At the beginning of the year, Shou Xuan led a schooner fleet from the port of Suao in Yilan, approached the Philippines from the Pacific side, and raided Legazpi.

The city, named after the Filipino conquistador, is located on the Bicol Peninsula in southeastern Luzon, where the nearby Mayon volcano brings fertile ash. The green paddy fields stretch out into the distance under the nearly perfect cones of the volcano, and the contrast is very strong.

Legazpi is the only port city in the Philippine archipelago facing the Pacific Ocean, and the Manila galleon was the first stop in the Philippines.

The city itself was not well defended, and the landless samurai from Kyushu rushed to the front and took the fortress in a single night raid. The church in the city belonged to the Franciscan order, and the order allowed the church to come forward and redeem most of the Spanish captives.

The flotilla did not stay long in Legazpi, and four days later left with a handful of prisoners of war, including young women and Filipino craftsmen, and entered the Sama Sea through the San Bernardino Strait. Subsequently, the convoy spent a happy hunting time in the Philippine inland seas such as the Sama Sea, the Visayas Sea, and the Sibuyan Sea. It wasn't until the sails of the Manila garrison appeared in view that Shou Xiang retreated with the nine local ships captured in the Philippines.

During this period, it passed through the port of Cebu, the second largest city in the Philippines. Cebu's defense is relatively strong, and there are 2 Spanish galines in the harbor. Among the Philippine archipelagos, apart from the fortified Metro Manila area, Cebu is the most valuable target. Shou Order: I decided to come back next time.

The fleet took a short break in the Sulu Sea and on the island of Raku. Shou Xu held talks with the Sultan of Bensu for three days to finalize the division of the territory between the two sides of Borneo. Bounded by the Rajang River, the longest river in Borneo, the northern part of the river still belongs to Brunei, and the southern part of the river belongs to the federal Kuching Administrator.

The Sultan of Brunei had only his self-proclaimed de jure dominion over Sarawak, and the Sultan of Bensu promised to "persuade" him to agree to the demarcation. The Order promised not to expand northward, and to provide 170 cannons to the island over the next three years, including 20 bronze cannons and 150 iron cannons. The two sides will continue to deepen military cooperation.

It was a win-win treaty for the Federation and Sulu. Using the precious metals obtained in the Philippines, Shou Yu purchased a group of female slaves from Ho Rak Island, and then traveled south along the coastline of Borneo to the port of Kuching on the Sarawak River.

Kuching is the only place in Sarawak that can be called a city.

It is said to be a city, but in fact, it is not as good as a county town in southern China. The city is surrounded by two rivers, the Sarawak River to the southeast.

Kuching Chief Executive, Thomas Melo introduced to Shou Order, "...... That's the case. According to our agreement with the Chinese military, the nearly 10,000 Malays and Iban natives captured in Kuching and the surrounding areas will all belong to them. The Kuching city district has left residences for their chieftains, but the control of the city belongs to us and the port is shared by the Kuching alliance. ”

Kuching Port Terminal facilities are acceptable and many years ago it was one of the iron smelting centers in Southeast Asia. Those ironworks have long since been abandoned, but they have left a valuable legacy in Kuching.

The forests around the city have been heavily cut down, and the tall trees have receded to form a plain. For the newcomers of the Southeastern Ming Army, there was no more suitable settlement in all of Southeast Asia. The absence of forests means that you don't have to deal with those troublesome roots, and you can start farming in no time.

Borneo has poor soil conditions and a climate that is more suitable for growing rice, pepper, coconut and oil palm. If the fertility is insufficient, the yield per mu is certainly not high, and only the Chinese in this world can develop agriculture with economic value on such a barren land.

In the Federation, whale oil from whaling is mainly used for industry and lighting, and vegetable oil can only be used for dietary purposes. The oil content of oil palm fruit is as high as more than 50%, and there is no shortage of rice in Southeast Asia, but the military and the people can not only eat rice and vegetables, and heavy oil and water are needed for heavy physical labor. Having meat for everyone is just a good wish, not a reality. On the menu of the people of the Federation, the bulk of the oil supply in the future will depend on the oil palm plantations of Borneo.

Kuching has no city walls, only a city area enclosed by wooden fences. There were no stone buildings in the city, and the only reliable defense was the port's single-storey fort made of coconut wood and earth ramming.

