Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1728 Trade Cleanup

Needless to say, the Dutch East India Company is now well into its heyday.

Under the joint attack of the British, the East Coast and the Omanis, and gradually gave up the trade in the West Indian Ocean, the Dutch East India Company concentrated its energy on the East Indies, India’s Malabar Coast and the Coromandel Coast, and made great achievements. big success.They keep the British out of the East Indies, so that they can only steal chickens to obtain a limited amount of spices every year, and they control most of the sources of spices, especially nutmeg and cloves, which are completely in their own hands; They also drove the power of the Portuguese out of Ceylon and the nearby Indian coast, established military strongholds such as Jaffna, Colombo, and Galle, monopolized the trade in ivory, pepper, cinnamon, white wax and gemstones in Ceylon, and gained They rely on Formosa Island—an island originally occupied by Zheng Chenggong in history—to actively carry out trade in Fujian and Guangdong, China, breaking the monopoly of the Haizhu Island trading station of the people on the east coast attempt.

Such a great cause naturally made many high-level officials, including Governor of Batavia Ricklauf Vangoens and the Seventeen Gentlemen of Amsterdam, very excited about it, and their hearts slowly swelled as VOC flags spread all over the place. Woke up until two years ago when the East Coasters launched a military operation in South Africa.

Some people will be sober in the face of a sudden blow at the peak, and then act rationally; some people will be angry, and then act chaotically, making some unreasonable and unconscious moves.Although the Dutch East India Company is not considered to be insane, it can’t be said how sensible they are. This can be seen from what they have done——

They have deeply realized that it is probably impossible to regain South Africa, so while entangled with the status of the Cape Town colony through the government and the people on the east coast, they are stepping up the construction of Mauritius in the Mascarene Islands (that is, Morris means), intending to The island operates as a supply relay in the Indian Ocean.Because from South Africa to East India, others follow the coastline. Only the Dutch and the East Coasters are highly skilled and familiar with ocean currents and wind directions, so they can sail directly.Therefore, Mauritius is now very important to the Dutch. They built forts, fortresses and docks, and stationed heavy troops, which complemented the Bourbon Island (now Reunion Island), which the French focused on. The war broke out, and it was very peaceful.

In addition to operating Mauritius and minimizing its dependence on the people on the east coast, the Dutch East India Company also "willfully" vented its emotions and made a few small moves to add trouble to the people on the east coast.One of them is the closure of the two ports of Malacca and Galle. As a result, the eight immigrant ships on the east coast of the Indian Ocean had to be suspended for a whole year, and there may not be enough time to get news that they have opened this year, and it is estimated that they will continue to be suspended.

In addition, the governor of Formosa, Hugo Rolle, has taken a series of measures. Although he himself and the business representative Jan Kohler were not very willing, they had no choice but to carry out the measures when Batavia suppressed them. That is to say, the purchase of tea and raw silk from Ningbo was reduced, and a large amount of these commodities were obtained from Fujian and the Qing Dynasty, reducing the inflow of precious metals to the east coast.The Batavian side hoped that this method would make it more difficult for the people on the east coast, because they heard that the colonial government of the people on the east coast is currently heavily in debt, and the annual interest alone has to pay more than 100 million guilders.

Last but not least, the Batavia side requested that the Bank of Taiwan, which is owned by the people on the east bank, be “extracted” from the city of Zeelandia. It has been affected to varying degrees, and the capital chain has also been tightened.Fortunately, their customers are more "reasonable". Under the persuasion of the colonial government on the east coast (that is, the southern pioneers), these businessmen temporarily gave up the idea of ​​​​withdrawing deposits from Taiwan's bank accounts, and some even deposited a dollar in it. The sum of money was greatly praised by the governor of Ningbo.

The Dutch East India Company is giving eye drops to the people on the east coast everywhere, and the Bank of Taiwan and the southern pioneers will naturally not feel unimpressed.It's just that everything they have done so far is still within the scope allowed by the rules of the game, and there is no way to openly seek revenge from them.However, the inability to retaliate publicly does not mean that there is no way to retaliate in private. No, the East Coast people sent representatives to Fuzhou a while ago to negotiate with Zheng Chenggong on the reclamation of Taiwan Island and some trade agreements.

