Xinshun 1730

Chapter 534 is not new at this moment

The messenger mentioned Wallenstein, who determined the direction of the 30-year religious war. Using this as an example, the Dutch could not have known that there were almost countless similar stories in Chinese history books, and they could be condensed into eight Character.

Raising the bandits is self-respecting, and the birds are all bowed and hidden.

The reason for Wallenstein’s suspicion is that after killing Gustav II, he released the Protestant captives and uprising leaders without asking for instructions in the subsequent wars, stood still and watched the anti-Austrian alliance come back, and negotiated privately with Sweden and France .

Of course, this is just one of the rumors, and the intention is obviously the meaning of "Tao Bird's best bow storage". It's just a few words of self-respect.

Valknell is familiar with these stories.At least the 30-year war in China can be regarded as a story at the level of the Warring States Period, which directly determines the subsequent history. The stories in this story are known to the upper echelons of Europe.

Although I don't know the idiom "Niao Jin Gong Zang", it does not prevent such thinking.After a little thought, I understood what the messenger meant.

If Batavia increases its troops, Dashun will think that there may be a threat from the south, and even worry that the Netherlands will arm Japan.

In this way, the former Secretary of the Navy who was transferred to the nursing home as the deputy admiral may be reactivated.And that was exactly the situation Valknir did not want to see.

The messenger said again: "Lord President Du, Mr. Phillips analyzed that Liu Yu's beating of our sailors in Tianjin should be deliberately provoking us. He is well aware of the situation of the Chinese in Batavia, and this is deliberately provoking us. Take revenge."

"Once this happens, the war fanatics he represents will gain power in the court, thereby consolidating their position and advocating a war of revenge."

"Their emperor probably didn't want to see such a situation, so he was publicly reprimanded for his disrespectful behavior to the mission, and his salary for three years was deducted. It is said that his title was changed from the more noble title of meritorious service , changed it to an ordinary place name and title. I think this is a game between the emperor and a powerful minister, and the emperor does not want to see this powerful minister gain more prestige and reputation by means of war."

Valknir nodded, thinking to himself that it was fortunate that he did not organize the massacre of the Batavian Chinese, and fortunately that he had vaguely felt the huge risk inside.

After careful consideration, it should indeed be the case.Judging from the emperor's attitude of giving money with internal funds, whether it was for Central Asia or Russia, or to prevent meaningless wars in the south, at least Dashun seemed to have no interest in Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia is the foundation of the company. It is not necessary for Dashun to completely seize Southeast Asia, or even drag the Netherlands into a protracted war, and the company's finances will collapse.And if the company collapses... there is no way to reorganize it at all.

Many people in the Netherlands also suffer from "pink eye disease", thinking that it is wrong to monopolize trade because they have no chance to participate.

The company is powerless. If the seven provincial governments are expected to take back Southeast Asia, it is conceivable that Southeast Asia is no longer the property of the company.Those contributors, taxpayers, and those who pay the war shipbuilding tax will definitely ask for it to be nationalized, otherwise why should we use our money to save the monopoly East India Company?
Either nationalized, or not a penny.

Fortunately, the foundation of the company is not in danger for the time being. Valkner asked again: "Then what conditions do you think the Chinese side wants to put forward besides asking us not to contact or trade with Japan?"

"Well... it should be about their joint venture with the Swedish East India Company, right? The Governor also knows that the Swedes are a group of smugglers who just borrowed a large amount of money from the company. The company was afraid that they would not pay back the money, so they Turn a blind eye and close one eye. And the company does not want to start a war against Sweden, after all, the fighting power of the Swedes is still terrible."

"But this matter is meaningless. The British have allowed it in order to get port rights and supplies in China; the French are supporting Sweden in a war against Russia, and they will not care; the Portuguese are afraid of losing Macau; the Russians ...the emperor of Russia and China doesn't care about their opinion at all. So, if the company wants to continue to maintain trade with China, it can only admit it."

Valkner roughly figured out the bottom line of this meeting, guessed what Dashun might ask, and knew it well.

Basically, it's a good thing.

Throughout Java, there are at least 20 to [-] Chinese without a residence permit.If each person pays two silver coins, it will be nearly [-] silver coins. This is not a small amount, and it can greatly alleviate Batavia's financial crisis.

And... It only needs the statisticians and accountants to do a little bit of tricks, add two to one and make five, and half of it will be included in the public account, which is [-] silver coins. As usual, the governor will take the big head, and everyone will share one point.It's fun, harmonious and procrastinating.

It seemed that everything was getting better, and even the rebellion of the Chinese outside the city did not bother him so much anymore.

…………

Two days later, Shi Shiyong, who had already rested, formally met with Valknir.

