Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 9 Plantation
After Lin Fei finished speaking, he pointed to the woods on one side and four people hid in them. Not long after, they heard a noise coming from the woods. The two people who had just carried the corpse came out of the woods again. Lin Fei took out the boning knife he found on the whaling ship from his waist, put it in his mouth, raised his legs high, stepped lightly, and came to the path that the two people must pass.
The corpse that the two men were carrying was very heavy, so they were breathing heavily and did not notice that Lin Fei was lying in ambush in front of them. Lin Fei waited for the two men to pass by, let the man in front go, then suddenly jumped up and punched the man behind him in the neck. The man behind him fell to the ground without a sound.
The man in front was stunned and was about to shout, but Lin Fei pounced on him, took the boning knife from his mouth with his right hand, pressed it on the man's neck, and covered the man's mouth with his left hand. When the man saw the knife pressed on his neck, his body went limp and he dared not resist.
Lin Fei gestured to Niu Dalong and Niu Dahu to come over. The two rushed out, dragged the unconscious guy into the woods, and stuffed a rag prepared in advance into his mouth. Lin Fei also dragged the captured man into the woods and slowly loosened his hand to prevent him from making any sound. The man actually whispered in Chinese: "Hero, spare my life!"
Lin Fei was stunned and asked, "Are you Chinese?"
The man nodded repeatedly and said in a trembling voice: "My ancestors lived in Guangdong."
Lin Fei asked: "Then what are you doing on this island?"
The man said, "I am a merchant from Luzon, and I came to this island to do business."
Lin Fei asked: "Do business? What kind of business is good on this island?"
The man said, "Sugar and wine business."
Lin Fei was wondering, where can there be any sugar and wine on this island? So he asked, "What sugar and wine business?"
The man said, "There is a Spanish sugarcane plantation in the south of this island. The plantation has a sugar factory that makes sugar from sugarcane, and a small winery that specializes in making rum from sugarcane. We are here to buy the sugar and rum. Hero, we are all from the same ancestors. Can you put down the knife? If you shake your hand, I will die."
Lin Fei put down the knife and said casually, "No need to call me hero." Then he asked , "Why are you carrying the body?"
When the man heard this, he started to cry and said, "My dear, I didn't kill those people. It was the Spaniards who did it."
Lin Fei said calmly: "I didn't say you killed them, so you don't have to be afraid. Let me ask you, who are those bodies? Why did the Spaniards kill them?"
The man said, "They were all natives captured from the mountains of Luzon Island to work on this plantation. The natives were doing the work of animals and eating food that even animals wouldn't eat. Life was unbearable for them, so they thought of rebelling. But the Spaniards had guns, so the natives didn't rebel, so the Spaniards started killing the natives. They've been killing them all day."
Lin Fei frowned and said angrily: "Nonsense! How many natives can there be? How can they be killed in one day?"
The man said hurriedly: "They hid everywhere! At this time of year, the sugar canes on the island were more than a man tall, and it was hard to find people hiding in them. The Spaniards killed them while searching, and it took them a whole day."
Lin Fei asked: "Then why did you and your companions get involved? Why did you help them transport the bodies?"
The man smiled and said, "I just want to earn some extra money to support my family. The Spaniards said they would pay five pesos for each body they transported, but they thought the bodies of the natives were unlucky and were unwilling to move them."
Lin Fei nodded, and the man begged, "Good man, please let us go back. We have done nothing bad. We just transported a few bodies. In fact, think about it, we are doing good things. We can't just watch those natives' corpses lie in the wilderness..."
Lin Fei glared and whispered "Shut up". The man covered his mouth with his hand and dared not speak. Lin Fei stared at the ground without saying a word, thinking: "Sugar factory, winery, guns, these are all what I want. I will find out from this man and see if I can take them away." Lin Fei stretched out his hand and pulled the man closer, asking: "What's your name? Where is your companion?"
The man said, "I have three names, one in Spanish, one in Filipino, and one in Chinese. Which one do you want?"
Lin Fei frowned and said, "Of course I'm asking about the Chinese name!"
The man hurriedly said, "My surname is Chen, my name is 'Jin Gui', and the man you beat up is my son, named 'Chen Fu'."
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Chen Jingui, listen carefully. I will ask you a question. Think carefully before you answer it. If you make any mistake, I will skin you alive! Do you hear me?"
Chen Jingui was so scared that he was shaking all over and nodded repeatedly. Lin Fei asked, "Is there a telephone or telegraph line connected to the outside world?"
Chen Jingui shook his head and said, "No!"
