Van Delantron went through the handover procedures with the original merchantman of the "Magdeburg". The ship had only been sailing from the Netherlands for a few months and was in pretty good condition after being repaired. Because this time it was heading to the unknown.
There is a certain risk in sailing in the powerful port. The personnel on the ship have been strengthened. The whole ship is equipped with 120 sailors and 40 soldiers. The ship was originally equipped with only 4 cannons, and 4 additional cannons were installed.
Although the route to Hainan Island can only be regarded as a short voyage, the ship is still equipped with two military doctors to take care of the crew - although it is difficult to say how useful they are. There is no voyage where the ship does not throw more than ten or even several bodies into the sea.
Ten corpses. Of course, there is also a priest on the ship to look after the souls of the crew.
Van Delantron held a brief meeting with the captain, Gonzalez and Leib Trini. The task given by the governor to Van Delantron was to open up trade with the Australians and collect as much as possible
Their intelligence. To achieve their goals, the first step is to select suitable trade goods: if the Australians are not interested in the goods they ship, then neither trade relations nor intelligence collection will be possible.
Van Delentrön felt very troubled. No one here had any trade dealings with the Australians, and no one knew what they liked or needed. Since the Australians were on the coast of China, the Chinese goods: silk, raw silk, and porcelain.
They will definitely be able to get sufficient supplies of these, and judging from their large output of sugar, paper, and glass products, they themselves have very strong manufacturing capabilities. After thinking about it, Van Dellentron thought, they have the entire East Indies.
The only products of interest may be spices. Pepper, cinnamon, and cloves are among the few commodities that the Chinese are willing to import in bulk from the Dutch.
If he can't find suitable bulk export commodities, van der Lentel will have no choice but to divert a large amount of silver to trade with the Australians. This is the trade situation the company least wants to see.
The Governor's secretary gave him a pamphlet about the basic conditions of the Australians. Van Drentron carefully studied the imported goods of the Australians. They imported a wide variety of things, but the largest commodities were rice, timber,
Pig iron, various metals and cotton products. Especially cotton products, the import figures are very large. Van Drentron was shocked, because according to what the brochure said, they only bought it from India from one trader.
The amount of cotton cloth and cotton yarn exceeds the total sales of various textile products to China over the years since the East India Company started trade with China. In fact, the East India Company not only failed to sell many cotton products to the Chinese, but instead imported them from Chinese merchants every year
A large amount of "Nanjing cloth" is shipped and sold.
Obviously they have a great demand for textiles, Van Dellentron thought. But I am afraid that he is incompetent when it comes to cotton products. Most of these products are shipped and sold by the British. Batavia has no inventory of cotton products, unless it is sent
The ship was procured from India and shipped - obviously it was too late in time.
As for pig iron and metals, they are even more scarce. Whether it is iron, lead or copper, so far they are either shipped from Europe or imported from China and Japan. They are already quite scarce and cannot be exported.
However, Batavia has a large amount of Dutch linen, which is a large export industrial product of the Netherlands. Because of its low price, it actually caused dumping in the European market. At that time, some people described its price as being so low that "the poorest people"
You can also use it to make shirts." In addition, he is also preparing to ship some high-quality woolen fabrics. Although woolen fabrics are not popular in China, they have always been purchased as luxury goods.
After much consideration and reading of this booklet, van der Lentrön finally arranged a cargo list for Magdeburg. The goods to be shipped to Lingao for sale included: a large amount of spices, Dutch linen and
Logs and a small amount of high-quality wool. Because he saw from the brochure that the clothes worn by Australians were mostly blue and gray, he judged that the Australians lacked dyes other than indigo. He added dyes such as hematoxylin to the cargo list.
Finally, he loaded several hundred bags of local rice. Even Europeans in East India could only rely on rice as their staple food.
Since no one among the Dutch had been to Hainan Island, they knew the exact longitude and latitude of Lingao, and the Dutch often went to Vietnam for trade, so they were not completely ignorant of the local conditions. Referring to the nautical charts and the intelligence collected, Van De
Lantron roughly knew that Lingao was in the Qiongzhou Strait. He only had to take the route to Vietnam, and after arriving in Vietnam, he would turn west and sail into the Qiongzhou Strait to find Lingao.
After the "Magdeburg" set sail, it passed through the Palembang Strait, sailed through Sumatra Island, and the Philippine Islands. After thirty-five days of sailing, it arrived at Kimberland Bay. After replenishing food and fresh water locally, the "Magdeburg"
"DePauw" will turn its course to the northeast, preparing to cross the Beibu Gulf to find the entrance to the Qiongzhou Strait.
