Chapter 237
Cheng Shijie was not in the mood to pay attention to the affairs of the capital. In fact, he had less and less scruples about the capital in his heart. Sometimes, he could not even remember that there was an emperor and the Ming Dynasty above him.
When Cheng Shijie arrived, he inspected all the more than 20 Chinese settlements and farms in Luzon. Generally speaking, the living environment of the Chinese in Luzon was not optimistic.
After the Spaniards occupied Luzon, they occupied the most fertile and broad farms and plantations as well as a small amount of rubber forests. Their planting technology was too crude. After the soil was exhausted, they gave up and then looked for the most fertile land.
The Chinese could only pick up the land that the Spaniards did not want, pick up some residual juice and cold soup, and even cultivate the land themselves in remote places.
However, the Chinese are too hard-working. For the nomadic people, at least 6,000 to 8,000 acres of dense grassland are needed to feed a family, just to barely solve the problem of food and clothing. For white farmers, they needed one hundred acres, or about six hundred acres, to survive.
But the people of Ming Dynasty only need twenty or thirty acres of land. If it is paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River, they can solve the problem of food and clothing with two acres, ten acres or eight acres a year.
In later generations, many people looked down upon the small-scale peasant economy of China's rural areas, but in fact, any common people had only the option to engage in side jobs as much as possible, such as planting fruit trees, economic trees, and vegetables. As long as their food rations were guaranteed, they would start Raise all kinds of poultry.
The living environment of the Chinese in Luzon is actually far better than that of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty. Most of them have farms, and each farm also raises hundreds or thousands of chickens, ducks, and geese. If there are no chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, Sheep simply cannot afford to be a farmer.
Once chickens, ducks and geese are brought to scale, the profits generated are also considerable.
Especially in Luzon, the water resources here are very developed. Ducks and geese don't need to be raised at all. You can go to the lake and eat some small fish and shrimps. The eggs they lay are all red-hearted, and they are the most popular in the market. The same goes for cattle and sheep. As long as the sheep pen is big enough, there is no need to graze the sheep at all. The sheep eat the grass and it will grow back immediately after it rains.
At least as far as Cheng Shijie's research knows, very few white farmers raise poultry such as chickens, ducks and geese, not because they are dirty or noisy, but because they are troublesome. A farm of the same area, operated by Chinese people, can generate at least three to five times more profit than operating it by white people.
It is not surprising that the Chinese are rich. But the problem is that wealth is jealous, and then there is tragedy.
Wu Shangzhi and Li Guoqun were accompanying them all the time. Both Wu Shangzhi and Li Guoqun were restless in their seats along the way. When walking, they were half shoulder-to-shoulder with Cheng Shijie. Li Guoqun's eldest son, Li Sixing, was taller than Cheng Shijie. Half a head tall, nearly 1.9 meters tall.
In front of Cheng Shijie, he didn't even dare to straighten up and bent his waist, making him appear shorter than Cheng Shijie. Cheng Shijie didn't feel anything unusual about the attitudes of Wu Shangzhi and Li Guoqun.
After all, in the Hansteel Group in later generations, there are also people with old-school behaviors like Wu Shangzhi and Li Guoqun. Because of his professional habits, Cheng Shijie has always been neither humble nor overbearing when receiving anyone. Even those with a lower status than Cheng Shijie, he will not They will be unscrupulous, because Hansteel Group has the temperament of some troops. Maybe one of the old employees is the master of a certain boss. During the holidays, even high-ranking bosses will go to the homes of ordinary employees and give gifts.
Otherwise, they will be said to have forgotten their roots. If they are leaders of other private companies, they will definitely not care about the so-called rumors, because most of them do not have a good image in the eyes of employees. But Hansteel Group is different. This is one of the assessment criteria for leadership promotion, democratic evaluation.
Wind evaluation will affect a person's future. Cheng Shijie does the same to his master. He serves as the deputy director of the agency office and is already considered a leader in front of his master. However, Cheng Shijie never behaves in front of his master and ordinary employees. Leadership airs.
