Chapter 248: The Pattani Suppression Operation

After the fleet left Pattani, it called at Hoi An harbor, and from there on, it was smooth sailing all the way.

It proved the saying, "Dignity exists only at the edge of the sword, and truth only within the range of a cannon."

There really was a Nan'ao garrison near Hoi An harbor — the Cape of Good Hope and two hundred marines were stationed there.

Lin Qian said, "Have you recorded it all?"

"All recorded."

Ran Qiu blew the ink dry and sorted the manuscripts. She had written over a hundred sheets, and stacked together they were as thick as a small book.

Lin Qian said, "Keep this document safe. It will be of great use in the future."

Zhong Aqi was dumbfounded.

Based on his descriptions, Lin Qian ranked the good and bad actors encountered along the way.

The bad ones, from worst to least, were: Pattani, Siam, Aceh, Toungoo, the Mughals, Portugal, and the Netherlands.

The good ones, from best to least: England.

England's help to Zhong Aqi was certainly motivated by its own interests.

As Viktor had said, the English East India Company and Lin Qian shared common interests in Cochinchina and Southeast Asia.

But no matter how one looked at it, help was help, and Lin Qian remembered the debt of gratitude.

He said to Geng Wu, "Send word to the Guard Bureau and the merchant convoy: when the English purchase goods in the future, give them favorable terms as appropriate."

As for the bad actors encountered along the way...

Most were powerful local powers with strong national strength. Given Nan'ao's current strength, forcibly campaigning against them would hardly be worth the cost.

Yet among all these great powers, there was one tiny little country that was also strutting about in borrowed plumes, yapping like a wolf-pig.

What was the logic in that?

Did they think their lives were too long?

As it happened, this small country was a port nation with a natural deep-water harbor, shallow territorial depth, weak military forces, wealthy people, and developed agriculture — capable of supplying the grain that Fujian and Guangdong desperately needed.

The Naval Staff Department had been eyeing this small country for a long time.

At the thought, Lin Qian couldn't help but chuckle. Did that small country really think that acknowledging Siam as its suzerain meant it had nothing to worry about?

With that thought, Lin Qian rose and said, "Come, let's go to the Naval Staff Department. Zhong Aqi, you come too."

Early July.

The Nan'ao Government Affairs Hall officially released the Guangdong Flood Economic Recovery Plan.

The plan called for a total investment of five hundred thousand taels of silver.

Aside from the routine repair of civilian housing, road widening, and construction of ever-normal granaries, the main body of the investment plan was building the Guang'ao Road and investing in the Foshan smeltery. While large-scale construction was underway in Guangdong, the rainy-season rice in Water Chenla was also reaping a bountiful harvest.

According to data compiled from the various reclamation districts.

The Water Chenla Chartered Agricultural Reclamation Company had recruited twenty thousand immigrants during the rainy season, reclaiming over one hundred eighty thousand mu of paddy fields in total.

Thanks to the high-quality Champa rice seeds bred in Fujian, as well as the extensive irrigation facilities that had been built.

Rainy-season rice yields reached 1.3 shi per mu — still considerably lower than the output of intensively cultivated farmland in the Great Ming.

But for Water Chenla, with its vast land and sparse population, the per-mu yield was already absurdly high.

Apart from rice, the sweet potatoes planted on the field ridges yielded 0.5 shi per mu (total output divided by total paddy area; sweet potatoes had no separate mu count).

Adding the two together and multiplying by per-capita cultivated land, each immigrant's per-capita grain output reached as high as 14.75 shi.

According to the provisions of the "Immigrant Reclamation Contract," all grain beyond rations and seed grain went toward repaying debts.

In half a year, the agricultural reclamation company harvested 92,000 shi of rice and 54,000 shi of sweet potatoes.

Calculated at an adult's annual consumption of 3 shi of grain, Water Chenla's half-year grain output was enough to feed 48,600 people for an entire year! Not counting the garrison troops, the combined land and naval forces of Nan'ao didn't even reach 48,600 men.

