However, this is not a big obstacle, Su Keyi can still communicate with the Haihan people in Chinese, but it will be difficult to keep pace with the two partners. 【頂【点【小】【Say,

Van Longen also introduced the identities of the three of them, and then the two sides sat down and began to enter the negotiations that had been delayed for many days.

"First of all, on behalf of the East India Company, I would like to express my strong protest against your preparations for unilateral military action in the South China Sea!" Van Longen knew that it was not easy to meet with the Haihan people, and after so many days, he was not in the mood to go around in circles anymore, so he directly cut to the point: "The Ambuna Islands are the territory of the East India Company, and we have jurisdiction over the area, and no armed force can land on the island under any pretext without our permission!"

"Belongs to the territory of the East India Company?" Gu Kai smiled and said, "Do you know the deeds of the eunuchs of the Three Treasures of the Ming Dynasty who went to the Western Ocean two hundred years ago? At that time, this archipelago was already named Ambuna Island and was under the jurisdiction of the Central Dynasty. Do you think that if you take this island by force, and then change the name of your own thing, the place will be yours?"

"No, no, no, what we want to talk about is not the historical ownership of the island, but its actual belonging at this stage. Of course, Fan Longen knew that this place used to belong to the overseas enclave of the Ming Dynasty, and if he really wanted to discuss the historical attribution, he would definitely not be able to say anything about the other party, so he quickly changed his words.

"If you want to say that at this stage, well, there is a group of South China Sea pirates who occupy this island now, even if you want to talk, you should talk to pirates, what to talk to us?" Gu Kai retorted with a disdainful expression. The Dutch actually expected to gain the upper hand in the verbal confrontation, which was simply wishful thinking in Gu Kai's eyes - if you want to talk about mouth cannons, Uncle Ben is professional!

"Of course, we will not let go of those daring pirates! But before that, Haihan must also stop using force against the local area!" Van der Wegen saw that Van Longen could not say anything, and hurriedly helped.

Gu Kai shook his head and said, "Why are you pointing fingers at us? The actual ownership of this island is not in your hands now, and the object we plan to fight against is not you, after all, what are we going to do on Anbuna Island, what does it have to do with you?"

"No, sir, the ownership of the Natuna Islands belongs to the East India Company, and I must stress this point again, this group of pirates who temporarily occupy the area does not have such power!" Van Longen felt a little dizzy by the other party's circle, and quickly re-examined his position.

"Then I'll ask you, how did your company get the ownership of the local area? Did you go to Beijing and kneel down to ask the Ming Emperor to cede the local area to you?Or did you buy it from the Ming Dynasty with silver?" Gu Kai said with a mocking face: "If so, please show us the relevant documents to prove that you have obtained the local ownership in a legal and reasonable way." ”

"This ......" Van Longen immediately became dumbfounded. Of course, the East India Company would not use the method mentioned by Gu Kai to obtain the ownership of the colony, and it only directly sent armed personnel to occupy the islands at the beginning, although there were no legal and reasonable procedures, but this was not the most normal means?

Gu Kai didn't wait for Fan Longen to answer, and continued: "The East India Company used force to seize control of the region, and you took this practice for granted, but when others inflicted the same means on you, you refused to accept it?"

"I protest, there is a difference! Our East India Company represents the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and those pirates are just pirates!" Van Longen, although his voice is undiminished, is already a little inward-looking, because he also knows that if all of them speak by force, then the East India Company will probably not have much advantage in front of Haihan's opponent.

"You're right, of course pirates are shouted at by everyone, and there's nothing to say. But our Haihan is not a pirate, our military action on Ambuna Island has been authorized by the Ming government, and the Qiongzhou government of the Ming Empire issued a letter of entrustment, and the military action we have taken represents the Ming Empire, and any opposition and resistance will be regarded as a provocation to the Ming Dynasty. Gu Kai paused, and said word by word: "In what way you took the Ambuna Islands in the past, we will take it back in the same way now!"

Gu Kai's words were so straightforward that the two Dutchmen didn't know how to refute for a while. Of course, they can also deny that the Ming still has the right to rule the area, but they cannot deny that the East India Company did occupy the area by force, and in the process did not obtain the permission and understanding of the original owner. To put it bluntly, the world is a rule of the jungle, and the Dutch understand, and their opponents understand, that even negotiations are based on this rule. The weaker side is not qualified to set the rules of the game.

The East India Company was not afraid of the Ming Empire's turn of face, because they knew very well that the empire would not have time to take care of a small maritime enclave far from its territory, nor could it send troops to regain its ownership from the East India Company. But the problem is that the Haihan people have different paths from the Ming Dynasty, they have no scruples about using foreign troops, and they are not afraid of war. The most important thing is that the Haihan people were not afraid to face the East India Company on the battlefield, and they could still faintly gain the upper hand, which was something that the Ming Dynasty could not achieve. If you want to threaten Haihan from a military point of view, the chances of success are obviously slim.

"If you insist on going your own way, it will affect the future maritime trade relations with Western countries!" Van Longen also knew that his side did not seem to have any advantage in terms of force, so he could only turn to maritime trade as a condition for negotiation.

The East India Company still has a certain degree of confidence on this issue, after all, the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait, the two main shipping lanes connecting the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, are currently in the hands of the East India Company. Even hundreds of years later, these two places are still important nodes in the world's sea lanes. Mastering the control of this golden position is equivalent to mastering the maritime trade power of the Eastern and Western worlds. It was for this that the East India Company spent decades vying with Portugal for control of the region, and eventually gained the upper hand.

