Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 104 Quinine
At the end of the review, Zheng Guohui saw the documents that listed the death row prisoners. There were a total of five death row prisoners, all of whom were convicted of murder.

After carefully examining the case, he couldn't help but frown.

Two of the villagers, tempted by the wealth, conspired to kill the recently retired village chief and three indigenous concubines, and robbed them of 131 taels of dirty silver and various fine jewelry. They were immediately apprehended on the spot by the village militia who were conducting a night patrol.

The criminals were caught red-handed and signed their names, refusing to deny their crimes. They were sentenced to being torn apart by five horses and their heads displayed for five days.

A man was drunk and had an argument with someone. In anger, he accidentally injured someone. The injured person died after being treated by a doctor and was sentenced to beheading.

One of them left his young and beautiful indigenous wife at home while working in the fields. Another villager, who was attracted by her beauty, broke into her home and raped her.

It happened that the victim saw a caravan coming to the village and wanted to sell the chickens and ducks he raised, so he hurried back with a hoe and directly discovered the incident.

In anger

He swung a hoe and beat the villager to death with several blows. Because his son was imprisoned, he was turned from a victim into a murderer and was sentenced to death by beheading.

The last murderer was one of the few Chinese immigrants who brought their wives to Southeast Asia.

His wife was fierce and jealous. She saw that anyone in the village could marry a native woman, including many young and beautiful women, especially those with big breasts and round buttocks, and they often quarreled over this.

The murderer had long been envious of others who were able to enjoy indigenous women. One day, they had another quarrel after dinner and he accidentally strangled the woman to death.

When the government tried the case, they were divided on whether to sentence the emperor to death. They argued endlessly and requested the general's instructions.

These are four cases. After reading the case details of the first two, Zheng Guohui directly "decided" and approved the submitted execution plans.

He considered the third case carefully, wrote "No", and added another line at the end.

"This person was attacked first, and then killed someone in anger. Both happened in his own yard, and should be regarded as an act of defending his own property."

"It can be defined as 'self-defense'. 'Self-defense' is not punishable by law and the person can be acquitted.

"If it leaves the confines of one's own yard, it will evolve into a vicious murder case. Depending on the circumstances, it can be defined as "excessive self-defense" or "manslaughter", and the punishment should be reduced one level compared to murder."

In this instruction
Zheng Guohui introduced the three technical terms "legitimate defense", "excessive defense" and "manslaughter" for the first time. His instructions are the golden rule and will be implemented in future law enforcement trials.

For the fourth case, Zheng Guohui directly "judged" it and attached a line of words.

"Men and women are all Chinese, brothers and sisters, and should be treated as one. They are not barbarians!"

The meaning of this is also very simple

If you kill your own native wife, cough cough... in this case, you will just be fined some silver, and at most you will be given some other punishments.

But Chinese women are not allowed to do so. "They are all our Chinese blood brothers and sisters, and should be treated as one." No matter what your reason is, you must kill someone and pay with your life.

After approving these four cases, a busy day of work came to an end.

Zheng Guohui cherishes his time in Mindanao very much. After returning home every day, he will go to the study to work for a while after dinner to finish processing the paperwork.

His diligence was noticed by all the officials under him, so naturally they worked harder. It was common for them to eat and live in the government office when they were busy.

What the superiors like, the subordinates will follow!

Zheng Guohui was setting an example of integrity for his colonial government. Once any bad signs were discovered, they would be corrected immediately, severely punished, and nipped in the bud.

Just like the severe punishment of 35 grassroots officials, it sounded a wake-up call to the entire official team, making some people who wanted to take action but did not dare to do so give up the idea.

If you want to get rich, you can quit your official position and go into business, there's no problem with that.

But he is corrupt in his official position and will never be forgiven once he is found guilty.

The most powerful thing is that the inspectors accept reports from the masses. With so many eyes watching, who would dare to act in a corrupt manner for personal gain?

Drawing on the experience of later generations of democracy, Zheng Guohui knows that power must be checked and balanced and subject to democratic supervision in order to prevent the chronic disease of corruption to the greatest extent possible.

The next day

Zheng Guohui led a group of inspecting officials and arrived at the cinchona plantation more than 30 kilometers away, which was the place he valued most.

Speaking of

This quinine plantation was snatched away from the Dutch, and there is a story behind it.

These white people have always kept their secret skills to themselves. The special medicine that can effectively treat malaria is made of quinine, also known as "quinine". Since it was accidentally discovered by the Indians in Ecuador in South America, the news has been strictly blocked by the British.

The British smuggled out a batch of cinchona seeds, built cinchona plantations in Java and other places, and began to cultivate this effective medicinal plant for treating tropical diseases on a large scale.

The natural conditions here are extremely suitable for the growth of cinchona trees. Java soon became the main and only production area of ​​cinchona trees in the world today.

The British ground up the bark, which was rich in quinine, mixed it with other medicines, and provided it to patients in need, charging high prices.

Until the early 19th century

In order to reward the Kingdom of the Netherlands for its firm stance on the British side in the Sixth Anti-French Alliance, the British made certain contributions to maintaining the high morale of the anti-French alliance.

He gave up the fight with the Dutch colonists in the East Indies and transferred the occupied islands of Java and Sumatra to the Ho East Indies Company, which gave the Dutch the opportunity to intervene in the cinchona frost plantation business.

To date
Not many people know this secret, and Zheng Guohui is one of them.

