The port of Manila is paved with cobblestone and the hard pavement looks very clean, but after stepping out of the large road leading to the Spanish fort, the direction of Chinatown is only trampled on hard earth.

"The Franco-Rang people told us to come here in Balian City, and all the Ming people must live in it, as for the fortress over there, except for a few Ming-people who are making Franco-Machine's steamed buns in it, the rest of the people can't get close."

While briefing Liu Ximing and others on the situation of the Manila port, Lin Gen walked to the gate of the fence of Baliancheng.

Four Spanish soldiers, also in armour, stood guarding the wooden gate.

Lin Gen took out a voucher-like thing from his bosom and showed it to these people, and then pointed to the boat on the dock in the distance and explained a few words to Liu Ximing and the others, and then he was allowed to enter.

Walking through the city gate, Li Biao whispered to Liu Ximing: "How does this feel like a prisoner?" ”

Lin Gen seemed to hear what Li Biao said, turned his head and looked at him without saying much.

Liu Ximing pinched Li Biao's arm, gave him a blank look, and signaled him to shut up.

However, what Liu Ximing and others did not expect was that the city of Balian was quite spectacular, with neat houses and a lot of people coming and going on the streets.

Listening to the familiar Minnan and Guangdong accents, Liu Ximing and others thought they were walking on the streets of Guangzhou.

There are many shops in the city, and there are many types of goods sold in them, which Liu Ximing doesn't know, and everyone looks at each other.

It's just that although it is so prosperous, the clothes of the people in the city are very simple, and their faces are still the bitter and hateful expressions of the ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty.

Groups of Han children dressed in coarse cloth were playing in the streets, and many of them stared intently at the brightly dressed Liu Ximing and others.

However, after seeing Lingen leading the way in front, many people withdrew their gazes, and some people squeezed out a smile on their numb faces and nodded at Lingen.

At this time, some of the rooms were already lit up with fires, and Lin Gen took Liu Ximing and the others straight into a restaurant, where there were seven or eight wooden tables with vintages, but I don't know why, there were no guests.

"Master Liu will take a look, but the Li family's raw pickled shrimp taste is a must, you must taste it later." , Lin Gen took Liu Ximing and the others to sit down and smiled directly at them.

He was obviously very familiar with the shopkeeper, and as soon as he walked in and sat down, he shouted directly, "Li Bing, you have come to entertain you." ”

A middle-aged man of medium stature with a wrinkled face heard the voice, nodded and walked over to Liu Ximing and the others, while wiping the table for a few people with the rag in his hand.

"I didn't expect there to be a distinguished guest today, this lord, Agen, what do you want to eat?"

Lingen looked at Liu Ximing with blank eyes.

Li Biao smiled knowingly, and slapped the table with pride, "Whatever is delicious, let's eat well anyway." ”

Li Bing, the owner of the restaurant, lit up his eyes, and put the rag in his hand on his shoulder, "Okay, wait a minute, guest officers." ”

Liu Ximing looked at Lin Gen with a smile,

Pointing to Li Bing's back, he said, "Listening to your accent, most of them are Fujianese, right?" ”

"Master has good eyesight, the most of us here are the people of Fujian and Guangdong."

Lin Gen looked at Liu Ximing with some curiosity, "But it's strange to say, the old men who usually come to Manila are basically from these two places, but it is rare for the old man to speak official like this." ”

There was no wine in the Li family's restaurant, so Liu Ximing asked Li Biao to take out the wine jug that he and the others were carrying and filled it with a glass for Lin Gen.

"We are indeed not merchants from these two provinces, but I heard that there are Fran machines in Manila who buy my Ming goods in large quantities, so I want to try my luck."

"Then Master Liu, you are here for the right time", Lin Gen didn't expect Liu Ximing and others to bring wine, rubbed his hands and took a sip excitedly, "Good wine!" ”

His eyes lit up, and he stretched out his thumb and exclaimed: "The good wine brought by the master, if you want to say that this Manila is indeed a good place to do business, cotton cloth is even better sold in Luzon, and now the natives of the whole island are wearing our Ming cotton cloth." ”

"Oh?" Liu Ximing became interested, "I don't know how many large quantities of goods can be delivered, I have a lot of cotton cloth here that I want to sell, if Brother Lin can help me find a few merchants to buy, it would be the best, and then you will not be able to benefit from it." ”

Lingen reluctantly drank the contents of the cup.

