"I can go to Japan when the engine project officially starts." Ping Qiusheng thought and regretfully gave up the Japanese business group plan and concentrated on preparing for the inspection in Southeast Asia.
The main target of the Southeast Asian inspection planned by Ping Qiusheng is the Indochina Peninsula, which is now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. It does not involve the current Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and other places. Because the main purpose of the Planning Institute's support for this inspection is
Obtain food. In addition, the Spanish and the Dutch have strong colonial powers in the latter areas and are intertwined with each other. The Senate does not intend to fall into such a chaos at the moment.
On the ship heading to Southeast Asia, Ping Qiusheng originally expected to get a 901 as his ship - the black-smoking warship majestically broke into the barbarian land, set up several cannons on the coastline to force them to pay tribute and surrender.
, this is such a colonial thing!
But the imminence of the engine operation made his ambition bankrupt. Not only was it impossible for him to obtain any of the 901 ships, but he was also basically unable to obtain larger and better sailing battleships.
He could only choose ships from the Southeast Asia Company's fleet, and the two ships that finally fell into his hands were two Guangzhou ships. Each ship had a displacement of 200 tons and was a common cargo/fishing vessel along the coast of this time and space.
The two ships were in the best condition among the Southeast Asian company's fleet. After looking at them, Ping Qiusheng thought they could roughly meet the needs of Southeast Asian inspections.
The commander of the two ships that went to Southeast Asia this time was none other than He Congfu, a former pirate leader.
He Congfu is an old pirate who is known as a cunning pirate in the gang. He is a small pirate but has been relatively successful. He has grown from a small fishing boat to a leader with five large ships. When Zhu Cai's gang collapsed
, he finally escaped with two boats.
Since he voted for the Senate, he has been watching the development of Australians. Such people are not one, but most of them in Southeast Asian companies.
The merchant fleet that joined the Southeast Asia Company at the beginning were all old pirate leaders who had doubts about "thieves" and wanted to preserve some of their own strength as a way out. As the power of the Senate continued to expand, the unified personnel system of the fleet,
With the implementation of the unified remuneration system and the political transformation of grassroots personnel, the personal control of the old bosses over the sailors of the fleet has basically disappeared. The so-called preserving strength and watching the changes has become an empty talk. Even if they personally serve as captains of the ship, without
You cannot act without permission before receiving orders from the Admiralty.
After the victory of the second counter-encirclement and suppression campaign, the navy advanced into the Pearl River Estuary and bombarded Wuyang Post. In order to catch the Conglong Express, these people finally decided to sell themselves completely and join forces. To this end, they unanimously sold their ownership of the ships to the Planning Institute and
Show their loyalty. In this way, their personal influence on the ship is completely reduced to zero, leaving only the dividend shares discounted by the ship.
He Congfu had been to Siam before and was familiar with the sea route. Of course, it was not the optimal route. Ancient Chinese sailors generally preferred to choose sea areas where they could visually see the coastline. At worst, there would also be a series of islands as a reference for the route.
However, such a route is very suitable for Southeast Asian business groups: their main purpose is to inspect the coastal conditions and conduct trade, and the coastal route is exactly what they want.
He Congfu's senior seaman's uniform is actually the officer uniform of the Senate Navy, except that all the emblems he wears are from the Merchant Navy. The armband is embroidered with the symbol "Senate Granted and Chartered Southeast Asia Company". He has a hanging on his chest
The newly issued binoculars look majestic.
The morning star flag of the Senate and the company flag of the Southeast Asia Company are flying on the mast: the upper left corner is a reduced morning star flag, and the rest is nine red and white stripes. The informal name is the "nine-segment flag".
Finally, there is Ping Qiucheng's personal senatorial heraldic flag, which is red with a family crest designed by himself.
Quark has never been able to figure out the meaning of the newly emerged "nine-segment flag" of the Southeast Asia Company, but in his opinion, this flag is very similar to the flag of the British East India Company, especially the red and white stripes.
The red and white stripes of the East India Company are the colors of the St. George flag. I wonder what the meaning of the Australians using this color scheme is? Quark became very interested in this. However, even He Fang Hui and He Ping Qiu Sheng could not explain why.
The actual reason is: When Dr. Zhong designed the flag for the Southeast Asian Company, he directly copied the layout and creativity of the British East India Company's flag.
In the opinion of Dr. Zhong Lizhi, the British East India Company was a very successful enterprise. Although it was still very weak in this time and space, in the end the British achieved far greater achievements than the Dutch. Plagiarizing the banner of such an enterprise is very "
auspicious.
However, Quark was very dissatisfied with the status of the East India Company to which he belonged. The British East India Company was a "vulnerable group" in the East Asian ocean in the 17th century. It occupied some isolated strongholds and business houses on the vast sea, and occupied a very large trading territory.
