Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 225: India follows suit and also wants to use South African currency?

"Fuck! Fuck! Zheng, you're destroying our friendship! How could you do this? Fuck!"

Still in Singapore, Henry, the only foreigner Zheng Yi had met so far and whom he could meet almost without even notifying him, was expressing his anger fiercely in his office.

Zheng Yi smiled for the first time. Even though the guy kept scolding him, he surprisingly showed excellent emotional intelligence such as smiling, friendliness and kindness.

"Calm down, old Heng."

"Old Henry?"

"Here, let me show you. This is what my son drew yesterday when he was learning to paint. Dads and moms, tell me, does my son have the talent to be an artist in the future?"

Henry muttered as he took the drawing paper and said, "Even if your son's paintings are shit, it won't stop those guys in the art world from praising him. Artists are just playing around, right? Oh, who cares? I'm talking to you about official business. Zheng, can you please show some respect to me?"

"I respect you very much."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi took the initiative to light a cigarette for him.

"Why, Shell's shareholders still don't agree with me buying the Brunei oil fields? It doesn't matter, there's no rush. The oil fields have been fully recovered anyway."

"It's already been fully mined? Why am I so confused?"

"Of course, it's not just Brunei. The oil fields in Sarawak have also been exploited. Don't you know? If you don't know, then don't know. The oil is shipped directly to Penang."

"Oh, Fuck, you're such a robber!"

"What are you talking about? Since the sovereignty is still undecided, I'll just use the oil produced first. If you're in a hurry, then negotiate quickly."

"You... hum!"

Henry was also helpless and had to sit down again to smoke in frustration.

Throughout Southeast Asia, at least in Malay and Borneo, Chinese people make up the majority of oil workers. After the Japanese surrendered, the oil workers in Brunei and Sarawak, that is, the historical East Malaysia region, were almost all Chinese. After the surrender in World War II, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been under de facto management.

Although the time was still short, Zheng Yi still had to pay for the oil. The fee was paid by the petrochemical company in Penang, and Zheng Yi directly divided the fee into two and gave half to Ahmed.

Only the original owner, Shell, did not have it.

Zheng Yi is not a stingy person. At present, apart from simply maintaining the royal expenses and hiring a design team to design the royal palace, he did not put a penny of the remaining money into his own pocket. Instead, he invested it all in Bandar Seri Begawan to build a power plant and a water plant.

Ahmed also used the money to build roads, purchase electric lights, and repair docks, and he finally looked like a sultan and started to build infrastructure.

Henry could only get angry about this. The common people in the colonies would be fine if they just stayed there, but once they had wealth and it was taken away, they would immediately explode.

Henry actually understood this very well. It was the same in the Middle East.

Although the Germans' achievements in the Middle East were very short, taking Iran as an example, that was the first time that the Iranian people knew what electric lights were and that Tehran could be bright at night.

It turns out that those dark things can be exchanged for a bright night.

Therefore, whether in history or in this time and space, the Iranian people, having seen the bright night, could no longer tolerate the British taking away the light that originally belonged to them.

In the Middle East, anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism have reached a new level and are even more intense than in Asia.

Henry was so angry.

What is the difference between what Zheng Yi did in Brunei and what the German Nazis did in Iran?
He also realized that if he didn't take back the oil well, he might not be able to take it back in the future.

They might not even be able to get back the 40% that Zheng Yi originally left for them.

Zheng Yi agreed, but the local people would not agree.

In fact, this is the most troublesome part about anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism. Logically speaking, no matter how much Britain has declined, it is far from being defeated by these indigenous people who do not even have a proper country and whose basic national consciousness has just awakened.

But construction is too difficult, and destruction is too easy. Even if you have 24 British troops, you can't stand guard at the oil wells hours a day.

Any guerrilla group could rush in, set the oil wells on fire and run away. What could the British do?

"Hey~, the shareholders have already held a meeting. They unanimously agreed that the oil well shares will be discussed after we win the war."

As he spoke, Henry felt extremely angry.

The larger the organization, the more bloated it will be internally. Shell is no exception. Even the board of directors cannot reach a consensus on such a matter of cutting losses.

Besides, for a company as large as Shell, the only ones who can truly decide the direction of its shareholders are the British and Dutch royal families. Zheng Yi's actions are considered to be undermining the dignity of the royal families of the two countries.

After all, they have more oil fields in Africa than in Asia, and even many other mineral deposits. They are unwilling to lose face no matter what.

To put it bluntly, we still cannot accept the decline calmly.

