On March 7, 1878, Li Wencai first arrived in Kelantan by boat, met with the commander of the National Defense Forces stationed there, Chen Zongbai, and left Jilan in the morning of the second day and arrived in Songkhla in the afternoon.

Songkhla was established on the southern edge of Songkhla Lake and was one of the earliest destinations for Chinese immigration in the Malay Peninsula.

In 1775, after Wu Rang assumed the position of lord of Songkhla, he implemented a policy of encouraging commerce, and a large number of Nanyang Chinese merchants established commercial bases in Songkhla, reselling rice and timber produced in Annam, Cambodia and other places to the Malay natives, and then buying chili peppers, tin, iron and other mineral resources from the Malay Peninsula to transport them to the mainland, making considerable profits through the transportation price difference in the middle.

The busy commercial trade brought a large amount of tax revenue to the Wu regime, and in the areas controlled by the Wu regime,

When a foreign cargo ship arrives at the wharf, it needs to pay taxes according to the size of the ship and the weight of the goods, and if it is large and carrying a lot of cargo, it must pay five or six hundred silver coins, and the small one is two hundred to three hundred silver coins, and the new Chinese who have just arrived have to pay a silver dollar tax, and the Chinese who have not been naturalized in Songkhla must also pay one silver dollar every year.

After deducting the various financial expenditures, the commercial tax revenue set up in the coastal areas could bring more than 100,000 silver dollars to the Wu regime every year.

The Wu regime handed over a portion of the tax revenue collected to the Thai government every year, and most of the surplus revenue was used to build coastal port facilities, so when Li Wencai looked from the ship to the port of Songkhla, he saw merchant ships lined up one after another.

Getting off the boat, Li Wencai was greeted by Wu Jin's eldest son, Wu Chong, and got on a four-wheeled carriage and drove towards the city lord's mansion.

In the Songkhla City Lord's Mansion, a complex of buildings covering an area of more than 5,000 acres, Li Wencai, accompanied by Wu Chong, met Wu Jin, the contemporary city lord of Songkhla City.

Wu Jinnian is about forty, wearing a set of white Ming-style regular clothes, with an elegant temperament, Li Wencai thought that the other party was a well-educated scholar when he first came into contact.

"I have long heard of General Li's prestige, and today I saw that it was really extraordinary. General Li was able to stay in Songkhla temporarily, but it was a blessing for Wu. ”

Wu Jin smiled and praised.

"The battlefield is famous, and it should not be praised so much by the city lord."

Li Wencai waved his hand, not taking Wu Jin's praise seriously.

"City Lord Wu, Wen Cai came to Songkhla to assist your troops in retraining your troops under the order of Lord Mei, and asked the city lord to introduce the situation of your troops to Wen Cai."

Li Wencai sat down, put aside the tea brought by the waiter, and asked.

"General Li cares about official affairs, and Wu doesn't waste the general's time." Wu Jin saw that Li Wencai had no intention of chatting, waved his hand to send the attendants away, and said to his second son Wu Shi'an, "Shi'an, you come to introduce the situation of the Songkhla troops to General Li." ”

"My son understands." Wu Shi'an saluted Wu Jin and said, "Songkhla governs the land of the eight prefectures, except for Perlis, Terengganu, and Kedah, which are controlled by the British, Kelantan is managed by your army, and the remaining four provinces have a garrison of 1,000, a garrison of 800 in Pattani, a garrison of 1,200 in Taogong, and a garrison of 2,500 in Songkhla. However, only 2,000 of the garrisons of the four provinces obeyed the orders of the city lord's office, and the 500 Thai troops stationed in Songkhla were sent by the Thai government to monitor our troops in Songkhla, and the other garrisons of the three provinces were all composed of local Malays, and their commanders were also local leaders. ”

"So, the City Lord's Mansion can only control two thousand troops?" Li Wencai asked.

"That's true."

Wu Shi'an said with some embarrassment.

"Two thousand will not hurt."

Li Wencai took a sip of tea and said disapprerovitically, "Lord Mei has sent fifty officers from Annam to assist me in training your army, and the commander of the Kelantan garrison, Commander Chen, has also promised to send thirty middle-level officers to my command in a few days.

