In February of the fifth year of Yongli, Batavia Shipyard.

The shipyard in Batavia is located on the island of Anlust, one of the two small islands outside the port of Batavia. It was built only because it was close to the anchorage, but later it gradually became a shipyard. Long before the rise of the United States, the most important task of this shipyard was to repair the East India sailboats returning to Europe, and then to make some schooners, small Yahat ships and other auxiliary and civilian ships.

Without the rise of the United States, Batavia would not have the ability to make large ships for a long time. This was due to the restrictions on colonies by the Netherlands, which was common in various colonial countries. When the intercontinental trade fleet returned, it also carried 20,000 bricks and hundreds of cut stones for the Portuguese nobles in Brazil, only because brick kilns were not allowed to be built in the local area.

However, the rise of the United States changed the fate of shipyards. The increasingly powerful shipbuilding capabilities of the United States put huge pressure on the East India Company, which only relied on local shipbuilding. Especially the launch of the Aimon-class battleships, the Dutch felt particularly threats. With the efforts of Governor Vandimen, the local government began to delegate power to the East India colonies, and Governor Vandimen also used policy loopholes well to reduce opposition from the local shipbuilding industry.

At this time, a grand launch ceremony was underway at the Batavia Shipyard. On the platform near the dock, seven members of the East Indies Commission arrived six. Governor Van Dimen personally attended the event to cheer for the launch of the shipyard's shipyard's ship called the Orange Lion.

This is an East India Sailing Boat named after the Prince Orange family of the United Republic of the Netherlands. It is also thanked for this prince for his contribution to the East India Company's shipbuilding authority.

Before the launch of the Orange lion-class sailing ship, the Dutch East India Company's return sailing ship was in a state of chaos for a long time. The tonnage, structure and use were very chaotic, ranging from 500 tons to 2000 tons, and even replaced by seized merchant ships. Many of them only carried out a slight transformation for long voyages. Many times, the ship was just disposable items, and the chaos of the ship made it scary to go to the East. No one in the Netherlands was willing to go to the East Indies. Therefore, most of the sailors of the East India Company were Nordic people, while the soldiers were 'rugged' in the German region.

When the free trade class began design, the East India Company also started the construction of the Orange Lions class. The ship was set to have a full load displacement of more than 1,500 tons. It has a straight-through artillery deck, the main artillery is an eighteen-pound cannon, and a tall stern for the placing passenger compartment. Like the free trade class, the Orange Lions class sailing ship strives to achieve a balance of combat power, carrying capacity and comfort.

In the past, there was a reason for the chaos in the use of ships by East India. Due to safety and trade reasons, the goods brought by East India from the East each year were not stable. Sometimes, when a large amount of goods were stockpiled, the local shipyard even made two thousand tons of behemoths to transport them back.

With the rise of the United States and the expansion of the business of the East India Company, the quantity of its high-profit goods has become increasingly stable. For example, the East India Company signed a long-term contract with the United States State-owned Porcelain Manufacturing Company to provide no less than 60,000 pieces of exquisite porcelain each year. The increasing number of pepper plantations in the United States also provided a abundant supply, and the East India Company's expansion in India has also obtained a stable Indian cotton cloth.

Chinese porcelain, pepper, sugar and Indian cotton are the four most stable bulk cargoes of the East India Company. They also make the East India Company urgently need a large-tonnage merchant ship to trade East and West, which also convinced the seventeen local gentlemen.

The Orange Lions class started to be manufactured three years ago. In fact, both the local and Batavia shipyards are in progress. The three locally manufactured ships have already conducted intercontinental trade. The excellent ocean-going sailing capabilities, powerful firepower and comfortable navigation experience of this class have been praised by everyone. If there is no free trade level, the Orange Lions will be the brightest pearl in East-West trade.

Now, the Orange Lion has been officially launched and announced that Batavia has the ability to manufacture heavy armed merchant ships. According to European warship standards, this is the ability to manufacture battleships.

On the ship platform, two ships of the same level will be launched this year and joined the fleet that returned before the New Year.

The whole Batavia entered a carnival because of the launch of the ship. People sang loudly, especially those white groups. Vandimen returned to the office from the ceremony site. He took a short rest, calmed down his excitement, took some medicine, restored his weak body to strength, and then entered the conference room.

