Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 326 Songkhla II

"Father, several representatives from the Lan Fang Company are at the port, and they want to see you."

More than 2,000 Chinese immigrants were settled in the open space outside the port to eat and rest. On the other side, the eldest son Wu Chong came over and told Wu Jin a piece of news.

"Songkhla has been busy lately and cannot spare the time to meet them individually. After I receive Lord Mei and his party, you will entertain them on my behalf."

"They said they were representing 17 Lan Fang business groups and wanted to see my father. They wanted to discuss with him the important matter of expanding the scale of investment in Songkhla. There was no time to waste."

"What could possibly be the most important matter for the Lan Fang Company? They are hiding their assets for fear of being targeted by the Dutch and losing their wealth. If they take out money and expand their capital investment in Songkhla, aren't they afraid of attracting the attention of the Dutch?"

The Wu regime itself was also engaged in commercial trade. There was a certain degree of competition between the Lan Fang and Songkhla regimes in maritime transportation, food, cloth, industrial and commercial commodity trading, etc. However, because they completely sided with the Dutch and relied on the Dutch influence in Southeast Asia, the merchant groups within the Lan Fang Company often squeezed out the business groups affiliated with the Songkhla regime, and the two sides accumulated considerable contradictions.

"I heard from them that it seemed that due to the internal political changes in Lan Fang, Liu Asheng retired early and recommended his son Liu Fangliang to be the Jiatai of Lan Fang Company. Before Liu Fangliang took office, he was privately prepared to agree to the Dutch threat and allow the Dutch to send colonial officials to supervise the internal governance of Lan Fang.

They were worried that the Dutch would further control the Lan Fang Company, which would lead to a repeat of the tragedy that happened more than 20 years ago, so they looked for a way out for the merchant group and their families in advance.

"The tragedy that happened more than 20 years ago was also partly due to the Lan Fang Company. They are afraid now."

Wu Jin sneered and said disdainfully.

Wu Jin personally experienced the collapse of the Dagang Company more than 20 years ago. At that time, Chinese immigrant regimes in other parts of the East Indies were successively wiped out by the Dutch, leaving only the Dagang Company and the Lan Fang Company on the island of Borneo.

In 1850, the Dagang Company rejected the Dutch's request for surrender and gathered Chinese workers to resist the Dutch invasion. During this period, the Lan Fang Company obeyed the Dutch orders and not only sent armed Chinese workers to fight against the Dagang Company, but also after the Dagang Company's resistance failed, more than Chinese workers were intercepted and disarmed by the Lan Fang Company's armed personnel led by Liu Asheng while fleeing the Dagang Company's territory, and finally handed them over to the Dutch for disposal.

The Dagang Company was destroyed and more than 1879 Chinese died in the war. Liu Asheng, the chief executive of the Lan Fang Company, eliminated the forces within Lan Fang that opposed him with his assistance and secured his position as the chief executive of Lan Fang. However, the destruction of the Dagang Company seriously weakened the armed forces of the Chinese in Southeast Asia and marked the beginning of the collapse of the Chinese regime in Southeast Asia. Since the demise of the Dagang Company, the Dutch turned their attention to their affiliated force, Lan Fang, and continued to use various excuses to encroach on the territory of the Lan Fang Company. By 200, the Lan Fang Company, which controlled an area of ​​more than 30 square kilometers at its peak, only had direct control over two places, namely Dongwanlu and Sankouwang, and the population was reduced from more than million to .

The decline of the Lan Fang Company and its eventual demise were closely related to Liu Asheng and his son. In particular, when the Han Chinese forces entered Southeast Asia, Liu Asheng and his son still failed to see the changes in the situation clearly. They followed the Dutch loyally and turned a blind eye to the sincerity of cooperation shown by the Taiping Society. In the last armed uprising of the Chinese led by the Taiping Society, they still obeyed the orders of the Dutch colonists and used the lives of the Lan Fang Chinese workers to seek credit and reward for themselves.

Liu Asheng and his son did not leave themselves a way out. The rumors in other parts of Southeast Asia that Lan Fang had voluntarily proposed to submit to the Qing Dynasty and accept the protection of the Qing court were all nonsense. In the last thirty years of the Liu father and his son's rule over Lan Fang, in order not to arouse the suspicion of the Dutch, they never took the initiative to seek help from the Qing court.

