The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 416: Nanyang Shock
Compared to her little cousin who was eager to try, Ye Xiaomei was much more low-key. She stroked her slightly bulging belly. She had given birth to two daughters in a row, so it was impossible that the third one would also be a daughter.

Even if the third one is still the same, then have a fourth one.

Ye Xiaomei nodded vigorously. When she was young, she could go to the river to catch fish. The body that could kill a big dog weighing forty or fifty kilograms alone gave Ye Xiaomei the greatest asset.

Lively, strong and beautiful, this is the impression Ye Xiaomei left on the emperor.

"Little sister, I think it would be better for you to have a daughter this time."

Uncle San squinted his eyes and looked at his daughter. While talking, he took a sip of fragrant tea and a bite of delicious snacks, looking very comfortable.

Ye Xiaomei rolled her eyes at her father and said, "What are you talking about? Without my own son in this harem, how can my daughter stand firm?"

Uncle San shook his head. Although he was only a scholar, he was once the pride of the family because he came from a family that had been tenant farmers for generations, but he rose to become a scholar.

Although later due to various reasons, he was unable to support his full-time studies and continued to go to Guangzhou to take part in the provincial examinations.

But in later generations, it is almost equivalent to a migrant worker's child born in the mountains passing the provincial civil service exam.

Therefore, Third Uncle was quite knowledgeable. He looked at Ye Xiaomei and said slowly:
“We Hakkas are a bit stubborn. We are not as good as Cantonese, Chaozhou, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou people in business, exporting and running mines.

Apart from farming, I also serve in the army. I asked the seventh brother of the Fifth Army Headquarters to check. Now among us Hakka people, there are 83 officers above the rank of lieutenant colonel, 7 brigadier generals, 3 major generals, and 1 lieutenant general.

Among the twelve armies of the Beijing Camp, there are three Hakka major generals in command. If it weren't for the Fifth Army Commander-in-Chief Wu Shixiu's deliberate avoidance, there would probably be at least five."

Ye Xiaomei understood a little bit. Among Mo Zibu's three main concubines, she was different from Zheng Shishi and her little cousin.

When Zheng Shishi was about to get married, her father Zheng Xin completed his comeback, so the education she had received before was the Siamese Najin aristocratic style.

This kind of noble family with fiefdoms strongly encouraged the female host to take charge of household affairs in the fiefdom when the male host was away fighting or serving in office. The more resources the female host controlled, the higher her status.

So this is why Zheng Shishi always tried to help Mo Zibu handle government affairs after her offspring encountered difficulties, and why she always had a small group of four to five hundred people around her, including guards, close ministers, maids and other members.

As for my little cousin Chen Yijin, the Jiading Chen family had already become quite weak during the time she lived in. It was very difficult for them to preserve the culture of the Mingxiang people. My little cousin didn't even read many books.

So my little cousin's thinking is still completely based on the pattern of the struggles between wives and concubines in a landlord's compound.

She looked at things in a simple and direct way, and even dared to say in front of the upright and middle-aged Mo Zibu that Asen would have to shoulder heavy responsibilities in the future without hesitation.

It's not that my little cousin is spoiled and arrogant, but that she is really at this level. My little cousin is also the only woman around Mo Zibu who can't even recite three hundred thousand.

Only Ye Xiaomei, under the guidance of her third uncle, has a true way of thinking like a traditional Chinese concubine. She is well aware of the dangers of having a large number of fellow clansmen and fellow townsmen in the harem holding military power.

"Father, you're right." Ye Xiaomei sighed and touched her belly. "If this is really a boy, it will make our position even more delicate. I'm afraid His Majesty will intentionally suppress the Hakka generals."

Uncle San took a bite of the water trotter cake and his eyes narrowed into a line. He had been poor for most of his life, and what he felt most sorry for was his mouth and stomach, so now what he liked most was to eat all kinds of delicious food.

Uncle San shook his head, "Then you are wrong. Your Majesty hasn't even conquered half of the country yet. How could he be so petty? Suppressing the loyalty of his subordinates over such a small matter is not what a powerful ruler does!
Therefore, I judge that if you really give birth to a son, he will probably be granted a title when he is half a year old, and his future direction will be determined.

