Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 407 Good Days Are Coming

The riots that broke out in the Plaza de la República in Malaguay intensified. Hundreds of Chinese gunmen rushed into the pocket government, parliament, police station and court, and directly hacked to death some officials who had aroused great public anger with knives and guns, and dragged out the bodies.

The white gunman who fled into the Santo Domingo Church was not spared. He was dragged out with bruised eyes and noses and was interrogated on the street.

as expected
This was a vicious siege plan conspired by Nicaraguan Speaker Francis Cardozo and the Americans, aimed at eliminating the Chinese leader Baron Wang Hai, a serious threat, and allowing pro-American forces to regain control of the situation in Nicaragua.

The news caused great public outrage.

The riots then spread throughout the city of Managua, with vicious incidents such as robbery, murder and looting occurring one after another. The chaos lasted for four to five days and spread to other towns, attracting the attention of countries such as Britain, the United States and France.

Until half a month later
The chaotic situation was finally contained when the HMS Bidlings fleet from the British Caribbean Fleet arrived at the city of Rama on the Punta Gorda River in Nicaragua.

More than 20 days later
The armored fleet "Zhenyuan" from the State of Chu arrived at the northern port of Morazan, further stabilizing the local situation from extreme chaos to relative peace.

By this time, it was already March 1875.

In more than a dozen towns and cities across Nicaragua, the turbulent situation caused by the "Malagua Incident" has not yet truly calmed down, and news of conflicts breaking out has been heard from time to time.

On April 4, the Central American Conference on the Nicaragua issue was held in Panama. The meeting was still chaired by Britain, and diplomatic representatives from major powers such as France, the United States, Chu, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands attended the meeting. It was considered a large-scale international conference in the Central American region.

At the Panama Conference

The US representative appeared to be safeguarding the interests of Central American countries and angrily accused the infiltration of Chu's immigrant forces, saying they were the real culprits causing regional unrest.

At the Panama International Conference, Nicaraguan President Flamingo dos Santos and the new Speaker of the National Assembly, Sir Wang Hai, produced irrefutable evidence that former Speaker Francis colluded with the Americans to create the "Managua Incident."

This included their confessions and the confessions of the captured American white mercenary leaders, which formed irrefutable evidence.

This confirmed the Americans' bad behavior of interfering in Nicaragua's internal affairs, setting a trap, and plotting to eliminate Deputy Speaker Sir Wang Hai, which was recognized by the diplomatic representatives of European powers.

The sudden turn of events shocked the American diplomatic representative James Cornelis who was present at the meeting. He stood there in a daze, his face turning pale and red.

This matter

No one had ever told him the truth, and no force in the United States came forward to claim responsibility. The American diplomatic representative James Cornelis was caught off guard and lost his dignity on the spot.

In the following days
U.S. diplomatic representative James Cornelis avoided the main issue and kept emphasizing the adverse social impact caused by Chinese immigrants in the "Malaguaic Incident", which triggered turmoil in the Central American region.

According to US statistics

After the outbreak of the "Malagua Incident", the turbulent situation spread like a plague to more than a dozen towns in the country, and even affected neighboring Honduras, causing a large number of white descendants to flee.

About 3450 to people of white descent and their families died in the turmoil, and more than white people and their families left Nicaragua and Honduras, leaving the above-mentioned areas more under the control of Chinese forces.

During the more than two months of turmoil, more Chinese, Indians and mixed-race whites died in the chaos, and estimates vary greatly.

Some say there are tens of thousands of people, some say two or three thousand, and some even say it is as high as tens of thousands, which is obviously alarmist.

How many people are there in Nicaragua?

However, due to the remoteness, backwardness and lack of attention of the region, European powers did not even have diplomatic representatives in Malaguay, and most of the information was conveyed by white people from various countries doing business in the area.

The new Speaker of the House, Sir David Wang, denied all the accusations made by the US and pointed out that this was a conspiracy by the US deliberately targeting the Chinese community. The US was the ultimate mastermind behind the scenes and should be held responsible for the regional instability.

The verbal lawsuit lasted for more than ten days, but in the end it was left unresolved.

The British representative who originally presided over the international conference should have stood on the same front with the Chu State to condemn and restrict the United States' frequent interference in the affairs of Central and South America.