When Li Guoqun returned home, Li Guoqun's eldest son Li Sixing smiled and said: "My father, General Cheng treats my father with the same courtesy that King Wen of Zhou treated Jiang Taigong!"
Li Guoqun glanced at Li Sixing: "What are you talking about? General Cheng is King Wen of Zhou. How can he be a father one ten thousandth better than Taigong Jiang?"
However, from the bottom of his heart, Li Guoqun still felt that Cheng Shijie really respected him, which made Li Guoqun very proud.
On August 22, the seventh year of Chongzhen, Cheng Shijie officially held the founding meeting of Chinese representatives from Luzon and the Luzon Executive Committee.
The old rule is that before everyone is gearing up to start a big fight, they should hold a development planning meeting to unify their thinking. Only by unifying their thinking can we think in one place and work hard in one place.
Before the meeting started, Xie Jinglin naturally presided over the meeting and began to read quickly: "There are now 45,675 Chinese people in Luzon, and they are still growing rapidly. Now there are Yongsiquan Town, Zhenghe Gang Town , Fushan Town, a total of 23 towns, 312 large and small farms and agricultural plantations...a total of 8.9 million acres of farmland."
As Ning Haijun occupied Luzon and captured more than 4,600 Spaniards, their farms, plantations, minerals and other properties naturally became the property of Ning Haijun.
Of course, the current development of Luzon is actually only about 10%. The Philippines in later generations has 5.3 million hectares of cultivated land, about 79.5 million acres. At its peak, it was 5.75 million hectares, or 86.25 million acres.
Cheng Shijie looked at the Chinese representatives and said: "The basic situation in Luzon is roughly the same. Let's talk about it. What do you think now?"
Wu Shangzhi raised his hand cautiously: "Commander, with so much fertile land, we can't let it go to waste, right? Why not sell it to us for management, and we will recruit people and organize planting!"
Of course Wu Shangzhi was also testing Cheng Shijie's attitude. If Cheng Shijie and Ning Haijun really wanted to make a fortune and leave, they would definitely sell all their fields and minerals.
Cheng Shijie shook his head and said: "You can't eat these fields. Luzon was conquered by Ning Haijun. Naturally, part of the military land must be given to Ning Haijun. Among the current 8.9 million acres of plantations, a total of 1.2 One hundred thousand acres belong to the Chinese. I respect the interests of the Chinese plantations and you can continue to operate these fields. At the same time, of the remaining 7.7 million acres of land, Ning Navy officers and soldiers will keep three million acres of cultivated land for themselves, and five hundred acres of cultivated land. Ten thousand acres of grassland and six million acres of forestland, and the remaining 4.7 million acres of farmland can be sold to everyone for purchase!”
When Cheng Shijie said this, Li Guoqun raised his hand and said: "I want to buy 800,000 acres to plant corn, rice and soybeans!"
"I want to buy a piece of land to grow sugar cane!"
"I want to buy a piece of land to process seafood!"
"I want to buy a piece of land..."
The Chinese representatives saw that Cheng Shijie had left almost all the good farmland for him, and also occupied a large number of middle fields, leaving them only the middle fields and inferior fields. But the problem was that they felt at ease.
Because Ning Haijun occupied Shangtian, they would not leave easily. As long as Ning Haijun was in Luzon, they were not afraid of the Spanish coming back again. You must know that when Ning Haijun attacked the Spaniards, they all watched. Ning Haijun beat the Spaniards like an adult beating a child, with no power to fight back.
"I don't know the price..."
Cheng Shijie smiled lightly and said: "One tael of silver for each mu of medium-grade land and three taels of silver for bad land. You can pay it off in up to five years!"
Wu Shangzhi said: "I wonder how to collect this tax?"
"One-tenth, if an acre yields one stone, just pay one bucket!"
Cheng Shijie looked at the crowd and said, "If you sell overseas, you need to pay another one-thirtieth of the transaction tax."
Everyone here smiled happily when they learned that the tax was so low. In fact, for most of the Ming Dynasty, the proportion of commercial taxes and agricultural taxes was never very high. It was just those people below who did nothing but added layer upon layer, knocking on the bones and sucking out the marrow, and eventually the people were suffocated. If the court wants to collect one tael more silver and spread it to the common people, it will become ten taels. It is strange that the Ming Dynasty will not die in this way.
