1890 King of Southeast Asia

Liu Yiming walked into the office. In the room, a young man in a suit sat upright, looking straight ahead. He seemed to be so absorbed that Liu Yiming didn't even notice him entering the room.

"I heard you were looking for me?" Liu Yiming walked straight to the desk and spoke first.

"Ah? Commander Liu!" The young man stood up suddenly and wanted to apologize in a panic.

"No need to be polite. I can see that you have done some work. Sit down." When Liu Yiming heard the young man call him Commander Liu, he knew that he had done some work, so there should be some connection...

"You know to call me Commander Liu, but I don't know what to call you?" Liu Yiming saw the young man's restrained look and smiled to ease the atmosphere.

"Ah, I am rude. My last name is Lu Ping, my courtesy name is Zhengyang, and I am a Chinese American..." Lu Zhengyang was stuck again. He didn't know whether to say the following words or not.

"Zhengyang! Sit down, sit down, sit down." Liu Yiming saw that this person was a little restrained. In fact, Liu Yiming didn't need to guess what Lu Zhengyang wanted.

"We are all wanderers, meeting old friends in a foreign land? It doesn't seem to be used in this way. Don't be too restrained, just say whatever you want to say!" Liu Yiming told a cold joke, but it also eased the atmosphere.

"Commander Liu, can you defend Java?" Lu Zhengyang, who grew up in the United States, is more knowledgeable than the Chinese who grew up in Java. After all, the Dutch are eager to control the writing of the entire colony.

"Hahahaha! Look at what you said." Liu Yiming smiled, and Lu Zhengyang's face became a little nervous.

"I don't know either." Liu Yiming stopped and said easily.

"You don't know either?" Lu Zhengyang didn't believe it.

"In land battles, Nanhua has an 80% chance of winning. In naval battles, it's still unknown. Nanhua can't even get enough sailors." Liu Yiming sighed.

"I heard that Commander Liu has finalized a loan contract with Britain and the United States. Why not buy warships?" Lu Zhengyang thought.

"In the UK, Armstrong Shipyard, Vickers Shipyard, Portsmouth Shipyard, and Pembroke Shipyard have all laid the keel of the warships belonging to the South China Navy and are speeding up the work." Liu Yiming thought for a while and chose to believe the person in front of him. Anyway, no one could guess that Liu Yiming was so crazy and directly went for a battleship of more than 20,000 tons without mentioning the specific warships.

No one could guess that the UK and South China reached a technology exchange agreement and allowed a contract for nearly 10,000 tons of large warships.

"Why not buy existing ships? Instead, order four new ones." Lu Zhengyang asked in confusion.

"I have bullets but no guns!" Liu Yiming didn't care, and he would not correct this misunderstanding.

The ordering of warships and naval training will not be concealed for long. Even the UK will take the initiative to inform the Netherlands to balance the South China, which has a huge increase in military power, and it may still get an order.

"But there is a shortage of manpower? I can..." Lu Zhengyang said halfway, and then he realized that the two had not talked about things yet.

"Shortage! Very short!" Liu Yiming planned to continue talking about this.

"Commander Liu, I want to know what you think of Chinese Americans!" Lu Zhengyang said in a serious tone.

"Well... miserable, the power of the United States is much stronger than that of the Dutch. It is undoubtedly very difficult to carry out a revolution like mine in the United States... To be honest, I don't want to help you, it will only cause more losses to the Chinese." Liu Yiming stared at Lu Zhengyang.

"Revolution! It requires bloodshed and sacrifice!" Liu Yiming said in a low voice.

"I don't know what you said one day, that Nanhua is the home of all overseas Chinese, does it count?" Lu Zhengyang looked a little like an eggplant hit by frost.

No way? No way? You don't really want to be stubborn, do you?

Liu Yiming didn't know how to say it, as if his success inspired some people? But it doesn't matter where you are, even if you go back to start an uprising? The United States doesn't seem to have many land forces, but they have a lot of national self-defense forces! Besides, there are many militias in the west, how can we fight them...

"I keep my word. As long as you are willing to come, Nanhua is your home, but you can't commit murder and arson outside and then run to Nanhua. Besides, you have to follow the rules at home. Obeying the law is the basis!" Liu Yiming said.

"What else?" Lu Zhengyang didn't believe it was just that, although he hoped so in his heart.

"If you have to say it, you have to work!" Liu Yiming said hard about work.

"Work?" Lu Zhengyang touched his head. Isn't this what he should do?

"Yes! It's not an ordinary job. For example, if you come to Nanhua, I will throw you into the army. In fact, most normal men between the ages of 18 and 32 will join the army, and the service period ranges from half a year to two years."

"But it's not just service. You will be arranged to join the army to learn military skills, then enter the government to audit and do odd jobs, and finally be arranged to be the head of an immigrant village, or work in a township." Liu Yiming said, "In short, you are not here to enjoy yourself. Of course, after the service period is over, you can also freely choose a career and don't have to obey the final arrangement."

"Why is it so troublesome?" Lu Zhengyang didn't understand.

