After working in the prospecting team for several years, Abel Tasman, who came from the Dutch East India Company, was successfully promoted to the position of Chief (Seventh Grade) of the Exploration Institute of the Mining and Metallurgical Department of the Ministry of Industry.
The Ministry of Industry in the Ming Dynasty had four divisions: Yingxi, Yuheng, Dushui, and Tuntian. Zhao Han changed the Tuntian Division into the Mining and Metallurgy Division. In addition to exploration and mining of mineral deposits, it was also responsible for the production of precious minerals such as gold, silver, and copper.
Smelting.
Tasman was doing a good job in the Ministry of Works, but was suddenly ordered to be transferred to the Navy Commander's Office. This situation left him a little confused.
Taking the documents from the Ministry of Personnel, he went to the Navy Governor's Mansion to go through the handover procedures. The officials here did not tell him where to work, and only asked Tasman to wait in an office.
After Tasman walked in, he found that there was someone inside, and he was a European. He took a closer look and exclaimed: "Mr. Hoffman, why are you here?"
Hoffman said helplessly: "The new governor said that I embezzled the company's money and started investigating the accounts. I had no choice but to flee Batavia with my wife and daughter."
"How dare the Governor?" Tasman was even more surprised.
Under normal circumstances, although there are conflicts between the Governor and the members, they will never kill each other, let alone investigate the other party for corruption. After all, who is not greedy? Once the Governor investigates corruption, he will be the enemy of all members.
But the new governor, Vanderlyn, was the toughest governor in Batavia's colonial history when it came to dealing with congressmen.
Investigating corruption is just a means, but the real purpose is to make MPs obey.
And Hoffman happened to be the chicken who killed the chicken to scare the monkeys.
Just as the two were communicating, Gu Jianshan came in, and they immediately stood up to greet him.
"Sit down," Gu Jianshan said with a smile, "You two will be my staff from now on. Of course, the real official position is the experience and affairs of the Navy Governor's Mansion. What exactly is the Dutch East India Company?
What is this? If it is a trading company, how can it have territory and an army?"
Hoffman explained: "Your Majesty, the Netherlands is also called the United Nations of the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands... Well, that's probably the translation. Initially it was ruled by the King of Spain, and the seven northern provinces and some cities in the south formed an alliance to become independent from Spain.
Founding of the country.”
"Then who will be the king?" Gu Jianshan asked.
Hoffman said: "There is no king, only a parliament. The parliament is composed of businessmen, priests, and nobles. They discuss national issues together and vote to decide the next policy."
Gu Jianshan said in disbelief: "Isn't this country going to be in chaos?"
Hoffmann said: "There are definitely conflicts, but it will not lead to chaos because the parliamentarians have common enemies and interests. The Dutch East India Company is their greatest common interest, and it is also the interest of many Dutch civilians. Because the East India Company
There are many shareholders, and even ordinary civilians can buy company stocks on the exchange."
Gu Jianshan asked again what stocks and exchanges were, and Hoffman answered truthfully, which made the ancient governor seem to be listening to fantasy.
Hoffmann continued: "The leading body of the Dutch East India Company at its headquarters is the seventeen-member meeting, where seventeen directors jointly discuss and make decisions. Affairs in the East are decided by the governor and the council. There is one governor, and members of the council.
Six people, seven tickets in total.”
"The jurisdiction of the East India Company is very large, and the seven councilors are often distributed in various places, making it difficult for them all to gather together for a meeting. Therefore, among the seven-person meeting, the governor, the secretary of the committee, the chairman of the judicial council, the military chief and the shipping chief
, as long as these five people do not vote against it, the resolution can be passed even if they are absent."
"The congressmen naturally refused. This would give the governor too much power. So the congressmen sent permanent representatives to Batavia, and I was one of the permanent representatives. This spring, a fierce conflict broke out between the governor and the congressmen. Because I was noisy
The most vicious one was targeted by the governor."
Gu Jianshan asked: "Why did the Governor conflict with the members?"
Hoffman introduced the situation in detail: "The Governor came to Batavia last year and reached an agreement with the council. He first subdued the Matalan Kingdom, and then targeted the Banten Kingdom. It is bound to completely destroy the Banten Kingdom, and at the same time
Improve diplomacy with other countries. This plan achieved initial success. An indigenous uprising broke out in the country of Matalan, and the company sent troops to help quell the rebellion, in exchange for an alliance between the king and the company."
"The next step is to jointly send troops to capture the capital of the Banten Kingdom. King Matalan verbally agreed, but kept saying that he did not have the military funds to send troops, so the plan to destroy the Banten Kingdom could only be temporarily shelved. At this time, the governor unexpectedly had a whimsical plan.
At the same time, we went to war with Britain and Portugal. Of course, the congressmen were firmly opposed to it, so the governor broke out."
Gu Jianshan asked doubtfully: "It is understandable to start a war with Portugal, but why should we start a war with Britain?"
"Please give me a map of the world," said Hoffman.
Gujianshan asked someone to bring the globe.
Hoffman pointed to the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, which later became the Sultanate of Oman: "The Arabs here have a long history of navigation. They have made a living by doing business since ancient times. The Portuguese controlled the most prosperous ports there.
, for a full one hundred and fifty years. The indigenous leaders of Arabia were originally in disarray, and they were fighting each other just to grab the scraps."
