The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 347 Guangzhou: I am Gotham but not the Joker
Guangdong, to be precise, is the location of the Pearl River Delta. The broad Cantonese territory centered on Guangzhou has always been a very peculiar place in the Qing Dynasty.

Perhaps, we can call it the Gotham City of the Qing Dynasty.

There are the most complex ethnic groups here, including Cantonese people, Hakka people, Minnan people from western Guangdong, Chaoshan people from eastern Guangdong, Minnan people from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou who migrated from southern Fujian to seek food, and Tanka pirates who live on the water.

There were also Wuzhou people coming from Xijiang River, mixed with a large number of Zhuang people. And coming down Beijiang River, there were Shaozhou Hakka bandits whose spicy food made the Cantonese people tremble with fear.

People from all directions and all walks of life eventually flow into the Pearl River Delta region centered on Guangzhou along the developed water system.

Just looking at these complex population sources, you will know what kind of fierce fighting must be going on in such a place, where the government cannot see it. It already has one of the important basic conditions to become a Gotham City.

But Guangzhou also happens to have another condition to become Gotham City, that is, it has money.

How rich is Guangzhou? Let me put it this way. Before the Qing Dynasty established the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou, Guangzhou's foreign trade accounted for about half of the country's total.

After the Qing Dynasty designated the Thirteen Hongs, Guangzhou accounted for 99% of the country's legal foreign trade and more than 70% of smuggling.

The Pearl River Delta was very powerful during the Republic period, but it was also competing with the Yangtze River Delta, centered on Shanghai. It can even be said that the Pearl River Delta was somewhat inferior to the Yangtze River Delta.

But now, it is equivalent to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen being squeezed into a small place like the Pearl River Delta. You can imagine how much money there is here.

Even though the Manchu upper class took at least 60% of the profits from the Thirteen Hongs, the remaining profits still made Guangzhou the place with the most concentrated wealth in the world.

It can also be said that after being shared through layers of sharing by the upper-class Manchu nobles, the middle and lower-class Han officials, the white gloves of the Thirteen Hongs, the white gloves of the white gloves of the Thirteen Hongs, and so on, what was left for the lower-class people at this time was still enough for them to make a living.

This is also the reason why people from all over the country come to Guangzhou to make a living. Working in Guangzhou for ten days is better than farming for a month in their hometown.

But at the same time, this kind of barely making a living is extremely painful for most people.

Because in the glamorous world of Guangzhou, they saw luxurious scenes that they could never dream of in their hometown. This extreme luxury, when compared with their reality, was extremely painful.

At this time, those who could travel thousands of miles to other places to make a living were not honest and kind people, because honest and kind people were basically trapped in their hometowns and were dying of poverty.

With such a horrific gap between the rich and the poor, so many restless people coming to Guangzhou was bound to be a big problem. They soon found another way to survive, which was to form gangs and rob.

At the same time, the poor governance capabilities of the Qing government provided a relaxed environment for robbery. Working on weekdays and robbing in spare time was simply the basic practice of many outsiders.

What is even more speechless is that in such a small place as the Pearl River Delta, which is crowded with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, it is still easy for native locals and some smart guys to get rich.

Those who are relatively rich but have little ability to protect themselves are simply the best targets for robbery. Robbing someone can be considered working for a few months, and the government will most likely not be able to catch you. Why not do it?

So, a hundred years ago, a large number of criminals who swore blood oaths began to appear near Guangzhou.

Most of them had very simple ideas such as "to form a group, become sworn brothers, and go to different villages to rob and steal", or "to go out without anyone to look after them, so as to try to rob others and help each other when encountering problems".

But there is a problem with this kind of sworn robbery, which is that it has no binding force.

We all work to make a living near Guangzhou. Today you make a brotherhood with me, and tomorrow you swear an oath of brotherhood with that person. It is very likely that he will come to rob me, and the day after tomorrow if you are caught by the government, you may immediately give me up.

The risk and benefit are too disproportionate.

At this time, many smart people came up with a "little trick".

