The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 436: Fighting with Daddy, it’s so much fun
August 1779, 8. The seventh day of the seventh month in the third year of the Guangzhong reign of the Great Yu Dynasty, the forty-fourth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, was the Qiqiao Festival.

Liu Dingjue arrived in Batavia with the first group of Guangxi cousins he had gathered, a total of more than 500 people, all of whom were bandits and pirates from the Zhuang, Yao, Han and other ethnic groups that Liu Dingjue's sons had met.

Along with Liu Dingjue came the imperial edict of enthronement for Mo Zibu.

Among them, the commander of the army, Duke Yi'an, and General Pingnan Chen Lian were rewarded with a lot of gold, silver, brocade and silk.

His official position is already high enough, and there is not much room for promotion, so it is naturally difficult to get a higher rank.

The most practical thing was that Mo Zibu appointed his third son as a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

This Yinguan has a special meaning in Dayu.

Generally speaking, the sons of meritorious officials who were granted the title of Jinyi Qianhu due to their merits would basically become vassal states when they grew up, starting with a thousand households, and at least becoming a viscount.

This is considered to be a place reserved for Chen Lian's descendants in Batavia.

Colonel Marco was granted the title of Marquis of Jinshi and was given the city of Jinshi as his fief. The city was close to the Si River and had a population of more than 2,000.

There are 70,000 acres of land outside the city, more than 10,000 acres of banana plantations, plus some mountains, forests, swamps and fishing villages on the seaside. If they are cultivated well, another 20,000 to 30,000 acres can be cultivated. The non-urban population is about 30,000.

This is the sixth earl in Nanyang after Wu Rang, the Earl of Songcheng, Ye Fengchang, the Earl of Jida, Zhuang Chunde, the Earl of Xingao, Chen Jiansheng, the Earl of Xintong, and Chen Guangtai, the Earl of Zhuma.

Although the Earldom of Jinshi is quite small compared to the previous ones which often have hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, for ordinary people, it is still a place where they can become rich overnight.

According to his merits, Colonel Marco should have been given the title of Viscount, but Mo Zibu still conferred him the title of Earl.

First, Marco and others did make contributions by lurking for five or six years. Second, it was to appease the Dutch, especially the Dutch who were incorporated into the Chinese Navy.

These Dutch people must be made to realize that Mozibu is a master like the European kings. As long as they have made contributions, they can be promoted and rewarded like the Chinese.

Even because of the vast territory of China, there will be even more promotions and rewards.

After all, when attacking and looting the British Indian colonies, these people will need to fight for their lives sincerely.

Therefore, after enfeoffing Jinshi City to Colonel Marco, Mo Zibu also used the royal treasury to privately give him 5,000 taels of newly minted silver dollars and issued him an interest-free loan of 20,000 taels so that Jinshi City could get back on track as soon as possible.

Marco took the imperial edict and tears of surprise streamed down his face. Although he had known that he would be made a duke, when it really happened, he still felt a tremor all over his body.

Of course, there are people who are even worse than Colonel Marco, and that is his wife and children from Hanover.

Upon hearing that they had become nobles, and even counts with a city and more than 30,000 subjects, these country bumpkins from Europe excitedly kowtowed to the north at the entrance of Batavia City Hall.

Of course, if Mo Zibu was here, he would also be shocked to find out that Colonel Marco was not Dutch. Strictly speaking, he was actually British.

Because it is the Hanoverian dynasty that rules Britain now. It was only sixty-five years ago that George I, Elector of Hanover, went to Britain to serve as king.

So at this time, the Electorate of Hanover was strictly speaking a co-state with the United Kingdom, or more broadly speaking, they were one country.

Holdyk was also very satisfied with his position. As a business representative of the Chinese Empire, he could not only make money but also travel to Europe frequently to enjoy superior treatment.

Holdek could barely accept the fact that Marco became a count while he did not have a title, because in today's Dayu, there are four types of titles.

The most valuable of these is naturally the hereditary title that comes with a red-lettered iron certificate.

The next level is the double title, but this type is rarer and generally not too high, basically the earl is the top.

