Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 821 Li Siya's Report
The governor doesn't really believe that there can be such a large ship made of iron in this world-not to mention where so much steel can be made, and more importantly, it is rumored that this ship does not need sails. Sail yourself.In his opinion, if there is such a thing: it is either a miracle of God or more likely a trick of the devil.

Although there are such rumors everywhere, the governor is still skeptical about this rumor-if the Australians really have such a great maritime advantage, why do they only stay on a remote island off the coast of South China?They can definitely drive the big iron ship to other richer and richer places to settle down.

But he is more interested in the so-called Australian goods—is it shipped from "Australia" or manufactured in Lingao?There is no record of "Australia" in the library of the Dutch East India Company-as for "Lingao", they only know that it is a small city with no commercial value-there are hundreds of such small cities in China.The governor could not have imagined that such a small city could suddenly produce so many new and high-quality goods.

The Australians in Lingao had too many unsolved mysteries, which was the main reason why he couldn't wait to spend a lot of money to hire Li Siya to inquire about information. "Small shopkeepers" never spend money indiscriminately.Four thousand dong may be a lot, but it is really nothing to find out the future situation of the maritime future in Southeast Asia and even the entire East Asia.

Only with enough intelligence can the Batavian authorities formulate an appropriate policy towards Australia.Is it to be a trading partner or to attack it mercilessly and completely destroy this new force?Or what means to use and contain the presence of Australians in the South China Sea?

The Dutch East India Company is the world's first "true capitalist enterprise". Its capitalism is thorough and ruthless, based on the most naked commercial monopoly and excess profits.Corporations are equally ruthless to their partners, friends, employees, and enemies.He is an outright profit supremacist.Even among the top employees of the company, the Dutch East India Company was the most successful force in applying the law of the jungle in the East Indies.

To the Governor-General, Australians are neither enemies nor friends.What kind of role the Australians will play depends on the strength of the Australians and their position in the entire East Asian trading system.

If the Australians are weak and unable to shake the company's monopoly, they can act as a suitable trading partner and act as a supplier of goods from the Far East just like Ming; if their power is strong, the monopoly of the East India Company has created Threat, containment of Australians will become the top priority.Just as they spared no effort to contain and exclude the British in the East Indies, against the Portuguese in Japan; and to suppress Zheng Zhilong along the coast of China-the East India Company does not like competition.

"You can go down and rest." The governor took out a check from the drawer, "Go to the treasurer to get the money. You can rest for a few days."

"Thank you, sir." Gonzalez bowed, picked up the check and returned it.

The next day, the Governor carefully read the German version of Li Siya's answers to these 125 questions.She answered all the questions raised by the Council, and even for those questions where she answered "don't know", there were some speculations, rumors, and her own evaluation of it.The governor felt that Li Siya's performance was worthy of the reward she asked for.

First of all, Li Siya clearly answered the question about who an Australian is.

Australians are Chinese - this can be confirmed from their language, writing and national identity.However, although they consider themselves "Chinese", they are very different from the Chinese - they have completely different cultures, systems and etiquette.Li Siya said in the report: The difference between them and the Chinese is no less than the difference between the Europeans and the Chinese-maybe even greater.In addition, there are people of European descent among Australians.At least 2 to 3 people.According to intelligence, these Europeans also enjoy the status of so-called "senators".

There are about 600 to [-] "senators" in Lingao.Among the elders is a European-style "consultation" system.There are nine most senior councilors who wield full power.But formally all senators enjoy the same political power, forming a so-called "senatorial" institution.In theory, all major policies should be decided by a majority of the Senate.

Li Siya said in the report: What they practice seems to be a joint-stock cooperative relationship, because the elders will confide words such as "shares" and "dividends" in their speech from time to time.From time to time there were disputes over the powers of the so-called elders.

"Is this the Australian East India Company?" Seeing this, the governor couldn't help saying.

