There are 20,000 or 30,000 Chinese in the area of East Wanlu (Pontianak), hundreds of thousands of natives, and there is a gold belt of dozens of kilometers from north to south, and the coastal port is also the largest port in western Borneo.

With the port-derived towns and coolie laborers with a population of tens of thousands, there are all kinds of large and small wooden houses and brick houses, dotted with green and long-leaved trees unique to the South Seas, which is quite exotic.

In the center of the town, there is a simple council hall with a low wall lintel, and there are three characters under the eaves. It's just that around the Zhongyi Hall today, there are southern sailors with bayonets shining blue and white checkered uniforms, and the Chinese in the town are still curious to come out to see the lively, swarthy natives, who have long been cowered in simple wooden houses and dare not come out, because almost every time in Borneo various forces compete, the natives are inevitably killed, and they also have the consciousness of inferior people, knowing when not to resist, waiting to be enslaved by the new winning forces.

In the Zhongyi Hall, there are seven or eight people sitting, the main seat Ma Dayong chews the unique mountain betel nut in the rainforest, which is a specialty of the Chinese, and the bamboo chairs lined up with goose wings on both sides sit several leaders of the Lanfang Company headed by Liu Asheng, the eldest brother of the Lanfang Company, in addition to Zhang Jinxiang, the head of the Manhe Company and Jiang Bocai, the head of the Santiaogou Company, who just heard the news from the north and south.

With the encroachment of the Dutch on the southern part of Borneo, in the area of West Borneo, there were only three of the more than a dozen Chinese companies that once existed, and this was because the power of the Southern Dynasties gradually spread to the South Seas, which more or less affected the pace of the Dutch, and was somewhat slow. In the northern part of Sarawak, there are still Chinese groups, but they are extremely far away, and it will not take a few days to get the message.

In fact, the headquarters of the Lanfang Company is located in Jinhu, the center of the mountain, a few miles away, and it is said that the mansion is still gorgeous.

And Ma Dayong, an armed employee of Dagang Company, saw it for the first time, but it was really fresh, and it turned out to be a uniform that was almost the same as the style of Beiguo Bingyong.

Obviously, in any case, when these Chinese companies fought against the Dutch, there was still more or less hope in their hearts, hoping that the deterrence of the mother country would make the Dutch more restrained.

At the beginning of the establishment of Lanfang Company, it had a collision with the forces of the Heaven and Earth Society, and the companies such as Manhe and Santiaogou formed an alliance of fourteen companies to fight against the Heaven and Earth Society, and finally caused the forces of the Heaven and Earth Society to collapse, of course, the members of the Heaven and Earth Society who fell here were not organizations holding the slogan of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty, and the contradictions and conflicts of these Chinese associations were only for interests and survival.

The alliance between Lanfang Company and these dozen companies is also extremely discordant, for example, the Dagang Company, which it helped the Dutch to exterminate not long ago, is one of the 14 company alliances, in fact, Dagang is also at odds with Manhe, Santiaogou and other companies.

In short, the relationship between these Chinese communities is complicated, and Ma Dayong knows something about it.

Liu Asheng has a delicate face, but his skin is dark and swarthy, and he looks older than his actual age, he arched his hand and said: "General, the heavenly soldiers are here, it is really the luck of our wanderers, from now on, I Lanfang will definitely saddle the horse before and after, serve the general, and share the worries of the country!" "When he said that he was sharing the worries of the country, he got up and bowed his hand to the north.

The Korean fleet overturned the Dutch fleet? And captured two or three hundred red-haired devils? Hearing the news, Liu Asheng almost couldn't believe his ears, and when he hurried to the port, he saw the majestic fleet fluttering the unicorn flag on the sea, and then saw the red-haired ghosts who were hung down and circled together, those arrogant white people, and the roosters who were defeated at the moment were squatting or sitting, picking up the cigarette rolls thrown by the Chinese riflemen, Liu Asheng's eyes were straight.

Lan Fang Company and the Dutch are very close, at this time it is natural to quickly draw a line with it, whether it is sincere or false, this season can not be hostile to the Southern Dynasties, the Southern Infantry Musket Team has entered the city one after another, see that the fast gun is really not bluffing, not to mention that the naval battle can be bargained from the Dutch.

Zhang Jinxiang and Jiang Bocai's faces lit up, but they can find the backbone, these words, the Dutch are very tight on the two companies of Manhe and Santiaogou, and there are already rumors that the Dutch are ready to ban these two companies, and both of them are helpless, but it happens that Nanguo and the Netherlands are at war.

"General, we will definitely serve the general!" Zhang Jinxiang and Jiang Bocai both swore with swear on their faces.

Ma Dayong smiled slightly, then got up, bowed his hand to the north, and said: "The regent decrees that this official authorizes the formation of the Nanyang Company. ”

The Chinese businessmen in the hall all stood up.

