Chapter 985 - Sailing South to Hue

"Once Operation Engine officially starts, I can go to Japan," Ping Qiusheng thought. Regretfully abandoning his Japan trading delegation plan, he concentrated all his energy on preparing for the Southeast Asia expedition.

The main objectives of Ping Qiusheng's planned expedition were the Indochinese Peninsula regions—present-day Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, not involving current Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. This was because the Planning Commission's main purpose in supporting this expedition was to obtain grain. Additionally, the Spanish and Dutch had relatively strong colonial forces in the latter regions, and their territories intertwined. The Senate currently didn't intend to get entangled in such chaos.

For ships heading to Southeast Asia, Ping Qiusheng had originally hoped to get one of the 901s as his flagship—a warship belching black smoke majestically entering barbarian territory, mounting several cannons along the coastline to force their submission and tribute payments. How colonial that would be!

But the imminent Operation Engine shattered his ambitions. Not only couldn't he get any of the 901s, but he basically couldn't obtain any of the larger, better sailing warships either.

He could only select vessels from the Southeast Asia Company's fleet—in the end, what fell to him were two guang chuan. Each had 200 tons displacement, the common cargo and fishing dual-purpose vessels along the coast in this era. Their condition was the best of any two in the Southeast Asia Company's fleet. After inspection, Ping Qiusheng felt they could roughly meet the needs of the expedition.

The commander of these two ships heading to Southeast Asia was precisely a former pirate leader named He Congfu.

He Congfu was an old pirate, known in the main fleet for his cunning. He was a small pirate who had been relatively successful, developing from a single small fishing boat to a leader with five large ships. When Zhu Cailao's main fleet scattered, he had managed to escape with two ships and his life.

After joining the Senate, he had been watching the Australians' development. He wasn't alone—most people in the Southeast Asia Company were the same.

Those who had originally joined the Southeast Asia Company's merchant fleet were former pirate leaders who had doubts about the "transmigrators" and wanted to preserve some of their own strength as a backup. But as the Senate's power continuously expanded, with the fleet's unified personnel system, unified compensation system, and political transformation of lower-level personnel, the old leaders' personal control over fleet sailors had basically disappeared. The so-called "preserving strength to watch and wait" had become empty talk. Even on ships where they personally served as captains, they couldn't act independently without orders from the Navy Department.

After the Second Counter-Encirclement Campaign's successful conclusion, the Navy's advance into the Pearl River Estuary, and the shelling of Wuyang Station, these people finally decided to completely sell themselves to hitch a ride on the ascending dragon. For this, they unanimously sold the ownership of their ships to the Planning Commission—to demonstrate their loyal attitude. This way, their personal influence over the ships was completely zeroed out, leaving only dividend shares based on the ships' assessed value.

He Congfu had previously been to Siam and was relatively familiar with this voyage's sea route—though not the optimal route. Ancient Chinese sailors generally preferred routes where they could see the coastline, or at least had a chain of islands as navigational references.

But such a route was perfectly suited for the Southeast Asia trading delegation: their main purpose was to survey coastal conditions and conduct trade. A coastal route was exactly what they wanted.

He Congfu wore the senior sailor's uniform—actually the Senate Navy officer's uniform, except all the insignia were for the merchant fleet. The sleeve insignia was embroidered with the mark of "Southeast Asia Company Licensed by Senate Decree." On his chest hung newly issued binoculars, making him look quite impressive.

Flying from the masts were the Senate's Morning Star flag and the Southeast Asia Company's company flag: a miniature Morning Star flag in the upper left corner, with the remainder consisting of nine alternating red and white stripes. Informally called the "Nine-Dash Flag."

Finally came Ping Qiusheng's personal Elder heraldic flag—a red background with his self-designed family crest in the center.

Quark had never figured out what the newly appeared Southeast Asia Company's "Nine-Dash Flag" meant, but in his view, the flag was very similar to the British East India Company's flag, especially the alternating red and white stripes.

The East India Company's red and white stripes were the colors of the St. George's Flag. What meaning could the Australians have in using such a color scheme? Quark developed a strong interest in this. But neither He Fanghui nor Ping Qiusheng could explain the reason.

The actual reason was simple: when Dr. Zhong originally designed the flag for the Southeast Asia Company, he had directly copied the layout and concept of the British East India Company's flag.

In Dr. Zhong Lishi's view, the British East India Company was a very successful enterprise. Though it was still weak in this timeline, ultimately the British had achieved far more than the Dutch. Copying such an enterprise's flag was very "auspicious."

