The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 864 Holy crap, the Han-Tang military empire!

Hawaii may not sound very big, but it has a large population, at least around 400,000, which is quite a lot for an island nation in the Pacific.

It is precisely because of this size that, although the United States controlled Hawaii in history, its assimilation of the island was extremely slow.

But it's different for Dayu; dealing with 500,000 people is a piece of cake.

So the war did not end with King Kamehameha being forced to submit; instead, it continued to break out on the four main islands, and a large number of Hawaiian men who tried to resist were arrested.

The commander of the Da Yu special fleet is nominally the seventh prince, Duke Zheng, Mo Zhouzhi. He is the same mother as Crown Prince Lao Sen and is currently being groomed as a replacement for the crown prince.

This was also the basic condition for the Imperial Noble Consort's younger cousin, Lady Chen, to agree to the arrival of the powerful Sen in the river. She and the Fujian and Guangdong meritorious officials and wealthy merchants behind her, mainly the people of Mingxiang and the Jiaoji Lang of western Guangdong, hoped that the second generation of the Dayu Dynasty would be on their side.

But this position isn't exactly fun for Mo Zhouma himself.

This family has never had much kinship, but his eldest brother, Da Laosen, is resilient and exceptionally capable, and is compared to Emperor Wen of Han by everyone in the court.

Mo Zhoumao's cheek twitched involuntarily. To the common people, Emperor Wen of Han was truly a first-rate emperor, but to the imperial family members in his position, well...

That's a ruthless person who would decisively execute his wife and four or five sons for the throne. You've threatened his position, how can you expect to have a good outcome?

Therefore, over the years, Mo Zhoumao has been making fun of himself like crazy. Not only has he gained weight to almost 200 pounds, but he is only about 1.75 meters tall. He also collects beautiful women everywhere and acts like a lecher.

Mo Zibu realized that things couldn't continue like this, and that Mo Zhoumao might end up ahead of him, so he specially issued an imperial decree to send him to the navy for training.

So even though the fleet was commanded by the thirteenth son, Mo Zhoujin, Mo Zhoumao was still given a name.

However, Mo Zhoumao had a habit of making fun of himself, or rather, he was naturally very lecherous. When he met the president of the Honolulu Chinese Chamber of Commerce, he immediately took a liking to the graceful and beautiful native woman from the Pearl Islands (Hawaii) in the room.

Chairman Luo is quite a character; he noticed Zheng Guogong Mo Zhouma's gaze immediately.

"If Seventh Master is so inclined, I have a few beauties here, all of whom are virgins who have never been with anyone. On this Pearl Islands, only virgins might be a little safe."

Mo Zhoumai looked puzzled when he heard the words "virgin" and "safety" connected.

His thirteenth son, Mo Zhoujin, sitting upright in his naval uniform, stood up and leaned slightly forward. "I've heard that a nasty disease called syphilis is rampant in the Pearl Islands, affecting a wide area. Is that true?"

"Yes, Thirteenth Master, that's right. These were all brought by those shameless Westerners." Chairman Luo said with some disgust, "Most of those Westerners are morally bankrupt. They mess around with any woman, and I've even heard that some of them mess around with animals."

The scourges on the Pearl Islands were brought by Westerners, and they've terribly harmed these natives. Even our people, when they first arrived, weren't careful and many contracted them.”

At that time, the most prevalent epidemic on the Pearl Islands (Hawaii Islands) was syphilis, and because the islands were isolated and the Hawaiians had little knowledge of disease and hygiene, the outbreak was very severe.

Of its 400,000 inhabitants, at least 40,000 to 50,000 suffer from syphilis. Last year, the mortality rate in the Pearl Islands was close to 8 percent, and the birth rate was only 2 percent.

Aside from a large-scale cholera outbreak, the biggest cause of infertility and other complications from syphilis is...

Historically, the syphilis epidemic in the Pearl Islands was brought to an end by the smallpox virus brought by Americans.

The despicable Americans used the same methods they used against Native Americans here, reducing the population of the Pearl Islands from 210,000 to around 130,000 in just two years.

Syphilis patients have very low resistance and basically all died in this epidemic, which directly cut off the source of infection and finally reduced the prevalence of syphilis to a minimum.

"I have come for this very reason." Mo Zhoujin looked at Chairman Huang with a faint smile. "The old chairman has indeed expanded the territory for the country. Please mobilize all the Chinese on the island."

"You all carefully examine everyone. Pick out all those with syphilis sores. Keep 20,000 to 30,000 women, and send the rest to Southeast Asia!"

