Zheng Xinzhi pondered for a moment, and then changed another method: "The Haihan people are good at engineering construction, and the first thing they do when they go to a place is to build ports and fortifications. Although people have never been to Sanya Shengli Port, according to the local fortifications all over the harbor, there is a strong city built by the Haihan people on the shore, which is called Shengli Fort. Such a large project, but the Haihan people only took about a year to complete. This kind of engineering technique was also used by the Haihan people to settle down outside Qiongzhou Island, and there were at least four ports they built near the mouth of the Pearl River alone. The Haihan people used these ports as a springboard to sell their specialties to the Ming Dynasty and other countries, and moved immigrants from outside the world to fill the gap in their labor force. ”

Hearing this, Van Longen interjected again: "It is understandable that the Haihan people enjoy privileged treatment in Annam, after all, they helped Annam end the civil war between the north and the south. But how could the Ming Dynasty allow these outsiders to open and build ports on their own along the coast of Guangzhou?"

When the Dutch occupied Penghu and tried to make it a transit port for the East India Company to the Ming Dynasty and Northeast Asia, the Fujian government was very concerned about this small population island group for some reason, as if it had been stepped on by the tail, and relentlessly organized tens of thousands of soldiers and horses on land and water, and fought with the Dutch for more than half a year, at the expense of several times the cost of casualties, and finally expelled the Dutch from Penghu before it was over.

In the consciousness of the Dutch, the Ming Empire should be very sensitive to the issue of territory, even if it is an overseas enclave like Penghu, it will not let outsiders occupy it, and the Haihan people should be no exception. Even if the appearance of the Haihan people is very close to the Ming people, they also claim to be descendants of the Han people, but whether it is the Ming people or the Dutch, they will not really think that they are the same country as the Ming Han people. However, the Haihan people were able to enclose land on the territory of the Ming Dynasty to build cities and ports, and even organize immigrants from the Ming Dynasty to move out to their own territory, which is really incomprehensible in Fan Longgen's opinion.

Zheng Xinzhi replied: "Although the Haihan people take engineering construction as the foundation for development, their external expansion is based on commerce and trade. As we all know, most of the things produced in Shengli Port are valuable things, and Haihan makes a small profit from them every year in the form of millions of taels of silver, and it is not Haihan who benefits from it. As far as is known, most of the local officials in the coastal areas of Liangguang and Guangxi have interests entangled, and many of them even □□□□, M.⊕.C. "omstyle_tt; directly participated in the business of the Haihan people, and a lot of the silver that came and went went into their pockets. ”

Fan Longen said suddenly: "After accepting the silver of the Haihan people, these Ming officials naturally turned a blind eye to their behavior. ”

The Dutch did a lot of similar things, and bribery was always the best stepping stone in their dealings with certain Eastern countries to establish commercial relations. However, it is almost impossible for the East India Company to involve outsiders in the operation of the company, and simply give economic benefits to the other party, which is obviously different from Haihan's approach in this regard.

After listening to the translation, Zheng Xinzhi continued: "These Ming officials think that they have received benefits, but they don't know that they are allowing Haihan to act recklessly. The Haihan people gained land and population, and their strength became stronger and stronger. Last year, there was a bandit on Qiongzhou Island, and the Guangdong government was unable to send troops, so in the end, it was actually allowed to send the Haihan militia to fight, and the bandits were destroyed, but the northern part of Qiongzhou Island was naturally taken over by the Haihan people. Now all the ships going to Qiongzhou have to go through the formalities at the shipping department of Haihan before they can enter the port and dock, otherwise the Haihan people will be a spy with their hats buttoned down, and they will be collected together with the people and ships. Although Qiongzhou Island still belongs to the Ming Dynasty in name, it has actually been controlled by the Haihan people. ”

Van Longen and Hans couldn't help but exchange glances when they heard this, and found that each other could not hide their surprise. Although Qiongzhou Island is similar to Dayuan, it is also a big island hanging overseas, but there is no Ming governance on Dayuan's side, and the Dutch occupy it, and there is no dissatisfaction on the Ming side for the time being. And Qiongzhou Island is the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and there are more than 200,000 people on the island, so quietly encircled all the Haihan people, which really made the Dutch envious, jealous and hateful.

