book
"Anthony, are you saying that the flag with the sword and account book belongs to a Ming Dynasty trading company?" Cohen was very surprised, because as soon as he saw the flag, he immediately thought of Prince Morris's speech.

Nassau Morris made that speech on the eve of the establishment of VOC. At that time, Rainier Ball, the head of one of the old companies that was the predecessor of VOC, was planning the merger of many Far East trading companies in the Netherlands. For this purpose, he found John van Oldenbarnefeldt, Chancellor of the Republic of the United Provinces.

This man was the teacher of Nassau Maurice, and together with the latter's father William the Silent, he was also known as the founding father of the Netherlands. The Netherlands was able to become independent from Spain, on the one hand, it relied on the force provided by the German aristocracy with the Nassau family at its core, and on the other hand, it relied on the financial resources provided by the business class behind the Parliament.

However, at this time, the young head of the Nassau family, Prince Maurice, was having trouble with the Grand Speaker. The underlying reasons were very complicated. The parliament wanted to monopolize all government affairs, but two generations of the Nassau family had several With his life resting on the Netherlands, he naturally wanted to establish the rule of the feudal aristocracy here.

However, the immediate trigger was military disagreements. Parliament strongly demanded that Morris should not just passively respond with a fortress strategy, but should take the initiative to attack the powerful Spanish Army of Flanders.

Although Morris luckily won the Battle of Nieuwport, his own losses were also very heavy. This battle skyrocketed Maurice's reputation, and also made many people in Parliament realize that the Netherlands did not have the strength to fight the Spanish in the wild for the time being. The only way out was to rely on the bastion group and the shallow water of the Zuiderzee to fight the Spanish.

The reputation of Grand Chancellor Johann van Aldenbarnefeldt plummeted. At the same time, Maurice aggressively demanded that his teacher give an explanation to the army. The two pillars of the Netherlands fell apart.

When Rainier Ball came over, John realized that this was an opportunity to reconcile with Maurice, so he argued that Prince Maurice's reputation was now at its peak, and the two of them must jointly endorse it to promote the merger of various companies. , in fact, I want Bauer to be the peacemaker.

Bauer successfully completed this mission. Later, Prince Maurice supported his teacher and appeared in front of the old church. The latter delivered a long speech to the people of the Netherlands, and finally held his student's hand and raised it above his head and shouted : "This is the united Netherlands!"

Prince Maurice then spoke briefly, including the famous quote recited by Van Diemen. However, more than ten years later, Morris, who had completely gained power, arrested his teacher, sentenced him to death, and beheaded him in public in The Hague.

These are all things for later. Even Prince Maurice has been dead for two years now. What Cohen is curious about is why the Ming people designed such a flag.

But at this time, he was just curious. After all, a flag couldn't mean anything, until Van Diemen continued: "Yes, this Ming company is in the north of Formosa. The year before last, West Bank had occupied He went there and was later driven away. You should know this, as it was mentioned in the East India Affairs Report..."

"What I want to tell you is that it was this Ming Dynasty company that drove away West Bank." Van Diemen saw that Cohen's face began to turn serious. The West Bank he was referring to was the Spaniards. , in this era, Britain, the Netherlands and other countries all called Spaniards this way.

"The Ming Dynasty actually established a trading company? And they also drove away the Spanish? Did they introduce European ships and artillery?" Cohen felt a little incredible. In his understanding, the Chinese were both smart and hard-working, and the only They are just not brave enough, and their military technology is also relatively backward.

"The good news is that this company was established privately, although that person was a general from the Ming Dynasty. The bad news is that the Ming Dynasty general did introduce European military technology, and his sailors could even sail thousands of tons Galen..."

"Wait a minute, Anthony, what is your so-called source of intelligence? Isn't it some baseless hearsay?" Cohen interrupted Van Diemen. The more he listened, the more unbelievable he became.

"The intelligence is absolutely reliable..." Van Diemen then recounted the source of his intelligence.

The reason why he was able to obtain such detailed information was mainly due to Zheng Zhilong's interrogation of the prisoners of the Dongshan Battle. At that time, senior officials were paying attention to the Chinese pirate gang that suddenly appeared in Keelung, but they got detailed information from Zheng Zhilong, so they reported it to the Batavia headquarters at the beginning of this year.

