The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 62: The Future No One Sees Through

In 1766, the st year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, it was the th day of the first lunar month.

After handling all the affairs of Luokun, Kunlun Mountain Hall successfully added three fan holders: Luokun Wang Runzhi, Songkhla Wurang, and Gaotoulangzhuang Chunde.

After the caravan arranged by Hexian Ou Tianci arrived in Luokun and reunited with the fleet, Mo Zibu prepared to set off.

Before Mo Zibu set out, Wang Runzhi's father, Wang Chunfa, had already taken more than 30 wives, concubines, and children, as well as several thousand taels of silver, and boarded a large Hexian ship to Hexian Town.

Wu Rangze bought five ships of grain at a high price on the spot. In the past two years, many of his fellow Zhangzhou people in Songkhla were in a stage of rapid reclamation and were short of grain.

At the same time, Wu Rang also said that he had fellow villagers in Batavia and could introduce the Mo family's caravan to sell grain to Batavia.

The island of Java where Batavia is located was originally one of the most suitable places for growing crops in Southeast Asia. However, for economic interests and to limit the indigenous population by using grain production, the Dutch East India Company used many fertile fields to grow cash crops, such as sugarcane.

Therefore, Batavia has to purchase a large amount of food from the Chinese every year. In the past, it mainly bought from Siam, and there was basically no contact with Ha Tien.

But since Myanmar began invading Siam last year and captured Chiang Mai, a major city in northern Siam, all parts of Siam began to stockpile food in preparation for war, which caused great trouble to the Dutch and gave Ha Tien the opportunity to export food.

Of course, the most important thing is that as the most powerful navy on paper in the South Seas, the East India Company fleet has one level four, three level five battleships, and ten armed merchant ships of four to five hundred tons.

If they wanted to interfere, it would not be difficult for the Kunlun Mountain Hall's fleet to leave Malacca, but it would be very troublesome to come back. If the Dutch "invited" the French to Batavia, then Mo Zibu's work would be in vain.

Therefore, the two sides first established a relationship, even if it meant selling some food at a low price, in order to appease the Dutch.

In addition, under the mediation of Mo Zibu, the royal family of Nakhon Si Thammarat, the village family of Gaotoulang, and the Wu Rang family of Songkhla reached a cooperation.

Wu Rang's Songkhla was short of labor, and the indigenous people of Nakhon Si Thammarat rebelled. The royal family had weak military force and was unable to suppress them.

So, at Mo Zibu's suggestion, Wang Runzhi sold more than 30,000 of the strongest natives to the Zhuang family and Wu Rang respectively.

There are many men in these two groups, and most of their fellow villagers have just come to Southeast Asia. They are cruel and ruthless, and are just right for guarding the natives and making them work.

Moreover, the Zhangzhou compatriots in Wu Rang's Songkhla were basically all men, so Wang Runzhi sold more than 2,000 indigenous women there to be wives of the Zhangzhou Chinese in order to create more mixed-bloods.

No matter what, mixed-race people are much better than native people.

As for the shortage of population in the Wang family, they are Chaozhou people. Now that Siam is obviously going to fight another big war, many people want to flee to the safer provinces of Prachuap Khiri Khan and Nakhon Si Thammarat.

They can go to Siam and buy some supplements of Thai, Mon, Khmer and other ethnic groups.

Siam practiced the Sakdina system, which was almost equivalent to slavery. There were serf markets in Bangkok and Ayutthaya, and there were large numbers of docile slaves.

The Wang family has ruled Nakhon Si Thammarat for decades, and even if they were not a poor guy like Wu Rang who had just come to Southeast Asia, they would have enough financial resources to buy it.

. . . .

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, the fleet set sail and arrived in Songkhla in just two days with a favorable wind.

At that time, Songkhla City was very small, basically still a small port, called Liansong, with only about 2,000 residents, many of whom were mainly engaged in fishing.

However, there are still many villages around. Wu Rang's more than 20,000 fellow villagers from Zhangzhou are scattered over these 6,000 to 7,000 square kilometers of land.

Wu Rang didn't think his business was too small at all. He introduced Songkhla incessantly and even told us which streams had the most crocodiles.

What excited Wu Rang the most was that there was a large lake outside Liansong City called Songkhla Lake. This lake later became the largest freshwater lake in Thailand and the second largest in Southeast Asia.

There are five large islands in the lake, which are home to a large number of swiftlets. Therefore, all five islands are rich in natural bird's nests.

