Chapter 933 Confrontation and Cooperation

Although Van Diemen does not understand the profound academic theory of "war is the continuation of politics", he at least knows that the cost of war is very staggering. Without money, let alone revenge, even the building currently being built in Batavia Port

Coastal fortifications are full of difficulties. The Matalan people did not come back immediately after retreating last year, not because they had no troops available, but because they did not have enough military spending to launch another war. The Dutch East India Company and the Matalan Kingdom

Who will take action in the next confrontation will probably depend on whose economy recovers faster and can raise war funds in the shortest possible time. The Ma Dallan people know this, and Van Diemen also understands it, but Yan Chujie is at this juncture.

With the above point in mind, this intention is worthy of further investigation.

As we all know, Haihan is an emerging maritime giant in the Far East in recent years. Whether it is maritime trade or maritime armed forces, its strength is constantly approaching or even surpassing the first movers. Recently, it has even vaguely monopolized the Ming Dynasty's maritime import and export trade.

Trend. Even if Van Diemen refuses to admit defeat, he is still very afraid of Haihan's resources and mobilizable financial resources. If Haihan chooses Matalan as a trading partner in the Nanyang region, then what they have in their hands

Many resources will definitely bring considerable benefits to the Matalan country, thus quickly replenishing its treasury.

Of course, this is secondary. What Van Diemen is more afraid of is "military aid", the big weapon in Haihan's foreign policy. I think Haihan used this as an excuse to support Xu Xinsu in FJ to fight against Zheng Zhilong, the spokesperson of the East India Company. The last step

In one step, all the Shibazhi were wiped out, which made the East India Company's local situation very embarrassing. Annam and Champa, which Haihan supported in the Indochina Peninsula, also followed Haihan's nostrils and banned the East India Company from operating in the Indochina Peninsula.

The development of local trade caused the Dutch to lose important supply points on the northern route.

Annan and Champa are nearly a thousand nautical miles away from Batavia. Although there are some indirect effects, they can be overcome. However, if Haihan provides military assistance to the Matalan country, the impact on the East India Company will be very direct.

The southern part of Sumatra and the central and eastern part of Java are both the territory of the Matalan Kingdom, and Batavia is just a small corner in between. If the Matalan Kingdom colludes with Haihanhang and colludes to blockade Batavia

In the sea near Asia, or even launching another offensive against the city of Batavia, the Dutch are really weak. The Haihan people don't even need to directly participate in the war, they only need to provide enough weapons and ammunition to the Matalan people.

It would be difficult to defend the city of Batavia.

Although the smile on Yan Chujie's face did not diminish when he said this, Fan Diemen immediately realized the sinister intentions of the Haihan people. As long as he agreed to the conditions proposed by the Haihan people, he refused to admit defeat. Even for the sake of it.

A war will break out, and the company council will never agree to give up settling the old grudges with the Matalan people.

"General Gan, the picture you paint is very attractive, but with all due respect, it is simply not possible. The hatred between us and the Matalan country must be settled. They killed thousands of people in last year's war.

Dutch, this is not something that can be settled with money." Van Diemen paused and emphasized again: "We will do this at any cost!"

"No, no, no, you have misunderstood our proposal, Mr. Governor." Yan Chujie explained again: "We only propose to maintain peace, but whoever you want to go to war with is your freedom. What we are taking the lead in establishing is trade.

alliance, not a military alliance."

"Trade alliance? Military alliance?" Van Diemen chewed the different meanings of these two terms carefully.

"Yes, to put it simply, the future trade pattern in the Far East will be dominated by the alliance organized by our organization. People outside this alliance will not be eligible to participate in international trade in the Far East, at least within the scope of the existing member states.

I want to get another chance." Yan Chujie waited for a while, and seeing that Fan Diemen still looked a little confused after listening to the translation, he continued to explain: "I will use you as an example, if you don't want to join us

trade alliance, then we will no longer be able to conduct trade with the member states in the alliance.”

