Southern Ming, my destiny is too abstract

Chapter 104 Can Zhu Cixuan still be like Alexander?
Vanderlan nodded noncommittally.

The Dutch East India Company did not care whether the Emperor of Bengal lived or died.

They were just afraid that this would give the Mughals an excuse to invade Arakan.

The Dutch trading house and factory in Chittagong, Bangladesh were involved.

Vanderlan knew clearly what Arakan was planning.

But the Netherlands is different from Portugal.

Eighty years ago, King Henry of Portugal died without an heir. King Philip II of Spain, who was related to the Portuguese royal family, used this as an excuse to send troops to Portugal and intervene in the Portuguese succession to the throne.

After defeating his successor Antonio, the throne fell into the hands of the Habsburg family, and Spain annexed Portugal.

Portugal also married and had children with the indigenous people of its colonies, which is why mercenaries flourished throughout the world.

The Netherlands was a small country with a small population, and it could not manage a large colony, so how could it help Arakan resist the Mughals?

Vanderlan, the Governor of Batavia, and even the Spanish agreed to send Shah Shuja to Hongsavady.

Let the Mughals and the Ming Dynasty fight to defeat Hongshawadi.

That's right.

Even the Spanish in Luzon agreed with the Dutch East India Company's attack on Honsavadi.

I have to agree.

Although Spain's colonial trade in Asia has gradually been left behind by Britain and the Netherlands as the amount of silver mined in the Americas has declined in recent years.

But their rule in Luzon was still very stable.

The sea trade route to China, which the Han people called Nanyang, has always been controlled by the Dutch and Spanish.

The Qing Dynasty now has a maritime ban, and Koxinga has a semi-monopoly on the East China Sea.

However, the lucrative maritime trade cannot easily cut off people's financial resources, and merchants in eastern Guangdong are secretly lifting the ban all the time.

Even Koxinga, who monopolized the East China Sea, had to sell his goods to Europeans.

Even without talking about China, the tea and porcelain that Europeans needed could be replaced by Jiaozhi, the small China.

But the prerequisite is that the Hongsavadi trade route to Middle-earth has not been developed.

Batavia did not care about Britain and Portugal buying spices from the port of Maduba, as there was no spice production in the land above the wind.

But the silk, porcelain, and even tea shipped from Yunnan and Yunnan were produced by the Eight Manufacturing Bureaus in Madu of the Ming Dynasty.

This touched the sore spot of the Netherlands and Spain.

In addition to spices, the huge profits from Far East trade are a unique product of Chinese civilization.

Not to mention, if Hongsawadi exports, the distance is one-third shorter than theirs, and the profit is higher.

The Dutch East India Company, which had suffered repeated setbacks in its Far East colonies in recent years, and Spain, whose silver production had plummeted, could hardly tolerate the newly emerging Middle-earth trade routes.

Yes, and spices.

Vanderlan drank the sweet and sour palm wine:

"Your Majesty, this time we have twenty times more captive slaves than before. They have all been registered and are waiting to be boarded. This will just offset the cost of the firearms we sold you."

Tudama raised his glass and replied, "That's good. Apart from the Rakhine and Rohingya people, I have ordered my subordinates to sell all the Mon and Hongsa people to you."

Arakan has a small territory and its rice and wood resources are not enough even for itself, so it has basically nothing to sell to Europeans.

So Arakan naturally joined in the slave trade.

Of course they won’t sell out the people of their own country.

Arakan was in constant conflict with Bengal and Tripura in Chittagong, and there was no shortage of slaves to be obtained from the war.

Every year, four or five ships of slaves were sold to the Dutch who came to Hongsavadi to purchase rice and teak.

Even after the rise of the Mughals, the Mughals ruled over Bengal.

Exclude pagans who have different beliefs.

The Mughals themselves would occasionally send pagans to Arakan.

Batavia then sold spices to India.

A small-scale slave delta was formed in the areas above and below the wind in South Asia.

The Netherlands was now in dire need of manpower, so Arakan naturally took advantage of the situation and started the slave trade again.

Vanderlan shook his head and said, "After Batavia imposed a local head tax, almost all the Han Chinese fled, taking some Javanese natives with them to Sumatra."

“Batavia now has one-tenth fewer people.”

"Although these more than 10,000 slaves can make up for the population, it is difficult to make up for the lack of farmers."

"When it comes to growing and harvesting spices, they're not as efficient and quick as the Han people."

As early as three hundred years ago, Muran merchants began importing spices from Southeast Asia to Europe.

The Portuguese came from behind, but the Ottomans intervened again.

As a result, Europeans could not travel through the Mediterranean and had to go around the Cape of Good Hope to the Far East.

As a result, India's pepper sold to Europe lost its geographical advantage.

The cost of Indian pepper is more than 50% higher than that of Southeast Asia. Now even Indians have to buy pepper from European merchants.

Eight thousand tons of pepper are sold in Southeast Asia each year.

