Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 528 The Great Chu Empire
The Germans are essentially adding drama to themselves and trying to gain a sense of presence on an international scale. Unfortunately, this time their target is the State of Chu, which is really a hitch.

Just as the two countries were exchanging fire in the air, on March 1900, 3, the remnants of the Dutch army, which was heavily besieged, announced their defeat and surrender in Bandung, without continuing to fight.

As a result, Wanlong fell into the hands of the Chu Royal Army intact, bringing a perfect end to the entire battle.

During the Battle of Batavia, Governor William Rosebohm was shot and wounded and fled back to Bandung with the defeated army. As his illness recurred several times, he died in the Holy Grace Cathedral in Bandung on March 3.

On his deathbed, Governor William Rosebohm still instructed the generals around him, "If Bandung is lost, go up to the mountains and fight guerrilla warfare. You must fight the Orientals to the end."

He fulfilled the sacred mission of a noble knight, being brave, fearless, loyal and humble, but he wanted to take more than 100,000 Dutch white descendants to hell with him and be buried with the declining Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Fortunately, General Hertz was a sensible man. He signed the surrender order personally and then committed suicide by shooting himself in his office.

After being defeated in such an inglorious manner, Chu and the Netherlands subsequently held armistice negotiations in London, England. Just over ten days later, the London Armistice was announced.

In this formal armistice treaty, the Kingdom of the Netherlands admitted defeat, ceded the colonies of the Dutch East Indies to the State of Chu, and recognized the State of Chu's territorial sovereignty.

As compensation, the State of Chu paid 820 million silver dollars and promised that all descendants of Dutch whites and prisoners of war would be released and allowed to leave freely.

The descendants of white people who choose to stay in the East Indies will be naturalized as Chu people and receive fair and non-discriminatory national treatment, and their property and personal safety will be guaranteed.

At this point, the Second East Indies War ended with Chu's complete victory.

News came
All parts of the Chu State were plunged into a sea of ​​joy. The colonial governorates, prefectures, counties and villages held grand victory parades, yangge dancing, boat rowing, lion dancing and other victory celebrations.

Magazines and newspapers repeatedly publicized the great achievements of His Majesty the King of Chu, creating an atmosphere in which hundreds of millions of people supported his ascension to the throne. Gentry from all over the country jointly urged him to ascend the throne, and patriotic enthusiasm was high from top to bottom.

Officials at all levels also jointly urged the emperor to ascend the throne, and related memorials flew into the palace like snowflakes.

By early April
After three requests and three declines, King Zheng Guohui of Chu finally agreed and set the date for the coronation ceremony on May 1900, 5, and ascended the throne of the Great Chu Empire.

Half is flame and half is sea water.

While the Nanyang region was experiencing a period of great unification and prosperity, the North was experiencing an increasingly fierce "Support the Qing and Eliminate Foreigners" movement. Thousands of people burned down churches and houses of Christians, arousing strong dissatisfaction from the major powers.

This major event happening in the north was incompatible with the lively and festive atmosphere in Southeast Asia.

January 5st

An unprecedented grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven was held in Yongtai Mountain (Mount Ayat). Zheng Guohui, the emperor of the Great Chu Empire, wore a purple gold crown with nine dragons facing the sky and a black and yellow dragon robe. He led hundreds of officials to the magnificent altar to announce to the ancestors of heaven and earth.

Then return to Manila

Led by 990 cavalry guards and followed by all the royal guards, the royal sedan chair, surrounded by officials' convoys, stretched for dozens of miles. The scene was truly spectacular.

Millions of people from Manila and all over the country who came to watch the ceremony gathered on both sides of the more than 60-kilometer-long Avenue of Glory, and their thunderous cheers reached the sky.

this moment

King Zheng Guohui of Chu reached the peak of his life. Decades of hard work created the unprecedentedly powerful and vast Great Chu Empire, winning a broader living space for the Chinese community.

The Chu State, which rose in Southeast Asia, spread the splendid Chinese culture to the world, and unprecedentedly improved the status of overseas Chinese. Its contribution can be said to be invaluable.

After the coronation ceremony, a new era name will be used, and it will be established as "Yuantai".

Since the Ming Dynasty, an emperor usually has only one reign title, that is, "one emperor, one reign"

The Great Chu Empire claimed to be the authentic successor of overseas Chinese civilization and followed the old systems of successive dynasties.

The State of Chu was founded on January 1867, 1. Looking back, 1867 was designated as the first year of Yuantai, and his ascension to the throne in 1900 was designated as the thirty-third year of Yuantai, and so on.

This is because the original King of Chu and the current Emperor of Great Chu are actually the same person, and the Chu State and the Great Chu Empire are of the same lineage and have evolved and developed together, so this is the case.

