The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 134 Where is the Foundation for Kingship and Hegemony?
The reason why Mo Zibu delegated so much power was a well-considered one.

First of all, there are only 30,000 to 40,000 Chinese people in his Andai area. The most urgent task now is to fill this place with Chinese people.

In this situation, if you have allocated high-ranking officials and good land to your own people, will Wu Rang, Ye Fengchang and others still work hard to attract their fellow villagers to join you?
It's considered good temper if they don't run away!
As for Mo Zibu himself, he was a native of Mingxiang, and Li Xianwen was a bandit from Sichuan, and they were going to the mainland to recruit more heads.

Why should people trust you and risk their lives to go to Southeast Asia with you?

As for kidnapping people, that's even more ridiculous. Not to mention whether the Qing navy would attack you, are you building the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for the Chinese in Southeast Asia, or are you holding slaves?

Of course, the most important reason is that Mozibu is not planning to carry out large-scale development in the Malay Peninsula, or to be more precise, he is not planning to carry out industrialization here.

Because the Malay Peninsula does not have such conditions.

There are certain iron and coal mines here, but not only are they of low quality but they are also extremely difficult to mine. They are all located in the mountains in the middle of the Malay Peninsula.

If you want to mine the coal and iron ore here, you have to build roads first.

Then the cost is too terrifying.

Building roads in the pristine tropical jungle will be a problem not only now but also in the future.

Moreover, without high-grade cement and steel bars, problems such as strengthening the foundation and hardening the road surface cannot be solved.

So they could only build a primitive dirt road, but this is a primitive tropical jungle. Even if they built a dirt road with great difficulty, it would definitely be unusable after a few storms.

Even if you build the road, facing the high mountains of the Central Mountain Range of the Malay Peninsula, what will you use to dig mines in this era without explosives?

After the mine is dug, what will you use for transportation? People?

Under these natural conditions, it would be considered good if one person could transport 30 kilograms of crude ore a day, and this does not include the extremely long mining process.

Even if you work all the indigenous people in the Malay Peninsula to death, you still won’t be able to mine much ore.

What? You said Australia has coal and iron, that's even more ridiculous.

Between the South Pacific and Australia, there is an equatorial doldrums belt that is hundreds or even thousands of kilometers wide. There is no wind and no ocean currents. How can you get across?
Rowing? If the boat was a little bigger, the sailors would be exhausted before reaching Australia, not to mention the heavy ore they had to load.

Take Mo Zibu's arsenal in Pattani as an example. It is much cheaper for Mo Zibu to smuggle Foshan refined iron from Guangzhou than to mine it himself in the Malay Peninsula.

Not to mention iron blocks, even the wood comes from either Guangzhou or Hoi An.

Without skilled workers, Pattani couldn’t even open a timber processing factory.

If we really want to industrialize the Malay Peninsula, not to mention that Mo Zibu has no money, even if he had money it would be a waste of money and he would not lose a lot of money.

Industrialization is not a romantic word. It does not mean that money will roll in as soon as you open a factory.

Cost is the decisive factor. Industrialization that cannot make money now or in the future cannot be established at all.

Industrialization is built with blood, sweat and wealth.

Not to mention the Malay Peninsula, even in the entire Southeast Asia, there is only one place that can be industrialized.

The Red River Plain in Beizheng.

This is the foundation of the king chosen by heaven.

First of all, the Red River Plain is an extremely rich plain in the entire Southeast Asia. The grain production here is higher than that of the Pearl River Delta, and the population is as high as four to five million.

There is sufficient labor to go down to the mines and into the factories, and there is also sufficient food to feed this labor.

Secondly, the Red River Plain has a complex network of rivers, all of which flow from the northwestern mountainous areas to the southeastern coast, providing unique transportation conditions.

No matter where the ore is mined, it can be quickly transported to the steel plant by water.

In terms of mineral resources, the Red River Plain has rich coal and iron deposits, which are much easier to mine than other places in Southeast Asia, and the costs of manpower, material resources and transportation can be reduced to a minimum.

In terms of capital and technology, the Red River Plain is close to the mainland and can easily absorb funds from the Pearl River Delta for investment, and can also attract a large number of mature coal and iron technicians and apprentices from the Pearl River Delta to participate in construction.

