New Shun 1730

"How much is the head tax in Batavia per month?"

"Your Excellency, 8 large coppers, or 32 small coppers. Payable monthly."

"Who collects it?"

"The tax farmer may be Lei Zhenlan, Kapitan, or the street chief. Each street has a street chief, who is usually the tax farmer. The head tax is sometimes outsourced and sometimes not."

"What are the conditions for being a tax farmer? How can I become one?"

Lian Huaiguan smiled and thought to himself, "Your Excellency, you are also an official, don't you understand this question?"

"Your Excellency, some tax farmers will be auctioned. For example, this year's casino tax has a starting price of 900 Dutch guilders. If you bid high, it will basically be yours. However, some are not auctioned, so you have to rely on gifts and bribes."

When Liu Yu heard about giving money and bribes, he thought it was simple.

"Does this bribery require connections?"

"Your Excellency, connections are needed, but money is even more important. Local Dutch officials will write down their "private property" at the bottom of the government notice. For example, if you want to sell a teacup and you want to give him money, you can go to the auction to buy it back. A few years ago, Kapitan Lian Fuguang bought a broken teacup from a Dutchman for 400 Dutch guilders, which was actually just a broken cup worth a few coppers."

"But this broken cup gave him the qualification to package the wine tax. It can be said that anything can be auctioned, including spoons, clothes, broken cars, etc. in the homes of Dutch officials. As long as they want to collect money, they can auction them. Because... this... is not considered bribery."

Liu Yu couldn't help laughing and praised: "The Dutch business society really has come up with new ways to bribe. It's very clever."

"By the way, are there many Dutch people in this city of Ba?"

Lian Huaiguan shook his head.

"My Lord, there are not many Dutch people. Batavia belongs to the East India Company, not the Netherlands."

"Because if non-company Dutch people come, they may bring private goods or do private business, which will affect the company's profits. Therefore, the company does not welcome non-company employees to come to Batavia. Even if there are people who come, they are all in the mentality of making a fortune and returning to the Netherlands to enjoy. Chinese are not allowed to operate spices, but they can operate sugarcane. Some Dutch people just outsource sugar factories and collect rent, and rely on the company to handle accounts. They themselves are not in Batavia."

There are not many Dutch people in the city, which is also an important factor in Lian Huaiguan's idea of ​​replacing them.

However, there are indeed not many Dutch people, but there are many natives. The Dutch can mobilize some native cavalry.

In addition, some native taxes were also handed over to Chinese tax farmers by the Dutch with malicious intentions... The contradiction can be imagined.

Tax farmers must first pay the tax amount, and the rest is at their own expense.

Merchants spend so much money on auctions and gifts to obtain the right to tax farmers, but they don’t spend their own money to serve the people.

Liu Yu made a calculation in his mind about these situations.

If the Dutch are not ready to expel the Chinese completely within three or four years, then forget it.

If they take action in advance, they will have to pay a head tax to keep the Dutch from moving for the time being, which actually doesn't cost much.

Eight copper coins a month, assuming 30,000 to 50,000 people, is only 30,000 to 50,000 taels of silver a year.

Spending 30,000 to 50,000 taels of silver to raise a potential rebel army in Batavia, rather than letting this rebel army start an uprising and be massacred when it is not well prepared, is definitely a big profit.

While retaining this group of core resistance forces, if diplomatic means and embargo sanctions can be used as threats to make the Dutch transport a group of people to Ceylon, it is not impossible.

As long as the Dashun court's response is not so slow, the Dutch should not have the courage to massacre now.

And now, it is the tail end of the Age of Discovery, there is no international law, and there is no need to wait for the Dutch to take action first before fighting the Dutch, and there is no need to wait until the Dutch start massacre to have a righteous cause.

There is no shortage of excuses for accusing people of crimes.

Besides, the Dutch were not trying to accuse Liu Yu. The things about Penghu, Taiwan, and Zhoushan were not counted yet. After inheriting the Ming Empire, they naturally inherited these hatreds and excuses for war.

"Lian Zhuangshi, do you have any acquaintances in Ceylon and other places?"

"Yes. Some of my brothers did not pay the head tax and were sentenced to hard labor. Some were exiled to Colombo. I don't know whether they are alive or dead."

Lian Huaiguan didn't know why Liu Yu asked about Ceylon. He thought Liu Yu was thinking about the Dutch wanting to migrate the Chinese in Bacheng to Ceylon.

Ceylon, a small place, is very important, especially for Australia, which completely controls the South Pacific.

Because of the existence of the equatorial doldrums, it is almost impossible to go to Australia from the Indonesian archipelago.

So Liu Yu hoped that when Bering went to explore America, he would take the South American Pacific route and follow the ocean currents to Australia.

Ceylon is almost the nearest springboard to Australia at this time. Otherwise, you can only follow the route of Bering this time, Shandong - around North Korea - Whale Sea - Kuril Islands - North America - South America - Australia, which is purely an unrealistic dream.

If you can drive away the Dutch in the future and have a place to stay in Ceylon, it will be much easier.

Ceylon is a Buddhist country, and Liu Yu has no interest in completely occupying Ceylon.

