Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 615 Three Major Events in Bacheng

After arriving at the Governor's Mansion, Zhao Xin and Deng Fei had a short rest, and called Wang Yuanfang to have a meeting.

For Bacheng, he is currently most concerned about three things, public health, military and currency system.As for the rubber, because its production cycle is at least 5 to 6 years, and it is still in the nursery stage, technicians sent by the Civil Affairs Bureau are in charge.

The reason why Zhao Xin puts public health first is because there are too many mosquitoes in the local area, and the resulting malaria epidemic kills a large number of lives every year.When the Dutch lived, Batavia had the nickname of "the cemetery of Europeans"; while the Chinese living outside the city lived in a dirty environment and surrounded by swamps, thousands of people died of malaria and other diseases every year. infectious disease.

Under the ravages of malaria, the average life expectancy of the Chinese in Bacheng in the 35th century was only [-] years old.But even so, there are still a large number of Chinese crossing the sea from Fujian and Guangdong every year in search of food and clothing.

Faced with this situation, Hong Tao, who was in charge of medical treatment at the time, took a series of measures to improve the situation after discussing with Deng Fei.

First, Dr. Hong, based on the "Malaria Prevention and Control Manual" from another time and space, started with the media and clinical manifestations, selected the easy-to-understand content and compiled it into "Instructions for Epidemic Prevention", and then set up broadcast speakers in the most crowded places in Chinatown. I found a soldier from Danhu in the army, and recorded the content of the notice in Zhangzhou dialect, and played it in a loop every hour.

This trick shocked all the Chinese.From their point of view, the gentlemen in Beihai Town can actually absorb human voices, which is really powerful. No wonder the Dutch are no match for them.However, due to the frequency of the playback is too dense, and the voice of the recording person is hypnotic, and the volume is loud, it annoyed many merchants after only a few days; You have to shout at the top of your voice to bargain.

The merchants and residents in Chinatown couldn't take it anymore, so they went to the military control committee together to beg the master to show mercy and spare Xiaomin's life.Hong Tao immediately changed it to broadcast every two hours, and added operas such as "Thunderbolt Puppet Show" and "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" before each broadcast, and the complaints from the audience immediately disappeared.

How fresh, this is nothing but listening to dramas!In the past in Bacheng, it was only heard by wealthy families holding weddings and Chinese New Year.

While making good publicity, Deng Fei mobilized a platoon of garrisons, and asked Jiang Asheng to help hire two hundred Chinese laborers, bring two water pumps, and clean up the nearest few swamps outside the city first, so as to reduce the source of mosquito breeding.Then the sewage ditches in Chinatown were fully cleaned and dredged, and several public toilets were built, and garbage dumping points were set up.

At the beginning, the Chinese were quite curious about the public toilets, and talked about how the elders even care about the toilets.Unexpectedly, a new law was issued next. Considering that the local Chinese were poor and had little money, the military control committee ordered that anyone who defecated or littered in the street, as long as they were found by street patrols, would sweep the street for three days.To say that this is not a big deal, the key is the last one, the reward for reporting is five copper coins!
This move scares everyone, but anyone who wants to lift his belt on the street must have dozens of pairs of eyes staring at him.For a period of time, there were so many people sweeping the streets inside and outside Bacheng, there were less than 200 people in total, and the ground was as clean as a dog licked it, not even a blade of grass could be seen.

While doing a good job of publicity, the Military Control Commission began to provide benefits to the Chinese in Bacheng, distributing mosquito nets according to the head and sleeping conditions of each family.The reason why it will be released for free is that Zhao Xin wholesales this thing from a manufacturer in another time and space. It is made of polyester, comfortable and breathable, cheap and easy to use.This move caused a sensation in the entire city of Bacheng, even those rich and powerful households were dumbfounded, it is unexpected that Beihai Town is so extravagant!

Although gauze nets were used to keep out mosquitoes long ago in ancient China, silk fabrics, also called silk nets, are really useful and breathable; poor people have never seen them, let alone using them.Besides, the body of the poor is so precious. Isn't it common to be bitten twice by mosquitoes and bugs?

