Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 405 1875 years

At the beginning of the Gregorian calendar year 1875

It was the end of the lunar year 1874, and there were still more than 20 days before the Chinese New Year. Lanterns were already hanging high in the streets and alleys of Manila, and every household had posted doorposts, invited door gods, and put up spring couplets. The kitchen was filled with the rich smell of fireworks.

Near the bustling Tianjie, there is an antique teahouse called "Qingfeng Pavilion".

In the private room by the window on the 2nd floor

King Zheng Guohui of Chu, dressed in casual clothes, was sitting and leisurely sipping tea. On both sides stood Fan Zhicheng, the newly appointed Royal Secretary-General, and Major General Zheng Shan, the commander of the Imperial Guard, both in casual clothes.

It is a rare day to have some leisure time. King Zheng Guohui of Chu is on a tour in disguise. Listening to the graceful music in the teahouse, watching the crowds of people coming and going on the streets, and the tea drinkers talking and chatting, it is quite a unique experience.

The voices of tea drinkers came from a side room, and could be heard clearly from here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, have you read the newspaper? I heard that the emperor in the Forbidden City in the north has passed away, and a new emperor named Guangxu has been enthroned. He's only four years old."

"How could I not know? I think the Qing Dynasty is really going to fall. There's no cure. Emperor Tongzhi was only 19 years old when he died. How could he be gone at such a young age? There's something fishy going on here!"

"It had to be your Second Master. He saw the problem right away. The Eight Banners royal family members all over Beiping City were going crazy, saying that this person had visited the Eight Great Hutongs and contracted a disease, which was why he died at such a young age."

"Brothers, how could the emperor, who has 72 concubines in his three harems and six courtyards, and beauties to do whatever he wants, go out and look for these vulgar cosmetics? How come no one is watching? Ordinary people like us can just stumble and go there. This is outrageous."

"That's right. They say the end of a dynasty is a time of rampant demons and monsters. All sorts of ghosts and monsters appear, and all sorts of strange things happen. The old ones don't look old anymore, and the young ones don't look young anymore. It's time for them to die."

"These Qing Dynasty dogs have brought great harm to our homeland of China."

"Compared to this, it's clear that our King is exceptionally wise and righteous. He conquered such a large country in Southeast Asia with his bare hands, providing a home for overseas Chinese and standing on equal footing with those red-haired devils. This is truly a remarkable feat."

"This is the blessing we've cultivated for eight lifetimes, and we've finally arrived. When our Majesty was born, the sky was filled with auspiciousness, golden light descended, and the faint sound of bells ringing could be heard. Many people witnessed this grand scene with their own eyes..."

King Zheng Guohui of Chu in the box remained expressionless after hearing this and turned his gaze to the bustling street.

As the New Year is approaching

The Longshouyuan area where Tianjie is located was originally a place where powerful and wealthy businessmen from the surrounding area lived. This prosperous Tianjie is lined with shops, with more than a dozen high-end teahouses alone, as well as brothels, department stores, tea shops, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, etc., as well as ready-made clothing shops that make custom-made Western clothes.

It is even more lively before the New Year.

The streets are filled with well-dressed people and rickshaws coming and going. Horse-drawn carriages are prohibited on this busy street.

There are sentry boxes of the Royal Guards at every intersection, as well as fully armed officers and soldiers on guard duty. Any noble carriage traveling to or from Tianjie must park in a designated area outside Tianjie and wait.

This is because there are a lot of people on the streets. Once the horses are frightened, it will cause human and financial losses, which will have a considerable impact.

After several lessons, horse-drawn carriages were simply banned.

From the perspective of King Zheng Guohui of Chu
Many rickshaw pullers dressed in shorts and wearing sun-protective bamboo hats or wide-brimmed straw hats frequently travel on the streets. The men, women, and children sitting on their rickshaws often carry large and small bags of items, and it seems that they are returning home with a full load.

There were also a few people with suspicious behavior, who always mixed in with the crowd and did not look like good people.

Major General Zheng Shan, who was standing behind King Chu Zheng Guohui, naturally saw all this and his face suddenly turned dark.

The Longshouyuan area where the Chu Palace is located is a key garrison area for the Royal Guard, and the local police station must cooperate.

If any problem arises, the first person to be held accountable is him, the division commander, who fails to exercise proper control and will naturally bear the brunt of the consequences.

"Zhicheng, it's getting late, let's get ready to go back." King Zheng Guohui of Chu put on his sunglasses and gave the order.