Along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong, there were originally many secret anti-Qing secret societies such as the Hongmen, Hanliu, and Tiandihui, which were established by Chen Yonghua on the orders of Guo Xingcheng.

After more than a hundred years of Qing Dynasty rule, their organization gradually collapsed and many of their descendants fell into poverty.

These descendants did not have the same determination as their ancestors to restore the country, nor could they keep these secrets. As a result, many organizational forms and oath-taking ceremonies of the Hanliu and Tiandihui were scattered among the people.

The clever ones among these Jianghu heroes took advantage of the fact that most of the lower-class Jianghu people were illiterate, and tricked their sworn brothers into swearing brotherhood according to the rituals of the Hanliu Tiandihui.

For example, during the Jiaqing period in history, Qiu Daqin, a native of Yangjiang, gathered eleven people to swear brotherhood at the Guanyin Temple in Lunshuixu. He used the letter of alliance of the Tiandihui given to him by He Qichang, a native of Zhangzhou, Fujian and a descendant of the righteous men of the old Hanliuhui, as proof.

Qiu Daqin changed the beginning and end of the name in the alliance letter, adding words such as "victory at the first sight", "immediate success", and "restoration of the Ming Dynasty".

These heroes of the martial arts world can hardly read a single word, let alone advanced words like Mingzuo. They have no idea what it means.

After the oath was completed, Qiu Daqin and his brothers followed him to rob everywhere and obtained a large amount of gold and silver. Then Qiu Daqin ordered his literate brothers to pretend to have discovered the "highlights" and tell everyone.

At this point, his allies realized how powerful he was and regretted their actions, but they had no choice but to recognize Chou Daqin as their leader and agree not to betray each other. They thus became anti-Qing heroes without knowing it.

Later, the matter was exposed, and after being arrested, some people cried to the government, "We didn't know about the Tiandihui alliance, but we only wanted to form an alliance and rob people. But now that we have joined the society, it's too late to regret."

Another person who did the same thing was my fellow villager, Mo Dawang, Lin Tianshen, from Haikang County, Leizhou Prefecture.

This guy got to know a man named Chen from Zhangzhou, whose ancestors were members of the Tiandihui. He had a petition from the Tiandihui in his hand, so Lin Tianshen was overjoyed and began to use it to trick people into joining the society.

During the initiation process, some people were frightened by the words "Anti-Qing and Restore Ming". Lin Tianshen consoled them by saying:

"Nowadays, all societies across the country use this method to form a brotherhood. Moreover, this petition is an old one, but it expresses the idea of everyone working together. There is no problem with that."

Everyone gathered together, so they had no choice but to agree to form an association. Well, if you don't sign this form, you will definitely be stabbed to death on the spot.

This move was really fucking cruel. Thanks to the Qing Dynasty's policy of being wary of the Han people like thieves, as long as you signed and sealed this petition to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, your retreat would be completely blocked.

Later on, it became an unspoken rule that anyone who wanted to swear an oath of brotherhood had to use five-colored cloth as a flag with "Anti-Qing and Restore Ming" written on the left and "Carrying out Justice on Behalf of Heaven" on the right. Anyone who refused to sign the five-colored flag was considered a minions of the Tartars and would be stabbed to death on the spot.

What is even more shocking is that under this surging tide, it has come to the point where two people, when doing business together, would raise the five-color flag or write phrases such as "Anti-Qing and Restore Ming" on yellow paper and each hold a copy to show that their agreement is as solid as a rock and they will never go back on their word.

This is fucking amazing. You have to admire the imagination of people from Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. They used the four words "anti-Qing and restore Ming" as a contract.

This is the real reason why there are so many different opinions about the origin of the Tiandihui in history, because few descendants of the righteous men who followed Chen Yonghua to establish the Hongmen, Hanliu, Tiandihui, etc. participated.

On the contrary, it is the heroes of the world who are violently swept by the economic tide who swear an oath in this way.

Their origins are complicated, so they each made up a high-sounding origin to build their own persona and attract more younger people to join.

