The wind blows from the South Sea

Chapter 94 Visitors from Lanfang Country

The charter formulated by Feng Guohui for agricultural development covered all aspects. Others came up with some good ideas and promptly added them, gradually improving the entire plan.

At this stage

It can only be implemented in more than a dozen new Chinese immigrant villages west of Yanwang City. As more and more Chinese immigrants move here in the future, hundreds of villages and towns may be formed.

Among traditional indigenous tribes, it is more difficult to implement relevant measures and encounter great resistance, so they can only be solved slowly in the future.

Zheng Xiucai, sitting first on the left, reported on the current overview of municipal management and said;
"...

It is now the end of August, and autumn is about to enter the harvest season. The current crop growth is very good, and it is bound to be another bumper harvest season.

The commander-in-chief Ying Ming, this time gave a good opportunity to provide work-for-relief to the residents of the city. Every household of the lower class people harvested some food, and also gained the hearts of the people.

Taking advantage of the city-wide sewer ditch renovation project, we can take out the old grains over the years to provide relief to the people, and significantly emptied the inventory.

This has prepared for the storage of new grain this year and also completed the major renovation project of the whole city. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone.

For example, Yanwang City, Tianjia Town, etc.

This kind of management idea is very worthy of consideration and reference by colleagues of the Municipal Management Committee, and it can be cited as a classic lesson plan and used in other similar municipal renovation plans.

The accounts of city construction costs will be made public this time, truly embodying the spirit of serving citizens by taking from the people and using them for the people, and establishing a monument for Nanyang Corporation’s contribution, standing beside the gate of the Municipal Committee..."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Zheng Xiucai's speech.

After discussing things in the lobby for a while, Feng Guohui ordered to go down and prepare a banquet. Today he would have a drink with the municipal committee members and the key storekeepers of Nanyang Company before returning home.

This city belongs to everyone, not to any one company. Through construction, we have created a beautiful and clean city appearance. There is no reason for anyone to be responsible for it?

Feng Guohui led this municipal project. On the one hand, he cleaned up the large amounts of fly ash, gravel, and cinders accumulated in the Landoshan Mine. On the other hand, he sold a large amount of bricks, stones, and building materials. At the same time, he also won the good reputation.

In the seven weeks of construction so far, a total of 7 daily workers have been invested to renovate a total of 13.22 kilometers of urban ditches, build 39.76 water collection culverts, 177 wells, and 375 diversion outlets.

After completion, the municipal committee plans to raise urban construction taxes from 3517 merchants in the city, and plans to raise 12 silver coins to supplement the municipal funding gap.

The total of the two is about 17.69 silver coins.

Coupled with the large demand for coal, rice, cane sugar and other crops, it is very suitable for rail transportation and gives full play to the role of animal power.

This achievement made him feel quite proud.

This urban sewer ditch construction and road surface hardening project, promoted by the Surabaya City Municipal Administration Committee, has achieved amazing results with the efforts of all colleagues.

This will greatly enhance the cargo turnover capacity from Landoshan Mine to Surabaya City, and the large I-beams, steel plates, and steel bars produced by the steel plant are all heavy goods.

Only two large mules are needed to drag 5 to 6 mine cars, with a carrying capacity of to tons.

In addition, millions of cement, bricks, and stones were invested for this purpose, with a total silver price of 13.57 silver coins.

The remaining part will be borne by our Nanyang Company.

For this purpose, 9.15 pounds of old grain and 22.6 pounds of cassava were invested, totaling more than 41620 silver coins.

When the additional urban construction tax levied by Surabaya City is gradually accounted for, he plans to widen and gravel the road from Surabaya City to Yanwang City, and widen and gravel the road from Surabaya City to Landoshan Mine.

Thus

And the I-beam rails produced by the steel plant were used to lay a 14-kilometer long rail line from Surabaya City to Landoshan Square, and extended to Qiaojia Coal Mine and the new port.

This caused everyone to cheer continuously, and the atmosphere became even more lively.

Since the establishment of the Nanyang Army, the majesty of the commander-in-chief has grown day by day, and everyone has secretly wanted to have the opportunity to get closer to the commander-in-chief.

While waiting for the banquet to begin in the back hall, everyone was chatting and laughing. Someone mentioned Lan Fang Country on Kalimantan Island, which caught Feng Guohui's attention.

as early as last century
At that time, many Guangdong and Guangxi people and Hakka people went to Nanyang to make a living. Since the people of Guangdong and Guangxi were good at doing business, many people engaged in trade were respected by the local indigenous chiefs.

At that time, many white colonists went to the local area to harass them, including the British, the French, and the Dutch, many of whom were in the initial stages of colonization.

Therefore, there are local Chinese associations that recruit team trainers from Guangdong and Guangxi and come to Nanyang to play a role similar to bodyguards. The most powerful among them is the Lanfang Company.

Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty
Wu Yuansheng, a native of Jiaying, Guangdong, fled to Borneo because he was planning an uprising. He founded the influential "Jusheng Company" there and became the leader of the company.

Later, the reputation of his subordinate Luo Fangbo gradually surpassed that of Wu Yuansheng, and he became Wu Yuansheng's boss. Luo Fangbo then established "Lanfang Company".

The so-called Lanfang Company means Southern Company.

Both Wu Yuansheng and Luo Fangbo were regional leaders belonging to the Tiandihui. Because of their conspiracy to rebel, they were encircled and suppressed by the Qing court and were forced to live in Nanyang.

This is the origin of the so-called "revealing of planned uprising". After these remnants of the Heaven and Earth Society fled to Nanyang, they became unique with their fierce fighting power. Even the white colonists suffered defeats in their hands, and they gained such a great reputation.

