Forty-eight years of Qianlong

The Kapuas River, originating from the Batu Brok Mountains, stretches for more than 2000 miles from east to west on Borneo, and then joins another Lanta River from northeast to southwest, rushing westward into the sea, As a result, a torrent of red water hundreds of meters wide was formed.

Pontianak, sits on the banks and deltas of this body of water.

At the moment, in the deputy hall of Lanfang Company in Xinbutou, the son-in-law of the former Batavia Governor Altin, the chief consultant of the VOC and the director-general of the East India, Johannes Seeberg is talking with an old Chinese man.

"Mr. Luo, the East India Company has a long-term cooperation with you. This time we are going to war with the Sires. I hope you will not listen to rumors and interfere in Batavia's affairs."

"Mr. Seaberg, please go back and tell Your Excellency Altyn that Luo and Lanfang Company have no interest in the affairs of Java Island."

"Oh? Then I would like to ask, what happened to the strange boat on the Kajiang before? Why did the Siris fast boats wander in the waters of Pontianak? I heard that they stayed here for several months. Why don't you be deported?"

"Hehe, Mr. Seeberg, he came here to hunt crocodiles, and there is no other excessive behavior. Even if he goes ashore to buy things, the money he should give is a lot of money. The people of Pontianak have suffered from crocodiles all these years, so Even Sultan Abdul Rahman is happy to see the results of eliminating harm for the people. Besides, although their boats are different, they do not hinder water traffic, so Luo is naturally not too concerned about it.”

The old man who spoke was Luo Fangbai, the chief executive of Lanfang Company, who came here from Dongwanlu to meet with the special envoy of VOC this time.Although this person is 56 years old this year, with white beard and hair, his voice is loud and powerful, his eyes are piercing, and he is in good physical condition.However, no one would have guessed that if there were no accidents, this person's lifespan would only be two years.

Don't look at Luo Fangbai's relaxed words, he just doesn't want the Dutch to reach into Pontianak again.In fact, in the past few months since the arrival of the Beihai Crocodile Squad, he and his subordinates have been very bored.Not to mention that the long-planned plan to establish prestige fell through, and the carefully written "Worshiping Crocodile Essay" also became a piece of waste paper.

Now the common people in Pontianak know that it was the crocodile hunting team of the Beihai Navy that helped them get rid of the crocodile problem.Since the twelfth lunar month of last year, those clipper boats have been patrolling the Kajiang and Lanta rivers every day, hunting crocodiles.Over the past few months, at least more than 200 crocodiles were hunted, and the crocodiles near Pontianak were all gone, and the crocodile hunting team swaggered back to Bacheng.

However, the performance of the crocodile team fell into the eyes of the Lanfang company, and it was not about "eliminating harm for the people".Luo Fangbai and others were shocked by the large blue monster ship of the Beihai Navy, the high-speed speedboat that broke through the waves, and the powerful "guns" that could fire continuously in the hands of the members of the crocodile hunting team.

Everyone in Lanfang Company knows that if the North Navy in Bacheng wants to occupy Borneo, it will definitely be a more terrifying enemy than the Dutch!

As the Chief Chief of Lanfang, Luo Fangbai was very puzzled by the fact that Beihai Town, which had been silent for two years, suddenly reached out to Borneo. You must know that when the news of the Dutch surrender in Bacheng reached Pontianak, he sent his men to Jiang [-]. Oh, that is, Uncle Jiang Wu went to Bacheng in person to express his intention of cooperation.Although the general surnamed Deng was very polite and returned a lot of gifts, he was noncommittal about his proposal.

No, no, Luo Fangbai didn't intend to take effect either.As for the "Beihai Town" that suddenly appeared, he had inquired from those Chinese businessmen who came to Pontianak, but it was just a group of "sea pirates" entrenched in the extreme north outside the pass.In his heart, to be recognized by the Qing court and become a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty overseas is his lifelong ambition.And with the endorsement of the heavenly kingdom, he can establish himself as king.

The problem is that the Manchu Qing didn't care about him at all, and coupled with the precedent of Chen Yilao, both Qianlong and the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi regarded these Chinese who secretly went abroad as rebellious.It's fine if he can't become king, but the problem is that even his own son Luo Zizeng is unwilling to inherit his huge property, which makes Luo Fangbai very depressed.

Wealth and honor cannot be returned to the homeland, and it is impossible to glorify the homeland.And don't look at Luo Fangbo, who is as rich as an enemy, but dare not send a large amount of money to his hometown in Shifan Town, because that is purely to bring disaster to the Luo family in Dalingxia.Since he became prosperous, he only asked someone to bring back a bag of gold and silver jewelry to distribute to his fathers and villagers.