"But this is not a mandatory rule. How do you ensure that this rule can be effectively implemented?" Fan Diemen asked after understanding what Yan Chujie meant.

"Of course it depends on interests! Only by tying all members to the same interest chain can this alliance operate effectively." Yan Chujie explained: "The largest market and production place in the Far East is Daming, but we must compete with Daming.

For transactions, re-export trade must be completed at the port controlled by Haihan with our permission. The same goes for Annan and Champa. For these countries, we are the main trading partner with the largest transaction volume, which will affect to a certain extent

To their treasury income and the stability of the upper class of society. By cooperating with us, everyone can make money. If you want to break out of this circle and work on your own, you will find that there is no other possibility except hitting walls everywhere."

Haihan's layout across thousands of miles of sea territory from the East China Sea to the South China Sea has begun to bear fruit after several years of manipulation. From the richest areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the Ming Dynasty to the southernmost tip of the Indochina Peninsula, the most important trading ports are not under Haihan's control.

, that is, under the control of their partners, at least one-third of the huge profits from the import and export trade conducted by these countries and regions flowed directly into Haihan's pocket, and the speed of making money far exceeded that of Taipei's financial institutions.

Mining.

Only with Haihan's approval can one enter these areas for trading activities. The huge benefits brought by this near-monopoly business model are not only exclusive to Haihan's family, but also local officials, wealthy businessmen and other upper-class people in society have also benefited from it.

There are benefits and benefits, so I don’t think there is anything wrong with this operating system. Of course, even if someone realizes that Haihan is gradually monopolizing and controlling maritime trade in these areas, they are unable to change the current situation. After all, Haihan wants money.

If you have money and important people, unless you use the strength of the whole country to fight against Haihan, there will be no results at all.

It was precisely when the Haihan Executive Committee saw that the early planning had begun to bear fruit that it began to launch the second phase, which was to take the initiative to establish an open trade alliance and turn the previous covert actions into an open one. This kind of

Compared with various mature trade organizations in later generations, trade alliances certainly appear crude and crude, but they are very practical in the international environment of this era. The long-term benefits of taking the lead in organizing such a regional trade alliance are even higher than launching a war.

Once these areas are conquered, it will be easier for Haihan to gain an upper hand in the competition with trade alliances as a means of pressure on foreign Western counterparts.

Under this operating mechanism, interests tightly bind all parties together. Whoever wants to break away from this system will have trouble with themselves. In most cases, there is no need to resort to military means. Huge interests will drive all parties to do so.

Party consciously maintains the operation of this mechanism.

Of course, if there are external forces trying to change this status quo by force, then the military alliance headed by Haihan will come in handy. For example, Shibazhi, who is trying to monopolize FJ sea trade on its own, will become Haihan and FJ

The common enemy of the military must be eliminated quickly, even if it takes several years.

The boundary that Haihan has drawn for the East India Company now is to force it to make a choice, either to join the trade alliance or to become an opponent. And if the East India Company is excluded, the consequences may be more serious than the outbreak of armed conflict.

Because most of the revenue in the Far East comes from the area currently controlled by Haihan, once Haihan activates trade barriers, the East India Company can say goodbye to this part of the revenue, and will not even have a chance to fight.

.

As the current governor of the East India Company, Van Diemen certainly has some foresight. Yan Chujie has made it very clear. If he rejects the other party's proposal now, it will be equivalent to placing the East India Company in this trading system.

Nothing else. And he could more or less foresee the consequences that would result from this.

As a backbone Dutchman, Van Diemen certainly wanted to refuse the other party's unreasonable demands, but he was also the actual leader of the East India Company. Not only was he responsible to the local council and tens of thousands of subordinates, but he also had to

Report to the board of directors far away in the Netherlands. If the decision made rashly in the heat of the moment affects the operation and even the future of the East India Company, then his status as governor-general is probably not enough to settle accounts later, and he must be cautious.

