Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 210: Two Countries Ask for Help (Please vote for the monthly ticket and recommendation ticket to support, thank you!)

Ganquan Palace

Zheng Guohui still misjudged the queen's thoughts. After arriving in Manila, Queen Zheng Li was not willing to move into the prepared new palace, but preferred Ganquan Palace.

Ganquan Palace covers an area of ​​less than three acres, which is a bit small, but the Baroque architecture is luxurious and very stylish, and the layout of the entire palace complex is compact and reasonable.

The Baroque main hall in the palace has 38 rooms, 9 bathrooms, 5 studies, 21 suites of various sizes, as well as a dome-shaped dining room and a small dining room, and a magnificent main hall, which is sufficient to accommodate the concubines.

There is also a two-story building in the front row for official business, plus corridors and servants' rooms on both sides of the main hall, and a small garden of half an acre in the back, which is more than enough to accommodate more than 200 people in the royal family.

After Queen Zheng Li moved in, she strictly rectified the inner house according to the palace etiquette. Maids including Qiao Yue, Qiao Xing, Su Mei Niang, Dong Mei, and Ru Qin, who had been favored by the King of Chu, had to pay their respects, stand in accordance with the rules, and listen to instructions every day.

Queen Zheng Li only accepted Qiao Yue's kneeling tea offering, which was considered as her tacit approval of King Zheng Guohui of Chu's move to take a concubine. Because Qiao Yue gave birth to the first child of King Chu, she had made great contributions to the royal family and had to be rewarded with a title.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu wisely chose to let go of these trivial matters in the palace and concentrate on the current military and political affairs in the country.

This morning

Zheng Guohui and Queen Zheng Li tried on the royal robes and crowns for the grand occasion and felt quite satisfied with them. They made some minor requests for modifications and then decided on them.

The modifications are nothing more than adjusting the size of the clothes. As for the details, skilled craftsmen are on standby at any time and can make the changes quickly.

Seeing that the meeting was almost over, Zheng Guohui said apologetically, "Queen, if there is anything you are not satisfied with, please let me know. I have some government affairs to attend to, so I cannot stay any longer. We can discuss this in detail tonight."

"Alright, may I ask if Your Majesty will return to the palace for dinner this afternoon?"

"Don't bother. With the grand ceremony approaching, government affairs are very busy, and there are foreign envoys coming to see the emperor. Let's talk about it in the evening."

"In this case, I respectfully bid farewell to Your Majesty." Queen Zheng Li bowed gracefully.

Ganquan Palace Government Affairs Hall, East Pavilion.

In the same hall where he received the British last time, King Zheng Guohui of Chu received the envoy from the Kingdom of Fuso. After a 15-minute ceremonial meeting, he sent the guest away.

Compared with the high-level meeting with the British, the Prime Minister and ministers of various departments did not show up when receiving the envoys from the Kingdom of Fuso. Only officials such as the chief of staff of the court were present. It was more of a ceremonial meeting.

The palace audiences planned for today were with envoys from Fuso, Selangor and Ryukyu. Given King Zheng Guohui of Chu's cold attitude towards the Fuso people, these were originally three unimportant diplomatic meetings.

After the Fuso envoy left, King Zheng Guohui of Chu briefly returned to the Dongge study to rest and read some government documents.

Only after the envoy of the Sultanate of Selangor was led into the palace by court officials would King Zheng Guohui of Chu stand up and go to the main hall. After sitting on the throne, he would chat with the envoy for a few formalities and talk about the prospects of relations between the two countries.

Finally, it was the Ryukyu Kingdom's turn, and the same procedure was repeated.

It was basically just a formality, a court etiquette reception, and did not involve any specific matters.

As for the gift lists brought by the envoys of these kingdoms, King Zheng Guohui of Chu would not even look at them. They were nothing more than some local specialties, and there were no priceless treasures.

The exchanges between these kingdoms and the Great Chu Kingdom were based on equal etiquette. There was no long historical origin or disputes. It was just like neighbors coming to show their support.

Among the documents Zheng Guohui was looking through, there was a report on the latest colonial progress of the newly conquered Solomon Islands that interested him. He concentrated his mind and read it carefully.

The "Zhenhai" expeditionary task force led its troops to conquer the Solomon Islands, solving the problem of insufficient labor for the development of the Moresby area on Shangri-La Island (Note, formerly New Guinea Island), and greatly promoting the colonization process of the two places.

From this perspective
The "Zhenhai" expeditionary task force is exactly what Zheng Guohui wants. As for fighting and killing or trafficking some female slaves, those are trivial matters. When the water is too clear, there will be no fish!
After 1.1 Solomon slaves arrived in the Moresby area, the related colonization process accelerated suddenly. Burning wasteland to open up land, building roads, bridges and docks were all put on the agenda and implemented vigorously.