My goodness, relying on gangsters, they actually promoted the anti-Qing and restoration society, to the point that it influenced history. Even Sun Yat-sen had to rely on them to fight against the Qing Dynasty. I really don’t know whether to cry or laugh.

Historically, in the middle and late Jiaqing period and during the Daoguang period, even the yamen runners in the prefectures and counties of Guangzhou, the soldiers of the Green Camp in the towns and garrisons, the small and medium-sized landlords in the countryside, and the businessmen had to join the Tiandihui.

Otherwise, the yamen runners won't be able to collect kickbacks when they go out on the streets, landlords will have no one to guarantee their safety in the countryside, and businessmen will not join the guild, so the gang members may rob you eight or ten times a day.

After the Second Opium War, living conditions in and around Guangzhou plummeted, to the point where even street vendors and fishermen had to join the secret society, and the government was completely unable to control the situation.

And this time and space, well, is even more explosive! Because there is no such person as King Mo in history, the Tiandihui's anti-Qing and restoration of the Ming Dynasty is just empty talk. Forget about organizing it, there is no hope.

But in this time and space, the Manchu high-ranking officials did not feel very strongly about the big incident that Mo Zibu caused in Southeast Asia, but on the coast of Fujian and Guangdong, they simply thought that King Mo was a god, a god in the true sense of the word.

In King Mo's hometown in western Guangdong, when the master is invited, the first person to come is always a young man wearing a crown and tassels, who is obviously created based on the image of me, King Mo.

There are now almost 500,000 Chinese people in Xingtang. It can be said that among every Fujianese in Guangdong and Guangxi, there must be at least one distant relative who makes a living with Mo Zibu.

The Hongmen Kunlun Mountain Hall established by Huang Zhongtong with the authorization of Mo Zibu has in fact become the headquarters of the Tiandihui in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian.

Starting from 1772, three years ago, every year hundreds of small leaders and capable followers of the Tiandihui from all over the country would come to the Nanyang for pilgrimage on the South China Sea pirate ships controlled by Mo Zibu.

Mo Zibu would always receive them, eat, drink and have fun with them, reward them with gold, silver and jewelry, and promise them high positions and generous titles.

If anyone commits a crime on the mainland, except for being disobedient and unfilial, or bullying the weak, King Mo will take responsibility for it all. Even if you go to Southeast Asia and lie down, King Mo will still give you two meals a day to support you.

This BUFF is really stacked up. At the beginning, King Mo was just the leader of the Tiandihui in the coastal areas of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, the timely rain of Nanyang, and the little Mengchang of the south.

In the past one or two years, he has been given the title of overseas emperor.

Many heroes from the lower class, young people who were unwilling to work like slaves, whose ancestors died at the hands of the Qing Dynasty, or whose ancestors' land was occupied by the Eight Banners, all joined the Hongmen Kunlun Mountain Hall according to the ritual.

They were involved in all walks of life, including yamen clerks, yamen runners, strong men, gangsters from various industries, and even Green Camp officers and soldiers.

Relying on these people, Mo Zibu formed an extremely large and ubiquitous intelligence network.

How powerful is this intelligence network? Two years ago, Huang Zhongtong had someone kill Ye Xianbi, a traitor from the Palace Security Department, in the Gongyuan on West Street in Guangzhou, and then set the Gongyuan on fire. The Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Li Shiyao, and the Governor of Guangdong, Debao, were furious and ordered the whole city to arrest Huang Zhongtong.

As a result, two years passed, and not only Huang Zhongtong, but even Liu Ashui, who was responsible for the assassination, was not caught.

From then on, Li Shiyao became a little timid, because this old fox knew that when the yamen runners and Green Camp soldiers under him could not catch anyone, the situation would be very dangerous.

This meant that the entire Chenghushe, Ratchechuandian, and Jiaoya below had been infiltrated. Only Debao was still clamoring, posting Huang Zhongtong's wanted posters everywhere.

. . . .

Northwest of Guangzhou Prefecture, Shunde County, Xishan.

There is a big temple on Xishan Mountain, named Xishan Temple, but it is dedicated to Guan Gong.

