Chapter 1183: A Battle of Gentlemen and Men of Honor

Governor Matsolker only half-believed what Wei Qingmu said.

The reason he half-believed it was that the Dutch East India Company had played an enormous role in the Ming Empire's foreign trade and colonial expansion!

The Dutch East India Company now had more than two hundred merchant ships of over three hundred tons burden plying the China-Europe route. To say nothing of the value of the goods exported through them each year, the Javanese rice shipped to the Ming through them alone amounted to as much as fifty thousand tons.

There were also many merchant ships of other nations that would put in at Batavia on their way from Europe to China, then take on one or two hundred tons of rice to use in payment of Ming customs duties.

So the rice shipped from Batavia to the Ming each year must be above one hundred thousand tons, and most of that rice was produced on the farms of Chinese merchants around Batavia.

If Batavia were destroyed by war, and the East India Company's merchant ships withdrew from East Asia, then the Ming's yearly rice imports would fall by one hundred thousand tons — a figure amounting to roughly one-tenth of the Ming's total annual grain imports.

Of course, one hundred thousand tons of rice was no great difficulty for the Celestial Empire of today. Although the population of the Ming homeland had grown rather quickly in recent years and very likely already approached one hundred and eighty million, with the gradual recovery of grain production in the Central Plain and the Northeast, supply was still fairly ample.

But the Dutch East India Company was also now using about one hundred merchant ships on the trans-Pacific route!

That share was much higher — not ten percent, but close to one-third!

Without them, the Ming's emigrants and goods shipped to the Americas would fall by at least one-third, and that impact would be rather serious.

Moreover, if the Dutch East India Company's armed merchantmen and remaining warships did not obediently clear out but instead turned pirate, attacking Ming merchant ships all across the Pacific, then the Ming's grain imports and the number of emigrants going to the Americas would both likely face steep declines.

But the Dutch East India Company was not, after all, a state! It could not long sustain a war that could bring in no revenue while costing enormously.

The Dutch East India Company was a company that made money for its shareholders. Its purpose was not to rule Batavia and the Strait of Malacca on behalf of the Dutch Republic, but to make money for the shareholders in Amsterdam.

And the Dutch East India Company's two great sources of profit were the China-Europe trade and the spice trade.

Once those two sources of profit were lost, the very survival of the Dutch East India Company would be in question, to say nothing of carrying out long-term privateering at sea.

Furthermore, losing Batavia and the Spice Islands did not mean the Dutch East India Company could no longer earn profits for its shareholders — and that in turn depended on the will of the Ming Son of Heaven!

So the shareholders in Amsterdam would very likely choose compromise after the company was defeated.

And that was the reason for the "half-doubt" in Matsolker's view of Wei Qingmu's words.

But however much he half-believed and half-doubted, Matsolker could not firmly shut the door on compromise with the Celestial Empire — yet neither could he immediately kneel to the Celestial Empire. If he did not make an effort, the shareholders in Amsterdam would not be reconciled, and he himself, as Governor of Batavia, would be no more reconciled than they!

"Mister Consul," Matsolker said thoughtfully, "our East India Company's dominant position in the Strait of Malacca has been won through decades of unremitting effort. For that position, who knows how many of the company's predecessors died in foreign lands. And I, as the present Governor of Batavia, have a duty to defend the company's position in Malacca, and to exert my utmost!"

Wei Qingmu smiled and nodded. "Have you not been exerting yourself all along? His Majesty the Great Emperor of our dynasty greatly admires your unflagging spirit in serving the company's interests. So he looks forward to continuing to cooperate with you in the future, once the Strait of Malacca has become a golden waterway through which all men may freely pass.

If the shareholders in Amsterdam should misunderstand your achievements in Batavia, His Majesty the Emperor hopes to engage you as his adviser. Whatever salary the East India Company pays you, the Ming Son of Heaven is willing to pay double!"

