November 15, 1652, Makassar, Sulawesi.

Portuguese Governor Ogne Mateo led a group of colonial officials and looked at the three Hanzhou armed merchant ships docked at the pier with complicated expressions. Groups of fully armed rural soldiers and native servants were constantly coming from behind.

People filed off the boat.

"Governor Mateo, we have only mobilized more than 200 armed troops this time, plus more than 300 native servants. I think the military strength is enough." Gu Rongtang said with a smile: "You know,

In order to organize this expedition, the head of our trading company personally went to Xuanhua Island to lobby the general manager of the station, and also sponsored a large development fund for them, so we managed to get so many troops over."

As the shopkeeper responsible for the Sulawesi area under Nanyang Trading Company, Ku Rong Tang often travels to Makassar and occasionally stays here for a period of time. He is already quite familiar with the local Portuguese and can speak a little Portuguese.

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Now, with several years of hard work, Nanyang Trading Company has sold a large number of Qi's industrial products to the Gowa Sultanate Kingdom, and soon came from behind to replace the Portuguese and become the Sultanate Kingdom's largest trading partner. Almost all the products on the market

They are filled with Qi goods, cotton cloth, sugar, paper, alcohol, iron farm tools and hardware, various grades of porcelain, fine

Refined salt, whale oil, and high-end luxury goods such as glass, porcelain, and pearls.

Qi State, on the other hand, exchanged large amounts of sulfur, tin, nickel, gold, silver, etc., as well as buffaloes, sheep and other livestock from the Gowa Sultan Kingdom through trade, and it was in an absolute dominant position in trade.

In recent years, the Gowa Sultan Kingdom has been in constant friction with several kingdoms established by the Bugis in the east, and border conflicts have often occurred. In addition, during the war between Qi and the Dutch East India Company three years ago, the Bugis colluded with the Dutch.

Prepare to jointly invade the Gowa Sultan Kingdom and take advantage of the situation to eradicate the Portuguese forces in Makassar.

You must know that from the first Sino-Dutch War, the Portuguese in the Nanyang region could almost be regarded as quasi-allies of Qi. The two sides cooperated in all aspects against the expansion of the Dutch East India Company's power. After the war, the Portuguese

They also helped the Qi Nanyang trading company enter the market of Gowa Sultan Kingdom, and assisted the Indian trading company to enter the Indian market. There are very close business ties between the two parties.

A few months ago, the Gowa Sultan Kingdom invited the Portuguese in Makassar to dispatch troops to jointly attack the Bugis in the east to completely eliminate the kingdom's rear threat. Considering that they were weak, the Portuguese lobbied Nanyang trading companies.

In order to further expand its trade privileges in the Gowa Sultan Kingdom, it was asked to dispatch armed personnel to participate in military operations against the Bugis, thereby extending the trade tentacles of both parties to the eastern and northeastern regions.

Hearing that he could expand the trade market, obtain more trade privileges, and obtain a large number of seizures during the war, Furongtang immediately agreed, then returned to Hanzhou and began to lobby several big bosses of the trading company. He claimed that he would be a Nanyang trading company.

For further trade expansion, it was extremely necessary for trading companies to intervene in the war between the Gowa Sultan Kingdom and the Bugis.

Nanyang Trading Company is the earliest foreign trade trading company established in Qi State, and its business area covers almost the entire Nanyang Islands. However, with the establishment of Indian Trading Company, it soon surpassed Nanyang Trading Company in both trade volume and profit, causing several principals to

The big shopkeeper felt the pressure and was wary of it.

What is even more surprising is that the Handong Trading Company, which was established only a few years ago, has also begun to rise rapidly. With its monopoly authorization of the eastern waters and islands of Hanzhou, the trading company has vigorously developed and supplied almost all the domestic whale oil and whale oil.

Canned meat, seal skins, giant trees and other products are also mined for gold and nickel ores, and the business is booming.

Therefore, Nanyang Trading Co., Ltd. naturally refused to lag behind while occupying a vast market area. In the past few years, it began to speed up its layout in various places, vowing to overtake Indian trading companies and regain the top spot in foreign trade.

After learning that the shopkeeper of the Makassar Market wanted to gain further business privileges in the region by supporting and intervening in the foreign wars of the Kingdom of Gowa Sultan, and thereby extend and expand the trading market of the trading company, he consulted the military.

After the General Staff adopted this attitude, they obtained tacit approval and immediately began to implement it.

Wu Guoqing, the chief executive of Hanzhou Trading Company, personally took a boat to Xuanhua Island (today's Timor Island) and visited Hu Pingjiang, the general manager there. Relying on the relationship between his old brothers in Dengzhou, he sought support from the other party for military operations in Sulawesi Island.

