Doge's Palace, Senate.

A little old man in his fifties, smoking a cigar, spoke:

"Twenty-nine years ago, I was hired to work for the company as a junior clerk in the company."

"Twenty-seven years ago, I was a sitting clerk and a Batavia judge, specializing in Chinese cases."

"Twenty-six years ago, I was the president of the Batavia City Council."

"Twenty-four years ago, I was transferred to the post of chief of the Taiwan Governor. In three years, the Dayuan Commercial Hall turned losses into profits. ”

"Twenty years ago, I led a fleet to sweep away pirates and was defeated by Zheng Zhilong in Liuluo Bay. Since then, I have known that I must always be careful when dealing with Chinese. ”

"Since eighteen years ago, I personally led the troops and successively conquered the Madou Society, the Xingang Society, the Xiaolong Society, the Damujiang Society, and the Xiaoliuqiu Society...... Twenty-eight tribes swore allegiance to the company. ”

"I made the drawings of the castle of Geranza with my own hands and secured the funds for the construction of the castle. When the castle of Geranza was about to be built, I was suddenly transferred. I left behind a colony of large tribes that were subject to many tribes, profited every year, and had a strong fortress, but I was transferred away at a critical time! And now, the big man I built with my own hands has become the Taiwan of the Chinese! ”

The little old man's name is Hans Putmans, the executioner who slaughtered Taiwan's aborigines, and at the same time a strongman who single-handedly built Taiwan's colonies.

In the Battle of Liaoluo Bay that year, this guy personally led the fleet.

Those who are older than Putmans will either return home or die. He was slapping the table at the council at the moment, and no one dared to say anything, even the governor was silent.

Putmans continued: "When I was transferred back to Holland, I was Commander-in-Chief of the East India Fleet. A fictitious position without any real power, because I stepped down when I returned to China. I fell victim to the struggle for power by some shareholders, and I had a very unpleasant time in the Netherlands. Malacca was lost, I was hired back by the company, and I was sent to Batavia at the age of fifty. The company asked me to restrain the governor and prevent the governor from angering the Chinese. But what is the Governor doing? To attack China's vassal states! ”

Rainiers finally spoke: "Attack Boom Wow, it was voted by the Council. ”

"I voted no!" Putmans roared, "You guys, think I'm old and don't follow my advice for anything!" Was it useful for me to block at the time? All I can do is cast a no-vote! ”

Realizing that he was at a loss, Rainiers changed the topic and said, "Sir, what we should do now is not to quarrel in the conference room, but to discuss how to negotiate with the Chinese." ”

Putmans pressed his cigar and pointed to the governor's nose and said, "When we came to the Far East, we were careful in everything we did. You young people, think that the company has grown stronger, and even China dares to provoke it at will. Seventeen years ago, the company plundered a Chinese merchant ship, and the Chinese merchant wrote to me. How did I do it? I immediately compensate for the damage! Because I know that in the face of the indigenous people can be slaughtered casually, but in the face of the Chinese, we must be respected! ”

The more the old fellow spoke, the more angry he became: "Do you know how the company trades in the Far East? At that time, the Ming Kingdom banned maritime trade, and the company could only continue to bribe officials, and it was extremely difficult to obtain one license after another. When we first occupied Dayuan (Taiwan), Chinese merchants did not come to do business at all. We need to kidnap Chinese merchant ships, not to rob their goods, but to force them to sell them! And what about you, now the Daming Kingdom has been replaced by the Datong Kingdom, and the port is open to do business with the company. You should be doing better, but the company's profits are decreasing year by year! ”

Putmans's statement is generally true, and when he governed Tainan, for various reasons, Chinese merchants did not do business.

This gang first forbade Dutch ships to rob Chinese ships, and then kidnapped Chinese ships to trade with Taiwan. After going back and forth, the Chinese maritime merchants found that their ship had been kidnapped, but there was no loss, and they soon trusted the Dutch in Tainan. In this way, Tainan's trade prospered rapidly, and it turned a profit in three years.

Putmans told a little lie, seventeen years ago when the Chinese ships were plundered, and when he received a letter of complaint from a Chinese merchant, he did not pay compensation, but personally replied that it was a misunderstanding.

It was indeed a misunderstanding, a Dutch merchant ship robbed the Chinese merchant ship in violation of the order, and Putmans severely punished those people and easily filled his own pocket with the stolen goods.

It can't be said that there is such a thing as embezzling dirty goods, and Putmans must behave greatly, and he continued to slap the table and say: "Datong China is stronger than Daming China. You only know that trade is better, but you have never looked up to China's strength, and even Malacca has not been sober. Now, there are only 800 soldiers left in the castle, and the reinforcements from India have been wiped out. We can't have any more reinforcements, the castle can't hold it, we must surrender! The condition of surrender was to keep the Chinese fleet away from the port and let our fleet pick us up. The Far East headquarters of the East India Company can only be located in India in the future! ”

Rainiers asked, "Don't want the Spice Islands?" Once the Far East headquarters moved to India, it was difficult to control the Spice Islands. Lose Batavia, lose the Spice Islands, and I'll die a terrible death when I return home! ”

"That's your business!"

