Chapter 654: Politics, Business, and Faith

The Chinese in Pattani are all Muslims.

This is not surprising, the Malay Peninsula and the South Sea Islands were originally Muslim cultural circles. The rise of Islam in Southeast Asia, and the subsequent history of the spread of Roman Catholicism in Southeast Asia, are almost carved out of a mold. The difference is that the former was propagated by Arab merchants during the Song Dynasty in China, while the latter was propagated by Europa colonists during the Ming Dynasty. They have the same footprints and the same goal, that is, spices, silk, porcelain.

Religion and commerce have always been inseparable.

The Malay Peninsula and the Nanyang Islands were the early civilizations of Buddhism and Hinduism, which were spread by merchants from India before the Tang Dynasty in China. Later, whether it was Arab merchants or Europa colonists, they brought religious beliefs that were more organized than Buddhism and Hinduism, and the social productive forces on which they depended were more advanced, and gradually reorganized the human society in this region.

From the 9th to the 16th centuries, through long and bloody efforts, Islam basically established its dominance in the Malay Peninsula and the South Sea Islands. But before it could expand to Luzon, this process was interrupted by Europa, which entered the Age of Discovery. Following the trajectory of Islam, Roman Catholicism reincarnated in this place, and due to the compression of time, the bloodshed became even more severe.

But before it was completed, Portugal, which led the sacred mission of shining the glory of Christ on the whole world, was defeated, Spain also stuck in Luzon, and then the Netherlands, Britain, and Roman Catholicism could not pee a pot, and France became interested in the Southeast Asian subcontinent, which did not sweep away Southeast Asian Islam.

These two waves of faith were the toes of the hind hitting the heels, which gave birth to conflicts that lasted for centuries and did not stop until the time of Li Xi's previous life, such as the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. To put it mildly, China was also the biggest inducement, and the original promoters of these two waves were merchants who trafficked Chinese silk and porcelain to Arabia and Europe.

In both waves, Malacca played an extremely important role, which is naturally related to its strategic location to contain the strait. The rise of the Manraka Kingdom in the 15th century was the first Islamic state in the region. Later, Portugal entered Southeast Asia, conquered Malacca, and turned it into a colonial stronghold. The Dutch occupation of Malacca was more to solve the threat of the Portuguese, and they did not want to weaken the position of Batavia, so they only squatted in Malacca and did not, and the religion of Malacca was able to recover from the devastation of the Portuguese.

For Jia Hao, he has no distractions when he only looks at Islam or even Malacca. At that time, the Manraka Kingdom was particularly deferential to the Ming Dynasty, and Zheng He went to the West, and also took Malacca as the most important transit base, and it is said that there were many docks, city walls, warehouses and government offices in the city of Malacca. Another sultanate, Brunei, the king also died in the state of Zhongjian and was buried in the state of Zhongjian.

When Malacca was captured by the Portuguese, the Kingdom of Manraka also sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty to ask for help, but unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty at that time had long lost the powerful maritime power of the Zheng He era, and could only take the Portuguese envoys as hostages and issue a threat of "breaking tribute" to the other party, which did not play the slightest role.

But when it comes to how China should gain a foothold, and even firmly grasp Malacca, and how to deal with Islam, it has become a fatal question, and it is a dilemma.

At this time, Malacca legally belonged to the Kingdom of Johor, and the Kingdom of Johor was actually the Kingdom of Manraka that lost Malacca. However, because the royal lineage of the Manraka Kingdom was severed in 1699, the prime minister became king, and the kingdom entered the prime minister's dynasty. The Sultan was soon turned into a puppet, and the real power was controlled by the vice-king.

From a wider perspective, the Kingdom of Johor ruled over the southern part of the Malay Peninsula, north of the Strait, and south of the Strait, central Sumatra. To the north of Sumatra, at the exit of the strait, is the Islamic power of Aceh, and the eastern part of Sumatra and the western part of Java are also the Islamic power of Banten. These countries compete with each other for trade interests in the strait, and the Dutch fan the flames and thread the needle, and the situation is extremely complicated.

