Chapter 1253: Fearing that the world will not be in chaos
A small country like Johor, which has tense relations with neighboring countries and is relatively weak, has many people who want to make it worse. For example, Portugal, which had a close relationship with him, sensed the smell immediately and took the initiative to send people to Xingdao to find out the news.
Portugal's main stronghold in the Strait of Malacca is Malacca City, which is also the capital of the Kingdom of Malacca, the predecessor of Johor. The distance from Star Island is only a little over a hundred nautical miles. When the sea conditions are good, this voyage can be completed in one day. The Portuguese are not at all wary of Haihan who has expanded his territory to the Strait of Malacca. They are also paying attention to the situation of Singdao. Some time ago, Haihan suddenly blocked the port of Singdao and stopped accepting foreign ships to dock. Portugal had already noticed that something was wrong. After a few days, we dug into the news again and learned that there was an armed conflict between Haihan and Johor and the British, and it seemed that the scale of the battle was quite large.
The Portuguese have been dealing with Haihan for several years, and they are quite familiar with Haihan's armed strength. Naturally, they will not doubt the outcome of the war. What they are more concerned about is whether Haihan will take advantage of the victory and continue to carry out military attacks on Johor after this battle is over. Portugal has defeated Johor and its predecessor Malacca several times in the past few decades, and plundered large areas from them as their colonies in the Strait of Malacca. If possible, they would not mind following the sea. Han, a strong man, went to fight against the autumn wind, or see if there was any opportunity to create greater trouble for the British.
The Portuguese Costa, who currently serves as the chief executive of Malacca City, is an ambitious official. He is not willing to remain under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Goa. He wants to carve out a situation in the South China Sea, and then apply to the country to establish a new As a local management agency, he will have a great chance to win the title of "Governor of the South China Sea" as a pioneer.
Of course, getting the country to agree to the establishment of a new governor-general in the Far East cannot be achieved by just talking. In addition to quantifiable political achievements such as opening up a certain area of new colonies and increasing a sufficient number of colonial populations, In addition, what is more important is that Portugal can maintain a long-term stable position in this region and its influence among regional countries is enough to protect its own interests. Only after achieving these points can the "Governor of the South China Sea" become a reality.
Judging from Portugal's current actual control over the South China Sea, this is still an unattainable goal. The influence it finally established in the Indochina Peninsula in the past has been completely replaced by Haihan. Malacca is not even connected to Macau in the south of the Ming Dynasty. There were no Portuguese-controlled ports, let alone colonies.
From a pragmatic perspective, the eastern coastline of Indochina Peninsula has been controlled by Haihan from north to south. Annan and Champa are also nominal allies of Haihan. It is unrealistic for Portugal to intervene in this area again. As for the Ming Dynasty coast further north, it is now Haihan who has the final say. It is lucky to be able to retain control of Macau. Haihan's control area is still extending northward, and the mainland coast leaves Portugal with less maneuverable space. Close to zero.
As for occupying a few scattered small islands in the South China Sea as colonies, Costa has no interest. After all, Portugal does not have the strong development and construction capabilities of Haihan. It is impossible to create a scene as big as Ambon Island on its own. . So the most practical solution is actually to try to expand the territory nearby, radiating outward from the center of Malacca City.
However, this plan also has obvious shortcomings. A few dozen miles east of Malacca City is the Johor-controlled area, and Costa’s troops are relatively limited. Even if the colonial boundary is pushed out by a few dozen miles, by then It is also difficult to ensure the security of these areas. But if Haihan can be united to further suppress the Johor ruling area, then it is not impossible to establish a colony that spans the Malay Peninsula from east to west and connects the two oceans on land. If such a result can be achieved, Portugal's situation in the South China Sea will be greatly improved, and the establishment of a special administrative governor in Malacca is basically a certainty.
