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Hoffman continued: "The leading body of the Dutch East India Company at the headquarters is a 17-member meeting, where [-] directors discuss and make decisions together. The affairs in the East are decided by the governor and the review committee. There is one governor and six congressmen. People, a total of seven tickets."

"The jurisdiction of the East India Company is very large, and the seven members of the council are often distributed in various places, and it is difficult to gather all of them for a meeting. Therefore, in the seven-member meeting, the governor, the secretary of the committee, the chairman of the judicial council, the chief of military affairs and the chief of shipping , as long as these five people do not vote against it, the resolution can be passed even if they are absent.”

"Naturally, the councilors refused, because the governor had too much power. So, the councilors sent representatives to Batavia, and I was one of the permanent representatives. This spring, fierce conflicts broke out between the governor and the councilors. The most vicious one was targeted by the governor."

Gu Jianshan asked: "Why did the governor conflict with the councilors?"

Hoffman introduced the situation in detail: "The governor came to Batavia last year and reached an agreement with the council. First, subdue the Matalan country, and then target the Banten country. It is bound to completely destroy the Banten country. Improve diplomacy with other countries. This plan has achieved initial success. The indigenous uprising broke out in Matalam, and the company sent troops to help counter the rebellion, in exchange for the king and the company to form an alliance."

"The next step is to jointly send troops to capture the capital of the Banten Kingdom. King Matalan agreed verbally, but he has always used the excuse that there is no military expenditure to send troops, and the plan to destroy the Banten Kingdom can only be temporarily shelved. At this time, the governor unexpectedly had a whimsical plan. At the same time, it went to war with Britain and Portugal. Of course, the members of parliament were firmly opposed to it, so the Governor broke his face."

Gu Jianshan wondered: "It's understandable to go to war with Portugal, why go to war with Britain?"

Hoffman said, "Give me a map of the world, please."

Gu Jianshan asked people to bring the globe.

Hoffman pointed to the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula, which is the later Sultanate of Oman: "The Arabs here have a long history of navigation, and they have made a living by doing business since ancient times. The Portuguese have controlled the most prosperous port there. , for a full 150 years. The indigenous Arab leaders were originally a mess, and they fought against each other just to grab the leftovers."

"17 years ago, Nasser bin Musad won the civil war and established the Sultanate of Oman. He transformed the long-term internal strife into a collective hatred of the Portuguese. He not only fought against Portugal, but also against Persia. Persian castles and Portuguese towns occupy more than half."

Gu Jianshan praised: "There are endless civil wars, there are strong enemies outside, and he can unify the country and keep regaining lost land. This can be regarded as a hero."

Hoffman said: "The Portuguese were not reconciled. They drew on the eastern forces of Britain and planned to jointly send troops to retake the port. But both countries were weak in the east, so they went to Persia again, trying to persuade the king of Persia, and the three countries sent troops to Oman together. The King of Oman, Musad, found the Dutch East India Company and wanted to join the Netherlands in resisting Britain, Persia and Portugal."

"The governor agreed?" Gu Jianshan asked.

Hoffman said: "The Dutch East India Company has always wanted to extend its hand into the Arabian Peninsula. This is a godsend opportunity for the governor. But the members of the council did not agree. Let’s talk about Dan Country after it is destroyed.”

Gu Jianshan asked: "Which side do you think can dominate the situation?"

"It must be the governor," Hoffman said. "Although the governor is restrained by the parliament, as long as he makes up his mind, he can forcefully make decisions. If he succeeds, he will be rewarded by the headquarters; if he fails, he will be held accountable by the headquarters."

In another time and space, Governor of Batavia, Van der Lin, indeed forcibly sent troops to Persia, and the most intense conflict between the Dutch governor and the parliament broke out.

There were no winners and no losers in the five-nation war. There was a lot of thunder and little rain, and it ended hastily.

Since no actual benefits were obtained and a large amount of military expenditure was consumed at the same time, Governor Van der Lin was dismissed from his post and returned to the Netherlands in desperation to retire.

After learning about the internal situation of the Dutch East India Company and the new world situation, Gu Jianshan asked: "If our country can build ten new large ships with a thousand materials, they will all be built with century-old oak, and the hulls will also use European keel styles. , equipped with the most powerful artillery. Can it defeat the Dutch fleet?"

