Daendels Estella's
Batavia

The arrival of the train that brought Daendels and his entourage became frightened for the natives who were around, not because they were afraid of what Daendels would do, but they were afraid of being one of the people who died for nothing at the hands of the stone man. The news of the cruelty and harshness of the Daendels government has spread throughout the Dutch East Indies without exception, who does not know him, the iron fist.

Stella who was sitting next to Daendels looked at the surroundings, the chimney and the unpleasant smell were everywhere, this area was worse than what she thought. The smell was somehow nose-piercing, if in his day this kind of smell came from the chemicals of factory waste, but this was not just around the large factory buildings, almost along the Batavia road, Batavia, along its small alleys.

“Batavia was very bad when I came as Governor general, the decision to choose Buitenzorg (Bogor) was an excellent decision for a decent residence.”

“Will Batavia not become the center of civilization?.” Stella looked at Daendels who also saw the girl.

“True, Batavia is the center of government and civilization, this is where all will exist but here too all must be leveled with land. This area will never be good just by fixing it one by one, everything must be flat with the ground, the air will change then build a new government center.”

Stella nodded in understanding at what Daendels said, she was a fool about history, if only from the beginning she knew she would be here, he would memorize his entire history book so that he knew which direction to go.

A native woman caught Stella's attention, the girl noticed her and made Daendels tell the coachman to stop the train. “What do you see?.” Daendels asked curiously as Stella continued to look back.

“I like to see someone who is not foreign.”

“Do you want to see it closely?.”

“Can I do it?.”

“Sure, I will accompany you.”

“Thanks.”

Daendels goes down first, then helps Stella down by holding her beautiful white gloved clasped hands. The two of them walked up to a woman sitting together with the middle-aged woman next to him, when Stella came, she looked at Stella with a questionable look.

“Have I met you before?.”

“Me? I'm new first see you noni.” The woman was very polite to Stella considering she was with the Dutch people.

“Who is your name?.”

“I Larasati.”

No, one word that disappointed Stella. Larasati is very similar to her best friend Kinanti, she even thought that she was Kinan. It was just that Larasati was indeed dressed very shabby, in contrast to Kinan who had a lot of nice clothes and healthy skin, Larasati was not, she had some injuries on her hands and feet.

“Do you know him?.” Daendels' question made Stella turn her head towards the man.

Stella slightly brought her head closer to Daendels and whispered very softly “She is very similar to my close friend Willem.”

“Really? Do you need information about it?.”

“Can I?.”

“Sure can.”

“Thank you very much noni, we sell plates we made ourselves. None have sold since yesterday the day after, we need groceries to eat.” Said the middle-aged woman who was next to Larasati.

“Give them groceries.” Daendels orders some of his soldiers to retrieve foodstuffs that happen to be in a horse carriage.

“I will take two, how about 2 silver and a small sack of rice?.”

“What? That's too much for the price of two plates only noni.”

“Nothing, hopefully help your family.”

Stella picks up the plate after they get the payment, Stella smiles and leaves them to return to the horse carriage she was riding in. But Stella's view is still curious about Larasati who also continues to pay attention to it even though it is very far away.

It was at the meeting hall of the old VOC government. The hall that Daendels now uses as the new Governor-General, today is his meeting with colonel Zeni Lutzow. It seems that the man had arrived early at the meeting hall, not only the colonel but also other Dutch officials who had an important role in the success of the construction of this road.

The arrival of Stella gives a big question mark to everyone who is there, Daendels can not introduce Stella as a low, lowly person, Stella has an important role as well to help her decide on a good path for development.

“Include, she is Estella, my future wife who came with me from the Netherlands.”

Just like before and Stella is no longer surprised when she is introduced as a future wife. The choice that really helped him protect himself behind the body of Daendels, his position is quite high than others, he would be safe if it was like that.

“I Estella..” Stella introduced herself very gracefully, perhaps acting like a reog in real life. But he learned the attitude of the Dutch noble daughter from a book he read in his room. It helps to build the impression of a dignified and intelligent company princess.

“Stella will be my accomplice who helps take care of some things about De Grote Postweg.” Daendels' sentence surprised all Dutch officials including Colonel Zeni Lutzow, not because he was Daendels' wife-to-be or Dutch, but because he was a woman.

“I do not agree, how can a woman working in the field of men, should the daughter of the company remain silent at home, read a book or do whatever she wants at home, do not take the plunge in the field.” One of the Dutch officials expressed his opinion.

From the very beginning Stella knew that her position would be strongly opposed by anyone who heard her, so she prepared something else to convince them that she was capable of working in this development.

“Thanks for the opinion you give, I will not say many things, but I will prove directly about this. Who is responsible for seeing the contours of the land of the postal highway?.”

Colonel Zeni Lutzow raised his hand slightly, Stella smiled and moved from her seat. The girl told the soldiers to unfurl the map of Java in front of everyone at the meeting.

“See here no map Java.” Stella touched the entire map of Java using a pen in her hand, she gave a point at the starting position of the construction of Anyer. “Starting from Anyer coming to Tangerang then Batavia, Ciandjoer, stop here.” Stella circled the Soemedang (Sumedang) section. “I have never come there, but here there are rocks that are quite hampering the construction of the road, takes a long time and also a high level of safety.”

“How do you know if there is rock?.”

“I just know, I learned the geographical location of Java, I will be very helpful in this development.”

Daendels smiled hearing Stella put her thoughts before everyone who was not even on her side.

Seriate