Cutting 1719

Chapter 547 Friend of the Empire

Batavia, as a city with hundreds of years of development history, has almost witnessed the ups and downs between the indigenous people of Nanyang and the Western invaders. It can even be said that the change in its name alone can reflect this The situation is changing.

In the earliest time, Batavia was not called by this name, but called Sunda Grappa, which means 'land covered with coconut groves'. It has long been a famous seaport for exporting pepper and spices. The favor of the traders, of course, also made it fall into the hands of the Portuguese.

Later in the [-]th century, the Indonesian leader led the Indonesian people to defeat the fleet of the Portuguese colonists, regained Sunda Galaba, and renamed it Jakarta, which means "glorious fortress". Call it 'Coconut City'.

After 70 years, the Dutch East India Company once again occupied Indonesia and renamed Jakarta as 'Batavia'. Since then, Batavia has become the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, with trade throughout Asia, In the three continents of Europe and Africa, trade fairs have been held here for a long time.

Of course, there is also no shortage of Han Chinese in Batavia. Most of them are people who escaped from the Central Plains. They survived successfully in Batavia and were valued by the Dutch East India Company. A big bargaining chip, like many Chinese have been appointed as Kapitan by the Dutch.

The so-called Kapitan refers to the overseas Chinese leader system implemented by Portugal and the Netherlands in the colonies of Indonesia and Malaysia. It originally means the leader, that is, the overseas Chinese leaders who use Indonesia to do business, make a living or settle down, let them help the colonial government When dealing with local civil affairs, the key point is to control the local chiefdom forces.

For example, Liu Rulong is Kapitan who has lived in Batavia for decades. He was born in the Liu family, a wealthy overseas Chinese family in Batavia. He is good at speaking Dutch. He was valued by the Dutch at a young age and became one of the leaders of overseas Chinese in Batavia.

Relying on the support of the Dutch, the entire Liu family is thriving. Relying on the privileges of Capitan, they bully the market everywhere. Apart from not daring to offend the Westerners, they are very harsh on the chiefdoms and Chinese in Batavia. As for the Chinese in Bacheng, they all hated the Liu family, but the Liu family didn't care at all.

In Liu Rulong's words, as long as they can maintain the wealth of their Liu family, so what if they are the Dutchman's dog?

However, with the rise of Ningchu, the situation in Nanyang is also undergoing rapid changes. The influence of the Han people has gradually penetrated into Nanyang, and a large number of merchant ships flying the flag of Ningchu are also shuttling in Nanyang. Therefore, the Han people who originally lived in Nanyang began to think about a key question, are they still Chinese?

As the saying goes, those who belong to the barbarians and the Chinese are from the Chinese; those who are from the Chinese to the barbarians are from the barbarians.

For the Nanyang Chinese, although their life in Nanyang is much better than that in the mainland, they have always been more painful on the issue of identity, because although they think they are Chinese, they live in a foreign land after all, but are often discriminated against.

Especially for the Dutch in Nanyang, although the Chinese can help their rule, they only regard the Chinese as an inferior person after all, and they are not in essence higher than the status of the current chiefdom. Rule, and often deliberately provoke conflicts between local chiefdoms and Chinese.

Liu Rulong doesn't care about this, but it doesn't mean that other Chinese don't care about this. After all, they still hope that one day they can return to China in a dignified way, and they also hope to truly become a citizen of China. Therefore, these people often welcome Ning Chu's arrival manner.

It’s just that Liu Rulong has been a little panicked recently, because the news of Ning Chu’s rise is not a secret. In addition to the news of the conflict between the Dutch and the Taiwanese rebels some time ago, many Chinese have spread gossip in private, thinking that the Fuhan army is going to fight Batavia came, which made Jiapitan like Liu Rulong a little panicked.

Liu Rulong didn't think that when the Fuhan army arrived, he would have any good fruit to eat.After all, the things he did to the Chinese were enough to kill him ten times.

