The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 286 The King Can’t Come in Vain

Pontianak actually has a Sultan, or will soon have one.

The sultan's father was Saif al-Islam, a Hadrami from Yemen and a professional Islamic missionary.

In this era, the Hadrami people, like their ancestors, are still working tirelessly to spread Islamic religion to the South Pacific islands.

The Arab maritime merchants only declined, but did not completely disappear.

These Arab missionaries from the Prophet's hometown were highly respected in the sultanates of Southeast Asia, and the same was true for the missionary named Saif.

After arriving in West Borneo, he married the daughter of a local sultan and gained thousands of followers, thus gaining a firm foothold.

However, after the missionary died about six or seven years ago, his wife and son were expelled by the new Sultan.

So he could only take fourteen boats and more than ten thousand followers, and go south along the Kun River to Pontianak, and settle down in this small town where hundreds of Chinese lived at that time.

Generally speaking, the relationship between these indigenous people who believe in Islam and the Chinese is quite harmonious.

Although Pontianak was founded by the Chinese, the fact that it has now become a town with a population of 10,000 to 20,000 is largely due to the prestige of the indigenous people, especially the chief Sirif Abdurrahman Alkadri, which has attracted a large number of indigenous people to settle in Pontianak.

This religious leader named Sirif is the eldest son of the Yemeni missionary Saif.

Historically, around 1778, Pontianak was already under the rule of Lan Fang. Sirif Abdulrahman Al-Qadri, with the recognition of local kings, established the Sultanate of Pontianak on his own initiative and served as the first Sultan.

Of course, at present, Sultan Sirif is just a religious leader with good prestige. Although he has 30,000 to 40,000 followers in and outside Pontianak and has a profound influence on more Pontianak natives, he has not established a sultanate.

"Great Chief, originally this was a fight between you Qin people, and we didn't want to get involved, but the news from Sambas has severely damaged our friendship.

Your king is very disrespectful to Islam and completely disregards the beliefs and living habits of believers in Allah.

This is very dangerous and will turn the Muslims in West Borneo into your enemies.”

The bearded Silifu looked at Luo Fangbai with anger in his eyes, and his words were full of threats.

The Qin people mentioned by Sirif refer to the Chinese, which comes from the pronunciation of the Arabic word China.

Sambas is the original name of Sanfa, but the Chinese call this place Sanfa.

Luo Fangbai naturally knew why the bearded religious leader was so angry, because the food of the expeditionary force of the Xingtang Palace, that is, the volunteer soldiers, contained a large amount of pork.

In order to ensure good food and make the soldiers feel comfortable and improve their morale, the pork is not pickled or smoked.

Instead, they directly transported live pigs by large ships and then slaughtered them on the spot in Sanfa.

Just think about the scene and you will know how much pork would be consumed in one meal for eight or nine thousand people. I imagine the scene must be full of screaming and blood all over the ground, which is very indecent.

Naturally, this can indeed be seen as the Chinese people's disrespect for the living habits of local Muslims.

But are the Chinese wrong?

Whether in Southeast Asia or in Tangshan mainland, it goes without saying how precious oxen are.

Apart from cattle, sheep are not suitable for growing in tropical areas. There are very few of them, and it is difficult to eat them.

Apart from beef and mutton, the only option left for Chinese people is pork.

As for chicken, duck, goose and fish, which have little fat, strictly speaking, they are not considered meat in the eyes of the Chinese at that time.

Therefore, the proportion of pork in the Xing Tang Army has always been very high. A bowl of steamed meat or barbecued pork will fill your mouth with the aroma of fat as soon as you take a bite, which will boost morale.

So in Luo Fangbai's eyes, the bearded Silifu yelling at him with this thing was almost the same as being unreasonable.

But Luo Fangbai did not lose his temper, but endured it, because he knew that the leader of the volunteer army, Brigadier General Reinstein, and the left assistant chief of staff, General Wang Wubing, who was like a military supervisor, were deliberately making trouble.

When Xilifu saw that Luo Fangbai was silent, he immediately thought that this Qin man was a little guilty. At the same time, he became very dissatisfied with him for not making an immediate statement, of course, admitting his mistake.

He continued to roar loudly, as if the person in front of him was his believer, not a high-ranking Qin official.

"Sultan Omar Akham Uddin II of Sambas is a kind and honest elder. The Sultanate of Sambas was established 150 years ago. Their ancestors came from the Kingdom of Brunei and have noble blood.

Over the past 150 years, whether it is the Portuguese, the British or now the Dutch, they have shown sufficient respect for the Sultan's power.

And you, these newly arrived Qin people, actually treated him as a slave, and all the royal family members of the Sultan of Sambas as slaves. This is unacceptable!"

The saliva was almost spraying on Luo Fangbai's face, which made him, who had always been well-mannered, finally burst out. Luo Fangbai waved his hand to stop the guards who wanted to drive Xilifu away from him. He stepped forward and stood very close to Xilifu. His face darkened as he stared fiercely at this ignorant guy.

