SWDnovel Chapter 57 Brunei
Chapter 57 Brunei
Chapter 57 Brunei
In other coastal areas of Borneo, most of the existing Chinese organizations, large and small, decided to directly submit to the Han Dynasty.
Then, under the supervision of local officers and the army, they were mixed with local militia to form militia garrisons.
The militia garrison took over the areas previously controlled by Chinese organizations and worked together to develop more farmland to grow more food, striving to achieve self-sufficiency as soon as possible.
The regular troops from the mainland used these Chinese-controlled areas as bases to subdue any remaining Chinese forces that might refuse to submit.
Specifically, for individual Chinese, those who had already reverted to their traditional hairstyles were treated as ordinary citizens, just like the new militia members from the mainland.
For those who have clearly just cut off their braids and still have a noticeably bald head on one side, and who are still unable to tie their hair into a bun, they will be treated as slaves until they are able to tie their hair into a bun.
Those who still refused to cut their queues were beheaded upon discovery.
After quickly integrating the Chinese organizations in the coastal areas, he led them to take over the Dutch coastal strongholds, thus gaining control of most of the island's coastline.
Then they began to conquer the surrounding and inland princely states.
For the chieftains of the local tribes who were willing to submit to the Han Dynasty, they were directly granted hereditary positions as militia garrison officers.
They were required to accept the jurisdiction of the Borneo military and to send laborers to assist immigrants in land reclamation and construction.
This is equivalent to turning the outer vassal states and foreign tribes into inner vassal chieftains, similar to the chieftains of the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan regions in the past.
For the time being, direct conflict will be avoided, and they will be allowed to continue to exist, but they will be required to cooperate with the administration so that the court can gain basic control over the entire island as soon as possible.
Once the imperial court had a sufficient population on the island, it would gradually abolish these chieftains, a process known as "replacing chieftains with centrally appointed officials."
For chieftains of local states who refused to submit, troops were sent to suppress and annihilate them, and prisoners were captured and used as slave laborers.
In the view of the Han Dynasty, Brunei and Sulu were also considered princely states, but their scale far exceeded that of ordinary princely states.
Brunei, in particular, still controlled most of northern Borneo, with a total territory of approximately 150,000 square kilometers, roughly equivalent to the entire Shandong province.
Such princely states require a large-scale regular army to deal with them.
On November 1st of the first year of the Han Chang era, the main fleet of the Han Dynasty navy and a large ocean transport fleet, totaling more than 300 ships of various sizes, appeared one after another on the sea outside Brunei, the capital of Brunei.
The Han Dynasty's naval fleet was enormous and made no attempt to conceal itself, deliberately and brazenly approaching the coast.
Fishermen near the coast, as well as patrols arranged by the Sultan of Brunei, quickly discovered the Han Chinese fleet.
Brunei's junior officers, as a vassal state, were not as ignorant as the British merchants of the Americas.
Although most soldiers did not recognize Chinese characters, they knew what they looked like.
In particular, they all knew what the banner of the Han Dynasty looked like.
Now, seeing the "Han" character flag on the fleet, one immediately knows that the fleet of the Great Han Dynasty has arrived.
In a state of extreme panic, he roughly counted the size of the fleet, then ran into the palace like a madman and reported to the Sultan of Brunei: "The Han fleet has arrived, and there may be more than three hundred ships in total."
"At least one hundred of them were as big as the largest cargo ships of the Westerners."
"Every ship should be equipped with cannons!"
In the South Seas, only the Central Dynasty in the north was capable of organizing hundreds of ships for patrols.
The number of European naval fleets stationed in these areas, as well as the merchant fleets that traded in these areas, was mostly in the single digits.
While Britain could control a number of warships of this size, it was impossible for them all to be sent.
The Opium War brought forty-eight warships.
However, since Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean during the Ming Dynasty, the chieftains of various large and small local states in Southeast Asia have never seen such a large-scale fleet again.
After more than four hundred years, the massive fleet of the Central Dynasty finally reappeared before their eyes.
Brunei's Sultan Ali, who was waiting for news, jumped up upon hearing the report: "Over three hundred ships! More than one hundred super-large ships! How many people can that transport?!"
Sultan Ali, in his astonishment, immediately ordered his servants to summon the prime minister.
Sultan Ali stood in the spacious room, pacing anxiously back and forth several times.
When his uncle, who was also the prime minister, walked in, he immediately went up to him and said, "The fleet of the Great Han is too big! It is estimated that it can transport at least 50,000 troops!"
"We don't have that many troops to begin with, let alone the countless cannons they have."
"I think—we have no choice but to temporarily submit to the Han Dynasty—"
Prime Minister and Prince Uncle Muda was quite frank at this point: "His Majesty the Sultan is right. If the Central Dynasty is willing to conquer Southeast Asia, then Southeast Asia will have no choice but to submit."
"The Han emperor's army is powerful enough, so let's see what the emperor wants."
"As long as it's not too excessive, we'll cooperate as much as possible."
"The Han navy will likely send envoys ashore. Your Majesty should quickly issue an order to prepare for their arrival."
Ali is actually a Sudanese man with some ability.
Although he often consulted Uncle Wang's opinions, he still maintained control over the entire country.
Even the Prime Minister's uncle had to obey orders.
Ali accepted Uncle Wang's advice and ordered a grand welcoming ceremony to be prepared.
The next morning, the Great Han fleet dispatched three small fast boats, which approached the pier in Brunei.