"Today's Haihan has some people who have money, occupy the overseas enclave of Qiongzhou Island, and they have the ability to make their own weapons and train the army, and it is difficult for the Ming Dynasty to restrain and suppress them again. Zheng Xinzhi said very sincerely: "If you can't suppress the momentum of their entry into Fujian, in a year or two, the coastal areas of Fujian will probably also be controlled by it, and then you don't trade with the Ming Dynasty, even if you want to maintain the right to trade with the Ryukyus, Japan and other places, you will probably be under pressure from the Haihan." ”

"In the end, the topic came back to the helper...... "Van Longen had already heard the purpose of Hans's envoy's request, so he was not very surprised to hear Zheng Xinzhi bring out the topic.

With the strength of Eighteen Zhi, it is still difficult to confront the Fujian Ming Army head-on, if there is a stronger Haihan who has been sitting behind the scenes without making a move, then it will indeed be difficult for Eighteen Zhi to bear it. If you can't find the help to change the current unfavorable situation, then it seems that it is not far before Shibazhi loses the base of Penghu and even completely destroys it.

Hans quietly asked Van Longen, "What do you think, Mr. Van Longen?"

"Haihan is indeed an object worthy of our vigilance, but in our current situation, it is not suitable to start a war with Haihan. Van Longen's view is still more objective: "Our first task is to improve the construction of Dayuan Port and the city of Geranza, not to crusade against a force that is not easy to mess with." What's more, with our armed strength on Dayuan Island, we may not be able to defeat the Haihan people. ”

Hans Head agreed: "Your thoughts are basically the same as mine, Haihan is certainly a threat, but we really don't have the ability to eliminate this threat now. So even though he had come to visit me several times, I still didn't agree to his request. ”

After the loss of Penghu and the transfer to Dayuangang, the East India Company moderately strengthened the deployment of its armed forces, and now Dayuangang can arm about 1,500 troops, and some local indigenous tribes that have surrendered can also organize an army of six or seven hundred people. These forces may be enough for self-protection, after all, the original force of less than 1,000 people in Penghu resisted the offensive of tens of thousands of Ming troops for more than half a year, but if you want to pull these people out on the frontal battlefield to face the Haihan militia that has never been defeated since the formation of the army, they did not dare to defeat the opponent. Moreover, it is clear that some kind of alliance has been formed between Haihan and the Fujian government, and no matter which of these two forces is offended, the consequences may be to face their joint attack. The board of directors of the East India Company would not have wished for any major havoc at the port of Dayuan, two thousand nautical miles from Batavia, because the company would be powerless to rescue it even if it wanted to.

The translator was instructed by Hans, and the content of this conversation was not told to Zheng Xinzhi. Zheng Xinzhi looked at the two of them with an uneasy expression, hoping to see a sign of good news in their expressions.

However, Hans's reply to him in the next translation of Guò was still very disappointing to him: "Although I am very worried about the current situation of Mr. Zheng Zhilong, the East India Company will not directly intervene in the conflict between the Eighteenth Zhizhi and the Ming government. Unfortunately, I can't agree to your request. ”

Zheng Xinzhi knew that if he didn't seize the opportunity to say a few more words about this matter, Hans would probably order the guest to be sent off again, so he hurriedly said: "Lord Hans, please listen to me, if you are willing to assist my lord to recapture Nanri Island this time, there will be retribution in the future!"

"Oh, do you have anything to offer in return?" asked Hans. In the previous negotiations, Zheng Xinzhi's conditions were nothing more than to increase the price and pay more, but the decision to make this kind of thing was not just due to economic considerations, Hans was more concerned with political factors, and there was no way to explain Zheng Xinzhi in detail for this reason.

"Eighteen Zhi is willing to send troops to help you drive away the Francophile entrenched in the north of Dayuan Island!" Zheng Xinzhi felt the loosening of the other party's tone, and hurriedly threw out the generous conditions he had prepared: "After taking the local area, my lord is willing to divide the land with you and share the fruits of the war!"

