Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2278 Neihu

On May 1695, 5, in Haiphong, Vietnam, a fleet of five warships had just anchored.

Haiphong is a young city. It has been established for less than five years, but now it has become a prosperous trading place, which is quite amazing.

The initial development of Haiphong still benefited from trade with people on the east coast.Because of the extreme demand for Vietnamese food, the Lianwu Management Committee made a large number of transactions with the North Vietnamese, and this transaction lasted for many years.Cheap food poured into the Lianwu area in large quantities, providing a solid guarantee for the local rule of the people on the east coast.Later, some Vietnamese food was even introduced to the Ningshao area. The Bank of Taiwan also officially opened the official route from Dinghai Port to Haiphong. While selling books, ironware, weapons, medicinal materials and other commodities, it also purchased a large amount of Vietnamese rice as Nanyang rice. supplement.

At that time, the armistice between North and South Vietnam had been going on for some years, and the agricultural production in North Vietnam had been greatly restored, and the grain output was increasing year by year.The continuous wars in the past few years have made the country poor and poor. Therefore, Vietnam has a strong impulse to export grain in exchange for cash and other commodities. The booming trade in Haiphong came into being under this background. of.

Zheng Zhu of North Vietnam realized the importance of coastal defense, so he conscripted civilians to build docks and cities here.There is nothing to say about the pier, it can only be said that it is of an average standard, and the defensive facilities such as forts are also so-so. There are a total of more than a dozen old bronze cannons, and I don’t know where they bought them. inside.

Compared with the wharf, the city of Haiphong is quite impressive, and it can be seen that it has been built with great effort.The city is of great size, square in shape and surrounded by brick walls, with a total circumference of more than 1000 meters.There is a moat outside the city wall, and a large number of crocodiles are raised in the river. Residents can enter and exit the city through four suspension bridges (located on the four walls).There are also some wooden watchtowers on the top of the city wall, which were plated in gold by the Vietnamese, and I don't know why.

According to Ningbo businessmen who came here to do business, there was a military camp outside Haiphong City and a military camp inside the city, with a total of more than [-] soldiers stationed there.These soldiers are hot-armed troops. Although the training is not very diligent, it must not be underestimated. At least they are better than some second- and third-line troops in the Shun Kingdom and the Qing Kingdom.Of course, this does not mean that the combat effectiveness of the Vietnamese army is stronger than that of the Shun army and the Qing army. This conclusion was almost established in the late Ming Dynasty. Compared with the Vietnamese army, which is not low in war intensity, there is indeed a certain gap.But now there are very few cold weapons in the establishment of the Shun Army and the Qing Army, and they have also harvested a large number of officers and soldiers who are very experienced in fighting with hot weapons after fighting all the year round. A big improvement, so if the first-line troops fight this time, they will still be better than Vietnam, just like the current strength of the Qing army can steadily beat Galdan's troops.

However, these defensive measures are not very good in the eyes of the people on the east coast.Now the five feudal domains in the Far East have the main force of the First Mixed Regiment, and the Second Mixed Regiment is on its way. When they are all assembled, if necessary, it is really not difficult to capture the city of Haiphong, but they It's not necessary.

There are commercial buildings built by merchants from various countries near the Haiphong Port Wharf.Almost every commercial building is built of bricks and stones, quite solid, like a fortress, with dozens to hundreds of "business people" living in it, like a closed country. country.People from the East Bank also have two business halls here, namely the Ningbo Guild Hall and the Qinzhou Guild Hall, but neither of them was built in the style of a fortress, but a large area with several front and back courtyards, showing their strong self-confidence.

If you think about it, the East Coast Fleet is now patrolling the sea from time to time, and there are troops nearby that can be dispatched at any time. The trade between the Vietnamese and the East Coast is also very prosperous. People who have brains will come to trouble you. Is it fun to have cities bombarded by warships?

Among the five warships that just entered the port, two belonged to the Southeast Asia Squadron of the Third Fleet of the East Coast Navy, two ships came from the Spanish fleet in Manila, and one was driven by a Portuguese from Macau. Commanded by naval officers on the coast, he has been patrolling the entire South China Sea since the end of last year, declaring maritime supremacy.

After setting off from Manila, the joint fleet first went south into the Sulu Sea, attacked the local Green Christian pirates, and then turned to Brunei to the west, where it docked for about a month.The colonists on the east coast of Brunei Port recently clashed with the aborigines. For this reason, the fleet also patrolled along the coastline and severely attacked the villages inhabited by Brunei aboriginals. The port of Malacca controlled by the Dutch.

Malacca Port now also has a large number of people living on the east coast, mainly from Ningbo and Denglai.The former are mainly civilians who go to sea to beg for a living, while the latter are basically military households eliminated by the local area. The combined number of the two has almost exceeded 2000.Although they are still a minority in the local area, their momentum is not small and their status is very high. The Dutch colonists dare not offend easily.

