The Kapuas River originates from the Batu Brok Mountains. After stretching for more than 2,000 miles from east to west on Borneo, it converges with another Lanta River from northeast to southwest, and rushes westward into the sea. , thus forming a surging red water hundreds of meters wide.
Pontianak is located on the banks and delta of this body of water.
At this moment, in the deputy office of the Lanfang Company in the new port, Johannes Seeberg, the son-in-law of the former Batavia Governor Altin, the VOC's chief adviser and the director-general of East India, was having a conversation 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 Seris people. I hope you will not listen to the rumors and interfere in Batavia's affairs."
"Mr. Seaberg, please go back and tell Mr. Altin that Luo and Lanfang Company have no interest in matters on Java Island."
"Oh? Then I would like to ask, what happened to the strange ship on the Kajiang River before? Why are the Sailis people's clippers wandering in the waters of Pontianak? I heard that they have been here for several months, why don't you Expelled?"
"Haha, Mr. Seaberg, I am here to hunt crocodiles, and there is no other excessive behavior. Even if you go ashore to buy things, the money you should pay is still a lot. The people of Pontianak have been suffering from crocodiles over the years, so Even Sultan Abdulrahman is happy to see the results of eliminating harm for the people. Besides, although their boat is different, it does not hinder water transportation, so Luo naturally can't take care of it."
The old man who spoke was none other than Luo Fangbai, the president of Lanfang Company. This time he came all the way from Dongwanlu to meet with the VOC envoy. Although this man is fifty-six years old this year, with white beard and hair, his voice is as loud as a bell, sonorous and powerful, his eyes are bright and lively, and his physical condition is very good. However, no one could have guessed that if there were no accidents, this person would only have two years to live.
Despite what Luo Fangbai said, he just didn't want the Dutch to put their hands into Pontianak again. In fact, in the past few months since the arrival of the North Navy's crocodile hunting team, he and his subordinates have become very tired of it. Not to mention that the long-planned plan to establish prestige came to nothing, and the carefully written "Essay on Sacrifice to the Crocodile" also became a piece of waste paper.
Now the common people in Pontianak know that it was the North Korean navy's crocodile catching team that helped them eliminate the crocodile problem. Since the twelfth month of last year, those fast boats have patrolled the Cajiang and Lanta rivers every day, specifically hunting crocodiles. Over the past few months, at least more than 200 crocodiles were hunted, and all crocodiles near Pontianak were wiped out. Only then did the crocodile-catching team return to Bacheng in a swaggering manner.
However, in the eyes of people like Lanfang Company, the performance of the crocodile catching team is not about "removing harm for the people". Luo Fangbai and others were shocked by the large blue strange ship of the Northern Navy, the speedboat that cut through the waves at high speed, and the powerful and continuous "muskets" in the hands of the crocodile catching team members.
Everyone in Lanfang Company knows that if the Northern Navy in Bacheng wants to occupy Borneo, it will definitely be a more terrifying enemy than the Dutch!
As the general manager of Lanfang, Luo Fangbai was very puzzled by the sudden extension of Beihai Town into Borneo after two years of silence. You must know that after the news of the surrender of the Dutch in Bacheng reached Pontianak, he had sent his men to Jiang 5. Oh, that is, Jiang Wubo went to Bacheng in person to express his intention of cooperation. Although the general named Deng was very polite and sent many gifts in return, he did not comment on his proposal.
No, just no, Luo Fangbai had no intention of surrendering. Regarding the sudden appearance of "Beihai Town", he heard about it from the Chinese businessmen who came to Pontianak. It was just a group of "sea pirates" entrenched in the far north outside the customs. In his mind, it was his lifelong ambition to gain recognition from the Qing court and become an overseas vassal state of the Qing Dynasty. But with the endorsement of the Heavenly Kingdom, he could establish himself as king.
The problem was that the Manchus did not like him at all, and coupled with the previous precedent of Chen Yilao, both Qianlong and the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi regarded these Chinese who secretly went abroad as traitors. It's okay if he can't become a king. The problem is that even his biological son Luo Zizeng is not willing to inherit his huge industry, which makes Luo Fangbai very depressed.