This matter did not attract Carpentier's attention, but it did get the attention of Van Diemen, who immediately instructed the senior authorities to further collect intelligence. So the officials sent a ship to the north for reconnaissance, and sure enough, they saw the legendary thousand-ton Galen sailing on the sea from a distance. The sailors in the telescopes were all Chinese.

"Anthony, you are right. This matter does deserve attention. I think we should send a Mingguo person to Formosa as soon as possible..."

Cohen felt that something was not right about the situation. Although he had always been known for being tough, he was actually very sober inside. He knew very well that the advantages of Europeans in Asia were strong ships, cannons and bastions. Once the Eastern peoples began to master these technologies, outsiders like them would no longer have a foothold.

Of course Van Diemen knew who the Ming nationality that Cohen was talking about was, and he went on to say: "Chief Commander, please don't rush to give orders. There is one more thing you need to know. The acting commander of the chief minister, De Wet, has been arrested." The Japanese took it away. His Majesty the Governor sent Peter Nuiz to take over and be responsible for negotiating the matter with Japan."

"What? The Japanese kidnapped the chief?" Cohen was surprised again. "Also, Carpentier sent this idiot Nuiz to deal with the matter?"

"General Sir, your Excellency seems to have some opinions about Peter Nuiz?" Van Diemen asked calmly. This man just came to Batavia three months ago, and he has no idea about this man. familiar.

"Of course, he is an extremely stupid guy. I have repeatedly advised the Seventeenth Gentlemen not to reuse this person, but unfortunately no one listened to me. This idiot who only joined the company for a year became a special member of the East India Council." Cohen was a little angry when he said that. He seemed to have forgotten that he also became the chief business officer on a rocket.

Nuiz is a top student who graduated from Leiden University and obtained a doctorate from the university founded by William the Silent, the founding father of the Netherlands. This person had visited Australia seven years ago to carry out surveying and mapping work, but he only joined VOC a year ago and was regarded by the 17-member board of directors as a future star of the company.

In another time and space, when Nuiz came to Batavia, the chief had not yet been kidnapped, but he was still appointed as chief by Carpentier as soon as he arrived, because de Wet was only the chief. The acting governor recommended by the Council of Representatives has never been formally appointed by Batavia.

In that time and space, Nuizi was also sent to the Japanese country, responsible for complaining to the shogunate about the trade dispute between the Okanagan authorities and Sueji Heizang. Nuizi was quite arrogant in the Japanese country. Naturally, he encountered obstacles everywhere and achieved nothing. After returning to the top position, he was simply kidnapped by Hamada Yabei. At that time, Cohen had just taken office for a few months.

"Carpentier, this idiot, always likes to use his juniors, Martinez Song is one, and Peter Nuiz is another, they are all idiots from Leiden University!" Cohen roared loudly , all three of them did graduate from Leiden University. The main reason why Cohen was dissatisfied with Carpentier was that the latter changed his policy of using force to open the door of the Ming Dynasty. The Dutch retreated from Penghu to Dazhan just after Cohen left office.

Van Diemen remained silent. He had voted in favor of withdrawing troops from Penghu. He knew that Cohen also knew that Carpentier's decision was correct, and that this result was completely acceptable to Batavia.

After all, Cohen's policy of seeking the market by force has proven to be bankrupt. The Dutch suffered a defeat in Macau, and then faced off with the Ming Dynasty on the coast of Fujian for two years. In the end, they took a step back to become a big official and indirectly obtained the Ming Dynasty's supply of goods. , Cohen just didn't want to admit that his decision was wrong.

After a rant, Cohen then asked: "What happened to De Wet's kidnapping?"

Van Diemen then talked about the trade friction between the Okanagan government and Sue Heizang. After listening to it, Cohen said: "Go, call William Jansen and Su Minggang over to me, right away, right away!"

The William Jansen that Cohen is talking about is not the one who discovered Australia. This man is the current harbor master of Batavia. The two have the same name.