Water Chenla's half-year grain output was enough to feed the entire Nan'ao military, with surplus to spare.

This high yield relied partly on Water Chenla's excellent natural conditions, but even more so on the selfless dedication of the immigrants.

Everything beyond rations and seed grain was handed over in full — even the Great Ming's Liaodong levy didn't collect this harshly in a bumper year.

With such a stringent collection ratio, even with treaties signed in advance, the immigrants could hardly avoid feelings of discontent.

In response, the company's senior management, led by Zheng Zhilong, adopted a series of measures.

First, they posted the tax collection rules publicly, ensuring procedural transparency.

They also established an appeals channel — though after the lengthy appeal process, the immigrants' requests would still be rejected, at least the drawn-out procedure consumed their anger.

Second, based on how much grain was handed over, they awarded the title of "Reclamation Pioneer," granting honorary commendation while slightly reducing the recipient's debt. Those who performed exceptionally well could even be promoted to Squad Leader, creating internal friction among the immigrants so they found it hard to unite against the company.

At the same time, the promotion pathway gave immigrants hope, channeling their anger at systemic injustice into the drive to out-compete one another.

Then, the company would arrange a new round of irrigation construction and draft-ox distribution based on each reclamation district's and each bao-jia unit's grain collection performance, showing that the company was not simply plundering but sharing benefits and building the future of the reclamation districts.

The so-called "what is taken from the people is used for the people."

In reality, it was because Water Chenla's dry season was approaching. The irrigation works previously built were all drainage facilities, meant to prevent flooding of the fields during the rainy season. For the dry season, they needed to build irrigation canals and waterwheels — otherwise, rice simply couldn't be grown in the dry season.

If the immigrants didn't produce, they would not only gather in rebellion, but the company would also have nothing to exploit.

Therefore, regardless of whether each reclamation district performed well or poorly, the irrigation works still had to be built, and the draft oxen still had to be distributed.

Finally, they introduced entertainment programs.

The company took the lead in organizing a series of activities such as the Earth God thanksgiving ceremony and the Ullambana Festival.

Through collective joy after weathering hardship together, the memories of the difficult life were erased.

They also organized wrestling, dragon boat races, footraces, and other competitive events with small cash prizes, in which the bao heads and company executives would also participate.

While letting the immigrants vent their violent impulses, this reinforced the illusion that company managers and immigrants were one community.

The company even bought a thousand barrels of honey wine from the Dongning Brewery. This stuff was made from molasses — the uncrystallizable sugar syrup that was a byproduct of sugar refining, making it extremely cheap to brew with.

The company distributed this honey wine at festivals or sold it in small quantities at taverns, using it to numb the immigrants' nerves.

After this combination of measures was deployed, every reclamation district remained extremely stable — indeed, many immigrants were deeply grateful to the company, already rubbing their hands in anticipation, ready to farm hard in the dry season and shine bright.

Even many senior company executives were baffled by this, and some even asked Zheng Zhilong why he treated the immigrants so well.

Zheng Zhilong disdained to answer such foolish questions.

Ever since the rainy-season rice harvest came in, Zheng Zhilong's focus had shifted to a new round of immigrant recruitment.

His ambition was vast—he planned to use all 146,000 shi of grain produced in these six months to recruit immigrants.

Water Chenla's land was vast and fertile; with people, it could be reclaimed, could produce grain, and could generate even more profit.

The surplus immigrants could form more company armies, seize more land, grow more grain, and then the cycle would repeat.

The plan was submitted to Lin Qian and approved.

The company thus set off a new wave of immigration.

This time the recruitment teams were larger and more numerous—besides preaching in the domains of the Nguyen Lord and the Trinh Lord, they also went to a whole series of kingdoms: Siam, Chenla, Aceh, Pattani, Champa, the Lan Xang Kingdom, and others.

The cold-bloodedness of the colonial company showed itself now.

