Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 364 Taiping Old Members
July 1881, Shanghai Concession.

"Selling newspapers! Selling newspapers! The Chinese army of Annan has defeated the French, killing and capturing thousands of French soldiers! The number of Chinese casualties is only 700!"

The newsboy, about eleven or twelve years old, was shouting loudly, carrying a bulging backpack.

"Give me one, I want one too."…………

The bustling streets were crowded with people, and Chinese people, attracted by the shouting, kept taking out a few copper coins and buying a newspaper to read.

"At midnight on June 27, the French army of more than 10,000 people attacked the Chinese army by land and sea, with drums and horns blaring and flags flying. They were divided into three teams on land and headed straight to Shangqingfang. They used several wheel cannons and dozens of blast cannons as the vanguard, and more than a thousand breech-loading rifles as the second. They surrounded Hanoi City and their spirit was like a tide, almost destroying it and eating breakfast.

焉。

Upon hearing the report, Governor Mei ordered all camps not to move rashly, and ordered all elite soldiers to lie low inside the walls to await orders from the central army, while he personally led elite troops to station on the main road to provide support.

Upon learning that the French army was still a few miles away, the governor took off his saddle and sat on the ground. General Li Wencai, Chen Xinggui and others stood on his left and right, carrying spears and swords. To the right of Hanoi City was the Right Camp, and to its left were the Front Camp and the Left Camp. All of them were training their horses and preparing their battle array.

The French army advanced in three directions, and seeing that the camps had stopped beating their drums and there was no movement, they rushed forward and fired their guns and cannons.
The sound was like thunder, shaking the mountains.

But there was still no sound in the camp, so the French army turned around the right side of the bridge and attacked the right camp. When they were about to reach the rampart, Governor May's central army fired a signal cannon.

General Pang Zhenyun and his warriors rushed out to intercept the French army and fought for a long time. A group of French soldiers circled the front and approached the right camp. Pang saw the enemy approaching and raised his arms to shout.
The camp gates were opened, and the brave soldiers bravely rushed out from the guns and cannons, each of them fighting ten enemies at once. …………”

The latest issue of Shenbao has a front-page headline full of reports about the Battle of Hanoi. However, in order to attract the attention of mainland Chinese people, the description of the Battle of Hanoi in Shenbao is inevitably exaggerated and magnified.

After carefully reading the contents of the newspaper, the Chinese businessman Zhu Baosan hurriedly called his servants and changed his route to visit Wu Diaoqing, the boss of the Meihua Trading Company.

The Meihua Trading Company was a trading company opened in the name of a foreigner, but the actual person in charge was Wu Tiaoqing, the highest intelligence and business manager stationed in the mainland by the Han Dynasty.

"I apologize for disturbing you on this hasty visit. Boss Wu, please forgive me."

Zhu Baosan entered the headquarters of the Meihua Trading Company with a smile on his face.

"No, no, Mr. Zhu is a distinguished guest of the foreign company. Mr. Wu welcomes you whenever you want to come."

Wu Diaoqing greeted him into the living room and asked, "Boss Zhu is very busy. What brings you to the Meihua Company today?"

"Haha, isn't it because we saw the Chinese army making a fortune in Annan and the French, and the Han country in South America and the French reached a truce and signed a trade agreement.

Zhu was thinking that Huamei Foreign Trade Company had a fleet that specialized in South America and the Far East. Now that France and Han had restored peace, the South American printed cloth that Zhu had set his eyes on earlier could be shipped to Shanghai again. So I couldn't wait and came all the way to visit Boss Wu, hoping to get some information from him."

"Brother Zhu has a unique vision. No wonder he was able to build a great business in Shanghai."

Wu Diaoqing chuckled and continued, "Brother Wu is right. On July 7, China and France signed a replacement agreement. On the 3th, a fleet carrying grey cloth, printed cloth, and printing machines set off and is expected to arrive in the suburbs of Shanghai at the end of August." "Haha, then Zhu will make an agreement with Boss Wu first. The price will be 6 pieces of grey cloth and pieces of printed cloth. If the printing and dyeing factory does not have enough grey cloth by then, we will come to Boss Wu to purchase more."

"Grey cloth is easy to deal with, but the printed cloth produced in South America is very popular. I'm afraid I can't sell 5,000 pieces to Boss Zhu?"

