Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

Looking at the foreigner in front of him, Chi Honghai spoke in Dutch before the priest translator could translate for him in Chinese.

"I hope we can reach an agreement before celebrating with this hot milk."

The Dutchman looked at Chi Honghai and laughed, "Of course, of course, my friend, but celebrations aren't done with hot milk. You'll have to try our beer. But before that, let's talk business."

After Commander Hans dismissed the people around him, Chi Honghai also ordered Shen Er and Pang San behind him to retreat outside the gate.

At this moment, only Chi Honghai and Hans remained in the room.

Hans looked at Chi Honghai and saw that he had nothing on him, and he hadn't heard anything useful from the person who picked them up.

He shook his head and said to Chi Honghai.

"Friend, as I see it, your Guangzhou region may not be very sincere in doing business."

Chi Honghai knew perfectly well what Hans meant by sincerity; it was nothing more than the cargo and the two paintings he had brought back.

He patted his sleeves, not in a hurry, feigning grievance.

"Your Excellency, judging from my appearance, I don't seem to have arrived here safely."

Hearing Chi Honghai say this, there must be a reason behind it.

Hans carefully observed Chi Honghai's overall attire and found it to be rather unclean.

Although sailing is not as convenient as traveling by road, it shouldn't have resulted in my outer garments being in such a disheveled state after just arriving from Guangzhou.

"Friend? What happened? What's going on?"

"It's not that we in Guangzhou lack sincerity, but rather that Zheng Zhilong has stolen our sincerity. Didn't your men tell you that our ships were damaged when they were next to you?"

Hans changed his attitude and asked Chi Honghai to sit at the table before asking his questions.

"Zheng Zhilong? Isn't he also an official of your country? Why would he attack your ships?"

Chi Honghai smiled slightly: "Governor, you often work along the southeastern coast, so you should be well aware of the less-than-harmonious conflict between Zheng Zhilong and the Guangzhou Prefecture, right?"

"Even if there's a disagreement, it shouldn't come to the point of violence, right?"

"Then the Governor-General underestimates the officialdom of our East. Not to mention anything else, just take our Great Ming Dynasty. Officials in the capital can fight over one or two things in front of the emperor. This place is thousands of miles away from the Forbidden City. As long as people don't find out, what's wrong with doing things behind the scenes? Besides, His Majesty the Emperor is busy with foreign wars right now and has no time to ask about such trivial matters."

"What Zheng Zhilong didn't expect was that we would be able to escape alive and meet the Governor. However, the price for meeting the Governor was that we fed him all the cargo on the ship."

Upon hearing this, Hans slammed his fist on the table, causing the various porcelain utensils to rattle.

"Zheng! Zhi! Long! It's him again!"

Seeing that Hans was upset, Chi Honghai tried to calm him down. After all, although Zheng Zhilong was framed for this, the benefits did not go to him. Although the cooperation was risky, he still had to give him some compensation.

"Your Excellency, please do not be anxious. Although the entire ship of goods has been lost, the Guangzhou government is still very sincere."

Upon hearing this, Hans calmed down and wanted to hear what else this person meant by the sincerity of the Guangzhou Prefecture.

After all, he can't actually ask Zheng Zhilong for the goods now. They haven't fought in the past few years and are still paying tolls. If he goes to war with Zheng Zhilong again, things might get even more complicated later.

Chi Honghai picked up a Western-style wine glass, poured himself a glass of wine, and drank it down.

"The Governor's wine is truly delicious. I hope that after I finish speaking, our cooperation will be as wonderful as this wine."

Hans laughed heartily, his previous emotions gone, and spread his hands, letting Chi Honghai continue.

"Although the cargo on the ship is gone, I still have something that Lord Chen of Guangzhou Prefecture entrusted to me. This matter is too confidential, so only I know about it and only I remember it."

After saying that, he dipped his index finger in the wine in the glass and began to paint using the white cloth on the table.

The painting depicts the general situation around Guangzhou Prefecture, and also adds information about ships sailing and guarding the waters around Guangzhou Prefecture, as well as noting the presence of an unidentified group of pirates.