Autumn typhoons frequently struck the South China Sea, making transoceanic voyages unsuitable—immigrants from Fujian to Dongning never chose to set sail in autumn.

But for profit, the company cared nothing for such concerns; recruitment teams were dispatched to every neighboring country.

On the return voyage, if they encountered a typhoon, the immigrants would sink to the bottom of the sea with the entire ship.

But what could be done about it?

From mid-July to early August was the sowing season for dry-season rice.

That was the farming calendar set by Heaven—what did it have to do with the company?

The typhoons were blown by Heaven, the people were killed by Heaven—it was entirely Heaven's fault!

Fear is the instinct of all living things; courage is humanity's anthem!

The company could bear the loss of ships; the immigrants just needed to put to sea.

Under this ice-cold immigration policy, in half a month's time, Water Chenla gained another three thousand immigrants.

That number fell far short of Zheng Zhilong's expectations.

The reason was the ceasefire between the Trinh Lord and the Nguyen Lord during this period.

No war, no refugees; without the ravages of conflict, who would be willing to leave their homeland?

So Zheng Zhilong reported to Lin Qian, requesting permission to stoke the flames between the Trinh and Nguyen sides once more.

As the head of the Nan'ao government, Lin Qian naturally refused in no uncertain terms such a matter of interfering in another nation's internal affairs.

However, considering the help the English had provided in purchasing saltpeter in Bengal,

the Nan'ao government reciprocated the kindness by allowing the Englishman Victor to purchase more arms.

As for what the arms would be used for—the Nan'ao government did not interfere in other nations' internal affairs, so naturally it would not inquire.

Coincidentally, the Nan'ao military had no recent plans for expansion and no major battles on the horizon, so firearms consumption had sharply decreased.

Meanwhile, Fozhi, affected by the economic recovery plan, had greatly increased its production capacity—white-iron cannons were cast in an endless stream and sold to the English.

The English turned around and sold them to the Nguyen Lord, causing his strength to surge.

And half of the payment for the cannons was required to be made in rice and teak.

Even if the Nguyen Lord were a fool, he could see where the English cannons came from.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it—with the English stoking the fire from the middle, the Trinh-Nguyen conflict would never know peace, unity against external foes was utterly impossible, and the two sides had to settle who was superior among themselves first.

So the Nguyen Lord could only pinch his nose and buy cannons in bulk, sending them to the Lin River front.

The Nguyen Lord's constant movements put enormous pressure on the Trinh Lord in the north, who also dispatched troops to the Lin River front.

Once armies mobilized, conscripting grain, seizing able-bodied men, and destroying farmland became inevitable—even a mere standoff threw both banks of the Lin River into panic. Thus the company was able to smoothly bleed Cochin again, with large numbers of immigrants shipped to Water Chenla.

Every understaffed reclamation district was quickly filled; immigrants, from the moment they stepped off the ship, were burdened with debt and immediately thrown into production and construction. By the end of August, Water Chenla's total immigrant population had reached 35,000, and reclaimed farmland had reached 206,000 mu.

Per capita farmland of 5.86 mu—that was the limit of the sowing window, not the limit of the immigrants' physical endurance.

According to Zheng Zhilong's estimates, after the dry-season rice harvest, even without an influx of new immigrants, the farmland area could still expand—rising to a suitable ten mu per capita. The per capita figure here used the total immigrant population, including children and the elderly.

Currently, able-bodied laborers made up about 60% of the immigrants, so the per capita farmland for the able-bodied population was 16.67 mu per person. This farming area, requiring intensive cultivation, placed an enormous burden on the able-bodied population—almost impossible to accomplish.

But in the company's view, who said only the young and strong counted as able-bodied laborers?

From age ten at the lowest to seventy at the highest, regardless of sex, all were able-bodied participants in labor.

Calculated that way, the proportion of able-bodied laborers reached 80%, and completing the mandated farming area was easy as pie.

Early September.

The busy dry-season rice sowing was completed, entering the field management stage.

