I

  Chapter 829 826 [The Governor of the Netherlands who is determined to fight to the death]

  Governor's Palace, Council.

  A little old man in his fifties was smoking a cigar and speaking:

   "Twenty-nine years ago, I was hired to work for the company as a junior business clerk."

   "Twenty-seven years ago, I served as the chief businessman and Batavia judge, specializing in Chinese cases."

   "Twenty-six years ago, I served as President of the Batavia City Council."

   "Twenty-four years ago, I was transferred to be the governor of Dayuan (Taiwan). It took three years to turn the Dayuan store into a profit."

   "Twenty years ago, I led a fleet to sweep up pirates and was defeated by Zheng Zhilong in Liuluo Bay. Since then, I know that when dealing with the Chinese, I must always be careful."

  "Since eighteen years ago, I have personally led troops and successively conquered Madou Society, Xingang Society, Xiaolong Society, Damujiang, Xiaoliuqiu... 28 tribes swore allegiance to the company."

"I drew the blueprints of Zeelandia Castle by myself, and won funds for the construction of Zeelandia Castle. When Zeelandia Castle was about to be completed, I was suddenly transferred away. I left behind a group of tribes who surrendered and worked every year. The Dayuan colony that can make profits and has a strong fortress, but I was transferred at a critical moment! And now, the Dayuan colony I built has become a Chinese Taiwan!"

  The little old man's name is Hans Putmans, the executioner who massacred the aborigines of Taiwan, and at the same time the strongman who single-handedly built the colony of Taiwan.

   It was this guy who personally led the fleet in the battle of Liuluo Bay.

   Those who are older than Putmans must either return to China or die. He was clapping the table in the council right now, and no one dared to say anything, even the governor remained silent.

Putmans continued: "When I was transferred back to the Netherlands, I was the commander-in-chief of the East India Fleet. It was a vain position without any real power, because I resigned after I returned home. I became a victim of some shareholders' struggle for power. Holland was very unhappy. Malacca was lost, I was hired back by the company, and I was sent to Batavia when I was fifty years old. The company asked me to restrain the governor to prevent the governor from angering the Chinese. But what is the governor doing? Attack the vassal state of China!"

  Rainiers finally spoke: "The attack on Nanbawa was voted by the council."

"I voted no!" Putmans yelled, "You guys, think I'm too old to follow my advice on everything! Was it useful for me to stop? All I could do was vote one Vote no!"

  Rainiers knew he was wrong, and changed the subject: "Sir, what we should do now is not to quarrel in the conference room, but to discuss how to negotiate with the Chinese."

Putmans put out his cigar, pointed to the governor's nose and said, "When we came to the Far East, we were cautious in everything we did. You young people, thinking that the company has become stronger, dared to provoke China at will. Seventeen years ago A few days ago, the company robbed a Chinese merchant ship, and the Chinese businessman wrote to me. How did I do it? I will immediately compensate for the loss! Because I know that you can slaughter the natives at will, but you must respect the Chinese!"

The old guy became more and more angry as he talked: "Do you know how the company started trading in the Far East? At that time, the Ming Dynasty banned maritime trade, so the company had to keep bribing officials and obtaining licenses one after another with great difficulty. When we first occupied Dayuan (Taiwan), Chinese merchants did not come to do business at all. We need to kidnap Chinese merchant ships, not to rob their goods, but to force them to sell goods! And you, now the Ming Dynasty is replaced by The Datong Kingdom was opened, and the port was opened to do business with the company. You should do better, but the company's profits are decreasing year by year!"

  Putmans’ statement is generally true. When he governed Tainan, due to various reasons, Chinese businessmen did not do business.

   This guy first prohibited Dutch ships from robbing Chinese ships, and then kidnapped Chinese ships to trade in Taiwan. After going back and forth, the Chinese maritime merchants found that their ship was kidnapped, but there was no loss, and they soon trusted the Dutch in Tainan. In this way, Tainan's trade prospered rapidly, turning losses into profits within three years.

  Putmans lied a little. Seventeen years ago, the Chinese ship was robbed. After he received the letter of complaint from the Chinese businessman, he did not pay compensation. Instead, he wrote back personally saying that it was a misunderstanding.

   It was indeed a misunderstanding. A Dutch merchant ship violated the order and robbed the Chinese merchant ship. Putmans severely punished those people and pocketed the stolen goods.

You can’t talk about embezzling dirty goods. Putmans must behave uprightly. He continued to slap the table and said: "Datong China is stronger than Ming China. You only know that trade is better, but you have never looked squarely at China. The strength of Malacca, even the loss of Malacca is still not awake. Now, there are only 800 soldiers left in the castle, and the reinforcements from India have been wiped out. We can no longer have reinforcements. If the castle cannot be defended, it must surrender! The conditions for surrender, It is to keep the Chinese fleet away from the port and let our fleet pick us up. The Far East headquarters of the East India Company can only be located in India in the future!"

