Chapter 689 Conspiracy Theory
Compared with the conflict with the Haihan people, the East India Company did not want to see the Spanish intervene in this matter. Although the Haihan people act arrogantly, there is at least the possibility of sitting down and negotiating. Even if both parties know that the purpose of such negotiations is to delay time, there is at least the possibility of reaching peace. But there is little room for negotiation between the Netherlands and Spain. The Netherlands has only two options, either to succeed in independence or to be destroyed by Spain. The nature of the war is much more serious.
At this time, the battlefields between the Netherlands and Spain are almost all over the world, but Spain does not have a clear upper hand in the Far East, and the strengths of both sides are still comparable. However, the emergence of Haihan seems to have broken the delicate balance, allowing a third powerful armed force to appear on the sea in the Far East.
After Fan Longgen urged Su Keyi to translate Yu Xiaobao's statement, he could no longer control his emotions: "If you make such a ridiculous decision, then this will not only be a conflict with the East India Company, but also a conflict with the East India Company." Declare war directly on our country! ”
"Is there any difference?" Yu Xiaobao's expression was still very relaxed: "Aren't the interests of the East India Company and the Netherlands integrated? Even if the Netherlands declares war on us, the armed ships and personnel who can participate in the war will still come from East India Company?”
Van Longen was at a loss for words for such a reply. The other party knew so much about the details of the East India Company that it was difficult for him to use the method of "state declaration of war" to put pressure on the other party.
"This must be the meddling of the damn Portuguese! These all-pervasive Mediterranean bandits!" Van Longen secretly made his own judgment on this situation in his heart.
The most direct enemies of the East India Company in the East are actually neither the Spaniards whose base is on Luzon Island at the other end of the South China Sea, nor the Haihan people entrenched on Qiongzhou Island. Rather, their spheres of influence intersect with those of the East India Company. The Portuguese, who had almost never ceased conflict for more than a decade. The number of armed conflicts between the East India Company and the other two parties was extremely limited, but fighting against the Portuguese was an almost monthly routine.
After more than ten years of fighting, the East India Company had a clear upper hand in the vast sea area east of the Strait of Malacca and north of the Sunda Strait. The Portuguese only had small-scale colonial areas on the coasts of central Annan and southern Ming Dynasty. That’s all. After the civil strife in Annan was settled and Haihan suddenly rose up, anyone with a discerning eye could actually see that the Portuguese could no longer become a big player in the South China Sea. All the players in this area were stronger than them, and the Portuguese did not want to be squeezed out of this chessboard. , they can only rely on the strong one of a certain party, and in the end they chose the only Haihan people with no national background among the strengths of several parties.
Although the Haihan people are very similar to the Ming people in appearance and have roughly the same language and culture, anyone who has come into contact with them knows that this group of people is very different from the Ming people and they are not from the same country at all. The local officials of the Ming Dynasty may still regard them as examples of overseas Chinese returning to the central dynasty. However, in the eyes of outsiders, what Haihan did on Qiongzhou Island was to temporarily take advantage of the Ming Dynasty's protection and use the Ming Dynasty's resources, markets and Labor force to develop their own power, and ultimately the magpie's nest and the dove's dominance.
It has only been four or five years since the Haihan people settled on Qiongzhou Island. Although they have risen very quickly, their sphere of influence has not even reached Batavia. Therefore, Van Longen believes that it is impossible for them to grasp the international situation on the European continent in such detail. and the fighting situation. The only ones who can provide the Haihan people with this information are the hateful Portuguese.
"No, the Portuguese and the Spanish are mortal enemies. How could they sit back and watch the Haihan people join forces with the Spanish! This guy must be intimidating me!" Van Longen also reacted quickly and immediately thought of something deeper.
From a standpoint, the current situations of the Netherlands and Portugal are actually similar. They are both trying to get rid of the rule of the Kingdom of Spain. Although Portugal has not yet declared independence like the Netherlands, Van Longen knows that these Portuguese have never regarded themselves as part of Spain, and their colonies in the Far East are clearly separate from Spain. For example, in Haojingao, which was rented by the Portuguese from the Guangdong government, there are basically no Spanish people there.