"Why?"

"Recently, the Han Kingdom has invented several new printing and dyeing technologies, which have reduced dye and printing costs by 20% to 30%. In addition, the finished fabrics produced using new dyes and printing and dyeing technologies are bright in color and of excellent quality. The overall price is about 20% lower than before, but the quality of the fabrics is much better than the same fabrics. Many customers in South America, Southeast Asia, and the Jiangnan, Fujian, and Zhejiang regions are lining up to order new fabrics. Most of the first batch of fabrics shipped to the Far East have already found buyers in advance, so for the sake of our past friendship, I can only give Brother Zhu 3,000 pieces of fabrics at most, and I can't give him more."

"Three thousand pieces of floral fabrics will do. As for the remaining amount, I will find a way to get it from somewhere else."…………

After seeing Zhu Baosan off, Wu Diaoqing called a company employee and instructed him to "inform Mr. Kirby and have him take out 6,000 pieces of floral fabric from the warehouse and deliver them to Hu Xueyan's trading company for use."

"Yes, little one, let's do it right now."

Huamei Foreign Company was the commercial base of the Han Dynasty in the mainland. Not only industrial products such as grey cloth and printed cloth, but also military supplies such as muskets, cannons, machine guns, cannons, ammunition, etc., which it had stockpiled a considerable share of through channels such as maritime smuggling.

Local officials in the mainland earned huge profits by promoting foreign affairs and industries, and some of the Han Kingdom's advantageous industrial products were also secretly transferred to local officials through normal transactions, thereby building the Han Kingdom's military, intelligence, and economic networks on the mainland.

Hu Xueyan was the money bag of Zuo Zongtang, the Governor-General of the Two Rivers and Minister of Commerce of Jiangnan. Establishing connections with him would help expand the sales of Chinese goods in the southern region. For this reason, Wu Tiaoqing rejected many Chinese businessmen and Chinese compradors of medium and upper financial strength, and gave priority to providing the stockpiled supplies to Hu Xueyan and other businessmen who had connections with official officials.

The war in Annan stopped, and the power of the Han Kingdom in Southeast Asia further shrank. Two years later, according to the agreement with the French, the Nanyang Army and the Chinese armed forces all withdrew from Annan. By then, the Han Kingdom's overt power in Southeast Asia was only the Natuna Islands and the Anambas Islands, a small territory of 2800 square kilometers. As for Songkhla and the Lan Fang Kingdom, they could only secretly send personnel to control the local real power, which was difficult to compare with the grand occasion of deploying nearly troops during the Annan period.

Compared with the shrinking influence of the Han Dynasty in Southeast Asia, the Battle of Hanoi and the deeds of the Han Dynasty in South America were gradually known to more and more people through the propaganda of newspapers set up by Western foreigners in the concessions, such as Shen Bao and Wan Guo Gong Bao. Especially during the Annan War, newspapers opened by foreigners vied to report the progress of the war, and talking about the Annan War became a trend in the foreign concessions.

Newspapers opened by foreigners such as Shen Bao and Wanguo Gongbao were not afraid of the threats from the Qing government. Their reports were mainly aimed at attracting readers' attention. Of course, the Chinese forces, led by Huamei Yangxing, continued to pay advertising and sponsorship fees to promote Chinese industrial and commercial products and South American customs and practices, which was also a major factor in promoting the spread of Chinese influence in the mainland.

Intelligence work was not easy. In order to avoid the threat of arrest by the Qing government, Wu Tiaoqing deployed his main personnel in various concessions. However, in certain specific circumstances, he had to take huge risks and act under the nose of the Qing government.

"Prince Zhong Er, Li Rongfa, the second son of King Wu (Li Xiucheng, posthumously named King Wu by the protagonist), has been living in seclusion in Jiangxi. He contacted our people four months ago. Now our people have escorted Prince Zhong Er to Fuzhou. We need to send someone to pick him up."

Wu Diaoqing sat in a secluded room and instructed a young Chinese man, "Captain Wang, take your men, disguise yourself as escort merchants, and go to Fuzhou to wait for them to join you."

"How do we get in touch with them?"

Wang Shizhen asked.

"We have people in the Fuzhou Green Camp. Someone will contact you when the time comes."

"Yes, I understand!"

(End of this chapter)