On February 27, the 14th year of Chongzhen, at noon on the fifth day after arriving at Lushunkou, He Tingbin and Cohen led several of their followers and boarded the second wave led by Yuan Jin personally to Yingzhou Island.

The immigration fleet left in a hurry.

In the days before their departure, Yang Zhen and Cohen, the deacon of the Dutch East India Company's Nagasaki Merchant House, reached a preliminary agreement with He Tingbin's translation.

In the preliminary agreement, Yang Zhen agreed in principle to Cohen's previous request.

That is, Gimhae Town opened Seogwipo Port on Yeongju Island to the Dutch East India Company and allowed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company to dock in Seogwipo and trade freely.

However, in exchange, the Dutch East India Company had to provide two thousand tons of sulfur to Yingzhou Island free of charge every year.

On this basis, the two sides agreed to jointly explore the feasibility of jointly sending troops to Japan in the future to jointly strive for complete free trade status.

As a prerequisite for jointly sending troops to the Japanese country to fight for the rights of both parties, Yang Zhen agreed to send 5,000 troops, 50 gunboats and several accompanying supply ships, and required the Dutch East India Company to send at least 1,500 troops, 10 gunboats and several supply ships.

At the same time, Yang Zhen promised,

Once the goal of jointly sending troops to Japan to occupy Kyushu Island is achieved, both sides will equally share the land of the vassals on Kyushu Island and all the attached populations, cities, and property.

In the entire agreement, except for the first clause, which has been determined, the rest are all intentions.

Although this Cohen was the deacon of the Dutch East India Company's Nagasaki Merchant House and a member of the Dutch East India Company's Council of Members, he was only a small role to the Dutch East India Company's Batavia headquarters.

He had no authority to represent the Dutch East India Company and reach any agreement terms involving the entire East India Company with figures like Yang Zhen.

Therefore, the so-called agreement finally reached by the two parties was actually just a letter of intent for discussion by the Dutch East India Company's Council of Members and the Batavia headquarters.

Although Cohen himself was very tempted, he could not decide anything. He could only ensure that the terms proposed by Yang Zhen would be sent back to the senior officials as soon as possible, and the senior officials' council would decide whether to report to Batavia.

Therefore, after both parties figured out each other's basic bottom line, asking price and capabilities, Cohen couldn't wait to return to the boss.

And the reason why he was so concerned or worked hard was because he wanted to make up for the huge losses caused by the sudden plague in Nagasaki to the Nagasaki merchant house.

Of course, this also included the "Nassau" that had to be exchanged for Yingzhou Island in exchange for enough food and fresh water to survive hundreds of people.

He knew very well that for the Council of Ministers and the Eastern Headquarters of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia, no matter what the cause, the loss was

This loss will be recorded on his head.

In order to recover losses,

In other words, to minimize losses, the only thing he could do was to come up with a plan that would bring greater profits to the Dutch East India Company.

He originally wanted to make up for his mistakes and make up for the losses he had caused by reaching an agreement with Yang Zhen to open the port for trade. However, he did not expect that Yang Zhen actually proposed to him a more tempting and shocking proposal.

plan.

As the deacon of the Dutch East India Company's trading post in Nagasaki, he had had enough of the harsh restrictions imposed by the Tokugawa Shogunate on the Dutch trading post in Nagasaki.

If it hadn't been for the Tokugawa shogunate not allowing the Dutch East India Company to garrison troops at the Dutch Nagasaki trading post, and if it hadn't been for the Tokugawa shogunate forcing the Dutch armed merchant ships to disarm before entering the port, then this thing wouldn't have happened at all.

.

Therefore, in his opinion, the Ming army on Yingzhou Island asked him to use the Nassau in exchange for sufficient food and fresh water. Although such profiteer behavior is hateful, its root cause is the extremely harsh regulations formulated by the Tokugawa shogunate against the Dutch.

terms of trade.

Such terms of trade must and should be changed.

If the power of the Dutch East India Company was not enough to support a large-scale expedition against the Japanese slave country in the past, then now with the support and cooperation of Yang Zhen, the chief military officer of Jinhai Town of the Ming Dynasty, who is close to the Japanese slave country, the situation is

It will be completely different.

What makes Cohen even more excited is that,

Yang Zhen agreed that on the premise of sending more troops and ships,

Split it 50-50 with any expeditionary force that may be sent by the Dutch East India Company, and share equally all the benefits gained.

Although these terms were proposed by Yang Zhen on his own initiative,

But this did not prevent Cohen from taking all the credit after rushing back to the top.

With the terms reached with Yang Zhen and the letter of intent to jointly conquer the Japanese slave country, Cohen believed that his losses at the Nagasaki Merchant Store would be forgiven.

Moreover, once the plan to cooperate with Yang Zhen to conquer the Japanese slave country by force is approved by the Batavia headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, then not only will he himself not be dismissed, but he will definitely be reused.

Precisely because of this, he could no longer wait for the large fleet that Yang Zhen said was about to return from Yingzhou Island, but insisted on rushing to Yingzhou Island as soon as possible so that he could take the remaining ships and personnel south as soon as possible.

go.

Regarding Cohen's impatience, Yang Zhen is certainly happy to see the results.

So there was no need to wait for the fleets of Yu Liangtai, Lin Siye, and Yan Shengsan who were about to return or were already on their way back.

Instead, he ordered Yuan Jin and others, who had just completed the second transport of immigrants to Zhenjiang Fort, to lead their fleet to continue transporting immigrants to Yingzhou Island.

At noon on February 27, the 14th year of Chongzhen, Yuan Jin's fleet gathered immigrants from the direction of Dengzhou and arrived at Yuan Jin's fleet outside Lushun. They picked up Cohen, He Tingbin and others, and then turned to the direction of Yingzhou Island.

