Discussions have come and gone, although it has been suggested that it would be better to send a naturalized national, or to hire an influential indigenous person from Macao or even Batavia to act as consul, which was common practice in the 17th century. But Skade felt it was a bit wasted to give up a great opportunity to directly observe and influence Batavia.

"Diplomats are the most haode spies." Jiang Shan said solemnly to the veterans of the Intelligence Bureau in the office building of the Intelligence Bureau, "It's a pity to give up this opportunity."

"If there is no suitable candidate, I am willing to go." A man in the conference room said.

This man is in his thirties, with a long face and beard, and a pair of dark eyes. With his hair in a bun, he looks elegant and chivalrous. Wearing a cyan pleat. At first glance, you can see that he is a veteran intelligence officer who was trained by the mainland in the second department of the training course of the intelligence bureau.

"I know English, German, French and Latin, and I can read Spanish – but I don't understand it." "Speaking German and communicating with the Dutch is not much of a barrier," he says. ”

"Lao Zhao, you shouldn't go. We are about to go to Zhejiang to get population, and then we will have to transfer the population of the mainland on a large scale, and the layout of the two rivers is very important. Jiang Shan immediately denied it, "If you start now, it will take at least three or four months to effectively settle down, and it will take at least half a year to open up the situation." If you go to Batavia, all this training will be in vain. ”

The main work of the intelligence bureau in the second half of 1631 was to obtain and transfer the population from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui on a large scale, and the station opened in Hangzhou would be an important distribution point of the intelligence bureau system in the southeast.

Zuihou still recruited volunteers from Caijinkou to Batavia in accordance with the principle of recruitment - fortunately, the consul was an open tournament and did not need any cover training.

The person who volunteered to go to Batavia to serve as a consul was a patriarch named John Xue, who was a certified public accountant and a certified tax agent. In the Ministry of Finance, we are specially engaged in the construction of the fiscal and taxation system. When I got tired of doing system building and fiscal and taxation work, I wanted to go out and see if there was any other more stimulating work to do. He did not know German or Spanish, but was fluent in English, French, and Classical Latin, so he could work in Batavia even if he had no difficulty. Fortunately, there are a lot of people in Caijinkou, and Cheng Dong said that he could release them.

"The scale of financial operations of the Dutch was very frequent in the 17th century, and we may find some opportunities in Batavia by having someone familiar with finance." Skade was happy to hear that someone was willing to go, "In addition, the import and export trade between us and the Dutch can also introduce some modern international trading system." Or just open a bank in Batavia...... "Skeard became more and more aggressive.

"Let's talk about it, talk about it again." Jiang Shan said, "Let Lao Xue stay in Batavia first."

So the consul in Batavia who was finally decided was Xue Ruowang, which made the patriarch who had been immersed in the books and numbers overjoyed.

"I'm going to get a Batavia branch ......out as soon as I get there," he said, excitedly.

"To tell you the truth, I'm worried about your future." Yan Ming, the president of Delong Bank, said with a melancholy face at the farewell banquet of Caijinkou, "You have to be careful in that ghost place, don't get into tropical diseases, even if you send a doctor to save you immediately, it won't be too late......

These words immediately made Xue Ruowang's strength retreat. Although everyone was vaccinated with as many vaccines as possible before the crossing, and some vaccines that would only be vaccinated if they went abroad to Africa and Southeast Asia, many vaccines were not immunized once and were valid for life, and some were close to the end of their validity period. Biological laboratories have made great progress in developing vaccines, but there is still a long way to go before they can return to the level of immunity of the 21st century.

"It's okay, if the Dutch can stay, so can I." Xue Ruowang pretended to be bold and said, "Besides, there are many Chinese there." I'll be careful myself. ”

Before leaving, Xue Ruowang got a "life box".

"This is for you organizationally." Skader pointed to the small box, which was exquisitely made, with a rattan cushion on the outside and an iron stamped on the inside, lined with animal skins to prevent moisture.

The box is small and comes with a special carrying strap, which can be easily carried on the body, and you can run away when necessary.

The box contained medicines that had been dispensed by the Ministry of Health specifically for the local situation in Batavia. There are anti-malaria medicines, snake medicines, antibiotics, and some other emergency medicines and wilderness survival tools. Zuihou is 50 Portuguese gold coins.

"Hopefully you won't get a chance with this." Skade said.

"I think so too."

