The three brothers never imagined that the Dutch East India Company would actually initiate an attack.
As a legendary, fantastical, thrilling, and highly entertaining regional power, the Three Brothers had a bit of pride, especially after being beaten by the Dutch East India Company's barbarians.
"We tried to reason with you, and you refused to cooperate, forcing us all to become laborers, even robbing us of our chance to be reborn as Brahmins in our next lives?
Then don't blame us Three Brothers for being unreasonable!"
In their rage, the Three Brothers didn't hesitate to band together and launch a counterattack against the Dutch East India Company.
And then the situation began to go awry.
As everyone knows, that broken land of Europa has not unlocked the agriculture skill. The population it can support is small. Moreover, the Church has collected tithes and indulgences for many years, making it difficult for the people of Europa to afford to have children. Therefore, the population in Europa has always been strained.
The result of the population strain was that when the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company thought they had dispatched a large number of people to Tianzhu to forcibly recruit the Three Brothers as laborers, they were surprised to find that the number of Tianzhu Three Brothers was too large, and 99% of them were Shudras and Dalits who feared they would not be reborn as Brahmins in their next lives.
Although the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Company held an absolute advantage in weapons at this time, the Three Brothers also held an absolute advantage in population.
A certain unnamed principal once said that even ten thousand pigs could not be caught in three days and three nights.
The same logic applies to Tianzhu – under the call to dedicate themselves to Shiva and the temptation of being reborn as Brahmins, the Three Brothers, who held the absolute advantage in numbers, began to attack the English and Dutch East India Companies with utter disregard for their own lives.
This time it was the turn of the English and Dutch East India Company personnel to be stunned. Not only were their existing strongholds fiercely destroyed by the Three Brothers, but they were even driven into the sea.
At this point, the situation became that the Three Brothers stood on the shore, giving the middle finger to the human resources of the English and Dutch East India Companies, shouting, "If you have the guts, come up!"
And the human resources of the English and Dutch East India Companies, while cursing inwardly, could only helplessly reciprocate with the middle finger, shouting back, "If you have the guts, come down!"
In any case, the Three Brothers would not go into the water, and the human resources of the English and Dutch East India Companies would not come ashore.
Later, the leader of the Dutch East India Company, Ofstaten, discussed with the general manager of the British East India Company, Howard: "This matter has gotten out of hand. We alone cannot solve it now. Why don't we ask for reinforcements from our homeland?"
Howard thought that since the matter had escalated, they might as well escalate it further.
So, Howard told Ofstaten: "Asking for reinforcements from our homeland is certain, but we are far from Europa and Tianzhu. Now England, Holland, and France are fighting with the Habsburg family, and a large number of troops are tied up in Europa. Even if we ask for reinforcements, there probably won't be many."
"More importantly, the problems in Tianzhu were messed up by us two. If we simply ask for reinforcements from our homeland without proposing corresponding solutions, wouldn't we two be the ones to suffer in the end?"
Ofstaten naturally understood the intricacies of this, but besides asking for reinforcements from his homeland, what other good solutions were there?
Howard gently fanned himself and looked at Ofstaten, saying, "Do you know where we are recruiting these laborers to?"
Ofstaten, while inwardly despising Howard's demeanor, said, "Of course I know where these laborers are to be transported, and I also know that they all have to be castrated, and only those who survive the castration can be transported."
Howard said, "Isn't that enough? Since the two of us can't handle it, let's send someone to inform our homeland for reinforcements, and also send someone to notify Daming."
"I've studied it. Those diaper-heads are numerous. With the limited troops we have, it's unrealistic to fight them head-on. Therefore, what we need to do now is to buy some grenades or cannons from Daming."
Ofstaten asked suspiciously, "Is that enough?"
Howard chuckled, "Of course not, because those diaper-heads are no longer as afraid of us as they used to be. Even if we use Daming's cannons and grenades, we may not be able to completely deal with those diaper-heads."
Having said that, Howard changed the subject, fanning himself and putting on a mysterious air, saying, "But you should know that those diaper-heads are not afraid of us, but they are very afraid of Daming's army."
Ofstaten was somewhat incredulous.
Ofstaten had also heard about Zhu Jingsong capturing Brahmin monks in Tianzhu last time, but capturing just one Brahmin monk was different from mass recruitment of laborers.
To put it bluntly, no matter how powerful the Emperor of Daming was, or how powerful the Ming army was, if you asked them to recruit laborers in Tianzhu in large numbers, wouldn't these Tianzhu diaper-heads still resist fiercely?
Seeing Ofstaten's half-believing expression, Howard couldn't help but chuckle, "You don't believe me?"
Ofstaten said, "Yes, I believe that even if they are very afraid of the Ming army, they will still resist. Therefore, even if the Ming army comes to recruit laborers, they will have to send more troops."
Howard, however, chuckled, "No, no, no, those diaper-heads are not very afraid of us, but as soon as they see the banner of the Ming army, they will be scared to death – guess why our King George III of England sold Tianzhu to Daming?"
Ofstaten really wanted to say, "Isn't it because you English are too cowardly?" but after hesitating for a long time, he finally didn't say it, only shaking his head, "I don't know."
Howard said, "The reason His Majesty George sold Tianzhu to Daming was that before that, the Ming army had passed through Tianzhu and had a conflict with those diaper-heads, and incidentally had a conflict with our East India Company."
Ofstaten pressed, "And then?"
