Xinshun 1730

Chapter 517

Nanyang.at this time.

Kapitan Lian Fuguang, a Chinese in Batavia, had lunch at twelve o'clock as usual.

In his 30s, he was in the upper circles when he was young, and his stomach was ruined by drinking. The doctor told him not to eat some indigestible food, it is best to eat some liquid food, drink some porridge or something.

But the temptation of delicious food is always hard to resist, and eating is not necessarily to be full.

At the dining table, a loyal servant knelt on the ground, holding a silver plate in his hand.

Lian Fuguang chewed the food to produce delicious juice. After chewing to a certain extent, the servant who had been with him for a long time passed the plate over and asked him to spit out the residue that had been squeezed out of the juice in his mouth.

A bell rang from a Portuguese church not far away, announcing the arrival of noon.The maid brought the washbasin, cleaned her hands, wiped her mouth, and went to meet the guests after lunch as usual to discuss some business.

As a Chinese, Kapitan, if the Chinese have anything to discuss with him, or discuss business, they will naturally take the initiative to come to his house.After all, people in Nanyang, whether they are Dutch, Javanese or Chinese, do not know his "Amanus Gracht Manor".

If you want to go out to find others by yourself, you must go to the Dutch, and only the Dutch can let him, Kapitan, take the initiative to visit.

After leaving his house, there were many Dutch soldiers patrolling the street, as well as some Javanese mercenaries.This tense situation has already begun a few months ago.

His residence is on Rua Malacca Street, next to the Portuguese Church.Although the Dutch are Protestants, religion is religion and business is business.

The last time the Ostend company stockpiled tea in Guangdong and Fujian to fight against the Dutch monopoly on tea. At that time, the Dutch, who were still sticking to the Batavia transit trade, had to release high prices to lure the sea merchants from Dashun to send tea to Batavia. Davia.

But after it was delivered, the Dutch immediately detained the ship, looking for various reasons.Not to mention that they would go back on their word and lower the price to buy, but they just held the ship and refused to let it go. The Dashun maritime merchants who brought the tea had to ship the tea at an extremely low price, and the loss would be more if they were held back for one more day.At that time, those sea merchants swore that they would never come to Batavia again, let alone sell a piece of tea to Batavia.

In the years before the 17-member committee made a direct flight to Guangdong and established the Special Committee on Trade with China, thanks to the Portuguese in Macau, a large amount of tea was shipped in, which eased the tea monopoly crisis of the East India Company.This Portuguese Catholic church continued to exist in the Protestant Dutch colony.

Next to the church, which symbolizes the crucifixion of mercy, is a towering flagpole, on which hangs a human head with no carrion.

As usual, every time the Chinese Kapitan Lian Fuguang came here, he would take a look at this poor hapless ghost and warn himself not to make the same mistakes as this hapless ghost.

Twenty years ago, Lian Fuguang had seen the execution methods of the East India Company, and it was this unlucky ghost whose head was still hanging on the flagpole.

At that time, Lian Fuguang was only in his teens, and his father was Lei Zhenlan (second lieutenant), not Kapitan (captain), and he lived in Batavia at that time.He was not born in Dashun, but in Batavia.

That trial was a Dutchman named Peter Elberfeld.The crime is the death penalty for Batavia, and Chinese Lei Zhenlan and Jiapitan who live in the city of Batavia are invited to watch.

That execution left a deep impression on Lian Fuguang, and even potentially affected his consciousness: Anyone who opposes the Dutch will end up in the same way.

The prisoner was tied to a cross, whipped with a whip mixed with wire until the bones were broken, and then poured with water to wake him up.After he was watered awake, the surgeon cut open the "criminal"'s chest, dug out his lungs and tore them off, tied them with ropes and hung them on a flagpole to feed seabirds.

Finally, the limbs and head are dismembered, and the head is hung on a high place. Before the maggots grow, seabirds will peck off the meat on the head, and finally there is only a skeleton hanging on the flagpole.

When watching this execution, Lian Fuguang was only thirteen or fourteen years old.In the blink of an eye, 20 years have passed, and every time he passed by here, he would think of that afternoon a long time ago, and would warn himself every day not to do anything that would make the Dutch unhappy.

The Dutch... can crush all rebels like crushing an ant.

As usual, after admonishing himself, when he was about to ask the servant to drive away from here, he saw his own brother Lian Jieguang at the intersection, as if he was waiting for someone there.

The servant stopped the car, and his younger brother Lian Jieguang came over, tilted his head to look at his own brother, snorted and asked, "You sued the Dutchman, saying Brother Huaiguan is a bad person?"

The two are brothers, and they are both Chinese. Even if they are in Nanyang, they should still have the morality of brothers and sisters.But Lian Jieguang didn't even call Sheng Ge, and his words were full of resentment and accusations.

Lian Fuguang looked around and said in a deep voice, "Third brother, don't think I'm a villain. I'm here to protect our people in the city. Lian Huaiguan's behavior is different, and we will be killed together. .You look back at that flagpole, you have seen the execution, you should know the methods of the Dutch."

"We are different from those poor ghosts outside the city."

"We have a residence permit, we abide by the laws of the Netherlands, we will not use knives and guns to resist, and we will honestly obey the governor's orders."

"But if those poor ghosts outside the city rise up to make trouble, the people in the city will also be affected."

