Dragon Sea Empire

Just before the European fleet sent by Yin Feng came to Malacca, a small Dutch fleet failed to attack Shalian. The Netherlands’ trade in the Bay of Bengal could not compete with Portugal, so they also sent people to contact Yehua’s fleet to encourage them to attack Shalian. .

At this moment, Anabilon, the fourth king of the Taungoo Dynasty, who is determined to reunify the whole of Myanmar, is attacking Tham Lien in the Ayeyarwady Delta.

At the same time, there was also a paradise for Portuguese adventurers on the coast of Myanmar, which was established by Sebastiao Goncalves Thibault, the same Portuguese mercenary leader as De Brito. Thibault was in 16 courted the ruler of Arakan, one of the Burmese princes in the 90s (like de Brito), and began to gain control of the island of Sundipu off the coast of the Bay of Bengal, so Daibo himself negotiated many issues with the Arakan court , directly launched a trade competition with De Brito. In addition, he also imposed tariffs on Mosulite's trade with Burma, and used his small fleet to attack the Mosulite Nam ships, which annoyed the Persian merchants doing business in the port, they are powerful and have close relationships with influential figures, and they have great influence in Arakan and Pegu.

The generations of heroes of the Taungoo Dynasty in Myanmar were all militaristic figures. The grandson of the overlord Mang Yinglong, Anabilon (reigned from 1606 to 1628), once again completed the unification of Myanmar, and Shalian became controlled by the revived Toungoo Dynasty. In a part of the unified political region of the United States controlled by Westerners, two Portuguese adventurers ran rampant along the coast of Burma. Naturally, this kind of behavior was beyond the patience of the brave kings of the Toungoo Dynasty.

The old Portuguese mercenary De Brito took advantage of the dissatisfaction of the Mon people in the delta with the Toungoo Dynasty, forced them to believe in Catholicism, and organized an indigenous army. There is a European stronghold on the country. In early 1608, starting from Bago, King Anabilon led about 10 people, about 150 light warships and 3000 Malay sailing ships, and besieged Santiago Castle on Shalian Island. , Philip de Brito led about three to four hundred Portuguese, hundreds of Eurasians called Mestizos by the Portuguese, and about five to six hundred Mon people from Pego. over there.

The Portuguese in Shalian desperately asked Goa and Malacca for help. The problem is that it is now the northeast monsoon period, and it takes too much time to transport troops from Goa, while there are only 120 Portuguese soldiers in Malacca, plus more than 100 Japanese expatriates. Therefore, the Portuguese governor of Malacca came up with an idea, let the Chinese fleet go to rescue Shalian, and let them leave Malacca casually, which can also relieve the threat of the Chinese fleet to Malacca.

Ye Hua's fleet also received a secret envoy from the Dutch East India Company on this day.

The Dutch envoys came from Batavia, which had just become the headquarters of the East India Company.

Ye Hua's fleet issued a notice in Malacca to recruit sailors familiar with Eurasian navigation routes, and then stayed in Malacca for several months. During this time, the fleet was not idle, and dispatched several ships to various places in Southeast Asia to do business. A consignment of arms was also delivered to the Chinese company base in West Borneo.

Li Dan stayed on the Flying Dragon ship except when he first arrived in Malacca, and Ye Hua took the initiative to call him over, because the Dutch envoy was Li Jin, who had known Li Dan a long time ago. Li Jin once helped the Dutch to come to Penghu, and the Dutch fought a battle with the newly established Chinese company. Li Jin and Yin Feng also knew each other, and after the Dutch were defeated in the Penghu battle, he had a long talk with Yin Feng all night. And then back to the Dutch.

Therefore, at this moment, he came on behalf of the Dutch East India Company, completely acting as an agent of Dutch interests.

Ye Hua is not good at this kind of commercial and diplomatic negotiations, while Li Dan and Bernardo are masters at it.

After a day and a night of negotiations, Li Dan rubbed his eyes and went outside the cabin, and said to Ye Hua who had been on duty all the time: "Captain Ye, the Dutch are willing to provide weapons and guide sailors who know the route, on the condition that we cooperate with the Dutch After defeating Thanlian, Thanlian must be handed over to the Dutch for control,"

Ye Hua smiled: "Brother Li, which one do you think we should help, the red-haired man or Flang Jiyi?"

Li Dan sighed and said: "In my personal opinion, no matter who we help, it won't do us much good for the Chinese company. We only get a few guide sailors, and what these Westerners get is real benefits. "

Ye Hua sneered and said: "They all regard us as being taken advantage of. In my opinion, if we simply take this place, that is the real benefit,"

Ye Hua raised his hand and pointed to the city of Malacca not far away. Large ships from all over the world docked in the Malacca harbor area, with masts everywhere, and small boats from the nearby coast shuttled back and forth on the Malacca River, presenting a lively scene. In Malacca's international market, there are a variety of commodities; there are silks and satins, raw silk, ceramics, pearls, bronzes, waist knives and other items from the Far East; there are various handicrafts and textiles from the vast area west of India, such as cotton cloth, Glassware, dyes and medicines, etc.; there are spices, cardamom, tobacco leaves, ivory and various agricultural and seafood products from all over Southeast Asia...

