New Shun 1730

The captain has unlimited and unfettered power during the voyage.

This is common sense in the navies of various countries at this time. As the captain, Mantou is also qualified to decide whether to meet with some people.

I am somewhat interested in this person who asked to meet. More importantly, Liu Yu once said that Westerners in Southeast Asia are like having an iron chain with a lock, and Batavia is the lock of this iron chain.

Anyone with experience in sliding door lock picking knows very well that the easiest part of an iron chain with a lock to break is not the iron chain, but the lock.

Once the lock is broken, the remaining chains are meaningless.

Mantou knew Liu Yu's thoughts about Nanyang, and he knew from the beginning to the end that he wanted to take this opportunity to see what this Batavia, which kept Liu Yu awake at night and uneasy to eat, looked like. .

Considering the words of the man who claimed to be Lian Huaiguan, Mantou took off his woolen navy uniform and put on a set of official uniforms of a fifth-grade military attaché.

Several adjutants dutifully collected the weapons from Lian Huaiguan and kept a short gun for safekeeping.

A sailor who knew Hokkien came forward to act as an interpreter. Both parties spoke dialects rather than foreign languages, but it was difficult to understand without an interpreter.

Lian Huai Guan didn't express much emotion about the merchant ship itself. There were some Chinese in Batavia who were also sailors and followed the merchant ships around. Some of them had been to Europe. Lian Huai Guan saw a lot of this kind of Western soft sailing ship. .

He was born in Batavia and had never been to the homeland of his ancestors, so he was unfamiliar with some etiquette and did not kowtow in ceremony like the common people on land.

But seeing the official uniforms that are common in dramas, I still have an indescribable feeling. It's not awe or closeness, but an emotion that is difficult to explain clearly.

Mantou didn't care about these things. He had become a human being from a slave, so he didn't care much about such etiquette. He asked someone to make tea and brought it to him, putting on a very friendly smile.

"The surname Lian is rare in the capital. I have also read some books and know that there is an allusion in the Spring and Autumn Period of 'taking the melons to replace them'. This Lian is called a doctor of Qi State, and the navy of the Celestial Dynasty is in Weihai, so it seems to be considered Qi Di. In this way, we are half fellow villagers."

Although the two people "don't understand each other in dialect," an allusion that happened two thousand years ago immediately brought them closer. Even though the capital where Mantou was born is thousands of miles away from Batavia.

At that time, Duke Xiang of Qi sent a doctor named Lian Cheng to guard the border. The conditions for guarding the border were poor. He agreed to go there when the melons were ripe and send someone to replace him when the melons were ripe next year. After Lian Cheng had been stationed for a year, the season for ripening melons had passed and Duke Xianggang of Qi did not send anyone to replace him, so he and Gongsun Wuwu killed Duke Xianggang of Qi, leaving behind an allusion of "taking the place of melons when they are ready". Lian Cheng may not be too famous, but Qi Xianggong is still quite famous. There are many orthopedic poems about him and his sister Wen Jiang in the Book of Songs...

This allusion may be unfamiliar to people whose surname is not Lian, but to those whose surname is Lian, it can be regarded as an ancestral story, and they have heard it since childhood.

Although Huai Guan had never been to the land of Qilu in his life, when Mantou mentioned this allusion, it sounded extremely familiar to him, as if the Qi State that had traveled two thousand years was not far from the Batavia where he lived.

Among all Chinese people, as long as they have a name and a surname, for thousands of years, whose ancestors have not left one or two allusions?

"My lord, what you are saying is that Doctor Mi, who is here to me, is the ancestor of my descendants. But you don't know your surname?"

"Oh, my surname is Mi, my given name is Gao, and my courtesy name is Ziming."

"Oh! The word "Sir" is actually the same as Lu Meng, the famous general of the Three Kingdoms."

Lian Huaiguan didn't read much, but the stories of the Three Kingdoms were as popular in Batavia as they were in Shandong and the capital. For someone like him who is always thinking about doing something big, his familiarity with the story of the Three Kingdoms is also unusual.

Mantou thought about the reason why Liu Yu gave him this name, and smiled slightly and said: "I will treat you with admiration after three days of separation. It's a pity that I am relatively dull and have failed to live up to my husband's expectations. By the way, what do you want from me?"

Lian Huaiguan wondered who the gentleman was? This person is already an official at a young age, and this gentleman is probably in a high position now.

