Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 465 Visitor from Formosa ([-])

However, compared with the previous incident, there seemed to be some subtle changes this time.

This time the gentlemen of the East Indies Committee are very divided, especially in the eyes of those members who know the strength of the Second Fleet of the East Coast Republic Navy and the fact that they are in league with the Portuguese in Mozambique. It is not wise to enter into hostilities with the East Coasters, it will cause a lot of financial heavy burdens.

To make matters worse, if the fleet of the people on the east coast leaves the port and enters the vast sea, they can calmly carry out ambushes in the waters off the southern tip of Madagascar, the waters near the Cape of Good Hope, and other places where Dutch ships often travel. Not fast enough. Once caught by them, the death sentence can basically be pronounced.The East India Company has less than 60 large ships in the Far East, and the others are offshore junk ships. So is it necessary to equip these merchant ships with escort warships?How much does this cost?And how many warships are needed to effectively resist the powerful warships equipped with 66 artillery pieces from the people on the east coast?Does the East India Company have such warships in the Far East?How many professional warships are there in the Far East?The answer is obviously disappointing.

Once a large number of Dutch spice ships are sunk, the loss is huge, and no one can take responsibility for it.Although the Dutch can also retaliate against the merchant ships that attacked the people on the east coast, one is that they have a small number of merchant ships and ambushes are not easy, and the other is that the people on the east coast have implemented a centralized escort system, and the cost of the attack is quite high.

Well, since the people on the east coast have promised not to try to enter places that the Dutch are concerned about, such as the Banda Sea or the Strait of Malacca, there is nothing that cannot be discussed between the two sides.The two sides can return to the previous state of relative peace, which will also ensure that some Dutch ships will not disappear inexplicably at sea, will not it?

It has been a long time since the disappearance of the armed merchant ship "Traveler" in the waters near Mozambique Island, and there is still no clear statement.Although there have been claims of sightings of the refitted ship in the East Coaster's harbor, this has never been confirmed.Therefore, in order to avoid more unexplained disappearances of ships, wouldn't it be good to ease the relationship with the people on the east coast?You know, most of the energy of the East India Company is now being dragged to deal with the Kingdom of Mataram, the Sultanate of Johor, and the island of Ceylon. If the people on the east coast have not touched the core interests of the East India Company, there is no need to provoke them. They, this is not a good deal from a financial point of view.

At present, only the Governor, Mr. Van Diemen, is the only one in the committee who strongly advocates the elimination or containment of the sea and land forces of the East Coasters in the Indian Ocean and the Far East. However, other gentlemen are not willing to cooperate with the Governor in this matter. Guys who are interested in money will only remind the Governor with the ledger that they have spent too much money on the Kingdom of Mataram, the Sultanate of Johor, Ceylon Island and some newly conquered islands in the Banda Islands. Any hostilities against East Coasters are advised as it may seriously damage the company's commercial interests.

God never intended for His believers to go on forever.Captain Fries sighed inwardly, and then said: "In this case, I agree to withdraw from your country's territorial waters, but what is your country's jurisdictional sea area..."

"A land of one shot!" Second Lieutenant Juan replied immediately, and after thinking for a while, he added: "But at the same time, our country also enjoys special interests here, and no country, organization or individual is welcome to come here for trade or settle down."

"But I advocate the VOC's right of free navigation in this sea—well, you call it the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. And you can't prevent the VOC from exploring nearby, and the proceeds of the expedition go to Holland East India Company dominates. You know, we are looking for Treasure Island.” Captain Frith, as the first European to land on Iturup Island, has a deep understanding of the Ferris Strait named after himself and this sea area. interests, so speak out to fight for interests.

"Unfortunately, your request is not allowed." Lieutenant Juan stopped Captain Fries, who was about to protest, and said, "But you can reserve all your power to appeal. The specific operation is that you pass your country in Batavia. The East India Affairs Management Committee has submitted a complaint request to your company, and then your company can submit it at the annual Fort of Good Hope talks, and we will evaluate it. But now, unfortunately, your request is not allowed. "

Captain Fries was silent.The people on the east bank have at least three ships here. Except for the flute-shaped ship (equipped with 4 cannons) that has basically no firepower, these two ships are equipped with at least 10 cannons each according to the information he observed. The caliber of some of the guns is quite large, and if there is a conflict, I am afraid that my side will not be able to take advantage of it.You know, among the two armed merchant ships on my side, the "Castelliku" has 12 guns, but most of them are small-caliber 8-pound guns; while the "Bregens" has 10 guns, except for two Except for the 12-pound cannon, the rest are basically 6-pound and 8-pound items.The number of cannons is similar, but the average caliber is not as good as others, and the speed of their ships is quite fast, so they really don't have an advantage in fighting, and they may suffer some losses.

