More than a month later, the expedition team returned. Except for one soldier with a sprained foot, everyone else was unharmed. Sanger, the leader of the Wild Wolf Tribe, who led everyone to find the tree seeds, said: "Because we only reached the edge of the Devil's Forest, we didn't go deep at all, so we will be fine, if we enter the Devil's Forest, it will not be so good." ”

Song Yingxing brought back some rubber emulsion, as well as a large number of seeds and some branches, to see if he could propagate by cuttings. Now that the things are in hand, Zhang Qianyi is ready to go back, and Zhou Yanru proposed to leave some people here to plan and contact the Yin family in various places, establish an area controlled by the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time fight the Spaniards.

So there was a dispute in the ocean-going fleet for the first time, Zhang Qianfang did not agree to keep people here, while Zhou Yanru insisted on taking people to stay here. In the end, Zhou Yanru had no choice but to take out the holy decree, only to see that it was written: The emperor's edict said: If a breakthrough can be made in the relationship with the locals in the Americas, Zhou Yanru, a foreigner, will act cheaply.

After seeing the holy decree, Zhang Qianyi no longer insisted. He called a meeting of the officers, demanded clarity from the officers and soldiers, and solicited soldiers who volunteered to stay here. He didn't think that many people would stay, but he didn't expect that more than 800 people would be willing to stay here.

In the end, Zhou Yanru left Geng Zhongming, and Geng Zhongming selected 500 soldiers, plus a medical officer and two students. Song Yingxing actually wanted to stay here, but he was sent by the emperor to find tree seeds, and he had to go back to restore his life.

Zhang Qianfang ordered the soldiers to collect fruits everywhere, especially those with thick skin that were not afraid of spoilage, as well as large quantities of soybeans and vegetables, especially pumpkins. This crop tastes good and can be stored for a long time, making it a great product for long journeys. They waited until the corn and other crops they cultivated were ripe and there was enough food before they got on the ship and left. After a walk, the Ming people had a deeper understanding of this ocean, and believed that it would only take a short time to return to Luzon.

Zhou Yanru summoned the soldiers to the big playground of the Ming army base after Zhang Qianfang left, and he said: "Your choice to stay here shows a problem, you are all ambitious people. Ambition is not a bad thing, I am an ambitious person, Major Geng is also an ambitious person, ambitious will have motivation, will want to pursue a higher status and more wealth. ”

"The emperor once told me that this land is bigger than the Ming Dynasty, and it is rich in products, but there are fewer people. If we can occupy this piece of land, then we don't have to worry about our children and grandchildren not having enough land to cultivate, everyone knows that the land of Hetao can be exchanged for land with bonds, and here, I will say first, everyone present can get a hundred acres of land, and it is free and tax-free. It's not that I'm pretending to be a holy decree, it's a holy purpose, and it's written that it's cheap. In other words, what I say now, the emperor will agree to in the future. ”

The soldiers cheered together, they naturally knew how fertile the land here was, and they would not want to get a hundred acres of land for free without doing anything, and it was tax-free.

Zhou Yanru continued: "Everyone will make contributions in the future, I am the first military merit of the Ming Dynasty, as long as I work hard, I think it is normal for someone to be knighted at that time, and I hope that the more people who will be knighted, the better." This shows that we have made a lot of credit, you can rest assured, the credit is recorded by the military judge, I can't ask about it, so don't worry that I will be greedy for your credit, and the greater your credit, the greater my merit, why be greedy for ink? ”

Everyone laughed together, and everyone thought that this civil official was very good, and he would say anything directly, unlike some people who always said something that people didn't understand.

"Another very important thing is that some tribal leaders have said that their tribe has a large number of women, and they ask if they can marry our soldiers. I said of course yes, we are all of the same race, but some of them have to be said beforehand. The first is that if a child is born, it must be named according to the custom of our Han people; The second is that if you are married, you must slowly teach them the Chinese dialect, which is very important, of course, you can also learn their dialect from them, but it is very important to use the Chinese dialect as much as possible. As for some people who already have wives, it doesn't matter, it is normal for men and children to have three wives and four concubines, just take a concubine, although the emperor does not like to take concubines, but it will not be guilty of this. ”

Now the soldiers are jubilant, some of them have actually hooked up with local women, and now Zhou Yanru said that he could take a concubine, which naturally won everyone's support.

Zhou Yanru waited for everyone to calm down and said: "Okay, the good thing has been said, now it's a matter of discipline, my Ming army is very disciplined, even in this distant place, everyone still can't forget." If there is someone who does not obey the order, he will be beheaded, and if there is a brawl in the army, he will be beheaded, and if there is someone who oppresses the locals, he will be beheaded. ”

"After General Zhang returns to the mainland, there will be people here again, and then our strength will be stronger. Now the strength of our 500 people can also destroy the country and slaughter the city, not to mention that we still have the help of the Yin family. I have already consulted with the leaders of the five tribes, and we are going to build a small town here, and we are going to go deep into the land to gather people from other tribes, and slowly take this piece into our hands. Maybe one day, each of you will have to take care of a large area. I hope that even at that time, we will still remember that we are Ming people, and we are from the country of civilization and etiquette. ”

Everyone applauded warmly, and Geng Zhongming came to the stage and said: "Wailang has already said all the main things, and I still have some small things to add." One is the issue of military discipline, and the original regulations still have to be followed. The second is that the locals are the remnants of Yin Shang, and we are the descendants of the same culture and the same species, so we cannot be oppressed, and we cannot abandon women from the beginning to the end. The third is that a person can only marry a local woman, and after marrying the locals, they are asked to wash all the strange mud on their bodies, which is a Chinese woman, that is, a Chinese person, and some strange customs in the tribe must be changed to the appearance of our side, such as witch doctors and the like must be forbidden, we have medical officers, much stronger than their witch doctors. But we must respect the customs of other locals, and do not comment on them, let alone interfere with them. ”

"The grain has been harvested, our main task in the next time is to repair the house, after marrying a concubine, everyone must have a separate room, but the diet still has to be opened in the army, and we don't recognize that we are your concubines if we don't change their attire after marrying a concubine, and the canteen will not give them food then, don't forget this."