However, due to the tough and unfriendly attitude of the current London government towards the State of Chu, the British diplomatic representatives did not help either side and acted as a confused peacemaker.

The cause of the "Malagua Incident" is very clear. The detained witnesses acknowledged the determination of responsibility for the incident submitted by Nicanagua during questioning by representatives of various countries at an international conference.

In general, the United States cannot escape blame for the serious incident caused by "collusion of internal and external forces out of selfish selfishness."

As for further investigation, the representatives of the major powers were indifferent and kept a distance from the matter. In the end, the matter was left unresolved and no one seriously investigated it.

The strong protest of the US representative was not accepted, and the Chu State's request to hold the real culprit accountable was also ignored, and the international conference ended in such a hasty manner.

final result
The Americans lost face, the Chu people won substance, and the one who ultimately suffered was the Republic of Nicaragua, but who would care about this weak Central American country?

After the "Malagua Incident"
The power of local white people has greatly shrunk, and the pro-American and pro-Spanish forces have retreated significantly. The originally few white people have left or dispersed, and they can no longer make any difference.

The local police, courts, parliament and administrative agencies all fell into the hands of pro-Chu forces and Chinese representatives, and the Chinese immigration to Nicaragua was once again accelerated on a large scale.

Between April and June alone, no less than 4 Chinese immigrants arrived in Nicaragua, mainly gathering in more than 6 towns, and the influence of the Chinese population has once again surged.

At the Panama International Conference, Nicaraguan President Flamingo dos Santos, who has been cooperating with Speaker Sir Wang Hai, also reaped rich rewards.

His family obtained the rights to sell Chu tobacco and chocolate in Central America. Both businesses were lucrative, earning high returns of over $100,000 a year.

That's enough money for President Flamingo dos Santos to sell out this small Central American country a few more times.

If a person does not serve himself, he will be destroyed by heaven and earth.

President Flamenco dos Santos is a member of a Guatemalan mixed-race family with a long tradition of political activity. His wife, two sons, and one daughter all live in Guatemala City and are renowned socialites in the local upper class.

The president's wife and daughter expressed their disdain for the remote and poor town of Maragua, and expressed their unwillingness to come to this rural town to suffer.

It is precisely because of various factors that President Flamingo dos Santos has long been defeated by money and has become Sir Wang Hai's open political partner, providing cover for the infiltration of Chinese forces everywhere.

With such an insider, many things become much easier.

In the mines, brick kilns, coal kilns, lime kilns and plantations run by many Chinese businessmen in Nicaragua, many indigenous Indians were subjected to almost abusive slavery and lived in extremely poor conditions.

A large number of Indian women and mixed-race white women became wives and concubines in Chinese families. This was because Chinese immigrants had better economic conditions, were wealthy and had higher social status, and had become the mainstream ethnic group in the local society.

One after another, Native American tribes disappeared, and were replaced by Chinese villages and towns.

The changes that have taken place in this remote area of ​​Central America are mostly unknown due to its backward and closed environment, and no one knows what is happening there?
American forces suffered heavy losses in Nicaragua and were marginalized everywhere. Managua did not even have a decent American-funded business, and was basically controlled by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Central America has demonstrated an amazing ability to expand and penetrate. It not only dominates Nicaragua, but also has great influence in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, occupying a dominant position in business.

The superior business ability of the Chinese caused local Spanish and American businessmen to retreat step by step and gradually withdraw from the Central American market.

James Cornelis, the U.S. diplomatic representative to Costa Rica, was extremely worried about this phenomenon and kept calling for "being wary of Orientals." However, due to the indifference of the British and the indifference of the French, not even a ripple was raised.

France's situation in Europe was quite bad. The Triple Alliance was like a shackle around France's neck, which not only suffocated the proud Gauls, but also greatly reduced its international influence.

If this dilemma cannot be broken, it will be impossible to concentrate on external expansion and colonization, and the European mainland will always be the top priority.

The British are not just worried about Nicaragua. Now Bolivia and Chile are arguing over the interests of birds in the Atacama Desert.

Chile and Britain have a good relationship. The two sides jointly established the Atacama Mining Company to mine guano and saltpeter resources in the desert, which is a lucrative business.