During this period

It suffered several large-scale invasions by local cannibalistic indigenous tribes. The reason was that the Chinese colonists destroyed forests and burned wasteland, causing thick smoke and dark clouds to cover the sky in the Moresby area.

This made the primitive indigenous tribes extremely panicked, believing that the totems and sacred mountains and forests they believed in were being violated, and that their homes were being destroyed.

Therefore, local cannibalistic indigenous tribes came out from the depths of the jungle and launched several fearless attacks.

Unexpectedly, they fell into a trap and were blocked from escaping back to the jungle by the officers and soldiers of the Moresby Camp who had been on high alert. They opened fire with their muskets and sharp blades, killing everyone indiscriminately.

Zheng Guohui found it interesting and couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth.

He casually picked up the brush and wrote down the names of Fan Zongjie, an official from the Colonial Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Captain Bian Guangliang, the commander of the garrison, in a flamboyant style on the screen to one side of the imperial desk.

There are more and more officials in the court now, and even with Zheng Guohui's good memory, it is impossible to remember them all.

Write it on this screen, and when you need help, just take a look at it and it will bring back relevant memories. It's a very simple method.

These two officials thus came into the sight of the King of Chu, and were favored by the emperor.

Zheng Guohui has a very good memory. He remembered that Fan Zongjie's name appeared in the report document he had seen before.

The beginning of the colonization of the Moresby area
Due to the unruly local cannibalistic indigenous tribes and the lack of free labor, the colonization process was slow and fell far behind other regions.

It was Fan Zongjie who suggested turning to conquer the Solomon Islands, and while acquiring a large new island colony, he solved a major problem in the early stages of colonial development in the Moresby region.

According to the regulations of the Provisional Government, Chinese immigrants can only be accepted after a certain foundation has been established locally.
Judging from the reported situation of the encirclement and suppression
After several carefully planned siege operations, a total of 4101 people from the local primitive cannibalistic indigenous tribe were wiped out, including men, women, young and old.

Together with the more than 2600 indigenous people who were eliminated before, more than 6700 people have been eliminated. Even if there are still some who slip through the net, they are no longer a concern. The development risks in the Moresby area have been basically eliminated.

According to the report

Fan Zongjie used all means to do what he could, often using black slaves from the Solomon Islands as bait. He would constantly burn forests to anger the indigenous tribes and induce them to show up and attack.

This resulted in the deaths and injuries of more than 210 black slaves, but it did have a miraculous effect.

These local indigenous cannibal tribes had no contact with each other, no coordination or information transmission, and they fell into the same trap again and again like headless flies.

You may be stubborn, but if you find a way to solve the problem, the problem that has troubled you for a long time will be solved.

Zheng Guohui believes that this is definitely the work of Fan Zongjie. He has ideas, courage, and will do anything to achieve his goals. He is indeed a talented person.

Captain Bian Guangliang, the commander of the Moresby Battalion, is a subordinate of Major General Zhou Laonian. According to the report from the Second Department of the Ministry of the Interior, he is also a person who can't be beaten into anything even with three sticks. He would never think of such a sinister method.

The two men had such different personalities, but Captain Bian Guangliang and Fan Zongjie got along so well, which was surprising.

The Provisional Government applied to include the Shangri-La Islands (Note: formerly Guinea Island), the Solomon Islands, Guam, Saipan and Midway Island in the scope of new destinations for Chinese immigrants.

Zheng Guohui wrote "yes" with a flourish, and added a line of words: "From the beginning of the new year, capable personnel will carry out the plan in an orderly manner."

These newly incorporated Western Pacific archipelagos into the territory of the Great Chu Kingdom were in the early stages of expansion and development, and their capacity to accommodate Chinese immigrants was temporarily low.

For example, the Solomon Islands only needs to arrange 1 to 1.5 Chinese immigrants in the next year, with about one to two ships of immigrants every month.

Guam and Saipan together accommodate about four to five thousand Chinese immigrants a year.

The Shangri-La Archipelago (Note: formerly the New Guinea Islands) covers a vast area, but most of the island is composed of steep snow-capped mountains and tropical jungles with heavy rainfall, which are not suitable for human habitation and development.

On the island
The areas with the highest rainfall have an average annual rainfall of 6 to 7 mm. The tropical rainforest areas with an annual rainfall of more than mm occupy % of the island's area.

