Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2067 India and Southeast Asia

"The Dutch have been much quieter for more than a year." On July 1689, 7, Major Lu Xiaozhong, who had recently served as the commander of the Southeast Asia Squadron of the Navy's Third Fleet, led two "Star" class light cruisers and four transport ships. Came to Brunei Port.

The transport ship belongs to the Bank of Taiwan. It is a sailboat originally used to transport immigrants. It has been in service for more than 25 years. It has just been dealt with by the Immigration Department at a low price to the Bank of Taiwan to increase their company's maritime capacity.After consuming these four old motor sailboats, the Bank of Taiwan has a huge transportation team consisting of four thousand-ton motor sailboats, six 650-ton flute-shaped transport ships and four "Yaksa"-class armed transport ships, totaling 9500 tons. The transportation capacity is the leading transportation company in the Far East.

In addition, the Bank of Taiwan also owns a marine battalion and four "star" class light cruisers specially ordered by the Ministry of the Navy. To some extent, it is actually a part-time intelligence station, so it is no wonder that many people in Shunguo and Qingguo call it a collective organization of half official and half people, which is indeed reasonable.

The Dutch East India Company, with Batavia as its colonial center, is also very nervous about the Bank of Taiwan, because it already has the ability to threaten their interests.Once upon a time, when the Bank of Taiwan was not strong enough, the Dutch East India Company operated it as an important partner, and boldly sold a piece of land outside Zeelandia Castle as the headquarters and transaction center of the Bank of Taiwan. place.

It's just that they didn't expect that the Bank of Taiwan developed too fast with the official support from the East Coast.At first, they relied on the favorable factors of having a colony in China on the east coast to get more in-demand goods at a lower cost, and then sold them to China and Europe, earning huge profits.At that time, the Dutch East India Company had already noticed that something was wrong, but they relied heavily on trade with the East Bank, so it was not good to turn their faces suddenly.

In recent years, the deposit and loan business of Taiwan banks has developed steadily, and the scale of overseas trade has increased, bringing a lot of profits to the company and accumulating countless cash.The company has also improved its status in the local area by virtue of its excellent performance, making the Joint Chiefs of Staff nod to allow it to form its own armed forces, step by step towards the same situation as the Southern Railway Company at the beginning.

Today's Bank of Taiwan is already a unique presence in the East Asian waters.If the Dutch East India Company wanted to buy goods or sell things, it had to establish a good relationship with them, even if both buyers and sellers were not involved in the Bank of Taiwan, which shows its strength.Of course, the Bank of Taiwan will not only be satisfied with running around the coast of East Asia. In fact, they are now focusing on trade in the South China Sea region such as Vietnam, Thailand, Luzon, and Brunei. This seems to have eroded the Dutch East India Company’s reputation. Benefit.

Of course, the degree of erosion is not that great at present. After all, the focus of the Dutch East India Company is not here, and the degree of intervention is not very deep.Even Vietnam, where they have the greatest interests, is nothing more than exporting commodities such as arms and copper coins, and importing scarce materials such as raw silk.Not to mention, there is also competition from British, French, Portuguese and even Danish merchants in this area, and no one has a dominant position in trade.

The Bank of Taiwan's entry into this sea area was actually strongly promoted by the navy on the east coast.The Third Fleet formed a joint fleet with the Spaniards and Portuguese to cruise in this sea area, attack common enemies and smuggling merchant ships, and maintain normal order.Although the size of the fleet is small, there are only seven or eight ships (mostly armed merchant ships), and they are often called out for various reasons, so that the cruising time is very irregular.But in any case, the existence of this fleet will ultimately bring certain convenience to the people on the east coast, the Portuguese and the Spaniards. Under this background, the Bank of Taiwan will enter the South China Sea trade circle strongly, and the pressure will naturally be greatly reduced. A lot of unnecessary trouble.

The Bank of Taiwan opened its banking business in Brunei Port at the beginning of this year. It is next to the East Bank Commercial Station, which has been built in the form of a fortress, to provide financial services to businessmen.Of course, careful people can also see that the branch opened by the Bank of Taiwan here also did not provide preferential financial services such as small interest-free loans to the Shandong immigrants who came to the local settlements. This seems to indicate something.

