Chapter 934 Weighing the pros and cons

Of course, the idea of ​​sweeping Macau was just Van Longen's impulsive talk. He wanted to send an armed fleet to attack ports 1,800 nautical miles away, even if the East India Company still had such spare power and had sufficient confidence to defeat the Portuguese.

confidence, we must also carefully consider Haihan's possible reaction to this. We must know that the armed stronghold of the Haihan people at the Pearl River Estuary is only twenty or thirty nautical miles away from Macau, and it is unlikely that they will stand idly by. Once they intervene, the East India Company will be completely

The chance of retreat is slim.

However, Van Diemen did not think that this trading system was dominated by the Portuguese. He believed that the Haihan people could not let their defeated generals ride on their heads to direct the overall situation. The Portuguese at most played a role in fueling the situation, but to say that they

Van Diemen didn't believe that he could instruct Haihan to do this or that. Moreover, Yan Chujie deliberately mentioned the information on the European battlefield during the meeting, which was obviously unlikely to be intelligence from the Portuguese. Haihan's knowledge of the war situation in Europe was unlikely.

They understand things in more detail than the Portuguese, so they provide reference information wherever it is needed.

"Gentlemen, I think the focus now should be on the requests made by the Haihan people. We need to evaluate the consequences of rejecting or agreeing to them, and consider what is the most beneficial choice for the company, rather than worrying about our anger.

Spoil it on the Portuguese!" Van Diemen knocked on the table and said, signaling Van Longen not to take the topic too far: "We don't need to make any more unnecessary attempts to attack Macau!"

Van Longen also knew that what he just said was not very logical, so he blushed and sat back in his seat. The Dutch had attacked Macau in history. In early 1622, Governor Cohen considered joining the British army to directly attack Macau and occupy it.

Locally. In June of that year, sixteen warships and more than a thousand soldiers led by Cornaris Reyoz launched a landing battle in Macau. However, Commander Reyoz seriously underestimated Macau's defense capabilities.

After two hours of fierce fighting, the ammunition of the landing force was exhausted. At this time, the Portuguese launched a counterattack, causing heavy casualties to the attackers. In this battle, the Dutch Expeditionary Force suffered a disastrous defeat, with 136 people killed.

, more than 40 people were captured. This result was even more casualties than the Dutch fleet's two-year battle with the Ming Dynasty in southern Fujian. For the East India Company, the Battle of Macau was indeed an old and painful scar that no one could bear.

I would like to mention this disgraceful record.

At present, Haihan has given the East India Company two options. One is to join the trade alliance, but the price the East India Company has to pay for this is to give up shipping and trade in the area north of Ambrosia Island, and transfer everything to Haihan to operate on his behalf.

The second option is to refuse to join the alliance, but the consequences of this may be serious. The East India Company will suffer a boycott from the members of the trade alliance, and there may even be old enemies like the Materan Kingdom to take the initiative in the future.

Looking for trouble.

Judging from the results, no matter which option is chosen, the East India Company will suffer huge losses in the short term. The only difference is that the former option may receive a certain degree of compensation.

Of course, the prospect of Haihan joining the trade alliance is very bright. Dutch merchants only need to place orders on Ambrina Island or even Batavia, and the remaining production, procurement, and transportation links will be handled by other parties in the alliance.

The countries have joined forces to complete it. What the East India Company needs to do is to prepare cash to pay and deliver the goods during the transaction, and then transport these goods produced in the Far East back to Europe. The performance of the Haihan cargo ship can support

It travels back and forth between Sanya Port and Batavia almost without interruption throughout the year, and the total amount of goods it can provide to the East India Company will also greatly exceed the current level of the East India Company's self-operation. If it only purchases goods

Considering the cost, it is obviously more cost-effective for the Trade Federation to handle the matter than the East India Company organizing its own procurement and transportation.

