A month later.

Located in the Straits Settlements Governor's Mansion outside the gate of the Straits Settlements in Singapore, not far from the port of Singapore, a palace resembling a Putian temple is located on the side of the street.

Two Chinese businessmen with Manchu pigtails and long pigtails who had just arrived from Penang quietly asked a 30-year-old Chinese young man: "Brother Mingshui, what is the great event in Tianfu Palace today?" It's so hilarious! ”

Another Chinese businessman answered: "Yes, our brothers and I have only been away from Singapore for more than two months, and we don't even know about it." Brother Mingshui, don't sell Guanzi, who doesn't know, you are not only the eldest son of Mr. Juchuan, the successor of the 'Fengxing', but also the son-in-law of the late Xue Foji, the first director of Hengshan Pavilion, Xue Gong, even this Tianfu Palace was funded and built by Xue Dong, you are also half the master, and there are things you don't know? ”

The Chinese young man laughed heartily and said generously: "It is indeed a great good thing!" It is related to the status of our entire Nanyang Chinese compatriots. Didn't the two brothers notice when they went to Penang? The foreigner's warship ......" as he spoke, and the Chinese youth looked around.

"Brother Mingshui, look at you, this is our Mazu Temple of Fujian people, which foreigner will come here." Come on, what a happy event! The Chinese businessman urged vigorously.

"Brother really doesn't know?" The young man, known as Mingshui, was a little surprised, and explained seriously: "Here's the thing. More than a month ago, the new imperial court sent a large army to the South Seas, defeated the Dutch red-haired ghost, occupied Borneo and Batavia, the red-haired ghost was not convinced, and asked for help from the golden haired ghost British foreigners, the British foreigners drew warships from India and the strait, and sent a strong naval fleet to Borneo to conquer the imperial fleet, at the beginning there was a small victory, and then the imperial court's fleet concentrated on the Tamilan Islands in a fierce battle, the British fleet wiped out most of the fleet, the foreigners suffered heavy losses, could not fight, defeated and sued for peace. The two sides agreed to meet in our Mazu Temple in the Lion City in a month's time, that is, today, in our Tianfu Palace! ”

"Huh? Oh my God, is it true? Is the imperial court that Brother Mingshui said the rebel army that overthrew the Manchu Qing Dynasty? It's so powerful that even foreigners dare to provoke it? The Chinese businessman was dumbfounded, and it took a long time to breathe down, and when he saw that the young man was not like a joke, he couldn't help but believe it, so he smirked happily: "So, in the future, we Chinese don't have to stick our faces to beg for foreign adults, we can straighten our backs and be people?" ”

"Not really! It is said that the reason why this meeting was postponed to today is because the imperial court attaches great importance to it, and the emperor specially sent the Minister of Foreign Affairs to come over, and together with General Tan, who won the battle, he designated the Tianfu Palace in this Lion City, which is considered the territory of our Chinese! According to my father, this meeting is very likely to decide the question of the ownership of some places in the Nanyang Islands, which is closely related to us Chinese living in Nanyang, and is a major event worth celebrating. The young man told the story of the incident.

This young man's name is Chen Mingshui, and he is also the number one person in the port of Singapore. Speaking of others, we have to say his father-in-law and father.

Chen Mingshui's father-in-law is the famous Xue Fo Ji in Singapore and Malacca. Although Xue Foji was born in Malacca and is considered a native Chinese, he always remembered that his father Xue Zhongyan confessed that he was a native of Zhangpu, Fujian. As early as the Daoguang period when Singapore had just opened a commercial port, Xue Fo Kee went to Singapore to do business with a group of fellow Fujian villagers, and later made a fortune and became the richest Chinese in Singapore. He was generous and righteous, won the love of the villagers, took the lead in donating a huge amount of money to build the Hengshan Pavilion, was promoted as the first director of the Hengshan Pavilion, and became the founder of the Singapore Fujian Gang. In his later years, he returned to Malacca and was appointed as the owner of Qingyun Pavilion, becoming the highest "talker" in the Chinese society in Malacca, and also participated in the construction of Tianfu Palace funded by Singapore, becoming a well-known Chinese leader in Malacca and Singapore. Although he has passed away now, many Chinese still remember his goodness.

Chen Mingshui's father, Chen Jinsheng, known as Juchuan, was the owner of the "Fengxing", not only had a prosperous business and became a local wealthy, but also enthusiastic about the welfare of Chinese compatriots, actively improving the water supply problem of residents, and donating a huge amount of 13,000 pounds. In addition, Tan Kim Seng also set up Chinese education in Singapore, first setting up Chongwen Pavilion in the side hall of Tien Fu Palace, and then donating money to others to establish Cui Ying College, becoming the senior director of the college, and cultivating scholars for the local Chinese compatriots in Singapore.

