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Chapter 787: Luzon Ripe Ming Foot

"Is this true?" Hong Tao really didn't know that the Sulu Kingdom had paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty and accepted the enthronement from Emperor Yongle.

"It is true...the king's tomb is still in Dezhou, Shandong." Zuo Guangdou nodded.

"Why not use the navy to wipe them out? Is it because they once paid tribute and received titles?"

Even if this was true, Hong Tao still didn't understand why Li Rumei was so worried. Seeing the Muslim natives on Luzon Island continue to leave and being harassed by the Sulu Kingdom at sea, she never launched a large-scale attack.

"Your Majesty, please look..." There was also a rectangular table in the room on the third floor. It was not as big and well made as the one in the Yangxin Palace, but the meaning was similar. At this time, Li Rumei picked up a map and unfolded it on the table. She pressed it with a ruler, stepped aside, and stretched out her hand to point at a point on the map.

"The navy has sent ships to patrol many times. The Sulu Kingdom is different from the indigenous tribes on Luzon Island. They live on hundreds of islands. The surrounding water conditions are very complicated and not suitable for large ships to approach.

I heard from local Chinese businessmen that there are three kings in Sulu, living on different islands. If we want to attack an island, we have to choose the location of the royal palace. But so far, we still don’t know the exact location, so we haven’t submitted the plan to the General Staff.”

"...Well, it's indeed not easy to deal with..." Hong Tao looked at the map that Li Rumei pointed to and frowned. He immediately understood why the navy had been unable to do anything to the Sulu Kingdom for several years.

There are hundreds of islands of different sizes between Mindanao and Borneo, which are later called the Sulu Archipelago. These islands are not far from each other, and most of them are covered with dense virgin forests.

It would be extremely difficult for the navy to clear out the natives on these islands. It would be useless if there were not enough people. Once they hid in the forest, they would be hard to find without thousands of people. Even if a large army was sent to encircle and suppress them, they would suffer considerable losses.

Moreover, the local sea conditions and terrain were too complex to be deployed by a large fleet, but rather more convenient for small boats to pass through. When the large army arrived, they would just get on the small boats and run away, jumping from island to island, which was like a tunnel war on the sea.

In later times, pirates are still rampant in this sea area, and the modern navy has no good way to deal with them. Fortunately, the navy did not rush to eliminate them. Even if this plan was approved by the General Staff, it would be rejected when it came to his desk. Using a cannon to kill a mosquito is not worth the loss.

"Abandon all the islands south of Mindoro, ship all the people you can to Manila, and resettle them on the plains north of the river. Reclaim the land and plant more rice and sugarcane, just like a farm cooperative.

For those who refuse to change, they will be sent to the central region to dig for gold and copper. The navy will also send ships south regularly to destroy all ships on the sea and capture the people to serve as miners.

Don't be soft-hearted with them, and don't worry about the population problem. Use them to death, and do whatever is safe. I think it is more appropriate to put an iron ring around their necks and chain several people together. If one person fails to complete the work quota, all the people in the chain will be punished.

Then select the best performers and give them preferential treatment and privileges. You must learn to control barbarians with barbarians and use the power of others to defeat others. Give benefits to those who are obedient and make them stronger. In order to maintain the privileges they have obtained, these people are more brutal to their compatriots than to foreigners. The same principle can be applied to religion. If anyone gets in the way, encourage the locals to cause trouble. You can be the referee and show more justice, fairness and kindness, and throw all the dirty water on the loser. As the ancients said, the winner is the king and the loser is the thief! "

But there is a way. If we can't afford to provoke them, we can't afford to hide. The current naval power is indeed not enough to fully occupy the Philippine Islands, so we should focus on developing the places with the greatest benefits and abandon the rest.

Luzon Island is not only the largest island in the Philippines, but also the most resource-rich. Its central plains are protected by mountains on both the east and west sides, making them less vulnerable to typhoons. The surface soil is thick with volcanic ash, which is extremely fertile and has abundant water resources, making it an excellent rice-producing area.

As long as this large plain can be managed well, the proverb "When Huguang is prosperous, the whole world is prosperous" should be changed. It should be "When Luzon and Annan are prosperous, the whole Ming Dynasty is prosperous!" In the future, Annan and Luzon will be the granary of the Ming Dynasty, and they will bear at least 50% of the grain output.

What little glaciers and big glaciers, forget it. Even if the land north of the Yangtze River is frozen into an ice rink, there will still be no food shortage. At most, we can eat less steamed buns and more rice, less noodles and more rice vermicelli.

After a long meeting on the future development of the Luzon Special Region, and a short sleep in the second half of the night, the emperor's Luzon inspection was over. The next morning, he quietly boarded the ship, and the fleet set sail again, heading for Da Nang.

"This is the concubine I selected personally. I gave her the surname Lu and leave her to you to serve well!" As the saying goes, a thief never leaves empty-handed. Even when he went to the desolate Cape of Good Hope, he would not forget to take a few penguins away. Manila is a large port after all, so how could he return empty-handed?

What Hong Tao brought back this time was not a specialty or a rare animal, but a person, a woman!
It is said that she is sixteen years old this year, with black hair and black eyes, and her skin is not very white, but she is very pretty, with a graceful figure, and has an exotic charm. Because she is a mixed-race, it is unknown whether she is the product of a brief passionate affair between a Spanish officer and a local indigenous woman.

Hong Tao discovered her accidentally while having dinner in the Governor's Mansion. After asking Zuo Guangdou to confirm her origin, he put down ten gold coins and took her directly into his harem without caring whether the girl's family was happy or not.

There was no other way. As an emperor, one must keep his word. Since he had promised Yuan Keli to enrich his harem, he could not talk nonsense. And one woman was not enough. When he summoned Nguyen Xiangjiang to Da Nang, he would get a young and beautiful Annan girl to make up the number, which would basically be considered as fulfilling his promise.

What? It is against the law for the emperor to have foreign concubines? Don't worry, since Zhu Yuanzhang, most of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had foreign concubines in their harems, at least from Korea. Taking two women from Luzon and Annan into the harem is not only not a disgrace to ancestors, but also a promotion.

But when Hong Taozhen and Ruan Xiangjiang proposed the selection of girls, the plan seemed to have changed. This guy shamelessly offered to offer his own daughter who had just turned 14.

"Your daughter? That's not appropriate..." Judging from Hong Tao's eyes, she is probably not even 14 years old, but she is very likely Ruan Xiangjiang's daughter. Similarities can be seen between her eyebrows and eyes.

"If we can form a marriage alliance with the Celestial Empire, it will be a blessing for the people of Annan. I hope Your Majesty will agree!" He said it with sincerity and righteousness, and even mentioned the people as a flatterer.

(End of this chapter)