Chapter 3514
Chapter 3514
Chapter 3514
In order to save time, the Hai Han Executive Committee held meetings with Portugal and the Netherlands almost simultaneously. But compared to the back-and-forth in dealing with the Netherlands, the talks between Hai Han and Portugal were much simpler.
The meeting with Portugal was chaired by Shi Diwen. The agenda of both sides also focused on the Indian Ocean region, which Hai Han had just entered not long ago. Both sides stated their own interests directly, eliminating the need for mutual testing.
Qian Tiandun's troops had recently sent troops to save the city of Colombo and preserve Portugal's core territory on the island of Ceylon, which made the Portuguese owe them a huge favor.
The Executive Committee naturally wanted to make full use of such a negotiation advantage, so Simao and Thomas were fortunate enough to read the detailed battle reports sent back from the Colombo front.
The first question Thomas asked after reading the war report was a little unexpected: "Does Sukeyi know the situation of the war in Ceylon?"
The global competition between Portugal and the Netherlands also includes the diplomatic front. Thomas has served as the Portuguese ambassador for many years, and his main opponent during this career is Sukeyi, who is stationed in Haihan on behalf of the Dutch East India Company.
It is not difficult to judge from the time that Su Keyi, who was in Zhoushan, was unlikely to learn about the battle situation in Ceylon through his own channels. Therefore, Thomas' first reaction after reading the battle report was how Hai Han would use this report to deal with the Dutch.
The meeting arrangements between the Hai Han Executive Committee and the Netherlands had already been announced, and Thomas also knew that other senior officials of the Executive Committee were meeting with Su Keyi at this time.
Shi Diwen smiled and asked, "Do you think it's better for him to know or not?"
Thomas said: "If Sukeyi sees this battle report, he probably won't have anything to talk to you about. After all, the two countries are already at war, and he has to wait for more specific instructions from Batavia."
"But if your country intends to take advantage of the time difference in information transmission to reach some agreement with Sukeyi first, then you should not inform him about the war situation in Ceylon at this time."
Shi Diwen said: "Your Excellency seems to have misunderstood my meaning. I wanted to ask whether he knows it or not, and whether it is good or bad for your country?"
Thomas saw that he could not fool the Dutch, so he responded directly: "Of course it would be best if he didn't know. This way, maybe I can take advantage of the time difference and make the Dutch suffer a little."
As long as Sukeyi had not yet learned that the Netherlands had been defeated by Hai Han in Ceylon, it would not be difficult for Thomas to take this opportunity to trip up the other side. However, there was a prerequisite, which was to make sure that the other side had not received the news, otherwise it would be easy to backfire and be calculated by the other side.
This is why he insisted on confirming with Shi Diwen whether Su Keyi had already learned about the situation in Ceylon.
Shi Diwen smiled and said, "Your country is planning to regain the face it lost in Ceylon Island in Zhoushan Island?"
Thomas said, "I guess Lord Shi will be happy to see this happen, right?"
Shi Diwen said: "But don't provoke the Dutch. If a full-scale war really breaks out, we won't be able to send troops everywhere to help you repel the enemy."
Shi Diwen seemed to be trying to persuade Thomas, but his implication was that he acquiesced to Thomas's plan. As for whether Sukeyi knew about the situation on Ceylon Island, there was no need to give a clear answer. Hai Han would not use this matter to pit its own allies.
As Thomas said, Hai Han, Portugal and the Netherlands were actually competitors of colonial powers. When disputes and conflicts arose between the other two countries, Hai Han was of course happy to sit on the sidelines and watch. Shi Diwen first distanced himself from the relationship, lest if Portugal got out of hand, Hai Han would have to send troops to clean up the mess. The atmosphere of the meetings with other countries was not so relaxed.
On behalf of the Qing Dynasty, Geng Jimao put forward fifteen demands to Hai Han, most of which were related to border supervision. He hoped that Hai Han could relax existing supervision measures to allow the people of the Qing Dynasty to engage in border trade more conveniently.
Geng Jimao even suggested that Hai Han should open the mouth of the Yalu River to allow the Qing Dynasty to obtain an outlet to the sea, so that it could trade with the Shandong Peninsula and even further south in the future.
Geng Jimao's "unreasonable wishes" were naturally ruthlessly rejected by the Executive Committee.
Hai Han blocked the Qing Dynasty's access to the sea in Liaodong and the Yellow Sea. One of its purposes was to control the Qing Dynasty's channels for obtaining supplies from the outside world, so that it could only rely on Hai Han's supply; the second was to intentionally drive the Qing Dynasty to develop northward, making it clear that if the Qing Dynasty wanted an outlet to the sea, it could only go to the Sea of Japan at a higher latitude.
Of course, even if the Qing Dynasty could successfully achieve this goal and gain access to the Sea of Japan, there would actually be no convenience at all.
Geng Jimao knew that this was a bad idea and immediately pointed out the many drawbacks of this plan.
Taking Vladivostok as an example, if the Qing Dynasty built a port there, to reach Haihan, one must first cross the Sea of Japan and the Tsushima Strait from north to south before entering the East China Sea or the Yellow Sea. The voyage to the Shandong Peninsula via this route is about six times longer than that from the Yalu River estuary.
As the voyage is long, the transportation cost to Hai Han will naturally be difficult to reduce. If the high freight is taken into account, then there is no point in going out to sea. It would be better to trade directly with Hai Han in Liaodong.
Near the outlet of the Sea of Japan, there are only Japan and North Korea. One is a long-time enemy, and the other is about to fall into a long civil war. No matter how you look at it, they are not suitable trading partners.
Moreover, given the tense relations between the Qing Dynasty and Korea, safety would become a big problem if Qing merchant ships had to sail back and forth through the Tsushima Strait at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea has been continuously strengthening its military in recent years, and its current naval armed forces are much stronger than those of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty really has no way to cut off the shipping channel of the Tsushima Strait.
After Geng Jimao expressed his views, Yan Chujie, who was meeting with him, just shook his head slowly and said: "What you said is not our problem, but your country's problem. We have no obligation to solve these problems for your country."
Geng Jimao was speechless for a moment. Yan Chujie's statement seemed to be logically correct.
The Qing Dynasty's current predicament of having no access to the sea was caused by Hai Han. If they wanted Hai Han to loosen its grip and give them a sea passage again, they would have to offer a substantial exchange.
But how could the Qing Dynasty at that time offer any meaningful conditions?
Yan Chujie continued, "If you feel that you can't stay in Liaodong anymore, I have an idea."
Geng Jimao said: "Please give me some advice, Lord Yan!"
Yan Chujie said: "I think your country should just sail east to Japan and occupy Hokkaido in northeastern Japan. There are high mountains and far away emperors there, and no other country can threaten you. You can build as many ports as you want at that time."
Geng Jimao could only smile bitterly at Yan Chujie's suggestion. If the Qing Dynasty had the ability to organize large-scale sea crossing operations, why would he be so humble and beg Hai Han to relax restrictions?