Fan Zhicheng responded immediately and went out to make some arrangements with Major General Zheng Shan. Then he followed King of Chu Zheng Guohui down the stairs of the teahouse and was about to leave.

However, there was a commotion at the entrance of the teahouse. Major General Zheng Shan hurriedly stood in front of the King of Chu. Immediately, more than a dozen strong men in plain clothes surrounded him and vigilantly guarded His Majesty and his entourage.

There was a loud bang, and the door of the teahouse was violently pushed open. Several vicious servants and thugs rushed in. They were wearing four-finger-wide cowhide belts with copper heads and swords hanging from their waists. They were guarding the nobleman who walked in arrogancely.

This arrogant young nobleman waved his folding fan and said in a loud voice, "You, this little Qingfeng Pavilion, don't want to continue this business anymore. You even dared to stop me, Little Lord Pan. You clearly don't know how to spell the word death! Shopkeeper, quickly roll over here and apologize to me, Little Lord Pan. If you dare to say no, I will burn down your shabby teahouse."

This is the young master from aristocratic family who was blocked at the door just now and forced his way in.

As luck would have it, these people with the surname Pan were standing at the door of the teahouse, blocking the entrance tightly.

With this arrogant and self-satisfied look, he noticed that the dozen or so strong men coming down the stairs all had unfriendly expressions on their faces.

Young Master Pan's face turned cold, and he said, "Hey, where are you from?"

The Chu State did not ban swords and guns, but in large and medium-sized cities such as Manila, Batangas, and Davao, non-military and police personnel were not allowed to carry swords and guns, otherwise they would be guilty of illegal carrying and use of weapons, which is a felony charge.

Once convicted, the consequence is a stint in a mining hard labor camp for at least three years, with any possibility of returning alive being questionable.

Several of Lord Pan's followers had swords hanging around their waists, which were real weapons. They actually dared to behave so arrogantly in Tianjie, which was a slap in the face.

Major General Zheng Shan was so angry that he almost exploded. He waved his hand and shouted coldly: "Take it. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy."

Give an order

More than a dozen guards in plain clothes rushed out from inside and outside the door, kicked these arrogant people to the ground, and captured them cleanly and neatly.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu wore a top hat and sunglasses on his nose. He hurried past without saying a word, with Fan Zhicheng and Zheng Shan following closely behind.

When passing by

Major General Zheng Shan ordered angrily, "These people have been put in the prison. No one is allowed to come into contact with them without my order."

"As you command, sir."

"Humph……"

Major General Zheng Shan snorted coldly and hurriedly followed.
This damn young Lord Pan and several arrogant servants who had offended the Holy Emperor are almost dead. No matter which military family they belong to, they are useless and are destined to be deposed.

This is a case of running into trouble. The freight is extremely bad.

After returning to the palace, King Zheng Guohui of Chu did not ask about these trivial matters at all, and this did not affect his mood.

It is now January 1875 in the Gregorian calendar. From Australia to Southeast Asia and then to the Middle East, the situation is changing every day.

The relationship between Chu State and Britain had twists and turns. At a hearing in the House of Commons in London, the current British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli described Chu State in this way.

He said:
“Our trading partner in the Southeast Asia region is a restless gentleman, always thinking about taking something away.
In Shangri-La, Kalimantan, Hawaii or Patagonia in South America, their actions have been repeatedly successful based on the Liberal Party's appeasement policy, which is unacceptable deliberate connivance.

The ambitions of the Orientals are endless. Now they fantasize about infiltrating their influence into Australia, Java and Sumatra to occupy more territory. This is an act of crossing the border that cannot be allowed and must be stopped.

The British government I lead will send the clearest signal to the State of Chu:
Enough, stop it!

Britain will no longer allow Orientals to act recklessly, nor will it turn a blind eye when Chu bullies the weak, and will draw a clear red line for these Orientals.

In the British-led Nanyang order, Chu could only play the role of a regional partner, not a lawless bad boy, and it had to abide by the rules.

In response to this obviously unfriendly and suppressive speech, the official response of the Chu State Ministry of Foreign Affairs was

The British Prime Minister has expressed his regional policy opinions. The Chu State will conduct policy research and analysis, playing an irreplaceable and important role in building a long-term stable and peaceful situation in Southeast Asia.

Basically, it is just pretending to be submissive, maintaining a situation of fighting but not breaking up, and having a relatively humble attitude.

Sir Benjamin Disraeli is rampant, so let him be rampant and just ignore him.

