Chapter 667 Delaying time

Since entering the Far East in 1619, the East India Company has always regarded itself as the most powerful force in the region. Even the Portuguese and Spanish, who are also maritime powers, will never easily provoke the East India Company. This kind of unilateral

The act of delineating time limits and prohibited areas is undoubtedly a great humiliation to the East India Company, not to mention that the sponsor is only an emerging force that has just emerged. Although it is known that the strength of the Haihan people cannot be underestimated, this letter

The arrogant language in the diplomatic letter still aroused Cohen's long-lost anger.

"...Given that your company has long been a military ally with the local pirate gang Shibazhi on the coast of Fujian, and supports it in its armed confrontation with the government, we have reason to suspect that your company has similar collusion with pirates in other areas..."

In the letter, the Haihan Executive Committee pinned such groundless charges on the East India Company, and in a confident tone. If it hadn't been for the fact that it had just suffered a defeat at the hands of the other party and was still wary of its strength, Cohen would really

I really want to immediately order a crusade against these heretics who don't know the heights of heaven and earth.

Of course, although Cohen was angry, he did not forget his identity. He still maintained enough restraint and rationality in front of his subordinates, and calmly analyzed the current situation of the East India Company: "Gentlemen, if the Haihan people are allowed to take the Natu

If we occupy the Na Islands, the consequences may be more serious than falling into the hands of a group of pirates! We must try to stop them!"

Someone immediately responded: "Send troops! We are not afraid of any opponents!" "They compared us to a group of pirates. This is absolutely unforgivable!"

Even in such an indignant situation, there are still some calm opinions: "Why are the Haihan people so sure that they can conquer the Natuna Islands? Do they have any collusion with the pirates on the islands?"

However, this statement, which was very close to the truth, was immediately refuted by others: "When the pirates attacked Qiongzhou Island last year, it was said that they had occupied half of the island at the worst time, but after the Haihan people sent troops from Qiongnan, they only used

Within a month, they recovered all the lost territory and drove all the pirates into the sea. If the Natuna Islands are really their old rivals, then the Haihan people will indeed be sure of victory."

Qiongzhou Island is so big and has so many cities that it cannot hold it for a month. There is only one port and one town on Natuna Island. The rest of the island is almost all barren mountains and ridges, with no strategic depth at all.

How can they defend it? Thinking about it this way, it seems that the pirates really have no chance. The Dutch suffered a disadvantage because they did not have their own intelligence channels on Qiongzhou Island. Otherwise, from the pirates' attack on the island last year to Haihan's dispatch of troops,

When the pirates evacuated, the Haihan people semi-publicly took over the control of the Qiongbei area. There are actually a lot of things worth pondering. After all, it is impossible for such a big operation to have no loopholes. As long as you are willing to collect information, no

It's hard to find out what tricks the Haihan people were playing in the middle. For the outside onlookers who don't know the truth, the news that Haihan consciously released became their objective understanding of the matter.

Then someone expressed a different opinion: "The distance from Qiongzhou Island to the Natuna Islands is more than twice the distance from the local area to Fujian, and the vicinity of the Natuna Islands is not as accessible as in Qiongzhou itself or along the coast of Fujian.

With supplies everywhere, the Haihan expedition to the Natuna Islands may not have as great a battlefield advantage as when they fought locally. They will also face the same difficulties we are facing in the expedition to the Natuna Islands. When they go to Natuna

The Na Islands may suffer a big loss due to lack of preparation like our last fleet did."

As soon as these words came out, Spikes and Van Longen, who were sitting outside, looked a little embarrassed. Their previous achievements for the company may not be remembered by anyone, but this defeat will definitely be remembered by everyone.

.However, no one paid attention to their expressions at this time, and the discussion continued enthusiastically.

"Then your Excellency, you mean to take advantage of the unfavorable situation for the Haihan people to attack the island and catch them all in one fell swoop?"