Duansi and Duanwu Islands were particularly productive, with Wu Rang initially estimating that they could produce over 2,000 kilograms annually. This was natural bird's nest, a high-end supplement in later generations, but even more so now. Two thousand kilograms of natural bird's nest per year was a significant windfall.

In history, Wu Rang accumulated a huge fortune by relying on his two main products, bird's nest and tin ore. His son Wu Wenhui relied on this source of wealth to establish the Wu Kingdom, which lasted for more than a hundred years.

Mo Zibu knew what Wu Rang meant. This was to tell him that Songkhla had great development prospects. He told Mo Zibu not to be afraid that Wu Rang would always be a small-time loser. He should take care of him and support him, and he would definitely be greatly rewarded in the future.

Another meaning is to express complete submission. After all, at present, the importance of Wu Rang's farming, fishing, logging and other industries cannot be compared with the bird's nest industry.

If Mo Zibu wanted to now, he could directly seize his property, and Wu Rang's plan to establish a base in Songkhla would be bankrupt.

Now he tells his biggest secret, just like a dog opens its belly to its owner.

"Songkhla is truly a land of natural beauty. I believe Wu Zhishan will be able to build a great foundation here. If you have any other difficulties or ideas, please feel free to tell me."

Wu Rang immediately cupped his hands and whispered, "Dragon Head, the Sultan of Pattani is a cruel man who often seeks to invade other places.

The benefits of bird's nests have aroused people's jealousy, and I'm afraid they might have evil intentions. If we can't get rid of them, there will definitely be trouble in the future."

After saying that, Wu Rang took out a contract, which seemed to have been prepared long ago.

"As long as Longtou is willing to work hard, we are willing to share the bird's nest industry on Songkhla Lake with him."

Mo Zibu laughed heartily, "Thank you for your kindness, Zhishan. I, Mo Zibu, built Kunlun Mountain Hall not for personal gain, but because I couldn't bear to see my Han compatriots being wantonly bullied and humiliated.

The bird's nest from Songkhla Lake is the foundation of Zhishan's business, and I absolutely cannot take it away.

As for the Sultan of Pattani, he dared to support the Nakhon Si Thammarat uprising and should be eliminated. Uncle Gongti Wei's relatives had also been bullied by Sultan Bahadur in Pattani and had long been determined to fight him.

However, the Burmese invaded Siam a few days ago. This is the most important event for the Han people in Southeast Asia, and my Kunlun Mountain Hall must also help Zheng Guoying.

The Pattani incident will inevitably be postponed."

Collecting dry shares is really too low-end and does not fit in with Mo Dalongtou's benevolent personality.

The high-end approach would be to set up a business guild and directly collect fees similar to commercial taxes. This is the right way. Therefore, Mo Zibu would definitely not accept Wu Rang's contract.

"Longtou is righteous and worthy of the name of benevolence." Wu Rang held it in for a long time before uttering these words, because he really couldn't see any benefit in Mo Zibu getting involved in the war between the Burmese and Siam.

The reason why those Chaozhou people were so active was that they had Zheng Guoying, who was already showing signs of developing into a powerful official in Siam.

The Chaozhou people supported Zheng Guoying in the hope that Zheng Guoying would benefit the Chaozhou people after he came to power.

Moreover, Konbaung and Siam are both major countries in Southeast Asia. Once a war breaks out, it will involve tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people. How much of a difference can the thousand or so people from Kunlun Mountain Hall make?
Therefore, Wu Rangcai felt quite confused.

Mo Zibu smiled slightly and did not explain, because at that time even the people of Chaozhou could not have imagined that Zheng Guoying and Zheng Xin would eventually become the King of Siam.

Their idea was the same as Wu Rang's. They just wanted to make Taksin the savior who could turn the tide for Siam, so that they could use Taksin to squeeze into the upper class of Siam and gain benefits.

As for becoming king directly, no one expected it.

Because no one knows whether Thais can accept a king who is mainly of Chinese descent. After all, Chinese people only account for one-tenth of the population in Siam, and their power is mainly in the economic field.

"But we still have people we can fight. The remnants of Ziad Ali fled to the Sultanate of Kedah, and Sultan Muhammad Jeevasha II took them in. This is against the rules!"

Mo Zibu chuckled. Perlis in the Sultanate of Kedah was the stronghold chosen by Mo Zibu on the Myanmar side of the ocean. He could take this opportunity to blackmail the Sultan of Kedah.

(End of this chapter)