The Strait of Malacca is an important channel for sea traffic between the East and the West, and is located at the throat of Malacca in the Malay Peninsula.

At the beginning of the 1512th century, with the support of Zheng He’s voyage fleet, the Kingdom of Malacca began to rise. By the middle and late 1515th century, the Kingdom of Malacca had become one of the most powerful countries in Southeast Asia. The continuous strength of the Kingdom of Malacca and its The unique geographical location of Malacca made the Port of Malacca a trading center for various commodities in the world. Tommy, who worked in Portuguese Malacca as a secretary of a firm from [-] to [-],Pierce (Tome Pires) said in his famous book "Suma Orintal": "Melaka is more suitable as a city of merchants than any other city in the world;... Malacca is located in the center of the world. At this point, all countries separated by thousands of miles must come to Malacca for trade,... whoever is the master of Malacca will strangle Venice by the throat."

The Arabs called this place Marakad, which means the market where merchants gather, because merchants of all kinds often come here, and local officials are also active in justice.

On May 1511, 5, Afonso d' Albuquerque, Governor of Goa in Portuguese India, led a colonial army composed of 2 Portuguese soldiers and 800 Indian mercenaries, and arrived in Malacca on 600 ships. The city of Malacca was captured on August 19, and Malacca has since become a Portuguese colony. The Portuguese finally got their wish and took control of Malacca, choking the key points of the East-West waterway for the next 8 years.

During the 1511 years from 1641 to 130 when it changed hands with the Dutch, Malacca was an important stronghold of the Portuguese colonial empire in the East, and it was also a major link for the Portuguese to control the long Eastern Channel and a base for expansion and trade in Southeast Asia. It has a close relationship with Macau. Dependent relationships play an indispensable and important role.

Malacca has become a city where businessmen from all over the world gather. Pierce told us in "Oriental Kingdoms" that in the Malacca market at the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century, people used about 84 dialects. The "Malay Chronicle" records that the population at that time was There were 19 people, most of whom were businessmen from various countries, and there were still 10 people when Ebulqui captured Malacca. Ebulqui recalled: "I really believe that if there is another world, or there is another world beyond what we know If there is a route, then they will definitely find Malacca, because here, they can find any kind of medicinal materials and spices that can be named in the world, "

Li Dan looked at the prosperous port, and at the fortress of A Famosa standing on the southeast coast of Malacca, his eyes could not help showing envy: "Flangji is a small country with few people, but They have taken such a superior location, but before we set off from Taiwan, Captain Yin warned us that now is not the time to fight with Frangji, and we can’t move this place yet,”

The Portuguese were able to persist in Malacca for more than 100 years under the constant siege of Johor and Aceh, except that the Portuguese colonists adopted a divide-and-rule policy in Malacca and were good at provoking and taking advantage of the conflicts between Johor and Aceh. It also relied on the well-known fortress of A Famosa, which was built after Ebulqui occupied Malacca. At that time, Abuque ordered the Javanese to go to the countryside to search for "fugitives" and chained them to the construction site. , forced the construction of forts, and put 1500 slaves of the former Sultan royal family into the hard labor of building the fortress. The fortress wall is 8 feet thick and there are 7 forts built around it. On the No.15 day, the water level was high, and a 200-ton ship could come in along the side of the fort, and the other three sides were surrounded by the Malacca River.

The fortress has become the core of Portuguese Malacca: the castle has the Governor's Palace, the Bishop's Hall, the National Council Hall, the Brothers of Charity Auditorium, five churches and two hospitals. This fortress is known as "the first modern European style in Southeast Asia." castle".

The usual garrison of the Malacca fortress is 300 people, and generally rarely exceeds 500 people. When the Netherlands and Johor jointly attacked Malacca in 1606, there were only 80 Portuguese and a few Japanese mercenaries. Even in the early days, it dropped to 29 people in one month. The average number of Portuguese soldiers guarding the fortress is less than 200. When they were besieged, they relied on this advanced fortress design and advanced and powerful firearms compared with the surrounding countries to survive the difficult period of siege and persisted until With the arrival of reinforcements from Goa, Malacca is also one of the main naval bases of the Portuguese. It has its own permanent fleet to maintain control of the Strait of Malacca. In order to attack hostile ships or merchant ships, the Portuguese established the "Lima Fleet" (Armada da Rima), which moved lightly and swiftly, played a major role in the Portuguese's effective control of the strait. However, at this time, due to the harassment of the Dutch, the Malacca fleet was cruising in southern Sumatra.

The fleet dispatched by the Chinese company to Europe this time has a powerful European-style battleship Flying Dragon, as well as the Chinese-Western Xinxing, plus auxiliary ships, carrying a total of more than 200 guns and more than 1000 combatants to assist in combat operations. There are also 300-400 sailors in the country. If you combine the personnel of the local Chinese business hall to launch a surprise attack on the Portuguese Afsa Castle, it may be successful.