Chapter 3501
Chapter 3501
Chapter 3501
“Defeat all the countries except Hai Han? King Annan really doesn’t know his place!”
Regarding Zheng Zao's somewhat arrogant remarks, there were actually some people present who had similar ideas to Li Yi.
Hai Han relied on technology that was far ahead of its time and never lost a battle. In a very short period of time, it became a powerful maritime nation. Even if others were dissatisfied, they could not defeat the Hai Han Navy. That kind of strength was not Hai Han's self-proclaimed, but a result recognized by all countries after they came into contact with it.
A country like Annan has only established a real navy for a short twenty years, and it was entirely supported by Hai Han. The scope of its fleet's activities is basically limited to the South China Sea, and it is far from being called a maritime power.
Su Keyi turned his head and said to his son Su Yongshan, “He doesn’t understand. Without Hai Han’s protection, Annan will immediately go back to the time thirty years ago!”
Su Yongshan responded softly: "Perhaps he is aware of his own situation, but in this situation, of course he wants to exaggerate it."
Su Keyi looked at him with great satisfaction, nodded slightly and said, "What you said makes sense. Anyway, no one will expose his boasting at the moment, so of course the bigger the better."
This time, the Su father and son came to Zhoushan Island to participate in the event again as Dutch ambassadors.
Originally, Governor Van Diemen of Batavia intended to come in person, but he suddenly fell ill before leaving and had to cancel the trip. The Su father and son represented the Dutch East India Company and the Batavia colonial authorities to attend the event.
In Sukeyi's opinion, although Annan had reaped some benefits from its alliance with Hai Han, the strength of its naval armed forces was still far from being that of a powerful country.
Even if Zheng Zao is standing on the stage now and claiming that Annan has very strong military strength, people who know Annan’s situation know that it is actually Hai Han that has the real strength, and Annan is just the one standing next to Hai Han and shouting "We two are so strong."
If we compare Annan with the colonial countries from Europe, the gap is quite obvious.
Zheng Zao said that Annan had participated in many military operations led by Hai Han, but had not yet established its own overseas colonies, and had only been following Hai Han to take advantage of them. If they could all be called a maritime power, wouldn't European countries like the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal be the strongest among the strong?
In Su Keyi's opinion, if Annan was separated from Hai Han's support and protection, it would have no reason to be proud. And the strength of Annan's navy was probably far inferior to that of the East India Company's armed fleet.
Sukeyi turned his head to look at Thomas, the Portuguese ambassador sitting not far away, and General Simao, who was known as the "Hai Han Tong". He weighed the pros and cons in his mind and finally ranked Annan above Portugal.
He believed that Portugal had rarely carried out large-scale military operations in the Far East in recent years, and its armed warships were increasingly replaced by merchant ships. It was difficult to say how much strength it still had, and it might even be no match for Annan.
Of course, Portugal's strength is inferior to that of the Netherlands, Sukeyi believes this is certain.
He learned from the official documents sent from Batavia that the Netherlands was preparing to launch an offensive against Portugal in the Indian Peninsula, trying to seize Portugal's local colonies. This plan was said to be almost certain, and if nothing unexpected happened, further news would be received in the near future.
But what Su Keyi didn't know was that before the Zhoushan Forum was held, the Dutch military operation in Ceylon had already failed due to Hai Han's intervention. It was true that the Dutch military was stronger than Portugal, but once Hai Han intervened, the situation would develop uncontrollably in another direction.
However, due to the long distance, it would probably take some time for the diplomatic protest from the Cochin colony to reach Sukeyi, by which time he would inevitably have to engage in another verbal battle with the Hai Han Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Portuguese's views on this matter are somewhat different from those of the Su family's father and son.
Thomas described Zheng Zao’s speech as “quite dangerous”. He believed that it represented that Annan’s mentality was changing from “follower of Hai Han” to “establishing its own business”.
Simon's view was even more extreme. He openly viewed Zheng Zao's remarks as "ambition exposed", and believed that Annan would soon follow Hai Han's example and establish a large number of colonies overseas far away from Annan's mainland.
As for the actual military strength of Annan, they did not have the condescending view like Sukeyi.
Ximang believed that as long as Annan continued to cling to Hai Han, even if its own strength was not as strong as Zheng Zao boasted, it would be enough to achieve the goal of expanding its sphere of influence overseas and would form new competition with colonial countries from Europe.
Given the close cooperative relationship between Annan and Hai Han, even if Annan had friction or even conflict with Western colonial countries, probably no one would dare to take action against Annan easily.
When beating a dog, one must look at its owner. No one wants to offend Hai Han by doing this, nor does anyone want to give Hai Han an opportunity to initiate a war.
The two Portuguese agreed that the rise of Annan was by no means good news for Western countries. Hai Han alone was already a headache, and the addition of Annan, known as the Little Hai Han, would only make the competition for colonies in the Far East even more intense.
But most of the countries present did not have the same perspective as the Western colonizers. All they saw was the fact of Annan's successful rise, and the development path that Annan had taken over the past two decades now seemed to be a replicable model.
This means that other countries also have the hope to develop and grow themselves in the same way, and even become a powerful country.
Of course, to achieve this goal, one must first follow what Zheng Zao and Li Yi who spoke earlier said and truly join the Hai Han camp.
However, the ambassadors from the West did not realize at this time that these countries that aspired to become the next Annan or North Korea would also become huge troubles they would face in the future.
As these countries become more powerful, they will no longer tolerate Western countries stationing troops in their spheres of influence. Those ports, plantations, and farms currently operated by Western countries may become targets of competition among local forces in the future.
As for the military strength advantage that Western countries currently have over local forces, it will gradually shrink at a visible speed in the future due to Hai Han’s intervention, and may even be overtaken at some point.
Once a country succeeds in this regard, more countries will surely follow suit. This has actually been verified in the time and space where the time travelers originally lived. The difference is that after they came here, they might bring the defeat of the Western colonists one or two centuries earlier.