Thinking of this, Captain Fries decided to take a step back and try his best to restrain the conflict.Anyway, it is impossible for the other party to patrol here all day long, and I can always find a chance to peep here.So he quickly said, "As you said, I will ask the company to complain to you, because it is unreasonable."

Second Lieutenant Juan nodded, and then told Captain Fries: "Then, please leave this sea area now, I hope I will not see you here again. Goodbye, Captain Fries, you can continue Go and find your Treasure Island, good luck." After speaking, he and his entourage went down the gangway of the "Castellicu" to the traffic boat, and then followed the undulating waves towards his own ship. go.

"Captain?" The bosun, whose face was still flushed with anger, took a step forward and said softly, "We should send these heretics into the sea to feed the whales. They are a bunch of cowards, stupid cowards! We can win!"

Captain Fries gave them another fixed look, then turned around and walked onto the bridge, and began to issue orders: "Turn east by south, we leave this sea area. The north wind blows here all year round, and there are still broken ice on the sea. , except for some savage natives, only the herd of deer may have some value. Well, at least we have confirmed that they have indeed built a stable stronghold in Aniva Bay, so I think our task has basically been completed. Fan Di If the Lord Governor or the gentlemen of the East India Affairs Committee want to have any ideas, please ask them to send another fleet, at least with the strength of our two ships, we cannot win in a head-on confrontation."

"Captain, are you saying that we will have a large fleet when we come next time? A large fleet that is enough to destroy these heretic ships? God, I bet they must have sold their souls to the devil, otherwise how could they have such What a strange ship, belching black smoke, and going so fast! Terrible heresy!" the bosun was still babbling.

Captain Fries ignored the nonsense boatswain, but walked back to the bridge and raised his binoculars to observe the two ships of the East Coasters. More than 20 minutes later, Ensign Juan, who was in the traffic boat, returned to his ship, and then the two ships rowed a very small radius and headed lightly towards the north.They didn't even open the sails a few times, but they successfully turned so incredibly and easily, leaving Captain Fries and others dumbfounded.

"Is that pagan magic?" Captain Fries murmured while crossing his chest.

After turning awkwardly (relative to the east coast motorboat), the armed merchant ships "Castellicu" and "Bragance" sailed southeast.When crossing the Fries Strait again, the captain decided to go to the place of parliament (Eturup Island) for a simple inspection.Unexpectedly, when they retreated from the island without finding anything, a heavy fog suddenly appeared on the sea.This is a very common weather phenomenon in the sea area of ​​Iturup Island, because the cold and warm ocean currents meet here, the climate is extremely changeable, and heavy fog is commonplace.

The sailors suggested resting here for a day or two to wait for the good weather.However, considering that he still has a secondary mission to explore Treasure Island, Captain Frith insisted on sailing south to explore now.Although the sailors were very dissatisfied, their arms could not twist their thighs, and they still carried out his orders.

In this way, these two lucky or unlucky armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company stumbled all the way south, bypassing their imaginary northeast corner of the Asian continent (Hokkaido Island), and then crossed the Tsugaru Strait in a strong wind , into the Sea of ​​Japan.Once in the Sea of ​​Japan, they followed the coast and soon realized they were going in the wrong direction, what appeared to be the east coast of North Korea.

However, although this sea area is unfamiliar, Captain Fries and others don't feel very scared, because it is much safer than exploring an unfamiliar sea area.Coupled with the fact that there are few pirates in this sea area and they are completely unable to pose a threat to them, Captain Fries really can't think of any reason for him to worry.But before that, he still needs to solve a little trouble, that is, in the previous strong wind, the two ships of his fleet were damaged to varying degrees, especially the shipboard of the "Castelliku" It has been leaking and can only be barely blocked with canvas at present. The sailors are draining water almost all the time and are exhausted. Therefore, they urgently need to go to shore for repairs.

On April 1645, 4, two Dutch armed merchant ships suddenly sailed into Wonsanjin, the eastern port of Korea, and then Captain Fries went ashore with a few entourages under a white flag.This port was blackmailed and robbed by people from the east coast a few years ago, and the local residents still remember it vividly. After that, the local area specially increased the garrison.At this time, after seeing a few red-haired men swaggering ashore, the North Korean military officers immediately organized soldiers to swarm up and arrested Captain Fries and others without any explanation.

At this time, Captain Fries vaguely remembered the former captain of the "Bregens" who was also taken ashore by the Japanese the year before last. He cursed these barbarians while arguing loudly, but no one understood what he was talking about.He and his entourage were quickly tied up tightly, and their next journey destination would be the capital of North Korea or even Beijing of the Qing Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)