In the competition among great powers, weak forces can only rely on the protection of great powers to ensure their own safety. The situation in Southeast Asia continued to be chaotic and turbulent. The British's introduction of Indian military and police prompted the Chinese Kapitans to plan their own actions in exchange for the British colonists to withdraw. At the same time, they began to move closer to the Qing court. Kapitans such as Yap Ah Loy, Huang Fuyuan, and Dunn either took advantage of the momentum of the Han Kingdom to secretly flirt with the Taiping Society and use the Taiping Society's intelligence and economic network throughout Southeast Asia to quietly transfer their assets to Songkhla and South American Han Kingdom. Or they spent money to bribe Qing officials and ministers, bought an official hat from the Qing court, and used the remaining power of the Qing Empire to bring themselves a sense of security. Among the many Chinese forces in Southeast Asia, only Liu Asheng and his sons relied entirely on foreign colonists.

Wu Jin felt that perhaps Liu Asheng and his son thought that they were clinging to the Dutch, and even if the Lan Fang Company was destroyed, the Dutch would retain their power and wealth because of their loyalty and dedication in the past. But would the Dutch really be so sentimental? Wu Jin couldn't guess, and didn't want to think about it. Anyway, in a few years, when the last military power of Lan Fang was controlled by the Dutch, the ending would naturally be clear.

"Tell them that Songkhla welcomes investment from all businessmen and that we will protect the safety of their property. Please don't worry."

On the one hand, he couldn't stand the behavior of Liu Asheng and his son, and on the other hand, he accepted the investment from Chinese businessmen of Lan Fang Company. Wu Jin made a very clear distinction between the two.

Songkhla is different from the Han Kingdom in South America. Songkhla is small in area and surrounded by powerful countries on all sides. Its development space is limited. It can only establish its country through commerce and rely on political and military support from the Han Kingdom to maintain its political independence.

Wu Jin positioned Songkhla and the Wu family as the Han Kingdom's immigration transit station, military and intelligence base in South America, and also played the role of absorbing Chinese business capital and serving as a temporary shelter for the Chinese in Southeast Asia. If we understand Songkhla's own positioning, we can understand why Wu Jin could rationally accept the Lan Fang Chinese business group's entourage and shelter.

"Father, are you going to see him or not?"

"Forget it. Let them come to the City Lord's Mansion tomorrow morning and learn more about the actual situation inside Lan Fang. It might come in handy in the future."

"Yes, father, I will arrange it now."

Wu Chong replied, and when he turned around to leave, his father stopped him and said, "Don't leave yet. I have something to tell you."

"Father, please speak."

Wu Chong said respectfully

"You are the eldest son of the Wu family. The future of Songkhla will be handed over to you sooner or later. I was lucky enough to make friends with Master Mei Dongxingmei of the Nanyang Army. Through the introduction of Master Mei and Master Li, your two sisters will marry His Royal Highness the King of Han.
It is a blessing for your sister and Songkhla that she can marry His Royal Highness the King of Han.

In two years, you will be thirty years old. From now on, you will have to learn to handle all the affairs of Songkhla."

"Father, you are in the prime of your life and you are handling government affairs. I will have plenty of time to learn slowly in the future. There is no need to rush. In my opinion, it will not be too late for me to learn from you in ten or twenty years."

"I am not a person who is conservative and greedy for power. After more than ten years, when Songkhla is stable both inside and outside, I will pass the position of city lord to you. You don't have to worry about other people's gossip."

Wu Jin was quite satisfied with his son's performance and advised him, "At the end of October, Lord Mei and General Yang will return to South America. At that time, I will send you and your second brother to represent Songkhla to attend the coronation ceremony of His Royal Highness the King of Han. After the coronation ceremony and your sister's wedding ceremony, you will stay in South America. I will ask His Royal Highness the King of Han to arrange for your second brother to enter the Army Officer School and for you to enter the Han government agency to learn how to handle government affairs with His Royal Highness the King of Han."

"The son will follow his father's arrangements, but the son is not around, so the father should take care of his health."

"I'm in good health, so you can go to South America without worry. When you get there, you should spend more time with your sister. She got married in such a far place like South America. I will feel more at ease with you accompanying her."

"My sister is very well behaved and lovely. She has been away from home for half a year. I believe she misses dad very much. When we get to South America, I will give her some more advice on behalf of dad."

"Lingxuan is innocent by nature. After marrying His Royal Highness the King of Han, she is different from before. She needs to learn to be more careful when encountering things."…………

Talking about his precious daughter, Wu Jin couldn't help but give a few more instructions. More than ten minutes later, when the attendant delivered the message that the fleet of the Nanyang Legion had arrived at the port, the two ended their conversation.

I recommend a good book I am following, "The Blood Age of the Five Barbarians". Friends who are interested can go and have a look.


(End of this chapter)