In just a few words, even Huai Guan could hear Mantou's respect for his husband. Faced with the question of steamed buns, Lian Huaiguan said hurriedly: "Mr. Mi, if you say something is wrong, it is actually nothing. It's just that I have never seen an official from the Celestial Dynasty come to Batavia for a long time. I am curious today, so I asked for a meeting abruptly."

Mantou has learned a lot about this kind of scene over the years. He smiled and thought, who would come just to meet him? If the husband is okay and has a good reputation, it is normal if someone wants to ask for a meeting. Who knows who I, Miko Ming, am now?

Seeing that he didn't even mention his thoughts, he didn't rush to ask, and said with a smile: "Now that I have seen you, could it be that you want to go to Sweden to see the world?"

Lian Huaiguan saw that Mantou didn't have much official arrogance, so he smiled and said, "Sir, you are joking. Although I have never been to Sweden, some of my brothers have also been sailors for the Dutch, and they have been to Amsterdam." I have also heard of the name of Sweden, so I don’t think it’s that far away, but I have no interest in going and taking a look.”

"I just have something unclear."

Mantou heard Liu Yu say that in the Ming Dynasty, some Chinese sailors actually went to Europe, and now there are also some who have gone to the Caribbean to become pirates.

Hearing Lian Huaiguan say that he had no interest in going to Sweden, Mantou didn't think it was surprising. Although the death rate of sailors has dropped a lot in recent years, the risks at sea are still very high.

"Oh? I wonder if you have anything to ask?"

Lian Huaiguan asked without any hesitation: "Sweden is tens of thousands of miles away from the Celestial Empire, and the Celestial Empire has sent envoys there. Batavia is only ten days away from Fujian, but no one from the Celestial Empire has come to express condolences. Once. I was born in Batavia, and I am considered a foreigner, but I am still a citizen of China. But I don’t know why China wants to make friends with Sweden, which is tens of thousands of miles away, but I don’t know that Badawi is so far away. Ya?”

He is quite courageous, but if he was born in the capital or other places, he would never say such outrageous words to officials.

At best, Batavia is called freedom. At worst, the Dutch have no grass-roots control here. It is quite similar to the state of the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty when they ruled the Central Plains: tax farming and no care. At best, it is called rule by inaction. , which sounds a little bit incompetent. A Han official named Fan Mengduan in Xingzhongshu Province in Henan killed all the high-ranking Mongolian officials in the province and shut down the Yellow River water transportation. The Yuan Dynasty did not find out...

It's almost the same in Batavia. Lian Huaiguan was born and raised here, and he didn't have the kind of atmosphere that he had to kneel before seeing an official. He spoke these words without restraint.

Steamed Bun was happy when he heard this, and thought that this person was somewhat interesting, so he asked: "What do you want the Celestial Empire to do? I heard from my husband that isn't the Chinese here semi-autonomous? There are Kapitan and Lei Zhenlan leading There is also a Chinese Dharma Hall."

Speaking of these Kapitan and Lei Zhenlan, Lian Huaiguan couldn't help but feel a bit of disdain and snorted: "They are just serving as local officials for the Dutch."

"Come on! When facing the Dutch, you will be submissive. When you see us, you will show off your official power of Kapitan and don't even mention it."

When it comes to rising, speaking out becomes dirty. There is really too much dissatisfaction accumulated in my heart.

His understanding of the Celestial Dynasty almost all comes from stories, storybooks, novels and plays. The Celestial Dynasty in plays and novels is as beautiful as a dream, and distance creates beauty. It seems that there are many people in the sky, who can block the road and complain, and he has his own people. Come forward and make things clear.

Thinking of those moneylenders, tax collectors, Kapitan, and Lei Zhenlan in Batavia City, Lian Huaiguan couldn't help but want to curse them.

I thought to myself that if such treacherous villains were in heaven, they would have been killed long ago. How could they tolerate such arrogance?

Most of them, the Black Shirt Party members, were forced to have no food and clothing. Many of them were once employees of sugar factories, but the owners of the sugar factories exploited them too hard, and some of them made trouble and fled.

The Dutch did this very secretly.

It is obvious that the Dutch have kept sugar prices too low, leading to various bankruptcies, but many people cannot see through the deeper layers.

Human feelings are very subjective, and the more intuitive the representation, the easier it is to understand. Even if it is just hidden in a roundabout way, many people will not be able to think clearly.