The Trinh and Nguyen sides, egged on by the English, began their second clash.

The Nguyen army, thirty thousand strong, equipped with numerous cannons and warships, crossed the river and blasted the Trinh defensive forces into disarray.

The Nguyen army advanced with unstoppable momentum, pushing north over two hundred li, and at its closest came within only one hundred fifty li of the Trinh Lord's capital, Thang Long.

The Trinh Lord massed his great army while using marshlands and heavy rain to slow the Nguyen Lord's advance.

The white-iron cannons the English sold to the Nguyen army, to prevent barrel explosions, were all cast rather heavy and cumbersome.

The wheels of the cannon carts sank into the mud of the paddy fields—a logistical nightmare; even beating the oxen to death couldn't pull them out.

Facing the fully assembled Trinh Lord's army, the Nguyen army could only helplessly retreat south.

In this battle, the Nguyen Lord suffered over three thousand dead and wounded and lost over eighty cannons.

The Trinh Lord suffered over ten thousand dead and wounded, but since he had few cannons to begin with, he lost none.

Neither side achieved a strategic decisive battle—their main forces remained intact—but both banks of the Lin River were affected by the fighting, with civilians fleeing en masse, to the point that no-man's-lands even formed along both shores.

Both the Trinh and Nguyen sides were forced to conscript civilians from the interior to the vicinity of the Lin River.

Amid the turmoil, refugees from Cochin grew ever more numerous.

Zheng Zhilong turned no one away, accepting all comers; every day ships laden with immigrants poured into Water Chenla.

By now the dry-season rice sowing period had passed, and it was no longer suitable for planting rice.

But it was impossible for the immigrants to have no work at all—they could build settlements, repair irrigation works, fell trees and fish, accumulate and prepare fertilizer, and plant sweet potatoes and vegetables. Under the immigrants' hardworking construction, Water Chenla grew ever more prosperous.

At this time, Cochin was like a feverish patient, its body's white blood cells and the virus locked in a bitter, unresolved struggle.

And the Chartered Agricultural Company was like a giant leech, clinging to the patient's body, sucking blood with all its might, its bulk rapidly swelling several times over, draining the patient until his face turned deathly pale and his whole body twitched—yet still it would not let go.

But the patient was too weak to do anything about this leech.

The Trinh Lord and the Nguyen Lord hated the Chartered Company so much their teeth itched; they wished they could skin Zheng Zhilong and eat his flesh, but they only dared to think about it.

Both nations had witnessed the formidable military might of the Nan'ao Army.

To say that the Nan'ao Army could single-handedly destroy either the Trinh Lord or the Nguyen Lord—that might be somewhat difficult.

But if the Nan'ao Army threw its full support behind one side, destroying the other would be as easy as reaching into one's own pocket.

The Trinh Lord and the Nguyen Lord had also communicated privately, hoping to postpone hostilities and join hands against the external threat.

But the Nguyen Lord's court had been infiltrated by the Nan'ao trading convoy and the English until it was like a sieve—there was no shortage of people stirring up trouble.

The Trinh Lord's court was not much better; a large portion of the coal revenue from the Ha Long Bay trading post went to support the war faction.

As a result, in the court, anyone who dared to propose peace talks would be compared by loyal and righteous gentlemen to Qin Hui.

The two courts remained so tangled and muddled that peace negotiations never succeeded—instead they grew ever more militaristic, and their dependence on the Company, the English, and the Nan'ao Army deepened. The Nanyang region was vast, transportation was inconvenient, and information spread very slowly.

Both the Trinh and Nguyen sides knew how formidable the Nan'ao Army was, and the Dutch and Spanish had also been routed by the Nan'ao Army, fleeing with their heads in their hands.

Yet there were still some small states sitting in their wells gazing at the sky, puffed up with self-importance, recklessly provoking the Nan'ao Army without knowing death was upon them.

This small state was Pattani.

