Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 256 The Richest Man in Nanyang
ps: Thanks to Heyin and core classmates for the 100-coin reward and support!
After leaving the wooden house, Liu Wu said goodbye to the other pirate leaders and led his pirates to sail towards their home base. After about two hours, the boat was a certain distance away from the island occupied by Wang Luoba. Liu Wu stood in the middle of the boat, looking back and asked, "Have you seen any suspicious ships nearby?"

"Brothers followed the orders of the big boss and drove carefully all the way. We have already left Wang Luoba's patrol boat behind."

A small pirate leader replied.

"Very good, tell all the brothers to turn around and head north. Today I will help you guys gain a bright future!"

Liu Wu said decisively.

"Yes, Boss." The pirate leader responded happily, and then excitedly directed the pirate ship to turn around. ...

In Batavia (Jakarta), the capital of the East Indies, several unusual guests came to the home of Zhang Zhenxun, the richest businessman in Southeast Asia.

"Master Zhang, this is Mr. Kirby from the UK. Mr. Kirby is a successful businessman. He has many companies in Qing and Japan. Mr. Kirby heard that you are the number one businessman in Southeast Asia, so he came all the way from Japan to the East Indies, hoping to cooperate with you in business."

Huang Fuyuan, the Chinese Kapitan of Jakarta, pointed at a blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigner and introduced him to Zhang Zhenxun.

"I wonder what kind of business Mr. Kirby wants to discuss with Mr. Zhang?"

Zhang Zhenxun asked.

"I heard that Mr. Zhang has seven reclamation companies in the East Indies, and the rubber reclamation farms alone cover more than 100 square kilometers. I would like to cooperate with Mr. Zhang to develop rubber plantations together. What do you think, Mr. Zhang?"

The foreigner Kirby did not use Huang Fuyuan to translate and spoke with a Jiangsu and Zhejiang accent.

"Mr. Kirby may not be very clear about the situation of the rubber reclamation farm. The Yuxing rubber plantation farm under the name of Zhang is not the property of one person, but a company jointly invested and owned by Zhang and Defeng Agricultural Reclamation Company.

All rubber seeds and seedlings of Yuxing Rubber Planting Farm were introduced by Defeng Agricultural Company. When cooperating with Defeng Company, the agreement signed by the two parties stipulated that Yuxing Company could not unilaterally introduce a third-party partner company without Defeng Company's consent. Therefore, if Mr. Kirby wanted to cooperate, he had to find the manager of Defeng Company. "

"Huang, do you know the situation of Defeng Agricultural Reclamation Company?"

Kirby turned around and asked.

"The manager of the Tak Fung Agricultural Reclamation Company is a German company. They have many rubber plantations in Sarawak, Sabah and other regions in Borneo. In addition, the Tak Fung Agricultural Reclamation Company officially employs 40,000 to 50,000 workers and 2,000 to 3,000 security personnel equipped with Dresser rifles. In the Borneo region, the strength of the Tak Fung Agricultural Reclamation Company is comparable to that of the Lan Fang Company. It is not easy to mess with."

Huang Fuyuan introduced.

“The East Indies is a crazy place!”

Kirby, the foreign devil, slapped his head and said in surprise, "Huang, do you know how surprised I was when I passed Sarawak and heard that Brooke had established a country there?"

Kirby, the foreign devil, asked himself and answered, "Brooke was just a poor sailor, but he was able to establish a country in Borneo. How incredible!

Moreover, not only did Brooke establish a country in Borneo and have an army, but in other parts of East India, the Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur, the Kapitan of Malacca, and the Kapitan of Penang all had thousands of armed forces under their command. I really don't understand where they got so much money to supply armed forces?"

"Ahem, the Kapitans are all collaborators of Britain and the Netherlands. They have the appropriate armed forces to defend the interests of Britain and the Netherlands in the East Indies."

Huang Fuyuan himself is a vested interest in the Kapitan system. After hearing Kirby's words, he explained somewhat awkwardly.

"Well, the situation in the East Indies is different from that in the Qing Dynasty and Japan. Since Mr. Zhang can't make the decision, let's put aside the rubber plantation for now and talk about another business."

"Mr. Kirby, please go ahead."

"The Kobe Iron Works and the Kapitans have a big business to do, and they need a lot of ships to transport goods, so I hope to rent a batch of merchant ships from Mr. Zhang. The number does not need to be too large, just twenty merchant ships with a water volume of more than 500 will be enough. Mr. Zhang should have no problem with that, right?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kirby. My shipping company was founded not long ago. The merchant ships in the company are now out transporting goods and cannot be rented out."

Zhang Zhenxun said with a regretful expression.

"The rental period can be relaxed. It is also possible to rent it after ten days."

"To be honest with you, Mr. Kirby, our company's fleet will not have any free time to rent out in ten or twenty days, so Mr. Kirby should look for other companies to cooperate with. There are dozens of Nanyang shipping companies. I believe Mr. Kirby will be able to find a suitable partner soon." Zhang Zhenxun appeared sincere on the surface, but in fact, he blocked the possibility of cooperation between the two parties with just one sentence. Seeing that the foreigner Kirby and the Chinese Kapitan were not willing to give in at all, they left Zhang Zhenxun's residence after a few polite words.

"Dad, the foreigners and the Kapitans are powerful, why are you unwilling to cooperate with them?"

After the foreigners Kirby and Huang Fuyuan left, a pretty girl came out from behind the screen and asked in confusion.