Not only are the most lucrative trades rarely available to them, but they are also constantly being beaten by various competitors. However, he has found a gold mine. This is the second time that Quark has transported slaves to Sanya.
With the successful experience last time, as well as the high-end sugar, rum and various Chinese products of such high quality that they had never been seen before, Banten's British store became a sensation. This time, more and more people came to visit.
Passionate about everything about Australians. Even the British’s less friendly neighbors: the Dutch from Batavia also came.
Coupled with the report of a Dutch businessman visiting Lingao, it became a piece of information that was already rapidly fermenting. Some adventurers gathered around Quark like flies smelling blood. Funds, ships and slaves continued to appear.
He also acted quickly. In less than three months, the second ship of nearly 1cc slaves was transported to Sanya. The cabin on the return trip was filled with raw silk, sugar, rum and various Chinese groceries.
.
The huge profits allowed Quark to quickly raise enough funds. Now Quark's fleet already has two large cargo ships with a displacement of 300 tons. However, such a scale is still a bit thin. His fleet must go through the Guangnan Kingdom for a long time before going south.
On the coast, the king there now has good cooperation with the Portuguese. This makes Quark quite worried that he has suffered from the Portuguese, and the goods on these ships are very valuable. The heavily loaded merchant ships have neither firepower nor speed.
When someone relies on him, he doesn't even have enough sailors to fight hand-to-hand. He is a typical fat man on the sea.
During these days of staying in Sanya, he found out that the Australian trade group was going south to Siam. Since they were going to Siam, they would definitely have to pass through Guangnan. As long as they followed the Australian fleet and safely passed the coastline of Vietnam, they would be there later.
There was no need to worry too much. Thinking of this, he immediately conveyed the idea to He Fanghui and expressed his willingness to serve as the pilot and local guide of the Australian fleet. The Australians readily agreed. So Quark immediately handed over the command of his fleet.
It was given to Captain Higgins, but he himself boarded the flagship of the Southeast Asia Company's large ship Ping Qiu Sheng.
The fleet followed the wind letter "" and headed south, and soon reached the waters of Hue. At this time, the Le Dynasty of Vietnam had been split into the Northern and Southern Dynasties by the powerful ministers Zheng and Nguyen. In 1620, the powerful minister Nguyen Fuyuan in the north formally refused to conquer the country.
Taxes were paid to the court in Hanoi, and then they refused the decree requiring the Nguyen family to submit to the authority of the court. In 1623, Zheng Song died, and his son Zheng Jili. Zheng once again formally asked the Nguyen family to surrender, and Nguyen Phucyuan also repeatedly refused. Zheng and Nguyen
Open war between the two sides finally broke out in 162.
After four months of continuous fighting between the two sides, the outcome was still undecided. The entire Le Dynasty and Vietnam was divided into northern and southern parts. The Zheng family controlled most of the north and the Nguyen family separated most of the south. The dividing line between the two sides is in Quang Binh Province.
This boundary on the Zhengjiang River is very close to the 17th parallel of north latitude that later divided North and South Vietnam.
Compared to the Trinh clan, which ruled a much more densely populated territory, the Nguyen clan also had some advantages. First, they were on the defensive. Second, the Nguyen clan benefited from their contacts with Europeans, especially the Portuguese, and were able to
Purchase more advanced European armaments and hire European military experts in city defense. Third, the geographical situation is favorable to them: large-scale organized armies are only suitable for plain wilderness, and such locations are very rare in Vietnam. In Vietnam, the mountains are almost crowded
Into the sea.
The main stronghold of the Nguyen clan in the south is in Hue. After repelling Zheng's offensive for the first time, the Nguyen clan established two main fortress lines across the narrow flat land between the mountains and the sea. The city wall was erected in Tong in the north of Hue.
Near Haishi. It is said that the European-style fortress complex was built under the guidance of Portuguese military engineers. The strong defense system formed by cannons and matchlocks made it difficult for the Zheng family's army to break through.
In order to break through these walls, the Zheng family invested 100,000 soldiers, 500 war elephants and 500 warships. The first attack on the Nguyen family's city wall defense failed, and subsequent repeated attacks lasted for several
The battle is still going on in front of the "Great Wall". Countless Vietnamese farmers have been reduced to cannon fodder in this protracted war, and tens of thousands have died.
For the Senate, this war also had a very bad impact on them. The warehouse set up in Haiyang has gradually lost its advantage in purchasing cheap grain. Rice grain was diverted for military use, and farmers were captured to serve as soldiers.
Once gone, the fields become barren and the market becomes depressed.
Because the Ruan family's "Great Wall" on the front line was very effective, Zheng family often harassed the south from the sea. The south also responded in kind, and the battles between the two sides at sea were also fierce.!