If wealth cannot be returned to its hometown, it will not be able to bring glory to the country. And even though Luo Fangbo was so rich that he could not rival the country, he did not dare to send a large amount of money to his hometown in Shishan Town, because that would simply bring disaster to the Luo family in Dalingxia. Since he became rich, he has only asked someone to bring back a package of gold and silver jewelry to distribute to his fellow villagers.
However, even though the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not want to see Luo Fangbai and his Lanfang General Administration, he still falsely claimed that the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi had reported it to the court and was waiting for the emperor's approval. This kind of pulling the tiger's skin and trying to pull the banner is, firstly, to frighten the surrounding forces, and at the same time, it can also effectively manage the hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers under his command.
After hearing the other party's impeccable explanation, Seaberg couldn't say anything else. The purpose of his coming to Pontianak to meet with Luo Fangbai was to force the Chinese companies and the sultanate not to send a grain of grain to Bacheng through intimidation or inducement, otherwise they would be enemies of the VOC.
You must know that the current war to retake Batavia is the VOC's top priority.
This military operation to siege Bacheng was the result of a vote by the 17-member board of directors of the VOC headquarters. Its purpose is to save 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 VOC must regain its prestige in the Malacca economic circle by retaking Bacheng and inflicting a heavy blow on Butterworth Town. Only in this way can we continue to implement the economic monopoly on the Malacca economic circle, and then control the gold mines in Borneo to save the current situation of VOC's continuous losses.
After repeated discussions, the former Governor Altin and the current Governor Overstraten formulated a huge military plan of "killing one thousand enemies and damaging oneself eight hundred". That is to say, a large number of ground troops and maritime troops were gathered to carry out a military siege of Bacheng for more than half a year. Through ground warfare, Bacheng was unable to carry out normal agricultural production. At sea, "break-up warfare" was adopted, which finally forced Beihai Town to suffer from food shortages. And surrender.
In Altin's view, he lost Batavia purely due to lack of preparation, and the shameless sneak attack by those "devils" wearing tiger armbands caused 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 dared to think and act was that they believed they had obtained enough intelligence. Since evacuating Bacheng, VOC has begun to collect intelligence on Beihai Town. Needless to say, Bacheng, Annan, Hoi'an, Macau, Guangzhou, Nagasaki, Jeju Island, and almost all the places where Beihai Town once haunted spies were sent, and a lot of seemingly useful information was obtained.
Altin believes that the biggest problem in Beihai Town is that the supply line is too long and the sea power is insufficient. Although the power of the large iron ships in Beihai Town is terrifying, they are still too few in number. The six gunboats deployed in Bacheng and Hoi An have to protect the huge sea area from Bacheng in the south to Ryukyu in the north, and there are too many loopholes.
The VOC's maritime power is still very strong. Not to mention the dozen returning ships and several frigates, the vassal sultanates alone have hundreds of naval gunboats. As long as we don't attack Bacheng from the sea, we can cut off the supply line at sea with the strategy of "the ants kill the elephant".
Well, if it were any other opponent, Altin’s judgment would be fine and his chances of winning would be high. However, since Zhao Xin is taking command in Bacheng, VOC is destined to be like a dog biting its urine and rejoicing in the empty space.
"Very good, Mr. Luo. I hope that the cooperation between VOC and Lanfang Company can continue. 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-looking man behind him stepped forward to take it and opened it, showing a look of surprise. He then bowed and whispered to Luo Fangbai: "Brother, in this order, they have ordered another two thousand carats."
"The Dutch are rich all over the world. Are you surprised that this little money is worth it? You are really ignorant."
The scholar blushed, bowed and said, "That's 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 behind it was the conspiracy of the Rothschild family, etc. But what these self-proclaimed "smart people" don't know is that since the 18th century, the Chinese in Kalimantan have been exporting diamonds to Europe. In 1789 alone, VOC ordered 1,500 carats of diamonds from the Chinese, with an average price of more than 10,000 US dollars per carat.
Therefore, diamonds have never been cheap and do not need to be speculated at all. Whether in the East or the West, women just like shiny things!
After Seaberg finished talking about the business, he said goodbye. Luo Fangbai immediately stood up and led a group of subordinates to send his group to the entrance of the deputy hall. When they returned to the meeting hall, Uncle Jiang Wu said to Luo Fangbai: "Brother Luo, are we really not going to get involved in Bacheng's affairs this time?"