However, Chi Honghai was careful in this regard. Although the map he drew for Hans was a real map of Guangzhou Prefecture, it only included towns and villages along the coast, which the Dutch already had some understanding of.

The focus is on military deployments.

Chi Honghai exaggerated the deployment of defenses, and deliberately changed the positions of some areas or even added some void defenses.

Looking at what Chi Honghai had drawn, Hans was amazed by the tight defenses of Guangzhou Prefecture and nodded in approval, very satisfied with the information.

After asking Chi Honghai if he could paint another one later, the two continued their conversation on the matter.

"Lord Chen said that Guangzhou Prefecture and its wealth cannot be handed over to the Governor-General in the short term, after all, the imperial court is still watching, and Zheng Zhilong is also keeping an eye on Lord Chen. But please rest assured, Governor-General, Lord Chen will definitely find a way to do this. At that time, I hope that the Governor-General can cooperate more on the side of Zheng Zhilong, and please do not forget the agreement between the two parties."

Yes, of course it's a good match. This pancake, though it's a pancake, is really big and really delicious.

The Dutch were not surprised that the government would betray the interests of Guangzhou Prefecture, or even that it would betray Guangzhou Prefecture itself.

Before Zheng Zhilong captured British Captain Weddell, they already knew that the British were colluding with officials in Guangzhou.

Although the good thing wouldn't come to him, and he didn't want his colleagues to make their fortunes here, he originally wanted to tell Zheng Zhilong about it. However, when he thought about Zheng Zhilong's character and the toll, he gave up the idea and decided to stay out of it.

If the Dutch could truly gain control of the Guangzhou Prefecture's territory during these negotiations, not to mention the entire area, the surrounding area alone would have a far greater commercial value for them than Fort Zeelandia is now.

Hans readily agreed, but Chi Honghai changed the subject.

"However, Lord Chen has one more request."

"What's wrong?"

"Lord Chen wants to fulfill the agreement between the two parties as soon as possible, but he is also afraid of Zheng Zhilong's power in the southeast coastal area. Therefore, he wants to ask the Governor-General to provide some shipbuilding, equipment and other personnel."

"As the Commander-in-Chief of Guangzhou Prefecture, Lord Chen, you can't even handle this much?"

Hans's tone became sharp, and he even felt that Chi Honghai's previous words were all lies.

Seeing Hans's tough expression, Chi Honghai didn't show any reaction.

He smiled faintly and said, "Why is Your Excellency like this? Do you think I'm lying to you? You should know that to build warships, just like in your country, you need an imperial order. Without that order, there's no way to gather craftsmen or to build them on a large scale at the Guangzhou docks. Besides, it would be too obvious. What would happen if Zheng Zhilong found out?"

"That's why General Chen wants to ask you to provide craftsmen and choose another location to build ships privately, trying to avoid the eyes and ears of the imperial court and Zheng Zhilong, and wait for the right opportunity to join forces with you, Governor-General, to fight against Zheng Zhilong!"

While this is the rationale, Governor Hans will not simply listen to the positive aspects.

"What if you use these warships to cause me trouble after you finish building them, my friend?"

Chi Honghai chuckled, "It seems the Dutch aren't very sincere about cooperating, are they? Governor, don't forget, you and the General Chen exchanged letters before. The handwriting on those letters was indeed General Chen's. That's solid evidence. If they come to demand your return with ships, what would happen if you gave that letter directly to Zheng Zhilong, General Chen's sworn enemy?"

Chi Honghai looked at Hans and continued, "Of course Zheng Zhilong will report this letter to the court and convict him of treason. At that time, without your help, Lord Chen will be attacked from both sides. Will he have any way to survive? When we do business, even if we take risks to make money, don't we still need to consider a suitable way out?"

Hans looked at Chi Honghai, hesitated for a long time, turning left and right, before finally slamming his hand on the table and speaking to Chi Honghai.

"Tell me your needs, my friend."