Of course, Liu Rulong also has his own trump card, which is the current governor of Batavia, Vizos. Since Vizos took office, the Liu family has sent a large amount of silver to the governor's mansion. After hearing that Vizos loves Chinese porcelain , and even sent people to Guangzhou to collect a large number of high-quality porcelain and gave them to Vizos.

"My lord, Master Wei just sent someone to tell you to go to the Governor's Mansion."

Just when Liu Rulong was worried, a piece of news from his subordinates startled him. Governor Wei Zuosi rarely summoned people, so at this time something called, naturally something big happened, so Liu Rulong was more or less worried. Feeling less apprehensive, he quickly asked someone to prepare a gift, and then followed him all the way to the Governor's Mansion.

After a while, the servants prepared several loads of various gifts, including several pairs of porcelain alone, plus 3000 taels of silver, and the group carried the burdens and headed towards the Governor's Mansion.

In the city of Batavia, the only destination for such an open and aboveboard gift-giving is the Governor's Palace.After all, the people in the entire city of Ba knew that as long as they gave him gifts, Governor Vizos could almost say that he would always come. Of course, if you want to count on the Governor to do things, it depends on whether you give him enough gifts.

After Liu Rulong walked into the governor's mansion, he found that several other leaders of overseas Chinese in Batavia also came here. They all had the title of Jiapitan on their heads, and they were all trusted friends of the governor. Gathering here was obviously ordered by Governor Vizos.

After a while, Vizos never appeared, only his adjutant Jacob appeared once, and then simply gave an order to wait, and then disappeared again.

Everyone waited in the Governor's Mansion dry-mouthed. They could chat for a while, but they lost interest in the end. They could only sit in the lobby and wait, but there was no disrespect on their faces. After all, everyone knows current affairs The principle of being a hero, no one will accommodate you if you lose your temper here.

It was only when the lights were turned on that Governor Wei Zuos hurried over from the door. His face was slightly flushed, and his forehead was covered with sweat. He seemed to have just been busy for a long time.

Seeing Vizos's appearance, many overseas Chinese leaders hurried up to greet him, all of them with flattering faces, "My lord governor, the villains have already arrived, what orders do you have?"

Vizos looked up at the crowd, with a hint of arrogance on his face, and then said: "This time, I mainly have a bad news and a good news to tell you."

"The villain is all ears." Liu Rulong hurried over, and the others all expressed their views one after another, eagerly wishing to kiss Wei Zuos's fat face.

Vizos cleared his throat to make his voice less deep, "Let's talk about the bad news first, according to the news from Guangdong, the Ningchu Navy has moved from Shanghai to Guangzhou, although they don't know what their next move will be. action, but the threat is already obvious."

"What. Ning Chu is coming?"

Everyone was startled. Although they had expected that Ning Chu would extend his power to Nanyang, they did not expect it to be so soon. You must know that Ning Chu's navy had been active in the north for a long time in the past, and there was basically no example of stationing in Guangzhou for a long time.
Xiang Zhuang's sword dance was aimed at Pei Gong.Almost everyone has thought of this sentence in their hearts.

After finishing his speech, Vizos kept watching with cold eyes. He wanted to take a good look at the performance of these Chinese people, so he didn't continue to speak, but watched the expressions of these people keep changing.

As soon as Liu Rulong raised his head, he happened to see Wei Zuosi's cold gaze. He was shocked at the moment, but he didn't care too much. He stood up and said loudly: "Reporting to the governor, Ningchu is just a country that has just risen, and its naval power Naturally, it is extremely weak, how can it be compared with the governor, this is really not bad news."

Wei Zuo laughed suddenly, patted Liu Rulong's shoulder with his hand, and said: "Liu, you are right, this is another good news I will say later, that is, the European direction has sent us a whole Of course, this fleet was originally used for rotation, but it came at the right time, and when they arrive, even the so-called Ningchu Navy will only have the fate of failure."

Hearing Wei Zuos's words, everyone was surprised. They knew that this kind of rotation happens every five years, but why is it earlier this year?Of course, it is impossible for everyone to know the reason, and Vizos will not explain it to everyone.

