The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 195 Is This the Construction of the Imperial Ancestral Temple? (Two in One)

At the end of April, the army returned to Yangon. Li Xianwen was very happy, as the stone that had been weighing on his heart finally fell to the ground.

He was not as clear as Mo Zibu about the damage and pressure that the Qing army had brought to the Konbaung Dynasty in history, so he was always very nervous.

Now seeing Mo Zibu returning from his expedition with such a generous reward, he was simply overjoyed.

"Dragon Head, after this battle, the foundation of our business will be secure!" Li Xianwen was so excited that his eyes were red.

"I heard that Longtou is going to build a temple in Ha Tien for the loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty and the remaining troops of the Dashi Army. I don't know..."

Mo Zibu held Li Xianwen's arms and said with some emotion:

"Brother-in-law, you and I are one family, and I will build temples for the Little Li Wang of Maolu Mountain, the Wen Tie'an of Baidi City, and all the heroes of the Thirteen Families of Kuidong, no matter what wrongs they have done.

Let these unyielding heroes reunite with His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin and the Duke of Qian in this land of the South."

Upon hearing this, Li Xianwen burst into tears and prostrated himself to the north, saying, "Emperor Yongchang destroyed the Ming dynasty, but his descendants shed their last drop of blood for the Han court.

I wanted to build a temple to worship him, but I was afraid that it would be considered an obscene sacrifice.

Now the King of Tiannan is willing to build a temple for them. The ancestors of the Li family, the thirteen families, and the ancestors of the Loyal Camp can finally have their blood offered to them, and even in the afterlife, they can rest in peace.

Temples, especially those with the nature of family temples, generally could not be built in ancient times if they did not have enough status and inheritance.

It's an ancestral hall, and you can't just set one up by announcing the establishment of a branch or clan.

If this thing is built but does not receive certain recognition, it will become a wild and lewd sacrifice, which is against the ritual system. It will not only fail to add glory but will be a disgrace.

Therefore, Li Xianwen was afraid of desecrating his ancestors. Although he had this idea in mind, he only dared to make a few ancestral tablets and never dared to open a temple.

In Southeast Asia, there are not many people who are qualified. Only Taksin can become the Queen of Siam. However, with his level of Chinese studies, he may not have thought of this.

Mo Zibu was originally not qualified, but after he broke into Ava, executed the White Elephant King, avenged the Southern Ming emperor and his ministers for the Curse Water Incident, and washed away the shame, he became qualified.

This is also the important reason why Mo Zibu searched everywhere for the relics of Li Jinwang, Jin Tongwu and others. Building a ancestral temple to commemorate loyal ministers and righteous men is actually no different from building a royal temple.

Through this set of procedures, it is easy for people to psychologically associate Mo Zibu's Hexian regime with important legal principles such as the Southern Ming Dynasty and King Li Jin.

It gives people the impression that the Southern Ming cause, especially the unfinished work of King Li Jin, was transferred to Ha Tien.

Therefore, after Li Xianwen burst into tears, he stood up and persuaded Mo Zibu.

"I know that Longtou is a good man of my ancestor who would never surrender to the Eastern Tartars, but this matter is too serious. It is a struggle with the Qing Dynasty for the orthodoxy, so it is not appropriate to make it public for the time being.

Even if we want to offer sacrifices, we should at least wait until we conquer Hue. Before that, we should build a small temple on Ha Tien Ping Mountain and offer sacrifices there."

Mo Zibu thought about it carefully and it did make sense.

In Southeast Asia, he regarded himself as a remnant of the Ming Dynasty and a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty should not pay attention to him. It is possible that a schizophrenic like Qianlong would admire Mo Zibu as a loyal minister in his heart.

However, if this temple was built, as Li Xianwen said, it would be competing with the Qing Dynasty for legal basis, indicating that Hexian was willing to inherit the Southern Ming orthodoxy and the ambitions of King Li Jin.

