Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 523 The Debt Collection Comes to the Door

Reinard Buses works at the customs office in Batavia Port. His main task is to provide pilotage services for newly arrived ships and collect ship taxes on his behalf.

Ships from the Dutch East India Company, Chinese galleons, or other Western ships entering the heavily fortified port first had to pass through the maze of waterways formed by the island of Belitung and the Karimata archipelago.Anchor was then to be anchored a mile north of Fort Batavia at the mouth of the Gillion Canal or a mile offshore from the town.

In fact, his task is not onerous, it can even be said to be very easy.These years, the number of merchant ships that come to Bacheng every year is no more than ten, at least seven or eight; except for the three merchant ships that come from Macau every year, the rest are Tang ships from Guangzhou, Xiamen, and Ningbo.

It is now the second ten days of March in the western calendar, and the season for Tang boats going south has ended, so Mr. Buses did not go for a drive today, but sat in the customs office to check the cargo list.

Ships from the coast of China to Bacheng go south when the northeast monsoon blows in winter, and return when the southwest monsoon blows in early summer the following year.In addition to the bulk of tea and porcelain on these ships, the most important "cargo" is the population.

Throughout the eighteenth century, the number of Tang boats carrying people to Bacheng continued to increase slowly. Even though the voyage was temporarily suspended because of the Hongxi tragedy, the momentum continued after that.During the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the demand for manpower soared; when the war was over, the Dutch began to severely restrict it.

After a busy morning, it was already 20 minutes to 12 o'clock. Busys gathered the documents and was ready to go home for dinner.However, the noise from outside the window was getting louder and louder. It seemed that something happened on the pier, which attracted many people to watch.Just as he was thinking of taking a look, the door of the room was knocked open with a "bang", and it was one of his subordinates who rushed in.

"Mr. Busys! Come out and have a look!"

"What's the matter? Peter. What's the matter?" Busys locked the filing cabinet unhurriedly without turning his head.

"Outside the port, come, a big ship is coming!"

"Hehe, it's a good thing to have a boat coming, why are you panicking?"

The subordinate Peter swallowed his saliva, and then said, "You'd better take a look, that boat, that boat is a bit big."

Haha~~ Buceth thought that the size of the ship is not good, and the customs can make a fortune again!But when he and his subordinates came to the pier, they saw the big blue and white ship moored five nautical miles away without using binoculars, and Leonard Busseston was petrified on the spot.

This, this Nima is too big!

"Gulu~" Like his subordinates, Busys also swallowed his saliva. His first reaction was how should I collect taxes?
The Dutch East India Company has always had a tax collection system for Tang ships. Large ships range from 2200 to 3600 silver dollars, and small ships range from 1680 to 3000 silver dollars. In addition, warehouse rental fees of [-] silver dollars must be paid in advance.Buses thought that it would not be too much to charge five, six, seven, or eight thousand silver dollars for such a big boat, right?
With such a heinous tariff system like VOC, it is no wonder that the more it dries up, the more it declines.For example, in order to compete with the Dutch for business, the Kingdom of Johor has set the Johor Port as a tax-free free port, and no tax is charged for entering and leaving merchant ships.Moreover, the port of Johor is in the northwest of Batavia, so it is more convenient for Chinese ships to come and go, so in the past few decades, many Chinese ships have been transferred there to do business.

Leonard Busses said to Peter beside him, "Hurry up and prepare the pilot boat, Peter, we have to go and have a look."

At this time, the pier was already crowded with people. Chinese, Dutch, and Javanese natives gathered more and more, pointing and discussing. Even the fortress on the east bank of the Giliwong River was observing with binoculars.But the rush of bells from the castle and the fortifications across the river indicated that the local garrison was on alert.

The order to put the defenders on alert was given by the governor of the Dutch East Indies, Willem Arnold Alting.It's fine to say that ordinary people in Bacheng don't know about the Thor, but Governor Altyn knows it very well.

Don't forget, when Zhao Xin and the others went to Nagasaki for the first time, they fought against the Saga Domain and forced Nagasaki's Toda Shimeng to commit suicide, which shocked the people in the Dutch business house.Half a year later, when Governor Altin received the report from Nagasaki, he was envious of the North Navy's record of extorting 15 taels of gold from the shogunate.

