The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 293 As long as King Louis XVI ascends the throne, everything will be fine

In Hue City, Mo Zibu looked at the battle report sent by Reinstein and couldn't help but gasp.

Five thousand people spent ten days crossing a 280-kilometer-long tropical rainforest, and they didn't even bring enough food.

Oh my god, even with the help of quinine water, Hexian Stone Powder, etc., it is still very dangerous. An epidemic or getting lost may kill most of the people.

You should know that among these 5,000 people, there are Mo Zibu's basic military forces such as the Yuancong Guards, as well as elite troops such as the Wuding Regiment of Jiading Town and the Hakka Second Regiment of Tangshan Town.

That was all the life and fortune that Mo Zibu had built up after eight years of hard work!
If anything goes wrong, without these people, Mo Zibu's small foundation will be shaken, and Reinstein, this daring guy, actually dared to use them to fight such a risky war.

At this moment, Mo Zibu began to understand why some emperors were worried about the generals at the front. It is true that one does not know the value of firewood and rice until he takes charge of the household.

Whenever Mo Zibu thought of Reinstein's actions, his heart ached. This was the property he had accumulated with great effort. How could he use it at such a risk?
However, after reading it slowly, Mo Zibu realized that there was a reason why Reinstein made this choice.

Because the tropical rainforests of West Borneo are not uninhabited areas of hundreds or thousands of kilometers like the Savage Mountains in northern Myanmar and central and eastern Borneo.

Due to the early human activities in West Borneo and the continuous development by Chinese and Arab merchants, the tropical rainforest in this area has long been cut into small pieces.

For example, although there is a rainforest not far from Dongwanlu, there are some Chinese sugarcane and pepper plantations just over 20 kilometers away.

About 30 kilometers east of these manors is Gaoping, another large Chinese settlement.

Gaoping is located in a gold mining belt, with more than a dozen mines nearby. The rainforest is divided into smaller parts, and because there are many Chinese people panning for gold, even roads have been trampled out in the rainforest.

After passing Gaoping, there are several Chinese estates and plantations, and then to the southeast is Daiyan, a large city in the middle reaches of the Kun River where Colonel Adrian persuaded Sanxingtang to retreat.

There are also some Chinese gold mines and diamond mines here. Historically, Wu Yuansheng's Dai Yan Kingdom had its capital here.

After reading this, Mo Zibu understood that Reinstein was not just making a big detour across the rainforest, but sweeping all the way across to cut off the roots of Sanxingtang and other unscrupulous Chinese mining owners.

As he went, he liberated enslaved Chinese miners and serfs.

After the Xing Tang Righteous Army broke the shackles on these oppressed Chinese, these people in turn became the Xing Tang Righteous Army's most staunch supporters and a source of food and manpower.

Mo Zibu looked at the statistics and found that this guy had liberated more than 60,000 Chinese men along the way.

Under the guidance of these liberated Chinese men, the local tribes, which were mainly composed of Dayaks, were basically wiped out.

It is true that Reinstein crossed the more than 200 kilometers of jungle without losing many people, but more than a hundred Chinese miners died in the process of transporting supplies, food and clearing roads for the Xingtang Army, and thousands of the lowest-level cattle, horses, prisoners of war and natives were killed or injured.

It turns out that this is the way to cross the dense forest. Mo Zibu was happy!

He handed the battle report to Baron Moritz Kruger, a colonel of the General Staff and chief military counselor.

"Ryan is truly an excellent commander. With him leading the volunteer army, I have nothing to worry about. I think West Borneo will soon belong to me."

Moritz Kruger, speaking from his Austrian perspective as a long-time ally of France, nodded in agreement. He said with deep emotion:
"If Marshal Sobes had been replaced by Brigadier General Reinstein as commander-in-chief at the Battle of Rossbach during the Seven Years' War, the Franco-Austrian coalition would have avoided such a disastrous defeat."

"So, Baron, what do you think of Brigadier General Reinstein's recommendations in his report?"

Moritz Kruger stared at a war report and slowly flipped through it again.

After more than two years in the East, Reinstein's Chinese proficiency has improved by leaps and bounds, while Moritz Kruk can only understand the most basic words and therefore has some difficulty in understanding.

'I, the commander of the volunteer army, Brigadier General Ryan, report to His Majesty the Great King outside Pontianak.

Ever since the great Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty gave up using the fleet to maintain the tributary relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the countries in the South China Sea, this land has always been under the influence of European countries.