He is not very good at negotiating, but he remembers a few things that the lurking Xiao Zuo said, and he just needs to try his best to facilitate these things.

For the rest of the business, the court will send someone to come later.He came to stabilize the mood of the Chinese in Batavia first. The court was worried that it would lead to a massacre and affect the future rule of Nanyang—mainly considering that after the massacre, the official immigration would have to spend a lot of money. If the poll tax is used on immigrants after death, it will be a drop in the bucket, not even a splash.

Now that the insurgents have retreated to the south and time is needed, Shi Yong said directly: "To be honest, the Holy Son of Heaven doesn't know what happened here recently. He also doesn't know that the poll tax has not been ordered by the King of the Netherlands." If you knew, you would definitely not agree to pay the money.”

Valkner took great pains to explain, making it clear that Batavia has nothing to do with the Netherlands, and is the company's property, not a Dutch territory.

"Mr. Special Envoy, it's like your manor. Do you still need to consider your emperor's opinion on what kind of decorations you want to place and what kind of flowers you want to plant?"

Shi Shiyong said in amazement: "Of course! Do not misuse things that are beyond the control, and do not use the color that is beyond control. This is the most basic requirement. Haven't you been to the manor of Lei Zhenlan from Tang Dynasty here? Even here, he Don't dare to use the seven main halls! Could it be that he can't afford it?"

This astonishment is not only a purely natural reaction, but also some knowing and deliberate astonishment.Shi Shiyong also had a lot of contact with Liu Yu. He knew what the East India Company was. If it was replaced by someone who knew the truth, he would be surprised. When he returned, he wrote a letter requesting the closure of Songjiang's trading company - there are guns and cannons. Having soldiers, the power to levy taxes, the power to form a government, and diplomatic power are far more than feudal towns and vassals. North Korea has no diplomatic power.

Valkner felt that this was a chicken-and-duck talk. The cultures and customs of the two sides were completely different, and it was impossible to explain the legal principles of taxation here.

Fortunately, Shi Shiyong didn't come here specifically to find fault, and after talking for a while, he pretended to admit it, and said, "Since that's the case, what Your Majesty means is that these people are poor people who have no choice but to go to sea to make a living. Now that we have come here, we have no choice but to abide by the laws and regulations here, no matter how strange they are.”

"Your Majesty wants to pay the three-year poll tax in advance for the remnants of the Celestial Dynasty here from internal funds. However, the previous tax arrears will not be counted in the past, so there is no need to talk about it."

Hearing this, Valkner was pleasantly surprised.

Needless to say, there are hundreds of thousands of silver coins in three years.

Surprised... He knows the situation of the Chinese in Batavia and the whole of Java, and it is not a question of poll tax at all.

It is an economic crisis, a company's wrong decision-making caused by the excessive expansion of sucrose, and the rise of the West Indian Cuban sugar Haiti sugar, and the decline in sales of spices with the ebb of the human body's four-fluid theory, and the incident in Japan and Persia caused the market to shrink ... and so on and so on, resulting in a huge economic crisis.

Especially the economic crisis of a completely export-oriented economy.

As a result, even if the poll tax is paid, the Chinese have nothing to do in Batavia, and the danger of tens of thousands of unemployed and slave labor is too great.

How to survive the tide of unemployment in the economic crisis?In this era, no one has considered this issue, but some people have made suggestions to the 17-member committee before, suggesting that the Chinese poll tax be abolished and certain relief be given.

This proposal, of course, is impossible to pass.

Let shareholders have no money to pay dividends, but spend money on relief?Let the local government of Batavia lose poll tax revenue?Let Batavia's officials down from the governor lose a customary income?

Is the company doing charity?
There is also the question of how to get over it.

As long as these people don't die or are sent back to Fujian, they are still alive.To live, you have to eat and dress, this is the most basic.

As far as the Chinese are accustomed, as long as they can eat and dress, they will generally not rebel.But it's really to the point where they can't eat, this group of people don't care who they are, even the emperor dares to kill them.This is a nation that endures and obeys like a lamb on weekdays, and is like Ares on Mount Olympus when it gets angry.

Now that Dashun is willing to give money, will Dashun agree to transport these people to other places for hard labor?

And if you want to be transported to other places for hard labor, there must be a reason.

For this reason, what I thought before was "I haven't paid the poll tax I owed for so many years, so I went to work to pay off the debt and become a debt slave."

Now Dashun is requesting that the previous poll tax is not counted in the past... Valknell did not expect to get the previous money, but if the past is not counted, then what are these Chinese?Still a debt slave?
No.

They are not debt slaves, and the poll tax has been paid. What reason do I have to arrest them and send them to Ceylon, Ambon, Cape Town and other places for hard labor and debt slave labor?