The next level is the Nanyang feudal nobility. Finally, there are titles and ranks that will be reduced from generation to generation.

With Holdyke's current achievements, he can forget about inheriting the throne, and dual access is also a dream.

Being a vassal of Nanyang was not what he wanted, and since he had given it to Count Marco, the most he could get was a viscount, which was not of much significance.

As for the hereditary titles, like the unbroken hereditary titles, there are no viscounts and barons, because the functions of these viscounts and barons have been replaced by republican members.

Holdyk naturally knew that with his merits, there was no possibility for him to become a count directly, so it would be better for him to get the position of vice-premier and director of the Renaissance Company.

The other Lin Tonghuo was also promoted to the rank of Junbo, but he could not go to his fiefdom yet, because the fiefdom given to him by Mo Zibu was near Bandung in later generations, and the indigenous people of this area had not been conquered yet, so he had to stabilize Batavia first.

Although Ye Xiancai was still a viscount, Mo Zibu gave him a viscount fiefdom next to Lin Tonghuo's earl fiefdom.

This is also a good thing for Ye Xiancai. He has seven sons. With one more viscount fiefdom, his Ye family will have two viscounts in the future.

The deputy general of the army and the commander of the fleet, Major General Sufran, was also rewarded and his rank was promoted to lieutenant general. The rest of the officers and soldiers were also rewarded.

At the same time, Mozibu renamed Java Island to Nanji Island, taking the words "Shuonanji, Shengjiao Yi Yu Sihai" from the Book of Documents, which means facing the Southern Ocean and spreading virtue and education to all corners of the world.

Naturally, the province on Nanji Island is called Nanji Province.

Because of the importance of this province, Mo Zibu directly appointed Liu Dingju as the Governor-General of Nanji, responsible for military affairs, money, grain, taxes, and other Han and foreign affairs, and he was referred to as the Governor-General of Nanji.

Batavia was renamed Hongxing, originally Hongxing, to commemorate the city's resurgence after the Hongxi Massacre.

As a result, the ministers felt that the use of the word "red" was a bit too depressing, so they changed it to "Hong", and thus it became Hongxing.

The entire Java province is administratively divided into five provinces: Anshin Province in West Java, Yogyakarta Special Region in Yogyakarta, Semarang Province in Central Java, and Surabaya Province in East Java.

Lin Tonghuo was the commander-in-chief of the financial affairs of the military and civilians in Nanri Prefecture, Colonel Marco was the commander-in-chief of the financial affairs of the military and civilians in Sanbao Prefecture, and Liu Taier, who was trained by Luo Fangbai, was the commander-in-chief of the financial affairs of the military and civilians in Sishui Prefecture.

At this point, the island of Java has been divided. The future will depend on how determined Liu Dingjue, Lin Tonghuo, and the Dayu court can be to use both swords and guns and assimilation to control this extremely rich island.

As for how rich the land of Java Island is, there is a very intuitive comparison in later generations to illustrate it.

In our country, Heilongjiang is an absolute major grain-producing province, ranking among the top in China.

However, although Heilongjiang has arable land 4.4 times that of Java Island, its grain output is only about 1.9 times that of Java Island.

You know, Heilongjiang has the famous black soil. If you consider that our agriculture is much better than Indonesia in terms of seeds, fertilizers, planting techniques, mechanized harvesting, warehousing, etc., Heilongjiang's per mu yield is still not as good as Java Island.

Such hydrothermal conditions, such soil fertilized by volcanic ash, are simply terrifying!
Afterwards, Mo Zibu ordered Xingtang Province and Rinan Province to prepare a large amount of reward supplies, so that the army could rest in Hongxing (Batavia) for a month before setting sail north to resolve the issue of Tong in Siam.

. . . .

In Nandu Chengtian Guangzhou Prefecture, Mo Zibu was so annoyed by the noise that he was overwhelmed. He could only comfort the people for a long time before hurriedly leaving.

The only people who could appease Emperor Mo, other than his mother-in-law, Queen Wu Xuan of Siam, and his legal wife, Queen Zheng Shishi, are none other than him.

Especially Wu Xuan, who had just arrived in Guangzhou with her whole family and hadn't even found a place to stay, but came to find Mo Zibu.

