At the Dutch Merchant House in Manila, several foreign businessmen are getting together. The leader was a middle-aged man in his forties, who was Worm, the head of the Dutch East India Company's merchant house in Manila.

Worm said with a gloomy face: "Vlar, is there anything unusual in Manila this time?" ”

"Mr. Worm, the ships entering the port of Manila in recent days have been normal, there is nothing suspicious, and no new warships of the Far Eastern Company have been found to have entered the port. By the way, in the early hours of yesterday morning, the Manila dock was under martial law, and there were a lot of police and soldiers, and our people who were stationed in the port area did not have a chance and had to withdraw back. ”

The middle-aged man's eyes froze suddenly, and he asked anxiously, "Did you find out any news during the day?" ”

"They blocked the road from the dock to the royal city last night, and although we have been investigating, there has been no news. It seems that someone heard the sound of iron cars passing by yesterday, and there are quite a few of them. ”

"Vlaar, you have to do your best, be sure to find out, there must be something wrong last night, and the Manila city government will not impose martial law. By the way, did any boats come into the dock last night? ”

"Yes, only six sailing ships entered the harbor from last night to this morning, but nothing unusual was found, they were just ordinary merchant ships made in Portugal. It looks like I've just sailed along. ”

Worm frowned and said, "Will there be a ship from India at this time?" The merchant ships of Batavia and Banten are probably also loaded with cargo and are waiting for the monsoon. That's weird...... Help me contact the people in charge of Portugal and the United Kingdom, and they say that I want to meet with them. ”

Yesterday, the news of the martial law in Manila Port quickly spread throughout the British, Portuguese, Dutch, and other merchant houses in the city, and all countries began to be busy again, spilling large amounts of silver dollars, and searching everywhere for news. Bustling Manila. There are undercurrents surging everywhere, and many people are looking to guò for valuable information.

The 15th and 16th centuries were the era of free trade in East Asia, and although there may be armed conflicts over commodities or markets, trade competition was generally carried out by market means. Before the 17th century, even though the Portuguese conquered Malacca and parts of the Spice Islands by force, the maritime trade in East Asia was largely free. The prosperity of the trading ports of East Asia. It mainly relies on its advantageous geographical location, offering attractive goods and preferential trade environment.

Muslim merchants from India and local royal families in Southeast Asia have always been one of the main players in the East Asian trading circle. Indian Muslim merchants entered Southeast Asian waters along the west coast of the Malay Peninsula through the Strait of Malacca, and established merchant pavilions in important trading ports along the route, such as Aceh, Tanah Salin, Malacca, Banten, Kedah, and Ayuthaya, and cooperated with the local sultans or royal families, leading the trade from East Asia to the Mediterranean Sea through the Indian Ocean.

After the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean were severely hampered. The Eurasian trade, which lasted for more than a decade, brought a large number of luxury goods such as silk and porcelain to the West, and more importantly, spices. In medieval Europe, it was common practice to slaughter large numbers of animals before winter and make them into pickled products such as ham and salted fish for preservation. These pickles are not flavored with spices such as pepper, cinnamon, etc. The taste will be greatly discounted.

The people took food as their heaven and lost their incense, which was tolerable to the large and small aristocrats of Europe, but the days of losing condiments were unbearable for them who ate cured meat all year round.

Thus, the Age of Exploration began!

After the 16th century, Western colonists came to the East. The prelude to the armed struggle for sea power in East Asia began, and they carried out armed plundering of merchant ships and control of major shipping lanes. By capturing important trade ports, occupying or controlling core commodity producing areas and trading centers by force, and directly launching wars against trading opponents, they gradually controlled the maritime trade of East Asia.

The highly profitable spices of Southeast Asia and the silk, porcelain and other tropical products of the Ming Dynasty were the main purpose of the Europeans entering East Asia to compete for sea power. Southeast Asian spices, such as pepper, cardamom, and cloves, have been selling well in Europe. Ming porcelain and silk are the most sought-after goods in Europe.

The Portuguese, the forerunner of the Age of Discovery, occupied Goa, India, in 1510. The following year, he seized Malacca, the center of the spice trade. Since the main source of spices in Southeast Asia is in the Maluku Islands, in 1522, the Portuguese built a fort on the island of Ternate in Maluku, where cloves are abundant, in an attempt to control the distribution of spices on the Maluku islands. At that time, the profit from buying cloves from Maluku to selling them in Malacca was 7-10 times.