Finally, from the perspective of race, the descendants of the Han, Vietnamese, Zhuang and Dong ethnic groups in the Red River Plain basically fall into the category of Confucianism. In terms of hard work and dexterity, it is not really racial discrimination. They are definitely miles ahead of the Malays and Champas.

Only places with easily exploitable mineral resources, sufficient human resources, convenient and cost-effective transportation routes, and large sources of capital and talent are qualified to become industrial bases and can carry out industrialization.

Only after occupying the Red River Plain would Mozibu be qualified to establish an upper-middle power equivalent to Austria-Hungary, Prussia, and Northern Italy.

Of course, this goal is still very far away and requires a series of games and even wars with the Qing Dynasty. It is a pattern that can only be formed in the future.

Now, all Mo Zibu could do was to try his best to build several arsenals in the Andai area with the support of the French, with an annual output of 8,000 to 10,000 flintlock rifles, more than 50 cannons, and more than 100,000 kilograms of black powder.

All materials were purchased from mainland China, India, Japan and other places controlled by the Qing Dynasty. Nakhon Si Thammarat and Pattani simply did processing of the materials.

We don't consider making money, we just want to meet the needs of the army, and the cost can be lower than buying it.

With such a plan, it is normal for Mo Zibu to look down on the Malay Peninsula.

He doesn't need to put down roots here. It will definitely become a fiefdom in the future and will not be his base.

In the next twenty years, the role that the Andai region will play for Mo Zibu is not only to provide 30,000 to 50,000 taels of silver in taxes every year, but also to provide 8,000 to 10,000 auxiliary troops.

These auxiliary troops can be used for rowing, transportation, and even towing artillery on the battlefield.

They could also provide some combat troops, but the number would definitely not be too many. Someone like Wu Rang, after five years of development, could probably provide Mo Zibu with three to five hundred qualified soldiers.

By the way, the Andai region can also serve as a model for Mo Zibu’s governance philosophy.

That is, from now on, as long as you are Chinese, no matter where you are from, even if you are a Zhuang from Guangxi, or from Jiangsu, Zhejiang or even Shandong, you will be treated equally.

The concept that the Chinese in Southeast Asia are one family started in the Andai area.

Of course, Mo Zibu doesn't plan to invest too much here or take root too deeply, but that doesn't mean he won't have control over the people below.

For Wu Rang, Zhuang Chunde, Ye Fengchang and others, their military power will be gradually reduced in the future, and they will only be allowed to retain a certain police force. Except for grassroots governance, all other powers will be taken back.

. . . .

After the banquet, Mo Zi Bu announced in Pattani the establishment of a deliberative body to be managed by the Jinshan Hall, which was responsible for internal affairs.

It will be held every three months in the future. Any issues from all over the country can be discussed here.

At the same time, Mok Tsang was ready to recommend to Taksin that they be named Kun Jue, Songkhla be changed to Songcheng, U Rang be changed to Kun Song, Kedah be changed to Kedah, while the names of Khao Tou Lang, Pattani, Tao Kong, etc. would remain unchanged.

Zhuang Chunde, Ye Fengchang, Ye Xianyang and others all recommended her as Kun.

The Wei family in Pattani was moved by Mo Zi Bu to Yala City, south of Pattani.

Agriculture is well developed here, and most of the fertile lands of the Wei family in Pattani are also here. Anyway, they have lost the pirate nature of their ancestors and degenerated into a farming family, so going to Yala is just right for them.

The rest of the territory in Pattani was handed over to the eldest brother Wei Rikun, who was also recommended as Kun Jue.

This was equivalent to handing Pattani over to the Minh Huong people of Hoi An and the Hoi An Chinese who had invested in Mo Tzu Bu in return for their shelter and investment.

Although Grandpa Luo from Hoi An did not come, his eldest son came and he was very satisfied.

The biggest worry for the people of Hoi An and Minh Huong is that the city of Hoi An is not big. If Hue attacks desperately, Hoi An will be an isolated city with nowhere to escape.