In Kalimantan, local indigenous chiefs asked Lanfang Company to protect them.

Luo Fangbo established the "Lan Fang Grand Republic" in Pontianak in 1777 and served as the head of the republic, taking charge of national security and coordination among various tribes.

The chiefs are still responsible for the internal affairs of each indigenous tribe. Tribes that did not join early saw the success of the Lanfang Republic and that they could be protected from harassment by white colonists, so they also joined as member tribes.

Does this history sound very similar to the experience of Nanyang Company?
The Kalimantan Islands are the third largest archipelago in the world, with a total area of ​​74.3 square kilometers and a typical tropical rainforest climate.

The hinterland of the island has dense vegetation, numerous rivers, and an extremely complex environment. It will also be a "green desert" area that is difficult for humans to reach in future generations and is not suitable for human survival.

Only in the coastal areas around the island are there traces of human life.

In particular, the northern Malaysian region of the island, Brunei, and Lanfang Country in the northwest have a relatively dense and prosperous population and a long history of development, forming a unique tropical indigenous island culture.

Today's Kalimantan is divided into three parts, with its northern part belonging to the East Malaya region of the British Straits Settlements, Brunei and several other indigenous kingdoms.

East Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan and West Kalimantan belong to the Dutch East Indies Colony, occupying approximately 2/3 of the entire island.

Although this part of the Dutch colony is large in area, it has a short history of development and a small population, especially the local indigenous people.

At the northwest end of Kalimantan Island, it belongs to the territory of the Lanfang Republic, accounting for about 1/8 of the entire island area.

Although Lanfang Country is not large, it has a large population, with a total population of about 170 million, which is nearly three times that of East Java.

Although the territory of the Dutch colony of Kalimantan is large, its population is only between 63 and 65. It is scattered along the coastline of more than 1760 kilometers around the island, making it appear sparsely populated.

Lan Fangguo established a Chinese school and hired Confucian scholars to teach, focusing on traditional Chinese culture.

in judicial aspects

Based on the Tiandihui program, Lan Fangguo revised a relatively systematic and complete program, which roughly stated that murder should be punished with life, minor crimes should be whipped, and those who quarrel should prepare a red cloth to apologize, etc., which has a strong Jianghu atmosphere.

The person who talked about Lan Fangguo's matter was Hu Zhenting, the second master of the Hu family. When he saw Feng Guohui's concerned eyes, he stood up and saluted with clasped fists.

He said, "The Commander-in-Chief knows that this person from Lanfang Country is also a member of the Huang family who runs boats all the year round. He has had many contacts with my Hu family and has done piglets and tobacco business several times.

This time I traveled thousands of miles by boat, mainly because I heard that Surabaya produces a large amount of high-quality ironware. This is exactly the product that Lanfang Country is extremely scarce, and I am willing to buy it in large quantities at a high price.

These Lanfang customers have a huge appetite. As long as the ironware is of good quality and can be shipped in large quantities, they are willing to pay one and a half times the market price.

As the saying goes; Eat as much as you have.

This is not a lie, as far as Hu knows;
There are many gold mines in Lanfang Kingdom. The gold-producing land dozens of kilometers north and south of Dongwanlu where it developed has attracted more than 10 local Chinese and hundreds of thousands of indigenous people. However, iron tools are scarce.

Moreover, Lanfang Country is opening up a lot of land to the surrounding areas. In addition to slash farming and fire, it lacks a large number of sophisticated agricultural tools.

Therefore, I am willing to buy at a high price. "

"That's it. Let Nanyang Trading Company contact us in detail. We have to do door-to-door business. More than 170 million people is also a big market, and we can continue to do it for a long time in the future." Feng Guohui nodded in agreement and had no intention of personally coming forward.

The high-quality European-style iron plowshares, picks, shovels, rakes, iron pans, shovels, hammers, saws, and axes produced by the farm tool factory not only meet local demand, but are also being exported continuously.

The huge output of Noda's steel plant is not something that only 5 or 6 million people in East Java can consume, and a larger market is needed.

Nowadays, in addition to the Luzon Islands and the Straits Settlements, there is another Lanfang Kingdom. This is a good thing.

But that's all
After more than seventy years of evolution, Lan Fangguo has become more radical in the Chinese involution. It is not a good thing in itself to stand on the side of the Dutch and suppress their Chinese opponents.

In 1850, when another Chinese company in Kalimantan, the Dagang Company, had an armed confrontation with the Dutch, Lanfang sided with the Dutch.

At that time, some Chinese people from the defeated Dagang Company fled to Lanfang's territory. They were intercepted by Lanfang's Jia Tai Liu Asheng with more than 600 strong men. They surrendered the weapons of the Dagang people and captured the leader and handed them over to the Dutch.

It is said that this is because of the grudge he had with Dagang in the past.

Previously, Dagang Company had a conflict with another Chinese company, Santiaogou Company. Lanfang's people rescued 80 Santiaogou people and took them to the ship. Unexpectedly, the ship later drifted to Dagang's territory and all of them were killed.

Anyway, no matter where we go, Chinese involution is a big problem that cannot be ignored.

But if you turn inward and side with the white Dutch, you are sitting on a crooked butt and your stance is wrong.

The great ruler in the south is Liu Asheng, whose nickname is Liu Shoushan. This man is still in his 40s and is young and strong, but Feng Guohui looks down on him.

Nothing more. He bowed down when he saw the white colonists. After all, he was not a tough guy.

More than 20 years later, Lanfang Kingdom also perished in his hands. The white Dutch colonists who respected him took away their hometown and foundation, and it disappeared into history.

How can such a character be respected?
(End of this chapter)