The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 47 The Spark of Conflict

Nakhon Si Thammarat, also known as Luk Kun, the original indigenous people were a group of ancient Malays who believed in Theravada Buddhism.

Malay is actually a very broad concept.

In later generations, many Southeast Asian indigenous peoples belonging to the Austronesian language family were classified as Malays, but they were not closely related to the Malays in later Malaysia.

At this time, Luo Kun was in a turbulent and contradictory period.

The biggest reason is religion. Originally, this place believed in Theravada Buddhism, also known as Southern Buddhism.

However, with the prevalence of Muslim religion in Southeast Asia in the past few hundred years, most of the indigenous people in Pattani and Songkhla in the southeast have converted to Muslim religion. Inevitably, the indigenous people in Nakhon Si Thammarat have also been greatly affected.

Both religions have their strengths and weaknesses.

The strength of Muslim religion is that its internal cohesion and combat effectiveness are stronger than Buddhism. After all, it is a monotheistic religion that plays the role of apocalypse. Without these two advantages, it would not be able to continue.

The greatest advantage of Buddhism is that it has one origin and many gods and Buddhas. After Sakyamuni, as long as there are believers, many gods and Buddhas with local characteristics can be added.

For example, the Chinese in Fujian and Guangdong like to believe in some gods with very local characteristics, such as the big ones like Mazu, and the smaller ones like Baozhu Niangniang and Zhenzhu Niangniang of the Chaoshan people.

After these Chinese beliefs arrived in Siam, they were well integrated with Theravada Buddhism.

In later generations, we can see that some Buddhist temples in Thailand enshrine the Buddha, but they also often enshrine Mazu, Pearl Goddess, etc.

This is very consistent with the Chinese people's concept of religion, so later generations can see that the Chinese in Siam can basically be completely integrated with the Thai people. The influence of Buddhism is far greater than we see.

The situation in Nakhon Si Thammarat is very complicated. For Siam, this place has been very unstable, with surrenders and rebellions occurring throughout the dynasties.

The most recent rebellion was several decades ago, when the Japanese Yamada Nagamasa was named the lord of Nakhon Si Thammarat after he recaptured Nakhon Si Thammarat for the King of Siam.

But the Japanese devil Yamada was soon defeated in the political struggle, and the Luokun people took the opportunity to drive him away and restore their independence.

Then the King of Siam quickly ordered Wang Laihu, a Chaozhou man who monopolized the trade between the Siamese royal family and the Ming Dynasty through the tax farming system at that time, to go and suppress the rebellion.

After Wang Laihu put down the Luokun rebellion, he became the new generation of Luokun City Lord.

To this day, the Wang family has been in Luokun for more than 60 years.

Luokun, Zhaomeng (the city lord) was in charge of the government office.

"Father, Ali's men attacked a Zhangzhou farm again today, killing more than ten people and stealing hundreds of tons of grain."

When Wang Chunfa heard the report from his eldest son Wang Runzhi, what appeared on his face was not happiness, but surprise and depression.

"What's wrong with these Zhangzhou guys? Isn't Wu Rang said to be extremely smart and strong? Why is he so useless?"

"I heard that Wu Rang also ordered his cousin to take a letter to the Ou family in Hexian, as if he hoped that the Ou family would come forward to mediate." Wang Runzhi continued.

"Superficial, we all speak Tanghua (Minnan dialect), what's the point of asking a Cantonese guy to mediate? Can Wu Rang understand Cantonese?
The River Immortal Ou Tianci is a remnant of the previous dynasty, and is also treacherous and fickle. It is impossible for him to show up."

"How about, father, let's report this to Piyada and ask him to lead the army south to kill all of Ali's people." Wang Runzhi gritted his teeth.

"I always feel like we are raising a tiger to cause trouble!"

"Stupid!" Wang Chunfa slammed the table.

"Look at the hair we have on our heads. We came to Siam too early. Now Siam is dominated by the newcomers. We, the old ones, are not welcome.

Now the White Elephant King's army is attacking, and it is said that Chiang Mai has been broken through. Phraya Da is in control of the imperial guards in the royal city and cannot move.

We can’t offer help at this time, and we have to ask for help. By the next day, when the task is completed, we won’t be able to make any further progress, and we won’t even be able to keep the wealth we have now.”

Wang Chunfa pointed to the broken hair on his head, and his son Wang Runzhi was speechless.

The Wang family went to Southeast Asia too early. Their ancestors had already traveled between Siam and the Ming Dynasty during the Yongle period. During the Hongzhi period, they became celebrities in the Siamese royal palace. During the Wanli period, they even monopolized the privileges of trade between the royal family and the Ming Dynasty.

