Xiao Jianjun thought about it seriously before he said: "In this way, the two warships we customized from Germany, the Qingzhou and the Yizhou, are on the way back, and now they have reached the eastern Indian Ocean, if we dispatch the Kunming ship first, then the time for the two sides to arrive in Java is about the same, it is better to let them converge in the waters around Java as the advance fleet, and Qingdao will organize a mixed fleet, and send another passing warship, Yueyang or Sanya as the core, and then rush there." ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "I think this plan is feasible, so let's do it." However, in order to protect overseas Chinese, it is not enough to send warships, but also to have a part of the combat troops, and when we were protecting overseas Chinese, we brought two battalions of marines, and now the People's Army Navy does not have marines, so we can only draw troops from the army, so this will be a coordinated operation by sea and land, so how many troops the army will dispatch and how to arrange the command and coordination of the entire operation need to be carefully arranged. ”

Xiao Jianjun nodded and said: "I think the army should send at least one regiment of troops, and it does not include the artillery of the regiment, because this overseas Chinese protection operation is likely to clash with the Dutch army and the local natives, and I am afraid that the number of troops is not enough to deter the Dutch colonial authorities; However, the Kunming ship, which was dispatched in advance, could only carry a battalion of troops at most. ”

Xia Bohai said: "One battalion is enough, after all, the advance fleet only plays an intervening role, and as long as it is stationed within the range that the naval guns can protect, let the Kunming ships strike with naval guns if they have no choice." However, it must be an elite force. ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "If it is elite, it happens that the 1st Division and 1st Regiment are in Qingdao now, and I am afraid that Lao Qin will be reluctant to work hard for his son-in-law." ”

When everyone heard this, they all laughed, and Qin Zheng said with a smile: "What is there to be reluctant to, since you are a soldier, you should appear in the most dangerous place, send the 1st division and 1st regiment, I have no opinion, but the climate in Nanyang is hot and diseases breed, and the non-combat attrition will be very large, so we must make medical preparations." ”

Xia Bohai said: "I think that something like this can be solved by Zhang Zhenxun, since he came to ask us to send troops to protect overseas Chinese, of course he should also provide us with some necessary help, and he is a Nanyang man, of course, he is familiar with the local environment, has money and channels, and is fully capable of helping us." ”

Qin Zheng also nodded and said, "This is a solution, and Zhang Zhenxun has opened two shipping companies in Nanyang, and has its own wharf and port, so that it can even provide a place for our fleet to be stationed, refuel, and replenish." ”

Xia Bohai said: "That's better, then it's decided, Lao Xiao, you make a plan immediately, and start preparations immediately, not counting today, you will be given two days at most, at the latest on the morning of the third day, the Kunming ship will leave Qingdao dock and set off, and the follow-up mixed fleet preparation, at most you will have three more days." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "Okay, I will inform the members of the Kunming ship tonight and ask them to come to Qingdao to gather immediately." ”

Xia Bohai said to Qin Zheng again: "Old Qin, you can meet Zhang Zhenxun tomorrow to see how much help he can provide us, and you can take care of the situation by yourself." ”

Qin Zheng said: "Okay, I know what to do?"

Xia Bohai said: "This is an unexpected incident, so all other departments must fully cooperate." ”

The next day, Qin Zheng met with Zhang Zhenxun and first told Zhang Zhenxun that the East China government had decided that it would immediately organize a mixed fleet to go to Java Island to protect overseas Chinese. And the next morning, a warship will be sent to Java.

After Zhang Zhenxun heard this, he couldn't help but be surprised. He crossed the ocean when he was a child, went to Java to make a living, and has been nearly 50 years, starting from an apprentice, and now becoming a rich man on the rich side, the hardships are naturally difficult to describe with pen and ink, but if Zhang Zhenxun wants to say what is the most difficult event to make a living in Nanyang, Zhang Zhenxun will definitely say that it is the "Chinese Exclusion Movement", because an anti-Chinese movement can make a Chinese family's decades of hard work come to naught overnight, or even the family is ruined.

In fact, the Chinese in Nanyang to make a living, from the 13th and 14th centuries, because the Chinese are industrious, intelligent, and master the advanced planting technology, and the climate of Nanyang is hot, the rain is abundant, the land is fertile, and there are also Nanyang specialties are quite popular in China, so the Chinese who make a living in Nanyang can quickly accumulate a lot of wealth, and form a Chinese residential community. Moreover, because the Chinese have a gentle personality, they can basically live in peace with the local aborigines, and the Chinese have brought advanced production technology, which has promoted the social and economic development of Nanyang, and many natives have benefited from it. Although there are also a small number of indigenous people who are jealous of the wealth of the Chinese, after all, they are alone and it is difficult to do much.