Zheng Yi shrugged and spread his hands, saying, "Then there's nothing to talk about. I'm not in a hurry anyway. Come on, come over here and take a good look at my son's painting. You old European gentlemen are usually more exposed to art than I am. Come and use your professional eyes to see if this painting is good."

Henry: "You're crazy! Do you think we're really buying paintings?"

Having said that, Henry still took the painting and looked at it carefully.

"The painting is indeed okay, but Zheng, think carefully. From what I know, many of those Javanese and Sumatran people are very extreme. They are not just targeting us British, but also many Chinese people. You lend them money to buy weapons, but can you really guarantee that the bullets will only hit us British and Dutch?"

Zheng Yi sighed, took the painting back, and carefully put it away. He said, "We Chinese are bound to have conflicts with the Javanese, Sumatran, and Malays. I have been prepared for this. But no matter what, we all live in Southeast Asia.

Some contradictions can be attributed to our own internal conflicts. Right now, the most important thing for Indonesia, and even the entire Southeast Asia, is anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism. We must distinguish between primary and secondary contradictions. If that day ever comes, I will not stand idly by.

Henry: "Really? But I'm afraid of those monkey-like natives. They don't have the long-term vision of Mr. Zheng, and they can't understand the deep meaning of your words, Mr. Zheng."

As he spoke, Henry took out several sets of photos from his pocket and showed them to Zheng Yi.

All I saw in those photos were scenes of stores with Chinese characters written on them being smashed, looted and burned. There were even some pictures of Chinese people being beaten in the local area and women being raped.

"I know you have some sympathy for the indigenous people of Southeast Asia. You identify yourself as a Southeast Asian and want to get along with them. But you know that you Chinese are far more civilized than they are. Mr. Zheng, you're a world-class scientist. Can humans and monkeys really be friends? I've also been studying your Chinese civilization recently. You Chinese have a saying... barbarians fear power but not virtue, right?"

"Mr. Zheng, do you choose to be friends with civilization? Or do you choose to be friends with barbarism?"

Zheng Yi picked up the photos and began to look through them one by one. He knew that Henry came to him today to curse and vent his anger, but it was all fake. These photos were his real purpose.

To be honest, Zheng Yi was indeed very angry after seeing the photos.

However, he still had some sense in his heart, and he knew that a few photos could not prove anything, and at the moment, at least in front of Henry, he could not show it, so he forced a smile and put the photos in the drawer for the time being.

In Indonesia, the relationship between the Chinese and the indigenous people is quite complex. Although the Chinese population is relatively small, that is actually due to the large population of Indonesia itself. In absolute terms, the Chinese population in Indonesia has reached 270 million, which is almost the same as the historical Chinese population in Malaya.

Is there any situation like the one in the photo? Of course, there is, but based on the information Zheng Yi has currently, it should not be an act targeting Chinese people.

It’s not that serious yet.

Ever since Su declared independence, Indonesia has almost immediately fallen into civil strife.

Because Indonesia is actually a geographical concept, the people's sense of national identity and ethnic identity is very low, and many can even be said to have none at all.

This place was originally a bunch of archipelagos. It was because the Dutch called them all Indonesians that they had self-recognition of their Indonesian identity. Not to mention now, even before Zheng Yi traveled through time, this country had actually never completed the most basic national construction.

Simply put, Indonesia has almost all the social problems that India has, and they are even more serious. Forget about being united against external threats, even if people don't fight among themselves, they are considered peaceful.

It would be strange if such a fragmented country did not have internal problems.

Some people want to expel the colonists, and naturally there are also people who miss the colonists.

The faction headed by Su is basically pro-Japanese. If there are pro-Japanese people, there will naturally be anti-Japanese people.

During World War II, under the instigation of Zheng Yi, the relationship between the Japanese and the Indonesians became worse. Besides, they were quite inhumane to begin with.

So as far as the indigenous people of Indonesia are concerned, they had actually already started fighting internally when they were fighting against the Netherlands. The pro-Dutch Indonesians and the anti-colonial Indonesians were fighting each other so fiercely that their brains were almost broken.

The opposition included both the elite class within the entire colonial system, that is, the comprador class, and those who were determined to believe that Mr. Suga and others were pure running dogs of the Japanese. They believed that no matter how bad the Dutch were, they were still better than the Japanese, and that these Japanese running dogs should be sent to hell or tried by military courts.

Skillful.

Among the 270 million Chinese, almost all of them are either anti-Japanese or are genuine lackeys of the Dutch.

Did the Chinese in Southeast Asia really fill the niche of the comprador class in Southeast Asia to a large extent before World War II?

