Chapter 44: Governor-General de Carpentier

“So this is the intelligence you got from that woman?” In a residence in the city of Batavia, the Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company, de Carpentier, looked at the report in his hand and asked the respectful old Spanish soldier before him.

A man of medium height stood in front of the fireplace. This man had an arrogant and cruel demeanor, with sharp eyes, a broad forehead, and two moustaches on either side of his mouth, which, together with the short beard under his lip, made his already thin face look quite long. His skin, exposed to the sun of the East Indies for many years, had turned an unhealthy bronze color. Although he was only in his early forties, his hair was already graying—the East Indies was not a hospitable place.

This person was the Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company stationed in Batavia: de Carpentier. As the successor to Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the founder of the East India Company in Southeast Asia, he was also an outstanding Governor-General of the East India Company stationed in Batavia, possessing all the characteristics of a senior manager of the East India Company: shrewd, ruthless, skilled in scheming, and persevering.

“Yes, Your Excellency,” said Savage Gonzalez. “It cost a total of four thousand guilders.”

“That’s quite a lot,” the Governor-General blurted out with a merchant’s reaction. Gonzalez felt a sense of contempt in his heart—although he was only from a so-called “gentry” family in the countryside of Castile, he had the personality of a so-called “Spanish lord,” which was incompatible with the “small shopkeeper” mentality of the Dutch.

De Carpentier carefully examined the small, bound booklet in his hand. The answers to the 125 questions he had proposed were written in a beautiful, elegant woman’s script. Some answers were very simple, with only a few words, while others were dozens of pages long.

He rang the bell on his desk, and his secretary walked in.

“Translate this booklet. In German,” the Governor-General said. “And be quick about it.”

“I will translate it overnight and deliver it to you tomorrow morning,” the secretary said with a bow and withdrew.

The Dutch Governor-General could not read Portuguese. He could only wait for his subordinates to translate this booklet before he could read it carefully. But this “Spaniard” before him, who had stayed in Macau for several months, should have gathered a lot of useful information from the local area.

“Alright, you’ve come from Macau, you should have heard a lot about these Australians. It is said that it is a frequent trading post of theirs.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Tell me what you have seen and heard,” de Carpentier said, picking up a wine glass from the tray on the table, filling it with a rare Portuguese wine, and handing it to him.

“Thank you, Your Excellency,” Savage Gonzalez said gratefully, taking the wine glass and taking a large gulp. To be honest, the wine was not very good—the long journey at sea for more than a year and the average temperature of over thirty degrees Celsius here had made the wine too sour. But for someone who had not had wine for a long time, this glass of wine was like nectar.

“I heard many stories about the Australians in Macau, and I also saw their goods…”

“Start from the beginning. Tell me your opinion of that Portuguese woman.”

“She is very beautiful!” Savage Gonzalez laughed. “And very fiery. A bit like a Creole woman. She is very smart and cunning. God as my witness, there must be a little devil hidden in her body!”

“It is said that she is very influential in Macau?”

“Yes,” Savage Gonzalez said. “It is said that she is ruthless, and people who oppose her often die mysteriously or disappear without a trace. She has amassed a great deal of wealth from the sea, and therefore has a lot of influence among the upper class.”

The Governor-General nodded. He had also learned this from his intelligence network in Macau: Li Siya had strong influence in the Macau Municipal Council through bribery. She was both generous and asked for little, making her a welcome patron for the municipal councilors.

“Although in my opinion she is a reclusive person, she never appears in public. Many people have heard of her, but have never seen her. Few people even know where she lives.”

“How did you meet her?”

“In a tavern. Then someone took me there—with a blindfold.”

“She is very careful,” the Governor-General said to himself. It seemed that Li Siya had many enemies. Macau was not a very large place, so it was not easy to hide.

“Tell me about the Australians.”

Savage Gonzalez recounted what he had seen and heard since he arrived in Macau, especially the various “Australian goods” sold in Macau: a large amount of rum and Chinese spirits, various types of paper, from the best writing paper to toilet paper; various sugar products, the best-selling white sugar, rock sugar, and fruit-flavored candies…

De Carpentier listened very carefully. Although the Spanish soldier in front of him spoke incoherently and lacked organization, it was the most authentic first-hand information. Combined with the intelligence provided by Li Siya, it was enough for the Batavia authorities to determine their policy towards the Australians.