"Let's go back to the question just now, lack of people." Liu Yiming and Lu Zhengyang chatted enthusiastically.

"We are immigrating in large numbers, two batches a month, 3,000 people in each batch, and building six villages a month, which requires dozens of qualified cadres. The navy needs highly educated students, and so do factories, but Nanhua has only 2.7 million Chinese, and there is no way to spare so many people." Liu Yiming said sincerely.

"I welcome you to come, and I am different from Die Qing. At least, I will discuss discrimination with the Americans. It's all for the Chinese, there is no conflict of interest."

"I will tell my family, and whether they are willing or not, I will stay in Nanhua!" Lu Zhengyang said seriously.

"Okay, and I have something else to consult you about." Liu Yiming saw Lu Zhengyang getting up to leave, and hurriedly stopped him. He hadn't finished talking about the business yet!

"Do you know about the construction of the Central Railway?" Liu Yiming asked first.

"How can I not know!" Lu Zhengyang's face turned red and he gritted his teeth.

"My father was a Chinese worker on the Central Railway. In the end, there was no news. He was not seen alive or dead. Grandpa was also very angry about this. He died in a foreign land and died with his eyes wide open!"

Lu Zhengyang's grandfather was from Siyi. The two brothers went to the United States together. The difference was that the eldest brother's family encountered a shipwreck on the way and there was no news. Lu Zhengyang's family, the father took six sons across the ocean to make a living by panning for gold, but the Chinese could only pan abandoned mines and were heavily taxed.

The 20-year-old eldest brother and the 18-year-old second brother secretly signed up for the railway company to feed the family. There were two people when they went, and only the eldest brother was left when they came back. The old man felt that he had dragged his son down, and he was depressed and died with his eyes wide open.

"My dad married my mom with the money my dad sent. When my dad learned that my dad had died, he adopted me to the second house." Lu Zhengyang told this story with hatred.

"Is your uncle still alive?" Liu Yiming couldn't bear it, but he still asked.

"My uncle is 44 years old and still alive! He just got sick on the snowy mountain." Lu Zhengyang didn't know why Liu Yiming asked this, but he still said it.

"It's like this, Nanhua wants to build a railway, don't worry, it's like this..." Liu Yiming saw that Lu Zhengyang was about to refuse, and hurriedly said.

"I'll try to ask my uncle." Lu Zhengyang was not stupid enough to ask why he didn't ask the United States. You know, this practice was started by Americans.

"It's okay, you don't have to participate, just come and teach your experience. In addition, you can recommend people you know in the United States, especially those with skills or passionate young people." Liu Yiming said.

"But I want to do something for Nanhua..." A young man like Lu Zhengyang was fooled by Liu Yiming in a few words.

"This is also work, the nature of the work is different, just like soldiers and workers, they are all contributing to Nanhua, there is no difference except for the danger!" Liu Yiming explained.

"Go down and think about how much activity funds are needed. Someone will take you to go through the formalities later. Get a work permit first. If you go home with a special pass, people will laugh at us."

"No, no, the round-trip tickets, food, clothing, housing and transportation expenses are all reimbursed by the American company. Finding someone will mainly take time, not much money." Lu Zhengyang felt that Nanhua had just been established, and it was a large loan and buying warships, so there should be little money in hand, so he didn't plan to take it.

"How can that be done? We are not without the conditions. Let's do this. Take this note. I will call the Ministry of Finance later and approve 10,000 pounds for you. Don't save it. Spend it when you need it. If you don't have money, send a telegram to the Immigration Bureau. I will assign you to the Immigration Bureau later." Liu Yiming decided.

How can you do without money? Yes, this is mainly based on passion, not money, but really not giving money, let people pay for themselves to come to Nanhua? Liu Yiming couldn't bear it, it's not like we don't have the conditions!

"Too much, too much!" Lu Zhengyang's family runs a small business in San Francisco. There are dozens of people in the family, and the total assets are just this number. Of course, there are too many children, and many of them go to school.

"Poor family, rich road, what? How do you plan to come here without money? Spend fifty dollars on a slave ship that occasionally breaks out in epidemics?" The slave ship is exaggerated, but it won't be too cheap. When the people of Siyi crossed the ocean in the 1860s, the ticket was 50 dollars, and they lived in a cabin with more than a dozen people. Lying on the bed board, it was difficult to be single.

"This..." Lu Zhengyang still felt bad.

"Take it, take it, nagging, Nanhua is richer than you think, you have to change in your work in the future. No matter what decision you make, it is better than not making a decision!" Liu Yiming frowned.

Just as he sent away his headhunter, something else happened.

"Commander, Batavia called and said the Dutch had returned the ship. Also, Wang Yang called and asked for more people to guard the prisoners." Staff Officer Wang ran in and said.

Does anyone still remember the merchant ship that the Dutch had detained before?

"Release the two thousand Dutch prisoners and ask the Dutch to send someone to pick them up. Also, where is Wang Yang's unit?" Liu Yiming answered without thinking. This was a matter that had been under negotiation, and the Dutch were obviously unable to hold on any longer.