The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 7: Heaven-shattering Ability

There are two types of communities in Annan. One is simply called a community, which is roughly similar to a township in China.

One type is called a city community, which is probably similar to the county-level cities in later China.

The Fulu community where Hong Ahan, a Teochew, lives is a county-level city community.

Ou Zibu led his team to walk in the suburban countryside near Fulu City. Except for a small number of Annan civilians wearing typical Vietnamese conical hats, the area was basically the same as Chaozhou. What they heard was mostly Chaozhou dialect.

At that time in Guangdong, Cantonese did not have the great influence it has in later generations. Teochew and Hakka dialects could still compete with Cantonese, commonly known as the vernacular.

The high status that Cantonese has enjoyed in later generations is partly due to Dr. Sun Yat-sen and partly due to the rise of Hong Kong.

This cultural situation has resulted in a loose connection between the Cantonese-speaking Cantonese and the Teochew-speaking Teochew of the Minnan dialect family.

For example, at this moment, if Ou Zibu and Chen Guangyao could speak Teochew, they would immediately be treated as guests of honor. If they spoke Cantonese, they would definitely be stopped and questioned.

Of the two, Ou Zibu could only communicate in Teochew dialect, while Chen Guangyao couldn't speak it at all.

So, Ou Zibu quickly made a choice. The two of them spread out and used the ditch as cover to quickly approach the village, then rushed into a courtyard. One of them took out a sharp knife and held the hostess and three children in the courtyard hostage.

The male host was caught off guard by two people who broke in, holding harpoons and ready to fight him, but was knocked down by Ou Zibu in a few moves.

Although there was no grudge between them in the past or in the present, Ou Zibu was still a little afraid that he would be sold by these Chaozhou immigrants before he could see Hong Ahan.

"Go find your Han Gong and tell him that someone from the Hexian Mo family wants to do a big business with him!"

"Die soon, Gao Lao!" The male host was quite knowledgeable. When he heard Ou Zibu say the word "Hexian" in poor Teochew dialect, he immediately knew where he came from.

After a string of vicious curses that even Ou Zibu couldn't understand, the helpless male host threw away the harpoon and ran towards Fulu City.

Gao Lao originally refers to a tall person in Cantonese, but among the Chinese in Annam today, it specifically refers to the Mo and Chen family forces from Gia Dinh to Ha Tien.

The founder of the Ou family, Ou Jiu, moved south in 1671, the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi.

Chen Shangchuan, the founder of the Chinese in Jiading, moved south in 1679, the th year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi.

Ou Jiu founded his base in Hexian, while Chen Shangchuan took root in Jiading, and the two sides were only two or three hundred miles apart.

Ou Jiu is from Leizhou, and Chen Shangchuan is from Gaozhou (Maoming area), and their hometowns are only one or two hundred miles apart.

In addition, Chen Shangchuan was the general of the three states of Gao, Lei and Lian in the Ming Dynasty, and was considered to be the parent official of Ou Jiu. Therefore, after arriving in Southeast Asia, Ou Jiu's Leizhou immigrants and Chen Shangchuan's Gaozhou immigrants quickly came together.

These two groups of immigrants used the Cantonese dialect with the accent of Zhanjiang and Maoming as the common language, so they were called Yuexi Lao or Gao Lao by other Chinese.

There was a rustling sound outside, and Chen Guangyao quietly opened the door a little to take a look.

Grass!
He immediately retreated with sweat all over his forehead, and together with Ou Zibu, he guarded the four hostages.

It turned out that the Chaozhou immigrants outside had already taken action. They were afraid that Ou Zibu and his partner would take the women and children in the house and run away. A group of people came with weapons such as swords, hammers, spears, rattan shields, harpoons, hoes, and even several muskets. There were probably sixty or seventy of them, so densely packed that they surrounded the house from front to back and left to right.

Chen Guangyao was so scared that he was sweating profusely, but Ou Zibu was in a good mood.

He was not afraid that the Chaozhou immigrants would have opinions about him. After all, we are all Chinese, and even the biggest misunderstandings can be resolved with enough interests and friendship.

He was afraid that the current Chinese in Southeast Asia were unable to fight, and would completely give up their weapons like later generations, and their wealth would be concentrated in a few families. That would be difficult to deal with.

Now the marginal forces of Chaozhou people outside have such combat capability. They can organize dozens of people in such a short time. How can Ou Zibu not be surprised?

His mood was good and his stomach was hungry, so Ou Zibu took out the freshly dried kueh zhi skin from the kitchen in the surprised eyes of the hostess and children.