Take a look at others, go to Nagasaki, and the Dutch business house has been busy for ten years!
After that, Zhao Xin and the others drove the Thunder God to Tanzai Island. First, they frightened the British, and then they fought with Xiangshanshuiying to bombard Dahengqin Island.Not to mention that Liu Zheng stayed in the thirteenth line for a year, and he didn't leave until Zhao Xin "disasterd" the officialdom in Guangzhou.Therefore, the Dutch Pavilion has already reported all the information it can find out to the Governor of the Dutch East Indies.

The Thor has been stirring wind and rain along the East Asian coast for several years. Now all Westerners engaged in East Asian trade know that the group of "Seresians" entrenched in North China are not easy to mess with. Even the British East India Company knows that the Dutch He didn't even run away.

A while ago, the Thunder God went to Annan to stir up wind and rain, and all the Tang boats going south passed the news.

Now the Thunder God suddenly appeared outside Batavia Harbor, you said, can Governor Altyn not be vigilant!
Reinard Busses took a boat more than 20 meters long, wandered slowly for an hour with his subordinate Peter and five Dutch soldiers, and finally approached the Thor.Looking at the long and tall hull, Buses thought that this ship could hold up to three ships from Macau in one trip, so the customs could make a fortune, and he could also have a lot of oil and water.

Reinard Buses' monthly salary is only 120 Dutch guilders, but his real annual income is as much as [-] guilders.In addition to engaging in private fraud in the customs, another major source of income is blackmailing Chinese businessmen.

However, the Raytheon did not lower the gangway and let him board the ship to collect taxes as he imagined, but hung a letter from the deck, and another Chinese with a southern Hokkien accent leaned forward and said something loudly, That means asking him to hand over the letter to the governor first, and wait for the governor to read it.

The envelope was not very bulging, and it seemed to have only two or three pages when pinched. The sealing seal was covered with a mark that looked like a Chinese character.Busys made the trip in vain, angry at Thor's "rudeness."But he thought that the other party might have some big deal to discuss with the governor, so he ordered the sailors to turn around and return to the port quickly.

Two hours later, this strange letter was placed in front of Governor Altyn.The governor's secretary carefully opened the seal with a paper knife, took a few glances after opening it, and was stunned.

"What did it say?"

There are only two pages of letter paper in total. The secretary went back and forth to look at it, and said in embarrassment: "Your Excellency, this, this is all in Chinese. I'm sorry, I can only understand a small part of it."

Altin saw the other party's appearance, got up and took a look at the letter from the other party, and found that it was written in Chinese, but the font was small and the gestures were very thin. It didn't look like a brush commonly used by Chinese, but an ink pen .

The official languages ​​of the Dutch East Indies are Dutch and Portuguese, and many people know Malay.Although Chinese make up the majority of the local population, Chinese has never been the official language.Even those Chinese "Kapitan" can only negotiate in Dutch when they meet the Dutch.

"Oh? What are these Siris people doing? You send someone to the Chinese mansion to find a Chinese translator who can speak Dutch."

The so-called Chinese mansion is actually the self-government association of the Chinese in Bacheng, with a court.The "Kapitan" appointed by the Dutch will cooperate with the Dutch in managing the Chinese, and will also be responsible for hearing cases and handling disputes.

After the "Hongxi tragedy" 51 years ago, tens of thousands of Chinese in Bacheng died, and only 150 escaped in the end.Afterwards, the Dutch hypocritically used the appeasement policy, and the Tang people began to return to Bacheng, but since then they could only live outside the south gate, and were no longer allowed to live in the city.

The Chinatown outside Bacheng is called "Tangren Jianguang". The word Jianguang comes from the Malay word "Kampong", which means village.The Chinese mansion mentioned by Artin is also located here.

At this time, Kapitan Wang Zhusheng, who was appointed by the Dutch, was carrying out fire inspections in Chinatown with a few of his men.Right now, there are more and more Chinese living outside the south and south gates of Bacheng, even extending to the east gate and west gate, and there are row upon row of shops facing the gates.

