Forty-eight years of Qianlong

It has been more than half a year since Huang Zhongtong received Zhao Xin's order to go to West Borneo to collect information on Lanfang Company.

When he left Bacheng with two of his men, he did not go directly to Borneo, but took a boat to Hoi An, and then took a boat from Hoi An, and returned to Zhanglin Port in Chenghai before the Chinese New Year. .You must know that the hometown of the three people are all from Fengshun County, Chaozhou Prefecture, which is very close to Dapu County, so they appeared in Zhanglin, no matter in terms of living habits or accent, there was no problem at all.

Zhanglin, located in the southeast of Chaozhou Prefecture, has quickly developed into the largest port in eastern Guangdong since the abolition of the sea ban during the Kangxi period. Business and trade activities are very prosperous, and many people from all over eastern Guangdong come here to work.And every year when the northeast monsoon comes together, there are countless red-headed boats going south, which can be said to be like clouds.With the help of these sea trade ships, a large number of poor Hakkas and Chaoshan people joined the tide of immigrants going to Nanyang.

In general, there were two main routes to travel to Nanyang during the Qianlong period.Xiamen Port is full of Zhangquan immigrants, while Zhanglin Port is full of Chaoshan people and Hakka people.

Relying on Beihai Town's network in Hoi An, Huang Zhongtong and the three first lived in a sugar house on Xianqiao Street to do odd jobs.The time passed quickly on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. At this time, Huang Zhongtong had already caught up with a smuggler recruiting people to West Borneo. In May of 1793—that is, at the end of February in the lunar calendar, the three people carrying a broken bag and Hundreds of other Chinese from Jiaying Prefecture and Tai Po landed on the land of Pontianak.

It took half a year to go around such a big circle, Huang Zhongtong and the others had no problem with their identities, and no one could find out that they were actually spies sent by Beihai Town.

Zhao Xin wanted to investigate the situation of Lanfang Company's gold mine, so Huang Zhongtong and the others told the snakehead from the very beginning that they would go to West Borneo to pan for gold.It is precisely because the three of them are Hakka people, and they are considered half of Tai Po, so they soon went to a mining area called Saraman.

The various mining areas under the rule of Lanfang Company are divided into public and private ownership. Among them, the public ownership is rented out, and the Salaman mining area is naturally privately owned because of the large amount of gold produced. It belongs to Chen Lanbo, the second in command of Lanfang Company.

Chen Lanbo, a Hakka from Tai Po, founded the Lanfang Club with Luo Fangbai 16 years ago.There is a saying that the word "Lanfang" comes from their names.The first battle between this person and Luo Fangbai was to fight with Heaven and Earth with the support of the Sultan of Pontianak, and the blood of his killing flowed into rivers, and he was driven out of Dongwanlu.

As "new customers" who first arrived at the mine, Huang Zhongtong and the three of them were paid a monthly salary of two Spanish silver dollars, including food and housing.The time to mine is from [-]:[-] am to [-]:[-] pm every day, with a two-hour break at noon when it is the hottest.In addition, five meals a day, brown rice and salted fish can be full.

Sounds like a good deal, right?You must know that two Spanish silver dollars are equivalent to 1.42 taels of flat silver. Huang Zhong and the three of them also thought so at the beginning.However, after working hard for the first month, they discovered that there were various "pitfalls" inside.

It is said that the "big brothers" in West Borneo are really chicken thieves, just like the Chinese plantation owners in Batavia.In order to prevent workers from running away after receiving their salaries, the mined gold has to wait until the annual furnace is opened for refining, and the company will settle the settlement with the miners of each mine based on the quantity and quality of the output of the year. Only then can I get paid.

But do you think it's over?Not at all!The means of exploitation are one after another. As long as the Chinese workers pay off their debts, then don't even think about leaving, and work until they die!

Different from those Chinese laborers on the other side of the ocean who harbored the dream of "golden mountains" and were finally sold as "pigs", the Chinese laborers in the [-]th century were exploited by their own people, and each company was worse than the greedy capitalists of later generations. And nothing less.

For example.Assuming that Huang Zhongtong does not drink alcohol, does not drink tea, does not smoke opium, does not mend clothes when they are torn, and goes barefoot when shoes are rotten, and the most important thing is that he has never been sick. , he can get at least 24 Spanish silver dollars.

Wait a minute, the money for the boat ticket has not been settled yet!In addition, there are miscellaneous expenses such as food, drink and berths on board, and all of them are calculated as interest.Furthermore, when you arrive at the mine, you will need money for food for five meals a day, and you will also need to rent the accommodation arranged by the mining area.

Huang Zhongtong found that the price calculation standard given by the company is much higher than the market average price.

So Gui Baoduier did the math, and three-quarters of his salary was deducted, leaving Huang Zhongtong only 6 silver dollars.In fact, I couldn't even get the six Spanish silver dollars, because I usually have to buy some daily necessities.That's when the company's people responsible for delivering big-ticket items show up.
"It's been a hard day, do you want a drink or two?"