The Qing Dynasty would certainly regard Hexian as a thorn in their side, and Emperor Qianlong would certainly be able to keenly perceive this tendency and would certainly not let it go.

"Alas!" Mo Zibu sighed, "The revolution has not yet succeeded, comrades still need to work hard!"

Li Xianwen's eyes lit up, "The Book of Changes says: Tang and Wu made revolutions in accordance with Heaven and in response to the will of the people.

The Eastern Tartars have occupied China for over 120 years, exceeding the Mongol Yuan dynasty's mandate. This is against Heaven's will. It is time for heroes to rise up and drive out the Tartars and change Heaven's will."

At this point, Li Xianwen was shocked and felt his scalp tingling. He looked at Mo Zibu in disbelief.

I, the descendant of an old rebel leader, shouted loudly about overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, but it was just talk.

You were born and raised in Southeast Asia, and have never even been back to the mainland. You are usually quiet, but now you want to imitate Emperor Hongwu.

Mo Zibu laughed and said, damn, it’s better not to talk about some of the words from the future. If you are very familiar with them, they must have deep meaning.

"The laws of nature are unpredictable. Who can predict what the future will hold?"

Li Xianwen nodded and looked at Mo Zibu with a different look in his eyes, but he was not very wise and did not dwell on this issue. Instead, he quickly talked about another thing.

"After receiving the king's order, I have been thinking about this. Although the conquest of Ava and the washing away of the shame of the cursed water were largely due to the king's wisdom and bravery, the soldiers' sacrifices also played a significant role.

Since ancient times, soldiers have been fed by the emperor, mostly for money. It is certainly hateful to hide the spoils of war, but it is not appropriate to use too harsh punishment on upright soldiers after they have fought bravely.

It would be bad if the soldiers felt that the king was unkind and treated them harshly.

I think that if, before enforcing the law, you could notify the entire army and order them to hand over their privately hidden gold and silver within one day, and after that time, if anyone is found with more than 20 taels of silver, they will be punished according to military law, this would seem to be more convincing to the soldiers and officers."

After Li Xianwen's thoughts underwent another transformation, he began to call Mo Zibu "the king".

Mo Zibu touched his chin. It wasn't impossible, but he still had some doubts. "I have considered what my brother-in-law said.

"But the foundation of our existence lies solely in the elite troops of the Hexian and Yicong regiments. If we let them loose now, military discipline will be secondary. If every soldier saves a few hundred taels of silver, will they still have the will to fight in the future?"

Li Xianwen laughed out loud. It turned out that Mo Zibu was worried about this.

Ever since he met Mo Zibu, Li Xianwen felt that his brother-in-law was very thoughtful, far-sighted, and an extraordinary person. However, he did not expect that there were times when he could not understand things.

This made him finally feel like he had regained confidence in his intelligence.

"Your Majesty, you are completely overthinking it. In this world, there are always good horses, but there are only a few good horse trainers.

Although the Ha Tien Tuan and the Yi Cong Tuan were brave, are they the only heroes in the world?

Obviously not!

They can fight bravely because the king can lead them to victory, and at the same time he is clear about rewards and punishments and treats the soldiers well.

Today, we have conquered Burma and obtained millions of treasures. If you give generous rewards to the troops, all the warriors in the world will know your generosity. This is comparable to King Zhao of Yan who spent a huge amount of gold to buy horse bones!
With such a reputation, are you still worried that no Warriors will come to join you?
If you earn a thousand today, you can earn ten thousand tomorrow.

Moreover, those who would leave the king for a hundred or so taels of silver are not pillars of the country. Those who are still willing to follow him after this test are pillars of the country and can be promoted to officers and given important positions."

Mo Zibu's eyes lit up, and the worries that had troubled him for many days were suddenly resolved.

Yes, if you build a golden platform, why worry that Yue Yi won’t come? If you plant a phoenix tree, why worry that the phoenix won’t roost?

