Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 323: The Shrinking of Nanyang Powers
"Everyone, news just came from home that the British signed the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro with us. We won the Argentine War."

In the fortress on the main island of the Natuna Islands, Mei Dongxing introduced that "South America is the foundation of the country. The efforts made by the Nanyang Corps and the Taiping Society in the East Indies and the Malay Peninsula are all for the service of the local strategy. Argentina won the war. According to the provisions of the Rio de Janeiro Agreement, the government decided to withdraw the 1500 troops stationed in Songkhla, and the number of troops stationed in the Natuna Islands will be reduced to less than 400. From next year, the total number of regular troops stationed in Nanyang will be reduced from the current 5000 to less than 3000, and the number of militia armed personnel will be reduced to 3500.
In short, with the end of the Argentine War, the country's development focus will shift back to the mainland. In terms of overseas forces, the focus will be on developing the Congo colony and opening up a transit point in the South Pacific. In the Nanyang region, the main goal is to transport and transfer immigrants. In the future, the Taiping Society's activity goals will also change from organizing Nanyang Chinese to compete with local indigenous people to consolidating the economic and political interests of the Chinese in the region. Without the consent of the local central government, the Taiping Society is not allowed to start conflicts with foreigners without authorization. The Taiping Society's regional branches will go underground. The leaders of the regional branches that have been targeted by foreigners will be withdrawn to their posts in the mainland, and those who have not been exposed will continue to keep a low profile... "

Mei Dongxing introduced the Han army, intelligence agencies and other forces, and the focus of future operations in the Nanyang region. He continued, "Your Majesty's coronation date is officially set for December 12. At that time, the Great Han Kingdom will be officially restructured into the Great Han Empire. On the second day after the coronation ceremony, Your Majesty will formally marry Miss Wu and Miss Zhang as the queen and concubine. Before the coronation ceremony, the Nanyang side must solve the problem of the separatist rule of the indigenous chiefs in Songkhla in advance. General Wang and I will also take a steamship and return to China via the South Pacific route before November. Therefore, time is urgent. In the past half month, the Nanyang Corps must coordinate and handle the withdrawal and transfer time of the Natuna Islands as soon as possible, and cannot delay important matters."

“Lord Mei, Songkhla governs five provinces, among which Songkhla covers an area of ​​7393 square kilometers, Pattani covers an area of ​​1940 square kilometers, Yala covers an area of ​​4521 square kilometers, Narathiwat covers an area of ​​4475 square kilometers, and Kelantan covers an area of ​​1.49 square kilometers!
The total area of ​​Songkhla, including four prefectures, one state and five districts, is only 3.3229 square kilometers! The total population is over one million. With the current strength of the Nanyang Corps, it is easy to resolve the separatist forces within Songkhla. However, the main factor that determines the stability of Songkhla's political situation is not within Songkhla, but in the hands of Thailand and the British Malay colonial government. "

Liang Xing led the intelligence gathering work in the Nanyang region and had his own understanding of the situation in the Nanyang countries.

"On the Malay colonial government side, the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Frederick, was an ambitious politician. From his actions of promoting the establishment of a British garrison in Negeri Sembilan and the introduction of Indian colonial troops, it is not difficult to see that his goal was to expand the direct territory of the Straits Settlements Government. In the Malay Peninsula and North Borneo, the areas south of North Borneo and across the Malay Peninsula were all under the rule of the Dutch. The Dutch were allies of the British government. Without the authorization of the London government, Frederick did not dare to seize the Dutch colonies.
Apart from the territory controlled by the Dutch, the Straits Settlements Government had only one expansion direction on the Malay Peninsula, which was the Songkhla region between the Straits Settlements and Thailand. Songkhla was small and weak, and the only people who could obey the command of Lord Wu were a mob of one or two thousand people equipped with cold weapons and a small number of obsolete muskets. Even if our army eliminated the internal separatist armed forces on behalf of Lord Wu and the Han army withdrew, Songkhla’s existing military strength alone could not guarantee its independence and security.

"Last year, General Wang and General Chen selected a total of 80 grassroots officers to serve as military instructors and trained the army directly controlled by the Lord of Songkhla for about one year and three months. So far, about 500 Songkhla soldiers have passed the training assessment and reached the standard of forming an army. Among the remaining 1500 people, 800 who failed and 1300 newly recruited people are undergoing the second phase of training. It is expected that the army will be completed by the end of next year.

According to the instructions of General Wang and Lord Liang, when I was selecting the Songkhla troops for training, I mainly selected young and middle-aged Chinese. Therefore, in the two batches of Songkhla troops, the number of Chinese accounts for about 85%. Although the training results cannot be compared with the local regular army, the trained Songkhla new army will not be without the ability to fight when facing the local armed provocation of the British colonial army again. "

Li Wencai worked diligently in Songkhla for more than a year. He did not think that the Songkhla army, which also consisted of Chinese laborers, would be much worse than the regular army of the Nanyang Army after being trained as grassroots officers of the Nanyang Army.

"In addition to management and training issues, the main reason limiting the Songkhla army's combat effectiveness is the lack of standard weapons and equipment."