"There is a strength advantage, but the victory of the sea battle depends on luck and command." Hoffman did not have any psychological burden as a traitor, and immediately helped out with ideas, "If you want to send troops, you don't have to go to Batavia, send the fleet Go straight to Malacca and cut off the most convenient sea route between the east and the west. At the same time, if the trade between China and the Netherlands is cut off for at most one year, the East India Company will not be able to sustain it, and will definitely choose to negotiate a peace due to the decline in profits."

Gu Jianshan said: "You mean, occupy Malacca first, and Batavia leave it alone?"

"Yes," Hoffman nodded, "If you occupy Malacca, you can get huge benefits. Merchant ships from Britain, France and other countries have to pass through here, and the annual port entry tax is a lot of money. And the Dutch merchant ships can only go from Pakistan. Davia set off, bypassing Sumatra to India, the power of the Netherlands will continue to weaken. Don't be afraid to cut off trade with the Netherlands, the British, French, Portuguese, and even Arab merchants are waiting for this opportunity. Reduced trade with the Netherlands Well, other countries will take the opportunity to eat in, and Chinese businessmen won’t have much loss.”

As expected of a representative of the Dutch East India Company, he is very clear about the specific situation and knows what the Netherlands is most afraid of.

Gu Jianshan asked again: "Is Malacca easy to fight?"

Hoffman shook his head: "It's not easy to fight. The castle there is almost impossible to attack head-on. When the Netherlands captured Malacca, they not only sent their own troops, but also hired more than 1000 mercenaries. After half a year of siege, the Nordic mercenaries fell ill due to unacceptable conditions. The rate reached [-]%. If the Portuguese defenders hadn’t run out of food and opened the door to surrender, the Netherlands would not have been able to occupy Malacca.”

Gu Jianshan carefully looked at the globe and set his sights on Vietnam.

If you want to besiege the city for a long time, you have to send a large army to bring enough food and grass.The longer the supply line at sea, the higher the chance of encountering a storm and possibly being robbed by the Dutch fleet.

Then, the supply line must be shortened, and the southernmost tip of Vietnam is an excellent troop dispatch point and food transfer point.

If you want to fight Malacca, you must first conquer Vietnam!

I heard that Malacca was very hot, so it would be safer for the soldiers to familiarize themselves with the climate in Vietnam before going to fight Malacca, so as to avoid most of the diseases like the Dutch soldiers.

Gu Jianshan asked about India again.

Hoffman said: "I am a representative of a member of Parliament. The member I represent is based in Pulicat Port, India. It is not the territory of the Mughal Empire. It belongs to a small country called Jinji, with an area of ​​about two Taiwan. There are many states in the country, and the leaders of the states have the right to collect taxes, and they only need to pay a fixed amount of taxes to the king, and the rest are basically autonomous.”

"The Jinji Kingdom believes in Hinduism, and the Golkonda Kingdom in the north believes in Islam. Although the royal families of the two countries are mortal enemies, most of the civilians in the Golkonda Kingdom believe in Hinduism. The two countries are joining hands to resist the Mughal Empire. attack……"

Chapter 608 [Goubuli Baozi]

The first batch of [-]-year-old timber, which has been stored for ten years, finally started construction at the shipyard in Guangzhou.

The current Datong Navy is still using the warships of Qian Ming and Zheng Zhilong.There are six fleets in Laizhou, Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, and Luzon, but the overall number of warships is not many, and some of them are even eliminated and sold to private merchants.

The capital ship was named Datong, a 500-ton Spanish galleon captured during the Manila naval battle.

The sources of military expenses for the Datong Navy are government appropriations, trawling for fish, extermination of pirates, shipbuilding orders, and official trade.

Suppress pirates, and sometimes merchant ships.A single merchant ship or a merchant ship stranded in a storm will basically end up being robbed once it encounters the Datong Navy.Zhao Han turned a blind eye to this, but gave a stern warning that he was not allowed to rob his country's ships. Once found, everyone from generals to soldiers would be severely punished.

A pirate is a navy, and a navy is a pirate. The whole world is like this at this time, and the navy cannot be supported without gray recovery.

