The captain has unlimited, unfettered power during the voyage.

This is the common sense of the navies of various countries at this time, and the steamed bun as the captain of the ship is also qualified to decide whether to meet with some people.

I was somewhat interested in this person who took the initiative to ask for a meeting, and more importantly, Liu Yu once said that Westerners in Nanyang are like having an iron chain with a lock, and Batavia is the lock of this iron chain.

A person who has experience in sliding door lockpicking knows very well that an iron chain with a lock is the easiest place to break is not those chains, but the lock.

If the lock is broken, the remaining chains will be meaningless.

Mantou knew Liu Yu's thoughts about Nanyang, and he knew from beginning to end that he wanted to take this opportunity to see what this Batavia, which kept Liu Yu awake at night and couldn't sleep at night, looked like.

Considering the wording of this person who claimed to be Lian Huaiguan, Mantou took off his tweed navy uniform and put on a set of official uniforms of a five-rank military attaché.

Several adjutants dutifully collected Lian Huaiguan's weapons and kept a short gun on his behalf.

A sailor who knew Hokkien came forward to be a translator, and both sides spoke in dialects rather than foreign languages, but they really couldn't understand without an interpreter.

Lian Huaiguan did not express much emotion about the merchant ship itself, some Chinese in Batavia were also sailors, running around with merchant ships, and some had been to Europe.

Born in Batavia, he had never visited the land of his ancestors, and was therefore unfamiliar with some rituals, and did not kowtow like civilians on land.

But when I saw the common official uniforms in the play, I still had a trace of indescribable feeling, not awe or closeness, but an emotion that was difficult to explain.

Mantou didn't care about these things, he had changed from a slave to a human being, and he didn't care about this kind of etiquette. asked someone to make tea and bring it over, putting on a very kind smile.

"Even this surname is rare in the capital. I have also read some books, and I know that there is an allusion in the Spring and Autumn Period. This is even said to be the doctor of the Qi State, and the navy of the Celestial Empire is in Weihai, which seems to be considered Qi. In this way, we are half a fellow countryman. ”

Although the two "don't understand dialects", an allusion after 2,000 years suddenly brought the relationship between the two closer. Even if the capital where Mantou was born is thousands of miles away from Batavia.

In that year, Qi Xianggong sent a doctor to garrison the border, and the conditions on the border were bad, so he agreed to go to the melon when it was ripe, and send someone to replace it when the melon was ripe next year. Even said to be stationed for a year, the melon ripening season has passed and Qi Xianggong did not send someone to replace it, so together with Gongsun Wuzhi, he killed Qi Xianggong, leaving an allusion of "and melon". Lian Cheng may not be too famous, but Qi Xianggong is still quite famous, and there are many orthopedic poems about him and his sister Wen Jiang in the Book of Poetry......

This allusion may be very unfamiliar to people who don't have the surname Lian, but for those with the surname Lian, this is also the story of the ancestors, and I have heard it since I was a child.

Although even Huaiguan has never been to the land of Qilu in his life, Mantou said this allusion, but it sounded very familiar to him, as if the country of Qi that had traveled through two thousand years was not far from Batavia where he lived.

All Chinese, but all those with names and surnames, go up for thousands of years, who has not left one or two allusions on their ancestors?

"What the adults said is that this and the melon generation of Dr. Mi is the ancestor of the surname. But you don't know the name of the adult? ”

"Oh, my surname is Mi, my name is high, and my words are clear."

"Oooh! The word "adult" is the same as that of Lu Meng, a famous general of the Three Kingdoms. ”

Lian Huaiguan doesn't read much, but the popularity of the story of the Three Kingdoms in Batavia is no less than in Shandong and Beijing. Like him, who is thinking about doing something big, his familiarity with the story of the Three Kingdoms is also extraordinary.

Mantou thought about the reason why Liu Yu gave him this word, and said with a slight smile: "Shibei should be impressed for three days." It's a pity that I was more reckless and lived up to my husband's expectations. By the way, what are you looking for from me? ”

Lian Huaiguan thought to himself, who is this person's husband? This person is already an official at a young age, and this gentleman is afraid that he is also in a high position now.