As usual, Xue Ruowang wanted to bring his life secretary with him. At one point, he had hoped to get a Dutch woman in Batavia, but the people in the Ministry of Colonization and Trade thought that this was unlikely. The Dutch rarely shipped European women to the region, and even a few women were other people's wives.

After deciding to go to Batavia, John Xue's life secretary underwent confidential training in the confidential class of the General Political Security Bureau, learning how to use ciphers and radio stations. The Ministry of Colonial and Trade had been able to effectively grasp the commercial and political situation in Batavia through the radio.

Loeb? Excerpt from Trini's collection of correspondence with his Venetian friends.

Dear friends,

It is a great pleasure to write to you, and it is a great honour for me to share with you all sorts of new and interesting things that have been flooding my mind since I arrived in the Far East. And being able to go to Lingao is an eye-opener for me.

As an attaché of the company, I was able to travel to Lingao, the so-called city established by the Australians on Hainan Island, and after obtaining a formal trade agreement, we were allowed to move freely to observe the city that was founded by a people we never knew about.

As you know, as an artist, I have a keen interest in observing things. Whether on the seas to the Far East, in Batavia or in various parts of the East Indies, I try to keep the sights I have seen with my own eyes, as far as I can in my sketchbook. At Lingao, of course, I had the same interests, not to mention that it was one reason the company sent me to act as an attaché.

……

I left the Mercantile House in the evening with Mr. González, a Spaniard. The gatekeeper of the Merchant House did not restrict our access, but only used a sign with multiple characters to remind us not to leave the confines of the East Gate at night. In order to make sure that we could get back to the Merchant House, he also gave us a small cardboard card with some kind of writing on it, which I think is Chinese characters - and as long as we handed the piece of paper to the passers-by, we could be smoothly led back to the Merchant House.

At night, there is no difference between the East Gate and the daytime, and the bright light radiates from behind the glass shades of the street lamps next to the street. The reception is very brightly illuminated, and it is easy to find even if a button is dropped on the road. Street lamps are not only found on the main streets, but can be seen even when entering the side roads and laneways - only not as dense and bright as they are.

Obviously, on such a dark night, the security of Dongmen City is better than that of any other city. The light drove away the darkness, the best cover for the gangsters to do evil.

Mr. Gonzalez and I wandered the streets into the middle of the night, feeling safe even when there were few pedestrians on the streets, and we felt the same way as the shops that stayed open until late at night.

Out of curiosity, Mr. Gonzalez and I went all the way down the middle of nowhere. I was amazed: the streets of Dongmen City, both in the streets and alleys, were very neat and clean - what a miracle. We don't see traces of garbage and feces in any corner. Every inch of the pavement is paved with slates, gravel, bricks or black fastened sand, so that there is no sewage left on the pavement. It's no surprise that Australians have a strict quarantine regime for any foreigner who enters their territory. In such a clean and hygienic city, it is indeed difficult for epidemics to break out.

In order to ensure hygiene, they have set up rattan baskets to collect garbage in many locations, and all garbage is collected in them, and toilets are also set up in the streets and alleys for public use. Of course, these two things alone are not enough to ensure hygiene, as you may know: many nobles and dignitaries do not care to defecate under the stairs of their own and other people's palaces - even though the palace has toilets. I can only think that under the rule of the Australians, the moral standard of the local people has improved greatly.

We were going to look for a tavern to drink, but we were attracted by the exotic atmosphere on the streets of Dongmen City. From time to time, we go into the shops along the street to observe the products. The shopkeepers and guys don't seem surprised by the Europeans, it seems like they are often able to see Europeans. Later we learned that there were Europeans among Australians. Of course, how these Europeans became Australians, we don't know.

The shops sell a wide variety of goods, and almost all of the Chinese goods that we commonly find in East Asia can be found here. It's also not very expensive. There is an abundance of fruit in the area, and there are even shops that specialise in fruit and fruit preparations. In particular, there is a large amount of preserves. Apparently they do not lack a supply of sugar.

Australians have a knack for all kinds of snacks, and you'd be hard-pressed to see such a wide variety of snacks in a store anywhere else, so we walked into a store that specialised in sweets, and the shelves were lined with jars made of glass filled with all sorts of colourful candy cubes. Even my pen could no longer repeat the color and shape of these sugar cubes in a short period of time. They exude a variety of sweet and tangy aromas that are simply intoxicating.