Batavia, a city with a history of hundreds of years, has witnessed almost all the ups and downs of the indigenous peoples of the South Seas and the Western invaders, and it can even be said that the change in its name alone reflects this change.

In the earliest days, Batavia was not called this name, but rather Sunda Graba, which means 'land of coconut groves', and has long been a famous seaport for the export of pepper and spices, favored by traders at the time, and of course made it fall into the hands of the Portuguese.

Later, in the 16th century, the leader of *** led the Indonesian people to defeat the fleet of the Portuguese colonists, recovered Sunda Galaba, and renamed it Jakarta, which means 'glorious fortress', and the Chinese at that time called it 'Coconut City'.

Seventy years later, the Dutch East India Company once again occupied Indonesia and renamed Jakarta 'Batavia', which has since become the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, trading in Asia, Europe and Africa, and holding trade fairs here for a long time.

Of course, there is no shortage of Han Chinese in Batavia, most of them are people who fled from the Central Plains, successfully survived in Batavia, and were valued by the Dutch East India Company, which became a big bargaining chip to suppress the local Indonesian natives, like many Chinese were appointed by the Dutch as Kapitan.

The term "Kapitan" refers to the overseas Chinese consular system implemented by the Portuguese and Dutch colonies in Indonesia and Malaysia, and originally meant that the chieftains, that is, the overseas Chinese leaders who used to do business, earn a living, or settle in Indonesia, let them help the colonial government deal with local civil affairs, with a focus on controlling the power of the local chiefdoms.

For example, Liu Rulong is a Jiapitan who has survived in Batavia for decades, he was born in the Liu family, a large overseas Chinese family in Batavia, and is good at speaking Dutch, coupled with the family's business in Nanyang, he was valued by the Dutch at a young age and became one of the few overseas Chinese leaders in Batavia.

Relying on the support of the Dutch, the momentum of the entire Liu family is thriving, they rely on the privileges of Kapitan, bullying and dominating the market everywhere, in addition to not daring to provoke the Westerners, they are very harsh to the chiefdoms and Chinese of Batavia, so that the Chinese in Bacheng hate the Liu family to the core, but the Liu family does not care at all.

In Liu Rulong's words, as long as they can maintain the wealth of their Liu family, what about being a Dutch dog?

However, with the rise of Ningchu, the situation in the South Seas is also changing rapidly, the power of the Han people has gradually penetrated into the South Seas, and a large number of merchant ships flying the flag of Ning Chu are also shuttling in the South Seas, and there are many conflicts of interest.

As the so-called Yidi and Huaxia, then Huaxia; Those who are in China and Yi Di are Yi Di.

For the Nanyang Chinese, although their life in Nanyang is much better than that in the mainland, they have always been more painful in the issue of identity, because although they consider themselves Chinese, after all, they live in a foreign land and are often discriminated against.

Especially for the Dutch in Nanyang, although the Chinese can help their rule, they only regard the Chinese as inferior people after all, and the status of the current chiefdom is not higher than the current one, and the Dutch often deliberately provoke conflicts between the local chieftains and the Chinese in order to consolidate their rule.

Liu Rulong doesn't care about this, but it doesn't mean that other Chinese don't care about this, after all, they still hope to return to China one day, and they also hope to be able to truly become the people of Huaxia, so these people often welcome the arrival of Ning Chu.

It's just that Liu Rulong has also been a little panicked recently, because the news of Ning Chu's rise is not a secret, coupled with the news of the conflict between the Dutch and the Taiwanese rebels some time ago, many Chinese have privately spread gossip, thinking that the Fu Han army is going to fight to Batavia, which makes Jiabidan like Liu Rulong a little panicked.

Liu Rulong didn't think that when the Fu Han army arrived, he would be able to have any good fruits to eat. After all, the things he did to the Chinese were enough for him to die more than ten times.