The National Defense Forces attach great importance to assisting your troops in training their troops, and I believe that the combat effectiveness of your troops will be greatly enhanced after the serious training of more than 80 officers. ”

"The combat effectiveness of the Han National Defense Force is convincing, but the weapons and equipment of the Songkhla army are backward, can General Li send a message to Lord Mei and allow the National Defense Force to sell a batch of your army's standard muskets to equip the Songkhla troops at a low price?"

"There were many merchants in Songkhla in the past, and the tax revenue was large, so the lord of Wu should not lack silver to buy weapons, right?"

Li Wencai said with a smile.

"It is true that there are many merchants and tourists in Songkhla, but most of the merchant ships staying in the port of Songkhla belong to the British, and we are worried about causing dissatisfaction with the British Straits Settlements officials, so we have not dared to tax British merchant ships, so the coastal port taxes in Songkhla have been much worse than before, and the Thai government has continuously increased the proportion of taxes paid by Songkhla, and we have been busy for a year, and the real remaining tax is only 20,000 or 30,000 silver dollars."

Wu Jin explained with a wry smile.

"The sale of weapons to the outside world needs to be approved by His Royal Highness the King of Han, and I will truthfully reflect the difficulties of the city lord of Wu to Lord Mei, as for whether the above agrees to sell weapons to Songkhla at a low price, it is not guaranteed below."

"Wu understands that General Li has been a great favor to Songkhla by being able to pass on the word for Wu, and whether it succeeds or not, Wu will remember General Li's kindness."

Seeing that Li Wencai promised to help facilitate the sale of weapons to Songkhla by the Han Kingdom, Wu Jin said excitedly.

Wu Jin's expression was a little strange in Li Wencai's eyes, but after thinking about it from Wu Jin's point of view, it was easy to understand his mood.

Songkhla is sandwiched between Thailand and the British Straits Settlements, both Thailand and the British Straits Settlements want to annex Songkhla, and do not want to see Songkhla develop and threaten the rule of the two countries in the Malay Peninsula, so the Straits Settlements explicitly prohibit British merchants from selling weapons to Songkhla, while Thailand itself has limited access to weapons from the West, let alone sell weapons to Songkhla.

Under the blockade of weapons between the two countries, the number of weapons and equipment of the Songkhla army has been very low, and most soldiers still use cold weapons such as bows and arrows and long knives as combat equipment, while a small number of muskets purchased at high prices can only be idle in the arsenal as discarded weapons due to improper maintenance, and cannot play their due combat effectiveness.

The old colonists such as Britain, France, and the Netherlands had rich experience in colonial expansion, and the Republic of Lanfang in the East Indies chose to rely on the Dutch to maintain its existence because of the lack of access to advanced weapons, while the Annam and Wu regimes gradually declined due to the blockade of the French and British colonists, and were finally annexed by the colonists.

If Li Mingyuan had chosen to establish a country in South America, he would have faced the joint strangulation of Britain, France, the Netherlands, and even Spain, and it would have been even more difficult for him to develop.

After agreeing to help Wu Jin pass the message, Li Wencai, on behalf of the National Defense Forces, reached an agreement with Wu Jin to transfer Chinese refugees to Songkhla, Kelantan and other places.

"The little girl Wu Lingxuan, the young man is just and Qian, if the little girl is lucky enough to enter the eyes of His Royal Highness the King of Han, Wu is willing to marry the little girl to His Royal Highness the King of Han."

didn't care about his daughter's opinion, and after listening to the meaning conveyed by Li Wencai, Wu Jin immediately agreed.

"His Royal Highness the King of Han is wise and martial, if your daughter can marry His Royal Highness the King of Han as his wife, it will definitely be a good story for a while."

Li Mingyuan has not married a wife since he founded the Chinese state in South America, and if Wu Lingxuan marries Li Mingyuan, it will not only solve the hidden concern of the lack of heirs in the Han Kingdom, but also greatly contribute to the stability of the Songkhla regime.

Li Wencai knows the importance of this matter, and if he can handle this matter well, it will immediately leave an impression on Li Mingyuan's heart, which will be of great benefit to his future development in the Han Kingdom in South America.

Concerned about the reputation of the women who had not left the cabinet, Li Wencai sent several Chinese women who came with him to meet Wu Lingxuan with a cabinet camera, planning to send the photos they took back to the Han Kingdom in South America and hand them over to Li Mingyuan for viewing.