Several old men followed the soldiers into the conference room of the Barbarian, and Liu Hai was already waiting for them here.
When these old men saw Liu Hai, they quickly knelt down and said, "Du Xiao, Hu Hai, and Gao Lin, the common people, kowtow to the Lord."
Liu Haijian and several gray-haired old men knelt down and kowtowed to him. They felt a little uncomfortable, so they stood up and helped them up personally.
"Please get up quickly, some elderly people," Liu Hai then said to Liu Da beside him: "Let these elderly people sit down."
Liu Da quickly ordered his men to help the old man do it and move him to other seats in the conference room.
When Liu Hai saw these old people sitting down, he smiled and said: "These are all leaders of the Nanyang Chinese and are quite prestigious. This time we meet, we are acquainted. If you have anything to do in the future, just ask."
After hearing Liu Hai's kind words, these old people expressed their gratitude again and again. Afterwards, they looked at each other a few times and pushed out Gao Lin to speak on behalf of everyone.
"Sir, we have traveled thousands of miles across the country to seek a living here, but we have been oppressed by the local foreigners. Even the natives are very unfriendly to us. I would also like to ask you to negotiate with the foreigners so that the Chinese people can live in peace for a while."
Regarding the living conditions of the Nanyang Chinese, Liu Hai heard a lot in modern times. They were pigs raised by local indigenous people and foreigners, and they would kill a bunch of them whenever they were short of money.
Liu Hai had nothing to do in modern times, but in the realm of the Qing Dynasty, he felt that he still had some abilities, so he smiled and said: "Everyone's request is very reasonable. Although I only stopped the ship in Jakarta to add media, since you have made the request, I
Officials cannot ignore the life and death of the people, so tomorrow I will visit the Governor of Jakarta. I think the Governor of the Netherlands is reasonable and won't refuse, right?" When Liu Hai said this, his face was full of confidence.
The three people below looked at each other in shock after hearing Liu Hai's words. If the Dutch Governor could be reasonable, then they would not have to suffer this problem long ago.
However, the three of them quietly looked up at Liu Hai and saw a mysterious smile on his lips. These old foxes immediately understood what Liu Hai meant.
This gentleman wanted to use force to force him. They discussed with each other and felt that since this gentleman was working so hard, they couldn't just sit back and watch.
So Gao Lin came out once and said: "Your Excellency really loves the people like your own children. We overseas immigrants have nothing to do to serve the imperial court. I think the imperial court must be short of funds to purchase warships now. We discussed it and are willing to donate to your Majesty."
One million taels of silver."
After hearing this, Liu Hai couldn't help but be overjoyed. With this money, the final payment for the Collingwood-class ironclad ship would also be settled.
Since the other party donated money, Liu Hai had to use other people's money to do things with them, so Liu Hai patted his chest and assured a few people that when he met with the Governor of Jakarta tomorrow, he would definitely get him to agree to improve the treatment of the local Chinese.
These old people were satisfied when they saw Liu Hai's agreement. In the past few times, the passing of imperial warships boosted the morale of the Chinese, but they had never negotiated with the Dutch.
This time, this gentleman was able to negotiate with the Dutch against his principles, and it was not in vain that they donated so much money.
Early on the morning of the second day, Liu Hai met with the Dutch Governor of Jakarta as the counselor of the Nanyang Navy and the captain of the armored cruiser HMS Insolence.
The initial meeting between the two parties was very friendly, but then Liu Hai suggested that the treatment of local Chinese should be improved.
The Dutch governor immediately became angry and said, "Captain Liu, you should know that you are standing on the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and you have no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands."
"Mr. Governor, I do not want to interfere in the internal affairs of the Netherlands. I just want to improve the status of the local Chinese and prevent them from unnecessary harm."
But the Dutch governor didn't want to talk more about the matter, so he had his bangs sent away.
Liu Hai was very angry after leaving the Governor's Mansion. He had made a deal with the Chinese leaders yesterday. He didn't expect that the Dutch Governor would dare to be so arrogant and unreasonable. It seemed that he should be allowed to see the power of this Barbarian ship.
So after Liu Hai returned to the armored cruiser Barbarian, he immediately ordered the furnace of Barbarian to start a fire, and then Barbarian slowly left the Jakarta pier and started cruising off the coast of Jakarta.
Not to mention that, Liu Hai then ordered all gun positions to uncover their gun jackets, load live ammunition, and wait for the order to fire at any time.
The unusual movements of the Barbarian also attracted the attention of the Jakarta military.
After receiving the news, Major General Martin Shaw of the Jakarta military immediately ordered the forts around Jakarta to be on alert, and at the same time summoned Dutch warships near Jakarta via telegram to return reinforcements.
After making these arrangements, he hurried to the Governor's Palace to report the current emergency situation to Governor Simon Möncheng.
Simon Möncheng was a little anxious after listening to Martin Xiao's report. He did not expect that this Qing Dynasty officer would dare to be so bold.
