The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 18 Breaking into the Tiger’s Den Alone
Champa Island is located in the ocean more than 20 miles east of Hoi An. It consists of seven islands, one large and six small, including Hunlao, Hunmu, Huner and Hunlong. It is not small, almost one-tenth of the total area of the Penghu Islands.

The Champa Islands were not occupied by the Wei family alone, because in addition to storing goods, the biggest function of the Champa Islands was to provide security for Hoi An City.

This is also the reason why Wei Haikun went to find Grandpa Luo when he saw that the Wei family could not solve the problem.

Wei Rikun is 41 years old this year. Although his name is a bit strange, he is a very capable person.

The Wei family's migration to Southeast Asia lasted for two or three hundred years, although they had clansmen in Annan, Siam, Burma, the Malay Peninsula, the Philippines controlled by the Spanish, and Banten and Old Port controlled by the Dutch.

But after all, hundreds of years have passed and the connection is not close. Only under Wei Rikun's leadership did the Chaozhou Wei family barely unite again.

During the ancestor worship activities every two years, many members of the Wei family would come to Hoi An where he was, and then worship together from afar towards Chaozhou.

This is power!
But this ability is also the culprit that caused him to fall into his current situation.

It was precisely because of this appeal and the Wei family's relatives throughout Southeast Asia that Wei Rikun was unwilling to be just a maritime merchant. He wanted to be a local tyrant in Southeast Asia like the Mingxiang people of Hoi An, the Ngu family of Ha Tien, and the Zheng family of Siam.

That's why he listened to Manuel Bonn's nonsense.

Of course, he didn't know that Manuel Bonn was going to take people to Myanmar to kidnap them. If he knew, Wei Rikun would not agree.

Manuel Bonn, the big liar, told Wei Rikun that he would go to India to pick up a group of people. Then the Wei family could rely on French guns and warships to train their own young men and jointly occupy a place.

They even chose the target.

That is Pattani on the Malay Peninsula. The Pattani Sultanate is weak, with only 70,000 to 80,000 people and a guard of no more than 1,000 people. It is a very good target for attack.

Well, it is actually quite feasible, because the Pattani Sultanate borders Siam, and the Zheng, Chen, and Wu families from Chaozhou are all big tyrants in Siam.

Historically, Siam's annexation of Pattani was the result of the Wu family joining forces with the Ye family of Jiaying Prefecture, with the Chen family, also from Chaozhou, acting as pioneers and internal supporters.

It is a pity that Siam was already under the Chakri Dynasty at that time. These Chinese families who helped the Siamese conquer Nakhon Si Thammarat and Pattani finally completed the unification of Tang and Siam and became completely localized.

In later generations, the Wu family produced Plaek Phibun Songkhram, who ruled Thailand for more than 20 years and killed Rama VIII. He can be said to be a great dictator and the father of Thailand's modern founding father.

The Chen family produced a great figure like Priti Panomrong who served as Prime Minister of Thailand three times. However, they are no longer Chinese but Thai.

. . . .

"Master Wei, I must remind you that our boss's patience is limited. If you still don't know what's good for you, the swords of our brothers won't have eyes!"

Wei Rikun glanced at the pirate leader named Liang and shook his head slightly after a while. He knew that the patience of these pirates was indeed running out, but after thinking for a long time, Wei Rikun still shook his head.

"Brother Liang, please forgive me for being blunt, but your asking price is too high, and Master Luo will definitely not negotiate with you.

If you trust Wei, perhaps you can lower the asking price a bit."

The pirate leader surnamed Liang sneered, "You sea merchants are the most cunning, all of you are greedy for money and not for your lives. Master Wei, I may have to apologize today."

After saying that, he pushed Wei Rikun and walked towards the lobby.

In the lobby, the great pirate Tanka Er, whom the Wei family had been waiting for for a long time, sat with his brows down, looking quite restless.

Next to Tanka Er, a big pirate named Li Guangcai, nicknamed "Mingcai", was laughing at his joke.

