Chapter 1384: The Great Ming Has a Filial Son, and Portugal Has a Good Little Brother

Left Garden, the small dining room on the second floor.

In this small dining room filled with Western charm, two men and two women — four people in all — were seated around a rectangular dining table, having lunch together.

They were eating Western dishes served course by course, accompanied by fine wine that the Mancini Tea Company had imported from France.

The two gentlemen dining were Zhu Cilang, Emperor of the Great Ming, and Maarten Soolker, Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company, while the two ladies were Marie Mancini and Princess Nisha.

All four had already sampled several carefully prepared French dishes and had now set down their knives and forks, drinking wine and conversing.

The question they were discussing was somewhat close to what the "republican" Vorst had in mind, but not entirely the same. The similarity was that they too were exploring the possibility of establishing a republic in the East of the world!

A republic!

And appearing in the East of the world, no less — how very progressive.

But this republic was not exactly the republic Vorst had imagined. It was not a South Continent Republic, but a Batavia Republic!

The country's name was the same as that puppet state on Dutch soil created by the First French Republic in history, but its location was entirely different — it would lie on the island of Java, upon the city of Batavia governed by the Dutch East India Company, as well as upon the Maluku Islands and the Banda Islands.

"Governor-General, is the East India Company ultimately a joint-stock company belonging to its shareholders, or is it a state-owned company belonging to the Dutch Republic — no, belonging to the Kingdom of France? Does its value lie in earning profit for its shareholders, or in serving the ambitions of King Louis? If the East India Company serves its shareholders rather than the king, then the measure it should most adopt now is to establish a completely neutral Batavia Republic. This would not only be highly beneficial to the company's shareholders, but would also accord with the interests of the Dutch Republic..."

The one speaking at length was Marie Mancini, and the one listening to her was Maarten Soolker, Governor-General of the East India Company.

This elderly Dutchman was pale-faced, his right hand holding the stemmed glass trembling slightly. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end could say nothing at all — only silence remained.

Because Zhu Cilang had just proposed a plan that shocked Maarten Soolker to the extreme — to establish an independent and neutral republic on Batavia, the Maluku Islands, and the Banda Islands controlled by the East India Company.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang also suggested relocating the Dutch East India Company's place of registration from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to the city of Batavia!

In this way, the Dutch East India Company would become the Batavia East India Company.

Because the Batavia Republic was an independent and neutral state, the Batavia East India Company would be able to continue East-West trade and exchange even if war broke out between the Great Ming and France and the Netherlands.

Indeed, Zhu Cilang was unwilling to interrupt trade and exchange!

Even if war broke out, he was willing to continue protecting trade and continue exchanging with the West.

Because in the future he could foresee, the wars that would occur between East and West would not be wars of life and death, but wars aimed at containment and counter-containment.

Moreover, Louis XIV did not have the ability to lead the entire West into war against the Great Ming... France was indeed the leader of the West at present, but it was by no means the "father of France" to the Western nations, so France had no ability to command all Western countries to cut off trade with the Great Ming.

But France could send fleets to intercept Great Ming merchant ships on the Atlantic, and could even do some raiding and commerce-destroying work in the Indian Ocean.

Under such circumstances, Zhu Cilang needed an East India Company that could remain neutral.

"Governor-General," Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "England's attitude is quite clear... they want to stay out of it! If your East India Company follows the Dutch Republic in adopting the wrong policy, then the English East India Company will take your place and become the king of the East-West trade routes!"

Princess Nisha also said sharply: "Governor-General, the English East India Company has just brought me a letter in my father's own hand. In it, he expresses the greatest indignation at the Dutch India Trading Company's collusion with Chinese roving bandits to plunder India! He has even considered providing funding to the Muslim pirates of the Indian Ocean and issuing letters of marque to strike at Dutch merchant ships. I imagine you know where the Spanish privateers that dealt such heavy blows to English merchant shipping in the last war between England and Spain came from, do you not? Are you not worried the English will repay tooth for tooth?"

In the last Anglo-Spanish War, the English lost 1,500 to 2,000 merchant ships to Spanish privateering!

Yet with the Kingdom of Spain's meager naval strength, how could it possibly have inflicted such devastating losses on the English?

Even a fool should have realized that the ones constantly striking English merchant ships in the English Channel were in fact Dutchmen flying Spanish battle flags...

Since the Dutch could fly Spain's "red cross" flag to attack English ships, why couldn't the English fly the Muslim crescent flag to attack Dutch ships?

Maarten Soolker was nearly having a heart attack from anxiety!

He seemed already to see the scene of the Dutch East India Company going bankrupt and collapsing.

Marie Mancini continued to persuade him: "Governor-General, what are you still hesitating about? Why can you not establish a Batavia Republic? The Batavia Republic has in fact long existed... The Dutch East India Company already exercises the power of a state over Batavia, the Maluku Islands, and the Banda Islands."

Maarten Soolker said somewhat painfully: "Madam, the East India Company's authority derives from the grant of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands!"

Marie Mancini shook her head and said: "The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands of the Prince of Orange no longer exists... The Holland of today is nothing but a puppet of King Louis. It serves only King Louis's ambitions, not the interests of the people of the Seven Provinces. But your East India Company is the one that truly serves the people of the Seven Provinces. If your company collapses, the people of the Seven Provinces will suffer grievous losses. And Holland will forever lose its position in international trade.

And moreover... Batavia, the Maluku Islands, and the Banda Islands will be lost along with it! You do not think His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Ming would allow these three territories to fall into French hands, do you?"

Zhu Cilang looked at the old Dutchman and said with a smile: "Governor-General, is this decision really so difficult? Do you truly believe Grand Pensionary de Witt is willing to let the East India Company lose everything? In any case, most of the East India Company's shares are in the hands of the merchants of the province of Holland, and those men are all supporters of de Witt! If the East India Company collapses, would it not be de Witt's supporters who suffer the greatest losses?

Governor-General, if you are willing to step forward and lead the Batavia Republic, We can try to persuade His Majesty Aurangzeb to regard the Batavia Republic as a friend of the Timurid Empire!"

This temptation was rather considerable!

Ever since the Dutch were driven out of the Timurid Empire's territory forty or fifty years ago, they had always wanted to return and resume trade... but the Timurid Empire had long favored England, and its emperors had grown harder to deal with generation after generation.

After the Battle of Malacca, the Dutch had given up hope on this matter — otherwise they would not have colluded with the Shun to plunder India.

"Your Majesty," Maarten Soolker asked with furrowed brow, "I would like to know whether you would regard the weak Batavia Republic as your vassal state? We Dutch fought the Spanish for eighty years in pursuit of freedom..."

Zhu Cilang laughed: "Governor-General, you misunderstand the Great Ming's suzerain-vassal system. The suzerain state is the father, the vassal state the son. What the father-son relationship between states signifies is the transmission of culture and bloodline, not who is master and who is servant. Between you Dutch and us Chinese, there is neither cultural transmission nor bloodline transmission — how could you possibly become a vassal state of the Great Ming? Think again: how many Muslim petty states in the East Indies have wished to submit to the Great Ming? Did We agree?"