1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 532 Horenberg

On March 1644, 2, Hanzhou, Jianye City.

"Has it been confirmed?" Cao He, the commander of the black guard, looked at He Qing with a serious expression.

"The specific location needs to be confirmed by our exploration fleet based on the chart provided by the Batavia naval commander. However, I think the information provided by the other party should not be wrong. It is probably near the mouth of a river. When not It’s hard to find.” He Qing also looked solemn, “The Dutch stronghold called Hollenburg (now Kitts Harbor in northern Australia) was established four years ago. At that time, we were at war with the Dutch Among them, they originally wanted to use this place to set up a stronghold so that they could blockade our Hanzhou mainland for a long time. But three years ago, we ended the war with the Dutch East India Company, but they did not dismantle this stronghold. On the contrary, in this Over the past few years, manpower and material resources have been invested in its construction one after another."

"What's the situation in the Dutch stronghold called Hollenburg?" Cao He asked.

"It is said that they have not yet achieved full self-sufficiency." He Qing said: "The Dutch replenish the stronghold with supplies almost every two or three months, and the mercenaries stationed there also rotate every year. There were nearly 200 people."

"The Dutch are very afraid of us!" Cao He said angrily, "They even set up a stronghold not far from our Jianye City. If there is a conflict with them one day, maybe we will have a big fight." Loss! We must immediately report this news to the king and the general staff."

"Will we warn the Dutch?" He Qing asked: "You know, at this time, a large number of our immigrants are passing through Batavia. If the relationship between the two parties becomes tense, it will endanger our immigration transshipment work. .”

"I guess we won't be able to take tough measures against the Dutch and force them to withdraw from this stronghold until the immigration transfer is over at the end of March and most of the ships return to the mainland." Cao He thought for a while and said, "What about this?" , the king and the general staff will definitely consult our black guards for countermeasures. You go down and gather intelligence analysts, and come up with a few strategies first."

"Yes, my lord." He Qing nodded in agreement.
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Goror Kahn stood on a high watchtower on the north side of Hollenburg, looked at it for a long time, finally sighed slightly, turned his head and smiled, stretched out his hand and patted the shoulder of the mercenary on duty, and then Slowly climbed down from the watchtower.

After four years of construction, the entire Holenberg is already a small fort with a circumference of more than 600 meters, guarding the east side of a river.There are hardly any valuable properties here.Although there are many forests around, the wood in the forest is too hard and brittle to be used as ship materials.The land is also very barren. I thought that since so many forests can grow here, some food can always be grown in the ground, right?
However, the reality is very cruel, and it is almost impossible to grow rice, wheat, and barley.Even some sorghum and corn, which do not rely on soil fertility, grow sparsely.He knew that apart from the barrenness of this place, there was also the fact that the natives brought from Java were really not good at farming.Not only lazy, but also sloppy and jumpy in doing things, unable to take good care of the crops in the field.

Don't you see, Jianye City, not far from here, probably has a similar geographical environment. Why can Hanzhou people grow a lot of food from the ground and achieve self-sufficiency?

As the second governor of Hollenburg, Gorol Kahn had heard about the desolation and plight of this place before he came, and he also had some ambitions in his heart, trying to build this place into a self-sufficient and huge economic value. Colonial stronghold.

But a few months after arriving in Holenberg, Gorol Kahn felt a deep despair.God, there is really no economic value to be created here, the land cannot grow enough food, and there are no economic products available in the forest.As for those bouncing pocket beasts, what else can they do?The taste of the meat is very poor, and only those stupid natives eat it with relish in order to satisfy their hunger.Although its fur can be used as a raw material for tanning, it is far inferior to those animal furs in the dense forests of the East Indies.

I heard that gold and silver mines have been found in many places in Hanzhou. For this reason, Governor Kahn specially recruited more than a dozen prospecting experts from Batavia to investigate within a dozen kilometers around Hollenburg.But the result was disappointing. Not to mention gold or silver, even iron ore and copper were not found.

Once, he went to Jianye City by boat, and seeing the prosperity and wealth there, he almost went mad with jealousy.Why can the Hanzhou people build a beautiful and orderly city on the same barren land, and they can live a prosperous life.

He applied to Governor Derlin to relocate hundreds of Ming people to Hollenburg to replace those lazy and stupid Javanese natives.However, he was rejected by Governor Delin, saying that the value of Holenberg is not in creating wealth, but as a secret stronghold for the East India Company to contain and threaten the Hanzhou people.Since the self-sufficiency of life cannot be satisfied in a short period of time, the armed merchant ships under the banner will provide them with necessary production and living materials during the trade between Hanzhou and the mainland.