Although Lian Huaiguan had not thought about these deeper reasons at this time, his identity made him quite dissatisfied with the Dutch.

Unlike those employees who could only come into contact with the owners of the gardens and sugar mills, he was a businessman and was directly exploited by the Dutch. He lacked middlemen to attract hatred, so his dissatisfaction with the Dutch was a memory he had since childhood.

Especially when the previous governor took office, in order to make up for Batavia's shortfall in making ends meet, he simply treated the local Chinese as milking cows.

Of course, it is better than the current governor who wants to directly kill the Chinese, cut their bones and eat their flesh, but no one has the foresight and no idea of ​​the new governor's "grand plan".

But the things his predecessor did were enough to fill Lian Huaiguan with hatred.

He was a man in the market, and his calculations basically came from "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". At this time, thinking about the story of the former master's wisdom and provoking Huang Zhong, he used the steamed bun to provoke the general first.

Nowadays, China can send ships to Sweden, so why does it not care about Batavia, which is much closer?

Mantou doesn’t understand Fujianese, but the phrase “gan na na” can still be easily understood as gan xuniang. Mr. Xindao is indeed right. In this Nanyang matter, the only ones who can be relied on are slaves and servants like me. People, not those rich and powerful guys like Kapitan and Lei Zhenlan.

Now seeing an angry Lian Huai Guan, Mantou didn't immediately trust him.

Thinking about Liu Yu's obsession with Nanyang, and not sure that this was not a deliberate deception sent by the Dutch, he calmed down his expression and said sternly: "The Celestial Empire sent its leader to Sweden for important matters. In your eyes, Sweden is so far apart. Tens of thousands of miles away, we don’t know that Sweden is only separated from the Celestial Empire by the Kingdom of Rakshasa.”

He was worried that this Lian Huaiguan was sent by the Dutch to find out the news, and Mantou would not leak any information. But considering that Lian Huaiguan may really be an angry ranger, this is not too sure to say.

If the Dutch were sent to explore the bottom, this could be regarded as a strategic deception by Liu Yu who supported Liu Yu, convincing the Dutch that the French came to sign a joint offensive and defensive alliance with Dashun against Russia.

If the Dutch were not here to explore the bottom, it would still be considered as leaving some leeway, just saying that there is a reason.

The Rakshasa people are still very famous in areas north of the Songhua River, Mongolia and the Western Regions. But when it comes to Batavia, it's even worse. Even Huai Guan doesn't know where this Rakshasa is. Batavia may have a world map, but even if Lian Huai has watched it, he doesn't know who this Rakshasa is. , it must be a transliteration using a Dutch translation.

As expected, Lian Huai watched and listened at a loss, especially after the translator translated the transliteration of "Rakshasa" into Fujian, which made it even more difficult to understand.

After pondering for a moment, Lian Huai Guan roughly understood it. It might be a big country in the north, sandwiched between Sweden and Dashun. Is this the so-called distant friendship and close attack?

Thinking of this, Lian Huaiguan didn't know what to say for a moment, so he could only say: "Master Mi, do you know the history of this Batavia?"

Mantou nodded, thinking that I probably know more than you do. In the words of the master, what you know is just what you see and hear, and what I learn is standing farther away and looking back, how can I not know?

"I know a little about the history of this Batavia."

"As for the merchants, when the previous dynasty closed the border and did not trade with the Netherlands, every time there was a ship going to Batavia, the local governor would give gold, silver and wool to ask for it to come back next time. Now that the trade is open, they have changed their attitude, and have been harsh on the merchants of the Celestial Empire, and have been heavily taxed and detained."

"As for the craftsmen, when Batavia was first built, the Javanese could not work, but the Fujianese were good at building cities, burning bricks, planting sugarcane, and making sugar, so they recruited more people at that time. No head tax was collected, and they were eager to see the Chinese come. Now that the city has been built, it is widely Collect head taxes, issue decrees to reduce the number of residence permits, and prohibit Chinese ships from carrying more than 50 people. "

"As for sugarcane, in the previous dynasty, Japan had not yet closed its borders, and European countries had not yet planted sugar in the Caribbean. Sugar is a ballast stone, and it is very profitable. At this time, Japan is closed to the outside world, and Taiwan, Fujian, and Guangdong are producing more and more sugarcane. European countries are making sugar in the Caribbean, and sugar as a ballast stone is still losing money. "

These are what I learned on Liugong Island. Liu Yu will use some intelligence from Fujian sea merchants to explain the truths hidden deep in his understanding of the world.