"That's why I reported Lian Huai Guan to save the people in our city. Catch the troublemakers in advance, and throw all the troublemakers to Ceylon to do hard labor, so that there will be no disturbances outside. In this way People will not be mutilated and their heads hung on flagpoles."

"I'm here to save people, don't think I'm a villain."

"The Netherlands is not a celestial dynasty. The Dutch are law-abiding. Their laws are very clear, and they are not allowed to live in Batavia without a residence permit. Those poor ghosts have committed crimes. The Dutch act according to the law, shouldn't they ?"

"Besides, what good do we gain from those poor ghosts making trouble? Not only is there no benefit, my sugarcane plantation is also affected, and my sugar factory is also unemployed. I also cover a lot of taxes in Bacheng, and it will be over if there is a disturbance .”

"We decent people with property who live in the city are not at all the same as the people outside the city."

Lian Jieguang sneered: "You also know that you will be implicated. Do you think you are different from people outside the city? But in the eyes of the Dutch, aren't we all the same Chinese immigrants?"

Lian Fuguang patted the carriageway: "That's why I want to report on Lian Huaiguan to let the Dutch know that we are not the same people as those people outside the city. If those people outside the city make trouble, we will be the ones who killed us! If they really If there is going to be a big trouble, I will take people to guard the city wall, and the Dutch will know that we are standing with them."

"Hahahaha... The Dutch don't even allow us to touch guns. If you stand guard on the city wall, the Dutch can treat you as their own?" Lian Jieguang couldn't help laughing, and said bluntly after sarcasm: "Just According to what you said, the Dutch have laws, and you abide by the laws of the Netherlands. Didn’t you bring any slave labor without a residence permit in your sugar factory back then?”

"Since the Dutch talk about the law, is there any implication in the Dutch law? Don't you have a lawyer friend named William Klass? You can ask him, what is the crime of implication? Which Dutch law stipulates of?"

One sentence left Lian Fuguang speechless. Today he was going to see his lawyer friend named William Claes, but he didn't ask what crime he was implicated in.

It was because of an accident in his sugar factory.

A dozen or so Chinese slave laborers were arrested because they did not have a residence permit, but these dozen or so people are not easy to bully, they are gang members of poor brothers.Under the leadership of several people, more than a hundred slave labor brothers in the nearby sugar factory rebelled together and beat the Dutchmen who arrested them.

The city of Ba shook, and the Chinese in the city were in an uproar.

Therefore, he is going to his lawyer friend William Klass to show his evidence and bills, proving that his sugar factory was subcontracted to others a few years ago because the sugar business was not good, and what happened there It has nothing to do with me.

Lian Fuguang looked at his younger brother who was mocking him, and couldn't help sighing.

He felt that he was a good person, a qualified Kapitan, and he reported it to protect the interests of the Chinese in the city.

If you don't report it yourself, it will be difficult to control the riots of those Chinese outside the city in the future, and most of the Chinese in the city who abide by the law, have identity, have residence permits, and have property will be implicated.

There are thousands of people in the city.

Most people in the city want the Dutch to understand that they are not the same as people outside the city.

Although they are all Chinese, they should not be divided in this way.Moreover, several Lei Zhenlan also expressed that if the poor outside the city rioted, they would organize the Chinese in the city to resist on the city wall to prove their loyalty to the Netherlands.

But...the Dutch didn't agree to give them guns, and they still didn't allow the Chinese to serve as soldiers.

The Dutch are invincible. Whether it is pirates, Britain, or Portugal, they must give seven points to the Dutch in Southeast Asia.Wasn’t Dashun’s official ship going to Sweden also detained by the Dutch?This is an indelible impression buried in his heart. The Dutch are invincible, just like the sun rising from the east. It is a problem that does not need to be considered.

As Kapitan, there are some Lei Zhenlan, and some tax collectors, they hope to prove their loyalty to the Netherlands; to prove that they are not a group of people outside the city.

He felt that by reporting, he was actually protecting the Chinese.It's just that his younger brother can't understand him, and thinks he is a villain on the contrary.

I wear shoes myself.

The group of poor ghosts outside the poll tax couldn't afford it. For me, two silver coins a year, and a casual banquet was more than that.Are you short of these two silver coins?Those without a residence permit will be arrested, imprisoned, or sent to Ceylon Xiu Castle. What does it have to do with me?
After those poor ghosts started to make trouble, if they really occupied Batavia, wouldn't they divide their property?My Jiapidan was awarded by the Dutch, and the Dutch were driven away. Who would recognize my Jiapidan?
Besides, how could he beat the Dutchman?If they can't beat the Dutch, then the people in the city will be the ones who suffer the most if they make a fuss?
People outside the city die because they are not afraid of death. It’s scary to live anyway. They die when they die. Why do they implicate the Chinese who have property in the city, abide by the law, are most afraid of turmoil, and have always expressed their loyalty to the Netherlands? Woolen cloth?

There is also Lian Huaiguan, Huang Ban and others who have had business dealings with him, but at this time they are on the side of the poor ghost.Although those few people's wealth is not as good as his, it's just not as good as him.Isn't he the kind of person who can't even take out two silver coins?Why mix with those poor ghosts outside?
However, the Dutch should trust themselves a lot.

After all, I have no motive to hook up with those Chinese outside the city, not at all.

(End of this chapter)