The wind blows from the South Sea

Chapter 12 Taking stock of gains
  The night before the mule and horse caravan was preparing to set off, they secured a large piece of land for the water house on Wilson Road in the north of the city. This is the busiest urban area closest to the dock, with many brothels, gambling stalls and opium dens.

Feng Guohui asked people to knock open the merchants on the roadside, and everyone gathered the body together, put it on a carriage and threw it directly onto a small wooden boat at the north dock of the city. They poured some flammable kerosene and pushed it into the sea.

Several small boats filled with corpses drifted farther and farther into the sea, and were lit with rockets. They would burn into huge and brilliant torches with a "bang"...

The Shuifang Gang has more than a dozen small wooden boats at the pier, which are usually used between the sailing cargo ships moored in the bay and the shore to conduct business in selling fresh fruits, vegetables, firewood, rice, opium and people.

Now it has become the final destination of the Shuifang Gang, perhaps due to fate.

Feng Guohui led his men into the Jinyu Building, which is a "concave"-shaped building complex surrounded by three tenement buildings. It also has a large backyard and more than ten auxiliary rooms, which are used for kitchen stoves, food and daily necessities. Used in department store warehouses, there are also occasions where gang members and gangsters can take daily breaks and have sex.

"Ask all the merchants on the street to come out to help, fetch water and wash the floor, use shovels to remove the soil from areas with a heavy smell of blood, and transport some loess to pave the way..."

"The smell of blood is not good if it is too strong. It is easy to attract flies and is unhygienic. It needs to be solved at once. Wilson said it is in everyone's interest to restore the former prosperity as soon as possible, so everyone should be more diligent."

"Nanyang Company will not let everyone work in vain, and the regular fees collected this month will be reduced by half."

"Catch some of those bastards from the water house and bring them over to me. We need to find out how much money we have. We can't let those who fish in troubled waters steal Nanyang Company's money."

"Let the brothers take a rest, drink some water, and eat something. We are going to raid our homes overnight today."

Feng Guohui walked with a large group of waiters and said that he was very satisfied with the environment in Jinyu Building. The facilities here are complete, and there is no shortage of household items, food and drink.

He specifically looked at the residence where the gang leader Jin Yagen lived. It was a quiet courtyard beside the Jinyu Building. The courtyard was paved with polished blue bricks. The main house and the wing rooms were all built with polished blue bricks. The roof had a traditional overhanging eaves structure. Solid workmanship.

There are two doors in the courtyard, one is the main door facing Wilson Street, and the other is the side door, which is connected to the Jinyu Tower.

If you need anything, you can just walk there. You don't need to go out from the main entrance and go around again, which is quite convenient.

It can be seen that a lot of effort has been put into it.

There were several beautiful women and servants in the room, all gathered around in panic, with begging looks on their faces.

Very good, very good, this will be my residence from now on.

There is also a secret room in the east wing of this small courtyard, which is estimated to store most of the property in the Shuifang Gang and the private property accumulated by the gang leader Jin Yagen over the years.

Feng Guohui is not in a hurry to open it. These things belong to him anyway, and it is inconvenient for so many people to see.

Fortunately, there is also a public accounting room in Jinyu Building, which is used to collect daily money from gambling stalls and brothels, opium dens and other businesses below, and to withdraw gamblers' chips.

Open it and take a look, good guy.

There are more than a dozen large drawers on a row of iron shelves against the wall. Each drawer has notes posted on it, including drawing water, regulating money, gambling chips, turning in dividends, flowers, fireworks...

The labels are clearly marked, and there are different amounts of silver coins in each drawer. The total number is thirteen to four thousand, which is quite an astonishing amount.

After Feng Guohui looked at it, he pointed at the drawer that was mostly full of regulation money and ordered: "Take out this money and divide it among the brothers. Each person will get 30 silver coins for the base, 50 for the leader, and 100 for the leader. Performance Those who excel will be rewarded accordingly.”

As soon as these words came out, the brothers around him burst into cheers, and everyone's face was filled with excitement.

in this era

Ordinary farmers in Nanyang area work very hard for a year and only earn seven or eight silver coins. It is more common for urban handicraftsmen to earn more than 20 silver coins.

Now you have made a small fortune, how can you not be happy?

Taking advantage of this excitement, Feng Guohui said to everyone;
  “If Nanyang Company wants to develop, it needs manpower.

The promise I made to you is still valid. I will take advantage of today's battle to establish my authority and publicize to you that our Nanyang Company is open to recruit talented people.

