"As long as you move fast enough, go ashore at the dock and go straight to the governor's palace to catch the governor, and then force him to give the order to surrender, you can quickly break up the more than 60,000 British troops (780,000 including the navy before)." , Deng Shichang's idea is too subjective, Liu Buyun was noncommittal after hearing it, so Deng Shichang said the plan when the situation is not so ideal, "Even if you fail to catch the British governor or many British troops refuse to accept the order to surrender, then it doesn't matter, it is still no problem for our people to control the communication route to the naval base, as long as the machine gun fire is fully utilized, it is impossible for the British army to recapture the naval base, and as long as the naval base is in hand"

Liu Buyun's eyes lit up when he heard this, and then Deng Shichang's words continued, "As long as the naval base is controlled in our hands, domestic reinforcements can go ashore directly, and there can be 20,000 or 30,000 people at a time, which is enough to sweep away the remnants of the enemy in Singapore, which can save at least two or three months compared to the original plan." Although the casualties of this plan will be much larger than the original one, the extra two or three months will allow us to take the full initiative in the future decisive battle, even if it is the cost of hundreds, or even thousands, of casualties, it is completely worth it! ”

"There are a large number of Chinese in Singapore, and we can mobilize local Chinese widely, even if they can't participate in the battle, they can also share a lot of auxiliary work to save the physical strength of the officers and soldiers." , Zhou Chunyu added, but saw that the expressions of Liu Buchan, Deng Shichang and other senior generals of the Beiyang Navy Division had changed.

Liu Buyun was silent for a while before he spoke again, "This is a good idea, but not all the Chinese there are of the same mind as us, and it is even possible, not possible, that someone will definitely be careful for the British."

"Huh?" , Li Hui couldn't help but be surprised after seeing Zhou Chunyu's relay on the message board, but he soon understood that this was still a matter of interests in the final analysis

Like other colonists, the British colonization of Malaya also had the problem of insufficient manpower, and in most cases, it was good that a limited number of colonists could meet the needs of the colonial agencies and the army and police for officers, and there was no surplus strength to develop Malaya. In Malaya, the British controlled the "state" apparatus to ensure their own dominance, while the Chinese became the main force in the development of Malaya with the support of the colonial government, although they needed to hand over the bulk of their earnings to the British in the form of taxes and bribes, but they could still earn a little hard-earned money, especially those who were stronger Chinese businessmen were often able to become intermediaries between Britain and China, and obtain huge benefits from them, in fact, forming a symbiotic relationship similar to that.

Moreover, unlike the Dutch and the Spaniards, the British colonists were more self-confident, rarely resorted to direct slaughter to harvest the wealth of the Chinese, were much more good-looking, and had more sophisticated means of domesticating the colonial elite, so this symbiotic relationship that prevailed in the South Seas was particularly strong in Malaya.

"Although the compradors of the British are not strictly speaking, they are basically the heads of big families, and the Chinese who come to Nanyang to work hard are centered on those big families, so the power they can control is very large. Although we have the same ethnic identity, driving out the British is tantamount to cutting off their financial routes", Liu Buyun said this, Zhou Chunyu completely understood, and Li Hui, who saw this through his relay, also understood, he finally realized that his predetermined policy towards the overseas Chinese in Nanyang was too naïve, and it was necessary to make corrections according to the actual situation.

And Liu Buyun's words are not finished, "Those Chinese (overseas Chinese) born in China have a strong sense of belonging to China, and may be biased towards China based on national feelings, and those second- and third-generation Chinese born and raised in Malaya can hardly be expected to help China rather than harm their own interests." ”

"Yes, I also visited Singapore when I was in the old Beiyang, and the enthusiasm is basically the first generation of Chinese, and the second generation of Chinese except for those who are not old and come with their elders, they are all very realistic, especially those who have received English education in the so-called 'Baba 'Baba '." , Deng Shichang also recalled the scene at that time, his face was not very good-looking, and after seeing Zhou Chunyu's retelling, Li Hui immediately remembered a noun "Strait Chinese", and his face gradually became solemn.

In addition to interests, there is another issue that cannot be ignored, "Not to mention that the prestige that the British have formed for a long time is not so easy to eliminate, even if the Chinese in Singapore are willing to help us, before we can confirm that we have the ability to defend Singapore, I am afraid they will not easily risk their own lives, especially those big families." ”

"This point is easy to solve, as long as we can occupy Singapore, the smart people in it can understand our strength, and when the decisive battle is won and the British are forced to sue for peace, as long as they are not stupid, they should understand who is the boss of Nanyang in the future", Zhou Chunyu, or Li Hui is not very worried about this, but Liu Buyun pointed out that it is easy to establish power, but it is not possible to give the Nanyang Chinese enough security to do it overnight, which makes Li Hui fall into deep thought again.

However, the most troublesome thing is the problem of interests, and it is not difficult to think of this solution, which is to find a new and more profitable way for the Nanyang Chinese businessmen to replace the previous comprador route, but Li Hui cannot do that at all, because the cost of buying is too high.

"The Chinese merchants in Nanyang are too rich, and if they want to be satisfied, the new way of wealth will require at least tens of millions of taels of silver a year. It's not that I don't have absolutely nothing, the question is why do I give them so much money? How much do these guys contribute to the country? Wouldn't it be better for me to use so much money at home? Li Hui just gave up the plan to buy after just thinking about it, even if he really wanted to buy, he would only buy the lower class, because the lower class people are easy to satisfy, and a little benefit can make them grateful, and the lower class people are all laborers, and the previous investment can be recovered through various means such as taxation sooner or later, which is different from giving it to those rich people.

"Actually, this is the same as land reform." After thinking about this, Li Hui no longer has a headache, and everything is based on the analogy of land reform. Due to the lack of cadres, the land reform cannot be implemented nationwide, but it is still possible to solve those who occupy too much land, exploit too harshly, or hurt nature and reason, and the same idea can be used to deal with the upper-class Chinese in Singapore!

After Li Hui said his thoughts through Zhou Chunyu's mouth, Liu Buyun and Deng Shichang couldn't help but smile at each other, and they already knew how to do it (to be continued. )