Lin Fei pressed, "Can you guarantee it?"
Chen Jingui nodded repeatedly and said, "We have to come here in person by boat to negotiate business with the plantation. It's not like doing business with the big businessmen in Manila, where we have telegraphs and just need to press buttons for a while."
Lin Fei asked: "How often does the ship travel between this island and Luzon Island?"
Chen Jingui replied: "Three months."
Lin Fei asked: "How much sugar can this plantation produce in a month? How many natives are left in the plantation? How many Spanish guards are there? Who are the guards? Are they Spanish soldiers? What guns do they use?"
Chen Jingui answered one by one: "We produce about one ton of sugar a month, and there are more than 300 natives left. As for the Spanish guards, there are about 100 of them, all Spanish thugs hired by the plantation owners. They are not Spanish soldiers at all. However, the leader is a retired Spanish officer, a colonel, and quite powerful. As for the guns they use, I don't know what kind of guns they use."
Lin Fei said: "Then tell me if there is anything special about that gun?"
Chen Jingui thought for a moment and said, "The way that kind of gun is loaded with bullets is very special. They hold a clip with bullets on it, put the clip inside the gun, and pull it with their hands, and all the bullets will go into the gun. Then they can fire once by pulling the gun once."
Lin Fei's heart moved, and he thought: "This is the Mauser M1893 repeating rifle, what a good thing!" Lin Fei nodded and said: "I see, I want to ask you for a favor, are you willing?"
Chen Jingui said hurriedly: "I am willing to do so. It is my blessing to help a hero. How can I not be willing?"
Lin Fei said: "Well, then come with me."
Chen Jingui said hurriedly: "No, my dear, if I go back with you, we won't be able to move all the bodies on time. If we don't move all the bodies on time, we will be fined!"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "If you don't come with me, I will punish you with your life now!"
Chen Jingui agreed with a sad face and followed Lin Fei back to the north beach. Lin Fei took the father and son back to the Pangu whaling ship and had them guarded. When Liu Daming saw Lin Fei coming back, he laughed heartily and said, "You are finally back. The brothers thought you were eaten by the monsters on the island!"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "I really found a monster on the island. Call all the brothers over and let's have a meeting on the main deck. I have something extremely important to tell you."
Liu Daming went to call his brothers, and soon everyone gathered on the deck. Lin Fei said, "Brothers, after our reconnaissance, we found that there is a sugarcane plantation on this island, with a sugar factory and a winery attached. There are more than 200 natives and about 100 Spanish guards. These natives suffered from the abuse of the Spanish, so they rebelled. The Spanish suppressed them. The gunshots we heard today were made by the Spanish killing the natives."
"Brothers, we need people, money, guns, and bullets to conquer the world. But look at us now. We have some people, but no money or guns. I learned from the prisoners that the Spanish guards on this island are equipped with Mauser M1893 rifles. There are 100 of them per person, which is enough for us. So I decided to kill the Spanish guards on the plantation and seize the plantation."
Everyone was stunned when they heard this. Li Mingbai said, "Lin Shangguan, you just said that these guards are all Spanish. If we kill them, will the Spanish troops in the Philippines let us go?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "I have already found out. This island is isolated from the outside world. There are no telephones or telegraphs. The ships only come here once every three months. If we kill these people, no one will know about it in a short time."
Li Mingbai said, "But the Spanish on the island all have guns! Our whaling ships only have machetes and harpoons. How can we defeat them?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "I have an idea. You must have heard the saying: 'A fortress is most easily breached from the inside.'"
As soon as these words came out, everyone looked confused. Lin Fei then realized that this sentence was said by Lenin. Lenin was only fourteen years old this year. How could he say such a thing? He accidentally brought out this sentence.
Lin Fei quickly changed his words and said, "The Spanish guards are not easy to break through, but if we go directly into their interior, wouldn't it be much easier?"
Everyone's faces were more confused. Lin Fei said, "Let's do this. Tomorrow we will pretend to be Filipino businessmen and enter their plantation. Then we will do this and that... Do you understand?"
Everyone nodded, only Li Mingbai shook his head and said, "How can you pretend to be a Filipino businessman? I heard that Filipinos look different from us Chinese. Can't the Spanish tell it at a glance?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "We can say we are 'Mistizo'. The so-called 'Mistizo' is a mixed race of Chinese and Filipino natives. There are many such people in the Philippines, and they look very similar to the Chinese. The Spanish guards won't care."
Li Mingbai asked again: "But why do the Spanish believe that we are merchants?"
