The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 713 The Spread of Riots

At night, there is a large manor outside the city of Larut. This is Zheng Jinggui’s manor.

The people from Haishan rushed here covered in blood, which scared Zheng Jinggui.

In fact, Zheng Jinggui had heard about the chaos in the city a long time ago, but he didn't know the specific situation, so he asked the people in the manor to guard the manor, and at the same time asked people to pack up some valuables and be ready to leave at any time.

When Lao Jiu was brought to the manor, he saw Haishan Company’s bosses Lin Yalai and Zheng Jinggui sitting there.

"Has that bastard Luohan come over?" Lao Jiu looked around with a ferocious look on his face. He was almost killed by that bastard Luohan just now.

"Old Nine, this is not the place for you to make a scene!" Lin Yalai said coldly, and then asked: "What happened? What happened in the city?"

Lao Jiu suppressed his anger and recounted the situation.

"How many natives are there?" Lin Yalai asked in a deep voice.

“I don’t know. Half of the natives in the city have gone crazy… or maybe all of them have gone crazy…” Lao Jiu said gritting his teeth.

Hearing this, Zheng Jinggui's face turned pale.

Lin Yalai's face also looked ugly.

"How are the others?" Lin Yalai asked again.

"I don't know. Luohan suddenly ran away with his men. My men couldn't hold on any longer and had to run away. Otherwise, I would have been left there too..."

"How the hell can I care about others in that situation?"

Hearing this, Lin Yalai's face became even uglier.

No one talks about the Chinese community, this situation... they all know that the Chinese community must be suffering.

"Mr. Dong, the situation in the city now... needs the British to come forward and suppress it!" Lin Yalai looked at Zheng Jinggui.

"The British will definitely not ignore it!" Zheng Jinggui said immediately. "But in the current situation, half of the city is in chaos. I'm afraid the British can't do anything!"

"We have to wait until daybreak, when the riots stop, before the British can intervene!"

There are dozens of police officers in Larut, mainly local indigenous people.

In addition, there is a small army of one hundred people, all of whom are Indian Sikh soldiers.

In a riot of this scale, the British were lucky to be able to protect themselves, as the one hundred Sikh soldiers did not dare to leave the barracks.

"The riots started in the afternoon, and the British didn't react at all! I even asked someone to notify the police station, but they just gave us a perfunctory response!" Lao Jiu said angrily.

"Be patient! Just wait until dawn! The riots will surely calm down by dawn! Then I will ask the British to come forward and seek justice." Zheng Jinggui said confidently.

"I will talk to the colonial government! But the telegraph office is in the city, and under the current circumstances, we can't send a telegram... We can only wait for the riots to calm down. The question now is whether those thugs will rush here?" Zheng Jinggui said worriedly.

Just as he was worried, a large number of Malays had already arrived outside Zheng Jinggui's manor, watching inside with a fierce look in the dark.

"That's the richest Chinese man there. If we rob him, we can all get rich!"

"There are quite a few guards inside, and they may have guns..." someone said.

"What are you afraid of? But we don't have enough people. Go get some more people! Then we can all rush in together!"

"There's enough stuff in there for us to share!"

Late at night, outside Zheng Jinggui's manor, a large number of natives suddenly poured out from the darkness, greed in everyone's eyes.

"Kill them! Loot them all!"

"Take back what they took from us!"

……

At the same time, another wealthy man in the city, Ye Guansheng, whom Lin Wenzhou had visited before, organized the manor guards and the Chinese who had sought refuge there, and fought while retreating towards the area where the British lived.

They retreated to the edge of the British community, where they were stopped by some policemen and Sikh soldiers with guns.

"Those people are crazy, let us in!" Many Chinese people shouted with panic in their eyes.

"Don't come over, or we'll shoot!" The police and Sikh soldiers were unmoved.

Some of the policemen's eyes flickered.

Hearing the sounds of thugs chasing after them, as well as the sounds of hacking and screaming, some Chinese people immediately ran in panic behind the police and Sikh soldiers.

boom!
Smoke suddenly came out of the gun in the hands of an indigenous policeman.

As one person opened fire, others followed suit.

The Sikh soldiers didn't know what was happening and started shooting as well. Suddenly, a large number of people were hit by bullets and the crowd fell into chaos.

Ye Guansheng was supported by his son, and he felt a chill in his heart when he saw this scene.

Especially when he saw the cruelty in the eyes of the indigenous policemen under the torches, he felt something was wrong.

"Go out of the city!" Ye Guansheng gritted his teeth.

A group of people immediately ran towards the outside of the city again, but in the end less than half of them were able to run out of the city.

At the same time, in the British community, Councillor Hugh Lowe stood at the window and frowned, "What was that gunshot just now?"

After the assistant went out to inquire, Hugh Luo continued to stand there. He knew what had happened recently.