At present, the goods of the Far East, such as the Ming Dynasty, Korea, Japan, and the Ryukyus, are to be shipped to Europe, and most of them enter the Indian Ocean from this strait by sea, cross the Indian Ocean, bypass the Arabian Peninsula and enter the Red Sea, and enter the Mediterranean Sea by land in Egypt, and then transport them to the southern European countries. Commodities from Europe were basically transported to Batavia and other places in South Asia according to this route, and then maritime groups such as the East India Company were responsible for the transportation and distribution in the later stages. Van Longen's threat was not empty words, the East India Company was capable of doing so, but he was inevitably ridiculed by his opponents again.

Schneider, who had not spoken all this time, finally turned on the mocking mode: "Mr. Van Longen, you have been living here for a week, I don't know if you have noticed the furnishings and decorations here, isn't this place much more comfortable than the dark castle where the European aristocracy lived? Whether it's glass, spices, weapons, or all kinds of handicrafts that you are proud of, if we want to, we can produce them at a lower cost and sell them to the people you once sold to. If you want to interrupt trade, fine, just do it, I believe that it is not us Haihan who will suffer in the end. ”

How could Van Longen not notice the environment here, this week the three of them ate and slept and ate, and the radius of activity was this house, which had been studied countless times inside and out. The comforts of this house are indeed those of all the nobles that Van Longen had visited in the past. Although there are no ornate gold and silver ornaments, whether it is the ceramic bathroom fixtures, the light-filled glass doors and windows, and the high-elastic mattress cushions that are somehow made, Van Longen and his two companions are all amazed.

In his daily meals, he also noticed that the Haihan people used spices much better than those in Europe, and many new spice crops that he did not know before were added to the dishes. If the Haihan people are not deliberately showing off their wealth, it can only mean that they have fully mastered the cultivation methods of these spice crops, and this is indeed a big blow to the Dutch who are still looking for spice cultivation sites in various parts of the South Seas.

As for weapons, Haihan's cousin in Fujian has fully demonstrated their technological superiority in armament manufacturing. Since the Fujian Ming army began to replace the standard weapons provided by Haihan, the local war situation has changed significantly, and the eighteen Zhi, who originally still had a certain advantage, were defeated repeatedly, and in the end, the Dutch went into battle in person, and they were not able to win favor in Fujian. Although it is not known how the Haihan people did it, one thing is certain: the Ming Empire, the largest potential customer in the Far East, is unlikely to buy weapons from the Netherlands or other European countries in the future.

In particular, the East India Company, which was based on maritime trade, was able to traffic goods from Europe to the Far East, and most of them were produced in Sanya, and they seemed to have a competitive advantage in terms of quality, variety, and price. If the East India Company tried to cut off the supply of certain goods, then there was a real possibility that Haihan would take advantage of the opportunity to replace them.

"You are provoking the East India Company by doing this!" Van Longen no longer knew how to launch a rebuttal against the Haihans, the other party's cards were obviously superior to his own, and it was really uncomfortable to be pressed by the other party every time he made a move.

"No, no, Mr. Special Envoy, you have forgotten that we are still at war with each other, and there is no question of any provocation. Gu Kai reminded with a smile: "I don't think you will forget about the fight in Fujian so soon, right?"

How could it be forgotten that Van der Wegen was one of the witnesses at the time, but because the outcome of that battle was too one-sided, Van der Wegen did not have the cheekiness to expose his shortcomings on such an occasion.

"Well, let's talk about something other than the South China Sea, if you still have something to talk about. Gu Kai saw that the two Dutchmen had nothing to say, so he took the initiative to change the topic.

However, Van Longen did not forget Governor Jì Cohen's advice before leaving, shook his head and said: "The ownership of the Natuna Islands is our bottom line of negotiations, and if we can't reach an agreement on this issue, then there is no need to talk about anything else." ”

Gu Kai and Schneider exchanged glances, then got up to say goodbye, and we will talk about it tomorrow. Van Longen also wanted to sort out his thoughts again, and strive to save a little face in the subsequent negotiations, and he also expressed his approval of this proposal.

After the two Haihan people left, Su Keyi learned about the negotiation from the two of them intermittently. After listening to this, he couldn't help but sigh: "The situation is too unfavorable for us, we don't have any conditions in our hands that can blackmail Haihan, and they can even ignore us." ”

"Don't the Haihan really need to buy goods from the West? I always felt that it was impossible for them to produce their own in all fields. Van Longen frowned.

"As far as I know, there are a few things that Haihan has been importing in large quantities all year round. Su Keyi replied thoughtfully.

"Let's talk about it, maybe we can start with that. Van Longen immediately urged.

"First, the canvas produced in India, the Daming maritime merchants almost bought as much as they could, and these canvases were resold to Sanya and used on the sailing ships of the Haihan people. The two of them may have also noticed that their sails were not the same as the hard sails of the Ming Dynasty, but were the same soft sails as those of Western sailing ships. However, I have heard that the Portuguese are also ordering canvas from India for the Haihans, and it will be difficult to completely block this business. Su Keyi introduced.

Van Longen thought that it was true, the Portuguese still had many colonies in the Indian peninsula, and it was difficult for the East Indies alone to completely ban the sale of canvas to the Haihan.

"The second commodity is population. Su Keyi blurted out this sentence to both Van Longen and Van Dewegen.

Su Keyi explained: "The Haihan people have been constantly importing people from the outside world, and Annan and Daming are their main sources. As far as I know, the Portuguese were also helping them to import slaves, and last year at least fifteen Portuguese slave ships arrived in Sanya to trade black slaves to Haihan. ”

"Why have we never heard of this before?" asked Vanderwegen, confused.

"The Portuguese will definitely not take the initiative to publicize these news, which are all witnessed by the Daming maritime merchants who have been to Sanya and have trade with the Haihan people. Sukeyi paused and added, "Of course they don't take the initiative to tell you Dutch about such things. ”