Therefore, he specifically instructed the large fleet that went to Southeast Asia for the first time to send a trading ship to Surabaya as a cover after gaining a foothold there, to find a plantation of quinine frost to purchase seeds in order to cultivate this special medicine for treating malaria.

It is difficult to escape the transmission channels of mosquito and fly bites, and the same is true for the large number of Chinese immigrants heading south.

Although hygiene and prevention measures have been taken to the extreme, people still often get infected with malaria and even die from it. This is an unavoidable reality.

Zheng Shouxin sent a Chinese caravan consisting mainly of two merchant ships, disguised as sea merchants from the Kingdom of Siam, and went deep into the port of Surabaya.

Through the local Chinese influence, they soon learned that a white Dutch plantation owner had grown a large amount of quinine, so they went to his door to buy it.

But they were met with a complete rebuff. The other party refused to sell the saplings and tree seeds, no matter how much money they offered. Instead, they treated them like thieves.

When there is really no other way, you can only take risks.

As expected, they are men who have fought on the domestic battlefield. Every member of the task force is an expert at killing and robbing, and they are braver than the sky.

So one afternoon

The task force pretended to arrive with several cars of rich gifts, and then suddenly turned hostile. The men who got out of the cars were all killers, and they killed everyone in the plantation from top to bottom.

Then they calmly dug up the entire cinchona tree and took away all the seedlings and seeds. Dozens of men worked for three whole days and packed up almost all the cinchona trees in the plantation.

By the way, they also looted the white plantation owner's house and even took back his silver candlesticks and palace-style tables.

After hearing this, Zheng Guohui was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and could only order that the matter be kept strictly confidential and not be spread outside.

He secretly promoted the leading task force captain, a man named Zhang Dalei, to the rank of Qianzong.

This person was one of the earliest settlers on Chongming Island. He was a typical remnant of the Taiping Rebellion. He followed the Taiping Army to fight in the north and south when he was a teenager, and developed great courage.

To be honest
Zheng Guohui now doesn't dare to offend the British. Since this Dutch white colonist can get such precious resources from the British, it is equivalent to giving money away for free.

Then, the relationship behind it is definitely not simple.

It might be possible to link it to the British aristocracy. Once it is verified that it was done here, given the British's arrogant attitude of making trouble for no reason and refusing to compromise even when they are right, they will never let it go easily.

Not only did they rob people of their things, but they also killed their entire family. This is truly outrageous.

You know, in this era
England is the real world hegemon, invincible anywhere in the world.

It was an extremely powerful existence that caused Tsar Nicholas I to commit suicide in despair, Alexander II to be forced to bow his head, French Emperor Napoleon who dominated all of Europe to be exiled to an isolated island, and Emperor Xianfeng to flee to Rehe in a panic. His civil and military achievements had reached their peak.

If you don't like someone, just beat them up.

The England of this era was much more brutal than the America of later generations. They would occupy whatever piece of land they wanted, and would beat anyone who dared to disobey them.

What the British say is the international consensus. The current French Emperor Napoleon III follows the British like a little brother and dares not even say "no".

This is the humiliation that has never been seen in the 700 years of the dispute between Britain and France.

Zheng Guohui would be frightened when he saw such a powerful opponent. He really couldn't beat him and couldn't afford to provoke him.

The British Third Sail Fleet stationed at the port of Kolkata, the colonial governor's seat of India, was the main force of the Anglo-French coalition forces that invaded China in 1860.

It possesses 1 level 2 and 22 sailing battleships, as well as dozens of sailing frigates of various types, and its strength is unrivaled in the entire Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

The British also have a Far East Fleet in Hong Kong, the nearest city.

So, the quinine plantation was hidden in this mountain cave, and 120 soldiers were sent to guard it closely.

The captain in charge is Captain Zhang Dalei.

"I pay my respects to the General, and wish you great health, happiness, and longevity."

"Haha... You must be Zhang Dalei, the one who caused me trouble and made great contributions. You are indeed a good man, but it is inevitable that you act too recklessly." Zheng Guohui looked up and down at the burly man. The man's ferocity could not be concealed, but he behaved extremely respectfully when he met him.

Such people are like ferocious beasts. Once tamed, they are extremely loyal and willing to offer their heads without hesitation at any time.

If you don't take your own life seriously, you naturally won't take other people's lives seriously.

Hearing the general's teasing, Zhang Dalei blushed for the first time. After hesitating for a moment, he clasped his fists and replied;

"I am willing to take full responsibility for the trouble I caused. I will go and offer this head to you. I only ask you, General, not to bring disaster to my good brothers."

"Humph, confused..." Zheng Guohui's face immediately darkened and he scolded loudly;
"Your brain is useless. A fool like you knows how to protect your own men. How could this general not know that?
How could you tell that this general would fawn over a foreigner? He's so big for nothing, but his head is filled with straw."

Hearing that he didn't need to take the blame, Zhang Dalei touched his head foolishly, laughed, and replied; "General, so... my head is saved."

"Nonsense, what's the point of having your head? Why don't you stand up and take this general in to inspect it? If these precious trees are not good, I will really chop off your head."

"Don't worry, we're taking good care of them. They usually sleep in the plantation. I've also arranged for ten skilled archers to take turns on duty. If any bird dares to approach the plantation, it will be killed."

"There's no point in talking any more. Lead the way."

"As you command, General, please watch your step and come this way."

(End of this chapter)