It has been more than half a year since Huang Zhongtong accepted Zhao Xin's order to go to West Borneo to collect information about Lanfang Company.
When he left Bacheng with his two men, he did not go directly to Borneo. Instead, he first took a boat to Hoi An, and then took a boat from Hoi An and returned to Zhanglin Port in Chenghai before the Lunar New Year. . You must know that the three people's hometowns are all from Fengshun County, Chaozhou Prefecture, which is very close to Dabu County, so when they appear in Zhanglin, there is no problem at all in terms of living habits or accent.
Zhanglin, located in the southeast of Chaozhou Prefecture, has quickly developed into the largest port in eastern Guangdong since the maritime ban was lifted during the Kangxi period. Commercial activities are very prosperous, and many people from all over eastern Guangdong come here to work. And every year when the northeast monsoon comes, there are countless red-headed boats going south, which can be said to be like clouds of sails. With these sea trading ships, a large number of poor Hakkas and Chaoshan people joined the tide of immigrants to Southeast Asia.
In general, there were two main routes to Nanyang during the Qianlong period. Xiamen Port is full of Zhangquan immigrants, while Zhanglin Port is full of Chaoshan and Hakka people.
Relying on Beihai Town's network in Hoi'an, Huang Zhongtong and the other three first settled in a sugar shop on Xianqiao Street to work as odd jobs. Time soon passed the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. By this time, Huang Zhongtong had already caught up with a smuggler who was recruiting people to go to West Borneo. By May 1793, that is, at the end of the second lunar month, the three people carrying a broken baggage went with him. Hundreds of other Chinese from Jiaying Prefecture and Tai Po landed on Pontianak land.
After spending half a year traveling in such a large circle, there was no question about Huang Zhongtong's identity. No one could find out that they were actually spies sent by Beihai Town.
Zhao Xin wanted to check the situation of Lanfang Company's gold mine, so Huang Zhongtong and the others told the snakehead from the beginning that they were going to West Borneo to pan for gold. It was precisely because the three of them were Hakkas and half from Dapu that they quickly went to a mining area called Shalaman.
The various mining areas under the rule of Lanfang Company are divided into public and private ownership. The public ownership adopts the method of leasing to external parties. Due to the large amount of gold produced, the Shalaman mining area naturally became privately owned and belonged to Chen Lanbo, the second-in-command of Lanfang Company.
Chen Lanbo, a Hakka from Dabu, founded the Lan Fong Society with Luo Fangbai sixteen years ago. There is a saying that the word "Lanfang" comes from their names. The first battle between this man and Luo Fangbai was to merge with Tiandihuhuo with the support of the Sultan of Pontianak, killing him with blood flowing like a river, and driving him out of Dongwanlu.
As "new customers" who first arrived at the mine, Huang Zhong and the three of them were given a monthly salary of two Spanish silver dollars, including food and accommodation. The mining time is from 4 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, with a two-hour break during the hottest time at noon. In addition, I eat five meals a day, including brown rice and salted fish.
Sounds like good conditions, right? You must know that two Spanish silver dollars are equivalent to 1.42 taels of silver. Huang Zhong and the three of them thought so at first. However, after the first month of hard work, they discovered that there were various "pits" inside.
By the way, all the "big brothers" in West Borneo are really chicken thieves, just like the Chinese plantation owners in Batavia. In order to prevent workers from running away after receiving their salary, the gold mined has to wait until the annual furnace is opened for refining. The company will then settle the settlement with the miners in each mine based on the quantity and quality of the output that year. The Chinese workers can only Only then can you get paid.
But do you think this is the end? Not at all! The method of exploitation is one after another. As long as the Chinese workers can't pay off their debts, they can't even think about leaving. They will work until they die!
Different from those Chinese workers on the other side of the ocean in later generations who had dreams of "golden mountains" and were eventually sold as "piglets", the Chinese workers in the 18th century were exploited by their own people, and each company was worse than the greedy capitalists of later generations. And nothing less.
Let’s use an analogy. Assume that Huang Zhongtong does not drink alcohol, tea or opium; he does not mend his clothes when they are torn; he goes barefoot when his shoes are rotten; and the most important thing is that he never gets sick. Then, after the settlement is opened, from the books , he can get at least 24 Spanish silver dollars.
Wait a minute, I haven’t paid for the boat ticket yet! In addition, there are also incidental expenses such as food, drinks, and berths on the ship, and interest is calculated. Furthermore, when you go to the mine, you need to pay for five meals a day, and the accommodation provided by the mine also costs rent.
Huang Zhongtong found that the price calculation standards given by the company were much higher than the market average price.
So Bao Duo'er did the math and found that three-quarters of his salary had been deducted, and Huang Zhongtong could only get 6 silver dollars. In fact, this guy can't even get these 6 Spanish silver dollars, because he usually has to buy some daily necessities. At this time, the people in the company responsible for providing high-priced goods appeared.
"It's been a hard day, would you like a few sips?"
"Not good at wine? How about some tobacco? This is tobacco from Tingzhou, Fujian. It is no worse than the Jian cigarettes sent as tribute to the emperor. Take a puff and the whole house will be filled with fragrance!"
