Although it was unpleasant to be looked at with hostility by a group of Indonesian natives, the three of them still obtained unexpected clues.
Soon, after returning to the ship, Sutina sent the requirements for the Van Balen to the domestic team.
Different from the usual answering questions, this time they waited for an unusually long time for a reply from the domestic team.
Waiting until early morning during the day, until Song Wenbin curled up and fell asleep in the main salon of the yacht, Sutina suddenly ran out of the cabin wearing a nightgown and holding a notebook, and involuntarily threw Huo Yuhe who was resting on both sides of the sofa Song Wenbin woke up.
The photographer sitting in the corner was also awakened by her movements and quickly took pictures with his machine.
"found it!"
Sutina said with excitement and excitement while holding her notebook.
As soon as Su Tina said she had found it, Song Wenbin ignored his fatigue and quickly rubbed his eyes, drank some black tea and asked, "Have you found it?"
"That's right." Sutina excitedly put her notebook on the coffee table, pointed to a completely English document on the computer and said, "This is the most professional academic team in China who helped us find relevant information about Van Balen from foreign historical documents. records."
Huo Yu and Song Wenbin leaned their heads towards each other, but Song Wenbin's head knew how to match it, and he couldn't read any of the letters on the document.
Fortunately, Sutina knew English well. She pointed to the redlined abstract in the document and read: "Van Balen, full name, Mondrian Van Balen, was born in 1747. His maternal ancestors were officially illustrious. Jean Hayingen van Linschoten, one of the famous founders of the Dutch East India Company, was an out-and-out explorer. From a young age, he was interested in navigation and wealth. Has an obsession that is unusual for ordinary people.
Documentary records show that in 1780, the thirty-three-year-old Van Baalen led his fleet to what was then Dutch Indonesia and lived in Indonesia for eighteen years. During this period, he made a survey of the entire Indonesian seabed. The topography and social features have been studied and recorded in detail..."
After a pause, Sutina shook her head and said: "I think this paragraph is a historical disguise, or Van Balen himself concealing his own purpose, because in the past twenty years of scientific investigation, he did not leave any traces. In the next book, not even a few words or an article remained.”
"I understand, go on."
After listening to Su Tina's speculation, Song Wenbin looked at the document and said.
"The literature does not describe much about Van Baalen's activities in Indonesia, but this paragraph is really important."
Sutina pointed to the words in the English document and translated them word for word: "In 1797, the fifty-one-year-old Van Balen ended his eighteen-year scientific expedition in Indonesia and drove a ship with him. My ship with the same name set out from Jakarta and returned to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. However, as soon as the ship passed through the Strait of Malacca and entered the Indian Ocean, it encountered a terrible and huge storm. The storm destroyed the Van Balen with a full crew of 180 sailors. , let it sink to the bottom of the sea forever."
"Where is Shen?"
Song Wenbin asked immediately.
"No one knows that not one of the 180 people on that ship survived." Sutina said softly.
Song Wenbin was stunned. He opened his mouth and subconsciously looked back at the dark sea water outside the yacht's port window. For a moment, his back felt chilly.
"No one knows...?" Huo Yu asked again.
"There are no survivors." Sutina said firmly; "There were no satellite records at that time, let alone voyage recorders. How to know the location of the sinking. In fact, it was not until two months later that the Van Balen did not return to the port of Amsterdam on time, and people Only then did we realize that it had sunk. The fact that it encountered a storm in the Indian Ocean was also speculated by later people, because that storm was the biggest climate disaster that year."
Huo Yu was silent.
Song Wenbin shuddered and couldn't help but light a cigarette. He calmed down the fear in his heart and sat on the sofa to start thinking.
After pondering for a long time, he asked: "If according to what the guy named Wutou said today, the Van Balen carries tens of billions of dollars in property, even if Van Balen intends to hide this wealth, then I don't believe it. The Dutch East India Company itself didn’t know about this. With so much treasure sinking to the bottom of the sea along with the Van Baalen, didn’t their company send anyone to search for or salvage it?”
Huo Yu also looked at Su Tina. Song Wenbin's question also made her feel a little confused.
In the smoke, Sutina bit her fingers and fell into deep thought.
The light of the notebook shone on Sutina's face. She bit her finger, her big eyes flickering in the night.
After biting her nails and thinking for a long time on the sofa, Sutina slowly said: "I don't know these things, but according to world history, in 1799, only two years after the sinking of the Van Balen, the Dutch East India Company Announced disbandment.
The background of its dissolution has nothing to do with the world environment. In that era of great navigation, wars between the Netherlands and Britain continued. Starting from the seventeenth century, the two countries continued to fight at sea for hundreds of years. In the early days of the war, the Dutch had been occupying With absolute advantage on the sea. But in the eighteenth century, things changed dramatically on the sea.
First, the Netherlands and France fought an endless battle on land. Later, the British nobles drove away King James II and established a constitutional monarchy in a bloodless and peaceful way, which is the famous political system in history. Glorious Revolution.
Before the war, after nearly a century of extravagance and pursuit of European hegemony, the Netherlands was no longer the world hegemon it once was. At this time, the British Empire had won the Seven Years' War and annexed French colonies in India and North America. "
Listening to Sutina's words, Song Wenbin seemed to hear endless shouts of death and gunfire. The girl's brief description made him travel through time and space and return to the turbulent and treacherous Age of Discovery.
