Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1491 Beiyang Expedition ([-])
Gao Yimin showed a "comity" attitude in the process of negotiating with Gao Zhenxin last time, but this time he was very firm, resolutely asking Lu Shi to land first.Gao Zhenxin weighed it up and decided to accept it.

So the two sides discussed in detail the specific matters of the landing. These processes are too detailed, so there is no need to elaborate.

Around noon the next day, the Beiyang Expeditionary Fleet arrived in the northern coastal waters of the Philippines, about a hundred miles south of the west side of the later Balintang Strait.

There is still some distance from Manila, and it takes about two days by sea.The reason why it is worth mentioning today is that the expedition fleet encountered other ships: two merchant ships returning to Ming Dynasty from Manila.

The long-term anchorage of these two merchant ships in Daming is the Jinghua Ningbo private port, and they are also merchant ships that have been operating with the Jinghua fleet all year round.Before this war, Jinghua’s fleet had already left Manila to return to China, but the two merchant ships accidentally caught fire when they docked in Manila. return date.

It is actually a bit dangerous for two ships to return home alone, but just like the above-mentioned principles of the Caribbean pirates, the pirates in the South China Sea also have many similar styles.So generally speaking, the danger rarely appears in the open sea - the open sea is vast, and pirates do not have satellite positioning, of course it is difficult to find the target.

For example, when the Beiyang Expeditionary Fleet encountered the Spanish Grand Treasure Fleet this time, it was because of a coincidence, and secondly, it was also because of the large scale of the expeditionary fleet, which sent a scout ship.

As a result, after the two Ming merchant ships were discovered by the expeditionary fleet at first, they ran aside in fright as soon as the scout ship approached, but they were gradually caught up because their speed was not as fast as the two light cavalry ships.At this time, the two sides entered the mutual visual distance to know that they were their own people.

The misunderstanding was resolved, and two merchant ships approached quickly, and were sent to see Gao Zhenxin by two light cavalry-class ships.

Since the anchorage of these two merchant ships is usually in Ningbo, they are obviously familiar with the Nanyang Fleet. Now they see the huge Beiyang Fleet, and they are confused for a while.

After meeting Gao Zhenxin, the owners of the two ships knew that the Beiyang Fleet was actually going to Luzon, and they couldn't help being both surprised and relieved.No wonder the first batch of merchant ships of the Nanyang Fleet were so stuck in returning home. The co-author was to avoid damage to the cargo caused by participation in the war.

Gao Zhenxin asked the owner of the ship—the owner of the two ships is the same person—to inquire about the current situation in Manila.What's interesting is that this ship owner is still an old acquaintance of Jinghua: he is Boss Hu, the guide Gao Yu used when he took the sea route into the Red River to attack Thang Long by surprise.

Boss Hu was originally in charge of the first-line trade from Guangdong to Annan. Later, Jinghua's power expanded rapidly. As an "hero of the older generation", he was also taken care of. His business was booming day by day, and he also began to open up new trade lines.

Up to now, Boss Hu's main business has actually become a circle: out of Ningbo, the trade route is Guangzhou, Haidong (the town of Huang Zhiting in Annan), Jingang, Malacca, Manila, and then back to Guangzhou and Ningbo.

Among them, Ningbo and Guangzhou mainly replenish Husi Suzhou embroidery, Guangdong embroidery, porcelain and other goods, and a small part can be sold in Annan, and then turn around to replenish cheap grain and ironware (Hejing iron mine, Jingang processing), and then go to Malacca and Manila for sale. , and finally packed the silver back to Daming.

This is not the only trade route in Nanyang, nor is it the only trade route in Ming Dynasty. For example, sugar from Annan (mainly produced in the part of Vietnam near Guangxi), ironware from Jingang, bronze and tin ingots from Siam (later Thailand The reserves of tin ore are the largest in the world), and the trading of grain in Annan and Siam is mainly monopolized by Jinghua, so the private sector is less involved.

[Note: By the way, Annan originally supplied grain to Liaodong, but now the trade volume of this transaction has been reduced due to the development of Liaodong, and the production capacity has been released to North China and other places, which has alleviated the severity of the disaster in North China to a certain extent.In addition, surplus grain from Siam and Cambodia is also being transported to Daming. Although the profit is not very high, at least it avoids going north with empty ships, and no matter how small the mosquito is, it is still meat. ]
In any case, Boss Hu has now sold his two original small broken ships, and transformed himself into a big boss with four Jinghua-style armed transport ships.