Of course, Liu Rulong also has his own hole card, that is, the current governor of Batavia, Vizos, since Vizos took office, the Liu family has sent a large amount of silver into the governor's palace, after hearing that Vizos loves Chinese porcelain, and even sent people to Guangzhou to collect a large number of fine porcelain, and gave it to Vizos.

"Master, Lord Wei has just sent someone to say that he wants you to go to the Governor's Palace."

Just when Liu Rulong was worried in his heart, a piece of news from his subordinates startled him, Governor Vizos rarely gathers everyone, so at this time, there is something to call, naturally something big happens, so Liu Rulong was more or less worried in his heart, he hurriedly asked someone to prepare a gift, and then followed him all the way to the governor's mansion.

After a while, the subordinates prepared several loads of various gifts, including several pairs of porcelain alone, plus three thousand taels of silver, and the group carried the burden in the direction of the governor's palace.

In the city of Batavia, the destination of such an open-minded gift-giver is naturally only the Doge's Palace. After all, the people in the entire city of Ba know that as long as they give him a gift, Governor Vizos can almost be said to be unable to refuse, of course, if you want to count on the governor, it depends on whether the gift is enough.

When Liu Rulong walked into the governor's mansion, he found that several other overseas Chinese leaders in Batavia had also come here, and they all had the title of Kapitan on their heads, and they were all close associates of Governor Vizos.

After a while, Vizos never appeared, except for his lieutenant Jacob, who briefly dropped a waiting order, and then disappeared again.

Everyone waited in the Governor's Mansion with dry mouths, and they could have chatted for a while, but they had no interest in the back, so they could only sit in the hall and wait, but there was no disrespect on their faces, after all, the big guys all know the truth that those who know the times are handsome, and no one accommodates losing their temper here.

It was only when the lights were on that Governor Vizos hurried through the door, his face flushed slightly, sweat on his forehead, and he seemed to have been busy for a long time.

Seeing Vizos appear, many overseas Chinese leaders hurriedly greeted him, all with a very flattering face, "Lord Governor, the villains have already arrived, I don't know what to order?" ”

Vizos raised his eyes to look at everyone, a hint of arrogance appeared on his face, and then he spoke: "This time, the main reason is to have bad news and good news to tell you. ”

"The villain listens." Liu Rulong hurriedly came over, and the others also expressed their attitudes one after another, enthusiastically eager to kiss Vizos's fat face.

Wizos cleared his throat to make his voice less muffled, "Let's talk about the bad news first, according to the news from Guangdong, the Ning Chu Navy has been transferred from Shanghai to Guangzhou, although we don't know their next move, but the threat is already obvious." ”

"What...... Ning Chu is coming? ”

Everyone was suddenly shocked, although they had expected that Ning Chu would touch the South Seas, but they didn't expect it to be so fast, you must know that in the past, Ning Chu's navy had been active in the north for a long time, and there was basically no example of being stationed in Guangzhou for a long time......

Xiang Zhuang dances the sword, which is intended for Pei Gong. Almost everyone has this sentence in mind.

Vizos had been watching coldly after he finished speaking, he wanted to take a good look at the performance of these Chinese, so he didn't continue to speak, but just looked at the expressions of these people and couldn't help but change.

As soon as Liu Rulong raised his head, he happened to see Vizos's cold gaze, and he was shocked at the moment, but he couldn't care much, and stood up and said loudly: "Back to Lord Governor, Ning Chu is just a country that has just emerged, and its naval power is naturally extremely weak, how can it be compared with Lord Governor, this is really not bad news." ”

Vyzoston laughed, patted Liu Rulong's shoulder with his hand, and said: "Liu, you are right, this is the other good news I will say later, that is, the European direction has sent us a whole fleet, of course, this fleet was originally used for rotation, but at this time, it came just right, and when they arrived, even the so-called Ningchu Navy would only have the fate of failure." ”

Hearing Vizos say this, it surprised everyone, but they knew that such a rotation was once every five years, why was it advanced this year? Of course, it is impossible for everyone to know the reason, and Wizos will not explain it to everyone.

