Circumventing the Dutch checks, the slave traders' ship quietly docked at a port far from the city.

With a handful of money, he bribed the Dutchman, who was in charge of the area, and the ship entered the harbor with ease.

The man who boarded the ship to inspect the ship accepted the silver with his left hand, and his eyes were immediately blind, and he could not see the people in the cabin at all—although the governor of Bacheng had ordered that the number of Chinese merchant ships should not exceed fifty, but the saying that money can make ghosts grind is not only valid in China.

The owners of the sugar cane plantations rushed over and bought the slaves who had just come off the boat and felt that they had escaped from hell as if they were picking up their livestock.

Theoretically, slave laborers were not slaves, but long-term indentured laborers.

The boat fare was paid in advance by the owner, and as long as they had enough money to cover the boat fare, they were free.

However, this is only theoretical.

Dozens of slave laborers followed the two strong men to the sugar cane plantation, and the first thing they did when they entered the garden was to explain the rules of the plantation clearly.

"When you come, do your work, don't think about some crooked ways. We all signed the contract, that is, we ran back to Fujian, and the government was also facing us. It is only natural to repay debts. ”

"If you want to run, I might as well tell you. You don't have a residence permit, and if you are caught by the Westerners, you will have to build forts and canals, and you will die of exhaustion in three or five years. ”

"I'll also say ugly things first, if anyone is a thorn in the head and leads the trouble, then I will throw whoever is a Western ghost first!"

After explaining the rules, the slave laborers followed the foreman to the sugar cane plantation and began to work.

The owner of the garden, who could still command in the face of slave labor, immediately changed his face after accepting this batch of slave labor.

He was going to Batavia with a smiley face.

Before you travel to Batavia, you have to squeeze a smile out of your face.

Today is the day to go to the city to repay the loan, last year's sugar price was very low, and the owner of the loan operation could not repay the principal and interest at all, so he could only repay this year's interest first.

Otherwise, the whole family will have to work as slaves next year.

When I came to Bacheng and found a fellow loaner, the smiles that had been piled up since the sugar cane garden had solidified at this time.

"Shopkeeper, I have to give more grace this year, and I can give the money first. As you know, the sugar business has been really difficult to do in recent years. There are hundreds of people in the garden waiting for me to feed, eat and drink Lazar, and the Western ghosts have kept the price of sugar so low, it's really not easy to do. ”

"The harder it is, the more you have to do it. If I don't, the poll tax on these people alone will bring me down. Those poor ghosts also have no permanent property and no perseverance, if they are really forced to do their part, they really dare to make a big deal. ”

"Can you make less money next year?"

The shopkeeper of the loan gathered the accounts and said, "It's not easy for anyone." You say it's not easy for you, so is it easy for us to lend? My fellows all depend on me for food. We're talking about interest, right? If you think the interest rate is high, then don't borrow. Loan, you love me, no one forced anyone, don't you say? ”

Where did the owner dare to repay the price, these lenders were all local snakes in Bacheng, and they had something to do with the Dutch.

If he dared to provoke them, if nothing else, he would report that there were slave laborers in his garden who did not pay the poll tax, and the poll tax would have ruined his family.

With a smile, he paid this year's interest, checked the accounts, and left the place where he borrowed.

A few Dutch soldiers were patrolling the city, and a merchant who was doing small business was kneeling on the ground, kowtowing to a tax-inclusive trader, saying that it was not easy these years, and that he hoped that the tax would be collected a little less.

The tax package said: "Is it easy for us to pack the tax?" We have to pay this tax in advance. The money has been given, and you don't pay me taxes, what should I do? It's not easy for you, and it's not easy for me. It's useless to say this, it's serious to give the money happily. ”

"If you can knock out gold and silver by kowtowing, then what else can I do to buy and sell? Just kowtow every day, I can break my head and bleed! ”

The Chinese businessman who included the tax scolded a few words, and the owner of the sugarcane plantation said helplessly: Fart, there is still compensation for the tax? When Lao Tzu makes money, he will also buy a tax collector.

Thinking that his business was not finished yet, and that he didn't see the excitement he could see almost every day, he went to the grocery store to buy some gifts and carried them to the house of the owner of his sugar cane plantation.

His sugar cane plantation is not his, but the contracted owner's.

