The Prosperous Era of Longwan

In an unknown small bay northeast of Luzon Island, the bay was still brightly lit until the second half of the night, and countless small boats with torches were flowing in the bay.

That was the scene where the Ming army commanded the thousands of people they had summoned to take turns to carry food from the ship, and many torches were lit on the shore to provide them with lighting.

In fact, the food sent by the Spaniards was not much, but their merchant ships were not large, and few people could go up at a time, so the speed of carrying food was seriously hindered.

The Spaniards were still very generous, and they transported food for 500 people for a month at a time.

After a busy day, all the supplies were finally unloaded.

Lieutenant Miguel did not leave at night. It is actually taboo to travel at night when sailing, especially near the mainland.

If you are on the vast ocean, you can still sail in one direction with a compass, and use the theodolite to determine the position of the ship and adjust the course during the day.

But at night, that is almost impossible.

Being close to the mainland also means danger, that is, hitting the bottom and causing stranding.

Therefore, Miguel did not return to the ship at this time. Instead, he watched the food unloaded and rested in the tent arranged by Deng Zilong. He said goodbye to Deng Zilong after breakfast the next morning and left the bay with the merchant ship.

During this day, Miguel asked Lin Bixiu, who he brought with him, to deliberately get close to the generals of the Ming army to learn about the situation from them.

Miguel was not stupid. He needed accurate intelligence, not only from Deng Zilong's mouth, but also from other channels to verify each other.

After finding that the Ming army had only found more than a thousand troops, Miguel was somewhat relieved.

Family members know their own affairs. If the Ming army can easily recruit thousands of troops on Luzon Island, they really have to be extra careful.

Who knows whether the Ming army will attack them and wipe them out together after destroying the Lin Feng pirate group.

Yes, Miguel was worried all night, just because he was afraid that the Ming country had the idea of ​​getting involved in Luzon, although before that, it seemed that they did not want to occupy it.

The armed merchant ship had already left the bay, and only the continental shelf could be vaguely seen. It was sailing slowly to the south. Lieutenant Miguel, who was sitting in the cabin, summoned Lin Bixiu again.

"Lin, according to the information you have inquired, did the Ming people really just recruit these people from the tribes they found, or did they persuade them by promising a high price?"

Before, in the Ming army camp, he simply listened to Lin Bixiu's report, and now he needs to know the situation in more detail.

"Yes, sir, I talked to several captains of the Ming army. They promised to pay these locals, and they would give different quotes according to their efforts and casualties, and those natives agreed.

However, they promised to pay these people with Ming cloth.

You also know that there is not much output here, only coarse cloth is made, so when the Ming generals took out their cloth, those natives liked it very much, so they agreed to help."

Lin Bixiu got to know the captains of several warships of the Ming navy in one night, especially the four captains who came later.

Not only did he understand how they hired local people, he also asked about the number of people they recruited.

It matched the number that Deng Zilong told Miguel.

Well, this made them believe that there were indeed more than 1,600 local temporary mercenaries in the Ming army camp.

"The Ming Dynasty is really rich and can make promises at will.

Do you think they will really give them so much cloth?"

Miguel asked, somewhat envious of the price offered by the Ming Dynasty.

"It's hard to say. If the Ming Dynasty has silver and cloth, it is absolutely true.

However, I also heard from Li Jin that the officials of the Ming Dynasty are greedy for money. They would deduct the soldiers' salaries and pocket them, so..."

Lin Bixiu didn't say it clearly. He guessed that perhaps the generals of the Ming Dynasty would report to the empire according to the promised remuneration.

However, the real remuneration that the locals can get may not be what they promised to give.

It seems normal to deduct some.

They dare to covet the salaries of their own soldiers, let alone the people of Luzon who are thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty.

To put it bluntly, after the war, the Ming people boarded the ship and left, and the locals would be dumbfounded.

Because they had no way to go to the Ming Dynasty to ask for money and cloth.

If they had such navigation technology, they would have gone to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute to the Ming emperor long ago.

