New Shun 1730

Shi Shiyong knew that Valkenir was in a difficult situation now, so he deliberately adopted an arrogant and insurmountable bottom-line attitude to suppress the situation.

However, in fact, he had no idea.

A steamed bun or a piece of shit, which one is better depends on whether the chooser is a human or a dog.

In the eyes of the Netherlands, Batavia is the pearl of Southeast Asia and the pillar of Dutch rule in Southeast Asia because of its unique location as a transit port. But Dashun does not need such a transit port. Why do Dashun's goods have to go to Batavia and then out of Malacca? Isn't that taking off your pants and farting?

Therefore, Liu Yu's plan was to force the Netherlands to transport a large number of Chinese to Ceylon as much as possible. To the Netherlands, Ceylon is just a cinnamon producing area. If the Netherlands were asked to choose between Ceylon and Batavia, the Netherlands would definitely choose Batavia.

But for Dashun, Ceylon is an outpost out of India, a transit point to Australia with the help of ocean currents, a middle ground for contact with the Swedish pirates in Madagascar, and a way for France to voluntarily give up to induce China and Britain to go to war. Continue to be a stepping stone to the alliance.

If there was a choice between Ceylon and Batavia, Dashun would choose Ceylon and Malacca.

If we just ensure that the Chinese will not be massacred, Dashun will actually lose this game, and all the hard work will be in vain.

If you want to win in this great power game, you must force the Dutch to move the Chinese to Ceylon.

Now the two sides can be said to be fighting at both ends.

The Dutch were afraid that Dashun would stare at Batavia and covet it.

Dashun was afraid that the Dutch would be cowarded and did not dare to carry out forced relocation, so he acquiesced in allowing the Chinese to stay in Batavia.

But fortunately, the people on the Dashun side know what the Dutch are afraid of; but the people on the Dutch side don't know what Dashun really wants.

With the help of this one-way information, Shi Shiyong could only pretend that he could not take a step back, so as to force the Netherlands to come up with a solution.

As for the possible solution for the Netherlands, Liu Yu also analyzed it. If massacre is not possible, then the first choice is to migrate to Ceylon.

Therefore, what Shi Shiyong had to do was very simple.

Defining the uprising as a government-forced rebellion like hunting fishermen and killing families made the Netherlands worry about Dashun's interference.

Those who stayed paid a poll tax, but they could not be used as debt slaves. Although Dashun only wanted Chinese in Ceylon, if tens of thousands of people were used as debt slaves by the Dutch, these tens of thousands must be To rebel. Once all the Chinese participated in the uprising, this matter would be over.

The Dashun court knew best what the Chinese were like at the bottom. Those who did not participate in the uprising were not without a sense, but were still waiting and watching. They still had some trust in the imperial court or any form of imperial court. But once you are desperate, you will not leave yourself any way out.

Now comes the most difficult and critical part of this negotiation. Shi Shiyong knows something about it and knows that he must keep his temper at this time and must not rush.

So he deliberately drank local coffee slowly and orderly, cup after cup, quietly waiting for Valkenir's response.

"Mr. Special Envoy of the Great Emperor of China, I need to consider this issue again. Of course, your request is not excessive. The head tax owed before can be reduced or exempted."

"But you also know. As your Majesty the Emperor said, these people came to Batavia to make a living. However, Batavia's industry is sluggish and it is difficult for them to make a living."

"If they live here and don't have a job to make a living, I think they will definitely turn to crime. This is the key to solving this problem."

Shi Shiyong was overjoyed, but kept his expression. He also knew that he could not take the initiative to mention Ceylon at this time, so he said calmly: "Of course. We have a saying that treating the symptoms and treating the root cause. Paying the poll tax is to treat the symptoms; let them have something to do. The governor’s idea is right.”

"Since we can't reach an agreement for the time being, I'll go back and rest first. When the idea is reached, let me know as soon as possible. His Majesty the Emperor hopes that this matter will be finalized within half a month, without further delay. If it cannot be reached, then I can only Returned to the capital."

