Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1982 Timor Island

231 Timor Island

The construction of Timor Island has recently entered a critical period, and more than 30 yuan of loans have been accurately delivered.The local Portuguese colonial officials and native white elites looked unloved. They didn’t need the loan at all, and they didn’t like the sudden arrival of the people from the east coast. They believed that this would probably lead to fierce revenge from the Dutch East India Company , and plunged them into disaster.

But their opinion is of little importance.This is the will of the people on the east coast, and it is directly aimed at the Dutch East India Company. Even their Governor of Goa dare not comment on this matter, let alone their lower-level colonial officials and native white nobles. You can only follow in the footsteps of the people on the east coast, whether they want to or not.

It is not that no one has raised objections to this, such as the Robles family, which has been operating locally for two generations.This family owns two large manors in the eastern half of Timor Island (hereinafter referred to as East Timor), and enslaves more than a thousand Malay workers. The power is so amazing that the local colonial officials dare not confront them. How about them, many things have to be discussed with them, or act according to their face.

Such a family is naturally used to being arrogant and domineering on weekdays. If the arrival of the people from the east bank can bring them benefits, that's all.But if it doesn't bring benefits and may even bring harm, then they may have something to say, such as preventing the people on the east coast from turning this place into a military base.

The move of the Roberts family undoubtedly violated a great taboo.However, considering the influence of the family in the local area, the people on the east bank ignored it for the time being, but continued the planned construction work.Although the Roberts family resorted to various means to temporarily suspend some projects of the people on the east coast, they still had some scruples after all, and they did not dare to be mad enough to openly oppose the people on the east coast, even though the representatives of the Dutch people had come Warnings have been issued several times, even if they are already in a hurry because of the impact on trade.

However, the restraint of the Roberts family was not recognized by the East Coast people.Major Lu Xiaozhong of the Third Fleet plans to add a courier to a fast liaison ship returning to Denglai next month (May), and bring his personal letter to Commander-in-Chief Liao Degong Liao, requesting his order to adapt the ship to combat in tropical areas. The two right-wing companies of the Taiwan Marine Battalion were transferred to Timor Island and temporarily authorized him to command to clean up the disobedient forces on the island—such as the Roberts family—and replace them with forces that obey the people on the east coast, so as not to hurt themselves. Trouble.

As for the so-called "submission to the power of the people on the east coast", Lu Xiaozhong had already chosen it, that is, the Pinto family who had close ties with the navy on the east coast and had business dealings in the Bay of Bengal, Macau and other places.It just so happened that a member of this family had been operating on Timor Island for many years, and he was not very powerful. He didn't welcome the arrival of people from the east coast, because he thought it might hinder their business, especially some unspeakable relations with the Netherlands. The private business of Indian companies.

But he is a member of the Pinto family after all, and he often needs help from other members of the family, especially when East Timor is still facing the threat of the Dutch in West Timor.In addition, the people on the east coast promised that their family would monopolize the trade route from Timor Island to Jiaozhou Port, so they were attracted immediately.

Now, everyone has basically negotiated in private, just wait for the troops from the Taiwan Marine Battalion to arrive, and then wipe out the Roberts family.Its family property was divided between the East Bank and other local families, and the forces in the army and parliament were also cleared away, allowing the entire East Timor to become a closely united subject again—under the leadership of the East Bank people.

Of course, before the Robes family is cleared up, the people on the east coast will also get the understanding of the Governor of Goa, but they don't know if there will be time.But no matter what, this has to be done, unless the Robles family suddenly changes course and supports the various initiatives of the people on the east coast on the island, otherwise their fate will be wiped out.East Timor is a dagger stuck in the waist of the Dutch East India Company by the East Coast people. No matter what, they will focus on management, so they will never allow any internal problems. For this reason, they resorted to some more drastic means.

"We now have three professional warships in Dili Port, and they are sail warships equipped with steam propulsion systems. They can no longer be regarded as small forces." Looking at the Malay slave workers struggling to reclaim the sea and build bridges (the trestle bridge) ), Lu Xiaozhong nodded with satisfaction, then turned to Wang Zhaowen and Hu Chi, the special envoys of the Southern Exploration Team who had just arrived here with the light cruiser "Jianhe Tianspear", and said: "Although there are many ships of the Dutch East India Company, but There are many places that need to be taken care of, and it may not be possible to invest much force in Timor Island. What's more, many of the ships they can call are armed merchant ships, not professional warships, and they still have to do business at ordinary times, so it is uncertain when they can call I realized that this is another advantage for us. The three professional warships can operate around the clock, and they can take some unexpected routes (that is, without considering ocean currents and wind directions), resulting in unexpected effects. The Dutch have to deal with them. Get up, it will be a headache compared to it."