"If things go wrong, I might be banished to Southeast Asia, either to the Jiaqing Island (Borneo) or to Johor. There's absolutely no chance of me inheriting the throne."

When Ye Xiaomei heard what her uncle said, her eyes lit up. "That's not bad. He can go to Nanyang and become a king in the future. He has so many uncles. If each of them can send thirty to fifty personal soldiers, he can stabilize the situation."

Ye is a big Hakka surname in Jiaying Prefecture. Ever since Ye Xiaomei was named Consort De, people with the surname Ye have come to claim kinship with her, so she does have many cousins.

Uncle San finally put down his chopsticks and glanced at Ye Xiaomei. "Xiaomei, don't you want to fight for it?"

Ye Xiaomei nodded. "Of course I do! What mother can resist the temptation of her son becoming emperor? But let's take it one step at a time. Let's get what we can get first."

"Your Majesty, His Majesty will come to your place to visit the two princesses in the evening." The father and daughter chatted for a few more words, and then the eunuch outside came to report.

Ye Xiaomei's face lit up with joy, and her uncle quickly said goodbye.

. . . .

In the temporary Wude Hall of the imperial palace, Mo Zibu held up a copy of Chen Huizu's resume and asked Jinyiwei Commander Chen Xu, "What do you think of Chen Huizu?"
"The Tartars are quite generous, and have even adopted the tax farming system from the Mongols. Can we win over Chen Huizu?"

Chen Xu nodded. "Yes, but we need at least a marquis. We might even have to tolerate him and those Hunan landlords occupying the Dongting Lake Plain for a long time."

Mo Zibu was speechless. He turned to look at Liang Guozhi, who also shook his head, "Chen Huizu has some talent, but he is more famous for his greed.

This man is incredibly bold, taking any kind of money, and he can't control his family. His brothers are just as greedy as Chen Huizu.

Liang Guozhi's understanding of Chen Huizu was still very accurate. Historically, when Chen Huizu served as the governor-general of Liangjiang, Emperor Qianlong asked him to take the lead in investigating Wang Danwang's corruption case.

As a result, Chen Huizu dared to replace all the gold in Wang Danwang's house with silver, embezzled all the jade, and ordered others to replace the rest of the treasures with fake ones. He openly fleeced Emperor Qianlong and was finally ordered by Emperor Qianlong to commit suicide.

"I also do not recommend that Your Majesty accept Chen Huizu!" Before Mo Zibu made a decision, Wang Quan, the fourth-generation grandson of Wang Fuzhi who came all the way from Hengyang, Hunan, also spoke up to persuade him.

"Over the past hundred years, the imperial court has relocated a large number of people from Huguang to Sichuan. In order to mobilize sufficient population in the two provinces, Hunan and Hubei have not conducted an inventory of farmland for nearly fifty years. A large amount of hidden farmland exists in the two provinces.

This is also the reason why the combined land tax silver and land tax grain of the two provinces is actually less than that of Shanxi Province alone.

In addition, if local people did not want to be forcibly relocated to Sichuan by the government, they needed to seek shelter with local wealthy families so that they could cancel their household registration. Only in this way could they stay in their hometown.

At this time, it had only been fifty years since the famous large-scale migration of people from Huguang to Sichuan in Chinese history stopped.

Sporadic settlement in Sichuan is still continuing, and the tail end of this wave of immigration may not have ended until the Daoguang period.

In the early Qing Dynasty, the population of Sichuan was less than one in a hundred. According to statistics in the 1685th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign (), the total population of Sichuan, including southern Shaanxi where Nanzheng, Ankang and other places are located, was only . Excluding southern Shaanxi, the total population of Sichuan was only .

Of course, this is the registered population, but even if the hidden households are included, the maximum number is 300,000 to 400,000 people. The reality forced the Qing government to start large-scale immigration.

Among these immigrants, more than 40% are from Hunan and Hubei. The official population that has moved away is around 800,000, but in reality it is far more than this number, and it would have to be at least doubled to be realistic.

"No wonder the Qing government was able to relocate nearly 7-8 percent of the population from Hunan and Hubei. It turned out they were compromising with the wealthy families in Hunan and Hubei."