"Oh my, Thirteenth Master is truly my savior!" Chairman Luo jumped up, his eyes practically gleaming with gold. "I wonder how we're going to deal with these people suffering from venereal diseases?"

"We are a nation of etiquette, we can't be as shameless as Westerners. Let's find an island to settle them, send them food and water regularly, and make sure they don't die," Mo Zhoujin said casually. This would be difficult to handle on the mainland, but it would be much easier on an island.

“Your father and son have rendered great service this time. I will personally report this to His Majesty. The Great Yu Dynasty never hesitates to reward meritorious officials. Just do your job with confidence.” After saying this, Mo Zhoujin waved his hand to dismiss the Luo father and son.

For nearly an hour, the prince had been receiving these commoners, who were not even ninth-rank officials, only because of their merits. Naturally, he could not continue to discuss trivial matters with them; these were matters that subordinate officials should handle.

After the Luo father and son left, Mo Zhoujin suddenly unfolded a yellow silk scroll, which looked exactly like an imperial edict. "By imperial decree, Duke Mo Zhouma of Zheng, receive the decree."

"Ah!!" Mo Zhoumao, with his small stomach weighing only 200 pounds, was immediately dumbfounded. What kind of imperial decree would be given to the thirteenth prince to carry with him, and why was he being asked to receive it at this time?

"Seventh Brother, kneel down and receive the imperial decree! What are you standing there for?" Mo Zhoujin shook the yellow silk in his hand again.

Mo Zhouma could only kneel down nervously, saying, "Your subject Mo Zhouma accepts the imperial decree."

"You fucking seventh brother, I'm not dead yet, what right do you have to humiliate yourself? Your eldest brother is perfectly healthy, are you cursing him to have an accident?"

"I think you're all fat and brains blocked. You look smart but are actually stupid. After we take the Pearl Islands, you can stay here and be my governor. Come back when you've slimmed down and brought this place under control."

Mo Zhouma was dumbfounded. He was so focused on showing his brother a respectful attitude that he hadn't considered his father's feelings.

Fortunately, according to the imperial edict, his father was not particularly angry. In fact, sending him to the Pearl Islands as governor was a way of protecting him, lest he take things too seriously and become a complete waste.

On the other side, the second young master Luo, who had just left, was still in shock at being able to meet the two princes. He was dazed and confused, so he couldn't understand why his father, Chairman Luo, was so excited.

"Hahaha, second son, you still need to practice more and study more!" Chairman Luo also took the opportunity to put down his second son, who was becoming increasingly arrogant due to his strong physique.

"The imperial court is going to move all the people of the Pearl Islands away. First, they will throw those with syphilis sores onto the islands to fend for themselves, and then they will ship men and women to Southeast Asia in batches to work as slave laborers."

Only thirty to forty thousand women remained here, waiting to be married off to Chinese immigrants from China. After that, there wouldn't be a single native left here.

Only then did Young Master Luo understand why his father was so excited. "The Pearl Islands have at least 400,000 people. Even if we subtract 100,000 who are sick or left behind, there are still 300,000 people. If we only get one silver dollar for each person, that's more money than we could earn in a lifetime!"

"No, it's far more than just one silver dollar, look."

Following his father's gaze, the second young master Luo saw a large group of soldiers in gray uniforms, carrying bayonet rifles, marching in perfect formation.

“The prominent families of Japan have sent people; they need these Pearl Harbor people even more.” Outsiders would find it difficult to distinguish between Han Chinese and Japanese at a glance, but their own people could recognize them quickly.

“These days, the farmers in Japan are not so easy to fool. They have broadened their horizons, read books, and are unwilling to stay in their hometowns to be exploited by the lords. They run away faster than rabbits. Therefore, these Japanese nobles also need tenant farmers.”

What Chairman Luo was talking about is the ridiculous situation in the five provinces of Japan, especially the four provinces on the Japanese archipelago.

These five provinces remain important regions for providing settlers, especially tenant farmers, with hundreds of thousands of people leaving each year. At the same time, they are also major importers of slave laborers, purchasing tens of thousands of people annually to farm the land.

At the same time, many nobles were unable to make ends meet and had to go out and colonize like ordinary people.

The reason was that after 24 years of Sinicization and broadening their horizons, ordinary people of both the Japanese and Korean ethnic groups were no longer willing to be exploited in their hometowns and fled one after another.

"Haha, the Japanese are rich, we have to squeeze them for a fortune!" Young Master Luo shouted excitedly, but his father, Chairman Luo, knew that they couldn't take too much.

This exclusive deal was permitted by both kings. The pacification of the Pearl Islands was ultimately achieved by the navy; they were likely just acting as middlemen and taking a 9% cut at most. September 1807.