The smile on Howard's face disappeared, and he couldn't help but sigh, "Then? More than ten thousand diaper-head troops, plus our more than one thousand East India Company armed men, faced a vanguard of only about three hundred Ming soldiers and were beaten like dogs."
"More than ten thousand diaper-head troops died, more than four thousand, and the remaining more than five thousand were completely scattered. More than one thousand East India Company armed men died, more than seven hundred, and the remaining more than three hundred managed to escape by risking their lives. But do you know how many Ming soldiers were chasing them?"
Ofstaten was stunned and asked, "Didn't you say there were three hundred people?"
Howard shook his head and said, "Three hundred people were all the Ming soldiers they encountered, and after they were defeated, only fifty Ming soldiers were chasing them, and these fifty Ming soldiers were divided into ten groups, with only five people in each group."
"In other words, an average of five Ming soldiers had to chase several hundred diaper-heads. By the time they fled back... let me put it this way, if I hadn't been to Daming before and could speak the official language of Daming, perhaps..."
After a long silence, Howard continued, "Perhaps, the entire Tianzhu would have been completely occupied by that Ming army, and that Ming army had only a few thousand people, but they were just a vanguard force attacking the Ottoman Empire."
Howard's words made Ofstaten fall silent. After a while, he asked, "What happened later? Your King George sold Tianzhu? What about that Ming army?"
Howard nodded and said, "That army... they piled up the more than four thousand diaper-head troops who were killed into a small mountain. Just out of consideration for the friendship between England and Daming, they returned the bodies of the more than seven hundred East India Company armed men, and His Majesty also sold Tianzhu because of this."
"As for that army... they seemed to have changed their original marching plan and have been stationed in the place bordering Tianzhu and Daming recently, waiting for further orders from the Ming army."
"Of course, these are matters of the Ming army and have nothing to do with us. Even if those diaper-heads have a death wish, they won't go and attack the Ming army... In fact, perhaps no one in the world dares to actively attack the Ming army."
Ofstaten thought, "Isn't this bullshit? With the existence of the 'Little Broken Pot' now, provoking the Ming army is equivalent to provoking the army of the Five Virtuous Ones of the 'Little Broken Pot'. Who would be so suicidal?"
As for before...
After careful consideration, Ofstaten despaired to realize that even before, perhaps no one dared to provoke the Ming army. Otherwise, the Dutch East India Company would not have surrendered in Old Port, and he would not be recruiting laborers in Tianzhu with Howard now.
After thinking for a moment, Ofstaten said, "Whether those diaper-heads provoke the Ming army or not is irrelevant to us now, and what we need to do now is not just to buy cannons and grenades from Daming, right?"
Howard nodded and said, "What we need to do now is, of course, not just to buy cannons and grenades from Daming, but to find a way to get a Daming flag – believe me, as long as we get the discarded cannons and grenades from the Ming army and fly the Daming flag, those diaper-heads who only know how to smear cow dung on themselves will be scared to death."
"They will definitely not swarm forward like they are now, but will be scared and flee everywhere. We just need to recruit laborers according to the original plan."
Howard's words completely bewildered Ofstaten.
Was this plan feasible?
Yes, it was extremely feasible, because it was not difficult to buy discarded cannons and grenades from Daming, as the English and Dutch East India Companies were responsible for their transport, and they could even skim some from the transported cannons and grenades.
It was not difficult to get a Daming flag. Not to mention directly having it imitated, even buying it through regular channels in Old Port was not impossible.
This was similar to how merchant ships at sea usually prepared a Daming flag – it was very necessary to prepare a Daming flag at sea, because generally, legitimate checkpoints would not inspect merchant ships flying the Daming flag, and pirates would also be deterred by seeing this flag, and might even give up their original plans of plunder.
This was because there had been pirates who attacked Daming merchant ships before, but those pirates had been thrown into the sea by the Daming navy to feed the sharks – the kind where people were tied to the ship with ropes, and then a cut was made on their bodies to attract sharks to eat them.
The effect of this was obvious, that is, pirates were no longer willing to attack Daming merchant ships. After all, there were too many Daming naval bases. Once they discovered pirates attacking Daming merchant ships, they would dispatch the nearest naval fleet to pursue them relentlessly, regardless of whether these pirates were real pirates or licensed pirates from certain European countries.
It was precisely because of this that the Daming flag became an essential item on merchant ships, and it was not difficult to buy.
The key was whether the English and Dutch East India Companies could bear the consequences of doing so.
Or rather, were England and Holland willing to bear the consequences of doing so?
After all, a merchant ship flying the Daming flag was one thing, but for armed forces like the English and Dutch East India Companies to fly the Daming flag and recruit laborers was another matter entirely.
What if the Daming side found out, and Daming really pursued it, would England and Holland be able to cover up the East India Companies doing this?
Even if England and Holland were willing to protect the East India Companies, would the Daming side let the East India Companies go?
After a long silence, Ofstaten said with a conflicted expression, "This plan is too crazy, I cannot agree."
Howard said, "What's crazy about it? Do you think I would fly the Daming flag directly without letting Daming know?"
Ofstaten was startled and asked, "Are you going to tell Daming first that we plan to impersonate the Ming army to recruit laborers?"
Howard said, "Are you stupid? Of course, we have to tell Daming first. Otherwise, who can bear the wrath of the Emperor of Daming and the Ming army? Is it you? Or me? Or England and Holland?"