The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 32 Batavia’s Future

March 1723, 3, Batavia.

"...%#￥...@#!"

On a busy street, among the bustling crowd, a panicked native held a short knife, waved it up and down, roughly pushed away the passers-by who were blocking him, and ran forward quickly.

"Stop him!... That thief killed someone in Huichuan (today's Bogor City, Java Island, Indonesia)!"

Behind him, three powerful men followed closely, shouting loudly, asking passers-by to help stop the fleeing natives.

When many passers-by saw the ferocious expression on the native's face and heard that this man had killed someone in Huichuan and turned out to be a desperado, they immediately gave way for fear of hurting themselves.Some women even screamed and ran around, causing the whole street to become chaotic.

"Hey, you dog thief, go to hell!" A man wearing a sailor uniform of the Qi Navy suddenly inserted himself from the thorn, flew up, kicked the fleeing natives to the ground, and then sold them from the street. The vegetable vendor took out his pole and swung it violently, hitting the native's arm hard.

The native was suddenly attacked and immediately fell to the ground. Then there was a huge pain in his arm. His wrist loosened and the dagger fell to the ground.

"You bitch, run!...Keep running!"

The men who caught up ran up to the native, cursing and kicking him hard without mercy. In just a moment, the native's face was covered with blood and he was curled up on the ground. , moaning in pain.

"Don't even move!..."

"Stop any violence, otherwise we will take... force measures."

"...Oh God, what have you done!"

After hearing about the violence in this neighborhood, Batavia South City Sheriff Captain Harvey Simmons hurried over with a team of mercenaries.

After arriving at the scene, they found three men with Chinese faces beating an indigenous man very violently. Looking at their posture, they wanted to beat him to death.Next to him, there was a Qi sailor holding a pole and watching with interest.

Since Chinese people were involved and Qi navy soldiers were present, Captain Harvey Simmons did not dare to resort to violent means to stop this ongoing "criminal activity."

You must know that in Batavia, and even in the entire East Indies, because of the existence of Qi State, anyone with an oriental face is a very special group of people.Whether they are people from Qi, people from Qi's vassal countries, or even people from Qin from the mainland, they are not something that the Dutch East India Company can easily offend.

However, as a peace officer in Batavia, Captain Harvey Simmons could not let these people beat local natives in the street. He had to maintain the authority of the colonial government to some extent, right?

Just as he was about to order a few mercenaries to step forward and pull the violent Chinese away, and then ask about the cause of the incident before further processing, he saw one of the men walking over with a look of disdain on his face.

"We are the security patrols from Huichuan. Under the order of the chief, we are here to arrest the murderer who fled to Batavia." Qiu Daren took out a document with the official seal from his pocket and wrote it under Harvey Simon Si waved it in front of his face, and then put it into his pocket again.

"Huh?..." After hearing the translation from a subordinate who was fluent in Chinese, Captain Harvey Simmons was stunned for a moment, and then looked at the other person with a puzzled expression, "You should inform our chief of security through official channels, and then We will help capture this criminal and hand him over to you. Sir, I have to warn you that your behavior has clearly crossed the line. ... You have no law enforcement authority in Batavia!"

"Oh, we know. ...Next time there is such an incident, we will let the superiors above inform you." Qiu Daren nodded, not caring much about the other party's warning.

It’s not just once or twice that we cross the border to catch criminals, so what?

The people of our Guangning Governor-General have even opened their farms to Tangerang in the west of your Batavia Governor-General a few years ago, but I haven't seen any strong reaction from you.

Oh, as for using your Batavia Sheriff to help us capture the fugitives, that is just a waste of time and has no effect.You, the security teams hired by the East India Company, always shirk and perfunctory when faced with this kind of useless thing, and have never proactively helped us Qi people capture fugitives and repatriate them.

I count on you to assist in the capture, so that those who have committed the crime can hide in your Batavia and enjoy their old age!

Seeing the other party's fearless attitude, Captain Harvey Simmons not only felt angry, but also felt an unspeakable aggrievedness.He was a Hessian, a professional mercenary who had been employed by the East India Company for 11 years.He first served in Cape Town and assumed the responsibility of guarding this important maritime port. Occasionally, under the orders of the Governor, he would gather hundreds of mercenaries and go to the hinterland to sweep away the Khoisan tribes living in the mountain valleys. Collect cattle, sheep and grain.

However, their scope of activities is strictly restricted, because the east side of Cape Town is the sphere of influence of the Qi people. The demarcated boundary line is even less than 10 leagues away from Cape Town (when on land, 1 league is usually considered to be 3 miles (4.827km).Therefore, they could only move north along the Atlantic coastline, searching for the fewer and fewer Khoisan people in the high mountains and barren deserts.

Yes, the Qi people are very powerful in the southern tip of Africa.From the Port of Maputo, where the Portuguese were based, to Fort Sunningdale (now Mossel Bay, South Africa) not far west of Cape Town, there are no less than ten port strongholds of various sizes in Qi.They even opened dozens or hundreds of settlements in the hinterland far away from the coast.It is estimated that the number of Qi people in the entire South Africa is between 25 and 30. If the population of the indigenous tribes they control is added, there is a high probability that it will exceed 40.

