Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 228 Throne
Jane Pieterszorn Cohen, forty years old, was born in Hollen to a devout Calvinist family.

His hometown is the seat of the Hollen Chamber of Commerce, one of the six major chambers of commerce that co-created VOC. It is itself a relatively active overseas trading city and is also the center of the shipbuilding industry in the Netherlands.

The largest Zaandam shipyard in the Netherlands is located in Hollen. Eighty years later, Russian Tsar Peter I worked as an apprentice here under a pseudonym. Cohen also served as the accountant of the Zaandam shipyard when he was young.

As early as the age of thirteen, Cohen said goodbye to his parents and went to Italy to learn double-entry accounting at the Pescatore Trading Company established by the Dutch in Rome. When he returned to Hollen, VOC had been established for several years. After a brief period as a shipyard accountant, Cohen joined VOC as a junior commercial officer.

Businessmen are a higher-status staff in VOC. Cohen arrived in Asia when he was twenty years old. Three years later, he returned to the Netherlands and submitted a report to Seventeen Gentlemen on the blueprint for VOC's hegemony. The content was mainly to establish a fixed The stronghold operates local trade in Asia and expands territory for commercial colonization, which is appreciated by VOC executives.

Afterwards, the 25-year-old Cohen was appointed chief commercial officer and led two ships to Asia, starting his legendary colonial career.

In the Moluccas, Cohen consolidated the victory achieved by VOC predecessors against Spanish and Portuguese forces, and ultimately controlled most of the global clove trade.

In the Banda Islands, Cohen almost slaughtered all the local indigenous people and directly occupied the origin of nutmeg and nutmeg.

In Ambon, Cohen ignored the overall situation of the United Provincial Republic's efforts to win British support in the War of Independence, and carried out the Ambon Massacre despite the strong pressure from Prince Morris and VOC leaders, which directly led to the British basically withdrawing from the east of the Strait of Malacca. .

Cohen was the VOC's fourth East India Governor and the first Batavia Grand Governor. It was he who occupied this important place with a ruthless vision and moved VOC's Asian headquarters here, which laid the foundation for VOC's century-long glory.

The name Batavia was chosen by Cohen and came from the Badawis, the ancestors of the Dutch. In his report to the seventeen-member board of directors, he declared: "The foundation of the East India Company's power was built here."

The place Cohen chose is located in the Jakarta Bay in the northwest of Java Island. It is not far from Banten, which was often visited by maritime merchants from the Ming and Japanese countries. It is considered the center of the world's pepper production areas, and it can control cloves, nutmeg and sandalwood to the east. It is the origin of incense and can be connected to the Indian Ocean to the west. It can be said to be the most ideal center of Asian trade hegemony.

At this time, Cohen was standing on the returning ship, scanning the colonial city founded by him with a hawk-like gaze.

His current location is on Unroost Island, one of the two small islands north of Batavia. Both islands have docks, and all ships must be inspected by the port staff here. , generally foreign merchant ships will complete transactions on these two islands.

Looking towards the city of Batavia from the Unroost Island Pier, the only thing that can be seen is the castle east of the mouth of the Gillian River. This is a four-cornered bastion that had been repaired when Cohen left office as governor four years ago. , it seems that nothing has changed at this time.

After the port staff completed the inspection, Cohen's ship weighed anchor and headed south, sailing into the Gillion River. The VOC military port was on the wide artificial moat behind the bastion.

This bastion was called Fort Batavia. It was bounded by the sea to the north, the Gillian River to the west, the moat that introduced water from the Gillian River to the south, and only the land to the east, with an anti-cannon slope.

After crossing Fort Batavia, Cohen saw the entire city of Batavia on the east bank of the Gillian River. It was a city planned according to the Dutch towns. The rivers in the city crisscrossed the city, and European-style buildings with white walls and red tiles were neatly arranged.

Lowlanders brought their enthusiasm for canal building to Asia and designed an elaborate and complex canal system in Batavia to meet logistics and drainage needs. Four years on, the canal system has come a long way, but is still far from a final plan.

