Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 618

At the same time that Zhao Xin and Huang Zhongtong were talking, a small incident happened outside a shop in Bacheng, but a large-scale fight followed, which shook the entire Bacheng.

It is precisely because of this unexpected armed fight that Zhao Xin made up his mind to incorporate various Chinese forces in West Kalimantan, and eventually led to Beihai Town's full-scale declaration of war against the Dutch East India Company two years later, which also brought the forces of Beihai Town down. The scope extends to the whole of Southeast Asia.

The cause of the incident was that among the Hakka people who came from Pontianak, in addition to the crying woman Zhao Xin had seen before, there was also a 15-year-old Kaya woman who had chest tightness because of the smell of disinfectant in the hospital. Disgusted, he went to the hospital door alone to breathe.As a result, I heard a few women next to me talking about a new batch of toilet water in the grocery store in the city, which made the woman feel moved, and hurriedly asked the women from Bali in Malay about the location, and ran away alone. shop.

Unexpectedly, when she finished shopping from the shop, she was stared at by three Zhangzhou men. The other party saw that she was graceful and beautiful, and because of her dark skin, she knew that she was not Chinese, so she became frivolous and teased. Straight forward, hug and drag.

Although the woman is a native of Borneo, her status in Pontianak is extraordinary. She grew up in the Chinese circle of Pontianak since she was a child. How did she encounter such a thing?She was frightened by the rain, pleading and holding on to a tree by the roadside. After a while, she was seen by several Hakka people in Pontianak who came out to find her.

Seeing this, the other party was furious, stepped forward and scolded the three of them to the ground. The three Zhangzhou men saw that the other party was tall and strong, and knew that they were no match, so they confessed and said that they were drunk and confused.A few Hakka people didn't want to cause trouble, so they reprimanded each other and took the woman away.

Later in the evening, as the emergency patients hospitalized in the hospital were in stable condition, all the people from Pontianak walked back to the boat in the port to eat and rest, except for three or five people who stayed in the hospital to accompany the patients.When they were about to reach the port, more than 20 people from Zhangzhou suddenly appeared from the side of the road holding short knives and sticks. The leader was the three people who molested the maidservant in the afternoon.

The people of Pontianak didn't want to cause trouble, and based on the principle of minimising big things, they planned to persuade them with good words and pay some money to get rid of them.Unexpectedly, the Zhangzhou people won't be forgiving, and the three leading them not only asked for money, but also took the woman away, and even broke the legs of the two who had scolded them before.

This is so bullying!If you can't bear it, then you don't need to bear it anymore, and the two sides immediately fought.The problem is that despite the small number of people here in Pontianak, they all live a life of licking blood on the edge of a knife. More than 20 people from Zhangzhou are not opponents at all. To the ship in the port.

The surviving Zhangzhou people saw that the opponent was strong, so they sent people back to Chinatown to call for support.It is said that the immigrants in Bacheng are basically Fujianese, and Zhangquan and Zhangquan in southern Fujian have caused a climate of fighting due to land distribution since the end of the Ming Dynasty. The so-called "a small fight in seven years, a big fight in ten years".Although there are often internal strife in their hometown, the immigrants who have gone overseas to Zhangquan and Quanzhou have stood together.I heard that the Hakka people from Pontianak beat up their own family, and Chinatown was blown up. Soon, more than 300 people were gathered, all of them armed with short knives and sticks, and some even carried dung forks.

Because the security guards in charge of the security patrols are also from southern Fujian, they turned a blind eye to this behavior, thinking that they would come forward to stop it after the other party's lesson was almost learned.Among them are Cai Qian and Jin Wuzai.

When the Lanfang Company returned to the ship, they saw hundreds of people coming up to the port. At first, they thought about reconciliation. Who knew that all the Hokkien people had been instigated, and they saw their brother's bloody head, but they didn't say anything. Two sentences will start directly.

Although there are only five No. 60 people in Lanfang Company, they have swords and guns on their boats, and they guard them according to the boats.Besides, there is also a tradition of fighting with weapons between the Hakka people and the Cantonese. Who is afraid of Who!
The two sides fought for more than 20 minutes. In the dark night, some people's attacks became more and more serious. After several people were killed and injured in the Lanfang Company, they were red-eyed and merciless. Among them, eight died on the spot, 23 were seriously injured, and more than a dozen were slightly injured.

Just when the immigrants from southern Fujian could not attack for a long time and began to throw torches on the ship to burn the ship, 100 northern marines who heard the news arrived, and the company commander who led the team ordered to fire warning shots into the air. Hundreds of people swarmed like birds and scattered.Relying on the muzzle of the black hole, the Marine Corps held down more than [-] Zhangquan immigrants on the spot, and then searched and rescued the wounded at the scene.