This is absolutely crushing data for the colonial stronghold of Cape Town.The Dutch East India Company has been operating here for more than 60 years. So far, the jurisdiction of the colony has only increased less than five times.Although the European immigrant population continues to increase every year, it is far less rapid than the growth rate of Qi's colonial population.As of 1715, the population of Cape Town was approximately 8.Even if you include the local Khoisan and slaves from West Africa and Asia, the number will not exceed [-].

Harvey Simmons once heard from his superiors that the Qi people had intended to acquire Cape Town many years ago in order to completely control the entire South African colony in their hands.However, this suggestion was politely rejected by the company's top management, who believed that the location of this colonial stronghold at the Cape of Good Hope was very important. It was a key node connecting the trade between the East and the West and would not be taken lightly.

The people of Qi were not angry about this, but they accelerated the immigration rate in the area and continued to explore and colonize the hinterland, as if they were deeply cultivating South Africa.

Later, Harvey Simmons served in India, Ceylon and other places, and also witnessed the strength of Qi in the above two places, looking like a regional ruler.

Three years ago, Harvey Simmons was promoted to captain by the company with his professional skills and long service years, and was transferred to the Batavia headquarters to serve, responsible for the security management of South City.

Here, he felt more clearly the "tyrannical" attitude displayed by Qi State.After the Qi State annexed the territories of Solo (the Kingdom of Mataram) and Bram Kingdom more than ten years ago, it also renamed Java Island - oh, by the way, the Qi people have renamed it Kaihua Island. ——The last princely state, the Kingdom of Yogyakarta, was incorporated into the directly administered territory, leaving only two "independent forces" in Batavia and Cirebon on the entire island.

In order to completely digest and absorb this island with fertile land and rich products, the people of Qi "recruited" local indigenous people on a large scale as plantation farmers and miners, and transported them to the mainland of Hanzhou and other islands for consumption. Immigrate to this island to enrich the population of Qi, in order to achieve the purpose of "vacating the cage for birds".

According to the census data of Qi people, the population of Qi people on the entire island of Java has exceeded 40 in less than 90 years, reaching 93.Qi State has populated this island with almost half of the immigrants arriving from mainland, Japan, Annan and other regions every year.

Under this situation, Batavia, which was owned by the Dutch East India Company, and the Kingdom of Cirebon, which they controlled, were in an extremely embarrassing existence.Looking around, they are all the territory of the Qi people.

If the East India Company or the United Provincial Republic were powerful, they could naturally remain unmoved and occupy this place for a long time with the mentality of "as long as you are not embarrassed, others will be embarrassed."

But the problem is, Qi is not just a small country like those in the East Indies. It is the overlord of the Indian Ocean region. A country with the most powerful power in the world. How can it watch a foreign force squatting on its doorstep?
As early as more than 20 years ago, a voice came out from Hanzhou itself. The Indian Ocean is the Indian Ocean for the people of Qi, and any foreign colonial forces must be completely and resolutely eliminated.The East Indies - what Qi people call the Nanyang Islands - are Qi's core circle of interests and cannot be interfered with by anyone.

The Qi people were furious and clamored to expel the Dutch who occupied Batavia. They even went a step further and swept across the east coast of Africa, uprooting the Portuguese colonial power and completely erecting a fence in the Indian Ocean region, establishing Qi's dominance in the region. Dominate position.

At that time, the founding emperor of Qi had not yet passed away. Thinking of the traditional friendship of the Dutch, he suppressed this radical trend and temporarily preserved the dignity of the Dutch.

However, with the passage of time, two generations of Qi emperors passed away one after another, and the "friendship" once maintained by the older generation was gone. In addition, the Netherlands experienced several consecutive European wars, and its strength was seriously weakened. Live up to the power of the powerful country in the past.

In recent years, there have been rumors of expulsion of the Dutch among the people of China, which made the East India Company feel trembling and frightened.In addition to being cautious, he also visited the Qi cabinet government and their emperor many times to test their official attitude.

However, neither the royal family nor the cabinet commented on this, and their attitude has not been clear.

However, on the grounds that it threatened the security of Qi's territory, the Qi military first required the East India Company's colonial strongholds to dismantle large-caliber fortress artillery and lower defense standards.Later, it was stipulated that merchant ships owned by the East India Company were not allowed to be equipped with artillery and other heavy weapons after entering the Strait of Malacca, in order to achieve "harmless" navigation of merchant ships.

Finally, Qi State prohibited the East India Company from transporting large quantities of muskets on the pretext that it could not provoke the feudal kingdoms in the Nanyang region to attack each other. As for the number of muskets on board for self-defense, it was also strictly restricted.

After such an operation, the Dutch East India Company was almost completely disarmed when faced with Qi's navy and army, which were armed to the teeth.As long as the Qi people are willing, they don't even need to use regular troops. They only need to send a few thousand militiamen to easily capture Batavia and expel the East India Company's forces from Java.

"Well, if the Qi people want to seize Batavia, then come quickly. Maybe then we mercenaries can get rid of the shackles of the East India Company and directly become Qi people, and instead work for this increasingly powerful serve the country.”

Captain Harvey Simmons watched the three Qi people who called themselves Huichuan City Patrol Corps throw the murderous fugitive into the carriage and then drove away, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

(End of this chapter)