The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 284 Why We Fight
The Internal Affairs Office is the office that manages the official reports of the Civil Service Corps.

"Print three thousand copies, send two thousand copies to Gia Dinh and Ha Tien, and one thousand copies to Hue." Zheng Jinshui, who was in charge of the palace bulletin, announced the order loudly.

"Should we lower the selling price? It's too high now and not many people are willing to pay for it." A tutor suggested in a low voice.

Zheng Jinshui thought for a moment and shook his head firmly, "That would be too deliberate and not beautiful.

It will still be sold at the original price. You can go to the Five Military Governors' Office and ask them to urge the officers to gather the soldiers for training."

Of course, the idea of newspapers was brought up and established by the members of the first diplomatic mission to France.

And it’s not something new. China has had official gazettes for a long time, but basically only officials could get and needed them.

Western newspapers started much later than Chinese ones, but they came from behind because they had greater publicity needs.

After all, Europe is now an era of contending schools of thought and the rise of many heroes, and publicity is also a very important competition among them.

The busy official report office is one of the most important Western-style changes in the Mo family's Xingtang Palace today.

For the first time, the government's propaganda channels went beyond the traditional scope of officials and gentry and began to reach lower levels.

After receiving the collective request for troops from the mine owners in West Borneo, Mo Zibu immediately instructed the Palace Gazette Office under the Internal Affairs Secretary to start printing newspapers and publicize the news extensively.

The main content is not that I, King Mo, am going to war again, but to publicize the inhumanity of the Liu family of Sanxingtang in West Borneo and the Chinese gold mine owners.

"It's so abhorrent! Has Liu Qianxiang and his colleagues lost their conscience? Many of these people are from the same village, yet they were so cruel as to do this."

In a rice noodle roll shop in Jiading, a low-ranking military officer with a military belt around his waist, a short robe with a right lapel, and broken hair on his head, punched the long table of the food shop.

"That's right!" Another burly man who was sitting with the young officer had fire in his eyes.

"We've endured a life-or-death journey, and it's already hard enough. Not only does he not pay us, he also kills people wantonly, treating them like cattle and horses. He truly deserves to die."

"Damn him! If I meet him on the battlefield, I'll chop him into eighteen pieces!"

The soldiers who were waiting for the junior officer to read the official bulletin were basically all those who had gone to Southeast Asia in recent years. Therefore, they could empathize with this kind of thing and started cursing at once.

Huang Silang stood with his hands behind his back, his back straight. He had been promoted from an ordinary soldier to the captain of the Hakka Second Regiment.

He was very satisfied to see that the grassroots officers and soldiers in the food shop were attracted by the official bulletin and were filled with indignation.

This can also be considered as part of the pre-war mobilization. Just like the king said, before the war, the soldiers must know why they are fighting.

With the halo of morality, even the most cowardly soldiers would not think of running away when they are defeated.

The owner of the food shop was from Mingxiang. Seeing that the soldiers were so angry, he immediately added something clever.

“So, our king is the best. He is not only kind to his fellow countrymen, but also treats all Han people and Tang people equally.

You people have no relationship with the king, but you brought a stick with you and crossed the border. When you arrived at the new place, you had food and drink, fields, land, houses and homes. If you made a small contribution, your wives would immediately reward you.

In Tangshan, you can’t eat meat except during festivals. Now you eat the royal rations of the king, and eat fat meat every three days. This is like a lame duck turning into a phoenix.”

"Damn it, you only brought a stick with you, but you still wore two shirts." The young officer scolded the boss with a smile.

There was laughter all around, and any man would know what a stick with only one stick was.

Huang Wangcai in the crowd didn't say anything. Others were joking, but he was looking in the mirror.

When he came here from his hometown Pingshan (Huidong, Huizhou), he really only brought a "stick". Even the shorts he wore to cover his body were made of palm leaves and some rags of cloth.

Life in his hometown was so hard that Huang Wangcai lowered his head in inferiority.

When he left, his mother thought that he would go abroad anyway and people would give him clothes in Southeast Asia, so she stripped him of his only few tattered clothes and said that they would be for her younger brother to wear when he grew up.

Then he was sent to a large foreign ship and arrived in Southeast Asia. Before leaving, they were not even willing to give him a bowl of wild vegetable porridge.

"Dangdangdang!" Three clear gong sounds rang out.

"Assemble, assemble!" Huang Wangcai, who had been lowering his head in self-abasement, suddenly perked up, and the expression on his face quickly changed from an inferior young farmer to a resolute soldier.

He licked the rice noodle rolls that he had been reluctant to finish clean in just a few bites. He jumped up and called out to his comrades to return to the barracks. At the same time, he put a few fingers that were stained with rice noodle roll juice into his mouth and slurped them.

After this group of young officers and soldiers left as quickly as chickens and ducks rushing home, the rice noodle shop owner hurriedly and carefully put away the newspaper.

This court bulletin only cost eight cents per page, and the soldiers were reluctant to buy it, so they all came to the rice noodle roll shop to get it for free. As long as they ordered five plates of rice noodle rolls, the owner would let them read it for free.

"You're reluctant to spend money, but you want to act like an official." The boss couldn't help but mutter when he saw them walking away.

In the eyes of the general public, this is not a newspaper, it is a court bulletin, which is not something that ordinary people can read.

Therefore, in Xingtang, newspapers are sold at a high price but have no shortage of sales, and have become a symbol of status.

