Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2021 Resolution Mechanism

"The number of ships lost in the Banda Sea this month has finally dropped significantly." In the villa of the Governor of the East India Company in Batavia, Balthazar Burt, who has been promoted to Governor, is listening to the report of the people below.

Burt was rushed into office only in mid-1687.Because the colonial forces of England and Portugal were completely wiped out in Ceylon, and the native kingdom of Jaffna was brought into rule, Burt was favored by the 17-member committee in Amsterdam and promoted to Governor of the East Indies.

This is a position that many people are envious of. Since then, Burt has the power to control the life and death of a total of 1.2 European employees of the East India Company in the East and a larger number of employees of other ethnicities.It can be said that apart from the affairs of the church, he can intervene in many other affairs including colonization, trade, military affairs and foreign teaching. Just ask what kind of power this is, and what amazing wealth is bred in it.

Balthazar Burt didn't have much background, and he was not covered by any big bosses. He was able to become the governor of the East India Company because of his outstanding achievements in Ceylon and his ten-year career in the Far East. Years of experience (he has not died of illness for more than ten years, which is also against the sky), and he also knows that the 17-member committee in Amsterdam values ​​the company's annual profits.In other words, if Bert wants to stay in the position of governor for a few more years, so as not to be snatched by others before his butt is hot, then it is best to focus on how to make more profits aspect.And this is undoubtedly inseparable from the assistance of the East Coast people who have great influence in the Indian Ocean and the coast of China. Therefore, he made up his mind as soon as he took office to fully reconcile with the East Coast people and improve mutual relations in all aspects. economic and trade relations between them.

To be honest, being able to make such a decisive decision shows that Burt's political wisdom has improved over the years.Once upon a time, Balthazar Burt was a cruel and cunning colonizer and executioner. He slaughtered the natives, the English, and the Portuguese in Ceylon. Take tougher measures, but he has no decision-making power at that time.

Ten years passed in a flash. In the past few years after the signing of the "Colombo Friendship and Trade Treaty of the East Netherlands", Balthazar Burt has basically given up any hostile approach to the people on the east coast through long-term contact with the people on the east coast.Especially after the East-Portuguese United Fleet was established and cruised around the North Indian Ocean from time to time, Burt was keenly aware that this would be a big trouble for the Dutch East India Company's trade in the Far East.In order to solve this trouble, apart from negotiating and compromising, they have no choice but to go to war.

At that time, it was not that no one clamored to launch a war against the people on the east coast in order to gain advantages in China and India.But fortunately, this group of people only accounts for a very small part, and most of them are middle and lower classes with little real power, and their voices are automatically ignored.The real majority at that time was actually the kind of people who hoped to show a tough attitude towards the people on the east coast through various means, so as to force the people on the east coast to submit.In other words, the mainstream opinion of the Dutch East India Company in the Far East at that time was to use cold violence against the people on the east coast, but at the same time avoid war as much as possible, and maximize the benefits at the lowest cost.

Adhering to this kind of thinking, the Dutch did a series of things in those years.For example, they ordered to increase the export tariffs on Nanyang rice, which was imported in large quantities by the people on the east coast, which cost the people on the east coast a lot of money, although it may damage their own commercial interests in the long run; The strength of trade ties not only shifted the import share of tea, raw silk, and silk from Guangdong and Fujian, but also helped the Qing Dynasty recruit experienced military officers in Europe and help them form more new troops; for example, they are still doing their best to Open up the Japanese market, try every means to squeeze out the influence of people from the east coast here, with the intention of obtaining more commercial benefits.

The above-mentioned things are basically not very happy for the people on the east coast, but it will not cause a full-scale declaration of war.The Dutch carefully controlled the situation and tried to avoid giving the East Bank too much stimulation.You see, they didn’t even close the two important nodes on the east coast immigration route, Malacca and Galle Fort, and they still provide services normally, which explains everything.

