The Australian Revolution of 1828

"You bunch of beasts! This is utterly outrageous! I'll fight you to the death!"

Logically speaking, the Denpasar people don't follow the laws of nature and have nothing to do with them, but their anger is basically the same as that of the Chinese.

No sooner said than done, a long knife plunged directly into the man's chest, and he fell silent moments later.

The thug who stabbed the man pulled out his long knife, wiped the blood off the blade with the man's clothes, and cursed, "You dare to be so arrogant with me? You're just asking for trouble, you don't want to live anymore."

Of course, he didn't stop cursing either. The rogue found the shop's money storage place, stuffed it all into his pocket, and said, "What are you standing there for? Get to work!"

The hooligans who came with him were genuinely surprised that their leader would use a knife, and were momentarily stunned.

Once they realized that their elder brother had already put the money in his pocket, everyone rushed forward and followed suit, instantly sweeping away all the valuables in the store.

After they had looted almost everything, the eldest brother proudly displayed his spoils, saying, "First come, first served!"

"This shop only has this much money. You'd better be quick when you get to the next one. Otherwise, I'll take it all, and don't blame me for not giving you a chance."

The underlings were also full of fighting spirit and high morale! Under the eldest brother's instruction, seven or eight people formed a group and went to the next unlucky shop.

It was obvious that most of the shop owners had noticed the commotion on the street. One shop was closing when the door was pushed open by hooligans, and seven or eight people barged in.

Having learned from their first experience, the ruffians became quite adept at their methods, heading straight for the place where the money was stored.

The shopkeeper, feeling insecure, didn't dare utter a sound and just watched as the ruffians ran off with all the money. Fortunately, he was unharmed and survived the ordeal.

The ruffians, spurred on by the money, abandoned the items they had previously stolen and headed for the next shop.

This wasn't the first time such a scene had occurred; it was happening all over Denpasar, and even the police officers responsible for patrolling the city turned a blind eye.

The reason for this is that the police were powerless to do anything about it.

This morning, approximately 300 hooligans flooded into Denpasar, forming small groups and brandishing machetes on the streets.

They robbed anyone they saw and smashed any shop they encountered. They would break into one shop to rob another.

The police arrived after hearing the news, only to be met by a musketeer squad organized by Zhang Yuanyang. After just one round of firing, the police left behind several corpses and returned to the yamen.

To this day, I haven't dared to come out again.

At this moment, King Denpasar also received the news. Faced with the chaotic streets, he was extremely furious and questioned the officials present, saying, "Who can tell me what exactly happened in the city? What are the police doing?"

"Why don't they quell the riots and maintain order in the city!"

Faced with the king's anger, the officials present were speechless, and for a moment no one knew what was going on.

Just as the king was about to vent his anger, a guard from the palace brought alarming news: "Your Majesty, a group of unidentified people have occupied the port. Please send troops to rescue them as soon as possible."

Bad news followed one after another; the king's high blood pressure spiked, and he collapsed from the shock. Fortunately, his close attendants reacted quickly and helped him to a chair.

After regaining his composure, the king realized that none of these officials were reliable, and said, "Close the city gates immediately, and at the same time, notify the port forts to bombard these barbarians with all their might."

But before the king's order could be delivered, another startling message arrived from outside the palace.

The south gate has been captured, and the identity of the attackers has not yet been determined.

Upon hearing this, the king was stunned and muttered, "Disaster!" before collapsing to one side.

When the old king breathed his last, the officials panicked and argued for a long time without coming up with a solution.

One of the civil servants, around 50 years old, assumed the Dutch had invaded. Driven by self-interest, he made the most representative decision.

After calming the noisy crowd down, he explained his thoughts, saying, "Gentlemen, the king is gone. We should go to the port to welcome this 'guest' who has come ashore, as a sign of respect."

A single sentence was like a wake-up call; finally, a reason was found, and everyone echoed it.

After discussion, the group elected a civil official to serve as the negotiator and to go to the port to handle the specific negotiation matters.

The final decision was reached within Denpasar city, and a final decision was also made at the port outside the city.

Seeing that the advance was going very well, and that the port and forts were under control, Li Guochen issued a new order, saying, "Deputy Commander Luo, you will lead the team this time and be responsible for maintaining order in the city."

"Anyone found disturbing the peace will be warned. Those who refuse to comply will be dealt with according to battlefield discipline!"

To be honest, if it weren't for the fear of Dutch interference, Li Guochen wouldn't have thought of settling down in the area so quickly.

For Denpasar at this stage, only by getting these scoundrels to stand completely against the Denpasar people can Li Guochen better rely on them.

The enmity hasn't run too deep yet, so we have to be careful when using it to avoid backfiring.

Just as Luo Bingzhong led his men to quell the unrest in the city, Wei Guochang, who was in charge of city affairs, entered with a scholar-looking official and said, "Commander, the Kingdom of Bali has sent envoys to negotiate!"

The fact that they chose to negotiate before even engaging in battle demonstrates their weakness.

However, Bali has a larger population than Hanyang Prefecture, so Li Guochen chose to be cautious and said, "I wonder if your esteemed envoy wants to discuss peace or war?"

The visiting civil officials were clearly not there for war, but rather to curry favor with the troops landing at the port. To appease Li Guocheng, the envoy explained his purpose: to negotiate peace.

Caught between war and peace, the Balinese officials were cunning and chose to protect themselves, completely relinquishing the initiative to Li Guochen.

Li Guochen, without mincing words, pressed his advantage, fully revealing his intentions, saying, "Since your esteemed envoy wishes to negotiate peace, then please, King of Guiguo, surrender!"

The king had already passed away, and the envoy from Denpasar had no power to revive him, so he revealed the truth of the matter in the palace.

Upon hearing this news, Li Guochen was shocked and surprised.

From a purely military perspective, without the king's banner, Bali could very well descend into chaos, which would be difficult to manage.

The only way to ensure stability in Bali is to subdue Denpasar's leadership as soon as possible.

In order to seize Denpasar as soon as possible, Li Guochen disregarded everything else and directly tried to win over the envoy, saying, "I see that your esteemed envoy has the talent of a prime minister. Would you be willing to serve as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bali?"

It was supposed to be a negotiation driven by personal interests, but unexpectedly, this windfall came his way. The envoy was overjoyed, making no attempt to hide his anticipation, and said, "I am ready to serve the General!"

Li Guochen knew he was overstepping his authority, but he did it anyway.

First, it would allow for the swift stabilization of the region, preventing Dutch interference.

Secondly, with the king deceased, a person close to Hanyang is needed to step forward and make decisions that benefit Hanyang.

Thirdly, some decisions do require the Denpasar people to make, while Hanyang simply needs to maintain the right direction.

With these three reasons, even if Li Guochen had truly done something taboo, Han Qingyun could understand and approve of it.