Chapter 293 What is Imperialism?

Chapter 293 What is Imperialism?

Chapter 293 What is Imperialism?
"Your Majesty, if you lead your people to continue to make contributions to the Qing Kingdom, the Qing Kingdom will become more and more powerful. Wouldn't your chances of ascending to the top be smaller?"

Ping'er became Shao Quanzhong's secretary and immediately came into contact with the core secrets of the Huai Army.

Every day she summarized and reported a large amount of information to Shao Quanzhong. She deeply realized the potential of the Huai Army.

It turns out that Shao Quanzhong already had the ability to successfully rebel and become emperor, but he was unwilling to cause too much damage to China and wanted to wait until the fruit was ripe so that it would be easier to pick.

If Shao Quanzhong is the emperor, she can basically be the empress. How can Ping'er be a spy for Cixi now? Wouldn't it be nice for me to be the empress of the West Palace?
Shao Quanzhong shook his head. "Don't powerful countries have regime changes? All my achievements will be transformed into prestige. Prestige is something that cannot be seen or touched, but it can be very useful at critical moments. Some people, you see, can't fight, and everyone fights to the death to win the world, but they take the initiative to welcome people back from overseas to make the decisions. No one is dissatisfied. I envy them so much. I have to learn from them."

Ping'er joined the Shao Group too late. Unlike Shao Quanzhong's early partners who all knew Shao Quanzhong's "old wisdom", the prince was probably talking about Tao Gongzu's three renunciations of Xuzhou, but what does it have to do with overseas?
A dozen days ago in Mawei, it was still early spring in February, and the weather was still chilly. When we arrived in Dongwanlu, we were already on the equator, and the heat hit us as soon as we got off the boat.

Liu Asheng, the Grand Commander of the Lan Fang Republic, led by his son Liu Liangguan who had just returned from the Qing Dynasty, and a large number of subordinates, personally went to the port to welcome them.

All the officials of Lan Fang were dressed in Ming Dynasty clothes and kowtowed to Shao Quanzhong together, "Lan Fang of the lower country respectfully welcomes the angel of the upper country."

Ahem, actually the Lan Fang Kingdom was established during the Qing Dynasty, so why are they all wearing Ming Dynasty clothing? Well, the founder Luo Fangbo was from the Tiandihui, and the people in front of Shao Quanzhong were theoretically all traitors, which was one of the reasons why Emperor Qianlong did not accept the Lan Fang Kingdom...

When Shao Quanzhong arrived in the city, the Lan Fang people presented durian, star apples, mangosteen and many other local fruits, held a banquet to welcome the angel, and presented large pieces of gold nuggets as gifts. The host and the guests got along well for a while.

Shao Quanzhong picked up the wine glass and was about to say a few polite words when two Lan Fang officials stood up together, looked at each other, and it was Liu Asheng's son-in-law who spoke first.

"Your Highness, we see that the Nanyang Navy is strong and powerful. We, Lan Fang, are finally saved. But we cannot be like my father-in-law and kowtow to the red-haired devils. We beg the Prince to make the decision for us and choose a new general."

Instantly, a small number of people stood up and bowed together, "Please let the prince make the decision."

Ahem, there is a lot of internal strife within Lan Fang. So many people are against Liu Asheng, including his son-in-law.

Liu Asheng looked at Shao Quanzhong with embarrassment, then turned back and glared at him.

"Do you think I sold out the interests of the Lan Fang Company because I accepted money from the Dutch? You are not in the position, so you don't know how difficult it is for me to be the general. At that time, the imperial court had not yet arrived. If I had not been a slave to the Dutch, we would have been destroyed by them. What could I have done?"

Ahem, from what he said, it seems that Liu Asheng did accept money from the Dutch. As for whether he did it to endure humiliation, that is hard to say.

Liu Asheng pointed to the south and said, "General Andersson of the Netherlands is leading more than 2,000 regular troops to the fort over there. Who among you has the ability to drive him away? Do I have to pay the head tax to the East India Company?"

Seeing everyone bow their heads, Shao Quanzhong shook his head and sighed. It was not easy for Lan Fang. Under the heavy pressure of the Dutch, it has not been destroyed yet. It is already quite powerful. It has to be a slave to others. It is also helpless because the Qing Dynasty did not support it before.

In fact, it was the same for me. Didn't I have to stay away from the British big brother? Politics is so dirty. As the general manager of Lan Fang, I can't be a white lotus.

Shao Quanzhong rolled his eyes and said, "We'll talk about changing the general later. Someone, tell Liao Rong to bombard the Dutch fortress and capture those 2,000 Dutchmen!"

An hour later, the subordinate reported, "The Dutch raised the white flag and surrendered."

Song Laosan led the Guards Brigade to accept the surrender. Half an hour later, General Andersson, who was so awesome in Liu Asheng's words, and his subordinates were tied up and taken to Dongwanlu.

"Your Highness, I protest that you are uncivilized in declaring war on the Netherlands."

After listening to Lan Fang's interpreter finish translating the red-haired devil's words, Shao Quanzhong sneered, "Lan Fang is a vassal of the Qing Dynasty, and Borneo belongs to the Qing Dynasty. Did you stand on the territory of the Qing Dynasty with our consent?"

This - Andersen was speechless. They really didn't know that Lan Fang had just become a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty. Even if you check the documents, it is written in the letter of credence that Lan Fang became a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty during the Qianlong period.

