Episode 54: Raiding treasures

On the morning of March 12, the Ming army occupied the last big city of Batavia, Sisawa, and the last large port in the hands of the Dutch army on Batavia Island was also lost. The remaining 3,000 Dutch troops were forced to a small corner of the easternmost section of Batavia Island, called the Blanbonban Peninsula. Borneo, the remaining Dutch troops sent some small boats to pick up the governor who fled here and a small number of senior officers. The remaining 3,000 Dutch troops surrendered to the Ming army at noon. At this point, the Ming army captured the entire Batavia Island.

On March 13, the Netherlands sought peace from the Ming Dynasty.

March 13, 1936 was exactly Friday, which was the legendary "Black Friday". For the Netherlands, this is really the perfect Black Friday.

In Xiang Xiaoqiang's opinion, William Mina, the current Queen of the Netherlands, is a stubborn person. During World War II, she would rather fall from the Netherlands. She took her family to England to exile, rather than let the country accept Germany's "protection" like the Belgian king. Now in the colonial battle on the other side of the earth, it is not surprising that she has to hold on until now to seek peace. It is estimated that this is due to the pressure from the prime minister and the government for many days, so she nodded.

Since there are no diplomats from each other in the Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands, and after the Dutch ambassador to Nanjing was deported, he is now in Palatinate on Pazia Island, so the negotiations were arranged in Batavia, with the Dutch ambassador to the Ming Dynasty representing the Netherlands, Xiang Xiaoqiang and his two former diplomat advisers representing the Ming Dynasty. Xiang Xiaoqiang has sent a destroyer to Palatinate to pick up the Dutch ambassador. He can go to Batavia in the evening and start negotiations tomorrow.

Xiang Xiaoqiang was in a good mood, Qiu Qiu was in a good mood. The couple was dancing in the empty and magnificent living room of the Governor's Mansion. The record player played beautiful waltz music, and Qiu Qiu was teaching Xiang Xiaoqiang to dance step by step. The East India stall will end soon, and they will continue to go to Europe to "honeymoon". Qiu Qiu was happy when he thought about it. After receiving the telegram from the Netherlands to start negotiations the next day, he immediately pulled Xiang Xiaoqiang excitedly to the hall to teach him to dance.

Xiang Xiaoqiang felt that after he arrived in Germany, he would definitely be indispensable for attending dance parties. Anyway, there is nothing wrong now. Instead of stepping on the feet of those noble German ladies and ladies, it is better to step on Qiu Qiu more now.

"Left, right, left, right, back...Oh!"

Qiu Qiu leaned on Xiang Xiaoqiang's shoulder and couldn't stop giggling, his back trembling, and his fist gently hit his back. Xiang Xiaoqiang also smiled, hugged Qiu Qiu and kissed her neck tenderly, making Qiu Qiu laugh. Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that Qiu Qiu was happy from the bottom of his heart. These days in Batavia were so bloody. First, the native Tu Hua, killed more than 2,000 people, then the war, then the Hua Tu natives, killed more than 4,000 people... Now all this can finally end, and she can go to Europe with her beloved, enjoying civilization, tranquility and happiness.

The two of them had a long time of trouble. Xiang Xiaoqiang hugged her, looked at the famous paintings on the wall, and the strange cabinets displaying treasures. It is said that these were all treasures of the governor throughout his life.

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked up at the oil paintings on the wall. There were not many classical schools, and there must be no works from the Renaissance masters. Even if the old boy was the governor of the large colony, he could not afford to collect them. Those were hung in the living rooms of major European museums, palaces, and Rothschild and Rockefeller families. Of course, Zhu Yourong also had several.

Most of the works here are works from the 19th century Impressionist, with their light and shadow and colors very dazzling. Xiang Xiaoqiang had seen the signatures, mainly from second-rate masters. However, there were also a few of the first-rate masters such as Monet, Cezanne, and Renoir. Of course, there were also Picasso, who was destroyed by him.

"Qiuqiu," Xiang Xiaoqiang said in her ear, "How much do you think the artwork in the living room is worth?"

Qiu Qiu glanced at him with a look of awe and shook his head blankly.

Xiang Xiaoqiang narrowed his eyes and had the idea of ​​these artworks. Although the price of artworks at this time was far less outrageous than later generations, the whole hall of things combined can be called "priceful".

"I don't know how much it is worth," he said, touching his chin, "but even if an average of 100,000 Mingyang is one, these twenty oil paintings are worth 20 to 3 million. In addition, the Chinese porcelain in this cabinet will be worth 20 to 3 million. These millions of Mingyang things are all his own. Alas, the colonial governor, indeed, there is no honest one! Especially the governor of such a large colony."

