Xinshun 1730

Chapter 581 Mismatch

At the port of Batavia, the well-known Chinese representatives in Bacheng are looking forward to it here.

The incense burners, incense tables, incense carts and other necessary things to welcome the imperial envoys are all ready.

It's just that most of the people here can only say that they don't care about the imperial envoys sent by the imperial court.Neither excited nor resisted, the imaginary scene where Tan Shihuqian came to see Master Wang and cried bitterly, at least not now.

It is said that the Chinese in Nanyang are rich, which is both true and false.

Yes, it means that Batavia has a total of 21 kinds of tax packages, and the Chinese have 18 kinds; Batavia has a total of more than 200 sugar cane departments, and the Chinese own 195; Batavia covers everything from rice to fish and shrimp, from tobacco Almost everything from drinks, from soy sauce to needles and threads, from casinos to brothels are in the hands of the Chinese.

As long as the Chinese outside Batavia are not counted as human beings, then this sentence is correct.

But if the Chinese who work as slave labor in the sugar cane plantations and spice gardens outside the city are considered human, and if the U-shirt party and pantsless men are also considered Chinese, this is not quite right.

This time, the imperial court took the money and paid the poll tax for three years for the Chinese who could not afford it.

It is the Chinese outside the city who want the imperial court now, but the Chinese outside the city are not qualified to meet the imperial envoy.

As far as the Chinese in the city were concerned, the imperial court neither paid their poll tax nor had the ability to foretell. Of course, they didn't know that Liu Yu had made a massacre invisible, so they didn't have deep feelings for the imperial court.

There is a saying in Dashun, the county magistrate of flowing water, the master of iron.If this is said in Dashun, what is right can no longer be right. Money comes from the land, and the land under control is made of iron.

But in Batavia, that's not quite right.At the very least, the imperial court did not say that if the imperial court went to Nanyang, it would still adopt the old Dutch system, and the system would remain unchanged for a hundred years.

Without this statement, the attitude of the tax-paying upper-class Chinese towards Dashun can be imagined.Dashun's tax system is not a tax package system, and as a traditional celestial dynasty, it has always severely suppressed local snakes.

Dashun really couldn't offend Dashun's landlords, which were the economic foundation of the dynasty, but businessmen, they definitely couldn't offend them.

The same is the imperial envoy, and within Dashun, the ones who are qualified to welcome them are the country gentry.It is a landlord, a family member who has had imperial examination talents, or a retired official, but he must have hundreds of acres of land in his hands.

In Batavia, those who are qualified to welcome are wealthy businessmen, tax-payers, loan lenders, those who run the sea, and those who run sugar plantations.

This is the difference, the difference in the economic bases of the two sides.

On the pier, Lian Fuguang waited for Kapitan and Lei Zhenlan, looking at the sea in the distance, feeling uneasy.

The last time Shi Shiyong and others came to Batavia, they left a very bad impression on these upper-class Chinese. For example, they defined the uprising of slave labor outside the city as fishing and killing families, and officials forced the people to rebel.

This made Jiapidan and Lei Zhenlan have to murmur.

The imperial court said that this time it would come to comfort the Chinese and protect the rights and interests of the Chinese.

So, is it the rights and interests of the Chinese that the Chinese exploit the tax right to oppress the Chinese?Chinese use poll tax loopholes to smuggle Chinese slave labor, squeeze Chinese slave labor, dare to make trouble, Chinese tell the Batavian government to arrest Chinese, is it considered the rights of Chinese?

The Chinese are eager to pay less tax to the Chinese Kapitan because the tax-paying rights are excessively squeezed by the tax-paying Chinese. Is it considered the rights of the Chinese?Chinese slave workers are dissatisfied with the Chinese sugar factory owners who oppressed them. In order to get real money and not lead coins, they smashed sugarcane plantations and forced them to pay wages. Is it considered the rights of the Chinese?

If the former is, then the latter is not; if the latter is, then the former is not.

In the final analysis, which group of Chinese is the imperial court going to comfort?
Is it tax-included or loaned?