Most of the real pirates wiped out were Japanese pirates and Tainan pirates.Japanese pirates are actually the lord's private armed forces, who often plunder foreign merchant ships behind the back of the shogunate, which is commonly known as Japanese pirates by the Chinese population.The Tainan pirates were Zheng Zhilong's old friends. These guys took refuge in the Dutch and often ransacked Chinese merchant ships heading to Luzon.

In addition, the official has opened three shipyards in Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Ningbo. .

Private merchants need sea-going ships, so they can place orders with shipyards, and the money they earn is used to support the navy.These three shipyards usually receive orders for civilian use and can be converted to build warships at any time.

The official trade is mainly aimed at North Korea. North Korea does not charge money in many cases and needs to transport the goods to exchange for food.Therefore, the government purchases goods, and the navy is responsible for transportation. When North Korea’s food is not enough, local products such as Korean ginseng will also be included.The native products were shipped back for auction, and part of the profits were allocated to the Navy.

The fact is that the navy is too expensive, relying entirely on national finances, and cannot afford to support a large-scale fleet.

Today, the first batch of 500-year-old timber is being built, and two 700-ton ships can be built at the same time.Two years later, the second batch of wood can be used. It is planned to build a 500-ton ship and a [-]-ton ship.

Royal Garden.

Zhao Han looked at Gu Jianshan's memorial and said with a smile: "You are quite formal. Instead of submitting the memorial and memorial, you just wrote a memorial. Do you want to beat Annan?"

Gu Jianshan said: "If you want to control Nanyang, you must seize Annan. After you understand the overseas situation, you understand why Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty wanted to take Annan despite the opposition of his officials. After setting up the Chief Secretary of Jiaozhi, he was still there. The establishment of the Department of Maritime Ships can effectively control the countries in Southeast Asia. Civil servants object to attacking Annan because of its high mountains, dense forests, and miasma everywhere. We can attack from land and water, directly capture its coastal cities, and then attack the inland along the river."

Zhao Han asked: "Annan has been divided into two, should we fight the Southern Dynasty or the Northern Dynasty first?"

Gu Jianshan said: "Regardless of the north and the south, the king of the Li Dynasty is the master. If the Datong army sends troops, they will take Qinghua directly from the sea. Qinghua is a big city. After taking this city, it can be operated for a year or two. The people outside the city will divide the land and settle down, so that the people will support our Datong court. It is also possible not to operate it, use Qinghua as a base, collect inland ships, go to the mouth of the river further north, and go up the river to take Shenglong Mansion! Capture King Annan , you can order Annan to send troops to beat anyone who is disobedient."

Zhao Han nodded approvingly: "It seems that you have already inquired about it. The land is rich and relatively flat. It is easy to hunt down and produces a lot of grain."

Thang Long is Hanoi, and a large part of the surrounding area belongs to the Red River Delta. The alluvial plain is the largest farming area in Vietnam.

Since ancient times, when China attacked Vietnam, it needed to cross mountains and ridges, and the terrain was very complicated.But if you take the sea route and land directly in the Beibu Gulf, you will see a large alluvial plain in front of you, which is the quintessence of the whole of Vietnam.

Zhao Han said to Gu Jianshan: "This war requires other considerations. Annan's northern and southern dynasties, the northern dynasties were closer to the Netherlands, and the southern dynasties were closer to Portugal and Chinese maritime merchants. Portugal is not to be feared, but The Netherlands, however, had to beat them to prevent them from intervening in the war. The descendants of Chinese who settled in Annan can also be used as a help for our army. If they occupy the territory of Annan, they can divide the land of Annan's gentry and win the hearts of Annan's civilians. But for the descendants of Han people, But I promise not to divide their fields, and I will talk about other things after I gain a firm foothold."

In fact, those who still consider themselves Han Chinese belong to the Chinese who have settled in Vietnam for nearly a hundred years.Most of them make a living by doing business, even if they buy land, they don't have much land under their name.

The real big landlords, even if they are descendants of Han Chinese, have long regarded themselves as Vietnamese.

Zhao Han also said: "Annan invaded and occupied the territory of other countries. He likes to deport the local rogues and criminals to the borders of other countries for reclamation, and then send troops to occupy them under the pretext. Now there are many Annan villains in the Xunzhuang of the Mu family in Yunnan. The traitors who donated their land were bullied by Annan villains so badly that many of them now want to return to the Celestial Dynasty.”