However, the East India Company is not a purely commercial organization. To a certain extent, it also undertakes the task of the Netherlands to expand its territory in the Far East. Many things cannot be considered based solely on commercial interests. In the past few years, the East India Company

It has invested huge manpower, material and financial resources to build the Taiyuan Port colony in Taiwan and open up trade routes in Northeast Asia. On the one hand, it is to make money. On the other hand, it is also hoping to support Taiyuan Port through trade and gradually control Taiwan Island to make it a

The Netherlands' base in Northeast Asia. Of course, this plan has tended to fail with the emergence of the Haihan people, and they are no longer satisfied with keeping Damuan Port in captivity, and plan to completely expel them from the local area.

"The Haihan people only agree to retain the company's office locally, and all business activities must submit applications and obtain their review and permission before they can be implemented. This is equivalent to abolishing Taiyuan Port. Gentlemen, we cannot agree to such a request.

, Without Damuan Port, it is equivalent to handing over Northeast Asia to the Haihan people! This means that all our efforts in the past ten years have been in vain!" Van der Wegen is also one of the opposition, but everyone present knows that he

He and Chief Hans share the same affection as father and son, so this kind of opposition sounds like there are some personal emotions mixed into it.

"If you want to protect Taiyuan Port, you have to protect it." The speaker was Philip, who is currently serving as the import and export trade commissioner of the East India Company. He was a new member of the council who was recently promoted, and he was given the opportunity to be promoted.

The reason is also very subtle, because the slave trade he ran created a lot of profits for the East India Company after the war, but the targets of the slave trade were the Haihan people who came to the door this time.

"With all due respect, if the Haihan people wanted to use military means to solve the problem of Taiyuan Port, they would probably have finished it in the first half of this year. But they did not attack Taiyuan Port, they just circled around the door and then went north to beat up the Spaniards.

Gentlemen, although I don’t want to admit it, the fact is that we can’t save Taiyuan Port if we want to.” Philip looked around at everyone present and said slowly: “If we are destined to lose Taiyuan

Hong Kong, then it is better to consider how to use it to exchange for more favorable conditions for the company."

"Mr. Philip, I think you are expressing your opinions from the standpoint of Haihan people!" Van der Wegen said with a livid face: "The importance of Taiyuan Port to the company cannot be denied by you in just one or two sentences! Don't forget

How much effort we spent and how many people died just to get a port in the Taiwan Strait!"

"Of course, we will not forget the soldiers who died in the Battle of Nanri Island, but because of this, we need to take the Haihan people's warning more carefully." Philip immediately countered: "Mr. Van der Wegen, I think you are right

This is the most empathetic person.”

"You..." Van der Wegen's face turned from green to red, and his fists were clenched tightly. If there weren't many important people present at the moment, he would have wanted to go over and smash his fists into Philip's face to teach this arrogant man a lesson.

slave trader.

In the Battle of Nanri Island two years ago, the Haihan Fleet defeated the maritime coalition composed of Shibazhi and the Dutch. The officer who commanded six Dutch armed sailing ships in the battle at that time was Van der Wegen. That battle left Damuan Port

The garrison suffered heavy losses. Only two of the six participating ships escaped the battlefield safely. The other four were damaged during the battle and were captured by the Haihan people together with their crews. The number of personnel lost was more than the two battles in Macau and Penghu combined.

More together.

For the East India Company, this was a tragic defeat. Control of the FJ Strait began to gradually change hands, and it has never raised its head in front of Haihan since then. For Van der Wegen personally, this is his career

A stain that can never be erased from his career. As long as it has anything to do with Heihan, he will be cited as an example of failure at any time - just like what Philip is doing now.

Philip ignored him at all and continued: "Compared with two years ago, the Haihan fleet has almost doubled in size. Perhaps they have developed some new secret weapons. It is hard to say. If we want to rely on force to protect the mainland,

Member Port, I would like to ask you, how many armed sailing ships need to be sent to station there? After dispatching, what will happen to Batavia's maritime defense? I heard that the Haihan Fleet going south this time has fifty or sixty ships.

The Governor should have seen some of them when he went to negotiate this time, right?"