"You may not have noticed the face of the Ambassador of the United States of China. The yellow-skinned monkey's face was pale than me. God, the ship that can scare this group of people is definitely a perfect work." In the conference room, Director-General Marion was boasting to the surrounding committee members.

The response to him was the naval commander Harrus, the veteran said: "Yes, you are right. If this ship joins the battlefield, it will definitely smash the yellow-skinned monkey's head!"

The appearance of Vandimen calmed down the discussion. People stood up and paid tribute to the gentleman who served as governor for eleven years. In fact, as early as seven years ago, the local people had to replace Vandimen and invite him to the headquarters. This was in line with the rules of the East India Company. However, after considering the opinions of other members of the East Indies Commission, the seventeen local gentlemen found that they could not find any governor who could handle relations with the United States well.

The "Fitzheimer" crisis that happened three years ago made Van Dimen's status unshakable. It was also the incident that Van Dimen brought the ambassador to Taipei and the plenipotentiary representative Cologne into the committee and became one of the seven members of the National Committee. This was to train him as his successor.

"Okay, everyone, today's meeting is about discussing how to deal with threats from the United States of China. The content of the meeting is top secret. Please be careful." Fan Dimen coughed lightly and said.

Cologne waved his hand and the two black slaves unfolded a huge map. This is a world map, marking out the oceans and continents in the world. Only Australia and Antarctica are not complete. After the black slaves left, Cologne stood on the podium after saluting everyone. He said loudly: "There is no doubt that in the past ten years, the United States of China has been in full competition with us and the East India Company. In the past two years, this competition has become increasingly fierce. We have encountered the comprehensive challenges of the United States in every corner of the Eastern World. Here, I will present you in detail on behalf of the noble Governor. The first challenge is in the Sea of ​​Japan and the surrounding waters.

The United States has a vast territory in the north, which originally produced only expensive fur and Chinese medicine that was useless to us, but with the development of the Chinese, the territory became richer and richer, whaling, steel, precious metals, fur, leather and rich rare seafood. In the past decade, we have proposed several times to open the port there, but they have been rejected. Now we can only moor in Yongning, which means that we cannot send ships of more than 400 tons, otherwise we cannot enter that inland port. In fact, for safety, the ships we sent have been below 300 tons, and the whaling ships we sent to the northern waters have been too low because they cannot get any base support and their profits are too low. We can only give up this high-profit industry.

The second challenge is Ryukyu! If it weren't for the Governor and all the hard-won peace here, I think it was because of the pirates of the Ryukyu that were surnamed, who could declare war with the United States. The pirates of the Republic occupied Ryukyu two years ago, and we lost Ryukyu's porcelain and sugar. Last year, the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan asked us to send a fleet to wipe out the pirates of the Republic. Our armed ships went, but the loss was great. The pirates received the support of the pirates of the South China Sea. There were five warships with more than twenty-five cannons. The United States did not recognize that it was their means at all, but claimed that the pirates robbed their armed ships. This was a naked provocation, and they should be responsible for the twenty-two employees who died in Ryukyu!

The third is in trade. Now, the raw silk exports are no less than 5,000 dan per year in Taiwan alone, but they still refuse to increase our share of raw silk, and they also raise the price of raw silk with the Ming people in Zhoushan. The raw silk in Taiwan is the same price as raw silk smuggled in mainland China. The merchants of the United States sold raw silk to Japan and wrapped most of Japan's gold and silver. It's really abominable! At the same time, they did not allow us to trade with the Tatar regime in the mainland, but they were doing a large-scale smuggling trade. We lost a market of tens of millions of people and the cheapest oriental products. If we gain the authority to trade with the mainland, I believe that our profit will at least double.

In the Indochina Peninsula, their trade with Siam, Zhen La and Guangnan is becoming more and more frequent. If it were not for Commander Harus's strength in the Gulf of Siam, the Siam King might have lifted the monopoly of deer skin that we had finally obtained. But it should be noted that because the northern territory of the United States produces a large amount of deer skin, and our deer in Taiwan is almost completely captured, and the profits of deer skin have also fallen into the hands of the hateful Chinese.