"A'er, do you want me to plead for you and ask He Xiangzhu to release Grandpa Wei?
Hehe, you bastard, you just accepted the Wei family's gold and silver, and framed Grandpa Wei. Your reputation in the martial arts world will be completely ruined in the future."

Tanka No. 2 glared at Li Guangcai fiercely. This guy was just laughing at him. If he really asked him to help and plead for mercy, he definitely wouldn't go. Even Tanka No. 2 himself didn't dare to go. It was because the chieftain, dressed in a tight suit, with a Western musket on his left waist and a Western dagger on his right, was extremely angry.

If Tanka Er goes up now, it would be no different from sending himself up to be scolded.

With a slight sea breeze from the southeast, Manuel Bonn successfully launched the Fortune, a Class V cruiser. However, due to a severe shortage of sailors, the armed merchant ship remained in the port.

Wei Haikun's eldest son looked at Ou Zibu nervously. He felt a little regretful now. He didn't know why he believed this guy's lies and helped him put the Western ship into the sea. He also came to Champa Island to rescue his uncle Wei Rikun.

Ou Zibu also nodded with satisfaction. Although these French sailors were a bit old, it could be seen that they were indeed very experienced.

Operating this kind of Western soft-sail warship is a technical job. If there is no one to teach you and you rely on yourself to figure it out, you may not get any results even after ten years.

However, this fifth-level cruiser is not yet combat-ready. There is a serious shortage of gunners on the gun deck, and there is no candidate for a gunner commander.

The guns on the open deck were manned, but the number of musketeers was pitifully small.

If a fight really breaks out now, let alone fighting with the same level 5 cruiser, even the pirates in the South China Sea can take down this ship by boarding.

But after all, the Lucky was a warship weighing more than 400 tons and equipped with 32 naval guns. As soon as it appeared off the coast of Champa Island, it was immediately discovered by patrolling pirates, which also caused the pirates to be nervous.

Not long after, four or five three-masted, hard-sailed, black-painted ships with yellow flags flying high on the bow appeared in the distance.

These Guang ships generally had a displacement of around 100 tons. They were tactful enough not to approach the Lucky, but instead only raised half the sail and began to sail against the wind to seize the upwind position coming from the east.

Another round of gongs and drums sounded, and more than ten offshore centipede boats appeared in Ou Zibu's sight again.

These centipede boats are slender and often manned by oarsmen, and they shuttle back and forth on the sea surface where the wind and waves are not too high.

Manuel Bourne's face looked very ugly. It was almost impossible for the ship's artillery to hit these centipede ships in the waves. However, these centipede ships not only had flintlock musketeers, but also grenadiers.

They can throw Molotov cocktails in their hands onto the ship from sixty or seventy meters away. These Molotov cocktails will emit a lot of thick smoke, blocking the sight of the sailors on the ship. Then the pirates will use grappling hooks to climb onto the ship and engage in hand-to-hand combat, which they are good at.

Or you can shoot rockets coated with grease to burn the sails.

Ou Zibu was delighted. These pirates were truly well-trained! They had first engaged the Lucky with their small boats, then attacked with their larger ships when the Lucky lost its maneuverability. What a swift and wise move!

At this time, there were constant drum sounds on Champa Island, and a large number of pirates were gathering visibly. In just seven or eight days, they even moved a lot of naval guns ashore to serve as artillery positions.

it is good!
Success or failure depends on this!

Amid the surprised looks of all the Westerners, Ou Zibu walked forward with Chen Guangyao and Pei Daxiong.

He stood alone at the bow, wearing a dark blue robe woven with gold brocade, a square flat scarf on his head, and raised his hands in the wind and waves.

"I don't know which hero has come. Please inform him that the Ming Dynasty remnant, Zhai Zibu of the Hexian Zhai family, wishes to see you!"

"It looks quite handsome. Wait a moment!" The answer came from which centipede ship.

Soon, a large ship of two or three hundred tons came from a distance, with a strong man like an iron tower standing on the bow.

"It turns out to be Mr. Ou, the River Fairy. Please come up to the island and talk!"

(End of this chapter)