Chapter 641: Perception from the outside world
"Haihan people! It's these troublesome Haihan people again!" After hearing Van Longen's explanation, Hans couldn't help but frowned: "Is there any definite evidence?"
"The artillery they use is significantly better than the Portuguese weapons in terms of performance. It has a long range and is accurate, and the loading speed is very fast. It seems that the Portuguese have not heard of similar weapons." Van Longen explained.
Hans shook his head and said: "Mr. Van Longen, your news is a little delayed. Recently we have received news that the Portuguese colony in Haojing'ao, Guangdong has begun to replace new artillery. It is said that these artillery are from the Haihan people on Qiongzhou Island. Bought from hand. These money-minded pagans not only sold weapons to Ming Dynasty, but also sold them to our opponents. If the group of pirates you encountered bought their weapons from the Haihan people, then I It’s not surprising at all.”
"Then why don't we contact the Haihan people? In the eyes of merchants, there should be no difference between the Portuguese's silver and ours." Fan Longgen asked in confusion.
"It's not that I haven't tried this before, but the result makes me even more worried." Hans's gloomy face showed that he was not joking: "I once found an intermediary to contact Haihan's office in Zhangzhou, but They don't seem too interested in doing business with us. Of course, this is probably the result of the damn Portuguese's interference. There is reliable news that the Portuguese secretly signed a cooperation agreement with the Haihan people as early as two years ago. , and the content of this cooperation agreement is likely to be exclusive.”
"Two years ago? Wasn't that when the Annan Civil War ended?" Van Longen raised his eyebrows: "These Portuguese people changed their stance very quickly. Seeing the fall of Annan's southern regime, they immediately jumped in The opponent's camp. But why did the Haihan people choose to cooperate with the Portuguese? They probably don't know that this country's national power is already declining."
"Perhaps they chose to cooperate with the Portuguese because they knew this." Hans's point of view is exactly the opposite of Van Longen: "The Portuguese have limited strength in the Far East. After being expelled from Annan, they actually have only Hao Jing Ao is the place to stay. For such a down-and-out person, the room for bargaining with the Haihan people is very limited. It is said that the Haihan people are very smart in business, and what they take a fancy to is probably the weak situation of the Portuguese. Now the Portuguese have not only retained Haojing'ao, but also obtained the right to trade to Qiongzhou Island. In addition, it is said that Annan has also re-signed an agreement with Portugal, allowing Portuguese merchant ships to enter Annan ports for trade - of course these ports are all. Under the control of the Haihan people.”
"Mr. Hans, do you think the Haihan people will become our opponents in the near future?" Van Longen asked.
Hans solemnly said: "Not in the future, but now. After Zheng Zhilong lost Nanri Island, we also lost a major channel for trading with Ming merchants. The mission sent by the Haihan people to Fujian this time was highly praised by Xu Xinsu Standard reception, after they join forces, they can completely monopolize the maritime trade from Fujian to Guangdong. This is by no means good news for us. And I don’t think they will stop here. Haihan continues north along the coast of Daming. Expansion is almost inevitable. Whether it is Ryukyu or Japan and North Korea further north, they will become their targets sooner or later. At that time, competition with us will become open and conflict will be inevitable. "
"Then we should try to stop them!" After Fan Longgen said this, he felt that he had made a mistake. The Shiba Zhi, known as the largest maritime power on the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty, even had to deal with an expedition fleet sent by Haihan to Fujian. If not, what can the Dutch do to compete with the Haihan people?
Hans also shook his head in disinterest and said: "It's not that easy. Haihan's expansion speed in Daming far exceeds ours. If the company cannot invest more resources in Daming Island in the next few years, it will have no choice but to Waiting for Haihan to squeeze us out bit by bit.”
Hans's vision was undoubtedly accurate. Although this attack on Nanri Island was Haihan's first public attack in Fujian waters, Hans was already aware of the sense of oppression brought about by this change. The Haihan people are unwilling to develop trade relations with the Netherlands, which shows that they completely regard the Netherlands as a competitor, and may even be an imaginary enemy. However, the armed forces deployed by the East India Company on Dayu Island were very limited and were not enough to support their expedition to Qiongzhou Island to defeat the ignorant Haihan people. What's more, even if he can go, Hans is not sure that he can win the Sanya Port, which is said to be guarded by hundreds of coastal defense guns and dozens of large warships.