Qiu Qiu widened his eyes and looked at the paintings all over the hall, as well as jars and jars. He never expected that it would be worth so much money.

Xiang Xiaoqiang snapped his fingers and smiled slightly:

"Take it all."

"Ga?!"

Qiu Qiu looked at him in surprise. After a while, he asked:

"Where to get it?"

"Nonsense, so many good things are taken back to their country. Should I leave them here for them?"

"Xiao...Xiaoqiang," Qiu Qiu obviously felt that this was wrong. It was too inconsistent with the moral concepts she had accepted since childhood. "Although these things are valuable, they are not ours!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said, "It turned out not, it's now."

"Xiaoqiang!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"I tell you, Qiuqiu, in today's world, many things are not yours. If you win a war, then you will belong to yours. The oil and rubber rights of Sumatra were not ours. Before the war, the Netherlands refused to give it to you. Now we have captured Batavia Island, and tomorrow's negotiations will not be completed. Now the Netherlands is concerned about whether we can return it to Batavia Island, not the little oil and rubber on Pazia Island."

He still seemed uneasy when he looked at Qiu Qiu, so he enlightened her from a moral level:

"You think, the Dutch authorities have condoned the indigenous people to massacre Chinese many times in history, and sometimes they still personally take charge. Since the "Hongxi Massacre" two hundred years ago, how many Chinese have died unjustly in the past two hundred years? Now we have taught it a lesson and let it get some blood? We have not accepted the entire East Indies, and are already very kind. Not to mention the distance, just talk about this governor. You look at the treasures in the living room, worth millions, how much salary is he? Can he afford it as a civil servant? It is not by making money and exploiting the people under his rule? Speaking of the people under his rule, how much money can those indigenous people have? It is not mainly by exploiting the Chinese!... Humph, I dare say that every time the Chinese are looted, the purse of these governors will be bulged once. Every painting and every piece of porcelain here condenses the blood and tears of the Chinese in East Indies! Qiu Qiu, do you think we should move them away or leave them here?"

"It should be moved away!"

Qiu Qiu nodded vigorously and said firmly.

Then, she hesitated again:

"Xiaoqiang, if this is the case, should we sell them more and compensate the Chinese here? It doesn't seem appropriate to move back to China like this!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang was really convinced by this kind little girl. He smiled and said:

"I will naturally have the Netherlands bleeding. This time it will not be enough to squeeze the Netherlands dry. If it does not bleed, we will not return it to Batavia Island. It will see how much blood it is willing to redeem Batavia Island. Qiu Qiu, we will bring these good things back to the country and dedicate them to Your Majesty. Your Majesty likes these works of art very much. Huo Huo, and she must be embarrassed to take them all, maybe she will give them some. Qiu Qiu, think about these things, even if they are only a small part, can you buy you many beautiful clothes and jewelry."

Qiu Qiu's face was red, biting her lip and hummed:

"Well, what you said makes sense... Then let's do it like that."

...

With the order from Xiang Xiaoqiang, the entire Batavia Island occupation forces started operating in the afternoon. Before the negotiations, every treasure found on Batavia Island could be packed and loaded, and monitored and escorted by the People's Guards carrying machine guns, and sent to several ports for shipment.

There are three main types of treasures: porcelain, bronze, and jade from China; oil paintings, bronze sculptures, gold and silver handicrafts from Europe, as well as cultural relics left behind by the Wandan Kingdom. These things are mainly stored in three places: the Governor's Mansion, the Grand Mosque, and the homes of local wealthy businessmen. It is definitely unrealistic to go to other people's homes to rob. Besides, most of the local wealthy businessmen are Chinese. However, the treasures stored in the other two places must be transported without hesitation.

When the occupying forces moved the treasures out of several large mosques, the Apu almost cried and protested, but it was useless. There were many Muslim natives outside the mosque who were excited and rushed forward to stop them and tried to steal the treasures of their ancestors, but they were beaten and arrested by the police without exception.

At night, all the artworks and treasures were loaded with three small cargo ships, which were shipped out of Batavia, Semarang and Surabaya, gathered in the northern waters of Batavia, and then escorted by two destroyers and sailed northward towards the Ming Dynasty.

"Sir," Song Ruhai asked with some concern, "If the Dutch ambassador asks about these treasures, how can we answer?"

"Simple," Xiang Xiaoqiang shrugged and said with a smile, "When fighting, I was robbed by rioters and rioters, what can I do?"

Although everyone saw the nearly robbery of the afternoon, they still have to say that. In history, Western powers have been doing such things all over the world again and again. What happened to the Ming Dynasty once did it?
Chapter completed!