"It's not a bad idea. When the two groups are fighting to a close, our fleet will swarm up, occupy the port, and then slowly kill the remaining people on the island..."

"This is just an ideal situation. If the Haihan people discover our fleet before landing on the island, then they will definitely give up the island landing operation and turn around to deal with us first! It is very likely that we will not be the ones to take advantage then, but

It’s the pirates on the island!”

"Okay, stop and listen to me first!" Cohen knocked on the table, and the conference room immediately became quiet again.

"No matter whether the Haihan people can defeat the pirates or not, we cannot let them occupy the Natuna Islands!" Cohen set the tone for this matter concisely: "There is only one way to ensure this, and that is to hurry up and

They took back control of the Natuna Islands before!"

However, the idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. Van Diemen, who was responsible for the operational plan to regain the Natuna Islands, took over the conversation helplessly: "My Lord Governor, I am afraid that we will have to wait until about one and a half months at the earliest to complete the deployment of troops.

As well as other war preparation projects, it is expected that troops will not be dispatched until October. If there are other changes in the meantime, it will be even harder to say."

"Is there no way to advance the time?" Cohen asked with a frown.

"The time required to mobilize troops cannot be reduced." Van Diemen explained: "Because of the shortage of troops, we need to mobilize combatants from the colonies east of Java. It takes a month to travel to these places. Although

The military order has been issued, but it will be at least a month before they arrive in Batavia from all over the country."

"Damn it..." Cohen muttered, but did not pursue the question any further.

Van Diemen is indeed not shirking his responsibility. The process of deploying troops from various places is cumbersome and time-consuming, and it is difficult to effectively shorten the time required. First, Batavia has to send clippers to convey military orders to various places. After the military orders arrive at the local

, local governors would decide how many people to send back to Batavia to participate in the expedition based on local conditions. During this period, preparations for the expedition in the local area often took several days. Van Diemen said it took a month and a half.

The time is actually a very conservative estimate. If there are any emergencies in the meantime, such as indigenous rebellion, weather conditions not suitable for going to sea, etc., it is difficult to say how long the delay will be.

Since it is impossible to send troops to Natuna before the Haihan people, we have to think of other ways. Cohen asked: "If we want to delay the Haihan people's plan to send troops, what feasible methods do you have?"

Taking military action is obviously not a wise approach. Now that we have not even completed the preparations for sending troops to the Natuna Islands to fight pirates, how can we talk about breaking up with Haihan, a powerful enemy? Cohen's intention in consulting everyone is obviously to

Come up with some other ideas besides starting a war.

"Mr. Governor, perhaps we can send an envoy to Sanya to have direct contact with the Haihan people."

Cohen followed the sound and looked over. The person who spoke turned out to be Van Longen, so he nodded slightly and said, "Please tell me what you think."

Fan Longen was encouraged and boldly said: "One of the important reasons why we are undecided now is because we lack an intuitive understanding of the Haihan people. None of the gentlemen here, including myself, has

People have had face-to-face contact with the Haihan people, let alone go to their territory and personally observe their local development. I think everyone should admit that there is a huge loophole in our intelligence work."

Everyone present immediately turned their attention to another person, Brandt Henke, who was in charge of the East India Company's intelligence work. The problem pointed out by Van Longen happened to be the area he was responsible for.

Henk shrugged and said: "Gentlemen, please don't look at this matter as a simple dereliction of duty. We have to collect intelligence about the Haihan people, and there are obvious shortcomings innately. May I ask everyone here, what do you think?

What are the chances of a Dutchman going to Qiongzhou Island, which is full of yellow people, and not being noticed? Moreover, they have not yet declared independence from the territory of the Ming Dynasty. There has never been reconciliation between us and the Ming Dynasty, so we have not

There is no way to establish diplomatic relations with Haihan, and there is no reasonable reason to station intelligence personnel there."

"Don't forget that there are tens of thousands of Chinese in Batavia, Mr. Henke." Some people present immediately expressed their dissatisfaction with this shirk of responsibility.

