I

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

Sanders led his men out of the bastion, bowed in a very gentlemanly manner, and then spoke a lot.

Kuang Hong expressed his attitude: "The Dutch officials and soldiers in Malacca did not harm Chinese civilians, so you are not guilty. However, when the two countries are fighting, casualties are inevitable. My soldiers have lost a lot, all caused by you. Now You are prisoners of war. You will all be detained until the Governor of Batavia comes up with a plan to completely resolve the conflict between the two countries."

All Dutch, including Saunders, breathed a sigh of relief.

Because China and the other seven-nation coalition forces suffered hundreds of casualties before and after the siege, the Malay indigenous casualties were close to a thousand. They were afraid that this would anger Kuang Hong, so they ordered to kill all the surviving Dutchmen.

The arsenal in the central castle was quickly emptied. Whether it was hardened gunpowder or dried gunpowder, they were all thrown into the sea and destroyed. These things are too unstable and will explode if you are not careful. They must be dealt with 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 treasures in the castle and reward the soldiers of all countries based on their merits!"

Malacca is an exclusive port for the Netherlands, and ships from other countries are not allowed to enter the port. Of course it is possible to enter the port, but there is a very high entry tax. Therefore, merchant ships from various countries generally choose to replenish at the ports of Johor or Aceh.

Dutch merchant ships would come twice a year to take away the goods stored in Malacca.

There are also some merchant ships that will transport some goods and store them in Malacca. For example, all goods purchased from Thailand will be transferred to Malacca, mainly sappan wood, white wax and fur.

"Sir, there are a lot of goods in the warehouse. It takes time to calculate the specific value in silver. In addition, there are dozens of black slaves in the castle. How to deal with these slaves?"

"Black slaves? Did they go to war?"

"They had no weapons, but they helped carry things during the war. They have been interrogated and found that these black slaves were either slaves of Dutch officials or porters in the castle warehouse."

"It is not good to release them directly. These black slaves may not be able to find a living. Your Majesty has also banned the army from selling slaves. Let them do coolies first. The materials seized at the auction will just need someone to carry the goods. Choose a few smart black slaves and let them They were in charge of other black slaves.”

The seized Dutch goods may seem like a lot, but they are actually not worth much when converted into silver. After all, they are all Southeast Asian specialties, and they must be shipped to Europe to truly make a fortune.

Just like coal, how much can you earn from selling it in Shanxi?

Several small countries helped send troops. Since Malacca was captured, some profits should be given to them. We can't let them work in vain.

Kuang Hong called all the military generals from various countries and announced: "I will give you half of the supplies captured in Malacca. The Siamese army deserves to be commended for their bravery in fighting. Of the half of the supplies, Siam alone takes the most. 20%, and the rest is divided according to the number of troops sent by each country."

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

Kuang Hong continued: "Everyone who has contributed to the war can come with me to Nanjing to meet His Majesty the Emperor. If you send your own ship, 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 travel expenses for the entourage will be borne by China."

Small countries such as Dadi and Dingjialu only have small offshore sampans and do not have the ability to travel to China on their own. As soon as this statement came out, they were very happy and wanted to go to China on the ship. Anyway, China promised to pay for the travel expenses.

Big countries like Johor and Siam want to take advantage of the opportunity to engage in trade. They are easily robbed when they go to sea independently. By following the Chinese navy, they can avoid risks from pirates.

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

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

Kuang Hong asked in confusion: "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 of ​​Sulu."

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

Chen Erxun said: "The common people have 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 and pass through Malacca to the west. The common people write down stories I’ve heard about the famous name of Ambon Island since I started.”

Chen Erxun was afraid that the Dutch would come back and blame him for giving advice to the Datong Army, so he simply tried to draw out the firepower and instigated the Chinese army to occupy the Spice Islands.

Without the Spice Islands, the Dutch East India Company would be half in ruins!

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

Chen Erxun said: "Malacca was Portuguese before, and the Spice Islands are also Portuguese. There are more than ten islands there, growing various spices. Controlling the Spice Islands, and then controlling Malacca, is equivalent to controlling the spice trade between the East and the West. Portugal did this, and so did the Netherlands. Now that China has occupied Malacca, why doesn’t it want to occupy the Spice Islands again?”

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

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

Initially, Portugal controlled the islands. But Portugal is too wasteful, and the natives often teach them how to behave. 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 stronger. At the beginning of the attack on Portuguese villages, the Portuguese relied on negotiation and compromise to barely maintain peace. Then, Portugal built castles, but the castles were captured by the islanders and all Portuguese colonists were killed.

It was not until Portugal was annexed to Spain that Spain and Portugal joined forces to retake Ternate Island. In just a few years, the natives on the island rioted again and drove away the Portuguese and Spanish.

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

Then, the Dutch came.

The Dutch learned the lessons of their predecessors and began to play the trick of massacre. On various islands, they consciously carried out long-term massacres, specifically selecting the food harvest season to kill the indigenous people, steal the food, and burn down the houses. This continued for more than ten years, causing the number of indigenous people on these islands to continue to decrease, and they were almost driven back to primitive society.

It was not until the number of indigenous people dropped sharply that the Netherlands truly began to colonize and use Ternate Island as a base of rule. It was not until the capture of Batavia that the Governor's Palace of the Dutch East India Company was moved from Ternate Island to Batavia.

In order to monopolize the clove trade, the Dutch even killed all the British people on Ambon Island. Then all the clove trees on other islands were destroyed, and cloves were only allowed to be planted intensively 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 and 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 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 Sulu , Sulu is also a vassal state of Datong. However, Spain occupies most of Mindanao, and only a small piece of Zamboanga is still in the hands of Sulu. We must beware of Spain."

Kuang Hong said: "When I return to Beijing, I will make suggestions to His Majesty and ask for expansion there step by step in the future."

Hong Xu smiled and said: "Once the maritime 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 will Maritime merchants can make greater profits."

"We can't just let businessmen make profits," Kuang Hong said. "We can learn from the Dutch and set up overseas yamen on each island. There are not many officials in each yamen, just a few people are enough, and dozens of troops are stationed at each place. City. 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, and can be purchased by merchants. The government only needs to control the port, and merchants can transport the spices if they want to. You must pay taxes to the government!”

Of course Hong Xu supports this plan. There are so many islands that must be conquered 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: "We are not in a hurry about the Spice Islands yet. We have occupied Malacca now, and we can't just throw it away. If we want to govern Malacca for a long time, we must have a foothold in the middle. Bintong Long (Champa) is a supply point, and you have to choose another one, otherwise it’s not very safe.”

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

At this time, Singapore was called Temasek and Aralia Gate. A few decades ago, the capital of Johor was just across the Singapore Strait. The last time the capital of Johor was moved, the capital was burned down by the Portuguese. Since then, even Singapore has not been taken seriously. Today, only a group of Malay indigenous people live there.

It is estimated that with a few thousand taels of silver, one can buy the entire Singapore from Johor, because that place is really worthless, and even the land cannot grow a few grains of food.

Hong Xu pointed casually: "It's better to occupy this whole area."

The area that Hong Xu was pointing to was the archipelago south of Singapore, including Batam Island, Lingga Island, Singai Island, etc., all of which belonged to the Kingdom of Johor at this time.

Kuang Hong shook his head and said: "There are too many. They are all barren islands. If you occupy them, you won't have the energy to run them. All you need is Temasek (Singapore), a choke point."