The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 418 You Are My British Empire

Kolkata, Bengal, British India.

At this time, there was no title of Governor-General of British India, but he was called the Governor-General of the Province of Fort William.

Of course, Kolkata was still a city in Bengal at that time.

Fort William is located on the banks of the Hooghly River, an important tributary of the Ganges. Fort William consists of two parts: the Old Fort and the New Fort.
The old fort is in the southeast and the new fort is in the northeast. The two forts echo each other. They are octagonal bastions and are surrounded by the Hooghly River on three sides.

In other words, the two Fort William were actually built on a "peninsula" protruding into the Hooghly River.

Its tight defense and fierce city defense firepower are probably the most terrifying in Asia.

In New Fort William, the old fort was used as a customs house on weekdays, so most of the colonial government agencies were in the new fort.

John Whitehill, Governor of Chennai, had just returned from Ava in Lower Burma.

Chennai is located near the southeastern tip of the Indian mainland. This city, captured from the French, is now an important stronghold of the British in the southern tip of India.

So John Whitehill, as the Governor of Chennai, not only had the title of Governor, but also became a member of the British East India Company's five-member committee in India.

Seeing John Whitehill come in, several important people in the room, including Warren Hastings, Governor of Fort William Province.

Thomas Rumbold, Baron Woodhall, a member of the English House of Commons and an important member.

Members of the English House of Commons and Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in India, Lieutenant General Sir El Coote, all stood up politely to greet him.

Except for Vice Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, who has not yet arrived in India, all the highest-level officials from England in India have arrived.

Chennai Governor John Whitehill had the lowest status, so he took a short rest and then hurried to report.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the representative of the Southwest Governor of Qing has agreed to contribute at least 35,000 pounds to purchase weapons for the Burmese Governor of Siam.

However, at the last minute, the Burmese King Meng Yun, who controls the remaining Burmese forces, rejected our request to immediately arm the troops."

"What's his reason for refusing?" Warren Hastings, Governor of Fort William, asked in a low voice. "Could this guy have seen through our intentions?"

As the head of the colony, Warren Hastings has always been known for his expertise in geopolitics and understanding of human nature. Historically, Britain's intervention in Tibet was initially planned by this man.

"Probably not." John Whitehill thought for a while and shook his head decisively.

"This Burmese king is a well-known softie. He was able to control Ava and preserve the last bit of Burmese strength entirely by kowtowing everywhere."

As he spoke, the Governor of Chennai laughed and said, "He kowtowed to the Qing Dynasty in the north, and to the Burmese Governor of Siam in the southeast. He even kowtowed to some Burmese princes who were once his subjects and were enthroned by the Emperor of Seris.

So I think he didn't see through our intentions, but was simply afraid of losing his pitiful power and just wanted to keep the throne of Ava."

In recent years, the British have been so successful in the Indian Ocean, and have been invincible all over the world, so that the highest-level British in India have become quite arrogant.

So when they heard what Chennai Governor John Whitehill said, they didn't even question whether John Whitehill's judgment was wrong, but they all burst into laughter.

Even the clerk who was taking notes beside them and the several Indian servants who were serving them had smiles on their faces, as if they were very honored.

"Then let's give him a little more confidence. The Burmese king is worried about the future. We can make a promise and allow him to seek refuge in Fort William in case of failure. This way he will feel relieved." Baron Woodhall, an important committee member, said loudly.

This man was extremely greedy. Historically, when he returned to Britain from India, he took away wealth worth 600,000 pounds, which is almost two million taels of silver.

He looked at the Lieutenant General on his left, his eyes filled with a desire for money, "Sir Eli Coole, I think the army should be able to spare a few hundred old rifles.

Let's send these to Ava City, encourage those who want to cause trouble to prepare for rebellion, and then have that Qing Southwest Governor who has a tail on his head quickly send the silver to Fort William."

Speaking of the 35,000 pounds, which is almost 100,000 taels of silver, the atmosphere in the room became more excited. Everyone, like Baron Woodhall, showed greedy eyes.

Yes, you guessed it right. These British people didn’t think of him cooperating with the Qing Dynasty at all. They simply wanted to cheat the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, Mingde, out of 100,000 taels of silver.

Of course, they would not be so superficial, because the 100,000 taels of silver were only their own needs, not the needs of the Kingdom of England.

"The battle of Manet must be concluded as soon as possible so that we can eliminate all the French strongholds in India. This way, even if Emperor Seris wants to support his allies, he will have nowhere to turn."