Prince Yan, Mo Zhouzhen, returned from Kitagawa to Edo, the capital of the Japanese province of Fusang, the seat of the Eastern Sea Envoy.

He was ordered to marry Tanehime, the adopted daughter of Tokugawa Ieharu, the last (tenth) Shogun of the Eastern Seas, and was enfeoffed in Edo. His father, Mokofuku, gave him all the Kanto territory belonging to the Shogun, plus the Sendai Domain.

However, after he was granted the title of Prince of Yan, this fiefdom, which was almost half of Fusang Province, fell into an awkward situation.

Mo Zhouzhen's relationship with his wife, Zhong Ji, was not good. Zhong Ji was petite and, while not exactly frail and sickly, could hardly be considered healthy.

Now, the couple, Mo Zhouzhen and Zhong Ji, have been living in Beihezhou for most of the year, while Zhong Ji is recuperating in Beijing. They haven't seen each other for almost five years.

Most importantly, Princess Tanehira was infertile, which was a huge flaw. This prevented her from giving birth to a qualified heir to fulfill the emperor's promise to Tokugawa Ieharu and others, ensuring that the heir to Edo would have the blood of the Tokugawa family.

So the current situation is stuck. The Edo fiefdom cannot be incorporated into the Tsubame Domain. If that happens, Moshu Zhen will become too powerful and become the head of all the princes spanning two oceans. But if it is to be separated, he has no suitable son to inherit it.

His return this time was also to resolve the problem of the Edo fiefdom, which was a very important topic.

Currently, or rather after Moshu Zhen went to Kitagazu, the Edo Principality is being governed by the Principality Shogunate, which was formed by Zheng Shichao, a native of Yangjiang, Guangdong, who was appointed by his mother, Princess Yede.

Two years ago, after Zheng Shichao resigned due to illness, he recommended Zhou Yousheng, a fellow Jinshi from Changsha, Hunan, to succeed him.

Standing on the largest dock in Edo, Mo Zhouzhen carefully looked around his fiefdom, which was barely considered his homeland. He hadn't been back for three years, and Edo had undergone tremendous changes.

The biggest change is that the original smaller and oddly shaped imitation Tang Dynasty buildings have gradually been replaced with real Tang Dynasty buildings, and the original kimonos have also begun to be restored to the Tang Dynasty clothing that the Japanese people love most.

So much so that Mo Zhouzhen could see a large number of people wearing round-necked robes and blue shirts, and even quite a few people with turbans.

If it weren't for the fact that many of these guys were quite short and looked rather ridiculous, like monkeys wearing crowns, Mo Zhouzhen would have thought he had arrived in Shaanxi, the city with the strongest Tang Dynasty atmosphere, and in Chang'an.

"Guests who have come from across the sea, come here for a bowl of water and a drink. The finest kabuki performances will surely dispel all your worries!"

Mo Zhouzhen did not use his official ship when he returned this time, but instead came back with a warship, so many people did not know that their king was on board.

The place from which the shouts came from afar was the most popular haven for seafarers at Edo Wharf.

A large hotel that integrates restaurants, taverns, bathhouses, and chauffeur services, somewhat similar to the high-end bathhouses that were common in Northeast China in later generations.

After months of seasickness, these travelers are very prone to seasickness when they land, so they need to rest for a day or two in a gentle haven where they can be carefully cared for by specialists.

Mo Zhouzhen glanced at the dozens of followers and said, "Let's go and experience it too."

As they were talking, the soldiers who were on the same ship as Mo Zhouzhen and the others rushed off the ship.

The soldiers of Beihezhou are divided into three types: the garrison troops sent by the imperial court, who are usually stationed for a year and are mostly drawn from the garrison troops of various provinces; the Yan vassal army of Mozhouzhen; and the long marching soldiers from the Zhechongfu-Tunbao-Zhuangyuan established according to the Tang Dynasty's Fubing system.

The naval ships brought back over a thousand garrison troops from Hunan and Hubei provinces. They had distinguished themselves in the Battle of Yuyang, which was the battle that defeated the Spanish troops stationed near Los Angeles. Except for those who wished to stay in Beihezhou, they were all granted permission to return home a month early.

"Hey, it's soldier! Come on, take a seat!" the touts on the dock cheered loudly.

Among those returning from Beihezhou, the soldiers and gold prospectors were the most popular, because they were wealthy and willing to spend money.

Mo Zhouzhen was mistaken for an officer. As soon as he disembarked, he was surrounded by several guys in round-necked uniforms who were saluting. As soon as he entered a shop, he was immediately pushed into a soft sedan chair by two flirtatious women.

