New Shun 1730
Chapter 531: Betting on Both Sides
Shi Shiyong said "let's exempt it", not "if you exempt it, then forget it".
The latter implies a threat, and the next sentence must be "I won't exempt it, what do you think?" But the previous sentence is just a request.
Valknier has a bottom line in his heart. Negotiations are nonsense, and no one will show the bottom line right at the beginning. Things that are said right at the beginning must be unimportant conditions.
However, the situation on the Dashun side cannot be known now, and the people from the China Trade Committee of the company that accompanied them need to explain in detail before making a decision.
So according to the normal process, Valknier only said that this issue can be discussed, but considering that the emperor's envoy is tired from traveling, he suggested that they take a day off and talk about it tomorrow.
Shi Shiyong also knew that he came here to give money to the Dutch, and he didn't expect to exempt the money. Since the Dutch said that he wanted him to rest first, it was obvious that he wanted to summarize the situation in the capital.
"Well, in that case, let's take a break first. But since we are here, we need to meet the overseas descendants of the Celestial Empire and read out the emperor's oral instructions."
"Mr. Special Envoy, please forgive me for being frank. Now we have not reached any agreement, especially on the issue of head tax. I don't want you to give those Tang people a benefit that we can't agree to now. After all, this is Batavia, not Beijing. Your emperor can't manage here. We are not your tributary state."
Shi Shi said with his heart, no wonder the emperor didn't use those people who came from the imperial examination to engage in diplomacy, it really can't be done. If you are a person who reads the books of sages, you should leave with just this sentence. The whole world belongs to the king. This is the legal principle and bottom line of the Celestial Empire. It is not completely unreasonable for the king not to rule the barbarians. It is also appropriate to use it in this place. If you want to engage in diplomacy, you can't demand that the other party be polite.
Besides, the Dutch are really a bunch of bastards, Shi Shi said with his heart. When the missionaries in Macau stopped you from entering Beijing to request trade, you didn't say this.
But he knew the purpose of his trip, so he didn't say much at this time, but just looked at the Chinese Kapitan and Lei Zhenlan meaningfully.
After a glance, Lian Fuguang didn't dare to meet his gaze, and was anxiously thinking about countermeasures.
He didn't know whether the uprising outside the city had anything to do with the court, but he guessed that it might be.
He also knew that the governor let the emperor's envoy rest today, which was an opportunity for him to show his loyalty: choose a side.
Either, quietly be the Kapitan of Batavia, sit in the manor honestly in the afternoon, or serve as an errand in the governor's office.
Or, he should organize those Lei Zhenlans to entertain the envoy from the capital to prove that he was in Cao's camp but his heart was in Han.
But in the former case, the Celestial Empire would regard him as "a fake position"; in the latter case, the Dutch would regard him as "suspicious loyalty".
No matter which choice he made, it was very uncomfortable.
It's not psychological discomfort, but it's hard to say who will win in the future.
If I stand on the Dutch side, if Dashun wins, my little property will definitely be confiscated, and I will be punished to guard the border in Beihai.
If I stand on the Dashun side, if the Dutch win, my little property will definitely be confiscated, and I will be punished to exile to Cape Town.
In a moment of anxiety, a plan came to mind, and he hurriedly said: "Governor, the special envoy of the Emperor of the Celestial Empire is coming, and the soldiers are following. I am afraid they can't get used to the climate of Batavia or the Dutch-style houses."
"My Amanus Gracht Manor is all arranged according to the layout of Jiangnan gardens, with a main hall, side halls and wing rooms. They can be arranged to live there. It just so happens that as a Kapitan, I have to wait for orders in the Governor's Mansion and cannot return to the manor to live."
"Moreover, Governor, according to Chinese customs, the emperor's incense table must be placed in the main hall. If it is a Dutch-style house, there is no distinction between the main hall and the wing rooms, and there is indeed no way to entertain the special envoy."
