Beiyang Dream

Chapter 74 I finally have my own team!

Arrived at 3 PM on March 1, 1891. Xiao Lanfang Rubber Drying Yard.

The sun was blazing, a blinding white light that made the thin layer of soil on the rubber plantation steam. Chang Desheng stood in the middle of the plantation, sweat pouring down his forehead like it was free. His thin long-sleeved shirt was soaked through, sticking stickily to his back. He cursed inwardly: What the hell is this weather? In his previous life, this would be a red alert for high temperatures, meaning the construction site would have to shut down!

Shang Dequan, Wu Dingyuan, and Kong Qingtang surrounded him, looking like loyal underlings. Luo Jingrou's brother, Luo Xinglan, also stood nearby, beaming with pride, practically shouting: "Emperor William and Li Hongzhang are our empresses!"

Duan Qirui stood a little further away, hands clasped under a row of rubber trees, his expression... as if someone owed him two hundred taels of silver. Chang Desheng squinted, his little calculations already racing in his mind.

The rubber drying field was packed with people. To the left were the Xiaolanfang militia, about 330 or 340 men. This group was quite "uniform," all wearing black coarse cloth short jackets, blue coarse cloth trousers, and straw hats, but that was about it.

Next came a bunch of guys carrying various rifles, all with bare muzzles and no bayonets. Chang Desheng glanced at them and mentally assessed the situation: Well, these guys probably don't know how to fight with bayonets.

The ranks were crooked and disorganized, with no proper formation. The phrase that popped into Chang Desheng's mind was: "Republic of China landlord militia."

On the right was a large group of able-bodied men, probably eight or nine hundred. Most of them were rubber tappers, all very strong and muscular, with tapping knives slung over their waists, clearly just returning from the rubber plantations.

There was another group of about a hundred people, dressed in white shirts or coarse cloth robes, clearly distinguishable from the rubber tappers—these were students of Xiaolanfang Chinese Literature School. Luo Jingrou had said that the school had a seven-year curriculum and employed teachers from the Qing Dynasty and Batavia. In today's terms, the students of this school would be considered true "educated youth."

Chang Desheng did another mental calculation: 340 militiamen, 800-900 able-bodied men, 100 students, roughly 1300 in total. The only ones capable of fighting... probably just those 340 militiamen, and they don't even know how to bayonet.

He turned to look at the row of trees where Duan Qirui was standing—Hessmann and Wolfgang, along with twenty-one German officers, stood in two rows under the trees, all wearing white shirts. Except for the two leaders, they all carried 1888 rifles with bayonets fixed, looking menacing and clearly German elite soldiers... Their presence had to be kept secret, lest that damned Sultan know that Xiao Lanfang had sent his elite soldiers, and he wouldn't dare come to offer his head.

Duan Qirui was also doing accounting, but he was doing accounting for a different set of accounts.

He coldly observed Chang Desheng's "imperial envoy" demeanor, then glanced at the twenty-odd German soldiers... He had seen many German soldiers during his year at the Berlin Military Academy, but compared to the twenty-odd men Chang Desheng had brought... they were a step below. These twenty-odd men were definitely non-commissioned officers, and the two leading them were most likely sergeant majors!

He had a bad feeling: There might really be a Wilhelm II behind this! If Germany is willing to take responsibility… if this was all arranged between Wilhelm II and Li Hongzhang… if I expose this, even if my grandfather, Yunshan Gong, came back to life, he couldn't protect me! He took a deep breath and glanced at Chang Desheng again. Wait, I should observe a little longer.

"Knock knock..."

Suddenly, a drumbeat came from outside the rubber drying yard, making people's ears ring.

Chang Desheng was taken aback and turned to look.

Good heavens, a bunch of upright officials have arrived!

Leading the group were the brothers Zhang Bishi and Luo Zhenxing. Zhang Bishi wore the official robes of a fourth-rank civil official, embroidered with clouds and wild geese on his chest. Luo Zhenxing also wore the robes of a seventh-rank official and carried a long wooden box. Behind them followed three men, all in official robes and wearing red-tasseled straw hats; judging by their insignia, they were all seventh-rank civil officials. Chang Desheng wondered to himself: Who are these people?

Luo Xinglan leaned closer and introduced them in a low voice with a Hakka accent: "Brother Zhenbang, those three are the heads of the Jiang, Que, and Liu families in Pontianak. The tall, thin one is Jiang Qiming, who runs a gold mine in South Barisan and has more than 300 miners under his command. The one next to him is Que Wenyuan, who runs a tin mine in East Wanlu and also has more than 200 people. The last one is Liu Shi'an, our Kapitan of China in Pontianak, who manages more than 800 Chinese merchants in the city and has about 100 patrolmen under his command."

Chang Desheng's eyes lit up.