The Dutch believed in Protestantism and did not have too direct oppression of the locals in terms of religion, and because the Dutch were a bunch of running boats, the most important function of its colonial strongholds was to serve its merchant fleet, so in addition to vigorously suppressing the indigenous forces in the Batavia region, and mercilessly squeezing out the Europa people, while ensuring the smooth sea routes, these sultanates mostly resorted to warfare

The Dutch know that anyone can cross the Strait of Malacca, but no one wants to have it alone. As soon as anyone showed a tendency to dominate the north, south, east and west of the strait, it pushed other Islamic kingdoms to besiege it, and the Kingdom of Aceh north of Sumatra was a clear example.

Now the Anglo-Chinese are moving south, which has caused a great sense of oppression to the Dutch. Originally, its power had been driven out by the Anglo-Chinese from the Spice Islands south of Boni and Luzon and Sulu Islands (in essence, the underlying source network was taken away by the Anglo-Chinese), and a large number of Anglo-Chinese "privateers" were still haunted by the archipelago east of Java.

Originally, relying on the Anglo-Chinese "Foreign Trade Act", the Dutch could still feel the goodwill of this empire that was both young and old, and at the same time growing rapidly, but as the Anglo-Chinese South Ocean Company and the British planned to turn Malacca into a self-inflicted port, the Dutch felt that the blade had pressed against the back of the neck, and the cold air penetrated into the bone marrow.

And the Yinghua launched a large army to launch a clockwise attack, from Japan, Ryukyu, Malacca and Burma, this circle over, the Dutch have pain everywhere, the dog is anxious to jump over the wall, not to mention the sea coachman? In addition to following the Britons and the French to mischief the British and Chinese in Burma, the Dutch were enthusiastically devoting themselves to the work of the Islamic kingdoms near the Strait, so that the countries would list the British and Chinese as enemies of life and death.

The Dutch were already well aware that they could not compete with China in Asia, and this conclusion was previously applicable to the coastal range, and later to most of the South China Seas limited to Eagle Yang Harbor, and after the Battle of Subic Bay, this range was extended to the entire South Seas, and now it is ......estimated that it includes the east of what the Chinese call the "Western Ocean" and the Europeans call the "East Indian Ocean".

If you add the Islamic States in the south, you can still fight with the Chinese countries. The Netherlands, which has tens of thousands of merchant ships, considers itself a strong dragon, but in Asia, it has to bow its head in front of the local snake of China.

But in the Strait of Malacca, Sumatra and the Java Islands, China is a strong dragon and must bow its head in front of these Islamic countries.

So how do you unite these formerly war-fighting Islamic kingdoms?

Religion...... To put it bluntly, the war of religion, as long as the sultans are convinced, once the Chinese people come, they will uproot their faith, tear down their mosques, and fight as infidels without discrimination, and the sultans do not want to unite, and the elders of the kingdom will unite with them.

Perfectly, the Chinese gave the Dutch a perfect pretext in this regard. This new Chinese empire kneaded its ancient tradition of worshipping heaven and worshiping ancestors into a religion, and this religion ran rampant in the South Seas. In Luzon, they suppressed Roman Catholicism and reduced the religious and unrepentant Chinese to slavery, Islam in Sulu was treated in the same way, and the clergy who tried to spread Islam among the natives and even the Chinese were brutally punished. …,

The Dutch's efforts were half fruitful, and the sultans, though wary, were still skeptical. In their eyes, Huaxia is a graceful and generous elder, and when dealing with Huaxia, the gains are far greater than the gains. And people are full of self-confidence, and it is normal that they are not interested in you Europa Cafier, but if they discriminate against our Islam, then it is not normal. The Three Treasure Eunuchs who went to the West back then, as well as many dignitaries around the Three Treasure Eunuchs, all believed in Allah.

The era of the Three Treasure Eunuchs is too ancient, and there are practical examples, such as the Chinese in Pattani, aren't they all Muslims?

Jia Hao naturally didn't want to treat Malacca and Sumatra as the Song Dynasty, Yinghua was busy digesting the newly acquired land, and he was not interested in this land that was already full of people, so he just took a fancy to the strategic location of the West. Therefore, it is impossible for him to use pure force to deter here, and the key to not wanting to oppose all Islamic kingdoms has fallen on the Pattani Chinese.