However, even though the Qing Dynasty did not want to see Luo Fangbai and his Lanfang chief, he still falsely claimed that the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi had reported to the imperial court, waiting for the approval of the emperor.This method of pulling the tiger's skin and pulling the banner is to deter the surrounding forces, and at the same time effectively manage the hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers under him.

After listening to the other party's impeccable explanation, Seaberg couldn't say anything more.The purpose of his meeting with Luo Fangbai in Pontianak is to force the Chinese companies and the Sultanate not to send a grain of grain to Bacheng through intimidation or lure, otherwise they will be the enemy of VOC.

We must know that the current war to retake Batavia is the top priority of the VOC.

The military operation to siege Bacheng was the result of the vote of the 17-member board of directors of the VOC headquarters.Its purpose is to rescue the economic crisis caused by the sharp drop in domestic demand for Asian goods.

The majority of the 17-member board of directors believe that the prestige of VOC in the Malacca economic circle must be rebuilt by recapturing Bacheng and inflicting severe damage on Bei Hai Town.Only in this way can we continue to implement the economic monopoly of the Malacca economic circle, and then control the gold mines in Borneo, thereby saving the status quo of VOC's continuous loss.

After repeated discussions, the former governor Altyn and the current governor Overstraten formulated a huge military plan of "killing one thousand enemies and harming ourselves by eight hundred".That is to gather a large number of ground troops and sea troops to carry out a military siege of Bacheng for more than half a year. Through ground warfare, Bacheng cannot carry out normal agricultural production. And surrender.

In Altin's view, he lost Batavia at the beginning, it was purely due to lack of preparation, and the shameless sneak attack of those "demons" wearing tiger armbands brought heavy losses to the Württemberg Corps.Altin concluded that as long as the Northern Navy in Bacheng did not receive enough food and ammunition supplies within half a year, he would definitely win.

The reason why the Dutch dare to think and do is that they think they have obtained enough information.After evacuating from Bacheng, VOC began to collect information on Beihai Town.Needless to say, Bacheng, Annan, Hoi An, Macau, Guangzhou, Nagasaki, Jeju Island, almost all the places where Beihai Town used to haunt, sent spies and got a lot of seemingly useful information.

Altin believes that the biggest problem in Beihai Town is that the supply line is too long and the sea power is insufficient.The might of the large iron ships in Beihai Town is terrifying, but there are still too few of them.The six gunboats deployed in Bacheng and Hoi An have to maintain the huge sea area from Bacheng in the south to Ryukyu in the north, and there are too many loopholes.

The sea power of the VOC side is still very strong, not to mention a dozen returning ships and several frigates, there are hundreds of sea gunboats in the vassal sultanates alone.As long as Bacheng is not attacked from the sea, the supply line at sea can be cut off by relying on the strategy of "many ants kill elephants".

Well, if it were any other opponent, Altyn's judgment would be fine, and the odds of winning would be high.However, because Zhao Xin is in charge of Bacheng, VOC is destined to "joy the dog bites the piss".

"Very good, Mr. Luo. I hope that the cooperation between VOC and Lanfang Company can be maintained forever. This is in the interests of both of us. To show our sincerity, this is an additional diamond order from the company."

As Seaberg said, he took out a list from the document bag and put it on the table.Luo Fangbai stroked his beard and smiled without saying a word. Seeing this, a scholar-like person behind him stepped forward to take it and opened it, showing surprise immediately.He then bowed and whispered to Luo Fangbai, "Brother, in this order, they ordered another [-] carats."

"The Dutch are so rich that you should be fussed about with such a small amount of money? What a ignorance."

The scholar blushed, bowed and said, "What the chief taught me."

In another time and space, there is a saying that the British De Beers hyped up a century-old diamond marketing scam, and what is the conspiracy of the Rothschild family behind it, etc.But what these self-proclaimed "smart people" don't know is that the Chinese in Kalimantan have been exporting diamonds to Europe since the eighteenth century.In 1789 alone, VOC ordered 1500 carats of diamonds from the Chinese, with an average price of more than 1 US dollars per carat.

Therefore, diamonds have never been cheap, and they don’t need to be fried at all. Whether in the East or the West, women just like shiny things!
After Seaberg finished talking about business, he offered to leave. Luo Fangbai got up immediately, and led a group of subordinates to send him and his party to the gate of the deputy hall.When they returned to the meeting hall, Jiang Wubo at the side said to Luo Fangbai, "Brother Luo, are we really not going to interfere in the matter of Bacheng this time?"

"Need not."

Jiang Wubo said: "However, they are all Chinese. Besides, the eldest brother's young master was critically ill, and he was rescued by his hospital."

Song Chabo on the side said: "Old Wu, this is wrong. Don't forget how they treated you when you went to Bacheng. Let me tell you, except for our own brothers in Jiaying Prefecture, other people care about him of it!"