Is it a small craftsman, a seller, a small peddler?

Or the U-shirt party and the trouserless man who can't afford to pay the poll tax outside the city and can't afford to eat?

If the Hongxi tragedy happened in history, then Dashun will comfort the Chinese, the Chinese are a whole, and the contradiction between the Chinese and the Dutch is the main contradiction.

But now, the Hongxi tragedy did not happen, only Liu Yu knew that he had eliminated a disaster, and those upper-class Chinese who would have died in the tragedy did not know.At this time, the Chinese are not a whole.

Now the imperial court has come up with a sentence, "Announcing the comfort of the people who make a living overseas in the Tian Dynasty. They are all my sons and daughters. It is helpless to go to sea to survive." The politically correct "approval" attitude, and I really can't blame the Chinese who came to welcome them for being full of worries about the imperial envoys of China.

After all, Dashun is a dynasty that started from rebellion, and it also chanted the slogan of equalizing the land and exempting grain, which is really terrible.

When the mast of the Dashun Fleet finally appeared on the vast sea, Lian Fuguang straightened his clothes, took a deep breath, and said to Lei Zhenlan and others beside him: "Everyone, it's a blessing or a curse for the imperial envoys from the Celestial Dynasty to come here. It's really unpredictable. We need to be of one mind, not our own minds."

"The lord who came here this time, we have all heard the name. He is a ruthless man, a general who conquered the northeast, northwest, and Japanese kingdoms. It is not good news for us to hear that this man practiced benevolence and righteousness in the Japanese kingdom."

"The word benevolence and righteousness is the most profound."

While speaking, the mast that was exposed first gradually became longer, and finally floated out of the hull. The huge hull of the battleship split the waves and headed towards the port.

Compared with the large merchant ship that Mantou took to Stockholm last time, this battleship brought more shock.

These Chinese Kapitan Lei Zhenlan who had witnessed the invincibility of the Dutch saw for the first time that there were warships in the world that were more terrifying than the armed merchant ships of the Netherlands.

Battleships, and the seven provinces standard armed merchant ships produced by war of man, they don't know the specific difference, but they can intuitively feel the big and small.

The huge hull completely outshone the surrounding Dutch ships with the VOC flag, and it carried a sense of coercion that made people panic.

Lian Fuguang sighed and signaled that the gongs and drums were beating together, ready to welcome him.

Amidst the sound of gongs and drums, Lian Fuguang and a few people around him said: "Since the imperial envoys from the Celestial Dynasty have come, we should know what is going on in Nanyang. As long as the situation is clear, we can make some preparations. We need to know what to do in the future. "

"You and I are both grasshoppers on the same rope now. At this time, don't think about cheating each other. There are some things, and we are all in big trouble."

Those people also nodded.

They may not have a lot of scientific knowledge and economics knowledge, but they still have some experience.Although it is not systematic, a situation can be expected.

Batavia is a city that developed against the laws of nature.

As the "capital" of the East India Company, this city has carried the prosperity that it is not entitled to.

Even if it is Ceylon cinnamon, it is far closer to sail directly from Ceylon to Europe than to go back to Batavia.

However, due to the game between the local government and the central government, Ceylon's cinnamon must first arrive in Batavia before it can be packaged and sent to Europe.

Or it is clear that 17 gentlemen have established a special trade committee with China, but the local government of Batavia still forcibly obtained the conditions that some ships cannot go back directly and must berth in Batavia.

This kind of prosperity that violates the laws of nature means fragility.

These Jiapidan and Lei Zhenlan may not understand the truth behind it.But Dashun has a living example: Macau.

They have witnessed the whole process from prosperity to decline.

From the prosperity of monopolizing the trade with Europe when the sea was banned in the past, to the fact that Dashun allows onshore trade to move the export port to the north, and now it has become a city of slave labor relying on smuggling people. This cannot but let these people take root in the upper echelons of Batavia The Chinese are worried.

If the imperial court goes to Nanyang, the Xuanweisi of the Old Port, or Malacca are undoubtedly the most suitable capitals of Nanyang.

