Chapter 1561 racking one’s brains
In fact, under Haihan's careful management over the past few years, the security level in Sanya has always been pretty good, and it is definitely one of the cities with the best security in Haihan. After all, this is a special existence as the capital of Haihan State. Most of the country's important institutions are concentrated here. The stability of public security means the stability of the country's political situation to a certain extent, and the word "stability" can be said to run through it. The Executive Committee's policy of governing the country has almost never affected Haihan's domestic political situation, even during wars with other countries.
Although this joint investigation by the Ministry of Security and the Police Department caused temporary tension in the Sanya market, after all, this is the capital city, and the well-informed citizens were not too surprised by these investigations, and they soon Put this matter behind you. There are a lot of eye-catching news in Sanya every day, and not many people will care about this kind of case that is only related to foreigners. What’s more, in the eyes of outsiders, this case has no beginning and no end, and there is no gossip during the investigation. Come out, ordinary people will have no interest in following up.
In addition to the Portuguese who were dissatisfied with the hasty conclusion of the investigation, the other party involved also felt that their goals had not been fully achieved.
Su Keyi sat in the study and listened to his subordinate's report with a gloomy face, then raised his hand to signal him to exit. He deliberately revealed the news about the "Diego" during his meeting with Schneider that day. The purpose of course was to disrupt the secret arrangement of Haihan and Portugal and make them realize that such a little trick could not avoid the eyes and ears of the East India Company at all. . At the same time, Su Keyi also hopes to have the effect of knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger, so that these two countries will no longer arrange these small actions behind the East India Company's back.
As for the source of the news, it was actually as revealed by the investigation of the Haihan Security Department. It was just that Su Keyi happened to overhear the conversation between Thomas and other Portuguese people while dining out. Very few people know that Su Keyi has actually taught himself Portuguese a long time ago, and he has never shown this skill in front of outsiders. Therefore, the group of Portuguese people chatting after drinking that day just said that no one could understand their mother tongue, and they were completely unprepared. There will be people eavesdropping in the private room next door.
Although the voyage arrangement of the Portuguese merchant ship "Diego" was a secret, Su Keyi found it of little use after getting the secret. The East India Company's ships were restricted to the waters south of the Yangtze River, and they did not dare to easily disobey the Haihan people's ban and go to the northern waters without authorization. So even if he knew that he was being treated differently by Haihan, apart from being angry, Su Keyi couldn't actually take any countermeasures. It wasn't until Schneider invited him to tell him that future trade rules must be implemented in accordance with the standards set by Haihan that he thought of using the "Diego" incident to try to bargain with the Haihan people. Of course, the result was a failure. Schneider seized the East India Company's life and refused to accept hard or soft advice. While Su Keyi was disappointed, he did not take the "Diego" that had lost its use value too seriously.
Su Keyi completely did not expect that Schneider, who looked relaxed at the time, immediately reported the incident to the Ministry of Security, and then the Ministry of Security launched a large-scale investigation to try to find out where the information was leaked. By the time he heard the news outside, the investigation was actually coming to an end. Because there was no objective fact that he actively betrayed secrets, Haihan did not arrest anyone in the end, and the investigation of the case ended in nothing.
Su Keyi did not expect that the information he accidentally obtained would cause such a big disturbance outside. If he had known this, he should have carefully considered it and maximized the usefulness of this information. Maybe it could really create problems for Haihan and the Portuguese. Something went wrong. Thinking about it carefully, it really made him feel a little annoyed and felt that he had missed an excellent opportunity. However, after calming down, Su Keyi understood that the focus of this matter was not actually Sanya, but the whereabouts of the Portuguese merchant ship in the north.
The Portuguese were allowed to enter the northern seas by Haihan. This was indeed a small setback for the East India Company. It felt uncomfortable to fall behind its competitors. Su Keyi also hoped to regain this disadvantage as soon as possible. But Su Keyi also knew why Haihan made such an arrangement. Haihan had never relaxed his guard against the East India Company. Even if this time it was the far northern sea area that was not Haihan's key area, the East India Company also deliberately excluded.