Therefore, Shangri-La Island is also known as the "Water Tower of Oceania". The annual runoff of more than a dozen major rivers originating from the Snow Mountain Range is very astonishing, and the highest is even several times that of the Yangtze River.

The island has a forest coverage rate of over 90%. The mountains in the middle of the island stretch from northwest to southeast, forming a central mountain range that runs across the entire island.

Most of the mountains and plateaus are over 4000 meters above sea level, making it the highest island in the world.

These countless towering mountains are also known as the Snow Mountains.

The highest peak is Puncak Jaya, at 4884 meters (5029 meters in the old measurement), the highest point in Oceania. These east-west mountain ranges, with their steep cliffs and rugged roads, pose a significant obstacle to north-south transportation on Shangri-La Island.

The most convenient mode of transportation is still sea transportation.

On the north and south sides of the central ridge, there are coastal plains of varying widths, the largest of which is the Rigu-Fray Plain in the south, where there are large tracts of fertile land, vast low-lying coastal swamps and mangroves.

The plain has abundant sunshine and annual rainfall between 1500 and 2000 millimeters, making it suitable for agricultural development.

The larger rivers on the island all originate from the central mountainous area and flow into the ocean from the northern and southern slopes.

The main rivers in the north are the Mamberamo River, Sepik River, Lamu River, and Makum River, and in the south are the Digur River and Fly River. These rivers have an astonishing amount of water and carry a large amount of sediment, forming large fertile alluvial plains on both sides of the middle and lower reaches.

From the development perspective

With only 30% of the island's fertile plains being developable, Shangri-La Island can easily accommodate a population of 40 to 50 million, and has excellent geographical conditions to support the development of agriculture and industry.

The world's largest copper and gold mining area is located on this island. Dozens of gold mines have been developed in later generations. The high-grade copper mines are not only large in reserves, but also numerous and widespread.

As for why the region's economy has not developed?
In the original historical trajectory

The island's population is mainly composed of blacks and Pacific indigenous people. They are lazy and good at infighting. They are not good at management and are not smart. Even if you give them a piece of precious land, it will be useless.

Zheng Guohui was immersed in his own thoughts when he was suddenly interrupted by the noise outside the East Pavilion. He looked over with an unhappy expression.

"Your Highness, and this Prince, you cannot just barge in like this. Will you allow me to inform you?"

"Ah, ah... Your Highness, Your Highness... You can't!"

Zheng Guohui recognized the voice as that of Lieutenant Colonel Zheng Jiayu, captain of the fourth battalion of the royal guards. It was his turn to be on duty at the palace in the morning, and Lieutenant Colonel Huo Chongshan, captain of the first battalion of the royal guards, should take over in the afternoon.

At this time, four people rushed in one after another. The royal guards around them held their swords on their waists, but did not dare to make any extreme moves. They just tried their best to dissuade them.

never thought

When the four people who broke in saw King Zheng Guohui of Chu sitting behind the imperial desk, they all knelt down one after another and started to cry sadly.

Lieutenant Colonel Zheng Jiayu, who was not doing his job well, turned pale and knelt on the ground behind without saying a word.

These four people are of distinguished status. One is Prince Abdullah Said, the chief envoy of the Sultanate of Selangor, and the other is Deputy Foreign Minister Hashim.

Another one is Prince Ie Shangjian, the chief envoy of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and the last one is Xiang Dehong, the purple-scarf official of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the deputy envoy. They actually come from two different countries.

Zheng Guohui felt overwhelmed when he saw this, but he had to stand up from behind the imperial desk, walk over and affectionately hold Prince Abdullah Said's arm.

He said amiably, "Your Highness, please rise. Don't be so polite. If you have anything to say, please sit down and explain it in detail. I will be all ears."

As he spoke, he turned around and glared at Lieutenant Colonel Zheng Jiayu. This glare scared Lieutenant Colonel Zheng Jiayu so much that he almost lost his soul. He lay on the ground, not daring to look up, and his whole body began to tremble.

As a close minister and guard of the King of Chu, he knew very well that His Majesty was not a man who cherished old ties, and that tens of thousands of Spanish whites could be killed at will.

Abdullah Said hugged Zheng Guohui's arms tightly, crying bitterly and saying, "Your Majesty, our Kingdom of Selangor has suffered a great disaster. I beg Your Majesty to lend a helping hand. Our country is willing to establish a friendly relationship with you for generations and to have endless exchanges."

"Oh... I am not clear about the specific matters. Please stand up and talk, and then we can make things right." Zheng Guohui said with a forced smile.

He actually knew the underlying grudges and was just making excuses to shirk responsibility.