Sultan Ali, accompanied by his uncle Muda and senior Brunei officials, knelt down at the pier to welcome them.
These are things that were done hundreds of years ago, and no one would argue about etiquette.
Everyone looked up at the distant sea, at the seemingly endless expanse of sails, and Ali and the others lost all desire to fight.
The envoys arranged by the Honglu Temple of the Great Han Dynasty disembarked and, surrounded by the Sultan's entourage, proceeded to the royal palace.
Without any prior talks or discussions, the envoy directly requested the King of Brunei to accept the imperial decree.
Ali had no choice but to lead his ministers to kneel and receive the imperial edict once again.
This has been the rule for so many years, and even if they are unwilling, they can only accept it.
Liu Yulong announced through an imperial edict the formal abolition of the King of Brunei and the establishment of the Brunei Military Command.
Ali was conferred the title of Duke of Brunei and appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of Brunei, in charge of the affairs of the indigenous people, military and civilians in Brunei.
The Brunei Metropolitan Commander is under the control of the Borneo Military Command and cooperates with the Borneo Military Command in its reclamation, construction, and combat operations.
The affairs of the Han Chinese people within Brunei shall be handled by the Borneo Military Command, and the Brunei Regional Commander shall not interfere.
Most of Brunei's high-ranking officials below Ali can understand some everyday Mandarin.
However, being able to understand Chinese and comprehend the meaning of the imperial edict and figure out what happened is still not a difficult task.
So after hearing the imperial edict, Ali did not immediately accept it. Instead, he asked the envoy, "I am just the leader of a remote and small country. I am not very familiar with the language and writing of the Celestial Empire. I would like to ask the angel to enlighten me. What does Your Majesty wish me to do?"
The envoy was somewhat prepared for this reaction, and he explained the requirements of the imperial edict in plain language: "Brunei was just an ordinary overseas vassal state in the past. Apart from sending envoys to the capital to pay tribute on time, the emperor and the court did not have any special requirements for you."
"From now on, you will be a chieftain under the imperial court. You will be responsible for arranging for the people under your jurisdiction to work as laborers, and to reclaim wasteland, farm, and build cities according to the requirements of the Borneo military."
"The Borneo Military Command established by the imperial court will also directly govern all the Han Chinese people living in Borneo. From now on, you will no longer need to interfere in their affairs."
"No chieftain of the inner vassal states could be enfeoffed as kings unless they were surnamed Liu. Therefore, in the imperial edicts of the Celestial Empire, the title of king would be changed to duke."
"When you submit a memorial in the future, remember to address me as the Duke of the County."
"These are the arrangements the imperial court has made so far. Should the Duke of Brunei receive the imperial decree?"
Ali considered for a moment: "That is to say, Bruneians who used to worship God at home will now become servants who directly serve God."
"In the past, Brunei only needed to offer tribute to the king, and later they had to do things according to the king's orders."
"Brunei used to have to manage the Han Chinese people living in Brunei, but they won't have to anymore."
The envoy hesitated for a moment, then decided that this interpretation wasn't wrong: "You can think of it that way."
Brunei is a sultanate, and its mother tongue is not Chinese. Internally, it does not use the title of king, but simply the title of sultan.
For them, the change of the title from "King" to "Duke of the Commandery" in the Han Dynasty was simply a change of translation.
The transfer of jurisdiction over the Han Chinese immigrants to the Borneo military is seen by modern people as an infringement on judicial independence and a egregious demand that violates sovereignty.
Brunei, however, was originally a tributary state of the Han Dynasty, and its sovereignty was inherently incomplete, so it didn't care about such matters.
In addition, the matter of Han Chinese immigrants is very complicated, mainly because their lifestyles are different from those of the indigenous people. The Sultan of Brunei and his officials did not know how to manage them.
Those immigrants who received investiture from Brunei were actually in a state of high autonomy, only nominally submitting to him.
The Han Dynasty court sending people directly to manage the situation actually saved them trouble.
For the Sultan of Brunei himself, the only additional obligation was to send people to work for the Han Chinese officials.
This is what Sultan Ali and his uncle had guessed: they were about to go from followers to servants.
If he had the freedom to choose, Ali certainly wouldn't want to be anyone's servant, nor would he want to be directly under anyone's command.
Ali also wanted to try using all the armies under his control to fight against the Han army.
But when I thought about the potential consequences, I suppressed the impulse.
The giant demonstrated his strength, and Ali, who was already mentally prepared, readily agreed.
Ali remained kneeling on the ground, his hands raised as high as he could: "Your subject receives the decree."
The envoy carefully put away the imperial edict and placed it in Ali's hands.
After the royal decree was read, Brunei was transformed from an outer vassal state into an inner vassal state.
The transport fleet at sea then officially began docking, bringing a large number of militia and supplies ashore.
First, a large-scale camp will be built in the coastal area of Brunei, and then it will be gradually expanded into a formal city.
The artisans accompanying the army searched for suitable locations to drill wells and attempt to extract oil from the area.
The Borneo oil fields near Brunei produce some of the world's finest light crude oil, which is not the usual dark color.
Instead, it is as clear and transparent as mountain spring water.
If you don't care about the engine's lifespan, you can directly add it to your car.
Brunei originally had primitive oil extraction activities, and the oil was mainly used as lamp oil, which was commonly known as kerosene.
Now, Dahan is expanding its oil extraction scale, mainly for lighting in mines, factories, and construction sites.
It was also used in the early research of oil-fired boilers, internal combustion engines, and petrochemicals.
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