Batavia may have to repeat the mistakes of Macau and gradually decline.

These people have real estate and real estate in Batavia, and various industries are closely related to the prosperity of Batavia.

Even from this point of view, they don't want the court's actions to cause any changes in Nanyang.

In addition to this worry, there is a more terrifying hidden worry than this.

"Brother Fu Guang, I think the imperial court still hopes that everything in Nanyang will be the same as before. But in my opinion, this matter is difficult. From the first year of Tianqi to the present, in more than a hundred years, Batavia's policy towards the Chinese has changed. Change again."

"From the beginning of 'everyone who comes to the boat, if there are Chinese immigrants on board, they will be exempted from tax'; to the current dislike of too many people is a burden. In the past 20 years, it has been turned over and over again, and it has changed more than ten times."

"The price of sugar has been low these past few years, so it's superfluous. After a few years, the price of sugar is high again. Isn't it necessary to encourage Tang people to move here? Or maybe they will stop growing sugar in the future and replace it with other things... Hey, that Java People, Balinese people, are lazy people, how do they do their jobs?"

Although they consider themselves inferior to the Dutch, they still have the pride of high-class Chinese, at least they discriminate against the Balinese and Javanese.It is strange to be flattering to the top but arrogant to the bottom, but especially like Guan Gong who is proud of the top but not bullying the bottom.

But these words really touched on the key point. Batavia's policy on Chinese immigrants has indeed been repeated repeatedly.I don't know how many times it has been changed in more than a hundred years.

This time there was supposed to be a massacre, but it was eliminated by Liu Yu, which made this check of Chinese residence permits seem to be just an ordinary incident that has been repeated over and over again in the Chinese immigration policy.

Encourage today, oppose tomorrow; tax exemption for immigrants today, tax increase for Chinese tomorrow.They see a lot.

Over the years, the Chinese have gotten used to it.I feel that in a few days, when the price of sugar rises again, I have to encourage the Chinese to come here to work.

Lian Fuguang knew what Lei Zhenlan meant. This was not about the status of the Chinese in Batavia, but about a very important legal matter—is the law of Dashun applicable to Batavia?If there are more Chinese in Batavia in the future and something happens again, is Dashun qualified to take care of it?What things can be managed, what things can not be managed?
Governor of Batavia, come and go, go and come again.

One pat on the head and one policy, recruiting Chinese today and withdrawing Chinese tomorrow.

But they are rooted here.

This matter must be clarified.

The upper-middle-class community of the Chinese is very closed, with its own legal system, as well as its own council and courts.

After the massacre that did not happen this time was temporarily stabilized, the Dutch side asked the Chinese to form their own Chinese council in their own community.

In the Chinese here, it is called the court.

The Dutch are very smart, and they adopted a policy of using Chinese to control China to divide the Chinese.

Prevent the concept of "I don't know who I am, but I know who I am not" that Liu Yu has been instilling in the Weihai Navy.

Let high-level Chinese act as agents to govern the Chinese, and let the direct operators of various exploitation be Chinese, so as to achieve the goal of dividing and ruling.

In addition, there is another important reason: the Celestial Dynasty is a civilized system with its own set of three views and morality.A lot, out of tune with the Dutch side.

The Netherlands has tried many methods to disintegrate the Chinese civilization system.

Just as Valknir has laughed at himself, saying that he is more like the Sultan of Batavia, who collects poll taxes on infidels-in fact, he does, because in Batavia, the Chinese believe in religion and do not need to pay poll taxes.But apart from Islam, even if the Chinese believe in Catholicism or Protestantism, they still have to pay poll tax.

However, a strange scene appeared. Many Chinese would rather pay poll tax than take advantage of this loophole.

How to put it this way, its connotation psychology is more like a kind of awkward heart of superiority.The local Javanese and Balinese, as aboriginals, believe in religion, and the middle and upper-class Chinese look down on them, so it is impossible to believe in that stuff with them.However, the Dutch are very strong and powerful, so you can believe in the Christianity that the Dutch believe in, which seems to be more advanced.

