"Why is the king so sure that the Dutch will eventually reach an agreement with us and withdraw from that stronghold?" Qi Dajiang asked.

"Are all of you doubtful about this?" Qi Tian said with a smile: "In the meeting just now, I saw that you all showed doubts, but you still kept it in your stomach and did not dare to ask.

Why, they instigated you to ask me?"

"The main reason is that many of the king's previous decisions proved afterwards how wise and forward-looking you were. Therefore, even if everyone has doubts in their hearts now, they still believe in your judgment and decisions." Qi Dajiang looked at Qi Tian,

I tried hard to match his current appearance with the image of the frail younger brother ten years ago, but I couldn't match him. I always felt that he was two completely different people.

"The fact that I can make the right decision does not prove how wise and powerful I am, nor does it prove that I have any foresight." Qi Tian was slightly absent-minded, smiled bitterly, and said: "What I have learned from is nothing more than existing knowledge.

The general trend of history. But there are still many things in this world that I have not understood and known."

"Huh?" Qi Dajiang looked at Qi Tian in confusion.

"In the future, if you military personnel have any questions, you must raise them immediately. As the saying goes, one person can calculate shortcomings, and two people can calculate long-term risks. Three people are better than Zhuge Liang. Many affairs are complicated and complicated. If I make arbitrary decisions every time, this is not the case.

We are the blessings of the country of Qi." Qi Tian said solemnly: "Therefore, we have established a staff system in the military and a consultative and deliberation system in the Prime Minister's Office, in order to avoid personal supervisory assumptions and arbitrary actions."

"This time we advocate resolving the dispute with the Dutch through negotiation, which is the best choice made by the staff after several rounds of situation deductions. Four years ago, we could strengthen the city defenses in Jianye City, Xinxiang City, Zhenhaicheng and other places to resist

The invasion of the Dutch. Today, eastern Hanzhou, Weiyuan Island, etc.

Dozens of development points are scattered throughout the area, and the city defenses are weak. Our naval ships are not enough to maintain local sea control. Once we break up with the Dutch, they will certainly suffer huge losses, and we will also suffer heavy losses.

More importantly, the war will seriously affect our early layout in the Ming Dynasty."

"Will the Netherlands definitely compromise and finally remove that stronghold?" Qi Dajiang nodded, acknowledging Qi Tian's concerns. In four years, Qi's strength and population have increased, but with the expansion of its territory, the difficulty of defense has also increased accordingly.

big.

"The Dutch came to Nanyang from distant Europe to colonize and gain wealth." Qi Tian said leisurely: "If we show our determination to fight for this, they should make some concessions. We are now

There are many development points, and the Dutch are enough to pose a serious threat to us. But similarly, after ten years of development, our Qi country has

Its strength cannot be underestimated, and it is also the biggest threat to the Dutch East India Company. Therefore, both of us will be each other's biggest geographical rivals, but without absolute strength to crush or eliminate the other, neither one will

Attack the other side easily. In this case, the only way is to sit down and talk and work hard to eliminate the factors that cause war."

"Haha..., we and the Dutch are at odds with each other." Qi Dajiang smiled, and then asked: "After we develop for another ten years, can we compete with the Dutch?"

"The Dutch are actually nothing to worry about." Qi Tian shook his head and said: "They are a merchant country with limited industrial output. Their domestic capital tends to short-term and fast overseas trade, and their development potential is definitely insufficient. Our Qi country will develop for another ten years and its strength will be strong."

Not to mention that it can catch up with the level of the Netherlands, but it shouldn't be difficult to deal with a Dutch East India Company."

"Well, we add two professional warships every year. In ten years, there will be more than 20 ships. We should have some confidence to deal with the Dutch's numerous armed merchant ships."

"At that time, even if our naval technical and combat capabilities were slightly inferior, we could still defeat the Dutch even if we fought against them." Qi Tian said with a smile.

At the end of February, according to rough population statistics from various places, Hanzhou itself and several affiliated overseas territories such as Weiyuan Island and Timor Island had a population of more than 148,700. The immigrants who arrived this year have not yet been included.

But it will definitely not be less than 24,000 people. In this way, when the immigration season ends in March, Qi's population will reach 170,000.

Even more rare is that the native-born population has also begun to grow steadily. Last year, the number of births in the mainland and several nearby overseas territories reached more than 8,300, setting a new high.

According to relatively optimistic estimates, the annual immigration and native-born population can increase the population of Qi by more than 30,000 people per year. In ten years, the total population size will definitely exceed 500,000.