"Master Silifu, we Tang people are not new here. We came here during the Southern Song Dynasty five hundred years ago, earlier than the Sanfa Sultan family.

At the same time, no one can be exempted from the status of a prisoner simply based on bloodline.

I don't care what the Western tribes' attitudes and actions are, but since the Three Sultanates have become Tang prisoners, they must follow our Tang rules."

As he spoke, Luo Fangbai smiled contemptuously, with an arrogant look on his face.

"Also, Master Silifu, don't mention your noble bloodline in front of a Chinese citizen from the Celestial Empire."

"Barbarian, even if he is a king, he is just a barbarian chieftain!"

"That's right, you damned foreign monk, if you don't get out of here, I'll chop you into pieces!"

As soon as Luo Fangbai finished speaking, his confidant Liu Taier immediately cursed loudly and pushed Xilifu out the door.

Xilifu resisted Liu Taier's push, but his eyes were always fixed on Luo Fangbai. There was no anger, only deep doubt.

He couldn't understand why, at this time, these Qin people who came from Xingtang didn't know how to unite with a powerful local tyrant like him?

Our Grand Imam Sirif has prepared more than a dozen conditions in various aspects, waiting to be put forward when Luo Fangbai invites him to cooperate in fighting against Sanxingtang.

"Even when death is imminent, you still think you are a golden nugget. Lord Luo, I absolutely support the king's governance strategy.

However, if this is the case, Pontianak City may not be easy to defend, so it is better to temporarily retreat to the blockhouse of my Xinpu Company."

Chen Lanbo spat fiercely. Of course he could guess what Monk Silifu was trying to do.

They said that the Qin people did not respect their beliefs, but in fact they wanted to use this excuse to see how much the Xingtang Palace was willing to give to bribe them.

Haha! Until now, these people still thought that the Xingtang Palace's 8,000 volunteers and more than a dozen warships went to West Borneo to attack the Sanxingtang Liu family.

In fact, Chen Lanbo knew that King Ren Dexing Tang Mo was mainly targeting these natives.

Oh, if they really only came for the Liu family, wouldn't that mean the Tang people would have an internal fight and drive the Liu family away, with tens of thousands of casualties on both sides, and finally the large vacant land would be filled by the natives.

The volunteers from Prince Xingtang's Palace didn't come in vain. No, it would be better if they didn't come!
Therefore, Mo Zibu's plan is to sweep away everything. For Chinese forces like the Liu family, only the main culprits and their accomplices will be punished without questioning. They will be lifted up high and put down lightly, while the indigenous people of West Borneo will face a major cleanup.

It's okay to believe in Islam, there's nothing wrong with that, as long as you're willing to pay heavy taxes and do hard labor in mines and plantations.

For prestigious and obedient religious leaders, we will just build a high-rise building for them. The Tianfang Temple will be built for them, their religious status will be retained, and they will also allocate funds to give them an annual pension.

But it is not okay to drag the believers to chant scriptures together every day, run around to preach, hold large-scale rallies, etc.

This is equivalent to separating religious leaders from believers, turning them into true leaders only in spirit.

The rest of the sultans, local kings, etc. may be relatively better off. When the Chinese did not account for half of the population of West Borneo, they may still have some power.

When the number of Chinese reaches half, they will lose their role and the best outcome for them will be to live as sojourners in Hue.

Hearing what Chen Lanbo said, Luo Fangbai immediately nodded, because now they are deliberately forcing the indigenous sultans and religious leaders to the Liu family, just to make them all jump out and then be dealt with by the Xingtang righteous army in one battle.

At the same time, Brigadier General Reinstein, the leader of the volunteer army, deliberately sent a message to Sanfa, telling the soldiers to march south to attack Dongwanlu after the New Year.

So with about 35 days left until the Chinese New Year, the best option for the Liu family, which is located between Sanfa and Pontianak, is to take the opportunity to immediately march south and capture Pontianak.

We must first kill Luo Fangbai and his men to eliminate our worries, and then we can confidently deal with the attack of the Xing Tang righteous army after the new year.

In addition, the troops of the Dutch and local kings such as Bangal Sultan also needed to pass through Pontianak to join the Liu family, so Pontianak had to be fought.

"Que Si, Jiang Wusheng, Liu Taier, hurry up and make contact. We'll leave tonight." After giving the order, Luo Fangbai looked at Chen Lanbo and said:
"We have quite a few people, all in the Xinpu Company's blockhouse. Supply will definitely be a problem, so I decided to take 2,000 people to hold the Old Eighth Mine in Quesi.

Brother Chen also asks you to take the Chaozhou people from Xinpu, Jiupu, Dagang and Jusheng companies to the watchtower of Xinpu company.

I guess General Rui is definitely throwing a smokescreen. The king's volunteer army is ready. As long as Liu Qianxiang and others from Samsung Company fall into the trap and leave Dongwanlu, the army will cut off their retreat.

You and I can hold on for fifteen days at most, and we'll be done!"

(End of this chapter)