After ascending the throne, the Emperor of Great Chu bestowed titles on his ministers, rewarded the army, and pardoned the people. The whole country was filled with joy.

The victory of the Chu State in Southeast Asia was like a shot of adrenaline, which greatly encouraged the British expeditionary force invading South Africa, and they immediately launched a large-scale attack on the Boers.

In early March, the British Expeditionary Force assembled in South Africa had reached more than 3 people, and new troops were arriving continuously.

Having learned from the failure of the first phase, the British army quickly changed its originally rigid tactics to avoid becoming a sitting duck.

When ambushed by the Bolshevik army, the British infantry units no longer maintained their formation, but dug trenches nearby to cover the cavalry's charge against the Bolshevik positions.

Under the new tactics

The Boers failed in their blocking battles in Poplar Grove, Abraham Cattle Pen and other places. The British army counterattacked quickly and fiercely, causing heavy losses to the Boers.

After a series of battles, on March 3, the British heavy troops approached Bloemfontein, forming a two-sided siege, and the situation became extremely critical.

Orange Free State President Matthew Stein led the government and parliamentary officials and their families, fled the capital Bloemfontein in a panic, and fled to Kronstadt in the north to survive.

On the afternoon of March 3, British troops entered Bloemfontein, and the Orange Free State established by the Boers was destroyed.

This also meant that the British army had achieved a phased victory, which greatly encouraged the British people on the three mainland islands. The Salisbury Cabinet in London was highly praised and its reputation was greatly improved.

End of May 1900
又有一大批英国援军抵达南非。经过兵力调整，在主攻方向上，南非远征军总司令罗伯茨手中有八个英国步兵师（第3、6、7、8、9、10、11师、殖民地师）和第12骑兵师，兵力雄厚，补给充足。

The entire army was full of confidence and prepared to crush the Boer rebellion in one fell swoop and completely destroy the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic.

The British army resumed the offensive in early May, pursuing the victory and making significant progress one after another.

In the face of absolute strength, the Boer guerrilla warfare lost its former power.

After a series of fierce battles, the British army was almost unstoppable and once again captured Kronstad, the new capital of the Orange Free State.

The Boers' morale completely collapsed after suffering continuous defeats. Many Boer militiamen operating behind the British army surrendered to the British, handed over their weapons and returned to their farms.

After eliminating the Orange Free State, a powerful enemy, the British army was able to focus its attack on the still stubbornly resisting Transvaal Republic.
The original Palace of the Kings of Chu was built according to the regulations of the imperial palace. Now it has been legitimately renamed the Palace of the Kings of Chu with only some minor changes.

Many of the cumbersome formalities after ascending the throne, including the custom of shouting "Long live the emperor, long live the emperor, long live the emperor!", were abolished by the Chu Emperor Zheng Guohui, who ordered that everything be kept simple.

The old custom of the imperial family having three palaces, six courtyards and seventy-two concubines was also abolished.

The Chu royal family still follows the Tang system
That is, the rule of one principal, four concubines, and nine imperial concubines means that the emperor of Chu could have a harem of up to one principal and thirteen concubines, a total of 13 people.

Below the empress, there are the noble concubine, the virtuous concubine, the virtuous concubine, and the virtuous concubine, who are the four concubines. They have a respected status and each has an independent palace and courtyard.

There were also Zhaoyi, Zhaorong, Zhaoyuan, Xiuyi, Xiurong, Xiuyuan, Chongyi, Chongrong and Chongyuan, who were the nine concubines.

As for the later twenty-seven concubines, eighty-one imperial wives, and so on, they were all abolished and were not included in the regulations of concubines in the imperial palace of Great Chu. This was the ancestral precedent and was followed by generations.

The Great Chu Empire followed the old system of ancient China. In today's era where polygamy is prevalent, there is nothing surprising about it and it was easily accepted.

Some noble officials who were fond of beautiful women had more than this number of wives and concubines in their mansions, and many of them had more than ten concubines.

The Great Chu Empire did not make any strict regulations on this.

As long as you can afford it, don't steal or rob and make a legitimate living, who cares how many concubines you marry?

In the Purple Palace
Emperor Zheng Guohui of Chu was wearing a moon-white, light dragon robe, with his hair tied up and a diamond crown on his head. He was playing with a string of dark green prayer beads in his hand.

Sitting on the couch, he inadvertently revealed the noble temperament of an emperor.

Having ruled this vast empire for more than thirty years and held a high position for a long time, his glances and smiles all carry a heart-pounding sense of oppression.

Fan Zhicheng, who was honored as the first Prime Minister of the Great Chu Empire, was reporting on the final outcome of the Second East Indies Campaign, the establishment of new prefectures and counties, and post-war reconstruction matters.

