Now that he has arrived in Taiwan, Zuo Menggeng worked tirelessly and continued southward to Luzon.
At the moment when the country has completed its unification, traveling around as an emperor has an unparalleled impact.
Especially these newly opened territories will return home faster under his influence.
After more than three years of development, Luzon has completely changed.
The Spanish colonists here have long been expelled, and the ethnic composition is basically composed of Han Chinese and indigenous people. In addition, the Dutch and Portuguese also came to trade and settle.
The Central Plains' demand for sugar and grain has put agriculture here on a track of rapid development.
Driven by economic interests, the originally lazy indigenous residents also invested in large-scale production and life.
Another great benefit of this is that the natives are quickly accepting everything from the empire.
"Currently, more than 3,000 schools have been built across the province, and 60% of school-age children have received compulsory education. The popularization of Chinese has been fully launched, and within ten years, it will become the mainstream language here. "
Huang Zongyan accompanied Zuo Menggeng to inspect various places in Luzon and reported the results at the same time.
The timing of the empire's entry into Luzon was very good. It was just the early days of Western colonists setting foot on this territory.
This has led to the fact that although Luzon has opened the door to openness, it has not fully opened it and has not fully accepted everything in the West. At the same time, the influence of the Central Plains still lingers on this land, making the arrival of the empire not difficult for the people here to accept.
At the same time, the people of the Central Plains also completed the initial large-scale immigration and occupied a certain population here.
With the cooperation of these immigrants, the empire has firmly controlled all parts of Luzon, and it also allows the empire's will to penetrate into every corner of the people.
What makes Zuo Menggeng most happy is that the Islamic religion from the West was completely wiped out by the empire just as it took root in Mindanao, and Christianity failed to bloom in other parts of Luzon.
In this way, it would be easier for the empire to transplant ideas to Luzon.
You must know that in later generations, Luzon was one of the top Christian countries in the world. And Mindanao is full of fanatical Islamic believers, and even the United States has suffered a bloody blow there.
Now the ideology and culture from the Central Plains has completely replaced the local culture and Western culture. With huge economic benefits implanted in everyone's heart, sooner or later it will bear fruit.
"How do the indigenous people and Han people get along now? Will there still be conflicts?"
Previously, under the instigation of dissension by the Spanish colonists, the local indigenous people and the Han immigrants were at odds with each other, and bloodshed would occur every now and then.
This is also the issue Zuo Mengeng is most concerned about.
Huang Zongyan looked high-spirited.
"In addition to the Spanish conspiracy, poverty is also an important reason for the conflict. Originally, there were only a few resources in this place. With the arrival of the Han people, the local indigenous people will definitely feel the pressure. Now the economy here When fully deployed, no matter how much population is added, it will be insufficient, and people will naturally have no intention of fighting each other."
Today, there are more than 130 large-scale farms, 107 sugar cane plantations, and 85 fruit plantations across Luzon.
Each manor requires more than 30,000 laborers.
Because the rewards given by the empire were very generous, it also allowed the indigenous people who originally practiced slash-and-burn farming to come out and join modern labor.
The empire then distributed goods here and earned profits from the residents who were paid, thus creating an effective economic cycle.
The local aborigines are just a little more honest, not stupid. Whether life has gotten better or not can still be felt personally.
This causes them to accept new things very quickly.
Zuo Menggeng has traveled to many places and seen with his own eyes that various new-style houses have blossomed all over Luzon.
The indigenous people who used to live deep in the forest and build houses by cutting down a few pieces of wood now live in new houses with happy faces.
Zuo Menggeng even went deep into the folk and personally visited the indigenous residents. From their mouths, they all praised the officials here.
Zuo Mengeng was convinced that these natives were telling the truth.
It was not because of his arrival that the officials here had made any arrangements in advance.
The reason why he is so sure, of course, comes from his strong self-confidence and control.
Officials from all over the country could not hide their lies from his eyes and ears.
"Your Majesty, when it comes to natural conditions, Luzon is still ahead of Taiwan. Since the empire's demand for rubber is endless, it should be planted more extensively in Luzon."
Zuo Xianghua is a native of Luzon.
His original name was not this, but now that Chinese culture is mainstream in Luzon and everyone aspires to it, he changed his name.
The reason why he was named Zuo was of course his admiration for the emperor Zuo Menggeng.
As one of the first indigenous people seeking change, Zuo Xianghua was undoubtedly very successful.
This man was very business-savvy and established the first private rice plantation in Luzon. Just relying on grain trading has made him the leading rich man in Luzon.
In addition to rice plantations, Zuo Xianghua also has two sugar cane plantations and has invested in a local sugar processing plant in Leyte Island.
He was not satisfied with this, but went to Taiwan, Fujian, Zhejiang and other places to conduct inspections and accepted more new things.
When he was in Taiwan, he saw the magic of rubber and immediately understood that this thing would definitely have a bright future.
However, local businessmen in Taiwan were still exploring the use of rubber and were guarding against leaking secrets, which prevented him from finding out.
Now sitting in front of Zuo Mengeng, Zuo Xianghua felt that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Taiwan is only on the edge of the tropics, while Luzon is in the middle of the tropics. For the growth of any tropical plant, this place definitely has advantages over Taiwan.
Zuo Mengeng was really happy to see that the businessmen here were so proactive.
"It is undoubtedly the best if you can actively explore the road to getting rich. I approve your request. As long as the government holds 30% of the shares and the rubber produced is given priority to the government, there will be no problem."
Seeing him so happy, the local businessmen in Luzon not only praised his wisdom, but also returned to the empire.
On the tenth day after Zuo Mengeng arrived in Luzon, Zheng Zhilong came back after a long journey.
As soon as they met, Zheng Zhilong opened his mouth like a lion.
"I need a thousand officials, a large number of mineral exploration personnel, and support from the East China Sea Fleet."
When Zheng Zhilong opened the map and pointed at a large continent-shaped island in the South Pacific, Zuo Mengeng trembled with excitement.
(End of chapter)
