Batavia (Jakarta)

In a lavish mansion in the Old Town, a large banquet is being held to welcome the new Viceroy, Viscount Van Haelsma Buffon, and Professor Wilders, a close assistant to the Governor, who will be the supreme ruler of the Dutch East Indies for years to come.

The resplendent hall was accompanied by beautiful waltzes, and gentlemen and ladies danced.

The political officer, Wenbeck, stood to the side with a gloomy expression, holding a crystal glass of French champagne in his hand, taking a sip from time to time, and looking at the joyful dancing guests on the dance floor with a look of interest.

Beside him stood the imposing Chinese Sir Kapitan Sheng Ye Yun, who was no longer the dejected man he had just returned to Batavia, with a fair and rich face, wearing an expensive tuxedo, and exuding aristocratic elegance with his gestures.

"Dear Sir Sage, I'm really fed up with all this, the new Governor is a complete idiot, and now he is desperate to take power into his own hands, and that Professor Wilders, who doesn't know anything, will soon take my place as Administrator, and keep saying that he wants to restore the glory of the Orange family, what a ridiculous frog at the bottom of the well, completely unaware that the South Pacific is no longer in the hands of the Dutch."

"Dear Mr. Wenbeck, in fact there is not much we can do."

"Of course I do, so I consider whether it is time to return to Amsterdam and start over, my savings are sufficient to maintain a decent life, and the outgoing Lord Ferguz is willing to help me get an errand in the Foreign Office, which may not be as illustrious as in the colonies, but it is a safe place to go."

"You've been here for more than 20 years, can you let it go?"

"What if you don't want to let go, the new Governor is already in the way, he is the kind of old aristocrat who has a hard time listening to other people's opinions, conservative and rigid, arrogant, and his words reveal his extreme dissatisfaction with the former Governor's abandonment of West Kalimantan Province, which in his opinion is an out-and-out cowardly act."

"Dear Mr. Wenbeck, we all know that this is a wise decision to completely decouple the territory of the Dutch Governor's Palace from the territory of the Ocean Kingdom, in exchange for up to eight years of peace and stability, and I believe that if we adhere to this policy of good-neighborliness and friendship, we believe that more peaceful times can be won."

"You can't dissuade a man who does death, and neither can I." Wenbeck said dejectedly.

At this point, Sheng Yeyun wisely closed his mouth, and a strong sense of powerlessness surged in his heart.

One Governor and One Governor Policy.

Faced with the hardline stance of the new Governor Van Haelsma Buffon, and his undisguised dislike for the Chinese ethnic group who control the economic lifeblood of Batavia, Sheng Yeyun sensed that a storm was coming, which came from a keen sixth sense.

After nearly dying in Mozambique, Sir Sheng Yeyun has undergone a great transformation inside, and he no longer follows the Dutch with all his heart, but thinks more about the interests and future of his family.

With his identity as Kapitan, in this Dutch-ruled colony, Sir Sheng Yeyun easily regained the wealth he had lost, and his momentum was even stronger than before.

Now in the face of the new owner, he can calmly cope.

The Sheng family, with its status as an official and businessman, rose rapidly after a short period of silence, and has purchased many properties in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and other places, including shops, buildings, mines and tea plantations, accounting for almost 4% of the family property.

It was the arrangement of the three holes of the cunning rabbit that kept him from messing up, but he made a quick decision in his heart; Batavia could be the epicenter of the storm in the future, and the family assets must be transferred as soon as possible to be safe.

Whether it is the Dutch or the Spaniards, they are just as greedy and bloody when harvesting the wealth of the Chinese, and they are all the way.

At the other end of the gala reception

The outgoing former governor Lord Ferguez had a ruddy face and was in good spirits, obviously with high expectations for returning to the Netherlands to serve as a senior official in the government, and he was able to seek an important position in the next cabinet, his bargaining chip ~ was the national peace and security of the governor for two consecutive terms, and paid a large number of taxes and a large number of primary agricultural products for the Netherlands, including palm oil, coffee, delicious, tobacco, spices, and a huge amount of aluminum, copper and tin and other minerals, with outstanding political achievements.

The fiasco of the First East Indies War was borne by the previous governor, and it had nothing to do with Ferguez, whose only flaw during his tenure was probably his voluntary withdrawal from West Kalimantan, leaving a bad stain.

But this pot has to be carried by the cabinet of the previous Dutch government, and he has no right to give up such a large piece of territory.

Looking back now, the decision was undoubtedly very wise.

In the Dutch East Indies, the islands of Java and Sumatra are the best places of population wealth, accounting for more than 90% of the entire East Indies colony, which is where the real interests lie.