During the week-long talks, the East Coast special envoys Lu Fang and Hu Chi achieved many negotiation results with Zheng Chenggong. The premise is that people from the east bank need to provide some metal farm tools, weapons and ammunition, and vital medicines at a reasonable price. This was agreed by Lu and Hu without hesitation.Because they believe that after Zheng Chenggong formally established Taipei (meaning the northern part of Taiwan), the attention of the Dutch on Taiwan Island will definitely be attracted. At that time, the people on the east coast were happy to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and it was not easy to handle the two parties—especially the Dutch East India Company!

In addition, a certain agreement has been reached on trade between Dong'an and Zheng's Group.The first is the acquisition of sucrose. On behalf of the Bank of Taiwan and the Southern Pioneering Team, Lu Fang said that he could purchase all the sucrose produced in Fujian. Although the quality is not as good as that of Guangdong and Taiwan, but in order to disgust the Dutch, he can’t control that much.Anyway, the population of Ningbo, Denglai, and Heishui is increasing day by day, and the consumption power is gradually increasing. It is not too difficult to sell some sucrose.The big deal is that people from the East Bank can also sell to Japan and North Korea through the East Bank Japanese Company and the East Bank Korean Company. Moisturize the increasingly active North Korean kingdom.

Secondly, people from the east coast of raw silk and tea also expressed that they would spare no effort to buy them, but they did not have so much money for the time being. They asked Mr. Zheng to agree to take the goods on credit and pay after the sales were completed.For this, Zheng Chenggong naturally refused. At present, the two sides are still arguing, but they feel that they are not very optimistic. They cannot stop the way for the Dutch to buy Fujian tea and raw silk.

But no matter what, it is okay to reach this point. After all, it is not to completely tear the face with the Dutch East India Company, but to resort to some countermeasures so that there will be bargaining chips in future negotiations.Now the relationship between the three parties (referring to the East Bank, the Zheng family, and the Dutch East India Company) is basically a relationship of both cooperation and precaution, and the chaotic and delicate relationship of eye drops on each other behind the scenes, which is very complicated. Woolen cloth.

Speaking of this, I have to mention additionally, that is, in the first half of this year (1676), the East Bank and Zheng Chenggong reached a preliminary agreement in March, which was about to be implemented soon. Passed away due to illness (at the age of 52), the eldest son Zheng Jing who succeeded him temporarily froze all the agreements reached with Dong'an Fang, saying that they would discuss it in a few days, which made Lu Fang and Hu Chi, who had been following the matter, helpless , It also allowed the Dutch East India Company to pick up a bargain and live a happy life for a while.

The Dutch East India Company knew next to nothing about the secret collusion between the East Bank and the Cheng Group, but that didn't really matter to them because they didn't put all their eggs in one basket.In fact, Qing seems to be a better source of tea, raw silk, and porcelain than Fujian, especially in the Manchurian emperor's admiral Shi Lang (who is said to have been an officer of Zheng Chenggong's and sneaked into the Qing due to conflicts) This is even more so after a careful conversation with Jan Kohler, the commercial representative of the Dutch East India Company in Xiangshui Port.

Last year (1675), the trade volume between the Dutch East India Company and the Qing Dynasty reached an astonishing 150 million guilders (this has reached the historical volume of trade with the Dutch in the middle of the Qing Dynasty).Among them, they obtained more than 90 dong in sales by selling pepper, cloves, nutmeg, sandalwood, ambergris, pearls, textiles, weapons and ammunition, and imported nearly 20 dong of porcelain and zinc blocks. , silk fabrics, tea, raw silk and other specialties are amazing - the "Haarlem" with the largest tonnage alone has completed the procurement task of [-] pounds of tea, [-] pieces of silk products and a large amount of porcelain, which are expected to be available in Amsterdam. Obtaining a net profit of more than [-] dong caused a sensation throughout Batavia, so that more and more people supported the expansion of trade volume with the Qing Dynasty.

