I

  Chapter 830 827 [Siege Ball]

  The writer Johann Neuhoff was definitely not born in the poor, because he was good at reading, writing and painting.

   And, initially as a reserve officer, went to Brazil, a colony of the Dutch West India Company.

   But to say how rich his family is is pure nonsense. This guy has also been a sailor, which belongs to the most difficult, tiring and dangerous profession, and he doesn't know how to clean the deck with a little background.

   "Sir, Mrs. Witherson, I invite you to the ball tonight." A servant came to hand the invitation.

prom?

  The castle was surrounded, and there were still people holding a ball.

  Neuhoff held the invitation in both hands: "Please tell Madam, I will attend on time."

  Neuhof would definitely scoff at someone else holding a dance.

   But Mrs. Witsen's ball, Neuhof must attend. Because his benefactor's surname is Wetson, if he hadn't been supported by his benefactor, he would still be fooling around in America now.

  The husband of Mrs. Witson is the nephew of Mrs. En Gong, and one of the captured MPs!

   Night gradually fell, and many soldiers and civilians were still on duty to guard against Chinese sneak attacks.

  In a certain hall of the castle, more than two hundred candles were lit. Some candles are placed in wall sconces, some are placed in chandeliers, and some are placed on tabletops.

  The interior is brightly lit, and food and wine are constantly being served.

  Mrs. Wittsen, who was wearing heavy makeup, was walking around the audience holding a glass of wine, and soon came to Neuhoff: "I'm glad you can come, Mr. Neuhoff."

   "It's an honor to be invited by Madam!" Neuhof bent down and kissed the back of the lady's hand.

   Guests arrived one after another, all of them were high-level company employees and city officials, as well as their wives and daughters (all mistresses and illegitimate daughters) and son-in-law.

  The women at the ball, young and old, were all mixed race.

  That Mrs. Witson is also of mixed race, and her father is the previous governor. Her mother was from Japan (Portuguese-Japanese mixed race), was arrested as a Catholic, and was sold to the Dutch and sent to Batavia, where she became one of the governor's mistresses and maids.

  In early Batavia, there was a shortage of women.

  Han people can only marry Javanese natives, and gradually there are Han women. As long as they are Han women, even if they look crooked, they will be snapped up by Han men.

  How scarce are Han women?

  According to Batavia's official records, Han women often turn against their husbands. Sometimes they just got divorced after a few quarrels, and they don't have to worry about whether they can remarry after divorce. The better the family background, the more this is the case.

  The main reason for the divorce is that the wife finds out that the husband is keeping a concubine, and this kind of extramarital affair is completely unbearable. The second is that the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is not harmonious, and the Han woman is angry with her mother-in-law and wants to break up with her husband.

   There are even parents of Han girls who force their daughters to divorce and remarry because they can’t get used to their son-in-law’s uselessness.

In order to curb this phenomenon, the Dutch and the Han people jointly promulgated relevant laws and regulations: first, Han people need to pay marriage tax when they get married; Permit; Fourth, once you marry illegally, you must be deported.

  The Dutch also lack women.

   Initially, women were transported from Europe, but there were two problems. One was that the cost of long-distance transportation was too high, and the other was that most of the women transported were prostitutes. Many of these European prostitutes suffered from venereal disease, and were disgusted by the Dutch, who even nicknamed the prostitutes "rotten pears".

   Coincidentally, the Japanese shogunate fell out with Portugal and arrested and killed Japanese Catholics.

  The Dutch took the opportunity to buy, and those Japanese-Portuguese mixed-race women became sought-after items for the company's executives. Ordinary Japanese women are assigned to middle and low-level company employees.

  The illegitimate offspring of the company's top executives, the boy was sent back to the Netherlands to study, and the girl stayed in Batavia. These girls will marry new company employees, and the father-in-law will train his son-in-law as a confidant, and cultivate cronies through marriage. After decades, they will be intertwined.

  The Mrs. Witson in front of her is one of the best.

  Although her former governor's father has returned to China, her husband is the chairman of the Batavia City Council and a member of the company's East India Council. Moreover, her husband listened to her very much, because her father was based in the Netherlands, and she herself had a business in Batavia, and she earned far more money than her husband.

   "Kang!"

  The door was slammed open.

  Governor Rainiers led his troops in, and ordered: "According to the wartime laws, candles, food, alcohol... belong to war supplies, and all are temporarily confiscated!"

   "Stop!"

  Mrs. Witson also roared: "I brought these into the castle, and these are my private property!"

Rainiers looked angry: "Mrs. Witson, for your father's sake, I allowed you to take your servants to the castle to take refuge. Now the castle is under siege, and the soldiers are still guarding the city, but you actually hold a ball, you What exactly do you want to do?"

   "Release my husband immediately!" said Mrs. Witherson.

  Rainiers said: "When the war is over, I will release him. However, I will send a ship to send him back to the Netherlands. By then, your husband and wife relationship will also end. I remind Madam, change your husband as soon as possible."

