Dragon Sea Empire

The grassroots government in Luzon Island is below the province. Although there are towns and villages, the local indigenous people can serve as the deputy mayor (Zuez) or village head ((caheza). However, missionaries have great power in villages and towns. Far from being the masters of local administration, village chiefs, etc., are in fact mere servants, first of all of the vicar of the parish, and second of the chief executives, military and judicial heads of the province at all levels.

Indigenous mayors and village chiefs have low status. They are restricted by clerks (usually missionaries’ personal followers). The missionaries will be punished by flogging 100 vines. The great responsibility of collecting taxes is in stark contrast to their meager salaries. However, the town and village chiefs are tools for the Spanish missionaries to manipulate the local grassroots regime in the Philippines. Taxes and taxes, domineering, constitute the basis of grassroots rule in Spain.

Therefore, whenever Yin Feng's Chinese civil servants arrived in a place, they abolished the position of the local village and town chief, and the company dispatched and designated collaborators to take up the position. The implementation of this measure did not have much resistance among the ordinary indigenous people; Helping officials is indeed not a good thing. The Chinese company’s rule of the grassroots regime in Luzon Island is a one-shot. The personnel sent by the company go directly to the villages and towns to collect taxes, and no longer use the indigenous middlemen. At the same time, the Chinese promote the merger of villages and towns The plan is to relocate the scattered indigenous villages and concentrate them in some large villages and towns; on the one hand, it is easy to manage, on the other hand, it disrupts the cohesion of the villages, and at the same time, a large area of ​​land can be used for the distribution of land by the Chinese.

Nihoncho in Dilau, San Miguel and other places where Japanese overseas Chinese lived, Dilau had been completely emptied and burned by foreign mercenaries. Yin Feng allowed those Japanese who fled to escape domestic religious persecution to live in San Miguel. The Japanese have always been very submissive to the strong, and Nihonmachi soon settled down. Tagalog-inhabited places such as Malat, because they had a good relationship with the Chinese, also settled down very quickly.

The greatest resistance to Chinese rule and management of Luzon comes from the Catholic Church. Therefore, these days, the Chinese company's army has hunted around and captured almost all missionaries from all over Luzon to Manila.

"Within Luzon, there are about 100 priests from various Catholic missionary societies. The rest, unfortunately, went to meet God on the battlefield," Yin Feng sneered as he looked at dozens of missionaries, old and young, in the hall. Speaking in Chinese, Li Lihua unemotionally translated his words into Spanish.

"All the missionaries who rebelled against our company's rule, except for 15 people in the dungeon in Manila, the rest have been hiding in the mountains and swamps under the pursuit of our Chinese company army. We will catch them sooner or later. It is very unwise for you gentlemen , organized the rebellion when my army arrived, resulting in the death of many innocent natives. This responsibility must be borne by you. Among them, we did not find any Jesuit priests. The Jesuits have maintained cooperation with our Chinese company... I therefore hereby declare that all Catholic missions in the entire island of Luzon and north of Mindanao are assigned to the Society of Jesus,"

As soon as Yin Feng finished speaking, a group of priests shouted: "No, no, you don't have this right. The division of the Philippine mission area is the authority of the King of Spain."

Yin Feng said coldly: "The king of Spain's dominion over the Philippines has come to an end. For generations, the natives of the Luzon Islands have all paid tribute to China. Now I am only restoring China's ancient rights." , I now declare again that the missionary rights of the entire Philippine region controlled by the Chinese company belong to the Jesuits, and I don’t care about their missionary expenses. If the King of Spain wants to continue to pay them salaries, I have no objection.”

When Yin Feng returned to Luzon with his army, there were less than a thousand Spanish colonists in Luzon, but there were as many as 180 missionaries. In fact, by 1591, there were 140 missionaries in the entire archipelago, and the bishop of Manila The district was also upgraded to an archdiocese. In 1594, King Philip II of Spain demarcated missionary areas for the various religious orders. The Augustinian Society got the central and southern parts of Luzon Island, including Ilocos, Pampanga and Peng Jiashilan. Part of the area; the Franciscans are mainly active around the inner lake and the Bicol Peninsula area, and the Dominicans are arranged to preach in the Cagayan Valley in northern Luzon and another part of Penga Shilan; the Jesuits are allowed Established dioceses on the islands of Samar, Leyte and Cebu in the Visayan Islands and northern Mindanao.