The sound of gunfire alarmed the residents in the compound of the Military Control Council, as well as everyone inside and outside the city of Ba.You must know that since Beihai Town took over Bacheng, there has never been such a large-scale criminal case. After hearing the news, the dozen or so stewards of the court were all shocked and went to the Military Control Commission to plead guilty.

Even Wang Yuanfang, a good-tempered person, was furious when he learned of the situation.He immediately ordered the Hoi An camp and the Bacheng security team to gather in front of the Military Control Council building, block Chinatown overnight, and arrest all those involved in the fight.Then they sent someone to contact Zheng Wenxian, and ordered the fleet to watch over the Lanfang Company's merchant ships and not allow them to leave the port without authorization; after the sea blockade was completed, the marines boarded the ship overnight to arrest people!

The people from the Lanfang company really wanted to sail away, but when the searchlights on the port instantly locked them in, they were immediately frightened.When Bei Haijun boarded the boat to arrest people, the leader tried to defend himself, but Bei Haijun ignored them at all, and just tied the butt of a gun, and then tied it up.Now all the Hakkas quit. Although they dare not go head-to-head with the Beihai Navy, some people still shouted that there are 10,000+ Hakkas in Borneo. If they dare to touch us, they will definitely kill all of them in Bacheng. if.

In the morning of the next day, the detention center in Bacheng was overcrowded. The security team and Hui'an camp arrested more than 200 immigrants who participated in the fight, while the people from Lanfang Company were all imprisoned in a deserted Catholic church near the port. .

After preliminary interrogation and identification of the persons involved, by the afternoon of the same day, the circumstances of the case were generally clear.And Zhao Xin, Deng Fei and others were shocked and speechless after learning the details.

The three Zhangzhou immigrants involved were actually members of the Heaven and Earth Society.The campers found a tattered and tattered meeting book from their residence, which painted the appearance of the Gaoxi Temple, the incense burner, the flagpole, the brand name, the yellow cover, the flag of the commander, the flag of the general and the flag of the meeting; In addition, it also records the door couplets and poems in the temple, various incisions and words of blessing, and 36 affidavits.

According to the confession of the three, they came to Bacheng from Borneo at the beginning of last year. They have been farming outside the city for a living and secretly developed more than 20 accomplices.At noon yesterday, the three of them went to the city to sell vegetables together, and met the woman from Pontianak.They thought the woman was from Balinese, because her customs were completely different from those of the mainland, so they molested her.When the Kuntian group came to rescue them, they recognized that the other party was from Lanfang Company.Because the two sides had a blood feud before, there was a retaliatory action that was later mobilized.

Deng Fei was a little strange, so he asked Huang Mianshe and others who came to report the interrogation situation: "What is the conflict between Tiandihui and Lanfang Company?"

Huang Mianshe, who was the oldest, knew about this period of history, so he said: "Your Excellency, you don't know. When the Lanfang Society was founded 18 years ago, it and the people from the Tiandihui were formed in Dashu Mountain in West Borneo. After that, they retreated to Dongwanli. After that, they fought several times with the people from Tiandihui. Later, the fourteen gold mines in Daluolu joined forces. In the end, Tiandihui was defeated and hundreds of people died. Lanfanghui and The Peaceful Alliance has dominated West Borneo since then."

Deng Fei said: "What did Tiandihui do? Why is it so hateful?"

Huang Mianshe said: "What else can you do? Control grain and sugar, monopolize the market, and complain about the various gold mines involved. No one can blame others for this. They went too far and forced those mine owners to come to us to buy grain. Buy sugar. As a result, these people still insist on setting fire to other people's cargo ships. Alas!"

Zhao Xin listened silently for a long time, and then asked Huang Mianshe a question he wanted to find out most: "Mr. Huang, I want to ask you about Lanfang Company, the fourteen companies of the Heshun Alliance. Also, what happened to their company?"

Huang Mianshe was stunned when he heard the words, and from the moment he entered the door, he noticed Zhao Xin sitting in the corner.The question raised by the other party is a bit big, and it can't be explained in a few words.

At this time, Wang Yuanfang took advantage of the situation and said, "Yes, we haven't quite understood it all the time. Please tell us about it, Mr. Huang."

The boss of the Military Control Council has spoken, and Huang Mianshe can't do it any more. Besides, there is an old gentleman on the left and the other on your right.

Huang Mianshe bowed to Wang Yuanfang and Zhao Xin and said: "Then forgive the old classmen for making axe. The so-called 'company', according to the old people, is the party."

With Huang Mianshe's slow narration, Zhao Xin and others realized that the various Chinese "companies" in Southeast Asia in recent years are completely different from those of later generations. The information about Lanfang Company has a sense of cloud and fog.