What else could Mo Zibu do? Could he explain to Wu Xuan and Zheng Shishi the importance of defeating the Dutch first in order to defeat their biggest rival in Southeast Asia, and to prevent them from being used by the British?

Certainly not!

It’s not that Mo Zibu discriminates against women, but that most women simply don’t have strategic vision. This is determined by genes, responsibilities and division of labor.

If Wu Xuan and Zheng Shishi had such foresight, able to endure the imminent danger of their husbands and fathers' deaths while considering national affairs, then they would not be Wu Xuan and Zheng Shishi, but would be the heroes sent by heaven, such as Empress Lü of the Han Dynasty, Dou Yifang, Empress Ma Mingde of the Later Han Dynasty, Empress Dowager Feng of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Empress Dowager Xiao Yanyan of the Khitan Chengtian Dynasty, and Lady Xian of Lingnan.

It can even be said that regardless of her stance, Empress Dowager Cixi was an absolute master, far superior to the likes of Wu Xuan and Zheng Shishi.

So Mo Zibu couldn't reason with them and could only keep comforting them and making promises.

After their emotions calmed down a bit, Mo Zibu hurried to find Mo Tianci, who was enjoying himself in Donglin Garden in Foshan, preparing to watch the performance of a famous Cantonese opera troupe before responding to Tianfu's supervisor of the construction of the Forbidden City.

Mo Tianci has been very happy recently. Not only does he have contemporary literary masters like Yuan Mei and Yao Nai to accompany him in writing poetry, singing, drinking and having fun.

His third son in Europe, the prince consort of the Holy Roman Empire, the husband of the Archduchess of Parma, the Marquis of Mallorca, the Prince of Dayu Baima and the Grand Duke of Pahang, Mo Zirong, sent him a European dance band of 200 people from Europe.

These include actors who can perform operas, animal trainers who train wild beasts, artists who are proficient in brewing fine wines, and so on.

Of course, there are also 300 barrels of the finest wines, 200 kilograms of top-quality shark fins and dried abalone, etc.

"Gentlemen, please taste this shark fin. It was sent to me by my third son, Wanli. It is of the highest quality. In Western Europe, it is not allowed to be eaten casually."

This shark fin is indeed delicious, but it’s not that ordinary people in Europe are not allowed to eat it, but that they don’t know how to cook it.

Even in China, although there are records of eating shark fin in the Song Dynasty, it was not until Emperor Qianlong, who was greedy, that the imperial chefs were able to tinker with the cooking method and make it quite delicious. This was only about a dozen years ago.

Our Emperor Mo Tai had no other reason but to enjoy himself with scholars in poetry and songs, and to save face.

You, Qianlong, like to eat this the most, and you only eat tribute from foreign countries. Then I would like my son to be a king abroad and personally send it to me as a tribute.

Due to the limitations of fishing and preservation techniques, the output of shark fins at that time was not only small, but also much more expensive than in later generations.

It was so expensive that even people like Yuan Mei and Yan Nai rarely ate it, but as soon as they tasted it, they immediately gave it rave reviews.

The meal was a great pleasure, and the host felt very honored. They also agreed to have some cakes and tea after eating shark fin, and enjoy an opera performance from the Principality of Ctesimilien together. Yuan Mei and others even learned some French for this purpose.

But at this moment, an evil guest arrived, and the eunuch came to inform him that the emperor would be here soon.

Yuan Mei and the others were about to leave immediately, but Mo Tianci was unwilling to let them go. He simply waved his hand and said, "Everyone, please sit down. I will go see the emperor myself."

With that, Mo Tianci left his seat and walked towards the west side of the garden. Yuan Mei and the others felt something was strange, but they couldn't tell why.

The eighty-year-old emperor is in good health, and it is a bit outrageous that he frequently shows his presence. As his son, Emperor Mo always orders the emperor to do things. What a father-son relationship.

. . . .

"What, you want me to go back to Jiading!" At the west end of Donglin Garden, the retired emperor Mo Tianci stared with his eyes wide open.

If Mo Zibu wasn't the emperor now, he would have cursed him out the moment he fell to the ground.

