"I sing loudly;

Sing the praises of a wealthy merchant and his wealth;

His goods and his treasures of gold and silver are innumerable;

In Indra, he had unparalleled wealth;

He owned 1,000 slaves, both old and young;

They come from Java and elsewhere;

His position is higher than that of Pengava;

He has a partial house and countless wives and concubines. ”

——Sya’ir. Bidasari

The Dutch brought about an era of prosperity in Southeast Asian trade. In the first half of the 17th century, Europeans and Japanese brought with them silver that was unimaginable in the past in Asia. Moreover, the Europeans were not strong enough to control all trade, which allowed local merchants and Chinese to quickly make a fortune.

Batavia is the center of Asia in this era of trade. Maiden let out a sigh of relief and set foot on the land of the Dutch.

The Dutch restricted the crew of the Adventure to shore, and only those who sold and purchased supplies were allowed to move around the docks with permission. Maiden had no choice but to go into Batavia City alone and find a hotel to stay in.

Seat Anthony. Fan. Dimon was too busy to meet with an emissary of a new force. This was to be expected, and Maiden was not in a hurry, he planned to get a good feel for the Dutch capital in Asia. The Dutch were concentrated in the Batavia Fort, where the highest government apparatus in the whole of East India was located.

The city of Batavia is Chinese. The city of Batavia has four gates, namely the Utrecht Gate, the Delft Gate, the Rotterdam Gate, and the New Gate. Outside the city gates is a beautiful farmland. The Chinese multiplied and scattered throughout Batavia, where they diligently conducted business and trade, and achieved success that was the envy of all.

Batavia in Anthony. Fan. Diemen's tenure has entered its heyday. Inside and outside the city walls, there are about 30,000 people of all ethnic groups. In both China and Europe, the population of large cities far exceeds that of Batavia. It is the neighboring city of Banten, with a population of more than 100,000, and the capital of Mataram has an even larger population, more than 200,000.

Stroll through the city of Batavia and see the lush greenery of cedar, coconut and banana trees lining the sides of the road, providing shade to the city's residents.

The city's inhabitants gave Maiden a different kind of energy, with smiles on everyone's faces, whether old or young. The Dutch were the winners, and it seems that these Dutch aliens gained a lot from the expansion of the Dutch.

The Jakarta River flows through most of the streets of Batavia City, and most of the city's attractions are concentrated on both sides of the river. On both sides of the Jakarta River, there are many well-designed and elegantly furnished orchards and playgrounds with flat stone walls.

Most of these rich and beautiful orchards belong to the Chinese, who cultivate them intensively. Among these fruits, there are three main ones, mangosteen, coconut and banana.

In addition to the Jakarta River, the Dutch also built several new canals.

Unfortunately, very few people dare to swim in the river. Batavia is, after all, a relatively young city, and there are many crocodiles in the rivers around the city. The crocodile has almost become a label animal in Batavia. During his evening walks, Maiden noticed many times that crocodiles jumped out of the trees and into the river at the sound of human voices.

Maiden carefully observed a villager rounding up a crocodile. Maiden has also seen local Indians catch American crocodiles in the Americas, and it is extremely dangerous to catch crocodiles with fishing nets, and he has seen an Indian who caught a crocodile be bitten off by a crocodile and die a miserable death.

The villagers here take a different approach. They tied a barbed double-mouth iron hook to a long rope and carefully wrapped the end of the hook with string, which the villagers explained so that the force of the hook would loosen the crocodile's body. The villagers used a dog as bait, tied an iron hook under the dog's belly, put the dog on a wooden plank and threw it into the river, and then tied a rope to the trunk of a tree. The dog was frightened and barked wildly in the river, and a large crocodile quickly approached and swallowed the dog in one gulp. Blood rushed to the surface of the river, but the iron hook was probably also hooked to the crocodile's throat. The crocodile was too big for the villagers to catch it. They asked nearby Dutch soldiers to borrow heavy arquebuses. Maiden watched in amazement as the Dutch soldiers indifferently lent their weapons to these natives, a phenomenon he had never seen in the Americas. The villagers used heavy arquebuses to continuously concentrate on the struggling crocodile and successfully crippled it. The crocodile's vitality was so strong that after it was finally dragged ashore, several middle-aged men smashed the crocodile's head with large wooden sticks before killing it.

