"Ma Daban, please turn on the lights for me. I'm old, I'm old! This look in my eyes is not easy to use!" Zhu Hengjia said habitually while reviewing the memorials in the Qianqing Palace in Nanjing. Suddenly he remembered that his son My playmate at that time, Ma Huanxi and Ma Daban, had already been killed by Queen Stone’s staff before the incident of seizing the door, and he couldn’t help but fall into a trance.
Suddenly, a familiar figure turned on the lamp, and it was He Liang, the newly appointed Chief of Ceremonies. Like Ma Huanxi, He Liang was also an old man who had served him since childhood.
"Alas! He Daban, I actually forgot that Ma Daban is deceased!"
"Long Live Grandpa has always remembered the horse's paw prints. It is really his good fortune." He Liang wiped away tears after hearing this. In the past, he looked down on Ma Huanxi, thinking that this man had nothing to do but flatter and make money. Unexpectedly, he was so loyal. , I would rather be killed with a stick than betray Long Live Grandpa. If it were me, I wonder if I could do it? I feel admiration and respect.
"Alas! He Daban, bring over the files I'm looking for." The old emperor changed the subject.
Half a basket of thick files was placed on the imperial desk, all of which were about the Strait of Malacca.
Although the trade between Myanmar and Western countries has reduced the dependence on the Strait of Malacca, in this era, sea transport actually has great advantages compared with land transport. Sea routes are natural, and there is no need to spend a lot of money to open them. It can also save the cost of daily maintenance; the sea level is level, and ships do not have to climb up or downhill; maritime traffic can have multiple parallel routes on the main route.
In short, the transportation cost by sea is much lower than that by land.
The old emperor still hoped that the red hair barbarians could lower the tax rate for passing through the Strait of Malacca. He secretly sent people to negotiate with the red hair barbarians. As a result, the governor of Batavia, Matsolco, was unmoved and insisted on the original high tax rate.
This is obviously not giving me face!
Zhu Hengjia was extremely angry, but he did not fall out with the red-haired Yi people. He knew that they had the confidence not to buy his account.
The Red Maoyi Kingdom in this era was a "sea coachman" with more than 16,000 merchant ships and more than 20,000 ships of various types. The total tonnage was equivalent to the combined ships of the four major countries of Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. Moreover, it had shipbuilding capabilities. It is extremely powerful, and the ship cost is only half of that of similar British ships. Their "Sea Monarch" battleship has a displacement of up to 1,500 tons, three decks, and is equipped with 100 cannons. It can be called the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of this era. People say it. Yes, as long as the country needs it, it can build such a giant ship a week.
I don’t know if it’s true, but in this era, there were a total of five East India companies in the West. The British East India Company was established in 1600; the Dutch East India Company was established in 1602; the Danish East India Company was established in 1616; the Portuguese East India Company was established in 1616. The India Company was founded in 1628; the French East India Company was founded in 1664. The other four companies could not compete with the Dutch East India Company.
Therefore, Zhu Hengjia had no good solution for the Ming Dynasty. After all, the treasury was empty now, and he really had no money to expand the navy on a large scale. Even if he had money, it would take many years to catch up with the Red Maoyi in terms of naval strength.
The accumulation of time.
The old emperor thought he was the one emperor who looked down upon the world, and it was not his style not to fight back when he was despised. He had no choice militarily, so he resorted to politics; if he couldn't play it brightly, he would play dirty. He asked people to ask questions about the Strait of Malacca
A dossier of local customs and customs, hoping to know ourselves and our enemies, and come up with conspiracies and tricks to deal with the red-haired barbarians.
After research, it was found that the largest force around the Strait of Malacca at this time was the Dutch, with Batavia as the center, occupying a vast area including Malacca and Molucca; the British forces had been expelled; the Portuguese
The people were driven to Timor, but the Dutch did not give up and established a stronghold in West Timor. In addition, after the second Anglo-Dutch War, the British navy suffered heavy losses and was no match for the Dutch; France and Spain had just finished fighting the legacy
In the war, both sides suffered losses, and they were unable to interfere with Malacca's business. It seems that the method of using Western barbarians to control Western barbarians is not feasible at present.
Well, in addition to the Dutch and Portuguese, there are more than a dozen large and small sultanates around the Strait of Malacca. Can these local regimes be supported to deal with the Dutch and force the Dutch to lower the tax rate for Ming merchant ships passing through the Strait of Malacca? p>
The old emperor carefully studied the situation around Malacca and found that most sultanates were unable to shoulder such an important task. Patani (southern Thailand), Kedah (northwestern Malay Peninsula), and Sulu (southern Philippines) were far away from Malacca.
Some; Selangor (the central part of the west coast of the Malay Peninsula) and Terengganu (the east coast of the Malay Peninsula) have been facing the harassment of the powerful Bugis people and have no time to take care of themselves; Banten (the west part of Java Island) and Matalang (the Yogyakarta region of Java Island) have already
It became a vassal state of the Dutch East India Company and basically lost its independence.
There are only four major local forces that can be used, namely Aceh, Brunei, Johor, and Perak.
Among them, Brunei, Johor, and Perak are all the remnants of the Malacca Sultanate. The Malacca Sultanate, called the Kingdom of Malacca in the history of the Ming Dynasty, has always been a friendly ally of the Ming Dynasty.
He visited the Ming Dynasty successively; Zheng He also visited the country many times as an envoy during his seven voyages to the West. The "History of the Ming Dynasty" contains "Biography of Manchu and Ci".
After the Portuguese captured Malacca, the Malacca Sultanate disintegrated. The two sons of the last Sultan Mahmud: Alauddin established the Johor Sultanate in Johor at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, and Muzaffar was established centered in Perak in the northern Malay Peninsula.
The Sultanate of Perak; as for Brunei Darussalam, it is a branch of the Sultanate of Malacca. These three countries all regard themselves as the heirs of the Sultanate of Malacca.
The Sultanate of Aceh is a powerful country on the island of Sumatra. Its race is the Cham people from Champa. Champa has been invaded by Annan, and some Cham people fled to Aceh and established the country. In the era of Sultan Iskandar, the Sultanate
The country once controlled most of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, becoming a regional hegemon.
After the establishment of the Sultanate of Johor, the three forces of Archipelago, Johor, and Portugal fought in the Malay Peninsula for a hundred years, which was known as the "Triangular Struggle" in history. However, with the rise of the Netherlands, these three countries all declined.<
/p>
At first, Zhu Hengjia wanted to support the Aceh Sultanate to deal with the Red Mao barbarians. But it turned out that this was not possible. It turned out that the Aceh Sultanate was a protectorate of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. When the Portuguese invaded Aceh, the Ottoman Turkey sent a fleet to support Aceh.
.If we support Aceh to control Malacca, wouldn’t it be a wedding dress for the Turks in vain?
In this case, the only three countries that Ming could choose were Brunei, Johor, and Perak. Who should he choose? The old emperor fell into deep thought for a while.
Leave professional matters to professionals!
"Incoming, Sun Kewang, the Minister of Xuanli Binyuan, comes to see you," he ordered calmly.