In just a few words, even Huaiguan could hear the respect that Mantou had for his gentleman. Faced with the problem of steamed buns, Lian Huaiguan hurriedly said: "Master Mi, if you say that there is something, it is actually fine." It's just that I've been in Batavia for a long time, and I haven't seen the officials of the Celestial Empire coming. Today I was curious, so I suddenly asked to see him. ”

In such a scene, steamed buns have learned a lot over the years, hehe smiled, and said in his heart, who would come to see each other if he had nothing to do? If the husband is okay and has a good reputation, it is normal for someone to ask to see him. Who knows who I am now, who Mi Ziming is?

Seeing that he didn't even say anything, he was not in a hurry to ask, and said with a smile: "Now that I have seen it, could it be that you want to go to Sweden to see the world?" ”

Lian Huaiguan saw that the steamed buns were not too big, so he smiled and said, "The adults said they were joking." Although I have never been to this country of Sweden, some of my brethren have also been Dutch sailors, and Amsterdam has been. I've also heard of the name of Sweden, and it's not far away, and the villain really has no interest in going to see it. ”

"It's just that there's something down there."

I heard Liu Yu say that in the past, there were actually some Chinese sailors who went to Europe, and now it is not impossible to go to the Caribbean to be pirates.

I heard that Lian Huaiguan said that he had no interest in going to Sweden, and he didn't think there was anything strange about steamed buns, although the mortality rate of sailors had dropped a lot in recent years, the risk at sea was still very large.

"Oh? I don't know what you want to ask? ”

Lian Huaiguan didn't hesitate and asked, "Then Sweden is tens of thousands of miles away from the Celestial Empire, and the Celestial Empire is still sending envoys there." This Batavia is only more than ten days away from Fujian, but the Celestial Empire has no comforters to come once. I was born in Batavia, and I am also a foreigner, but I am still a citizen of the Celestial Empire. But I don't know why the Celestial Empire has to make friends with Sweden, which is tens of thousands of miles away, but I don't know Batavia, which is just a stone's throw away? ”

He is quite bold, but if he was born in the capital and other places, he would not say such outrageous words in the face of officials anyway.

Batavia said that the good point is called freedom, and the ugly point is that the Dutch have no grassroots control here, quite a bit of the state of the Yuan Dynasty Mongols ruling the Central Plains: the tax system, nothing cares, it is good to say that it is called inaction, and it is difficult to say that it is incapable, and Fan Mengduan, a Han official in Henan Xingzhongshu Province killed all the Mongolian high-ranking officials in the province and closed the Yellow River Caoyun, and the Yuan Dynasty did not find out......

Batavia is almost the same, even Huaiguan was born and grew up in Si, and he did not have the atmosphere of kneeling first when he saw an official, and he was even more unscrupulous when he said these words.

As soon as Mantou heard this, he was happy, and his heart said that this person was a little interesting, and asked rhetorically: "What do you want the Celestial Empire to do?" I heard my husband say, isn't this a Chinese semi-autonomous? Led by Jiapitan and Lei Zhenlan, there is also a Dharma hall for the Chinese. ”

Speaking of these Jiabidan and Lei Zhenlan, Lian Huaiguan couldn't help but feel a trace of disdain, and snorted: "It's just to be the commander of the Dutch to guard the land." ”

"it! In the face of the Dutch, they were submissive, and when they saw us and others, they put on the official authority of Kapitan, and they didn't mention it. ”

Speaking of the rise, the export has become dirty, and there is really too much dissatisfaction in my heart.

His understanding of the Celestial Empire almost all comes from stories, scripts, and dramas, and the Celestial Empire in the drama is as beautiful as a dream, and the distance produces beauty.

Thinking of those moneylenders, tax-packers, Kapitan, and Lei Zhenlan in Batavia City, Lian Huaiguan couldn't help but want to curse in his heart.

I thought to myself, if such a traitorous villain was in the Heavenly Empire, he would have been killed a long time ago, where could he be so arrogant?

Most of them were forced to have no food and clothing, and many of them used to be employees of the sugar factory, but the owner of the sugar factory was too ruthless, and some of the troublemakers fled.

The Dutch did this very secretly.

Obviously, it was the Dutch who kept the price of sugar too low, which led to all kinds of bankruptcies, but many people couldn't see through the deeper things.

Human feelings are very subjective, and the more intuitive the appearance, the easier it is to understand. Even if it's just a layer of twists and turns, it will make many people think clearly.

Although Lian Huaiguan hadn't thought about these deep-seated reasons at this time, his identity made him quite dissatisfied with the Dutch.

