The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 538 Common Enemy

In 1556, Holy Roman Emperor and Spanish King Charles V abdicated, and Spain and the Lowlands (known as the Northern Province) were distributed to his son Philip II, and other regions such as Austria and the Habsburg dynasty were distributed to him. brother of Ferdinand I.In this way, the North Province (Netherlands) belongs to the Kingdom of Spain.

In 1568, due to the rebellion against the centralization of the Spanish king and the persecution of the Protestant Calvinists, the 80-year war that lasted for 80 years broke out in the Northern Province against Spain.

In 1579, the seven provinces of the North Province (the area of ​​the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) formed the Utrecht Union to jointly oppose Spanish rule, which is considered the beginning of the modern Netherlands.

On July 1581, 7, representatives from various uprising cities in the Netherlands solemnly announced in The Hague: the abolition of the Spanish king's right to rule the provinces of the Netherlands, the alliance officially declared independence, and the establishment of the Dutch Republic (officially known as the United Republic of the Netherlands).The war continued, and in 26 the seven provinces united to declare the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

This is a country unprecedented in human history.According to many historians, it was the first country in the world to "endow full political rights to the merchant class".

In 1602, under the leadership of the Speaker of the Republic, Oden Barnvelt, the Dutch United East India Company was established.

Since then, Dutch merchant ships and warships have traveled all over the world.

Since the war against Spain in 1568, the war between the Netherlands and Spain has never stopped, and another surprise is that the trade between the two sides has never stopped.

When Zhao Dashan, the general garrison, learned of these things, he was quite shocked by the thinking of Europeans.

It is hard for you to imagine that the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing were able to do business while fighting wars, and it is even more unbelievable that Li Zicheng and other peasant uprisings were able to do business while fighting against the Ming Dynasty.

But that's what Europeans do.

At the beginning of October, Zhao Dashan and Xu Erxian had already arrived at Kelong Island in the north of Dayuan, which is currently called Keelung Sheliao area, opposite to Heping Island.

After Ding Yi captured Dayuan, he stayed for a while, then left and returned to Lushun. After he left, a Spanish ship came from the triangle area south of Heping Island.

At this time, Zhao Dashan knew that there was actually a Spanish stronghold hidden in the north of Dayuan, that is, Jilongbao.

In 1624, the Dutch landed in the southwest of Dayuan and built Rezelan City.As their rivals, the Spaniards immediately came to find a place to compete with the Dutch. They discovered San Diaojiao in 1626 and occupied Beidayuan Chicken Coop (former Basai territory, now Keelung Port) in the same year. Then build the city of San Salvador.

After the Spanish occupation, from 1626 to 1634, it continued to expand and built four bastions around the city.

The Spanish occupied here, one is to avoid the threat of the Dutch, and the other is to do business with Daming, Japan and other countries here.

But their location was not as good as that of Rejalan City at that time, and the Dutch warships were more powerful at that time, and they could use warships to threaten the coastal merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, so there were no merchant ships in the Ming Dynasty at that time.

Over time, the Spaniards in history found that not only did they not make any money, but they also had to pay for it, which was very disadvantageous. Later, they began to withdraw their troops and reduce expenses.

So after Ding Yi occupied Dayuan, the Spaniards got the news and quickly sent a ship over, wanting to start a deal with the Ming Dynasty.

Ding Yi had already left at that time, and after receiving the Spaniards, Zhao Dashan first sent a letter to Lushun.

Soon, Lushun replied that he could trade with Spain, but other Ming merchants were not allowed to trade with them.

Ding Yi took the same measures as the Dutch, preventing the development of commerce in Jilong Port.

The original history was in 1642, when the Dutch conquered Jilong Port and took it as their own.

Ding Yi is also planning to find an opportunity to capture Jilonggang, but now the Dutch and the Spaniards are at war, so Ding Yi temporarily stabilizes his relationship with the Spanish, and does not want to make enemies on both sides.

This time, Zhao Dashan got the news that the Dutch were coming, and immediately sent Xu Erxian to Jilongbao by boat. It was false that they were looking for cooperation, but it was true to observe the terrain.

At this time, the Spanish commander stationed in Chicken Cage Fort was Dole Gonzalez.

Hearing that the Ming army had warships coming, Dole Gonzales hurried out to watch, and found that the other party was not hostile, only one ship was coming. He looked through the binoculars and ordered the semaphore, and they would send a small boat to pick them up , to prevent the Ming army warships from docking.

Not long after, Xu Erxian took an interpreter to Jilong Port on a Spanish boat.

The location of Jilong Port is actually better than Tainan Port in terms of defense. It is located in the west of Heping Island.

Entering from Jilong Port, you will find Keelung City in later generations. All the way in, you will be surrounded by land on three sides, and the inside is a good safe haven.

After Xu Erxian went ashore, he saw four castles surrounding Jilonggang. He heard Master Ding say that this is called a bastion, which is very popular in Europe and is very difficult to break through.

If you attack by force, it may be more difficult than attacking the city of Zeelandia.

In the original history, the Dutch were able to force the Spaniards to surrender because the Spaniards themselves could not afford military expenditures, reduced their troops, and demolished the castle.

