The Thousand Mask Warrior

Lau Siufan's

In the windy days of the Western season, Chinese traders came to Banten with his jung-jung. They load merchandise such as tea, silk, pans, needles, umbrellas, clogs, etc, until the material of ragged cloth and clothing and returned to their land by bringing the produce as needed by the Chinese country such as pepper, spices, bird's nest and copra.

The Chinese did not all go back to their country. Many people live in Banten. Most of them lived in a village overgrown with bamboo trees, so the village was named Bambucina.

Is a famous, honorable and rich Chinese figure from Kwangtung in the group of Chinese society in Banten was named Souw Beng Kong.

The Caucasians refer to people from Kwangtung, the area where Beng Kong originated, as Cantonese. The Hokkian Chinese call it Kong Hu, while the people of the region call it Kuongfu.

He was a big merchant in Banten who had a large pepper plantation and close to the Sultan of Banten. The Walanda, Pranggi and British people who want to buy natural products and negotiate prices in the port of Banten must have dealt with him.

That is why Walanda persuaded him to move to Betawi when Walanda successfully conquered Sunda Kalapa in 1619 AD.

Unmitigated, the Governor General of the VOC himself, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, who persuaded Souw Beng Kong and all the Chinese in Banten to move to Betawi.

Actually, before the arrival of Walanda first to the Sunda Kalapa or Jayakarta area in 1596 AD, the Chinese village already existed. At that time, Chinese settlements managed rice fields and wine distillation.

But Souw Beng Kong did not want to just move to Betawi bring with him all his Chinese community groups.

He then decided to go first to Betawi with Lim La, his partner. It is conditional if Walanda guarantees his life and the Chinese entourage there, then the Chinese in Banten will soon move to Betawi following his steps.

Coen really meant it. In 1619 AD, he appointed Souw Beng Kong as the Chief Captain of the Chinese Nation in Betawi. In 1620, he gained a position and position in the Walanda Company's office of affairs in College van Schepenen.

This means that in the assembly, he can decide the matters of the Chinese nation submitted in the assembly.

As a result, at the end of 1622 AD, in just two years, the Chinese who had numbered 400 people in Betawi who had existed before Walanda came increased to a thousand.

Walanda's decision was correct. The spice market moved to Betawi while the port of Banten gradually deserted. 

Souw Beng Kong is getting pampered. He was given a large private land in Penjaringan area. His wealth comes from business, shipping, development and cultivation, and a number of sugar plantations in Betawi.

This trading activity usually takes place between Betawi and the city of Amoy in Southern China served by Chinese jukung or jung voyages from Amoy and Kwangtung.

The Chinese were involved early on in Walanda's founding of Betawi. It can even be said that the first inhabitants of the city of Betawi were soldiers, Chinese citizens, and slaves who were brought from Malacca, Malabar in the country of Hindustan, Bali, and Celebes.

In the construction of Betawi, the involvement of the Chinese was seen in almost all occupations. Starting from building workers, salt makers, to agriculture. There are also other jobs such as cauldron makers, pans, furnaces, and other pottery items.

When Sultan Agung of Mataram attacked Betawi, Souw Beng Kong did not want to interfere. He sailed to an island in China named Formosa by the tongue of the Pranggi sailors in 1542 AD and named Tai-oan or Tayouan in the tongue of the Hokkians. The island was recognized by the Qin Emperor of China but was controlled and colonized by Walanda.

After all, he returned to Betawi until his death.

However, almost all Chinese people do not take their wives while migrating to the archipelago. Indeed at the time, the Chinese were forbidden to take his wife by the Qin Emperor because a woman was forbidden to leave China.

Until finally, these Chinese men married a number of indigenous women who eventually produced the seeds of an indigenous-Chinese peranakan. The marriage of the two nations was held in a festive and expensive manner with the customs and customs of the Chinese nation.

Lau Siufan is a Malay Chinese peranakan girl who lives outside the Betawi fort. The father was one of the many Chinese traders who migrated to Betawi from Banten following Souw Beng Kong.

Sasangka accidentally saw Siufan in a river while he was sitting quietly in his recovery.

His thighs that were pierced by Pratiwi's unwieldy keris in their previous fight were still not as severe as the hip fracture by the female swordsman's kick.

No wonder Sasangka spent more time in silence or walking to the market outside the city fortress or just sitting by the river.

He has no desire to retrain the skills of canuragan science and his body. Unlike Katilapan and Narendra who seem to have returned to health and not infrequently have trained their silat back.

The days of darkness in Sasangka. But the universe and the universe gave its generosity by sending bright rays in the form of a peranakan Chinese girl.

Initially Sasangka did not bother to see a girl he saw walking breastfeeding the riverbank with the small package. But the appearance of the girl over time became a kind of opium like Sasangka.

There was a strange feeling when he hoped to see the girl but what was expected did not appear and show himself.

Lau Siufan's name. Somehow, Sasangka managed to find out about the girl's name and background.

The father surnamed Lau was a merchant who emigrated from Banten following the Souw Beng Kong troupe. He had followed Souw Beng Kong to Banten since he was a young man, perhaps at the age of fourteen or fifteen, from Kwangtung.

He then married an indigenous woman, a Malay from Sambas Malay family from Tanjung Pura island across the sea.

Lau Siufan was their first and only daughter. In the Malay tongue of the mother and the surrounding community, the girl gets the call of Sipan.

Sipan or Lau Siufan has a slender body and white skin typical of the Chinese people. His long hair is braided and curled in such a way on the head to be compact. He often wears a mixture of Malay and Chinese top clothes with large buttons. Instead of wearing a cloth, he often wore long trousers and his legs wrapped in a flexible leather leg wrap.

***

"Suspects. You heard, didn't you? We must immediately follow Jayaseta to Sukadana on Tanjung Pura island. We don't really know how he's doing on the ship. Whatever happens on the deck maybe we won't be able to understand or prevent it. But we need clarity about Jayaseta's situation" Katilapan said to see Sasangka pensively looking away at the West.

Narendra also looked at Sasangka with a feeling filled with question marks.

During his time at Betawi, Sasangka suddenly got a kind of spirit of life back. He began to practice silat and his body was getting healed and strong. Whereas before, Sasangka seemed to be a completely different person.

His moves suddenly developed. It's getting faster and tougher. Even both Katilapan and Narendra suspected that Sasangka learned a kind of silat style different from someone somewhere.

But both of them did not mind and did not want to interfere with the interests and personal affairs of their colleagues. They were already so happy to know that Sasangka had a burning desire to live again.

Surprisingly Sasangka was the one who got the news that Jayaseta was in danger. More surprising is the news that Jayaseta is married and his wife is also targeted for murder by Walanda's subordinates and mercenaries.

Sasangka knows everything about the twin swordsman The Poet Baka, the Hell Earth Needle group and the residence of Jayaseta and his wife, Almira, in Semarang.

Then it will come back surprising when Sasangka apparently shook his head.

"I will not come with you to Sukadana" he said slowly.

"Wait, what do you say, Sasangka?"

Sasangka stared intently at the eyes of both colleagues, friends and his brother were clingy. Both of his eyeballs shone firmly in the starry night on the pitch. The blood-thinning smell of the corpses of the Earth Hell Needles members began to smell. "I will not go with you to Sukadana."

Sasangka turned his face. The view is far to Betawi, seeing Siufan and his slender body walking down the river.