Who made the Qing Dynasty and the Lan Fang both agree? They can write whatever they want. Can you do carbon 14 analysis on documents these days? Even if you can, you can't tell the age of such a recent era.

What? The file is too new? I saved it well, it's none of your business.

"Well, now that the Dutch garrison is gone, what are your opinions?"

"There are many Dutch overseers in the mines, monitoring our gold production and collecting taxes."

"Song Laosan, go and arrest them all for me." Let you Dutch people see what imperialism is.

The Lan Fang people were happy today. They took the soldiers of the Guards Brigade out, and soon dozens of Dutch overseers and their families were taken into custody.

Shao Quanzhong singled out their representative, Awusi Delishan, and pointed at his nose, "You, take a boat back to Batavia and tell the Dutch Governor that Borneo has been taken back by the Qing Dynasty, and tell you Dutch people to get out of Borneo immediately."

After listening to the translation, the red-haired ghost wanted to say a few tough words. Thinking about the large fleet he had just seen at the port, he sighed, bowed to Shao Quanzhong, and turned to go to the port.

Less than half a day after Shao Quanzhong arrived, the Dutch who had once been riding on their heels became prisoners in the military camp. Looking at the fleet in the port, the directors of the Lan Fang Company were filled with emotion.

"Your Majesty, we don't own the whole of Borneo now. We only have this small piece of land in West Borneo. After 70 or 80 years of mining here in Montodura, the gold mine is almost exhausted. We only have less than 30,000 Chinese people. In Sarawak, there are still more than 100,000 Chinese workers, all of whom are under the rule of local chiefs and work for the Dutch."

Shao Quanzhong didn't care. I just had the excuse of Lan Fang Kingdom, which claimed Borneo. If you were very powerful, you wouldn't have to rush to the capital to beg to be a vassal of the Qing Dynasty.

"Tomorrow I will lead the fleet around Borneo and subdue all those who disobey. Twenty thousand of you are not a small number. Just add a few more officials to follow me, and Borneo will soon be yours."

Shao Quanzhong next went to inspect the rubber plantation that Liu Liangguan had built on his orders in the suburbs of Dongwanlu.

Good job, young man Liu Liangguan is very efficient. In such a short time, the rubber trees have been obtained and transplanted, and professional technicians have been invited to take care of them.

Shao Quanzhong patted Liu Liangguan on the shoulder and turned to look at the senior directors of Lan Fang who followed him.

"Many of you are dissatisfied with Liu Asheng. I will now appoint Liu Liangguan as the new commander-in-chief. Do you have any objections?"

Everyone had a good impression of Liu Liangguan, and Liu Asheng had no objection to his abdication and passing the position of commander-in-chief to his son. Thus, the head of Lan Fang's family was changed.

The next day, Shao Quanzhong left Deng Shichang with the Zhiyuan and several small thousand-ton ironclad ships to guard Dongwanlu, and he took most of the fleet, carrying a large number of Lan Fang officials, and headed east.

They bombarded all the way and spared Sarawak because Sarawak was no longer under the control of the Dutch. It was occupied by the British merchant James, who established the Kingdom of Sarawak.

The Kingdom of Sarawak has been recognized by the British, so we can’t fight for the time being. I can endure it.

Fortunately, Sarawak is not big, and Shao Quanzhong has been thinking about asking Queen Victoria for this piece of land. What should he use in exchange?
As for Brunei, it was originally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, okay? Now it is being bullied by the inland Brooke Kingdom and its territory is shrinking. Joining Lan Fang is for your own good, right?

On the Brunei side, only Labuan Island was ceded to Britain, and the rest were all conquered by naval guns. Brunei very wisely accepted the goodwill and announced that it would join Lan Fang and return to the sequence of our Chinese vassal states.

In a backward place like this, such a huge fleet is basically a waste, and everything can be handled in a short time.

On March 8, the seventh year of the Tongzhi reign, the fleet sailed through the Sulu Sea. Ahead was the east coast of Borneo, which was mostly small fishing villages. It was of no value, so they just hoisted a flag and declared their presence there.

Shao Quanzhong thought that he would have to go around to Banjarmasin in the south of Borneo before he would have a chance to clash with others, and then go to Batavia to have a final talk with the Dutch. Suddenly, he saw more than a dozen sailboats coming from the east, with a skull and crossbones flag flying on the leading medium-sized sailboat.

Pirates? Are these pirates blind? Can't they see such a large fleet?
The pirate flag was replaced by a white flag and kept approaching. The people on the ship also waved white flags for fear of being hit.

A small boat carrying several pirate leaders boarded Shao Quanzhong's flagship. When they saw Shao Quanzhong walking quickly, they all knelt down. The pirates, who looked like local natives, could actually speak Chinese.

"Sulu Sultan Kirang pays homage to the angel from above."

Sultan? How did you, a Sultan, become a pirate?
"Your Highness, the Angel, our Sulu Kingdom was a vassal state during the Yongzheng period, and has always been loyal to the Qing Dynasty. Now we have been destroyed by the Spaniards. Please make a decision, sir."

Seeing Jilang shedding tears, Shao Quanzhong rolled his eyes. There are many vassal states in our Qing Dynasty, and now there is another one called Sulu.

"Liao Rong, let's not go south for now, let's go to Manila!"

(End of this chapter)