In addition, the area of ​​​​the city has also been greatly expanded. The city wall extends southward to the channel where the Gillian River turns eastward, and the fence wall is transformed into a masonry structure. This miles-long masonry city wall, including other buildings in the city and canal projects, were all built by Chinese businessmen.

There is not much open space in the long urban area surrounded by the city wall and the Gilion River. The Dutch city halls, churches, schools and other European-style buildings in the north are much denser than before. The biggest changes are in the Chinese houses and markets in the south. and temples…

The city started construction eight years ago and is still growing and will expand to the west bank of the Ciliwong River in the future. There are currently only a few Javanese villages consisting of Attap houses and Brahmin temples. Other than that, there are large swamps and the ruins of the palace left by the King of Jakarta.

"That guy Carpentier did something after all..." Cohen thought in his heart. He was quite disdainful of the current Batavia President Peter de Carpentier, who he had also recommended in the beginning. Appointed mainly for the latter's outstanding administrative abilities, Cohen did not expect that he would not return here for another four years.

The greatest achievement of Carpentier's four years in office was the construction of the city of Batavia. Of course, all of this was actually laid by Cohen. It was Cohen who established the policy direction of preferential treatment of Chinese and attracting Chinese businessmen eight years ago, and was regarded as a guideline by all the early Batavia governors.

When Cohen stepped onto the suspension bridge connecting Batavia Fort and the city, Carpentier quickly walked forward to meet the old leader who was one year younger than him. With a smile on his face, he said: "Dear Sir Cohen , welcome once again to the city you created with your own hands, beautiful Batavia.”

Carpentier also just received the news of Cohen's arrival, and quickly led all the members of the East India Council in Batavia to come out to greet him, and also hurriedly summoned a group of soldiers to serve as a guard of honor. This scene is familiar to Cohen, who received a hero's welcome when he returned to the Netherlands four years ago.

"Peter, you have done a good job in the past four years." Cohen stepped forward, "When do you plan to complete the handover of work?"

Cohen was recalled by the Seventeen Gentlemen four years ago mainly to formulate the high-level strategy of the VOC. Just one year later, he was appointed Governor-General of the East Indies again. However, the British were afraid that Cohen would return to Asia again, and they did everything they could to prevent him from setting sail. This time, Cohen returned to Batavia in the name of an immigrant, hiding his identity.

"Your Excellency Cohen, I have been looking forward to your arrival for a long time." Carpentier told the truth. The position of Batavia Headquarters often made him feel inadequate, "but I think you still need time to get familiar with it again." Here, the official date of taking office will be September 9, and I will complete the handover before then. "

"Okay, but I hope to move into the Governor's Mansion today." Cohen added, "You know, Peter, I like to live high up, so I can see further."

The VOC East India Governor's Palace is located in Batavia Fort. It is the tallest building in the bastion. It overlooks the entire city to the south, but Cohen's favorite view is the sea to the north.

That afternoon, Cohen settled down with his newlywed wife and their one-year-old child at the Governor's Mansion. He got married two years ago and soon had another child. This incident also delayed his return to Bada to a certain extent. Via time. Cohen believed in strict Calvinism and maintained a consistent Puritan style in life. He never touched a woman before marriage, although it was easy for him to have several lovers or female slaves given his status. In other words, Cohen has been a virgin for thirty-eight years and is really a ruthless person.

"Dear Sir, Mr. Van Diemen is outside the door asking for an audience." Shortly after Cohen settled his family, the staff of the Governor's Palace reported to him.

"Let him come to the Governor's office to find me." Cohen said and went to the familiar office. He had already expected that this person would come to him immediately.

Anthony van Diemen is one of the six current members of the East India Council, the VOC's highest authority in Asia. Van Diemen was the only soldier on the six-member committee, and it was Cohen who promoted him to this position.

In fact, Van Diemen's family background is much better than Cohen's. He was born in Kullenboch, a small town near Utrecht. His father is the mayor of this small town, and his mother is the daughter of a prominent businessman.

Van Diemen attended a Latin school in Utrecht, where he studied Latin, theology, mathematics, and accounting. After that, he went to Amsterdam to do business at the age of twenty-three.