  Rainiers asked: "The Spice Islands are gone? Once the Far East headquarters moves to India, it will be difficult to control the Spice Islands. Losing Batavia, losing the Spice Islands, I will die a miserable death when I return home!"

   "That's your business!"

Putmans said: "The ships that came to the Far East in the past mainly carried Indian cotton cloth. Now that Chinese cotton cloth is cheap, we can only ship opium, otherwise we will be almost empty. The opium market is so big, and other goods are often unsalable. We Even if we continue to defend Batavia, the profit will be lower and lower. What's more, the Chinese have already attacked Batavia, can the Spice Islands hold? Vote!"

  The voting result was 5:2, and the council decided to surrender.

  Director General Jonas is with Governor Rainiers. Seeing that the situation was out of control, he said to Rainiers: "The vote is invalid, order to arrest people."

  The council instantly turned into a grand feast, Rainiers opened the door and said to the outside: "Arrest!"

  A group of the governor's cronies rushed into the meeting room and took the members away forcibly.

  The Far East headquarters of the Dutch East India Company has long since become too big.

  First of all, the governor cannot bypass the parliament to do things, but this regulation is useless. Especially when the Governor joins hands with the Director-General (No. 2), he can manipulate the MPs arbitrarily and treat the votes of the MPs as bullshit.

  Secondly, the Far East Council must take orders from the seventeen-member meeting of the Dutch headquarters. However, the orders of the foreign rulers are not accepted. The Far East Council often ignores the orders of the headquarters and writes back to the Netherlands to explain the reasons. It takes two or three years for the letters to go back and forth, and the letters deliberately write a lot of nonsense, and before the **** is over, the matter is over.

  The governor became angry and arrested the congressmen. This happened in history, but it will have to wait for decades.

  At that time, the Chinese in Batavia launched an uprising. The governor convened a council to discuss how to solve the problem. One group believed that it should be suppressed by force, while the other group suggested appeasement and that the Chinese should be treated kindly.

  Parliament votes to no avail, with the Governor and Director-General holding their own.

  In anger, the governor ordered the arrest of the director-general, and all the congressmen, and planned to send them back to the Netherlands after being imprisoned. At this moment, the situation was reversed, the Dutch headquarters sent a new appointment, the director-general was promoted to governor, and the governor was ordered to step down as soon as possible.

   "What are you doing? Are you going to rebel against independence?" Putmans yelled while being dragged out, grabbing the door frame.

   Rainiers said contemptuously: "What do you civilians know?"

  Putmans stopped talking for a moment. He was born as a commoner and really didn't understand why the disputes between noble factions ignored the interests of the company.

   It’s not bad now, but in a few decades, the factional struggle of the Dutch East India Company has reached the level of black and white party struggle. Once the governor and the director general come from the same faction, they will join forces to benefit their own group, and even harm the interests of the entire company.

   Rainiers cannot surrender. Once he surrenders, he will take full responsibility, and the faction behind him will also be impeached, and then lose the right to speak for a long time. He must stick to the castle, even if he dies, until the last moment.

  The story of the promotion from a small employee to a governor has long since disappeared. That kind of situation only appeared during the pioneering period.

  The current governor of Batavia is all Dutch nobles, all of whom were airborne from the Netherlands. All their actions are based on their own family and faction.

"All soldiers, double the salary, double the food! All the staff and civilians must take up arms, even women must fight!" Rainiers is not afraid of death, he must die for the family, and even the people in the castle Also pulled to die.

The writer Neuhof wrote in his diary: "The governor is crazy, and the director-general is also crazy. They arrested the members and representatives of the members. They joined forces to implement dictatorship in Batavia. This violated the company's regulations and is absolutely not allowed. Allowed. The civil servants are already panicked, and they don’t know what to do. When the governor took office, he brought cronies from the Netherlands, including a small team of soldiers. These lunatics only listen to the governor’s words and want to bring everyone together Go to hell. We, it seems, should do something, the Chinese are very kind to those who surrender, and I didn’t suffer abuse when I surrendered in Malacca..."

  Dutch soldiers were sent to defend four bastions.

  Civilian staff to assist with logistics.

  Dutch civilians were assigned to various sections of the castle walls.

  The governor also executed a sleeping sentry, which made everyone shudder, for fear that he would also die inexplicably.

  The Dutch defended the city mentally, and it seemed that the defense was tighter.

  But privately, there are many discussions. One is that he does not want to die here, and the other is that he is afraid of the governor's dictatorship.

   "Do you want to die?" Neuhoff found a staff member.

  The staff member shook his head: "Of course not."

  Neuhof said: "We are all civilians, and we go to sea to make a living. Now the nobles are going to take us to die together, are you willing to resist?"

  The staff asked: "How to resist?"

  Neuhoff said: "Tell me, who do you trust most, this person must not want to die."

  (end of this chapter)