Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 227: The Troublemaker Stung My Back

The result of the vote was not surprising. Although Zheng Yi himself had not clearly stated his attitude and had explained the risks of in-depth cooperation with Indians one by one, the presidents of various chambers of commerce in the parliament still voted in favor of the proposal to enter India with a high vote.

After all, as Lee Kuan Yew said, the Nanyang Chinese are a very enterprising group.

Three parts are determined by fate, and seven parts are determined by hard work. Almost all the Chinese who can sit at the table and hold a meeting with Zheng Yi have climbed up from the bottom of chaos and disorder, and they all have a bandit-like spirit.

Even a high-level intellectual like Li Xiaoshi, a master's student who returned from Cambridge, is still a city warlord who is willing to sacrifice his life at the critical moment.

India
No matter how great the risk is, it cannot outweigh the temptation brought by a country with the second largest population in the world and the largest fertile tropical plain in the world.

Now that the Chinese side has settled the matter, there will naturally be no problems with the upcoming SAARC meeting. At least at present, the Chinese are still absolutely dominant in SAARC.

Apart from the Chinese, the other forces in the SAARC were mainly the British, Americans, and Japanese.

Even the British were not completely opposed to the proposal to march into India.

During this period, the interests of many British multinational groups had actually diverged from those of the British Colonial Office. For example, Star Shipping particularly supported SAARC's advance into India.

After all, although World War II is over, the global shipping business is still in a state of extreme depression. It is so poor that it can hardly pay employees' salaries. Recently, it has even been forced to sell stocks to attract Chinese investors to join.

This industry is the one that benefits the most from peace. Britain has long lost its position as the world hegemon. If it continues to cling to the so-called glory of the empire and create regional tensions, it will really be on the verge of bankruptcy.

SAARC is now the stabilizer of peace and stability in Southeast Asia, while the British Empire is almost becoming a destroyer.

As for those American companies, they certainly agree with it wholeheartedly. After all, India has always been a British preserve. Now that the situation has changed, it is time for the Americans to conquer India.

It is also a great opportunity for them to enter India with the help of SAARC.

As for the Japanese in the SAARC.

During this period, Japanese immigrants really didn't dare to have their own thoughts. They just did whatever the Chinese said and had no status.

They would be thankful and satisfied if the grand purge didn't happen to them.

Besides, the Japanese were mostly involved in the textile industry in SAARC, and the profits from chemical fiber textiles today are no longer as high as before the war, which was close to exorbitant profits, while India is one of the world's major cotton producing areas.

So this proposal was passed with a high vote despite strong opposition from a very small number of British people.

Zheng Yi: "Since we have decided to promote a currency that no longer has rigid redemption, I propose that we establish a currency issuing institution similar to the Federal Reserve, primarily composed of a banking alliance and a financial industry alliance."

"This is a matter of great importance. We must not make even the slightest mistake in this matter. Our initial plan is to establish a new Singapore Bank and a Penang Bank as the main issuers of currency.

OCBC, HSBC, Citibank, Yasuda Bank, and JPMorgan will provide support. Regarding the specific operations, I will invite relevant officials and financial experts from the Federal Reserve to provide guidance on our work.

"Is the HSBC representative here? Do you have any questions?"

After saying that, everyone's eyes flashed towards Smith, the person in charge.

Smith remained calm and even spoke with a hint of sincerity, "Of course, no problem. Our board of directors held a meeting three days ago to discuss this. HSBC will use all of its pound sterling reserves to fully support the issuance of SAARC's own currency."

Are you kidding? Bank owners have the opportunity to participate in currency issuance, but they still love this damn country.

Of course, the country that allows me to issue currency is my country.

Although it is just participating in the distribution, it is enough to make people excited.

"Humph!"

When some people laugh, others cry. The representative of Royal Machinery had a sullen face throughout the meeting. He started throwing things before the meeting was over. Less than an hour after the meeting ended, he found Zheng Yi and proposed to withdraw from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and delist from the Penang Stock Exchange.

The company's name contains the word "Royal", so its interests are naturally deeply tied to the British Empire, and its shareholders are the British royal family.

The so-called constitutional monarchy of the British Empire was not really about worshipping the emperor as a mascot. In the 19th century, almost all multinational corporations in the British Empire had royal capital behind them.

As for capitalism, it is difficult to say whether multinational corporations serve the government or the government serves multinational corporations.

It was only in the 20th century that these multinational corporations themselves declined, and the royal family gradually lost control of the government.

Royal Machinery is not like Shell Oil. Its shareholders are more diverse, and it has industries all over the world. It is also deeply bound to Zheng Yi. It is normal for them to want to withdraw at this time.

Besides, he is an arms dealer. Penang is short of everything except arms. They are studying the conversion of military to civilian use.

The Chinese have the ability to process some simple weapons in their own factories, but for more high-tech weapons, they must now instruct the United States.

They are now close allies of the United States.

Therefore, the status of Royal Machinery in Penang has already declined from "Sweetheart" to "Mrs. Cow".