"Your Majesty knows Annan's situation like the back of his hand!" Gu Jianshan admired.

Zhao Han said: "The war in the north will stop for a while, so we won't need so much detailed work, so we will naturally send them to the south."

Vietnam has always liked to play this game. It is the same when it invades the Chinese border, and it is the same when it invades Champa and Djime.Although Champa is still independent, there are a large number of Vietnamese living on the border, most of whom are landless refugees in Vietnam.Deporting refugees to other countries can not only stabilize your own country, but also lay nails in other countries, and you can use this as an excuse to send troops at any time in the future.

The Ruan family and the Zheng family, one south and one north, can't help each other.So one expanded to the south, and the other expanded to the north, thus establishing the land of Vietnam later.

Zhao Han continued: "If you want to send troops to Annan, the best time should be one or two years later."

"I don't understand, why is it a year or two later?" Gu Jianshan asked.

Zhao Han said: "This year, the Ruan and Zheng families in Annan both banned the export of grain. The people's grain is only allowed to be sold to the government. Obviously, they are stockpiling grain for war. At most, within a year or two, the Ruan and Zheng families will The battle is about to start. When they finish fighting, they will be at their weakest. At that time, our giant ships will be built and our army rations will be sufficient, so we can take advantage of this opportunity to send troops.”

"Your Majesty is holy!" Gu Jianshan was quite happy, it is best to fight for cheap, who the hell wants to go head-to-head.

The Ruan family and the Zheng family are also unwilling to give up. They fought twice a few years ago. Now the people's livelihood has not yet fully recovered, and they have entered the state of stockpiling food and preparing for war.

For China, the worse the fight between these two forces, the better.Let the spy keep an eye on it at any time, and when Vietnam goes to war, the Datong Army will immediately prepare.When the Vietnam Civil War is over, the Datong Army will go to sea and land. By that time, the Zheng family in Vietnam will probably have no food to gather troops.

Gu Jianshan got the exact information of sending troops to Annan from the emperor, so he went to Guangzhou with his entourage.

Supervising the construction of warships is still second. As the captain of the navy, he wants to rectify the navy.He has seen the Shanghai Navy, and to be honest, it is really not good. Compared with the Datong Army and Navy, the soldiers of the Navy are too free and loose.

As for Zhao Han, he is preparing to go on a tour of the north with his imperial concubine and children, as well as some officials.

In Tianjin Mass Burial Mound, the parents' stele has been erected, and they have to go to worship before the death day.

That was not only the death day of his parents, but also the day when Zhao Han crossed over.

The Datong Navy has not been cut down yet, after all, various details need to be arranged.This time a lot of boats were dispatched, and each government office in the central government had to elect a deputy to follow the emperor to the north to worship.On the one hand, it looks solemn, and on the other hand, it is necessary to work on the road, and the important official documents of the imperial court will be dispatched by ship regularly.

The mighty navy set sail at Nanjing Wharf.

Zhao Kuanghuan asked for leave from school. Not only did he ask for leave, but he was accompanied by a teacher, and he had to study homework on the way.

"Mother, have you ever been to Tianjin?" Zhao Kuanghuan asked excitedly.

Fei Rulan shook her head and smiled: "No, it's also the first time for Mother to go back to the north."

Many people on the bank came to watch the fun, Zhao Kuanghuan stood on the deck, waving at the crowd narcissistically, as if those people were seeing him off.Although this guy lives in the Forbidden City, his personality is not withdrawn, on the contrary, he has a little sign of social arrogance.

As the fleet sailed away, Zhao Han also came to the deck and took out the binoculars to observe the situation on both sides of the strait.

Although there was a spring drought, the color of the seedlings on both sides of the Yangtze River was relatively normal, without the withered yellow of severe drought.It seems that local officials and peasant associations are still functioning normally.

As for the rice fields farther away from the river, I am afraid that production will still be reduced this year.

"Empress, beware of danger!" the maid shouted.

Zhao Han turned his head and saw that it was Pan Qimei lying on the side of the boat, half of her body lying outside watching the splash of water passing by the boat.