"But among so many Chinese, how many of them are worthy of our complete trust and can safely deliver this kind of secret work?" Henk immediately retorted: "Look at the people here, there is no one here who has the slightest bit of Chinese blood.

? If we send Chinese as spies, aren’t we worried that they will bite us back because they are of the same ethnic group?”

This concept is also deeply rooted in the hearts of the Dutch. Even though their footprints have traveled all over the world and their knowledge is far wider than that of the feudal kingdoms of the same era, it is difficult to avoid these physiological instincts.

There are no Chinese members in the intelligence department of the East India Company at all. Most of the intelligence information they can collect about Haihan comes from word-of-mouth stories passed down by maritime merchants and immigrants in the Ming Dynasty.

It has long been unknown how much changes have been made based on the original facts, and its credibility is also very limited.

But the more unreliable these rumors are, the more unreliable intelligence officials feel that these Chinese are, and the less willing they are to employ them. This employment situation did not cause any trouble in the past, because today's Ming Empire can

The possibility of posing a substantial threat to the East India Company is simply minimal, and there is no need to arrange special intelligence collection work for it. The last time the huge fleet of the Ming Empire went to sea was two hundred years ago. After that, the Ming Dynasty

Maritime strength is declining day by day, and has gradually been reduced to a level that is not considered respectable in the eyes of the East India Company. Now everyone in the company believes that the Ming Dynasty has given up on maritime hegemony for a long time, and it is unnecessary to spend resources to establish an intelligence network against the Ming Dynasty.

Seeing that no one refuted his statement, Henke continued: "With all due respect, it is much easier for the Haihan people to send spies to Batavia. Although I have no conclusive evidence, I think that among the local Chinese,

There should have been spies planted by Haihan a long time ago!"

Everyone present was in an uproar, and most people found it difficult to accept his conjecture. Henk shook his head and said: "Gentlemen, how could you not have noticed that in the past year, the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants purchased from Batavia?

Western goods, especially spices, are getting less and less. That’s because they have found better sellers, the Haihan people on Qiongzhou Island! As far as I know, eight out of ten sea merchants who come to Batavia are with the sea.

There are varying degrees of trade exchanges between the Han and Han people, and many of them have invested in various plantation industries run by the Haihan people on Qiongzhou Island. In other words, many of the Ming merchants who do business with us are partners of the Haihan people.

, or people who run errands for them. If the Haihan people are willing, they can easily let spies lurk in the city of Batavia in various identities, but we currently have no effective response to this. "

"Then what do you think of Mr. Van Longen's proposal?" Cohen asked Henke, not wanting the topic to deviate further.

"I very much agree with Mr. Van Lungen's proposal." Unexpectedly, Henke did not veto the other party's proposal because of Van Longen's criticism, but instead expressed support for it: "As the director of the intelligence department, I think we

We need such a reasonable excuse to go to the Haihan people's home base and collect some really useful information."

Cohen nodded and said to Van Longen: "You continue to express your thoughts."

Van Longen bowed slightly and continued: "We can use diplomatic means to try our best to persuade the Haihan people to cancel or postpone their actions against the Natuna Islands. Even if this goal is not achieved in the end, it can still play the role that Mr. Henke just said.

Mr. Governor, the problem we really need to solve is not the timing of sending troops to attack, but the lack of real understanding of the Haihan group. Haihan is a competitor we must face. If we can learn more about it,

Their true condition, I think will help us defeat them on the battlefield in the future."

Under the premise that it is not appropriate to use military means, there are really no other ways to delay time. The suggestion put forward by Van Longen was recognized by almost everyone. The next step is to select the envoys, prepare ships and related equipment

After the documents were submitted, Cohen proposed that Van Longen be the head of the mission to complete this task, which was destined to not be easy. Van Longen, who was eager to restore his image, readily accepted the appointment. For him, this was the key to determining whether he could be a salty fish.

It's a turnaround.
Chapter completed!