But now the elders of the military control committee have said, no!Mosquito nets must be used to sleep, whoever dares to hide them secretly, sweep the streets, and report will be rewarded with 5 copper coins.
The reason why mosquito nets are distributed for free is because of the income level of the majority of local Chinese.During the Dutch rule, all Chinese who came to Bacheng were charged an "entry permit fee" of 43.5 francs (a franc is 40 Dutch copper coins), and a monthly poll tax ranging from 25 to 35 francs was also charged.You must know that most of the Chinese who came across the sea were poor and had to go to sea to make a living.As a result, when I got off the boat in Bacheng, I had to pay 12.35 Spanish silver dollars, which is [-]% of silver.

Although the Dutch fell again and again, there were many people who couldn't pay and went to borrow money, which led to several years of hard work, and they couldn't even pay off their debts, let alone marry a wife.In addition, the Chinese laborers working in local plantations do not see cash throughout the year. They can only withdraw cash according to the account book records when they leave, so they have no money on hand.

Of course, for those wealthy households, the military control committee also provides mosquito nets in different colors and styles, and you have to pay for them!

In addition to sanitation and personal hygiene, the Military Control Commission will also establish a public medical system in Bacheng.The local Dutch priests were forcibly expelled after the war. Hong Tao simply converted the Dutch cathedral into a hospital. On the one hand, he isolated and treated children and critically ill patients, and on the other hand, he gave preliminary training to Jiang Asheng and several local doctors. .

With such a series of measures, after half a year, the sanitation situation in Bacheng has gradually improved, and the problem of water pollution has also been greatly improved. Coupled with the use of a large number of special drugs, the incidence of malaria in Bacheng has been greatly reduced. fatality rate.By the second half of last year, Chinese, Javanese, British, Spanish, and even Dutch people from other parts of Java also made a special trip to see a doctor in Bacheng.

The morbidity and mortality of infectious diseases decreased, and the use of opium by Chinese laborers suffering from diseases also decreased.In addition, the Military Control Commission strictly ordered merchants from various countries not to sell opium to Bacheng, and plantations were not allowed to sell opium to Chinese laborers. Those who violated the rules would confiscate the goods on board or the plantations.For those addicts, Hong Tao arranged a house as a drug rehabilitation center and carried out compulsory drug rehabilitation.

At the end of last year, when Deng Fei and Hong Tao returned to Beihai Town by boat, tens of thousands of people gathered at the Bacheng Wharf, and all families came to see them off. Everyone in Beihai Town was also deeply moved, with tears streaming down their cheeks.

In the year when Wang Yuanfang took over, the Military Control Commission not only continued to provide low-cost medical care to poor Chinese workers and local Javanese people, but also put a large amount of cooling oil, essential oil and toilet water on the market.Because the price of balm oil is only 3 Dutch copper coins, the common people in Bacheng now have a box of balm oil, and wipe it on a few times when they have nothing to do; while rich people, both men and women, like to use more expensive essential oils and toilet water to refresh themselves every day. They are all fragrant.

Many traditional Chinese medicine halls have tried to imitate the real cool oil after they got it. However, in this era, except for Beihai Town, other people don't know what Vaseline and paraffin are, so they have not been able to solve the surface cracks and collapses caused by the volatilization of oily substances. shrinkage phenomenon.Of course, some pharmacies added natural beeswax by themselves, but this also led to a sharp increase in costs, unable to compete with the low-priced products in Beihai Town.This is also why Gu Lihuan from Penang Island wanted to become the agent of cool oil and essential oil.

In short, in the past two years, Beihai Town has encouraged immigration and childbirth by canceling various exorbitant taxes in the VOC era, coupled with various epidemic prevention measures, not only won the support of the local Chinese, but also won a good reputation in all parts of Java.Except, of course, the Dutch.

After talking about public health, the three then talked about military issues.

Since August last year, the Military Control Commission has successively recruited more than 8 people from Fujian and Guangdong immigrants, and 600 Hoi'an soldiers from the Cam Ranh Bay base. man's armed forces.The problem is that Bacheng is not only a seaport city, but also includes large plantations around it.With only such a small number of people at the moment, it is necessary to defend and patrol nearly [-] square kilometers of land, and some people must also be allocated to maintain the law and order of the city, port, and plantation. It is definitely more than enough for defense and not enough for offense.

