Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 221 Surrender, Blood Debt
This time when he went to Singapore, Zheng Yi brought six warships and twenty merchant ships. The merchant ships were all filled with the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Security Group to escort him. There were also two hundred aircraft flying in the sky to accompany him. It can be said that he was very impressive.

Because this time he came and he didn't plan to leave.

Singapore's regional location is far more advantageous than Penang.

In other words, there is almost no place in Southeast Asia with a more advantageous geographical location than Singapore. Whether it is the strategic location advantage or the simple economic advantage, it can be said to be blessed by nature, and even has a certain industrial and urban construction foundation.

The key point is that the population above is still all Chinese.

It is unlikely that the Americans would feel at ease with this place being in the hands of a major power. In a sense, this is also an opportunity for the SAARC to move in.

You should know that the Southern Alliance is not just Zheng Yi's Southern Alliance. He only holds about 25% of the shares, and it is still being diluted.

Zheng Yi's goal is to reduce the shareholding ratio to 10% as much as possible, or even below 5%, but he doesn't know if he can do it.

After all, to be honest, Zheng Yi's control over the Southern Alliance was not based on shares from the beginning to the end. There was no company law to make decisions for him. The law is not as powerful as Zheng Yi.

Of course, the larger the Southern Alliance expands, the better. The lower Zheng Yi's share in the entire Southern Alliance, the stronger the Southern Alliance will naturally be.

The most taboo thing in politics and financial groups is the miser mentality. It is a very simple truth that money disperses people and gathers people.

Since its inception, the Southern Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was destined to be an organization belonging to a giant multinational conglomerate. Its members include almost all multinational groups in Southeast Asia, and it will continue to absorb more multinational groups in the future.

Is it because an imperialist country is so powerful that it can give birth to enough multinational groups?

Or can a country become strong enough only if it has enough multinational corporations?

I'm afraid no one can explain this clearly, and Zheng Yi's Southern Alliance is very much welcoming European and American multinational groups to join it. He has always positioned himself very clearly, that is, to be a spokesperson for the interests of those multinational groups, the so-called "non-internationalists".

Of course, whether those American multinational companies will listen to Zheng Yi or the United States after joining the SAARC is another matter.

As for the respective voices of British and American multinational corporations in SAARC, that is another matter.

But Zheng Yi must have the support of the United States.

Even to Britain, he is not entirely an enemy because he has the support of British multinationals such as Shell.

Take Henry for example.

The two of them were just on edge, but now, they were toasting each other on the boat, drinking and bragging.

For Henry, dealing with Zheng Yi is always better than dealing with those natives.

In fact, he didn't really think that those industries before World War II could return to their hands without any loss. The decline of the British Empire was something that anyone with a discerning eye could see, and the United States, as the new international hegemon, had always had an ambiguous attitude.

Although Zheng Yi has a big appetite, it’s not impossible to talk.

To a certain extent, Zheng Yi's Southern Association for Regional Cooperation actually plays the role of a middleman between the local forces in Southeast Asia and the Western forces in Europe and the United States.

This has actually always been the role of traditional Nanyang Chinese, but they became more powerful after Zheng Yi arrived.

The warship docked and Zheng Yi calmly walked out of it. The whole of Singapore was like a pot of hot oil that had been poured into water, and it immediately began to boil.

"Long live SAARC ~ Long live Mr. Zheng ~" It was similar to what happened yesterday when he went to Brunei, except that the number of Chinese in Singapore was completely different from that in Bandar Seri Begawan. The cheers in Bandar Seri Begawan could only be described as thunderous, while the cheers here were almost earth-shaking.

Even Henry, who was following behind Zheng Yi, couldn't help but sigh: "The Chinese in Southeast Asia have met a good leader."

Zheng Yi: "On the 5th of next month, my Chinese community plans to hold a ceremony in Johor Bahru to honor our ancestors and officially establish the Nanyang Chinese Chamber of Commerce. I will be the president. Mr. Henry, would you like to attend as a guest and enjoy the fun together?"

Zheng Yi added meaningfully, "That day, all the foreigners who were able to attend the ceremony were officially recognized as Nanyang Chinese friends."

Henry did not refuse this. After all, as Zheng Yi said, he was just an employee, and as for business, Zheng Yi had no intention of driving Shell out of Southeast Asia. No matter how confident Henry was, he knew that the British navy could not drive Zheng Yi out of Southeast Asia and destroy the Southern Alliance.

The Japanese fought for three or four years but still couldn't do it, but the British...

If the British had done this, they would not have been forced to flee in panic at the hands of the Japanese.

So no matter how the deal is negotiated, it is likely that Shell Oil and the Chinese in Southeast Asia will still have to deal with each other.

President Henry and Mr. Zheng will have to get along well in the future.

Even Shell Oil was originally a member of SAARC and was spun off and listed in Penang. This is still an internal conflict of SAARC.

So during the negotiations, both of them were banging the table and glaring at each other, but now that they are no longer negotiating, it seems like they have returned to being friends again.

After all, we have known each other for so many years.

You know, Henry had a German wife. Originally, after the outbreak of World War II, Henry was kicked out for this reason and retired from then on. But in this time and space, he is still the president of Shell Oil.

This is actually related to his personal relationship with Zheng Yi.

"Mr. Zheng, you are finally here."

At the dock, Terauchi Hisaichi looked at Zheng Yi slowly getting off the boat, tears almost coming out of his eyes. He knelt down on the ground and kowtowed heavily to Zheng Yi.

I heard that the British Empire's fleet has already departed from Ceylon, and all the Asian fleets will arrive in Singapore to be stationed before dark tonight.

We know that this is a confrontation between Britain and SAARC. They are allies and the US, the boss, is not dead yet. It is highly likely that they will not fight. However, they will definitely compete with each other, show off their muscles, and even use all kinds of messy tactics.

But these have nothing to do with the Japanese.

The SAARC and the British are now competing for meat at the same table, and the Japanese are the meat on that table.

Terauchi Hisaichi now has only one wish, which is to hand in the surrender document before the British Far East Fleet returns.

Surrender is a disgrace for a soldier.

Being repeatedly pushed on this issue made Terauchi Hisaichi want to die. If the British came back and caused some trouble, making it impossible for him to surrender, he would become a clown.

Fortunately, Zheng Yi did not torture them further and finally arrived to receive the letter of surrender before the British returned.

(End of this chapter)