It is not impossible for the East India Company's ships to secretly sneak from the open sea to the north, but since there are no ports under the control of the East India Company north of the Fujian Strait, it can be said that it is difficult for ships heading to the north to resupply on the way, and this The planting time will most likely be longer than a month. And once traces are discovered at sea, the East India Company may have to face Haihan's punishment methods. Therefore, despite the possibility of heading to the northern seas on its own, the East India Company has not acted rashly to avoid offending Haihan and causing more trouble.
Previously, Su Keyi thought that the Portuguese could not go to the north, so he was not in a hurry to break through this barrier. But now that he knows that the Haihan Gang has gone astray, he can no longer sit back and watch the situation continue to develop in this direction. But how can we get the Haihan people to relent and allow Dutch merchant ships to enter the northern waters?
At this moment, a subordinate knocked on the door and came in, presenting him with the official letter just sent from Victory Port. This is an official letter brought by a Dutch merchant ship traveling between Sanya and Batavia. The yellow parchment envelope is sealed with the seal of Van Diemen, the Governor of the East India Company, which indicates that it may contain A handwritten letter from Van Diemen, or a resolution of the company's board of directors issued by him. After Su Keyi checked it, he picked up the paper knife from the desk, gently lifted the lacquer seal, and took out the letter.
This letter is a personal letter from Governor Van Diemen. The content is to inform Su Keyi that the East India Company has finally cleared the sea route from Batavia to New Guinea on the east coast of the Banda Sea, and to the north of the Banda Sea. After lengthy contacts and negotiations with the spice producing areas in the Maluku Sea, local tribes have recently begun to provide the company with a stable supply of goods.
This spice route needs to pass through the areas ruled by the Mataram Kingdom in Sulawesi and eastern Java. Due to the deep grievances between the Mataram Kingdom and the East India Company, Dutch merchant ships can only be flown by Mataram in this area. If caught by the country, it will be a dead end, and the risk is high enough to deter most sailors. Only a few speedboats dare to risk crossing this sea area. But once they successfully cross this sea area, the spices brought back will be enough for the brave men to make a lot of money. Therefore, this route is also called the "Death and Fortune Route" by Dutch sailors, which means the wealth on this route. It goes hand in hand with death.
In order to protect the ultra-high profits brought by this route, the East India Company has always kept the specific status of this route secret, but it is still inevitable that ships from other Western countries will try to join the ranks of competitors. . Therefore, the Dutch merchant ships on this route not only have to fight against the Matalan ships, but also try to clean up those Western counterparts who are fishing in troubled waters.
Van Diemen organized an armed fleet and personally led the team to conduct sweeps back and forth on this route for more than two months. He achieved a record of sinking five ships and capturing nine sailing ships. Almost all other Western ships were cleared. However, during this period, the shortcomings of the Dutch armed merchant ships' insufficient combat effectiveness were once again exposed. Even when they had a clear advantage, due to the limited firepower output capability of the ship, it was difficult to subdue the opponent in a short period of time, and often needed to be carried out at sea. The long pursuit operation that lasted for tens or even hundreds of nautical miles was actually very inefficient. Van Diemen asked Su Keyi to apply to Haihan again to purchase the "exploration-class" or "exploration-class" warship produced by Haihan. If he could not buy the ship, he could buy ship-borne artillery. He hoped to expand the East India Company's maritime armed strength in the South China Sea as soon as possible so that it would not be at a disadvantage in the confrontation with the Matalan Kingdom.
The reason why Van Diemen had such worries was because he heard that the Matalan Kingdom had sent a mission to Sanya, and the purpose was also to make a large arms purchase involving ships. If the Maltalan Kingdom takes the lead, the East India Company's situation will inevitably become very passive. Therefore, he made another request to Su Keyi in the letter: If the Haihan people are unwilling to sell ships and cannons, then the next best thing is to try their best to prevent the Haihan people from selling these equipment to the Matalan country.