For a time, after Tan Tock Sang, who originally set up Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore and took the lead in establishing the Tien Hock Palace, died of illness, Tan Kim Seng became the leader of the local Chinese circle in Singapore and had a high reputation.

Therefore, Chen Mingshui's status in Singapore can be imagined.

In fact, in recent years, his father, Tan Kim Sheng, has begun to grow old and gradually handed over his business to Tan Ming Shui, so Chen Ming Shui is very aware of the status of the Chinese in Singapore. Even if his father became the foreigner-appointed governor of the Chinese compatriots, even if his own business was big and profitable, he would have no status in overseas places where foreigners were the best people, and even those Malay natives and Indian slaves of foreigners would have to abuse him. Therefore, after hearing that the imperial court of the ancestral land sent a large army to defeat the red-haired foreigners and the British in Nanyang, Chen Mingshui and his father Chen Jinsheng closed their doors for two days, gathered relatives and friends to eat and celebrate, and were so happy that they were drunk. Since then, the Chinese in Nanyang have relied on and are no longer bullied by foreigners.

Thinking like this, Chen Mingshui looked in the direction of the dock with a smile on his face.

At this time, the crowd at the entrance of Yuanshun Street shook, and a small servant came to report: The foreigner came out of the Strait Governor's Mansion and had arrived at Tianfu Palace in a carriage under the escort of more than ten guards.

Chen Mingshui looked up at the sky, the sun was almost overhead, and the time for the meeting was almost up. Thinking that the foreigners are already coming, the adults of the court should also be about to arrive.

Sure enough, I saw that the people on the dock were shaking and crowded, and everyone cheered: "Here, the adults of the court are here!" ”

Chen Mingshui asked the little servant to inform the governor who picked up the guests in the Tianfu Palace to receive the foreigners who came from the Governor's Palace, and he personally took the two governors to break through the crowd and run to the dock.

When he arrived at the dock, Chen Mingshui saw a fleet of three neatly arranged cruisers approaching the wind, and in the distance, there seemed to be several warships guarding outside the harbor and not entering the port, as if they were escorting the three warships entering the port. As the fleet approached, Chen Mingshui found that four big characters on the side of the warship headed by him were shining on the sparkling water: Nanyang No. 1! In the middle of the bow mast of the warship, a large flag of the Chinese Empire with a yellow star on a red background was waving in the wind, and under the red flag, hundreds of soldiers in uniform stood neatly on the deck, waving to the Chinese compatriots on the dock.

For a while, the Chinese compatriots on the pier shouted and cheered, and the scene fell into a sea of joy and jubilation.

The warship soon docked, and dozens of soldiers on board disembarked, armed with muskets, and escorted several imperial lords ashore.

Seeing this, Chen Mingshui hurriedly asked the governor to separate the onlookers from the Chinese compatriots, leaving a passage in the middle, and he also rushed there himself, only to find that his father Chen Jinsheng had already led the elders and dignitaries of Singapore to greet him.

......

The talks officially began. Because Tan Beng Shui knew English and could speak the Bumiputera language, he was allowed to accompany his father, Tan Kim Sheng, and Tan Kim Chung, the eldest son of Tan Tock Sang, another famous late leader in Singapore, as a witness to the locals in Nanyang.

Because Chen Jinzhong took over the position of the chief director of Tien Hok Gong from his late father Tan Tock Sang, as the master of the negotiation venue between the two sides, and because he himself is proficient in English and Chinese, as well as Witch and Thai, he was unanimously elected by both Chinese and English and other observers to be the interpreter of the scene, and together with Chen Jinsheng, became the two major witnesses.

Chen Jinzhong first introduced the participants in the meeting:

The British foreigners, led by Brandall, the Governor of the Straits, and the Governor of Hong Kong, Bao Ling, and the defeated British Combined Fleet in the East Indies and China, West Malaysia, plus two assistants, an interpreter and guards.

On the Chinese Empire, the leader was the Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Ruxiao, who came from Shengjing; In addition, it is Tan Tiyuan, commander of the Nanyang Fleet, Zeng Guoquan, commander of the 38th Infantry Division, and others.

Other witnesses include the Dutch East Indies Governor Gordon Rokote, the French Minister Bourblon, the Spanish Governor in Luzon Fernando, the Sultan of Johor Sultan Alisha, the Sultan of Brunei Dardul Mubun, the Prince of Siam Chulalongkorn and others.