Chapter 483: Zheng Damu, Zheng the Great Deceiver

"Haven't the Tartars already been defeated?" Van Diemen asked.

"It was only a minor setback," Bruce said thoughtfully. "Over the past few months, two large-scale battles involving tens of thousands of men have been fought between the Ming and the Tartars. One took place in Shandong Province and ended in a Tartar victory. After that battle, the Ming lost several wealthy cities and shifted to an overall defensive posture on the Shandong front.

The other battle was commanded personally by the Ming Crown Prince, and it took place at Fengyang Prefecture, northwest of Nanjing, which is also the Ming's secondary capital. In that battle, the Ming army won a decisive victory, killing a Tartar Prince and perhaps several thousand others. Considering the Tartars' numbers, it was a major victory.

But after the victory, the Crown Prince did not press his advance. Instead, he halted within the borders of Fengyang Prefecture."

"Why is that?" Van Diemen asked.

"Because the Tartar regent led a large army south, reaching Henan Province, north of Fengyang Prefecture," Bruce said. "Moreover, north of the Huai River lies a vast plain. Fighting there requires strong cavalry, and the Ming army is at a clear disadvantage in that regard."

"Then where does their advantage lie?" Van Diemen asked again.

"Infantry and artillery," Bruce said. "Infantry and artillery that have adopted Western tactics and equipment!"

"Oh." Van Diemen nodded. "Bruce, how many years do you think the Ming will need to drive the Tartars out of their land?"

Bruce van Diemen replied, "If we are willing to supply the Ming with enough muskets, cannon, and mercenaries, then within three years they should be able to launch a northern expedition aimed at retaking Beijing, and with two more years they could win."

"Are you certain?" Van Diemen asked, looking at his younger brother. "Just now you said they had no horses."

Bruce laughed. "But attacking Beijing doesn't require many horses. Beijing is not very far from the coast, and there are navigable rivers running from the port of Tianjin all the way to the area near Beijing. The Ming army can land at Tianjin, then advance along the rivers while building bastion forts as they go. In two years, they can certainly push the front line to the vicinity of Beijing.

Of course, the premise is that they can defeat the Tartars in open-field encounters, and that they also possess powerful artillery to reduce the castles the Tartars control.

In addition, they will need to build enough bastion forts along the Huai River line and in Shandong, and deploy enough European-style troops, to ensure that during the northern expedition their own home base cannot be broken through by the Tartars."

This Bruce did have genuine military ability! He had not been in China long, yet he had already identified the only northern expedition route that could guarantee victory.

Landing at Dagukou in Tianjin, it was only three hundred li to Beijing, and the Wei River and the Grand Canal could be used to transport troops and supplies. Building one bastion fort every ten li would mean only thirty bastion forts. As long as those thirty bastion forts held the Wei River and the Grand Canal, no matter how fierce the Qing cavalry, they would be helpless. To stop the Ming army's advance, the only option would be fort against fort.

That meant a contest of cannon, engineers, and mathematics. The firing angles of a bastion fort and the firing angles of curved-trajectory artillery were all mathematical problems. This matter did not even require a military advisor; Zhu Cilang could work it out himself!

Therefore, going north by sea to the Tianjin gateway, then advancing with bastion forts and slowly pressing toward Beijing, was undoubtedly the best method for a victorious northern expedition.

"And what if we are unwilling to help the Ming?" Van Diemen asked.

"Unwilling?" Bruce was taken aback. "Anthony, do you not want to make money for the shareholders of Amsterdam anymore?"

"Of course I want to make money!" Van Diemen said, pondering. "But I place greater value on long-term interests. If the Ming defeat the Tartars and become the rulers of the East Asian continent, and then turn their main energies toward the sea, can we Dutch still continue to dominate the eastern oceans?

And once the Ming defeat the Tartars, will we still continue to receive arms orders?"

"Are we to refuse to supply arms to the Ming?" Bruce asked.

"How could that be possible?" Van Diemen laughed. "Am I the sort of sinner so depraved as to refuse money?"

"Of course not," Bruce said. "All of Amsterdam knows you are a noble merchant who loves money more than life itself."

Van Diemen nodded. "Correct. Of course I will not refuse the Crown Prince's money." He paused. "But while doing business with the Ming, I am also willing to make friends with the Tartars!"

"Make friends with the Tartars?" Bruce was somewhat puzzled. "We sell weapons capable of killing Tartars to the Ming Crown Prince, and at the same time we want to make friends with the Tartars?"

"Yes!" Van Diemen said. "The Tartars will like us! Because we can also provide them with weapons and military advisors, and we will charge only favorable, affordable compensation."

He looked at Bruce. "Once our mission in Nanjing is concluded, you will go to Joseon as an envoy of the East India Company to present tribute to the Tartars."

"Present tribute of what?" Bruce pressed.

Van Diemen smiled. "Tribute of light artillery that can be used by cavalry! I think that is what the Tartars need most!"

Bruce thought for a moment, then asked, "And what do we tell the Crown Prince?"

Van Diemen shrugged and gave a wry smile. "What else can we say? Of course we agree in principle to the Crown Prince's demands regarding Formosa. You have seen the situation in Shanghai yourself. It has an excellent harbor, a relatively comfortable climate, no accursed poisonous insects or tropical diseases, and very abundant produce. Europeans will live and do business happily in that city, just as in their European homelands, without fear of being tormented by a harsh climate or having their lives taken by terrible tropical diseases.

I guarantee that within five years it will become the most prosperous trading port east of Malacca. Not even Batavia can compare with it, let alone Formosa. Our East India Company will earn extremely rich profits in Shanghai, while Formosa, because of Shanghai's development, will become a bottomless pit of losses.

Even if I were willing to keep holding on there, the directors in Amsterdam would make the decision to abandon it!"

Bruce frowned. "But will our relationship with the Tartars affect the East India Company's operations in the Ming?"

"Perhaps," Van Diemen said with a smile. "Then just don't say you are Dutch!"

"Then what am I?"

"Just be an Englishman! We Dutch support the Great Ming; only the despicable English would support the Tartars!" Van Diemen said. "Go to Joseon in the name of special envoy of the English Republic's East India Company. Take twelve three-pounder regimental guns and twenty military advisors. I'll transfer them to you from Formosa!"

"Governor-General Diemen, We are also very willing to make friends with the Republic of the United Netherlands! Since you are willing to transfer the four strongholds on the island of Taiwan to Regional Commander Zheng, We are willing to lease at a low price one street in the Shanghai commercial quarter to the East India Company, for a term of fifty years, at an annual rent of only one thousand taels of silver. In the future, your profits on that street will surely be tenfold or a hundredfold your profits on the island of Taiwan!"

In the Hall of Literary Splendor in the Forbidden City at Nanjing, Zhu Cilang, meeting Van Diemen once again, had no idea that the treacherous Dutch colonist had already laid a big trap for him. So upon learning that the Dutch were willing to transfer the four strongholds on the island of Taiwan and withdraw completely from Taiwan, he began soliciting investment. One street of land for an annual rent of only one thousand taels of silver was indeed a bargain-basement price.

But to attract a major merchant like the Dutch East India Company, such concessions were necessary!

Besides the Dutch East India Company and the Portuguese merchants of Macao, Zhu Cilang also planned to attract merchants from Spain, England, France, Sweden, and other countries to operate in Shanghai. If possible, he also wanted to invite the embassies of those countries to Shanghai as well. Of course, correspondingly, the Great Ming Empire would also open embassies in the various Western countries.

And the arrival of the Dutch, the wagoners of the sea, would be the beginning of all this!