Mantou and others have long been accustomed to this kind of three views on everything. Over time, they have subconsciously agreed with this way of understanding the world, and even think that this is a natural method and the only correct method.

The things he is accustomed to are also like enlightenment to Lian Huaiguan, and his heart is even more turbulent.

He thought that the court would not care about the affairs of Batavia, but after hearing what the man in front of him said, how could it be that it was not caring? He simply knew everything in detail.

In just a few sentences, he explained the changes in the status of the Chinese in Batavia over the past century, and explained why such changes had occurred.

And many of the "whys" were things that Lian Huaiguan had never thought about.

Lian Huaiguan's mind was already a little confused. In addition to being shocked, he had forgotten what he was going to say next. After a long pause, he tentatively asked, "In your opinion, will the sugar business be even more difficult?"

More than half of the Chinese in Batavia survive around the sugar business. In addition to direct relationships, indirect lending, clothing, groceries, and smuggling are also around sugar.

Lian Huaiguan himself has a sugar factory, but this sugar factory is where he and his brothers gather, just a cover. Many of the former sugar factory employees in the Wushan Party, and some brothers are still working in the sugar factory. Lian Huaiguan forgot what he was going to say, and subconsciously asked about the prospects of the sugar industry after hearing what Mantou said so well.

Liu Yu had told Mantou and others about these things more than once. Supply and demand, trade, etc. are all compulsory courses in the Jinghai Palace official school, and are also a means to shape or quietly change their way of understanding the world.

Mantou certainly knows about these things, and he didn't think it was a secret. He said lightly: "The sugar business will become more and more difficult in the future. Although there are many people in the Celestial Empire, few can afford sugar; Japan has even fewer people, and it is closed to the outside world, and there is competition from Fujian sugar and Taiwan sugar. Don't even think about the north."

"To the east is India, which produces sugar, and Ceylon and other places are also suitable for growing sugar. Further east, the European countries have not eaten up all the sugar in America. Could it be that they will give up cheap and go for expensive to buy Dutch sugar? Javanese sugar?"

"If the Dutch want to make money, they can only continue to lower the price of sugar. I think this sugarcane business is going to end."

"Anyway, if I were the governor of Batavia, I would have to think about moving all the people in the sugar mills and sugarcane plantations to Ceylon. Plant sugar nearby and sell it nearby."

"If you have a sugar mill business, or have relatives and friends, I would also advise you to get out as soon as possible."

"How many Chinese people are there in the sugar mills in Batavia?"

Mantou asked knowingly.

It is still unknown what kind of person Lian Huaiguan is, so Mantou can only try to fan the flames. He has been a servant in the Duke's Mansion since he was a child, and his ability to read people's expressions is not bad. He calmly instigated a sentence, wanting to see what Lian Huaiguan meant.

When Lian Huaiguan heard this, his face changed drastically.

His vision was still a little low after all, which was the limitation of the times and the limitation of his level. Although he said that his brothers had been to Amsterdam and knew that the earth was round, the world in his eyes was just a small Batavia.

Whether it was the education he received or the news he got since childhood, he had never looked at things from such a high level.

These words were easy to understand, but they contained some irrefutable truths. Lian Huaiguan could naturally tell whether this was nonsense or not, so how could he not be anxious?

It’s not that the Chinese are attached to their land, but those who went to Southeast Asia all knew one thing: going to Southeast Asia is a life-threatening journey.

If you really go to places like Ceylon, not to mention how many people will die on the way, even if you go to such a wild place compared to Batavia, how many people will die from fever, malaria, etc.?

If they really did that, what would they do? Although he didn't work in the sugar factory, he had a "legal" residence permit, and he was even in Batavia with Kapitan Lei Zhenlan. But many of his brothers worked in the sugar factory, and many of them didn't have any residence permits at all.

In the past, I just lamented that the sugar business has become more and more difficult in recent years. Now, after hearing what Mantou said, it's not as simple as business being difficult. It's clear that there is a dead end in front of everyone, but everyone doesn't know it yet.

After swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Lian Huaiguan knew what kind of people the Dutch governors were, and he felt that what Mr. Mi said made a lot of sense.

This matter is about life and death.