If hundreds of Ming people were relocated to Hollenburg, and there would be conflicts with the Hanzhou people in the future, can you guarantee that they will not fall in love with the Hanzhou people of the same ancestry?
Since Governor Delin positioned Hollenburg in this way, as a secret stronghold that threatened the Han people, it seemed that there was no need to rack his brains to develop the economy and people's livelihood.Governor Gorol Kahn is a little discouraged. Could it be that he spent his three-year term in this way doing nothing?You know, the first task of every colonist who came to the Far East and joined the East India Company was to make a fortune, earn lovely gold and silver coins, and then return to Europe to live a noble life.

But if the commercial station or colonial territory under his management cannot create wealth, then as the governor, how can he realize his dream of getting rich?

No wonder, when the previous governor left, he seemed so relieved, with such a relaxed expression of getting out of the sea of ​​suffering.This Hollenburg is just a pit, allowing his three years of colonial career to be wasted in the forested northern part of Hanzhou.
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Just as the Governor of Holenberg, Gerol Kahn, felt sorry for himself and was about to lay down completely and endure his colonial career, at the port of Batavia, a group of colonial officials and several officers in the uniform of the Dutch Navy were Farewell to Batavian Naval Commander Colonel Dakman Barek on his departure.

"Colonel Barek, we are very sorry for your departure. Thank you for everything you have done for the East India Company over the years!" Governor Cornelis Van der Lin said with a smile: "I hope that after you return to the Netherlands, you will continue to support our East India Company as always."

"Your Excellency, thank you very much for your affirmation of me." Colonel Dachman Barek said sincerely: "Under your leadership, I believe that the East India Company's business performance and various developments will surely be great. Create a new height. After returning to the Netherlands, I will continue to pay attention to and support the affairs of the East India Company.”

"Dear Barek, if it wasn't for the purpose of not delaying your development in the Dutch Navy, I would have convinced the Navy and the East India Company to keep you in Batavia." Grieg, the new commander of the Batavia Navy Rear Admiral Rhys Coppet said with a smile: "You know, in the East Indies and India, no one knows our maritime opponents better than you. Taking over the command of the Batavia Navy will be a huge challenge for me personally ah!"

In February last year (1644), the joint fleet of Sweden and the Netherlands was unexpectedly defeated by the Danish (Denmark declared war on the Netherlands and Sweden in 1642) navy. Commander, was relieved of his duties by the Dutch Navy.But in April last year, after some operations, he was recruited by the East India Company to serve as the new commander of the Batavia Navy.

"Respected Major General Copet, the Far East is no better than Europe. The indigenous forces and sea power here are almost negligible. In addition, after more than ten years of continuous weakening by the Portuguese and Spaniards, they cannot threaten our East India Company. Maritime supremacy. At present, the Philippines has been captured by the Ming Dynasty’s Nicholas, and Spain has almost lost its foothold. After the Portuguese were captured by us in Malacca, they could not pose any threat to us in the East Indies. Although our maritime power does not have an absolute advantage, it is not something that the Portuguese can easily contend with."

"However, our East India Company currently has two potential opponents. One is the official Nicholas of the Ming Dynasty. With the huge Ming Dynasty, he has huge advantages in manpower and material resources, as well as excellent geographical advantages. Japan, North Korea, and Ming country trade pose a deadly threat. Before your arrival, we have already begun to attack the maritime trading ships of the team leader Nicholas to force him to give up part of the Japanese market. "

"For us, there is a piece of good news, that is, the Ming Kingdom began to show signs of collapse. The government of the Ming Kingdom was overthrown by the rioting civilians in its country, and then the Tatars in the north drove out the rioting civilians, and then occupied the The vast north. The Ming Dynasty established a new government in the south, which formed several confrontations with the Tatars and the rioting civilians. It can be predicted that this huge war in the Ming Kingdom may last for a period of time. In this way, that Nicholas The support that an official can get from the Ming government will be very limited. Major General Kopet, you can make good use of this opportunity to severely attack Nicholas' trading fleet."

"Well, I've made a note." Major General Kopet nodded and said, "Then, Colonel Barek, the second threat you mentioned may be the Hanzhou people living in the southern continent, right?"

"Yes, Major General Kopet." Colonel Barek nodded, "The strength of the Hanzhou people is increasing every day. I think that at a certain time in the future, our East India Company will inevitably lose due to geographical conflicts." War broke out with Hanzhou again."

"Hanzhou." Major General Copet read the place name softly, and then said with a smile: "I think I should go to Hanzhou in person to investigate and evaluate their strength and their ability to threaten us. Sea power. However, I think the Hollenburg you set up in the mainland of Hanzhou before is really a perfect arrangement."

"Yes, Holenberg is indeed a very valuable secret stronghold." Colonel Barek showed a strange expression on his face, and subconsciously glanced back at the ship he was about to board. The wealth acquired by the East Indies, one of the boxes contained gold coins worth [-] dong given to him by the Hanzhou people.

Holenberg, in a sense, really has super high economic value.

(End of this chapter)