It is said that as the work of weeding out the slave army in Denglei has entered a steady stage of tackling difficulties, many slave soldiers from Terengganu and their families immigrated to Brunei and Timor Island.Especially Brunei Port, because it is located in the trade node of the land below the wind, people on the east coast attach great importance to it. There are a lot of subsidies for the Brunei soldiers and their families who immigrated here. Generally speaking, everyone can get ten yuan. And after arriving in Brunei, they can also apply for a five-year interest-free micro-loan to help them run the industry and gain a firm foothold.

The Bank of Taiwan once conducted statistics on the Denglei military households who immigrated here, and found that as of June 1689, the Denglei military households (mainly from the Seventh Division of the Servant Army in Ye County) who settled near the Brunei Trading Station had reached There are 6 households with 322 people.Some of these people grow rice, bananas, taro and other crops, some fish, and some do business, and they all live fairly well.Their leader is Ding Wei, captain of the East Coast Army Reserve, the youngest son of Ding Daxing, commander of the Seventh Division of Ye County, and also the station chief of the Brunei business station, commanding more than 1729 heavily armed soldiers.

Of course, these more than a hundred soldiers are no longer the infantry company on the right wing of the Taiwan Marine Battalion that followed him south.That unit is currently going to Timor Island to solve some "little troubles". Their replacements are veterans selected from the Seventh Division of Ye County who are familiar with the battle, although they are not as elite as the gang of Taiwan Marine Battalion equipped with rifled rifles. But in the case of relying on the fortress trading station, with the current strength of the Sultan of Brunei, they can't help them.

This time, the four transport ships brought by Major Lu Xiaozhong carried a large amount of supplies, livestock, and more than 322 military households, most of which were from Ye County, and they even knew each other a little bit with the [-] households who arrived earlier.After these people arrive, the number of people on the east coast of Brunei Port will double again, and their combat effectiveness from military households should not be underestimated. They are not people who can be bullied by anyone at will, let alone the east coast navy. Always supported them.

Major Lu Xiaozhong was extremely convinced that the Sultan of Brunei would be even more restless after seeing this wave of immigrants from the east coast.Other colonists came to Brunei, such as the Dutch, the English, etc., all for business and did not stay much.Occasionally some people stayed and settled down, but it was only a few individual behaviors. There was no one as mad as Dong'an, who pulled hundreds of families to settle in groups at one go, and they were all ex-soldiers who had fought in battle.These people are undoubtedly the biggest unstable factor in the Brunei Sultanate. With fortresses and cannons, they can compete with the Brunei Sultan's army. As long as they have the heart, they can definitely create stormy waves in this small city-state. .

However, with the normalization of naval patrols of the East Coast Republic, the Bruneians really do not have the guts to stand up and do something, so they can only acquiesce in the existence of these military households.It's not that they haven't considered using the power of other countries to drive away the people on the east coast, but the Dutch East India Company, the most powerful nearby, is unwilling to take the lead in this matter, so what else can the Brunei people say?Everyone is desperate!

"Station Master Ding, I brought you another batch of supplies and people. Please send someone to the pier to check the delivery." As soon as he landed, Major Lu Xiaozhong shook Ding Wei's hand and said with a smile.

Ding Wei naturally nodded again and again to express his thanks.He knew that the people who came were all "old friends" from Ye County, former subordinates of the Ding family, and their own people.Commander Liao of Denglai had told his father before that he intended to support the development of the Ding family in Brunei, serve as the local agent of the East Bank, and contribute to the global trade network of the East Bank Republic.The Ding family was naturally not very willing to leave Denglai, but there was nothing they could do about it, so they could only nod in agreement.No, Ding Wei has been working in this business station for a long time. On the one hand, he was worried about resettling the immigrants from military households, and on the other hand, he also tried every means to establish their Ding family's business, so as to gain benefits for the family as much as possible.

