ps: I recommend a good book for book friends "Reborn in a Primitive Society", the writing is smooth, the content is novel, and it should not be missed!

In late August 1878, the Nanyang intelligence officer sent out to contact the Dutch colonists received news that the Dutch governor was willing to reach a compromise with the Han side on the pirate attack, and that the two sides would not hold each other accountable, and that the Dutch colonists would not support other forces to launch hostile acts against the Han migrant fleets in the future, and at the same time, Mei Dongxing, on behalf of the Han government, recognized the absolute sovereignty of the Netherlands over the East Indies, and that the Han government would restrain the Nanyang forces and their affiliated Taiping forces, and guaranteed that the Dutch would not provoke them. There will be no conflict with the local indigenous people or colonizers.

The Dutch colonists were willing to settle the dispute with the Han in the Nanyang region in a big way, and the rest of the matter about the ransom of the Chinese Kapitan was much easier.

On August 22, after successfully collecting a ransom of 3 million taels from the East Indies, Mei Dongxing, Li Han, and Kirby, a British merchant who had changed his rudder and promised to work for the Han government, set off on a fleet of ironclads purchased from France and three other ironclads to visit the British-controlled Malay Peninsula.

The Malay Peninsula is backed by the Strait of Malacca, the geographical position is superior, in the thirties of the nineteenth century, the British snatched Singapore, Penang and other port cities of the Malay Peninsula from the Dutch, but compared with the British to the coastal port cities of the Malay Peninsula, the inland Kuala Lumpur and other places were not effectively developed until the end of the nineteenth century, before the British directly controlled the inland areas of the Malay Peninsula, including Terengganu, Perlis, Kuala Lumpur and other places were controlled by the local king and the Chinese community forces who mined tin ore.

In the mid-19th century, the Chinese who went to sea in advance to seek a living found a large number of tin ore of good quality and easy to mine in the Malay Peninsula.

The prosperous mining period of tin ore in the Malay Peninsula basically coincided with the surging peasant uprisings in the mainland, and a group of peasant armed forces that failed in the mainland or gangs that were attacked by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing government withdrew from the mainland one after another, and used the armed forces trained in the mainland to defeat the indigenous forces that originally occupied the tin ore resources, and then became the two major armed forces in the Malay Peninsula alongside the indigenous forces in a few decades.

The Malay Peninsula was the sphere of influence of the British, and although most of the area was not directly under British rule, the development of the Taiping Society in the Malay Peninsula was not smooth compared to other regions due to the land threat from the British colonizers to Songkhla and the resistance of the local Chinese in Kapitan.

The Taiping Society has seven sub-rudders, and generally each sub-rudder has seven to eight sub-halls, while the number of subordinate sub-halls of the Malay Peninsula rudder is only five, of which the number of sub-capillaries has reached more than 1,000 people, only Huang Ping is the head of the Xuelanqi rudder, and the other four rudder branches have more than 8 or 900 people, and only 3 or 400 people, so that the overall strength of the Malay Peninsula rudder has a big gap with other rudders.

The Songkhla region in central Malaysia is a Chinese autonomous force supported by the Han State, and at the same time, the large number of Chinese in the Malay Peninsula is also a potential immigration target that the Han government cannot give up, so taking the opportunity of visiting the colonies of the Malay Peninsula, Mei Dongxing and others plan to use the four Chinese in the Malay Peninsula who are willing to cooperate in their hands Kapitan to strengthen the strength of the Malay Peninsula rudder and expand the sphere of influence of the Taiping Society in the Malay Peninsula.

At noon, in Perak, Malay Peninsula, the sky is sunny, hot and windless, and in the tin mining area within a radius of more than ten miles, a group of female workers with red turbans on their heads are mixed with dense Chinese coolies, which is particularly different.

Later, as more and more Chinese forces participated in the tin mining industry, the competition in the tin mining industry became more and more fierce, and at the same time, in order to reduce the operating costs of the mine, the leaders of the Chinese gangs in the tin mining area on the one hand strengthened the exploitation of ordinary Chinese laborers, increased the daily working hours of Chinese workers, and after the Chinese workers completed the prescribed mining tasks, the Chinese leaders in the mining area also introduced opium from the foreigners, and then cooperated with the casinos opened in the mining area. The brothels lured the Chinese workers to smoke opium, gamble, and cheat, and then earned the wages of the Chinese workers back into their hands.

On the other hand, in order to directly reduce the wage expenses of Chinese workers, the gang leaders targeted women and children who followed their families to Nanyang, and they recruited Chinese female workers and underage children at wages far lower than those of adult male Chinese workers, and then arranged for female workers and children to work with adult male Chinese, without reducing the workload of female workers and children because of their meager wages.

The primitive accumulation of capital was bloody, subject to the decaying and declining feudal system of the Manchu government, and the abundant young labor force in the mainland became a burden, and thus caused a large-scale peasant uprising, but the cheap labor in the mainland became a valuable human wealth in the eyes of the Western powers and the Nanyang Chinese gang forces, and the British, the Americans, the Dutch, and even the newly independent Peru of South America all imported a large number of Chinese laborers from the mainland, and then squeezed them out of a large amount of profits like livestock.