"Don't like smoking? Oh~~ We have a gambling house here, do you want to play a few games? If you win the bet, you kid can jump over the dragon's gate!"
"Okay, I've never seen a guy as disdainful as you. Well, I'll tell you this alone. I won't tell most people. We have a "Fushou Ointment" from Tianzhu, and we have it every day. One dip will definitely "comfort and relieve fatigue", and it can also prevent miasma. To be honest, the miasma in West Borneo is worse than that in Chaoshan. If you fall ill one day, you will have to spend a lot of money on medicine. I may not even be able to protect my life.”
Because the gold mining work in the mining area is extremely hard, many old miners lie in the room and puff away as soon as they have lunch. Afterwards, they stare at each other in a daze, and then start sweating profusely.
Zhao Xin had told Huang Zhongtong about the dangers of opium before. He didn't quite understand it at the time, but in the past two months at the mine, he had really felt it.
By the way, it is indeed abominable for Europeans to sell opium to Southeast Asia and Guangzhou, but what about the Chinese companies and plantation owners who provided opium to Chinese workers? Without these people, opium would not have become popular among the poorest people at the bottom.
Since Huang Zhongtong came to the mine, in addition to trying to curry favor with the foreman and obtain inside information, he would also occasionally invite one or two old miners with good connections to have a drink and chat to get more information, so he could only advance his salary from the mine.
Just like those plantations on Java Island that issued lead coins to Chinese workers, because West Borneo was rich in tin mines, Huang Zhongtong received tin coins called "Picis".
This kind of money was issued by Lanfang Company itself, and every 40 coins were exchanged for 1 Spanish silver dollar. The appearance of the coin is the same as that of clear copper coins. On the front are the four characters "Lanfang Company" and on the back are the Manchu "Baoguang", which means Baoguang Bureau of the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Qing Dynasty. As for why Lanfang Company's money is printed in Manchu, it's just like Luo Fangbai letting his "Lanhe Camp" bravely wear the Qing army's green camp uniforms, which is nothing more than raising a banner to make a tiger skin.
It is said that the Heshun General Office of Sanfa also did the same. On the front of the tin coins, there are "Dagang Company", "Heshun", "Fifteenth Branch" and so on.
There are certain rules for the issuance of these company currencies, and coins are usually minted before the Spring Festival. This is also the time when Chinese people celebrate the end of the year and settle accounts, so they are in urgent need of cash.
Although Huang Zhongtong is smart, he does not understand economics. In fact, this tin coin issued by "Big Brother" is an important part of the gold mining exploitation system. In conjunction with the accounting books, it continued to exploit the labor income of Chinese workers and made them heavily in debt; on the other hand, the top brass of Luo Fangbai and Lanfang Company were extremely wealthy.
In the history of another time and space, another important contradiction why the Dutch wanted to extend their hands into Borneo in the later period was that the coinage behavior of the Chinese company violated the economic interests of the "sovereign country". When the Dutch colonial government launched the "Company Wars" in the mid-19th century, they found that there were no Dutch copper coins in circulation in the company's territory.
For old colonists like the Netherlands, economic interests are above all else. No one can tolerate this!
On the contrary, in Bacheng, because Chinese workers were engaged in technical jobs in the plantation system, the Javanese were the most severely exploited. This also laid the groundwork for the Dutch to instigate the Javanese to hate China later.
To put it bluntly, there is never any unreasonable hatred in this world. Even if the Dutch are big flies with sharp teeth and sharp mouths, their eggs must have a gap before they can get into their mouths.
By the end of the fourth lunar month, Huang Zhongtong and the other three, who had been working in the mine for two months, all felt that the investigation was almost done and did not want to live such a hard and tiring life anymore, so they asked the foreman to resign and said they would go to Dongwan. Lu seeks refuge with fellow villagers.
Unexpectedly, the mine owner took out his account book, crackled the abacus, sneered and said that it was okay to leave, and each person had to pay 3 Spanish silver dollars for the mine. Huang Zhongtong's two men's noses were almost crooked with anger, and they wanted to take out their guns and kill each other immediately.
However, Huang Zhongtong behaved like a miser like a Chinese worker and spent a long time with the mine owner. Finally, he reduced the total to 8 silver dollars and paid five taels and six cents to settle the matter.
After returning to Pontianak, the three people who had been isolated in the mining area learned about the Dutch attack on Bacheng. Unfortunately, because Lanfang Company received a warning from the Dutch, all ships from Pontianak Port will not go to Bacheng.
Huang Zhongtong had no choice but to take his men on board a merchant ship bound for Penang Island. He planned to go to Georgetown to find Gu Lihuan and see what he could do.
On June 16, 1793, the thirteenth day after Zhao Xin arrived in Bacheng, the Northern Navy's frontline headquarters located at "Nordwijk Castle" received a report from the reconnaissance team that had been lurking near Wandong in the early morning. , the army led by former VOC Governor Altin set off from Wandong at 6 o'clock this morning. The total number of combat soldiers was between 15,000 and 20,000, in addition to more than 10,000 baggage troops.