There are three countries surrounding the Atacama Desert, namely Bolivia, Chile and Peru. These three countries share the resources in the Atacama Desert.

some of

The resources on the Chilean side are relatively scarce, while the resources on the Bolivian and Peruvian sides are relatively abundant. When Chile saw that it was at a disadvantage, it quickly pulled in Britain to jointly develop desert resources.

This is the contradiction. If the resources in the desert area cannot belong to me, then the generous tax revenue will belong to me. This is the Chileans' little calculation.

Bringing out this big Buddha from Britain is undoubtedly a very clever strategy.

Although Bolivia has rich guano mining areas, it is impossible to mine all of it due to limited manpower and backward productivity.

The mining company, a joint venture between Britain and Chile, went there as a private enterprise and sold the mined guano to the international market, while paying taxes to the host country.

This is a win-win situation, as both parties can make money as long as they abide by the contract.

But things went against expectations. In mid-1875, a heavy rain disaster hit Bolivia, destroying many towns and houses and causing huge losses. A large amount of funds was needed for reconstruction.

What should the Bolivian government do if it is currently unable to raise sufficient funds?

Bolivian government officials had an idea: Chilean mining companies are rich, right? So, they should increase taxes on them.

Just this one amazing operation completely confused the Chileans.

They had just signed an agreement promising no tax increase for 25 years, but they tore up the contract after only one year. This isn't how things are done?
If you really need money, we can discuss it.

So Chile sent people to negotiate. After some communication, the Bolivian government said it would no longer increase taxes, but instead planned to confiscate the mining company.

All of a sudden, the Chileans were completely helpless.

This conflict arose from this, and since it involved the actual interests of the British, it caused the British Governor of the Caribbean a lot of headaches.

This Bolivian man doesn't keep his word. He changes the signed agreement every day and still acts arrogantly and refuses to be persuaded.

Even the British mediation was useless. How brave of them can they be?
Britain implemented effective colonial rule in the Caribbean through the establishment of regional governors, and dispatched diplomatic envoys to various countries in South America to exercise the authority of the British Empire to control the regional situation.

As early as the early 17th century, Britain established a governor's district in the area around Bermuda, issuing colonial commissions to designate British white people or companies to implement colonial rule.

decades later
The British monarch decided to strengthen control over the colonies in the Caribbean. From then on, governors were appointed and dispatched directly by the king and could only be white British people.

The Governor appointed a 12-member council to represent different constituencies, maintain the right of speech on behalf of the colonial interests, collect local taxes, and oversee colonial spending.

In Jamaica, the colony was divided into parishes, with local representatives responsible for local parish administration.

To serve in Parliament, one must have a certain amount of property and must be white, which is also a privilege for white people in the UK.

The British governor did not have the power like the Spanish governor to command the army. He had to consult with Parliament and could not impose his will on Parliament.

The Governor-General signed laws and regulations, which had to be approved by Parliament. In reality, the power of the British Caribbean Governor-General was limited by Parliament, making him a symbolic position with very limited power.

After July 1875
Because the Chilean mining company in South America encountered big trouble, it once again successfully diverted the attention of the British Caribbean Governor's Office, and no one paid attention to the Nicaraguan issue.

"Immigration cannot stop, and the efforts must be intensified. The number of immigrants to Central America must increase to 3 people per month, and it can only be more, not less." King Zheng Guohui of Chu was in a very good mood and gave the order.

"I will obey the emperor's order and further increase immigration efforts on the Pacific route." Wu Qingfeng, Secretary of State for the Colonies, replied respectfully.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu nodded with satisfaction, he knew that good days for Chu were coming again.

The dispute among the three South American countries began, and the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East became increasingly chaotic. The Serbian, Montenegrin and Bulgarian uprisings supported by Tsarist Russia were everywhere, making the Ottoman Empire extremely anxious.

The British were supplying weapons to the Ottoman Empire, sending more military instructors, and providing large pound loans to solve food and arms problems and support this crumbling and corrupt empire in West Asia.

If the Ottoman Empire collapsed, there would be no obstacle to Tsarist Russia's expansion into the west, and the British would never allow such a bad situation to happen.

No matter how much it costs, even if it means organizing another Anglo-French coalition, we must support the Ottoman Empire.

At this critical moment, how could we care about the Chu State in Southeast Asia?

(End of this chapter)