Although there is a competitive relationship between various religious orders, almost all the missionaries of the various religious orders in the Philippines are from Spain and Mexico. Their two-year journey expenses (about 2-700 pesos) are borne by the Spanish royal family. After arriving in the Philippines, they were assigned to a designated diocese. The colonial government in Manila gave them salaries or allowances. The annual salary of the archbishop was 950 pesos, the annual salary of the bishop was 4125 pesos, and the priests received 1838 pesos or 100 faregs per year (100 fareges are approximately equal to 100 stones of rice ), the missionaries were actually salaried colonial Spanish civil servants.

Yin Feng treated them equally as Spanish officials, and announced on the spot that all missionaries except the Jesuits would be expelled, and they would first be screened in the Pinondo concentration camp.

The Jesuits are actually very distressed. It is a good thing to expand the missionary area for no reason, but where does the cost of the mission come from? The Chinese occupied Manila, which has actually cut off the source of funds for the missionary activities of the Jesuits in Luzon.

The flintlock guns with live ammunition and bayonets were pointed at these missionaries. Not all of them had the consciousness of devotion to God. Many people bowed their heads and prayed. Some missionaries asked: "We promise to leave Luzon, and you will guarantee our Is life safe?"

"Of course, even those missionaries who participated in the rebellion will not be executed even if they are locked in the dungeon. The only exception is: the missionaries who participated in the massacre of living beings will accept our merciless punishment,"

A Philippine governor once pointed out: In the Philippines, from the bishop to the lower-level church members, they are all capable businessmen, and businessmen will not pay for a hopeless cause. Therefore, after Yin Feng promised to ensure the safety of missionaries, he continued until Most of the missionaries were expelled from Luzon. During this period of time, only a very small number of missionaries were still instigating indigenous rebellion in the interior of Luzon, and the rest had already succumbed.

Before leaving, Yin Feng said to the frustrated missionaries: "You may still want to come back here. I hope to see you come to negotiate next time, instead of fighting with an army. In that way, we will We cannot guarantee your safety.”

When Li Dan came to Manila, he was surprised to see that the inside and outside of Manila were all Chinese. The plaques at the city gates were replaced with Chinese characters, and all the Spanish street signs on the streets were replaced.

At the same time, a Mazu Temple has already been built in the city. The Chinese-style roof with cornices and vaults stands out among the Spanish-style buildings.

Less than a month after the city of Manila changed its owner, there are already people doing business in the city. Many of the goods are treasures from all over the world that were confiscated from the homes of Spanish nobles and bureaucrats; there are also foreign businessmen trading silk and ceramics with the Chinese. They are all Japanese, new Christians, Portuguese, Dutch and other well-informed merchants who have a good relationship with Chinese companies.

Not a single Spaniard could be seen on the street. They were still being screened in the Binondo Concentration Camp. Those Spaniards who participated in the massacre three years ago were accused and imprisoned in the prison of the Governor's Palace in Manila.

Boss Zhou of Taiwan's "Leshanlou" opened a branch of "Leshanlou" in Manila very quickly this time. It has just opened for business, and the upper floor has reserved a special private room for Yin Feng according to the appearance of the original Leshanlou store in Hong Kong, Taiwan. Yin Feng hosted a banquet here for Li Dan, and Li Lihua and Li Dan hugged each other and cried. Of course, there is no need to mention it.

During the dinner, Chen Zhongji suddenly called Yin Feng out of the room in a hurry, as if there was something urgent.

Only the brothers and sisters of the Li family were left in the private room. Li Dan looked at Li Lihua's mature and beautiful face, and asked with a wry smile, "Ali, are you willing to follow Yin Feng all the time like this? You have no name or share, are you willing?"

Li Lihua lowered her head with a blushing face, and said softly: "What can I do if I am not reconciled, no priest is willing to bless us in the church...but I don't care, as long as he treats me well, I will...God will bless me, "

Yin Feng came in anxiously, and said to Li Dan: "Taiwan has come, and the Fujian government army is attacking Penghu."

The people who came were from the Business Intelligence Department sent by Zeng Qi and Lin Xiao---the Business Intelligence Department is actually the domestic intelligence department that sells dog meat.

