Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1319 Thunderous Methods
Cao Wenzhao did not come to Batavia alone. In addition to the two hundred servants who had followed him for many years, he also had a thousand elite soldiers given to him by the emperor as his commanders. These were his assets as governor of Batavia.

In addition, considering the civil affairs aspect, there were also some officials accompanying the group. Although these officials were temporarily transferred from the six ministries and their official ranks were not high, they all had experience in local government. With these people, taking over Batavia would be much easier.

The two sides met at the dock in a very amicable atmosphere. After exchanging pleasantries, Zheng Hongkui led Cao Wenzhao and others into the city. They rode in the same carriage all the way into the city. When they arrived at the governor's mansion, Zheng Hongkui smiled and pointed to the place, saying, "From now on, this place will be under Brother Cao's control. Now that Cao Wenzhao has taken office, this place will be his governor's mansion. As the admiral of the combined fleet, Zheng Hongkui will now hand over Batavia to the other side since the war is not yet over."

Cao Wenzhao readily agreed with a smile. However, he did make a condition: since he was new to Batavia and not very familiar with the situation there, it would be difficult for him to take over immediately. He asked if Wang Fuzhi could stay and assist him for a while.

In response to this request, Zheng Hongkui laughed and said that he could not make the decision for Wang Fuzhi. Wang Fuzhi was only temporarily serving as his military advisor as an official of the Zongli Yamen (Foreign Ministry). If Cao Wenzhao wanted Wang Fuzhi's help, he would have to ask Wang Fuzhi himself. At this moment, Cao Wenzhao looked at Wang Fuzhi, who was standing to the side. After thinking for a moment, Wang Fuzhi did not refuse Cao Wenzhao's request and said that he could temporarily assist Cao Wenzhao and leave after Cao Wenzhao officially completed the takeover of Batavia.

Wang Fuzhi's attitude pleased Cao Wenzhao greatly. That day, Zheng Hongkui hosted a banquet for Cao Wenzhao, which also served as a welcome to his new post. The two sides had a very harmonious conversation, and Cao Wenzhao, being a military general, was quite interested in Zheng Hongkui's upcoming battle plans. The two discussed this matter at length and had a very pleasant chat.

The following day, Cao Wenzhao officially took office and, with the assistance of Wang Fuzhi, began to gradually take over Batavia. At this time, Zheng Hongkui also focused most of his energy on the upcoming war. A few days later, Zheng Hongkui's preparations for the expedition were completed. Before setting off, he met with Cao Wenzhao again, and the two had a discussion. After Zheng Hongkui led the main force of the fleet away from Batavia, Batavia officially entered the Cao Wenzhao era.

Cao Wenzhao was not Zheng Hongkui. Although Zheng Hongkui was a pirate, he could be considered a scholar. If he hadn't accepted the imperial pardon and obtained a military post, he would have planned to try the imperial examination himself.

Moreover, he had been an envoy to Europe with Wang Fuzhi and was very familiar with the situation there. In Batavia, Zheng Hongkui had some concerns about acting in the best interests of the country, and considering various factors, he did not use many of his methods.

But Cao Wenzhao was different. He was a military general through and through. In addition, Cao Wenzhao was as cunning as a fox and as ruthless as a tiger. He was vicious and bloodthirsty on the battlefield. He was not someone who was easy to talk to.
After spending some time figuring out the current situation in Batavia and understanding the background of various factions, Cao Wenzhao quickly took action in Batavia.

Under the guise of holding a meeting, Cao Wenzhao summoned European merchants, priests, local Chinese, and natives from Batavia. While they were at the banquet, Cao Wenzhao decisively took action, finding a pretext that was not a valid reason to detain all of them. To further intimidate the majority, he personally took a knife and beheaded several people on the spot.

This action terrified everyone. They never expected that Cao Wenzhao had no intention of discussing anything, but instead immediately overturned the table, drew his knife, and started killing people. Moreover, Cao Wenzhao not only killed the natives and Europeans, but also the local Chinese.

While the banquet was underway, Cao Wenzhao's troops also began their operations throughout Batavia. These men were extremely bloodthirsty, and Cao Wenzhao, who had already thoroughly investigated the situation, ordered a city-wide search and arrest operation. They beheaded hundreds of people in the streets and confiscated the property of Chinese, natives, and some European merchants.

This action terrified everyone, who watched helplessly as the person who had just been chatting and laughing with them was suddenly decapitated, his bloodied body lying on the ground.

These people thought that Cao Wenzhao would be like the governor of the East India Company, prioritizing local stability, negotiating with them in order to control Batavia and the surrounding areas, giving up some privileges and benefits, and then forming a new political structure.

But they never expected that Cao Wenzhao had never intended to do so. Now that Batavia had fallen into the hands of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty would absolutely not implement the original management method as it had with the Dutch East India Company.

The Dutch aimed to extract wealth from their colonies, employing plundering methods. Therefore, their control over local areas was not particularly strong. Aside from Batavia, they often adopted a profit-sharing approach, utilizing locals and other forces to divide the spoils, keeping the lion's share for themselves. This was both the quickest way to achieve results and because the Dutch population in the Far East was relatively small; even in Batavia, the Dutch population was limited, a small proportion compared to the local indigenous population and the Chinese.

