Episode 54 Looting Treasures

On the morning of 12 March, the Ming army occupied Surabaya, the last major city on the island, and the remaining 3,000 Dutch troops were forced to a small corner of the easternmost part of the island called the Brambangan Peninsula. The remnants of the Dutch army in Borneo and Sulawesi sent some small boats to pick up the governor and a small number of senior officers who had fled here, and the remaining 3,000 or so Dutch troops surrendered to the Ming army at noon. At this point, the Ming army took the entire island of Batavia.

On March 13, the Netherlands sued for peace with the Ming Dynasty.

March 13, 1936 happened to be Friday, which is the legendary "Black Friday". This is really Black Friday for the Netherlands.

In Xiang Xiaoqiang's view, the current queen of the Netherlands, Wilhelmina, is a stubborn person, and in World War II, she would rather the Netherlands itself fall and she took her family to England into exile than let the country accept the "protection" of Germany like the King of Belgium. Now in the battle for colonies on the other side of the world, it is not surprising that it has only been suing for peace until now. It is estimated that this was all due to the pressure of the prime minister and the government for many days, so he nodded his head.

Since there were no diplomats from the other side in Daming and the Netherlands, and the Dutch ambassador to Nanjing was now in Palembang on the island of Pazia after being expelled, the negotiations were arranged in Batavia, with the Dutch ambassador to Daming representing the Netherlands, Xiang Xiaoqiang and his two former diplomat advisers representing Daming. Xiang Xiaoqiang has already sent a destroyer to Palembang to pick up the Dutch ambassador, and he can go to Batavia in the evening and start negotiations tomorrow.

Xiang Xiaoqiang is in a good mood, and Qiu Yu is also in a good mood. The young couple are now dancing in the large, empty, golden parlor of the Governor's Palace. The record player plays beautiful waltz music, and Qiu Yun teaches Xiang Xiaoqiang to dance hand in hand. The East Indies affair will soon be over, and soon they will continue to travel to Europe for their "honeymoon". Qiu Yu was happy when he thought about it, and after receiving the telegram that the Netherlands was asking for peace and negotiations would begin the next day, he immediately pulled Xiang Xiaoqiang to the hall in a hurry to teach him to dance.

Xiang Xiaoqiang felt that after arriving in Germany, he would definitely have to participate in the ball. Anyway, it's nothing now, instead of stepping on the feet of those German ladies and ladies at that time, it is better to step on the autumn feet now.

"Left, right, left, right, back...... Ah! ”

Qiu Yun crouched on Xiang Xiaoqiang's shoulder and giggled, his back trembled, and his fist gently hit his back. Xiang Xiaoqiang also smiled, hugged Qiu Qiu, kissed her neck gently, and made Qiu Qiu laugh more than once. Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that Qiu Qian was happy in his heart. These days in Batavia were too bloody, first the natives slaughtered more than 2,000 people, then the war, then the Chinese massacre of the natives, killed more than 4,000 people...... Now that it was all over, she would soon be able to go to Europe with her beloved, enjoying civilization, tranquility and happiness.

The two quarreled for a while, put their arms around Xiaoqiang, and looked at the famous paintings on the wall, as well as the few cabinets of curiosities on display. It is said that this was the treasure of the governor's life.

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked up at the oil painting on the wall. There are not many classicists, and there is certainly no Renaissance masterpiece, and even if the old boy is the governor of a large colony, he can't afford to collect them, which are hung in major European museums, royal palaces, and the living rooms of Rothschild and Rockefeller families. Of course, Zhu Yourong also has a few paintings.

Most of the works here are 19th century impressionist works, the light, shadow and color are painted very dazzlingly, and Xiang Xiaoqiang has seen the autograph one by one, mainly second-rate masters. However, there are also a few first-class masters such as Monet, Cézanne, and Renoir. And, of course, the Picasso he destroyed.

"Qiu Yun," Xiang Xiaoqiang said to her ear, "how much do you say the artwork in this living room is worth?" ”

Qiu Yu glanced up with awe and shook his head blankly.

Xiang Xiaoqiang squinted his eyes, pretending to be the idea of these artworks. Although the price of art at this time was far less outrageous than that of later generations, the entire hall of things taken together can be called "priceless".

"I don't know how much it's worth," he said, touching his chin, "but even if an average of 100,000 Ming Yang is a piece, these 20 or so oil paintings are worth two or three million." Coupled with the Chinese porcelain in this cabinet, it must be worth another two or three million. These millions of Mingyang's things are actually owned by his governor alone. Alas, colonial governors, there is indeed no one who is incorruptible! Especially the governors of such large colonies. ”

Qiu Qiu's eyes widened, looking at the paintings in the hall, as well as the altars and jars, he never expected it to be worth so much money

Xiang Xiaoqiang snapped his fingers and smiled slightly:

"Take it all."