Unlike the hired laborers who had only access to the plantation owner and the sugar mill, he was a businessman, at the level of direct exploitation by the Dutch, and the lack of middlemen attracted hatred, so his dissatisfaction with the Dutch was a memory from childhood.

Especially when the previous governor was in office, in order to make up for the deficit of Batavia, he simply treated the local Chinese as milking cows.

Of course, it is better than the current governor who wants to kill the Chinese directly and eat the flesh, but no one has an eye on the front and back, and they don't know the "grand plan" of the new governor.

But the things that his predecessor did were enough to make Lian Huaiguan full of hatred.

He is a person in the market, and that calculation basically comes from, at this time, thinking about the story of Huang Zhong, he first came to the steamed bun.

The Celestial Dynasty can send ships to Sweden, why don't they care about Batavia, which is closer?

Steamed buns don't understand the Min language, but the sentence "dry and carrying" is still easy to understand as dry mother, Mr. Xindao is right, this Nanyang thing, reliable people like me are slaves and servants, not those who are rich and powerful as Kapitan and Lei Zhenlan.

Now seeing an angry Lian Huaiguan, the steamed bun didn't trust it immediately.

Thinking that Liu Yu would never forget Nanyang, and he was not sure that this was not deliberately sent by the Dutch to lie, he restrained his expression and said: "The Celestial Empire sent to Sweden has its own important matter. In your eyes, this Sweden is separated by tens of thousands of miles of sea borders, but you don't know that this Sweden is only separated from the Celestial Empire by a Rakshasa country. ”

Worried that this Lian Huaiguan was sent by the Dutch to find out the news, the steamed bun did not leak any wind in his mouth. But considering that Lian Huaiguan may really be an angry ranger, he didn't say it too much.

If the Dutch sent him to find out, this can be regarded as a strategic deception of Liu Yu, who supported it, and convinced the Dutch that the French had come to sign a joint offensive and defensive alliance with Dashun against Russia.

If it weren't for the Dutch to find out, it would have left some leeway, but there was a reason for it.

The Rakshasa people are still very famous in the north of the Songhua River, Mongolia and the Western Regions. But when I arrived in Batavia, it was far away, and even Huaiguan didn't know where this Rakshasa was, Batavia may have a map of the world, but even if Lian Huai watched it, he didn't know what this Rakshasa was, it must be a transliteration translated in Dutch.

Sure enough, even Huaiguan was confused, especially after the translator transliterated the transliterated rakshasa in Fujian, it was even more difficult to understand.

After pondering for a while, even Huaiguan can be regarded as roughly understanding, it may be a big country in the north, sandwiched between Sweden and Dashun, this so-called long-distance and close attack?

Thinking about it like this, Lian Huaiguan didn't know what to say for a while, so he could only say: "Master Mi knows the history of this Bacheng?" ”

Mantou nodded, and said in his heart, I'm afraid I know more than you know. In the words of the gentleman, what you know is only what you see and hear with your ears, and what I learn is what you stand farther away and look back, how can you not know?

"I know a little bit about the history of Bacheng."

"In the maritime merchants, when the previous dynasty was closed to trade with the Dutch, whenever a sea ship went to Batavia, the local governor must give gold and silver wool tweeds in order to return it next time. Now that the trade is switched on, he has changed his face, and he has many harsh criticisms of the maritime merchants of the Celestial Empire, and he is prone to heavy tax seizures. ”

"When the craftsmen were first built in Batavia, the Javanese could not work, but the Fujian people were good at building cities, burning bricks, planting sugar cane, and making sugar, so they recruited more at that time. There is no poll tax, and the Chinese are eagerly waiting to come. Now that the city was built, a poll tax was levied, and a decree was issued to reduce the number of residence permits, and to prohibit Chinese ships from carrying fifty people. ”

"In terms of sugar, in the previous dynasty, Japan had not yet closed off the country, and the countries of Europa had not yet grown sugar in the Caribbean. Sugar is the ballast stone, and the profit is huge. At this time, Japan closed the country, Taiwan, Fujian, Guangdong, and more sugar, and Europa countries made sugar in the Caribbean, and sugar was still losing money as a ballast stone. ”

These are all things learned in Liu Gongdao, and Liu Yu will use his knowledge of the world to explain those hidden truths through some intelligence of Fujian maritime merchants.

Mantou and others have long been accustomed to this kind of three views on all things, and over time, they have subconsciously agreed with this way of knowing the world, and even feel that this is a natural method and the only correct method.

