[I don't wish everyone a happy Qingming Festival]

During the Spring Festival this year, Yang Kun was invited to participate in the New Year's banquet in Coconut City Port, and the richness of the banquet naturally made him speechless, but his feelings were different.

In the past, Javanese nobles also invited him, often with extravagant food and drink, as many of the chieftains of the South Seas used to do during festivals. But that feeling is not good, it is just a way for the natives to show off their wealth, and in their hearts they treat the Chinese merchants only as their own money bags. According to Javanese custom, if a foreign merchant dies in his kingdom, most of the inheritance will be owned by the lord of the country, and no three out of ten will be inherited by the descendants. I heard that in Aceh, it will be intensified, and the so-called "Aceh Customary Law" will even put all the shipwrecked ships and goods into Sutan's property, and the death of outsiders, female dependents will even be included in Sutan's harem.

Tong'an's hometown is mountainous and has few fields, except for going to the sea to do business, there is little other livelihood, to Nanyang because of the Han people's diligence but also do not worry about food and clothing, but there is no political security behind it, in addition to money and not much social status, will not become a lamb to the slaughter depends on the mood of the person in power.

It is also because of this that most of the Chinese are connected by the township party, but such an organization can still have some effect on the general strongman bandits, and if they really encounter the lord of any country who is coveted, it is really impossible to resist at all.

The most afraid is to compare, although the chief's banquet is also extravagant, but it can be treated equally with the elders, Yang Kun's speech is also less restrained, and several leaders are more important to him because of their understanding of Java, which makes him feel a lot of happiness, and it is the first experience since going to Nanyang.

With such a mental experience, Yang Kun happily naturalized the Great Song Dynasty after the New Year, and even the necessary purification and disinfection during naturalization did not give birth to much mustard.

"The villain has asked people to return to their hometowns to bring letters to promote the virtues and politics of the chiefs, and I believe that after the winter, more village parties will settle here." Yang Kun was half flattering and half serious, thought about it for a while, and said: "Master Su also promised to bring some more fellow villagers from Wandan. ”

Su Minggang is different from Yang Kun, he has been operating in Java for more than 20 years, and he has deep roots, and he is an overseas Chinese leader in Banten.

However, Su Minggang only cooperated with the Senate, and he was different from a naturalized businessman like Yang Kun, who still wanted to do business for more than ten years and then return to his hometown in Fujian to recuperate. However, although helping the Fubo Army in private this time was only for profit, Liu Dawu did his best and did not intend to leave the matter of Wandan alone.

Hearing that there was a temptation in Yang Kun's words, Liu Dawu seemed to give him a reassurance, "There are still too few Han people here, there must be another senate of forty or fifty thousand to rest assured, compared to building a seawall and a port city, this is a big deal, if you can do it well, this official promises to promote you as a member of the CPPCC." As for the Su Dongzhu's side, you can rest assured, if he can really pull the old overseas Chinese, the head will be counted on your head. ”

Yang Kun's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly bowed, "The chief's kindness to the villain's cultivation is not forgotten by the villain." ”

He didn't say it because of a simple sentence, he had indeed seen the powerful combat power of the Fubo army, and he also had some understanding of the Australian and Song cannons in the construction of the city wall and fortress.

Da Song has both strength and treats him well, so he is naturally willing to submit sincerely.

Since the topic involves Su Minggang, Yang Kun has a good relationship with him, although he also has some of his own calculations, he can't help but worry.

"Master Su said that he was going back to call on the Han people to come and defect, but this matter may not be possible. The British and Dutch still have a lot of power in Banten, and they have suffered a lot of losses this time, so I am afraid they will not give up. ”

It has been more than half a year since Su Minggang returned to Wandan, and there has not been much movement for such a long time, most of which is that this one still has the mind of waiting and seeing.

As he spoke, Yang Kun subconsciously looked into the distance, and saw through the middle of the two Rising Star Flags on the fortress wall, which was less than two hundred meters away and surrounded by three buildings on the west bank of the Chirion River, which was originally the Governor's Palace of the Old Jagarda City. Today, the wooden beams and the palm-bark roof that clad them are long gone, and the stone courtyard gate is blackened and stands alone on a scorched earth.

Cohen's arson was apparently so efficient that the city, which was also named after its triumphal 90 years ago, is hard to see what it once looked like.

The old city of Hexi is also surrounded by the city wall into the port is another work that Yang Kun will complete in the second half of the year, and when the city wall is completed, it will be the day when the coconut city port is reborn.

But as he thought, the Dutch and the British did not get along, especially when he heard that there were seventeen Dutch warships that had not yet left Java, and that Governor Cohen was known for his toughness, and he would not be willing to let his actions that he had planned for many years end in this way, and Yang Kun had reason to believe that he would plan to make a comeback for the sake of the company and his own interests. As for Banten, the British also have a commercial office and a number of troops there, if they want to target, Su Minggang may have some trouble, after all, most of the Banten authorities will be on the side of the British and Dutch.

Liu Dawu knew that Yang Kun was worried about Su Minggang, a fellow villager, so he said disapprerovitically, "I have already made arrangements for Wandan, you can rest assured." ”

At this moment, an object on his waist suddenly shook, Liu Dawu's expression moved, and then he sent Yang Kun away, and went back to the room alone.

