Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 331 It seems that I can intervene

In the large study of Ganquan Palace

King Zheng Guohui of Chu happily counted his harvest. The more he counted, the happier he became. He couldn't help but grin, revealing a mouthful of snow-white teeth.

People feel refreshed when good things happen to them, and that's the state he is in now.

He lit a cigar, leaned back in his chair and smoked it comfortably, his eyes casually glancing at the large map hanging on the opposite wall.

His eyes searched, like an emperor inspecting his territory, revealing an expression of immense satisfaction.

Although the British have not yet given in, the East Malaya region on the map has been painted in the colors of the empire, which looks so pleasing to the eye.

East Malaya is located in the northern part of Kalimantan Island and includes the three states of Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei, accounting for about a quarter of the total area of ​​the world's third largest island.

Northern Kalimantan, including the present-day Lan Fang Principality established by the Chinese, is a fertile land with a long history of development and rich farming traditions. The island is dotted with plantations and mines, and there are vast tracts of rice fields everywhere.

The total population of Kalimantan Island is about 300 million, of which East Malaya, Lan Fang Empire and Dutch colonies each account for one third.

The three continents of East Malaya have a population of over one million, and the Lan Fang Kingdom located in the northwest corner of the island also has a population of over one million. The rest is the Dutch colony occupying most of the territory of Kalimantan Island, which is divided into East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan. The total population of these four provinces is about one million.

After the Chu State forcibly occupied the three continents of East Malaya by force, it adopted a thorough "empty cage and replace bird" colonial policy in the local area, which has significantly changed the local population structure.

As many as 30 indigenous women were relocated as a whole, and more than 40 indigenous male laborers were confined to labor camps, responsible for daily tasks such as building bridges and roads, burning wasteland for reclamation, mining and plantations, and other heavy labor.

The remaining approximately 37 local residents of Chinese descent are not affected, and the basic operation of society is maintained.

Another 4 to 5 people were ruthlessly wiped out in the war, most of whom were indigenous princes and nobles, wealthy businessmen, tribal chiefs, church members and tribal warriors. The original upper social structure was almost wiped out.

The changes in the entire East Malaya region were thorough and clean, paving the way for the influx of nearly 40 Chinese immigrants in the following three consecutive months of October, November and December. The whole process seemed to be a natural outcome.

At this point, the Chu State's layout in the three states of East Malaya has been completed, and all that remains is the detailed construction work.

In one or two years, East Malaya will have a stronger ability to accept immigrants and will allocate a certain number of Chinese immigrants in an orderly manner, with a quota of approximately 3 to per month.

nowadays

Immigration from Chu to Australia is in progress. These immigrants are mainly people who have settled in Chu for many years. They mainly pay voluntarily and sign up voluntarily. The immigration ticket is 49 silver dollars per person.

The reason why they did not immigrate directly to Australia from the mainland was that mainland Chinese refugees did not have a high degree of identification with the Chu State, and the government certainly would not make wedding dresses for others.

After years of large-scale immigration, there are still some people in society who find it difficult to settle down, or citizens who hope to find more development opportunities. This group is the main force of immigration to Australia.

The government can dispatch immigration ships and arrange immigration flights, but the specific costs must be borne by the individual. After arriving in Australia, priority arrangements can be made.

For example, introducing people to work on ranches, at docks, or doing jobs like shearing sheep, building houses, etc., and using the income to repay the boat tickets and interest.

In this process

The Chu government did not need to take on all the expenses of immigration. With 5 to 6 people per month, the immigration expenses alone amounted to more than 300 million silver dollars.

Even if the government is willing, it is unable to bear such heavy financial expenditure.

The best thing would be to let the market regulate itself and the government allocate resources to obtain certain benefits while providing convenience to the people.

Fortunately, Australia has always been a popular destination for Chinese immigrants, and there is the desirable possibility of getting rich overnight by panning for gold. The number of Chu residents who volunteered to go to Australia was enthusiastic, and the sailing schedule was already four or five months later.

The departure of these Chu people gave Chu greater ability to accept Chinese immigrants from the mainland, continuously filling the labor gap and resuming production.

This way, you get the best of both worlds.

By March 1869, Chu's ability to accept immigrants had further increased, basically reaching a population of 3 per month, and it was still able to cope with it with ease.

The larger the territory, the more places there are to go.