"However, we still have difficulties now, and there are still many." After talking about the strengths and weaknesses of the two sides, Major Lu Xiaozhong changed the subject and talked about the difficulties we are facing now. He said: "First of all, we still lack a ship. Ship, a coal ship. How can a motor-sail ship go far without a coal ship? Doesn’t that greatly limit our voyage? This is not possible! So this requires the approval of the superior. In addition, we also need a small The ammunition production base should preferably be built in Dili Port to support our operations on the sea with self-produced ammunition. We don’t need to be able to produce guns. Just give us more of these in stock, but we must have ammunition. That's critical."

In fact, Lu Xiaozhong had discussed this issue with Wang and Hu before. The East Indies, like Japan, have a lot of sulfur resources.Moreover, the climate is hot and humid, which is suitable for building a nitrifying bacteria culture system and producing nitrate in batches—in addition, the Pinto family can also purchase it from the Bay of Bengal—with nitrate and sulfur, black powder is not a problem at all.You know, this is not a new type of gunpowder that is being researched and trial-produced by the local people. The requirements for the type and purity of raw materials are not so strict, and it is very easy to manufacture. Even the Malay natives of this island can do it. The Falkland Gunpowder Factory sent some skilled technicians over.

With sufficient gunpowder, the navy and army of the people on the east coast have sufficient guarantees for war.Just like Timor Island, it can provide sufficient food, produce a sufficient amount of gunpowder, and accumulate some tents, tools, medicines, clothing, mechanical parts, and shells (it would be even better if a small iron factory can be built to make shells by itself) Alright) and other supplies, then a military base with considerable self-sustainability will be built.

From this base, the north can attack many spice-rich islands in the Banda Sea, harassing the pockets of the Dutch; Connected to Port Motu, where a large number of merchants and fishermen on the east coast gather today—that is, Port Moresby in later generations, the territory of the Motu people, where the people on the east coast bought a piece of land as a shelter and unified management of the east coast Nationals log, fish and do business locally—it can be said to be a relay connecting all parties, and geographical location is very important.

In fact, a while ago, Major Lu Xiaozhong led his three "Star" class light cruisers, using their steam propulsion system, to go north into the Banda Sea, intercepting ten small offshore boats transporting food and cloth to Ambon Island—— The Dutch East India Company controlled more than 1 such offshore small boats nearby-after transferring food and cloth to its warships, these small boats were burned, and all personnel were captured in the secret prison on the outskirts of Dili Port locked up.

Lu Xiaozhong guessed that this attack would cause chaos on Ambon Island for a while.In order to control the production and trade of spices, the Dutch East India Company has been promoting the simplification of the island industries for many years, that is, using various means to subdue the island kingdoms and chieftains on the islands, and destroy the food planting industry on the islands. Clean up shrubs and miscellaneous trees, and plant spices uniformly.

This economic model is extremely beneficial to the Dutch East Indies, but it is very unfavorable to ordinary Malays on the islands.First of all, the food, cloth, salt, daily necessities and other materials needed for their daily life were all transported by small offshore boats controlled by the Dutch.For example, the food they needed was transported from Batavia (many of which were purchased by the Dutch), salt and cloth were purchased from India, some of the daily necessities were produced in Batavia, and some were obtained through trade , in short, it was all in the hands of the Dutch.The only economic activity of each island is to grow spices desperately, and then sell them to merchants of the East India Company in exchange for various living materials.

There is no doubt that in this process, the natives have no bargaining power. The Dutch have the final say on the pricing of spices, as well as the prices of grain and salt.What's more, when the international spice market fluctuates and the Dutch reduce their purchases to maintain the price of spices and maximize profits, the people on these islands will suffer!They will not have enough money to buy all kinds of living materials, and they will also lack ships to smuggle trade with the outside world (once they are discovered by the Dutch, they will usher in a massacre revenge), so life will be sad, hungry Dead people were not uncommon, and the Dutch colonists cared nothing about them.In their view, the natives are a lowly race, so what does it matter if a few people die?Not a big deal.

It can be seen from this that the living system of many islands in the Spice Islands is actually very fragile, and they are extremely dependent on external material transportation due to their extremely poor self-sustaining ability.Therefore, when the three ships of the East Coast Navy depart from Dili Port and head north into the Banda Sea, they can put Ambon Island in great trouble with just a small test.But this time they only robbed ten small boats. In the future, if they continue their activities and rob dozens or even hundreds of offshore boats, famine will probably occur on many islands, right?At that time, the residents of these islands will probably cut down the spice trees and replant food in order to survive. At this time, the Dutch may not be able to suppress it.

Therefore, the advance of the people from the east coast to Timor Island can be called "stable", "accurate", and "ruthless", and it hit the seven inches of the Dutch East India Company at once, which made them very uncomfortable.It's been a few months since they got the news, and the company is still in a state of confusion, and no one has made a clear statement about how to deal with this situation. The only thing they did, probably sent a few representatives , came to Dili Port to protest.