…………

At the same time, Banten ......

Under the same lead cloud, at the end of the city's only three stone roads, some sand and dust were faintly raised in the air because of the sun.

On the edge of the square to the north of the palace are several shelves full of Javanese gongs, which have just been struck for a while, announcing the unusual nature of the place.

Aria Japala, the Celestial Warrior, sat under a tall sarotree in the middle of the square, the regent of Banten, the uncle of the young king, and the most noble presence in the kingdom at the moment. Dressed in a thin shirt embellished with gold silk balls, with a thick white scarf wrapped around his head, his beard is neatly groomed and majestic, which makes people even more awe-inspiring in this hot temperature.

Beside him sat four of the most trusted nobles.

Agus and Vadun Adi, two elders of Banten, especially the latter, who gave advice to His Highness Japati in the government of Banten, which greatly benefited him.

Prince Aria Papati – The de facto commander of the palace guard.

and his most important nephew, Sambon Rohr, who was also a prince, and he acted as his agent for the trade affairs of the port.

Around them there were more than thirty men, all of them strong and fierce, all naked and naked, with a short sheath pinned to the back of their belts, clearly the most elite warriors in the kingdom.

Japala did not sit cross-legged on the ground as several of his close ministers did, because the person he was seeing in front of him was also sitting on a chair.

As plenipotentiary of the British East India Company's commercial office in Banten, Charlemagne felt compelled to come and inform the authorities of Banten about what had happened in that port two hundred miles away, as well as some rumours he had heard recently. At the very least, the British maintained the humility they deserved before the regent, hoping to protect their already threatened commercial interests in the South Seas.

"So Su Tui is on the side of those shorthairs?" Japala's eyes burned as he listened to the initial statement, and looked at Charlemagne's expression warily.

In the past year, he had heard some rumors about the short-haired Song people from the maritime merchants who had come from the north, and he also knew that they had set up a trading post in Chaya Garda. As for their combat strength, there is no idea, those people have been busy building the city since they occupied Jaya Garda, and he has also sent a fine work to investigate, but he cannot enter the Triumph Fort, and the gun emplacements on the city wall have not been able to check in person, so they can only judge by the almost stagnant expansion speed of the other side in the past half a year, the military power of the shorthair does not seem to be as powerful as rumored, everything is probably just a coincidence, he is busy fighting with the Dutch and the governor of Jaya Garda, ignoring the enemy from elsewhere.

Charlemagne didn't want to get involved in any military conflict, he just instinctively wanted to provoke the country to conflict with the newcomers, after all, the Dutch were difficult enough to deal with, and the Australian Song that appeared out of thin air in the last two years was even more stressful.

Legend has it that in the last year or so, they have established many strongholds on Borneo. Looking at his efforts over the years, the merchant houses of Ma Chen, Ambon, and even Pattani have been facing cancellation due to the suppression of the Dutch, and the hope of establishing a stronghold in the east has also been completely cut off in the accident more than half a year ago, and the company's interests in South China and East Asia have become precarious.

He didn't want his years of hard work in the Far East to end up in a bad situation where the company had to return to India.

Charlemagne considered it for a long time and decided to make a trade-off to inform everyone present of some rumors and witnesses.

At some point, rumors began to circulate around Lower Banten, in which the largest Chinese merchant in the region would renounce the honors and official positions conferred by the kingdom and move to the Song-ruled port of Coconut City with thousands of overseas Chinese. Charlemagne first heard the news from a fellow Englishman named Quark, who knew that he had formed a company that traded sugar and refined salt near the Java Sea, and secretly seemed to have captured a large number of slaves between the islands, and seemed to have a mysterious relationship with the short-haired Chinese.

From the bottom of his heart, he swore that he did not want to have a direct conflict with the new owner of Jayagarda, but if he could punish the local Chinese merchants by the hand of Banten's Tianmeng Gong for this matter, it would be considered an explanation for the company's losses, after all, the only people who did not suffer bad luck in that incident were those cunning Chinese merchants, and it was always happy to make them pay some price no matter what, and the change in Banten's attitude towards Chinese merchants would be conducive to the company's increase in the company's trade share in this area.

After listening to Charlemagne's statement for nearly two hours, Japala seemed to sense the seriousness of the situation.

The Chinese merchants, who had done so much for Banten, were using their cunning to destroy their trust, and rumors from all sides were confirming the intelligence of the British, and it seemed that the Chinese merchants were really planning to run away en masse.

These wonderful craftsmen, these high-quality tax sources, these guys who seem to have fallen into their own pockets actually want to leave.

This must not be allowed!

Thinking of this, he found the crux of the problem and beckoned to his side.

"Arria, pick out three hundred of the best warriors around you, I think I'm afraid I'll have to talk to Su Minggang."

[References]

1、《Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450-1680》Anthony•Reid

2, "Sea Language" Huang Zhen

3. "Nanyang Yearbook"

4. "A Preliminary Study on Zheng He's Spread of Islam in Java and Other Places" by Xu Younian

5, "Emperor Ming Shi Law Record" Chen Renxi

6. "Zhucheng Weekly Consultation" is strict and simple

7、《The Rise of Ayudhya》Charnvit Kasetsiri

8, "History of Overseas Chinese in Nanyang" Chen Bisheng

9、《Chinaese in Southeast Asia》Victor Purcell