Lieutenant General Sir Eli Cool was a little calmer because he was a soldier and was always more sensitive to these things.

"Also, we need to pay attention to Hyderabad. We must remind Sultan Jah III of Hyderabad not to attempt any cooperation with Sultan Hyder Ali of Mysore."

Governor Warren Hastings nodded and said, "I will send someone there immediately. Once the army captures Manet and eliminates the French forces, we will be ready to strike hard at this guy Haider Ali.

The Siamese Governor of Burma will buy us enough time to win the second war with the Kingdom of Mysore."

This was the ultimate goal of the British. From a personal perspective, these greedy rulers of the British Indian colonies hoped to get in touch with the Qing Dynasty and cheat it out of tens of thousands of pounds.

From the perspective of the overall British Indian strategy, they hoped to let the Burmese King Meng Yunhe Tong cause trouble in order to attract the attention of the Chinese Empire.

To prevent the Chinese Empire from quickly supporting the remaining French forces in India and the possibility of an alliance with the Mysore Kingdom, the British's biggest rival on the Indian mainland.

The British had a very keen sense of smell. Ever since Hyder Ali of the Mysore Kingdom supplied Mozibu with hundreds of war horses adapted to the tropical climate, they became alert.

"Of course, I suggest that we don't offend His Majesty Emperor Guangzhong too much. When the King of the Burmese and the Governor-General of Siam and Burma rise up in rebellion, we can secretly send secret envoys to inform His Majesty the Emperor at the same time."

Important committee member Baron Woodhall suggested that Great Britain never minds selling out its allies, it only depends on whether they are valuable.

"I agree with this suggestion!" Chennai Governor John Whitenall nodded in agreement.

"His Majesty the Emperor Guangzhong is probably the person in the entire East who understands Europe best. In fact, as long as he doesn't exclude England from trade, we would be happy to establish friendly relations with him."

. . . .

On the banks of the Salween River, a gentle breeze blew across both banks, creating ripples on the surface of the rice fields that were just about to be planted.

Chen Guangtai, the resident horse officer, was passing by the edge of a field with more than 30 mounted guards. When the Burmese and Mon serfs saw his banner, they quickly ran from the edge of the field to the side of the road and knelt down, not even daring to raise their heads.

Among these somewhat dark-skinned serfs, there were always some farmers who looked Chinese. They did not kneel, but mostly bowed and saluted, then cheered excitedly. However, these people were not all Chinese. About half of them were actually former Annan people who had just been classified as Han Chinese, and some were warriors recruited from Japan.

Lower Burma was too remote to attract Chinese to settle there, so Chen Guangtai had to settle for the second best. With the introduction of Chen Jiansheng, the Earl of Tongzhou who had connections with Japan, he recruited thirty Japanese samurai.

Not far away, groups of boys aged twelve or thirteen saw Chen Guangtai's samurai cavalry. They cheered even louder, raised the short-barreled muskets in their hands, and shook them desperately.

In the past, seeing these future hopes holding muskets, Chen Guangtai would definitely go over to test their swordsmanship and gun skills, but now he had something urgent to do, so he decided not to go.

The cavalrymen escorted Chen Guangtai, quickly passed through his territory in Ma Bo, and soon arrived at Tongzhou City in the northwest.

This place was originally called Zhitong by the Meng people. Mo Zibu took the transliteration and changed the name to Tongzhou, and gave it to Chen Jiansheng, a native of Fuqing, Fuzhou, who made great contributions in capturing Tuwa City.

The people of Fuqing have had close exchanges with Japan since Wei Zhiyan in the late Ming Dynasty. To this day, Wei Zhiyan's descendants still live in Nagasaki and are one of the merchants authorized by the Tokugawa shogunate to have contact with the outside world.

Therefore, there are more samurai from Japan here at Chen Jiansheng's place than at Chen Guangtai's place, a total of eighty people, and most of them have settled in Lower Burma.

Moreover, these Japanese warriors basically gave up the ugly ones, which they were not allowed to stay in the first place. Some of their ancestors even ran away to Japan from Fujian.

Therefore, judging from their facial features and clothing alone, it is difficult to recognize that they are still Japanese. They are almost indistinguishable from the Chinese.

"Brother Tai, you are here." Chen Jiansheng personally went out of the city to greet Chen Guangtai, then took his arm and led him into the Earl's Mansion in the city.

"The guest came on his own, and I was in a state of terror day and night, afraid of being discovered."

Chen Guangtai nodded in understanding. "Governor Huang will arrive secretly on a merchant ship in the evening. Don't mobilize the militia to avoid attracting attention. You and I will use the samurai to blockade the mansion."