The abundant labor force or the demographic dividend has become a bloody interest in other countries, and even the Chinese gang forces in Nanyang have taken the opportunity to earn bloody benefits from their compatriots, and then with the capital they earn, they have completed the change of identity class and become a monopoly comprador class above ordinary Chinese - Kapitan.

Nanyang Kapitan or Nanyang wealthy businessmen, in terms of national feelings, whether it is Kuala Lumpur Kapitan Yalai or Perak Kapitan Zheng Jinggui, they are all cruel gang leaders who oppress their compatriots.

First of all, after being captured, he took the initiative to surrender to Cheng Cheng in Perak, and he directly controlled an area of about 170 li in Perak, and controlled four large and small tin mines in the control area, with an area of more than 400,000 mu of plantations, more than 20 courtyards, casinos, and opium parlors, and nearly 2,000 thugs.

It is the second largest armed force in Perak after the Sultan of Perak.

Nearly 2,000 thugs and gang members are the core force of Zheng Jinggui's control of the Chinese in Perak, and as a strong armed force, no less than 100 Chinese die directly or indirectly at their hands every year.

Of the more than 100 Chinese deaths every day, excluding gang infighting, a small half of the Chinese deaths are counted on Zheng Jinggui and his thugs.

Although Kuala Lumpur Kapitan Yalai had a good reputation in later generations, in the early days of his start-up, he also accumulated capital by opening casinos and opium parlors.

Zheng Jinggui and Yap Yalai had deep influence in the Malay Peninsula, and although their approach did not conform to the philosophy of the Han government, out of the interests of the National Defense Forces in the Nanyang region, Mei Dongxing still accepted Zheng Jinggui's surrender and made Perak the second destination of his visit.

A middle-aged Chinese woman wearing a red headscarf on her head was carrying mud, and she was followed by two twelve or thirteen-year-old child laborers, a man and a woman, who bent over and walked towards the tin mining area.

When Mei Dongxing, accompanied by Zheng Jinggui, entered the tin mining plant, he saw such a scene.

The middle-aged Chinese woman was carrying cement on her back, but when she saw two children who were only twelve or thirteen years old, carrying wooden planks several times the length of their bodies with their thin bodies, Mei Dongxing, who had experienced the hardships of the mines in Australia, couldn't help but feel a surge of anger in her heart: "Your Excellency Zheng Jia Bidan, what's the matter with the two of them?" I hope you can give me an explanation. ”

"This must be a misunderstanding." Zheng Jinggui's net worth was in Mei Dongxing's hands, and when he saw the other party's expression about to get angry, he hurriedly explained, "Master Mei, listen to my explanation,

I have been in Nanyang for 20 years, if you saw child labor in the mines a few years ago, I would never deny it, but since I became Kapitan, Perak, I have 1,000 or 2,000 brothers and four or five tin mines, and I can't afford to hire child laborers in order to save a few dollars, and I have been scolded by my fellow villagers behind my back. ”

After accumulating a fortune or making a fortune in Nanyang, the average Chinese will donate money or set up a hospital to repay the sins committed in the early days of making a fortune, in order to seek their own psychological comfort and accumulate yin virtue for future generations, so according to Zheng Jinggui's status, there is really no need to use child labor to make money.

After temporarily accepting the other party's statement, Mei Dongxing did not pay attention to the other party, but commanded the people around him, and a few minutes later, a middle-aged woman wearing a headscarf and two Chinese children came to Mei Dongxing and the others.

"This lady, the two children are still young, why do they let them do such heavy hard work?"

Mei Dongxing asked with a hint of reproach.

"The old man let the woman explain."

After the middle-aged Chinese woman learned of Mei Dongxing's identity, she said nervously, "The father and mother of these two children just left a few days ago, and they didn't leave anything for the two children.

The mine does not raise idlers, and if the women do not take them to work to make money, the two dolls are afraid that they will not be able to survive here.

The old man, the women heard that the old men of the Han Kingdom are all good people, if you see the two dolls pitiful, so you will accept them as a servant, the two dolls are very sensible, and they will not cause you trouble when they come to you, please be kind enough to take them in, otherwise they will stay in the mine, I don't know when they will follow the back of their father's mother, the women beg you. ”

The middle-aged woman was a little scared at first, but when the two talked, they found that Mei Dongxing was not as indifferent and ruthless as a Manchu official, and gradually, the middle-aged woman let down her guard and took the initiative to ask Mei Dongxing to take in the two children.

"How did their parents die, is there someone who wants to be bad for the two dolls?"

Mei Dongxing frowned and asked seriously.

"The women didn't dare to say it."

The middle-aged woman raised her head and glanced at Zheng Jinggui carefully, and said in fear.

"If the mother-in-law of the Sun family has something to say, in the future, Master Mei will be in charge of everything in the mine, you don't have to be afraid."

The performance of the middle-aged woman could not escape Mei Dongxing's eyes, Zheng Jinggui was worried that Mei Dongxing would misunderstand, and immediately said.