Although the status of the armed transport ship was mediocre when it was on the expedition in Jinghua, it was a high-end sea ship with a cost of 5.5 taels after all.Moreover, the external price of the ship is as high as 8 taels (boss Hu enjoys a discount, and he bought one at a unit price of 7.5 taels). Boss Hu owns four armed transport ships, which are equivalent to more than 30 taels of fixed capital. Got rich.

Boss Hu, who is so rich, seldom goes to sea in person, but his son became an adult last year. Boss Hu has [-]% of his wealth in the sea, so he naturally wants to take his son to familiarize himself with the sea, so he returns to his old business.

The previous trip was taught by him, and of course nothing happened.On this trip, he handed over the daily management of the ship to his son, but the young man was really immature in handling things, and he was more or less caring about his head, so a fire broke out.Although the fire was quickly brought under control because of Boss Hu's prompt decision, the two ships could not keep up with the merchant fleet escorted by the Nanyang Fleet.

Boss Hu had no choice but to let the other two ships go back first, and he took his son to clean up the aftermath of the two ships whose sterns were burned.It would be impossible to say how angry Boss Hu was about this.He is also someone who has experienced it himself, and he knows that it is okay to make small mistakes when he was young, and his son's mistakes this time are not a matter of attitude, but a lack of experience. With experience, this kind of mistake will definitely decrease until it no longer occurs.

As a traditional Chinese father, he still scolded his son bloody, and even sent him to wipe the deck for ten days—the young man was the first to discover the "enemy situation" just now One, when the watchman on the observation deck greeted him, this young man was the first to hear it and immediately reported it to his father.

After listening to Boss Hu's self-introduction, Gao Zhenxin realized that he was also one of Jinghua's old die-hard supporters. He couldn't help but praised him, and praised the young man.Mr. Hu was overwhelmed by the flattery, he hurriedly said that he didn't dare, and he seemed to be very polite, which made Gao Zhenxin very satisfied.

Boss Hu went on to say: "Little dog is stupid and reckless, how can Commander Zhenxin praise him." Then he changed the subject and got down to business: "However, the situation in Manila is slightly different from the information that Commander Zhenxin just said. "

Gao Zhenxin straightened his face and hurriedly asked, "What's going on?"

Boss Hu smiled and said: "First of all, there are only four Galen ships flying the flag of Castile with a red cross and thorns on a white background in the port of Manila, but there are two more galleons flying the flag of the Kingdom of Portugal with a red and green background, a golden ball and a white shield. Galen ships. Although the total number is still six, judging from what I have seen and heard in the past few years, the Portuguese ships may not necessarily listen to the greetings of the Governor of the Philippines of the Kingdom of Castile."

Gao Zhenxin nodded thoughtfully: "That's right, what Boss Hu said makes sense...is there anything else going on?"

"Yes." Boss Hu smiled even more: "The land division of the Kingdom of Castile in Manila is probably less than what you mentioned in your information, Commander Zhen Xin. In my next estimate, there may be only about 1000 people. "

Gao Zhenxin asked in surprise, "Why are there so few? Where have they gone?"

Boss Hu laughed, and replied: "They went to the south to conquer the local barbarians... Ah, although they are also barbarians."

Don't look at Boss Hu's smile, but his tone is very serious: "The Castilians' rule in Luzon is not stable. In fact, they only established two main strongholds in the north and the south. The north is currently largely peaceful. It's almost there, butuan and other places in the south are not under their control beside their stronghold, and there are some small kingdoms or small city-states in the local area.

Not to mention the islands in the central part, almost none of them are under the control of the Castilians.The local situation is very complicated, but if you have to compare it, it is somewhat similar to the southern Annan before. It can be regarded as some various tribes, but these tribes occasionally unite to fight against outsiders.

This time the Castilians are going to suppress these natives in the central region. In terms of military strength, it is still very easy for them to fight these natives—as far as I know, these natives don’t even have a decent pair of armor In the so-called war, the weapons are wooden branches, wooden spears without iron heads, and very few have poisonous arrows. In short, it is difficult to confront the Castilians head-on. "

Gao Zhenxin did not immediately show a very happy look, but asked with some doubts: "The timing is a bit coincidental...why did the Castilians go out at this time?"