What Li Guoqun was most worried about was his safety. He asked, "Commander, there are only a few Chinese in Luzon, and the indigenous people are numerous and violent. But what if..."
Cheng Shijie chuckled. Like a magic trick, he conjured a revolver with a total of six bullets. However, because the smaller the caliber, the more difficult it was to make, so the revolver made by Ning Haijun was a quarter-caliber, which meant that the revolver was The caliber of the pistol is 12.6 mm.
"That's all you need!"
Cheng Shijie loaded the bullet into the revolver, loaded the gun, and immediately fired six shots at a bottle of statue in the synagogue.
"Bang bang bang..."
The entire statue, which was carved out of marble, was beaten until stone chips flew away.
Cheng Shijie said: "This is a revolver produced by the Ning Haijun Gun Bureau. It has a caliber of four points and an effective range of thirty steps. Even a child can easily kill a strong man with this gun. One shot in If anyone dares to break into a house and threaten your life and property, you don’t need to say anything, just shoot him an arrow and then reason with him!"
"This is the Shansang Crossbow produced by Ning Haijun. It has a range of 180 steps. Of course, it can directly shoot armored targets within 120 steps. If conditions permit, you can buy a revolver for self-defense. You can buy crossbows, spears, knives and other equipment.”
You know, in the past dynasties, crossbows have always been banned, but bows have not been banned. Folks can own bows and arrows, but they must not own crossbows. The reason is that crossbows are accurate and powerful. An ordinary person can skillfully shoot them after just a few days of learning. Use your skills to kill a warrior who has been practicing martial arts all his life with one arrow! "Ten thieves use crossbows, but hundreds of officials dare not move forward." If the common people possess such weapons, it will pose a great threat to the government, so crossbows must be banned. How severe is the ban on crossbows? Anyone who has three powerful crossbows among the people will always be the leader!
Cheng Shijie didn't have so many scruples in Luzon. Not only did he sell guns and crossbows, he also planned to set up a shooting club to cultivate the martial spirit of the Chinese in Luzon.
"I wonder how much this revolver costs?"
"It's not expensive, it's only 10 taels of silver a piece, and it comes with a box of 30 rounds of bullets! My personal suggestion is that if you buy a left-hand revolver, you can buy six boxes of bullets. Six boxes of bullets are also 10 taels of silver. You can use long time!"
"Where's the crossbow?"
"This one is cheaper, five taels of silver each, and comes with two pots and fifty arrows!"
They all agreed with Cheng Shijie's decision to arm them. Although the Spaniards were not in danger now, the natives were so fucked up that they treated them completely like sheep in their own sheepfold. If they had no ability to defend themselves at all, you would wait for them to be sucked into mummies. It’s better to force the family to be destroyed! Now that they have weapons, they should restrain themselves a little, right?
Wu Shangzhi asked: "Can we have short knives?"
"Okay, one tael of silver a handful!"
Cheng Shijie's plan is to turn Luzon into a place where the folk customs are fierce and everyone is martial. In the tragedy of the massacre of Chinese by the natives of Luzon, it was clear that the Chinese were much taller than the natives of Luzon because of their good nutrition and tall horses. But the problem was that the Chinese were massacred by the natives, with heads rolling and blood flowing like rivers.
The reason is not that the Chinese cannot fight, but that they lack martial spirit. He can't do anything to the whole world, but he can at least turn Luzon, which is under his jurisdiction, into a place of fierce folk customs, so that anyone who dares to get involved in this area will never come back!
Cheng Shijie looked at the Chinese representatives and said: "The living environment of the Chinese in Luzon is not optimistic. Now that I have come here, I must find a way to make the fathers and brothers of Luzon become the masters. Not only do I want all the fathers and brothers to stand up and start a business, We also want to make all our fellow villagers rich..."
It's not like Cheng Shijie doesn't know how to speak on the scene. When it comes to impromptu speeches like this, Cheng Shijie can be said to speak at the drop of a hat.