The Dutch were the country that had the greatest influence on the South China Sea after the Portuguese, and the Batavia East India Company had established great prestige because of its repeated victories.

To this day, European armies are invincible in the minds of the indigenous people of the South China Sea.

Although the colonial army of the Batavia East India Company and even the army of the United Provinces in Europe have long lost their prestige, no one has been able to pierce their halo in the South China Sea.

Therefore, I believe that the Xing Tang Army wants to establish an image of invincibility, and the Xing Tang Kingdom wants to gradually replace the Dutch East India Company's position in the South China Sea.

The only option was to defeat the European army from Batavia in a head-on confrontation.

I implore His Majesty to order the navy to advance south to the mouth of the Kun River to prevent the Dutch East India Company's warships from taking away the Surabaya Regiment of the East India Company's colonial army in Pontianak.

These were their elite troops who defeated the Sishui Regiment. Only then did the world realize how powerful our army was, and no one dared to resist in the future.

I request to personally lead the Imperial Guards into battle!

Although Reinstein's understanding of Chinese history is inaccurate, it is not the plan of going to Southeast Asia that was abolished by Emperor Yongle.

The bans and openings of sea trade in Chinese history also bear traces of the profound game between domestic interest groups, which cannot be influenced by an ordinary emperor.

But other than that, the rest of the advice is pretty sound.

Now the Dayaks, Pontianaks and Bangalore natives dare to follow the Dutch to fight against the Xing Tang Army because in their perception, the army wearing European uniforms and looking like Europeans is the most powerful in Southeast Asia.

Indeed, only by using a real battle to break this "superstition" can it be more conducive to the Xing Tang Kingdom's continued expansion in Southeast Asia.

Baron Moritz Kruger closed the battle report and said to Mo Zi, "Congratulations, Your Majesty, you have conquered a future marshal with a promising future.

Brigadier General Reinstein is fully concerned with the future of His Majesty and His Majesty's kingdom."

But the Austrian paused and said, "But Your Majesty, this is a purely military consideration.

Politically, there is still a certain risk in doing so without full communication and consensus with the French.

Because we don’t know whether the Kingdom of France is mentally prepared to accept this huge trade from the Dutch in the East.”

Mo Zibu nodded. This was the biggest variable, but his worries did not end there.

Without any communication with France, the Xing Tang Kingdom, with its current strength, while already surpassing the Dutch in land forces, only had a naval advantage, not an overwhelming one. Under these circumstances, if Mo Zibu unilaterally attempted to overthrow the Dutch, he could at least cripple the Dutch East India Company's fleet in Batavia, if not annihilate them.

Then something might happen that Mo Zibu did not want to see, that is, after being severely beaten, the Dutch would run to the Qing Dynasty for help.

Under normal circumstances, the Qing Dynasty would definitely not care about these things, but unfortunately, Mo Zibu's Han Chinese attributes were too strong.

Once the Qing Dynasty learned the true situation, the two sides would definitely join forces. Mo Zibu believed that Qianlong had this vision. At the same time, the Qing Dynasty had previously colluded with the Dutch to fight against the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the safest way is to communicate well with the French and ask them to mobilize a certain number of naval ships to Southeast Asia, or at least let them send a clear war signal to the Netherlands in Europe.

Thinking of this, Mo Zi Bu immediately summoned Peter from Ha Tien to Hue.

During this period in history, Peter was preparing to establish the St. Joseph Seminary in Ha Tien.

In order to gain Mo Tianci's support, Peter used his influence to find more than a hundred Western mercenaries for Mo Tianci to serve as the military pillar of Ha Tien Town, which was bankrupted by Zheng Xin.

In this time and space, Peter is obviously doing better.

After returning from Europe, Mo Zibu fulfilled most of his promises to Peter and opened the Kingdom of Cambodia, which was given to King Nirvana, named Mo Zibu, to Peter for missionary work.

After two or three years of construction, Peter has established six Catholic temples in Phnom Penh and the Tonle Sap Lake area, and has gained more than 40,000 believers.

At the same time, Mo Zi Bu also knew that Peter was secretly preaching among the Khmer and Champa peoples who still remained in the upper reaches of the Saigon River and certain places in Gia Dinh Province.

He used religion as a cover for these people, attracting them to convert from Islam and Buddhism to Catholicism.

Mozibu adopted a completely laissez-faire attitude, because Peter could never imagine that Mozibu had already made up his mind to use military means to deal with these people.

Peter's stealthiness is completely providing me, King Mo, with an opportunity to use it as evidence. When the time is right, I will use two iron fists to completely wipe out Peter and his believers.