"Not good for wine? How about some tobacco leaves? This is the tobacco leaf from Tingzhou, Fujian, which is no worse than the Jianyan tobacco that the emperor paid tribute to. Take a sip, and the room will be full of fragrance!"

"Don't like smoking? Oops~~ We have a gambling house here, do you want to play two games? If you win the bet, you will be able to jump into the dragon's gate!"

"Well, I've never seen a guy as contemptuous as you. Well, I'll tell you this alone. I don't tell the average person. We have "fushou ointment" from Tianzhu, and we burn it every day after work. After a soak, it is definitely "comfortable and relieves fatigue", and it can also prevent miasma. To tell you the truth, the miasma in West Borneo is worse than our Chaoshan. My life may not be guaranteed.”

Due to the extremely hard work of digging gold in the mining area, many old miners lie in the house and swallow clouds after eating at noon;

Zhao Xin had told Huang Zhongtong about the dangers of opium before, but he didn't quite understand it at that time, but during the two months at the mine, he really felt it.

By the way, Europeans selling opium to Southeast Asia and Guangzhou is indeed abhorrent, but what about the Chinese companies and plantation owners who provide opium to Chinese workers?Without these people, opium would not have flourished among the underprivileged.

Ever since Huang Zhongtong came to the mine, apart from currying favor with the foreman and obtaining insider information, he would call one or two well-connected old miners to drink and chat every now and then to get more information, so he could only advance his salary with the mine.

Just like those plantations on the island of Java distributed lead coins to Chinese workers, because West Borneo is rich in tin mines, Huang Zhongtong got tin coins called "Picis".

This kind of money is issued by Lanfang Company itself, and every 40 coins can be exchanged for 1 Spanish silver dollar.The appearance of the coin is the same as that of the Qing copper coin, with the words "Lanfang Company" on the front and "Baoguang" in Manchu on the back, which means the Baoguang Bureau of the Qing court.As for why Lanfang Company's money was printed in Manchu, it was the same as Luo Fangbai making his "Lanheying" bravely wear the green uniform of the Qing army.

It is said that Sanfa's Heshun General Office also does the same. On the front of the tin coin are "Dagang Company", "Heshun", "Fifteen Branch Company" and so on.

The issuance of these company currencies has its own rules, and coins are usually minted before the Spring Festival.This is also the time for the Chinese to celebrate the end of the year and settle their accounts, and they are in desperate need of cash.

Although Huang Zhongtong is shrewd, he does not understand economics.In fact, this tin coin issued by "Big Brother" is an important part of the gold mining exploitation system.Cooperating with the ledger, it continuously exploits the labor income of Chinese workers and makes them heavily in debt; on the other hand, it is the wealth of Luo Fangbai and the upper-level figures of Lanfang Company.

In the history of another time and space, the reason why the Dutch wanted to extend their hands into Borneo in the later period was that there was another very important contradiction that the Chinese company's coinage behavior violated the economic interests of the "sovereign country".When the Dutch colonial government launched the "Company War" in the mid-nineteenth century, they found that there were no Dutch copper coins in circulation on the company's premises.

For veteran colonists like the Netherlands, economic interests are above all else, so no one can bear it!

On the contrary, in Bacheng, since the Chinese laborers were engaged in skilled jobs in the plantation system, it was the Javanese who were most exploited. This also laid the groundwork for the Dutch to instigate the hatred of the Javanese against China.

To put it bluntly, there has never been hatred for no reason in this world.Even if the Dutchman is a big fly with sharp teeth, the eggs must have a crack to lay their mouths.

At the end of April in the lunar calendar, Huang Zhongtong and the three of them, who had worked in the mine for two months, felt that the investigation was almost done, and they didn't want to live such a life of hardship and hardship, so they resigned with the foreman and said they would go to Dongwan Law finds fellow villagers to take refuge in.

Unexpectedly, the owner of the mine took out his account book and cracked his abacus, and said with a sneer that it was okay to leave, and each person had to find 3 Spanish silver dollars in the mine.The noses of Huang Zhongtong's two subordinates were almost twisted with anger, and they wished to draw their guns and kill each other immediately.

However, Huang Zhongtong showed the appearance of a miser that a Chinese laborer should have. After a long time of wrangling with the mine owner, he finally reduced the total to 8 silver dollars.

After returning to Pontianak, the three people who had been isolated in the mining area learned the news that the Dutch had attacked Bacheng.Unfortunately, due to the warning of the Dutch, all the ships in Pontianak Port will not go to Bacheng due to the warning of Lan Fang Company.

Huang Zhongtong had no choice but to board a merchant ship headed for Penang with his men.He planned to go to Georgetown to find Gu Lihuan and see what he could do.
On June 1793, 6, No. 16 days after Zhao Xin arrived in Bacheng, the Northern Navy's frontline headquarters at "Fort Noordwijk" received a report from a reconnaissance team that had been lurking near Wandong in the early morning , The army led by the former VOC Governor Altin has set off from Wandong at 13:6 this morning.