The Dutch have the same names over and over again, and the rate of duplication of names is extremely high. For example, Cohen's original surname was Twiske. Later, his father felt that Holen had too many surnames, so he simply changed his surname to Cohen. As a result, when Cohen joined VOC, there was still a buddy with the same name as him in the Hirado Merchant Store in the Netherlands.

In another time and space, after Peter Nuiz was kidnapped, Cohen sent Batavia Harbor Master William Jansen to negotiate with the Japanese country, which shows that this person is highly trusted by Cohen.

"Maintain, it's very late now..." Van Diemen replied cautiously, "Besides, I still have two things I haven't finished."

"Then go on." Cohen rarely got angry. If anyone else had resisted his order on the spot, they would have been scolded, but Van Diemen was obviously an exception.

"I personally think these two things are not as important as the things mentioned above, but Governor Carpentier is very worried about this. Anyway, your Excellency, you should listen to it." Van Diemen continued, "First of all, we heard There is some unconfirmable news that the British may join forces with Sultan Banten to capture Batavia..."

"Humph, now that I'm here, even if the British guy had this stupid idea, he would definitely give it up." Cohen snorted out of his nose dismissively, "What's the other thing?"

Van Diemen went on to say: "The Sultan of Matalan suddenly stopped trading with the company this year, so that we had to go to distant Arakan to import rice and slaves. According to the judgment of the Council, they will attack Pakistan during the dry season next year. Davia.”

"A group of monkeys even want to challenge a lion." Cohen was still full of disdain. He had always been very contemptuous of the Southeast Asian natives, and the status of the Javanese in Batavia was only slightly higher than that of slaves.

In fact, Batavia and the Matalan Sultanate had a chance to become allies. This place was captured by Cohen from the King of Jakarta, who was originally a prince of the Banten Sultanate, and Matalan was the largest in Java. The powerful enemy is Wan Dan.

At its peak, the territory of the Banten Sultanate included western Java and southeastern Sumatra. Although the population under its rule was not as good as that of the rising star Matalan, its military armament was much stronger. This is because Banten is not as closed as Mataram, a country founded on agriculture, and is highly dependent on overseas trade.

Before the VOC captured Batavia and continued to blockade Banten Port, Banten was the world's largest pepper trading center, which also attracted many Chinese businessmen there. Even Xu Xinsu, who is far away in Xiamen, has a mansion in Bandan, right in the center of Bandan City, not far from the palace.

At the same time, the Sultan of Banten had many contacts with Ottoman Turkey, the leader of the Tianfang Sect. He also hired Turkish craftsmen with large sums of money to cast cannons for him. The wealth and firearms of Banten City were coveted by the great leader of the Matalan Sultanate, Laden Langsang. Incessantly.

In view of this, not long after Cohen captured Batavia, young Laden Langsang sent people to contact the VOC, hoping to form an alliance to destroy Bandan together.

While the two parties were bargaining, the two clashed at Chapala, a trading stronghold controlled by Matalan, resulting in casualties on each other. Although the cause of the incident was the Dutch hijacking of the Matalan merchant ship, the powerful Cohen chose to retaliate and sent a fleet to bombard the city of Chapala.

At that time, the Matalan Sultanate was not strong enough. After learning about the incident, Bin Laden Langsang still maintained restraint and continued to send people to ask the VOC if they were still willing to join forces. The two sides continued to bargain. During this period, Matalan remained Badawi. Asia's largest food importing country.

At the same time, Bin Laden Langsang continued his journey in Java Island, successively conquered Madura, Cirebon, Surabaya and other places, and basically controlled the central and eastern parts of Java Island. At this time, he suddenly stopped trade with the VOC and strictly prohibited all ports under his rule from exporting supplies to Batavia. It was obvious that he had intended to go to war with the VOC.

"Chief Commander, I don't think there is anything to worry about. Mattalan's army is not capable of capturing Fort Batavia, and their navy is not worth mentioning, nor can they block our trade..."

Van Diemen paused for a moment, then added: "The only thing is that the city outside Batavia Fort may suffer considerable losses. In short, we still have to be prepared."

"You just need to pay more attention to this matter in the future." Cohen ended the topic impatiently. He was a natural strategist, but he was often impatient with specific details. "Now, go get William Janssen for me." Call Su Minggang over."

(End of this chapter)