In fact, to explain this matter, we must start from the various folk religions in Chinese history.The so-called folk sects originated from the Wudou Rice Road founded by Zhang Ling at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Huming Mountain, Sichuan, and the Taiping Road founded by Zhang Jiao, a native of Julu, Hebei.

The Luojiao, which was born during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, is a major event in the history of the development of Chinese folk religion. Taking this as a turning point, various types of folk religious organizations have emerged everywhere.However, in terms of appellation, there has always been a saying that "the South meets the North". Sect”, while those in the south are called “hui party”.

For example, in the north, there are Bagua, Qingshui, Hunyuan, Shouyuan, etc., while in the south, there are Tiandihui, Nandouhui, Beidouhui, Zilonghui, Xiaodaohui, etc.
As for these Chinese "companies" in Southeast Asia, they are actually a kind of associations that originated in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian regions, relying on village temples, donated by believers, and charitable assistance to poor congregations. Its main business project is "Humanqing" ” rather than engaging in commercial activities.

The problem is that the Westerners who come into contact with these organizations—especially the Dutch who form the basis of the state based on contractual relationships, simply don’t understand that the social foundation of ancient Chinese civilization is morality. The incomparable "will" is called a "company" (Congsee).As for "Company" in Western vocabulary, the Chinese society at that time could not translate it; because it was also funded by multiple shareholders, and a shareholders meeting was required to discuss matters, so it borrowed the name from the countryside of Fujian and Guangdong, calling it "Company" ".

In many articles of later generations, the above two organizational forms are often confused to express how advanced the ancient Chinese business organization was, but in fact the connotations of the two are completely different; you must know that no matter it is Lanfang Company, The fourteen companies that make up the "Heshun Alliance" are all "Congsee", not "Company".

As for the "Lanfang Republic" that is unanimously named in another time and space network, whether it was in the 18th century or the 19th century, there was no such name at all.The first person who proposed this term was Luo Xianglin, a scholar during the Republic of China. Luo Xianglin's statement originated from the Dutch Gao Yan in the 19th century, while Gao Yan's statement originated from his comparison of the organizational form of Lanfang Company with the extinction of the company. Federal Republic.

Rather than saying that Lanfang is a "republic", it is better to say that it is a congress party formed by Lanfang's annexation of many small party parties.When there is nothing, everyone digs their own mines and lands; when there is business, they join forces to attack cities and loot the land, or fight the enemy together.

The reason why Luo Xianglin came to this conclusion is based on the background of the times he lives in.After the collapse of imperial power, the Chinese have ushered in an era of true and false republics that has experienced many ups and downs.There are warlords fighting inside, people's livelihood is withering, and there are strong enemies outside, all people of insight are looking for a path that can guide China's future and a system that can make the world a better place.

When Western civilization shrouded East Asia with its hegemony, faced with the status quo of being backward and beaten, the descendants of China can only bury their heads in the ancient books of their ancestors to find their self-esteem.Perhaps it is precisely because of this urgency and hope that Lanfang Company was "republic" and enlarged, becoming the first democratic republic earlier than the United States and France, and thus spread among the Chinese.

The problem is that it was understandable for the Chinese to say and think so 100 years ago, but if they continue to think so in the 21st century, it would really be "boasting".

In addition, regarding Luo Fangbai, known as the "King of Pontianak", Huang Mianshe met each other in Pontianak more than ten years ago.According to Huang Mianshe, this person was a scholar, capable of both literature and martial arts. Although he was a teacher in Pontianak at that time, he was well-known in the local area because of his eloquence, fairness, and often mediating disputes for others.

Hearing Huang Mianshe's words, and thinking about how the other party fought against various forces over the years, Zhao Xin couldn't help but sigh, what kind of talent is this, a ruthless gang boss!

In Huang Mianshe's narration, there are four words that caught Zhao Xin's attention, that is, Luo Fangbai's "rich to the enemy".Rich, capable of both civil and military affairs, and tens of thousands of miners under his command, it is no wonder that he can rule the island of Kalimantan, and even the Dutch and surrounding sultans dare not provoke them.

The question is how long can this power last?No matter how powerful Luo Fangbai is, he is still an old-fashioned hero in his bones, which can be seen from the fact that he makes his subordinates wear the uniforms of the Qing army.In history, with the continuous reduction of gold production in West Kalimantan, Lanfang Company also joined the ranks of opium trafficking.
That is, from this moment, Zhao Xin had the idea of ​​annexing West Borneo.

　The definition of "company" in the Qing Dynasty is the author's personal summary, which cannot be found on the Internet.Regarding the Chinese own Congsee, those who are interested can check the "Ngee Ann Company" in Singapore, which is the only remaining Chinese company in Southeast Asia.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)