But in the 15th and 16th centuries, when European colonists came to Nanyang and established colonies, the situation changed, and the wealth of the Chinese caused the greed of the colonists, and the large number of colonists made the colonists feel fearful. Moreover, the cruel exploitation of the colonies by the colonists also caused the natives to accumulate a lot of resentment, so the colonists often adopted the methods of sowing discord between the Chinese and the aborigines, inciting the aborigines to hate the Chinese, and even plundering the wealth of the Chinese and massacring a large number of Chinese. This can not only resolve the resentment of the aborigines against the colonizers, transfer the hatred of the colonizers to the Chinese, but also cause ethnic antagonism between the aborigines and the Chinese, so that the colonists can divide and rule and maintain their rule over the colonies.

And some of the natives who were interested in the wealth of the Chinese were naturally in the middle of it, and the colonists either provided weapons for the natives or led the team themselves, causing one massacre after another of anti-Chinese massacres. Among them, the most famous are the Chinese massacre in Manila in the Philippines in the 31st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1603) and the Hongxi Massacre in Java in the 5th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1740), in which tens of thousands of Chinese were killed. In addition to these two large-scale anti-Chinese massacres, almost every ten years, there will always be an anti-Chinese incident in Nanyang, but the scale is different.

In fact, at the time of the Chinese massacre in Manila and the Hongxi tragedy, China still had an absolute dominant advantage in Asia, so after the tragedy, the Spanish and Dutch colonial authorities were afraid of retaliation by the Chinese government at that time, so they took the initiative to send envoys to China to justify, but the last two feudal dynasties in China dealt with these two tragedies in almost the same way.

The Wanli Emperor issued an "Edict to the Spanish colonial authorities" to the Spanish colonial authorities, which contained: "Overseas strife is unknown, and the culprit is unknown; and the four Chinese people, the merchant Jia is the most cheap, how can he be the untouchables, and start a military revolution? ”

And Qianlong's attitude towards the Hongxi tragedy was: "The Celestial Dynasty abandoned the people, did not hesitate to carry the tomb of their ancestors, and went abroad to seek profits, and the court did not pay attention to it." Even Chen Yilao, a survivor of the Hongxi tragedy, fled back to Fujian with his belongings and children, but was immediately arrested by the magistrate, and Qianlong attached great importance to it and let the criminal department try it. ”

After entering the 18th and 19th centuries, due to the improvement of the organizational system of the colonies, the number of anti-Chinese incidents decreased. The Hongxi Massacre did not occur as a major anti-Chinese massacre, but it was not completely eradicated, and the anti-Chinese incidents occurred more in the Dutch colonies, and the other colonies were less, because other countries, such as the United States, Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and other countries, either had stronger national strength, and fewer colonies with weak national strength, so they had a stronger ability to control the colonies, and there was no need to stir up contradictions between the Chinese and the natives.

However, the Netherlands' national strength is not strong, but the area of colonies under its control in Asia has reached more than 1.6 million square kilometers, and although the Netherlands has adopted a comprehensive dependence on Britain to ensure the security of its colonies, it is still powerless to control such a vast area of colonies, and can only continue to stir up contradictions between the Chinese and the natives, create anti-Chinese incidents, and ensure its control over the colonies.

Zhang Zhenxun experienced at least three anti-Chinese incidents during his business in Nanyang, but after he became rich, he attached great importance to establishing good relations with the Dutch colonial authorities, and also had enough capital to hire personnel and organize private armed forces to protect his family and industry.

In 1893, Zhang Zhenxun took the initiative to contact the Qing court and assumed the official position of the Qing court, in addition to the plot of his homeland, there was also a very important reason, that is, he hoped that the Qing court could provide protection for overseas Chinese in Nanyang. Because the Qing court experienced more than 30 years of Westernization at that time, it had a bit of a Zhongxing atmosphere, and also established the Beiyang Naval Division, known as the sixth in the world and the first in Asia, so Zhang Zhenxun still had some hopes for the Qing court.

But only a year later, the Qing court was defeated in the First Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Naval Division was annihilated, and Zhongxing became a dream. Moreover, after contact, Zhang Zhenxun also further understood the corruption and incompetence of the Qing court, so he had a very clear understanding of the situation in the Qing court, so although he was an official in the Qing court, he was limited to business and did not care about political affairs.

This time, Zhang Zhenxun was preparing for the Guangdong-Hankou Railway in Guangzhou, and when he received a telegram from Batavia, he learned that there had been another anti-Chinese incident in Java. Although Zhang Zhenxun did not have much hope for the Qing court, he still regarded the dead horse as a live horse doctor, and wanted to find the governor of Guangdong or the governor of Liangguang to inform the Qing court, hoping that the Chun court could at least exert pressure on the Dutch government through diplomatic channels to make the Dutch colonial authorities rein in.