Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 258: The Complexity of the South Seas Forces

ps: Thanks to Black Maple Bison for the 1000 coins and Haihua Empire Emperor for the 100 coins reward and support!
In the late Qing Dynasty, there was a huge income gap between different classes.

The lower-class workers in society, such as coachmen and waiters in restaurants, earned no more than two or three taels of silver a month. Ordinary soldiers in the Qing army generally earned four or five taels of silver a month, while middle and senior officers such as the Green Camp captain and commander had a monthly income of more than one hundred taels. As for senior generals such as commander, lieutenant general, and deputy general, their income was even higher.

According to price estimates in the late Qing Dynasty, one tael of silver could buy 110 kilograms of rice, and the income from two or three taels of silver could just meet the living needs of the lower-class people for one month. However, those Manchu officials and businessmen in the ruling class would often use the power they held to obtain incomes that were hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands times higher than that of the lower-class people.

The rich are living in luxury, but the poor are freezing to death on the streets. A large number of Qing officials have become parasites on the body of the old empire. In order to maintain their rule, they may make small changes to the government structure under internal and external pressure, but they will not willingly give up their rule over the country and hand over the power in their hands to other classes or forces.

The new rising forces will always push the old ones forward. After becoming the vested interests, they will also maintain their own interests in various ways and under various excuses. As an important class in the social division of labor, businessmen are born to pursue profits. In the face of huge business opportunities, they can easily bet their entire fortune to gain ten or even dozens of times the profits.

Contrary to what most people think, from the failure of the Taiping Rebellion to the period before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the mainland under the rule of the Qing Dynasty was the largest industrial country in the Far East, and its industrial scale far exceeded that of resource-poor Japan.

Among the several heavy industrial industries that the Qing government focused on developing, the Jiangnan Shipyard had perfect shipbuilding technology, and the shipwrights responsible for various parts of shipbuilding generally had skilled techniques. In the original history, the British businessman Kirby saw the huge profits brought by the suspension of production at the Jiangnan Shipyard, and used various means to poach more than 30 core technical shipwrights from the Jiangnan Shipyard. Then, using the shipbuilding technology mastered by more than 30 shipwrights, he quickly manufactured two steamships, the "Taihu Maru" No. 1 and No. 2, which were the largest in Japan in terms of displacement. One of the two steamships used a steam engine made by the British, and the other directly used an engine made by Chinese shipwrights.

The technology brought by more than 30 Chinese shipbuilders laid a solid foundation for Kobe Shipyard under Kobe's name. Later, the Japanese government formulated more stringent policies against foreign capital. Kobe's investment in other industries was repeatedly blocked by Japanese local businessmen and chaebols. Finally, he owed a large amount of loans and committed suicide out of desperation. Shortly after Kobe's death, all his industries, including Kobe Shipyard, were nationalized by the Japanese government.
After Kirby's industries were nationalized, Japan's military shipyards such as the Nagoya Shipyard and the Yokohama Shipyard mastered the technology of the Kobe Shipyard's steam engines by sending apprentices to learn, and in just a few years, they raised the level of Japan's shipbuilding industry to a higher level.

In history, Kobe worked hard to build the Kobe Shipyard, but ended up making wedding clothes for others and improving the level of Japan's military shipyards. Now, seeing that the fat meat has fallen into the hands of the National Defense Forces, Kobe, under the instigation of the Japanese shareholders of the Kobe Shipyard, chose to cooperate with pirates and the Dutch to win back more than 200 ship workers from the Jiangnan Shipyard.

Time passed quickly in the busyness. It had been more than ten days since Kirby arrived in Nanyang, and there were less than three days left before the launch of the planned plan.

"Mr. Kirby, the Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur, Yap Ah Loy, sent a message saying that there was an armed fight between Chinese in Selangor. He is leading his men to help the Sultan of Selangor to quell the armed dispute between the two Chinese factions. He cannot participate in the attack on the National Defense Force's transport fleet for the time being."

