Xinshun 1730

Chapter 271 The Inevitability of Batavia
After these lovely boys drank, each of them started to talk more.

His face was flushed, his eyes were drooping as if he was about to fall asleep, but the way he tried to keep them open was a bit funny.

The more they talked, some of them might be their parents who had forgotten what they looked like and began to cry.The venting of emotions came quickly, but went slowly, and the crying sound lasted for a long time.

Liu Yu simply gave them a holiday, so that they don't have to go to class these days, but just pack up the things they need to prepare.

A few confidantes were sent to follow, and after going there, they took care of the lives of these children.

I thought of sending another confidant to go to Europe to lure Harrison who had already made the H1 nautical clock.

But after thinking about it for a while, although the British side gives rewards, but the technical blockade is very good, the British have always been like this: I can’t get it, but if you want it, I will try to disgust you.

It is estimated that even if you spend [-] to [-] pounds, it will be difficult to make the trip.

In addition, that thing is completely handmade, it is too difficult to learn, and it is impossible to mass-produce it at all, so I hesitated for a long time and finally gave up.

The treasures of longitude measurement are all pressed on the star map and the nautical astronomical almanac, and I only hope that Euler will be more powerful and lay the mathematical foundation for the astronomical almanac earlier.

As the monsoon approached day by day, various preparations were also done.

Liu Yu didn't believe in ghosts and gods at all, but before sailing this time, he took the officers on the Free Trade to Long Island in Yantai.

In front of the Mazu Temple of Xianying Palace in Long Island, I worshiped carefully and prayed for the blessing of Mazu.

This matter is of great significance. If it succeeds, it will arouse the interest of maritime merchants in Europe; Failed.

The military officers on Weihaiwei and Liugong Island saw Liu Yu go to the temple to worship the gods for the first time, and they all knew that this time was of great significance, and they could guess the danger involved.

Even if Bering and others were going to explore the Americas, Liu Yu never went to burn incense and pray for blessings, which shows the weight of this voyage.

After returning from Xianying Palace, the wind direction changed in October, and Liugong Island set off a long series of firecrackers.

Mantou boarded the ship and set sail, first went to Songjiang, loaded tea and silk in Songjiang, and then went to Fujian, where it was filled with ordered porcelain and hoarded rhubarb.

Formed a fleet with two Swedish merchant ships, set sail from Fujian, and embarked on this journey to Europe.

While the Free Trade was setting sail in Fujian, a Chinese merchant ship heading for Batavia was counting heads.

This ship has nothing to do with Liu Yu.

More than 100 bankrupt farmers in ragged clothes and dull eyes have continued their journey to Nanyang since the founding of Dashun and the opening of trade.

The bow of the boat is very familiar with the road, and I don’t know how many times I have traveled to Batavia.

The accountants are checking the contract. These illiterate poor families who have traveled to Nanyang have to listen to the accountants to read the contract clearly.

"Taixing's 18th year, month, and day. Because my family was poor and had no means of living, I went to Nanyang. The ship fare owed will be paid in advance by the master after arriving in Nanyang. The ship fare will be paid in advance, and I will pay back by working in the future..."

After reading this contract, which was almost regarded as a contract slave, and making sure that these people understood it, poor illiterate people put their fingerprints on it.

They didn't know what fate they were going to suffer, but they knew they couldn't survive on the shore.

The land is gone, and there is not enough land in Fujian. Even though sweet potatoes were popularized in Fujian as early as the end of Ming Dynasty, there was still not enough to eat.

The wives and children sell everything that can be sold. Of course, most people have none at all. Apart from going to Nanyang, there is no other way to make a living.

I heard that when you go there, you will be in charge of food and housing, that is, cutting sugar cane and boiling sugar for others. It sounds okay, at least it is better than starving to death here.

With a shred of expectation for the future, these poor people set foot on the boat to Batavia.

It was not very different from a slave ship. A group of people were densely packed in a small space, and people had to line up to defecate and pee, and the stench and foul smell permeated the cabin.

There was not much cargo in the ship, and the captain would nod the heads every day and throw the sick people into the sea.

Just hope not to die too much.

It is not easy to do business in Batavia nowadays, so I just point to selling some slave labor to make a little money, and bring some spices when I come back.

Since the Austrian Ostend company collected a wave of tea hoarding here a few years ago, causing the Dutch to abandon Batavia as a transfer station and send a Chinese trade commission from Amsterdam, the switch of Dashun The policy completely made the sea merchants who had been second-hand dealers lose their way of life.

The Dutch buy tea directly in Guangdong and Fujian.

On the other hand, Batavia often seizes merchant ships, so that sea merchants who go to Batavia can hardly make any money, and can only sell some people to avoid empty ships.

It was not sold to the Dutch. The Dutch worried that the Chinese in Batavia would become more and more difficult to control, and introduced various policies to control the Chinese in Batavia from entering Hong Kong.

Instead, they are sold to local "compatriots", who are the ones who actually buy slave labor.

In the turbulent cabin, the captain drank wine and ate food and drinks with his lieutenants, and said with a smile: "These poor people can't get off the boat once they get on the boat! When they get there, they don't have Dutch residence permits, so they can only Doing illegal work in the sugarcane field. Dare to run and ask for more money. How many years have the owners been there? Just tell the Dutch that if you don’t have a residence permit, you have to dig embankments and do labor. It’s better to work in sugarcane I will work in the garden all my life."

