The Governor didn't quite believe that there could be such a big ship made of iron in the world - not to mention where so much steel could be made. More importantly, it was rumored that this ship did not need sails.
Sailing on his own. In his opinion, if there is such a thing: it is either a miracle of God or more likely a trick of the devil.
Although there are such legends everywhere, the Governor is still skeptical about this rumor-if the Australians really have such a huge maritime advantage, why do they only stay on a remote island off the coast of South China? They can completely drive large iron ships to other places.
Find a place that is more prosperous and rich in products.
But he is more interested in the so-called Australian goods - are they shipped from "Australia" or are they manufactured in Lingao? There is no record of "Australia" in the library of the Dutch East India Company - as for "
"Lingao", they only know that this is a small city with no commercial value - there are hundreds or even thousands of such small cities in China. To say that such a small city can suddenly produce so many novel and high-quality goods, the governor is
Unimaginable.
The Australian in Lingao has too many unsolved mysteries, which is the main reason why he couldn't wait to spend a lot of money to hire Li Siya to get information. "Small shopkeepers" never spend money recklessly. Four thousand guilders maybe
Quite a few, but it really doesn’t mean anything for figuring out the future maritime situation in Southeast Asia and even East Asia as a whole.
Only with enough intelligence can the Batavia authorities formulate a suitable policy towards Australia. Should they be a trading partner or ruthlessly attack it and completely destroy this new force? Or what should they do?
What kind of means can be used to curb the presence of Australians in the South China Sea?
The Dutch East India Company was the world's first "real capitalist enterprise". Its capitalism was thorough, ruthless, and based on the most naked commercial monopoly and excess profits. The company treated its partners and friends
, employees and enemies are equally ruthless. They are outright profit supremacists. Even the company's senior employees, the Dutch East India Company is the most successful force in applying the law of the jungle in the East Indies.
To the Governor-General, the Australians are neither enemies nor friends. What role the Australians will play depends on the strength of the Australians and their position in the entire East Asian trading system.
If the Australians are weak and unable to shake the company's monopoly, they can serve as a suitable trading partner and a supplier of goods to the Far East like the Ming Dynasty; if they are strong and have a monopoly on the East India Company,
Threats and containing the Australians will become the top priority. Just as they spared no effort to contain and exclude the British in the East Indies, attack the Portuguese in Japan, and suppress Zheng Zhilong on the coast of China - the East India Company does not like competition.
"You can go down and rest." The governor took out a check from the drawer, "Go to the treasurer to get the money. You can have a good rest for a few days."
"Thank you, sir." Gonzalez bowed, picked up the check and returned it.
The next day, the Governor carefully read the German version of Lisya's answers to the 125 questions. She answered all the questions raised by the council, even for those questions to which she answered "don't know".
Some speculations, rumors and her personal evaluation of this. The Governor felt that Li Siya's performance was worthy of the reward she asked for.
First of all, Li Siya clearly answered the question about who Australians are.
Australians are Chinese - this can be confirmed from their language, writing and national identity. However, although they consider themselves "Chinese", they are very different from the Chinese - they have a completely different culture.
System and etiquette. Li Siya said in the report: The difference between them and the Chinese is as big as the difference between Europeans and Chinese - maybe even bigger. In addition, there are people of European descent among Australians.
There are at least 2 to 3 people. According to intelligence, these Europeans also enjoy the status of so-called "seniors".
There are about 500 to 600 "seniors" in Lingao. A European-style "council" system is implemented among the senators. There are nine top councilors who hold all the power. But in form
All senators enjoy the same political power and form a so-called "senator" institution. In theory, all major policies must be decided by a majority of the senate.
Li Siya said in the report: What they have seems to be a joint-stock cooperative relationship, because the elders will use words like "shares" and "dividends" from time to time in their conversations. From time to time, they will also talk about the so-called power of the elders.
The issue is controversial.
"Is this the Australian East India Company?" Seeing this, the Governor couldn't help but said.
Most of the goods used by Australians for trade are manufactured in Lingao. Li Siya used exaggerated lengths to elaborate on the strong manufacturing industry that Australians have in Lingao - in fact, both Li Huamei and Lando's reports
, there is not much description of the productivity of Lingao. Li Huamei is generally not allowed to enter the core area of Lingao, and the report given to her by Lando was specially modified by the Foreign Intelligence Service. The Foreign Intelligence Service does not want outsiders to truly understand it.
to the productivity level of Lingao. But Li Siya wanted to promote the Dutch war against Lingao and exaggerated it based on these two reports. She described Lingao as a place extremely rich in material, which was detrimental to Australia.