Therefore, despite knowing that everything Heihan is doing now is weakening the Dutch influence in the Far East, Hans has no more ways to change this situation. He had mentioned this matter in a report submitted to the company's board of directors before, but the East India Company's main energy is now focused on the development of Southeast Asia, and it has no time to estimate the changes in the situation in Northeast Asia. After all, there are still a large number of tropical islands in the waters east of Java Island waiting for navigators to discover their treasures. In the eyes of Batavia officials, the remote Port of Damian may be just halfway on the route to Northeast Asia. It's just a supply port.
The bad news brought by Van Longen made the attention Hans expected from Batavia even more distant, because even if the company headquarters wanted to ensure the stability of the Northeast Asia route, it would inevitably deal with the Natuna Islands first. After all, the wild armed forces that suddenly appeared there have begun to intercept and kill the sailing ships belonging to the East India Company, and the situation in Taiwan has not yet deteriorated to the point where a war will begin in the near future.
While the two were discussing the change in the situation, a servant came to report to Hans that someone asked for an audience.
"This is Zheng Zhilong's envoy." Hans handed Fan Longgen the greeting card from the visitor, but Fan Longgen could not recognize any of the square Chinese characters on it.
"This person has been here for five days in a row. His purpose is to persuade me to sell a batch of arms to Shibazhi. If possible, he also hopes that I can send troops to help them retake Nanri Island." Han Si Yan briefly and comprehensively introduced the situation.
"How is this possible!" Fan Longgen looked very disapproving of the Zheng family envoy's suggestion.
After the Dutch retreated in Penghu in 1624, the East India Company ordered to prohibit Damuan from taking any military action against the Ming Dynasty officials to avoid causing unnecessary trouble - although the Ming Dynasty Navy may not be able to capture Damuan Port. , but if local trade is interrupted due to war, it will also be a disguised loss for the East India Company. In the eyes of the Ming Dynasty officials, the Shibazhi were just lawless pirates. The Dutch were just selling weapons. If they came to help, the nature would be no different from directly sending troops to invade the Ming Dynasty. Hans didn't even need to ask for instructions, he knew Batavia will never allow this to happen.
"But this envoy knows Haihan very well. Are you interested in hearing what he has to say about Haihan?" Hans asked Van Longen.
"People from Haihan? I'm interested in learning more about this." Fan Longgen's previous knowledge of Haihan were only fragments of rumors. By the time they reached him, they had often passed through several hands, and they were quite different from the original facts. He really wanted to hear from those who had experienced it about the specific situation of this emerging force in the Far East. After Hans gave the order, a man wearing the clothes of a Ming Dynasty scholar came to the reception room. Behind him was a young man with black hair and yellow skin, but he had deep eyes and a high nose. He looked like a man. Square mixed race.
The man clasped his fists and said something, and the mixed-race young man behind him translated what he said into Dutch. It turned out to be the interpreter he brought with him.
"The villain Zheng Xinzhi has met Master Hans!"
"Mr. Zheng, if your purpose of coming today is to persuade me to provide military assistance to Shibazhi, then I advise you to save your breath." Hans did not save him any face because of the other party's politeness. He made his attitude straight to the point: "But if you are willing to talk to us about other topics, then Mr. Van Longen and I, who just arrived at Taiyuan Port, would be happy to communicate with you."
After Zheng Xinzhi listened to the translation, he looked up at Fan Longgen, and then bowed deeply: "Since Lord Hans has spoken, I will follow him everywhere. I wonder what the two adults want to talk about?"
"Tell us about the Haihan people. Tell us what kind of people you know about the Haihan people." Hans pointed to the chair below and motioned for him to sit down and speak slowly.
"Haihan people? It's a long story. They are a group of extraordinary people..." After Zheng Xinzhi sat down, he began to talk about what he knew about the situation.