"Boss Qian, the rainy season is coming to an end now, and the time when the wind and things are dry is coming. You have piled up so many sundries outside the door, and the fire will not only be a matter of your family. By the way, the storefront of the Betel Nut Club is also Yours? This year’s taxes haven’t been paid yet.”

"I know, I know, Mr. Qian will ask the staff to vacate this place in two days. Thank you Mr. Lu, come in and have some tea."

Lu Wen, who was in his thirties, waved his hands and said, "No, thank you, Boss Qian. I'm going to go to Iron Street with Mr. Wang. That shop."

Boss Qian hurried over at this time, put his hand on Lu Wen's cuff, and said with a smile: "Tsk tsk, Mr. Lu's ability is really admirable. Not only is the article well written, but he is also proficient in Dutch. In the end, I have to ask you a lot more about the official affairs."

Lu Wen remained calm, he already felt that what the other party handed over was a pack of ten double-column silver coins.Everyone knew that, so he immediately bowed his hands to Boss Qian, said goodbye with a smile, and quickly walked a few steps to follow behind Wang Zhusheng.

Before the group reached Blacksmith Street, they heard someone shouting from behind: "Kapitan Wong! Kapitan Rei!"

In Bacheng's Chinatown, Dutch is spoken, and they are either red-haired or Malay.Wang Zhusheng and others looked back, and recognized the man as an officer from the Governor's Mansion.The two Jiapitan hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "It turned out to be Second Lieutenant Huygens, why did you call me to wait for you two?"

The visitor ran all the way from the Chinese mansion, already sweating profusely, and said dissatisfiedly: "Your Excellency has an order to find a Chinese translator who is proficient in Dutch."

Hi, that's it.After hearing this, Wang Zhusheng turned to Lu Wen and said, "Yu Zhi, your Dutch is the best, and you were born as a child, so you can go with Second Lieutenant Huygens."

"Yes."

More than half an hour later, when Lu Wen, who was sweating profusely, followed Huygens to meet Governor Altyn, he opened the letter from Thor and opened it, okay?The back of Lu Wen's neck was sweating profusely, almost turning into "waterfall sweat", and even the hand holding the letter couldn't help shaking.

"Damn it, what did it say?" Altin was a little impatient after waiting for a long time.

"This, this, I implore the governor to forgive Xiaosheng for being rude." Lu Wen's legs softened, and he knelt on the floor with a puff, kowtowed: "This, this is clearly a letter of war."

"What?!" Altin jumped up from the chair, and said sharply, "I order you to translate it word by word immediately, without missing a single word!"

"Yes." Lu Wen just got up, compared the Chinese in the letter, and began to translate, while Altin's secretary began to record at the desk.

"The Northern Navy to His Excellency William Arnold Altyn, Governor of the Netherlands East Indies, regarding the Batavia massacre in 1740, hereby declare:
Oh, the Netherlands, a small country in Northern Europe, resellers of licensed goods, connected to the oceans, colonized and invaded, is actually a merchant in Europa!
For more than a hundred years since Zhaoxing in Bacheng, if there were no Chinese to teach you how to farm and manage your houses, how could all industries be prosperous, commerce and trade flourish, and the conference be made?You don't want to be grateful, and you practice oppression, taxation is increasing, extortion, and even murder for money, killing people to fill the city, and plundering their wealth to make up for the deficit of the East India Company.

In the journey of the avenue, the world is public, Xia Biao is eternal, rites and music are prestige, the world is the same, the state is supreme, the sky is happy, and life is the body.How can I, the people of China, lose to you, and why do I have such a deep hatred to kill thousands of people? !If there is hatred, there is no need to vengeance, all the descendants of the survivors of Zhangquan can be sent back, and the business and ship transactions will still be as usual.Bandit and bandit have nothing to do, and they are so unjust, so hell!
Today there is the North Sea, Yun Fen Tiangang, and it is time to look at the eight ridges, reaching the Ice Sea in the north, Seoul in the south, the ocean in the east, and Central Asia in the west.For example, Annan Xishan offended China, killed Chinese people without authorization, pretended to be a vassal, secretly formed pirates, and offended our coast.Beihai drove troops for thousands of miles, spread the call to officials and soldiers, and the Yizong cleared the land, adding troops and destroying them.