"Jakarta Kapitan Huang Fuyuan, Perak Kapitan Zheng Jinggui, Kuala Lumpur Kapitan Yap Ah Loy, Negeri Sembilan Kapitan Dunn... None of these people are easy to deal with. It is difficult for them to do anything good when they collude with the foreign devil Kirby. It is better for Daddy not to get involved with them."

Zhang Zhenxun looked at his precious daughter and explained patiently.

"Dad is a man of foresight. Our Zhang family is big and powerful. We don't need to follow them and do bad things just for a little benefit."

Zhang Baoyi sat obediently on the chair to the right of her father, picked up a cup of tea and handed it to Zhang Zhenxun, saying, "I heard that the daughter of the Lord of Songkhla is going to marry the King of Han. Will Huang Fuyuan and his men send people to attack the fleet where the daughter of the Lord of Songkhla is in order to retaliate against the Taiping Society?"

"Probably not. Those Kapitans don't have the guts to do that."

Zhang Zhenxun shook his head and said, "Although the Taiping Society has grown in the Nanyang region, damaging the interests of the Kapitans who have surrendered to foreigners, the maritime force escorting the daughter of the Lord of Songkhla is powerful. Even if they want to retaliate against the National Defense Forces behind the Taiping Society, they will not hit the hard rock of the escort fleet."

"Then should we warn the Han Kingdom in advance? After all, the rubber plantations at home are all provided by the Han Kingdom. If the Han Kingdom forces suffer losses in Southeast Asia, it will not be good for our family."

Zhang Baoyi is only fifteen or sixteen years old, but she has already made a habit of giving advice to her father.

"We should give the Han side a tip. Although the Defeng Agricultural Reclamation Company is a German company, it is still controlled by the Han country. The Han government has given many benefits to the Nanyang merchants. When they encounter problems, we should help them if we can."

Zhang Zhenxun put down his teacup, looked outside, thought for a while, and then said, "Baoyi, do you want to go to Hanguo?"

"Dad, why do you ask that?"

A puzzled expression appeared on Zhang Baoyi's face, which combined the softness of an oriental girl and the fair complexion of a western woman, and she asked in doubt.

"The Dutch have been wary of me. Since nine years ago, they have been restricting the development of my company. Up to now, the assets of our family have decreased by about 10% compared with nine years ago. After all, the East Indies is a colony of the Dutch. If we stay in someone else's territory to make money, it will easily arouse their envy. So I want to leave a way out for my family in advance and let you and your sixth brother go to Han State to buy an industry, which can also serve as a place for the Zhang family to stay in the future."

Zhang Zhenxun was the richest man in Southeast Asia. In 1869, the total assets controlled by Zhang Zhenxun were about 8000 million taels of silver, nearly million more than the annual fiscal revenue of the Qing government. The huge assets plus the low political status of the Chinese in Southeast Asia naturally aroused the greed of the Dutch colonists. Like other Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia, the Chinese businessmen who became rich through commercial activities such as land reclamation and mineral development contracting became the money bags of foreigners. Eight or nine years ago, the Dutch generally instigated the indigenous people to massacre the Chinese and took the wealth accumulated by the Chinese for themselves. Since the Taiping Society grew and developed in Southeast Asia and demonstrated the strength of the Chinese through actions to fight back against the indigenous forces, the Dutch generally no longer adopted the method of inciting the indigenous people to massacre, but set up a variety of taxes against the Chinese, and exploited the wealth of the Chinese in a more covert way.

Fearing the deterrent power developed by foreigners over decades, Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia did not dare to confront them head-on. So over the past seven or eight years, Zhang Zhenxun and other Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia suffered varying degrees of restrictions, and their assets slowly shrank under the exploitation and taxation of the Dutch.

Zhang Zhenxun had given some help to Van Lansberg before he became successful, and with the help of Van Lansberg's connections as Governor-General of the East Indies, Zhang Zhenxun was able to become the richest man in Southeast Asia. However, Van Lansberg was a governor appointed by the Dutch government after all, and his administrative policies in the East Indies needed to be dominated by the national interests of the Netherlands. He would not let Zhang Zhenxun off just because of his help in his early years.

Moreover, Van Lansberg's term in the East Indies was about to end. Without his care, Zhang Zhenxun's assets, which were rich enough to rival a country, would face greater danger. Therefore, Zhang Zhenxun prepared to speed up the transfer of assets and transfer the assets distributed in the East Indies to Han Kingdom, Songkhla and other places.

Zhang Zhenxun had a huge amount of assets, and the assets transferred to Han in the early stage were very low compared to the total assets. As a member of the Zhang family, Zhang Baoyi could understand the necessity of her father's doing so. However, thinking of her mother's situation after she left, Zhang Baoyi hesitated and did not immediately agree to her father's request.

"Baoyi is worried about your mother, right?

Don't worry, your mother Anna will accompany you to the Han Kingdom in half a month.

I heard that the Han country is open-minded and many Han families have foreign women. Your mother should be able to adapt quickly there."

Thinking about the reason why his daughter did not agree immediately, Zhang Zhenxun smiled and comforted her.

"Would it be inconvenient for a mother to follow her daughter to the Han Kingdom?"

"It's okay. I will go to Han in person in a while and visit you and your daughter. You don't have to worry."

"Then my daughter will be relieved."

Zhang Baoyi smiled and nodded, and the expression on her face became much brighter.

(End of this chapter)