"Seventeen years ago, Nasser bin Mussad won the civil war and established the Sultanate of Oman. He transformed long-term internal disputes into collective hatred against the Portuguese. He not only fought against Portugal, but also against Persia, and
Persian castles and Portuguese towns along the coast occupied more than half.”
Gu Jianshan praised: "With endless civil war and powerful enemies outside, he can still unify the country and continuously regain lost territory. This can be considered a heroic leader."
Hoffman said: "The Portuguese were unwilling to be reconciled, and they roped in the British eastern forces and planned to jointly send troops to retake the port. However, both countries were weak in the east, so they went to Persia to convince the Persian king that the three countries would send troops to Oman together.
King Mussad of Oman found the Dutch East India Company and wanted to join the Netherlands in resisting Britain, Persia and Portugal."
"Did the governor agree?" Gu Jianshan asked.
Hoffmann said: "The Dutch East India Company has always wanted to extend its hands into the Arabian Peninsula. This is a God-given opportunity for the governor. But the congressmen did not agree. The collective opinion of the council was not to create unnecessary complications and first remove all the people in Java.
Let’s talk about it after Dan Kingdom is destroyed.”
Gu Jianshan asked: "Which side do you think can dominate the situation?"
"It must be the Governor," said Hoffman. "Although the Governor is restrained by the Parliament, he can forcefully make decisions as long as he is determined. If he succeeds, he will be rewarded by the headquarters; if he fails, he will be held accountable by the headquarters."
In another time and space, the Governor of Batavia, Van der Linde, indeed forcibly sent troops to Persia, which broke out the most intense conflict between the Dutch Governor and the Parliament.
There were no winners or losers in the Five-Nation War, and it ended hastily with heavy thunder and little rain.
Since no actual benefits were obtained and a large amount of military expenditures were consumed, Governor Van der Linde was dismissed from his post and returned to the Netherlands in despair to retire.
After getting to know the internal situation of the Dutch East India Company and the new world situation, Gu Jianshan asked: "If our country can build ten new large ships of thousands of materials, all of them will be made of century-old oak, and the hulls will also use European keel styles.
, equipped with the most powerful artillery. Can it defeat the Dutch fleet?"
"There is a strength advantage, but success in naval battles depends on luck and command." Hoffman did not have any psychological burden as a Dutch traitor, and immediately helped with ideas, "If you want to send troops, you don't have to go to Batavia. Send a fleet."
Attack Malacca directly and cut off the most convenient sea route between the East and the West. At the same time, cut off the trade between China and the Netherlands for up to a year. The East India Company will not be able to survive and will definitely choose to negotiate peace due to the decline in profits."
Gu Jianshan said: "You mean to occupy Malacca first and leave Batavia alone?"
"Yes," Hoffman nodded. "By occupying Malacca, you can get huge benefits. Merchant ships from Britain, France and other countries have to pass through here, and the annual port entry tax is a lot of money. However, Dutch merchant ships can only pass through Pakistan.
Set off from Davia and go around Sumatra to India. The power of the Netherlands will continue to weaken. Don't be afraid to cut off trade with the Netherlands. Britain, France, Portugal, and even Arab merchants are all waiting for this opportunity. Reduced trade with the Netherlands
Well, other countries will take the opportunity to buy in, and Chinese businessmen will not suffer much loss."
As expected of a parliamentary representative of the Dutch East India Company, he was very clear about the specific situation and knew what the Netherlands was most afraid of.
Gu Jianshan asked again: "Is Malacca easy to fight?"
Hoffman shook his head: "It's not easy to fight. The castle there is almost impossible to attack head-on. When the Netherlands captured Malacca, they not only sent their own troops, but also hired more than a thousand mercenaries. For more than half a year of siege, the Nordic mercenaries suffered from the incompatibility of the soil and water.
The disease rate reached 80%. If the Portuguese defenders had not run out of food and took the initiative to open the door and surrender, the Netherlands would not have been able to occupy Malacca."
Gu Jianshan looked at the globe carefully and set his sights on Vietnam.
If you want to besiege the city for a long time, you have to send a large army with enough food and grass. The longer the sea supply line, the higher the chance of encountering a storm, and it may be robbed by the Dutch fleet.
Then, the supply line must be shortened, and the southernmost point of Vietnam is an excellent troop dispatching point and food transfer point.
If you want to conquer Malacca, you must first conquer Vietnam!
I heard that Malacca is very hot. It will be more secure to let the soldiers familiarize themselves with the climate in Vietnam before going to Malacca to avoid getting sick like the Dutch soldiers.
Gu Jianshan asked about India again.
Hoffman said: "I am a member of parliament, and the member I represent is based in Pulicat Port, India. It is not the territory of the Mughal Empire, but belongs to a small country called Jinji, with a land area of about two square meters.
Taiwan. There are many feudal states in the country, and the leaders of the feudal states have the power to collect taxes. They only need to pay a fixed amount of tax to the king, and the rest is basically autonomy for the feudal states."
"The Kingdom of Jinji believes in Hinduism, and the Golconda Kingdom to the north believes in Islam. Although the royal families of the two countries are mortal enemies, most of the civilians in Golconda believe in Hinduism. The two countries are joining forces to resist the Mughal Empire.