Hans's expression was a little disdainful, but his mind was already moving. These Ming pirates could not even distinguish between Portugal and Spain, and only referred to them collectively as the Franco-Robot according to the customary custom, but although the two countries have now become one country, their operations in the Far East still revolve around their respective camps. It was the Spaniards who came north from Luzon Island to occupy the two ports of chicken coop and Tamsui in the northern part of the island of Taiwan, and these guys were like poisonous snakes, biting exactly seven inches of the East India Company's Northeast Asia route, which virtually added a lot of danger to the Dutch merchant ships heading north to Ryukyu, Korea, Japan, and other places.

In the five years since the arrival of the Spaniards, the Dutch have lost more than 15 merchant ships in the waters north of the island of Taiwan, including those who have disappeared for unknown reasons, as well as those who have been sunk or captured in naval clashes with the Spaniards.

Of course, the Spaniards also had a very good reason for doing this, because since the Dutch settled in Taiwan, they tried every means to block the maritime merchants from Daming to Manila, so that these merchants either sold their goods directly to them, or transported them to Batavia on the island of Java, so as to cut off Spain's trade with Daming and Northeast Asian countries. For this reason, the East India Company dispatched armed fleets on more than one occasion to intercept Spanish merchant ships in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, and there were also many Spanish galleons planted in the hands of the Dutch.

It was precisely in order to ensure that the Spanish had a smooth access to the home of the Northeast Asian countries that they invested heavily in building two ports in the northern part of the island of Taiwan, forming a confrontation situation with the Dutch, one north and one south.

After taking office, Hans of course also regarded the Spaniards at the northern end of the island as his primary enemy, after all, no one could tolerate sand in their eyes, and no one was willing to tolerate the opponent setting up a stronghold so close to him, but the several offensives organized by Hans against the Spaniards were not very smooth, and even had setbacks, and in the uncertain prospect of war, the Batavia side could not provide more support to Hans. In such a situation, Hans could only temporarily acquiesce to the other party's saving zài and silently wait for the next opportunity.

Eighteen Zhi has always taken a relatively neutral attitude, maintaining trade contacts with both sides, and no one can offend each other if they don't help each other, Zheng Xinzhi's statement can be an unprecedented first time. Although Hans's combat effectiveness is only at the level of bandits and pirates, Hans's opinion is really impossible to ignore in terms of military strength and sea transportation capacity. Although they had been defeated in Fujian for several years, the size of the armed personnel of the Eighteen Zhi was still able to maintain more than 10,000 people, which was more than five times the number of Dutch troops stationed there. If this reinforcement can be obtained, the probability of victory for the Dutch side in the battle will indeed be greatly increased.

However, Hans was not carried away by this news, and remained calm and cautious, because he knew very well that the pirates of the Eighteen Zhi had no moral meaning at all, and that they had always maintained some contact with the Spaniards in the north, and that there might be another envoy to the north who would offer the same conditions to the Spaniards. If the Spaniards are willing to help them retake Nanri Island, there is no guarantee that these fellows will not betray their temperament because of this.

"As far as I know, you seem to have a good relationship with those guys from the north, too?" asked Hans tentatively, "can you really tear your skin and fight them?"

"Probably not before, after all, we and Franco-Robot have also been partners in business for several years. But now, in order to protect ourselves, we can only reluctantly make it difficult. Zheng Xinzhi's face was calm, without the slightest sense of betrayal: "The person who can help us is our partner." ”

"So you've already tried to get military aid from them?" asked Hans, smirkingly, "Did you come to us in the south after the defeat over there?"

"No, my lord has recognized you from the beginning, and as for the Francophiles, they should return to Luzon to rule the local natives. Zheng Xinzhi replied with an unchanged face.

Hans saw that he was so calm and composed, and for a moment he couldn't tell whether he was acting or really confiding his true feelings.

"There is no evidence, do you have any evidence such as Mr. Zheng Zhilong's handwritten letter?" Fan Longen next to him proposed a solution in a timely manner.