That was rather interesting — the war had not even begun, and already they were poaching talent at a high price, and poaching the enemy's Regional Commander directly.

"Mister Consul," Matsolker's face had darkened, "what are you saying? Are you urging a gentleman who devoutly believes in the Lord to betray the company he serves?"

"Of course not!" Wei Qingmu's face was equally solemn. "Our Great Ming is a land of honorable men, who read the books of the sages and preserve the Way of Heavenly Principle. How could we do anything so shameful? Besides, given your position and ability, Governor, if His Majesty truly wished to win you over, he would surely offer a marquisate plus a million taels of silver, would he not?"

Quite right! Matsolker nodded in agreement: without that many benefits, how could I possibly defect — no, I could never defect. I am a respected Dutch gentleman!

Wei Qingmu continued, "Since you are a gentleman and our Ming Emperor is a man of honor, then this time it is a contest between a gentleman and a man of honor. Do you agree?"

Matsolker of course agreed. He nodded. "Yes, this is a struggle between a gentleman and a man of honor!"

"Then should not a struggle between a gentleman and a man of honor follow certain rules?" Wei Qingmu asked.

"What rules?"

"For example, freedom of trade; for example, protecting the safety of both sides' nationals; for example... let us together find a way to maintain the normal operation of the intercontinental exchange system!" Wei Qingmu said. "And for another example, preserving the peace and tranquility of Batavia. The Ming Emperor has said: the Ming has no ambitions whatsoever toward Batavia. Even if it wins victory at sea and on land, it will not occupy Batavia.

The city of Batavia belongs to the Dutch East India Company forever!"

Zhu Cilang truly had never thought of seizing Batavia from the Dutch East India Company — a man of honor does not take what others cherish!

In fact, what Emperor Zhu wanted was the Dutch East India Company itself — if Louis XIV really did swiftly seize the Spanish Netherlands after the death of Philip IV and threaten the Dutch Republic, then secretly controlling the Dutch East India Company, and through it providing a measure of support to the Dutch Republic, would be absolutely necessary.

Holland and the Spanish Netherlands were both territories dripping with fat! If France unified them all, how was the coming War of the Spanish Succession to be fought?

If Spain were swallowed by France... then the troubles of the United Provinces of the New World would truly become grave!

"Is that all?" Matsolker's eyes shifted as he weighed the matter over and over in his mind.

This Wei Qingmu surely would not dare to falsely transmit an imperial edict.

And it was also possible that the Ming dynasty did not intend to attack Java for the time being — the situation in the Strait of Malacca was extremely complicated!

Even if the Ming could swiftly conquer it by force, thoroughly digesting it would still take considerable time.

And before it had digested the Strait of Malacca, the Ming Empire would probably quiet down for a spell — and by leaving Batavia and the Spice Islands in place, it could force the Dutch East India Company to yield and compromise.

Wei Qingmu watched Matsolker sink into thought, then pressed him with another line: "If you have any other conditions, by all means put them forward!"

At that moment Matsolker suddenly revealed a particularly gentlemanly smile. "Mister Consul, I have indeed thought of one. Since we Dutch are gentlemen and you Chinese are men of honor, why don't we have a battle between gentlemen and men of honor? Through a battle of gentlemen against men of honor, let the ownership of the Strait of Malacca be decided!"

"A battle of gentlemen and men of honor?" Wei Qingmu asked. "How would it be fought?"

Matsolker laughed. "Naturally, we agree on a time and place, and then both sides bring out their strongest forces and fighting spirit for a decisive pitched battle!"

Why does that sound like two gangs in Batavia squaring off for a brawl!

Wei Qingmu thought for a moment, then asked, "Where does the Governor wish to fight? On the Malay Peninsula?"

"No, no," Matsolker said. "Let us not go disturbing those peace-loving followers of the Arabian faith. Let us fight at sea! The time shall be set in the autumn of 1664, and the place shall be decided by you!"

(End of Chapter)