It should be said that it is not just the Chinese who are currently confronting each other in Indonesia, but it is true that the stance of most Chinese is not correct.

But the Chinese people during this period were not easy to deal with.

As for the Indonesian central policy?
Where did they come from?

The surveillance range of Suna's gang is difficult to exceed 100 kilometers outside Jakarta. Apart from a little fame and a small number of puppet troops left to them by the Japanese, they have nothing else.

The whole of Indonesia, except for Jakarta, was in chaos. The local tyrants acted as they pleased and no one obeyed their orders. Those who hated the Dutch and those who hated the Japanese fought each other, and whoever won would be obeyed.

Of course, there are also local forces that negotiate among themselves to coexist peacefully, or resolve disputes in other ways without taking action.

But they are ultimately a minority.

Most of the time you still have to do it yourself.

The fighting at the local level was, to put it bluntly, an armed conflict between villages and towns, so looting and burning were very normal. At that time, more than 90% of the shops in Indonesia were being looted and burned. The shops of the Dutch lackeys were burned, and the shops of the Japanese lackeys were also burned.

The problem is that in this country, anyone who has a little money to open a store in a town is either a Japanese running dog or a Dutch running dog in 99% of cases.

In short, there are wars everywhere in Indonesia now, and the pro-Japanese and anti-Dutch forces have a slight advantage overall.

It's a mess. If Zheng Yi really wants to take charge, he has to support the central government represented by Su and let them control this kind of thing.

Otherwise, if something goes wrong, he won’t even be able to find anyone.

The photos Henry specifically showed him were all of Chinese people being bullied. This was certainly true, but it was obvious that they were all selective truths on his part. Even though Zheng Yi knew that this guy was up to no good, he would still feel angry after seeing the photos.

Fortunately, he quickly adjusted his mood and said:
"Thank you. I will investigate the matter in the photo. However, even if you don't tell me, I do have some idea of ​​what's going on. However, we Chinese can handle the details with those Javanese people ourselves, so you British people don't need to worry about it."

"The asset package for the war loan to Indonesia has already been listed in Hong Kong. That's your British territory. If you're really that afraid of the natives, why not just drive down the asset prices? With Shell's capabilities, that shouldn't be a simple matter."

Just make each other feel disgusted.

Henry snorted coldly, "Afraid? Mr. Zheng, you underestimate our British army. Humph, we British assets don't need to be sold at a low price. How can we, the great British Empire, be afraid of a few Indonesian monkeys? If monkeys get weapons, can they defeat civilization?"

"Mr. Zheng, you can speculate on those assets as much as you want. The higher the price, the better. They are just some light weapons. The great British Empire doesn't care about them."

After saying such a harsh word, Henry was no longer willing to stay with Zheng Yi. Since they were not on the same page, he left angrily.

"Hey~"

Zheng Yi also sighed deeply, then took out the photos from the drawer and started looking at them, with a frown on his face.

Then he picked up the phone and called Li Jianqiao, "Where is Mr. Zhuang Xiyan now? Is he in Penang, Singapore, or back in Indonesia?"

"It should be in Singapore. I'll call the Fujian Chamber of Commerce and ask."

"Well, if he's in Singapore, let him come see me. Oh, and there's also Ke Quanshou. He should be in Penang. Let him come see me too."

"Yes."

"Ah."

"Hey, Uncle, uh... have you been busy lately? Uh... my dad just sent me a message saying he's in India and has something he'd like to ask you."

Zheng Yi: "What's the matter? Didn't I say that Big Brother represents me in all diplomatic matters?"

"Uncle, my father just sent a telegram back saying that Commander Ni Er wants to see you. I've already talked to him, but the matter is so serious that only you can talk to him."

"Captain Ni? What's going on? Borrowing money to buy arms? Or are you going to discuss the Burmese issue? After all, we haven't torn our relationship with the British yet, and we'll still be on good terms in the future. These rebels... I don't really want to meet them in person for the time being. What's the matter that even your father can't discuss?"

Li Jianqiao: "But my father said that Commander Ni Er wants to promote the use of the Southern Currency in India."

"Pfft~~~"

Zheng Yi almost spit out the tea he just took a sip of.

"What the hell? India? Such a big country wants to take my South African currency? Where is your father now? Is he still in India? Ask him to come back first, and I will discuss it with him. It just so happens that there are some problems in Indonesia right now. I am a little busy and it is not convenient for me. He needs to come forward to suppress it."

"Okay, I'll send a message to my dad right away."

(End of this chapter)