Among the rewards bestowed upon him by Zheng Guohui of Chu, he was granted the title of Duke of Jin, which was one of the nine dukes.

In addition to the meritorious officials of the royal army and navy of the Great Chu Empire, former Prime Minister Li Hezhang, Marquis of Cavite, was posthumously awarded the title of Duke, and former Prime Minister Wu Qingfeng was awarded an additional title of Duke. In addition, the original emperor's younger brother Zheng Guoguang was awarded the Duke of Mindoro, the eldest son of the emperor was awarded the Duke of Madagascar, and the third son of the emperor, Chu-Zheng Zhan, was awarded the Duke of Zielo, totaling nine dukes.

The former Crown Prince Chu-Zheng Yuan was made the Grand Duke of Manila, and was later promoted to Prince of Manila, the Crown Prince of the Great Chu Empire, and became a director of the Yuehu Official Residence.

"...

In compliance with His Majesty's decree, officials at all levels have been gradually deployed to the prefectures and counties newly incorporated into the Empire. The remaining mid- and low-level officials will be selected and promoted from various regions.

so far
The 3379 vacancies for grassroots officials were all selected from university graduates and retired military officers, with the former accounting for % and the latter about %.

Retired military officers are mainly concentrated in the General Police Department, the General Taxation, Punishment and Audit Department, as well as the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Transport, the Colonial Office and other government offices so that they can play a role as soon as possible.

More than two months after the end of the war, a total of about 2 women had been exported from the former Dutch-occupied areas. Most of them had been absorbed through various social channels and were generally welcomed by the middle and lower classes.

The grassroots people praised this benevolent policy.

This has effectively alleviated the problem of population imbalance in our Great Chu Empire, promoted social harmony, and made people's lives more hopeful.

In the next step, the military plans to cooperate with relevant government departments to further transport female population out of the island.

The plan is to export more than two million people by the end of the year..."

Emperor Zheng Guohui of Chu unconsciously rubbed the jade beads in his hand while listening to the report. He would interrupt and ask a few questions when there was something that attracted his attention.

The large-scale transportation of indigenous women from Java Island was not explicitly announced by the imperial high-ranking officials; it was all a tacit agreement.

It goes without saying that without these indigenous women, these indigenous races will lose the ability to reproduce and will naturally go on the path of extinction.

Without women, how can we have children?
Besides
During the cleanup campaign launched by the colonial army, the focus was on suppressing the indigenous people in towns. Most of them were escorted to mines, imperial farms, plantations and ranches across the Chu State to work, and what awaited them was endless slavery.

The reason why the focus was on suppressing the urban indigenous population was because this group of people belonged to the elite of the indigenous tribes.

Many of them are literate and come from families of indigenous tribal nobles, chiefs or elders. They have seen more scenery and naturally have more ideas.

Once this group of social elites is suppressed, the indigenous population in the countryside who are illiterate and have little knowledge will no longer pose any threat and can be slowly exploited and dealt with.

Over the years
The Chu State pursued a policy of not allowing records, archives, discussions, or investigations of the suppressed and enslaved indigenous population, and all statistics were destroyed every year.

Even in confidential files, it is not allowed to be retained.

This is also for the sake of prudence, to prevent those idle literary experts from digging up old cases and doing some boring research in the future, and to completely clean up the mess.

these years
Many major archaeological discoveries have been made in various parts of the country, such as the former site of the Xuanwei Mission in the old port of Aceh and the large number of Ming Dynasty tombs unearthed. A large number of cultural relics and books from the Ming Dynasty have been unearthed, totaling more than 100,000 pieces.

For example, the ancient tombs discovered at the site of Srivijaya proved that Han people had lived and multiplied here hundreds of years ago. Many of them were from high-ranking officials and noble families who fled to Southeast Asia during the turbulent Ming Dynasty and filled in these blanks in history.

There are many archaeological discoveries of this kind, which have greatly enriched the legality of the Chu Empire, its orthodox cultural heritage and the history of the development of overseas Chinese that has continued to this day.

These days, it’s quite easy to get some cultural relics from previous dynasties, and it doesn’t cost too much money.

Emperor Zheng Guohui of Chu was thinking happily in his heart, thinking about how to reduce the indigenous population and assimilate them as quickly as possible.

First of all, sending a large number of indigenous women off the island is a radical move. In the next three years, this number will reach more than four million, all of whom are young women of childbearing age.

In the next ten to fifteen years, more than 100,000 young indigenous women will continue to be sent out of the island every year, causing the indigenous population to plummet.

Secondly, we must cut off the channels for religious dissemination, implement separate management, prohibit cross-regional migration, and implement other powerful supporting measures.

Only in this way can we achieve a seamless population transition in the next 30 years, which is much more civilized than the Americans' wanton massacre.

(End of this chapter)