With a harsh word, he left the Governor's Mansion and went straight back to Lian Fuguang's manor, staying behind closed doors.

As soon as Shi Shiyong left, Valkenir called together Batavia officials to discuss this issue.

Ceylon, this is a direction that needs no discussion.

The key is, after being transported to Ceylon, under what status will it be placed?

Is it based on employment standards? So how much salary do we need to give these Chinese people per month?

If it is not based on employment standards, then what attracts these Chinese to come?

Emperor Dashun's internal funds were all real gold and silver, with hundreds of thousands of silver coins in front of him. As long as he wanted to take this money, he could no longer use his status as a "debt slave".

Since Batavia was the center of Dutch colonial rule in Southeast Asia, officials here knew something about the situation in Ceylon.

Now, Ceylon is indeed short of people.

Ceylon is a good place, producing four kinds of things, all of which are valuable.

Cinnamon.

Betel nut.

pearl.

gem.

The local Sinhala-Kandyan dynasty in Ceylon must have a lot in common with Xun Yu, and what they have always thought about is "driving the tiger and swallowing the wolf".

The Tamils ​​were in the north and found the Portuguese.

The Portuguese came, so they took the initiative to find the Dutch.

Later, the Dutch came and took the initiative to find the British.

Then every time, it was a mistake to drive away the weak one, and a stronger one came. It can be said that he has outstanding vision. Every time he looks for the strongest person of the era, he ends up losing himself.

Now the Dutch have replaced the Portuguese and occupy the southwestern lowlands of Ceylon, and the Sinhalese Kandy Dynasty is still in the plateau.

Ceylon was once the only place where cinnamon was produced.

Cinnamon may be the only spice that has maintained sales growth as the four-fluid theory of the human body in Europe recedes.

Because the taste of cinnamon is very special, it can be matched with the new European favorite tea, especially black tea, which has a special fragrance. With the spread of the custom of drinking tea in Europe, cinnamon as a tea ingredient has not retreated but advanced.

Even before the Portuguese fled, they strategically brought cinnamon seedlings to Brazil, which led to large-scale planting of cinnamon in Brazil.

But this thing has to be rubbed by hand, and workers have to peel off the bark and roll it into rolls.

Brazil's population is insufficient, far less than the rich human resources in Asia, so not much can be rubbed out.

Now this thing is also one of the few spices with high profits in the Netherlands in recent years.

The Dutch, especially Valkenir, had been thinking about introducing Chinese to Ceylon, firstly to solve the problem of "surplus" Chinese population in Batavia once and for all; secondly, it was because Ceylon was really short of manpower.

The main labor force of the Dutch in Ceylon was Tamil slaves bought from India and low-caste cinnamon workers in Ceylon.

Tamil slaves were economical. They took an iron branding iron with the [VOC] logo and burned it on their bodies to make a mark. They had nowhere to run.

Basically, they only needed to provide food. It was hot there, so they didn't even need clothes, which was quite cheap.

But Britain and France have been on guard against the Netherlands in India in recent years, and Tamil slaves have not been easy to buy in recent years.

India to Ceylon is not as far as from black Africa to America, and the mortality rate on the way is too high.

Before the civil strife in India, the various princely states captured prisoners and sold slaves to each other. The price of Tamil slaves was extremely low and the transportation was short, so they were not used like black slaves in America. They also had to consider the problems of reproduction and longer working period.

That is to say, raising a slave, letting the slave reproduce and continue to give birth to slaves, and maintaining a long working life. In fact, it is more cost-effective to directly buy a batch of slaves after they die.

When a black slave is transported from Africa to America, the long seashore and the mortality rate along the way must be considered, so the overall price is still quite expensive. This Tamil slave was transported from South India to Ceylon, which is much cheaper.