Located in the middle of the Malay Peninsula, south of Siam, its territory was very small, and it had long acknowledged Siam as its suzerain.

Pattani not only mistreated Zhong Aqi's fleet, but also punished the Chartered Agricultural Company's propaganda team.

They threw the entire propaganda team into prison.

The Company sent people to negotiate, and those negotiators were also arrested.

It was only when a local maritime merchant informed them that the Company learned of this matter.

Zheng Zhilong flew into a rage, wanting to seize all of Pattani's subjects and bring them to Water Chenla to farm the land.

In early October, the Nan'ao Army formally notified Siam, Chenla, the Dutch, and other powers that, in order to protect Water Chenla's overseas Chinese residents, they would be "suppressing pirates" in the Gulf of Siam. Regardless of how the various powers reacted, the Nan'ao naval fleet, which had been preparing for three months, officially set sail.

The fleet was led by the Zhulong as flagship, with the Tianyuan, the Zheng He, and six yacht-class ships as escorts, accompanied by twenty Sea Wolf ships, eight Whale ships, fifteen Fujian junks, and ten Eagle ships.

From Nan'ao to the port of Hoi An, the fleet also traveled together with the trading convoy.

Together, the two groups numbered eighty-two vessels of various sizes, covering the entire sea surface and striking fear into all who beheld them.

When they sailed into the coastal waters near Hoi An port, fishermen fled in all directions, merchant ships were too terrified to enter the harbor, and many port residents even scrambled and crawled to move their entire families away. The Nguyen Lord felt both humiliated and afraid; he personally came to Hoi An port to receive them, meekly fussing over the trading convoy with solicitous concern, carefully probing and asking what he had done to offend these pirates.

When he learned that the Nan'ao Army fleet was going to the Gulf of Siam to suppress bandits and not to cause trouble for him, the Nguyen Lord let out a long sigh of relief, and a feeling of schadenfreude inevitably rose in his heart.

The fleet anchored at Hoi An port for two days, replenished supplies, then sailed southward along the coastline.

Eight days later, they arrived at Water Chenla.

Water Chenla's coast was all muddy alluvial shoreline, with very few good harbors; only the Vung Tau Peninsula in the northeast was one of the rare bedrock coasts.

That place had deep water and shelter from the wind, was close to the main shipping lane, had fresh water, and was not far from the hinterland.

Zheng Zhilong established a port there, naming it after his hometown—Xinquan Port.

The fleet anchored at Xinquan Port for five days, took on the Chartered Agricultural Company's one thousand soldiers and fifteen Fujian junks, then continued sailing southwest. That night, the fleet anchored in the Gulf of Siam, with Eagle ships scattered across a radius of five nautical miles on reconnaissance.

Taking advantage of the dinner hour, Bai Qing summoned all the fleet's captains and shipmasters for a meeting.

As the trading convoy's voyages grew ever safer, its escort level had gradually been reduced, and Bai Qing no longer needed to accompany the convoy.

For this suppression operation, the General Staff had appointed Bai Qing as fleet commander.

Bailangzai was captain of the Zhulong, Zhong Aqi was captain of the Zheng He, and Wang Ruzhong was commander of the marine corps.

Zheng Zhilong and Shi Tou also attended as representatives of the Chartered Agricultural Company.

At the same time, the dining hall also contained the captains of the six escort ships from Zhangzhou, Chaozhou, Quanzhou, Huizhou, Fuzhou, and Funing.

There was also Aban from the Madou tribe; the fleet had brought two hundred Siraya mercenary warriors on this expedition.

So many people crammed into the Zhulong's officers' dining hall that it was quite crowded.

Zheng Zhilong joked: "Had I known this would happen, I should have gone aboard the Tianyuan—that dining hall is much bigger."

The Zhulong was designed purely for naval combat; all its internal space was given over to the cannons, and its comfort level was indeed far inferior to the Tianyuan's.

But even so, if given the choice, everyone would still prefer to serve on the Zhulong.