Abandoning large tracts of barren and undeveloped land, retaining the core essence of the Dutch East Indies, getting rid of the bloody war with the aggressive ocean kingdoms, and ushering in as many as 8 years of peaceful development, no matter how you look at it, it is all earned.

As for the loss of 10% of the profits, it is enough to levy a little more on the islands of Java and Sumatra, and the persimmons must be picked up and pinched, and the Governor's Office has done a great job in this regard, so it has been commended many times by the Dutch mainland.

Over the years

After the end of the First East Indies War, the Dutch colonial army turned against the rebels on Sumatra, suppressing the uprising with bloody and brutal means, creating a large-scale no-man's land, and the effect was very significant.

Everyone is gone, why are you still resisting?

"I congratulate you, dear Lord Ferguez, that you will soon leave this hot and humid place and return to the dreaming Netherlands, and think that you will soon be able to smell the cold and salty sea breeze of your homeland, and see the beautiful tulips and the huge Dutch windmills that are all over the hills, and make you feel deep envy and envy." The new governor, Viscount van Haels-Maha Buffon, showed his good mood in an almost aria-like exaggeration.

He was a traditional Germanic aristocrat in his mid-fifties, a declining old aristocrat from the province of North Brabant, who was probably bankrupt in order to compete for the important governorship of the colony, and was therefore anxious to make a fortune.

To be honest, there is no such thing as a nobleman's demeanor.

Viscount Van Haelsma Buffon is very old, and this governor's resume is probably the end of his career, so he has no scruples about exposing his greedy appetite, and he does not care about the future reputation.

Lord Ferguez still has a bright future, and he can't afford to make a bad deal with such an aristocratic old bureaucrat, so he said with contempt in his heart; "It's been a long time since I've been away from my hometown, and I really miss it!"

"Your Excellency Lord Ferguez, before I came here, Sir Braun had a profound conversation with me, in which he praised your performance as Governor of the East Indies, and considered that you had done so well in the interests of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

"My advice is only one thing, don't provoke the Ocean Kingdom."

"Oh...... Can you elaborate on that? ”

"From my observation, His Majesty Li Fushou, the king who single-handedly established the Great Ocean Kingdom, is a true Great Chinese Scholar, and under his leadership, this new kingdom has shown a strong tendency to expand, and has an almost obsessive desire to possess land, which has led to the people of the Great Ocean Kingdom are also very aggressive, and such an enemy can be provoked as much as possible, so it is appropriate to maintain a cautious and friendly attitude."

"Wow...... It's unbelievable, I always thought that the Dutch were the masters of the East Indies, and for the last 300 years we have occupied and operated it, and I can't accept the absurd reality that the braided Orientals dominate this place, they can only be fat sheep in captivity, and I can't think of any better use for anything else. "Viscount van Haelsmah Buffon's words were full of ignorance and hubris.

Lord Ferguez had no intention of arguing with him, after all, the gray-haired stereotypical nobleman in front of him was the new governor.

After leaving office, even if the East Indies were turned upside down, Lord Ferguez had nothing to do with him, he said with a reserved shrug of his shoulders; "I'm going to leave here soon, to be honest, I don't care about what's going to happen here, the Dutch East Indies used to be under my control, and now it's yours."

After speaking, he turned around and left without hesitation.

Lord Ferguez's look of disdain for his companionship completely angered the new governor, Viscount Van Haelsma Buffon, who looked at the other party's departing back with a gloomy face, and an inexplicable fire flashed in his gray-blue eyes.

Professor Wilders walked over and looked at the distant back of the former Governor and said; "Your Excellency the Governor, please do not let this humid and muggy weather affect your mood, for tens of millions of people in the East Indies need your guidance, and I think that is the most important thing."

These words dispelled the anger between the eyebrows of the Governor van Haelsma Buffon, who took the champagne in his hand and drank it down, and casually put the crystal glass on the long table beside him; "Poor Ferguez, whose fighting spirit has been worn down by money, who has forgotten the glory and courage of the Netherlands, who once roamed the seven seas, is afraid of a mere Oriental, and it seems that the most suitable place for him is to return to his homeland to retire."

"Your Excellency the Governor, do you mean Li Fushou?"

"Yes, who else but him? I heard that this Oriental was very active and opened the king's guard of honor to visit the mainland, I wonder what our British friends think about this? ”

It's not hard to guess...... Having just received the grace of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and immediately having an eye for her homeland, I think no one would like such an ungrateful fellow, and I will exchange views with the Governor's Office in the Straits to test the attitude of the British. ”

"Very well, Wilders, go and find out what the British think, by the way, and the French and Spaniards, I think that a strong Chinese power is not in the interests of the Western colonists, and if we can reach a consensus on some aspects, it will be beneficial to us."

"Your will is your command, Your Excellency the Governor."