Based on the reputation of the Haihan people, it is unlikely that they would betray their allies. After Fan Longgen realized this, he immediately retorted: "If you really make such an irrational choice, I would like to object to it. Not only us, but also your allies the Portuguese.”
"The reaction of the red-haired ghost is quite fast..." Yu Xiaobao sighed in his heart, but said calmly on his face: "I think you have misunderstood. We do not intend to form an alliance with the Spanish. We are just seeking strategic cooperation, just like our relationship with Daming and Annan. After all, your company is likely to become our common goal. Both the Spaniards and the Portuguese can think of it, if they can get you. In the water, this result will be beneficial to everyone.”
As for the possible reaction of the other party, Schneider had already taught Yu Xiaobao how to deal with it. Fan Longgen's performance was also among them, so it was not difficult for Yu Xiaobao.
Van Longen wanted to refute, but suddenly he discovered that Yu Xiaobao's words revealed an extremely terrifying fact: Haihan, Ming Dynasty, Annan, the Portuguese, and even the Spanish, so many forces could actually treat the Netherlands in a different stance. Find common interests. Moreover, the Spanish have not had any conflict with the Haihan people so far, and there is indeed the possibility of reaching a cooperative relationship. The two sides did not even need to agree on a joint troop dispatch. As long as they clearly shared their hatred of the Netherlands, it was enough to make the East India Company unprepared.
At this time, looking at the half-smiling expression on Yu Xiaobao's face, Fan Longgen couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart - the Haihan people either refused to give an inch or simply avoided the key issues during the negotiation process. The two sides have not talked about it, but they have never indicated that they will end the negotiations. There is no doubt that they are deliberately delaying time. Prior to this, Van Longen believed that the Haihan people might want to take advantage of this period to launch an attack on the Natuna Islands in the South China Sea, and the East India Company also needed time to re-prepare the battle plan to recapture the local area. Therefore, Van Longen and others also We have a tacit understanding of acting together to waste time. However, the topic that Yu Xiaobao brought up today made Van Longen think of another terrifying situation, that is, the reason why the Haihan people are delaying is that they are already contacting all parties and preparing to join forces to deal with the Netherlands?
Once Van Longen opened up this idea, he couldn't stop. Needless to say, the relationship between Haihan and Daming was, after all, they had already proved this with military operations in Fujian before. Annan's regime was entirely supported by Haihan. It is said that the top military officials were very close to Haihan, even closer than those in Fujian, and they would not refuse Haihan's request. The attitudes of Portugal and Spain are very likely to be what Yu Xiaobao said. Even if they dislike each other, there will definitely not be any big difference in their attitudes when it comes to dealing with the Netherlands. Coupled with Haihan's mediation, it is indeed possible to reach an alliance against the Netherlands in the Far East.
Although Van Longen was still very confident in his own strength, he also knew that the strength of the East India Company could not cope with so many enemies at the same time. If the Haihan people really did this, the East India Company would be in danger now!
Fan Longgen yawned and said, "How about we stop for a moment and have a cup of tea and take a rest?" "That's fine." Yu Xiaobao stood up calmly and said, "Looking at the time, it's almost noon, so why not Let’s continue talking in the afternoon.”
As soon as Yu Xiaobao stepped forward, Fan Longgen's face darkened. Van der Wegen hadn't realized what had happened, and was about to flip through the menu to check the contents of lunch. Van Longen had already stood up, closed the door, and said to the two of them: "We have to get out of here as soon as possible."
"Why?" Van der Wegen asked in surprise. Just last night, he had discussed with Van Longen whether to continue spending time with the Haihan people. Anyway, it was difficult to enjoy such a leisurely life here, since they had good food, good accommodation, and people to serve everything.
"The Haihan people have bad intentions in dragging us here!" Fan Longgen immediately told the two of them what he had just thought.
