Cutting 1719

Chapter 596 The Real Mess
The reason why Ning Yu was so angry was purely because the situation in Nanyang had deteriorated beyond his imagination, and the actions of the Dutch East India Company obviously carried great malice towards the Chinese, which made it easy for him to think of the situation in history. The Batavian Chinese uprising happened.

As mentioned earlier, the construction of Batavia City itself was the political basis for the Dutch East India Company to rule Java and even the entire East Indies colony, so the Dutch paid a lot of effort and price for the city.

The early Batavia was just a desolate swamp with few people. It was surrounded by hostility and threats from the Javanese, and the Dutch could not migrate a large number of people from Europe to come here. Therefore, in order to consolidate the rule here , they recruited a large number of reliable and hard-working Chinese workers from China, and used the Chinese workers to complete the construction of Batavia.

Therefore, the early Dutch East India Company attached great importance to the strength of the Chinese, especially the Chinese were known for being "diligent", "peace-loving" and "cowardly" by nature, and they were better managed than the local aborigines, so they not only spent a lot of money to recruit Chinese to Batavia even kidnapped immigrants from the coastal areas of China, so that the Chinese became an important pawn in their rule of Nanyang.

But there is one thing to note. For the Dutch, the Chinese in Nanyang are just their tools, and their status cannot be compared with the Dutch. After the Chinese power gradually expanded, they consciously controlled it. Not only did they strictly restrict China from 1690 The people came here, and according to their own unreasonable residence permit system, they sent overseas Chinese who were deemed "useless" or "surplus" to Ceylon or the Cape of Good Hope and other places with poor conditions to work as laborers, leaving them to fend for themselves.

In addition, the Chinese have also accumulated a lot of wealth due to their hard work. In this era, every Chinese needs to pay the poll tax at Kapitan Mansion on a monthly basis, and report at least once a year, and the poll tax paid by all Chinese, It accounted for more than half of the total population tax and other tax revenue collected by the Dutch East India Company in the city.

In addition to wealth itself, the Chinese control of industries also makes the Dutch feel deeply afraid. Among the 21 taxes levied on industries such as gambling, retail, import and export of goods, and puppet shows, the Chinese occupy 17 of them. Among the most prosperous sugarcane plantations at this time, there were more than 160 sugarcane plantations outside Batavia, of which 84 owners belonged, 79 of whom were overseas Chinese, four Dutch and one Javanese.

It is precisely because the power of the Chinese has developed to this point that the Dutch East India Company became more and more jealous of the Chinese power, and even launched a suppression against the Chinese in 1740, resulting in the massacre of tens of thousands of Chinese, and the red stream in the Chinese residential area was destroyed. Bodies were clogged, the river was stained red with blood, and the massacre became known as the Red Creek Massacre.

In today's era, although there are still 1740 full years before 12, the situation is already very different. After all, in that time and space, the Qing government did not have the slightest covetous heart for Nanyang. After the massacre broke out in Xixi, Emperor Qianlong, who learned of the incident, did not feel any sympathy. Instead, he felt that he treated the Nanyang Chinese as the remnants of the previous Ming Dynasty.

"Abandoned people from the Celestial Dynasty will not hesitate to carry the tomb of their ancestors and go abroad for profit. The court will never hear about it."

But now, Ning Chu has already shown hostility to the Dutch East India Company, so under this situation, the other party is also very likely to launch a massacre and oppression of the Chinese in advance. urgent?
"Come here, quickly order Wu Yuzhang, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, to go to Guangzhou, and order Qiu Ze, the commander of the navy, and all the army divisions to form an army to prepare for the southward battle. I will go to Guangzhou in May!"

When the decree was issued to the Privy Council, Wu Yuzhang, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, hurried to Qingxi Bookstore to thank the decree. At this time, Ning Zhongyi, the Privy Council envoy, had also returned from the northwest front, as well as Yu Zhijing, chief of staff of the Privy Council, and Xu Chengliang, the chief of staff of the Privy Council, etc. People also gathered together.

