At the order of Lin Chunhong, Zhang Zhao personally sent the Swedish mission to Shanghai. In addition to showing his importance to the Swedish mission, he also had more important tasks.

This incident originated from an investigation report submitted by Zhang Zhao.

After Zhang Zhaoren retrieved the data of Zhao Hehai's activities over the years, he found that Zhao Hehai's plundering income has been declining year by year, especially after Liang Feng and Di Wei joined forces to seize Batavia and occupied Temasek, the decline was even more obvious.

The first thing that affected the reduction in the revenue of Zhao Hehai Fleet was the size of the fleet. Seeing that the number of profits was getting smaller and smaller, the huge number of pirates sought other ways out, and some joined the Eastern and Western fleets; some were employed by maritime merchants and devoted themselves to the booming tide of trade; some took out the money accumulated over the years, opened workshops, bought boats and went to business, and completed the gorgeous turn from pirates to regular businessmen.

That is to say, over the years, the Great White Sharks fleet has been showing a downward trend.

As for the reasons, it is not difficult to analyze.

First, the scope of Zhao Hehai's activities has been narrowed. In the past, the entire South and Western ships were his targets for hunting, but since Jingzhou controlled Temasek, it began to regulate maritime order within the South China Sea, implement the concept of maritime free trade, and maintain maritime security. Therefore, Zhao Hehai's activities are limited to the West.

Second, the West is extremely vast, with the difficulty of hunting that is densely packed with straits, and the narrow sea area of ​​the South Ocean is incomparable.

Secondly, the targets Zhao Hehai could hunt were reduced. In the seventh year of Chongzhen, Lin Chunhong ordered that all ships who were admitted to the Sany Society would fly the banner of Bangtai and be protected by the two major fleets. Zhao Hehai could not attack these ships.

With Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang marriage merchants gradually entered the insurance policy, and Fujian marriage merchants gradually entered the insurance policy at Sany Society. Gradually, even European ships realized the huge role of insurance and began to flock to the insurance policy. Sany Society took this opportunity to grow rapidly and became the most profitable trading company in the Ming Dynasty.

With so many ships in the safeguard, Zhao Hehai's targets were reduced sharply. Often after chasing for several days, he found that the other party was flying the Bangtai flag and could not launch an attack, so he had to leave reluctantly.

Many reasons have led to the size of the Great White Sharks fleet becoming smaller and smaller.

This trend is becoming more and more intense, gradually affecting the quality of the soldiers of the two major fleets: although the two major fleets can recruit soldiers from fishermen and merchant ship sailors, the combat awareness and courage of these soldiers are far less than those of pirates, and it takes a considerable time to train them.

"Governor, my subordinates believe that the Zhao Hehai Fleet is our pioneer fleet. When we are about to turn our attention to, the Zhao Hehai Fleet must be the first to enter. In the fifth year of Chongzhen, we first began to expand our maritime power, and Zhao Hehai took the lead in opening up the situation. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, when we were still entangled with Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal in the South China Sea, Zhao Hehai took the lead in entering the West and gradually opened up the situation in the West..."

Out of brotherhood and the need for the expansion of maritime power at the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Zhaodu needed to say good things to Zhao Hehai, so his tone seemed a little anxious.

Lin Chunhong didn't care who said good things for whom. The only thing that could affect his judgment was facts. He nodded and said, "Zhao Hehai did make great contributions. No one can deny this. He was the first general in the military to become the champion. It was the recognition of this by our governor and the governor's office."

Zhang Zhao said unhappily: "It's a pity that he doesn't care about military ranks. He doesn't care about money, Xuntian, and so on. He is not even interested in having his wife and children. He is almost forty years old and has not yet started a family."

"Didn't get married? At the end of last year, why did a large group of black children, white children, and yellow children surrounded him and called him dad?"

Zhang Zhao was extremely embarrassed and said stutteringly: "This... is all born to a concubine, and he doesn't have a wife..."

Lin Chunhong laughed and said, "I know that this is a joke made by Liang Feng and him. As a sea man, he pays attention to being free and unrestrained. What does he like? I can't control it. I know his pursuit... Just say it, what sea area does he think of?"

Zhang Zhao blurted out: "Caribbean!"

"Caribbean?" Lin Chunhong was shocked and looked at Zhang Zhao with incredible eyes.

Lin Chunhong should indeed be surprised, because after Zhang Zhao submitted the investigation report, Lin Chunhong thought about expanding Zhao Hehai's range of activities to the Atlantic Ocean, extending from the Cape of Good Hope to the Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast.

This move can hit the forces of the Netherlands and Portugal in the West, and ultimately forced the concessions of the Netherlands and Portugal in the West, which was naturally listed by Lin Chunhong as one of the next directions of expansion. He never expected that Zhao Hehai would not look down on this vast sea area and actually wanted to run to the distant Caribbean to try his skills!

In this era, pirate activities were extremely rampant in all seas with numerous islands and complex sea conditions. In addition to the British privateer fleet and the Ming Dynasty's great white shark fleet, various pirate groups such as crucian carp crossing the river were countless. For example, in the waters near Mindanao, Jingzhou and Zheng Zhilong kept increasing their encirclement and suppression efforts, but the pirates were still not cut off, and their range of activities even extended to the Strait of Malacca.

In the south of China, the chaotic Caribbean has almost become a paradise for pirates.