In this context, it was perfectly acceptable for the Dutch to use one type of barbarian force against another, and they had been doing so for the past fifty years. As long as they could gain benefits, what did it matter if the lower levels relinquished some power? For the Dutch, as the ruling class, this method of cooperation with other ethnic groups and classes was advantageous to them.

But the Ming Dynasty is different! As mentioned earlier, China entered a centralized system of government after Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms. The concept of a unified China is deeply rooted. Even if the Southeast Asia region will become the fiefdom of the Ming imperial family in the future, now that the Ming Dynasty has occupied Batavia, it must be governed by the rules of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty will not accept any threats or political coercion, let alone be governed in the Dutch way.

Since reasoning won't work, then we'll have to resort to force. We must take decisive action to eliminate these "cancer cells" and make it clear to everyone that the Ming Dynasty is not the Dutch East India Company. Only then can we truly turn the tide.

Moreover, Cao Wenzhao did not kill people indiscriminately. He was selective in who he killed. In addition to killing some natives, he killed local Chinese. Although these Chinese were Chinese in name, the problem was that they had long forgotten their ancestors after living abroad for generations. They had no concept of the Ming Dynasty and no idea of ​​a sovereign or father. All they cared about was their own interests.

Aside from their Chinese faces, they had become virtually indistinguishable from the local natives and even the Dutch. Moreover, some of the more prominent figures not only worked for the Dutch East India Company but also acted as henchmen and lackeys for the Dutch, their hands stained with the blood of their compatriots. These people deserved to die; traitors were always more hateful than natives. Cao Wenzhao, naturally, showed no mercy, directly raising his sword and brutally killing a large number to deter the majority.

After a chaotic massacre, Batavia was awash in blood, terrifying everyone present. Who wouldn't be terrified of such an unreasonable governor? Those who had escaped with their heads dared not object. To save their lives, they naturally obeyed Cao Wenzhao obediently, doing whatever he said. The conditions they had previously proposed, and their previous intentions to jointly govern Batavia with the Ming Dynasty, had long since vanished, replaced only by fear.

That wasn't all. After suppressing Batavia, Cao Wenzhao also sent troops to clean up the surrounding areas. If the local tribes were obedient, that was fine, but if they had any ideas or even disrespected the Ming Dynasty, they would be dealt with by force.

In less than a month, Cao Wenzhao swiftly and decisively resolved the chaos in Batavia, stabilizing not only the city itself but also the surrounding areas. As the situation improved, Batavia gradually returned to order. Without those troublemakers, the governor's decrees could be smoothly implemented. As for the Europeans living in Batavia, although they were terrified by the situation, constantly making the sign of the cross and muttering "God!", they later found that as the city stabilized and recovered, as long as they had no other intentions, they lived and did business in a law-abiding manner, and Cao Wenzhao wouldn't easily harm them. In fact, they were living quite comfortably.

Cao Wenzhao stabilized Batavia and began implementing the Ming Dynasty's system there. After using ruthless methods to deter rebellion, the situation in Batavia quickly improved. Although there were still opposing forces outside Batavia, especially the remnants of the local natives Cao Wenzhao had killed, who were unwilling to accept defeat and occasionally caused trouble, Cao Wenzhao wasn't afraid of them. In fact, he was eager for them to cause trouble. His blade was sharpened to an exceptionally fine point; he would cut down any who came, and if two came, he would cut them down in pairs. Moreover, Cao Wenzhao directly told the locals to adopt a policy of collective punishment: if any tribe dared to resist the Ming Dynasty, he would directly implement a policy of extermination against the entire tribe.

Under such bloody and brutal methods, these natives with only simple weapons were no match for the Ming army, which was armed to the teeth. Moreover, although Cao Wenzhao was ruthless, he was not stupid, otherwise he would not have been described as being like a fox and a tiger. While taking tough measures, he did not forget to use appeasement to win over some natives. In this way, he controlled the situation with little effort and gradually took over the colonial territories around Batavia that originally belonged to the Dutch East India Company.

With the Batavia matter handed over to Cao Wenzhao, Zheng Hongkui began to focus his efforts on continuing his military operations in the South China Sea.

Half a month later, the Battle of Malacca officially began. This war was the largest war that broke out after the Dutch seized Malacca from the Portuguese. Not only did the Ming Dynasty's allied fleet participate, but the Johor Kingdom and the Aceh Kingdom also participated. In particular, the former had assisted the Dutch in taking Malacca, but after the Dutch occupied Malacca, they did not return it to the Johor Kingdom as promised in their cooperation, which greatly angered the Johor Kingdom.

This time, when the Ming Dynasty sent troops to the South China Sea, the Johor Kingdom, as a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, had long since broken away from the tributary system. However, the situation had changed again. Seeing that the Ming Dynasty was becoming stronger once more, the Johor Kingdom, after assessing the situation, once again pledged its allegiance to the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, when it learned that the Ming Dynasty was preparing to attack Malacca, it offered to help. This was exactly what Zheng Hongkui wanted. Thus, with the assistance of the two countries, the main force of the joint fleet set off for Malacca.

(End of this chapter)