Although the number of 18 immigrants accepted each month is astonishing, there are not many to be distributed.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu looked at the recent immigration allocation flow table, and the specific destinations were shown;

A total of 18 to 19 Chinese immigrants arrive every month, and more than 2.6 of them are arranged to go to the Cebu Islands. In addition to the more than 9500 people per month on Cebu Island, other larger islands have as many as to people, and as few as to people. There are also more than a dozen major islands.

The number of Chinese immigrants arranged to go to the Tongzhou Islands is about 3.5 per month, mainly in Cagayan Province in the north, with about 1.7 people per month. They are distributed in Cagayan Province and the five newly established counties, which is about two to three thousand people per month.

The rest were distributed in Zamboanga and Davao provinces in the south. These two provinces recently approved five new settlement counties, which require a large number of Chinese immigrants to open up wasteland and develop new agricultural production.

About 2.2 Chinese immigrants are arranged to go to the Shangri-La Islands every month, basically % of them come from Xinxi'an and % from Donggang Prefecture.

About 4200 Chinese immigrants are arranged to go to the Solomon Islands every month, and they are dispersed among the islands of the Solomon Islands. Except for the main island with more than people per month, the other islands have as many as to people and as few as to people.

The number of Chinese residents settled in the Hainan Islands is about 5.5 per month. There are 17 prefectures on the island, and the number of people settled in each prefecture varies.

Manila has the largest number of people, with an average of more than 1.26 per month, Batangas has more than 9300 people, and Cavill has more than 5700 people. These three provinces account for more than 2.77 people.

The remaining 2.62 Chinese immigrants per month need to be allocated and resettled in the other 14 prefectures. On average, each prefecture has less than people, which is not enough to fill the gaps in the population.

There are also different quotas for immigrants going to Guam, Saipan and other places, which are around three to four thousand per month, so resettlement is a piece of cake.

The remaining quota of 1.5 immigrants per month will be used specifically to supplement the huge population shortage in Donggang, and will last for at least one year.

The 4-strong Australian Expeditionary Force was mainly recruited from Eastport. While successfully conquering Australia, a large number of Eastport residents also migrated to Australia on a large scale, either through relatives or clans. At that time, immigration to Australia became a trend.

The entire Donggang area has a population of more than 23. It cannot be said that nine out of ten houses are empty, but at least most of them have left. The shortage is about 18 people, and it will only increase, not decrease.

Therefore, the remaining immigration quota of about 1.5 is allocated to Dongguan City every month to enable it to restore its previous farmland production scale and sugarcane field production scale and ensure domestic sugar supply.

In this way

Dongguan City has two groups of immigrants every month, one of which is 8800 people, used for continuous population growth.

One part is on the scale of 1.5 people per month, which is used to restore the population of the severely depleted townships in Donggang Prefecture and quickly restore the production of local sugar plantations. This is an indispensable and important income.

In addition to meeting domestic demand, it can also be exported in large quantities.

Sugar is one of the world's top agricultural products, besides grain, oil, cotton and tea, and its market potential is unlimited.

No matter how much we produce, we will never have trouble selling it.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu enjoyed the rich flavor of his cigar as he contentedly browsed the expanded map. He pondered his long-term plan to annex Dutch Kalimantan, feeling more confident. There was no rush; he had to find the right opportunity to act.

Three years, five years, ten years, or eight years are all fine. For the gradually growing and powerful Chu State, it is a piece of fat meat right at its mouth.

When to eat?

how to eat?
It all depends on the intention of King Zheng Guohui of Chu, so he is not in a hurry at all, as there will be plenty of time in the future.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu's gaze moved upwards, lingering for a while around Singapore and Penang, then he was about to move away with a little regret, and then stayed firmly on the island of Sumatra opposite Malacca.

This... seems to be a possibility.

The thought that had been dormant suddenly surfaced in Zheng Guohui's mind again, causing him to start thinking again.

The idea of ​​King Zheng Guohui of Chu to take over Sumatra Island was not a momentary whim, but was part of a long-term plan.

In long-term strategic planning
The main expansion goals of the Chu State were to move south and east. The possibility of expansion to the north had been blocked, and the reason was well known to everyone.

Westward expansion would mean taking food from the British, which is not very realistic.

Therefore, the future direction of Chu's colonial expansion is southward and westward, both of which have great potential.

Needless to say, the move south was to take advantage of the declining power of the Dutch royal family and gradually encroach on its territory, including the East Indies including southern Kalimantan, Sumatra and Java.

But this is a long-term strategic plan that will take more than ten years to start, and we must find the right opportunity to intervene.