If the huge population and strong industrial production capacity cannot crush a colonial company, then it will be too useless for Qi State.

Rick Wolf, the representative of the Dutch East India Company in Qi, walked out of the Chancellery Building with a serious look on his face. He had just been jointly summoned by the Prime Minister of Qi and Minister Hong Lu to inform them that the East India Company had set up a secret stronghold in northern Hanzhou without authorization.

A stern warning was issued regarding this incident. For this reason, the Qi government required the East India Company to immediately remove this stronghold and evacuate all personnel and armed forces from the Hanzhou mainland. Otherwise, the Qi government will take necessary decisive measures in this regard.

The so-called "decisive measures", Rick Wolfe knew what this meant, the secret stronghold set up by the Han Chinese for the East India Company had already issued a threat of war.

When passing through Jianye City Square, Rick Wolfe was surprised to see countless armed men in military uniforms gathering from various places in the city, with passionate horn sounds, short and powerful passwords, and neat and solemn queues, such as Xu Rulin

A phalanx of bayonets and more than a dozen artillery pieces pulled by packhorses...

Oh, God, could it be that the Han Chinese had just issued a warning to their East India Company, and then turned around and started impatiently starting their war machine?

Groups of soldiers who had completed the review, led by officers, began to march out of the city one after another. The long queue passed through the wide streets, and majestic slogans broke out from time to time amid the cheers of the people on both sides.

One after another, the desire for war in the entire city was instantly ignited.

No, the war can be avoided! Rick Wolf stopped watching and feeling the war atmosphere in the city, and hurried to the business building with a few subordinates. He must report everything here to Bada immediately

The people of Via and Han seemed to be angered by the behavior of their East India Company.

After staying in Hanzhou for nearly three years, Rick Wolfe thinks he has a certain understanding of this country. Their population is growing rapidly, and the number, variety, and scale of the industrial materials they produce are also expanding year by year.

Although their shipbuilding capabilities and the development of their maritime armed forces are unknown, in June, July and February and March, as many as 30 or 40 ships kept traveling between Jianye Port and other areas of Hanzhou to perform immigration tasks. , he can also roughly estimate Hanzhou's maritime power. Compared with four years ago during the war, Hanzhou's ships must have increased by at least 30%.

Valley false accusation

If war broke out again, the Dutch East India Company would not necessarily lose, but the losses it would suffer would probably be far greater than last time. In view of this, the Batavia colonial authorities probably did not want to have a conflict with Hanzhou.

------------------

March 10, northern Hanzhou, Holenburg (now Port Kitts, northern Australia).

The governor of Hollenburg, Gorol Kahn, stood on a rock on the shore, looked at it with a monocular for a long time, and then breathed a sigh of relief. The Han Chinese warships obviously had no intention of attacking Hollenburg directly. The two incoming warships had lowered their sails and stopped one kilometer away from the shore, apparently blocking Hollenburg.

Half a month ago, the mercenaries on guard duty at Hollenburg discovered the Han Chinese sailors who had broken into the vicinity. Then, under the leadership of the officers, they quickly rushed out of the castle and tried to catch the Han Chinese sailors who were peeping at Hollenburg.

But unfortunately, the other side left four sailors on the shore, holding muskets and shooting at the pursuing mercenaries to cover the evacuation of other companions. Although in the end, the mercenaries relied on their numerical advantage to surround them from three sides and attack them. One person was killed, another was wounded, and the remaining two were captured. However, the other party's boat docked on the shore quickly left.

At that time, Governor Gorol Kahn began to get nervous, and they were finally discovered by the Hanzhou people. You know, there are only two hundred and twenty people in Holenburg, of which only more than sixty are mercenaries, and the rest They are the natives of Java Island and the black natives captured from nearby areas.

The country of Hanzhou is a local power that can mobilize thousands of people at any time. Now that they have found out the location of Hollenburg, they will inevitably attract their ships and armed landing personnel. Just a month ago, Hollenburg We have only received supplies once, and it will take another two months for the armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company to come to provide supplies again.

God, in two months, the Han Chinese might be able to attack Hollenborg and kill them all. The corpses would begin to rot. Even the East India Company personnel might not know everything that happened here.

-----------------------

March 17, Kupang, Timor Island.

Two armed merchant ships under the East India Company anchored at the port were shocked to see five Hanzhou warships suddenly appear outside the harbor. They first intercepted several fishing boats and drove them all back to the shore. Although they did not commit any attack. , but the deep hostility revealed still plunged the ships and personnel in Kupang Port into panic.