"Mom, I want to watch it too, I want to watch it too!"

Two children, a boy and a girl, jumped up and down beside Pan Qimei.

Zhao Kuangchen and Zhao Hanjin, the twins, will be eight years old in the second half of the year. When they return from worship in Tianjin, they will go to elementary school. The same will be true for Fei Rulan's eldest daughter, Zhao Furong.

Pan Qimei turned around and said, "You can't see it, you will fall into the water."

The two little kids pouted, obviously very unhappy.

"Come here!" Zhao Han waved with a smile.

The brothers and sisters ran to the father's side, Zhao Han asked the guards to bring stools for them to stand on, and then grabbed their belts to prevent accidents.

This ship is quite big, and several princes and princesses can't stay idle, playing and playing on the deck, and the maids are nervously watching over it.

This is the first time for everyone to travel far since they came to Nanjing.The adults can bear it, and the children are all happy to have fun, just like a prisoner who has been imprisoned for a long time comes out to let the wind go.

Pan Qimei and Fei Rumei came to Zhao Han's side together.

Fei Rumei said: "Husband, let me ask you, is there anything delicious in Tianjin? She is going to learn how to cook."

"Tianjin? Dogs don't care about steamed buns, right?" Zhao Han didn't think much about it.

Fei Rumei laughed and said, "Who named this steamed stuffed bun? It's very unpalatable to hear."

Pan Qimei wondered, "Is there really a bun called a dog to ignore?"

Zhao Han remembered all kinds of food legends related to Zhu Yuanzhang and Qianlong, and couldn't help joking: "If you don't have it, you can have it. When Emperor Zhao was living in the rivers and lakes, when he passed by Tianjin, the store threw out broken buns, and the wild dogs ignored them. However, Emperor Zhao felt that it was a delicacy in the world. This time I revisited the old place and went to look for the buns, but I couldn’t taste the old taste.”

Chapter 609 [Jiangyou faction]

When the boat sailed to Zhenjiang, Zhao Han had passed by here several times, but this time it seemed more lively and bustling.

The industry and commerce around Taihu Lake are very developed, especially the textile and dyeing industries lead the country.These commodities pass through the river, one route is to enter the Yangtze River from Zhenjiang, and the other route is to enter the Yangtze River from Jiangyin.

Zhenjiang is richer than Jiangyin because it leads directly to the Grand Canal in the north.

Now that the sea trade in Shanghai Port is booming, Jiangyin, which is closer to Shanghai, is gradually catching up, and even has a tendency to overtake Zhenjiang.Waterway cities such as Wuxi, Changshu, and Taicang have also become important cargo distribution centers because they can connect to Shanghai.Even Fushanpu, along with Changshu, has gradually developed into a large port on the Yangtze River.

"Chen Zhenjiang prefect Huang Shunde, pay homage to Your Majesty!"

The fleet just stayed on the shore for the night. Except for the soldiers who were sent out to guard, the rest of the entourage did not disembark.Huang Shunde, the prefect of Zhenjiang, brought two officials from Zhenjiang Prefecture and Dantu County to the emperor's ship to have an audience.

Zhao Han nodded and said, "Excuse me. There are not many stools on the boat, so you all just stand."

"Follow the order!" said the officials.

Zhao Han said to Huang Shunde: "Your second son, should he be in primary school?"

Huang Shunde looked excited, squeezed out some tears and said: "Your Majesty still remembers the dog, minister...how can you be so good... I must work hard, be a good official, a clean official, and a capable official, in order to repay your majesty's greatness." Endad!"

Zhao Han smiled and said, "Stop talking nonsense, just don't blame me in your heart."

"I absolutely dare not." Huang Shunde said hastily.

This is Zhao Han's first scholar to help out in Wuxing Town.

Although Huang Shunde joined the gang just to earn some wages and was ready to surrender to the officers and soldiers anytime and anywhere, he can be regarded as a very old hero.What's more, Huang Shunde used to be Zhao Han's secretary, and was released as an official by Zhao Han because his family was intermarried with a rich family.

If he doesn't make mistakes, Huang Shunde is at least at the level of a servant.

Officials are not allowed to intermarry with rich families. This ban has been lifted long ago. Huang Shunde sometimes thinks about it and feels that he has been wronged enough.