Chapter 1204: Roving Bandits Who Open Their Eyes and Look at the World (Seeking Subscriptions)

Matsolker was the Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company, a great colonizer and a great profiteer — he was extremely cunning! He promised Wei Qingmu nothing at all, and even proposed going to meet the commander of the East India fleet — this was to first get a clear picture of the situation, see how much he had lost, how many cards he still had to play, and whether there was any chance to turn things around.

"Fine!" Wei Qingmu said with a smile and a nod. "Go right ahead. But we have no idea where your East India fleet has gone."

"I know," Matsolker said. "It either went to Ceylon or to Burma."

"To Burma?" Wei Qingmu was taken aback. "Isn't that roving bandit territory?"

Matsolker said, "Not roving bandits — the Shun! Our East India Company has formed an alliance with the Shun Empire!"

"You allied with them?" Wei Qingmu shook his head. "They can't even put to sea, and in the Celestial Dynasty's homeland they're pinned down hard in Ba-Shu, Yunnan, and Guizhou. What use is an alliance with them to you?"

"They will send troops to aid us in battle!" Matsolker said earnestly. "The troops that landed at Penang earlier were the Shun Empire's army!"

"What? Penang? The roving bandits went to Penang? I've heard nothing of it!" Wei Qingmu shook his head repeatedly. "Governor-General, you must be mistaken. This envoy has heard nothing at all about the roving bandits sending troops."

The Shun had of course sent troops — only they had gone to the Kingdom of Arakan to fight the invading Aurangzeb. Though Aurangzeb, upon hearing the news that he had invaded Arakan, was probably just as baffled, wasn't he?

Matsolker saw that Wei Qingmu's expression did not look like one of lying, and his heart began to pound. Not one of the sultanates around the Malacca Strait could put up a fight. If the Shun Empire also held its troops back, then the Dutch truly could not keep fighting.

"I will first go to Burma to ask," Matsolker said. "I hope your fleet will not obstruct me."

"Fine!" Wei Qingmu was very agreeable and nodded. "But I also have a request. Please lift martial law and issue a proclamation to reassure the people, informing all the white people of Batavia that peace negotiations have already begun, that the Ming Emperor has guaranteed he will not attack Batavia, and that everyone may remain in peace and need not flee."

Matsolker thought it over, then nodded and agreed to Wei Qingmu's request — if the Shun Empire really had stood the Dutch up, and if the East India fleet really had suffered a setback in the Malacca Strait, then the Dutch East India Company would have to seriously consider the question of cooperating with the Celestial Empire.

The East India Company was, after all, a company. It had to make money for its shareholders!

If it could make more money in the Southern Ocean regions under the Celestial Empire's rule, then it should not choose to withdraw.

If accepting the Celestial Emperor as a shareholder could make more money, then it should not say no to His Majesty the Emperor.

After Matsolker and Wei Qingmu reached an agreement, he immediately issued the proclamation as the other party had requested, and then boarded a 200-ton (burden) swift-sailing ship and, accompanied by Wei Qingmu, headed straight for the Malacca Strait.

When he arrived at Temasek Island, he indeed saw hundreds of Ming sailing ships arrayed at the mouth of a broad river, and on the riverbank a simple earth-and-timber bastion was being hurriedly constructed.

Because Wei Qingmu was accompanying him, the Ming sailing ships patrolling the strait did not obstruct Matsolker's vessel, and even gave Matsolker a "pass flag."

After Matsolker had the pass flag hoisted, he immediately hurried on to Malacca — the city of Malacca was more than three hundred li from Temasek Island, and had once been the capital of the Malacca Sultanate that ruled the Malacca Strait. In 1526 the city had been seized by the Portuguese, and later it had passed to the Dutch East India Company. But when Matsolker arrived again, the Ming sun-and-moon flag and a large red banner bearing the two Chinese characters "Renfu" were already fluttering and snapping in the wind above the city of Malacca.