The Governor of Kupang ordered someone to drive a small boat to the Hanzhou Fleet and asked the other party what their intentions were. Was it going to be a war with the East India Company?

As a result, the representatives sent were ruthlessly refused to board the ship by the Hanzhou people, refused to communicate, and did not give any explanation. They only ordered that any ship in the Kupang port must be inspected and interrogated by the Hanzhou fleet when entering or leaving the port, and they were prohibited from carrying weapons.

Ships with military personnel leave the port.

After the Governor of Kupang heard the news, he was extremely angry. When will our East India Company's trading station be blocked by the Hanzhou people and dare to inspect our ships entering and leaving the port! This is Chi Guoguo's war threat.

Are the Han people crazy?

However, after thinking about it for a moment, I felt that the Hanzhou people seemed to be still some distance away from the war. Their five warships only approached the Kupang port, but they did not make any attacks, and even allowed the ships to enter and exit.

They just had to undergo inspection. This shows that they still maintained a certain degree of restraint and did not want the situation to worsen to the final step.

The Governor of Kupang immediately sent a fast liaison ship to Batavia to report everything that happened here. The Hanzhou people suddenly showed abnormal and aggressive behavior. It must be that our East India Company angered us about something.

They were so angry that the other party sent ships to Kupang to demonstrate.

-------------------

March 24, Batavia, Governor's Mansion.

A temporary emergency meeting was being held in the meeting hall of the Governor's Mansion. Governor Cornelis Van Der Lin glanced at the dozen or so colonial officials sitting there with a stern face, and then said in a deep voice: "That's the way it is, Han.

The Europeans don't know how they knew of the existence of Holenburg and found its location accurately. Now, they have issued a serious warning to our East India Company, requiring us to immediately remove all personnel and weapons from this stronghold.

Gentlemen, please tell me your opinions on how to deal with this matter."

"The news we received from the Hanzhou Trading Station is that the Hanzhou people have begun local war mobilization. More than a thousand armed forces are gathering in their Jianye City, and countless war materials have also begun to arrive from their inland areas.

Factories are constantly being delivered to the Jianye Port Terminal." Senior Commercial Counselor Fred

Upton said slowly: "It seems that the Hanzhou people were stimulated by our secret establishment of Holenburg. They issued a threat of war, and I think their threat will be transformed into a real war at some point."

War operations. Therefore, we must attach great importance to this."

"According to statistics, as of the end of last year, our bilateral trade volume with Hanzhou reached 1.2 million dong, making us an important trading partner of the East India Company. In addition to grain and wood, almost most of our daily necessities are

It is provided by Hanzhou. Moreover, the sugar, cloisonné, wood carvings, mirrors, steel knives, soap and other commodities produced by Hanzhou are transported by us to India, Persia, Ottoman, and Europe, which have brought us extremely considerable profits.

"

"If we really fall into war with Hanzhou again, I think it will seriously affect the trade surplus of the entire East India Company. You know, Hanzhou is not like those princely kingdoms in the East Indies. They have a very good land war force.

strength, and a small but extremely capable navy. It is reported that their navy has at least eight to ten professional warships. Once a conflict occurs, it will inevitably cause us a certain degree of loss. Therefore, I suggest that we remove that

Holenburg, restore peace with Hanzhou."

"If we immediately remove Hollenborg based solely on the Han Chinese's war blackmail, will it appear that our East India Company is too weak?" Rear Admiral Grigris Kopet, commander of the Batavia Navy, shook his head and said

: "I remember that when an officer introduced me to the situation of the Hanzhou people, he mentioned something that made me

Very interesting news. In June and July last year, when a large number of ships from Hanzhou went to the Ming Dynasty to immigrate, they brought many soldiers, estimated to be at least 800 people. They seemed to be particularly concerned about the turmoil in the Ming Dynasty, and a large number of military personnel

Personnel and military supplies have arrived near the Ming Dynasty. What does this mean?"

Major General Grigris Coppett nodded to Governor Delin, then looked at the other colonial officials sitting there, and then continued: "This means that Hanzhou has invested a lot of resources in an attempt to interfere with the Ming Dynasty.

The situation in the Ming Dynasty. In other words, the Han people wanted to get some benefits from the situation in the Ming Dynasty when the situation was chaotic.

Vital interests. The distance from Hanzhou to the Ming Kingdom is so long. Even if it is a so-called regional power with a population of hundreds of thousands, it will inevitably involve most of Hanzhou's energy and resources. Let me ask, what is Hanzhou's role in this kind of situation?
Chapter completed!