Some people like to lie low and are content with being small landlords of two or three hundred acres of land. It is just right for them to step down, stabilize the local area, and suppress the indigenous people. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

"That makes sense, but it's not enough. Wars will become more frequent in the future, so it's better to set the rules sooner rather than later.

Since we have used the military notes that were exchanged in designated names as part of the military pay.

It would be better if the military salaries could be paid as usual, with an additional 20% and 30% retained from the spoils of war to be distributed to the soldiers as fixed-term military notes for five years.

Soldiers are limited to five years, and officers are limited to ten years. Those who wish to retire at the end of their service can use their military notes as a lump sum payment as severance pay.

Li Xianwen thought about it and said, "It is indeed feasible. This way, the soldiers will know the clear retirement date and the severance pay, so they will have fewer concerns, and military law will be more binding on them.

I suggest that when summarizing the military deliberations, we allow officers above the rank of Junior Guard to discuss them.”

. . . .

Ah Gang was holding a huge plate and swallowing the nasi lemak in front of him in big mouthfuls.

He now loves this dish, which is rice mixed with shredded coconut, fried peanuts, pan-fried anchovies, stir-fried ong choy, shredded chicken, finely shredded squid, cucumber slices and hot and sour sauce.

It looks very rich, right? It’s indeed not cheap.

Peanut cultivation in Southeast Asia has a history of only about a hundred years, and it has only been eaten as a dried fruit for perhaps fifty or sixty years. The small-scale planting area has led to relatively high prices.

The same goes for squid. In Southeast Asia, which lacks the ability to fish in the deep sea, squid is still a very precious food.

Chili peppers have not yet been officially added to various dishes. This is entirely Mo Zibu's idea.

The reason why Agang likes it so much is largely because he was too poor in the past and had never eaten such diverse and nutritious meals.

"Boss, have you heard? The king has ordered that everyone hand over all valuables exceeding twenty taels by today. If any are found by tomorrow, they will be punished."

Agang, who dared to kill the Burmese army commander Min Min Tuo at a distance of 1.5 meters in the Battle of Zedi, has now been promoted to the rank of Major Guard, and is an absolutely elite grenadier Major Guard.

He is also the only one among the four guards in their company who is not a full-time military officer.

But because Ah Gang was a brave warrior and a good fighter, and crucially, his surname was Mo, his sixth-generation ancestor, Mo Ruguan, was the fifth-generation ancestor of King Mo Zibu.

In other words, Agang's grandfather's grandfather was a brother of the father of Ou Jiu, the founder of Hexian.

It's just the fifth generation, but considering that the Mo family is not very prosperous, the kinship is very close.

Therefore, Agang has a high prestige among the soldiers and is privately called the big boss.

Hearing what the soldier who came to report the news said, Agang seemed very happy. He finished the nasi lemak in two bites and licked the plate clean.

"I have said before that the king is very discerning and will never condone anyone who violates military discipline.

Some people don't even think about how they were before the king, and how they could have the life and status they have now! "

Ah Gang burst into laughter. Perhaps because his last name was Mo, or perhaps because of his innate sense of justice, Ah Gang was very law-abiding in the army.

Under his estimation and supervision, basically none of the soldiers in their company took the spoils for themselves.

So when they were walking back from Ava, there were many people who had hidden hundreds of taels of silver, and they laughed at Agang and his friends in front of or behind their backs, saying how stupid they were.

This made Agang very uncomfortable, and some of the soldiers who were influenced by him and did not embezzle the money also blamed Agang.

But at this moment, Mo Zibu's military order made Agang breathe a sigh of relief and made him feel that his persistence was worth it.

"Let's go and tell that Huo that if he doesn't want to lose face and hand over the money himself, he can give us a share.

Since the king has allowed us to keep twenty taels of silver, we still want these twenty taels of silver."

After hearing this, the soldiers around Agang burst into laughter, and all the depression they had been feeling along the way disappeared.

