Chapter 2459

For Haihan, the entire East Asia region should be brought under his rule in the future, and the main sea lanes entering East Asia will naturally become key areas that Haihan must control. For example, the Sunda Islands at the north and south ends of Sumatra Island

Strait and the Strait of Malacca, the Lombok Strait at the eastern end of Java Island, the Makassar Strait between Kalimantan and Sulawesi, etc. In the long run, the importance of these key waterways is actually no less important than the Fujian Strait.

In the past, these key waterways were controlled by the Western colonial armed forces who struck first, but as Haihan's strength grew, it was natural that he would try to regain control of these areas bit by bit.

Haihan's initiative naturally aroused the uneasiness of the Dutch and Portuguese. Although they were nominally allies of Haihan, they were not sure whether Haihan would succeed after gradually taking control of these places.

They will take action to expel themselves. After all, excluding competitors in the region is the most common method used by Western counterparts. What's more, Haihan's current actions have shown that their scope of activities will not stop at these straits, and will definitely continue to expand westward.

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However, Haihan was not as eager as they thought. After gradually gaining control over these important waterways, Haihan once again turned his attention back to the northern continent.

At this time, the southern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty had been encroached a lot by the Haihan, and Fujian had also fallen into a de facto state of division. In addition, the coastal areas of Shandong and Zhejiang had been completely controlled by the Haihan, and the territory of the Ming Dynasty was being forced to move towards

The state of inland contraction.

The Ming Dynasty had no time to take into account the deterioration of the situation in the south, because the military pressure on the north had directly threatened the security of the capital. The wars with the Manchu and Qing Dynasties became more and more frequent, and the resulting consumption of personnel and materials was also very high.

Huge. Although the fighting situation in the past year is no longer as passive as before, and even the Ming army can sometimes take advantage of it, this kind of war of attrition still inevitably and quickly drains away the small amount of money in the national treasury.

silver.

At this time, Haihan gave a solution to the problem: Haihan provided war loans to Ming Dynasty, but these loans could only be used for various arms and equipment produced by Haihan. The collateral used to obtain these loans was

The state capitals along the Ming Dynasty that are currently occupied by Haihan.

Haihan's purpose has been made very clear, which is to find a reasonable and official way to formally take over these places.

To raise enough military expenditures, one can either use Haihan's loan proposal to solve the urgent need, or one can only make efforts internally and levy more taxes from the private sector. But no matter which plan is used, it will be a problem for the Ming Dynasty.

An extremely difficult choice.

This triggered an extremely fierce dispute in the court. Both the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household hoped to get assistance from Haihan, otherwise the frontline troops would be unable to maintain their due combat effectiveness. If they become enemies, it will only make the current situation more difficult.

There may even be a situation where the north and the south are attacking from both sides.

Some officials, represented by Yan Guan, insisted that the court should not compromise with Haihan, and believed that troops should be sent to quell the chaos in Fuguang and other places in the south and recover the territory that belonged to the Ming Dynasty. Of course, this process required the Ming Dynasty to dispatch

How many troops, how much money and supplies will be spent, how many people will leave their homes and die on the battlefield, these officials don't know and don't care.

However, the change in the situation did not leave the Ming Dynasty time to respond calmly. Soon the Manchu and Qing Dynasties organized another large-scale offensive with one hundred thousand troops to push the front westward to Shanhaiguan.

Forced by desperation, Chongzhen could only forcibly suppress the opposition in the court and let Yang Sichang come forward to negotiate with Haihan to raise military expenditures and combat supplies needed to resist the Manchu Qing.

In the autumn of 1644, Yang Sichang secretly met with Shi Diwen in Ningbo and reached a new cooperation agreement on behalf of the two countries. Haihan will provide Ming with a war loan totaling 10 million taels of silver, 80% of which will be used as weapons, equipment and various supplies.

The form was delivered to Da Ming, and the rest was provided by Haihan Bank in silver checks that could be deposited and redeemed.

As collateral for the loan, Daming will recognize Haihan's interests in Lianzhou Prefecture, Leizhou Prefecture, Gaozhou Prefecture, Zhaoqing Prefecture, Zhejiang Ningbo Prefecture, Shandong Dengzhou Prefecture and other places in Guangdong, and Haihan will also continue to retain its rights in these areas.

The existing local government system. Although the wording is vague, in fact, the Ming Dynasty has given up its right to rule these places, and Haihan also cooperated to save some face for the Ming Dynasty and did not immediately eliminate these local government offices.

On the surface, it seems that Haihan exchanged 10 million taels of silver for these places, but in fact Haihan's contribution was far less than that. Haihan's gross profit from the eight million taels of arms and supplies was almost half

. And this agreement avoided the outbreak of large-scale armed conflict with the Ming Dynasty, and the military expenditures saved by this agreement were also considerable.

After acquiring such a large area, Haihan's income from operations will far exceed the taxes during the Ming Dynasty, and he will be able to get his capital back within one or two years at the earliest.

As for the Fujian area currently controlled by Xu Xinsu, it is not within the scope of this agreement. As long as Xu Xinsu does not establish his own political power, Haihan will not interfere too much in Fujian's affairs. How Ming Dynasty will deal with the situation in Fujian will not be controlled by Haihan.

The committee needs a headache.

After receiving help from Haihan, the Ming Dynasty's combat effectiveness on the northern front also improved significantly. In a battle in November 1644, the Ming Dynasty used two hundred artillery pieces secretly transported to the front line of Shanhaiguan to deploy a powerful weapon.

In one fell swoop, they defeated the main force of the Qing army that tried to attack Shanhaiguan, annihilated more than 4,000 Qing troops, killed and wounded many Qing generals, and achieved a rare victory since the beginning of the Anti-Qing War.

Huang Taiji suffered this big loss, and of course he immediately linked the decline of the Qing army on the battlefield to Haihan. However, Haihan did not directly send troops, which did not violate the agreement between the two countries, so Huang Taiji suffered.

Can't tell.

So this period presented a strange situation. Haihan purchased a large amount of Zhongyuan products in Shandong, part of which would be transported across the sea to Jinzhou, and bartered with the Manchu Qing Dynasty. And the foreign goods returned from the Jinzhou transaction

Some of the specialties will also flow into the Ming Dynasty through Shandong, Zhejiang and other places.

The Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty were fighting to the death near the coast of Liaodong Bay. At the same time, Haihan, as a middleman, was making money on both sides, and even had the energy to communicate on some special matters for both parties. For example, important figures captured by the other side during the war were obviously

It is difficult to get people back on the battlefield, but through Haihan to spread the word, whether it is prisoner exchange or ransom payment, there is finally room for operation.
Chapter completed!