Wang Dashan agreed with Li Wencai's point of view to a certain extent, and said, "At the end of last year, upon General Li's application, the Nanyang Corps took out 200 imitation Dreiser rifles and 20000 rounds of matching ammunition from the reserve arsenal and delivered them to the Songkhla Army. Together with the old muzzle-loading rifles purchased by the Lord of Song City, the total number of muskets equipped by the Songkhla Army is about 300. With 300 old-fashioned rifles against the British colonial army equipped with new breech-loading rifles, the Songkhla Army is inherently at a disadvantage."

"There are no mature military factories in the Nanyang region. The weapons and ammunition needed by the Nanyang Army and the militia are all shipped from the mainland. The two places are far away, and it takes four months to go back and forth. The weapons and equipment equipped by the Nanyang Army itself are at the lowest level among all the troops of the National Defense Force. It is unlikely to provide sufficient weapons supply to the Songkhla Army."

“南洋这边的情况，中央政府已经知道，这次英国人解除对本土的封锁后，中央政府正在准备组织一批大型运输补给船队派往南洋，这批船队里将装载2000杆本土最新量产的汉华1878式后膛步枪（仿毛瑟1871式步枪）、20门75毫米野战炮、6门105毫米榴弹炮、3条仿德莱赛步枪生产线、20挺加特林手摇机枪炮、2条步枪弹药生产线以及其他一些补给物资、商品。

武器和弹药清单中，会抽出500杆汉华1878式步枪、4挺加特林手摇机枪炮、6门75毫米野战炮、2门105毫米榴弹炮部署在宋卡地区，而且为了预防安南北部两省被法国人占领，步枪和弹药生产线也会安置在宋卡地区。”

"Lord Liang, Songkhla has only more than 2,000 troops. They don't need so many weapons, right?" Chen Xinggui asked puzzledly.

"There are only about 3500 troops in Songkhla now. To eliminate the internal separatist forces, the army will have to expand to about 4000 to people in the face of pressure from Britain and Thailand. The demand for weapons, equipment and ammunition will be more than three times higher than now."

Liang Xing explained, "Moreover, the situation in Annam is getting worse and worse. According to the analysis of the local central government, if Britain annexed the entire Annam region, it would only take two or three years. Based on the current development of the local area, there is no way to stop the French from encroaching on Annam. When the French occupied the entire Annam, the Nanyang Corps would not be able to retain the two provinces in northern Annam. At that time, Songkhla would be our last support point in the Nanyang region. Although we promised the British to withdraw the garrison in Songkhla, it does not mean giving up the management and support for Songkhla.

The 1500 troops stationed in Songkhla can be withdrawn. At the same time, the mainland and Nanyang Corps will select a group of outstanding officers again, who will enter the Songkhla New Army as Nanyang Chinese, and then the command of the Songkhla New Army will be in our hands.

Brother Li, I sent a telegram to the General Staff yesterday, recommending you to be the next commander of the Nanyang Army. Your duties will remain unchanged for the time being. You will continue to be responsible for coordinating and controlling the training of the new army in Songkhla. The Nanyang Army in the two northern provinces of Annan will be temporarily managed by Chen Zongbai. "

"What about General Wang?"

"His Highness sent a telegram appointing me as the commander of the Third Division. From now on, Brother Li will be in charge of the affairs of the Nanyang Army."

Wang Dashan bowed to Li Wencai, and after some politeness, he suggested, "I heard that since King Rama V of Thailand ascended the throne, he has taken some measures to reform and strengthen the country. After Brother Li takes over the post of commander of the Nanyang Army, in addition to being vigilant against armed provocations from the Straits Colonial Government, he must not relax his vigilance against Thailand."

"General Wang and Liang have the same idea."

Liang Xing took over the conversation and explained, "Rama V was born in 1853 and ascended the throne as King of Thailand in 1868. He was only one year younger than Your Highness. Two years after he ascended the throne, he began to visit and inspect abroad, and visited Singapore, the East Indies, India and other countries.
After taking power in 1873, he embarked on domestic reforms. The following year, against all odds, he abolished slavery and stipulated that all Thais born after 1868 were free citizens. Moreover, following the example of the Meiji Restoration in Japan and the German Reforms, Rama V built a new army of 6000 people in the country with the intention of curbing the land invasion of Thailand by Britain and France.

The four provinces and one state of Songkhla, managed by Lord Wu, is located in the central part of the Malay Peninsula, far away from the control of the Thai government. It has been ruled by the Wu family for more than a hundred years. After the Thai king completes the training of the new army, he will most likely use troops against Songkhla first. By eliminating the military separatist situation in the Songkhla area, he will establish political authority and provide political and military prestige for subsequent reforms.

Thailand's strength in the Malay Peninsula exceeds that of the Nanyang Army. In order to avoid the influence of Thailand on the next action, I think that after the battle to eliminate the armed separatist forces, the Lord of Wu City should come forward and send representatives to the Bangkok Royal Palace to meet with Rama V. On the one hand, it will show the armed strength of the Wu family and dispel Rama V's bad intentions towards Songkhla. On the other hand, it will temporarily stabilize Rama V and show that the Songkhla regime is dominated by the Thai royal family and has no desire to separate and become independent. In this way, we can maneuver between Thailand and the Straits Settlements Government, retain the autonomy of the Songkhla region, and provide time for the local area to arm and support the Songkhla regime. "

(End of this chapter)