You know, paying tribute to the Ming emperor can get a lot of benefits.

Although Lin Bixiu didn't say it clearly, Miguel understood it.

Well, in fact, Spain also deducted wages, not to mention the Ming Dynasty.

However, generally speaking, the offers they promised to their citizens will be fulfilled, otherwise who would follow them to this distant East Asia.

However, for the people of the colonies or other people who were trafficked into slavery, that is another matter.

Just like Lin Bixiu said, as long as you get on the ship and leave, no one will care about you.

Of course, only the Ming people can do such things, they can't.

This is naturally not because the Spanish people have noble morals and abide by the spirit of the contract, but because they want to live here permanently, they naturally cannot give up their own credit.

Otherwise, how can they recruit local people to help them in the future?

In the future, the development of Luzon Island will require the help of these people.

If we rely on them, it is absolutely impossible.

Not to mention how many people in Spain are willing to come to this distant East Asia, even if a large number of people are willing to come, the transportation conditions also limit their arrival.

And these people, the high salary they need to pay is also a huge expense.

They come here not to support the construction of the Philippines, they come to make money.

The different remuneration determines that they will definitely not pay high wages, and they must try their best to reduce costs in order to make them make more money.

So, since he knows the means of recruiting people by the Ming people, Miguel also knows that he can't use this trick.

Otherwise, it will be difficult to recruit the huge labor force they need to build the city in the future from the local area.

"Well, I know."

Miguel just said regretfully, and didn't want to continue chatting.

"By the way, sir, there may be another condition to make the natives here trust the words of the Ming people."

Lin Bixiu just hesitated for a moment and continued.

He also noticed that Miguel seemed to have little interest in chatting, but he still had to talk because he was now on the rice bowl given by the Spanish.

"What?"

Miguel just asked lightly.

"Ming has always regarded itself as the suzerain of Luzon, and I have the impression that the locals also think so.

And your country has been here for too short a time, and those people may not have adapted to the current situation, especially since they are all tribes in the north, and they have even less contact with us.

Perhaps in their eyes, Ming is still their suzerain.

So, when the suzerain has requirements, it is possible to try our best to meet them."

Lin Bixiu continued to explain.

Hearing Lin Bixiu mention that Ming is the suzerain of Luzon, Miguel clenched his fists involuntarily, but soon loosened them, as if nothing had happened.

"Now, this land belongs to the King of the Kingdom of Spain, and is no longer a vassal of Ming."

Miguel just emphasized to Lin Bixiu.

"Yes, I accept your point of view, but they may not accept it."

Lin Bixiu still sighed and replied.

Miguel did not comment on Lin Bixiu's words, but he still planned to remind Governor Vesalius and Commander Savella after he returned.

They, Spain, still need to continue to send troops here to ensure the interests of the kingdom in the Philippines.

After Lin Bixiu left the cabin, Miguel whispered: "What a disgusting Ming people, why did they come here?"

In the eyes of the Spaniards, no matter where they go, it is the land given to them by God, and it is theirs.

It is naturally not okay for others to get involved, and the locals are not okay, let alone other countries on the distant continent.

The best way to prevent others from getting involved in their territory is naturally to conquer them and enslave them.

Miguel has not been in East Asia for a long time, but in his memory, he seems to remember hearing his colleagues say that a few years ago, the Governor of the Philippines received a letter from a missionary named Martin de Rada, who boldly proposed to capture the cities of the Ming Dynasty by force.

I vaguely remember that China was huge, rich, and highly civilized. Its cities were much larger than those in Europe, and they were protected by walls, like fortresses, but the Chinese were not warlike at all...

They relied entirely on their numbers and walls for defense. If the fortress was captured, they would be finished...

God will help us, and they can be conquered with very little force.

It was just that the first governor of the Philippines was afraid of the strength of the Ming Dynasty, so he did not adopt it.

Before, Miguel had never thought about this problem, but when the tentacles of the Ming Dynasty may have extended to the colonies they controlled, the situation naturally changed.

