Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 89: The Great Riot
Those Spanish small wealthy businessmen spent two days in fear. On January 15, 1895, a dozen of them came to the city center square together. From a distance, they saw a circle of people gathered in the city center, mostly Chinese, but there were also Filipinos and Spaniards.
The small wealthy merchants squeezed into the crowd and saw a high platform in the middle of the square. On the platform was a long table. On one side of the long table sat a handsome and strong young man. Some of the small wealthy merchants recognized the young man and whispered to their companions: "He is the emperor of the Huaxia Empire - Lin Fei!"
The small wealthy merchants couldn't figure out what Lin Fei wanted them to do, so they stood at the edge of the crowd and didn't dare to step forward. At this time, He Kaisheng, a staff officer under Lin Fei, came over and said to the wealthy merchants: "Please take your seats. Our Majesty has something to say to you."
Just as the small wealthy businessmen were about to hesitate, several soldiers with guns standing behind He Kaisheng came forward and pointed the black muzzles of their guns at the wealthy businessmen. The wealthy businessmen dared not say a word and obediently walked up to the platform, walked to the front of the table, greeted Lin Fei for a while, and sat on the chairs.
Lin Fei looked at the small wealthy businessmen and sneered, saying, "I've looked at your information. Almost every one of you owns a factory or a shop. Am I right?"
The small wealthy businessmen nodded one after another. Lin Fei laughed loudly and said, "I want you to hand over your factory or store to me. Are you willing?"
Which of the small wealthy merchants was willing? But Lin Fei had military power, who dared to say "no"? They all nodded in agreement, but they were unwilling to give up their wealth to Lin Fei so easily, so they all played the pity card. The leading wealthy merchant smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, we all rely on the factory to feed our family. If you take away the factory, our family will starve to death."
Lin Fei thought to himself, you guys have exploited the Chinese people for so much blood and sweat, it's not too much to starve to death! Lin Fei didn't say it directly, but smiled and said, "We will pay a ransom, enough for you, come on, give them the ransom money!"
After Lin Fei finished speaking, several of his advisors walked up to the small wealthy merchants with paper bags, placed one in front of each of them, and then walked away. Lin Fei pointed at the paper bags and said with a smile, "Open them and have a look."
The small wealthy merchants looked at the paper package with shining eyes, wondering what was inside? Gold? Peso? When they opened the paper package, they were dumbfounded. Inside was a stack of patterned paper with "100" written on it, and Chinese characters. Someone who knew Chinese characters read out the Chinese characters: "Long live the Huaxia Empire, issued by the Central Bank of the Huaxia Empire."
A wealthy businessman asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, what is this?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, “That’s the Chinese currency, and it’s also the first thing I want to announce.”
After Lin Fei finished speaking, he winked at He Kaisheng. He Kaisheng stood up and walked into the city hall. Not long after, He Kaisheng's voice came from the loud speaker on the square: "Butuan City has become a part of the Huaxia Empire, and the currency used should be the same as that of the Huaxia Empire. From today - January 15th, Butuan City is only allowed to use Huaxia currency. Anyone who uses other currencies will be killed without mercy."
The people didn't react when they heard this, because most of them didn't understand economics. But it was different for the small wealthy businessmen. They knew too well the significance of exchanging currency. This meant that Lin Fei could simply print a bunch of paper to exchange the Spaniards' wealth, whether it was gold, grain, cotton or ore!
The small wealthy merchants cursed in their hearts, "You took away our wealth by printing a bunch of paper! You Chinese pigs said we were robbers, but I think you Chinese pigs are the robbers, the biggest robbers in the world! The most shameless robbers in the world!"
The small wealthy businessmen could only curse in their hearts, who dared to show any dissatisfaction on their faces? They all had to smile and nod in agreement, and even applaud.
Lin Fei said loudly at this time: "Now I declare that the public trial officially begins!"
The Chinese cheered in the audience, but the wealthy businessmen frowned, thinking: "Public trial? Who will be tried? Will it be us? We have also exploited the Chinese in the past. Will Lin Fei take this opportunity to kill us all?"
The wealthy businessmen were all terrified. Lin Fei said loudly: "The first person I want to publicly try is the Butuan City Garrison Commander - Redick Jackson. Bring him up!"
The Butuan City garrison was not far from the urban area, so the garrison had bullied the Chinese a lot. Jackson especially looked down on the Chinese. The Chinese also knew how powerful he was and regarded him as a plague god. Today, when he saw that Lin Fei dared to bring him to the public for trial, he immediately felt relieved and had more respect for Lin Fei.
Several soldiers escorted Jackson onto the platform. Jackson had long lost his former majesty and hung his head like a plucked rooster.
Lin Fei said loudly: "Does everyone know about the plague in the city?"
