Xinshun 1730

Chapter 281 Professional Bribery
"How much is the poll tax in Batavia a month?"

"Master, 8 big coins, or 32 small coins. Pay monthly."

"Who will take it?"

"The taxpayer, Lei Zhenlan, or Kapitan, may also be the mayor of the street. Every street has a street mayor, and the street chief is usually the taxpayer. Sometimes the poll tax is outsourced, and sometimes it is not outsourced."

"This is a taxpayer, what are the conditions? How can I become one?"

Lian Huaiguan chuckled, Mr. Xindao, you are also an official, don't you understand this question?
"My lord, tax is included, and some will be auctioned. For example, this year's casino tax, the starting price is 900 Dutch guilders. If you bid higher, it will basically be yours. However, if some are not auctioned, they will have to rely on gifts and bribes. "

When he heard about giving money as a bribe, Liu Yu thought it would be easy.

"Is there a way to bribe this?"

"Back to the adults, you need connections, but you need money more. The local Dutch officials will write under the government notice that they want to auction their own 'private property'. For example, if you want to sell a teacup, if you want to give him money, you go to The auction will buy this teacup back. A few years ago, Kapitan Lian Fuguang bought a broken teacup from the Dutchman and spent 400 Dutch guilders, which is actually worth a few coppers.”

"But this broken glass gave him the qualification to cover the wine tax. It can be said that everything can be auctioned. The spoons, clothes, broken cars, etc. of the Dutch officials' homes can be auctioned as long as they want to collect money. Because... this... It's not a bribe."

Liu Yu couldn't help laughing out loud, and praised: "The Dutch commercial society has really played a new role in bribery. It's so wonderful."

"By the way, are there many Dutch people in Bacheng?"

Lian Huaiguan shook his head.

"My lord, there are not many Dutch people. Bacheng belongs to the East India Company, not the Netherlands."

"Because if non-company Dutch people come, they may bring private goods or do private business, which will affect the company's income. Therefore, the company does not welcome non-company employees to come to Batavia. Even if they come, they are all With the mentality of making a fortune and going back to the Netherlands to enjoy it. Chinese are not allowed to operate spices, but they can operate sugar cane. Some Dutch people just outsource sugar factories and so on to collect rent, and rely on the company to collect the bills. They are not in Badawi. Ya."

There are not many Dutch people in the city, which is also an important factor for Lian Huaiguan to come up with the idea of ​​replacing them.

However, there are indeed not many Dutch people, but there are many natives. The Dutch can mobilize some native cavalry.

In addition, some native tax revenues were also handed over to the Chinese taxpayers by the Dutch with sinister intentions... the contradiction can be imagined.

Tax package tax package, you must first pay the tax package amount, and the rest will be responsible for your own profits and losses.

Businessmen spend so much money in auctions and gift giving to obtain the right to pay taxes, but they don't spend their own money to serve the people.

Regarding these situations, Liu Yu made a calculation in his heart.

If the Dutch are not ready to fully expel the Chinese within three or four years, then forget it.

If you do it in advance, you will have to spend money to pay the poll tax, so that the Dutch will not move temporarily, but it will not cost much.

Eight big coppers a month, counting 8 people, only 5 taels of silver a year.

Spending 5 to [-] taels of silver to raise a potential rebel army in Batavia, instead of letting this rebel army rise up and be slaughtered under insufficient preparation, will definitely make a lot of money.

While retaining this group of core resistance forces, it is not impossible to use diplomatic means and embargo sanctions to make the Dutch transport a group of people to Ceylon.

As long as the reaction of the Dashun court is not so slow, the Dutch should not have the guts to slaughter now.

But now, it is the tail end of the age of great exploration. There is no international law, and there is no need for the Dutch to fight the Dutch first.

Why do you want to add sin?

Besides, the Netherlands is not trying to impose a crime. What happened in Penghu, Taiwan, and Zhoushan back then is not counted.Inheriting the Ming Empire, it is natural to inherit these hatreds and pretexts for war.

"Lien Zhuangshi, do you have any acquaintances in Ceylon and other places?"

"Yes. Some of my brothers did not pay the poll tax and were sentenced to hard labor. Some of them were dispatched to Colombo. Whether they are alive or dead, I don't know."

Lian Huaiguan didn't know what Liu Yu was doing when he asked about Ceylon, and thought Liu Yu was thinking about the fact that the Dutch wanted to migrate the Bacheng Chinese to Ceylon.

The location of Ceylon, a small place, is very important, especially for Australia, where the Chinese completely control Nanyang.

Because of the existence of the equatorial windless belt, it is almost impossible to go to Australia from the Indonesian archipelago.

Therefore, Liu Yu hoped that when Bering went to America to explore, he would take the South American Pacific route and follow the ocean current to Australia.

Ceylon is almost the closest springboard to Australia at this time, or else you can only follow the route of Bering this time to go to Shandong—around North Korea—Whale Sea—Thousand Islands—North America—South America—— The Australian route, this is pure unrealistic dreaming.

If the Dutch are driven away in the future, it will be much easier to have a place in Ceylon.

Ceylon is a Buddhist, and Liu Yu has no interest in completely occupying Ceylon.