The stock market has already plummeted, and the right to speak is already decreasing.

Zheng Yi was naturally not surprised at all and said, "Of course, Mr. John, in the Southern Alliance, you can come and go freely. You can leave as you like."

Zheng Yi then gave Mr. John his long-used fountain pen and said, "Although we have eventually parted ways, I, SAARC, and the people of Penang are very grateful for everything Royal Machinery has done for us. This fountain pen is a personal gift to Mr. John as a souvenir."

"As the saying goes, a gentleman breaks off a friendship without speaking ill of others. No matter what, we are close comrades who once fought side by side against the Japanese invaders."

Zheng Yi extended his hand to shake his, saying, "Penang, SAARC, and I are honored to have walked through those turbulent years with Mr. John and Royal Machinery. The people of Penang will always be grateful for everything you have done for Penang."

"Thank you."

John was also quite emotional for a moment.

But no matter what, Mr. Zheng is still very gentlemanly.

"I will keep this pen as a family heirloom."

Zheng Yi: "Do you want US dollars or British pounds? I'll have Sister Wen check to see how many retail investors are still holding your shares, and try to give them a discount at the current price. I'll personally talk to the major chambers of commerce and banks that hold institutional shares, at least to prevent them from taking advantage of the situation."

"Thank you."

"If you're not in a hurry, you can keep your factory and equipment and sell them slowly. I promise I won't interfere. At the very least, you should be able to fetch a good price. You joined Penang early, so the factory's location and land are both excellent, so you should be able to fetch a very good price."

"The income from this real estate developer alone should be enough to multiply the money you made from investing in Penang by ten or twenty times. Hahahaha, no matter what, your investment in Penang was a very successful choice back then, right?"

"Thank you."

John nodded, feeling quite touched. However, after a moment of hesitation, he took the initiative to say, "There's no rush for the land. We can sell it slowly, but I want to take the equipment and workers with me."

"Workers? That depends on whether they are willing to go with you. Where are you taking them?"

John: "After discussion, the shareholders' meeting decided that it would be more appropriate to move the factory to Kuala Lumpur." "Huh?"

Zheng Yi was slightly startled, but he quickly realized what they were going to do. He couldn't help but suppress his smile and said slowly, word by word:
"The Malays on the Malay Peninsula have also become the core of our South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). We, the Nanyang Chinese, have lived in harmony with the Malays for over a century. Anyone who tries to stir up racial tensions between the Chinese and Malays will be considered my mortal enemy! This is our bottom line."

John replied seriously, "Mr. Zheng, India is also the bottom line of our British Empire."

Zheng Yi: “…………”

Zheng Yi leaned back in his boss chair, frowned slightly, then nodded and soon felt relieved.

Yes, he does it on the first day and others do it on the fifteenth day. This is normal.

Although Fatty Qiu has stepped down, no matter who is in power, and no matter whether SAARC and the UK will completely fall out, the necessary interaction must still take place.

If they really do nothing, whether it will damage Britain's interests and dignity is not the point. Even from the perspective of pure political struggle, I am afraid they will be scolded to death by Fatty Qiu.

The Royal Machinery moved to Kuala Lumpur. Zheng Yi knew what they wanted to do with just a little thought.

No matter how far Zheng Yi's SAARC extends its tentacles, his base will always be on the Malay Peninsula. The Malays on the Malay Peninsula can be his base that supports and stands by him, or they can be the opposition that gives him the most headaches.

Today, the total population of the Malay Peninsula has exceeded 10 million. The number of Chinese is skyrocketing, and the number of Malays is also skyrocketing, including those from Siam, Indonesia, and Borneo. Malays is originally a very broad concept. When the Chinese give up their ecological niche, naturally there will be Malays who will choose to fill it.

In the past, the ruling center of the British Empire was Singapore. However, Singapore is a Chinese city after all. Now that Zheng Yi has already occupied it, and the British only have a navy but no army, if they continue to stay in Singapore and compete with Zheng Yi, their chances of winning are probably very small.

However, Kuala Lumpur is different. Although Kuala Lumpur was also a Chinese city in the past, most of the people moved to Penang after its rise.

And a very important point is that Kuala Lumpur’s core pillar industry is tin mining, and there is almost nothing else besides the mines.

Now, there are very few Chinese people who are still willing to mine tin.

It has no meaning and little value, and mining tin is really hard. In the beginning, no one was willing to do this job because it was too hard, so they bought piglets from their hometown in Tangshan to do it.

If the Chinese today still need to mine tin to survive, then wouldn’t Zheng Yi’s time travel be in vain, and wouldn’t Penang’s rise be in vain?

The second largest industry was rubber. Zheng Yi had ordered it burned before the Japanese invaded. Now there is zero rubber, and the Chinese have actually stopped harvesting rubber. The third largest industry was opium cultivation. As long as Zheng Yi was still breathing, he would never let the Chinese touch this thing again.