"This may be a bit complicated. Although I have some acquaintances in Manila, I only learned some things from the side." Boss Hu stroked the beard on his chin and said: "In general, this Governor De Villa seems to be a very An impatient person, or in other words, he really wants to make some achievements as soon as possible to show his king.

Commander Zhenxin must be aware of the fact that the Philippine Governor's Office has continuously raised tax rates, but this is only one aspect of his eagerness for quick success.On the other hand, since he took office, the Castilian army has greatly increased in size, from the earliest 800 to about 2000 now, and has also controlled many tribal 'armies' in northern Luzon, they say It is called the 'Colonial Servant Army'.

The number of these troops is hard to say precisely, because these tribes are not loyal to Castile. Maybe Castile can force them to dispatch tens of thousands of people, but it may only be two or three thousand, three or four thousand. ... In short, it is not good.But one thing is certain, that is, the combat effectiveness of these native servants is definitely not high. "

Gao Zhenxin nodded. In the pre-war analysis, they also made speculations about the local servants that Spain might have. The point of view is that these people's combat effectiveness is not worth mentioning. The actual effect... probably is cannon fodder.

He thought about it for a while, and said with a strange expression: "The opponent only has about 1000 people left. Don't we guarantee that we will win this battle?"

Boss Hu, who has "war experience", replied: "I'm afraid it's not easy to say that. Commander Zhenxin, the city of Manila is not big, but it is actually quite small. If you really want to talk about it, let alone Guangzhou, Foshan has it all." Several big.

But it's small, but Manila City is... How should I put it, it's a 'fortress-style' city stronghold in Jinghua's usual terms.So it is still quite strong, and because of its small size, its city defense system may not need many soldiers.According to my observation, under normal circumstances, as long as there are 600 people, they can build a complete city defense system, and the remaining people can be used as supplements for battle damage. "

Hearing this, Gao Zhenxin couldn't help laughing and said, "Boss Hu is very knowledgeable about military affairs."

Originally, this remark was somewhat joking, but Boss Hu actually felt a little emotional when he heard it, and said: "If it weren't for the background, dozens of people in the family pointed at me to eat, and I really thought about voting for Jinghua before. " After a pause, he said again: "But it's okay, there are three dogs, besides this son who has to inherit the family business, the other two sons also yearn for Jinghua. I plan to train them and send them to Jinghua.

Maybe in the future, if they are lucky, they will be able to make some small achievements, be granted Zhuangtian in southern Xinjiang, and be divided into several lineages.If it can be done like that, I can be regarded as worthy of my ancestors. "

Although Gao Zhenxin is the commander of the Beiyang Fleet, he also knows a series of policies of Jinghua in southern Xinjiang.For example, what Boss Hu said just now, "Make a little contribution and get a farmland in southern Xinjiang", this is the policy that Jinghua has put in place for immigration.Moreover, due to the existence of the "naturalized household registration system" for the natives in southern Xinjiang, it is easier for the corresponding Han people to be granted land and farmland for meritorious service.

The naturalization household registration system actually divides the household registration into three, six, or nine classes, the highest being "Mingren", who are also called "Huazu" according to the habits of countries in southern Xinjiang.The current Chinese ethnic group in southern Xinjiang includes not only Han people, but also Tongren and Yao people who can speak Han dialect and other ethnic groups from Ming Dynasty.Among the naturalized Han Chinese or naturalized Chinese, it is easier to obtain Annan scholars who can speak Chinese originally, and those who have original Chinese descent in various countries in southern Xinjiang.

However, no matter which one, there are requirements for the person's Chinese mastery level, and they need to take the basic examination in two aspects including speaking and writing.In the final examination for obtaining the household registration of "naturalized Chinese", some relatively elementary interpretations of the meaning of the Four Books and Five Classics are also required--the eight-legged essay is not tested, as long as the original words from the Four Books and Five Classics in the questions can be explained.