It represented literacy and official status. If you walked down the streets of Ha Tien, Gia Dinh, or Hue with a newspaper in hand, the porters and shop assistants passing by would look at you with respect. "Seventh Uncle, what you said just now was right. You want them to know who gave them this good life."

That was the gong sound for the soldiers to assemble, and the officers could wait a little longer, so Huang Silang had time to say something to the rice noodle shop owner with a smile.

This is indeed his seventh uncle. Since the rise of King Mo, tens of thousands of Mingxiang people and Han people originally from Hexian have benefited from it to some extent.

My seventh uncle, who used to only be able to work as a helper at home, now has a big shop outside the military camp, and his life has become very prosperous.

When Uncle Qi saw Huang Silang coming, he quickly poured him a bowl of authentic black herbal tea, the kind that was so bitter that it went straight to the heart.

"Actually, there's no need for me to remind them. These soldiers know it very well!" Uncle Qi sighed and stopped his busy hands.

"We have the King's blessing on everything now, and we never suffer any injustice. Those people in West Borneo are truly miserable!"

Huang Silang narrowed his eyes. If even a timid merchant like Uncle Qi who often said discouraging words felt this way, then the battle was a sure thing.

Because the soldiers of the Xing Tang Army went to the battlefield with the intention of rescuing their suffering compatriots and upholding justice. How could they be resisted by those young thugs in West Borneo!
. . . .

December 1773, 12, was the 31th day of the th month of the th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty.

The cold wind from the north has also begun to blow to the South Pacific to a greater or lesser extent. Although it has basically nothing to do with the word "cold", there is still wind.

The Xing Tang Army's large troop transport ships were ready, and the escort fleet started to move out early to drive away any ships that dared to approach.

"Only transport 1,500 people at a time. Don't worry about others spying on you, but try to be peaceful. If the lowlanders on Natuna Island don't resist, don't harm their lives."

Major General Fragosse continued to issue orders on his flagship, the HMS Loyalty, and the Xingtang Navy successfully landed on Natuna Island this morning.

But he was still a little wary. The major general was worried that the Dutch East India Company fleet, which was a hundred nautical miles away, would launch an undeclared war.

Although they did not seem to have made up their minds to go to war with the Xingtang Kingdom, they could not relax their necessary vigilance at all. Major General Fragosse was even extremely cautious in the use of troop transport ships.

In the distance, the fifth-class sailing cruisers of the Dutch East India Company had no intention of preparing for battle, let alone getting close.

The main reason was that the Xing Tang Army's navy, under the command of the French, was not inferior to them.

Although the main battleship is only a somewhat old third-level battleship, it can hardly be called a fleet in Europe, but it is enough in the East.

Moreover, the Dutch don’t even have a third-level battleship.

“Send a ship ashore and tell those landlubbers that King Xingtang did not use his fleet to directly reach Singkawang or the mouth of the Kun River, but instead invaded the company’s Natuna Island.

Well, this king is more cunning than we thought. It seems that he plans to kill the three sultans first, gain a foothold, and then fight us in a decisive battle. "

The officer made the sign of the cross on his chest. "Sultan Sanfa has really bad luck. Although he doesn't want to confront King Xingtang, it's clear that King Xingtang doesn't think so."

At the same time, Mo Zibu, who had just arrived in Hoi An and was ordering a thorough investigation of certain high-ranking families who had concealed their population, received a report from Shi Yaer in Batavia.

"So that's what's going on. This is going to be tough. The spice trade is the lifeline of the Dutch East India Company. No wonder they're fighting so hard."

Mo Zibu handed the report to Lin Tong, Zheng Qing and other ministers around him.

Lin Tong was familiar with the European continent and responded immediately, "Your Majesty, it seems that we need to contact Governor Petrus of the Dutch East India Company and inform them that we have no intention of interfering in the spice trade."

Zheng Qing nodded and said, "Of the two important factors in the spice trade, we can't do this business just by occupying spices. We must make sure the French are willing to seize this lifeline of Dutch trade before we can take action.

Otherwise, even if we stockpile spices, our current merchant fleet and trade experience are not enough to complete the Dutch's work and sell spices to Europe."

Mo Zibu nodded. Lin Tong and Zheng Qing were right. The profit of at least two million taels of silver per year from the spice trade was indeed very attractive, but the Xingtang Palace could not do it alone.

It is necessary to negotiate with the French. Only if the Gauls are willing to coerce the Dutch politically, or even use war, and bear the risks of trade and transportation in the South China Sea (Andaman Sea), can the meat be eaten.

We haven't communicated with the French yet, so there's no need to act rashly.

"But..." Mo Zibu hesitated. "Our tactics are so obvious that even if Petrus is stupid, he can't fail to see through them."

Zheng Qing laughed heartily, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I come from a merchant family and I know what they are thinking best.

Petrus is not the King of Batavia, so he doesn't think so much. As long as he can complete his term safely, the rest will be the business of future generations.

I believe Petrus must be trying to find a way out of this hellhole right now. If Your Majesty can give him enough time, let alone delaying the situation, he would be willing to kowtow to Your Majesty."

That's right, Petrus is just a professional manager and he will not fail to consider himself.

“Dav, your next task is to select the list of members for the second diplomatic mission to France.

Zheng Qing, please arrange for a reliable person to contact Petrus's secretary privately and explain our stance to him."

(End of this chapter)