Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 260 Harvest after the War
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The smoke on the battlefield gradually dissipated, and countless ship wreckage and debris were floating on the lonely sea. The fleet led by Li Han and Mei Dongxing had immediately left the battle area and returned to the Natuna Islands with the captured personnel and supplies.

The battle in the Andaman Sea ended successfully. As the victorious side, the National Defense Navy not only captured 36 usable pirate ships, but more importantly, captured more than 5,000 pirates and more than a dozen Chinese Kapitans.

More than 5,000 captured personnel belonged to 13 Chinese pirate groups and 17 Chinese Kapitans. Four of the leaders of the 13 pirate groups died in the battle and the remaining nine were captured. However, none of the 17 Chinese Kapitans and the British man Kirby who was in contact with them died, and all of them became prisoners of the Wehrmacht Navy.

According to the distribution plan agreed upon in advance by Li Han and Cai Jiu, 700 Chinese pirates who had not committed any serious crimes were assigned to the Kismayo stronghold. Among the remaining more than 4,500 captives, except for more than 400 who were directly executed for their crimes, the others were assigned to northern Annan, Songkhla, and the Natuna Islands to serve as the main labor force for the construction of fortifications.

It was easy to reach a consensus on the disposal plan for more than 5,000 prisoners, but when discussing the final disposal plan for nine pirate leaders and 17 Chinese Kapitans, obvious differences arose among several people.

The naval fleet led by Li Han was the main force to ambush the pirate fleet. From a military perspective, Li Han believed that all evil must be eradicated. Since all the pirate leaders and Chinese Kapitans had been captured, they naturally had to be killed, thus solving the maritime safety problem that plagued the immigrant transport fleet in one fell swoop.

However, Mei Dongxing disagreed with Li Han's point of view because he considered the long-term security of the Han Kingdom's stronghold in Southeast Asia.

"General Li, the Chinese Kapitans are dependent on the Dutch and the British. If we don't solve the Dutch and British colonial forces in Southeast Asia, even if we kill these Kapitans, the foreigners will soon support a group of new Chinese leaders to replace them. Therefore, killing 17 Chinese Kapitans is not a difficult task. However, these Chinese Kapitans are affiliated forces of the Dutch and the British after all. Once we kill them all, what will the Dutch and the British think? Will they think that we want to incite the Chinese in Southeast Asia to fight against them, or that the Han country is ambitious and wants to interfere in the South Pacific colonies?"

Mei Dongxing explained carefully, “Han’s core interests are in the homeland. Your Majesty established a transit point in Nanyang. Its main purpose is to transport Chinese immigrants to the country, not to replace foreigners and take Nanyang for yourself.

General Li, you must understand that the naval fleet has a limited stay in Nanyang. Now that we have offended the foreigners and have completely fallen out with them, the Dutch may not act rashly due to the deterrence of the naval fleet. However, after ten days or half a month, the naval fleet will escort Miss Wu back to their homeland. The Dutch will have no scruples and may instigate the British to retaliate against us. Therefore, for the sake of your majesty's plan and the safety of the Nanyang stronghold, we still have to be patient and temporarily let these Chinese Kapitans go."

"Master Mei, I don't quite understand. The pirates who attacked the transport fleet were supported by the Dutch. Now they have all been wiped out by our army. Haven't we already torn our relationship with the Dutch? Even if we release the captured Chinese Kapitans, are the Dutch really willing to swallow their loss and live in peace with us?"

Li Han asked back.

"It is true that the Dutch want to expel our forces from the East Indies, but the Dutch do not have enough troops in the South Seas. If the two sides tear each other apart and engage in a full-scale confrontation, it will only result in mutual destruction."

Mei Dongxing looked at the captured old gunboats and explained, "The Dutch are no longer the sea coachmen of two hundred years ago. Their original colonies in Africa and America were either seized by the French or sold to the British at low prices. Now their remaining colonies are mainly the East Indies. The Dutch government attaches great importance to the ownership of the East Indies. As long as we do not openly tear our faces with the Netherlands, they dare not take action against the Natuna Islands and our affiliated Taiping Society forces."