But to the surprise of the Dutch, the East Coast counterattack was very firm.They accelerated the formation of the joint fleet and cruised with Portugal and Spain in China and Southeast Asia. Although the number of ships is small and the ships are very old, they are semi-professional warships (usually they will also be in Guangzhou, Vietnam, and Luzon) It is still very advantageous to hit some of your merchant ships, so this makes the Dutch East India Company a little uneasy and even angry, because they have already sunk ships off the coast of Vietnam, and they don’t know who did it .

In addition, it is a stroke of genius that the people from the east coast went south to invade Timor Island.This island is located on the southern edge of the Banda Sea, not far from Batavia and even closer to the Spice Islands.If the fleet departs from here, it can easily reach several islands in the Spice Islands that grow cloves and nutmeg, which are high-value spices monopolized by the Dutch East India Company.Perhaps due to factors such as military strength, the people on the east coast were unable to board these islands with fortifications to burn, kill, and loot, but they attacked the ships that went to and from the islands without any effort, and the harvest would not be small.

The Dutch East India Company wanted to take the East Coasters of East Timor, but the problem was that they didn't have the strength.The Portuguese colonial forces have been operating East Timor for many years, but the Dutch East India Company has never been able to completely win it.Now that the people from the east coast are added, the possibility of them being able to win is even smaller, unless they can attack with all their strength regardless of losses, but in fact this is very difficult to do, and there is also the risk of triggering a full-scale war.

In addition, last year, people from the East Coast advanced into Brunei, where the geographical location is extremely critical, and gained an important foothold in the land below the wind.Although it is only a commercial station at present, and there are not many people stationed there, how do you know that it will not develop into a large base in the future?You know, people from the east coast are very good at running colonies. Now they have begun to immigrate hundreds of households to Brunei. It is said that they are all soldiers and their families who have been eliminated from the Denglei area. This is even more worrying.

The Dutch East India Company has recently strengthened its ties with the Sultan of Brunei and provided them with large loans to purchase Western-style weapons, hire Western officers, and enhance their military strength.These are all precautions to prevent Brunei from being annexed by the East Coast. Although I don't know if it will work, what should be done is always done.

It can be seen from the above layout that the people on the east bank have made long-term layout in order to solve the threat of the Dutch East India Company.The Zheng Group in Formosa, the directly-affiliated commercial station in Brunei, and the fleet in East Timor, these three key nodes firmly clamped down on the trade routes and spice production areas of the East India Company, posing a considerable threat.Not to mention, they have been building a base on Diu Island in Northwest India for several consecutive years. Diu Island, which is also stationed with an East-Portuguese United Fleet, has become the base camp to curb the expansion of the East India Company to the northwest coast of India.Every summer and autumn, their fleet can go directly south along the North Indian Ocean circulation, threatening many colonial strongholds and trading stations established by the Dutch on the west coast of India, threatening their commercial interests.

Balthazar Burt was tough, but he wasn't a single-minded fool.On the contrary, it may be easier to deal with this so-called hawk than ordinary people, because you just need to directly show that you have the ability to destroy the other party, no need to say much.Therefore, Burt carefully assessed the situation and found that the company's major sources of income, such as Formosa Island, the Spice Islands, and India, were being severely threatened by the people on the east coast. He decisively pressed the internal request to counterattack Instead, they turned to dialogue with the people on the east bank, and tried to resolve the disputes between the two parties through peaceful consultations.

As soon as Burt took office, he announced that he would suspend the imposition of high export tariffs on Nanyang rice exported to Ningbo. As a media, I got in touch with Liu Houfei, the captain of the Southern Pioneering Team.

It should be said that the results of the initial contact between the two sides are good.The Dutch said that they would increase the scale of grain exported to the east coast, and the price could be reduced by more than 10%, while the tariff level would still be reduced to the original level.Liu Houfei expressed his appreciation for this, saying that the import of Nanyang rice can be increased, and some Chinese specialty products exported to Formosa Island can be increased at the same time.However, he did not mention whether he would continue to operate the Brunei commercial station and the East Timor naval base, which made the Dutch a little uneasy, because those are two swords hanging high above their heads, and they may fall at any time.