According to their usual practice, they would send troops to defeat the other side, so that they would not be able to resist.

"Ming Dynasty's warships"

Miguel began to recall the Ming Dynasty warships he had come into contact with in his mind, recalling those details.

Soon, he came to the conclusion that no matter whether they could capture the Ming Dynasty's cities, they would still have an absolute advantage if they met at sea.

As for hearing that the Portuguese had suffered a great loss from the Ming Dynasty in a naval battle earlier, Miguel could not help but despise them.

How could they be defeated with such force? It can only be said that the Portuguese were too incompetent and lost the face of the Europeans.

A small country is still a small country after all.

Because they seized more and more territory and destroyed one seemingly powerful country after another, the Spanish people's self-confidence was unprecedentedly inflated at this time. They believed that they were the people favored by God and could do everything.

Suddenly, Miguel had the urge to go to Mingguo to take a look. He wanted to see this powerful country in the mouth of others with his own eyes.

The merchant ship sailed on the vast ocean for more than a day and finally returned to the port where they set out.

After entering the bay, Miguel took people on a small boat and soon sailed to the shore.

After getting off the boat, it didn't take long to find Commander Savella's temporary barracks, which was just a slightly larger tent. Whether it was a wooden house or something else, it was not as fast as a tent.

As for why Savella didn't stay on the ship, generally speaking, as long as they could get ashore, there shouldn't be many people willing to stay on the ship.

Soon, after the guards outside came in to report, Miguel was called into the tent to talk.

After Miguel finished telling the story of his visit to the Ming camp, Commander Savella looked incredible.

Savella was the first soldier to participate in the occupation of the Philippines. They fought more than ten battles and killed many people before the people here surrendered.

When Manila was built, it was under the threat of force that the locals were willing to help them build the city.

Of course, force could not last forever, so after a month, they distributed money to those people for the first time. After they knew that it was not unpaid labor, but they could get things, the confrontation between the two sides gradually eased.

Yes, although they did not recognize Spanish money, they could indeed buy all kinds of items they needed from the Spaniards with this money.

After a few years, the locals also acquiesced to their rule and coins.

However, how long had the Ming people come here, they could easily recruit thousands of soldiers to fight for them and work for them.

"Are you serious? They recruited more than a thousand people to fight for them?"

Savella still didn't believe it, although in his heart, he actually believed it.

After getting another frustrating answer from Miguel, he was silent for a moment and said to Miguel: "Your concerns are correct. Governor Vesalius had such concerns before.

Between us and the Ming people, these locals seem to be more willing to believe in the distant Ming country."

"Commander, I heard that someone suggested attacking the Ming country a long time ago, saying that as long as we occupy it, all the nearby countries will surrender to us."

Miguel asked.

"Yes, but it has been rejected by Omigar. The strength of the Ming country is not weak. It is difficult for us to defeat them, just like dealing with the Inca Empire.

We don't even have the opportunity to see their emperor himself, how can we replicate the miracle of the Inca Empire here.

Moreover, according to the news sent back by missionaries in the past, more than a hundred years ago, their emperor was captured by the Mongols in the north, and the Ming country's countermeasure was to immediately support their emperor's brother to sit on the throne."

More than a hundred soldiers conquered the Inca Empire with an army of 100,000. This is already a widely circulated legend.

All the citizens who left Spain and went to the New World were fascinated by this miracle and wanted to replicate such a myth at all times.

"Have we tried?"

Miguel asked tentatively.

"Yes, their emperor refused to meet us."

Savella shook his head and smiled bitterly, "But the envoys came back and said that their country is very large, more than ten times larger than our homeland, almost as large as the Americas we conquered.

Moreover, they do have a lot of people. The number of Ming people the envoys saw along the way was too many to count."

"Commander, I hope to go to Ming to do trade after this war is over."

Savella understood the meaning of his words, looked at him meaningfully, then nodded and said: 'Go, go and take a good look at what Ming is like, and come back to tell me. '

"Yes, Commander."