The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 737: Did they build the battleship themselves?

Looking at the eight people in front of him, Chen Zhengwei was in a good mood. He did not expect to have an unexpected gain.

Four captains mean four captains.

Although the Qing Dynasty's navy consisted of only small boats, they were after all professionally trained.

The captains under him, except for Liu Guanchang who was a sailor before going to the United States, the others were either captains of piglet boats, or the tallest of the short ones who had learned from the British for a few months.

These people are not only serious navy captains, but also very familiar with the situation in Asia and the Southeast Waters.

The Qing Dynasty’s ships were not very good, and the navy did not have much desire to fight, but they did have a lot of training exercises on a regular basis.

"From Fuzhou School?" Chen Zhengwei asked casually.

"Mr. Chen, Fuzhou School was founded in 67, and Zhang Cheng and I were the first batch of students!" Lin Guoyu bowed.

Chen Zhengwei casually asked about the situation of these people.

Lin Guoyu and Zhang Cheng were both students of Fuzhou Academy in 67. Lin Guoyu’s twin brother Lin Guozhen and Zhuo Guanlue of the Fujian Navy both entered Fuzhou Academy in 69.

The other members of the Lin family are relatively young, serving in the navy or on ships, or working as translators and technicians.

In addition, the father of Lin Guoyu and his brothers is still alive. His name is Lin Daoyong, a wealthy Malay businessman. He was previously trapped in Klang and was rescued by his own men.

Zhang Cheng and Zhuo Guanlue were in a similar situation.

"Are there many Malaysian Chinese in the navies of Guangdong, Fujian and Nanyang?" Chen Zhengwei asked thoughtfully.

"Mr. Chen, there are not many Malaysian Chinese in the navy. The remaining ones were unable to return for various reasons!"

After some questioning, Chen Zhengwei finally understood the whole story.

The navy does not recruit people randomly, most of them are recruited from the coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian.

Another thing is that we recruit people from schools in Hong Kong...We recruit people who are proficient in English and familiar with Western culture. After training, they will be able to perform translation and technical work.

But those who can study in Hong Kong are at least from upper-middle-class families or wealthy families.

Naturally there aren't many people like this.

After Chen Zhengwei understood the situation, he nodded and said:
"If you want to work for me, that's fine! But you still have to start from scratch here."

"As you should!" Several people bowed. They were a little surprised that Chen Zhengwei agreed so readily.

After all, they are all from the Qing Navy.

They are not yet familiar with Chen Zhengwei's style of doing things.

What Chen Zhengwei fears least is that someone will run away with his boat.

If this really happened...is there such a good thing?

"That's it. You will follow the ship to transport and resettle those Chinese workers these days. As long as you have the ability and do your job well, you will be able to get promoted!" Chen Zhengwei nodded.

"Xiwen, you settle them down tomorrow." Chen Zhengwei turned and said to Li Xiwen.

Then he said to the others, "Come to the hotel tomorrow and find him when you get there."

"Okay, go back and see your family first, and report back tomorrow. There are still a lot of Chinese in Perak and Selangor, and the ports are very busy every day."

After the others said goodbye and went back, Chen Zhengwei smiled and said to Chen Fenglu, "What do you call this?"

"Boss, this is what the people want!" Chen Fenglu immediately followed up.

"After what happened with the Malaysian Chinese, the boss is now popular in Southeast Asia. If the boss wants to establish a country in Southeast Asia, as long as he raises his arms and calls for it, countless people will follow him."

"After being in Hong Kong for so long, my eloquence has improved a lot, if not anything else!" Chen Zhengwei laughed.

"A lot of Chinese people in Hong Kong are talking about this!" said Chen Fenglu.

The Nanyang Chinese were massacred this time, and Chen Zhengwei personally arranged for people to rescue the Malay Chinese.

As the news gradually spread, Chen Zhengwei's reputation in Southeast Asia skyrocketed.

This is not only true among the Malaysian Chinese, but also among the Chinese in other Southeast Asian countries.

Hong Kong is an international transit hub, so naturally news spreads the fastest.

What's more, the previous incidents involving Chinese in Peru and Cuba have gradually spread. Now all Chinese living overseas know that if they really encounter problems overseas, only Chen Zhengwei can help them.

After inquiring about the situation of the ships brought by Chen Fenglu, Chen Zhengwei divided the ships into two parts.

Among them, the larger ones and the transport ships of their own fleet carried people from Penang to Ryukyu.

The rest are responsible for transportation between Penang, Perak and Selangor.

There’s no way, there are too many people!

Perak and Selangor together have nearly 20 people, and resettling and transporting these people is a big problem.

Those ships could only carry a few hundred people at a time.

The water level in those two ports is too shallow for larger ships to enter.

Sending all these people to Ryukyu is a huge project.

But this matter must be done quickly. After all, this is British territory, and they are blatantly undermining the foundation of the Straits Settlements.

If time goes on for too long, something might happen.

"With these people, San Francisco and Los Angeles will be very lively when I go back next time!" Chen Fenglu said with some emotion.

He watched Chen Zhengwei develop step by step in San Francisco.

From more than 40,000 Chinese people huddled in Chinatown in San Francisco to the present day.

With these people, the number of Chinese in the United States will reach four or five hundred thousand.