Moreover, in view of the strong demand of the Qing people for European artillery (the self-made artillery of the Qing Dynasty is much heavier than the European ones and has a shorter lifespan), the Dutch East India Company has expanded the production scale of the Batavia Cannon Factory , At the same time, a large number of artillery and other weapons were purchased from the Goa Foundry, and they were all shipped to Xiangshui Port for delivery with the Qing people.

This form of trade even intensified after the people on the east coast sent troops to capture the Cape Colony. It strongly supported the wars launched by the Qing Dynasty in various places, and caused a lot of additional losses to the east coast, Dashun and even Nanming.At the same time, the Portuguese and the British were also fishing in troubled waters, and the new Frenchmen were eager to get a share of the action. They all secretly put eye drops on the people on the east coast, flirting with the Qing Dynasty—who told you to go east? The people from the shore are trying to monopolize the trade along the entire coast of China, blocking everyone's way of making money. It's already a shame that they didn't directly confront you!

From the above, it can be seen that as the Qing Dynasty vigorously opened up overseas trade due to the need for war in these years, businessmen from Western European countries rushed over like sharks smelling blood, planning to get a share of this big gold mine soup.In the south, while Li Chengdong and Zheng's Group generally cooperate with the East Bank, they are also wonderful in private. They hook up with the Dutch, Portuguese, and British, and their business is booming. The East Coast people try to control China's coastal trade and even the attempt to cut off the introduction of foreign modern technology and equipment were almost doomed to failure from the very beginning.The reason is that China is too big and the coastal area is too vast. The few ships that rely on the people on the east coast are usually busy transporting immigrants or doing business most of the time. (at least a hundred or more), there is only a slight possibility of blocking the trade along China's coast (in fact, the possibility is very small, because people can sail at night or from small piers).

However, the people on the east bank did not intend to accept their fate without doing anything!No, Liao Xiaoyao, the captain of the Denglei Pioneering Team and the Denglei Security Commander, who has already decided to leave his post and return to his native land, formally issued an official document to communicate with the navy, and obtained the understanding of the commander of the Okhotsk Sea Squadron of the Third Fleet. It was officially decided to mobilize the armed transport ships, light cruisers, escort gunboats and other ships on hand to conduct a tentative attack on the largest trading port in the Qing Dynasty, Xiangshui Port at the mouth of the Guanhe River.

Because the people on the east coast have already locked in the top two foreign trade ports of Haizhou and Xiangshui after long-term investigation and confirmation of the obtained information.Among them, Haizhou is relatively small, so let's ignore it for now. Xiangshui Port, which accounts for nearly [-]% of the foreign trade share of the Qing Dynasty, is really hateful. It must be attacked once, otherwise the troubles in the future will be quite serious.

The Denglai Security Command and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk Squadron have concentrated their warships in Dinghai for repairs and maintenance in advance. They plan to wait for the southeast wind to rise in summer, and then set sail to the north to block Xiangshui Port.At this time, it happened to be the time when foreign merchant ships came from the South China Sea to conduct trade. Liao Xiaoyao wanted to see, under the threat of force from the people on the east coast, these merchants from the Netherlands, England, Portugal and even France (very few) Do you have the guts to risk bankruptcy and your life to trade with the Emperor of Manchuria?

Liao Xiaoyao has already made up his mind. This time to clean up the trade in Xiangshui Port, all captured foreign ships will be detained. As for how to deal with it later - with the current amount of debt in the Far East San Francisco, it probably won't be like the forced redemption of the Dutch East. The goods carried by the merchant ships of the Indian company are handled in the same way, and the goods are likely to be confiscated directly, and the ship owner may also be fined. What about water ports?If no one comes to trade, your port itself has no meaning of existence.

Of course, some people also proposed to directly execute the captured foreign businessmen or sailors, which would be more deterrent, because if the method is too weak, it will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. After the limelight, these foreign businessmen will come back again. Looking at it every moment, the profit of this trade is very large, enough to make many people take risks.However, Liao Xiaoyao was afraid that it would cause trouble to the east coast merchant ships going to Europe for trade, so he did not agree. He only said that he would clean up the trade at Xiangshui Port first and see the effect.

This summer, those foreign merchant ships who come to trade are likely to be unlucky, even merchant ships with a background as strong as the Dutch East India Company are no exception!

(End of this chapter)