The productivity of human factories was also exaggerated. Finally, she spent four full pages vividly describing the luxurious life of the Australian elders in Lingao: from facts to rumors. The most important of which was their luxurious toilets and
bathroom.
She believes that this rich booty is enough to incite the strong greed of the Dutch, thereby triggering the Dutch to attack the Australians. Of course, the Dutch are by no means the opponents of the Australians. The two sides will consume each other in a war, which for her
There are huge benefits.
Sure enough, this long paragraph of gorgeous text made the governor's eyes sparkle. The fingers wearing rings also curled up and tapped the armrest. But it didn't take a while for the governor to calm down: he is a sensible Dutchman after all. He will not take it easy.
He was moved by the exaggerated Latin rhetoric. In his opinion, it was the same as when the Spaniards came to America and advocated that gold and silver were everywhere: it was true, but it eliminated the difficulty of obtaining gold and silver.
The Australians in Lingao are certainly very wealthy, but the fact that they were able to occupy a city under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, which had a very rigid attitude towards foreign affairs, shows that the Australians are very powerful. The East India Company launched several expeditions to China back then, but none of them met expectations.
results in.
Regarding the strength of the Australians, the report stated that in addition to the Australian elders, there are also local Chinese recruited by the Australians in Guangdong and indigenous people in Lingao who are dependent on them. The total population is unknown. It is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000.
During the period, these people served as slaves, soldiers, serfs and craftsmen for the Australians.
The exact number of troops owned by the Australians is unknown, but there are at least three to four companies of well-trained infantry - all composed of indigenous Chinese except for a few officers. The infantry is trained in European style, well-equipped, and has better firearms than Europeans.
The weapons used by the army are lighter and more powerful - better than any small firearms in Europe. Lisya specifically described Minie rifles and Deringer pistols. The Australians also have artillery, which is also very good. But the number is very small.
Li Siya gave a detailed description of Bobu's coastal heavy artillery - and also mapped out the specific location, terrain and artillery firing range of the coastal forts. This greatly surprised the governor: Li Siya is indeed an extraordinary woman! Yes.
She paid more and more attention to it.
Regarding the maritime power that the Governor is most concerned about, they have about a hundred ships, all of which are "junk ships" collected in Guangdong. Except for a few ships, the tonnage is not large. They also own a few ships
European-style ships. In addition, there are four iron clippers brought from Australia.
Li Siya laid an ambush here. She knew very clearly about the power of the "iron clippers" owned by the Australians from Li Huamei and Lando, but she was not very specific in the description - only that there were, but not how many.
Awesome. She didn't want the Dutch to have the feeling that the Australians were very powerful at sea - once the Dutch were afraid of the high sea power, they would not easily launch military attacks on the Australians.
It took the Governor a whole morning to read the report. Through this report, he gained a full understanding of the Australians. Obviously, the Australians are a powerful force, but they currently do not have the ability to get involved in long-distance maritime trade routes.
This is a great opportunity for the company. It seems necessary to open a trade route between Danyuan and Lingao as soon as possible.
He opened the map on the table, carefully looked at Lingao, which had just been standardized not long ago, and measured it with a ruler. He found that Lingao's location was not too remote on the Southeast Asian trade route. It should be a good trade port.
De Carpentier was thinking. There was a knock on the door outside.
"Come in!" He raised his head, and it was his attendant who came in.
"What's up?"
"The representative of Liu Laoxiang from Guangdong is here. Do you want to see him?"
"Of course." De Carpentier nodded, "invite him in."
Liu Xiang had a certain degree of cooperation with the Dutch - of course this cooperation was caused by Liu Xiang's strength. After the Liu Xiang gang suddenly emerged on the coast of Guangdong in the late Tianqi years, they quickly controlled the waters near the Pearl River Estuary and once became the
The overlord of the Guangdong Ocean gradually came into conflict with Zheng Zhilong as he expanded to the Fujian Ocean; and the Dutch also needed a force that could contain the growing Zheng Yiguan, and the two sides hit it off immediately.