China's mighty spirit, breaking through the universe, now there is Beihai, advocating righteousness, punishing crimes and hanging people, and avenging shame.Armed with millions of soldiers and thousands of warships, they avenged the killing of more than ten thousand souls, and regretted the humiliation of the upper and lower gods Xue.

Spread it with a message, and the salty envoy will know the news. "

This letter was written by Jiang Fan. Although it looked laborious, it was full of momentum.With Deng Fei, Wang Yuanfang and Hong Tao's little ink, they are not qualified to revise at all.Hong Tao tried to type up several drafts in vernacular, but in the end it was not as good as this one, so he had to give up.

But it was precisely because of this that Lu Wen, who was born in Zhangzhou as a child, was sweating profusely and terrified.When he managed to interpret the letter into Dutch, Governor Altyn's face turned green.

His first reaction was to shout that it is not good, the Chinese are going to settle the account!
"Call all council members to the Governor's Palace for a meeting! Immediately notify all forts to put on wartime alert! Order Colonel Berg to immediately summon troops, mobilize the city, open the armory, and recruit Malays to join the war!"

After the secretary finished writing on the letter paper, Governor Altyn immediately signed his name, and then he saw the embarrassed Lu Wen, his face turned black and he roared: "Get out! It's none of your business here!"

Unexpectedly, just as Lu Wen was about to leave, Altin immediately came to his senses. He shouted to Second Lieutenant Huygens outside the door: "Show me this guy, and don't let him tell those Chinese about the news in the letter!"

Lu Wen panicked when he heard this, knelt on the ground and said: "My lord governor, please forgive me, this is none of the villain's business!"

However, Altin didn't care about him at all, he waved his hand impatiently, and asked someone to take Lu Wen down to see him.When Governor Altyn was the only one left in the room, he slumped back on the chair weakly, his temples on both sides throbbing wildly.

Does this have anything to do with me? What happened 50 years ago had something to do with me!

It is said that Altin only joined the East India Company in 1750. When he arrived in Batavia, the former governor Adrian Vargener who was in charge of this matter had been dead for several years. Now the grass on his grave It is estimated that they have grown into towering trees.

But Altin also knew that, as the governor of the Dutch East Indies, this matter was inseparable from him.In fact, the crime of killing Chinese in Java by the East India Company was not limited to Hongxi. After being imprisoned, Vargenir confessed that in June 1741, the East India Council also passed a "persecution of the entire Javanese Chinese". general massacre".

So at the beginning of 1742, another tragedy comparable to Hongxi was staged in Semarang, Central Java; after that, the Dutch continued to slaughter in Surabaya and other places in East Java.

Except for the Hongxi tragedy, there was no news about the crimes committed by the Dutch in Java in history.Because it is only spread by word of mouth among a small number of Chinese, even the Chinese in Batavia do not know it now.

The problem is that Altin knows it all!The records in the files of the East India Company are clear and clear!
This nima is a bad dish, and it's too late to ask for help.Altin suddenly thought that he could go to the Prince of Wales Island to find the British East India Company. Perhaps because everyone is God's people, he could help his brother.Even if the British will not participate in the war, it is good to be able to mediate.

Thinking of this, he quickly took the letter paper, and after deliberating for a while, he began to write a sincere letter of appeal for help.

At this time, on the deck of the Thunder God, Hong Tao, wearing sunscreen and wearing sunglasses, slumped lazily on the beach chair, took two mouthfuls of juice with ice cubes, and after feeling satisfied, he did the same for his side. Deng Fei said: "Old Deng, what do you think the Dutch are doing now?"

"Hey, I guess I was frightened by Jiang Ziping's letter. Now the whole city should be mobilizing to prepare for the war, and at the same time, we have to guard against the Chinese."

Before Deng Fei finished speaking, he saw a figure in front of him, and Wang Yuanfang, who was already drenched in sweat in his training uniform, snatched the cup away, took a sip of the juice and said, "Mobilization is the best, and the food is served when everyone gathers together!"

(End of this chapter)