The Dutch were very strict with the management of the Chinese, and in order to facilitate control, only a few people who knew Dutch and had connections were issued business licenses.

The owner is the real owner of the sugarcane plantation, and the owner contracts the sugarcane plantation to the owner, and the owner of the plantation gives the owner the contract money according to a fixed amount every year, with several layers in between.

Carrying a gift, I humbly came to the house of the owner who made "Lei Zhenlan" in Batavia.

Rejenland, Dutch for "Luitenant", means lieutenant.

Kapitan, Dutch for "Kapitein", means captain.

It's clear who is big and who is small.

At present, Batavia does not have a Chinese "horse's waist", a Dutch "majoor" major, and this Lei Zhenlan is second only to Kapitan among the Chinese.

These Lei Zhenlan people prefer the local compatriots to call them Lei Zhenlan instead of their trade name, because Lei Zhenlan symbolizes the status in Batavia, and the trade name cannot be suppressed here.

The Dutch had guns.

The owner of the farm gave a gift and tactfully expressed the idea of wanting to reduce the rent a little.

This Lei Zhenlan sighed: "Buying, selling, there are gains and losses." A few years ago, when sugar was expensive, I didn't see you come and say that you would add a little more rent to me, right? ”

The owner of the garden was speechless for a while, and could only laugh and say: "Lord Lei Zhenlan, it has been really difficult to do business in the past few years. The price of sugar is simply too low. If the rent is still so high, it really won't be able to continue. ”

This Lei Zhenlan said: "I said, don't forget, I'm also taking risks!" I'm the owner, and if there are people in the garden who don't pay poll tax and don't have residence permits, I have to bear the responsibility for what happens. I also paid this money. Although we wrote in black and white, I am going to be fined, and you have to pay me back, but I am also responsible for it. The Dutch are shrewd. ”

"Besides, you have a hard time, and I have a hard time. You're here to give me gifts, and I'm going to have to give gifts to others. In your eyes, I, Lei Zhenlan, am a big man, and in the eyes of foreigners, I am a fart. ”

"You really haven't heard? Today, there is a new governor in the city. We, Lei Zhenlan and Jiapitan, all have to go and congratulate. When a new official takes office, he can't be empty-handed, right? Isn't it all money? ”

The owner of the garden really didn't know that such a big thing had happened in Bacheng, and said strangely: "The governor has done a good job, why did he change people?" ”

This Lei Zhenlan shook her head and said: "Someone reported that officials in Bacheng privately sold detention permits, saying that he connived at the detention of Chinese people here, harming the public and private interests. There are a lot of things involved, whose ass can be clean? As long as you check, there is no accident? ”

"There's a new governor sent over to the company's board, and his name is Valknier, and I don't know what his temper likes."

"I'm here to give you a heads up. Recently, the rumors may be very tight, and the new official has taken office three fires, and no one knows whether the new governor will light a fire and check the lack of a residence permit. You all be careful. ”

"It's impossible for me to pay the poll tax. If something really happens, or the policy is changed, you can only break your teeth and swallow it in your stomach. ”

The owner's expression changed greatly, and it was obvious that this Lei Zhenlan wanted to clear up the relationship.

Slave labor was bought by him with money, and the poll tax theoretically had to be paid by the owner, and if the owner did not pay, he, the owner of the garden, would have to come out and take the blame, and then the owner would say that he did not know anything.

I thought about taking a gamble, but if the price of cane sugar is high this year, I can turn over. Who would have thought that there would be such news, in case this Valknier wanted to "clear up the accumulated evils", wouldn't something big happen?

Thinking about reducing the rent seems unlikely. The owner doesn't care whether the owner earns it or not, and the rent will not be less.

This is the truth that the owner of the garden has known for a long time, but after all, there is a trace of expectation in his heart that he is a fellow villager and a relative. However, these fellow villagers and relatives seem to be worthless in the face of gold and silver.

The owner of the garden left in a huff, and the owner of Lei Zhenlan collected the gifts, took out some gold and silver, and with a smile on his face, he went to the governor's palace in Batavia, and greeted the new governor with the Kapitan and Lei Zhenlan there.