The sedan chair carried by the two men swayed back and forth, not much different from being on a boat. Moreover, the two sedan chair carriers were very experienced. They first rocked it fast, and then rocked it slowly, which quickly helped Mo Zhouzhen get used to land.

"Why are you dressed like this? I... uh, I thought I had traveled to the Tang Dynasty," Mo Zhouzhen asked with amusement.

"Guest, you may not know this, but Lord Zhou, the chief minister of the Duchy, highly admires the culture of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty is simply the cultural ancestor of us Japanese Chinese."

Therefore, Japan, besides Shaanxi Province, is the province most like the Tang Dynasty in the country. Many great scholars of the Tang Dynasty school of textual research have come to Japan to provide guidance, so it is naturally quite authentic.

The shop assistant patiently explained that in the Great Yu Kingdom today, the textual research school is the largest school of thought in the cultural world. It mainly studies the political system, customs, etiquette and clothing culture of the Han Chinese dynasties, with the Han and Tang dynasties as the main focus. It has a similar feel to the revival of Hanfu in later generations.

In recent years, the discovery of oracle bone inscriptions in Henan by the pre-Qin school, which was supported by the royal family, has further fueled the craze.

Mo Zhouzhen was stunned for a long time, looking at the obviously Japanese waiter with a mix of amusement and exasperation. He was speaking Mandarin with a Guanzhong accent, wearing a Tang Dynasty round-necked robe, a turban on his head, and performing a crossed-hand salute, always saying "Greetings".

The problem that had troubled Mo Zhouzhen for the previous ten years—how to Sinicize Fusang Province—was surprisingly solved quickly under this trend.

It's a bit of a stretch to say that these Japanese are somewhat resistant to Sinicization, but if you say they're learning from the Tang Dynasty, they're learning even faster than the Han Chinese, to the point that Japan seems to be becoming one of the centers of textual research.

After taking a relaxing hot bath and enjoying a feast consisting mostly of green and red vegetables and fruits without any seafood, two delicate Japanese women began to massage his entire body. Even Mo Zhouzhen, a seasoned and experienced man, groaned in pleasure.

He didn't leave his boudoir until noon the next day, and of course, he spent a lot of money.

After arriving in Edo, Moshu Zhen could not go directly to the capital, because feudal lords could not leave their fiefdoms without the emperor's permission.

Edo was also Moshu Zhen's fiefdom, and he could return from Heshu at will, but he had to apply for permission to go from Edo to Nanjing.

Satisfied, Mo Zhouzhen left the dock and, with dozens of civil and military officials and guards, headed into the city. When he reached the border between the dock and Edo Castle, he was surprised to see the garrison soldiers from Hunan and Hubei who had come with him that day, dressed in their army uniforms and wearing white gloves, lining up.

Mo Zhouzhen walked over curiously and saw that, for some unknown reason, a student parade of Taigaku and Kōgaku was taking place at the gate of Edo Castle in the distance, seemingly celebrating something.

"It is said that they are celebrating the imperial court's conquest of the Pearl Islands." A short while later, the guard who went to inquire returned to report.

Mo Zhouzhen nodded. At this moment, the parade also saw the guards who had just come out of the dock. A loud noise came from the loudspeaker, and the parade, in neat square formations, marched quickly toward the guards.

A commander on horseback, dressed in a martial attire with Tang Dynasty patterns, shouted through a megaphone: "These are the heroes who have returned from colonizing Beihezhou. They have just defeated the evil Spanish, rescued the Hezhou Jurchens who were oppressed by the Westerners, and expanded the country's territory by a large area. Let us pay tribute to them, pay tribute to the heroes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, at least one or two thousand students dressed in imitation military uniforms raised their right hands in salute, their steps synchronized and their voices ringing out in unison.

"Salute to the heroes of colonization, salute to the warriors of the nation!"

"For the empire, for all generations to come!"

"Long live the Emperor!"

The garrison commander, a colonel from Wuchang Town, Hubei Province, was so nervous that his palms were sweating, but his face showed an extremely honored expression. The other garrison soldiers also had expressions of pride.

The colonel, deputy commander-in-chief, drew his saber and raised it high. His personal guards, carrying the army's red flag with a gold sun and moon emblem, marched in neat formation. Their gloves and bayonets reflected the bright white sunlight.

"For the Empire, for the Emperor, for all generations to come!"

The soldiers, thousands of them as one, shouted and marched in perfect unison in response to the salutes of the people!
(End of this chapter)