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The Xuanhua General Administrative Area under the jurisdiction of Hu Pingjiang included Xuanhua Island, Niu Island (today's Yandena Island in Indonesia), Yimen Island (today's Weta Island in Indonesia, north of Timor Island), Yanling Island (today's Alor Island in Indonesia)

, north of Timor Island), Songling Island (today's Luo Tunnel, southwest of Timor Island), Yuanhe Island (today's Savu Island, Indonesia, southwest of Timor Island) and other more than ten large and small islands, guarding the north of Hanzhou mainland

portal.

As the regional general manager, Hu Pingjiang naturally hopes to further expand his jurisdiction and make it radiate to a wider area. The Xuanhan general managerial area is backed by the Hanzhou continent and faces many islands in Southeast Asia. It is the bridgehead and logistics for Qi's overseas expansion.

base. When Wu Guoqing, the head of the Nanyang Trading Company, said that he hoped to further extend Qi's influence and power to the eastern and northeastern regions of Makassar, he naturally agreed.

To this end, he issued recruitment orders in several counties and towns in the Xuanhua District, mobilized more than 200 rural soldiers, and organized more than 300 native servants, led by several retired officers with rich combat experience, on the Nanyang

Several armed merchant ships from the trading company arrived in Makassar. The Nanyang Trading Company paid 50,000 Hanzhou silver dollars and promised to invest in and build several coffee plantations on Xuanhua Island.

Regarding the recruitment by the government and Nanyang trading companies, the rural soldiers on Xuanhua Island did not reject it, but actively signed up to participate. Compared with the military operations to suppress the indigenous people on Weiyuan Island (New Guinea), the rural soldiers of Qi State

They are more willing to attack the feudal kingdoms on the Nanyang Islands. These feudal kingdoms that have established political organizations are much richer than the poor natives on the desert islands.

As for the danger, it is not non-existent. However, compared with the rich harvests obtained in the battle with the Tubang Kingdom, some risks are worth it. As long as the town strongholds of the Tubang Kingdom can be breached, the loot will be enough to be worth the number of fields.

Year's harvest. At that time, building a brick house, marrying a wife, and having a litter of babies will no longer be a dream.

The Portuguese stronghold of Makassar, with the support of Qi State, after more than ten years of development, the population has exceeded 1,600 people. It can be said that the growth rate is amazing, and it once aroused the fear of the Dutch.

Oyster Mirror (today's Macau), a stronghold on the coast of the Ming Dynasty, was declining due to the ban on trade with Japan (the impact of the Japanese lockdown) and the civil strife of the Ming Dynasty, and its business became increasingly unsustainable. Therefore, many Portuguese in Oyster Mirror

People avoid Makassar one after another, which indirectly increases the population here and prospers the local economy.

The Portuguese have a complicated view of the Qi people. Threatened by the Dutch East India Company, they are extremely dependent on Qi's support and help economically and militarily, but they feel an inexplicable loss about their subordinate status.

Beginning in the 15th century, the Portuguese and Spanish launched great global geographical discoveries, established their respective colonial empires, and once held absolute dominance in the East Indies.

In the 15th to 17th centuries, when a European, whether he was a Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, British or French, encountered an African slave, a native of the East Indies or an American Indian for the first time, he would say:

Instinctively and naturally, these people believe that these people are several social levels lower than the servant class in other countries without any privileges.

The reasons are obvious. On the one hand, these dark-skinned ethnic groups did not accept the Christian culture, which was considered by Europeans to be an important channel of salvation; on the other hand, they did not have the technology to resist European conquest. At that time, even military strength

The Ottomans, who were powerful and well-organized politically, were also looked down upon as heretics by them.

For the European colonists, the local people were savages who should work for their white masters, make them Christians if possible, and, if necessary, deal with them like vermin

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But now, the once-superior Portuguese have to look up to the Qi people and live in Makassar. This makes many proud people of God a little unaccustomed and awkward. But the world has changed like this, and they can't help but be willful.

As long as the other party gives up their support for them, I believe the Dutch will launch an expulsion action against them, just like the examples of Ambon and Malacca.

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On November 21, the Qi State and the Portuguese dispatched five large armed merchant ships, a dozen galleys, and flat-bottomed boats, carrying more than 800 landing troops, around the southern tip of Sulawesi Island, and attacked the Boji camp established by the Bugis in the east of the island.

The Kingdom of Nasudan (Bone) launched an attack. At the same time, the Kingdom of Gowa Sultan dispatched an army of 4,000 people to attack the Kingdom of Nasudan via land from the west, forming a flanking attack with the Qi-Portuguese coalition forces.

The coalition landing point is located on the coast more than ten kilometers away from Sinjayi, the royal city of King Bernard Sultan. A river that flows into the sea leads directly to the royal city. However, the river channel is relatively narrow and the water level is shallow. It is impossible to sail large ships along the river. We can only rely on numerous

The flat-bottomed boat paddled upstream.