Compared with the situation of enemies on three sides on land, the security of the northern port and sea is not a big problem.One is that two forts were newly built on the east and west sides of the port, equipped with a total of twelve 75mm long-barreled coastal defense guns; the other is a fleet of three motor sailing ships led by Zheng Wenxian, which are currently mainly used to transport goods and immigrants for Chinese businessmen. The team provides escort missions from Cam Ranh Bay to Bacheng.

Several surrounding sultanates have also sent people to contact them in private over the past two years for medical treatment, but that was only to find out the truth and understand the strength.If Beihai Town is not strong enough, the sultans don't mind forming a coalition under the leadership of VOC to take a share of Beihai Town.

When he was in Paris earlier, Deng Fei met the ambassador of the United Provinces Republic to France when he attended the dinner hosted by the British ambassador to France, but at that time, the other party did not understand the relationship between "Republic of China" and Beihai Town.When the Dutch understood the taste, the "Temple Fort Incident" broke out.

".In the past two years, the Dutch have been very strict with the Sudanese dependent countries, especially Banten. According to the information we have obtained, the Dutch used to send judicial officers to intervene in internal affairs. But since July last year, they have been Troops have been sent to the three neighboring sultanates."

Deng Fei raised his eyebrows and said, "How many?"

"There are about 2000 people. The other sultanates have about 300 people. Banten is the closest to us, and we have deployed two battalions."

Wang Yuanfang paused for a moment and continued: "The key point is that these troops are not just combat troops. They have been recruiting and training local Javanese soldiers during this period. The total number has exceeded 7000. Half of them are equipped with muskets. At the same time, they are still casting cannons, and the military expenditures are all borne by the sultanates. Counting the training time and material preparations, I estimate that when the rainy season stops in April next year, the Dutch are likely to do it."

"You mean that tens of thousands of people will attack us from three sides?"

Wang Yuanfang frowned and said, "What I am most worried about now is not the Dutch and those natives, but the British."

Deng Fei said, "What happened to the British?"

"Our plan in India has poked the lungs of the British. Once they are discovered, I am afraid they will join forces with the Dutch. I plan to take the initiative to attack and break them one by one, so that those Sudans will realize how powerful we are, and they will not be affected again. At the mercy of the Dutch."

Deng Fei walked to the curtain wall with the map hanging on it, looked at it and said: "The ground force must have at least 3000 people, no, 5000 people! The sea force must have three fleets, and the total number should not be less than twelve. Human Marine Battalion."

Wang Yuanfang walked to the map and began to draw his own plan, explaining: "I think three thousand is enough, even if it is less, two thousand is fine. You see."

The two had a heated discussion for a long time, and when they wanted to drink some water to catch their breath, they noticed that Zhao Xin had been sitting there lost in thought.

Wang Yuanfang said: "What are you thinking? The two of us have talked so much, how about some opinions?"

Zhao News said "um", and said in a slow tone: "You two have been talking about military affairs for a long time, but I don't think this is a problem. If you can't fight, then strengthen your defense, continue to train troops, and fight again after a year or a half. It’s not too late. We have established our foothold in Jiaodong, are we still worried that there will be no source of troops?”

Deng Fei said: "What do you mean?"

"Money method! Currency!" Zhao Xin tapped his finger on the armrest of the chair and expressed his opinion.

"What do you mean? Money? Don't we have enough money?" Deng and Wang looked confused, they really didn't understand this aspect.

"Uh, what I mean is the monetary and financial system." After Zhao Xin finished speaking, he found a blank piece of paper on Wang Yuanfang's desk, and explained his ideas to the two while drawing.

To explain the monetary and financial system established by the Dutch in Southeast Asia, we have to start with the circulation of Chinese copper coins in Southeast Asia.Since the reform of the money law in the Northern Song Dynasty—especially during Wang Anshi’s administration, the output of copper coins in China has increased sharply. The necessities of daily life in Javanese society.