At sea, comfortable food and clothing were all illusory—blasting an enemy ship into wood shavings with cannons, that was true enjoyment.

While everyone was chatting and laughing, someone had already brought in dinner.

Dinner was served in individual portions: rice, seaweed and tofu soup, salted bean sprouts, grilled sea fish, and a cup of honey wine.

This honey wine was also produced in Dongning, but it was different from what the Company gave the immigrants.

The honey wine the officers drank had been aged in oak barrels, and its flavor was somewhat better.

As everyone picked up their chopsticks, Bai Qing had Zhong Aqi explain the situation in Pattani.

Wang Ruzhong said: "Right, I just don't understand—isn't Pattani a small state? How many ships does it have, to dare act so arrogantly?"

Zhong Aqi wiped his mouth and said: "Pattani is indeed a small state; its territory is a narrow strip along the coast, spanning no more than three hundred li..." Everyone did some mental calculation—that distance was about the same as from Guangzhou to Macao.

"Most of its land is farmland and hills, with fertile soil, producing abundant rice, fruit, and seafood, so its population is not small." Zheng Zhilong revealed a smile—abundant rice production meant large grain reserves, a large population meant many potential immigrants, and fertile soil meant potential for developing agricultural colonies—these were all business opportunities.

Zhong Aqi tilted his head back, drained a bowl of tofu soup, had a soldier fetch him another bowl, then continued: "Pattani has excellent harbor conditions; countless foreign, Han, and Nanyang maritime merchants gather there, and the place has grown wealthy because of it.

To its north is the kingdom of Siam, to its south is the kingdom of Aceh—not directly bordering either. This godforsaken region is full of all sorts of small states; north of Pattani there are Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat, and Kedah, and to the south there are Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor, and so on.

All of them are clowns who dare to call themselves kingdoms with just one or two small cities; some believe in Buddhism, some in the religion of Mecca, some have men as kings, some have women as kings—it's all a mess..."

Wang Ruzhong said in surprise: "Women can be kings too?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he realized it was inappropriate; he glanced at Bai Qing's expression and quickly covered up: "It's not like everyone is a heroine like Lady Bai!"

"Heh." Bai Qing let out a light laugh.

Zhong Aqi laughed: "That's right, women can be kings too. Pattani is exactly like that—the current king is called Kuning, and the previous one was called Ungu, both women. Their names are interesting too; in Malay, Ungu means purple, and Kuning means yellow, so the locals call their king the Yellow Queen."

A ship captain said: "What a load of nonsense names—truly barbarians."

Zhong Aqi raised his cup and drained the honey wine in one gulp, licking his lips. This wine was inferior to both yellow wine and rice wine, but it won on being cheap, and brewing it didn't waste grain—it really was a good thing.

Zheng Zhilong continued: "By all rights, a tiny state like this, squeezed between great powers, ought to curry favor with both sides and offend no one. But I suppose they don't have that kind of foresight."

Ever since the Agricultural Reclamation Company seized Water Chenla, Siam had become highly wary and hostile toward the Han Chinese.

But they also feared the strength of the Nan'ao fleet and dared not act rashly, so they sent their vassal states to provoke and test the waters.

Or even more foolishly, Pattani might have been guessing at their master's intentions—with no one actually ordering them, jumping around on their own. That was also possible.

Zhong Aqi said: "Exactly. Pattani's previous Purple Queen took an anti-Siam stance, wanting to shed her vassal status, and the result was national strength drained and heavy casualties among the people.

The current Yellow Queen has re-established good relations with Siam, fawning over them at every turn."

Wang Ruzhong said disdainfully: "Disloyal and unjust—a nation of petty men! They deserve a beating!"

Bai Qing corrected him: "We're going to suppress pirates, not to invade other countries."

Zheng Zhilong joked: "Unless the pirates happen to be hiding inside their country!"

"Hahaha..." In the officers' mess, everyone laughed and raised their cups together.

Yahei

Fenyuan

Pen