Pepper is a small matter. After all, the British occupied four-fifths of the production in Sumatra, so Batavia wanted to capture the old port of Aceh in the Ming Dynasty a few years ago to snatch pepper from the British.

The key is cloves, which are only found in Java and Maluku.

China banned sea trade, and India’s demand decreased. Now almost all Southeast Asian spices are sold to Europe.

At its peak, the Maluku Islands sold 300 tons of cloves, 200 tons of nutmeg, and 80 tons of mace to Europe.

Having just gained a monopoly on nutmeg forty years earlier, the Dutch East India Company cut its control over nutmeg sales to Europe in half.

The skyrocketing prices of nutmeg and mace made the Dutch a fortune.

Ten years ago, the Dutch East India Company monopolized the world's cloves.

Cutting down all the lilac trees outside the colony also reduced sales by half.

The price of cloves in Europe increased exponentially to 7.5 Dutch guilders per catty, and even in India the price tripled to 5 Dutch guilders.

Prepare to create another batch of wealth legends to make up for the losses caused by the ban on the Middle-earth and Mataram seas.

As a result, all the Han farmers who were good at planting ran away.

The lazy Hongsha people are no match for the hardworking Han people.

Coupled with the losses from years of war and the newly opened trade routes to Middle-earth, the Netherlands was forced to launch this war.

After listening to the interpreter's translation, Tudama frowned slightly and said, "There are very few Han people in Hongsawadi."

"Everyone is concentrating on Maduba now. Aren't you Dutch responsible for attacking that city?"

Vanderlan covered his embarrassment with his wine glass.

Of course he wanted to capture the port of Madu Bacheng.

More than a decade ago, when China was in chaos, the Dutch stationed troops on Dongfan Island to guard against deception and sneak attacks by the Zheng family.

Until He Bin escaped last year, Chinese businessmen on Dongfan Island retreated back to the mainland.

Only then was it confirmed that Koxinga was going to attack Dongfan Island.

Previously, Vanderlan sent troops to aid Dongfan Island.

He brought with him twelve ships and fifteen hundred colonial officers and soldiers.

The Governor then instructed him to rob the Portuguese in Macau in order to make up for the financial losses if Koxinga did not attack.

As a result, Kiyi of Rejalan City firmly disagreed. After staying there for half a year, Koxinga did not send any troops, so Vanderlan had to return empty-handed.

Soon after he returned to Batavia, he learned that Koxinga had declared war and sent troops after he left.

In order to raise military funds, reinforcements were sent again, and the governor asked him to plunder Hongsavadi.

Who knew that the Kingdom of Pegu was robbed by Zhu Cixuan and became so poor that it had nothing.

The Dutch soldiers wanted to knock off the gold from the Buddha statues and pagodas in the temples, but were stopped by the Arakanese people of the same faith.

At present, the eight cities in Madu are the only ones with both money and people.

Those Han troops were difficult to deal with and were not afraid of the European flintlock rifles in field battles.

Missionaries also helped them manufacture artillery, depriving the Dutch army of its only military advantage.

He could only return to Mrauk City in disgrace.

Vanderlan laughed and said, "We were going to capture the eight cities of Madu."

"Who knew that Siam would send nearly 10,000 troops to help the Ming army, and they had no choice but to give up the eight cities of Madurai."

"Siam has relied on the Portuguese and the Dutch for years, and they have a lot of firearms. How can my 500 soldiers and your Arakanese ships capture the eight cities of Madu with nearly 20,000 soldiers?"

Tudama was curious for a moment: "Didn't you say that you have already won over the King of Siam?"

Fan der Lan thought about it and answered calmly: "The King of Siam has attached great importance to maritime trade in recent years, and he is also a little afraid of Zhu Cixuan, who destroyed the country in March."

"So you agreed to join forces with us privately."

"But he didn't dare to openly offend the Ming Dynasty, so he sent out his troops and pretended to leave."

"If a war really breaks out, I feel he would still be willing to shed some blood for the Han people."

Tudama frowned, hesitated for a long time, and was about to speak.

Suddenly, royal guards hurried into the palace.

"Your Majesty, Ming troops suddenly appeared in Shalian and Pyay ahead."

A flash of panic flashed across Tudama's face, and he asked solemnly:
"Have you seen clearly? Are they the real Ming army, or are they the Hongsha people pretending to be Ming army?"

So fast.

Vanderlan was also shocked after hearing the translation.

Tudamo and Vanderlan speculated that it would take at least several months for Zhu Cixuan to learn of the situation and send troops over.

The Ming army would not march south until the rainy season ended in the cool season.

The guard said seriously: "Yes, it is the real Ming army."

"The general at the front confirmed through the Hongsha prisoners that it was Andy Wenbai Wenxuan's army."

"Ming's Bai Wenxuan has been fighting in Hongshawadi for two years. They won't admit their mistakes."

