New Shun 1730

Nanyang. At this time.

Lian Fuguang, the Chinese Kapitan of Batavia, had lunch at twelve o'clock as usual.

He was in his thirties. When he was young, he was in the upper class circle. He drank too much and his stomach was damaged. The doctor told him not to eat some difficult-to-digest food. It is better to eat some liquid food and drink some porridge.

But the temptation of delicious food is always hard to resist. Eating is not necessarily for being full.

Beside the dining table, the loyal servant knelt on the ground, holding a silver plate in his hand.

Lian Fuguang chewed the food to produce delicious juice. After chewing to a certain extent, the long-time servant handed the plate to him and asked him to spit out the residue in his mouth that had been squeezed dry of juice.

A bell rang from the Portuguese church not far away, announcing that noon had arrived. The maid brought a basin for washing hands, washed her hands, wiped her mouth, and after lunch as usual, she went to meet guests and discuss some business.

As the Chinese Kapitan, if the Chinese have anything to discuss with him, or to discuss business, they will naturally take the initiative to come to his house. After all, who in Nanyang, whether Dutch, Javanese or Chinese, does not know his "Amanus Gracht Manor".

If you want to go out to find someone yourself, you must go to the Dutch. Only the Dutch can make him, the Kapitan, take the initiative to visit.

After leaving his own house, there are many patrolling Dutch soldiers on the street, as well as some Javanese mercenaries. This tense situation has started a few months ago.

His residence is on Rua Malacca Street, next to the Portuguese church. Although the Dutch are Protestants, religion is religion and business is business.

The last time Ostend Company hoarded tea in Guangdong and Fujian to fight the Dutch monopoly on tea, the Dutch, who were still clinging to Batavia transit trade at that time, had to offer high prices to lure the sea merchants on the Dashun side to send tea to Batavia.

But after it was delivered, the Dutch immediately seized the ship and found various reasons. Not to mention going back on their word and lowering the price, they just detained the ship and refused to let it go. The Dashun merchants who brought tea had to sell it at a very low price. The more days they detained, the more losses they suffered. That time, those merchants swore that they would never come to Batavia again, let alone sell a piece of tea to Batavia.

Later, in the years before the Seventeen-member Committee made a direct flight to Guangdong and established a special committee for trade with China, thanks to the Portuguese in Macau, a large amount of tea was shipped, which alleviated the tea monopoly crisis of the East India Company. This Portuguese Catholic church continues to exist in the colony of the Protestant Netherlands.

Next to the church, next to the crucifix symbolizing mercy, is a towering flagpole with a human skull without any rotten flesh hanging on it.

As usual, every time the Chinese Kapitan Lian Fuguang walked here, he would take a look at this poor unlucky guy and warn himself not to repeat the mistakes of this unlucky guy.

Twenty years ago, Lian Fuguang had seen the East India Company's method of execution, and that was the unfortunate guy whose head was still hanging on the flagpole.

Lian Fuguang was only a teenager at that time. His father was Lei Zhenlan (Second Lieutenant), not Kapitan (Captain), and he lived in Batavia at that time. He was not born in Dashun, but in Batavia.

The person who tried that time was a Dutchman named Peter Elberfeld. The crime was the capital punishment of Batavia, and the Chinese Lei Zhenlan and Kapitan who lived in Batavia were invited to watch.

The execution left a deep impression on Lian Fuguang, and it also potentially affected his consciousness: anyone who went against the Dutch would have the same fate.

The prisoner was tied to a cross, whipped with a whip mixed with iron wire until his bones broke, and then poured water on him to wake him up. After he was awakened by the water, the surgeon cut open the "criminal's" chest, dug out his lungs, tore them apart, tied them with ropes and hung them on the flagpole to feed the seabirds.

Finally, the limbs and head were dismembered and the head was hung high. Before maggots could grow, seabirds would peck the meat off the head, leaving only a skeleton hanging on the flagpole.

When Lian Fuguang was executed this time, he was only thirteen or fourteen years old. Twenty years have passed in a blink of an eye. Every time he passes by here, he will think of that afternoon long ago, and remind himself every day not to do anything that would make the Dutch unhappy.

The Dutch... can destroy all rebels, just like crushing an ant.

As usual, after warning himself, when he was about to ask the servant to drive the car away from here, he saw his own brother Lian Jieguang at the intersection, as if waiting for someone there.

The servant stopped the car, and his own brother Lian Jieguang came over, tilted his head to look at his own brother, snorted and asked: "Are you suing the Dutch, saying that Brother Huaiguan is a bad person?"

The two are brothers, and they are both Chinese. Even if they are in Southeast Asia, the morality of brotherly love and respect should still exist. But Lian Jieguang didn't even call him brother, his words were full of resentment and accusations.

Lian Fuguang looked around to see that there was no one around, and said in a deep voice: "Third brother, don't think I'm a villain. I'm here to protect our people in the city. Lian Huaiguan's behavior is different, and we will be killed together. Look back at the flagpole, you have also seen the execution, you should know the methods of the Dutch."

"We are different from those poor people outside the city."

"We have residence permits, we abide by Dutch laws, we will not resist with swords and guns, and we will honestly obey the orders of the governor."