"Mr. Lu came from a long way, please ask your subordinates to entertain you well. Although Brunei is a remote and barren place, the food and drinks are very different from the mainland, so you can try something new. Some orchids and other women are also quite impressive, Brothers who are traveling at sea, it’s just a good time to relax your muscles and have fun.” Ding Wei knew that he would rely on the navy a lot in the future, so he immediately flattered and offered hospitality.Especially this Lu Xiaozhong, who is now the commander of the Southeast Asia Squadron of the Third Fleet, is very popular. If he doesn't flatter him at this time, when will he wait?

"No, no! My department will only stay here for one day, and leave after replenishment of food and water, and I am in a hurry to go to Diu Island." Lu Xiaozhong pulled out his hand, pointed to the big boat behind him, and said, "There are still people on board." Two hundred households from the [-]th Division in Jimo (the division commander is Chen Quanzhong) were eliminated from the army. There was an order from the superiors to send them to Diu Island to settle down as soon as possible. We were delayed on the road for some time, and the voyage was a bit tight, so we will not stay here any longer gone."

In fact, Lu Xiaozhong's words are not false.In fact, apart from the Ding family's Ye County Seventh Division, the Chen family's Jimo Fourth Division also officially started the elimination work this year.Yantai plans to use 3-4 years to eliminate and resettle all the remaining [-] officers and soldiers of the division. Some of the outstanding ones will naturally be added to the new army system under construction, and some old, weak, sick and disabled will be demobilized on the spot For the people, they settled down and lived in Jimo County, and the rest were sent to Diu Island in northwestern India to settle down according to the plan, so as to supplement the rapidly declining population of the local area.

As for where are the people on Diu Island?In fact, it is very simple, all went to the Arabian Peninsula!As the Rajput Army commanded by the East Coasters became more and more powerful in the port of Salalah, the Muscat Sultanate seemed to have accepted its fate and no longer tried in vain to recapture this oasis city in the desert.They have a population of just over [-] in the whole country, their stalls are still very large, and there are many enemies. They really don't have the energy to fight with the people on the east coast in Salalah Port for a long time. Appearing nearby, the Rajput Legion can be said to have established a firm foothold there.

As a long-term plan, the East Coast people intend to migrate most of the Rajputs on Diu Island to the Port of Salalah to settle down, and establish a small city-state subordinate to the East Coast Republic there.The country's economy, politics, diplomacy, and military are all controlled by East Coast advisers. Their sole purpose of existence is to disgust the Omanis and play a role in the Middle East policy of the China East Coast Republic.

This migration process will naturally encounter a lot of resistance.But the East Bank government's determination has been made and cannot be changed!They also believed that with the strong strength of the east bank, the five or six thousand Rajputs on a small island of Diu would not be turned upside down, and they could only leave obediently in the end.And the vacancies after they left were naturally filled by those eliminated servants from Denglai.These people have been ruled by the East Bank for many years, they are loyal, and their combat effectiveness is not bad.After Diu Island "vacates the cage and changes the birds", they are very good candidates to fill in. After adapting to the local climate in the future, they can gradually become a tool for the east coast government to interfere in the Indian subcontinent.

Undoubtedly, the deployment of East Coasters in Brunei, Diu, Dili, and Salalah is a very ambitious and forward-looking move.They seem to want to use this method to be the first to cast chess pieces in various hot spots in the world, and then build and develop silently. When the time is right, they will cooperate with local policies to expand, so that the influence of the East Coast Republic will penetrate into the world. the above areas.

Southeast Asia and the Middle East are extremely important and important places in future generations. It goes without saying that they are rich in resources, and their role in geopolitics is no less important. This is something that every politician with far and near will not ignore.

The East Coast, a powerful country in the new continent, already has a population of about 700 million. Its industrial productivity ranks first in the world, and its gross tonnage of ships is also second to none. It has sufficient strength bases in Xinhua Island and China, so the pressure to operate the above-mentioned areas is not too great.In contrast, neither the Dutch, the English, nor any other forces have the conditions to complete these tasks.They can only watch helplessly as the people on the east bank step by step, spread their influence, and finally completely control these places.

They can cause a little trouble if they die in the process, if they dare.But people on the east coast will most likely not pay attention to their small actions. They only focus on their own affairs, such as the expansion in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, such as the layout in the Black Sea, and so on.

(End of this chapter)