After the conversation ended, Liang Xing was about to leave when he was stopped by Wu Jin.
"How long will City Lord Wu have?"
"When I was at the port this morning, I met several businessmen from Lanfang Company. They asked people to invest in business in Songkhla. Wu felt that there might be another reason, so he asked Mr. Liang if he would accompany Wu to the meeting tomorrow.
Meet them."
"There are not a few Lanfang merchants doing business in the Malay Peninsula. Maybe there are some useful people among the people who came this time. It would also be useful to learn more about the situation of the various kingdoms in the Central Malay Peninsula from them.
That’s a bad thing.”
"Yes, Wu also believes that more contact with them will have some benefits for the subsequent military operations."......
The next morning, seven Lanfang businessmen gathered in the reception room early, discussing among themselves in low voices.
"Shopkeeper Gu, is there going to be a war in Songkhla City? Yesterday, more than ten ships of troops came to the pier. They were all equipped with breech-loading rifles. The bright bayonets on the rifles looked really scary."
"Nine times out of ten, there is going to be a war. Not only did more than ten ships of soldiers come to the pier yesterday, but there were also eight gunboats and gunboats docked in the port outside the pier. These guys are in Nanyang. In addition to the foreigners, there are ten or twenty boats.
The Thais only have five or six small steamers at most, and both the tonnage and the cannons on board are far inferior to the gunboats in Songkhla Port."
"If you ask me, it is a pity that Jia Tai did not choose to cooperate with the Nanyang Army six years ago. If the partner of cooperation with the Nanyang Army was Lanfang, it is impossible to say that the eight warships outside the port are now docked at Dongwanlu Port.
"…………
The Liu family's control over Lanfang has gradually strengthened. Since the first-generation head of the family, Liu Taier, became the first wife of Lanfang, the Liu family has had four people hold the position of first wife of Lanfang, and they have controlled Lanfang for nearly 40 years.
.
In the process of the Liu family's expansion of power, the original four established Lanfang families, the Luo family, the Chen family, the Gu family, and the Jiang family, were excluded from the center of power. Their power and financial resources were gradually deprived and weakened. As a result, both parties accumulated
The conflicts are getting worse day by day.
"Lanfang Company is the foundation laid by the four major families of Luo, Jiang, Chen and Gu. The Liu family only relied on the support of the Dutch to reach the position of Jia Tai. Now the Liu family and his son are ignoring Lanfang in order to please the Dutch.
Three hundred thousand Chinese people died, allowed the Dutch to send political officers to supervise Lanfang's internal affairs, and allowed the Liu family and his sons to continue their unscrupulous development. Lanfang's demise was imminent.
Gentlemen and sages, our foundation and family business are in Lanfang. If Lanfang perishes, even if we can escape, we will lose the land and wealth accumulated over the past hundred years. Without wealth and power, will you really be willing to do so?
?”
"What can we do if we are not willing to give in? The power of Lanfang is in the hands of the Liu family. The customs, docks and ports of Dongwanlu and Shaokouyang are supervised by administrative officers appointed by the Dutch. We just want to make a difference, so
There’s nowhere to start.”
"It's not that there is no way. There are more than a thousand armed merchants under the direct control of the four major families. If we can connect with the Nanyang Army through City Lord Wu and smuggle some weapons and ammunition from the Nanyang Army, Liu Asheng and his son can be killed.
Get kicked off the stage.”
"What the Luo family leader said is true. Yesterday, my men saw the Songkhla army moving boxes after boxes of goods from the ship. Each of the wooden boxes was more than two meters long and more than half a meter wide. They were quite heavy.
It takes three or four people to lift it, and considering the situation of the Nanyang Army dispatching the Natuna Islands garrison to Songkhla, those boxes must contain muskets and ammunition for the Lord of Song Dynasty."
"Yes, even if we buy two to three hundred breech-loading rifles from the Nanyang Army, we are not afraid of the threat from the Liu family and his son."
Everyone started talking, and everyone expressed their dissatisfaction with Liu Asheng.
"Master Luo, your ancestor was Luo Tongzong, the founding father of Lanfang. It was your idea to come to Songkhla to visit Master Wu this time. You said you would come up with a charter and tell us what to do. We will all obey your arrangements."
