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The decline of Portugal is visible to the naked eye, and it is still arrogant in East Africa.

The Brazilian colony in South America was snatched by the Netherlands a few years ago, but Spain and Portugal failed to take it back.

However, the Netherlands is also very embarrassing. After gaining a firm foothold in Brazil, although the colonial area has expanded year by year, there are not enough Dutch immigrants to enrich it. So it's funny, the Dutch colony in Brazil, the main population is actually the mixed descendants of Portugal and indigenous people, every year Portuguese farmers revolt.

Portugal's colonies in Asia have been continuously seized by the Dutch by force, and currently only a few ports along the coast of India remain. Moreover, the exploitation of the Portuguese royal family was too heavy. As a result, the Portuguese descendants who settled in India continued to convert to Hinduism or Islam, and they betrayed their motherland and called themselves Indians.

Bullying Africans is quite good. After occupying East Africa, the Portuguese royal family wantonly divided the lords.

The Portuguese lord in East Africa was called Prazo, and the lord's army was all blacks recruited locally. Their main income is mining gold and selling black slaves. Due to the depletion of gold mines, a new business was opened up - auctioning the title of the lord, and the lord who made the money returned to Portugal and sold the power of the lord to the local rich.

If you want to say that Portugal has brought any benefits to the East, it is only the spread of knowledge and weapons.

The Franco cannon of Ming Dynasty came from Portugal, and the knowledge of natural science came from the Jesuits funded by Portugal. In India, the Indians have already learned how to make cannons. An Indian prince's cannon was seized. It was 6 meters long and weighed 20 tons. It was called "Diu Cannon". Even the Portuguese had never seen such a cannon. Big cannon.

Now that Macau has been completely taken back by China, the commander of the Portuguese-Macau (trade) fleet relentlessly gave up the Portuguese title and led the entire fleet into the arms of China.

The Portuguese-Macau fleet was renamed in this way, and a group of Portuguese divided up the royal property and registered the "Francis Macau Business Company" in China. The commander of the Portuguese-Macau fleet became the largest shareholder, accounting for 5% of the shares alone, while the chairman of the Macau Municipal Council became the chairman of the board of directors.

These Portuguese businessmen, led by missionaries, traveled around the southern provinces, seeking to marry Chinese suppliers.

In just half a year, more than 20 interracial marriages were successful. It is nothing more than a Portuguese woman marrying the concubine or a member of the Chinese businessman; or a Portuguese man marrying the concubine or a member of the Chinese businessman.

The first-born children of Chinese merchants do not want to marry a ghost at all, and the red hair and green eyes are scary at first glance.

...

Batavia.

The tough governor of the Netherlands, Van Diemen, died of illness early last year. The new governor is called Cornelis van der Linyin, which translates to "Fan der Lin" in Chinese.

Not long after Van Diemen died of illness, Van der Lin had set off from Europe.

It wasn't that the East India Company headquarters was unpredictable, but that Van Diemen died after lying in bed for more than half a year, and he was still sick and asked the headquarters to send a new governor immediately. Because the situation in the Far East is not optimistic, and the development momentum of China's maritime business is too strong!

"Your Excellency, these are the financial reports for the last fifteen years." The adjutant handed over a stack of reports.

Van der Lin didn't bother to read it himself, so he just said, "Please briefly describe it."

The adjutant said: "From 1631 to 1640, the company's expenditure in Asia was 16.4 million guilders, the income was about 28.4 million guilders, the profit was 12 million guilders, and the average annual profit was 1.2 million guilders. From 1641 to the present , the average annual expenditure has increased by 1.1 million dong compared to the previous decade, while the average annual income has only increased by 900,000 dong. Our net profit is declining year by year."

"What is the main source of the increased spending?" asked Van der Linn.

"War!" the adjutant replied succinctly.

Although Spain retreated to the South Philippine Islands, China, the Netherlands, and Spain signed an armistice agreement. However, small frictions between Spain and the Netherlands continued. Dutch warships always disguised themselves as pirates and ran to harass and rob Spanish merchant ships.

Meanwhile, the Dutch set up trading posts in North Vietnam and got involved in Vietnam's Civil War - and lost it.

The adjutant said: "Before Your Excellency took office, the Batavia Council held several meetings. Members unanimously decided to stop the silk trade with Japan at the Vietnamese trading station."

"Why stop?" Van der Lim asked.

The adjutant explained: "A few years ago, China was not unified. A large amount of Chinese silk was transported from Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi to northern Vietnam for trading, and we then shipped the silk to Japan for sale. But as the Chinese emperor occupied Sichuan, the silk After the Chinese emperor completely occupied Guizhou and Guangxi, it was even more difficult to buy silk and brocade in Vietnam. This year, the Chinese emperor occupied Yunnan, and our textile supply was cut off.”

It is very difficult for the Netherlands to get goods directly from China.

Of course, a small amount of goods is fine, but the supply of a large number of goods is extremely unstable, and they are all controlled by Chinese merchants. Moreover, China is also doing business with Japan, how can the Netherlands be allowed to seize market share?