Before he could answer, Zheng Guohui's arm was hugged by the kneeling Prince Shang Jian of Yijiang on the other side, who begged him desperately, "Your Majesty, please save the Ryukyu Kingdom. We have been bullied so badly by the Japanese."

In fact, even if these two didn’t say anything, Zheng Guohui would roughly know what was going on?
Anyway, it's all a huge trouble. The Ryukyu Kingdom has always been regarded as a piece of fat meat by the Fuso Kingdom, and it has been constantly invaded and looted. This is common knowledge.

As early as more than 100 years ago, in 1609.

The Tokugawa shogunate sent the Satsuma clan to lead an army to invade the Ryukyu Kingdom and capture the Shuri Castle. They committed rape, looting and other atrocities, and shipped away a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry, and women.

The Satsuma army captured the Ryukyu King Shang Ning and more than 100 people to Kagoshima, and forced them to sign the "Fifteen Articles of Okinawa", recognizing Satsuma's control over Ryukyu.

At the same time, the Amami Five Islands (namely Kikai Island, Tokunoshima, Amami Oshima, Okinoerabu Island and Yoron Island) were placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Satsuma domain, and only then were they released and survived.

Over the past hundred years, the Fuso Kingdom has bullied the Ryukyu Kingdom badly. It allows people to come and go as they please, and has also sent a large number of immigrants to the Ryukyu Islands. Its wolfish ambitions are obvious.

But what does this have to do with the Kingdom of Chu?
The real culprit should go to the Chinese imperial court, which is the Celestial Empire that pays tribute to the country every year. Who else can he go to if not him?
Of course, it would be useless to look for it. The imperial court is now in a state of panic and unable to take care of itself. How could it have the mood to care about the troubles of the Ryukyu Kingdom?

The vassal states were also divided into different levels, and the Kingdom of Korea was ranked first.

If something happens to the Kingdom of Korea, it means something happens to the Chinese court. Even if they are in trouble, they must send troops to control the situation.

As for the Ryukyu Kingdom, ahem... forget it.

Zheng Guohui now has both arms held by him. On one side is the envoy of the Sultanate of Selangor, Prince Abdullah Said, and on the other side is the envoy of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Prince Ie Shangjian. He is in a dilemma.

The most ruthless one was not these two people, but the purple-scarf official Xiang Dehong who was lying behind Prince Yijiang's bodybuilding.

I don’t know what’s wrong with this guy. He lies on the ground and bangs his head against the ground. The sound is creepy.

Zheng Guohui said angrily, "Zheng Jiayu, are you still capable of this? Hurry up and help the man up. If he dies here, I will hold you responsible."

Upon hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Zheng Jiayu was startled. He rolled over and pounced, hugging the purple-scarfed official Xiang Dehong in his arms, and the two of them fell down together.

Just like that, Lieutenant Colonel Zheng Jiayu also held Xiang Dehong in front of him, preventing him from continuing to kowtow on the ground.

This guy is absolutely reckless. If you don't control him, he will definitely die here, and that would be terrible.

Xiang Dehong also felt dizzy and weak from knocking his head.

After being locked tightly by Lieutenant Colonel Zheng Jiayu using a sleeping technique, his forehead was now swollen and purple, and the skin was broken, revealing the bloody red tender flesh underneath.

His face was covered in blood, and he looked extremely miserable. He cried out to Dehong in a mournful voice, "Your Majesty, the noble and almighty King of Chu, I risk my life to ask Your Majesty to have mercy on my Ryukyu Kingdom. The Japanese have oppressed us for over a hundred years and their intention to destroy us is still undiminished!

Please consider that we share the same Chinese bloodline..."

He said this at the top of his lungs, and before he could catch his breath, his eyes rolled back and he passed out.

If you want to talk about how King Chu Zheng Guohui feels now, he is definitely fucked.

This feeling
It's like walking down the street and greeting the villagers, and suddenly one of them kneels down, one saying, "Please lend me some of your wealth." The other one says, "I've been bullied, please give me your life and property to avenge me."

Although the meaning is not exactly the same, it is roughly the same.

Please open your eyes and see, I am not your father!

Of course, Zheng Guohui couldn't say this out loud, so he could only use his arms and hands to drag the two people up.

Then he glanced at the back and scolded, "Why don't you come and help? Help the two princes to sit down. You are all useless."

"I deserve to die, Your Majesty, please forgive me."

More than ten aides and close ministers came up behind him, dragging and pulling them, with several people serving one by one, and finally they all got them to sit on the chairs.

Then they served tea and quickly carried away the most ruthless character, Xiang Dehong. From now on, no matter what, he would not be allowed to enter the Chu Palace. This guy was a ruthless person!

(End of this chapter)