The envoy named Zheng Xinzhi sent by Zheng Zhilong was actually the mastermind of the assassination of the Haihan Mission in Zhangzhou two months ago. After the incident in Zhangzhou that day, he immediately left the city and escaped by boat, and was lucky enough to escape with his life. Although the assassination plan failed at the last moment and failed to succeed, Zheng Xinzhi was praised by Zheng Zhilong after returning to Magong Port in Penghu, believing that his actions had a deterrent effect on Haihan and served as a warning to the other party.
However, Zheng Zhilong actually only considered the problem of morale and could only swallow the broken teeth, because within a few days after the incident, the Shibazhi hidden stakes and staff in Zhangquan and Quanzhou were arrested by the government. As a result, many smuggling trade channels were destroyed, causing huge direct economic losses and human losses. Fujian maritime merchants, who had never completely broken off with Shibazhi, also changed their attitude because of this incident and began to interrupt various trade cooperation relationships with Shibazhi - for them, the importance of Haihan as a major customer was certain is much heavier.
But a few days later, the coalition forces of the Haihan Fleet and the Fujian Navy set out from Zhangzhou and destroyed Shibazhi's stronghold on Nanri Island in one fell swoop. Zheng Zhilong could no longer pretend to be calm. As soon as Zheng Zhihu, who had a lucky escape from Nanri Island, returned to Penghu, he asked Zheng Zhilong to kill Zheng Xinzhi, the "traitor", in order to sacrifice his dead brother, because if he had not temporarily arranged such a failed assassination operation in Zhangzhou, he would have been killed. It would not arouse the anger of the Haihan people, so they chose Nanri Island, which is closest to Zhangzhou, as the target of revenge. Shibazhi deployed more than a thousand men and more than 20 ships there, but only a few of them finally escaped back to Penghu. Ten people, two small sampans, the ending can only be described as miserable.
Zheng Zhihu had nowhere to vent his anger, and he could only take it out on Zheng Xinzhi, the person who started the trouble. If Zheng Zhilong had not made the decision, Zheng Xinzhi would have been dragged out and beheaded on the day Zheng Zhihu set foot on Penghu.
After the matter reached this point, Zheng Zhilong could no longer defend his staff Zheng Xinzhi. Just as his group of people were clamoring to return to Nanri Island for revenge, Zheng Zhilong gave Zheng Xinzhi another errand and asked him to go to Da Da. Yuan Gang asked the Dutch for help. After all, without a large number of artillery, it would be very difficult to capture a relatively solid defensive stronghold like Nanri Village, and now the only ones who can provide heavy weapons to Shibazhi are the Dutch.
And Zheng Xinzhi didn't get much good looks after arriving at Damuan Port. He visited Hans several times, but was either excused and had no time to meet him, or Hans directly changed the topic before he could say a few words about the topic. After going back and forth, Zheng Xinzhi was actually a little tired, but he also knew that if this matter could not be handled well, he would definitely not be able to report to Zheng Zhilong when he went back. Then those vulgar people who could not understand him would have even more reason to clamor. To punish your own sins. So even though he had to hit some snags every time he came to visit Hans, Zheng Xinzhi still insisted on visiting here every two days. If he couldn't convince Hans, he didn't plan to go back.
Zheng Xinzhi was not sure about Mr. Van Longen's background, but he was obviously not an ordinary person. Looking at his dusty appearance and sun-baked complexion, Zheng Xinzhi speculated that he should have come from Batavia. Dutch officials. If it could make senior Dutch officials feel bad and hostile towards the Haihan people, Zheng Xinzhi would be happy to do it.
Zheng Xinzhi thought for a while and then said: "There are many folk opinions about the origin of the Haihan people, but they are not actually descendants of the Han people. They just look similar. They use this identity to confuse the people of the Ming Dynasty and seek personal gain. These people value profit over profit. Righteousness, capriciousness, and doing unjust things in the name of business are actually shameless people..."
After listening to a few translations, Van Longen interrupted him impatiently: "Please tell me something practical. I don't want to hear your judgment on their morality. What I want to know is, what can the Haihan people do? What you want to do, what you are good at, and what you are afraid of.”
(End of chapter)