The city had changed hands and was now the provisional capital of the Duchy of Renfu — the territories of the twelve duchies had long since been divided up. Johor city, separated from Temasek Island by the narrow Johor Strait, and its surroundings belonged to the Duchy of Ren'an; Malacca city and its surroundings belonged to the Duchy of Renfu; the mouth of the Klang River and its surroundings belonged to the Duchy of Renzhi; north of the Duchy of Renzhi belonged to the Duchy of Yixing, with its capital placed near the mouth of the Dinding River, which the Dutch controlled, near Pangkor Island — that was an important waterway for shipping tin ore out of the Perak Sultanate; Penang and the large stretch of land nearby all belonged to the Duchy of Yiquan; Kota Bharu, right next to Patani, and the large stretch of land around it belonged to the Duchy of Yiyong (located on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula); south of the Duchy of Yiyong was the Duchy of Yiquan; south of the Duchy of Yiquan was the Duchy of Daoquan; and south of the Duchy of Daoquan was the Duchy of Ren'an, which held the territory of Johor.

In addition, the former Sultanate of Sulu, now settled in Patani, would move to Aceh after Sumatra was brought under the control of the benevolent and righteous army, and the territory of Patani would be taken over by the Duchy of Daosheng.

And the four duchies of Daolong, Dexian, Deyou, and Desheng would occupy Riau, Palembang, Jambi, and Lampung, which faced Java across the sea, on the island of Sumatra.

As for the islands at the entrance to the Malacca Strait, they would for the time being remain unowned and be controlled by the Ming navy.

It was only on Pangkor Island, where the East India Company had a fort, that Matsolker learned the exact whereabouts of the East India fleet, and also learned that those faithless roving bandits had indeed stood up the Dutch East India Company. Although he had been stood up, Matsolker still had to go to the Shun dynasty's territory.

Because the remnants of the entire East India fleet were still there being repaired!

When your ships are in someone else's harbor, you have to bow your head!

So Matsolker took his leave of Wei Qingmu at Pangkor Island, and continued north aboard the swift-sailing ship alone, finally arriving in the latter part of the eighth lunar month at the city of Mrauk U, which was already under the control of the Shun Empire.

In the city of Mrauk U, Matsolker met the Shun Empire's Imperial Grandson-heir Li Jicheng. This Imperial Grandson-heir had now also made great progress — progress to the point of opening his eyes and looking at the world.

Although the Shun Empire, after annexing Burma, had already set one foot into the realm of a colonial empire, the other foot still remained where it was — the Shun's colonization of Burma had not been very successful; a great many of the colonizers had fallen ill and died! Moreover, the Shun Empire had no intention of rushing toward the sea. It was content to stand on the shore at Syriam Prefecture and look at the sea.

But after Li Jicheng's surprise attack on the Kingdom of Arakan, the thinking of this successor to the Shun enterprise began to change.

He finally understood the fearsome advantage of attacking the enemy by sea!

And it was only after the Dutch East India fleet arrived at Boki Island in Arakan that Li Jicheng truly saw the world clearly — so the Ming had already become the world's foremost naval power. Then what was the Shun to do? The Shun could not simply sit and wait for death! Li Guo was getting on in years; after muddling along a few more years he would be the late emperor. Li Laiheng was also no longer young, but he could still hold on. But Li Jicheng was still young! He did not want to become some Last Emperor of Shun, Lamented Emperor of Shun, or Deposed Emperor of Shun.

"For the Shun Empire to grow strong, and to stand against the Ming Empire for the long term, it too must move toward the sea and draw wealth and strength from the sea. And the way to move toward the sea can be divided into two steps. The first step is to establish free trading cities, just as the Ming established Shanghai. The Shun can focus on building up Syriam and Mrauk U. These two cities can adopt systems completely different from the rest of the Shun's territory. They can emphasize industry and commerce, and they can welcome merchants and artisans from all over the world.

After attracting enough merchants and artisans, the Shun Empire can build fleets in these two commercial cities, and send out adventurers to find suitable overseas colonies for the Shun Empire."

In the royal palace of Mrauk U, the Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company, Matsolker, who had come from afar, was teaching Li Jicheng how to colonize in just this way — he had no choice but to give everything he knew! The Dutch East India fleet had been reduced to such a wretched state that it could only rely on Arakanese artisans to barely patch the ships up enough to set sail for home.

After returning home, there would of course be another round of naval reform — in recent years the world's naval powers truly could not burn money fast enough! They had finally built a batch of new-model warships, only to find on the battlefield that something was wrong, that they were already obsolete, and that they had to keep burning money!

(End of Chapter)