Ning Yu also calmed down a little at this time, looking at the crowd, he said: "The Chinese people in Nanyang are also my people, and now there are those Westerners who want to slaughter them, I will not agree, and neither will my army." Promise, so this battle must not be defeated, and I will solve the Nanyang problem in one fell swoop!"

Wu Yuzhang, the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, nodded quickly and said earnestly: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the navy should be the first in this battle, and Governor Qiu has been in Guangzhou for more than a year, and all naval warships have also entered service training. It is by no means a problem to defeat the Dutch—— As long as the Dutch navy is dealt with, I have the confidence to take Batavia in one fell swoop!"

As one of the original old-school generals, although Wu Yuzhang was relatively low-key in the Fuhan Army, his qualifications were old enough. Even if the current Uji King was in front of him, he could only greet him as a junior.

Ning Zhongyi, the privy envoy, shook his head slightly, and said softly: "Yuzhang is too confident in thinking about it. I think that there should be no problem for the navy to win this battle, but after landing in Batavia, it is absolutely impossible to really capture this city." You must know that Batavia is also a strong city that the Dutch have worked hard for a long time, even compared to Vladivostok—”

The meaning of these words is very clear. Even Vladivostok, which has the upper hand, will not be able to take it down for a while. Ning Zuyi has been under the city of Vladivostok for several months. Now it is just a matter of besieging the city. It is even more difficult to break the city, so why do you, Wu Yuzhang, want to take down Batavia in one fell swoop?

Wu Yuzhang smiled, but looked at Uji King, and said with a smile: "Since I dare to accept His Majesty's will, I will naturally have the help of an expert. It is said that the nails planted in Batavia earlier have had an effect. When the time comes After having an internal response, I want to break the city
But it's not that difficult. "

Uji Kei on the side was also smiling all over his face. It was obvious that this matter went very smoothly, but it also made his face a little brighter.

Ning Yu nodded. Although the Dutch are currently searching the Chinese and detaining all the Kapitan, there is no way to drive all the Chinese away from Batavia, which gives Ningchu's intelligence department the opportunity to develop Space, especially those big Chinese clans, has been cooperating with Ning Chu for a long time, and it is not impossible to cooperate from inside to outside.

"Since this is the case, please work hard. This battle is no better than the Northern War. We can't delay for too long, and we can't wreak havoc. We need to try our best to take over the management of the Dutch in Nanyang."

Everyone nodded, and they all understood that protecting the Chinese in Nanyang was an upright reason, but keeping the Dutch colonial situation in Nanyang was leaving Dachu with a real golden egg Mother *************** Davia Port.

After the Dutch East India Company stepped up its inspections on the Chinese, the atmosphere in the entire city of Batavia became more and more chilling. In addition, the Javanese people began to move around, so the Governor's Office ordered the mobilization of many Dutch mercenaries who had already entered In the city of Batavia, the situation became even more severe.

But at this critical moment, Governor Vizos mobilized many Dutch mercenaries to seal the port tightly, while he himself waited at the port with officials from the Governor's Palace.

About an hour later, five tall warships came from the sea, basically larger than the armed merchant ships currently used by the Dutch East India Company in Southeast Asia, especially the number of artillery was densely packed. The red, white and blue national flag is flying, in stark contrast to the flag of the Dutch East India Company.

Strictly speaking, the name of the Netherlands at this time should be called the United Provinces of the Netherlands. , so this country is not a kingdom in the traditional sense of Europe, but a relatively distinct republic.

Since it is a republic, there is no king in the Netherlands. The head of state is called the ruler, and the Orange family has always been the hereditary ruler in the past.

Since the death of the previous ruling William III, the Netherlands has entered a special period of no governance. The provinces are responsible for the affairs of each province. The overall situation is relatively loose, so it is also conservative in diplomatic countermeasures.

When the battleship stopped at the port, the military music soon played the national anthem "Ode to William", and then a few men came down from the top, wearing white shirts on their upper bodies, wide black trousers on their lower bodies, and a pair of black pants on their heads. It is wearing a hat with the shape of tulips depicted on it.

