Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1963 Arrangements Clearly

"Commander, this is the latest instruction, sent from Xinhua Port." In the office of the Djibouti Security Command, the naval captain Liu Zhen, who was fanning futilely with a cattail fan, suddenly received a confidential letter from his adjutant.

The letter was well sealed and the sealant was clear, which meant that no one had ever opened it.Liu Zhen put down the cattail fan, slowly opened it to read it, then put it away carefully, and put it back in the file box in the drawer.

"Who is the Dutch East India Company pissing off? The business is doing well, and they are doing all they can to make a fuss. Are you an idiot now? Denglai, Ningshao, Macau, India, Djibouti and other places are mobilizing together to fully squeeze their space for activities." , keep attacking their commercial influence, and don’t arrange them clearly? It’s just a group of short-sighted idiots who overestimated their own strength and underestimated our influence, and imposed trade sanctions on us. Isn’t that stupid? ?” After lighting a pipe slowly, feeling the refreshing fragrance of the top-grade Virginia shredded tobacco, he said with a smile: “Let them taste their own fruit now. But our Djibouti is too small, it is a pipe The area under the jurisdiction of the committee, but what the hell is there is only one town and two townships with a population of more than 3000, what can you do to help, it’s really playing the piano.”

The confidential letter Liu Zhen had just received was written to him by Shao Yaoguang, the captain of the New China Exploration Team, requesting them to dispatch their only two warships (a "Star" class light cruiser and an armed merchant ship) to carry out irregular missions in the Gulf of Aden. Patrol to see if there are any ships of the Dutch East India Company entering the Red Sea to purchase coffee and other specialties locally.

You must know that this is not an unfounded worry by people on the east coast, but a fact.Although the Ottoman Empire has an excellent relationship with the East Coast Republic, and the East Coast diplomats have a very strong local influence, this does not mean that the country has been completely controlled by the East Coast. In fact, this is impossible.Such a big country has a very strong will and sees some problems very clearly. Therefore, even though the east coast has become its largest trading partner, their country is still trying to attract businessmen from other countries. Even the Republic of Venetia, which has fought with them for 20 years and caused them tragic casualties, is allowed to come to trade, which is already a good example of the problem-people don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket!

Based on this policy, the Ottomans have also shown great kindness to the ships of the Dutch East India Company who are going to trade in the Asian part of their country: there are five or six Dutch ships trading in ports such as Mocha and Jeddah every year. The ship brought a large amount of spices such as pepper, cloves, and nutmeg to the Ottomans. At the same time, there were also many special products from India, which sold a lot in the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt.Undoubtedly, at least a considerable part of these commodities conflicted with the people on the east coast, but the people on the east coast could not blame the Ottomans, because they gave themselves more shares than the Dutch, which was already huge. Good intentions, you can't expect others to give you the purchase share of all the above-mentioned commodities at the risk of the market being manipulated by you?Although they are green, they are not that stupid—even in the Persian sugar market, where the East Coasters beat the Dutch to their knees, Indian businessmen still occupy about 10% of the market share.

Therefore, it is necessary to attack the merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company from the Gulf of Aden—of course, the Dutch cannot be known, which means that such strikes will not be left alive, and the spoils of war will probably be shipped to South Africa, etc. To deal with it in a farther place-to cut off their trade with the Ottoman Empire, let their income drop a little bit, and add trouble to them, it is naturally something that people on the east coast like to hear and see.

The only problem is probably that there are only two ships that can be used for combat in a place like Djibouti, and one of the armed merchant ships often undertakes the task of transporting materials, and the attendance rate may not be too high. It is only such a brisk "Star" class light cruiser that can be used to block the Dutch.

"Forget it, let's say, we are still pointing to Xinhua to give us more assistance, and at the same time, we also hope that the Four Far Eastern Regions can give us some immigrants, so that we can expand some territories outside. The current Djibouti County is really too deceitful. It’s so hot, and besides salt, the only resources are limestone and marble, which is really hopeless.” Liu Zhen took a puff of cigarette and said helplessly: “Well, it seems that I need to move more, It just so happens that I haven't gone out to 'hunt' with my brothers for a long time, let's take it easy this time, and hope to have a good harvest."

Speaking of which, Djibouti is still under the jurisdiction of the sub-provincial management committee (Australia, Heishui and other management committees are senior officials). It can be converted into military merit, which is what he needs urgently, so our Captain Liu, Commander Liu, and Director Liu still have a certain urge to expand abroad.

But it is nothing else that restricts his actual actions, but the pitifully small population in the area under the jurisdiction of the Djibouti Management Committee.After all, when you have only 3000 people under your control, everything will become very difficult.Entering the Somali region to the south, even though it is now a barren land, there are still many ignorant and barbaric indigenous people there, which cannot be easily shaken by the weak Djibouti Management Committee; let alone go north, that is Even if the territory of the Ottoman Empire is only in name, it will be inconvenient to expand there; and to the west, it is even worse, where the Ethiopian plateau has a good environment and a large population. It is said that there is a legendary "Elder John" country", believes in the Orthodox Church, and has good organization and combat effectiveness, let alone the Djibouti Management Committee can spy on.