"Mo Laowu, have you forgotten that I am already seventy-nine years old this year?
You asked me to go to Jiading and become the Prime Minister of Nanyang for you? Aren't you afraid that your father will die on the way? "

Mo Zibu wanted to roll his eyes. You are seventy-nine years old, and your body is as strong as others who are fifty-nine. How is it possible that you will die after just one trip to Southeast Asia?

But he couldn't say that, that would be too rebellious, so he could only explain with a smile:
"Things in Nanyang are becoming increasingly complex. Huang Zhen, Zheng Mincheng, Luo Fangbai, Wu Rang, and the recently arrived Liu Dingju are all outstanding figures of their time. We must have someone of high moral character and prestige to lead them.

Just like this time, we originally had millions of people in Southeast Asia, many ships, many guns, and many cannons. There was no reason for us to fight so miserably.

The reason is that there is a lack of a person who can take a comprehensive view of the situation and coordinate the forces in various places.

In addition, they are all ministers and have been stationed in various places for too long. Someone must be there to coordinate them and let them know about the court so that they don't form separatist regimes.

After looking around, my son feels that there is no one more suitable than you, Dad.

Don't worry, it will take at most two years. Once I have completely defeated the Tartars and restored our country, I will immediately send someone to replace you."

Mo Tianci glared at Mo Zibu fiercely. This statement might be used to fool others, but not him. The integrated action was still reasonable, but the rest was pure bullshit.

Luo Fangbai, Wu Rang, Huang Zhen and others were all selected by the emperor, and everything was given by the emperor.

The navy and army of Dayu are so powerful that the people who have crossed the border have benefited from it and regard the emperor as a god. These vassal generals must be crazy to think of secession.

"You kid, you want me to take the blame, right? What's the matter? Can't your father-in-law Zheng Guoying be saved?" Mo Tianci asked with a sneer.

"It's indeed a bit dangerous. Tong can do anything when he's pushed into a corner. I know him." Mo Zibu admitted it straightforwardly.

"You wouldn't." Mo Tianci looked at Mo Zibu with some suspicion, "You don't really want Zheng Guoying to die, do you? He's your father-in-law!"

"No, no!" Mo Zibu quickly waved his hands in denial. "I just want him to return to Chengtian Mansion to recuperate after being rescued."

Mo Tianci understood that his son really wanted him to take the blame.

As long as he goes, even if he fails to rescue the person, you people in the world will have nothing to say. Look, the emperor is almost eighty years old and he still wants to go to Southeast Asia in person. He really tried his best.

If he was rescued, then with Mo Tianci's identity, he could decide on the spot to bring Zheng Xin back to Guangzhou.

"No, I really want to live a few more years!" Mo Tianci waved his hand to refuse. In this world, there is no one who always treats his father as the scapegoat and the black glove.

Is there any son like you, Mo Wu? I am eighty years old and still want to work for you. Who is the son and who is the father?
"Dad, I really have no other choice. Only you can help me." Mo Zibu looked at Mo Tianci with a smile.

Lao Deng, if you don’t go, then I will have no choice but to use my ultimate move.

Mo Tianci felt a little uneasy when Mo Zibu laughed at him. He pointed at Mo Zibu and said, "Mo Laowu, what do you want to do?"

"Dad, if you don't go, what can I do? As a son, can I force my father to go?"

Hearing this, Mo Tianci felt a little relieved, but Mo Zibu continued in a helpless tone:

"However, if my mother-in-law knew that you were the only one who could save my father-in-law, she would come to my house every day to beg for mercy.

By then, someone's young and beautiful mother-in-law will come to your house crying every day. I don't know how it will spread outside!"

Mo Tianci was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage, "You you..."

Mo Tianci wanted to curse you, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, because he was the emperor after all.

"Get out of here, get out!"

After knowing that he couldn't escape the mission of being treated like an ox or a horse, Mo Tianci was extremely angry.

"Okay, I'll get out of here right now." Mo Zibu chuckled. "You should take advantage of the time and have some fun for a couple of days. I'll be here in five days."

"Get out of here!"

(End of this chapter)