The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 63 A mercenary’s experiences
April 1724, 4, Aceh.

Captain Harvey Simmons has been in the city of Aceh for five days, waiting for the repair of the merchant ship on which he is traveling to be completed, and then he will return to Europe and his hometown of Hessen.

He was a professional mercenary employed by the Dutch East India Company and had served for 12 years.From a high-spirited young man, after experiencing all kinds of hardships and hardships, he is now a tired "old man".

Although, he is only 35 years old, in the golden years of his life.But he felt like a waning old man who urgently needed a peaceful and peaceful place to soothe his injured soul.

Since the East India Company's senior officials and the Qi people reached a peaceful transfer of the city of Batavia last year, a large number of Qi military police have stationed in the city and began to implement the so-called "security purification" operation.Many religious figures, tribal leaders, businessmen, and scholars who had openly opposed Qi State or organized and carried out violent attacks on Qi State territory were arrested by Qi State military police and quickly entered the trial process.

In the brutal arrests, countless civilians were affected, causing the entire Batavia prison to be overcrowded for a time, so that the Qi people had to build several temporary prisons in the suburbs to hold a large number of arrested natives. .

After a brief trial, more than 400 of these people were sentenced to death, either hanged in Batavia Square or shot to death on the seaside.In addition, more than 2000 people were sentenced to hard labor and exiled to Africa or an unknown island in the Pacific.

The former administrators of the East India Company and the court magistrates made serious protests against the brutal behavior of the Qi people, believing that they were killing innocent people in vain, and had reason to suspect that they were deliberately eliminating the upper class among the indigenous people in order to weaken the indigenous people. A sense of collective resistance.This kind of behavior is extremely barbaric and cannot be tolerated in the civilized world.

However, the people of Qi State dumped out the criminal files one after another, which not only contained descriptions of various crimes committed by the indigenous people, but also the personal confessions of the parties involved, as well as the corresponding signatures and stamps.This evidence shows that the natives who were sentenced to death were a group of extremely vicious thugs.They secretly sneaked into Qi's territory, attacked towns and plantations, killed people, built walls, burned houses, and destroyed crops. Their methods were extremely cruel and truly heinous.

As an old mercenary who was accustomed to all kinds of conspiracies and crimes, Captain Harvey Simmons scorned the so-called criminal evidence presented by the Chinese.After a brutal torture, it was not difficult to get the natives to confess to the crime of killing their parents and brothers, not to mention the fictitious facts of the crime.

Of course, some of these convicted natives may have actually committed serious crimes in Qi's territory, but the number is definitely not that large.You must know that in addition to the large and small immigration settlements and plantations established by Qi State on Java Island, in addition to fully armed troops stationed and patrolling, they also have a strict grassroots management system and a large number of militia organizations. It is not that easy. The ground allows a few natives to sneak in and launch sabotage attacks.

To put it bluntly, the Qi people wanted to completely cleanse the indigenous people after taking over Batavia to eliminate potential ethnic conflicts in the future.

As Qi's influence deepened further on the island, various suppressive policies against the indigenous people and the True God Religion followed one after another.The people of Qi banned the spread of the True God Religion in their directly administered territories and levied a special head tax on devout True God Religion believers.Various obstacles are also set up for the restoration of dilapidated and old true temples, leaving them to perish.

They also launched a large-scale education program in the local area and forced countless indigenous children to go to school to learn Chinese, experience Chinese culture, and get close to Eastern civilization, so as to better assimilate and absorb the local indigenous people.

I have heard from company employees who are familiar with Java Island that more than 50 years ago, there were several kingdoms on this island with fertile land and abundant products, with a thousand years of Javanese civilization, and a population of more than 200 million. people.

Looking at the current situation, there are not many temples, castles, palaces, mausoleums and other buildings left that reflect local civilization and historical and cultural heritage.Although this fertile island has experienced many wars and turmoil, and destroyed many castles and monuments, under the connivance and destruction of the Qi people intentionally or unintentionally, more relics representing indigenous culture have completely disappeared, and the indigenous population The scale has dropped sharply to less than 100 million.

In the increasingly prosperous cities and towns, they are replaced by typical Qi architecture - tall and thick cement buildings, as well as buildings and houses full of oriental charm.

Over time, as more and more Qi people live on this island and as the degree of development deepens, Harvey Simons believes that all indigenous civilizations will completely disappear, even the Dutch East India Company’s The traces left by Davia will also be erased one by one.

Yes, with its strong national power and developed economy, Qi State has increasingly expressed its confidence in its own civilization, and is trying to expand this civilization to more countries and regions to demonstrate their influence.

Regarding the East Indies under their noses, the people of Qi made no secret that this vast sea area and scattered islands are their core circle of interests, and they can only have one voice.Naturally, there can only be one civilization here, the Hanzhou civilization that integrates thousands of years of Eastern Chinese civilization.

After the service period of the East India Company's employees and mercenaries expires, generally nearly [-]% of them will choose to join the Qi nationality, turn to serve the Qi State, and cheer for becoming a member of this powerful country.

But Captain Harvey Simmons did not do this. He witnessed the tyranny and tyranny of the Qi people in Batavia, felt their domineering national sentiment, and even learned that the Qi people strictly controlled various religions. and constraints.He believed that he should return to Europe and his hometown.After all, there was an environment he was familiar with, the same culture, and a religion that comforted his soul.

Aceh is the capital of this kingdom and a large city with a population of more than 6, but the layout and architecture of the entire city are very poor.Not to mention the cities that were far inferior to those of the Qi people, even Batavia was far inferior.Most of the urban areas are made of wooden houses, with roofs covered with worn-out coconut flakes or tiles. You can only find a good house every five or six hundred meters.