Dewes, the former captain of the Nassau who originally followed Cohen and He Tingbin to come to Port Arthur, was hired by Yang Zhen with a large sum of money and stayed on.

What He Tingbin said is absolutely correct. It is true that people and money die for food. This group of mercenaries from run-down families in Europe do not have very noble patriotic sentiments in their hearts.

Just a contract of one thousand two hundred taels of silver a year made Dewes stay voluntarily.

Of course, even if Yang Zhen gave him one thousand two hundred taels of silver a year, it would not be in vain. The contract clearly stated the obligations that Dewes needed to fulfill.

Moreover, in order to ensure that Dewes could better fulfill the contract, He Tingbin also retained a personal servant named Li Ying under his command.

Although He Tingbin himself is controlled by the Dutch and is not completely free, he has already got rid of his former slave status among the Dutch. As a general manager of the Dutch business office, he also has his own servants.

These servants were both assistants and apprentices. They usually followed him to learn Japanese language and Hongmao language. Although their attainments were far inferior to his, they could still use them at critical moments.

Because of this, the Dutch also acquiesced in his behavior of recruiting apprentices to accompany him.

Now, He Tingbin had to leave with Cohen, and had to leave a personal servant first to act as the translator between DeWeese, Yang Zhen and others.

Correspondingly, Dewes, who was determined to stay, also entrusted Cohen, He Tingbin and others to bring a bunch of letters for him, inviting his crew members stranded in the Yingzhou Island area to voluntarily come to Jinhai Town to serve.

Yang Zhen offered Dewes the conditions of including food and accommodation and an annuity of 600 taels of silver per person, and promised to pay through Dewes.

As for what Dewes himself would say in the letter, and how much annuity he would actually pay after inviting people here, Yang Zhen didn't care.

The reason why Yang Zhen did this was to mobilize Dewes's enthusiasm to work for him and to ask him to recruit as many experienced shipwrights and sailors as possible who were familiar with plywood boat manufacturing.

Of course, Dewes would play a hand in this matter and profit from it, but Yang Zhen didn't care, and it could even be said that he did it intentionally.

Because since these people cannot afford to get up early because they have no profit, then we must provide them with the opportunity to get up early and take advantage of others.

As for whether DeWeese will lose control because of this, Yang Zhen is not worried at all.

In fact, the more white-skinned and red-haired people Dewes recruits, the more honest and controllable Dewes will become.

Because as long as Yang Zhen discloses the annuity he promised to the white-skinned and red-haired fans, Dewes will become the target of all the white-skinned and red-haired fans he has attracted.

By that time, Dewes will be killed by the white-skinned and red-haired gangsters he recruited without even needing to step forward.

However, it was said that the day after Yang Zhen sent off Cohen, He Tingbin and others, he personally accompanied Dewes and the little general left behind by He Tingbin, boarded the former Nassau giant plywood ship in Port Arthur, and then left the port.

Turn to the Laotieshan Waterway and head north to Jinzhou Bay.

Also on this day, the Nassau was officially renamed "Yingzhou" by Yang Zhen. At the same time, Guo Xiaowu was promoted by Yang Zhen to the garrison of Yingzhou Island and the command commander of Yingzhou.

Although Yang Zhen did not explicitly say that he would use the Yingzhou as his flagship, he also did not clarify the ownership of the Yingzhou.

At least for now, the Yingzhou will not belong to any navy, but will be used directly by Yang Zhen himself.

Correspondingly, after Yang Zhen boarded the ship, according to the navy flag design drawn up by Yang Zhen in recent days, Yang Zhen's commander-in-chief flag was immediately hoisted on the Yingzhou.

Of course, Yang Zhen's commander-in-chief flag still uses the Big Dipper flag, but the original black and white star triangle flag has been transformed into a rectangular style with gold stars on a red background.

The flag is red, five feet long and two and a half feet wide, with a length-to-width ratio of two to one.

On it are embroidered seven equally large golden balls according to the general directions of the Big Dipper, with Dou Kui facing up, Tianshu in front, Yao Guang in the back, and connected with golden embroidery thread in the middle.

The so-called Tianshu is in front and Yaoguang is behind, which actually means that the fighting leader is at the head of the flag and the handle is at the end of the flag.

Yang Zhen was actually not satisfied with this composition, but he could not find a better flag that could symbolize the Jinhai Navy.

He wanted to use the five-star red flag. After all, no one could compare with the meaning of five stars coming from the east and benefiting China.

However, the flags commonly used by the navy of the Ming Dynasty were the Big Dipper flag that symbolized the Beidi and also indicated the direction. If he removed two stars inexplicably, there was no way to explain it.

He could use his authority to enforce it, but he felt that it was not necessary.

From ancient times to the present, the navy has been very superstitious. Among the seven stars of the Big Dipper, Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang and Yaoguang, each one has its own meaning, and no one can be missing.

.

Moreover, when ships are sailing on the sea, the main reference object used to distinguish the directions of east, west, north and south is the position of the Big Dipper.

Therefore, for the navy, the Big Dipper is not only the embodiment of the Beidi belief of the Ming Dynasty, but also has strong practical significance.

So for this thing, Yang Zhen didn't want to risk the world's disapproval.

Of course, besides the five-star red flag, the flag that Yang Zhen wanted to use the most was the mighty and domineering dragon flag.

But after thinking about it, Yang Zhen also gave up. It wasn't that he didn't want to use it, but that he didn't dare to use it.

After all, the dragon flag is a symbol of the emperor, a symbol of the emperor. If it is not given by the emperor or ordered by the emperor, Yang Zhen cannot use it without authorization. Using it would be arrogance.
Chapter completed!