After waiting for so many days, the Dutchman's third claw towards Bacheng was finally exposed, so Zhao Xin was also ready to fight.
He has no time to delay. If nothing happens, the offensive and defensive war between Britain and France in local governance will break out in more than a month. He didn't care at all whether the French died or not, but once local governance was lost, the road from the Kingdom of Mysore to the stronghold of Beihai Town "Pazayarai" would be blocked by the British. Zhao Xin would never accept this. of!
Furthermore, "Pazayarai" has only one company of the Northern Navy, so Bacheng must send ground troops and fleets to provide support. To get to India, you have to pass through the Dutch-controlled Liene Islands.
After holding a battle analysis meeting with his staff and He Xiwen, Zhao Xinxian ordered Wen Dai, who led the reconnaissance team, to carry out sniper warfare against the enemy's baggage troops and try to destroy the enemy's logistics and supply lines as much as possible. If possible, it would be best to burn the Dutch grain warehouses.
Subsequently, he sent a message to the Nanyang Fleet hidden in Cam Ranh Bay, ordering Zheng Wenxian to lead seven motor-sail gunboats modified by Guangzhou Shipbuilding to form the first squadron to completely eliminate the VOC fleet entrenched in the sea off Bacheng and the west of Banten Port, and launch a massive attack on Wanwan. A naval blockade was implemented in Danport. Ordered Guo Xuexian, who had just arrived in Hoi An from Naha Port, to go to the Cité Ao base to complete supplies, and then led Beihai No. 2 and No. 3 and a Guangzhou gunboat to form the second squadron and go to the Lionai Islands to bombard the Dutch in the area. Malacca City, the stronghold at the throat of Malacca, forced the defenders there to surrender and quickly controlled the Strait of Malacca.
After arranging the maritime combat plan, Zhao Xin held a combat meeting at the Bacheng Military Control Conference that night, attended by all officers above the battalion level.
In order to achieve the plan of annihilating the Dutch army and the Banten Sultanate's native soldiers on the western front, a staff officer under Zhao Xin told everyone present the battle plan that Zhao Xin had been pondering for several days.
That is, around the area surrounding Langas Betong, we concentrated our forces to attack from the north and south wings, attacking two points first. Then, the North Marine Battalion made a breakthrough from the north line, detoured to the rear of Langas Betong, and together with the Sendai Domain servants, attacked the area. The enemy troops entrenched between Serang and Langas Betong were divided into several pieces and then annihilated one by one. The first part of the special operations battalion led by Elu went straight to Silang, attacked the Dutch transportation lines, and waited for opportunities to destroy the material and grain warehouses in Silang.
Before the attack is launched, thirty artillery pieces of the North Navy will provide artillery coverage for up to twenty minutes to ensure that the troops on the northern and southern wings can complete the penetration.
The main reason why the staff dared to make such a plan is that the special operations battalion has identified all the terrain and roads in Langas Betong and Serang for more than a year, including where the water sources are drinkable and where they can be used. Large groups of people camped and so on.
Furthermore, during the several months of training at the Cam Ranh Bay base, the Sendai clan's servant army has been conducting physical training and combat skills specific to the tropical rainforest area. Originally, these Sendai soldiers who were born out of road construction workers were very able to endure hardships. In addition, they were well fed and rested during training, and their medical treatment was up to date, so their combat effectiveness was still good.
After the staff officer finished speaking, Zhao Xin stood up and made a mobilization speech: "The Dutch are trying to encircle us and drive the Northern Navy out of Bacheng. Now we are surrounded by enemies from both sides. There are 20,000 enemies on the western front, who stick to us every day like dog-skin plaster. And in the southeast Wandong also dispatched more than 20,000 enemies in an attempt to besiege the city of Ba. At sea, there are also fleets from the Dutch and the indigenous Sudanese, trying to blockade us."
The officers below were looking at Zhao Xin intently, especially the battalion commanders of the servant army. Their eyes were full of excitement and no fear. Without him, Zhao Wangdian’s current reputation is too great. In the eyes of many people, as long as he takes action, there is no battle that cannot be won.
At this time, I heard Zhao Xin continue to say loudly: "If you ask me, what does this mean? As long as we fight well and quickly, and win quickly, victory will definitely belong to our Beihai Navy!"
"Long live Zhao Wangdian!"
"Long live Beihai Town!"
"Kill the Dutch!"
The officers below could no longer sit still and stood up one after another and shouted. Zhao Xin was also a little excited by the scene in front of him. It is no exaggeration to say that this battle will directly determine the future fate of millions of people in Southeast Asia. It will no longer be difficult for the Chinese in Southeast Asia to return home! In addition, this blockade of the Strait of Malacca was also the first step towards keeping opium out of the Strait of Malacca.
"This time, we not only want to teach the Dutch a lesson, but also drive them completely out of West Java and the Strait of Malacca. After that, we will continue to attack the Banda Islands, Sumatra and Borneo to drive the Dutch out of here. Pull out all the strongholds in the sea area and let them get out of Malacca!"