Kirby was receiving more than a dozen Chinese Kapitans in the room when one of his foreigners came in to report.

"All the Kapitans had discussed the matter more than ten days ago, but now Yap Ah Loy suddenly changed his mind. What does he mean by that?"

Before the foreign devil Kirby could speak, Jakarta Kapitan Huang Fuyuan was the first to express his dissatisfaction.

"The people sent by Yap Ah Loy explained that it was Huang Ping, the leader of the Selangor branch of the Tai Ping Society, who was leading the trouble. The Tai Ping Society wanted to seize the tin mine in the Klang Valley owned by Zhang Chang, the Kapitan of Seremban. Yap Ah Loy also had a stake in the Klang Valley tin mine, so he had to personally lead his men to negotiate with Huang Ping."

"A branch of the Taiping Society has only 500 to 600 people, and the Seremban Kapitan has thousands of people under his command. How can they not defeat the other side's 500 to 600 people?"

Huang Fuyuan questioned.

"Brother Fu Yuan, the number of 500 to 600 members in a branch of the Taiping Society was only last year. Since the beginning of this year, the number of formal members under the Taiping Society has doubled. The number of members in a branch has also increased from 500 to more than 1,000. It is normal that the Seremban Kapitan cannot beat the Selangor branch of the Taiping Society."

The Malay Peninsula is rich in tin resources. Chinese gangs and the Taiping Society have considerable influence in the local area. Zheng Jinggui, the Kapitan of Perak, which borders the state of Kelantan controlled by the National Defense Force, knows more about the Taiping Society than others, so he introduced it to other Chinese Kapitans: "The organizational structure of the Taiping Society is divided into seven levels: peripheral members, formal members, hundred generals, thousand generals, hall masters, helmsmen, and commanders. The peripheral members and formal members are the grassroots members of the Taiping Society, while the hundred generals, thousand generals, hall masters, helmsmen, and commanders are the backbone and core leadership of the Taiping Society.

Since February this year, the organizational structure of the Taiping Society has changed. Generally, one hundred generals supervise 30 to 40 formal members, one thousand generals supervise 200 to 3200 formal members, and the hall master supervises four to six thousand generals, with a total of about 1,200 people. The helmsman supervises 7 to 8,000 formal members, and the commander is the manager of the Taiping Society, responsible for hundreds of thousands of members in Southeast Asia. "

"I've always heard from the Kapitans in the Malay Peninsula that the Taiping Society is very powerful. Brother Zheng, do you know who the leader of the Taiping Society is?"

A Chinese Kapitan asked.

"Bukit Kapitan thinks highly of me. The Taiping Society is a well-organized organization. Not to mention the leader of the Taiping Society, even the leaders of the branch groups under his leadership are not well known."

"The master behind the Taiping Society is the Han Kingdom. They act cautiously, and it is difficult for outsiders to find out their information."

Another Kapitan agreed.

The Chinese Kapitans in the Nanyang region had been in contact with the Taiping Society for seven or eight years. Based on their conscious covert investigations and the information provided by the Dutch, the Chinese Kapitans roughly estimated that the total number of Chinese people, young and old, controlled by the Taiping Society was several hundred thousand. However, as to the exact number of these several hundred thousand people, not only did they know, but within the Taiping Society, except for the Taiping Society leader Liang Xing and a few senior officials, even the leaders of the branch offices did not know.

The leaders of the branches are the core leaders of the Taiping Society. In the entire Southeast Asia region, the Taiping Society has set up seven branches, namely the Malay Peninsula Branch, Borneo Branch, Sumatra Branch, Java Branch, Thailand Branch, Vietnam Branch, and the Philippines Branch. The seven branches plus the staff directly under the headquarters, the Taiping Society has a total of 6 formal members and more than peripheral members.