Luo Fangbai pondered for a moment, then slowly said: "We have not been cooperating with the Dutch for a day or two, and we know each other well. If we turn our backs, the diamond business will be greatly affected. Let's take a look first."

The reason why the chief executive said this is mainly because the formation and development of Chinese companies in West Borneo have always been closely related to the Dutch.

It is said that since the sixteenth century, Borneo has become a territory contested by various forces inside and outside.Malays from Java and other islands established sultanates along the coast and expanded inland through military conquest or intermarriage with native Dayaks.In the early seventeenth century, the Chinese, the Dutch and British East India Companies and the Bugis also joined the local game.

However, the Europeans soon abandoned Borneo, the Spaniards occupied Luzon, the British set their main target on the South Asian subcontinent, the Dutch turned their targets to Malacca and Java, which is rich in pepper, and the Chinese and Bugis thus controlled most of the land. share of trade routes.

By the mid-eighteenth century, the Bugis used their rule over the Riau Sultan of Johor to infiltrate West Borneo polities such as Nambawa and Samfa and became the real power groups in these places.At the same time, a large number of Chinese laborers began to pour in to engage in diamond and gold mining activities.

In 1779, in order to expel British port merchants traveling to and from Borneo, the Dutch East India Company signed a contract with Pontianak Sultan Abdul Rahman, formally recognizing its rule over Pontianak and providing him with military protection.In exchange, VOC sent a commissioner to Pontianak to monitor incoming merchant ships and collect taxes on them. No ships without a license from the Batavia authorities were allowed to enter the port.

Since then, whether it is Nanbawa or Pontianak, various Chinese companies have also been directly brought under the jurisdiction of VOC.Then the Dutch used Pontianak as an entry point to point their sword at the entire trade network around Malacca.

In 1787, the joint forces of VOC and Pontianak aggressively attacked Nan Pawa. At that time, Lan Fang Hui, the predecessor of Lan Fang Company, offered to provide assistance.According to the chronicles of the East India Company written by Willer, commissioner of the Dutch colonial authority in the [-]th century, there is a document written in Malay, which says that a man called "Big Brother Beard" brought Chinese workers to assist him. VOC and Pontianak allied forces.

And this "big bearded brother" is what the locals call Luo Fangbai.

The Lanfang Society participated in the Dutch military operations throughout, and plundered the spoils in the center of Nanbawa after the victory, and the Dutch were happy to see the results.

The reason why Luo Fangbai is willing to work for the coalition forces of VOC and Pontianak Sultan is to open up the upstream port trade and the downstream import goods transportation, so that Lanfang Company can sell the gold mines and diamonds mined upstream, and also Obtain low-cost sea trade materials through downstream.

Sure enough, the son of the Sultan of Pontianak was appointed by the VOC as the de facto ruler of Nambawa after the war.Since then, the upstream and downstream have been connected, and Lanfang Company has become stronger and stronger, and Luo Fangbai and others have gradually become wealthy.

The "Nambawa War" caused a large number of Chinese miners to migrate to Pontianak and Sanfa in the north, and the new settlements attracted many immigrants directly from Fujian and Guangdong, which promoted the further consolidation and strengthening of Chinese organizations.

In order to prevent the outflow of Chinese laborers, both VOC and the Sultan of Pontianak have taken active measures to win over the Chinese in Nambawa.After the war, the Chinese in West Borneo were directly under the jurisdiction of the VOC. This move is equivalent to putting the Chinese company on an equal footing with the Malay Sultan, and the Chinese do not need to continue to pay poll tax.

By 1790, after more than ten years of gaming, almost all the sultans in West Borneo had been severely weakened.As the Chinese are directly protected by the VOC, the Sultan of Pontianak cannot collect the poll tax, so he can only obtain a part of the gold mine rent from the Lanfang Company.The Sultan of Pontianak also fell into a financial crisis because of spending money like water to maintain his extremely extravagant and corrupt life, and the scale of debts became larger and larger.

With this, Lanfang Company quickly got rid of the influence of Pontianak, and formed a large general system with Luo Fangbo and Meizhou Shishanbao Hakka as the core.As for Sanfa's Dalaolu Mining Company, it has also gone through a similar process.In order to win over them, Sanfa also followed the policy of Pontianak.As a result, these companies gradually grew, and finally broke away from the jurisdiction of Sudan, forming a relatively loose alliance with Dagang Company as the core-Heshun General Office.

The above is the truth about the development of Lanfang Company led by Luo Fangbai.To put it bluntly, they have been cooperating with VOC and under the protection of VOC, so that it is not surprising that Lanfang Company will accept VOC's recruitment and even help Dagang Company after decades up.