The Natuna Islands contain more than 200 large and small islands, with high temperatures and rainfall throughout the year, and tropical rainforests all over the island.

The tropical rainforest is known as the green desert, the land where the rainforest is located is reclaimed and the crop yield is low, and after a few years of cultivation, it will have to give up planting due to serious soil erosion, so although the area of the Natuna Islands is more than 2,000 square kilometers, there is not much land suitable for cultivating crops on the island, and the Han people who have migrated to the island for generations live in the north and south coasts of the island, and the population is only 3,700 after statistics.

It took three or four days for the flotilla to clear the island of scattered forces, while at the same time a hundred engineering units that followed the flotilla were digging land in the western port of the island and setting up temporary camps.

There were about 1,000 Han Chinese young and strong on the main island, and Sun Bin selected 300 people to form a militia force according to the practice in Rio Grande do Sul, with more than 20 soldiers of the fleet serving as grassroots officers responsible for training, and the remaining 700 young men were leveled under the command of Ah Chen to prepare for the construction of a defensive castle in the near future.

The construction project was carried out in full swing for more than 10 days, and with the efforts of more than 1,000 Han Chinese and soldiers, the land leveling work in the western port area was successfully completed, and the housing problem of more than 600 soldiers of the fleet was solved because a number of houses confiscated from the rebels were allocated.

Under the deterrence of the officers and men of the fleet, the patriarchs of the seven Han villages honestly handed over control over the men, women, and children of the villages, so that Sun Bin's orders could be smoothly transmitted to every subordinate village.

In the temporary headquarters of the fleet, in a wooden house confiscated from the head of the rebellious village, Sun Bin summoned Ah Chen, Liang Xing and other main persons in charge of the fleet to discuss the future plan.

"Ladies and gentlemen, according to the pre-planned plan, a large merchant ship consisting of transport ships will arrive in the Natuna Islands in three months, and within these three months we will be responsible for sending people to contact the Chinese scattered throughout the South Seas to obtain as many immigrants as possible."

"Lord Sun, I have a few acquaintances on the Strait Peninsula, through whom I can recruit a group of Chinese immigrants." Liang Xing, a former British colonial businessman, was not surprised by his connections on the Strait Peninsula.

Nodding approvingly to Liang Xing, Sun Bin continued: "The first batch of immigrants is marked as about 10,000 people, there are many Chinese workers in the Strait Peninsula, plus the relationship between the Liang Xing brothers, it should be possible to get thousands of immigrants from there, Kalimantan Island is mixed with Dutch, British, indigenous and Han forces, and I will not consider immigrating from there for the time being, and Thailand and Annam have many Chinese since ancient times, we can send more people to these two regions to obtain immigrants." ”

"Thailand is a stable country, and most of the Chinese immigrants are in the upper class in the local area, so it may not be easy to poach immigrants from Thailand. However, the southern part of Annam is being invaded by the French, the control of the government in the northern region is weak, and the local forces are mixed, and the local Han immigrants have several powerful armed groups, and if they can be recruited for the use of our army, the plan to recruit immigrants will be smoother. Liang Xing suggested.

The situation in Thailand is stable, and there are few anti-Chinese massacres in the local area, many Chinese who immigrate to Thailand are mostly integrated into the local society, and it is indeed difficult for Chinese with a stable life to immigrate to South America with the fleet.

Sun Bin thought about it carefully and said: "There are a lot of Chinese in Thailand, we want to establish a stable immigration channel based on Nanyang, Thailand, a Nanyang country, we can't do without Thailand, the plan to send people to Thailand remains unchanged, as for how many immigrants can be recruited, let's put a team of our people in Thailand first." ”

Sun Bin did not explicitly state the purpose of arranging manpower in the Nanyang region on a large scale, because he learned about this incident from Li Mingyuan not long before his departure, and Li Mingyuan instructed him to secretly develop forces belonging to the National Defense Forces in various parts of Nanyang and to form a complete intelligence network, which would not only serve the upcoming immigration operations, but also be responsible for investigating the local situation in various parts of Nanyang and providing intelligence support for the National Defense Forces' future operations in Nanyang.

Intelligence is the eye of the country's military strategy, and what Sun Bin did in Rio Gran do Sul was to infiltrate the intelligence of countries such as southern Argentina and Brazil, so he did not make a noise after receiving Li Mingyuan's secret mission, and secretly formulated a plan of action for the future during the voyage.

After revealing the matter of Thailand, Sun Bin continued: "There are several armed forces related to the Kingdom of Heaven in the northern region of Annam, and I will bring a group of people to Annam in person in a few days, and during my absence, the Liang Xing brothers will be responsible for everything on the island. ”

"Obey orders." Hearing Sun Bin's arrangement, Liang Xing replied.

"There are two things I want to explain to you before I am away. The first thing is to send people to Kuching in a few days to buy construction materials, and you leave a few foreigners in the fleet in charge of this, and they will do what they are asked to do.

The second thing is to cooperate with the Ah Chen brothers to occupy all the small islands around the Natuna Islands, and select a few large islands to set up outposts to prevent the invasion of other armed forces. ”

"Don't worry, Lord Sun, I will arrange it carefully." Liang Xing listened carefully to Sun Bin's words and replied.

"After staying on Natuna Island for more than ten days, there is not much time left, I will leave for Annam tomorrow with some of my brothers, and I will leave the rest to my brothers."

"Isn't it urgent to leave tomorrow, Lord Sun might as well delay for two days before leaving."

"I can't wait any longer, yesterday I got news from a Chinese businessman that the contradictions between several armed forces in the south and north have intensified, and it is likely that a large-scale conflict will break out in the near future, so I have to rush there as soon as possible."

"The situation in northern Annam is complicated and close to Manchu-ruled Guangxi, so adults should pay attention to safety on the way."

"I'll be careful." Sun Bin nodded and accepted Liang Xing's kindness. ……

The next day, Sun Bin took more than 100 military experts, disguised as Nanyang Chinese merchants, and sailed to the northern region of Annam.

After Sun Bin left, Liang Xing immediately took over the work he had left behind, sending Ah Chen to occupy the surrounding islands with a 600-ton armed merchant ship, and sending more than 30 people led by four Germans to Kuching on the largest armed merchant ship.

Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, was nominally ruled by the white kingdom of the Brooke dynasty, but was in fact a British colony.

When the ship arrived in Kuching, four Germans confronted the local British representative in the name of purchasing supplies, and obtained directly from him a permit to purchase supplies and build a trading station, and the price they paid for this was only a few hundred silver coins.

The meeting was simple and pleasant, and in less than an hour, a few Germans got what they wanted, and then four Germans stayed to chat with the British, while the rest of the Chinese were responsible for buying supplies and goods and choosing the right location to set up a barn in Kuching.