Next is real estate, dance halls, industry and agriculture. If they are gone, who can the service industry serve?

So although there are still a certain number of Chinese people in Kuala Lumpur, and Zheng Yi himself still owns property in Kuala Lumpur, they are no longer working there. Although the Li family's tin mines in Kuala Lumpur are still there, there are almost no Chinese people there except for technical workers such as mechanics.

Simply put, the current ecological niche of the Chinese in Kuala Lumpur is becoming more and more like the ecological niche of the British in Kuala Lumpur in the past.

Since the construction of Alor Setar, it has become a well-deserved economic center for the Malays. Zheng Yi actually hopes that it will become a political center. Although it cannot be said that the Malays here are 100% pro-China, Zheng Yi can at least be sure that he can control it.

Obviously, what the British now want is to make Kuala Lumpur the political center of the Malay Peninsula again, or at least the second political center, and to support the opposition to compete with the pro-China Malays in Alor Setar.

You have to know that during the Japanese occupation period, the Japanese had supported puppet troops there. Although the Japanese occupation period was short, the political slogan "Malaya for the Malays" that they came up with to deal with the Chinese was still very inflammatory.

It is not difficult to support the opposition over there.

The ethnic conflicts between the Chinese and the Malays are always easy to incite, because these are not simply ethnic conflicts, but pure urban-rural conflicts and class conflicts.

There will always be conflicts between the poor and the rich, and this exists in every society. Add in the presence of different races, and the situation becomes hopeless.

The British are truly the number one troublemaker. They accurately found the biggest weakness of Zheng Yi and the Southern Alliance, and then stabbed it.

As things stand now, SAARC and the UK are not falling out, but their actions of poking each other in the waist are bound to make everyone uncomfortable.

"Hey, stir up trouble, stir up trouble all you want, and stir up chaos. I was born a poor kid, and the Chinese in Southeast Asia all came from poor backgrounds. The worst that can happen is that I'll take off this fancy dress and fight you guys to the death. But you British, think carefully about whether you have the courage to fight us to the death."

Why did the Royal Machinery go to Kuala Lumpur? To put it bluntly, they were supporting the Malay opposition.

The ultimate goal of politics is violence. After all, Anand has soldiers and guns. If the opposition does not have guns, they cannot actually fight.

This is actually the reason why Zheng Yi was so generous in Alor Setar before.

As long as the gun is in Anand's hands, Anand's Malay division will have to rely on Alor Setar. If there is some opposition among the Malays, then so be it.

They are welcome to perform monkey tricks at the center of the political stage.

It is a fact that ethnic conflicts are mixed with class conflicts, and they are indeed difficult to reconcile. Instead of letting these conflicts simmer among the people, it is better to let them officially come to power. At worst, let them curse in the streets, vent their hatred, and release their pressure.
Occasionally, when it comes to some unimportant matters, Datuk Ong, Zheng Yi and other Chinese people will make appropriate compromises, just like coaxing their children.

It is insignificant and does not affect the overall situation.

It's a democratic election, an election without guns, it's just pure fun, you can even treat it as a reality show.

But if the opposition gets guns, it will be a completely different situation.

Of course, it does not mean that if guns are given to the opposition, Kuala Lumpur will have the strength to compete with Alor Setar, and it is even less likely that they will be able to fight Anand if they have guns.

After all, Anand fought against the Japanese with real swords and guns. When it really came to the ultimate civil war, whether the other side had guns or not, they were all chickens and dogs.

But the problem is internal politics. There is a big difference between having a gun and not having a gun, but the difference between a good gun and a bad gun is actually not that big.

Being unable to resist and being unable to win are two completely different concepts. After all, those Malays are of the same ethnic group.

Even if Anand was 100% sure he could win, could he really fight such an ethnic war? If he did, the entire Malay Peninsula would be doomed to economic development for at least ten years.

Moreover, how could they allow the Malay division to massacre fellow Malay opponents for the sake of these Chinese?
Things that made sense have become unreasonable.

Human hearts are difficult to predict. If that were the case, the politics of the Malay Peninsula would definitely go in a direction that even Zheng Yi would have no control over.

At this moment, Zheng Yi suddenly realized that although he and the British did not directly fire at each other and even maintained a considerable degree of friendship, they had actually begun to fight a war that no one could afford to lose.

Wars of public opinion and cognitive wars are both wars, and the thrills in them are not necessarily less than those in hot wars.

In his previous life, he had heard someone say that in international interactions, if two countries can smile at each other but have a knife in their backs, then they are already good friends. It was at this moment that he finally felt it for sure.

"Well, you're just an employee after all, and you can't influence the board's decision. Anyway, John, even if we become enemies with Royal Machinery in the future, you'll still be my friend, a former comrade-in-arms who fought against the Japanese invaders together. So what's public is public, and what's private is private."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi stood up and gave the foreigner a hug.

"We might be enemies next time we meet, but while we're still friends, why don't we take a photo together?"

"Okay, it's an honor."

(End of this chapter)