In fact, before Haihan and Johor went to war, Costa had already had this idea, but he also knew that Haihan had not established a stable foothold on Xingdao, and he would probably not take the initiative to start a war easily. Portugal's strength is limited and it is difficult for it to play a leading role in such armed operations, so it can only wait patiently for the right time.
But Costa never expected that Johor would actually jump out and provoke the big evil star Hai Han. Regarding the instigating role played by the British in this process, Costa could only sincerely praise a job well done. If it hadn't been for this bunch of troublemakers, Johor probably wouldn't have had the courage to take the initiative to provoke Hai Han. Now that he heard that the sneak attack by the two countries was defeated by the Haihan garrison on Star Island, and probably captured many people, Costa felt that the long-awaited opportunity had arrived. If Haihan had the intention of retaliating against Johor, then he might as well do the same Give it a push.
After Haihan occupied Star Island, Costa actually visited the place once and met Roger once. Although there is no friendship at all, the two countries have had several years of trade cooperation foundation, so the two have simply agreed on basic mutual assistance principles such as that civilian and commercial ships can enter each other's ports to berth. They usually communicate with each other, so they sent envoys here at this time. It’s normal to be concerned. It just so happened that Ricardo, the Portuguese envoy to Ambrosia Island, had recently returned to Malacca to handle official business and was about to return, so Costa gave him the task of testing Haihan's attitude.
The relationship between Ricardo and Roger is much more familiar. When Roger was still the chief officer on Ampurna Island, the two got acquainted through work. And we became familiar with each other. After Roger was transferred to Star Island, whenever Ricardo passed by, he would usually make a special trip to the port to pay him a visit, which was considered a bit of a personal relationship. Ricardo can speak some simple English, and Roger also learned some Portuguese after getting familiar with him. The two of them can basically communicate by mixing the two languages. It was precisely because of this relationship that when Roger heard about Ricardo's visit, he made time to go to the dock to greet this acquaintance.
At the reception banquet in the evening, Ricardo took the initiative to inquire about the recent fighting on Star Island, and said that if necessary, Malacca could organize armed personnel to assist Star Island as soon as possible.
Roger thanked Ricardo for his kindness and briefly explained to him the results achieved. Ricardo was shocked when he heard that Haihan captured more than 2,000 people in one breath, including hundreds of mercenaries working for the British East India Company, and even the generals leading troops from the two countries. , although both he and Costa believed that it would not be too difficult for Haihan to win, but such a complete victory was something they did not expect.
"I've seized a lot of weapons this time, and I'm planning to find someone to dispose of them. I'll go back and see if you're interested in collecting them. I'll give you a friendly price." Roger paused and then added: "There are just matchlock guns. About a thousand.”
Ricardo thought to himself that these two families were really losing money. Thousands of musketeers, who spent an unknown amount of money just to train and arm them, were just taken over by Haihan. How huge is the disparity in strength? Only then can a battle be turned into such a passive situation. However, his original intention was not to collect rags. He was not very interested in this kind of business, so he immediately tried to bring the topic to business: "Then the Johor people are so undeclared that they should be punished properly. ! General Luo, how are you going to teach these barbaric natives a lesson?”
"War reparations are a must. In addition, if they want to redeem the prisoners of war, they have to pay another ransom." Roger showed off proudly: "The British guys are treated the same way. This amount It should make them uncomfortable for a long time!” Ricardo said: “Is that all? Doesn’t General Luo intend to use military means to retaliate against them?”
Roger slowly put down his chopsticks and said, "What Mr. Ricardo wants to say, you might as well say it directly."
"Johor is a country with limited national power. It must be extremely difficult for them to organize a force of thousands of people using firearms. They may not be able to organize a second similarly armed force in a short time. Why not Haihan take advantage of the victory and give them a A profound lesson?" Ricardo quickly seized the opportunity to persuade: "If Haihan has this intention, then we can send troops from Malacca City to attack Johor from west to east!"