Tongzhou Marquis’ Mansion, the deepest part of the courtyard.

Pegu Hou Suki and the mysterious visitor looked at each other for a long time. After a long silence, Suki looked at his graying hair, as if he had let go of everything, and bowed to the visitor in the Han Chinese way.

"Your Highness, I didn't expect you to come here in person."

His Royal Highness the Prince had a warm smile on his face. He was none other than the younger brother of the White Elephant King Mengbo, the current Burmese King Mengyun, and the historical leader of the Konbaung Dynasty, Bodawpaya.

"Lord Su, I didn't expect that among the generals who followed my father in the past, you are the most discerning. I heard that your daughter is already the emperor's concubine and has given birth to a prince, is that right?"

Hearing Meng Yun mention this, General Su Ji couldn't help but reveal an extremely proud look on his face. A mere Marquis of Pegu could not actually guarantee his status.

But his little daughter was pregnant with the emperor's seed, so he became the grandfather of the third prince. This was the greatest guarantee.

General Suki prayed day and night that the third prince would grow up healthy, and when he grew up, he would welcome him back to Lower Burma.

Then by then, U Win, Marquis of Yangon, and Myint Sin, Marquis of Mawlamyine, who are now known as him, might become subjects of the third prince.

His Suki family would become the most powerful family in Lower Burma.

"The king is not in Ava, and he has risked everything to come to Tongzhou. Something big must have happened." After a few greetings, Huang Zhen, who had his back to the Burmese King Meng Yun, finally spoke.

He was originally a Siamese nobleman and was quite fluent in Burmese, so he could communicate without any problems.

Meng Yun glanced at General Su Ji, who nodded and said to him, "This is the Great Emperor's confidant, Governor-General Huang Zhenhuang of An Dai."

After getting confirmation, Meng Yun knelt down without any hesitation.

"Governor, I have an emergency report. The British and Chao Phraya Chakri of Siam are planning a rebellion. They are going to attack back to Thonburi!"

Huang Zhen was shocked, not because of the news Meng Yun brought, but because he was frightened by the fact that Meng Yun could kneel down so directly.

Because this guy is not the coward that the British think he is, he is actually very capable.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to hold on to a small piece of territory in such a complicated environment after the Burmese were defeated, and to successfully make a large number of Burmese who were captured as slaves look forward to him as a savior.

"King of Burma, what do you want?" Huang Zhen walked over and helped Meng Yun up, but his eyes were fixed on him.

Meng Yun knew very well that Huang Zhen was not really asking him what he wanted to get, but was asking why he made such a choice.

"I know the British very well. From my father Yong Ji Ya to my brother Sin Pyu Sin, the Burmese have always had dealings with them.

These warmongers from the West never treated the Burmese and the natives of various parts of India as human beings.

They only think that you Miaoxiang people are civilized people like them. In their eyes, the rest of you are no different from monkeys in the jungle.

I don't know what the English want to do, but I know they must be taking advantage of me.

They are more cruel than you Myo-Hyang people, as proved by the Bengalis who starved to death.

So, if I have to choose a master, I choose the Great Emperor Guangzhong, not the Western Red-haired Devil."

Huang Zhen took two deep breaths. The Burmese king's rank was much higher than he had imagined, and he was not someone he could deal with.

"King of Burma, if I tell you that even so, your future is not something I can decide, and you may need to go to Yingtian Prefecture to meet the Emperor, are you still willing to cooperate with us?"

"I do!" Meng Yun answered almost immediately. He even breathed a sigh of relief like Huang Zhen.

Because in Meng Yun's opinion, if Huang Zhen, a mere governor, dared to make a decision on such a big matter on the spot, then there would be a real problem, proving that these Miaoxiang people just tricked him into going to the battlefield. Now that Huang Zhen was so cautious, it made him believe it even more.

"I am willing to go to the Emperor and ask him to forgive me for killing Sinthamine."

Xintamine was the newly appointed King of Burma who was forced by Mozibu to kill the Queen of White Elephant. However, Xintamine was soon killed by Meng Yun.

Hearing that Meng Yun agreed to this, Huang Zhen finally nodded, "Very good, then please tell us the plan of the British and Chao Phraya Chakri.

The great emperor always clearly distinguishes between rewards and punishments. As long as you have made contributions, you will definitely be rewarded."

　I was caught in a meeting today and just got back. I probably won’t be able to finish the next chapter. I’ll work overtime tonight and make up for it with three updates tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)