gnovel Chapter 55 A Spider Web Cannot Confine a Lion
Chapter 55 A Spider Web Cannot Confine a Lion
Chapter 55 A Spider Web Cannot Confine a Lion
Burnham sensed Bod's pain, a pain he was already used to. He simply sighed, "Since we can't resist, let's enjoy it. Let's enjoy the might of the Han together—"
"I want to remind you again seriously: do not think about eliminating so-called threatening Chinese people, as that could result in the most severe retaliation."
More news has come out of Manila.
"Because the governor of Manila did not surrender before the siege, the Han army executed all adult white men in the city after the city was breached."
"All white boys were castrated, and all white women were given as slaves to the militia who were fighting in the war."
"Including the governor and bishops of the Philippines, as well as all the noble officers and merchants."
"In the eyes of the Han people, we Europeans are no different from the savages in the jungle. They will not care about our identity and will treat us all the same."
"Intramuros in Manila was at least a fortress, but it only lasted for less than ten days before it was breached by the Han army."
"Given such an absolute disparity in power, even fortresses have become meaningless."
As Bode listened to Burnham's account, mainly about how all the European nobles and bishops had been killed, he genuinely felt a sense of fear.
After a long silence, Bode thought of something else: "What about the agreement between the Netherlands and Britain?"
"The Treaty of London in 1825 stipulated that each of us would control one side of the Strait of Malacca and neither of us would occupy a colony on the other side, nor would we hand over any existing colony to any other country."
"The Great Han could conquer Borneo at any time, and may even further seize Sumatra."
"The key point is that the Han will not care about our agreement and may simultaneously occupy the land on both sides of the Strait of Malacca."
"Many of the princely states on the Malay Peninsula were originally vassals of the Celestial Empire."
"Now that the Han army has gone down to Southeast Asia, they are very likely to submit directly, and the Han can easily control both sides of the Taiwan Strait."
Burnham smiled wryly and said, "The premise of our treaty was that the Celestial Empire in the north had no interest in the East Indies."
"Once the Celestial Empire shows interest, our agreement will be meaningless."
"The other countries mentioned in our agreement are, by default, other European countries, such as Spain, Portugal, and even France, etc."
"The Great Han was never within the scope of our agreement, because neither of us combined has the ability to restrict what the Great Han can do."
"Just as a spider web can catch a fly, it can never catch a lion."
Bode fell completely silent, and finally slowly realized something, something that Burnham had said before.
Europeans were able to occupy the South Pacific islands simply because their rightful owners were not interested in the area.
Only Europeans, with their relatively weaker strength, were able to slowly erode and control the land and its inhabitants.
European control over the East Indies was like a spider web, only able to control the small, weak local princely states, which were like flies.
But the Celestial Empire is like a lion, capable of blowing apart a seemingly perfect spider web in one breath.
So now it's meaningless for me to do anything.
We can only pray that the Han Chinese will have a little more patience and choose to slowly devour the entire Southeast Asia, bite by bite.
Instead of directly attacking their core strongholds, such as Singapore and Batavia.
At least not until I step down as governor, do not attack.
The people who knew best what the Han Dynasty might be planning were the Chinese immigrants in Southeast Asia.
However, the Chinese community in Southeast Asia was not a unified entity; it could be further divided into many factions.
The most numerous are various hometown associations formed based on ancestral origins.
The very famous Lanfang Company was originally the Jiaying Prefecture Association.
Later, Chinese immigrants from other places were allowed to join, but the company president and management could still only be from Jiaying.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
This rule limited the size of Lanfang Company.
However, Lanfang Company directly manages tens of thousands of Chinese, and nearly 100,000 indigenous people also live within its sphere of influence.
This is already considered large among these organizations.
There are dozens of other organizations that are similar in structure to Lanfang, but smaller in scale.
Besides hometown associations, there were also Hakka organizations, organizations of the Heaven and Earth Society, and organizations of Qing Dynasty loyalists.
When the Han Dynasty unified the world, a large number of people who were unwilling to submit fled to Southeast Asia with their queues (traditional Manchu hairstyle).
The most typical characteristic of Qing Dynasty loyalists is their queue (braid), which is why Liu Yulong specifically mentioned the queue.
When the army went to Southeast Asia, they could kill any Chinese people who wore queues.
Most of these Chinese communities were originally semi-independent. Some accepted official titles conferred by the indigenous monarchs of Brunei and other countries, while others accepted official titles appointed by the Dutch and paid taxes to them.
The total number of Chinese people from various sources is currently difficult to accurately count, but it is estimated to be at least 200,000, and possibly as many as 500,000.
Most Chinese people who are very familiar with Central Plains culture know what the imperial court might be doing.
After receiving the notification, I naturally began to make the corresponding preparations.
By mid-October of the first year of the Han Chang era, the rainfall in Borneo had finally thinned out somewhat.
The Chinese community felt that the time was approaching.
On the morning of October 15th of the first year of the Han Chang era, at the current headquarters of Lanfang Company, Dongwan Road.
Liu Tai-er, the "General Manager" of Lanfang Company, convened the company's core managers to discuss how to respond to Da Han's demands.
Liu Tai'er looked around at his fellow villagers and said with a solemn expression, "These past few days, the rain has gradually decreased, and the Han army should arrive soon."
"We need to make a decision as soon as possible—"
Gu Liu, who was sitting at the second seat below Liu Tai, immediately stood up and looked around at the crowd with a fierce expression, saying, "What's the point of making a decision about this kind of thing?"