The surname of the new governor is Valknier, which is considered a famous family in the Netherlands. The Valknier family joined the East India Company a hundred years ago, and at the beginning of the formation of the East India Company, their family was the mayor of Amsterdam.

Valknier did not first go to meet with the Chinese Kapitan and Lei Zhenlan, but first met with the company's personnel here.

After the Ostend Tea Incident, the headquarters of the company set up a trade committee with China, which took away some of the powers of the governor of Batavia, who was directly under the control of the company's board of directors, and he, the governor of Batavia, had to establish good relations with the members of the committee.

The previous governor was a scapegoat, because the accumulation of defects was too deep to be reformed.

If the tax package system is chosen, then the Chinese businessmen and wealthy businessmen who include tax will inevitably hide the population; The residence permit system and the poll tax have to be paid every month, leaving the excuse of power rent-seeking as long as there is power...... Wouldn't it be nice for me to take a bribe of three silver coins when I pay ten silver coins in a normal tax? The money received also belongs to the company, and the bribes received belong to oneself.

There was another very important reason for Valknier's visit this time: the news of Qi Guogong's visit to Paris and the French mission to Dashun caused a sensation in the Netherlands.

Batavia was the most important stronghold of the Dutch East India Company, as well as the pivot. And how many Chinese are there in Batavia? This is something that is not clear to the company itself.

Those who pay the poll tax normally are about 8,000; And those black households who don't pay the poll tax are only afraid that there will be 20,000 or 30,000 or more.

What is the reason for the exchange of envoys between China and France this time? The growing number of Chinese in Batavia is already a great risk.

During the previous Apocalypse, the Dutch plundered the Zhoushan Islands and Penghu, and plundered a large number of Chinese to work as slaves in Badavia.

Because Batavia at that time, it needed to be built. The working level of the local aborigines is too poor, far from the Chinese, and there is a shortage of labor in the local area.

It was also because the price of cane sugar was very high at that time, and it was very profitable to grow sugar in Batavia.

However, the West Indies, the Caribbean, are closer to Europe and of better quality.

A hundred years later, the Dutch wanted more Chinese to grow sugar, but now they see these people as a crisis.

Discard after use.

A few years ago, Safibos collapsed. The Dutch were inferior to the British and French in India, and their biggest patron in Asia was Safibos. The collapse of Safid Persia caused the East India Company to lose its biggest customers in Asia: Japan closed off the country, China had enough sugar, and India had Britain and France, and Persia alone could bring the company's sugar to market.

Europe has begun to eat Caribbean sugar on a large scale, and it is not even worth it to take the ballast stone to transport sugar back from Asia.

Valknir thought to himself: damn Nadir Shah, a slave who became the emperor of Persia worthy of admiration, but also blocked the East India Company's sales in Persia, tightened its trade policy, and controlled the outflow of precious metals.

However, he couldn't beat it, and the Dutch East India Company still had points when he beat the Ottomans and almost captured Baghdad. Gunboat diplomacy free trade, dare not use it on this.

Now, the problem before Valknier is serious: the essence of the sugar trade is a company secret. But the paper could not hide the fire, and the board of directors determined that the price of cane sugar would definitely continue to fall, and that it could only continue to lower the purchase price to squeeze the Chinese, and ninety percent of the people who grew sugarcane here were Chinese.

To date, Batavia has issued a total of 260 cane departments, belonging to 84 owners. Among them, 79 are Chinese, 4 are Dutch, and one is Javanese. And it can be determined that 3 of the 4 Dutch, as well as the Javanese, were also subleased to the Chinese to operate.

This is already a powder keg that can explode at any moment!

"Fortunately, the Chinese who will not survive and resist do not have guns. And those who have money and guns will not resist. ”

Looking at the company's statistical statements, Valknier had a radical idea.

This idea did not come out of nowhere, but was a necessity: the opening of trade in Dashun led to the decline of Batavia's status as a transit port; Japan's closure of the country and the small-scale peasant economy of Dashun, as well as the Ostend tea incident, caused Batavia to lose tea profits; The turmoil of Safavid Persia and the strongman who went from slave to emperor caused the company's sugar trade to decline; The exploitation of the Caribbean islands and the mercantilist policies of European countries made it impossible for sugar to be sold in Europe......

A large number of Chinese in sugar cane plantations, to survive.