The appearance of the Australians initially did not attract the attention of the Dutch. At that time, the largest trading port in China, Guangzhou, was occupied by the Portuguese. After the East India Company’s attempt to open trading posts in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou failed, their window for trade with China shifted to the port of Tayouan in Taiwan. That is to say, their main trading partners were Fujian merchants, not those in Guangdong, let alone Hainan Island, an island located in the western part of Guangdong. A group of overseas people occupied a remote small island in China. This news took almost half a year to reach Batavia, and no one took it seriously. It was not until Leizhou began to sell a large amount of high-quality sugar that the “Australians” truly came into the sight of the East India Company.

Sugar was one of the most profitable goods transported from China by the East India Company. The East India Company not only transported Chinese sugar to Europe for resale but also sold it along the coast of the Persian Gulf. It was the most important trade product besides spices. Now that a large amount of high-quality sugar had appeared in the markets of Guangzhou, Macau, and Vietnam, it naturally attracted their attention. The report from the commercial agent stationed in Tayouan, Taiwan, stated that according to the Chinese merchants who transported the white sugar, the sugar was transported from Leizhou and Lingao—and reported that Lingao’s commercial development had been very rapid recently, and its import and export trade was very prosperous.

The commercial agents in Batavia immediately spread out a map to find the place “Lingao.” When they found that this place was far from their main trading ports, the Dutch breathed a sigh of relief. Then, they received more news from their ally on the coast of China, Liu Xiang: including that the people in Lingao were a group of overseas people who called themselves Australians, and they claimed to be descendants of the royal family of a previous dynasty. The most crucial news was that the Australians’ military equipment was very strong, strong enough to protect themselves. They had defeated the attacks of the Spanish and various pirates one after another. This made the commercial agents nervous—it meant that the Australians were about to form a new force in Lingao.

Although the Dutch did not take any action, their eyes were always on Lingao. The Dutch East India Company’s primary concern was to monopolize the spice trade from the East Indies to the Middle East and Europe, and secondly, to strive to expand and ensure their dominant position in the trade with Japan and China. The sudden appearance of the Australians and their large-scale export of goods, and whether this would affect the current situation, was their biggest concern.

Overall, the Australians were not very active in overseas trade. Although they imported and exported in large quantities, it was clear that their main trading partner was the Ming Dynasty, followed by Northern Qi. Most of the products that were eventually sold to regions outside of China were sold in Macau, and a part was traded in Guangzhou. The East India Company’s commercial network in Southeast Asia had never reported the arrival of any so-called Australian merchant ships at these ports—although Australian goods were continuously entering these ports. It was clear that the Australians lacked the ability for long-distance maritime navigation. This reassured the commercial agents: as long as they could monopolize maritime transport, it meant monopolizing the profits of trade.

In particular, Lingao’s goods were very competitive. In addition to alcohol and sugar, glass products and paper also had great potential. The former had already defeated the sales of Venetian goods in the Far East. Lingao’s cheap glass products and mirrors flooded into Southeast Asia and India. Venetian products, from the most expensive large glass mirrors to cheap perforated glass beads, were completely defeated. So much so that the Council wrote a special letter back to Europe, requesting to stop purchasing all Venetian products and to use Lingao products instead. The commercial agents even found that, even with the expensive shipping costs, purchasing glass mirrors from Guangzhou for sale in Europe was still cheaper than Venetian-made glass—especially for some large-format products, the cost difference was particularly obvious. As for the wholesale price of paper, it was so low that it surprised them.

From this point of view, the Australians in Lingao were a cooperative business partner rather than an enemy. What the Dutch feared most were forces with strong maritime power. They spared no effort to eliminate or exclude rivals with maritime power and to monopolize commodity transport routes, which was their consistent policy in the East Indies and East Asia.

Lingao did not fit this description. Although many sources indicated that the Australians had a navy, including a huge iron ship as large as a castle, no one had ever seen this iron ship move. Therefore, de Carpentier believed that this was either a rumor or that the large ship had lost its ability to sail and was not to be feared.

This was a question that the Governor-General was very concerned about. As a “sea coachman,” he was well aware of the potential threat of a super-giant ship. Once this ship could sail, it would not only be a huge maritime threat, but the amount of cargo it could carry due to its huge size would also be a number unimaginable by humans.

“…As for that large iron ship, it does exist,” Savage Gonzalez said. “Many merchants and sailors who have been to Lingao say it is true. A man named Aragones personally went to Bopu. Li Siya also said it is true.”