The Dutch envoy then visited a number of other officials, though most avoided seeing each other at this sensitive time for fear of getting into a commotion.Only some officials from the Bank of Taiwan made it clear to the Dutch that Brunei and East Timor may not be under the jurisdiction of Ningbo in the future, but will be managed by a newly established high-level official organization located in the Lianwu area, so they At this time, if I ask Liu Houfei, I will definitely not get any clear answer.

Of course, the officials of the Bank of Taiwan did not make it clear that these two locations are very important. Now that people from the East Coast have gone, it may be difficult for them to leave.At present, 425 households of Denglei servants have been moved to the Brunei commercial station, and a total of 107 households of Denglei military households have been moved to certain wilderness areas on the outskirts of Dili Port in East Timor. These people have received government subsidies. The land was bought locally—well, the purchase of the land in Dili Port encountered some difficulties, because the local Portuguese strongly opposed it, and it is currently under negotiation—how could it be possible to move away?

And if they don't leave, I'm afraid that more military families will move there in the future, because the dismantling of the Denglai servant army has slowly entered a small climax, and there are too many military families who can move out.Although they may not be very happy in their hearts, under the heavy rewards, there are always some people who are willing to go to sea to ask for a living. The two groups of people who have already gone to Brunei and Dili in advance are proof.

The Far East actually formulated a secret plan.They want to slowly change the ethnic composition and religious orientation of Brunei, East Timor and even Diu Island through immigration and other means (such as war), so as to lay a solid foundation for better ruling the local area in the future and implementing various local policies.In such a situation, how could they voluntarily give up these two places?If the Dutch East India Company wants to work hard on this, it is destined to get no results, but they don't know it yet.

Balthazar Burt also sent an envoy to Xinhua Island.They have now figured out that Diu Island is actually under the direct management of the highest officer of the colony. If they want to make a breakthrough in the direction of northwest India, they still need Xinhua Port to find a way.

Shao Yaoguang, the captain of the New China Pioneering Team, also took time to receive the envoys from the East India Company.However, his attitude may not be as polite as Liu Houfei of Ningshao. He directly pointed out that New China and the East India Company did not trust each other in India, which was entirely caused by the aggressive attitude of the Dutch East India Company.If Batavia wants to really improve bilateral relations, it is better to take the initiative to show its sincerity and cancel the annual regular fleet patrol (starting from Ceylon Island and arriving on the coast of northwest India, with the intention of attacking merchant ships of other countries), and at the same time release some The monopoly power of the trading station allows merchants on the east coast to enter it for trade. This is the correct way to do things.

Bert's envoy turned green when he heard this, but he didn't dare to lose his temper, but kept saying that he needed to ask His Excellency the Governor for instructions.

Of course, the negotiations between the two parties in Xinhua Port were not without any results.The two parties finally agreed to establish an effective and long-term dialogue mechanism, try to resolve the conflict of interests between the two parties through negotiations, rather than war or indiscriminate pirate privateing activities, because it is obviously not beneficial to both parties - this Before the dialogue mechanism, they also got the approval of Liu Houfei in Ningbo, and everyone agreed to use this method to resolve differences as much as possible.

"The intensity of privateering activities should be reduced." Balthazar Burt said: "The effect of the establishment of the bilateral dialogue mechanism is still good, and the profits of board members have been preserved to the maximum extent. However, if you really want to break the The people on the east coast built such a large encirclement on us from the west coast of Africa to the coast of China. To protect our route safety, we still have to rely on our own strength. The British have already been experimenting with how to put steam engines on board. They copied a The propellers of people from the eastern coast of China, trying to come up with this advanced underwater propulsion system, although failed, but the spirit is commendable. It's a pity that our United Province has been busy with some trivial things these years, and we don't have enough core technology Seriously, only our company and some other shipping companies are doing it themselves, this is really stupid! Hope this incident can give some touches to Amsterdam, only to get steam-powered ships-I mean the kind of really reliable products, Instead of high-priced handmade toys—we will have a certain confidence when facing people from the East Coast.”

Accompanying the bed in the hospital, taking time out.There are too many people in the hospital. I am shy in typing. I don’t want others to see it. At the same time, I have to take care of the patients. I don’t have much time. Sorry.

(End of this chapter)