Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 362: Bandar Seri Begawan Oil Field.

"Your Majesty, I, Viscount Wu Qingfeng, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, would like to see you and respectfully receive your instructions."

"pass."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After taking up his post in the Colonial Office of the Zongli Yamen, Viscount Wu Qingfeng became the newly appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies.

After completing the relevant cabinet minister appointment and performance procedures in Manila and summoning his subordinates to arrange all work, Wu Qingfeng hurried to Davao Palace to serve the king.

Accompanying His Majesty on his tours of various regions, following His Majesty's instructions at all times to improve and enhance a series of colonial initiatives is also an important part of the Colonial Office.

Viscount Wu Qingfeng, Secretary of State for the Colonies, paid his respects with great gratitude, but King Zheng Guohui of Chu waved his hand indifferently and encouraged him to "be loyal to the king's affairs."

To express his congratulations, King Zheng Guohui of Chu also proposed a glass of champagne.

The Chu State was not a vast empire like the one in the northern Divine Land. It was just a Southeast Asian Chinese kingdom with a population of only 800 million. Naturally, it did not have so many strict rules, and everything could be kept simple.

"My dear Wu, after taking over the Ministry of Colonies, I would like to hear your ideas and how to do it." King Chu Zheng Guohui shook the champagne in his hand, raised his glass and took a sip, then took Wu Qingfeng to the reception area on the side and sat down, and placed the wine glass on the table.

Wu Qingfeng knew the test was coming. He raised his glass and took a sip of champagne. He placed his hands respectfully on the table in front of him and said after gathering his thoughts.
“To reply to your Majesty;

My response

Our Chu State is located in a strategic area of ​​the South China Sea, connecting the north and the south, and bridging the east and the west. It can be said to be the crossroads of the South China Sea.

In accordance with Your Majesty's wise and sagacious decision, our Chu State should fully develop steam industrialization and trade policies, introduce foreign knowledge for Chinese use, and continuously develop and strengthen the strength of our Chinese nation.

We will accumulate our strength and then expand the living space for our descendants.

Adhering to this core policy, the Colonial Office intends to "consolidate the old base, develop new colonies, improve colonial efficiency, and deepen colonial achievements" as its theme, to serve as a pioneer and continuously contribute to the Kingdom's development plans.

"Oh, this idea is very innovative. Tell us more about it." King Zheng Guohui of Chu said with great interest. He leaned over to take the champagne glass in his hand, took another sip, and waited for the next words.

This colonial policy is the result of Wu Qingfeng's careful consideration. All aspects are carefully considered, highly feasible and can produce results, all of which are contained in this 24-character guideline.

Seeing that the King of Chu had taken notice, Wu Qingfeng immediately became more excited and explained it in detail.

"In reply to your Majesty's words
By "consolidating the old base," I mean the original three islands of Hainan, Cebu and Tongzhou. The development systems of the above-mentioned regions have been roughly formed and are constantly developing and deepening.

The structure of prefectures and counties is becoming more and more reasonable, and basic infrastructure such as cities, ports, roads, bridges, and reservoirs are well built. To open up wasteland and cultivate fertile farmland in remote and undeveloped areas, one only needs to follow the steps.

Proceed sequentially, there is nothing difficult or challenging.

In the Colonial Office's plans

It is planned to spend another five years to further deepen the reclamation and colonization of the above three areas, so that "all that should be reclaimed will be reclaimed."

We strive to cover about half of the reclaimable plain and hilly areas, and finally achieve a perfect finish.

If the above goals are achieved, an additional 500 million Chinese immigrants can be accommodated, bringing the population of the three mainland islands to over million.

The Colonial Office has always adhered to His Majesty's five no-cultivation principles: "no cultivation of mountains, no cultivation of tidal flats and wetlands, no cultivation of precious forest belts, no cultivation of fruit forests, and no cultivation of lakeshores." It has tried its best to develop reasonable plains, less developed hilly areas, and no development of mountainous areas.

If the five-year goal is successfully achieved, the comprehensive development rate of the three islands will reach approximately 5%, and agricultural, forestry, and fruit production capacity will double."

King Zheng Guohui of Chu listened without saying anything. He took a sip of champagne and signaled him to continue with his eyes.

The entire Hainan Archipelago has many islands and many mountains and forests. Currently, most of the areas that are being focused on for development are concentrated in the coastal plains.

In the next step, development targets will gradually move inland, such as the new provincial capitals of Santiago and Rosario, which are the products of in-depth development.

The area north of Metro Manila in the north, that is, the northern part of Angeles City, is also a key area for slash-and-burn colonization and in-depth development.

However, mountainous areas, tidal flats and wetlands, forests with precious trees, and lakeside areas are all excluded from the scope of slash-and-burn development.

The former is too difficult to develop and has poor cost-effectiveness, while the latter is to protect precious forest belts and the original lakeside environment. All of the above areas will not be developed.

It would be enough if we could develop most of the inland plains.

Secretary of State for the Colonies, Wu Qingfeng, spoke eloquently about the "development of new colonies" he mentioned, including the three continents of East Malaya, Hawaii, Shangri-La Island and Australia.

The last point, "Australia," was a point of action, not words. It was a key area of ​​infiltration for the Colonial Office, which would use various methods to transport Chinese immigrants. In areas not mentioned in the official policy, such as Lan Fang, Dutch Kalimantan, the area around Tanjung Kap, the headquarters of the 6th Division on Sumatra, and Central America, such as Ecuador, the Colonial Office would vigorously infiltrate and greatly expand Chinese influence.