Just last year, a total of more than 20 maritime merchants from Fujian and Zhejiang provinces joined forces to sell related textiles in Japan at a low price, taking advantage of the cost price of silk sold in the Netherlands. Not only did the Dutch lose everything, but they also forced many small Chinese maritime merchants to go bankrupt, and Chinese large merchants took the opportunity to merge their markets.

After the adjutant explained in detail, Van der Lin frowned and said, "We can't let the Chinese maritime merchants develop. We should concentrate our efforts to fight a war with the Chinese and force them to sell us silk at a low price."

"I'm afraid this... Council will not support you," the adjutant said. "Once we start a war with China, no matter what the outcome is, at least one-third of the company's trade in the Far East will come to an end."

At present, 30% of the Dutch East India Company's trade volume (not profit volume) in Asia comes from pepper, and 28% comes from other spices.

However, due to Portugal's nonsense, the price of spices continued to decrease, and the profits of spice trade continued to decline. Although 58% of the trade volume comes from spices, the overall profit is far less than that of silk, tea and porcelain. Once war with China, Emperor Zhao imposed a trade ban, the Dutch East India Company would suffer a devastating blow.

Of course, the practice of trade bans is also a lose-lose for China.

The adjutant said: "This is the information submitted by the council. The emperor of China took back Macau, and all the Portuguese in Macau turned their backs on the king and became Chinese."

"Is there such a thing?" Van der Lin was quite surprised.

The adjutant continued: "In the trade situation in the past two years, the profits of cotton cloth, opium, and slaves have grown the fastest. The opinion of the council is to order more cotton cloth from China, sell more opium to Southeast Asia, and provide more Asian slaves to China."

Van der Lin wondered: "Why does the profit of cotton cloth grow so fast?"

The adjutant said: "As Shandong in China is revived, China's cotton production has greatly increased. The Chinese continue to invent new textile machinery, and the price of cotton cloth continues to fall, and our purchase price in Batavia is also falling. Regarding cotton cloth, the Chinese emperor still A decree was promulgated that part of the customs duties could be refunded for the export of cotton cloth."

Cotton cloth export tax rebate, one is to encourage the export of cotton cloth, and the other is to minimize the impact on small domestic handicraft industries—although the effect is not very great.

The adjutant said: "China's cotton production has decreased this year, and the price of cotton cloth has risen a lot, but this is only temporary. The overall trend is that the price of cotton cloth is getting lower and lower, and Chinese merchants are shipping more and more cotton cloth to Batavia."

Van der Lin had just arrived in the Far East to take office, so he didn't know much about the situation. He said: "Call a meeting of the reviewers, and I will discuss it with them in detail."

The meeting lasted more than ten days, and the result was similar to the decision of the council.

It is to increase the trade volume of cotton cloth. Anyway, it is very cold in Europe, so there is no need to worry about not selling cotton cloth. Moreover, cotton cloth has been selling well in Ottoman and Persia, and it can take the opportunity to expand the market share of these two countries.

Then came opium. The Dutch East India Company decided to spread opium throughout Nanyang, so that the natives of Nanyang could regard opium as a necessity.

The last is the slave trade. It is too troublesome to directly fight and capture captives. You can continue to instigate the indigenous forces, let them attack each other, and sell the captured captives to the Netherlands, and the Netherlands sells them to Chinese maritime merchants.

The Far East strategy of the Dutch East India Company has also undergone major adjustments:

First, a complete truce with Spain, no longer pretending to be pirates to rob Spanish ships.

Second, the number one enemy is determined to be the Banten Sultanate.

Third, try to make peace with the Matalan country, and it would be best if you can conquer the Wandan country together with the Matalan country!

Banten Kingdom, a religious country, once destroyed the Sunda Kingdom that believed in Hinduism. After the capital was captured, the city was massacred, and all the people who did not convert to religion were killed. The land is in the west of Java, the south of Sumatra and the west of Borneo.

Matalam, a religious country, is located in the middle of Java Island.

Banten and Matalan have been attacking each other, and at the same time they are at war with the Netherlands.

In particular, the country of Banten, the Batavia colony of the Netherlands, was snatched from the country of Banten. And Banten City is another trade center in Nanyang. Chinese maritime merchants ship goods to Banten for sale, and European countries import goods from Banten.

The Dutch East India Company wanted to repair relations with all enemies, and wanted to concentrate on destroying Banten, and then further monopolize the trade between the East and the West.

It can only be said that the two governors, Van Diemen and Van der Lin, have completely different styles of doing things.

Van Diemen chose to expand in all directions, sticking here and there, and wanted to be the overlord of the Far East.

Van der Lin attacked them one by one, first to kill the Wandan country completely, and then to completely kill the Matalan country. Consolidate the base camp of Java Island, and monopolize the trade between the East and the West to the maximum extent, so as to capture more practical commercial profits.

This product even took the initiative to shrink the trade between Japan and Holland, allowing Chinese maritime merchants to invade the Japanese market. As for the Dutch merchants, they can just wait for the Chinese merchants to ship their goods in Java Island, so that the trade volume and profits can be steadily increased.

As for ten or twenty years later, Chinese maritime merchants will develop and grow, and may even threaten the Dutch colonies. In that case, it's none of Van der Lin's business? He has already resigned and returned to China, and he is a good governor with excellent performance.

(One update today, three updates tomorrow.)