There were also fried dough sticks (youtiao), pork offal, dried tofu, brine, etc. that the heroine's family was reluctant to eat, and then she made a big pot of Teochew rice noodle soup with extremely skillful hands and feet.

Before crossing over, Ou Zibu had been a seasoned enthusiast in Africa. Anyone who's been abroad knows that whether you're studying or working, you absolutely must master your cooking skills; otherwise, eating becomes your biggest pain. Ou Zibu's kueh cheung (glutinous rice balls) have a white, delicate skin, the fried dough sticks are perfectly soaked, and the marinade, oil, and salt are perfectly balanced. The flavor is absolutely unbeatable.

The two hadn't had a hot soup meal for a long time. Chen Guangyao didn't wait for Ou Zibu to serve the food. He grabbed the chopsticks and started scooping up the food without wiping off the cold sweat on his forehead.

After leisurely serving the rice noodle soup, Ou Zibu scooped out a large piece of lard from the hostess's treasured black jar and started making fragrant oyster pancakes.

The moment the lard was put into the pot, Ou Zibu saw with his own eyes the hostess who was so frightened that her face turned pale. Her cheeks twitched with heartache, and she immediately smiled and said:

"Don't be alarmed, sister-in-law. I did come to see Mr. Han for an urgent matter, so I had to resort to this last resort. I ate your rice noodle soup and oyster pancakes today, and Mr. Han will definitely make it up to me."

After saying that, Ou Zibu quickly slapped Chen Guangyao on the head.

My goodness! If he said a few more words, Chen Guangyao would not only eat up the small plate of oyster pancakes, but even the rice noodle skin.

. . . .

Hong Ahan was a short and strong man. After hearing the report, he immediately brought dozens of his men and hurried over, but the reason he used was that he wanted to go into the mountains to hunt tigers.

At that time, the tiger problem in Annan was very serious, so it was common for local tyrants and government officials to organize tiger hunting. However, when it was time to go into the mountains, Hong Ahan immediately left the team under the protection of his confidants.

"The Fifth Young Master is quite calm and composed!"

As soon as he entered the house, Hong Ahan saw Ou Zibu holding a bowl, surrounded by three chattering children. The children's stomachs were round from eating, but Ou Zibu kept swallowing his saliva.

For some reason, Hong Ah Han couldn't help but smile when he saw this scene. The tense atmosphere and the image of Ou Zibu as a fool that he had heard of completely disappeared.

Hong Ahan knew Ng Tzu Bu. No matter what, the Ng family in Hexian was a well-known figure among the Chinese in Southeast Asia at that time.

Ou Zibu was very happy to see that Hong Ahan was very clever in hiding his whereabouts and came back.

This at least proves that Hong Ahan is not stupid, but a man with some sense. Such people are easy to deal with. If he is a reckless man, all his words will be useless.

Hong Ahan was a little conflicted at this time. He didn't want to harm Ou Zibu. Not to mention that he would become a mortal enemy with the Ou family of Hexian. Just if he sold Ou Zibu, his reputation in the Chinese community would be ruined.

But he didn't want to help Ou Zibu because the risk was too great and the benefits were not much.

"I am at the end of my rope. Could you please help me with two taels of silver?" Ou Zibu stretched out two fingers.

Hong Ahan's eyes widened immediately, and his nose almost became crooked with anger!
This is just teasing you. You come here by yourself with such a big and hot potato, just for two taels of silver?
However, Hong Ahan remained calm. He wanted to see what Ou Zibu was up to, so he waved his hand and asked his confidant to take out two taels of silver and give it to Ou Zibu.

Ou Zibu solemnly took it and handed it to the frightened hostess, "Auntie, I said I won't eat your kueh cheung for free. Please accept this ingot of silver as a small compensation from Ou Mou."

The hostess did not expect that Ou Zibu would actually fulfill his promise and give her two taels of silver. She took the silver with some gratitude, bowed to Ou Zibu, and then pulled the children out who were still smacking their lips and reluctant to leave.

The few Chaozhou people around couldn't help but nodded and whispered, and it was obvious that they had a better impression of Ou Zibu.

Then, Ou Zibu held up two fingers and said, "Since I have received two taels of silver from Lord Han, I should repay him twice.

"Do you want to know, Lord Han, who is the most powerful person in Annan?"

"Tongtian?" Hong Ahan tilted his head in confusion.

"Yes, to the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Li Shiyao!"

Hong Ahan's expression changed drastically, and he grabbed Ou Zibu's hand, "My dear nephew, come with me to another room to talk!"

(Thanks to the persistent Lao Niu book friend for the 500-point reward.

I have a training meeting tomorrow, and I also need to write some extra chapters for the previous book, so I guess there will only be one update, please forgive me.)
(End of this chapter)