"In the past, the ships that came to the Far East were mainly Indian cotton. Now that cotton cloth is cheap in China, we can only bring opium over, otherwise it will be almost empty. The opium market is so big, other goods are often unsalable, and our costs are constantly rising. Even if you continue to hold Batavia, the profits will be lower and lower. What's more, the Chinese have all hit Batavia, can the Spice Islands be defended? Vote now! ”

The vote was 5:2, and the Senate decided to surrender.

The Director-General, Jonas, is in league with Governor Rainiers. Seeing that the situation was out of control, he said to Rainiers: "The vote is invalid, and the order is to be arrested." ”

The council turned into a feast in an instant, and Rainiers opened the door and said outside, "Arrest someone!" ”

A group of the Governor's cronies burst into the conference room and forcibly took the MPs away.

The Far East headquarters of the Dutch East India Company has long been overgrown.

First of all, the Governor cannot circumvent Parliament, but this rule is nothing short of a piece of paper. In particular, when the Governor and the Director-General (the number two person) join forces, they can manipulate the parliamentarians at will and treat their votes as bullshit.

Secondly, the Far Eastern Council must be at the behest of the seventeen-member meeting at the headquarters in the Netherlands. However, the Far Eastern Council often ignored the orders of the headquarters and wrote back to the Netherlands to explain the reasons. Back and forth, it takes two or three years for the letter to go back and forth, and the letter deliberately writes a lot of nonsense, and before it is finished, the matter is already over.

The Governor's angry arrest of the councillors has happened in history, but it will be decades later.

At that time, the Chinese in Batavia staged an uprising. The Governor convened a council to discuss what to do, with one faction believing that it should be suppressed by force, and the other faction suggesting that pacification should be the main thing, and that the Chinese should be treated with kindness.

The parliamentary vote was inconclusive, with the Governor and the Director-General at their own devices.

Enraged, the Governor ordered the Director-General to be arrested, and all the members of the Parliament were arrested, and they were to be sent back to the Netherlands after being imprisoned. At this moment, the situation was reversed, new appointments were made from the Dutch headquarters, and the Director-General was promoted to Governor-General, who was ordered to step down from his post and get out of his post.

"What are you doing? Are you going to rebel against independence? Putmans grabbed the door frame and roared as he was dragged out.

Rainiers said disdainfully, "What do you civilians know? ”

Putmans stopped talking for an instant, he really didn't understand why the aristocratic factions were fighting, and even the interests of the company were ignored.

It's okay now, but in a few decades, the factional struggle of the Dutch East India Company will have reached the level of black and white partisanship. Once the Governor and the Director-General are from the same faction, they will join forces for the benefit of their own group, even to the detriment of the entire company.

Reiniers cannot surrender, and if he does, he will be fully responsible, and the faction behind him will also be impeached, and then lose his voice for a long time. He had to hold on to the castle, even if he died, until the very end.

The story of the rise from a minor clerk to a governor is long gone, and that kind of situation only appeared during the pioneering period.

Today's governor of Batavia is all Dutch nobles, all parachuted in from the Netherlands. All their actions are based on their own families and factions.

"All soldiers, double the salary, double the food! All staff and civilians must take up arms, even women! "Reyniers is not afraid of death, he must die for the sake of his family, and he also dragged the people in the castle to die.

The writer Neukhov wrote in his diary: "The Governor is crazy, and so is the Director General, they arrest parliamentarians and deputies of parliament. They joined forces to set up a dictatorship in Batavia, which violated the company's rules and was absolutely not allowed. The civilian staff were already panicked, and they didn't know what to do. When the governor took office, he brought cronies from the Netherlands, including a squad of soldiers. These madmen, who only listen to the Governor, want to take everyone to death with them. It seems that we should do something about it, Chinese are very merciful to those who surrendered, and I have not been mistreated since I surrendered in Malacca......"

Dutch soldiers, sent to defend the four bastions.

Civilian staff to assist with logistics.

Dutch civilians, assigned to various sections of the castle's walls.

The governor also executed a sleeping sentry, which silenced the crowd for fear that he would die for no apparent reason.

The Dutch defended the city in good spirits, and it seemed that the defense had become tighter.

But in private, there was a lot of talk, one was that he did not want to die here, and the other was that he was afraid of the dictatorship of the governor.

"Do you want to die?" Newhoff found a clerk.

The clerk shook his head: "Of course not." ”

"We are all civilians, and we go to sea to make a living," Newkhov said. Now that the nobles are going to die with us, are you willing to resist? ”

The clerk asked, "How to resist?" ”

"Tell me who you trust the most, and this person must not want to die," Neukhov said. ”

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