As for sending warships to blockade Dili Port, to be honest, the Dutch are considering it, but if they really want to make up their minds to implement it, I am afraid that it still needs to be discussed.At least, as long as the people on the east coast have not yet violated the interests of the Spice Islands (the Dutch have not yet found out the reason for the ship's failure), rash action will only make things more unpredictable.In Batavia now, although there are some hardliners, overall they do not have the upper hand, and everyone still tends to use negotiations to solve problems.

Of course, this is the result of a series of "bad news" recently received.A year ago, there were far more hardliners in Batavia than there are now!It can also be seen from this that the Dutch are cheap. If you don't show some means, they will not be able to see the situation clearly. They think you are weak and hopeful, and think that the Strait of Malacca and grain trade are indispensable to the people on the east coast Woolen cloth.

Now the heads of the Dutch are probably clearer. The troubles in Formosa Island, the hidden worries in Port William II, and the possible threats to the Spice Islands have forced the Dutch East India Company to re-evaluate the current situation. facing the situation.They were originally dissatisfied that the people from the east coast entered the Indian market and formed a de facto alliance with the Portuguese, which obviously harmed the interests of the East India Company and made their hope of dominating the Indian market come to naught. Therefore, they decided to take some countermeasures. Express your dissatisfaction with the arrogant east coast people.

Moreover, they think that these countermeasures are very measured. For example, they only imposed additional tariffs on goods exported to Denglai and Ningbo, so that people on the east coast will pay more.They didn't even close the port of Malacca to ships from the east coast, so as not to make matters worse.Therefore, the Dutch are actually very useful and measured. From a fair and objective standpoint, the people on the east bank are making troubles everywhere at the same time. Although it is revenge in response to the behavior of the Dutch, this The intensity of retaliation is a bit too high, as the so-called unequal.

Just like you punched me and I killed your whole family, the degree of revenge is not on the same level at all, so the Dutch East India Company was a little confused and aggrieved.But this world has always been spoken with fists. People from the east coast have so many cards to play in the Far East and the Indian Ocean, and the cards are so good that you can’t stand just a few cards. Who can blame this?The Dutch are not fools. After they synthesized information from all parties and conducted research, the number of hardliners has decreased significantly. The overall view of Batavia's top management has begun to focus on negotiations, avoiding direct armed conflicts as much as possible, and restoring the original trade order.

However, since it is necessary to negotiate, it seems that it is inevitable to admit the existence of the East Coast people in the Indian region, and to admit that they are one of the best players in the game of chess in India, which makes some people feel quite heartbroken.Originally, they were about to defeat the Portuguese and take over the Coromandel and Malabar coasts, but the emergence of the people from the east coast turned things around. In the future, they probably would never have the chance to win Goa, Daman, and the first coast. It is a pity that Wu waited for the place.

But that's all there is to it.Acknowledging that the presence of East Coasters in India was inevitable, the next major goal of the East India Company was probably to negotiate the departure of East Coasters from Timor Island, thereby keeping the Spice Islands away from various threats.It may not seem easy, but how do you know if you don't try it?The Spice Islands are the core assets of the company, and there is absolutely no room for loss, as everyone knows.

"The Dutch may ask us to leave Timor Island. It doesn't really matter. But we need to make preparations in advance, such as relocating a large number of immigrants from Ningbo to settle here, and at the same time organize them for militia training. Of course, the factories must also be organized by They have control, at most they will give the Portuguese some dividends. All in all, through the above means, we will strengthen our presence in Timor Island, and if we really leave in the future, we will be able to come back at any time." Major Lu Xiaozhong stood in a place Looking at the open blue sea in the distance, the coastal defense fort said with a smile: "There are ship repair facilities, ammunition factories, food and fruits, as well as barracks and forts. It can be said that we have everything we need. The Portuguese are now taken care of by us." You can do whatever you want in the future, so what does it matter if Timor Island remains in their hands for the time being?"

Of course, Lu Xiaozhong didn't say some things in detail in front of Hu and Wang.That is, even if you want to leave Timor Island in the future, it is imperative to clean up the Portuguese native white families on the island. Families like Roberts must be cleaned up and replaced by the Pinto family that people on the east coast prefer. , This is the premise, and it is also the key to remote control of the situation on Timor Island by people on the east coast in the future.

Let the Pinto family contain other Portuguese families on the island, and allow Ningbo immigrants to monitor and contain the Pinto family. This kind of routine of mutual influence is the core to ensure the long-term stability and control of Timor Island in the future.As for what the Portuguese governor of Goa would think, that's all secondary, and even for various reasons, he might be very relieved to see the people on the east coast clean up the unruly natives on the island for him. The white family, so that he and the Goa government can have stronger prestige on the island.

(End of this chapter)