Given the Dutch colonists' extremely fearful attitude towards the Chu State, their responses in all aspects are extremely slippery. This can be seen from the recent significant improvement in the equal treatment of local Chinese in the Dutch East Indies colony.

The Chu State's short- and medium-term expansion goal was to move eastward, including the Kingdom of Hawaii and Central America.

Therefore

King Zheng Guohui of Chu had not paid much attention to Sumatra Island. The casual glance just now reminded him of the complicated situation on Sumatra Island today, and it seemed that he could get involved!

This thought came to his mind, and King Zheng Guohui of Chu immediately became serious. After a moment of hesitation, he ordered, "Come here!"

"I am here, respectfully requesting your Majesty's orders."

"Go and gather all the information on the various factions on Sumatra, the current territorial divisions, and related human geography. The more detailed the better. I am waiting to use it."

"Your Majesty, I will obey your Majesty's command and respectfully ask you to wait for a moment." The royal aide immediately took the order and left, hurriedly looking for information.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu roughly knew

There are three forces on the island of Sumatra today. One is the later Dutch colonists, who now occupy the southeastern part of the island with Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra Province, as the core. Their sphere of influence covers about one-third of the entire island.

Another powerful force was the several indigenous kingdoms headed by the Sultan of Aceh in the northwest, which covered about two-thirds of the island and included the fiercely contested Jambi province in the central part.

The colonial and anti-colonial wars between the two sides have lasted for more than 30 years, and they have been fighting each other to the point of being irreconcilable enemies.

More than 30 years have passed since the former Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Boss, launched the war to conquer Sumatra, and the intermittent wars between the two sides have never stopped.

It’s a long story to explain in detail, but this is roughly what it means.

The third force is naturally the British. The British have traditional interests in Sumatra Island north of Malacca. It is precisely because of the repeated intervention of the British that the Dutch colonial conquest war has been bumpy and not very smooth.

Britain did not have any directly ruled colonial areas on the island of Sumatra, but rather interfered in the affairs of the Sumatra region through its commercial interests.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu's plan was

Since there are three forces here, it won’t be too crowded if I add one more, right?

As for where the power of the Chu State should develop, this is not a difficult question for King Zheng Guohui of Chu. He has many focus points to choose from.

nowadays

The indigenous monarchy headed by the Sultan of Aceh was struggling under the attack of the Dutch. If they could introduce a powerful foreign force to balance the pressure of armed annexation from the Netherlands, they would surely be willing to do so.

Just mark out a piece of land. How difficult could it be?
Some people may say, who is so stupid... to bring disaster into the home?

This introduced Chinese regime is a newly rising power in the Nanyang region. It is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst and will cause endless harm. Isn't it extremely stupid?
In fact, many local princely kingdoms did not have such a long-term strategic vision.

The great and fragile country in the north also fell into this dilemma.

During the critical period of the Second Opium War, the officials of the imperial court tried every possible means to cede nearly 150 million square kilometers of territorial rights in Outer Manchuria and Northwest China, and introduced Tsarist Russia to balance the power of Britain and France. Isn’t this the most vivid example?

Not long

The royal staff brought up a large amount of information, and King Zheng Guohui of Chu ordered them to urgently compile a report on the situation distribution, population geography and the latest trends of various forces in the Sumatra region, and to submit it within three days.

Then, he selectively selected some content and began to study it with great attention.

Until the evening, after having a simple meal in the study, King Zheng Guohui of Chu continued to work on his desk until late at night.

"Your Majesty, it is late at night. We respectfully ask Your Majesty to take care of your health and go to bed early."

"Oh, what time is it?"

"Your Majesty, it is already 10:30 pm. Please rest."

"It's so late? Well, let someone come up and wash up."

King Zheng Guohui of Chu raised his head tiredly, rubbed his sore neck with his hand, stood up and stretched his arms and legs, then walked out of the study.

In the hall outside the study, eight royal maids were lined up, holding gold, bronze and jade cups, wet towels of perfect temperature and other toiletries, respectfully inviting His Majesty to wash and cleanse himself.

These maids were not allowed to enter the imperial study, which was a stately place, like a forbidden pond. Anyone who dared to set foot inside would be beaten to death.

Only when His Majesty the King comes out can he be served and washed in the hall outside.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu was not planning to return to the harem today, so he decided to take a rest near the imperial study.

There is a small house of more than ten square meters here, which is simply and warmly decorated. He can take a temporary rest here when he is busy dealing with government affairs.

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(End of this chapter)