In fact, in the eyes of the previous Dutch East India Company, although Batavia has always been an important trading city of the Netherlands in Asia, due to the influence of the European situation, they have been forced to reduce their investment in Asia, so for a long time, the strength of the Dutch East India Company in the South Seas has not increased greatly.

However, with the rise of Ningchu, many things have changed, especially the increase in the trade quota between China and the West, which has prompted the Dutch East India Company to pay more attention to the geographical environment of the South Seas, and they hope to make Batavia and Malacca have stronger development potential.

Of course, with the escalation of the Dutch's attention to Batavia, the military strength of the Netherlands in Batavia has increased, and the military spending of the Dutch in Batavia has increased greatly in recent years.

Because everyone knows that the real rich people in Batavia are still Chinese, and they have a good temper and will not resist at all, while those chiefdoms not only have no money, but they are also fierce to death, and they are not easy to squeeze at all.

Sure enough, a smile appeared on Governor Vizos's face, he looked at the Kapitan in front of him, and said with a smile: "You are all friends of the empire, and you should understand that everything is not free at the moment, you must know that no matter where you are, security is always the most precious thing, so how much are you willing to pay for security?" ”

Everyone's hearts sank suddenly, and the big guys glanced at each other, and they all saw the embarrassment in each other's eyes, not that they were unwilling to pay this money, in fact, no matter how much money it was, it would be over by gritting their teeth, after all, there was a lot of money sent to Governor Wizos before.

But now it's different, these wanderers in the South Seas are wanderers, but which one doesn't have a few vines in China? There are even many people who are directly connected with the Ningchu official, such as the shadow or the military intelligence department, and there has been no relevant cooperation.

Because of this, they can't just give this money, because this money is nominally for the military expenses of the Dutch East India Company, and its nature is very bad, which means that whoever gives the money will not think about currying favor with both sides in the future!

Li Guanglie, the head of the Li family, one of the representatives of overseas Chinese, took a step forward, sighed softly, and said tentatively: "Your Excellency the Governor, safety is naturally priceless, if it is for the great cause of the empire, it doesn't matter if we have more, but this year I really didn't do any business, and I lost a lot of money last year, so there is really no silver in this family......."

When everyone heard that Li Guanglie took the lead, they hurriedly stepped forward one after another, and they also began to cry about poverty, but Liu Rulong was the only one, who kept sneering and looking at everyone - do you really think the Dutch are fools?

Governor Vizos's face changed suddenly, and he was no longer polite, and directly beckoned to the guards beside him: "Arrest this damn yellow-skinned monkey for me, hang him at the city gate for three days, and by the way, arrest his entire family for me, and bring all his property to the governor's palace!" ”

A thunderbolt came down on a sunny day, but it shocked Li Guanglie, he quickly knelt on the ground and began to beg for mercy, but how could the guards listen to him? Then they pressed him to the ground, tied his hands and feet with ropes, and stuffed his mouth with a piece of cloth, like a fat pig to be slaughtered.

Seeing this scene, the other overseas Chinese leaders didn't dare to talk anymore, they looked at Liu Rulong with pleading eyes, hoping that he would be able to say a few good words, no matter what, that Li Guanglie is also a Chinese, and he was also an old brother who fought the world with the big guys.

Liu Rulong pretended not to see it, and turned his head away, but he didn't say a word more for Li Guanglie at all, but tried his best to curry favor with Governor Wizos.

"Your Excellency the Governor is right, how can we give up the safety of our whole family for some money? The villain Liu Rulong is willing to give 30,000 taels of silver, raise all of them within three days, and hand them over to the governor! ”

Vyzoston laughed out loud and gave Liu Rulong a thumbs up, "Liu, you are a true friend of the Empire, and in the future, when the Empire completely defeats the natives here, you will also make a fortune!" ”

Then, Vizos looked at the others with deep meaning, "The empire naturally shows no mercy to the enemy, but it will also take great care of friends, I hope you can become friends of the empire!" ”