Silk and other Chinese goods in search of equally high profits. After 1554, the Portuguese were allowed to trade in Macao, and gradually anchored ships and established settlements in Macao. These actions were tacitly approved by the local government in Guangdong. For more than ten years, Chinese and foreign sea ships have gathered in Macao, which has become a prosperous trading port.

Portugal's huge profits from East Asian trade attracted other European seafaring powers. In early 1565, a Spanish expeditionary force from New Mexico arrived in the Philippines under the leadership of Legazpi, and in 1571 established a colonial government in Manila to facilitate direct trade with Ming merchants.

The Dutch, the rising stars of the Age of Discovery, followed suit and entered East Asia, dramatically changing the balance of power in the seas. The Dutch, who knew all the secrets of Portugal's East Asian trade, from the outset had the sole purpose of expanding in East Asia by replacing the Portuguese. In 1605, the Dutch United East India Company first drove out the Portuguese from the Maluku Islands by force, and then in 1623 drove out the English from Banda Island, essentially monopolizing the spice production area.

By the end of the 16th century, about one-quarter of the spices produced in the Maluku Islands were destined for Europe. After the Dutch monopolized the spice trade in the Maluku Islands in the mid-17th century, they sold it for 17 times as much in Europe and 14 times as much in India.

The Far East now occupies Manila and controls all the seas north of Luzon, where merchants and goods from all over the world gather. The interests of the Netherlands, Portugal, Britain and other countries have suffered a lot of damage, first of all, the purchase price of silk fabrics and porcelain in the Ming Dynasty is at least twice as high as before, and they have to watch the Far East take stock of it.

Nowadays, even the merchants of Arab, Persian and Southeast Asian countries only recognize Manila, and a large number of merchant ships come here every year to trade, and even spices appear in large numbers in Manila, which greatly weakens their market share. It also disrupted the structure of the spice trade that had been formed over the years, and the shrinking profits and market share caused these Western colonizers to suffer heavy losses.

The Far East basically controlled the Ming Dynasty commodities and successfully established a trading port in Manila, using the Ming silk fabrics, porcelain, and high-end luxury goods from the Far East, successfully attracting merchants from Europe, Arabia, Persia, India, Southeast Asia and other countries to trade. And they also control Japan's trade.

The East India Company of Britain, Portugal, and the Netherlands was of course unwilling for the Far East to dominate the East Asian seas, but their power in the East, even if combined, could not compete with the Far East. They can only watch the Far Eastern Company make money in Manila, and can only hide in the shadows, secretly waiting for the opportunity.

The wealth gathered here in Manila is simply a sea of gold and silver, as well as the crazy luxury goods of the Far East, all of which are coveted by the greedy Western colonists, so the Western colonists of the three countries, who have been fighting openly and secretly in the East, have slowly come together because of the emergence of the Far East.

They reported the situation in Manila and the Far East to the country, so that all three countries paid attention to the Far East. In particular, the luxury goods of the Far East, which have been popular among European aristocrats and royal families in recent years, have long caused a sensation in Europe.

The setback of the Dutch East India Company in the East shocked the whole of the Netherlands. The Dutch East India Company was very strong and was truly "owned by the people".

The Dutch East India Company had two types of shareholders, those who did not participate in the management and those who participated in the management, which at that time were innovations in the company's equity, operation and management, and it created a kind of joint-stock company with limited liability.

When the company was founded in Amsterdam, almost all Dutch citizens, from the Queen of the Netherlands to ordinary people, owned the company to a greater or lesser extent.

People can buy shares in companies as long as they want and don't have to pay too much money; Both the royal family and the common people had complete equality of power in investment and profit, and could make money from the spice trade that swept Europe.

The Dutch East India Company had nearly 5,000 ships and nearly 1 million employees. At that time, the total number of Dutch merchant ships in the world reached 15,000, and the sea coachman was not a joke. In order to solve the dilemma in the East, the Dutch East India Company chose to form an alliance with the British East India Company, preparing to jointly deal with the trade setbacks in the East.

The full name of the British East India Company was "the company of London merchants trading in the East Indias". It is made up of a group of entrepreneurial and influential businessmen. These merchants obtained a 15-year trade patent granted to them by the British Crown for the East Indies. The company has 125 shareholders and a capital of £72,000.

In 1608, the company's ships reached Surat and established a trading post there. Over the next two years, the East India Company was able to establish its first factory in Megil Bednam, Saikui, Bay of Bengal. The fact that the company reported high profits after landing in India prompted King James I to grant charters to other companies.

The two East India Companies also brought in the Portuguese, who had already sat down last spring to discuss countermeasures. In order to change the current situation, they sent a large number of merchant ships to Manila to collect various intelligence. (To be continued......)

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