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In Tang Chen's office, Xu Yuanhua looked at the agreement in his hand with a suffocating look.
"Sir, I really can't understand why we have to make such a big concession to the Zheng family?" Xu Yuanhua placed the agreement in his hand on Tang Yu's desk.
"Haha, except for the Nine Kingdoms Island which is indeed in our hands, everything else in this agreement is empty. Those places are neither in our hands nor in the hands of the Zheng family. Even if we don't intervene in the future, the Zheng family will not be able to obtain these places. I asked you to give those places in Japan to the Zheng family. First, those places are not in our hands at all. Second, it is for the overseas Chinese in Japan. The human heart is the most difficult to understand, and the human heart is also difficult to satisfy. We issue passports to those overseas Chinese free of charge and provide them with protection, but without comparison, those overseas Chinese will take it for granted that we should protect them, and thus they will not have much gratitude towards us. Now we give those places in Japan that are not under our control to the Zheng family, and the overseas Chinese there will compare us with the Zheng family from time to time. At that time, they will truly know who is the one who is really good to them."
Although Tang Yu was not very familiar with history, he knew what happened to the Zheng family. With the little power the Zheng family had, they could not get out of the China Sea. Historically, they even handed over their trade interests in Japan to the Dutch. Although the Zheng family eventually drove out the Dutch on Taiwan Island, they were already at the end of their strength and had no ability to challenge the Westerners entrenched in Southeast Asia.
"But, sir, then it would be unreasonable for us to want these places in the future." Xu Yuanhua was still somewhat unwilling that those places were not in his hands.
"What are you worried about? Our main enemy now is the Dutch. When we are strong enough and defeat the Dutch entrenched in the Nanyang area, it won't be too late to come back and deal with the Zheng family. As for you saying there is no reason, haha, Yuanhua, you have to remember that at any time, strong strength is the reason, and at any time, victory is justice. Besides, if we satisfy the Zheng family in this way, then the Zheng family's target will temporarily be placed on the Dutch occupying Taiwan Island and other places. Zheng Zhilong will most likely take action against us after driving away the remaining Dutch there. In this way, we have time to fight the Tokugawa Shogunate and Goryeo first. In addition, if possible, I also want to fight with the Jiannu to weaken the Jiannu's development momentum and retain more vitality for the Ming Dynasty. After all, our roots are in the Ming Dynasty."
In Tang Yi's mind, the Zheng family was not his rival, nor were the Japanese and Koreans. The real threat was the Jiannu and the Westerners. As for Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong in the future, their so-called million-strong army was simply a group of rabble. He still had more than ten years to develop. By then, as long as he had tens of thousands of troops equipped with breech-loading rifles, he believed that no one would be his opponent in land warfare.
"Then according to your Excellency's opinion, there is no need for us to set a trap for the Zheng family now." After hearing what Tang Yu said, Xu Yuanhua felt less suffocated.
"No, we cannot withdraw from that plan. What we are talking about now are all analysis and speculation. We still don't know what Zheng Zhilong will do, so we must be prepared for any eventuality. This time, we will only need 3,000 of our people to fight that old guy Tokugawa Iemitsu, and the 5,000 new recruits will be used to defend Kokura Castle during this period." Tang Qi shook his head.
"We must bring the auxiliary troops and 30,000 Japanese laborers with us this time. Also, before we set off, we must notify the foreign countries on the Nine Islands and tell them that if they want to make money, they should remember to follow us and take advantage of us. We must let them know that there are benefits to following us." Tang Qi thought for a moment and added.
"Okay, sir, I'll prepare it right away." Xu Yuanhua nodded, gave Tang Chen a military salute unique to the Tang family army, and turned to leave Tang Chen's office.
After thinking for a while, Tang Qi asked his personal guards outside the door to find Liu Daquan. He asked him about the recent movements of the various foreign countries on Jiuguo Island, and then asked him to strengthen monitoring of the actions of the foreign countries to prevent those with ulterior motives from causing trouble for him.
After the Zheng family signed the agreement with Tang Qi and others, because their demands were temporarily met, Zheng Zhilong turned his attention to Taiwan Island. This place had been managed by Zheng Zhilong's sworn brother Yan Siqi. When it fell into Zheng Zhilong's hands, it had become an important foundation in Zheng Zhilong's hands. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong was determined to obtain Taiwan Island.
What Zheng Zhilong and Tang Qi did not know was that after the commander-in-chief of the Dutch fleet in the South China Sea learned that De Wet's army had been completely destroyed, he immediately dispatched Putmans as the highest commander in Taiwan. After taking over the remaining Dutch troops left on the island of Taiwan, Putmans quickly decided on a strategy of peace talks with the Zheng family.