Huo Ran was the surname Huo. His father, Huo Kaishan, was a general under Zhang Jiexu, a Han Chinese leader in the Natuna Islands who proclaimed himself the Great Southern King of the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Jiexu was originally a naval lieutenant commander of the Zheng clan of Dongning. When Feng Xifan, Liu Guoxuan, and Zheng Keshuang surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Jiexu refused to surrender. He and three hundred other soldiers, who also refused to shave their heads or change their clothes, marched south, eventually establishing themselves on Natuna Island and proclaiming themselves king.

Around 1700, after Zhang Jiexu died, his descendants were unable to resist the attack of the Dutch, and the Natuna Islands, known as the Great South Island by the Chinese, fell.

Huo Kaishan was unwilling to live under Dutch rule, so in 1711 he fled to Ha Tien with four ships, soldiers and more than family members, and was appointed by Ngo Tien Ci as the governor of Go Mao Village.

However, although Huo Kaishan took refuge in the Mo family of Hexian and became a vassal of Hexian, he always felt a little distant.

Because the Huo family is from Chaozhou, and Chaozhou is very powerful in Southeast Asia, ever since Huo Kaishan established himself, Go Mao, one of the eight towns in Hexian controlled by the Huo family, has preferred to hang out with Chaozhou people.

During the historical war between Nguyen and Ching, the Huo family finally rebelled and made great efforts to help Zheng Xin conquer Ha Tien.

But in this time and space, because Mo Zibu was so good at stitching and his BUFFs were almost fully stacked, the Huo family was somewhat hypocritical towards Mo Tianci, but they still respected and had high hopes for Mo Zibu.

There are quite a few Huo family members in the Hexian Group. After the Mo, Chen, and Pei families, they have the largest number of people, with two companies of more than 200 people.

At this time, the Huo family members also ran to Huo Ran, wanting the head of the family to think of a solution.

Huo Ran was also very depressed. Damn, the soldiers under him only took an extra 10 or 20 taels, but Huo Ran stole a bag of coral jade, which was very valuable.

The so-called coral jade is ruby. Myanmar is the world's main producer of rubies. Rubies are not only bright in color and have complete crystals, but also large in size.

Huo Ran found three large bags in Ananda Temple. As the successor of a small family, he naturally knew what these things were.

So he took seven or eight pills from each bag, with a total value estimated to be around seven hundred taels.

Fortunately, this happened in the 18th century, when China didn't like this kind of gem very much, so it wasn't worth much. If it happened in later times, it would be worth at least 10 million, and the owner would definitely be beheaded.

"The king is too stingy. We followed him thousands of miles deep into the enemy territory, and he only left us 20 taels each."

Huo Ashui, one of Huo Ran's cousins, also swallowed one or two hundred taels, so he was extremely unhappy and couldn't help complaining.

Huo Ran was feeling distressed when he suddenly heard his cousin say this. He was so angry that he slapped him in the face.

"You're fucking crazy! You might be greedy for money, but you dare to complain in the army. How many heads do you have?" Huo Ran shouted harshly.

"You still know that you can penetrate thousands of miles into enemy territory without a king, and with just a few pounds of flesh and blood like Huo Ashui, how can you march through Burma so gloriously?"

After cursing, Huo Ran gritted his teeth and said, "Pay it all, damn it. If you eat their food and receive their kindness, then you must obey their management.

No one is allowed to keep anything for themselves; keep twenty taels and hand over the rest."

Huo Ran pointed at Huo Ashui and said, "You are responsible for supervision. If there are any omissions, you will be held accountable. Anyone who dares not pay will be kicked out of the Huo family. Don't hurt others and yourself."

"Hahaha, well said!" At this moment, A Gang came over with a group of people.

“I didn’t expect that although you, old fellow (Huo), are a bit greedy, you still have a good sense of reason and know what is right and wrong.

Come, thank you all, brothers of the 31st Company, for your hard work in carrying twenty taels of silver all the way from Ava to Rangoon for us."

