Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 390 The roar of artillery is the most powerful language at the negotiation table
Upon hearing this, Alfonso bargained.

"Your Excellency, the conditions you proposed are of great importance. I will need some time to discuss with my subordinates before we can come to a conclusion."

"I hope you can give the Governor's Office a few days to study and discuss."

Kong Hao rolled up his sleeves, revealing the watch on his wrist.

He glanced at the time on his watch and then spoke.

"The time now is 24: in the morning. I'll give you hours to discuss this."

"After 24 hours, if Batavia cannot give the Tang Dynasty a satisfactory answer."

"Then we'll have to decide the outcome on the battlefield."

"When the time comes, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty will use the weapons in their hands to seek justice for the Tang people and Chinese people who died and were injured in the last riot."

Although the natives who rioted last time failed to break into the concession, they were repelled by the concession’s guard forces.

But in this process, the Tang Dynasty also suffered losses.

The natives arrived suddenly, and many Tang citizens and Chinese did not have time to evacuate to the safe zone of the concession and were affected by the riots.

Many of them were killed or injured in the riot, and the economic and property losses were astronomical.

Of course someone has to pay for this!
Upon hearing this, Alfonso could only respond with an apologetic smile.

Kong Hao nodded, then stood up and left.

After the Tang Dynasty's special envoy Kong Hao left, Simon, the garrison commander of Batavia, slammed the table in anger.

"furious!"

"It's really too arrogant!"

"I swear to God, sooner or later, I will return all the humiliation I have suffered from the Tang people to them."

Alfonso took a deep breath, looked at Simon deeply, and said speechlessly.

"alright, alright!"

"Don't talk nonsense."

"What we need to discuss now is how to respond to the conditions put forward by the Tang people."

Regarding the three conditions proposed by the Tang Dynasty, the first one, compensation, is easy to deal with. It is just a matter of bleeding.

But the second and third ones are not so easy to deal with.

Needless to say, once they agree to send more troops to Batavia, the Tang Dynasty will send more troops.

It is estimated that the Tang Dynasty's military power in Batavia will soon surpass that of the Dutch authorities.

At that time, whether Batavia’s surname is He or Tang will be another matter.

The third thing is equally difficult to agree to.

The Tang Dynasty wanted to retaliate against the natives, and the Dutch should have been very happy about this.

Because this was originally part of the Dutch plan.

However, the Dutch were not very happy when the Tang Dynasty wanted to bring the Netherlands together to fight the natives.

You know, that was the reason why those natives gathered together and besieged the Tang Concession in Batavia.

A large part of the reason was that the Batavia authorities secretly organized and promised security guarantees to the natives.

Then, the natives would get excited and attack the concessions.

If the Tang Dynasty puts pressure on the Netherlands now, it will become timid and may even come forward to help the Tang Dynasty deal with the natives.

Wouldn’t that mean you’re neither a human nor a human being?
In fact, it doesn’t matter if you are not a good person either.

Anyway, the Western colonizers did a lot of inhumane things.

However, the Dutch were able to gain a foothold in Batavia.

Apart from the military force at hand, more of the problem was that the Dutch colluded with the local indigenous people.

Once the Dutch help the Tang Dynasty to take action against the natives this time, especially the natives who are more friendly to the Dutch.

It will inevitably cause people to lose their hearts.

The Dutch would lose their greatest support in ruling Batavia.

At that time, if the Tang Dynasty took military action against Batavia again, the Dutch, having lost the support of the natives, would really have no power to fight back.

To put it bluntly, the Dutch now have two choices.

One is to agree to the Tang Dynasty's request and then die slowly.

The other is to reject the Tang Dynasty’s request.

Then, the Tang army fleet would probably really attack Batavia, and there would be only one outcome waiting for the Dutch, and that was immediate death.

Although chronic death and immediate death are both death, it is not easy to choose between the two.

……

Just when the top officials of the Batavia Governor's Office were struggling over whether to agree to the conditions of the Tang Dynasty.

The city of Batavia was also in turmoil.

Weng Tong, accompanied by several guards, walked through the busy streets and quickly returned to his own grain store in the city of Batavia.

After returning to the grain store, Weng Tong said this immediately.

"Quick, tell the brothers below to take out the swords and guns that were prepared earlier, lock the warehouse doors, and organize patrols..."

"No matter what, we must guard the granary. As long as the grain in the granary can be preserved, each person will be given an extra year's salary as a bonus."

"I will reward you handsomely!"

The Weng family originally was in the grain business.

But later, as Li Yi promoted industrial development, his family started to engage in grain processing business again.

But after Weng He took the initiative to apply to be transferred to Southeast Asia to serve as an official, the Weng family began to pay attention to the grain business again.

Weng Tong opened a grain store in Batavia. With the help of Weng Tong's connections in Batavia, Weng's grain store purchased grain from Batavia at low prices, and then transported it to the country with the convenience of sea transportation, thereby making a profit.

The gains were considerable. In just over a year, the Weng family's wealth nearly doubled.

Well, to put it nicely, this took off when the Tang Dynasty was facing food shortages and the country was opening up.

But to put it bluntly, it is collusion between officials and businessmen for profit.