Van Diemen took the initiative to adjourn the meeting for two days so that he could inform the company's meeting of the meeting and listen to the opinions of heads of various departments and shareholder representatives. Yan Chujie also knew that the Dutch would not make decisions rashly, so he had no objection.

This proposal. After the two parties agreed on the next time to meet, they boarded the ship and left.

The Combined Fleet is currently stationed on an archipelago about thirty nautical miles northwest of Batavia Port. The only drawback is that there are no products on the islands here, so while the Combined Fleet consumes the food stored on the ship, it also has to return from Batavia Port.

Purchase supplies for replenishment.

After Yan Chujie returned, Zheng Zha and Fan Ji also expressed concern about the progress of the negotiations. Regarding the establishment of a trade alliance, Haihan had already informed Annan and Champa before, and the two companies did not express any objection to it.

, after all, their largest trading partner is Haihan, and they both have military alliances with Haihan, so there is no reason to oppose the establishment of such a trade organization that can bring huge benefits to them.

As for how many members this trade organization can eventually absorb, it depends on Haihan's specific operations. The more members, the greater the trade volume it will bring, so the two countries are eager to have more countries join the organization, the better.

Even for a country like the Netherlands that has a grudge against Haihan, as long as Haihan himself doesn't mind, they don't think there is anything wrong.

"The Dutch promised to go back and think about it carefully. I think they are already moved. It's just that the conditions we proposed are too harsh and it may be difficult to accept them for a while." Yan Chujie introduced to several people who were unable to attend the meeting: "Give their activity space Compressing to the south of Ambon Island means that they have to give up their strongholds in Taiwan and Japan. If I were in the position of the Dutch, I probably would not be willing to accept such an exchange. Even if Van Diemen had this idea , and may not be able to convince the council to accept it.”

"General Yan, I think you might as well be more optimistic." Zheng Zhuo gently shook the tall glass in his hand. This gesture was also something he learned from the cocktail party held by the Haihan people: "The Dutch are a group of businessmen, not real people. soldiers, the place they occupied in the South China Sea is not Dutch territory, so if it is lost, it will be lost. You Haihan have taken away Ambon Island for two years, do they have any extreme reaction? As long as they can still do business, I think the Dutch don't care so much about whether they control a larger or smaller territory. The key is that you can't allow their Western counterparts to enjoy better treatment. The Analects of Confucius says, don't worry about scarcity but worry about inequality. If When they see that others are treated the same way, they will be more receptive to your proposal."

"The young prince knows a lot!" Yan Chujie couldn't help but praise.

The problem pointed out by Zheng Zha is indeed one of the key points in this deal. Before Haihan appeared, the Dutch's competitors in the Far East were all Western countries. Their strength was almost the same, and the competition was lively. But Haihan After the Han Dynasty was born, he first beat Portugal, then robbed the Netherlands, and finally did not let go of Spain. As long as there was a territorial conflict with Haihan, no Western country had a good harvest. Although the Dutch knew that they could not defeat Haihan, at least they could not defeat Haihan. If you can see that you are not the only one being beaten and angry, you will not be mentally unbalanced.

At this time, their rival, the Portuguese, had joined Haihan's camp and became a part of the trade alliance. If the Dutch refused to join, the gap with Portugal in terms of trade volume would widen. This is probably This would be one of their most unacceptable consequences. It's just that Yan Chujie didn't think of this in time during the previous negotiations, otherwise he could have given Van Diemen a good blow. But the Dutch are not bad at savvy, although Yan Chujie is not He took the initiative to mention this matter, but someone in the East India Company's meeting had already thought of it.

"If we reject the Haihan people's proposal, then the Portuguese will probably laugh out of their dreams, right?" Van Longen was the first to stand up and point out this "conspiracy": "This must be a trick thought up by the Portuguese. The Haihan people took the lead in setting up such a bullshit alliance so that they could logically exclude us from the Far East trade market! These lazy southern European parasites will just follow the Haihan people and pick holes! We should send a team Send a fleet to sweep the Portuguese stronghold in GD and completely eradicate them from Haihan!"
Chapter completed!