In order to achieve the goal of colonizing the above-mentioned areas, the Colonial Office will introduce a series of policies, including but not limited to reducing or exempting preferential ship tickets, issuing colonial settlement loans through cooperation with the Nanyang Colonization Bank, telling stories of getting rich through colonization in newspapers, and attracting more Chinese adventurers and ambitious people.

They secretly promoted the establishment of human trafficking markets in Nicaragua, Honduras and other places in Central America, vigorously penetrated the coastal areas of Dutch Borneo, strived to overthrow the Liu family's dominance in the Lan Fang Kingdom, promoted the evolution of the situation in Sumatra, and so on.

They even sent Chinese expeditions to South America to explore the vast uninhabited areas north of Chile and Argentina, laying the foundation for large-scale immigration to the region in the future.

In a word, even if there is no opportunity, you have to create one.

From the conversation
King Zheng Guohui of Chu saw that Wu Qingfeng did have a grand plan, and was full of confidence in pushing Chu's foreign colonial cause to a new height. He had plans, execution ability, and endless energy.

Who wouldn’t like such a minister?
So, King Zheng Guohui of Chu encouraged Wu Qingfeng with some gentle words, asking him to "try boldly, do it boldly", "break a path that no one has walked before", and "it's not scary to make mistakes, just get up after falling down."

This encouragement gave Wu Qingfeng even more confidence.

After a week of inspection and rest in Davao Province, the King of Chu's fleet set sail again and headed for Sri Seri Begawan in East Malaya.

Next morning
The "Huashan" fleet arrived safely in Bandar Seri Begawan. The Governor of East Malaya, Earl Ho Sin, presided over a grand welcome ceremony with flags flying and the streets empty with people welcoming His Majesty's arrival with the highest etiquette.

After the celebration, the king and his entourage arrived at the Bandar Seri Begawan Palace to settle down and wash away the fatigue of riding. Let’s not talk about it for now.

The Bandar Seri Begawan Star Palace is the former royal palace of Brunei. It is a palace building with typical Islamic features. The onion dome and curved arches, coupled with the magnificent interior, demonstrate the former royal style.

The Kingdom of Brunei also had its glorious period, when its influence extended to almost most areas of Kalimantan Island, and it ruled over a large indigenous dynasty and hundreds of indigenous tribes.

Later, due to the invasion of Dutch colonists, the erosion of British colonists and the rise of the Lan Fang Kingdom, the territory continued to shrink and finally became isolated in a corner, with only the ancestral home of Bandar Seri Begawan left.

Unfortunately, a group of high-ranking officials of the Kingdom of Brunei and its royal family died in a mysterious manor fire.

The original indigenous women were sold, and the men were all forced into labor camps. They were building bridges and roads, reservoirs, docks and farmland water conservancy facilities in various parts of the three states of East Malaya. The entire city quietly achieved "emptying the cage and replacing the bird".

Today, the main residents of Bandar Seri Begawan are early Chinese immigrants and the large number of retired officers and militiamen of the Malayan Expeditionary Force. These people have houses in the city and farms outside the city. They also have a large number of farms and houses awarded for their military merits and have now become the masters of this city.

This beautiful city located on the bay is now building a large number of new Chinese-style buildings, including courtyards, manors, and corridor blocks with unique Nanyang style. The city area has expanded a lot than before.

The war was over, and with the massive influx of Chinese forces from the Chu State, a series of industrial and mining enterprises that should have been in the city were emerging, creating a large number of employment opportunities.

For example, vinegar factories, sauce shops, brewing workshops, blacksmith shops, leatherwork shops, teahouses, restaurants, theaters and taverns that are unique to Chinese cities emerged like mushrooms after a rain. Together with brothels, gambling houses, post offices, telegraph offices, police stations, tax offices, rice shops, department stores, etc., the city soon became prosperous in all industries.

Sawmills, rice mills, oil presses, coal kilns and brick kilns, drying kilns, flour mills, farm tool factories, etc. were subsequently built in Chinese cities everywhere, providing many jobs.

What makes Sri Bajauan unique is that there is a heavily guarded area in the southwest bay about 59 kilometers away from the city. It is designated as a military restricted area and no one is allowed to approach.

a few days later

King Zheng Guohui of Chu arrived here with Wu Qingfeng and his party. There were barbed wire fences and earthen walls in the distance, as well as fully armed soldiers on duty.

Only after passing through two security areas can you reach the real production area.

This area is full of derricks and long thick iron pipes. Dozens of large iron oil tanks are lined up along the coastal areas, each of which can hold thousands of tons of crude oil.

There are three large iron tank ships parked on the pier along the bay, each with a carrying capacity of more than 2,000 tons, specifically responsible for transporting crude oil.

The air was filled with a smell that was slightly like rotten eggs, which was not pleasant.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu got off the carriage and took a deep breath with an intoxicated look, as if he smelled the scent of money, his face full of joy.

The process of discovering the oil field was very smooth. After torturing and questioning some local natives, they revealed that there were some black ponds here.

The locals would wrap the sticky stuff from the black pond around their torches so that they would burn longer and brighter, but that was it.

Only the indigenous people of a few villages around the oil field would do this. The indigenous tribes that are a little further away think it is too troublesome and simply don't come here.

I just followed the path and found out that it was indeed crude oil. It was as easy as eating or drinking water. I found it easily.

Needless to say, the rest is that the Chu steel rolling mill already has the ability to roll iron pipes of various diameters, the valve factory with introduced technology can provide valves, and the shipyard has the ability to produce oil storage tanks.

Everything was carried out quickly in secret preparations. Money and people were provided, and the project progressed very quickly.

(End of this chapter)