Goodness, these two are from families with mines, and there's also a Kapitan who oversees the Chinese in Pontianak. They must be incredibly wealthy!

The Jiang family owns gold mines, the Que family owns tin mines, the Luo family grows rubber, and the Liu family manages trade—these are the "Four Great Families" of the Chinese in Pontianak! With these four families joining forces, backed by Zhang Bishi, the richest man in Southeast Asia, as well as Emperor William and myself, great things are on the horizon!

As he was thinking, Luo Zhenxing and Zhang Bishi led the three family heads to the center of the arena and stood in a row with Chang Desheng and Luo Xinglan. The more than a thousand people below all fell silent, staring expectantly at those above.

Luo Zhenxing cleared his throat and started shouting:

"Fellow villagers! Brothers! Today, I, Luo, have some good news to tell you all!"

"Our court in the north hasn't forgotten us! Minister Li, the one who's been selling official positions to Southeast Asia... no, I mean, the one who's been concerned about us Chinese in Southeast Asia, knows we've been bullied by that dog Sultan of Pontianak, so he specially sent Lord Chang to help us!"

He pointed at Chang Desheng: "Lord Chang, the top student of this year's class at the Beiyang Military Academy! A brilliant talent who studied military affairs in Germany! A fifth-rank official, and an inspection commissioner for the Beiyang Army!"

Someone below exclaimed "Wow!"

Luo Zhenxing continued, "Not only did Lord Chang come himself, but he also invited Mr. Hessmann, Mr. Wolfgang, and more than twenty other German dignitaries from Germany!"

He pointed in Hessmann's direction. Hessmann straightened his back and returned a Prussian salute. About twenty German soldiers swiftly and precisely moved in unison.

There was another round of "Wow!" from below.

"Lord Chang even brought us foreign guns and cannons from Germany!"

Luo Zhenxing paused, then raised his voice: "Li Zhongtang is thinking of us! The German foreign powers are helping us! Why would we be afraid of some damned Sultan?!"

"We're not afraid!" A roar erupted from below. The Chinese laborers, who had long been bullied by the Sultan's men, had bloodshot eyes.

With Li Hongzhang and the German foreign tycoon, what is there to be afraid of?

What's so great about Sudan? It's just because it has the Dutch backing it up! Between the Dutch and the Germans, who's more ruthless? Definitely the Germans!

Germany's army is the best in Europe! Even Napoleon III, the king of France, was captured alive. What are the Dutch compared to that?

Now Xiao Lanfang has a foreign backer!

Moreover, not only do they have foreign patrons backing them up, but they also have Li Hongzhang, double insurance!

Chang Desheng, listening nearby, was secretly delighted: "Good, my father-in-law is quite the smooth talker." He'd initially thought he was a tough, heroic figure (misled by Luo Jingrou), but it turns out he's a master of pretense. With Li Hongzhang and Germany involved, he's layering on the coattails. Morale is about to explode! Those three bigwigs will definitely donate money immediately!

Sure enough, Luo Zhenxing saw that the time was right and turned around to take out a precious sword from the wooden box.

The scabbard is made of ebony, with a line of Chinese characters inlaid in gold: "Sword of the Great Commander of Lanfang".

Luo Zhenxing held the sword with both hands, faced Chang Desheng, and said loudly:

"This sword was passed down from my ancestor, Bo Fang, and was the personal sword of the Grand Commander of Lanfang!"

"Today, I, Luo, present this sword to Lord Chang!"

"From this day forward until the defeat of the Sultan of Pontianak, all able-bodied men, militia, and students of Xiaolanfang shall obey the orders of Lord Chang! Lord Chang's command is my command!"

He stepped forward and presented the sword with both hands.

Chang Desheng took a deep breath and accepted it with both hands.

The sword felt heavy in his hand. He gripped the hilt and drew it from its sheath with a "thud".

Sunlight shone on the sword, reflecting a blinding white light. Near the hilt, three small characters were engraved on the blade: Lanfang Kingdom.

Chang Desheng's heart skipped a beat.

He raised his sword high above his head.

Below came another roar like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing down.

Chang Desheng finally turned a new page in the account in his mind.

All right.

My team has finally started operating.

The Luo family has 300 militiamen, plus the Jiang, Que, and Liu families, each of which can contribute at least 100 men, totaling nearly 700 people. Add to that 900 able-bodied men and 100 students, and the total comes to almost 2,000!

By leveraging Li Hongzhang's influence and securing venture capital from the German Emperor, they made a quick buck in Southeast Asia.

Then, marry the "super-rich woman," bring her dowry, and gather a bunch of "Cantonese" underlings from Xiao Lanfang—even if it's only a few dozen or a hundred people, that would be considered the start of a new business!

Then, using the dowry of the "super-rich woman," we can recruit a group of direct subordinates through the connections of our father, older brother, and those bureau chiefs, and put together a "Zhen Battalion." There shouldn't be any problem, right?