After hearing this, Su Keyi couldn't help but change his face and said: "The Haihan people are so insidious!"
"Perhaps there are envoys from the Portuguese and Spanish living in a certain house here." Van Longen looked outside through the glass window and said quietly: "The two high-ranking Haihan officials who negotiated with us at the beginning Where? They never explained. I suspect that they may be conducting several negotiations at the same time, and this negotiation with us is the easiest to deal with, and does not require their senior diplomats to intervene. "< br>
"So they locked us up in this place, and then sent a young boy to deal with us for so many days!" After hearing this, Van der Wegen also felt that Van Longen's inference was very possible. Since they stayed in the guest house, the Haihan people They were imprisoned and were not allowed to leave the courtyard where the small building belonged. All that can be seen here is Victory Harbor in the distance. As for the nearby courtyards, they are all separated by dense bushes and white wooden fences as high as one person. It is not clear who lives there. If the Haihan people did this to prevent them from meeting certain people with special status living nearby, then Van Longen's inference would make perfect sense.
"Although we may not be able to confirm this speculation for the time being, we must send this information back to Batavia as soon as possible so that the company can prepare for it earlier." Van Longen raised his hand and made a cross on his chest: "If this If several forces really join forces, then we can only pray for God’s blessing!”
"If we suddenly ask to terminate the negotiations and leave, it will arouse the suspicion of the Haihan people, right? This may prompt them to take action in advance." Van der Wegen said hesitantly: "That will not serve as a warning."
"There are only three of us, should we leave in batches?" Fan Longgen shook his head and said: "If we leave in batches, only one can leave. One person between you and me must stay here, and Su Keyi must also stay, otherwise Negotiations cannot continue.”
"Only one person is leaving... This is a hard excuse!" Van der Wegen frowned and said, "Pretending to be sick?"
"It's not very feasible to pretend to be sick. Don't forget the medical skills of the Haihan people." Su Keyi immediately reminded.
The reputation of the Haihan people for their superb medical skills spread to Batavia in the past two years through word of mouth among Chinese immigrants and maritime merchants. The most famous example is two Chinese doctors who once worked under Dr. Haihan. After immigrating to Batavia, he treated Governor Cohen, who was almost terminally ill. Cohen can still preside over the daily affairs of the East India Company. It can be said that at least more than half of the credit belongs to the medical skills of the two Chinese doctors. However, they claim that the medical skills mastered by the Haihan people are far superior to them, even if they perform caesarean section to save lives. Such surgical operations are as easy as searching a bag to retrieve something. There are countless patients in the refugee camp who have saved their lives after being treated by Dr. Haihan.
This is naturally a bit unbelievable to the Dutch, who still use bloodletting as the main method of treatment. Many people think that this should also be a type of the legendary Haihan witchcraft, rather than an orthodox medical skill - just kidding, how can it be done without bloodletting? Cure the disease?
Although most of Haihan's clinical medical skills are based on Western medicine from later generations as the main diagnostic and treatment methods, Western medical skills in this era are still in a relatively ignorant period, and will continue for more than a century after that. In 1799, the day before George Washington, the first president of the United States, died, several doctors worked together to drain him of nearly 2,500 ml of blood, which accounted for almost half of his body's blood volume, which directly led to his death from blood loss. Sexual shock, this will definitely be a murder case in future generations. It was not until the 1820s, after doctors conducted long-term clinical observations, that they determined that bloodletting was actually very harmful to the patient's body, and this unscientific "medical skill" began to be gradually abandoned.
But when Governor Cohen began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye, all doubts about Haihan's medical skills disappeared. Someone in Batavia even offered extremely high salaries to invite doctors who had been trained by Haihan in the Ming Dynasty to immigrate. Sanya is the hometown of the Haihan people. There is no need to guess how many doctors who are proficient in medical skills here. If you pretend to be sick, you will probably be discovered by the Haihan people directly, but it will easily cause trouble.
As soon as Su Keyi reminded them, the two people naturally remembered it and shook their heads at the same time to reject the plan.
(End of chapter)