He did not say "our Chinese customs", but "according to Chinese customs". He also said that he was Kapitan and had to wait in the Governor's Mansion. He also brought up a question of oriental etiquette, expressing his loyalty to the Batavia government in front of the Governor, and at the same time, he could let the Imperial Envoy remember his filial piety.
After all, he had many confidants in his own manor, which made it convenient to pass on messages or send gifts.
In this way, even if he didn't go this afternoon, if the court really wanted to come to Batavia in the future, he could establish a relationship in advance.
Although he was somewhat dissatisfied with the court, because according to the Imperial Envoy's characterization, the "rebels" outside the city were "officials forcing the people to rebel", which was not a big deal in the Celestial Empire and could be performed on the stage.
But at this point, these three hundred strong men from the northwest were really scary, and the Dutch might not win.
It would be better to take the opportunity to establish a relationship in advance, and hold on to the thighs in the future. With the relationship of his brother's group of people outside the city, at worst he could give away the sugar factory. Anyway, it was a money-losing product, as long as his property was not divided.
Valknir thought about it and felt that the Chinese did have some strange rules, so he agreed to this suggestion.
Lian Fuguang hurried over and saluted, saying in Fujian Mandarin: "Your Excellency, although my manor is simple, it is suitable for temporary residence. I will send someone to drive out the servants and idlers."
He did not say that he would send Shi Shiyong and others over, but said that he would go and empty the house first.
What kind of person is Shi Shiyong? After many years of ups and downs, how could he not see this little trick?
But he just smiled. He knew that if the court wanted to go to Southeast Asia in the future, it would not rely on this group of people. This group of people was unreliable. Since the other party was willing to bet on both sides, he should not refuse.
He knew the court's plan and had a lot of contact with Liu Yu. He knew that everything should be considered "have" and "have not".
If the court wanted to go to Southeast Asia, what did it have? What did it not have? What was missing? What did it need? With this way of thinking, even if the court only gave a rough idea, he could know in which direction to work hard.
Thanks to the imperial examination system, does Dashun lack alternate officials? In the future, when Batavia is conquered, will it lack officials? Will it lack tax collectors?
There is definitely no shortage, there is no doubt about this.
Batavia must at least be a governor of the fifth rank. There are so many students of the Imperial Academy, Jinshi, and graduates of the Wude Palace waiting in line for official vacancies. Would they be afraid that no one would come to be an official? No one would come to collect taxes?
In this case, as long as the old ruling method of Dashun is still used, these local tyrants are dispensable in the eyes of Dashun. Those who are vying to line up to become the governor of this state can line up from the gate of the official government to the entrance of Dongjiang Rice Lane.
On the contrary, what the court lacks most now is the number of Chinese people outside Java.
For example, Ceylon is the gateway to Nanyang, which can attack Tianzhu and defend Nanyang. Without the Chinese population, Dashun cannot maintain effective rule.
This is the fundamental reason why Dashun has to go to such trouble to solve the Nanyang problem this time, because Dashun does not want to establish a tribute system in Nanyang like the Ming Dynasty, which is really easy to end with the death of the leader. Once Zheng He died, and Columbus circumnavigated the world, the whole pattern changed completely.
At least it should be like the rule of the Han and Tang dynasties in the Western Regions, with the four Anxi towns, and the rest of the places can be controlled, but there must be military towns dominated by Chinese. According to history books, Dashun has its own set of experience in governing colonies. It can still distinguish between the choices of tributary control, military governorship, and reform of natives.
These local Chinese local tyrants who bet on both sides are not the forces urgently needed by the court. The court does not care whether they support or not.
He saw Lian Fuguang's little thoughts, so he didn't care at all, knowing that the people the court would rely on in the future in Nanyang were not these people.
He didn't care, nor did he oppose the other party's show of goodwill. He calmly accepted the other party's kindness, and the troops slowly came to the gorgeous manor.
This manor is indeed beautiful. Compared with the manors of the nobles in the capital, this manor is more clever and more colorful. Although it is less solemn, the layout is still Chinese.
