Liu Ximing was prosperous in the capital, and Qianzhou City, the Luzon General's Mansion, thousands of miles away, also had a guest.

On May 13 of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, more than a dozen high-nosed and deep-eyed white Europeans docked in the port of Qianzhou City on a Western-style carrak sailboat.

These men were sent by the Viceroy of New Spain in Mexico.

Since Liu Ximing captured Manila in March of the 11th year of Chongzhen's reign, and then controlled the whole island of Luzon, it was not until September of that year that the news was transmitted to the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

After waiting for half a year, the Spanish crown finally sent an order that the governor of New Spain, which had jurisdiction over the colonies of North America, Central America and the Philippines, send personnel to the Philippines to investigate and support.

However, by 1638, Spain had only over 300,000 people in all of Central and South America, and the Viceroyalty of New Spain could not muster much strength to control such a vast area.

Therefore, at this time, the Viceroyalty of New Spain sent only more than 730 soldiers, including a team of more than 30 government officials, soldiers, and missionaries, who wanted to make inquiries in advance before making a decision.

The three people in charge of this are Lieutenant Colonel Carlos, the envoy of the Governor's Palace, Morales, and the missionary Reyes.

The gang traveled to Mindanao in three large ships along the Pacific monsoon.

Here, they were pleasantly surprised to find that several colonies in the Spanish Philippines, such as Cebu and other cities, were still in their hands.

This news made Carlos and the others very excited, so it is said that the Sangles only took advantage of the unpreparedness of the imperial warriors to succeed in the sneak attack, otherwise why did these nearby Spanish colonies not fall.

However, the defenders of Cebu immediately gave Carlos and the others another blow.

The Luzon General's Mansion is not without the strength to subdue Medan and other places, you must know that in addition to the Fubo Division led by You Degao, after a year of transfer, the other two battalions of the Liu family have also arrived in Luzon.

The Liu family's military presence in Luzon had expanded to 18,000 men, enough to destroy all kinds of armed presence throughout Southeast Asia.

It was only considering that it might be necessary to trade with the Spaniards in the future in order to continue to import gold, silver and other materials, so Liu Ximing specially ordered not to strike at the Spanish defenders in Cebu and other places for the time being.

But not striking does not mean that there is no deterrence, and the Liu family, who know that the barbarians are afraid of power but not virtuous, have sent powerful fleets to various cities in Spain many times in the past year.

At the same time as the intimidation of force, they also constantly sent envoys to inform them of the strength of the Luzon general's palace, and said that they were still welcome to trade in the city of Qianzhou, which was formerly Manila.

After listening to the introduction, Carlos, Morales, Reyes and others were already a little distracted.

With a force of 18,000 men, God is above, how can this be fought.

Carlos, who was the military commander, was bitter in his heart, if it was really according to the Cebu defenders, then the empire would send at least another 20,000 soldiers to the Philippines.

The fact that so many people want to cross the choppy Pacific Ocean is simply wishful thinking given the transportation capacity of this era.

Therefore, there was a scene at the port of Qianzhou City, and the unwilling Carlos and others insisted on investigating it themselves, and a group of people disguised themselves as ordinary merchants and missionaries came to Luzon on a merchant ship.

At this time, the city of Qianzhou was very different from the time when the Spaniards were in the past, and it could even be described as earth-shaking.

What caught the eyes of Carlos and others was a huge Chinese-style city, with a wall of 10 meters high and dozens of forts arranged at the head of the wall.

The original Manila fortress has been included in Qianzhou City at this moment, and there is no way to see it from the outside.

Beyond the huge city walls of Qianzhou City, there is an open port area, and in a newly built three-story mixed Chinese and Western houses with cornices and corners, dozens of original Western-style buildings in Manila City are still standing, which makes Carlos and others sad.

The Fubo Division set up a triple defense line throughout Qianzhou Bay, with forts and batteries built on the farthest watch island, and a patrol fleet of seven cruisers and frigates in the middle of the bay for a long time.

Finally, there is the fast dinghy unit near the harbor.

By the time they were docked in the harbor, Carlos and the others' ships had already been boarded three times.