"Is it possible for our fleet in the Far East to repel the opponent's warships?"
"Mr. Governor, this is completely impossible. The opponent's warships have a tonnage of more than 8,000 tons and are very thickly armored. However, the most powerful warships in our fleet in the Far East only have a tonnage of more than 1,000 tons. The artillery on them is simply useless.
You can't penetrate the opponent's armor, so if you go up there, you can only give them military glory."
"Then what you mean is that you want to negotiate with the other party?"
"Yes, Mr. Governor, we are now at a military disadvantage, so we should recognize the situation clearly and not let the soldiers waste their lives in vain."
"Martin, did you waste all your courage on those yellow women? This is not like the heroic you before."
"Mr. Governor, courage cannot compete with steel. Please recognize the reality. As long as the other party's request is not so harsh and does not harm the interests of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, we can completely agree."
After hearing this, Governor Simon Möncheng had no choice but to admit that the other side's warship put too much pressure on the military.
But he also thought that if there was a war, the Kingdom of the Netherlands might lose control of Indonesia, which was the last colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. If it lost it, the Kingdom of the Netherlands would have nothing left.
So the governor could only compromise, "Okay, send someone to contact this officer. I agree with him to improve the treatment of the Chinese. From now on, the rights of the Chinese in Indonesia are equal to those of white people."
"Mr. Governor, I think the other side will not withdraw its troops without substantive terms."
"Then what do you want? I have already made a concession."
"If Mr. Governor wants the other side to withdraw its troops, I think we should add some Chinese people to the police force, so that the other side will be satisfied."
"How is this possible? We must know that the police force is our trump card to control Indonesia. If other ethnic groups are mixed into it, our control over Indonesia will be weakened."
"Mr. Governor, don't worry too much. As long as the army is there and there are some people from the other side in the police force, we will not be threatened."
In the end, the governor-general had no choice but to agree, because just now many businessmen had come to protest to the governor-general's palace. The Qing warship was cruising outside the port, and many merchant ships did not dare to enter the port.
Thanks to the compromise of the Dutch Governor, the matter was quickly resolved, and Liu Hai's warship covered its gun jacket again and returned to the Jakarta port to berth.
The Dutch Governor did not break his promise, and soon announced that he could accept some Chinese into the police force to jointly enforce the law with the white police.
When the leaders of several Chinese families heard the news, they immediately understood that this was the work of the Qing lord.
So that night they collected the money and sent it to Liu Hai's warship.
Next, someone was sent to inquire about candidates to join the police force.
Liu Hai thought for a while and realized that if he took their money and benefited those who did not pay, who would pay tribute to him in the future?
So Liu Hai directly set rules for these families. This time, the candidates for the 250 police officers given over by the Netherlands will be distributed according to the amount of money paid.
The entire Chinese family in Jakarta became lively at this time, and those who paid more were naturally very happy.
Those who were stingy and did not want to pay to bribe Liu Hai suffered a loss this time, so they secretly remembered that the next time Liu Hai came, they must actively move closer to Liu Hai and contribute money and effort.
Because these cunning businessmen have figured out that Liu Hai is not that easy to fool, and if they want him to do something, they can get real money.
Liu Hai stayed in Jakarta for another day and reported the time of his arrival in Shanghai via telegram from Jakarta to Zeng Guoquan in Nanjing before pulling anchor and setting sail.
After more than ten days of trading, Liu Hai's armored cruiser finally approached the sea off Shanghai.
When this giant ship approached Shanghai, the foreign garrison near Shanghai immediately made a noise. They did not expect that such a huge warship would stop in Shanghai.
The Nanyang Navy, which had been prepared for a long time, also dispatched its entire force to meet Liu Hai's armored cruiser on the sea, and then sailed toward Shanghai in a mighty way.
This fleet took Liu Hai's armored cruiser "Arrogant" as its arrow, and other warships were guarding it on both sides. After slowly approaching Shanghai, it did not immediately return to Wusongkou Pier, but followed Liu Hai's warship and cruised near Shanghai for a long time.
After a while, we headed towards Wusongkou Pier.
When they returned to Wusongkou Pier, Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Liangjiang, was already waiting there with officials of all sizes from Liangjiang.
These people were stunned when they saw the mountain of armored cruisers Arrogance coming like a mountain. Some officials even started to tremble in their legs.
After the Barbarian docked at Wusongkou Pier, Liu Hai ordered all the sailors to stand on both sides of the Barbarian.
But Liu Hai himself hurriedly got off the boat, knelt down on one leg in front of Zeng Guoquan.
"As a counselor of the Nanyang Navy, I am a steward of the armored cruiser HMS Insolence. Please greet me, Your Excellency."
Zeng Guoquan hurriedly stepped forward and lifted Liu Hai up, "Thank you for your hard work this time. Let our Nanyang Navy add a giant ship to prevent Beiyang from being ahead of us."