Just like the current situation in Australia, the British are trying hard to gain the upper hand and have caused a lot of trouble in Victoria, but it is just a last-ditch effort.

The advantage of time was on the side of the Chu State. Although Victoria introduced a policy banning Chinese immigration, in fact, there was a steady stream of Chinese immigrants moving into Queensland in the north and crossing the border into Victoria.

With Victoria's current capabilities, it is impossible to stop it.

You do your thing, I do mine, this is the situation in Australia now.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu knew that British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli simply did not have much energy to focus on Australia or Southeast Asia, and he now had more troublesome headaches.

In the Ottoman Empire in the Near East, by the 19s, corruption had become rampant throughout the empire and was difficult to reverse. This led to a surge of national movements for independence and freedom in various parts of the Ottoman Empire, and rebel armies emerged like mushrooms after a rain.

By early 1875, the situation within and outside the Ottoman Empire had deteriorated further.

A severe famine occurred in the northern and central regions of Asia Minor, which belonged to the empire. The extremely corrupt finances were on the verge of collapse. The shadow of intervention by foreign powers hung over this corrupt old empire, which was called the "Sick Man of West Asia".

Under such circumstances, domestic political struggles intensified.
Sultan Abdul Aziz of the Ottoman Empire was an extremely extravagant ruler who did not care about the people's livelihood at all. He treated the ethnic groups ruled by the Ottoman Empire as worthless and launched brutal suppression.

Uprisings broke out in Bosnia, Herzegovina and Bulgaria within the Ottoman Empire, and soon spread to the two vassal states of Serbia and Montenegro.

The Ottoman Empire suppressed the uprising with blood, but failed to control the changes in the situation, which led to wars everywhere and its rule in the Balkans began to waver.

This dire situation attracted the attention of European powers such as Britain, Austria and Russia, but their starting points were different.

On the Near East
The presence of foreign powers can be seen everywhere, especially the Russian Empire. Seeing this good opportunity to intervene, they immediately showed greedy eyes.

The Russian royal family believed
During the Crimean War from 1853 to 1856, Tsarist Russia lost face, prestige and influence in the Balkans and urgently needed to find an opportunity to return to the Balkans and restore its original traditional influence.

the more important thing is
The Russian royal family was obsessed with controlling the Balkans and then controlling the Bosphorus Strait, the throat that leads from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, so as to open up the sea outlet in the southwest that the Russian royal family had long sought.

This was the westward-oriented national policy that Tsarist Russia adhered to for more than 270 years. Actively moving closer to and integrating into Europe was the ultimate goal of Tsarist Russia.

When the opportunity arises

Tsarist Russia showed great delight in the deterioration of the Ottoman situation, and had been meddling in the affairs of the Middle East, acting as a "savior."

Under the banner of "saving Christians from Ottoman oppression" and "protecting Slavic brothers", the Tsarist government has exerted pressure on the Ottoman government through diplomatic channels, but the effect has not been significant.

The proposal of "collective protection of Slavs" put forward by Tsarist Russia was opposed by Austria-Hungary and Britain.

Shortly thereafter
Tsarist Russia also proposed autonomy in Bosnia, Herzegovina and Bulgaria, but was also rejected by the Ottoman Empire. This made Tsarist Russia very angry and threatened to intervene with force.

The "Balkan powder keg" is once again in danger, and Britain is in a state of panic.

As a bridgehead against the invasion of Eastern Slavs, the Ottoman Empire must not fall, and the Tsarist Russian forces must not be allowed to enter the warm Mediterranean. This was the bottom line of Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Therefore

The just demands of the Balkan peoples for freedom and independence were simply ignored or sacrificed by the British in order to maintain the Ottoman Empire's shaky, corrupt and dark rule.

The Russian royal family, which was targeted, was not completely inactive.

The Russians sent military instructors and supplied firearms and weapons to support the national uprisings in Bulgaria, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Serbia, and played a considerable role in fanning the flames.

It was with Russia's strong support that the situation in the Middle East deteriorated rapidly.

All these actions

It also succeeded in attracting most of the attention of British Prime Minister Sir Benjamin Disraeli, who had a very tough policy towards Russia and did not hesitate to threaten Tsarist Russia with war.

Tsarist Russia was much stronger than the Chu State. It bore the pressure from Britain and Austria-Hungary and continued to stir up trouble in the Middle East, determined to detonate the Balkan powder keg.

At this time, the British no longer cared about the Chu State...

(End of this chapter)