Mendoza, the owner of the ship on which Carlos and the others boarded, was also a Spaniard, and the political officer Morales was quite interested in the operation of the government affairs of Qianzhou City, and when he heard that he would have to register and pay taxes after arriving at the port, he took the initiative to ask to follow him off the ship to have a look.

"The Luzon General's Palace has a Municipal Shipping Department in each port, which is responsible for the payment of customs duties, the inspection of entry and exit ports, etc.", Mendoza said, holding a certificate with three red stamps, towards a complex of three-story buildings at the port.

"They call it customs."

These buildings are all roofed with blue glazed tiles and white marble walls, giving people a vivid visual impact, and people come and go seem quite noisy.

After checking the guards at the gate of the customs iron fence with the documents and making sure that Mendoza and the others were not armed, the guard in the big red navy uniform waved his hand to signal that they could enter.

"They seem to be very energetic, are these the elite troops of the Luzon General's Palace?" As he walked inside, Morales asked Mendoza in Spanish.

"They don't seem to be distinguishing between elite and ordinary troops, and all the soldiers are very well trained," Mendoza said he had traveled to and from the city of Qianzhou many times, and was familiar with it.

Seeing that Morales was a little incredulous, Mendoza smashed his mouth and sighed, "Your Excellency can come to Qianzhou City tomorrow morning to watch the flag-raising ceremony of the Luzon General's Palace, and you will know that I am not lying." ”

Bypassing the garden at the front of the customs, the group walked into the left side building with pale green glass windows, and on the left side of the building's gate hung a plaque in Chinese characters, "Luzon General's Mansion City Bo Tiju Division Qianzhou Office".

On the right, there is a sign that reads "Customs Collection Office".

"This side is responsible for the customs clearance, and the other building is the ship inspection, which is mainly responsible for the inspection of ships and cargo," Mendoza explained to Morales as he walked.

He raised the supporting documents in his hand, "This thing is to show that we are ships that have undergone the proper inspection, and only with this can we dock at the dock, and then the customs collection office will send someone to upload the inventory of the goods and estimate the amount of tax, and only after paying the tax can we officially trade in the city." ”

Stepping past the plaided glazed wooden doors and into the clean and tidy hall, Morales was greeted by a row of small windows separated by wooden cabinets in the deepest part of the hall.

In front of each small window, there was a man sitting and talking something, and in the middle there was a large bench with a backrest, and nearly a hundred people were sitting in it, and the hall was very bustling.

On both sides of the hall, there are also several shops selling tea and snacks, and many people are eating and drinking while looking in the direction of the counter.

Mendoza received a number plate at the entrance and took Morales to a seat in the middle of the hall.

Morales nodded silently, but in fact, there was already a storm in his heart, this Luzon General's Mansion was much more organized than the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

"How much do they tax rate?" As soon as he sat down and listened to Mendoza's presentation on the usefulness of the various places in the hall, Morales asked about his greatest concern.

Mendoza shrugged, "Look at the goods, my batch is spices, and it only needs one in twenty." If it is to help the general's mansion transport Han Chinese, there is even a subsidy. ”

Luzon Xinli urgently needs to regain popularity, so Liu Ximing set the tax rate so low.

"Why don't you think about tax evasion, or outright dealing?" Morales didn't believe the businessmen were so well-behaved.

Mendoza showed his yellow teeth and smiled, "The regulations of this Luzon General's Mansion are different from other places, all the businesses belong to the General's Mansion, and there is nowhere to escape if you want to." ”

"Besides, we don't suffer a loss, if my batch of goods is as usual, I'm afraid it will take more than ten or twenty days, but now it's different, the General's Mansion will directly buy the goods, and then sell them to merchants around the country in the exchange, saving me a lot of trouble."

"And they also have a unified agency responsible for the freight at the terminal, otherwise why would Manila become more and more prosperous in this year."

"This should have belonged to His Majesty, these damned sangeletes, they stole the benefits that belonged to us", Moralese cursed under his brow.

Mendoza raised his eyebrows and didn't say anything, and when he saw that the customs collection office had called his number, he hurriedly stepped forward to handle the business.