Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 94 Shocking Change
Silent all night.

When Zheng Yi woke up the next morning, he first glanced at Qian Qiwen, who shared the same bed with him. For a moment... he felt a little complicated.

"Wake up, don't sleep anymore."

"Hmm? Oh, ah~~, what time is it?"

Zheng Yi: "It's past eight o'clock, time to get up and work."

Qian Qiwen: "Humph! You're a heartless capitalist. You just used me at night and now you want to use me again during the day."

Zheng Yi: “…………”

Speaking of which, he and Qian Qiwen have been having an ambiguous relationship for so long, but this is the first time that something real has happened.

Last night...

He was a little angry because he saw Qian Qiwen dancing with other men, and then he did this to Qian Qiwen in a daze.

The handsome guy from yesterday seemed to be the son of an official in the country. He came with Li Huaishuang and the others.

I'll arrange for someone to beat him up and then let him go back home.

"Hey, you and that young lady from the Li family, when are you going to get married?"

While putting on her clothes, Qian Qiwen suddenly asked.

Zheng Yi: “…………”

Why does it seem like people keep asking this question lately?

Qian Qiwen: "Speak."

Zheng Yi: "It hasn't been finalized yet, mainly because I'm too busy. It should be within the next few months, maybe early next year or the end of this year."

Qian Qiwen: "Then I want to enter your house before the end of the year, so that I don't have to kneel down and serve tea to that girl."

Zheng Yi: “…………”

Qian Qiwen said seriously, "You don't have any plans to marry me, do you?"

Zheng Yi: “…………”

"Fuck, I work for you during the day and I have to work for you at night. It's all for nothing."

Zheng Yi: "Of course it's not for nothing. You're so anxious, I'm just thinking about it."

After saying that, Zheng Yi rubbed his hair in annoyance.

Women are such trouble.

Thanks to the evil old society, at least in Southeast Asia, people can take concubines.

As Zheng Yi was talking, and hadn't even finished putting on his clothes, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door, and even banging on it.

"Mr. Zheng, Mr. Zheng? There's something urgent going on. Are you up yet?"

Judging from the voice, it should be Hu Wenhu.

Zheng Yi did not dare to delay and quickly put on his clothes and went downstairs. When he opened the door, he saw Hu Wenhu leading an unfamiliar middle-aged man outside the door. He was sweating profusely and looked quite embarrassed.

"Uncle Hu, what's going on? Come on, come in and tell me."

As they were talking, Qian Qiwen came down from upstairs in her pajamas, as if to declare her sovereignty.

Hu Wenhu saw Qian Qiwen appearing at Zheng Yi's house early in the morning without any surprise. He nodded slightly as a greeting.

Qian Qiwen was very happy and treated herself as the hostess. She was busy cutting fruit and making tea for them.

Zheng Yi ignored him and asked Hu Wenhu and the man he brought to sit on the sofa. He said, "What happened? Why are you so anxious?"

Hu Wenhu pointed at the man beside him and said, "Let him tell you." Zheng Yi: "Big brother, you are..."

"Hello, Mr. Zheng, I am from the Perlis State Militia... the Chinese Militia Corps, and my captain is Lai Renkang."

Zheng Yi: "Hmm? Oh, you're Captain Lai. Hello, hello. What's wrong? Did something happen?"

He had some impression of Lai Renkang, a Chinese armed force in Perlis. They used to run a tin mine, but now Perlis is a place where no one is allowed to rule. Chinese, Malays, and Indians are all fighting with real guns and swords.

The strategy Zheng Yi adopted was to give guns to the Chinese there and let them do it themselves. Especially after that, Zheng Yi soon obtained the tax farming rights of Penang, so he and the Colonial Bureau tacitly agreed not to interfere in the affairs there and let it develop on its own.

As a result, the Chinese there united and formed a wartime group, while returning to their own homes in peacetime. It was a bit similar to the Manchu Eight Banners military system. Moreover, they took the initiative to attack and began to expel the Malays from Perlis, and even joined forces with some local Thais.

Lai Renkang is the leader nominated by Perlis. Since this is a big day and a celebration, he came to Penang a few days ago as a representative to join in the fun. Because Zheng Yi was too busy, he didn't see him yesterday.

