I

  Chapter 710 707【The plans of diplomats and the navy】

   "Dear Mr. Chinese Ambassador, I am Saunders, a councilor and senior staff member of the Dutch East India Company. The army you lead is very heroic. I am willing to surrender to you on behalf of the company. Please ensure the safety of all employees of the company..."

   Sanders walked out of the bastion with his men, bowed down in a very gentlemanly salute, and then talked a lot.

Kuang Hong expressed his attitude: "The Dutch officials and soldiers in Malacca did not harm Chinese civilians, so you are innocent. However, the two countries are at war, and casualties are inevitable. My soldiers suffered a lot, and it was all caused by you. Now You are prisoners of war. Before Governor Batavia comes up with a plan to completely resolve the conflict between the two countries, you will all be imprisoned."

  Including Sanders, all Dutch people are relieved.

  Because of China and the seven other coalition forces, hundreds of people were killed and injured before and after the siege, and the casualties of the Malay natives were close to a thousand. Fearing that this would anger Kuang Hong, they ordered to kill all the surviving Dutchmen.

  The arsenal of the central castle was quickly emptied. Whether it is compacted gunpowder or dried gunpowder, they are all thrown into the sea and destroyed. These things are too unstable and will explode if you are not careful, and you must deal with them as soon as possible to make people feel at ease.

  After the arsenal was emptied, Sanders and other Dutch prisoners of war were imprisoned in the arsenal.

   Immediately, Kuang Hong ordered: "Count the property in the castle, and reward the soldiers of all countries for their merits!"

   Malacca is the exclusive port of the Netherlands, and ships from other countries cannot enter the port. Of course, it is also possible to enter the port, but a super high port entry tax is charged, so merchant ships from various countries generally choose to replenish at the ports of Johor or Aceh.

  The Dutch merchant ship will come twice a year to take away the goods stored in Malacca.

   There are also some merchant ships that will transport some commodities and store them in Malacca. For example, the commodities purchased from Thailand will all be transshipped to Malacca, mainly hematoxylin, ash and fur.

   "My lord, there are a lot of goods in the warehouse. It takes time to figure out how much it is worth. In addition, there are dozens of black slaves in the castle. How to deal with these slaves?"

   "Neggers? Did they go to war?"

   "They didn't have weapons, but during the war, they helped carry things. It has been interrogated. These black slaves are either servants of Dutch officials or porters in the castle warehouse."

"It's not good to release them directly. These black slaves probably can't find a living. His Majesty also forbids the army to sell slaves. Let them work as coolies first. The auctioned materials just need someone to carry the goods. Choose a few smart black slaves and let them They were in charge of the other niggers."

  The seized Dutch goods seem to be a lot, but they are actually of little value in exchange for silver. After all, they are some Southeast Asian native products, and they have to be shipped to Europe to really make a fortune.

  It’s like coal, how much can you earn by selling it in Shanxi?

  Several small countries helped to send troops. Since Malacca was taken down, they would get some profit.

Kuang Hong called all the leading generals from various countries and announced: "I will give you half of the supplies captured in Malacca. The Siamese army should be rewarded for their bravery in battle. Of the half of the supplies, Siam will take only half of them. Twenty percent, and the rest will be shared according to the number of troops sent by each country."

   "Thank you, Angel!" Prince Narai was overjoyed. The second thing is to get more spoils, mainly because of the favor of Chinese officials,

Kuang Hong continued: "Everyone has contributed to the war, and you can follow me to Nanjing to meet His Majesty the Emperor. If you send your own boat, you can bring as many people as you want, and you are responsible for the travel expenses. If you take a Chinese ship to Nanjing, you can bring 10 people All the travel expenses for the entourage within are borne by China."

  Small countries like Dani and Dingjialu only have small sampans near the sea and do not have the ability to go to China by themselves. As soon as this remark came out, they were overjoyed, and they all wanted to go to China with the boat to see, anyway, China promised to pay for the travel expenses.

  Big countries like Johor and Siam want to take the opportunity to engage in trade. They are easy to be robbed when they go to sea independently, and they can avoid the risk of pirates by going with the Chinese navy.

   After appeasing the nobles of these small countries, the local Chinese leader Chen Erxun actually came to offer advice.

   "My lord, since the heavenly soldiers have occupied Malacca, they can send troops to seize Ambon Island." Chen Erxun said.

  Kuang Hong was confused: "Where is Ambon Island?"

  Chen Erxun said: "According to this, the sea route is thousands of miles away, and I heard that it is in the southern sea area of ​​Sulu Kingdom."

  Kuang Hong laughed and said, "You know something so far away?"

Chen Erxun said: "Xiaomin has settled in Malacca for generations, and Ambon Island is the starting point of the spice trade. Every year, countless spice ships are transported from Ambon Island, passing through Malacca and heading to the west. Xiaomin writes notes Since then, I have heard of the famous name of Ambon Island.”

  Chen Erxun was afraid that the Netherlands would come back, and blamed him for advising the Datong Army, so he simply sacrificed the bottom line and instigated the Chinese army to occupy the Spice Islands.

   Losing the Spice Islands, half of the Dutch East India Company was abolished!