Zhao Hehai has been active on the sea all year round. He has long heard of the grand occasion of the Caribbean. He is deeply impressed by the environment there, and naturally has the idea of ​​moving into the Caribbean. It is just a thought. He knew that if he wanted to engage in pirate activities in the Caribbean, he had to have a smooth channel for selling stolen goods and a base for living a life of drunkenness and dreams. Otherwise, what would those pirates do with him?

The Caribbean is too far from the Ming Dynasty, and the expansion of the maritime power in Jingzhou is still 108,000 miles away from the Caribbean! Reality forced Zhao Hehai to give up this idea.

However, when Zhao Hehai learned that the Swedish mission arrived in the Ming Dynasty and his relationship with Jingzhou was so good that he was mixed with oil, his mind became lively again.

Especially after learning that Sweden had a colony in North America, Zhao Hehai finally found Zhang Zhao and proposed a plan to collude with the Swedes and share profits together.

Lin Chunhong's message to present the picture of Shanghai.

After studying the colonial distribution map provided by the Swedes in detail with Zhang Zhao, Lin Chunhong told Zhang Zhao: "Zhao Hehai's activities to the Caribbean will not only cause heavy losses to the British, Dutch and Spaniards, but will also rob the share of local pirates. Our governor is worried that he will be jointly encircled by several European powers and local pirates."

Zhang Zhao also had this concern and said worriedly: "Whether in the East, South and West, Zhao Hehai can get the support of our fleet, but in the Caribbean, even if he encounters danger, we are far from reaching."

Lin Chunhong pondered: "As the saying goes, the cunning rabbit has three holes. I thought, it would be better to let him travel around the Golden Coast, the Cape of Good Hope and the Caribbean. In this way, even if Europeans want to suppress the enemy, they face the difficulty of not finding the fleet."

Zhang Zhao sighed and said, "Since he wants to go, there is only this we can do at the moment!"

Lin Chunhong nodded and said, "This governor does not oppose Zhao Hehai's proposal. Sweden, let Jiang Shu let the Swedes discuss it. As for the ship, let the shipbuilding workshop build it for him and install all the latest artillery. As for the people, it depends on him. How much he can pull away is counted. Even if you pull away, this governor will not object."

One sentence made Zhang Zhao laugh, making him feel much more relaxed.

Zhang Zhao said: "It depends on what the Swedes say now. If the Swedes don't agree, Zhao Hehai will still not be able to go."

Lin Chunhong was unsure and immediately ordered Jiang Shurang to contact the Swedish mission. The final result made Lin Chunhong, Zhang Zhao and Zhao Hehai breathe a sigh of relief.

The Swedes had only one reply: The Ming merchants enjoyed the same treatment as Swedish merchants within the jurisdiction of Sweden.

In other words, as long as Zhao Hehai can obtain the legal identity of the Ming Dynasty, the Swedes will buy the stolen goods in his hands and provide various services.

The legal identity of the Ming Dynasty is not easy for Zhao Hehai?

A few months later, Zhao Hehai led more than 7,000 troops and more than 20 warships to the Cape of Good Hope, and officially began activities in the Atlantic Ocean.

Zhao Hehai's strength is far from comparable to pirate groups in the Caribbean Sea. For a time, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Gold Coast, from the Gold Coast to the Caribbean, the entire sea area was full of war, causing trouble for Europeans to be at ease.

The number of merchant ships on the Atlantic Ocean is far beyond the reach of the Western Ocean. Zhao Hehai not only obtained a lot of money, but also his fleet grew stronger and stronger. More importantly, Zhao Hehai provided a steady stream of troops to the East and the Western Ocean, and also provided the Naval Academy with hydrological materials from the Atlantic Ocean, laying a solid foundation for the expansion of the Ming Dynasty's power.

These are all later stories, so I won't mention them for now.

Let’s talk about Lin Chunhong and Zhang Zhao’s plan to attack the Atlantic Ocean after pirates attacked the Atlantic Ocean, they began to think about the maritime rules of the Atlantic Ocean.

Lin Chunhong and Zhang Zhao both tend to copy the successful experience of the Southeast Asian countries to the West, and welcome all traders to compete with each other in the West, making the West a paradise for trade.

To achieve this goal, the Netherlands and Portugal will become unavoidable obstacles. If the Netherlands and Portugal did not implement an inexplicable trade quota system and did not prevent the free circulation of Chinese currency in the West, Lin Chunhong would be able to tolerate the existence of the two countries' forces. After all, the West is too vast, and no matter how large the population of the Ming Dynasty is, it cannot be swallowed in one bite.

However, the Netherlands and Portugal are holding on to the old almanac that colonial interests cannot be shared by others, which is beyond Lin Chunhong tolerated.

Since it cannot be tolerated, war becomes the last resort.

However, at present, Tong and the Ming Dynasty are much more important than competing for the West. After Lin Chunhong discussed with Zhang Zhao, he issued a series of orders:

"Sent Liang Feng to expand the scope of activities of the Atlantic Fleet and increase efforts to maintain maritime security in the waters around Kochi and Goa!"

Since the fall of Batavia, the Dutch moved the headquarters of the East India Company to Kochi, treating Kochi as the basis of the West. Not to mention Goa, it has always been the core of Portugal's rule.

This move shows that Lin Chunhong hopes to threaten the two countries with force in order to achieve the goal of defeating the army without fighting.

"The order to send Lu Mincheng to the Kochi authorities and the Goa authorities to cancel trade quotas without restricting the circulation of Chinese currency. In exchange, Temasek's trade quota system can also be abolished."

...
Chapter completed!