It seems that Jia Hao's best choice is to respect and maintain the Muslim tradition of the Pattani Chinese, but on the other hand, as he said to Tan Liang, the leader of the Pattani Chinese, the British and Chinese have great expectations for the Pattani Chinese, and the control and stability of Malacca must depend on them, which also means that the Pattani Chinese must break away from the status that is now controlled by the princely state of Pattani and form a separate state.

This is another bigger hidden danger, if the Chinese in Pattani engage in the integration of politics and religion, in this newly established state, are the people still not Chinese, and the state is still not the Chinese siblings?

As a people of a nation, it doesn't matter if you believe in Buddhism, the new Allah or God, as long as you don't get in the way of others. But if this state is governed by religion, it is by no means a part of China, and it is not expected that this state will always stand with China, even if it is connected by blood.

This is Jia Hao's most superficial understanding, although Yinghua has Catholicism, it is also used to consolidate the hearts of the Chinese people, and it has been effective in snatching out the hearts of those Chinese who have been poisoned by Roman Catholicism in Luzon, but after all, it is two lines with national politics, and there is no sect leader and religious enemy.

Faced with these two dilemmas, Jia Hao didn't dwell too much, he just wanted to know now what the Chinese people in Pattani thought.

Tan Liang straightened his waist, this was a thin middle-aged man in his forties, his eyes were cloudy, and he couldn't see the courage to lead two or three thousand Chinese households. But as soon as he opened his mouth, it showed his grasp of the current situation and Jia Hao's intentions.

"Don't blame the Metropolitan Governor, we Pattani Chinese are no different from the Luzon Chinese, and believing in religion is just for self-preservation. In the past, you could believe in self-preservation, but today you can abandon it for self-preservation......"

The origin of the Chinese in Pattani is very clear, they are the subordinates of the great pirate Lin Daoqian [1] during the Jiajing Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Although Pattani is a Siamese territory, just like the tributary Ming of the Manraka Kingdom, it is only a vassal of the alliance and subordination. These Chinese have obtained the permission of the indigenous people of Pattani, and on the condition of believing in Islam, they have lived and multiplied here, and they have become quite large. Jia Hao conquered Luzon, and Tan Liang not only said that the leaders of the Tubang state of Pattani sent troops to follow, but the local Chinese also sent 500 children

Hearing Tan Liang's words, Jia Hao felt a little satisfied, but he continued: "It's easy to believe in one master, but it's difficult to change to other masters, after so many years and so many generations, you can do it in one sentence?" ”

Tan Liang knelt down again and said, "That's why the villain said...... If you want to abandon it, you have to protect yourself. ”

Jia Hao pondered for a moment, his face changed slightly, he somewhat understood what Tan Liang meant, shook his head and said, "I came here to bring you wealth and prosperity, and I came to bring you a future, but I didn't force you to live out." ”

Tan Liang's tone has not changed: "It is easy to share hardships and hardships, and it is difficult to share wealth and prosperity, this saying is used in the conversion of faith, and it is the same reason, the Buddha Governor must have a compassionate heart and rain thunder!" ”

Jia Hao was still a little hesitant, naturally because of the impact on this Islamic region.

Tan Liang said again: "What do I Huaxia people believe, there is still a god on it, this kind of thing, is there any place for other people to point fingers?" ”

Jia Hao gasped and quickly helped him up: "Do you know...... With such a change, the situation of your people in the future will not be good. ”

Tan Liang smiled with tears: "If it doesn't change, my children and grandchildren will be called Mohammed, and even their ancestors will be forgotten!" As for what situation, Buddha Tudu, won't the Celestial Empire stand behind us? ”

Jia Hao nodded again and again: "I led the army here for this!" ”

Tan Liang grabbed Jia Hao's arm: "Then the Buddha Governor should know that in this place, there are not only our Chinese in Pattani, but also tens of thousands of Chinese in Batavia, whose lives are hanging by a thread!" Get them out of here sooner and we'll be able to gain a foothold in Malacca sooner! ”

Then he sneered: "As for those sultanates, they will definitely follow the Dutch to cast lots, but as long as they withstand the first few waves and get rid of the Dutch, we can sit back and watch the sultans fight their own blood!" ”。 ）