I

The relationship between the Han Chinese in Batavia and the Dutch colonial government was very delicate.

There is even a saying that Batavia is a Chinese colonial city!

This place was originally called Jakarta, which was snatched away from the Banten Kingdom by the Netherlands. At the beginning of the occupation, the Banten Kingdom, the Matalan Kingdom, the British and other forces took turns sending troops to besiege the city. If the surrender conditions were not too harsh, the Netherlands would have chosen to surrender long ago.

In order to gain a foothold, the Netherlands chose to join forces with the Han people.

The castle was entirely built by the Han people. The city bricks were fired by the Han people, and the moat was dug by the Han people. The Netherlands was only responsible for transporting stones and grain from other places.

Before the castle was even built, the Chinese Kapitan Sumingang was appointed as a member of the Senate to participate in discussing Batavia's political affairs.

At that time, the city was surrounded by forests and swamps, and the forests were full of hostile Javanese natives. It was impossible to transport all the food from other places, so the Netherlands joined forces with the Han people. The Dutch were responsible for the expansion by force, and the Han people were responsible for reclaiming farmland. They achieved food self-sufficiency in a few years.

After everything stabilized, the Netherlands showed its fangs and began to impose heavy taxes on the Han people. As for the poll tax alone, the tax rate for the Han people was several times that of the native Javanese people.

However, the Han people are still strong.

If history is not changed, the Han people will gain greater power. As the number of Han people increased, under Kapitan, two positions, Lei Zhenlan and Street Chief, were established to fully realize Han autonomy inside and outside the city. Wuzhi fans will also be established to further enhance the power of the Han people.

Then Confucian temples, academies, hospitals, and almshouses appeared, and as the Dutch power expanded, this Han system spread throughout Indonesia.

Even the countryside was controlled by Han planters, while indigenous landowners and Dutch planters could only survive in the cracks.

Finally, the Netherlands felt unable to hold back any longer and incited the natives to massacre the Han people.

Overseas Han Chinese are not disloyal, nor are they uninterested in politics. They have been forming a group and even established a charity home to adopt orphans. The Han Chinese Chamber of Commerce also provides education to the orphans. They have been striving for political power, with more and more Han official positions and more and more Han MPs.

There is no support from the state at all, it is all up to the Han people to strive for it. It is good enough to develop like that.

It's a pity that the Han people didn't get hold of the barrel of a gun, not because they didn't want to, but because the Netherlands simply didn't give it to them. The Han people were prohibited from holding weapons and had no power to resist when faced with the butcher's knife.

"500,000 taels of silver? That's more than 1.9 million guilders!"

When Carl Rainiers heard the amount of compensation, he was not even in the mood to bargain and said directly: "Get ready for war!"

This is the net profit of the Dutch East India Company in Asia for two full years. Note, this is for the whole of Asia, including India, Ceylon, Japan and the Spice Islands.

Naval Commander Balthazar Burt said: "Our fleet in the Far East cannot defeat the Chinese Navy. In the past few years, we have lost too many warships, and now more than half of them are converted from merchant ships. As for the Chinese Navy, this In two years, three more capital ships were launched. If we mobilize fleet support from India, the Chinese can also mobilize fleet support from the mainland. Therefore, the real decisive battle still depends on the victory of the army."

Army Commander William Clapp said: "I can guarantee that we will hold on to the castle until we run out of ammunition and food. But there are too many Chinese residents inside and outside the city. They will definitely help the Chinese army fight and provide food for the Chinese army. We must Strike first, kill as many Chinese residents as possible, and try to grab as much food as possible to defend the city."

Rainiers worried: "If a massacre is carried out against the Chinese, Batavia will be destroyed. Not only will the city be unable to function, but food will not be self-sufficient. In the future, food will have to be shipped from elsewhere."

The Dutch immigrants in Batavia did not grow food at all at this time.