It's like spending ten yuan to buy a small tool. Should you be more careful when using it so that it can be used for a few more years? Or should you break it and replace it with a new one when it breaks?

But if you spend ten thousand yuan to buy a tool, then you will naturally be more careful when using it so that it can be used for a few more years.

So this leads to a bit of cruelty.

As the saying goes, even rabbits bite when they are anxious. If you use it too cruelly, even the low-caste Tamils ​​broke out in an uprising two years ago.

Those who pick and rub cinnamon are basically Sinhalese. They are all low-caste among the Sinhalese, and their lives were originally quite miserable.

The Sinhalese's special caste system is somewhat similar to the Ming Dynasty's "low caste system". It is not quite the same as the caste system in India. Instead, fishermen have been fishermen for generations, farmers have been farmers for generations, and cinnamon rubbers have been cinnamon rubbers for generations.

However, the Dutch introduced the handmade factory system, which made the lives of those who rub cinnamon even worse. Two uprisings broke out in 34 and 36.

Many people fled to the mountains and would rather return to the Kingdom of Kandy as a low-caste person than work in a cinnamon handmade factory. Factory workers in this era... are really not as good as low-caste village serfs.

Last year, the old king of the Kingdom of Kandy passed away. The new king was a royal branch from southern India who could not even speak Sinhalese. He could not suppress the princes and military leaders under his command.

Originally, there was peace between the Kingdom and the Netherlands. With the death of the old king, the new king was temporarily unable to control the situation. Many military leaders and high-caste feudal lords chose to go to war with the Netherlands.

It was not what Valkenir thought, that the British were behind the Batavia uprising. It was the British who really were behind it, firing guns and cannons.

This is why after the Chinese uprising in Batavia, Valkenir's first reaction was that the British were behind it again.

Liu Yu was just taking advantage of the situation. The root cause was that the British had too many previous convictions, and the Dutch almost reflexively thought of the British.

The origin of this can be regarded as a deep-rooted evil fate.

The King of England married a Portuguese princess, and the Netherlands went to Japan to complain, saying that the British married a Catholic princess, which led to the failure of Britain's attempt to trade with Japan.

In turn, Portugal took Mumbai as a dowry and told Britain by the way: Kill the Netherlands, Ceylon is half for each of us, which is also the dowry of Princess Catherine, and the cinnamon trade is half for each of us. I want Colombo, you want Gower. In addition to the huge contradictions between Britain and the Netherlands in Europe and North America, Britain and the Netherlands started fighting.

As a result, just after the war, a baker in London was baking bread. His wife called him for something, and he forgot to close the oven door in a hurry. A fire burned down the whole of London.

After the fire, London was rebuilt, and everything was in chaos. In the chaos, the Dutch took the opportunity to raid the Thames Estuary, using their unique ability to surprise attack the naval port, and in one fell swoop, they destroyed the little wealth left by the Protector of the Country. This is why Liu Yu spent a lot of money to build artillery forts in Weihai and Liugong Island. The Dutch’s naval courage to raid the naval port and fight bloody battles made him have to guard against it.

In that battle, Britain was defeated and completely withdrew from Southeast Asia.

But after Britain recovered, they kept making small moves.

Sending a batch of guns today, sending two instructors tomorrow, and co-founding a cinnamon factory the day after tomorrow... These are all common things.

Now that the old king has passed away, the new king is a branch of the South Indian royal family and cannot control the situation. The nobles have completely let themselves go, and from time to time they use British guns to fight the Dutch.

The current situation is roughly like this: Tamil slaves revolted; cinnamon factory workers revolted and would rather go back to be low-caste untouchables; the feudal nobles of the Kingdom of Kandy let themselves go and acted independently, holding British guns and fighting the Dutch all day long.

Lack of people.

Lack of people who are obedient, submissive, submissive, and can work for less money.

So the Dutch really hope that the Chinese will go, especially to get a group of debt slaves who do not need to be paid.