In the evening of that day, the first batch of more than 400 coalition troops was caught off guard by the Kingdom of Bernard Sultan. They quickly landed two miles away from the royal city and established a temporary camp. At night, the coalition forces relied on hastily built resistance horses to repel them.

A night attack launched by the Bernard Sultan Kingdom killed and injured more than 200 natives, and the camp was firmly defended.

In the afternoon of the next day, the second batch of more than 400 coalition troops arrived by boat and brought two 3-pound land combat guns. The officer leading the team did not delay anymore and immediately led the troops towards the royal city of the Bernard Sultana Kingdom.

Go, if you move quickly, you might be able to break through the city before dark and enjoy a feast of plunder.

"Is there a Dutchman in the city?" After the troops arrived a few hundred meters into the royal city, several rural soldiers quickly reported the advance investigation of the enemy's situation to the commander. The city was not big, with a circumference of less than two miles. It was built with rammed earth and wood, and the defense was

The army only had more than a thousand people. However, there were no fewer than five or six artillery pieces deployed at the top of the city, and some of the defenders even had muskets. This made the coalition forces scratch their heads.

However, several men with European faces were also found at the top of the city. It goes without saying that they must be mercenaries from the Dutch East India Company. This made the Marine officers leading the team feel even more troublesome.

"Bring more artillery ashore." The officer leading the team said fiercely: "I don't believe it. With nearly a thousand troops attacking the city, how can a few East India Company mercenaries block us outside the city?"

"The attack on the Dutch mercenaries will not cause a confrontation between us, right?" an officer said hesitantly.

"I'm afraid! We have worked so hard to get here, can we still retreat? I didn't see that the eyes of the brothers were red, and they all wanted to rush into the city. Besides, our Qi country can't

Without dispatching a formal army, it is considered a civilian action. Do the Dutch dare to fall out with our Qi country over this?"

"But it will cost a lot of casualties..."

"...Let the natives and Portuguese attack first, and we will check the situation later before attacking."

Before dark, the coalition forces launched a tentative attack. As expected, they were repulsed by artillery and musketry from the city head, leaving more than a dozen corpses behind. They had to temporarily set up a temporary camp under the city to wait for more artillery the next day.

arrival.

However, at night, a mercenary officer from the East India Company came to the coalition camp to discuss how to end the armed confrontation between the two sides here.

"You want 30% of the city's capture?"

"Yes, we need 30% of the city's capture." The mercenary officer said nonchalantly: "I think we are qualified to receive this reward. Because our withdrawal will allow you to quickly occupy this city and avoid unnecessary

casualties. Gentlemen, what do you think?"

"Twenty percent!... I can only give you 20% at most!"

The Qi officers and Portuguese officers leading the team looked at each other, and they were somewhat moved by each other. These East India Company merchants and mercenaries from Batavia were only responsible for protecting the safety of their trading stations and goods, and did not help.

The obligation to fight for the Kingdom of Bernard Sultan.

You must know that most of the army of this kingdom has been assembled to the western border to deal with the invasion of the Gowa Sultan Kingdom. In the face of the attack of the Qi-Portugal coalition, even with the help of a dozen mercenaries, it is nothing more than

If you just hold on for a few more days, this royal city will be breached sooner or later. If the city is breached, there is no guarantee that the opponent will be angry with the mercenaries for assisting in the defense and carry out retaliatory killings.

In this case, it is better to sell this royal city to the other party, which will not only save your own life, but also gain additional wealth. As for how to maintain trade with the local area in the future, I am afraid that I can only report the truth to Batavia afterwards and wait for the company's response.

Further instructions. War, such a force majeure event, is not something they, employees with only meager salaries, can handle.

In the early morning of November 24, King Bernard Sultan's city-Sinjayi was sold to the Qi-Portuguese coalition forces by a group of unscrupulous businessmen and mercenaries. A looting campaign against the Bugis lasted for more than ten days. Countless people

Treasures, gold, silver, tortoise shells, and rhinoceros horns were divided, and thousands of pigs, cattle, and sheep were looted...

In the following days, the army of the Gowa Sultan Kingdom also defeated the army of the Bernard Sultan Kingdom in the west, captured the sultan of that country, and destroyed this small country established by the Bugis.

When the Gowa people were preparing to come to take over the royal city of Sinjayi, they were surprised to find that the Han people had already occupied the town and declared that the thirty miles surrounding the city and the nearby coastal areas belonged to the Nanyang Trading Company, prohibiting the Gowa people from

The army of the Sultan Kingdom entered.

After hearing this, Sultan Hassan-ud-din of the Kingdom of Gowa immediately ordered the army to withdraw from the area claimed by the Hanzhou people and tried his best to avoid any conflict with them. However, the wise and wise King Hassan Sultan was once revealed by defeating the Bugis.
Chapter completed!