In the silent cabin, the white-haired girl described expressionlessly: "In 1780, the British unilaterally abrogated various treaties of the Anglo-Dutch Alliance led by William III on the grounds that the Netherlands supported the American War of Independence, and launched the First Four Anglo-Dutch Wars.
Relying on its superior navy, Britain completely defeated the under-armed Netherlands and plundered the Netherlands' rich caravan supplies and colonies.
This war not only defeated the Netherlands, but also caused an economic crisis for the Dutch East India Company, which finally announced its dissolution on December 31, 1799. The maritime coachmen and colonial empire that were once all-powerful in the 17th century collapsed and declined with this war. Under such a background, who can still have the energy and ability to search the entire sea to find the whereabouts of a sunken ship? "
After a pause, Sutina said softly: "Not only that, I think the fourth Anglo-Dutch naval battle originated in 1780, which was the last naval showdown between the Netherlands and Britain. At that point in time, Fan. The reasons behind Barron coming to Indonesia to carry out large-scale seabed salvage, coupled with his own identity, I don’t believe there are no political factors in it.”
"wonderful."
Song Wenbin hummed.
Sutina's analysis was very to his liking, and he instinctively felt that this analysis was correct. Even their small-scale searches in Indonesia had the shadow of a country behind them. So in the Van Balen's nearly twenty-year search, he did not believe that no country was involved. "
Huo Yu crossed his arms and stared at the notebook for a while, then said: "This is good news for us. If the Van Balen has not been salvaged and is still lying on the seabed at this moment, then there is no doubt that even if it is There is no Nine-Patterned Dragon Treasure Box presented to Zhu Di by the Fisherman Wang on the ship, so its value is enough for us to complete this important mission."
"good."
Song Wenbin nodded: "But these clues alone are not enough for us to find the sunken ship. These information are too brief."
Sutina clicked on the computer with the mouse and said: "Although Van Baalen himself died in the sea, his grave is still hidden in the National Cemetery of the Netherlands. Including his descendants, they are still alive. Read this article signature."
She pulled the document to the top, pointed to the title of the paper and said: "The title of this paper is "The Location and Speculation of the Sinking of the Van Balen", which was published by Dr. Pierre de Wit in the Royal Netherlands in 1923. In the Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences.”
She clicked on the name, and another row of data immediately appeared. Sutina said: "The ancestors of Dr. Pierre are from Van Balen's family. According to blood, he should be his grandnephew. From 1893 Since the beginning of the year, he has been teaching at the Department of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam, dedicated to researching and sorting out the history of the Dutch East India Company. These documents were found by the domestic team from the library website of the Department of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam.
However, only a small part of the document can be read, and most of the content is hidden. The original document is stored in the library of the Humanities Department of the University of Amsterdam, and outsiders cannot peep. "
After a pause, Sutina added: "It's also worth mentioning that the current site of the University of Amsterdam was the former headquarters of the Dutch East India Company."
Song Wenbin's eyes widened instantly.
"Can I pay?" he asked subconsciously.
Huo Yu sneered: "You think this kind of information is an online article."
Sutina shook her head, "There is no such thing as paying to read. A lot of information on the University of Amsterdam is not disclosed to the public. After all, this is the 21st ranked university in the world and holds a lot of top-secret information."
Song Wenbin took a long breath and spread his hands: "Please, this is an unlimited special. There will always be a way."
Method…..
In the dark night, the three of them looked at each other.
"There is no other way."
Sutina said slowly: "The power of the Internet is limited. If we want to find detailed information about the Van Balen, we must go to the University of Amsterdam and find all the information about the Van Balen from that university. File."
Huo Yu said softly: "Going to the Netherlands?"
Su Tina looked at Song Wenbin: "Brother Song, what do you think?"
"Fuck..."
Song Wenbin sighed: "It's so crazy. It's not enough to go to Indonesia and you have to go to the Netherlands again?" As he said, he looked at the director Bao Li who was squatting next to the camera and asked: "Is there a time limit for our program? "
Paulie was silent, without any answer, like a machine that could only take pictures and records.
Song Wenbin shook his head and sighed: "Then let's go to the Netherlands. It's just that we are not familiar with the place. It's not a vegetable market. You can go in when you want and go out when you want. We want to go to a place like that, where there will be no one." If we cooperate, it will probably be difficult to move forward."
"I'll go ask." Huo Yu stood up from the sofa and said, "There is probably someone in the company who knows more about that place."
After saying that, Huo Yu walked to the flying bridge, took out his mobile phone and started making a call.
Song Wenbin then thought that Huo Yu had won the European Championship before and must have been to Europe.
After a phone call, Huo Yu came back. She said: "I just contacted the producer of our program. The producer said that she is very familiar with the situation in the Netherlands and Europe, and she is willing to personally help. We get the exact location where the Van Balen sank."
"Really?" Sutina's eyes lit up.
"Producer?" Song Wenbin asked.
"Yes, producer and chief planner." Huo Yu said, "But the premise is that we must go to Amsterdam to meet her first."
Song Wenbin has been with the program for so long and has always been on the execution end of the program. He doesn’t know anything about the people on the program. However, since he is the producer and planner..."
Song Wenbin's fist subconsciously hardened. God knows how many insane tortures he suffered in Nigeria, the Caribbean, Seoul, Siberia, and even Indonesia this time.
The people who tormented him were undoubtedly his colleagues from the planning team who he had never met before.
"Really, I really can't wait to see them." Song Wenbin gritted his teeth and said.