Since Lisya provided the approximate longitude and latitude of Lingao, the voyage went smoothly. The "Magdeburg" sailed past Bailongwei Island in early February 1631, and the sailors on the ship discovered land - according to the information in their hands
According to the sea chart, this should be Hainan Island.
The "Magdeburg" sailed cautiously along the coast - so far, no European ship had entered the Qiongzhou Strait. After sailing along the coast for several days, they finally discovered the narrow entrance to the strait. However, at this time, in
The sailor on the lookout at the top of the mast issued a warning of "an approaching ship."
"Prepare for battle!" the captain immediately issued the order.
After hearing the news, Van Delantron rushed out from the stern and immediately shouted: "No shooting without orders!"
He was deeply afraid that the incoming ship was an Australian ship and that if an armed conflict broke out, it would have a negative impact on his mission.
Sure enough, from the two compass points on the port side, a sloop gradually appeared on the sea level.
Van Dellentrön rested his hands on the handrails of the bow side and stared at the dhow, which was approaching at full speed with its full sail. This kind of ship is very rare on the East Asian seas. It is very typical of Europe.
This ship looked small and very beautiful. It reminded him of the sloops he had seen on the Mediterranean coast and in the English Channel.
Flying on the top of the mast was a flag he didn't recognize. He cast his gaze towards the stern of the ship, where a blue and white flag was flying - exactly as the brochure said, this is the Australian Navy!
"What a strange boat," Gonzalez said. "A schooner! Where did they get it? I've never seen anyone use a boat like that in East Asia!"
The businessman glanced at the officer who was speaking next to him. He was a Spaniard. Van Dellentron hated all Spaniards. He had heard many times about the horrific atrocities committed by the Spaniards during the War of Independence.
.
"Lower the pennant!" Van Delantron ordered. This was a salute to the other party and a sign of no malice. Of course, it is hard to say whether the other party understood the meaning. However, Van Delantron believed that since the Australians
Using a typical European ship, the navigation signals are probably understood.
Sure enough, the other party returned the same gift. And the sailboat gradually came closer.
Leib Trini also came out. He took his sketchbook. He quickly drew a sketch of the sailboat in the notebook with a charcoal strip, and asked: "What do you think they want to do? They are waiting on our route.
"Are you going to make contact with us?" This is Leib Trini's first trip to East Asia, and his first voyage.
"I don't know. Maybe they want to make contact with us. Maybe they want to attack us. Let everyone be on alert immediately." Gonzalez said, "Their boat is small, and the total number of them can only be fifty people at most. Not to mention ours
The side of the ship is much higher. Even in hand-to-hand combat, it will be an advantage. Let people load all the small rotating cannons."
Van Delendron ordered: "Don't drop the sails and keep sailing." It is dangerous to gang up with strange ships on the sea. It is not uncommon for large ships to be attacked by gangs of small boats and finally captured in hand-to-hand combat.
"...ship inspection..." someone shouted from the other side.
"Oh, it looks like Spanish? What are they talking about?"
"Stop the ship for inspection!" The shout from the boat opposite was louder. Although it was in Spanish, the accent was very strange.
"It's strange, they speak Spanish!" Gonzalez frowned, "They want us to stop the ship for inspection."
"We are clearly flying the prince's flag."
"Maybe they don't know the prince." Gonzalez didn't like the Dutch, and he certainly didn't like the prince either.
"Oh! This is the first time I have encountered such a thing!" The Spaniard laughed loudly. "How do you think we should deal with it? Dear Mr. Businessman, do you want them to board the ship for inspection on this vast sea?"
"Of course not, it's not safe - and besides, they may not be Australians," Van Drentron said, "keep sailing."
But the opponent's sailing speed was very fast, and the ship was much more flexible than theirs. Soon the dhow was keeping pace with them. Now they could see each other more clearly. The dhow looked very new.
, not long after it was launched into the water, there were artillery guns on the deck, and the gun jackets had been taken off. Some sailors in blue shorts were running on the deck.
Everyone became nervous. The gunners and musketeers lit matches, and the off-duty sailors of the "Prince's Team" were also armed with swords, axes, daggers and other weapons, ready to go into battle at any time.
At this time, a figure appeared on the stern of the schooner. He put a cone cover on his mouth and said something loudly in Chinese.