The things he was accustomed to, in Lian Huaiguan, sounded like an empowerment, and his heart was even more turbulent.

He thought that the imperial court was ignoring the affairs of Batavia, but when he heard the person in front of him say, where did he ignore it? I just know that I can't go into more detail.

In just a few short sentences, it clearly explained the changes in the status of the Chinese in Batavia in the past hundred years, and even more clearly explained why there was such a change.

And a lot of "why" is something that even Huaiguan has never thought about.

Lian Huaiguan's mind was already a little confused, and in addition to being frightened, he had forgotten what he was going to say next, and he was at a loss for a long time before he asked tentatively: "According to what adults see, this cane sugar business will be even more difficult to do?" ”

More than half of the Chinese in Batavia live around the sugar business, and the indirect ones in addition to the direct relationship, such as money lenders, garment makers, groceries, and smuggling, also revolve around the sugar cane business.

Lian Huaiguan himself has a sugar factory, but this sugar factory is a meeting place for him and his brothers, just as a cover. Many former sugar factory employees in the Black Shirt Party, and some brothers are still working in the sugar factory, Lian Huaiguan forgot what he was going to say, and after listening to what the steamed buns said was so reasonable, he subconsciously asked about the prospects of the sugar industry.

Liu Yu has told Mantou and others more than once about these things, about supply and demand, trade, etc., are all compulsory courses in Jinghai Palace's official studies, and they are also a means to shape or quietly change their way of understanding the world.

Of course, Mantou knew about these things, and he didn't think it was a secret, so he said lightly: "The business of cane sugar will only become more and more difficult to do in the future." Although there are many people in the Celestial Empire, there may be few who can afford to eat sucrose; Japan is less, and the country is closed, and there is competition from Fujian sugar and Taiwan sugar. Don't think about it in the north. ”

"To the east is India, not to mention that India also produces sugar, and Ceylon and other places are also suitable for growing sugar. Further east, in the countries of Europa, the sugar in the Americas is still inexhaustible, is it possible that they will give up the cheap and seek the expensive, to buy the Javanese sugar of the Dutch? ”

"If the Dutch want to make money, they can only continue to keep the price of sugar down. I look at this sugar business, I'm afraid it's going to end. ”

"Anyway, if I were the governor of Batavia, I would have to think of moving the people of the sugar mills and sugar cane plantations to Ceylon. Grow sugar nearby, sell it nearby. ”

"If you have a sugar factory business, or if you have relatives and friends, I also advise you to get out as soon as possible."

"How many people are there in the Celestial Empire in this sugar factory in Batavia?"

Mantou asked knowingly.

I don't know what kind of character this Lian Huaiguan is, and the steamed buns can only try to fan the flames. He has been a servant in the Guogong Mansion since he was a child, and his level of observation and observation is even if he has never eaten pork and has seen a pig run, so he quietly instigated a sentence, wanting to see what this Lian Huaiguan means.

When Lian Huaiguan heard this, his face changed greatly.

After all, his vision is lower, it is the limitation of the times, it is also the limitation of the level, although he said that his brother has been to Amsterdam and knows that the earth is round, but the world in his eyes is just a small Batavia.

Whether it is the education he has received since he was a child or the news he has received, he has never looked at a problem from such a high level.

These words are simple and easy to understand, but they contain some indelible truths. Lian Huaiguan naturally knows whether this is full of nonsense, how can he not be anxious in his heart?

It's not that the Chinese have relocated to their land, but those of them who have gone to Nanyang all know one thing: they will die for a lifetime.

Ceylon and other places, if you really go, not to mention how many deaths you have to die on the way, but how many more deaths you have to go to the kind of wild places relative to Batavia, fever, malaria, etc.?

If you do that, how can you live? Although he did not work in a sugar factory, he had a "legal" residence permit, and he was even a person in the city of Batavia who had dealings with the Kapitan Rezhenlans. However, many of his brothers worked in sugar factories, and many of them did not have residence permits at all.

In the past, I just lamented that the sugar business has become more and more difficult to do in recent years, but now I listen to the steamed buns, where is it so simple to do business? This is clearly a dead end in front of everyone's eyes, but everyone doesn't know it yet.

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, even Huaiguan knew what kind of birdman the governor of the Netherlands was, and felt more and more that this Mi Da's statement made a lot of sense.

It's a matter of life and death.