Seeing Philip taking the initiative to bring the topic to him, Van Diemen had no choice but to respond: "According to the agreement, the Haihan people only sent one warship to pick up the negotiators, but the ship they sent was a flagship called the Majesty class. I must

It must be admitted that the tonnage, firepower, and performance of the warships built by Haihan are beyond the reach of our armed sailing ships in the Far East. Fortunately, the number of such large warships is extremely limited, and it seems that the fleet heading south this time also has

There are only two ships.”

"I would like to add some information." After getting confirmation from Van Diemen's eyes, Philip continued: "As you all know, in the past year, I have been to Amborna Island many times to contact the Haihan people, so

I have heard a little bit about the situation of the Haihan Navy. The Haihan people installed a device called a 'steam engine' on their warships. After using this device, their sailboats can reach a maximum speed of

It easily exceeds ten knots, and the dependence on wind power and direction is also greatly reduced. If we cannot break through this technical barrier, we will not be able to compete in the Far East Sea. Everyone knows how to sail and should be able to understand this technology.

means something."

It is actually no longer a secret that the Haihan people installed propulsion power devices on some warships. Many people even know that this kind of propulsion device is entirely made of steel and obtains power by burning coal.

However, no one outside Haihan knows how to implement it and how to convert heat energy into power that can propel ships on the sea.

When the Dutch mission went to Sanya for peace talks with Haihan two years ago, Su Keyi and others as representatives had seen the large iron ships docked in the Victory Port. They had also heard relevant introductions and knew that the Haihan people had ships other than sails.

Propulsion technology. But this technology is 100% secret to the outside world, even the allies of the Haihan people. The existence of this black technology has greatly widened the gap between Haihan and the Dutch maritime armed forces, and now this

The gap has extended to the field of commerce, which means that Haihan began to commercialize this military technology and use it to compete for the Far East's maritime trade share.

Now that this topic has been brought up, Van Diemen also mentioned the situation he has learned by the way: "According to the information we have collected, after arriving in Sanya, the Haihan people quickly went to the remote area in northern Annan to build a

It was at a port, and we all learned later that they mined coal there and transported the coal back to Sanya in a steady stream. In the past, we thought that their demand for coal was for iron-making, but now it seems that things are not that simple.

, they have probably been planning to apply the special technology they have mastered to sailing ships from the beginning. I believe that if their steel production is high enough, then the construction of iron ships will happen sooner or later."

Someone asked: "Mr. Governor, may I think that you mean that you are not optimistic about our competitiveness in navigation compared with Haihan?"

"Very unfavorable!" Van Diemen's words were very straightforward: "Judging from all the information we have so far, the Haihan people are a long way ahead of us in navigation and shipbuilding. Please note, gentlemen, I

The big part is not the number of ships, but the height of technology. Maybe it will take us ten, twenty years, or even longer to develop these technologies, but I can no longer imagine the Haihan people at that time.

How far has the maritime industry developed? After all, it only took them more than six years and less than seven years to develop from nothing to now. This technological gap may gradually increase over time.

Until we can’t catch up.”

"Mr. Governor, you don't have to think about things so pessimistically. I don't think the situation is that bad." Su Keyi continued: "The Haihan people mentioned in the negotiations that their merchant ships can ignore the direction of the monsoon and travel back and forth regardless of the season.

Between Hainandao and Java Island, we are probably preparing to promote this technology to the people. As long as we can afford the money, it will not be difficult to buy such a device, and even the craftsmen who made it can buy it.

.When the time comes, we can just copy the gourd and imitate it.”

You are so smart! Fan Diemen gave Su Keyi a bad review in his heart, but his face remained calm and he explained to him: "You are right, as long as Haihan sells something, we will always have a way to buy it."

Yes, we have bought a lot of weapons produced by Haihan in the past to study. However, the weapons sold by the Haihan people are not as good as their own equipment. Their performance is deliberately weakened. Even if they are imitated, they can only produce second-class weapons.

, and the cost is much higher than their selling price. If you want to imitate it, it is better to buy it directly from them to save money and worry.”

Today I found that the names of provinces have also become sensitive words, and all are automatically changed to Pinyin abbreviations by the background. In subsequent chapters, the full Pinyin names will be used instead. Please forgive me.
Chapter completed!