The Dutch South China Sea Fleet was mainly composed of mercenaries. Putmans would never redeem these mercenaries who did not actually belong to them from Tang Chen. Since Tang Chen only knew some English and other Western languages, although his subordinates did not have other Westerners who could speak Chinese, they were all in Ming Dynasty. The translators of Liu Xiang and De Wet were killed in the battle. Therefore, due to the language barrier, Tang Chen did not know that these Dutch prisoners under his command were mercenaries.
Putmans had dealt with Zheng Zhilong before and knew that this man was profit-driven, while the situation of Lord Tang of the Ming Dynasty was unclear. Judging from this battle, Putmans believed that this newly emerging force on the Chinese sea had great development potential. After repeated consideration, Putmans believed that they should unite with Zheng Zhilong to defeat this powerful maritime force first.
It has to be said that Putmans' idea was very correct, because people like Zheng Zhilong would not mind selling everything that could be sold as long as the interests were in line with his requirements. When Zheng Zhilong was preparing to send troops, Putmans sent an envoy to Zheng Zhilong's camp in Jinjiang Anhai, hoping to negotiate peace with Zheng Zhilong.
Historically, a few years later, after several naval battles between the two sides, with casualties and heavy losses on both sides, the third Dutch military commander on Taiwan Island, Putmans, abandoned his lackey Liu Xiang and negotiated with Zheng Zhilong. Subsequently, the main Dutch forces withdrew from the China Sea, making Zheng Zhilong the largest maritime force here. However, Zheng Zhilong also gave all his interests except Taiwan to the Dutch. The Dutch did not come to the land of the Ming Dynasty, and Zheng Zhilong's fleet did not leave the China Sea. All of the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade was conducted in Taiwan with the Dutch, allowing the two sides to jointly monopolize the Ming Dynasty's foreign maritime trade.
Zheng Zhilong had originally reached an agreement with the Tokugawa shogunate, and both sides would send troops to attack Tang Yu and Gong Yu in May. However, after Zheng Zhilong temporarily satisfied his appetite with Tang Yu, he shifted his target, but Tokugawa Iemitsu was unaware that the situation had changed.
Although Tokugawa Iemitsu was not very afraid of the Ming Dynasty, as the actual ruler of a country, he would not tolerate the Tang Dynasty's unscrupulous occupation of Wakoku as long as he had a little blood in his veins. Therefore, in the agreement with Zheng Zhilong, the two sides hit it off. After the agreement was signed, Tokugawa Iemitsu began to actively prepare various supplies for the war.
Japan is a very poor place. Although Japan has silver mines and large reserves, these things cannot be exchanged from the Ming Dynasty for what it really needs, such as food and weapons. Therefore, the Tokugawa shogunate cannot afford to support too many standing armies. When a real war breaks out, most of those soldiers are recruited temporarily.
After Tokugawa Iemitsu had completed his preparations, he was waiting for the Zheng family to send troops to attack Tang, but he heard a piece of news that made him furious. The Lord Tang from the Ming Dynasty had joined forces with various foreign countries on the Kyushu Island to attack Edo, and they did so under the pretext of returning the shogunate to the Japanese emperor.
This news was spread intentionally by Tang Qi through Yanagi Daiken. In fact, the foreign countries in Kyukoku Island were still watching and waiting, and did not send troops to join Tang Qi in fighting Tokugawa Iemitsu. Those who were flying the flags of the foreign countries were a team composed of Tang Qi's Japanese auxiliary troops and Japanese laborers.
Tang Qi used the slogan of returning the Tokugawa shogunate to the Japanese emperor, but in fact he also wanted to reduce the number of other foreign countries that would help Tokugawa Iemitsu and reduce the resistance of the Japanese middle class. As for the lower-class Japanese people, to be honest, what they cared about was not who would control them, but whether they would have food to eat in the future. Tang Qi now had a lot of food in his hands, which attracted many Japanese people to surrender.
If it was a foreign country like Wa who shouted this slogan, Tokugawa Iemitsu would not be so angry. But Tang Yu, an outsider, shouted a slogan that the Tokugawa shogunate should be subordinate to the Emperor of Wa. He was really meddling in his own affairs.
On the one hand, Tokugawa Iemitsu sent people to ask Zheng Zhilong for a delay, and on the other hand, he ordered his men to reinforce the walls of Edo. However, for the navy, Edo was a place with no strategic location to defend. Only one day after receiving the news that Lord Tang of the Ming Dynasty was coming to attack, Tokugawa Iemitsu saw the enemy's army.
After Tang Qi saw the Edo Castle Wall through the telescope, he let out a breath, his eyes filled with cold murderous intent.
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