"Gah?!"

Qiu Yu looked at him in surprise. After a while, he asked:

"Take ...... Where do you get it? ”

"Nonsense, so many good things, of course, to take back home. Is it still left here for them? ”

"Little ...... Xiaoqiang," Qiu Yu obviously felt that this was wrong, which was too inconsistent with the moral concepts she had accepted since she was a child, "Although these things are valuable, they are not ours!" ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said, "It wasn't the original, but now it is." ”

"Xiaoqiang!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"Let me tell you, Qiuyun, in today's world, many things were originally not yours, you fought a battle and won it, it was yours. Sumatra's oil and rubber rights are not ours yet. Before the war, the Netherlands did not give it alive or dead, and now we have conquered the island of Batavia, and tomorrow the negotiations will not be in hand with one mouth. Now the Netherlands is concerned about whether we can give it back the island of Batavia, not the little oil and rubber on the island of Pazia. ”

He looked at Qiu Yu and still looked uneasy in conscience, so he enlightened her from a moral level:

"Do you think that the Dutch authorities have connived at the massacre of Chinese by the aborigines many times in history, and sometimes they have personally handled it, starting from the 'Red Creek Massacre' two hundred years ago, how many Chinese have died unjustly and tragically in the past two hundred years? Now that we've taught it a lesson, what's wrong with letting it bleed? We didn't laugh at the whole of the East Indies, which was already very kind. Don't talk about it from afar, just say this governor, you look at the treasures in the living room, worth millions, how much is his salary as a governor? Can he afford it as a civil servant? Isn't it by accumulating wealth and exploiting the people under his rule? When it comes to the people under their rule, how much money can those natives have? It's not mainly by exploiting the Chinese! …… Hmph, I dare say that every time the Chinese were looted, the purse of these governors would bulge once. Every painting and every piece of porcelain here embodies the blood and tears of the East Indies Chinese! …… Qiuyun, do you think we should move them out, or stay here? ”

"Should move out!"

Qiu Yun nodded vigorously and said categorically.

Then, she hesitated again:

"Xiaoqiang, in this case, shouldn't we sell them more and compensate the Chinese here? It doesn't seem like a good fit to just move back to China! ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang really convinced this kind little girl. He laughed and said:

"Compensate the Chinese, naturally there is Dutch bleeding. This time we don't finish squeezing the Netherlands dry. If it doesn't bleed, we won't give it back Batavia, and see how much blood it is willing to pay to redeem Batavia. O Qiuyun, we will bring these good things back to China and present them to Your Majesty. Your Majesty loves these works of art. Hoho, and she's too embarrassed to keep it to herself, so she'll probably give us some back. Qiu Yu thinks, these things, even if they are only a small part, can buy you how many beautiful clothes and jewelry. ”

Qiu Yu blushed, bit her lip, and hummed:

"Well, you have a point...... So let's do it. ”

……

At the order of Xiang Xiaoqiang, the entire occupation army of Batavia Island was put into operation in the afternoon, and before the negotiations, every treasure that could be found on Batavia Island was packed and loaded into trucks, monitored and escorted by the People's Guards armed with machine guns, and sent to several ports for loading.

There are three main types of treasures: porcelain, bronze and jade from China; Oil paintings, bronze sculptures, gold and silver crafts from Europe, as well as artifacts left behind by the original Banten Kingdom. These things were stored in three main places: in the governor's palace, in the Grand Mosque, and in the homes of wealthy local merchants. It is certainly unrealistic to rob people's homes, and most of the local wealthy businessmen are Chinese. But the treasures stored in the other two places must have been unceremoniously carried away.

When the occupying forces moved the treasures out of several large mosques, the prostrate men almost cried blood in protest, but to no avail. Outside the mosque, many indigenous Muslims rushed forward to stop them, trying to retrieve the treasures of their ancestors, but they were all beaten and arrested by the police.

In the evening, all the works of art and treasures were loaded into three small freighters, sailing out of Batavia, Semarang, and Surabaya, and gathering in the waters north of Batavia, and then escorted by two destroyers, heading north to Daming.

"My lord," Song Ruhai asked with some apprehension, "if the Dutch ambassador asks about these treasures, how will we answer?" ”

"Simple," Xiang Xiaoqiang shrugged and said with a grin, "I was looted by the rebels and the rebels during the war, what can I do." ”

Although everyone has seen the almost open robbery action this afternoon, they still have to say so. In history, the Western powers have done this kind of thing all over the world again and again, what happened to the Ming Dynasty.