"Thank you Brother Liang and everyone for your support. Luo is not a person who is greedy for power and money. He just sees the inheritance that his ancestors built through all the difficulties being betrayed by villains like Liu Asheng and his son.
In the name of the family, we request all the family heads to form an alliance to jointly oppose Liu Asheng and his son, and take the leadership of Lanfang back into our hands."
Luo Yibo directly and clearly expressed his firm opposition to the Liu family and his son's rule of Lanfang, and continued, "Originally, Lanfang ranked first among the many influential people in Nanyang. However, in the past two years, Songkhla has received support from the Han State, and its economy and
The armed forces have surpassed Lanfang. If we want to successfully overthrow the Liu family and his son, the only option is to rely on the forces of the Han Dynasty."
"Master Luo, the relationship between Han and Lanfang has not been very good. Will they agree to help us?"
"I'm not sure whether they will help us or not."
Luo Yibo shook his head and said with a raised tone, "However, opportunities must be fought for. If we don't work hard to create opportunities, Lanfang Company will only die."
"I heard that the King of Han likes beauty, Master Luo, how about you marry your sister to His Highness the King of Han, and the two families become in-laws. In that case, the Nanyang Army will definitely help Master Luo deal with the Liu family and his son, and maybe it will be settled.
After the Liu family and his son are reunited with the Dutch, the head of the Liu family can assume the position of head of the country."
"Go, go, boss Zhou is showing some nonsense. If His Highness the King of Han is as greedy and lustful as you think, he can conquer thousands of miles of South America with his bare hands. Not to mention that the sister of the Luo family has ever been married, she is just a yellow flower girl.
, people may not be able to take a fancy to it.”
"That's not necessarily the case. If Wu Cheng doesn't want to marry his daughter to His Highness the King of Han, since he can get such strong support from the Han State, I think it's best to find a way to marry His Highness the King of Han."
"It is a good way for the two parties to get married, but there are currently no suitable candidates within the Luo family and other families. The marriage can be postponed for the time being. However, there are a few things we can do for the Nanyang Army and Lord Wu at the moment."
"Master Luo, please explain clearly."
"First, the four major families took out 700,000 taels of silver, and each of the other three families took out 100,000 taels of silver, making up a round number of 1,000,000 taels. In the name of aiding the war, they unconditionally handed over the silver to the Nanyang Army to express their gratitude to the Han Dynasty.
Our sincerity in cooperating with Han State,
Secondly, the families behind the seven heads of the family sitting here, the Zhou family, who was the last to go to Nanyang, have been operating there for thirty or forty years. Each family has more or less business dealings in the Malay Peninsula. The world is peaceful.
At that time, our business dealings in the Malay Peninsula were of little use, but now the Nanyang Army and Wucheng are mainly using force in the central region of the Malay Peninsula. With the help of our local informants, it is hard to say anything else.
We can play a big role in the conflicts between local British businessmen."
"The head of the Luo family is sure that the Nanyang Army will be involved in Songkhla's internal affairs?"
"It's unmistakable. More than 40 years ago, the King of Kedah rebelled. Songkhla violated the orders of the Kingdom of Thailand and refused to send troops to assist. This has caused dissatisfaction in Thailand. Now Thailand and the United Kingdom are competing with each other for the control of the central region of the Malay Peninsula.
They did not rashly intervene in Songkhla's internal affairs with force, and did not take advantage of the opportunity of Thailand and Britain to contain each other to unify Songkhla's internal military and political affairs. We missed the opportunity, and we will not have such good luck in the future."
The Lan Fang Chinese traveled to the various kingdoms in the Malay Peninsula to do business and mine. The collection of local history and religious culture was an extremely important task. Luo Yibo combined his understanding of the various kingdoms in the Malay Peninsula with the intelligence support provided by other families.
, a rough analysis of the key points of the Nanyang Army's unification of the central Malay Peninsula is to pay equal attention to politics and military affairs, carefully handle the complicated local political situation, and limit the military operation area to four prefectures and one state, which will penetrate the British economic and political forces.
In the deep states of Kedah, Terengganu and Perlis, they adopted the policy of maintaining the status quo, using the Nanyang Army's acquiescence to the British control of the three places and the display of their own force to discourage the British Straits Settlements government from fishing in troubled waters and taking advantage of the opportunity.
The thought of the matter centralized the military and political power within Songkhla and achieved a smooth transition.