But in terms of missionary ability, compared with the Protestantism and Catholicism that the Dutch believe in, the missionary ability is very different.

This has led to the fact that if the Chinese are encouraged to join the religion, they will basically run to believe in Catholicism.

The Dutch came to do business, but the various Catholic orders, the Jesuits, etc., preached everywhere and specialized in arts.

So the Dutch would rather be a sultan than Batavia believe in Catholicism.Because the Dutch are confident that they have the experience of being a "sultan", but they don't want to make wedding clothes for Spain in the future.

So Valkenir laughed at himself as the Sultan of Batavia; while seeing such a big loophole that he didn't have to pay the heretics Dingyin, the Chinese just didn't take advantage of it.

The closedness and exclusivity of the Chinese community, as well as the thousands of years of civilization behind it, as well as the entire system under this civilization, have caused a problem.

Using Dutch laws to control the Chinese will make the Chinese extremely uncomfortable, and even seriously intensify the conflict.

Take the simplest inheritance right as an example.

Dashun's side basically follows the equal share inheritance law. Except for ancestral property and titles, among the people, the default is that once the father dies, the sons will share the family property equally.

This is different from the Roman legal system in the Netherlands, where the will is the best.

But what if the will conflicts with Chinese customary law?
For example, before a person dies, the will says that all the property will be given to the youngest son born to the most favored concubine, and the eldest son will not be given any son. According to the Roman law of the Netherlands, the will must be obeyed.

But according to the customary law of the Chinese, the county magistrate would directly rule the will invalid. Who would dare to rule the will valid?
Another example is the divorce issue. A Chinese woman drank a cup of coffee in a cafe in Batavia, showed her face, and communicated with the people in the cafe, so she was divorced.According to Neo-Confucianism, it is possible to be divorced; but according to Dutch law, divorce cannot be granted.

This is a clash of civilizations, so a very strange situation emerged: the Chinese lived in Batavia, but after the conflict, the Chinese council and court took the "Da Shun Law" and the customs of Fujian and Guangdong clans. to solve the problem.

The Netherlands has tried to require the Chinese to abide by the entire cultural system of the West.

But the result was that when the last Lei Zhenlan who faithfully implemented the policy died, no one came forward to carry the coffin - no one carried the coffin after death, and hired someone to carry it.

After death, no one goes to the mourning hall except for one's own family. What is the concept of this in the Chinese world, needless to say.

In the words of later generations, this person has already died socially in the Chinese community.After all, immediate family members cannot carry the coffin, and paying someone to carry the coffin is definitely a shameful thing to throw at grandma's house.

In addition to these civil weddings and funerals, there is a more critical content, which is directly related to the interests of these Jiapitan Lei Zhenlans.

The "Da Shun Law" clearly stipulates: You must not sell the people of the Celestial Dynasty to foreign slaves; you must not mint coins privately; you must not bully hired workers; you must not manipulate the market; you must not lend usury more than twice the principal; you must not...

These are not allowed, Jiabidan and Lei Zhenlan have all done it.

Whether it can be implemented is one thing.

Whether there is, is another matter.

When I meet someone who is on the line and holds the "Dashun Law", this group of people will be exiled for at least three thousand miles to guard the border. Many of them are directly involved in the trading of slave labor, and there are also people who mint lead coins in Dashun He beheaded directly.

In the past, it was just a fart. Anyway, the imperial court has nothing to do with it. Holding the "Da Shun Law" is just a matter of trivial matters such as marriage, death, divorce and division of family property in the Chinese community.

But now the imperial envoy of Dashun is coming, and it is even said that supervisors will be stationed in Nanyang to protect the rights and interests of the Chinese.

So, is Dashun qualified to manage the Chinese in Batavia?

Is the "Da Shun Law" still effective for overseas Chinese?
Or are only civil issues valid and the rest of the law is void?
Is the emperor in the Forbidden City the emperor of overseas Chinese?
What if the lower-level Chinese take the "Da Shun Law" and go to the supervisor to file a complaint?
(End of this chapter)