At present, Mozibu still needs Peter to go to France to fight for his interests. He also needs to treat Peter well and show a tolerant religious attitude to establish a good image for Mozibu himself in France.

"Bishop, as I just said, the situation in the East is changing rapidly. I need to communicate with King Louis and the high-ranking French monks and nobles in a timely manner, so I hope you can go to Europe with Marquis Hexi again."

The so-called Marquis of Hexi is naturally Mo Zibu's third brother Mo Zirong. Mo Zibu sent him to Europe this time and did not plan to let Mo Zirong come back in the short term. He would let him serve as the ambassador plenipotentiary in Europe.

He was also instructed to set up four information transmission stations in Alexandria, Egypt, and in Yemen, Goa, and Dan along the way, specifically for rapid communication with France.

Peter nodded, although he was a little unhappy because the mission was at a critical stage.

But Peter knew that if he wanted to consolidate the current achievements, he had to follow Mozibu's arrangements.

Therefore, without even waiting for Mo Zibu to ask, Peter took the initiative to say, "Your Majesty, I suggest that you do not hold out too high hopes for this mission."

"Why is this?" Mo Zibu asked in some surprise. This old guy, is he going to give me a shot of prevention now?
"Because the United Provinces was able to preserve the spice trade, in addition to their deep-rooted roots in the South China Sea that were not easily shaken, there was another important factor: the United Provinces' massive maritime trade fleet.

In terms of trade transportation capacity, the Dutch East India Company's trading fleet's transportation volume in the East was 70% of that of the British East India Company.

If we consider that the British East India Company's main business was in India, then east of India, the British East India Company's transportation capacity was only about a quarter of that of the Dutch.

We French have even fewer, and even with the merchant ships in India, we only have one-fifth of the Dutch.

In other words, although the appearance of His Majesty the King solved the problem of who would replace the Dutch East India Company to control the countries in the South China Sea, no one could solve the problem of merchant shipping.

More importantly, the shareholders of the Dutch East India Company and its fleet came from very complex sources. Among them were middle and upper-class political and business circles as well as nobles of all sizes from countries such as France, Britain, Austria, and Prussia.

Unless they dispel their doubts, given the current age and decadence of King Rama XV, he will not make the decision to replace the Dutch in the South China Sea."

So that's how it is. Mo Zibu was still wondering why the Dutch East India Company had to brag about being profitable, using various means to make unprofitable industries appear profitable in the company's annual report, and then distribute dividends.

It turns out that behind it, there is another group of tigers and vampires!

Peter also made it clear that in order to end the spice trade of the Dutch East India Company, it was necessary to deal with the Dutch Republic.

In essence, it was also about robbing the money of the nobles from various countries who were behind the Dutch East India Company and held shares in the Dutch East India Company or even directly participated in the trade.

Louis XV was very old and he did not have the energy or desire to redistribute benefits or simply offend these people.

"Then according to what the bishop said, I still cannot touch the Dutch East India Company now. Do I still have to let those more than a thousand people in Pontianak leave?" Mo Zibu said deliberately a little anxiously.

Peter smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you are mistaking two things for one.

I simply suggested that you don't rush to replace the spice trade, but I didn't say to let the more than 1,000 Dutch troops in Pontianak go.

They can still be eliminated, but we cannot immediately go to war with the Dutch. Your Majesty needs to personally judge this balance."

"Okay, Your Excellency the Bishop's suggestion is very appropriate. I heard that the church you built east of Tonle Sap Lake was stopped by Phnom Penh King. I will help you coordinate it."

Mozibu gave the reward, and Peter went down very satisfied.

Then, Mo Zibu walked back and forth in the study for a few times, thinking.

Since Louis XV didn't have the courage, let's change someone else. Louis XVI, this reckless man, seemed to be quite courageous and a little naive.

Well, Louis XV should be dying soon, and everything will be fine as soon as Louis XVI comes to power.

No, the financial pressure on Louis XVI must be increased. Mo Zibu thought of his third brother Mo Zirong.

Our Marquis of Hexi is the best at eating, drinking and having fun. He is so extravagant that the annual pension of the Marquis and the income from the two thousand acres of land in Luokun are not enough for him to squander.

It's time to send him to France to bring more fun and useful luxury goods to the soon-to-be-crowned Louis XVI, and to wreak havoc on France's finances.

In this way, Louis XVI and the French high-level officials would be willing to accept the spice trade, even if it was a bit troublesome.

(End of this chapter)