However, Quark was very dissatisfied with his own East India Company's situation. The British East India Company in the 17th-century East Asian seas was a "disadvantaged group," occupying some isolated outposts and trading posts across the vast ocean—holding very little trading territory that was also very scattered. Not only were they rarely able to participate in the most profitable trades, but they also constantly suffered attacks from various competitors.

Still, he had struck gold. This was Quark's second time transporting slaves to Sanya. With the previous successful experience, plus those high-quality white sugars, rum, and various Chinese goods of a quality never seen before, the English trading post in Bantam had been astonished. This time, even more people came visiting, all eager to learn everything about the Australians. Even the English's not-so-friendly neighbors—the Dutch in Batavia—had come.

Combined with the Dutch commercial agent's report on his visit to Lingao, this had become rapidly fermenting information. Adventurers gathered around Quark like flies smelling blood. Capital, ships, and slave supplies continuously appeared. His actions were also fast—in less than three months, a second ship with nearly 1,000 slaves had been delivered to Sanya. On the return voyage, the cargo hold was filled with raw silk, white sugar, rum, and various Chinese sundries.

The generous profits allowed Quark to quickly raise sufficient capital. Now Quark's fleet had two large cargo ships of 300-ton displacement. But this scale was still somewhat thin. His fleet's southward voyage had to pass along the long coastline of Cochinchina, where the king currently had good cooperation with the Portuguese. This made Quark quite worried—he had suffered from the Portuguese before. Moreover, the cargo on these ships was all very valuable. A fully loaded merchant ship had neither firepower nor speed; if someone boarded them, they didn't even have enough sailors for hand-to-hand combat. They were classic fat prey on the seas.

During his days staying in Sanya, he had learned that the Australian trading delegation was heading south to Siam. If they were going to Siam, they would definitely pass through Cochinchina. As long as he followed the Australian fleet safely past Vietnam's coastline, he wouldn't have much to worry about afterward. With this thought, he immediately conveyed his idea to He Fanghui, expressing willingness to serve as the Australian fleet's pilot and local guide. The Australians gladly agreed. So Quark immediately turned over command of his fleet to Captain Higgins while he himself boarded the Southeast Asia Company's large ship—the flagship where Ping Qiusheng was located.

The fleet set sail south with the monsoon winds and quickly reached the waters off Hue. At this time, the Later Lê dynasty of Vietnam had already been split into Northern and Southern courts by the powerful ministers Zheng and Nguyen.

In 1620, the powerful minister Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên, entrenched in the south, formally refused to remit taxes to the court in Hanoi, and subsequently rejected edicts demanding the Nguyen submit to the court's authority. In 1623, Trịnh Tùng died, and his son Trịnh Tráng succeeded him. Trịnh Tráng again formally demanded the Nguyen's submission, and Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên again refused. Open war between the Trinh and Nguyen finally broke out in 1627.

After four consecutive months of fighting without a decisive outcome, the entire Later Lê Vietnam was divided into northern and southern halves. The Trinh controlled most of the north while the Nguyen held most of the south. The boundary between them lay on the Gianh River in Quảng Bình Province—this border was very close to the 17th parallel that would later divide North and South Vietnam.

Compared to the Trinh ruling much more densely populated territory, the Nguyen also had some advantages. First, they were in a defensive position. Second, the Nguyen benefited from contact with Europeans, especially the Portuguese, enabling them to purchase more advanced European military equipment and employ European military experts in city defense. Third, geography favored them: large-scale organized armies were only suited for plains, which were exceedingly rare in Vietnam—in Vietnam, mountains practically squeezed into the sea.

The southern Nguyen's main stronghold was at Hue. After first repelling the Trinh offensive, the Nguyen built two main lines of fortifications running across the narrow strip of land between mountains and sea. The walls stood near Đồng Hới, north of Hue. Said to be European-style fortress complexes built under the guidance of Portuguese military engineers, combined with cannons and arquebuses to form a solid defensive system, they made it very difficult for the Trinh's great army to break through.

To breach these walls, the Trinh had committed 100,000 soldiers, 500 war elephants, and 500 warships. The initial attack on the Nguyen wall defenses failed to succeed, and subsequent repeated offensives had continued for years. Even now, fighting continued before this "Great Wall." Countless Vietnamese peasants had been reduced to cannon fodder in this protracted war, dying by the thousands.

For the Senate, this war had also brought extremely negative effects—the trading post established in Hai Duong had gradually lost its advantage in purchasing cheap grain. Rice and grain had been diverted to military use; peasants had been conscripted as soldiers, often never to return; fields lay fallow; and markets had become depressed.

Because the Nguyen's "Great Wall" at the front line was proving highly effective, the Trinh sometimes raided the south by sea. The south retaliated in kind, and the naval battles between both sides were equally fierce.

(End of Chapter)