"The Han Dynasty had already unified the world long ago, and the grass on the graves of the Qing Dynasty emperors is already three feet tall."
"Does anyone still want to revive the Qing Dynasty?"
"When the imperial edict of the Great Han was delivered, all the Dutch fled and hid in Batavia."
"These Western barbarians dared not confront the Han army head-on."
"Borneo will soon be the territory of the Han Dynasty, and we Han people should directly submit to it."
As Gu Liu said, the answer to this kind of question should be very simple.
Most of the others echoed Gu Liu's words, while also mocking the cowardice of the Dutch.
However, the fact that someone has specifically brought this up for discussion indicates that there must be other issues involved.
At this moment, Xie Mingquan, a junior whom Liu Tai'er valued highly, spoke up: "When the first Minister Luo Fangbo was alive, he once sent people to Beijing to pay tribute to the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and request to become a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty."
"Although he was not officially honored afterward, this matter became a deep-seated grudge for him."
"Before his death, Luo Fangbo instructed us that no matter what position we held in the future as Chief of Staff, our loyalty to the Qing Dynasty must never waver."
"Now that the Han Dynasty has destroyed the Qing Dynasty, they should be our enemies—"
"That is precisely why we have never taken the initiative to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty and become its subjects."
This is indeed a problem. Luo Fangbo, the actual founder of Lanfang Company, did indeed do these things.
Gu Liu was astonished after hearing this: "No way, there really is someone trying to summon the spirit of the Qing Dynasty!"
"At that time, Luo Fangbo asked Emperor Qianlong for a title, but he just wanted to find a powerful backer."
"To put it bluntly, it's just a big show, using the Qing Dynasty to scare the Westerners and natives here."
"But just after Luo Fangbo passed away, the current Emperor Taizu launched an uprising."
"If Old Master Luo had lived a few more years, he would definitely have made us submit to the Han Dynasty."
The others around him nodded in agreement, once again nodding and clamoring in agreement with Gu Liu's words.
Sitting atop the table, Liu Tai'er tapped the armrest to quiet the room slightly before continuing, "No matter what, submitting to the Qing Dynasty was ultimately Luo Fangbo's last wish—"
"But more importantly right now, the Han Dynasty doesn't want us to be vassals, but rather to be organized into a militia."
"They might even send us to Batavia to fight the Dutch."
"As long as there is a war, people will definitely die. How many people will die before we are done?"
"Is the imperial court deliberately exploiting us, the abandoned people of the Celestial Empire?"
"These are all methods of weakening regional power that are often mentioned in storytelling; we must be wary of them!"
The immigrants from Southeast Asia were regarded as abandoned people by Emperor Qianlong, who was unwilling to get involved and instead allowed or even isolated foreigners to eliminate these abandoned people from overseas.
Many people still worry about similar things, fearing that the Han will use them as expendable resources and cannon fodder.
After hearing these words, Gu Liu shrugged and said, "So what if we're organized into a militia? So what if we go to fight the Dutch?"
"The Han Dynasty has already eliminated the Spanish, so it's normal for them to eliminate the Dutch next."
"Only after we clear out these Westerners can Southeast Asia become our territory."
"The news of what happened in Luzon has already spread, and the court doesn't need people like us to go to the front lines."
"We need to manage the local people and drive them to do odd jobs. This job is not dangerous."
"In the past, we always thought that the imperial court would go to Southeast Asia to support us."
"Now that the imperial court has really come and is going to kill the foreigners and support us, why are you hesitating again?"
"Liu Lao Er, do you really want to declare yourself king and act as a regional warlord?"
Liu Tai'er seemed to have run out of things to say after the debate. He gave Xie Mingquan a look and helplessly raised his hand.
At this moment, Xie Mingquan sighed and said, "There are no outsiders here, so let's speak frankly about some things."
"The main problem is that the Han Dynasty government interfered too much."
"Establishing prefectures, counties, and districts is one thing, but the military headquarters and militia commanders really have to manage everything."
"The key point is that we may not necessarily appoint one of our own people as commander; it should be an official appointed by the government."
"After the imperial court arrives, we won't be as carefree anymore."
"To be honest, everyone thinks that the current situation is the best possible one."
"The imperial court only needs to occupy Luzon—"
Gu Liu laughed when he heard this: "There are no such things in this world that can have the best of both worlds."
"We still have time to prepare, but the immigrants in Luzon don't even have a choice."
"The Han Dynasty is definitely coming. Are we going to resist them under the banner of the Qing Dynasty?"
"Can we hold them off? The whole of Luzon only lasted a few months!"
Liu Tai-er is the current Chief of Staff, and Hsieh Ming-chuan is Liu Tai-er's recommended candidate for the next Chief of Staff.
One is the current leader, and the other has the potential to become the future leader.
Both of them wanted to continue being the big brother, not a militia commander, not to mention that there might not even be a commander.
When the Celestial Empire did not intervene in Southeast Asia, these Southeast Asian Chinese people all hoped that the Celestial Empire would intervene.
They could then leverage the prestige of the Celestial Empire to fight against the local natives and Europeans.
However, when the Celestial Empire actually intervened in Southeast Asia, they felt that it was best for the Celestial Empire not to come.
The Celestial Empire is interfering too much; once the Celestial Empire arrives, they can no longer be local tyrants.