After a good fight, the villagers managed to capture a large crocodile 7 meters long. Cutting open the crocodile's belly, the villagers found the head of a goat and a child in its belly. God, this is a tragedy. The villagers lifted the crocodile's carcass and walked towards Batavia Fort. The Dutch soldier who retrieved the weapon explained to Maiden that His Excellency had offered the villagers a reward for killing the crocodile, and the villagers had taken it to receive the reward.

In addition to crocodiles, there are numerous tigers a few miles outside Batavia. In a chat with Chen, Maiden heard him mention the Javan tiger. It's an intimidating animal. There are also many tigers around Jincheng, according to Chen Shouxu, it is called the Indochinese tiger, which is basically the same species as the Chinese tiger in his hometown, and is larger than the Javan tiger. Slightly smaller than the tigers there of the Bengal and Tatars. The tiger is the overlord of the Asian beast and, in a sense, the symbol of Asia. On the shops in Bacheng, you can often see tiger ornaments sold by Chinese.

On the course of the canal to the west of Batavia, there is a rather spectacular Chinese-style arch bridge. Even in China, this arched bridge is a masterpiece of beauty. The bridge has 21 holes and leads to the wilderness in the distance. Around Batavia, there are hardly any rice paddies to be seen, and all that is grown are cash crops.

The Dutch called that wilderness "Gargefigaard." "In Dutch, it means the place of execution of prisoners, and a gallows was erected in the square, a five-horse torture cart and a whip post. The Dutch imposed several barbaric punishments in their East Indies colonization, which were unacceptable in Europe and were one of the slots that the United East India Company had long been sprayed by the United East India Company. At the other end of the execution ground, there was also a small bridge with a soldier standing guard at all times, which led to the main street in the city, "Main Street".

There are many shops in Batavia, and you can find a variety of Asian products in Batavia. What made Maiden a little curious was an iron pot from China. Iron tools were scarce throughout Southeast Asia during this era, and every Chinese merchant ship that arrived in Batavia would carry hundreds of iron pots for sale. This household necessity is one of the best-selling items. China offers almost every commodity imaginable, and their craftsmanship is absolutely the most advanced in Asia. Maiden could not imagine how far the standard of living of these backward countries in Southeast Asia would have regressed if they had left Chinese products. Fortunately, this colossal country is very short of silver, and the last thing that Europeans lack is silver, the same pound of silver, and the purchasing power in Asia is several times that of Europe.

The capital of the Dutch East Indies Empire, the prices of goods in the city were very reasonable. The inhabitants encountered on the road were of a wide range of ethnicities, including Ambon, Maradu, Malabar and Bengali. However, the main inhabitants are Chinese. From Chen Shouxu and the Chinese sailors of the fleet, Maiden has already learned that the Chinese are very capable. Far more clever and intelligent than other Asian peoples. In Batavia, they operate in an all-encompassing range of businesses. Almost all Dutch people let go of the bosses of their business. Oh, except for the watch industry. That's a European repertoire.

The Chinese usually wear white or blue clothes with very wide tunics and long, wide sleeves that cover the palms of the hands. The pants are usually the same color as the clothes, and the storehouse is wide and droops to the feet. The Chinese all wore a kind of large slippers that resembled Hungarian shoes. These slippers are made of wooden planks and pasted cardboard. Maiden noticed that whenever the Chinese walked to a dirty place, they would take off their shoes and put them in their hands, and when they reached the next river, they would wash and dry their feet and put them back on. Because Batavia is low-lying, there are many places in the city that are very wet. When the Chinese walked through these places, they would wear clogs on their boats, similar to those worn by French peasants.

The hair of the Chinese is particularly clean, and there are many traveling barbers carrying burdens on the streets. I often meet Chinese people who trim and comb their hair. They fastened the bun with long hairpins, then inserted a small turtle comb behind the bun and covered it with a hairnet made of horsehair. Maiden had never seen such a costume on Chen Shouxu, so much so that when he saw a Chinese in such a costume in the early days of Jincheng, he would have thought it was a woman.