The immigrant Chinese and naturalized Chinese in the naturalized household registration system have quite special political treatment in southern Xinjiang. Simply put, "the meritorious service must be rewarded first, and there are too many light punishments." Work hard and make progress” is still very attractive to immigrants from Ming Dynasty.

However, these exams are extremely simple for the local merchants of Ming Dynasty and their children - because as long as the merchants have a little financial strength, they and their family children will definitely be able to read. No matter how badly you read, you won't even fail this kind of test.

As a result, the number of immigrants from Ming Dynasty increased significantly, and many of them were voluntary immigrants.These active immigrants are mainly businessmen of various sizes. Of course, their immigration will bring technology and capital, which will significantly accelerate the development of southern Xinjiang.

In addition, the population or the proportion of ethnic groups in southern Xinjiang has also begun to change, and the population of Chinese and naturalized Chinese is gradually increasing. This is self-evident for Jinghua's rule in southern Xinjiang.

Boss Hu's words also revealed other information, such as what he said "make a little effort".There are roughly several ways to obtain Zhuangtian, the most "simple and crude" of which is military exploits, which does not even need to be explained.

In addition to military exploits, there are several major categories such as "meritorious service for pioneering", "meritorious service for enlightenment", and "meritorious service for enriching the people".

"Pioneering meritorious service" as the name suggests, although the population in southern Xinjiang is not small, but the degree of development is very low, and although the land conditions in many places are good, there is almost no development.If immigrants take the initiative to apply to open up wasteland in those places, they can enjoy many preferential policies, such as "tax exemption for three years and tax exemption for five years", which are all part of the policy.

As for the land they reclaimed, although they are highly pragmatic and do not implement the "Household Law" and do not give it away for free, it is stipulated that "although it is state-owned by the country (local countries in southern Xinjiang), it is allowed to be cultivated by itself forever. It will never be taken back if it violates the law. If the country really needs the land and uses it, the expropriation must be compensated at no less than the market price."

As a result, many people are excited to open up wasteland, because in addition to these lands being allowed to "cultivate themselves forever", they can also get rewards for reclamation and pioneering - but the rewards for pioneering are generally not given to the land, but to other people. Homesteads in certain cities.

For example, the construction of Dingnan City, which is currently attracting attention in southern Xinjiang, is to control the proportion of the city's population and ethnic groups. Therefore, except for special land such as administrative and military use, most of the remaining land and plots are not available for purchase.

How can I get it if I can’t buy it?Mainly by being given.If you make corresponding contributions, it is possible to obtain the land bestowed by Dingnan City, allowing you to build a mansion there to live in.Therefore, to a large extent, being able to live in Dingnan City itself is a symbol of a person and a family's status in southern Xinjiang.

This is awesome, because everyone has this kind of vanity, I said that our family is doing well, how can I prove it?Just compare the area of ​​our mansion in Dingnan City and you will know.As a result, how many people have been inspired to make meritorious deeds?
On the other hand, these people have made so much credit for Jinghua, are you still worried that he has ulterior motives and won't support Jinghua from the bottom of his heart and support Jinghua to death?
The so-called all the heroes in the world are in my hands. Isn't this one of the reasons why Dingnan City is worth spending so much money to build?
What's more, Dingnan City also has the intention of "Versailles in southern Xinjiang" in Gao Yushi's mind. If these powerful families from various places are gathered in Dingnan City, wouldn't the regions be stable—just like the intention of Louis XIV to build Versailles : Weaken the power of local nobles, strengthen the central kingship, and demonstrate the strength of the royal family.

As for meritorious education, it is mainly aimed at local administrative officials, and the greatest "education merit" is the credit for Chinese education.Generally speaking, the more local people who have obtained naturalized Chinese status, the greater the official's "contribution to enlightenment".

The merit of enriching the people is a bit like the immigration policy introduced by some countries in later generations. If you emigrate with a large amount of assets, it is a credit in itself.At the same time, you built a local factory and hired workers, etc., which are also credited to this category.

Of course, there is the most direct one, which is to look at your tax payment——Gao Pragmatism, the pragmatist, directly linked the tax payment with social contribution after the moral suppression in Daming was gone.The more you pay taxes, the greater your social contribution, that is, the greater your "contribution to enriching the people".
-
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Ah Li Baba Forty Thieves", "Ying Yang" for their monthly support, thank you!
(End of this chapter)