After waiting for so many days, the Dutchman finally showed his third claw toward Bacheng, so Zhao Xin was also ready to fight.

He has no time to procrastinate. If there are no accidents, the offensive and defensive war between Britain and France governed locally will break out in more than a month.He doesn't care if the French die or not, but once the local governance is lost, the road from the Kingdom of Mysore to the stronghold of "Paza Yalai" in Beihai Town will be blocked by the British. This is something that Zhao Xin can't accept of!
Furthermore, there is only one company in the North Navy of "Paza Yalai", so Bacheng must send ground troops and fleets to provide support.To go to India, you have to pass through the Lione Islands controlled by the Dutch.

After holding a battle situation analysis meeting with his staff officer and He Xiwen, Zhao Xin first ordered Wen Dai, who led the reconnaissance team, to carry out a sniper battle against the enemy's logistics troops, and try to destroy the enemy's logistics materials and supply lines as much as possible.If conditions permit, it is best to burn the Dutch grain warehouse.

Afterwards, he sent a report to the Nanyang Fleet hidden in Cam Ranh Bay, ordering Zheng Wenxian to lead the first squadron of seven motorboats and gunboats refitted from Guangzhou Shipbuilding Corps to completely destroy the VOC fleet entrenched in the sea off Bacheng and the west of Banten Port, and attack Wandan. Port Dan implemented a naval blockade.He ordered Guo Xuexian, who had just arrived in Hoi An from Naha Port, to go to the Ganlingao base to complete the supply, and then led the Beihai No. [-], No. [-] and a Cantonese gunboat to form the second squadron. Malacca City, the stronghold of the throat of Malacca, forced the defenders there to surrender, so as to quickly control the Strait of Malacca.

After arranging the combat plan at sea, Zhao Xin held a combat meeting attended by all officers above the battalion level at the Bacheng Military Control Committee that night.

In order to achieve the plan to completely annihilate the Dutch army and the Banten Sultanate on the western front, one of Zhao Xin's staff officers told everyone present the battle plan that Zhao Xin had been pondering for several days.

That is to say, in the area surrounding Langas Betong, the concentrated forces will attack from the north and south flanks, attack two points first, and then the Northern Marine Battalion will break through from the northern line, and detour to the rear of Langas Betong. The enemy army entrenched between Serang and Langas Betong was divided into several pieces, and then wiped out one by one.A part of the special warfare battalion led by Erlu went straight to Xilang, attacked the Dutch transportation line, and waited for an opportunity to destroy the material and grain warehouses in Xilang.

Before the attack is launched, the 10 artillery pieces of the Northern Navy will provide artillery coverage for up to [-] minutes to ensure that the troops on the northern and southern wings can complete the penetration.

The reason why the staff dared to plan this was mainly because the Special Operations Battalion had identified all the terrain and roads in Langas Betong and Serang over the past year, including where the water could be drunk and where Brigade camping and so on.

In addition, during the months of training at the Cam Ranh Bay base, the servants of the Sendai Fan have been conducting physical training and combat skills for tropical rainforest areas.Originally, these Sendai soldiers who were born out of road construction workers were able to endure hardships. In addition, they ate well and had enough rest during training, and they could keep up with medical treatment, so their combat effectiveness was still acceptable.

After the staff officer finished speaking, Zhao Xin got up and made a mobilization speech: "The Dutch tried to besiege us and drive the Beihai Navy out of Bacheng. Now we are under attack from the front and back, and there are 2 enemies on the western front, sticking to us every day like a dog's skin plaster. And the southeast More than [-] enemies were dispatched in the direction of Wandong in an attempt to besiege Bacheng. At sea, there are also fleets of the Dutch and the native sultans trying to blockade us."

The officers below all looked at Zhao Xin intently, especially the battalion commanders of the servant army, their eyes were full of excitement and no fear.Without him, Zhao Wangdian's current reputation is too great.In the eyes of many people, as long as he goes out, there is no battle he cannot win.

At this time, Zhao Xin continued to say loudly: "If you want me to say, what is this? As long as we fight well and fight quickly, the victory will definitely belong to our Beihai Navy!"

"Long live Zhao Wangdian!"

"Long live Beihai Town!"

"Kill the Dutchman!"

The officers below couldn't sit still any longer, and they all stood up and shouted.Zhao Xin was also a little excited by the scene in front of him. It is no exaggeration to say that this battle will directly determine the future fate of millions of people in Southeast Asia. The Chinese in Nanyang will no longer be homeless!In addition, the blockade of the Strait of Malacca this time is also the first step in realizing his goal of keeping opium out of the Strait of Malacca.

"This time, we are not only going to teach the Dutch a lesson, but to completely drive them out of West Java and the Strait of Malacca. After that, we will continue to fight to the Banda Islands, Sumatra and Borneo, and drive the Dutch out of here. Pull out all the strongholds in this sea area and let them get out of Malacca!"