It is rich in gold, rich in products, and has all kinds of fruits, just like other East Indies.The residents here are dark-skinned and dressed a bit like Malays.There are scattered Acehnese soldiers on the streets, equipped with weapons such as broadswords, bucklers, spears, muskets, javelins, and blowpipes.The blowpipe has a blade connected to the wood, like an oriental spear, and is used to blow poisonous darts.If a person is hit by a dart, if the injured area is not dug out, he will die soon.When an enemy approaches, use the tip of the blowpipe as a blowpipe instead of blowing poison darts.

It is said that more than ten years ago, when the Qi State conquered the Kingdom of Aceh, many soldiers were killed and injured by this blowpipe weapon while encircling and suppressing the Aceh rebels in the jungle.They would hide in the grass or climb on trees, and when Qi soldiers passed by, they would blow poison darts by surprise.This kind of attack often makes Qi soldiers unable to defend themselves.After the attack is completed, these rebels will quickly flee into the dense forest and disappear without a trace.

The king of Aceh - well, the Sultan to be precise - had many elephants, and decades ago he would organize them into groups to break through enemy lines when they were fighting against them.However, with the popularity of firearms, the role of this kind of elephant soldier is getting weaker and weaker.There are many elephants roaming the city, and they remain the kingdom's most important offensive weapon.

It can be seen that the common people are very afraid of their Sudan, because he is very cruel and has many ears and eyes.He knew everything people said about him.He will also strictly enforce the law for those who commit crimes.If people made the slightest mistake, soldiers would be ordered to cut off their hands and feet.As a devout believer in True God, he allowed people to kill adulterers who committed adultery with their wives.

If a robber committed a murder, he would be sentenced to end his life by sitting on a sharpened stake.Oh, God, this is definitely a very cruel punishment.

During his few days in Aceh, Captain Harvey Simmons witnessed a convicted prisoner sitting on a sharpened stake with his hands tied to prevent him from falling. Such a tragic end to a life.While wailing in pain, the man loudly cursed Sultan's cruelty and his cowardice in the face of the Qi people.In order to prevent him from humiliating His Majesty the Sultan, the soldiers later cut off his tongue and he could only whimper lowly.

In addition, Captain Harvey Simmons also saw a man sitting on a saw with one leg here and one leg there, sawed in the middle, just because this man wanted to betray his rich master. .

After seeing so much cruelty, an East India Company captain once asked him how his people would view him if he treated his people so cruelly.

The king was silent for a moment and replied: "This is the only way I can make my people obedient and comply with my rule."

From a political management perspective, all the people of this kingdom obey the rule of His Majesty the Sultan like slaves.The laws are very strict, and the means of punishing crimes are also very violent and terrifying.If you make a small mistake, you will lose your hands and feet.Such torture was not only used against ordinary people, but also against princes and nobles.

I once heard that a prince once complained that his father, His Majesty the Sultan, was too flattering to the people of Qi and acted too weak.As a result, he was severely punished for slandering the royal power. His nose, ears and upper lip were brutally cut off, and he was eventually exiled to Breve Island to fend for himself.

However, the only people in this kingdom that His Majesty Sudan can be afraid of are the people of Qi.

More than ten years ago (1715), the State of Qi launched a war against the Kingdom of Aceh on the pretext that its businessmen and people were innocently killed.In less than two months, the Qi army occupied the capital and royal palace of Aceh and captured the then Sultan Mahmoud Phosai.Subsequently, after more than two years of siege and suppression, most of the Acehnese nobles and priests who resisted Qi were captured and killed, and the country was completely conquered.

The reigning Majesty Sudan was single-handedly supported by Qi State at that time and came to power.In order to consolidate his rule and ensure the legitimacy of his throne, in addition to relying on the protection of Qi people in terms of force, Sudan could only adopt various harsh governance methods domestically to enhance his "prestige". Let no one dare to rebel.

In the southwest of Aceh City, there is a Qi military camp with about 500 people stationed to intimidate and monitor the country.In addition, there was a Qi naval base on a small island about fifteen kilometers away from the northern end of Aceh (today's Indonesian island of Wei), which provided coal and water refueling services for passing ships.It is reported that almost all the aborigines on that island were "vacated" by the Qi people, and hundreds of immigrants moved in from their homeland and the Qin state.

In addition, the Qi people also established two strongholds in Jishui Bay (now Simawi City, Indonesia) and Belawan on the north side of Sumatra Island, which almost strangled all the foreign trade channels of the Kingdom of Aceh and firmly established Take this country in your hands.

Captain Harvey Simmons believes that as the Qi people gradually completely digest several major islands such as Java and Sulawesi, the Kingdom of Aceh will inevitably be wiped out and become the dust of history, and then annex the entire island of Sumatra. .

Yes, the people of Qi will definitely do this. Several princely kings on the island of Java have lost almost all their territories and can only receive a pitiful support from the Qi government every year, barely maintaining their former wealth and luxury. Their lives, their authority and orders are limited to the palace.As long as the people of Qi are willing, they can end their lives by sending just one soldier.

However, many princely kingdoms, including Sumatra, still harbored illusions, believing that in the face of Qi's strong invasion, they could continue to survive as long as they cowered and gave in and showed submission.They are too naive. The greed of the people of Qi is never-ending. Their ultimate goal is to swallow all the East Indies.

In this world, any backward and weak country or nation has no future. What is even more tragic is that there is a behemoth beside them, staring covetously at them.

(End of this chapter)