When Roger heard this, he already understood Ricardo's intention. He immediately answered calmly: "I have to trouble your country to send troops to deal with Haihan. Isn't it bad?"
Ricardo was not very firm when he heard his refusal, and quickly continued to persuade: "Xingdao is too far away from the mainland of Haihan, and there are restless villains like Johor coveting from the side, and the relationship between our two countries has always been friendly. Well, of course we have to help each other. If Malacca City is in trouble, I believe General Luo will definitely help us, right?”
Roger didn't believe that the Portuguese had such a noble ideological consciousness. It was definitely not the reason Ricardo said that they were so proactive. If they weren't too idle, they had some ulterior motive. Thinking of this, Roger decided not to continue talking in circles with Ricardo, and asked directly: "If we jointly send troops to attack Johor, what do you hope to get from Johor? Land or money?"
"Land." Seeing Roger asking so straightforwardly, Ricardo knew that his intentions had been seen through, so he simply stopped making unnecessary cover-ups and simply revealed Costa's plan to carve up Johor: "If The two countries will jointly send troops. After that, the area from Malacca City to the east coast of Johor will be used as the benchmark, with the south belonging to Haihan and the north belonging to our country."
After a little calculation in his mind, Roger already understood the other party's true purpose. What the Portuguese needed was not just land, but a strip of control stretching across the Malay Peninsula from the city of Malacca to the east coast. If Johor is really divided according to this dividing line drawn by Portugal, then the area occupied by Haihan will be approximately more than one-third of Johor's territory. Regardless of whether Johor will be destroyed by then, there will still be a lot of room for Portugal to maneuver.
If Portugal succeeds in occupying the demarcated area, the Malacca colony is likely to become the largest colony in the Far East except Goa, India, and will certainly play an immeasurable role in its future development in the South China Sea. This is of great significance to Portugal, and even the risk of launching a war is worth it, but for Haihan, it may not be happy to see the result.
Although the two countries have a cooperative relationship on the surface, Haihan has a very clear understanding of the moral standards of these Western countries. He has always suppressed Portugal's development in the South China Sea, intentionally or unintentionally, and only allowed it to retain a port like Macau. , it is also easier to cut off the local connection with Malacca when necessary. Of course, the Portuguese also want to try their best to get rid of the shadow of Haihan and win more benefits for their country in the Far East, and colonies are a very important one.
Roger could not imagine Costa's idea and desire for the governor of the South China Sea, but the Portuguese wanted to use such crooked ideas under Haihan's nose, and also tried to use Haihan's power to achieve their goals, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. . Although it is indeed a very offensive move for Johor to do this, whether and how to retaliate against Johor is also Haihan's own business and does not allow outsiders to interfere.
In fact, Roger believed that military retaliation was not a necessary means. Even if a large army was mobilized to completely destroy the country of Johor, it would be difficult to bring much benefit to Haihan in a short period of time. The Portuguese wanted to use this incident to fan the flames and send troops to attack Johor. This approach was actually contrary to Roger's ideas, and he would never support the military retaliation measures proposed by Portugal.
Roger didn't want to make Ricardo unable to step down with a too blunt answer, so he said that the matter needed further discussion with local administrative officials. Ricardo didn't doubt him, so he planned to stay for a few more days until Haihan had a clear result.
Unexpectedly, the Dutch envoy also arrived here the next day, with almost the same purpose as the Portuguese who arrived the day before. After hearing the news of the end of the war, they came to persuade Haihan to raise troops to retaliate against Johor and carve up its existing territory.
Information on Johor's movements was first provided to Sing Tao by the Dutch. This shows that they also have their own unique features in the operation of the intelligence network. However, Roger believed that the main purpose of the Dutch was to use Haihan's help to exclude the British from the South China Sea. He did not expect that they also had a strong interest in the land of Johor. There is also a very subtle situation, that is, neither the Netherlands nor Portugal intend to bring each other to play together.
(End of chapter)