This is what they call getting something for nothing! I've seen it all before in the real estate industry in later generations, I've learned it by heart.

At the same time, in Pontianak city, Yoshiwara-cho (a predominantly Japanese-populated area).

The two-story wooden building with white paper lanterns hanging in the Songyelou suddenly received a "big deal" in the middle of the afternoon.

A group of guests dressed in long gowns, wearing melon-shaped hats, and with braids, filed in, led by Yamada Jubei. The first few were about half a head shorter than the average Chinese person, but they all walked with a brisk pace and had sharp eyes.

The owner of Matsuba-ro, a Kyushu ronin with a Jintan mustache and a samurai sword at his waist, named Sato Matsugoro, quickly came out with a few men, forcing a stiff smile and calling out in broken Chinese:

"Welcome! There are plenty of beautiful girls! Abundantly so!"

The group of guests was led by a man in his thirties, wearing round glasses and with a refined appearance. He stepped forward and said in a low voice in fluent, almost undetectable Mandarin:

"Boss, do you have any girls from Kagoshima?"

Sato Matsugoro's eyelids twitched, and he sized up the newcomer, lowering his voice as well:

"All the Kagoshima ones are booked, only a few from Sado Island are left, and they can play the shamisen."

"Not Sado Island," the bespectacled man said, "I want Tsushima Island."

Sato Matsugoro's eyes narrowed, and he turned around, shouting at the ronin guarding the brothel:

"We have a special guest! Our entire restaurant is booked for the day!"

"Hey!" the ronin replied in unison, quickly closing the shop door and hanging up a wooden sign that read "This shop is reserved."

The bespectacled man, Yamazaki Kosaburo, who was using the alias "Chang Zhicheng," finally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to the group of "customers" behind him. Among those "customers," the one truly in charge was a young man not yet twenty years old. He was none other than Uchida Ryohei, the "young master" of the Genyosha brothel. He glanced at the timid Nanyang women standing in the brothel, frowned, and said in a low voice in Japanese:

"Yamazaki-kun, let's get down to business."

"Yes." Yamazaki Kosaburo nodded and led Uchida and his party up to the secret room on the second floor.

That evening, at the Luo family residence, Xiao Lanfang.

Chang Desheng sat in his study, drawing a "Little Lanfang Defense Map" on paper by the light of an oil lamp.

He drew meticulously the diagrams: how to lay barbed wire, where to position machine guns, where to place mortar positions, how to dig communication trenches…

This job has a tight schedule, heavy workload, and high requirements (it'll turn Pontianak upside down), and the budget... well, the budget is quite generous. But the construction team is of very poor quality (just able-bodied militiamen), so they need to be trained from scratch, and we have to be careful with them.

He was working out a crash course when a muffled thud came from outside the window.

Chang Desheng looked up and peered out through the window.

A red firework suddenly exploded in the northern night sky. It lingered for a long time.

He frowned.

Why set off fireworks so late at night?

Almost simultaneously, in the guest room next door.

Haruko had just finished showering and was wearing a silk nightgown, preparing to go to bed. Her personal maid rushed in and whispered:

"Miss, the brothels in Yoshiwara... are setting off fireworks."

Haruko paused.

She walked to the window and pushed it open a crack.

The red firework slowly faded into the night sky.

She stared at the night sky for a long time.

Then he turned to the maid and whispered:

"Understood. You may leave."

The maid withdrew and closed the door.

Haruko walked to the dressing table, sat down, and looked at her gentle and beautiful face in the bronze mirror.

The person in the mirror slowly curved into a very, very gentle smile, and then said in very, very soft Chinese, "Chang-kun, please, please help Qingzi..."

Duan Qirui didn't sleep either.

He sat at the table, writing in a private notebook by the light of an oil lamp.

"On the eleventh day of the first month of the sixteenth year of Guangxu's reign, the weather was clear. At the Xiaolanfang rubber drying yard, Luo Zhenxing bestowed the 'Lanfang Sword' upon Chang Desheng, entrusting him with full authority. Three hundred militiamen, nine hundred able-bodied men, and over one hundred students all obeyed his orders. Twenty-three German soldiers stood in formation, seemingly endorsed by Wilhelm II. The three Kapitans of Jiang, Que, and Liu families were all present, presumably to make donations. Chang Desheng brandished the sword, displaying his arrogance."

After finishing writing, he closed the notebook and locked it in the drawer.

I blew out the oil lamp and lay down on the bed.

In the darkness, he lay with his eyes open, listening to the incessant chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects outside the window.

My mind was in turmoil as I pondered these things.

Chang Desheng, Chang Desheng, what the hell are you playing at?

This time, am I going to get on your boat, or...?

He turned over and closed his eyes.

We'll see.