Everyone nodded, and Lin Fei continued, "You know that some people say that the plague was caused by Chinese poisoning, right? How could the plague be caused by poisoning? Do you think this statement is absurd? Isn't it ridiculous?"
People were talking about it: "It's ridiculous, too absurd!", "They just want to harm us Chinese!", "Yes, they used this excuse to kill many people and robbed a lot of money!"
Lin Fei stretched out his hand and pressed it down, saying loudly: "Everyone be quiet!"
Everyone gradually quieted down. Lin Fei pointed at Jackson and said, "He is the one who slandered the Chinese and poisoned them, and massacred them. So I decided to sentence Jackson to death according to the provisions of the Chinese Empire Criminal Law, and execute him immediately!"
Everyone cheered loudly. At that time, the Chinese Empire did not have a written code of law, but Lin Fei said this in order to appear reasonable.
Lin Fei waved his hand, and two soldiers took Jackson down from the platform and pulled him in front of the crowd. One soldier kicked Jackson hard on the knee. Jackson screamed in pain and fell to the ground. He knew that Lin Fei would not forgive him, so he did not beg and closed his eyes silently.
A soldier raised his gun, pointed it at Jackson's head and pulled the trigger. The bullet made a big hole in Jackson's head, and the dead body fell to the ground with a plop.
After Lin Fei interrogated Jackson, he brought several high-ranking military officials over, sentenced them to death for the crime of killing Chinese people, and executed them by firing squad in front of everyone. He then brought the mayor, police chief and other high-ranking officials in front of everyone and executed them one by one.
Lin Fei's purpose of killing high-ranking officials is to intimidate the Spaniards and the Filipinos who work for the Spaniards, and tell them to be honest, otherwise these people will suffer the same fate as you!
Lin Fei said to the small wealthy businessmen, "You have seen my methods. Go back and tell those wealthy businessmen who own several factories and shops to hand over their factories and shops obediently, otherwise don't blame me for being rude!"
The small wealthy businessmen nodded in fear. Lin Fei raised his voice and said sternly: "Tomorrow! Tomorrow morning I will personally lead people to take over the factories and shops of those wealthy businessmen. If the factory guards still resist, don't blame me for not recognizing people with my gun. Well, today's meeting ends here. Dismissed."
The small wealthy businessmen were so frightened that they ran away tumbling. Lin Fei had the bodies collected and buried in a random pit. Then he said to Niu Dalong and Niu Dahu, "My actions today should scare the Spaniards. Tomorrow's reception should be smoother. You and your men should have a good rest."
Niu Dalong and Niu Dahu led their men to rest. They were stationed around the city government, while Lin Fei lived in the city government. The city government is now Lin Fei's service , and all orders to command the Chinese are issued from here.
It was getting dark. After a busy day, Lin Fei lay down on the big bed in the mayor's office, thinking, things went smoothly today, but I can't let my guard down. Those wealthy businessmen will definitely use evil tricks to resist. What evil tricks will they use...
Lin Fei fell asleep while thinking. After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly heard a burst of rapid gunfire. Lin Fei was startled, turned over and sat up, and asked loudly, "Where is the gunfire coming from?"
A soldier ran in and said, "It's to the east of the city hall. There is a large group of Spaniards trying to attack the city hall. We are resisting them."
When Lin Fei heard this, he immediately rushed to the east window, stretched out his hand to push it open, and looked to the east. He saw flashing . In the flames, a large group of Spaniards were rushing towards the house where his subordinates lived.
"Boom boom boom" a loud noise came from the east, and the dazzling fire lit up the night sky. Lin Fei knew that it was the guards who used grenades. Lin Fei was shocked and thought to himself, they actually used grenades? It seems that there are a lot of enemies! To deal with such a dense enemy, the Maxim heavy machine gun is the most suitable.
In the battle during the day before yesterday, Lin Fei commanded his subordinates to use mortars to destroy a Maxim heavy machine gun, and the other seven vehicles were dragged far away by frightened horses. After Lin Fei eliminated the Spanish troops and captured Jackson alive, he ordered people to retrieve the seven heavy machine gun vehicles and assign them to the artillery company for use.
When Lin Fei entered the city, he had people bring in five heavy machine guns and put them in the city government to deal with emergencies. Unexpectedly, they were put to use now. Lin Fei said to the soldiers, "Tell the artillery company to take five medium and heavy machine guns to the east to fight..."
Lin Fei suddenly changed his words when he said this: "Don't just go to the east. I think the Spaniards are likely to come from four directions. Send two to the east first, and the others to the west, north, and south!"
The soldier agreed loudly and ran out. Soon the artillery company was dispatched with mortars and Maxim heavy machine guns. At this time, the Chinese City Guard newly organized by Lin Fei also came to join the battle. Although they were not good at shooting, the Spaniards had a dense formation, so they did not need many guns to shoot accurately.