Historically, more than ten years later, more than half of the Han plantations were burned down by Banten bandits, causing a continuous food shortage in Batavia. The Han people were dissatisfied with the lack of protection provided by the Dutch army and took the opportunity to demand more power. It was only then that the governor called on the Dutch to set up plantations in the suburbs and gave them almost tax-free super preferential treatment.

If the Han people are massacred now, even if they win this battle, Batavia's future will be bleak, and there will definitely be food shortages for several years.

Because of the Nambawa gold mine, taking the risk of falling out with China is enough to prove how short-sighted the Dutch colonial authorities were. In their opinion, even if China sends troops, it will not be so fast. By the time China sent troops, these senior staff had already returned home, leaving the mess to the next governor-general to deal with.

Clapp said: "The first task now is to defend the castle, and we will talk about the future later. All the Chinese, especially the Chinese in the urban areas, must be killed! Let the Javanese servants kill them, and all the Dutch soldiers will stay in the castle to guard against China. The troops suddenly landed."

Rainiers thought about it repeatedly and finally made up his mind: "Okay, kill those Chinese and steal their property and food! Then send people to the plantations in the suburbs to incite the Javanese slaves to cause trouble. Promise those slaves that as long as they kill The Chinese master can take away the master’s land, property and women!”

It was already summer at this time, and it was smooth sailing from Batavia to Guangdong.

The Chinese merchant ships that had stayed for a long time could not wait to return home full of goods. There were only a few Chinese ships left in the port of Batavia, and they had to wait for the northeast monsoon to blow before heading south again.

This is the time Liu Hanyi and Su Minggang discussed to send troops. The large force first stayed stationary in Guangzhou, waiting for the monsoon ocean currents to change, and rushed against the wind and current to Batavia, so as to minimize the losses of Chinese merchant ships.

As for the rainy season in Batavia, it is concentrated from November to February, just avoid these three months.

The Dutch governor summoned the Javanese servant army, which also took time. Coupled with the closure of the port by Dutch warships, this series of operations quickly attracted the attention of the Han people.

Chinese merchants who had not yet had time to leave the port abandoned their ships and went ashore, not even the goods, and took their crews into the city to take refuge.

Liu Hanyi was afraid of leaking the military plan, so he did not notify these Han merchants in advance!

However, they also secretly sent an envoy aboard the Matalan merchant ship to contact Su Minggang's son.

…

A month ago, Wangarai.

Makkalai will be Bekasi a few hundred years later, a full 30 miles away from Batavia city.

Thirty years ago, the Han people only cultivated land outside the city, but now they have cultivated land 30 miles away. This place was originally full of woods and swamps, but under the patient transformation of the Han people, it turned into patches of fertile farmland.

At first they only grew food, but gradually they had indigenous slaves and followed the example of Europeans in their plantation economy. Tobacco, sugar cane, fruits, oil palm... The economic strength of Han landowners grew rapidly, forcing the Netherlands to vigorously support Javanese landowners. The Dutch were ungrateful and levied heavy taxes on the Chinese landowners while helping the Javanese landowners capture serfs.

In this way, Han landowners are still powerful, and the land area they own is more than ten times that of Javanese landowners.

The Su family's residence was built in Wangkarai. The lantern at the door has four Chinese characters for "Founding Fathers" written on it.

This country refers specifically to Batavia.

The Su family believed that Batavia was a country they helped the Dutch build, but they were just a tool for the Dutch to gain a foothold.

Su Dingguo is over 40 years old. His most proud achievement in recent years is the establishment of a free school in Makkalai, where all Han Chinese can come and study for free. The most depressing thing for him was that after his father Su Minggang left, the Su family could no longer obtain the "Kapitan" position.

His father was too serious and kept asking for expediency for the Han people, which made the Dutch increasingly dissatisfied with the Su family.

"Master, a merchant from the Han family came to visit and said he brought a personal letter from the old man." The housekeeper came to report.

As soon as he heard the letter from his old father, Su Dingguo stood up quickly and ran outside to the courtyard to greet him.