Therefore, the Djibouti Management Committee is still too weak to do anything substantive. It can only be maintained, unless they can get more people and money and materials—the latter Fortunately, it is not impossible to make do with a squeeze, but the population is really helpless. We can only turn to the four feudal clans of the Far East for help and reach some private deals with them, so that we can get a lot of replenishment.

Spreading more people from the east coast to various world nodes that the people of the east coast consider important is what they have been trying to do for decades, especially in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, where the people of the east coast have already controlled Tahiti, Rabaul, Western Australia, Eastern Australia, New China, Djibouti and other places entered New Caledonia, Diu, Oman and Papua New Guinea at the same time, building cities, farming, and doing business there, initially gaining a firm foothold.To be honest, these places are very important throats. Even if they are unable to control them in the future and lead to their independence, the East Bank will at least have considerable influence in the local area. This is a very clear thing. Therefore, the East Bank has Efforts have been made to expand in the above-mentioned areas, of course, this will undoubtedly require a large number of people.

Once the Djibouti side cooperates with the request of the Far East this time and attacks the Dutch East India Company, maybe they will find a way to add a part of the population to them in private for the sake of their cooperation?With the population, the Djibouti Management Committee has much more options to choose from. Liu Zhen is confident that he will slowly infiltrate the Ethiopian plateau in the inland area and expand their sphere of influence step by step. Wouldn't it be great to be promoted to the next level, and when you return to the navy, you can directly command a powerful squadron?

Therefore, he must do his best this time, and must clearly arrange for the ships of the Dutch East India Company to secretly go to the Red Sea for trade!Let Xinhua Island and the Far East see their efforts!It is now September, just in time for the merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company to return to Batavia or even Europe from the Red Sea. If you go out to patrol more, if you are lucky, you may be able to catch one or two ships, which will be worth it I got my money back.

At the end of September 1686, when the Djibouti Management Committee received a notice to encircle the Red Sea trade of the Dutch East India Company, several ships belonging to the Second Fleet were also in progress at the Dofan Harbor Naval Base on Xinhuaxia Island in the Southwest Indian Ocean. Final preparations before sailing.

Their destination is Mauritius Island in the Mascarene Islands, an island named after Morris, a famous figure in the history of the United Provinces.This place, which is about a week's voyage away from Dovan Port, is the famous sea supply place of the Dutch East India Company.Especially after the people on the east coast captured Dutch South Africa and forced the Dutch to recognize that it belonged to the East Coast Republic, the East India Company used all its strength to develop it.

They built a modern port in the northwest of the island: Port Wilhelm II, named after the father of William III, ruler of the United Provinces.The size of this port is not small, and it can moor more than 60 ships at the same time. It has four sub-forts with a total of more than [-] coastal defense heavy artillery, ensuring that no enemy can even think of storming the port from the sea.

There is also a fortress of the same name in Wilhelm II Harbor.The fortress can garrison more than 3000 troops (of course, only 600 people are stationed at present), and the structure is solid. The whole body is made of cement, stone and thick bricks. Guarantee the quality of the fortress.

With such a scale, Port William II has almost become the most important property of the Dutch East India Company outside the East Indies, Ceylon, Formosa, and Malacca. The important intermediate node (there is just a southwest wind nearby that can reach the Sunda Strait), and of course it is the most eye-catching existence of the Second Fleet of the Republic Navy on the East Coast.Therefore, this time, after the four feudal clans in the Far East sent a fast liaison ship to Xinhua Island to report the news, Shao Yaoguang, the leader of the pioneering team, made a decisive decision and arranged for the navy to set off from Fort Dofan and sail all the way to the northeast, wandering around the waters around the Mascarene Islands as much as possible, looking for an opportunity to attack Merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company passing by.

Even if it is possible, they will go to demonstrate outside the port of William II to let the Dutch know that there is no good end to angering the people on the east coast. They can directly threaten Formosa Island and threaten their relationship with Japan. trade, and can also use Timor as a base to harass Batavia and the Spice Islands.Of course, Djibouti, which threatens trade in the Red Sea, and the Second Fleet of the East Coast Navy, which threatens the island of Mauritius, are now added.

With such an all-round threat, I don't believe that the Dutch East India Company will be untouched!You must know that almost all of their major business interests are now under the attack of the East Coast people. Once the two sides really break out in a hot war, the company's turnover will be reduced by half almost instantly, and it will start to suffer huge losses.At that point, I believe that even if the 17-member committee in Amsterdam was more enlightened and supported Batavia's actions before, it would not be able to last long without dividends and huge losses, right?You must know that a considerable part of the stocks of the Dutch East India Company is also issued and circulated in the open market. Once something happens, it is hard to imagine what will happen!

And through this trade war with the Dutch East India Company, several overseas colonies of the East Coast Republic quickly exchanged news, and then carried out a successful linkage.Facts have proved that after decades of hard work, the Chinese East Coast Republic is now very powerful in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific. up.From now on, I believe that people on the east coast, who have a clearer understanding of their own strength, will expand more aggressively in these areas—especially in the Indian Ocean—in order to grab the biggest share of the benefits.

(End of this chapter)