Several assistants also laughed loudly. Anyway, when they are at sea, those deceiving faces don't need to be kept anymore.

In order to prevent the Chinese from having the power to resist, the Dutch "kindly" exempted the Chinese from military service, but they had to pay a poll tax.

As a result, the Chinese are almost a group of pigs and sheep waiting to be slaughtered, with no experience in serving as soldiers, and no strong organization.

Some wealthy Chinese businessmen were hired as taxpayers, and they ruled indirectly and used Chinese to control China. The deep-seated hatred and contradictions were all pressed on those taxpayers who were dog legs, and no one would soberly tell them the truth about cruel oppression. Dutchman behind.

The sugarcane plantations invested by wealthy Chinese businessmen require a lot of labor.

On the one hand, Chinese laborers need to apply for a very troublesome residence permit, and on the other hand, they need to pay poll tax.

Under the tax package system, it is impossible to collect poll tax from everyone. The Dutch do not have such grass-roots control in Nanyang and can only be collected by taxpayers.

The owners of the gardens concealed that these slave laborers did not need to pay the poll tax, but only needed to bribe the taxpayers.

Similarly, if these compatriots doing slave labor can't stand the hardship and want to run away, taxpayers will bring people over to beat them up, or they will kill chickens to make an example of them, and arrest a few troublemakers to the Dutch as a reason for not having a residence permit. If there are black households, they have to do slave labor for the Dutch and build dams until they die.

The small merchants and Chinese merchants in the city of Batavia hate those wealthy businessmen and taxpayers who are regarded by the Dutch as passing on conflicts; the slave laborers in the sugar cane plantations also hate the owners who are all compatriots and speak the same dialect. .

Under the instigation of the Dutch, the Chinese in Nanyang almost became two ethnic groups, and they became completely disorganized: those who are rich, educated and able to organize are dog legs; They take their own lives, but hate the dogs first, and no one tells them that the real oppressor is hiding behind their backs.

The shipowners who went to Batavia couldn't figure out these things, and they didn't care.

They know what they are selling.But in their view, this is just a business.

The Dutch went directly to Guangdong and Fujian to buy tea and porcelain, and Batavia no longer needed these sea merchants as transit, and could sell and sell people, so it was better to go empty-ship.

But before sailing, they saw the free trade number of the trading company, which brought some shock.

"I said, have you seen it? The big sailing ship of the trading company? When did they build such a big ship? It's even bigger than those Westerners' big ships."

After taking a sip of wine, the captain lamented what he had seen and heard before setting sail in Fujian. The huge shadow of the big ship made his ship look like a small boat.

"Then there's another one you can't see? They stop to pack tea in Fujian...or else, they are doing big business. Damn, if you can sell tea to those Western ghosts, who would want to sell people?"

"That boat is so big, if it takes a trip to the west, it won't cost 10 taels of silver?"

With [-]% envy and [-]% bitterness, these people on the boat were also unhappy.

The arms can't twist the thighs, and the Westerners have such a big company, with guns, cannons, and battleships. How can these loose ship owners compete with the Westerners?Unless someone organizes it, but the imperial court does not organize it, and private organization is a taboo.

A few years ago, I transported tea to Batavia, but was detained by the Dutch. Seeing that the interest was increasing day by day, and the tea was gradually aging, I could only sell it at the low price given by the Dutch.

Although I made an oath, the fool will transport tea to Batavia in the future, but it can only stop here, and I can only swallow this anger, otherwise what can I do?

"Those big businessmen ran to Songjiang to invest in shares. It's a pity that we don't have much money. When we got the news, the shares were all distributed. Think about it, transporting rice to Tianjin and carrying private goods, If you can do this, who will do this kind of business?"

The captain spoke sourly about the turmoil that had occurred in Fujian a few days ago, and several lieutenants also muttered: "There is no way, the people over there are capable. Zhangzhou helped Fuzhou and those who ran to the East lost their temper. What can we do?" ? Who is their backstage? The Fuzhou Gang and Zhangzhou Gang run Dongyang’s backstage, how can they compare with others?"

"Let me tell you, this business will become more and more difficult in the future. Selling people will not make much money, so you can save empty ships. Have you heard that the price of sugar in Bacheng has dropped again?"

They haven't learned much economics, but they know that if the price of sugar falls, it will be difficult to manage the sugarcane plantation.

Sugarcane plantations are difficult to grow, and the price of slave labor is low, and they may not even be sold.Slave labor cannot be sold, and they have to make a one-way trip to Batavia, and they can't make much money if they go one-way.

The owner of the boat said helplessly: "Let's have a look. After a while, if the business really can't go on, take the boat to Songjiang to see if you can buy a stock there or something. The more people there are, the stronger the strength is. Westerners rely on What? Isn’t it just because of having a big company, with more people, more money, more ships, and more guns?”

"Always stop our ship. Let's see if they dare to stop the Free Trade ship?"

The Free Trade is just an armed merchant ship. If it really wants to fight, even the cruiser that Liu Yu has been complaining about can't beat it.

But such a large ship, and it is still a Chinese ship, has appeared in Nanyang for the first time since Zheng He, and may even go to Europe for the first time. This still has a great impact on the maritime merchants in Nanyang. .

(End of this chapter)