In order to better take root in Siam, when the news of shaving the head and changing clothes came to the Wang family after they disappeared from the Chinese mainland, they decisively chose to give up tying their hair and kept short hair like the Siamese.

Even as early as when the Ming Dynasty was still around, many people in the Wang family had cut their hair.

Because it is really uncomfortable to tie your hair in the extremely hot Nanyang.

Many people suffered from excessive sweating from the heat of tying their hair, leading to scalp damage and festering caused by the constant sweat. Even within the Ha Tien Chou family, many, except for upper-class people like Chou Tien-chi who could wash their hair at any time, wore their hair short, so short that they could barely tie it into a small bun.

The hairstyles of those who went to Southeast Asia during the Qing Dynasty were even more exaggerated. Most of them only had a very small braid at the back of their heads, almost bald. It is no exaggeration to say that there were only a few who could really wear a long, shiny braid.

This is determined by the climate.

But it’s not a big problem for others to have broken hair, but it’s a big problem for the Wang family.

They are the old Teochew people of Siam. In today's context of going to Southeast Asia, the old Teochew people are less than one-tenth of the new Teochew people in the Qing Dynasty.

It can be said that in Siam, Teochew people with cut hair are considered to be the marginalized old Teochew, while those with pigtails are considered to be the core new Teochew.

The only one who could break this rule was Phraya Dato, also known as Taksin, as mentioned by Wang and his son.

He is the common hope of Chaozhou people and is naturally an exception.

"Let them make trouble, as long as it doesn't affect the overall situation in Luo Kun." Wang Chunfa sighed and said to his son:
"I would rather die than let my friend die. I can't care less. Wu Rang and these Zhangzhou guys can't even deal with Ali and his men, so they have no right to gain a foothold in Nanyang."

Wang Runzhi nodded silently, turned around and walked out, but Wang Chunfa suddenly stopped him, "Take some people, grab some weapons, and go warn Ali.

Tell him that the 3,000 dan of grain and 300 strong men he promised must be paid in full next month. I will not be responsible for what he wants to do in the future.

If he doesn't pay it in full, I guarantee he'll have to vomit out everything he's eaten."

. . . .

Eighty kilometers southeast of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

A small Tianfang temple has been basically completed.

Not far away, a collapsed Theravada Buddhist temple showed obvious signs of fire. Countless natives were carrying bricks and stones from the collapsed temple to pave the square in front of the Tianfang Temple.

Ziad Ali stood on a high place and looked at his busy tribesmen, with a satisfied smile on his face.

In such hot weather, he was actually wrapped in a Muslim-style floral robe and didn't feel hot at all.

When the square was almost paved and it was time for the evening prayer, Ziyad Ali, accompanied by two imams who were also wearing robes, walked into the newly built Tianfang Mosque.

Following the three rak'ahs of Maghrib, there was the solemn and long recitation of the Quran. After three times, Ziyad Ali stood in the middle of the crowd, raising his hands as if embracing God.

"My brothers, brothers who have faith in God, today is a good day for the completion of our temple. I have good news to announce to my brothers and sisters."

After whetting everyone's appetite, Ziyad Ali announced loudly, "Nakhon is the Chao Meng of Thammarat City. He has sent his son with 300 warriors to question us.

They are coming to accuse us of the crime of destroying the pagan temples and building the Ali Tianfang Temple!"

"How can this be good news, Ali, my brother? You'd better run away!" said a tall native worriedly.

"Hahaha, Raman, my brother, I will not run away, the warriors of Allah will not run away." Ziyad Ali laughed loudly.

“Those Qinni people think they have it all under control!
But they are only three hundred men, though they have sharp muskets and fine steel swords, but we have five thousand men, no, five thousand brave and skilled warriors."

"But although our soldiers are brave, we only have very few muskets." Some people were still very worried.

“Yes, but Allah has blessed his warriors who prayed sincerely.”

Ziad Ali clapped his hands, and suddenly more than a dozen strong men rushed in from the door, carrying boxes of long rectangular boxes.

When they opened it, they found that it was full of carefully wrapped muskets.

“Here are two hundred muskets, sent by His Majesty Sultan Bahadur of Pattani.

As long as we defeat the Chinni people from Nakhon Si Thammarat, the Sultan will support us in establishing our own sultanate.

At that time, there will be no pagan temples in the land, not even one!"

"Allah!" someone cheered.

"Allah! Allah!" Soon everyone started cheering.

(End of this chapter)