The East India Company and the Malayan Kingdom fought a vigorous offensive and defensive battle around the city of Batavia in 1632, and both sides suffered losses in the end. But after a few years of recuperation, minor frictions and armed conflicts between the two sides slowly became more frequent again. If this momentum continues, it will only be a matter of time before the two sides come to blows. Based on the lessons learned last time, Van Diemen naturally attaches great importance to the accumulation of maritime armed forces. On the one hand, he expands his strength by building his own ships, and on the other hand, he has been trying to purchase more powerful combat ships from Haihan.
Haihan's warships are not commercial goods that can be bought with money. So far, only a few die-hard allies can purchase a few ships from Haihan in small quantities every year, and they are only foreign trade standard versions, not Haihan Navy. There is still a certain gap in performance among the models that are actually installed. But even this version with reduced performance is still a good thing in the eyes of the outside world, especially the Dutch, who are good at shipbuilding. They have always wanted to buy a few ships and dismantle them to study Haihan's shipbuilding technology and ships. Design concepts to seek the possibility of imitation.
In order to add some weight to this arms purchase application, Van Diemen instructed Sukeyi to make certain concessions to Haihan on certain sensitive issues, such as allowing Haihan ships to trade with Dutch-controlled ports in the East Indies. , which even includes several new settlements in the Banda Sea and Maluku Sea.
In fact, this sporadic trade could not bring much profit to Haihan. Its significance mainly lies in the fact that the East India Company approved Haihan's ships to enter this sea area that they designated as a restricted area. If we want to make an analogy, it is similar to Haihan allowing Dutch merchant ships to enter the northern waters of the Ming Dynasty.
"Give in, give in, there will be no room left to give in!" Su Keyi finished reading the letter and slowly stuffed the letter back into the envelope, feeling a little heavy. In recent years, the control scope of the East India Company has been suppressed by Haihan to the Java Island line south of Borneo. The Haihan stronghold closest to Batavia City has advanced to Bangka Belitung Island, forcing the East India Company to The Indian Company's expedition ships can go east.
Su Keyi hopes that Batavia can be tougher, so that he can have more confidence when dealing with the Haihan people in Sanya, so that he will not be suppressed by the opponent every time and unable to resist. But Van Diemen's letter obviously disappointed him again. The heroic general who stood up to the Macedonian army seems to have been smoothed by the operating profits required by the board of directors. He did not dare to offend Haihan, and even actively avoided matters that might conflict with Haihan.
Now, in order to purchase Haihan's weapons and equipment, Van Diemen even decided to use the East India Company's most important spice producing area as a weight. Although it only gave Haihan the right to enter this area for trade, Su Keyi stayed in Sanya. After such a long time, it is naturally clear that once Haihan enters a certain area, it will form a very strong influence in a short period of time. The areas controlled by it along the coast of the Ming Dynasty have fully proved this. With the Ming Dynasty's national power, it is impossible to defend against it, let alone the indigenous tribes on the islands in the South China Sea. The Haihan people may be at home in those places, and it will not be long before they threaten the interests of the East India Company.
Su Keyi didn't believe that Van Diemen couldn't think of this reason. He really felt that this kind of risk was not worth the gain. Even if he bought a warship and suppressed the horse and blue people, it would not be the same as driving the tiger through the front door and letting in the wolf through the back door. He would gain nothing at all from the situation. It is difficult to say whether it will improve or even worsen. But this was the Governor's order. As the East India Company's representative in Sanya, he had no choice but to execute it.
Su Keyi knew very well that this order was not as easy as what was written in Van Diemen's letter. Applying for arms purchase from Haihan was quite troublesome. Su Keyi had tried it several times before, but was rejected at the formal review stage. And once the news spreads, a group of people will immediately jump out to strongly oppose this matter, such as the Portuguese Minister Thomas and others. Van Diemen asked him to stumble the horse and the blue man, but why would others not stumble the East India Company?
How should this matter be carried out to make it possible? Su Keyi sat in the study from dusk until dusk, but still could not come up with a suitable solution.
(End of chapter)