  Dutch people at this time basically leave their wives and daughters behind once they leave office and return home. Their wives will become rich "widows" and hook up with young and promising new employees. And young new employees are also willing to "marry" widows, which can save twenty years of struggle in an instant.

  It is not unusual for a wealthy mixed-race woman to have several husbands.

  The senior executives of the company do not want to leave, and they do not want to return to China after retirement. It will take decades for that to happen.

Mrs. Witson turned to look at the guests: "The governor is crazy, he can't surrender because of the family. But what does it have to do with us? The food in the castle can last for more than a year. Will everyone starve to death together? Batavia is also under siege. Whether it is the Banten army or the Mata blue army, they will withdraw after a few months of siege. But now it is the Chinese army. The Chinese surround Manila, Zeelandia, and Malacca. When will they withdraw? Over the army? The Chinese are the wealthiest, they have endless food, as long as they are willing, the Chinese army can besiege the city for ten years..."

   "Catch it!"

   Rainiers didn't want to listen any more, and immediately ordered the soldiers to act, and took Mrs. Whitson away in minutes.

  The next step is to unplug the banquet candles and collect the banquet wine and food. The wine and food were also rewarded to the soldiers defending the city, which slightly boosted the morale of the army.

  The invited guests kept silent the whole time, for fear that they would be arrested too.

The next day, Rainiers summoned the army to give a lecture and threatened the soldiers: "Do you know what will happen to the surrender? The Dutch soldiers in Zeelandia were all killed after surrendering. The Chinese like to behead their heads. If we surrender, all our heads will be killed." Cut it off!"

   This statement is half true and half false. The Dutch in Zeelandia were indeed all beheaded. That's because they resisted to the end, causing the Datong army to besiege the city for more than nine months, wasting too much food and grass, and many soldiers fell ill.

  A few of the Dutch soldiers here came from Malacca, and they knew that they could save their lives if they surrendered.

  “The Chinese army will not kill prisoners. If we keep defending the city and do not surrender, we will be beheaded.”

   "I am from Malacca. I have surrendered before. The Chinese army really can't kill people."

   "The governor is too bad, he wants to drag us to die together."

   "..."

   Rainiers used both kindness and power, thinking that he had taken control of the army, but he didn't know what the soldiers were talking about in private.

  The company's high-level and middle-level employees are also quietly joining forces.

  Especially after Mrs. Witherson was arrested, this series became more frequent. The company is not your own, why sacrifice your life? Isn't it good to surrender early?

   "Your Excellency, the civil servants are willing to surrender," Neuhoff found Batavia City Judge Siddens, "I also contacted some soldiers, all of whom came from Malacca, and they believed that surrender would save their lives."

  Sidens said: "Appoint a time, let's riot together. The governor violated the company's regulations and arrested the council members without authorization. It is reasonable for us to expel the governor. Even if there is a seventeen-member meeting, we will not be wrong."

  …

   Governor's Mansion, Office.

  Director-General Jonas asked: "Do you think the Chinese will withdraw their troops?"

Rainiers said: "I can only try it out. China sent troops this time too fast. It is probably the same as the last time they attacked Malacca. They didn't get the Chinese emperor's instruction at all. Their food should not be much, and they all rely on local Chinese planting. Provided by the owner. The rainy season is coming soon, and if there is a hurricane, those plantations will fail to harvest. Or there will be other disasters next year, which will force the Chinese to withdraw their troops. I will not give up until the last moment.”

   "Yes, until the last moment, we must not give up." Jonas said with emotion.

  Reiniers was able to be the airborne governor, and he spent money in private. He spent money to get the governor's seat, and secretly fished for it for several years. All the embezzled money is here, and he will take it away with him when he leaves office and returns to China.

  Once you surrender now, there will be nothing left.

  Don't talk about it for the benefit of the family, he is more for himself, even if he is desperate to keep the greedy money.

  Jonas is even more interesting. His wife and children who stayed in the Netherlands wrote to say they bought war bonds. All the savings in the family were bought in British bonds, hoping that the British would win the war.

  You heard me right, before the war between Britain and the Netherlands broke out, the Netherlands not only sold warships to the UK, but the UK could also get war loans from the Netherlands. Not to mention these things, during the war between the two countries, Britain directly issued war bonds in the Netherlands, and there were not a few Dutch people who bought British war bonds.

  Jonas was stunned when he received a letter from his family.

  He firmly believes that Britain will fail, and the bonds bought by his wife and children must be in vain!

   Therefore, he cannot surrender, he must last until China withdraws its troops, and then bring the embezzled money back to the country, otherwise he will not even have the money to return to the country for retirement.

   "Bang bang bang!"

   There were sporadic gunshots outside, and soon the gunfire became more and more intensive.

  Rainiers stood up in surprise: "It was shot outside the Governor's Mansion, someone turned traitor!"

  (end of this chapter)