But he didn't expect that the Malay natives would suddenly explode.

Even he couldn't control this situation.

100 Sikh soldiers plus local police were barely able to protect the British community from attacks by indigenous mobs.

But even he was prepared to retreat immediately if things went wrong. After a while, his assistant came back and said, "Sir, some Chinese just wanted to hide here... You ordered not to let anyone in..."

"I understand!" said Hugh Ke.

Although it was inappropriate for the Malays to explode prematurely...but things had come to this point and there was nothing he could do.

As for those Chinese...the target this time was originally the Chinese.

Wait until daybreak, when the commotion has calmed down.

But the impact of this riot was greater than he thought, greater than anyone else thought.

By daybreak, the unrest had spread from Larut to the mining area and then to other cities.

The British had been spreading hatred against the Chinese among the Malays before, and it had been brewing for a month. When it erupted, it was like a volcano and no one could stop it.

It took 16 hours for news of the riots to reach the British Foreign Secretary's desk.

"Mr. Earl, there was a riot against the Chinese in Larut, Malay Peninsula... The conflict between the indigenous people and the Chinese suddenly exploded!"

"The whole city is in a massacre!"

"When did it happen?"

"16 hours ago, starting in the afternoon and continuing into the evening, the riots began to spread..."

"This is not in our plan! What's the situation now?" Earl Granville asked with a frown.

"Yes, some things disrupted the plan, but human hearts are the most unpredictable. A small thing may make a person explode! It can only be said that these Malay natives have been dissatisfied with the Chinese for a long time!"

"As for the current situation... it's very bad! At least from the news we got, the riots are spreading! It's like fire igniting the hay!" said the director in charge of Asian affairs.

"We have no control now!"

"How will that guy react?" Earl Granville's thoughts turned to Chen Zhengwei.

After all, the target this time is Chen Zhengwei.

"He will definitely take action!" the head of Asian affairs vowed.

Based on his understanding of Chen Zhengwei, China's Chen will definitely take action after learning the news.

Earl Granville nodded, thought for a moment, then stood up, picked up his hat and coat, put them on, and went out.

He was going to see the First Lord of the Admiralty.

The British Royal Navy needed to send warships stationed in Singapore to the waters near Penang.

Chen Zhengwei will definitely go to Penang.

……

Da Nang, Vietnam.

After Chen Zhengwei gave an ultimatum, Nguyen Trong Ha finally persuaded the King of Vietnam to mortgage Haiphong Port, Quang An Port and Hongji Coal Mine to Chen Zhengwei.

"So all you have to do is sign this contract!" Chen Zhengwei sat on the sofa with his legs crossed.

Nguyen Trong Ha and the people from the Vietnamese court stood opposite.

Ruan Zhonghe took the contract and read it carefully, then signed his name on it with a calm expression and sadness in his eyes.

The Nguyen Dynasty leased two ports and coal mines to Tran Chinh Wei for 99 years.

Thanks to Nguyen Trong Ha's efforts, Vietnam did not gain nothing.

Chen Zhengwei will sell them a batch of firearms, Remington 1880 rifles, which can hold thirteen bullets. This is much more advanced than the Vietnamese army's muskets and much more advanced than the French army's guns.

You should know that Vietnam’s most elite royal guard still uses the rifled rifle developed by France in 1849, with bullets and gunpowder loaded separately.

Chen Zhengwei sold them the Remington 1880, at a price of $75 per rifle and 15 cents per bullet. The Vietnamese court gritted its teeth and bought 200 rifles and 6 rounds of ammunition to equip the royal guards.

"Mr. Chen, you got what you wanted." After Nguyen Zhonghe signed on behalf of the Nguyen Dynasty, he put down the pen and said to Chen Zhengwei:

Chen Zhengwei took the agreement, flicked his fingers on it, and said with a smile:
"Since our previous dispute has been resolved and you have paid compensation, we are friends now!"

"You will find out later that I am actually a very easy-going person! I am also happy to help others!"

Ruan Zhonghe and others had no intention of staying any longer and soon said goodbye.

However, two officials were left behind to accompany Chen Zhengwei to Guang'an Port and Haiphong Port to read out the imperial decree to lend these two ports to Chen Zhengwei.

Not long after Ruan Zhonghe and the others left, a henchman came over and said, "Brother Wei, a French businessman is here to visit!"

"It's Emile Menard."

"They are quite well-informed! Did the Vietnamese tell them?" Chen Zhengwei smiled.

Although it sounded like he was asking his henchmen, he knew in his heart that it must have been the Vietnamese who leaked it to them.

The Vietnamese court can now be said to be riddled with holes.

However, Chen Zheng's threats were too strong and both sides moved too quickly, so the French had no time to stop him.

The die is cast now.

"Bring it here!"

Soon, the two Frenchmen followed the thugs and were brought before Chen Zhengwei.

(End of this chapter)