After hearing what Wang Quan said, Mo Zibu understood that the large number of medium-sized landlords with two or three hundred acres in Hunan and Hubei were all compromises that the Qing Dynasty had to make to the local wealthy families in order to implement its immigration policy.

"But this compromise has greatly undermined the court's control over the two provinces." Wang Quan continued:

"In addition to the fact that the two provinces paid too little land tax and grain, and the farmland was hidden, the population of Hunan and Hubei was also largely hidden.

Taking my hometown Hunan as an example, the registered population is one million less than that of Gansu, four million less than Guangdong and Jiangxi, and nine million less than Zhejiang. This is obviously abnormal.

If Your Majesty persuades Chen Huizu to surrender, you will inevitably have to tolerate their continued behavior, which will only bring harm to the country."

Wow, Mo Zibu smacked his lips. It turned out that he was right. Beneath the abnormal situation in Hunan and Hubei, there actually existed a large number of very energetic "Junker landlords".

The only option then was war. Only by overthrowing these local tyrants who had benefited from the Qing's special policies could the Great Yu Dynasty truly control Hunan and truly mobilize its manpower and resources. "If we're going to fight, we have to do it quickly. I suggest that once the Twelve Armies of the Beijing Camp are completed, we immediately begin preparations for the Huguang Campaign." Reinstein, being half-German, was well aware of the power of this strategy.

"Your Majesty should be thankful that the location of Hunan and Hubei means they cannot obtain a large number of muskets and artillery.

If they were placed in Prussia's current position, these 20 to 30 million people could at least mobilize an army of 500,000, and there would be no results without fighting for 20 to 30 years."

Lieutenant General Rui was quite emotional. In his opinion, Serbia's capital was too great. If any two of its provinces were placed in Europe, it would become a land power that would give Britain, France, Hungary, and Russia a headache.

. . . .

Nanyang, Siam, the old city of Ayutthaya.

This ancient city runs through the entire history of the Ayutthaya Dynasty. After hundreds of years of wealth accumulation, it has accumulated a large amount of gold, silver and treasures.

When the Burmese army captured Ayutthaya, many Siamese chose to bury their treasures underground at the last moment. The brutal war caused a large number of houses and palaces to collapse, forming an excellent cover.

More importantly, after the Burmese occupied Ayutthaya, they were transferred to northern Myanmar to fight the Qing army before they had time to plunder it thoroughly. Then Taksin and Mo Zi Bu fought back together and quickly expelled the Burmese.

This ensured that most of the treasures buried in Ayutthaya were preserved.

Siam adopted the Sakdina system, where the capital was the center of the center of the country. The concentration of wealth was even more exaggerated than that of Tokyo Bianliang Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty. Over the past few hundred years, the accumulated wealth can be imagined.

Therefore, when the political situation in Siam stabilized, searching for the treasures buried in the ruins of Ayutthaya became a very profitable job.

The industry it has formed is still quite good, and it makes more money than buying land or mining for gold.

Such a profitable business would naturally be controlled by the Chaoshan people, who are known as the royal Chinese. They love doing business, so how could they miss out on such a good business?

At this time, the benefits of excavating treasures from the ruins of Ayutthaya were contracted by King Taksin to four large Chaoshan trading companies, and two of these four trading companies were opened by Taksin's clansmen.

Zheng Antong was one of the shareholders of the largest trading company. His great-grandfather was a brother of King Taksin's grandfather, so he was able to get such a lucrative business.

But for Zheng Antong, this was not satisfying at all, because he felt that he had chosen the wrong track.

At that time, King Taksin and Emperor Kuang Chung were known as the two heroes of the Chinese in Southeast Asia. According to the saying at that time, "The Chaoshan people eat conch, and the Hakka people eat river fish."

But now, in just eight years, the status and income of Chaoshan people and Hakka people are completely different.

The Chaoshan people only gained Siam, a small country in Southeast Asia, but the Hakka people became heroes of national restoration.

They returned to their hometown in glory and became dukes, meritorious officials, generals in the army, and provincial governors, far more glorious than the Chaoshan people.

Even Chen Lian, a native of Chaozhou who was squeezed out at that time, has now been granted the title of Duke of Yi'an County and serves as the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang.