Pay them to work?How could the East India Company make a profit if they paid people to do things?Besides, if you pay for doing things and trade fairly, then raising so many soldiers, wouldn't it be for nothing?
Things have developed into what they are today, and the entire Batavia high-level, even the 17-member committee, cannot get away with it.

The problem is that no one took the initiative to take responsibility for this, and they were all trying to pass the buck to each other. This led to the parachute of Valkner, trying to solve the Chinese problem once and for all.

The 17-member committee pretended not to know that Batavia's sugar purchase policy was extremely nonsense, and tried to keep the price of sugar down as much as possible to make a profit. For this reason, Chinese people without residence permits were allowed to work in sugar factories.When the incident happened, I was stunned, and exclaimed that there is such a thing?We don't know!The Batavian officials misunderstood me!

The successive governors pretended not to know that the policy of taxation from food, clothing, housing and transportation, to gambling and smoking, to fishing and catching shrimps, and the squeeze of taxpayers made the bottom Chinese miserable and unable to survive.

The previous members of the council pretended not to know about the collusion and accepted bribes. Ship after ship of Chinese slave labor was transported to the farm outside Batavia. Occasionally, one who did not have a residence permit immediately exclaimed that someone did not have a residence permit. Dare to go ashore.

Jiapitan and Lei Zhenlan pretend to be able to completely rule the Chinese society. In theory, all registered Chinese have to go to Lei Zhenlan's place once a month, but they pretend not to know that there are tens of thousands of Chinese who are not registered outside the city. slave labor.

The magistrate pretended not to know that the sugar industry was over, the contractors were all takers who had changed hands countless times, and he also pretended not to know that unemployed black shirts and trousers had appeared outside the city a few years ago.

Everyone pretended not to know, and they all wanted to leave after working for a few years, so as not to touch themselves.

In the words of a Dutch judicial judge, "It is wise to cover up the truth before it breaks out."

"Any Chinese who does not have a residence permit, if one gets to the bottom of it, the joint responsibility ranges from the port, to the patrol judge, to the contractor of the sugarcane department, to Lei Zhenlan Kapitan, to the members of the council, to the governor...all Responsible. And this is the acquiescence from the 17-member committee to the governor, but there is no written instruction. Therefore, no one will expose this rotten scar. I can only pray that things will not explode before I earn enough money to return to the Netherlands .”

"From top to bottom, they are pretending to be ignorant of this. It seems that the tens of thousands of Chinese outside the city suddenly appeared. It seems like mushrooms in the oak forest after the autumn rain. There were no mushrooms the day before, and they suddenly appeared. Appeared."

Now, at this moment.This big scapegoat was blamed by the previous governor.

The reason is that someone found out that the previous governor sold the residence permit privately, and the money was in his own pocket. Therefore, the tens of thousands of undocumented Chinese outside the city are the big scapegoat, so let’s also carry it. I will lock you up and make the whole city happy. .

But now, this big scapegoat has been taken on his back. The question is how to solve the current problem?This was the purpose of the Committee of 17 sending Valknir here.

If it is done, the position will be stable, but if it is not done, it will be blamed!
Valkner knew very well that the scapegoat of his predecessor was only the fact that there were tens of thousands of Chinese outside the city.Even if you only sold a residence permit privately, you have to take care of the big pot. If you said you sold one, who knew that you confiscated the money and acquiesced to those sugarcane ministries smuggling slave labor?

The former governor was a man, and he yelled at the court. Don't you seventeen gentlemen know it?How could sugar in Batavia be so cheap if the poll tax of two silver coins per worker was paid as required?You are also big businessmen, do you really not even know the cost calculation?But the more you tell the truth, the faster you die and the heavier the sentence.

Now what Valkner needs to solve is, where do these tens of thousands of Chinese go, what do they do, and where can they accommodate the labor force of [-] to [-] Chinese?
This and that fact are two issues.The predecessor's blame only made the fact that it is difficult to hide it public, and it has become a new problem, which needs to be solved by this governor.

The requirements given by the Seventeen Gentlemen are very simple: they must neither affect the trade with China, but also must solve the problem of the Chinese in Batavia.

Affected trade with China, blamed.

The Chinese problem has not been resolved, and it is the fault.

Both, side by side.

It turned out that he was ambitious and thought it was very simple, just kill them all, or throw them into Ceylon as a slave or cannon fodder.

However, Dashun engaged in gunboat diplomacy, paid the poll tax after the ceremony, and said that if the past is not counted, these people are not debt slaves. What should we do?
It was the first time for Valkenier to experience the abhorrentness of gunboat diplomacy. He didn't dare to slaughter even a few Chinese, which made it so troublesome.

(End of this chapter)