Territory and population are the main factors to measure a country's comprehensive strength, and of the two factors, territory often occupies a more important position. In the early days of the Age of Discovery, the population of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom were not much different. Later, with the advent of the First Industrial Revolution, the British population grew rapidly due to its larger territory, and soon widened the gap with the Netherlands, which put the Netherlands at a disadvantage in the war with Britain for maritime hegemony. In the end, the Netherlands failed, and most of its colonies and overseas trade markets were taken away by Britain, leaving only a few colonies such as the East Indies to live in poverty.

At the same time, due to the loss of huge overseas interests, the industrial development speed of the Netherlands was much lower than that of Britain and France. The ironclad ships equipped by the Dutch Navy and the warships used to maintain colonial rule also had a huge gap compared with Britain and France.

Li Han, Mei Dongxing and others could see the dilemma of the Netherlands' lack of strength to rule the East Indies. However, because Britain was behind the Netherlands, Mei Dongxing never dared to underestimate the Dutch colonists. When dealing with the 17 Chinese Kapitans, he was more concerned about maintaining superficial peace between the two sides and not letting things get out of control.

War is only a means, and the competition for interests between countries is more about the exchange and compromise of interests behind the scenes.

After hearing Mei Dongxing's explanation, although Li Han understood that it was inappropriate to directly execute the 17 Chinese Kapitans, he felt very unwilling to let them go.

Li Han was not the only one who was unwilling to give up. Cai Jiu and many middle and high-level officers who participated in the battle were also unwilling to release the captured Chinese Kapitans in vain. Therefore, after more than an hour of discussion, Mei Dongxing, Li Han, Cai Jiu and others reached a final plan for the disposal of the prisoners: Li Han selected four pirate ships with intact performance as heavy transport ships and placed them under the jurisdiction of the National Defense Navy. The remaining captured ships were all handed over to the transport fleet to be used to transport Chinese immigrants and protect the safety of the routes.

All 29 pirate leaders were executed, and the National Defense Navy took over their belongings and family members left behind in their lair, while the territory was taken over by the surrendered pirate leader Liu Wu.

The ransom of the thirty-seven Chinese Kapitans ranged from 500 to taels of silver per person, and was paid by their relatives and subordinates, totaling about million taels of silver.

Fourth, warn the Dutch colonial government and demand that the Governor of the East Indies cancel the discriminatory policies against Chinese merchants in exchange for the safety of 17 Chinese Kapitans and the Chinese Kingdom's understanding of the incident.

Of the four conditions, only one was aimed at the Dutch colonial government. Of course, it was unlikely that the Dutch government would cancel the high taxes imposed on the Chinese. However, using this incident to put pressure on the Dutch colonists and reduce their exploitation of the Chinese in the East Indies would be of great benefit to the Han government in winning the support of the Nanyang Chinese, especially the wealthy Chinese businessmen.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Netherlands, Britain and other countries had not yet completed their full control over the Nanyang region, and the status of Chinese armed forces and Chinese businessmen in the region was much higher than that in the early 20th century.

The control of Chinese businessmen over their own private wealth was much stronger than in the early 20th century, and the Qing government during this period did not attach much importance to the Nanyang Chinese community, which led to the fact that although the Nanyang Chinese businessmen were wealthy, they did not dare to withdraw funds to invest in the mainland, resulting in a large amount of funds not being effectively utilized. The Han Kingdom was developing rapidly, and heavy industry, light industry, commerce and other industries all required a large amount of capital investment. Therefore, providing security for overseas Chinese and then attracting investment funds from overseas Chinese was a job that Mei Dongxing attached great importance to, and it was also one of the requirements of the Han government for the person in charge of the Nanyang region.

Just entered the internship company, one more

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(End of this chapter)