"Pounce on you..." Huo Ran was so angry at A Gang that his eyes went dark and he almost had a brain hemorrhage and fell to the ground.

"Hey, stop talking nonsense. If you say that, I'm leaving." Agang chuckled, but the expression on his face definitely didn't look like he was joking.

Huo Ran swallowed the second half of his words. Most of the soldiers in his company had embezzled the excess, but if they shared it with Agang's men, many of them could get away with it.

If Agang really left, the king would know that all of his Huo Ran's company were greedy soldiers. Even if they were not punished, it would be too embarrassing.

"Give twenty taels to the brothers of the Ninth Company each. Any excess can be handed in by yourselves." So, Huo Ran said in a low voice very tactfully.

The rest of the soldiers were also ashamed. The embezzlement of wealth that had originally made them so happy had now become a hot potato.

They worked so hard, rowing boats and pulling carts all the way to help others transport goods from Ava, more than a thousand miles away, to Yangon. It must have been so painful.

Such things were happening everywhere. The outrageous thing was that after half of the information was made public, the soldiers discovered that only a few of them had actually embezzled large sums of money. At least 60% of the soldiers were within the safety line.

Now, those who have adhered to the bottom line walked with their heads held high and their chests puffed out.

I felt ashamed of taking an extra ten or eight taels, thinking it was not worth it. I swore in my heart that if there was a next time, I would never be greedy for money again.

And big corrupt officials like Huo Ran rushed to Mo Zibu to explain the situation.

But Mo Zibu was not free because he was also discussing Natuna Island with Secretary Holdyk from the Netherlands.

After all, this happened seventy years ago, and Mo Zibu had no intention of intervening.

Because they couldn't control it, the Dutch had considerable influence and territory in Southeast Asia at that time, and there were quite a few Chinese people making a living in their territory.

But these red-haired people went too far in Natuna. They did not allow the Chinese to speak Chinese in Natuna, but instead forcibly promoted Dutch.

"Mr. Secretary, I now solemnly lodge a strong protest to Governor Petrus and the government of the Netherlands Republic.

You lowlanders are a civilized race just like us Chinese. How can you do such an outrageous thing? How can you treat a civilized race as uncivilized natives!
I strongly protest and demand that the Batavia authorities immediately withdraw this extremely wrong policy implemented in Great South Island, otherwise it will seriously damage the friendly relations between our two countries.

At this time, forcibly promoting one's own language in a certain place is a typical method of governing a colony.

The policies implemented by the Dutch on Natuna Island would indeed be unacceptable if applied among civilized races.

But Holdyk wanted to roll his eyes. How many Dutch people are there in Southeast Asia? How many Chinese people are there in Southeast Asia?

Although they controlled Great South Island, they could only afford a garrison of less than 100 people, and were unable to maintain firm control, let alone influence it.

Originally, the Dutch did not want to force the promotion of Dutch in the Great South Island. It was too difficult for Orientals to learn it.

However, if it is not implemented, on a closed island like Natuna, most of the residents are Chinese, and the few natives have long been assimilated by the Chinese.

If the Dutch language was not forcibly promoted and the speaking of Chinese was not allowed, the more than 100 Dutch garrisons, who were mainly indigenous people, would have been assimilated and would only speak Chinese after a while.

In other words, if the Dutch East Indies abandons its current policy, it would be no different from giving the island to the Chinese or to Ha Tien.

After thinking for a while, Holdyk suggested, "In that case, why don't you, Your Highness, buy Natuna Island and its affiliated islands?

I can ask the company to give the prince a friendly price of tens of thousands of taels of silver. I heard that the prince made a fortune in Ava. For you, this amount of money is just a drop in the bucket."

Holdyke also said something in Cantonese. He seemed nonchalant, but he was jealous to death in his heart. No one expected that the White Elephant King could be defeated so easily.