"Need not."
Jiang Wubo said: "But they are all Chinese after all. Besides, when the eldest brother's young master was critically ill, someone else's hospital saved him."
Song Zabo on the side said: "Lao Wu, what you said 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, no one else cares about him. It’s there!”
Luo Fangbai pondered for a moment and said slowly: "We have been cooperating with the Dutch for more than a day or two. We know each other well. If we fall out, the diamond business will be greatly affected. Let's take a look first."
The reason why the general manager 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 16th century, Borneo has become a territory contested by various internal and external forces. Malays from Java and other islands established sultanates along the coast and expanded inland through military conquest or intermarriage with the local Dayak people. In the early seventeenth century, the Chinese, Dutch and British East India Companies and the Bugis also joined the local game.
However, the Europeans soon gave up on Borneo. The Spanish occupied Luzon, the British set their main targets on the South Asian subcontinent, and the Dutch turned their targets to Malacca and Java, which is rich in pepper. The Chinese and Bugis thus controlled most of the trade routes.
By the mid-eighteenth century, the Bugis used their dominance over the Sultan of Riau-Johor to infiltrate polities in West Borneo, such as Lampawa and Samphat, and became the dominant group in these places. At the same time, a large number of Chinese workers began to pour in to engage in diamond and gold mining activities.
In 1779, in order to expel British merchants traveling to and from Borneo, the Dutch East India Company signed a contract with Sultan Abdulrahman of Pontianak, officially recognizing its rule over the Pontianak area and providing him with military protection. In exchange, the VOC sent a commissioner to Pontianak to supervise incoming merchant ships and tax them. Ships without a license from the Batavia authorities were not allowed to enter the port.
Since then, various Chinese companies, whether in Nambawa or Pontianak, have been directly brought under the jurisdiction of VOC. Then the Dutch used Pontianak as an entry point to target the entire trade network around Malacca.
In 1787, the joint forces of VOC and Pontianak launched a large-scale attack on Nam Pak Wah. At that time, the predecessor of Lan Fong Company, Lan Fong Hui, took the initiative to provide assistance. According to the East India Company Chronicle written by Weller, the Dutch colonial commissioner in the 19th century, there is a document written in Malay, which states that a man known as "Brother Beard" once brought Chinese laborers to assist VOC and Pontianak coalition forces.
And this "bearded brother" is what the locals call Luo Fangbai.
The Lan Fong Society participated in the Dutch military operations throughout the entire process, and after the victory, they plundered the loot in the center of Nambawa, and the Dutch were happy to see it.
The reason why Luo Fangbai is willing to work for the coalition forces of the VOC and the Sultan of Pontianak is to open up the upstream port trade and the downstream import cargo 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, after the war, the son of the Sultan of Pontianak was appointed by VOC as the actual ruler of Nambawa. Since then, the upstream and downstream have been connected, Lanfang Company has grown stronger, and Luo Fangbai and others have gradually become as rich as the country.
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 strength of Chinese organizations.
In order to prevent the outflow of Chinese workers, both VOC and the Sultan of Pontianak took 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 was equivalent to putting Chinese companies on an equal footing with the Malay Sultans, and the Chinese did not need to continue to pay head taxes.
By 1790, after more than ten years of fighting, almost all Sudanese political systems in West Borneo had been seriously weakened. Since the Chinese are directly protected by the VOC, the Sultan of Pontianak cannot collect the head tax and can only receive a fixed portion of the gold mine rent from Lanfang Company. The Sultan of Pontianak also fell into a financial crisis because of his extravagant spending to maintain his extremely luxurious and decadent life, and his debts were increasing.
Lanfang Company quickly got rid of the influence of Pontianak and formed a large general structure with Luo Fangbo and Meizhou Shifanbao Hakka as the core. As for Dalaolu Mining Company in Sanfa, it has also gone through a similar process. In order to win over them, Sanfa also followed Pontianak's policy. As a result, these companies gradually grew and eventually broke away from the Sultan's jurisdiction, 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 always been cooperating with VOC and have always been under the protection of VOC. It is not surprising that after decades, Lanfang Company will accept VOC’s recruitment and even help fight against Dagang Company. .