When Wu Shangzhi, Li Guoqun and other Chinese representatives heard this, they all knelt down towards Cheng Shijie.
Looking at the people kneeling in front of the Luzon Governor's Mansion, Cheng Shijie said with a surprised look on his face: "Everyone, why are you suddenly giving such a grand ceremony?"
Wu Shangzhi was so choked that he couldn't speak. Li Guoqun's eyes became hot, and tears rolled down involuntarily. He choked and said: "Commander, you don't know something. I am here in Luzon, a barbaric land, and I am used to seeing Spain." People bully and humiliate us. Even some of the generals of the imperial court are either fake and powerful like the Zheng family, or they are some grass bandits who come to rob us in the name of borrowing food, and their eyes glow golden when they see money. His eyes glow red when he sees a woman... Like the marshal, who doesn't live in a great mansion, but shares the joys and sorrows with the people. We have only heard of such things in books. We thought they were all fake before, but we found out today , There really is such a wise king in the world!"
When he said this, Xie Jinglin felt that Li Guoqun had some national affiliations. Although the sky was high here and the emperor was far away, if these words reached the ears of Emperor Chongzhen, I am afraid it would have a great impact on Cheng Shijie.
Cheng Shijie's positioning of Luzon has never thought about a situation similar to that of Liaodong. For Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, everyone thinks it is the Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Chongzhen and the court have a great reputation for Liaodong. Cheng Shijie's work , but also be cautious, although not out of line.
The imperial court sent officials to Liaodong, and he had to accept it. The imperial court collected taxes from Liaodong, and Cheng Shijie never thought about not paying them. In fact, for Emperor Chongzhen's seven-year autumn grain, Liaodong had to pay three million shi of grain to the imperial court. This actually meant that As far as Liaodong is concerned, it is not troublesome at all.
Cheng Shijie did not refute Li Guoqun's so-called words of king and minister. He helped Wu Shangzhi, Li Guoqun and others up, then looked at the crowd and said: "I am not a wise king. As a general of the Ming Dynasty, I protect the people of the Ming Dynasty. This is my duty and I have no shirking responsibility. Now that Ning Haijun is managing Luzon, he not only collects taxes from everyone, but also cares about the people's livelihood. These are what I should do. Seeing everyone being bullied by the natives, I feel uncomfortable, and there is nothing else. .”
"The commander-in-chief may think it's nothing, but to us, it's something we've never seen before, let alone meet such a wise master in person...Wu, in his declining years, and Lu Song, in the midst of a great calamity, actually had to meet a great master. Handsome, why don't you tell me to be happy and excited?"
Wu Shangzhi had just calmed down and was about to kneel down again, but Cheng Shijie helped him before he could kneel down.
Wu Shangzhi continued: "Commander, you love the people so much, I'm afraid there is no one else in the world. Before I met the general, I only thought that Lu Song had just changed his master. Today I know... the general From now on, I will do my best to assist the general in accomplishing great things."
Li Guoqun and others shouted loudly: "We will do our best to assist the general in achieving his great cause!"
Cheng Shijie naturally knows the strength of the Nanyang Chinese. In fact, the Nanyang Chinese are the ones who control a lot of wealth in Luzon, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Achievement is a small matter, but people's livelihood is a big one. We still need the help of Mr. Wu, Mr. Li and others!"
Wu Shangzhi and Li Guoqun looked at each other and said in unison: "I am willing to die serving the general!"
In fact, it was not the first time that the Chinese in Luzon were massacred by Spain and the natives. If Ning Haijun had not taken action this time, there would have been rivers of blood. At the same time, this incident also really woke up the Chinese people.
Not only was there a large-scale massacre of Chinese in Luzon, but the Chinese who hid in Guawa and Medan had a very difficult time living because the Ming Dynasty behind them had no time to take care of themselves. As the Ming Dynasty declined, they originally worried about the Ming Dynasty. The Spanish and Dutch, who have thousands of troops, are now becoming more and more unscrupulous.
For decades, no Ming official or general has ever stepped forward to uphold justice for them, save them, and protect them.