If I had known earlier, I shouldn't have sent 400 people. I should have asked the garrison commander Brigadier General Johannes to take action and directly dispatch 2,000 people. Maybe I could have obtained benefits of over one million taels of silver for the company.

Mo Zibu laughed and said, "Mr. Clerk, you misunderstood. I have no doubt that Great South Island belongs to the Batavia authorities. I am just dissatisfied with your company's policies.

This is a humiliation, and I hope you will correct it soon. But the sovereignty of the Great South Island belongs to the Dutch East India Company, and I am willing to insist on this."

What a joke! This is originally mine. It’s a Lay’s potato chip that I can eat whenever I want. And you want me to pay for it.

Even if you have money, you don’t have to waste it like this.

Cunning wolf!
Secretary Holdyke cursed in his heart that after making a fortune, he was unwilling to spend even tens of thousands of taels of silver.

But he had no way out. Not to mention that Mo Zibu was barely able to mobilize tens of thousands of troops, even his two core European infantry regiments could not be easily dealt with.

Moreover, the VOC company must wait and see whether Prince Andé's European mission can reach an alliance with the Kingdom of France before judging the situation.

If the alliance is established, the VOC company authorities, who are right under the nose of France, will be in big trouble, both in the Netherlands and at the lips of Prince Andé.

No matter if it was Prince Andé who was causing trouble for them through the Kingdom of France.

The Kingdom of France used Prince Andé to interfere in the spice trade, which was fatal to both the Dutch Republic and the VOC company.

Thinking of this, Secretary Holdyk felt annoyed and didn't even want to mention this little thing about Great South Island.

Seeing that the Dutchman couldn't help but show a headache, Mo Zibu felt very happy.

I haven't come to terms with you for the Hongxi Massacre yet. Although Mo Zibu prefers to call it the Battle of Hongxi.

But it is a fact that thousands of Chinese were betrayed by traitors and died in battle. This was also the best excuse for Mozibu to overthrow the Dutch East India Company in Batavia.

But right now, it’s not time to deal with them yet.

The interests of the Dutch East India Company must be severely eroded.

But for the people below, such as Secretary Holdyk and Major Marco, they have to be rewarded while being used and used.

After all, they were just employees of the VOC company, not vassals of the Netherlands in Southeast Asia.

So, Mo Zibu opened a big bag and grabbed a handful of top-quality chicken blood rubies, which were at least the size of four or five pigeon eggs.

Holdyk's eyes widened. This thing could not be sold at a high price in the East, but in Europe, the nobles loved this gem which was mainly produced in the East.

These pigeon eggs are so big that one costs about one hundred pounds in Europe.

Mo Zibu extended his hand to Holdyke, and Holdyke's heart began to beat violently.

But suddenly, Mo Zibu retracted his hand, and Holdyk's face turned purple. He felt that Mo Zibu was deliberately playing tricks on him.

But then his face lit up with joy again.

Because after Mo Zibu put all the gems into a silk bag, he handed the bag to him.

"The rest of the bag is smaller, but still of good quality. I think it's worth about 700 or 800 pounds in total."

Looking at the clerk who had just been teased by him and whose high blood pressure had nearly exploded, Mo Zibu said affectionately:
“This is a personal friendship between me and the clerk and has nothing to do with the Batavia authorities.

Governor Petrus is really wasting his talent. If I had a clerk like this under my command, I would at least give him a viscountship and five 2,000-acre estates, so as not to bury his talent."

Holdyk stood up involuntarily. Although he knew that Mo Zibu was trying to sow discord, he was still very happy in his heart.

Moreover, if he did not have the opportunity to return to Europe and join the Republican government, becoming an Eastern nobleman would be a good choice for him, as he is accustomed to the climate and food of Southeast Asia.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your generosity and praise. I will convey the Natuna issue to you as soon as possible."

Money is such a good thing!
Seven or eight hundred pounds was enough to win the heart of this important employee of the Dutch East India Company.

(End of this chapter)