Originally, Zheng Yi was in contact with them, but later he was too busy and no longer personally inquired about the affairs in the north. These matters were handed over to Hu Wenhu, who was also a Hakka.

This also became Hu Wenhu's power. The power structure in Penang is now very chaotic, or it can be said that there is no so-called structure at all, and everything is messed up. Hu Wenhu relied on the support of these Hakkas in the north, and he even had some intention of controlling the military power in Penang.

If nothing big had happened that Hu Wenhu couldn't handle on his own, he wouldn't have brought people to find me.

"Mr. Zheng, something terrible has happened. Please save us no matter what. Last night, the Malays from Perlis took the initiative to raid us and killed a large number of our compatriots. According to rough estimates, more than a thousand of us were killed!"

Zheng Yi frowned slightly when he heard this: "Just Malays?"

Lai Renkang: "In the early morning, the brothers had already organized a counterattack, but they found that the Malay army had set up camp in an extremely organized manner, and they also had heavy artillery.

In addition, some scouts discovered that Indians from Perak had also arrived and seemed to have formed an army. The brothers were unable to attack them in a short time.
Mr. Zheng, please save us. If we can't get revenge, we Chinese will be driven out of Perlis by them!"

Zheng Yi: "Oh... the Malays have heavy artillery, and they've even colluded with the Indians in Perak. These Indians have even organized themselves. So, it's a bit tricky, indeed."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi first rummaged through the drawer and took out two cigars to share with them.

The Han people there had a system similar to the Eight Banners. To put it bluntly, it was a model where people were temporarily called together to fight together during wars. Normally, they were independent and scattered, and had no defense capabilities. It was normal for them to suffer losses when facing the Malays' surprise attacks.

In that kind of place, Zheng Yi had guns for everyone, and there was no distinction between the military and civilians. But since he had chosen this method and suffered a loss, he had to retaliate doubly. Since he did not have enough defensive capabilities, he had to repay blood with blood. He had to kill the enemy until they dared not start a war again easily, until they were afraid of him from the bottom of their hearts and were scared when they heard his name.

It is obvious that the Chinese are suffering losses now, but they are obviously hindered when they retaliate.

This kind of army, which is temporarily formed because everyone has a job, is actually very afraid of fighting a war of attrition. Once it gets too slow, morale will collapse in minutes. Everyone has a lot of troubles at home, and without military pay, how can they keep fighting with the Malays?

Unless there is someone supporting them from behind.

Look, he’s coming to my door.

As they were talking, Qian Qiwen came over with tea, fruit and snacks, and divided them on the table. Then she sat down next to them in a dignified manner.

"Zheng Lang, the weapons factory has been operating inefficiently for the past few months and is already short on steel. Also, there's a guest from Perak coming to our city celebration this time. He claims to have founded a political party there. How about we meet them?"

Qian Qiwen is not just a vase, but Zheng Yi's most important assistant now. Basically, she handles all the chores. There is naturally nothing wrong with sitting down and chatting together.

It’s this Zheng Lang...this name...why does it sound so corny?
Didn’t you call me Mr. Zheng yesterday?
Women, ah~
Zheng Yi didn't want to argue with him about this since the matter was serious. Instead, he asked, "Is the one from Perak the leader? Is he Indian or Malay?"

Qian Qiwen: "I can't tell if he's Indian or Malay. I think his name is Ashina... What the hell? Do you want to meet him?"

Zheng Yi: "Don't worry, I need to think about it first."

Zheng Yi turned to look at Lai Renkang and said, "Captain Lai, don't worry. Things have come to this point. There's no time to rush. Do you understand?"

Lai Renkang nodded repeatedly: "I will listen to you, Mr. Zheng. You are the leader of the Chinese in Southeast Asia. We are all counting on you."

Zheng Yi: "Sister Wen, please invite Li Xiaowei to come to me first. It's just right. Since this incident has happened, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the issue of armed forces in Penang and even in Southeast Asia."

When Qian Qiwen heard this, she rolled her eyes at him.

He was obviously not satisfied with the name "Sister Wen", but he also knew that they were discussing serious matters and not the time for flirting, so he didn't say much but went to make a phone call.

(End of this chapter)