In fact, in the eyes of the former Dutch East India Company, although Batavia has always been an important trading city for the Netherlands in Asia, due to the impact of the European situation, they have been forced to reduce their investment in Asia. For a period of time, the strength of the Dutch East India Company in Nanyang did not grow much.

But now with the rise of Ningchu, many things have changed, especially the increase in the amount of Sino-Western trade, which has prompted the Dutch East India Company to pay more attention to the geographical environment of Nanyang. They hope that Batavia and Malacca Possess stronger development potential.

Of course, with the escalation of the Dutch's emphasis on Batavia, the Dutch military power in Batavia has increased, and the Dutch military expenditure in Batavia has also increased significantly in recent years. The expenses are naturally borne by the locals, and a considerable part of them falls on these overseas Chinese.

Because everyone knows that the real rich people in Batavia are the Chinese, who are also very good-tempered and will not resist at all, while those chiefdoms not only have no money, but are also extremely fierce, and they are not easy to squeeze.

Sure enough, a smile appeared on the face of Governor Vizos, he looked at the Kapitans in front of him, and said with a smile: "You are all friends of the empire, and you should also understand that everything is by no means free. Where is safety always the most precious thing, so how much are you willing to pay for safety?"

Everyone's hearts sank suddenly, and the big guys looked at each other one after another, and they all saw the embarrassment in each other's eyes. It's not that they didn't want to pay the money. In fact, no matter how much it was, they just gritted their teeth and passed. There was also a lot of money given to Governor Vizos personally.

But it's different now. These wanderers in Nanyang may sound like wanderers, but who doesn't have a few vines in China?There are even many people who are directly in contact with Ningchu officials, whether it is like the shadow or the military intelligence department, and related cooperation is not unheard of.

Because of this, they can't give the money casually, because the money is nominally a military expenditure for the Dutch East India Company, and its nature is very bad, which means that whoever gave the money, don't think about it in the future Please both sides again!

One of the representatives of the overseas Chinese, Li Guanglie, the Patriarch of the Li family, took a step forward, sighed softly, and said tentatively: "My lord, safety is naturally priceless. If it is for the great cause of the empire, it doesn't matter if we spend more, but we really didn't do it this year." What kind of business, it lost a lot of money last year, this family really has no money.”

When everyone heard that Li Guanglie took the lead, they rushed forward one after another, and began to cry, but Liu Rulong was the only one who kept looking at everyone with a sneer—do you really think the Dutch are fools?

The face of Governor Vizos suddenly changed, and he was no longer polite, and he directly greeted the guards beside him: "Catch me this damn yellow monkey and hang it on the city gate for three days, by the way, I also want to arrest his whole family and bring all his property to the Governor's Mansion!"

A thunderbolt from the blue sky shocked Li Guanglie, he quickly knelt on the ground and began to beg for mercy, but how could the guards listen to him?Immediately, he was pressed to the ground, then his hands and feet were tied with a rope, and his mouth was stuffed up with a piece of cloth, just like a fat pig about to be slaughtered.

Seeing this scene, the other overseas Chinese leaders didn't dare to talk anymore. They looked at Liu Rulong with pleading eyes, hoping that he could say something nice. No matter what, Li Guanglie was also a Chinese, and he was with the big guys back then. The old brother who fights the world.

Liu Rulong pretended not to see it, and turned his head away, but he didn't say a word for Li Guanglie at all, but kept currying favor with Governor Wei Zuos.

"The governor is right. How can we give up the safety of the whole family for some money? The villain Liu Rulong is willing to pay 3 taels of silver, and we will raise all the money within three days and hand it over to the governor!"

Wei Zuo laughed out loud immediately, and gave Liu Rulong a thumbs up, "Liu, you are a true friend of the empire. In the future, after the empire completely defeats the natives here, you will also make a fortune!"

Afterwards, Vizos looked at the others with deep meaning, "Of course the empire is merciless to its enemies, but it will also take great care of its friends. I hope you can become friends of the empire!"

(End of this chapter)