It is not easy for ordinary people to buy grain from Batavia at a low price.

If it weren't for the care of his brother Weng He, Weng Tong would not have been able to open a grain business in Southeast Asia.

Upon hearing this, several waiters responded in unison.

They each picked up their swords and guns, ready to guard the granary.

When Weng Tong saw this, he was obviously relieved.

The Tang fleet suddenly arrived outside Batavia, and martial law was immediately imposed in the city. The whole city was in a state of panic, and the atmosphere in the city was like a storm was about to come.

The order on the streets began to become visibly chaotic.

How could Weng Tong not be nervous?
However, at this moment, a man ran in from outside the Weng family’s granary.

The man came up to Weng Tong and spoke.

"Shopkeeper, Lord Weng sent someone to deliver a message."

"They said that the atmosphere in Batavia is tense right now, and they want you to take your people to the concession first to take shelter."

"There are police forces guarding the concession, so it must be safer than outside."

Logically speaking, the concession is definitely safer than the outside world at this time.

But when Weng Tong heard this, he immediately shook his head and said.

"No."

"Go back and tell my brother that I will not go to the concession, but will stay at the warehouse."

"The food in the warehouse is the lifeblood of my Weng family. I really don't feel comfortable handing it over to other people."

In order to continue to expand the business, the Weng family spent most of their wealth to buy such a large warehouse of grain.

Just waiting to ship the goods to Datang for sale!

As long as the grain can be transported back, given the current grain shortage in the Tang Dynasty, even if the losses in freight, warehousing, personnel, etc. are deducted, the profit will be at least 50% to 60%.

In other words, as long as the grain in this warehouse can be transported back, the Weng family will become rich.
But if anything happened to the grain in this warehouse, the Weng family would be plunged into poverty almost overnight.

No matter what, Weng Tong could not accept such a thing.

So, he decided to guard the warehouse himself.

Seeing this, the man could only turn around and say goodbye.

Weng Tong continued to guard the warehouse with his men.

Soon, the night passed quietly and nothing happened.

A ray of sunlight shone into the warehouse through the window.

Weng Tong faced the sun, rubbed his tired and red eyes, and exhaled heavily.

After staying up all night, the day finally dawned and he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Since nothing happened last night, it is highly likely that nothing will happen during the day.

He stretched himself and was just about to ask someone to go outside to get some food.

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard in the distance.

The loud noise caused Weng Tong's body to tremble uncontrollably.

If he heard correctly, the loud noise should be the artillery firing.

"Oh my God, why are the cannons firing?"

"Did they start a fight?"

Weng Tong muttered to himself for a while, then hurriedly called on his sleepy buddy to cheer up.

……

Kong Hao came to the Governor's Palace in Batavia again.

Pushing the door and walking into the conference room, several Dutch people in the conference room glared at Kong Hao.

Governor Alfonso asked grimly.

"Your Excellency, we are in the process of negotiating. What is the meaning of your sudden attack on the coastal artillery in Batavia?"

Kong Hao shrugged and spoke nonchalantly.

"Means nothing."

"It was just a gunner's mistake."

"In this regard, I would like to express my apologies on behalf of our fleet commander Fang Haiyang."

However, although Kong Hao expressed his apology.

But it was just lip service, without any sincerity.

Because, this time the Tang Dynasty fired the cannon intentionally.

The Tang Dynasty wanted to put pressure on the Batavia authorities through artillery bombardment, forcing the Batavia authorities to agree to the conditions proposed by the Tang Dynasty.

Well, that's what it means, the roar of artillery is the most powerful words at the negotiating table.

Alfonso took a deep breath, forced a smile on his face, and then spoke.

"All right!"

Faced with Kong Hao's obviously bullshit explanation, Alfonso had no choice but to accept it.

Because he did not have the confidence to break off relations with the Tang Dynasty.

Today, the threat posed by this Tang army fleet floating on the sea to Batavia is too great.

Seeing this, Kong Hao asked.

"I wonder what you think of the conditions proposed by our Tang Dynasty?"

Alfonso heard this and replied.

"Please don't be impatient, messenger."

"We are still discussing and considering it."

"This matter is of great importance..."

As he spoke, Alfonso stuffed Kong Hao with an anonymous check from the Tang Royal Bank with a face value of one thousand silver dollars.

Nowadays, the bills of deposit of the Tang Royal Bank, which is backed by the Tang Dynasty court and large enough, are hard currency throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Especially those bearer deposit tickets.

Datang has branches throughout East Asia and Southeast Asian countries, so you can find places to redeem your banknotes, which is very convenient.

When it comes to bribery, it is definitely the best choice.

It was obvious that Alfonso wanted to continue delaying time by bribing the envoys, attempting to delay the situation until Britain, France and Spain intervened to mediate between the Netherlands and the Tang Dynasty.

Even with mediation by Britain, France and other countries, it would be impossible for the Tang Dynasty to give up its claims and pursuit of accountability against the Batavia authorities.

It is even unknown whether Britain, France and other countries will come forward on behalf of the Netherlands and mediate with the Tang Dynasty.

But as it stands now, the so-called international mediation is the last straw for the Batavia authorities.

Apart from this, they really have no better choice.

(End of this chapter)