Unfortunately, he did not become a successful businessman. Instead, he was in debt and unable to pay off his debts, and in the end he had to declare bankruptcy. This was a very serious matter in seventeenth-century Europe. Bankrupts would be regarded as shameless people with moral turpitude and be ostracized by society.

Van Diemen wrote a letter to his largest creditor, the Amsterdam branch of the VOC, requesting that he be given a job as a merchant or junior merchant to travel to the East Indies, and that his monthly salary would be retained by the company until the debt was paid.

However, this letter was ignored by the VOC. In desperation, Van Diemen changed his name and applied for a job as a soldier. This is the lowest-level job in the VOC, let alone compared with the promising businessman. Even the status of a sailor Both are slightly taller than soldiers.

Van Diemen boarded the Mauritius nine years ago to go to the East Indies. The senior merchant in command of the ship was the famous William Jansen, the first European to discover Australia.

During this trip, the Mauritius unexpectedly arrived in Australia again, but William Janssen did not know that this was the land he discovered twelve years ago. Van Diemen was also among the first to land on the west coast of Australia. European.

Afterwards, the Mauritius arrived at Batavia, which had been captured by Cohen just a few months earlier. Here, Van Diemen was appreciated by Cohen. In less than six years, he received special promotions and climbed from a low-level soldier to the top of Batavia like a rocket.

In fact, as early as the second year after Van Diemen arrived in East India, his true identity was discovered by VOC executives. The Seventeen Gentlemen specifically mentioned this in a letter to Cohen and requested that Cohen only use Van Diemen as a soldier and prohibit him from participating in commercial activities.

But Cohen did not follow Amsterdam's instructions. He showed the letter to Van Diemen and insisted in his reply that the notorious bankrupt should be appointed. In the end, the Seventeen Gentlemen had no choice but to let it go.

Later facts proved that Cohen had a very vicious view of people. Van Diemen was the second most famous governor of East India in the history of VOC, second only to Cohen in historical reputation. If Cohen is the founder of the Batavia throne, then Van Diemen is the creator of the throne. In terms of achievements alone, he is even above Cohen.

Two of the most famous men in VOC history met at the Governor's Palace in Batavia, although neither was a Governor at this time.

"Master, welcome back to your seat." Van Diemen, who was thirty-four years old at the time, took off his hat and saluted Cohen respectfully.

"I'm not the boss yet." Cohen sat behind the desk in the Batavia boss. "Sit down, Anthony, what do you want to see me for?"

"The main purpose is to report to your Excellency what has happened recently, so that your Excellency can quickly grasp the latest situation in East India." Van Diemen sat down opposite Cohen. He knew that his benefactor had a straightforward style.

"Please speak." Cohen nodded to Van Diemen. He has been the director of the VOC Hollen branch during the four years he was in the Netherlands. He can read the annual report submitted by the Governor of East India to the board of directors, so he doesn't know much about it. Only what happened in the last year.

"There are four main things I want to say that deserve your attention. First of all, I want to say something that many people think is trivial..." Van Diemen said, taking out a flag from his arms, "General seat, Your Excellency, please take a look at this flag.”

As he spoke, he unfolded the flag on the table. It was a square flag with a blue background and white stripes. The pattern on it was a sword standing on an open book.

"Sword and account book?" Cohen glanced at Van Diemen in confusion, "Anthony, is this the flag you designed? What is it going to be used for?"

"Huh?" Van Diemen did not answer Cohen's question, "Why does the chief executive think this book is an account book?"

"Anthony, you, like me, have studied accounting..." Cohen made a rare joke, but quickly suppressed his smile and said, "Have you forgotten Prince Maurice's speech in front of the old church?"

"Dutch, let us hold the account books in one hand, the sword in the other, and use the cannons on the ships to send all the enemies to God!" Van Diemen recited the famous saying of Nassau Morris, and he finally You know why Cohen thought the book on the flag was an account book.

"However, Dear Mr. Cohen, I must tell you that this flag was not designed by me, or even by any Dutch person."

Van Diemen continued: "General, this is the flag of a Ming Dynasty trading company. It is said that the top leader of that company, like your Excellency, once worked as an accountant in a shipyard."

(End of this chapter)