"It must be lively, there are probably fights all over the streets! The casinos are packed with people, and there are no queues in the brothels!" Chen Zhengwei laughed. "The population structure here is similar to that of San Francisco, 90% of them are young and strong men who come here to pan for gold."

"So you have to find a way to transport more women over..."

"Boss, women are different from men. Few of them will take the initiative to go out to sea. They can only rely on buying!" Chen Fenglu also felt embarrassed.

"Tanka people!" Chen Zhengwei remembered the people he had met in Guangzhou before.

"There are a large number of Tanka people in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian! When girls are born, they are sold to other Tanka people. When they grow up, most of them become prostitutes on the boats and cannot even go ashore."

"Boss, what you mean is to buy from those boat people...or persuade those boat people to go out to sea?" Chen Fenglu reacted halfway through his words.

He also knew about the Tanka people. After all, he had been to Guangzhou several times and had seen those people with his own eyes.

Those people have nothing and are the lowest class of untouchables in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. No matter how poor the people on the shore are, they will not marry them.

In their situation, there is no need to buy people, just encourage them to go to sea.

"Yes! I heard they only make one or two taels of silver a month? They can't even afford to eat!"

"Not everyone can earn one or two taels of silver. Those who can earn one or two taels of silver are all in better circumstances! Most of the flower boats on the Pearl River belong to them. They fish during the day, and at night the men steer the boats while the women entertain guests..." Chen Fenglu added.

"Why do you look so familiar?" Chen Zhengwei looked at Chen Fenglu suspiciously.

"I saw him when I went to Guangzhou." Chen Fenglu really didn't react this time.

Chen Zhengwei was immediately unhappy. He wanted to go on the flower boat when he went to Guangzhou, but in the end he didn't even get to go.

Chen Fenglu actually went there.

"These people's lives are not easy. If they could make a living in the United States, they would be able to convince many people. But these people have a strong smell, a fishy smell," Chen Fenglu continued.

"They eat, drink, defecate and urinate all on the boat, it would be strange if the smell is not strong. After arriving in the United States, just let them take more showers after they get ashore." Chen Zhengwei didn't care at all, it wasn't him who was going to marry her anyway.

And it’s good to have women. Those ordinary laborers think sows are pretty.

"They earn 1 tael of silver in the Qing Dynasty, but they can earn 30 dollars in the United States... and they can buy land. Spread the situation in the United States and encourage them to go to sea."

These people have nothing, so if they go out to sea they will definitely go as a family.

With these people, the population structure situation in San Francisco can be alleviated a lot.

If we bring some women over from Mexico, and have some of them marry Eastern European and Irish women, the population structure will gradually become closer to normal.

"When you go back, you can contact Lin Fuyuan and do this together, immediately. Once the news spreads, it will take at least a few months for them to make up their minds, and the transportation capacity situation will be alleviated a lot."

"They were asked to owe the boat fare. After arriving in the United States, the labor service company arranged jobs for them. They paid back half of the money every month, and the money was paid off in eight months."

"I'll arrange it when I get back!" Chen Fenglu nodded.

……

After Lin Guoyu and others left, they went back to see their families first.

The fathers of several of them also knew about their situation and had not received leave approval from their superiors, so they could not go back.

And after this incident, I also plan to move to the United States.

"That's good. You all came from the navy, so you will be valued by him! I heard that some of his captains were former piggy boat captains. It's obvious that what Mr. Chen lacks most is naval talent."

"And I think he can accomplish things..." Lin Daoyong said slowly.

Lin Guoyu and others also nodded.

"We have seen his warships. They are much more majestic than those of the Qing Dynasty and are also powerful among the navies of various countries. And with his style of doing things... it would be a pleasure to follow him!" Lin Guoyu said with a smile.

In the Guangdong Navy, I suffered a lot of humiliation.

Chen Zhengwei's style is completely opposite.

It should be a pleasure to work with Chen Zhengwei.

It made him feel somewhat yearning.

"Even if we start from scratch now, it won't be easy to become a captain again! Now those warships have captains, and I don't know when it will be our turn."

Each position on a battleship is unique and cannot be easily replaced.

"You don't have to worry about that!" Lin Daoyong said.

"I heard that the shipyard in San Francisco launches new ships every month! In addition to the warships purchased from the British, San Francisco's shipbuilding level is not bad! The San Francisco and Los Angeles in the port were built by themselves, and are no worse than those of the British!"

Lin Daoyong knew that these brothers had returned and was worried about their future, so he asked people about them these days.

"Made it yourself?" The brothers were surprised.

After all, they are from the navy and are extremely concerned about warships.

Although their attention was drawn to the battleship Warrior when they were in the port, they also carefully observed other ships.

I was also deeply impressed by the San Francisco and Los Angeles.

These two cruisers have the most advanced mainstream artillery layout in the world today, and they thought they were bought from the British.

He actually made it himself?

And new ships are launched every day in San Francisco...

This news lifted the spirits of several people, and they were eager to go to the port immediately to take another look at the San Francisco and Los Angeles.

I managed to hold myself back with great difficulty; after all, it's a rare opportunity to come back.

"Has your family made all the arrangements?" Lin Daoyong asked again.

"They have been relocated to Hong Kong! We came back to check the situation first, and when things stabilize, we will let them come over."

(End of this chapter)