The visitor was a young man, about thirty years old.

Su Dingguo looked at it carefully and asked doubtfully: "Your Excellency, are you a member of the Su family in Tong'an?"

The young man did not answer the question, but said: "Please give me a bamboo stick or a wooden staff."

Su Dingguo was confused and asked the housekeeper to find a bamboo stick.

The young man took out something from his arms, which was strung up with a rope, one section after another of yak tail hair. These yak tails were quickly tied to bamboo poles and fluttered in the wind against the setting sun.

Su Minggang was educated at that time, but he went to sea to make a living because his family was in trouble. He was very concerned about the education of his children and grandchildren.

As for Su Dingguo, he had studied the Four Books and Five Classics since he was a child, and was also very familiar with Han allusions.

Su Dingguo guessed what it was after just a moment's confusion. Thinking back to the discrimination faced by the Su family in the past few years, a surge of blood surged up in my heart. I knelt down and prostrated, shouting with tears in my eyes: "Su Dingguo, an abandoned overseas citizen, pays homage to the Lord Angel. Long live the Holy Emperor!"

The young man held his hands in arms and said: "I, Sun Jie, as the deputy envoy, have been ordered to go to sea to consecrate King Nambawa. Here is a handwritten letter from Mr. Su. Please read it first."

Su Dingguo knelt and did not dare to get up, holding the letter from his father in both hands.

After reading the letter, Su Dingguo gritted his teeth and said: "Lord Angel Rong Bing, that Dutch red-haired ghost was ungrateful, crossed the river and demolished the bridge, and treated us Han people even more harshly. My father made great contributions, but he left the tea. The people of the Su family even Kapitan can no longer be built. There are also Han Chinese farms. The further they are cultivated, they are often robbed by Javanese bandits, and the Netherlands does not send troops to help. Now that the DPRK army is coming to kill, as a Han Chinese, I should try my best to serve the country. I dare not go to other places. Guarantee, we will give the Su family as much food as they want, and we won’t take a single tael of silver! If the Han army besieges the city for a year, all the Su family’s sugar cane gardens will be used to grow food until the army captures Ba City!"

Sun Jie was greatly moved and quickly helped Su Dingguo up: "Your Excellency is determined to serve the country with all his strength. When I return to Nanjing, I will report it to Your Majesty!"

Ten years ago, the Han landlords here would have hesitated and even helped the Dutch fight against the Datong Army. But things are different now. The Netherlands has suffered successive defeats, and the local Han people are more optimistic about the Chinese army.

Su Dingguo stood up and ordered the housekeeper: "Take off the lantern at the door!"

"It's not necessary at the moment. Don't let the news leak out." Sun Jie stopped him.

Su Dingguo smiled and said: "Angels, don't worry, the dozens of miles outside the city are all our Han people's territory, and the Dutch will not leave the city. Even the tax revenue in the countryside outside the city is contracted to the Han gentry, but the tax amount is more It's getting higher and higher. The Dutch only go out of the city twice a year, not to collect taxes in the countryside, but to check whether the Han people have hidden soldiers and armor."

"I see," Sun Jie said, "It is inevitable that there will be traitors and traitors, so it is better not to pick up the lanterns. Ambassador Liu has already made an appointment for sending troops, so Mr. Su should not contact the Han gentry for the time being. When the agreed time is coming, go to the meeting half a month in advance. , so as to avoid exposing the military situation as much as possible."

"The angel has a well-planned plan, and the common people must follow it," Su Dingguo said.

Then he added: "Although the red-haired ghosts forbid Han people to possess armor, each gentry secretly purchased some, and they were able to raise hundreds or even thousands of rebels."

For rural Han people, recruiting thousands of soldiers is already the limit.

Regardless of how many miles around it is, most of the land belongs to the Han people. But there were only a few real farmers, and slaves were mainly used for farming. Those Javanese slaves were not of the same mind as the Han landlords.