Zeng Qi was invited by Yin Feng himself in a letter. Now that the Zeng family has been firmly tied to Yin Feng's chariot, Zeng Qi, who has retired, is more than 50 years old, but he also cheered up and came to Luzon. ; this place where Zeng Yue, the most capable successor of the next generation of the Zeng family, died.

"Brother Li, my father-in-law came to Manila this time to establish a complete tax collection and production management system in Luzon. In short, it is to establish an administrative system..." Yin Feng said in a special speech In the former governor's bedroom arranged by Li Dan, he talked with Li Dan from the bottom of his heart.

Li Dan reacted quickly: "Are you going to establish a country in Luzon and become king?"

Yin Feng smiled wryly: "My father-in-law also asked the same question. We don't need to be called Wang Jianguo for the time being. It's too early to do this. The Spaniards will definitely retaliate. The news will spread to Mexico and Spain, and then recruit troops to raise military expenses. At least It will take more than a year to send troops to the Philippines. The fastest way is to cross the Pacific Ocean from Mexico, but it will take 6 to 7 months, and it will be a long and difficult voyage on the windy and rough ocean. In short, I estimate We have 3 years to prepare in Luzon, I hope that my eldest brother can assist my father-in-law in managing government affairs in Luzon, because you have been in Luzon for more than ten years, and you know the customs of Luzon better..."

Li Dan nodded. He was a very rare person in China who knew the general situation of world geography at that time, so he agreed with Yin Feng's deduction: "I see, you mean to let me stay to help Master Zeng Qi and consolidate the The dominance of our Tang people in Luzon is no problem, I just want you to do one thing for me..."

"You're welcome, Brother Li, there's no need to be so polite between you and me," Yin Feng thought to himself: Lihua is mine, and you are my brother-in-law, so you don't have to be polite.

"Help me find Li Huayu, and if you encounter Yuan Jin and Xiao Lizi, please be merciful and let them survive; they are all orphans. When I took them in, I was too poor. I can say They suffered and bled with me,'

"Li Huayu has been missing for several years. Some people say that he is in Siam... In fact, when the sailors rebelled, he did not participate in the rebellion. He just didn't report it. I didn't blame him at all. If I have a chance to find him, I will let him Do things for me," Yin Feng was very disgusted with Yuan Jin, and told Li Dan about the last time Yuan Jin sent someone to assassinate him on the stage.

Li Dan sighed and said nothing more.

After the Chinese company occupied Manila, it established the Luzon branch of the company, and also named it the Luzon tutelary mansion. In fact, it was a team of two brands. Yin Feng appointed Zeng Qi as the general manager of the Luzon branch, and Zhao Tie Temporarily serving as the town general of Luzon, he led the first infantry regiment of the headquarters to guard Luzon, and at the same time led the Luzon Zhuangding team;

Although Li Dan was one of the first major shareholders of Zhonghua Company in name, he considered that Yin Feng's cronies were not familiar with him, so he only served as the manager of the business department of the company's Luzon branch.

It has been a month since the stay-at-home personnel in the Taiwan base learned the news of the government’s dispatch of troops; when Zeng Qi went to Luzon, Penghu was already at war, and Zeng Qi’s merchant ship sailed on the sea for ten days. At this time, is Penghu still under the control of the Chinese company?

Although the management of the company knew that the government would definitely take advantage of the emptiness in Taiwan and stab the Chinese company in the back, but they did not expect it to be so fast. Although the battleship Feibao had returned to Taiwan, from Luzon to Taiwan, Since the wind direction in April of the lunar calendar is still mostly northerly, the Flying Leopard will sail against the wind, and it will take 20 days at the earliest to reach Taiwan. No one knows whether it will reach Penghu in time.

Yin Feng settled Luzon's affairs for the time being, and led most of the third regiment back to Taiwan by boat. Zeng Jingshan and Li Lihua also returned to Taiwan. Buy for a good price.

One after another, merchant ships from all over Fujian came to Luzon, and they were shocked to find that Manila had changed owners, and the port manager was actually a Chinese. The news that the China United Company took over Manila quickly shocked the scattered Chinese businessmen who were fighting alone. Merchants united to defeat the Western fan ghosts and occupy their territory. Such a thing is beyond the imagination of many Chinese businessmen.

At the same time, the news that the government sent troops to Penghu also spread, and the guard soldiers who participated in the war were angry: they have family members in Taiwan, and let the officers and soldiers go to Taiwan Island. Taiwan, we have to teach the Fujian government a lesson,