However, there is still great interest in helping the Kingdom of Ceylon drive away the Dutch and occupy Colombo City as a stronghold.

Those who believe in Buddhism are at least more suitable for Chinese people to get along with than people from Southeast Asia.

If the Dutch could move three to five thousand Batavian Chinese to Ceylon under their own control, even if more than half of them died, they would have a basis for gaining a firm foothold in the future.

From a dialectical point of view, everything has pros and cons.

Finding a way to use Dutch boats to immigrate Chinese to Ceylon during this wave of Chinese exclusion in the Netherlands, and to make the Dutch bear a bad name can be regarded as turning a bad thing into a good thing.

Of course, if the operation is not good, it is likely to be played off, and tens of thousands of Chinese will be slaughtered by then, then it is presumptuous.

With a preliminary plan in mind, Liu Yu knew that he had to strengthen his mind on Lian Huaiguan, so he took him to visit the army barracks in Weihai.

This army is called "Close to the coast to familiarize yourself with future sea operations, and transport rice along the coast to reduce consumption"; in fact, it is a reformed army sent by the emperor to monitor the navy, and it is one of the few troops in Dashun that has completed the military reform at this time.The emperor was not placed in the capital, but in Weihai.

The fort in Weihai was also taken over by the army. This is a technique of balance and checks and balances. It's not that the emperor no longer trusts Liu Yu.

Although the chief officer didn't come out of Xiaozhan to train troops back then, the staff officers and a group of core veterans in the army still came from Xiaozhan's military training, and they still have face.

I went to take a look when I was in a hurry to go out for the exercise, and the staff in charge of the exercise also carefully prepared a military exercise.

Although Lian Huaiguan has never been a soldier, he can tell the difference between good and bad.

After walking around with Liu Yu, I also understood in my heart that my thinking was too simple.How can the group of brothers under his command compare with the regular army?
I originally thought of becoming a king on my own, but now it seems that if the court really moves its mind, my little ambition will be shattered if it is crushed a little bit.

Now Liu Yu has given such a big step, promising him to be appointed as an official after the matter is completed, Lian Huaiguan is not a fool, he made a decision quickly under the gunpoint of the black hole in the Weihai camp.

"Even if the adults are flattering you, the villains can't be unaware of flattery. Since the court has made a decision, I feel at ease. I was really worried about the cruelty of the Dutch before, so I made a move like Luzon's, so I feel sympathy for it. At that time, it may be burnt together."

Who is Jade?who is stone
Liu Yu smiled and didn't bother with this statement.

"Even the strong men, the Chinese in Bacheng are all citizens of the Celestial Dynasty. The imperial court has to manage it. But how to manage it, there is a saying in it. The letter said, you also have sugar factories and sugarcane gardens in Bacheng, you protect them My brother relies on money, right?"

Lian Huai nodded and said: "Yes. If you have money, you can do things well. My sugar factories can't make any money, and I don't rely on the sugar factories to make that little money. It's just to find a place for the brothers to stay. .”

This method is indeed a good one. The Dutch in Batavia can't even rule directly, which shows how weak the management ability is.

All sugar factory employees are indirectly ruled by rich Chinese businessmen.

Mantou's letter, and Lian Huaiguan's self-report, plus Liu Yu has long known the virtues of a profit-making operator, and he has a good idea of ​​the living conditions of the Batavia sugar factory employees.

Lian Huaiguan does not rely on the sugar factory to make money, he has other sources, so the role of the sugar factory is to provide cover for the brothers around him.

Lian Huaiguan can do this, so naturally Liu Yu can do it, isn't it just money?
"In Batavia, is it easy to rent a sugar factory?"

"Good rent. It's especially good in recent years. Many people don't want to continue to operate, but they owe some usury loans, so they can only bite the bullet and hope that the sugar price will be higher this year. I'm stupid, I don't know the sugar trade There is such a big problem now, but even if I am so stupid, I still know that those people are purely dreaming. This candy was forcibly collected by the Dutch, even if there is still a profit, how can they raise the price on their own initiative?"

Since it is easy to rent, it is simple.Silver is now a hard currency around the world, and when Dashun's silver is spent in Batavia, there are also people who accept it.

"Lien Zhuang, if you want to start an uprising, it won't work if you have fewer people. And it will be more scattered, which will be a problem in the future. How about this, I will help you with a sum of money, and you go back to Batavia to buy a few sugar factories and sugarcane plantations .Kill all the Javanese, leaving only the Chinese.”

"I don't try to make money, even if I am preparing for the future. In case the Dutch want to slaughter, it is far better to organize together than to disperse everywhere."

"Of course, I have to send someone to watch. It's not that I don't trust Lian Zhuangshi. The main reason is that there are too many people and you may not understand some things. And once thousands of people get together, don't say that A must Dan Lei Zhenlan has never been a street mayor, how can she control her?"

It's not so embarrassing for both parties to see through but not tell the truth, which is also very good.

Lian Huai Guan thought for a while, then smiled and said: "My lord is wise. The Dutch don't even know how many Chinese are there in the various sugar factories, and they don't even know how many Chinese there are in Bacheng. If there are more than a dozen sugar factories, don't Seeking profit, thousands of people can still be supported.”

"It's just that it hurts those who can't take care of them."

(End of this chapter)