There is nothing they can do to demolish the castle. They don't have enough troops to defend it. If the enemy takes it, it will be bad for them.

As Xu Erxian walked, he looked at the nearby terrain, observing the route of the warship and the place where it could land.

The number of cannons in the opponent's castle, and the approximate strength of the troops.

When he arrived in the castle, Dole received him warmly.

Last year, when the Spaniard's ship went to Dayuan, Zhao Dashan also warmly received them and sold them a boatload of sugar. They sold it to Luzon and made ten times the profit.

"General Xu." Dole stepped forward excitedly, expressing his welcome to the guests with a warm hug.

"General Dole, we need your help, the damned Dutchman is here again." Xu Erxian said in a panic.

Zhao Dashan asked him to try his best to show panic, fear, fear, and helplessness.

But although Xu Erxian's acting skills are different from Ding Yi and Ding Yi's chief disciple Zhao Dashan, his acting is not very similar.

Dole could only see that Xu Erxian was a little flustered.

Fear and helplessness are completely invisible.

If Zhao Dashan knew, he would definitely come by himself.

"Damn the Dutch, I knew they wouldn't give up the fertile land easily. General Xu, don't worry, we have a common enemy, and we, the Kingdom of Spain, will definitely help you." Dole yelled loudly.

Xu Erxian was about to say thank you.

He changed his tone: "However, General Xu, you have also seen that we are in the chicken coop with only two warships and a few small boats."

"The tonnage of our warships cannot be compared with that of the Dutch."

He didn't lie. Even in the most critical Manila naval battle a few years later, in Manila, an important Spanish colony, they only had two warships of more than [-] tons.

But they actually won.

Therefore, the Spanish navy at this time was quite backward. It is no wonder that they could not beat the Netherlands and were forced to admit their independence a few years later.

Oh, there are only two warships and a few small boats, Xu Erxian understood the point.

Xu Erxian looked at Dole with a bitter face, he really didn't have any acting skills, so he could only pretend to be unhappy and sad.

Dole comforted him: "We have some matchlock guns and are willing to support you. In addition, unloading two 32-pounder artillery from our castle is my only ability."

Of course, Dole hopes to see that the Ming army and the Dutch can lose both sides, and it is best to go to the big players together, and then they can occupy the big players and become the new masters.

For this reason, he decided to sponsor the Ming army well, and he did not hesitate to unload two 32-pound cannons from the castle.

Xu Erxian is overjoyed. He originally came here to find help and find out about the military situation.

Zhao Dashan and Ding Yi never thought that the Spaniards would help.

I didn't expect to get two cannons. Of course, I didn't take them for nothing.

Xu Erxian patted his chest to express his gratitude, and promised that after defeating the Dutch, he would definitely return it.

Dole thought it would be best for you and the Dutch to perish together, it doesn't matter if it's still not.

The two almost burned yellow paper to become foreign brothers. Finally, during the farewell, Xu Erxian returned to his ship with two cannons, fifty matchlock guns, some gunpowder and ammunition.

When he returned to the boat, he said to Zhao Dashan, "Why do you think the Spaniards are pretty good?"

Xu Erxian was a little embarrassed. The Spaniards treated him so well, but he went to peep into other people's privacy.

Zhao Dashan immediately rolled his eyes. There is a reason why you couldn’t get ahead in the original Dongjiang Town: “The Spaniards wish that we and the Dutch would perish together. Do you believe it or not?"

"If we fight out with the Dutch, the Spaniards will come and occupy Dayuan and Tainan Port immediately."

"Master Ding said that these Fanyi are not of our race, so their hearts must be different."

"Sooner or later, we should drive them all out of the officials."

The two returned to Tainan City on October [-], already feeling the atmosphere before the war.

There are very few boats coming and going in Dayuan Port, only our own boats.

The merchants of the Ming Dynasty also seemed to know that the Dutch were coming, and no merchant ships had come over for three consecutive days, and so did other foreign merchant ships.

Only two Japanese merchant ships have arrived here, and they probably don't know that the Dutch beat the big guys.

This Japanese merchant ship was none other than Ding Yi's father-in-law Takanobu Matsuura's merchant ship.

His ship comes once a year.

Everyone here is to buy sugar and make money.

As Ding Yi's father-in-law, if Ding Yi sent sugar to Japan, the price would be ten times what he got here.

Therefore, in order to make money, or to reduce costs, Matsuura Takanobu now visits the staff at least once a year.

This time with the ship, a pile of wealth was also sent over, including copper coins, silver, gold, jewelry, etc. with a total value of about [-] silver.

Zhao Dashan was stunned when he saw these things, and soon knew what happened.

In September last year, Ding Yi met the Japanese resistance forces, Youemon and Amakusa Haruka at Iwami Ginzan.

Ding Yi promised to provide sponsorship, and then sent people to Jeju Island to send a batch of ordnance and supplies, which can equip almost 500 people.

After Youemon got these armors, as in history, he took the lead in raising the banner of rebellion against the shogunate and local daimyo, and called the common people to rise up.

(End of this chapter)