Immigrants from the east coast operated a large amount of farmland and orchards in the port of Malacca, and the sales targets were warships, immigrant ships and merchant ships passing by the east coast.Because of the large number of passing ships, their business is very good. Not to mention everyone is rich, at least most of them can be called middle class or rich in the local area.It is said that the Dutch colonial government in Malacca has recently planned to give the east coast community in the city a member of parliament, allowing them to participate in urban political activities, and this seems to be the result of strong pressure from the east coast, otherwise the Dutch would obviously not be so I readily agree.

In the planning of people on the east coast, Brunei and Malacca have different approaches to deal with it.Brunei is obviously going to be "purified", even though it seems to have more than 15 residents (there are tens of thousands scattered in the mountains outside the city), but the people on the east coast have taken a fancy to this trading hub in the land below the wind, and have decided to Build it into a city with a majority population on the east coast, so the fate of these aborigines can only be expelled, or even worse, they may be arrested and sent to the African continent to fill in the huge yellow-black dividing line. pit.But Malacca obviously cannot do this, because it is still the territory of the Dutch.In view of the good relationship between the two countries, the East Bank government believes that a more moderate approach should be taken, that is, to increase the intensity of immigration to the local area. Not only should the eliminated Denglei military households continue to be sent over, but also immigrants who have fallen due to health conditions do not have to be in the country. In the second year, he returned to the team and settled directly in the local area. The local east bank merchants are obliged to provide relief to him so that he can gain the ability to earn a living as soon as possible.

They plan to gradually increase the proportion of people from the east coast in the local area through this method of peaceful evolution, and when the time is right, they will take the entire city from the Dutch and make it completely the territory of the east coast.In fact, there are not many such opportunities. For example, two years ago, the Dutch proposed to give the port of Malacca to the people on the east coast as a condition in exchange for them joining the Dutch side and attacking the French fleet. Arrived early.However, if you can't negotiate with the Dutch government, you can still negotiate with the East India Company. Those guys only recognize money. As long as they have enough commercial interests and the strength of the East Coast Navy, Batavia will do it. It's not hard to guess what kind of decision to make.It’s just that there’s no rush right now. Let’s thoroughly digest Brunei first. Then, the string of pearls strategy—generally referring to a series of strongholds controlled by people on the east coast in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, like a string of pearls—is implemented. It won't stop, take it step by step, don't rush.

After the United Fleet left the port of Malacca, it turned to the northeast and visited the two trading ports of Hoi An in South Vietnam and Haiphong in North Vietnam.Hoi An is controlled by the South Vietnamese Nguyen Lord. There are many local Chinese and Japanese, and the commercial trade is developed. In recent years, it has also opened up grain trade routes with Lianwu. War horses and other industrial products.Because of the weak strength of the South Vietnamese Ruan Lord, he showed a very low profile when dealing with the people on the east coast, and was willing to give up a large part of his interests in exchange for the stability of the arms trade.The East Coast Fleet also focused on uniting the local Chinese here, and also tried their best to win over the Japanese. In short, they tried to increase their influence, and at the same time laid a solid foundation for Ningbo businessmen who came here to open up the market.

Compared with Lord Ruan of South Vietnam, Lord Zheng of North Vietnam is stronger, so his attitude is not so polite.The specific manifestation is that when the United Fleet asked to enter the port and berth, they were still very reluctant, and finally they were finally forced to agree under the "strong request" of the United Fleet.Moreover, the various taxes paid by the merchants on the east coast are also numerous, which is more than twice as high as that in Hoi An, South Vietnam, which is annoying.I believe that if it weren't for the great demand for North Vietnamese food, the people on the east coast would have thought of a way to sanction them and let them know what it means to lose the import of muskets and cannons.

But it doesn't matter now.After contacting Li Sixing's tribe in the mountainous area of ​​Yuebei, in the future, the people on the east bank will have ways to deal with Lord Zheng and balance the forces between the north and the south.The most ideal state is probably the long-term confrontation and division between South Vietnam and North Vietnam, and the people on the east coast exert influence and grab benefits.It is a pity that the Vietnamese, like the Chinese, have a strong obsession with unification. In the future, North and South Vietnam may still be reunified. People on the east coast must not take it lightly.

In short, after taking care of Vietnam, basically no one can challenge the influence of the East Coast people in various parts of the South China Sea.Even after they have turned against the Spaniards in the future, they can take advantage of the situation to seize Luzon Island. In that case, their position in the South China Sea will be more stable.The huge South China Sea will also become an inner lake for people on the east coast, an inner lake that continuously produces wealth!

(End of this chapter)