   "You tell me, I'll listen, the more detailed the better." Kuang Hong really didn't understand this.

Chen Erxun said: "Malacca belonged to Portugal before, and the Spice Islands also belonged to Portugal. There are more than ten islands growing various spices there. Controlling the Spice Islands and then controlling Malacca is equivalent to controlling the spice trade between the East and the West. Portugal did the same, and the Netherlands did the same. Now that China has occupied Malacca, why not occupy the Spice Islands?"

  The Spice Islands in a broad sense include the entire Southeast Asia, including Borneo, Java, New Guinea, and Sumatra.

  In a narrow sense, the Banda Islands and Bazam Islands are sometimes called the Spice Islands, and they are the main producing areas of cloves.

   Initially, Portugal controlled the archipelago. But Portugal is too useless, and is often taught by the natives to behave in turn. The most typical example is the "Ternate War".

  Ternate Island, with an area of ​​only 106 square kilometers, has a sultanate established by indigenous people.

   Where the fart is bigger, the resistance is very strong. Attacks on Portuguese villages had just begun, and the Portuguese managed to keep the peace by negotiating compromises. Then, Portugal built castles, but the castles were captured by the islanders, and all the Portuguese colonists were killed.

   It was not until Portugal was incorporated into Spain that Spain and Portugal joined forces to recapture Ternate Island. In just a few years, the natives of the island rioted again and drove the Portuguese and Spaniards away.

  The natives of a small island are so powerful, the army of these colonists is really weak.

   Then, the Dutch came.

  The Dutch learned the lessons of their predecessors and began to play massacre tricks. On various islands, consciously carried out long-term massacres, and dispatched in the season of grain harvest, killing indigenous people, looting grain, and burning houses. For more than ten years in a row, the number of indigenous people on these islands has continued to decrease, and they have almost been beaten back to the primitive society.

   It was not until the number of natives dropped sharply that the Netherlands really began to colonize and used Ternate Island as a ruling base. It was not until the occupation of Batavia that the governor's office of the Dutch East India Company was moved from Ternate Island to Batavia.

  In order to monopolize the clove trade, the Netherlands even killed the British on Ambon Island. Then all the clove trees on other islands were destroyed, and only the cloves were allowed to be concentrated on Ambon Island, thus successfully controlling the supply of cloves.

  The several islands there are where the Netherlands started in Southeast Asia!

   Kuang Hong returned to the warship, asked Hong Xu for a map of Nanyang, and soon found various islands.

Hong Xu pointed to the map and said: "The location of these islands is east of Kalimantan Island and south of the Spanish Philippine Islands. If we want to control there, the best springboard is Zamboanga. Zamboanga is now in the hands of the Sulu Kingdom , Sulu Kingdom is also a vassal state of our Datong. However, Spain occupies most of Mindanao, leaving only a small piece of Zamboanga, which is still in the hands of Sulu Kingdom, so we must beware of Spain.”

   Kuang Hong said: "When I return to Beijing, I will advise His Majesty to expand there step by step in the future."

Hong Xu said with a smile: "Once the sea merchants know about it, they will definitely support it enthusiastically. Because our country's spices, especially cloves, have to be purchased from there. After being controlled by the Netherlands, the price of spices has increased a lot. As long as the Dutch are driven away, our country Maritime merchants can obtain greater profits."

"We can't let the merchants make profits," Kuang Hong said, "We can learn from the Dutch and set up overseas government offices on each island. There are not many officials in each government office, just a few people are enough, and dozens of troops are stationed in each place." In this way, the salaries of officials and soldiers are not much, but they can collect spices from the natives. Even, the spices do not need to be collected by the government, but can be purchased by merchants. The government only needs to control the port, and merchants want to transport spices. Taxes must be paid to the government!"

  Of course, Hong Xu supports this plan. With so many islands, they must be defeated one by one, which means that the navy will always have battles to fight and can continue to gain military exploits.

Hong Xu looked at the map carefully: "The matter of the Spice Islands is not in a hurry for the time being. We have occupied Malacca now, and it is impossible to throw it away. If we want to govern Malacca for a long time, we must have a foothold in the middle. Bin Tonglong (Zhancheng) is a The supply point, and another one must be selected, otherwise it will not be very safe."

   "How is it here?" Kuang Hong pointed to the location of Singapore.

  Singapore at this time is called Temasek and Longyamen. A few decades ago, the capital of Johor was not far from the other side of the Singapore Strait. The last time Johor moved its capital was when the capital was burned down by Portugal. Since then, even Singapore has not been taken seriously, and now only a group of Malay natives live there.

   It is estimated that a few thousand taels of silver can buy the whole of Singapore from Johor, because that place is really worthless, and even the land can't grow a few grains of grain.

  Hong Xu pointed casually: "It's better to take all of this piece."

  The piece that Hong Xu pointed to is the archipelago in the south of Singapore, including Batam Island, Linga Island, Singji Island, etc., all of which belong to the territory of Johor at this time.

   Kuang Hong shook his head and said: "There are too many, all of which are barren islands, and I don't have the energy to manage them after occupying them. As long as Temasek (Singapore) is the key point."

  (end of this chapter)