Chinese representatives from all over Nanyang set out one after another, deciding to get protection from Ning Haijun and Cheng Shijie like the Chinese in Luzon.
At this time, the Dutch business representatives arrived in Luzon.
At this time, dozens of Dutch people, led by Ning Haijun, came to the mansion where Cheng Shijie was staying.
This time, the person who arrived this time was the senior commercial commissioner of the Dutch East India Company and the governor-general Putmans, who had dealt with Cheng Shijie.
Putmans babbled a lot to the translator with a serious face.
In fact, Putmans is very fluent in Chinese, and it is the southern Fujian dialect, as well as the imperial Mandarin.
The translator said to Cheng Shijie: "I, with the authorization of the Governor-General of Java of the Spanish Empire and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, have come to formally inform you. My qualifications to handle the Luzon riots have been confirmed, and I am ready to formally start formal discussions with you at any time. Negotiations. This is to inform you, and I would like to wish you a good day."
Cheng Shijie nodded and said, "We want to negotiate well, Jing Lin, you can talk to them on behalf of me!"
"It's the handsome man!"
"please!"
Xie Jinglin stretched out his hand toward Putmans.
"Hans, what's wrong with you?"
In the meeting hall of the Port Affairs Area of Zhenghe Port District, Xie Jinglin said with a smile: "When will Spain need the help of you Dutch people?"
"Because of profit!"
Putmans said seriously: "Let's start!"
Xie Jinglin nodded and said: "Okay"
Putmans slapped the table: "You, the Ming Empire, must give an explanation to our Spanish Empire. Luzon is the territory of Philip IV of the Spanish Empire. You brazenly launched an attack on Luzon. This is a huge insult to a civilized country." .The whole of Europe was outraged..."
At this point, Putmans lowered his voice and said: "This is already an act of war, and negotiation is of little significance. However, we still want to avoid war. This is our request..."
Xie Jinglin glanced at it and saw the formal diplomatic note written in Spanish, Dutch, and Chinese. It could also be said to be an ultimatum: "Hand over the murderer, release the Spanish citizens, and compensate the Spanish Empire for its losses..."
Xie Jinglin glanced at it and said calmly: "This negotiation is an insult to me and the Ming Empire. Hans, we are friends. I hope you resign to the Dutch East India Company. If this continues, you will be my only friend in the Netherlands." No more!"
Putmans also looked helpless.
It’s really ridiculous that Daming is taking advantage of them, and they still want to solve the problem through negotiation.
Xie Jinglin said: "Since ancient times, Luzon has been the sweet potato country of our Ming Empire, just like the relationship between your Netherlands and Spain. Now Luzon is not an independent country. They are just the sweet potato country of our Ming Dynasty. You invaded Luzon , is to declare war on the Ming Dynasty. This is an act of war. Although our Ming Dynasty loves peace, we are not afraid of war. Now we accept the war of your Spanish Empire. The vassals of your Spanish Empire, the Netherlands, Portugal, etc., are all in a state of war. We will launch a knightly war against you, the Netherlands. This war will begin in a month. Please go back and prepare now..."
Before Xie Jinglin could speak, Putmans became anxious: "No, no, no, this is not an act of war, it is just a conflict. The Spanish Empire and the Ming Empire are just conflicts, not a threat of war!"
"If you admit your mistakes, you must take the beating seriously and stand at attention!"
Xie Jinglin smiled lightly and said: "Negotiations must be done with sincerity. I can't see the sincerity of the Spanish Empire now. If you are really sincere and want to avoid war, then please show your sincerity!"
"I don't know, what you mean by sincerity is..."
"In the 21st year of Wanli, the Spanish governor of Luzon ordered the massacre of Chinese. In the 31st year of Wanli, the Spanish governor ordered the massacre of Chinese. In the 37th year of Wanli, the Spanish governor massacred Chinese. Three massacres totaled more than 55,000 Chinese. This There needs to be compensation, and secondly, the murderer must be severely punished!”
Xie Jinglin said: "This is the sincerity we want to see from Spain!"
(End of chapter)