Ma Dayong made another gesture to sit down, and then sat down by himself, and said: "This official is not a businessman, but the regent and his old man have seen thousands of miles, and he has already issued an edict to ask the official to help you, support you, and ask you to cooperate sincerely, establish a Nanyang company, manage the trade and trade in Borneo, and provide convenience for the merchants of our southern country. ”

He added: "Of course, this is a later story, and now I hope that everyone will support it, so that my sailor can gain a foothold in Borneo." ”

Liu Asheng, Zhang Jinxiang, Jiang Bocai, you look at me, I look at you, I can't believe it, what I was most worried about was the dissolution of various companies by force, under the Heavenly Empire, how can there be a reason for the existence of private armed self-proclaimed officials?

But now, they were overjoyed that the Southern Dynasties were ready to support their inherent position and interests in the South Seas.

Ma Dayong looked at them, his heart was slightly bright, and said: "In short, I promise you that unless my navy is wiped out in this vast sea, there is a ship, and you will never be oppressed by the red-haired ghost again. ”

Liu Asheng and the others were extremely surprised, they were indeed worried that this war had no beginning and no end, and in the end, the Southern Dynasty sailors still had to leave Borneo, and the Dutch made a comeback, then their situation would be miserable, who knew that the regent seemed to have expected their worries for a long time, and promised to make a golden statement early.

"The prince is wise!" Liu Asheng and a few people bowed down together, and this reassuring pill was finally eaten.

What I have to do now is how to help the Southern Dynasty Navy Division defeat the red-haired ghost, I heard that the Southern Dynasty ironclad ship is brave and invincible, far superior to the giant ship with a red-haired three-masted three-layer deck, although I don't know the authenticity, but several people are suddenly a little excited, and they want to see the demeanor of the Southern Dynasty Navy Division at sea.

…… In a lounge of Xiyin Academy, Ye Zhao was sipping coffee with a smile.

Opposite the marble coffee table, sat Hilton, the British Consul General in Nanjing, a very old-fashioned and rigorous British, from an aristocratic background, and the crutch inlaid with gems and engraved by the previous British king also showed his identity.

Pontianak was very close to Sinjiapo, and on the fifth day after the end of the Battle of Pontianak, Hilton received a telegram, as well as a diplomatic letter from the Chinese about the conflict between his sailors and the Dutch fleet in the South Seas. The Earl of Canning exchanged telegrams for two days, and on the seventh day, Hilton came to visit Ye Zhao, and Ye Zhao was also waiting for him.

The area around Nanyang and Xinjiapo, known as the Straits Settlements by the British, was assigned to British India in the past two years and was administered by the Viceroy of India.

Inspector General of India? The Earl of Canning, who was not very aware of the situation and intentions of the Chinese, exchanged more than 100 telegrams with Hilton, made inquiries, and at the same time ordered the Chinese Sea Fleet under the East India Fleet to enter the waters of the East Indies and cruise between New Jiapo and Brunei.

In the telegram, for the sake of the interests of British merchants in southern China, Hilton also objectively expounded the contradiction between the South China political axe and the Dutch Batavia political axe, believing that it was the Dutch tariff monopoly policy in the East Indies that triggered the conflict, and according to various indications, it was very likely that the Dutch fleet was the first to open fire.

However, the Chinese's ambitions for Borneo are obvious, but only a China that has gradually developed an industrial and commercial base, and it is no longer something that a few gunboats can easily deal with, angering the Chinese, and the large loans they have obtained in the London market are afraid that they will be lost, which will inevitably harm the interests of British investors. What's more, China has a vast land and resources, and if it wants to fight with it, even if it destroys its sailors and trade circles, the domestic economy will not immediately go bankrupt, but will set up an extremely unstable enemy in the Far East.

100,000 infantry, almost all of the British island's permanent troops, which means that the war with the Chinese will be a real contest between countries, not the conquest of colonies.

The Earl of Canning inquired about the cost of supporting North China to overthrow the southern regimes, to which Hilton replied that North China officials were more barbaric and unpredictable, and that it was clearly unwise to spend a lot of pounds and soldiers' lives in a war that did not know where it would lead the Far East.

Of course, the discussion of the cost of war with China in the telegram between the two men is only a secret private exchange, a worst-case scenario, and does not mean that the two have any intention of going to war with the Chinese.

It's just that the Sino-Dutch conflict in the East Indies has made this sea full of unclear surnames, what exactly are the intentions of the Chinese? Could it be that after the wings were fuller, they began to take an aggressive maritime policy, and what if they demanded the return of Hong Kong Island?

These are the questions that the two of them discussed.

In fact, now that Britain and France have begun to compete with Portugal, the traditional colonial power in Africa, for their interests in Africa, they really have no time to take care of the Far East, let alone fight a large-scale war in the Far East.

Based on his observations, Hilton assured that the Chinese were in awe of Britain and would not challenge the interests of the British, and also pointed out that the time should give some degree of support to the political axe of North China, but it should not support its comprehensive seizure of power in China, and a divided China is obviously more in line with British interests in the Far East.

(To be continued)