The total strength of the outer members and formal members was over 300,000. Even though the Taiping Society acted low-key and cautious, it was still discovered by the Dutch colonists and Chinese Kapitans. After seeing the Taiping Society's huge strength, they naturally developed fear and finally chose to stick together to resist the pressure from the Taiping Society.

Power is a man's aphrodisiac. The Chinese Kapitans in the Nanyang region are all lower-class Chinese who came to Nanyang. They took the position of Kapitan through competition and fighting with Chinese forces of the same ethnic group. If they were asked to voluntarily give up their power and join the Taiping Society, it would probably be more difficult than killing them.

Kirby, the Chinese Kapitans and the Dutch colonists who supported them came together because of their own interests. After more than ten days of coordination and preparation, Kirby had gathered more than 6,000 armed forces, more than 70 ships of various sizes, and five gunboats eliminated by the Dutch.

The armed personnel and weapons ships for attacking the transport fleet were ready, and according to the agreement, the 400 armed forces provided by Yap Ah Loy would have little impact on the success of the operation. In order to unite other Chinese Kapitans, Kirby made the final decision and agreed that Yap Ah Loy would withdraw from the operation halfway, and then distribute the share of the harvest that Yap Ah Loy deserved to other Chinese Kapitans after the operation was successful.

Through some arrangements, Kirby promptly resolved the adverse effects caused by Yap Ah Loy's withdrawal from the operation. At the same time, Yap Ah Loy led seven or eight hundred of his men and stopped sixty kilometers away from the Klang Valley mine.

"Father, why did the team stop?"

Ye Yalai's eldest son Ye Shengping walked from the front of the team to his father and asked.

"Nothing happened at the Klang Valley tin mine. My father led seven or eight hundred people out because he did not want to participate in the attack on the Han transport fleet."

Sitting under a big tree far away from the team, Yap Ah Loy explained, "If the plan goes well, the attack on the Han transport fleet has a 70% to 80% chance of success. If the operation is successful, we can gain a lot of benefits. However, a few days ago I got a message from Selangor that the British took over the administrative rights of Kuala Lumpur, and in two or three years, the capital of the Straits Settlements will be moved to Kuala Lumpur.

Sheng Ping, do you know what it means for the British to do this? "

"Father, Kuala Lumpur is your life's work. Where were the British when you worked so hard to develop Kuala Lumpur 20 years ago? Why did they take away our Ye family's territory? Father, Kuala Lumpur is the root of the Ye family. Without Kuala Lumpur, the Ye family is nothing. You must not agree to the British's request!"

The development of Kuala Lumpur from a desolate tin mining site into a prosperous city was inseparable from the hard work and dedication of the early Chinese. Yap Ah Loy had served as the Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur for more than ten years and was the real power holder in the Kuala Lumpur area. As his successor, Yap Sheng Ping had long regarded Kuala Lumpur as his own private property. Therefore, when he heard that the British wanted to take back Yap Ah Loy's power to govern Kuala Lumpur, he was very angry.

"The British are powerful all over the world. In their eyes, our Ye family is not even as good as an ant. How can we be qualified to resist them?"

Yap Ah Loy was also filled with anger, but he suppressed it forcefully and said, “I developed Kuala Lumpur with my own hands, and I cannot watch it fall into the hands of the British.

Sheng Ping, in the Nanyang region, apart from the British and the Dutch, the Han Kingdom is the most powerful. So before the British officially intervene in the affairs of Kuala Lumpur, we cannot offend the Han Kingdom. Otherwise, in a few years, the Ye family will have no chance of turning things around.

You may understand what I am saying!"

Ye Yalai stared into his son's eyes and said.

“My son understands that Kuala Lumpur is the foundation of the Ye family. Compared with Kuala Lumpur, nothing else matters.”

"Remember what we said today. We must not let Kuala Lumpur fall from our hands!"

"My son will never forget this!"

"Okay, order the team to rest here and return to Kuala Lumpur in five days."

"Yes, father!"

Ye Shengping answered firmly and walked towards the team without hesitation.

(End of this chapter)