"Don't worry, sir, I know the merchants who often come to do business, and I will turn around for you when the time comes."

Li Bing's movements were very fast, Liu Ximing and the others were talking, and he and his insider, a middle-aged woman with a tired face, walked out with several large coarse porcelain bowls.

"A few masters, the specialty of the small shop is drunk shrimp, you want to taste it, and other dishes will come immediately."

Under the dim oil lamp, the drunken shrimp floating with green onions made Liu Ximing and others have a great appetite, and they tasted it unceremoniously one by one.

Liu Ximing peeled off the shrimp shell with his hands while looking at Lingen, who was also eating Haisai.

"I think there are nearly 10,000 people in this Balian City, the scenery in this city is good, why does everyone seem to be living a very difficult life, and Brother Lin, you do things for the Franco, don't they have any preferential treatment?"

"Smack"

Lin Gen came to eat well, and when he heard this topic, he slapped it on the table, shaking the big porcelain bowl on the table.

"Not to mention 10,000 people, Master Liu doesn't know, we have at least 30,000 or 40,000 people in Manila, but what if there are more people, who called these people Francos have firecrackers."

"These dogs, they don't treat our Ming people as people, we not only pay heavy taxes several times that of the natives here, even if they are capable, they have earned it, plus they have to be often sent to labor, and if you don't die, you have to peel off a layer of skin."

"The Ming people who come here can't survive in their hometowns, and it's good to endure as long as they have something to eat, but these people are really inappropriate, just because we are docile, we are much more ruthless than the natives."

"The year before last, the Governor of the Franco, Cocuella, forcibly requisitioned more than 6,000 people from us to that card

I went up to the edge of Lake Lamba to reclaim the wilderness, my God, it was a wilderness, and it was so wet and hot that one or two hundred people had died by now. ”

Lingen wiped away tears as he spoke, "My brother was also recruited to Kalamba because he couldn't read, I thought I was also doing things for Franco, and it should be okay to ask them for help, who knew that people were treating us like dogs at all." ”

"Hahaha"

Lin Gen wiped his tears there and complained, and Liu Ximing burst out laughing.

He rubbed his face with a smile and shook his head and smiled:

"Brother Lin's story is too vivid, but Liu is a little unbelievable, I have tens of thousands of people here, if it is really as miserable as you said, why don't you see anyone rise up? You're clearly framing me. ”

Syllable!

Lingen slapped the table hard, his face full of anger.

"Who wants to laugh at the sea of blood, we want to resist, but these people have guns and cannons, everyone is still wearing armor, we are unarmed, how can we fight them?"

"Who would have thought that he would escape from the fire pit of the official mansion and be oppressed by the people in this overseas barbarian land, and he would have known that it was better to die in the Ming Kingdom."

Lingen said with a bitter face.

Liu Ximing still shook his head with a smile, "Don't believe it, don't believe it, if you are really like this, how can you say this to me as an outsider, and you are not afraid that I will report to the Franciscans?" ”

At this time, Li Bing also came out with a bowl of steamed seafood, and said to Liu Ximing:

"Don't believe this master, who of us here is not bitter and hateful, but just like Agen said, even if you have a grudge, what can you do, you don't have to be the same."

"As for saying that the master is going to report the news, we people are so poor that we can't squeeze a few oil and water, who will do this thankless thing."

Liu Ximing motioned to the guards to continue pouring wine, and he thought of pouring wine while inquiring about Manila from Lingen.

Under the dim light, Lin Gen's face turned red, and he didn't know if he was really drunk or fake, from his mouth, the specific situation in Manila unfolded in front of Liu Ximing and the others.

Indeed, as Van Linenberg said, there are no more than 4,000 real Spaniards in Manila at the moment, and a small half of them are missionaries, doctors and other technicians.

The total number of troops that really fell under the jurisdiction of the Doge's Palace was about 2,800 men, including 100 cavalry.

Although the number of Spaniards is small, compared with the Chinese and natives, advanced weapons and equipment and good combat qualities make them invincible in Luzon.

Since establishing a colony here more than 60 years ago, the Spanish have conquered most of the islands of Luzon and Medan.

Of course, this so-called conquest is very deceptive.

The Spaniards mainly relied on tribal chiefs and other figures among the natives to control the place, and mainly through economic means, such as purchasing grain and spices from the natives at low prices, to earn profits, rather than ruling directly like the Ming Dynasty.