There are also a number of casinos in the city. Like everywhere else, the casino is flooded with Chinese. Well, maybe there are more Chinese in the casino than in other places. While waiting, Maiden also went to the casinos in Batavia a few times to pass the time. He found that the most arrogant gamblers in the casino were always Chinese, and they were simply addicted to gambling. Maiden has seen Chinese who have lost all their possessions twice, and finally bet with their wives and children. When he thought that after a Chinese gambler lost all his wife and children, the gambler would be beaten up and thrown into a stinking gutter, as in Europe. The Chinese gambler cut off his own hair as his last bet. The casino actually accepted that hair was more important than his wife and children, and that this was the consciousness that was generally accepted, Maiden found it incomprehensible. It was explained to Maiden that Chinese who lost their hair were treated as slaves and were forced to do hard labor or sold to plantations.

In addition to the precious hair, the Chinese also liked to grow beards, although most of them did not have a large beard, and Maiden even saw a wealthy-looking boss with a thin and long beard, the longest of which was four or five drooping to the feet. What a strange habit.

Maiden spent most of the month in Batavia on an in-depth tour, and he almost visited Batavia and the surrounding castles. The Dutch did not prevent him from observing everywhere, maybe it was an act of self-confidence? Maiden didn't know. He wrote down in detail what he saw in Batavia in his diary, noting in particular the urban and demographic plans that Batavia had identified from the very beginning of its construction. The Dutch's planning ahead helped them to establish themselves here. Maiden planned that whether or not the trip would achieve its goal, he would report to the Senate on his return and emphasize that Batavia was a worthy object of study in the construction of the city.

Southeast Asia is not friendly to Europeans, and even in the best Batavia cities, the mortality rate among Europeans is very high. There are always various diseases prevalent in the tropics, and the resistance of Europeans to tropical diseases is simply too poor. Chen Shouxu once mentioned that this has a lot to do with diet. The death rate of Chinese immigrants was much lower than that of Europeans, and even lower than that of local natives, because they usually drank boiled water and had the habit of drinking tea. However, Europeans and local natives are accustomed to drinking raw water, which leads to a large number of people suffering from dysentery. In this era, diarrhea is a disease that can kill people on a large scale.

Bamboo also plays an indispensable role in the lives of the Chinese people, as it is a cheap and hygienic daily necessities. Jincheng is now also vigorously promoting the use of bamboo among European soldiers. In terms of hygiene habits, the Chinese are popularizing common sense of life to the backward indigenous and European people.

After several days of rain, Maiden was unable to continue his travels, so he updated his travelogue at the hotel.

Someone outside the window sent him an invitation to have dinner together in the evening, and the payment was a Chinese name. Maiden read the invitation three times and agreed to go to the appointment. This was Maiden's first contact with local forces in Batavia.

The evening feast was held at a Chinese-run public entertainment venue located on a high ground not far from the shore. There is a gazebo in the courtyard, which is surrounded by several bamboo groves and occasionally planted with lemon trees, which makes the gazebo shrouded in greenery. Even if you don't know anything about Chinese garden art, Maiden is still very comfortable to walk through.

It's the height of summer, and sitting in the gazebo, a cool breeze blows, making Maiden feel very comfortable.

The menu is Chinese-style with fish, poultry, eggs, and vegetables. The drink that accompanies the meal is a drink known locally as 'suri', which is made by stirring coconut water, sugar, spices, oranges and lemon. It was about chilled in a well, and when I went down, it was cold to the heart and lungs.

The host called in some "Gongomel" musicians and Balinese dancers to drink and cheer up. Balinese dancers came from Babylon, and the Persians sold slave girls to Asia, where only the wealthiest merchants could enjoy these beautiful slave girls.

Maiden spends a wonderful night in the gentle country, and he is addicted to these European slave girls.

He never remembered the name of the wealthy Chinese businessman, but he finally heard that tomorrow, the Dutch headquarters would summon him.