At the turn of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Java formed a great empire-Majapahit in the process of resisting the Mongolian invasion.This empire complied with the Javanese economy's trend of "copperization of China" and adopted Chinese copper coins as the official currency, replacing the traditional Indian gold and silver coins.When Zheng He sailed to the West, all transactions in Java were made with Chinese copper coins from past dynasties.As a result, when the Portuguese came to buy spices, the Javanese didn’t want silver dollars at all, but the round money with characters around it, a hole in the middle, and money that could be strung together with a rope.The depressed Portuguese had to exchange silver for Chinese copper coins to buy pepper.

Later, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, as the amount of Chinese official coins shrank sharply, the Java area began to imitate Chinese coins. However, due to the lack of copper mines, the coins cast in Java were mostly mixed with lead and tin, and the proportion of impurities was getting higher and higher. Finally, it became Lead coins that are very easy to break.

In the early years of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng promoted the reform of the money law, which also led to the return of silver into money, and a large number of depreciated inferior and discarded copper coins from the previous dynasty flowed into Java through the folk private money casting system in southern Fujian.When Chinese businessmen found that local lead money was the mainstream, they began to privately mint a large amount of lead money and invested it in Southeast Asia.

After the Dutch fleet arrived on Ambon Island in 1600 and established the first colonial stronghold, Fort Van Vier, it was only then that they realized that the lead coin system deeply participated by Chinese businessmen posed a huge challenge to VOC.The starting point of the Dutch East India trade was to bypass the Portuguese network and import spices directly from Asia.However, what they did not expect was that the Chinese also purchased a large number of similar products in Southeast Asia, and they could also use the unique coins to buy pepper at a "low price".

Therefore, how to win the dominance of the pepper trade from Chinese merchants became the primary issue of VOC in the early 17th century.

In the first ten years or so, VOC and the British East India Company that arrived at the same time have been at a disadvantage, and Chinese lead coins have played a key role in it.This is because the Dutch and British East India companies brought silver coins to Banten, but the Chinese lead coins circulated in the Java market.Local pepper growers calculate prices based on lead coins, and only local Chinese businessmen have the ability to go deep into the interior with lead coins to purchase pepper.

Lacking the lead coins needed by the locals and the local network of the Chinese, the VOC and the British East India Company have repeatedly suffered losses.They were forced to take a large amount of silver to Chinese merchants to exchange for lead coins, and then took the lead coins to buy pepper.During this process, Chinese merchants not only exchanged lead coins for pepper from the locals, but also exchanged lead coins for a large amount of silver from two European East India companies.

So the lead coin became the Trojan horse of the Chinese businessmen, giving them an advantage in the trade war around pepper, lead coin and silver.This also makes the southern Fujian-Banten route of coins going to Nanyang a new channel for silver to flow into China.

In order to build its own monetary and financial hegemony and completely expel lead coins from the circulation system, thereby establishing a huge colonial empire, in the 18th century, VOC released more than 11 billion Dutch copper coins throughout Southeast Asia, mainly used in Java.Coupled with the imposition of an armed blockade on various seaport cities such as Banten, Chinese businessmen were forced to trade in Batavia, which led to the abandonment of lead coins.

The success of money law means that VOC has controlled the spice (pepper) trade network in Java to a large extent, making Batavia the center of the entire spice trade between the East and the West.

From then on, the Dutch exported pepper to Chinese merchants, imported silk from China to Japan in exchange for silver, and then invested Japanese silver in intra-Asian trade.Through this series of inter-Asian trade backed by force, VOC made huge profits in Southeast Asia, and used these profits to buy Asian goods and ship them back to Europe.Thus the grand scheme of getting as much Asian goods as possible with as little European silver as possible was realized.

Although the historical VOC had an economic crisis following the end of the Anglo-Dutch War in 1784, it plummeted since then and finally closed down in 1799.However, its colonies in Southeast Asia were taken over by the Dutch government and lasted until 1945, which shows the power of this monetary and financial system.

Zhao Xin talked for a long time, finally threw the pen aside, and said to Deng Fei and Wang Yuanfang: "Now do you understand? Establishing our currency and financial system throughout Java is the key to controlling Southeast Asia and eliminating the Dutch. Soldiers and wealth, the two have always been one in two, two in one. If the currency problem is not resolved, even if the Dutch are sent back to Ceylon, they can still control the spice trade through the currency system and carry out financial colonization. We have no temper at all!"

　This chapter has been written for more than a day.Conquest is never just a simple war.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)