Most of the goods that Australians use to trade are manufactured in Lingao.Li Siya explained in exaggerated detail the powerful manufacturing industry owned by Australians in Lingao - in fact, neither Li Huamei nor Lando's report described Lingao's productivity much.Li Huamei is generally not allowed to enter the core area of ​​Lingao, and the report given to her by Lando was specially revised by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. The Foreign Intelligence Bureau does not want outsiders to really understand the productivity level of Lingao.But Li Siya wholeheartedly wanted to promote the Dutch war against Lingao, so she exaggerated on the basis of these two reports.Describing Lingao as a place with extremely rich materials also exaggerates the productivity of Australian factories.In the end, she used four full pages to give a vivid description of the luxurious life of the Australian veterans in Lingao: from facts to rumors.Chief among these are their extravagant toilets and bathrooms.

She believes that this rich booty is enough to incite the powerful greed of the Dutch.This triggered the Dutch to attack the Australians.Of course, the Dutch are by no means a match for the Australians.It will be of great benefit to her if the two sides fight a battle to consume each other.

Sure enough, this large paragraph of gorgeous words made the governor's eyes shine brightly.The finger with the ring curled up and tapped the armrest.But it didn't take long for the Governor to calm down: he was, after all, a sensible Dutchman.Not easily moved by pompous Latin rhetoric.In his opinion, this is the same as when the Spaniards came to America and advocated that gold and silver were everywhere: there is authenticity, but it saves the difficulty of obtaining gold and silver.

The Australians in Lingao are of course very wealthy, but their ability to occupy a city under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, which has a very rigid attitude towards foreign affairs, shows that the strength of the Australians is extraordinary.The East India Company launched expeditions to China several times back then, but failed to achieve the expected results.

Regarding the strength of the Australians, the report stated that in addition to the elders of the Australians, there are local Chinese recruited by the Australians in Guangdong and the aborigines in Lingao who are attached to them.The total population is not known.Estimated to be between [-] and [-].These people served as slaves, soldiers, serfs and craftsmen for Australians.

The exact number of troops the Australians have is unknown, but there are at least three or four companies of well-trained infantry—all of them are composed of aboriginal Chinese except for a small number of officers. The ones used by the army are lighter and more powerful-better than any light firearms in Europe.Li Siya specifically described the Minie rifle and the Delinger pistol.The Australians also have artillery, which is also very good.But the quantity is very small.Li Siya gave a detailed description of Bopu's coastal heavy artillery - and also drew the specific location, terrain and artillery firing range of the coastal fort.This surprised the governor greatly: Li Siya is indeed an extraordinary woman!Pay more and more attention to her.

In terms of sea power, which the governor is most concerned about, they have about a hundred ships, all of which are "junk ships" collected locally in Guangdong. Except for a few ships, the tonnage is not large.They also own several European style ships.In addition, there are four iron clippers brought from Australia.

Li Siya laid an ambush here. From Li Huamei and Lando, she knew the power of the "Iron Clippers" owned by the Australians very clearly, but she was vague in the description—only said there was, not how much. sharp.She doesn't want the Dutch to feel that the Australians are very powerful at sea-once the Dutch are afraid of the high sea power, they will not easily launch a military attack on the Australians.

It took the governor a whole morning to read the report.Through this report, he has a full understanding of Australians.Obviously, the Australians are a powerful force, but they are not yet able to get involved in long-distance maritime trade routes.This is a great opportunity for the company.It seems necessary to open up a trade route between Dayuan and Lingao as soon as possible.

He opened the map on the table, carefully looked at the Lingao that had just been standardized not long ago, and measured it with a ruler.He found that Lingao's location was not remote on the Southeast Asian trade routes.Should be a good trading port.

De Capentil was thinking.There was a knock on the door outside.

"Come in!" He raised his head, and it was his attendant who came in.

"what's up?"

"The representative of Liu Laoxiang from Guangdong is here. Have you seen him?"

"Of course." Decappentier nodded, "Please come in."

Liu Xiang had a certain degree of cooperation with the Dutch—of course, this cooperation was caused by Liu Xiang's strength. After the Liu Xiang gang suddenly rose in the coastal areas of Guangdong in the last years of the apocalypse, they quickly controlled the waters near the Pearl River Estuary, and once became The overlord of Guangdong Ocean.In the expansion to the ocean of Fujian, they gradually clashed with Zheng Zhilong; and the Dutch also needed a force that could contain the growing Zheng Yiguan, and the two hit it off.

(End of this chapter)