"Dear de Vries, I am really grateful that you have arrived in Batavia at this time."

Vizos hurriedly stepped forward, hugged the leading man, and said with a smile: "Since we learned that you are coming from Europe, we are relieved, the situation in Batavia is really tense right now. "

De Vries, who was walking in the front, smiled and said softly: "When I was in the country, I didn't know anything about Batavia's situation, but I didn't know too much about the opponent in the north. learn."

When De Vries heard this, he shook his head slightly and sighed, "Let's go back to the Governor's Mansion first, and I'll introduce you slowly along the way."

The two quickly got into the carriage and returned to the Governor's Mansion under the escort of the guards. Wei Zuos also introduced the current situation in Batavia in detail on the way, and then finished the introduction of Ningchu's rise background, and then sighed: "Their official channels have been completely closed, and it is impossible for us to consider a peaceful solution to this matter."

De Vries nodded, and then said softly: "According to the current situation, I am afraid that the few warships I brought will not be able to completely change the situation. They may be able to guarantee the safety of Batavia, but they cannot restore the previously closed trade."

Vizos frowned slightly, and didn't say any more at the moment, and soon fell into deep thought. It was not until he returned to the Governor's Mansion that he warmly invited De Vries to the prepared banquet. He is a Dutchman in the city of Batavia, so the guests and the host enjoyed themselves for a while, and it seemed very lively.

When the banquet was over, the plates were messed up, and everyone left, Vezos invited De Vries to his study, expressing that he would talk all night.

For this invitation, De Vries naturally accepted it with pleasure. Although he drank a lot of wine and his face was flushed a little, his mind was clear. He knew exactly what Wei Zuos was thinking. .

In today's era, when many people talk about the Dutch East India Company, they will think that it is a behemoth. Even Ning Yu, who is a reborn person, will not have any doubts about the strength of the Dutch East India Company without knowing the inside story. A little doubt—because in terms of paper wealth, it can be called the largest company in the world today, and it can even be said that it is not right to describe it as a company.

In 1602, the Dutch East India Company, which was founded at the beginning, was directly granted by the Dutch Parliament a 10-year Asian trade monopoly privilege, and has been extending this monopoly period ever since.

In 1619, the Dutch East India Company established the headquarters of the East India region in Java and built the city of Batavia, laying the foundation for its colonization in Southeast Asia.

Up to now, the Dutch East India Company, as the world's first multinational company, is also the first company to issue shares, and is also the world's first super-large company. It has the power to wage wars, sign contracts with foreign countries, mint currency and establish Colonies and other powers, the company has more than [-] employees, and has trading stations in Persia, India, the Malay Peninsula, Java, Taiwan, and Japan from Java to India, Central Asia, and from South Africa to East Asia.
However, even such a behemoth faced its own fatal crisis at the peak of its operation, and even had to seek help from the Dutch government, and non-insiders could not see the whole picture of the details.

The seemingly prosperous Dutch East India Company's financial situation has actually become a huge trouble. First, the two Anglo-Dutch wars caused great damage to the Dutch power. It fell into exhaustion, and no new profit support point was found at all.

What is even more frightening is that the Dutch East India Company has brought huge military expenditures due to the long-term war and territorial expansion. This ancient company with a history of more than 120 years inevitably has a large area of ​​internal conflict. Corruption, and short-sighted corporate policies, have made its financial crisis all the more apparent.

Under such circumstances, many insightful people in the Dutch East India Company are also aware of this problem. They began to seek help from the government, hoping to get a decent result before this huge ship collapsed. .

De Vries came to Batavia this time, in addition to supporting Vizos, he also had a very important task, which was to review the true financial status of the Dutch East India Company in Asia.

After all, this huge family business cannot be thrown away casually, but before the lords of the parliament decide whether to invest another Dutch guilder, they need to see the real side of the Dutch East India Company.

(End of this chapter)