Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 261 Negotiation

Meng Jun sat in the conference room and received the Dutch envoys from Batavia.

The Dutch envoy Willer Louis saluted Meng Jun and said, "Your Highness, I am an envoy from the Netherlands." The interpreter next to him quickly translated, but used the word "French" instead of "Holland".

"Your Excellency has come from afar, I wonder what important matter you have." Meng Jun said with a smile.

(Literal translation) Willer Louis smiled and said, "Your Highness, the Netherlands has always spent a lot of money, time and manpower to open up Taiwan. Now the Zheng family is forcibly seizing Taiwan. This is not in line with the behavior and style of the civilized world. We are eager to attack Taiwan with Your Highness. In order to show our sincerity, we will pay Your Highness a satisfactory amount of wealth."

Meng Jun sneered at what he heard. He thought it was nothing. If they wanted to trade, they could talk about it. But they wanted him to fight Zheng Chenggong together with the Dutch. If he did this, he would definitely be a historical shame. He shook his head and said firmly, "Taiwan Island has been considered part of China since ancient times. It existed during the Three Kingdoms period... Forget it. You won't understand even if I tell you this."

"No, no, no, no." Louis shook his head like a rattle and said, "It was us Dutch who built the city and set the laws on the island. You can't say it's yours."

"There is no point in talking if we don't agree. It's impossible for me to send troops." Meng Jun waved his hand and prepared to let the envoy withdraw. The Dutch are now on the decline, and the British are catching up strongly. After he completes his great cause and seizes Malacca, there is nothing to say to this group of Dutch people now.

Seeing Meng Jun stand up, Louis showed an impatient look on his face, and hurriedly said: “Your Highness, the matter of attacking the Zheng family can be discussed later. We have another request, and I hope Your Highness can agree.”

"Say"

Louis quickly said, "We hope to obtain a small piece of land in Ningbo to be used as a resting place for the crew on board. We are willing to pay the rent."

Meng Jun was stunned by these words. Did these Dutch people want to make him infamous for eternity? Did they feel uncomfortable? Meng Jun refused and said, "If you want to trade, wait until our dynasty opens the sea for trade and sets up a port. According to the law, you can enter our territory. You can't talk about rent!"

After that, Meng Jun looked at Louis and continued: “Besides, can your merchant ships pass through the Zheng family’s territory and come to Ningbo?”

Willer Louis saw that both of his reasons for coming here had failed, and he felt a little helpless. After listening to Meng Jun's words, Louis said dejectedly: "If His Highness is willing to give us a small piece of land, we are willing to pay the toll to the Zheng family."

Meng Jun was very envious of the Zheng family's control of the sea routes and their making a fortune every day, but that was only because the central dynasty did not want to develop the navy. If the empire went all out and used its huge manpower and resources, it would be easy to surpass the Zheng family, expel the Zheng family, and monopolize the sea routes.

Thinking of this, Meng Jun said to Louis: "Although I cannot agree to your request, I just want to do business with you."

"Your Highness, please speak."

"Our country wants to buy your warships in case of emergency."

Louis shook his head and responded: "Each galleon is extremely valuable. Our shipyard is thousands of miles away from here. I'm sorry, Your Highness, we can't sell this ship."

Meng Jun was unhappy and said, "If you sell the ship, you will gain the friendship of this king, and you can be the most favorable country for future trade."

Louis refused, saying, "There is a ban in our country that we cannot sell ships to other countries." Seeing Meng Jun's displeasure, Louis had an idea and wanted to make Meng Jun give up. He then said, "It is very difficult to manufacture warships in our country, and the cost is staggering. If converted into silver, a large galleon should cost 600,000 taels of silver!"

Although Meng Jun didn't know the cost of a galleon, when he heard the price, he knew that the Dutchman was talking nonsense. A ship cost six hundred thousand. He said angrily, "Nonsense."

Seeing that the Dutch were unwilling to sell the ship and were exaggerating the price to deceive him, Meng Jun was so angry that he didn't even want to ask about the price of the cannons and muskets. Needless to say, it must be more than twice as much as what he made. Then he waved his hand, signaling the envoy to come down first, and didn't want to say another word to this Louis.

Meng Jun looked up the records of the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, in which the Zheng family and the Ming court navy jointly fought against the Dutch. At this time, the Dutch naval equipment was far superior to the Ming Dynasty ships.

The Dutch Navy at the time used galleons. The standard model was about 15 to 17 zhang long (about 45 to 55 meters), with a displacement of about 1,000 tons. Large galleons could displace up to 2,000 tons.

The Dutch were equipped with the most advanced cannons at the time, namely the Red Cannon, which had a range of up to ten miles and each ship carried more than ten guns. At that time, most warships in the late Ming Dynasty were no more than ten feet (about thirty meters) long and carried three or four thousand dan (one dan weighed one hundred kilograms).

The Ming army's fire guns had a range of less than three miles. Although Zheng Zhilong purchased some red cannons, each ship was only equipped with one at the bow and stern. However, the Dutch were thousands of miles away and only had nine warships participating in the battle. Even if they found the pirate Liu Xiang to help, the number was far less than the joint navy of the Ming army and Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong used small boats to attack with fire in the naval battle, effectively avoiding his own disadvantage. He defeated the Dutch and lost six of the nine warships.

Although the Ming Dynasty relied on numbers and tactics to avoid disadvantages in equipment and technology and won the victory this time, the Western warships had a clear advantage at this time and the casualties were appalling. Meng Jun was drooling over it. If he could get one and copy it, he could either block the Yangtze River or transport troops across the sea. Wouldn't that be a clear advantage?

Unfortunately, these Dutch people were unwilling to sell, and Meng Jun didn't have much to do now. Meng Jun then gave an order, asking Yang En to send some people to talk to these Dutch people and see if buying some muskets and cannons would make any difference. Meng Jun didn't want to even look at these foreign devils again!