"But if those poor people outside the city start to make trouble, the people in the city will also be implicated."

"So I reported Lian Huaiguan to save the people in our city. If we catch the leaders of the troublemakers in advance and the poor troublemakers and throw them to Ceylon for hard labor, things outside will not get out of hand, and people will not be dismembered or have their heads hung on flagpoles."

"I am saving people, don't think I am a mean person."

"The Netherlands is not the Celestial Empire, the Dutch abide by the law. Their laws are very clear, and you cannot live in Batavia without a residence permit. Those poor people have committed crimes, and the Dutch act according to the law. Shouldn't it be so?"

"Besides, what good will it do us if those poor people make trouble? Not only will it not benefit us, but my sugarcane plantation will also be affected, and no one will work in my sugar factory. I also pay a lot of taxes in the city of Ba, and if there is a riot, everything will be over."

"We, the respectable people who live in the city and have property, are completely different from those people outside the city."

Lian Jieguang sneered: "You also know that you will be implicated. Do you think you are different from the people outside the city? But in the eyes of the Dutch, aren't we all the same Chinese immigrants?"

Lian Fuguang sneered "That's why I want to report Lian Huaiguan, to let the Dutch know that we are not the same group as those people outside the city. If those people outside the city cause trouble, we will be killed! If they really want to make a big fuss, I will take people to guard the city wall, and the Dutch will know that we are standing with them."

"Hahahaha... The Dutch don't even let us touch guns. If you stand on the city wall to guard, the Dutch will treat you as one of their own?" Lian Jieguang couldn't help laughing, and said bluntly after the sarcasm: "According to what you said, the Dutch have laws, and you abide by Dutch laws. Then didn't your sugar factory have slaves who were transported in without residence permits?"

"Since the Dutch talk about laws, isn't there an article about involvement in Dutch laws? Don't you have a lawyer friend named William Krass? You can ask him what crime is involvement? Which law of the Dutch stipulates it?"

This sentence made Lian Fuguang speechless. Today he was going to meet the lawyer friend named William Krass, but he didn't ask what crime was involvement.

It was because something happened in his sugar factory.

A dozen Chinese slaves were arrested for not having residence permits, but these dozen people were not easy to bully, as they had gangs and poor brothers. More than a hundred slave brothers in the nearby sugar factory, led by several people, resisted together and beat the Dutch who arrested them.

The city of Ba was shaken, and the Chinese in the city were in an uproar.

Therefore, he had to go to his lawyer friend William Krass to show his evidence and bills to prove that his sugar factory was subcontracted to other people a few years ago because the sugar business was not good, and what happened there had nothing to do with him.

Lian Fuguang looked at his brother who mocked him and couldn't help sighing.

He felt that he was a good person, a qualified Kapitan, and he reported it to protect the interests of the Chinese in the city.

If he didn't report it, the Chinese outside the city would make trouble in the future and it would be difficult to control, so the law-abiding Chinese in the city who had identities, residence permits, and industries would most likely be implicated.

There are thousands of people in the city.

Most people in the city hope that the Dutch understand that they are not the same kind of people as the people outside the city.

Although they are all Chinese, they should not be divided like this. And several Lei Zhenlan also said that if the poor ghosts outside the city riot, they are willing to organize the Chinese in the city to go up to the city wall to resist to prove their loyalty to the Netherlands.

But... the Dutch did not agree to give them guns, and still did not allow the Chinese to serve as soldiers.

The Dutch are invincible. Whether it is pirates, British, or Portuguese, they must give seven points of courtesy to the Dutch in Nanyang. Wasn't the official ship of Dashun to Sweden also detained by the Dutch? This is an indelible impression buried in his heart. The Dutch are invincible, just like the sun rising from the east, which is a problem that does not need to be considered.

As Kapitan, there are some Lei Zhenlan and some tax farmers who hope to prove their loyalty to the Netherlands; prove that they are not the same group of people as the group outside the city.

He feels that he is actually protecting the Chinese by reporting. However, his younger brother cannot understand him, and on the contrary thinks he is a villain.

He wears shoes.

The poor people outside couldn't afford the head tax. For me, two silver coins a year, and a casual banquet would cost more than that. Do I need these two silver coins? Those without residence permits will be arrested, imprisoned, or sent to Ceylon to build a castle. What does it have to do with me?

If those poor people really occupy Batavia after making trouble, won't they divide my property? I am the Kapitan appointed by the Dutch. The Dutch have been driven away. Who will recognize me as the Kapitan?

Besides, how can I beat the Dutch? If I can't beat the Dutch, then won't the people in the city suffer when there is trouble?

The people outside the city are not afraid of death. Anyway, it's scary to live. They will die. Why should they involve the Chinese in the city who have property, abide by the law, are most afraid of unrest, and have always been loyal to the Netherlands?

And there are Lian Huaiguan, Huang Ban and other people who have had business dealings with him but now stand on the side of the poor people. Although those people were not as wealthy as him, they were just inferior. Aren't they the kind of people who couldn't even take out two silver coins? Why did they get involved with those poor people outside?

However, the Dutch should trust him very much.

After all, he had no motive to connect with those Chinese outside the city, not at all.