"Our army was repeatedly defeated in the field battles and could only hold the passes and cities to block the advance of the Ming army."

Tudamo scratched his head and looked at Vanderlan who was thinking with his head down.

"Commander, it seems we can no longer capture slaves for you."

"The Ming Dynasty returned too quickly. My army may have to abandon the territory of Hongsavadi and defend the Arakan Mountains."

Tudama never expected that the Ming army would appear on the battlefield just over half a month after the war began.

Originally, the elite troops of Hongsha were taken away by Zhu Cixuan and Mangshi chieftain Mu Tianbo, and there were no soldiers capable of fighting in the entire Xia Hongsha.

According to their calculations, they could completely occupy the entire Pegu Kingdom.

When the time comes, we can transport artillery and muskets, and rely on the city to fight against the Ming army.

But I didn't expect the Ming army to return so quickly.

Is Dai Qing so useless?

He had driven the Ming Dynasty out of China before, but within half a year, Zhu Cixuan was able to withdraw his troops to support Hongsawadi.

Tudama cursed inwardly.

He originally thought that Dai Qing was strong, and even if they could not destroy Zhu Cixuan's army and drive the Ming Dynasty out of China again, they would at least be able to maintain a stalemate for a year or two.

I didn't expect it to be a virtual chart.

Tudama originally wanted to contact the Tatars secretly.

At that time, send Shah Shuja and let the Mughal and Dai Qing Gulun directly crush the Ming Dynasty that is causing chaos in Fengshang.

As a result, it seemed that the Qing army in Yunnan and Yunnan was directly crushed by Zhu Cixuan.

Tudama managed to speak, "It wasn't long since we took Pegu, and there are still some prisoners there."

"Then I will send ships to Mrauk-U and purchase some slaves from Chittagong to bring you a total of 20,000 slaves."

Vanderlan nodded irritably.

Damn, that means the Netherlands gained nothing from this military expedition except slaves.

This is another batch of military expenditure. The profits of the East India Company will decline significantly this year.

No one dared to underestimate the Ming army that destroyed the country in March.

This is Hongsavadi, the overlord of the land above the wind, far from being the natives of those island countries.

Even small island countries were difficult for European colonists to destroy.

The reason they dared to start a war was that they thought the Ming Dynasty was stuck in the quagmire of the war between Yunnan and Yunnan and would not be able to spare the energy to attack Hongsha.

At that time, the Netherlands would stab Arakan in the back and sign a treaty with the Ming Dynasty to monopolize this newly emerging trade route between China and the Middle East.

By the way, let Koxinga give up attacking Dongfan Island.

Vanderlan thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, should we send Shah Shuja out and lead the Mughals into Hongshawadi?"

The Dutch still did not want to end the war easily.

Even if I just drink some soup with Mughal, it’s better than having nothing to eat.

Tudama looked hesitant.

Bringing in the Mughals was the last resort.

He did not think that the Mughals, who were against pagans, would just hunt down Shah Shuja, who was vying for the throne.

If nothing else, at least Chittagong will be ceded.

Tudama rubbed his brow with his thumb and said, "We can first send an envoy to contact Mir Mimra, the Governor of Bengal."

"Lower Hongsha had no strategic location to defend, which allowed the Hongsha people to easily overthrow the Mon Kingdom of Pegu from Pagan and Toungoo."

“But we in Arakan are different.”

"With the Rakhine Mountains separating us, if you use your firearms to block the roads through the mountains, the Ming army will have no choice but to attack from the sea."

"but……"

Tudamo chuckled and looked at Vanderlan.

Vanderlan smiled back, "We have ships at sea."

"The Sea Coachman is unrivaled on the sea."

Tudama said: "Unless the Ming army can cross the two thousand meter peaks in the northern part of the Rakhine Mountains."

“Otherwise, even if the Ming army is fierce, it will not be able to pass our fortress in the Rakhine Mountains.”

"After a few months, Zhu Cixuan, who is determined to fight back to the Middle-earth, will no longer have the energy to deal with me."

"If he continues to pester us, we will bring in the Mughals, who are already preparing to send troops."

Vanderlan also knew about the Arakan Mountains.

This is a natural dividing line that stretches for nearly a thousand kilometers, separating the Land Above the Winds from India.

It is a giant snake lying on the west side of Hongsavadi.

The only accessible Dongge Mountain Pass is over a thousand meters above sea level. This narrow gate has long been blocked by 18-pound cannons and 7-pound howitzers.

The peaks in the northern part of the Rakhine Mountains are even more continuous, all of which are two to three thousand meters high and reach the sky.

Vanderlan grinned and said, "If the Ming army can really cross the northern part of the Rakhine Mountains."

"Then Zhu Cixuan is just like Alexander the Great crossing the Hindu Kush Mountains."

Vanderlan spread his hands and smiled: "If Zhu Cixuan is really as powerful as Alexander, then we Dutch will just admit defeat."

(End of this chapter)