This corresponds to the needs of Kunlun Mountain Hall. Therefore, after two years of renovation, Xishan Temple basically became the official headquarters of Kunlun Mountain Hall.

Chen Agao had two well-made pistols on his waist and a fine steel waist knife in his hand. He was dressed in black tights and had sparse hair on his head, which he casually tied into a braid.

This is the most fashionable outfit for the big guys in the world. Just by wearing this outfit, others will give you some respect wherever you go.

"Brothers or gold?"

"Love brother!"

“What if someone loves gold?”

"Three swords and six holes!"

"To be a Han Chinese or a slave?"

“Be a Han Chinese!”

"What if someone wants to be a slave to the Tartars?"

"Behead him, behead him!"

Chen Agao had just entered the Xishan Temple when he heard the sound of oaths inside. Those who could come here to swear an oath were the core backbone of the Kunlun Mountain Hall.

"It turns out that it's Mr. Liang Sanye from Xijiangtang." Chen Agao laughed loudly. He knew the short and strong man in the distance. He was a fierce bandit from the upper reaches of Xijiang River.

The so-called Xijiang Hall was originally a gang of pirates on the Xijiang River. Now it has been incorporated into the Kunlun Mountain Hall and has become an important peripheral member.

"They are indeed brave men. When Mr. Liang San takes them to Hoi An to show them to dad, there will definitely be a big reward!"

Of course, Mr. Liang San also knew Chen Agao. When he heard his praise, he smiled so hard that his mouth was split open.

Even the younger brothers knew Chen Agao. Two years ago, in order to save him, Chen Agao's brother Lin Ayu shot and killed the Nanhai County Magistrate in front of the Nanhai County Government Office and rescued him from the county government prison.

This is simply a real-life version of a robbery. Anyone who is involved in the underworld can talk about it for three days and three nights.

The Xijiang Hall brothers who had just finished swearing an oath gathered around him and said, "Big Boss Gao, your father has rewarded you with a gold mine in Jiaxi. If you don't want to be the master, why did you come back?"

Chen Agao chuckled, "There is a gold mine, but it's boring. I just sit there every day waiting to collect the money. All I do is eat. I'm fat as a pig. All my efforts are wasted. I should come back and do something to stretch my muscles."

The younger brothers were so envious of Chen Agao's Versailles show that their eyes sparkled.

Uncle Liang San looked at Chen Agao and laughed, "I think Brother Agao, you don't want to stretch your muscles, you want to be an official!"

"Hahaha!" Chen Agao also laughed out loud. "Nothing can be hidden from the Third Master. Indeed, Dad is going to start a war with the Tartars. I, Chen Agao, must hurry back and see if I can make some more achievements. In the future, when Dad, the overseas emperor, becomes the real emperor, I can become a general or a lieutenant general or something like that."

After that, Chen Agao took out a large piece of silver and handed it to Liang Sanye's henchman, "Brother, take this silver and take the brothers to the city. I will give each of you a deep-well roast goose. I, Chen Agao, will treat you."

The younger brothers cheered and looked at Chen Agao with envy for his generosity. They immediately felt that their choice was right.

Chen Agao took Mr. Liang Sanye's hand and walked inside. The headmaster Huang Zhongtong was also there.

When Chen Agao saw Huang Zhongtong, he immediately took out a piece of silk cloth covered with words and handed it to Huang Zhongtong.

After Huang Zhongtong half-knelt and took the silk cloth, Chen Agao said in a deep voice: "Boss, Dad agreed. Let's kill Guangdong Governor Debao in Guangzhou City!"

Mr. Liang was overjoyed and stepped forward quickly, "Dragon Head, leave this matter to us at Xijiang Hall. We guarantee that Debao, that bastard, will be chopped into eight pieces!"

Huang Zhong and Tong Yan shook their heads. "The killing of Debao has already been arranged. Hall Master Liang and I have another important task. I will ensure that your Xijiang Hall achieves great merit."

When Huang Zhongtong was speaking, a man in black stood up next to him. Mr. Liang San looked closely and couldn't help but gasp. This man was none other than Zhou Dianshi of Panyu County.

(End of this chapter)