But he is still very interested in helping the Kingdom of Ceylon drive away the Dutch and occupy Colombo City as a base.

Buddhists are at least more suitable for Chinese to get along with than the people in Southeast Asia.

If the Dutch can move three to five thousand Chinese from Batavia to Ceylon under their own control, even if more than half of the mortality rate is, there will be a foundation for gaining a foothold in the future.

Looking at it dialectically, everything has its pros and cons.

Finding a way to borrow Dutch ships to immigrate Chinese to Ceylon during this wave of anti-Chinese sentiment in the Netherlands, so that the Dutch would bear a bad reputation, can be regarded as turning a bad thing into a good thing.

Of course, if the operation is not done well, it is very likely to go wrong, and tens of thousands of Chinese will be slaughtered at that time, which is just being too smart.

With a preliminary plan in mind, Liu Yu knew that he had to firm up Lian Huaiguan's mind, so he took him to visit the army camp in Weihai.

This unit is called "Close to the coast to be familiar with future naval operations and reduce the consumption of coastal sea transportation"; in fact, it is the army after the military reform sent by the emperor to monitor the navy. It is one of the few troops in Dashun that have completed the military reform at this time. The emperor did not put it in the capital, but in Weihai.

The artillery fort in Weihai was also taken over by the army. This is a technique of balance and checks and balances, not that the emperor no longer trusts Liu Yu.

Although the chief officer was not trained in the small station, the military staff and a group of veterans were trained in the small station, so the face was still there.

When I rushed to the drill, I went to see that the staff in charge of the drill also prepared a military drill seriously.

Although Lian Huaiguan had never been a soldier, he could tell the good from the bad.

After following Liu Yu around, he realized that he thought too simply. How could the group of brothers under his command compare with the regular army?

I wanted to establish myself as a king, but now it seems that if the court really has any intention, my little ambition will be crushed with a little crushing.

Now that Liu Yu has given him such a big step and promised him an official title after the success, Lian Huaiguan is not a fool. Under the black muzzle of the gun in the Weihai military camp, he quickly made a decision.

"Since you are so kind, I can't help but appreciate it. Since the court has made a decision, I am relieved. I was worried that the Dutch would be brutal and do something like what happened in Luzon, so I felt sympathetic. At that time, it might be a matter of both jade and stone."

Who is jade? Who is stone?

Liu Yu smiled and didn't dwell on this statement.

"Lian Zhuangshi, the Chinese in Batavia are all citizens of the Celestial Empire. The court must manage them. But how to manage them is explained. The letter said that you also have sugar factories and sugarcane plantations in Batavia. You protect your brothers with money, right?"

Lian Huaiguan nodded and said, "Yes. It's easier to do things with money. My sugar factories don't make money, and I don't make that little money from sugar factories. I just find a place for my brothers to live."

This method is indeed a good one. The Dutch in Batavia can't even rule directly, which shows how weak their management ability is.

All the employees of the sugar factory are indirectly ruled by wealthy Chinese businessmen.

From Mantou's letter and Lian Huaiguan's self-narration, Liu Yu has long known the moral character of profit-making operators, and he also knows the living conditions of the employees of the Batavia Sugar Factory.

Lian Huaiguan does not make money from the sugar factory, but has other ways. The role of this sugar factory is to provide cover for the brothers around him.

Lian Huaiguan can do this, so Liu Yu can do it too. Isn't it just money?

"Is it easy to rent a sugar factory in Batavia?"

"It's easy to rent. It's especially easy to rent in recent years. Many people don't want to continue to operate, but they owe some high-interest loans and can only operate with gritted teeth, hoping that the price of sugar will be higher this year. I am stupid and don't know that the sugar trade has such a big problem now, but even if I am so stupid, I know that those people are just dreaming. This sugar was forcibly collected by the Dutch. Even if there is still profit, how can they take the initiative to raise the price?"

Since it is easy to rent, it's simple. Silver is now a hard currency worldwide. If Dashun's silver is taken to Batavia for spending, there will still be people to accept it.

"Lian Zhuangshi, if you want to start a rebellion, you can't do it with a small number of people. And if they are scattered, it will be a trouble in the future. Let me help you with some money, and you go back to Batavia to buy a few sugar factories and sugarcane plantations. Drive away all the Javanese and leave only the Chinese."

"I'm not trying to make money, but I'm just making preparations for the future. If the Dutch want to massacre, it's better to organize together than to be scattered everywhere."

"Of course, I have to send someone to keep an eye on it. This doesn't mean that I don't trust Lian Zhuangshi, but mainly because there are so many people and you may not understand some things. And once thousands of people gather together, let alone Kapitan Lei Zhenlan, you haven't even been a street chief, how can you manage it?"

Seeing through it but not saying it, the polite words make both sides less embarrassed, which is also good.

Lian Huai thought for a moment and said with a smile: "Your Excellency is wise. The Dutch have no idea how many Chinese there are in the sugar factories, not even in Ba. If there are a dozen sugar factories, thousands of people can still be supported without seeking profit."

"But it will be hard for those who cannot be taken care of."