Now that they have a retreat in Pattani, the representatives of the Hoi An Mingxiang people who came with Grandpa Luo’s eldest son are extremely happy.

They said that within half a year, they would recruit 2,000 Mingxiang people and 5,000 Yue tenants of Mingxiang people to Pattani to increase the population.

In mid-July, Sultan Muhammad Jawasa II of the Sultanate of Jeddah came with a sad face.

He didn't want to come at first, but Chen Guangzu specially brought two hundred soldiers to invite him.

His Majesty the Sultan II knew that he could not win the battle and that his whole family would be destroyed if he did not show some tact, so he had no choice but to come to Pattani to pay homage.

In fact, Mozibu did not make things difficult for Sultan Muhammad Jewasa II. He just warmly invited him to stay in Pattani. As for domestic affairs, he left it to his son-in-law Ye Fengchang to take charge.

Mo Zibu divided the original Sultan's Palace in Pattani into two parts, one half of which was used as the office of Kun Pattani Wei Rikun.

In fact, Wei Rikun was already old, and his descendants were not very ambitious, so he just wanted to live out his life as the master of a place. The person who really held power was Liu Zhisan, a native of Mingxiang in Hoi An.

The other half is the palace of Sultan Muhammad Jiwasha II. All food, clothing and expenses are paid with salary. Mozibu gives him one thousand taels of silver a year, and he can live out his retirement in Pattani in the future.

A few days later, the Sultan of Kelantan also came with his family.

He was even more miserable because there were many gold mines in Kelantan and the Sultan had been sidelined by his small vassal Wan Heduan.

Well, you wouldn’t have thought that the Sultan of Kelantan, who has only a few hundred thousand people in total, has vassals under him.

And there are as many as hundreds of them, the big ones control thousands of people, and the small ones only have dozens of people.

Because of the gold mines, many Wanheduans have good economic strength and can support a certain number of warriors. They say they obey the Sultan and only pay tribute to him every year and obey his orders but not his decrees.

The Sultan of Kelantan has a great title, but his guard only has 300 people. The maintenance of the country and his own safety are actually maintained by the Chinese gold mine owners and a few Wan Heduan who do not want the other side to dominate.

Several times the Dutch and their thugs, the Bugis, coveted Kelantan, but were repelled by the Chinese mine owners.

And now, the Chinese gold mine owners have a new backer, the future Siamese dynasty Phraya Andai, the leader of the Hongmen Kunlun Mountain Hall, and the Ren Degong Mo Wuye.

After Mo Zibu announced that he would only take money and not do anything, these wealthy Chinese people all turned to Mo Zibu and announced that they would join the Kunlun Mountain Hall as peripheral members.

The Sultan of Kelantan was immediately abandoned and could only travel from Kota Bharu to Pattani with tears in his eyes.

When Mo Zibu saw this guy with no foundation, he threw him to Hexian directly, and planned to let his father Ou Tianci get him a piece of land and give him a few hundred taels of silver every year to let him fend for himself.

At the same time, Mozibuler ordered the remaining Wanheduan of the Kelantan Sultanate to increase the tribute originally paid to the Sultan by five times.

This is equivalent to forcing the Wan He Duan people in Kelantan to make a choice. If they are willing to surrender to save their lives, they will pay more money. If they are unwilling to surrender, they will be killed as a warning to others.

Mo Zibu and a large number of Chinese mine owners have a common wish. The Chinese mine owners want to pay Mo Zibu directly, and Mo Zibu also doesn't want to be handled by middlemen.

Sure enough, after the order was issued, Wan, Duan and Dawan in Kelantan rebelled. Mo Zibu did not tolerate them at all and directly sent out troops to suppress them.

With the cooperation of Chinese gold mine owners from all over the country, Wan Heduan, who only had jurisdiction over 6,000 to 7,000 people at most, was no match for the Kunlun Mountain Hall soldiers. They were defeated one after another and many of the disobedient ones lost their heads.

Mo Zibu does not have high requirements for these natives. Just farm well. You can play however you like. I don’t care. You must pay tribute every year, and all the profits from the gold mine must go to me.

From now on, if you see who is obedient, you will give them some rewards. If they are disobedient, you will beat them up.

(End of this chapter)