The armed escort team must continue to replenish its manpower. Those who have recruited five people will be appointed as corps commanders, and those who have recruited 10 people will be appointed as commanders.

remember my request
  Must be from a good family with a clean family background, no bad habit of smoking and gambling, no bad experience of joining a gang, and those who can read and write are preferred.

The treatment in Nanyang Company is favorable. During the probation period of three months, there is no salary but food, food and shelter. After the probation period is over, the salary will be 12 silver coins per year, which is a generous reward.

Let me tell you that the recruitment is limited until 300 people are recruited, so don’t miss this precious opportunity. "

"I got it, Mr. Ding, we will work hard to publicize it. We also want to be ministers and eat meat every day!" Everyone responded with great enthusiasm.

Feng Guohui released 3000 silver coins as soon as he let go. In exchange, his men all screamed and spared no effort in doing things.

Based on the confessions of the captured gangsters in the water house, Feng Guohui sent a team headed by a commander into five or six groups to go to the homes of the key members of the water house who were shot to ransack the homes and seize the valuables.

There are more than twenty backbone bosses of the Shuifang Gang, such as Double Flower Red Stick and White Paper Fan, all of whom are quite wealthy and have their own independent houses in Surabaya City. Now they all belong to Nanyang Company.

Feng Guohui plans to give his two team leaders Zheng Xiucai and Hu Laohu, plus Ma Ganqiang, a better house. These three are his generals and must be given some sweetness.

It is important to give benefits to others rather than giving them anything.

After the three of them finished selecting, the six chiefs were Lin Ada, Wu Siwen, He Qiang, Mai Laowang, Chen Yong, Wang Erzhu and others, plus the outstanding archer corps commander Fan Dali, musketeer corps commander Liu Fugui, sword corps commander The captains of the shield troops, Wang Guozhen and Chen San, gathered a total of 10 people and were each rewarded with a small house.

Anyway, the wool comes from the sheep, and the women in the house are rewarded together, so that everyone can see and touch the benefits, so that they can follow the Nanyang Company wholeheartedly.

Any promises are not as real as actual benefits.

No matter from which angle you look at it, Feng Guohui is the biggest beneficiary from the elimination of the enemy Shuifang.

Not only did he get this site on Wilson Road, he also gained a lot of real estate deeds and wealth, expanded rapidly in a short period of time, and truly established a foothold in Surabaya.

After this battle, his reputation spread far and wide.

After all these trivial matters were arranged, Feng Guohui returned to his small courtyard.

Two coquettish concubines and five maids in coarse cloth knelt on the ground, all of them lowered their heads in fear, and their bodies were trembling faintly.

The tall and fierce man sitting on the chair will be their master from today on, deciding everyone's fate.

"Okay, all of you servants, please stand up and wait on the side." Feng Guohui said pleasantly, looking at these people, and he felt more and more that the golden tooth root was not a good thing.

Shuifang has been engaged in human trafficking all year round. Jin Yagen, the leader of the gang, certainly has the right to choose first. Except for one of the maids who is older, the other four maids are actually the top choices.

She is between 14 and 16 years old. Although her face looks undressed, she can't hide the youthful vitality of a girl. She is so pink and dewy!

Seeing the master staring at him, the girls were so frightened that they quickly lowered their heads.

Unconsciously

The plump and tender face has already turned red. In the hearts of these girls, although the current master is fierce, he is young and energetic, especially his eyes are extremely aggressive. Somehow...it always makes people's hearts pound.

Pick, this damn ghost with golden tooth roots has good eyesight!

Feng Guohui didn't know that these girls had so much in their hearts. After he unscrupulously admired the maid of his choice, a smile appeared on his lips.

With only a slight surprise, Feng Guohui turned his eyes to the two charming young women still kneeling on the ground, and then said;

"When you two raised your heads and asked me back, what were your names?"

"Sir, my name is Chunhua."

"Sir, my name is Xia He."

When he heard names like Chun Hua and Xia He, Feng Guohui couldn't help but curl up his lips. He didn't expect that gold tooth roots could have such a bad taste.

This is the naming method commonly used by maids in traditional feudal high-level houses in today's era.

In addition to these two, shouldn't there also be Qiuju and Dongmei?

When Feng Guohui thought of the four water-spirited girls, he couldn't help but curse in his heart;

Gou Ri's golden tooth roots are indeed lustful enough, and he must want to take two more maids into the room, so that he can have four wives in spring, summer, autumn and winter.

It is not a pity that this thief should die, he is so depraved.

Fortunately, the girl is now in my hands. This time I want to do justice for heaven and let these girls from poor families feel what warmth and care are?