Most of the precious metals transported by the Spanish in the Philippines have fallen into the hands of the United States. The precious metal resources circulating in our hands are getting fewer and fewer. There are more and more silver dragon coins and gold dragon coins belonging to the United States on the market. These hateful yellow-skinned monkeys are collecting seigniorage taxes from gentlemen!

The Strait of Malacca, which we exchanged for the lives of two thousand soldiers and three commanders, is now challenged. The United Nations united the greedy British and stupid Indian merchants to challenge our monopoly. Although the transit tax we collect every year is increasing, Batavia's trade status is shaking, and customs duties are also declining. We are facing increasing competition in the Indian Ocean and the East.

What’s even more abominable is that the United States actually built a road across the Malay Peninsula. Now this road has been communicated in the form of a pack horse Avenue, and will be connected to horse-drawn trucks in the future. Some people say that they plan to build a rail car that spans two kinds. If they really succeed, our interests will be seriously damaged!"

Cologne's speech was full of tension, and she waved her arms from time to time to increase the volume to strengthen her persuasion. All the committee members had gritted their teeth. They had already felt the challenge from the United States. Although the profits of the East India Company were rising every year, in the eyes of the people in this room, the United States got more, and they firmly believed that those white silver should belong to them!

"I heard from the local news that the United States has taken a lot of gold in Lisbon. Has their gold reserves reached this level?" asked Director-General Marion.

"No! I don't think it's gold reserves. I firmly believe that they secretly opened up a gold mine area, and it's very likely that they were on a marginal island east of the East Indies. Over the past three years, the United States fleets have begun to appear in Guinea. I think this is related to the theft of our maritime library back then." Cologne said. He didn't explain much, but from his firm tone, it can be heard that Cologne must have more information, but it's just that it can't be shared.

"The most important thing is not gold, it is South Africa!" Van Dimen whispered.

Cologne shouted: "Yes, South Africa, this is a huge provocation to the Western world. A small Eastern country actually has the ambition to monopolize East-West trade. It is really abominable. Civilized countries around the world should unite to oppose their unrealistic ideas and expel these people from South Africa. If there really is a colony serving East-West trade, it should also belong to us, not yellow-skinned monkeys!"

"Is this the common wish of the seventeen gentlemen?" Marion looked at Vandimen. He knew that the governor had great energy and many ways in the local area.

Fandi said: "We negotiated with London merchants and Portuguese, and civilized countries reached an agreement, but because of some factors, we could not unite."

What other factors can be, of course, interests. Everyone needs Chinese goods in the hands of the United States. To start a war with them, the entire East will be ignited by war.

"What does local mean?" Marion asked again.

Vandimen said: "Seventeen gentlemen are considering new countermeasures. The gentlemen believe that relying solely on commercial competition cannot solve the problem. We need to use violent means, right in South Africa! In this regard, the gentlemen want to understand our ideas, and there is no doubt that we must show the power of a civilized country, but it is unacceptable to go to war with the United States in full swing."

"Then it's better not to conflict easily. How about we also open up a colony in South Africa?" Marion asked steadily.

Fandy said: "This is in preparation, but the gentlemen want to show their strength and also try the bottom line of the United States. After all, peace between us will not continue forever."

"It is better not to do it in the name of United East India Company. You, I have to say that Lee Mingxun is an unfathomable person. From the Fitzheimer incident, we don't know what he is thinking. Except for the United States is completely trapped in a war with the Tatars, I don't think it can be provoked." Marion said.

Cohen said: "His Excellency Marion is right, but there is intelligence that the United States is preparing for a full-scale war with the Tatars in a coastal province in northern China."

Marion was not so easy to convince: "I know that the province is called Shandong, and I also know that the United States has built a powerful Qingdao fortress, which means that once Li Mingxun thinks it is necessary to leave, they can withdraw from the mainland battlefield!"

Van Dimen coughed lightly and said, "I mean, you can conduct force tests, but don't let the West India Company do it in our name, we provide support."

"I agree, that was their territory." Harus said. The West India Company has a stronghold in Mauritius and is responsible for seizing slaves. It is understandable to say that South Africa is their territory.

"I agree too!"

"support!"
Chapter completed!