You should know that Chaozhou originally belonged to Yian County. This means that Chen Lian, the marginalized person, has now become the real Chaozhou boss.

This strong contrast has caused many Chaoshan people to feel unbalanced.

When there is an imbalance, you need to vent.

In recent years, Chaoshan people who know what is good for them have also begun to place large amounts of bets on Mo Zibu. In Jiaxi Road of Jiaqing Province, the investment and immigration from Chaozhou have exceeded that of the Hakka people.

Among them, Huang Rende from Haiyang County was even considered to be the most suitable successor to Luo Fangbai after he stepped down as the governor of Jiaqing and the governor of Jiaxi.

There are also some Chaozhou immigrants in Luzon who are constantly sending information about Luzon to Mo Zibu, ready to respond immediately as long as Mo Zibu has any ideas.

But there are also many who are confused, such as Zheng Antong and others.

These people were neither open-minded enough to give up the benefits on Taksin's side and turn to work for Mo Zi Bu, nor could they work diligently to help Taksin suppress the Thais.

There is nothing else to do except making money and exclusion.

"Snap!" The long whip made of palm leaves mercilessly lashed the Thai serfs.

As time goes by, treasure hunting in Ayutthaya becomes increasingly difficult, and profits are rapidly decreasing.

This made investors who had spent a lot of money to enter the market more anxious and treated their subordinates more rudely, even to the point where the management embezzled the meager food expenses of slaves.

This was roughly the situation in history, but there was no Mo Zibu at that time, so many of Zheng Xin’s Chaozhou compatriots were not as crazy as they are now.

At night, in the makeshift huts, a large number of Thai petty officials and serfs gathered together, munching on pitifully small rice balls and talking about the oppression they had suffered that day.

These serfs were fine, as the Thais themselves didn't treat them as human beings anyway. However, some petty officials were different from treasure hunters. They were not slaves, and many of them were small nobles during the Ayutthaya period.

This extreme oppression was bound to cause problems. Many Thais kept colluding, and even some of the paternal lineage Najin joined in. Everyone was saying, "The King does not love Thais, he only loves his fellow countrymen."

The flames of discontent and resistance began to accumulate.

"Bounma, many people are dissatisfied and want to kill the Chinese royal family in Ayutthaya. They are going to Thonburi to question Somluk Phai Chao Kung. Is he the king of Siam or the king of the Chao people?"

Songlupphai Chaogong is Taksin's honorific title, meaning the supreme king.

Wenma shook his head. He was a Nazhen from the paternal line. Although he didn't know his ancestor's surname, he still remembered that he was from Chaozhou.

He was also the son-in-law of Khun Aphayabudit, the Siamese general who once followed Mok Tze Bu and is now the son-in-law of Phraya Chanthaburi.

"Zhao is surrounded by extremely corrupt hipsters, so questioning him will be fruitless.

I will go to Yingtian Prefecture and plead with Emperor Guangzhong that Siam cannot continue like this, or they will destroy this country."

The person who came to persuade Wenma took a deep look, hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head firmly.

"Wunma, give up your Najin identity. The Chinese in the upper kingdom will not treat us Thais equally. Emperor Guangzhong is competing with Emperor Qianlong for the upper kingdom. He will not care about Southeast Asia."

Wenma looked at Naiwu thoughtfully. This was his best childhood friend. Although he was not Najin, it did not affect their relationship.

"Did Phraya Chakri find you, my brother?" Wenma looked at Naiwu seriously. "Don't be deceived by him. He couldn't defeat the Great Emperor Guangzhong ten years ago, and he is even less capable now."

Nai-U shook his head. "I'm not doing this for Phraya Chakri, I'm doing this for us Thais. Siam belongs to the Thais, not the Chinese. I'm willing to defend this with my life."

Wenma felt like he couldn't breathe and felt a little dizzy. "Brother, don't give your blood to Phraya Chakri. He is a terrible ambitious man."

Naiwu refused to speak again, but simply shook his head and walked into the night. After walking five or six steps, he couldn't help but turn back and said to Wenma, "Go quickly, my brother. I hope you can succeed!"

(End of this chapter)