After a brief absence

Feng Guohui carefully looked at the figures of Chunhua and Xia He again. The two girls were obviously much plumper than the maids, and they had the figure of a young woman after development.

It should be convex, and it should be curved.

But Feng Guohui didn't like them dressing up so coquettishly, so he ordered, "You two should wash your faces clean before you come back. Your lips are blood red and your face is pale. You look scary. You really don't look good."

Watching the two of them hurried away in panic, Feng Guohui drank tea leisurely and said to the servants standing aside: "You don't have to be afraid. I am a broad-minded and compassionate person. I will do whatever I did in the past." What, let’s adjust it after a while.”

"I will obey my master's instructions," the servants and wives replied in unison, their voices clear and sweet.

"Then you go down, there's no need to wait here."

"As you command, sir."

After sending them away, Feng Guohui walked around the main room with his hands behind his back. The tables and chairs displayed here were all traditional Qing style furniture, as well as many porcelain calligraphy and paintings. It seemed that Jin Yagen also liked arty things.

A separate study room was also set up. There were many thread-bound books on the bookshelf, and there were even some Western books.

Feng Guohui briefly flipped through a few books. They were all completely new and should have been reserved for display.

In the inspection room, a faint fragrance floated at the door. After the two concubines, Chunhua and Qiuju, washed their faces, they knelt down in a polite manner after entering the door and reported in a low voice: "Master, I have washed my face and waited for you to leave."

"Hmm...look up."

"As you command, sir."

Feng Guohui turned around and looked at it carefully, feeling that it looked much more pleasing to the eye.

From Jin Yagen's perspective, these two charming concubines are indeed good-looking. They both have fair, round moon faces, picturesque eyebrows, and delicate skin. They just don't know how to dress up.

The more makeup and powder you put on it, the more it covers up the original beauty.

"Do you still have family members in Surabaya City? Do you want to leave? If you are willing to get married, you can tell me how much dowry money will be prepared for you."

"Please don't drive us away, sir. We have nowhere to go. I hope you will have mercy on me."

"Okay, from now on you two will be personal maids and serve in the room for the time being. Remember not to apply any more makeup, I don't like it."

"Remember, sir."

"By the way, where is the key to Jin Yagen's secret room?"

"Reply to Master, Master Jin collected those keys himself and never let us touch them, but I know they should be in the secret box in the bed, right next to the bed..."

According to Chunhua's instructions, Chen Guohui found a secret box on the bedside. When he opened it, he found several keys and a stack of money orders. The money orders were money orders issued by Guangyuan Bank in Batavia, which read "Pay against the bill".

The unit of measurement is Luzon silver coins, with denominations of ten, twenty, fifty, and one hundred. This stack of money notes contains more than 2,400 silver coins, which is very convenient for large transactions.

With these money tickets, you can exchange the same amount of silver coins at Guangyuan Bank at any time, of course, you have to pay a certain commission.

Guangyuan Bank is a large bank throughout the entire Java Island. It has more than ten branches in important cities such as Batavia, Bandung, Surabaya, and Semarang, and its reputation is quite high.

Behind it is the Lin family, the leader of the entire Javanese Chinese community. Its current patriarch, Lin Zongguang, is the official "Kapitan" who has been endorsed by the Dutch Governor-General. He has power and power.

Without such ability, it would be impossible to do such a big business.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands took over from the bankrupt Dutch East Indies Company on December 1799, 12, and implemented direct management of this vast colony, with the Governor's Palace as the highest institution.

Always

The Dutch ruled indirectly through the Chinese and local indigenous nobles. The Chinese were mainly in the towns, and the indigenous princes and nobles were mainly in the countryside.

This is very similar to the British indirect rule in the Indian subcontinent. The Dutch basically did not interfere in the internal affairs of the Chinese or local indigenous people.

This allowed them to greatly cut costs and focus on targeting rebel areas and conquering more indigenous kingdoms.

For example, the Kingdom of Aceh on the island of Sumatra was a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh of the Dutch colonists, which is a digression.

Looking at the thick stack of money bills in his hand, Feng Guohui felt happy and his expression became more friendly. He said to the two girls: "Go down and do your work well. No one will make trouble for you anytime soon. Just relax." .”

"Thank you for your mercy, sir. I'm leaving this concubine." Chunhua and Xia He were blessed, and then the sorrow on their faces receded, and they turned around and left.

How can these miserable women who were sold to Southeast Asia have any homes to go to?
  Just like the vines clinging to the big trees, when a man needs it, he will grow vigorously and densely, with enough sunshine.

And when men don't need them, they hang down from the big tree and can only be mercilessly trampled into mud, completely unable to control their own destiny.

(End of this chapter)