When I came, the servants were using red silk cloth to cover the ancestral tablets in the sacrificial place with silk cloth, so as to facilitate the placement of some symbols of imperial power.
The tablets of the dead cannot be higher than the imperial power, but it is not easy to smash them, so they can only be covered with cloth. As usual, when going to Ryukyu for enthronement, the tablets in the Zhongshan King Temple must also be covered with silk.
After everything was settled, Shi Shiyong quietly went back to his old job. He took out a half-broken copper talisman and quietly waited for someone to come to him.
In the evening, the guard handed the other half of the copper talisman to him, and soon a person was brought to Shi Shiyong.
After confirming the match, he sent the rest away. Shi Shiyong looked at the other person, as if he saw his young self when he went to Weihai to prepare to go to Japan.
He couldn't help but smile and said, "Before I went to Japan, I also used such a copper talisman. Little brother is lucky. I only stayed here for one or two years, but I stayed in Japan for seven or eight years."
With a light sentence, the relationship between the two people was brought closer. Since they had both been spies and were in the same industry, the man was not nervous. He smiled and sat on the chair following Shi Shiyong's finger.
He briefly talked about the situation of the uprising outside the city, and then said: "The arrow is on the string and has to be shot. We have no choice. Brother Niu Er can only drag away the group of people who are most likely to revolt. The rest who have not left are used to being submissive, and as long as they can survive, they can generally hold on."
"Those who left after the uprising will revolt regardless of whether we are there or not. Therefore, Brother Niu Er will drag those people away first. The rest who stay here will not move for the time being without the encouragement and organization of those people. The court still has to come forward to protect these people."
"The red-haired ghosts are no less cruel than the Eastern Tartars in the past when they kill people. These people are still loyal to this dynasty. Although they lived a life worse than death in Fujian, they live worse here than in Fujian. Didn't Ying Suo Bo say that he didn't ask himself to be the best? , as long as others do worse than you do. "
Shi Shiyong laughed and said, "That's right. The corrupt officials and gentry are rampant in the countryside, but when compared here, they are not the worst?"
The man laughed and said, "Not much. It's just that the previous things were too far away, and the current things are happening right now. The whip I got a year ago and the whip I got today, even if the force is the same, it still hurts more today. Before, the Privy Council asked us to act at our convenience. If things have to happen, we can't just sit and wait for death. Brother Niu Er said that if the Privy Council gets some guns, he is sure to gain a foothold here. But he must get British guns, and if there are cannons, it would be the best. "
Shi Shiyong nodded. He knew the court's next plan. He thought that those who were determined to resist had been pulled away, and he did the right thing.
This group of people, even if the court guaranteed that the Dutch would not throw them off the ship halfway, but really send them to Ceylon to work, this group of people would not go.
If you put yourself in their shoes, you will know that since they had already started the rebellion, would they still be willing to accept the condition of "the court would guarantee them, and the Dutch would not throw them off the ship, but really send them to Ceylon to do hard labor"? Even if Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were pardoned and allowed to build the Great Wall, would they have accepted it calmly? Would they have been obedient?
You'll Also Like
-
Fishing Druid in Another World
Chapter 480 1 hours ago -
Star Lords: My Starfleet is a Billion Points Stronger
Chapter 344 1 hours ago -
I signed in to the Ice Emperor Palace at the beginning, and I became invincible!
Chapter 882 1 hours ago -
At the beginning, he had a very high level of understanding, and quietly cultivated himself to becom
Chapter 122 1 hours ago -
The Witch of the Roll Never Gives Up
Chapter 274 1 hours ago -
New Shun 1730
Chapter 1517 2 hours ago -
Villain: I forcibly marry the protagonist's master at the beginning, I am invincible
Chapter 445 2 hours ago -
Siheyuan: Qin Huairu relies on me
Chapter 357 9 hours ago -
Reborn Naruto: Starting with its own system
Chapter 301 9 hours ago -
Can I become the Yu-Gi-Oh by summoning the Flame Swordsman?
Chapter 285 9 hours ago