"It's Foreman Zeng, he fell in love with the mother of the two dolls, and six days ago came the news that something had happened to Lord Kapitan.

Foreman Zeng took someone to rob the daughter-in-law of the Ma family, and the big brother Ma went to save people after hearing the news, but was injured by the former foreman, and left the next day without holding on, and then the daughter-in-law of the Ma family was angry, and hanged herself on the mountain behind the shed, leaving only two dolls alone and no one to take care of them, and the women took them with them to take care of. ”

"Mother-in-law Sun, how do you know the news of my accident?"

Zheng Jinggui's face changed and asked.

"Foreman Zeng said that Lord Kapitan committed an accident and was killed at sea by the Han Navy, and he also said that the foreigner master intends to appoint him as the new Kapitan, so let's all listen to him."

"Okay, good, good Zeng Delin, I'm thinking about my family business before I die, if I really die, wouldn't it become his mind."

Zheng Jinggui's heart was furious, thinking of the trust he had placed in him before, the more he thought about it, the more angry he became, and turned his head to Mei Dongxing for instructions, "My lord, there is a thief under the villain, this matter is not for the adult, the villain must give the adult an explanation!" ”

"Brother Zheng is not here these days, your subordinates may have already connected a lot of people, do you want this official to send Brother Huang to support you?"

"Thank you for your kindness, the villain has been in Nanyang for most of his life, and he is not afraid that he will be a junior of Delin, Lord Mei and Lord Huang will wait for a while, and when the villain has dealt with his traitors, he will come and meet the two adults."

"Brother Zheng go first, Brother Huang and I are waiting for you here."

"The villain will retire first."

After Zheng Jinggui finished speaking, he walked towards the center of the mine with dozens of subordinates who were put back.

"My lord, will Zheng Jinggui regret it?"

Huang Ping, the head of the Taiping Society's Selangora Branch, asked.

"No, apart from us, Zheng Jinggui has no strength to rely on."

Mei Dongxing looked at Zheng Jinggui's way away, and said with a smile, "More than a thousand of Zheng Jinggui's subordinates are in our hands, and without these people, he can't suppress other hostile forces, so he can only take refuge in us." ”

After talking about Zheng Jinggui, Mei Dongxing turned his head to look at the two skinny children standing on the side, and smiled, "Which of you two is older?" ”

"I'm my sister, I'm my brother."

The little girl in her shabby clothes, with dirty cement dust sticking to her head, replied quietly.

"Well, what an obedient and good boy."

Mei Dongxing didn't dislike the dust on the two children, stretched out his hand and touched the little girl's head, and then said, "I used to have a child as old as your brother, but he died of a serious illness ten years ago, and now I have no relatives like you, are you willing to treat me as your father and let me take care of you growing up?" ”

Mei Dongxing's attitude towards the two made them a little flattered for a while, and the two children did not speak, but looked at the middle-aged woman beside them.

"Silly boy, call dad quickly, Master Mei will be your father in the future, after following Master Mei, you must honor him well."

"Daddy...... Father. ”

Approved by the middle-aged woman, the two children shouted one after another.

"Good boy, you change clothes with a few uncles first, and I'll take you away later."

Mei Dongxing smiled happily, instructed a few attendants to take the two children away, and then asked the middle-aged woman's opinion, and finally decided to take the middle-aged woman back as well, and she was responsible for taking care of the two children.

After coming out and recognizing the two dolls as his children, Mei Dongxing's mood was much more relaxed, and even Huang Ping next to him couldn't help but recall the situation of going to Nanyang ten years ago when he saw Mei Dongxing's expression.

Ten years ago, Huang Ping took a family to the South Seas, and his daughter Huang Youlan was teased by foreign sailors during the voyage, if Huang Ping hadn't found it early, his daughter might have suffered a catastrophe, ten years ago Huang Youlan and Mei Dongxing recognized the female baby about the same age, at that time Huang Youlan was young, but people were more sensible, and they were very loved by Huang Ping, but four years ago Huang Ping's wife died of illness, and her daughter kept filial piety for three years, so the marriage was delayed, so that her daughter became a twenty-one-year-old girl and had not yet married. Huang Ping couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart.

Huang Youlan was very beautiful when she was young, and she was even more beautiful when she grew up, and she was a famous beauty in the family circle of the Nanyang Defense Army, so seeing Huang Ping's distracted appearance, Mei Dongxing quickly guessed his thoughts.

"Hall Master Huang, according to age, I should call you Brother Huang, your daughter is not young, find a good family to marry."

"Several adults here in Nanyang have already started a family, there is no suitable candidate, and I am also worried about Youlan's marriage."

Huang Ping waved his hand and said helplessly.

"I said Brother Huang, if you don't let Youlan follow Miss Wu back to the mainland, there are a lot of young talents in the locals, maybe Youlan will soon meet the right person when she arrives there, so you don't have to worry about it alone."

"What Master Mei said is reasonable, I'll talk to Youlanshang when I go back." ……