Stroll through this newly conquered city, if you can call it a city.

The city is full of trees, coconut and bamboo groves, pineapples and bananas, and looks like a garden.

Several streams meander through the city, and a few small boats float on the water. The original inhabitants built many houses out of rattan, reeds, and bark.

Thomas Melo holds the map in his left hand and points with his scepter to an area of the city with his right hand.

"There, I'm going to bulldoze all the single-storey stilt houses and replace them with brick and stone buildings. Rezoning the streets in this area. ”

A rooster crowed, and Shou Xuan turned his head to look. A large flock of chickens scribbled past the two conquistadors, neatly dressed in naval uniforms, oblivious.

Merlot said resentfully: "Chickens, there are chickens everywhere. Underneath every Kuching stilt house is a chicken coop. ”

"Mr. Colonel, I suggest you keep the stilt houses and the trees. ”

"Why?" Merlot was a little surprised.

These Europeans will feel awkward if they don't turn their cities to stone. In fact, the Chinese are too, of course, they are more capable of burning bricks.

"On the one hand, saving labor and money," Orderly explains, "and on the other hand, according to the experience of other colonies, single-storey stilt houses are far from the ground, and the ventilation and drying conditions are better than masonry houses." According to Houjiang Mansion, stilt houses are healthier than crowded and stuffy brick houses. ”

"But wooden and bamboo houses are more likely to catch fire."

Orderliness held his chin, "Maybe you can solve this problem by replanning the streets and tree fences." ”

"Oh my God, I'm going crazy. Running the territory turned out to be so boring and tedious, I should have known that I should continue to stay in the navy and not be the chief executive. ”

"Mr. Colonel, it's not okay to regret it. If you accept the appointment, you will have to do it for at least three years. ”

"God, it's only a third of the way."

Seeing Merlot's pained expression, Shou Xuan explained: "Kuching is now the most humble colony of the Federation, and Houjiang and Taipei have also done it slowly. ”

Melo jumped up, "Taipei has the foundation laid by the Spaniards. Houjiang is also the territory of the Zhenla Kingdom, and I only have the headhunters of the Iban clan here! ”

Merlot is exaggerating, at least Kuching City and the lower Sarawak Valley were areas colonized by Malay maharajas. The Bau Gold Mine in the southwest of Kuching City has also been mined for decades.

Like Samfa, Pontianak and other places, Borneo has many scattered gold mines. Mining primary mines requires manpower, and Borneo's gold mines now rely more on the downstream of the mines to collect placer gold.

"I'm going to send you 15,000 North Koreans this year, and you're going to smash the Baujin mine open."

The order changed the full map of Kuching Administrative District, "Three mines, Bau Gold Mine, Bangda Gold and Copper Mine and Coal Mine in the Lupa Valley. ”

The Bau Gold Mine is in the best mining conditions and is only 30 km away from Kuching City. Although not as good as Australia's world-class open-pit gold mines, Bau is also the largest gold mine in Southeast Asia. At the same time, there are mercury mines in Bau, and mercury, the raw material for smelting gold and silver, has been solved.

The Bonda gold-copper mine is slightly further away, and the Lupa Valley coal mine has the worst foundation. However, Kuching has many navigable rivers and has a natural basis for the development of water transport.

"So, my task this year is to use these North Koreans to complete the construction of the port area and the fortress, and then dig the gold mines? There are too many North Koreans, and I have only 3 companies of ground forces, which is not enough to suppress them. You'll have to give me reinforcements. ”

"I'll transfer Tiqi from Houjiang Mansion and add 200 more people to you."

"200 people, that's too little." Melo looked at Shou Order's face, "Well, it's better than nothing." ”

"The mine in Bau can provide you with tens of thousands of taels of precious metals every year, and with this money, you can roll it on."

Merlot shook her head, "That's not enough. I want to mortgage the mine and borrow money to open up the mine in Bangda. ”

"It's up to you, but Nanyang Bank can't come up with much money right now. Their focus is on agricultural production in Hou Giang province. ”

Merlot smiled mysteriously, "I have been in Kuching for a year, and the only thing left to do is to find financing channels other than to find gold, copper, and coal mines in the location you mentioned. ”

"Do you have a goal? It can't be Dutch. ”

"Of course not. Ever since I had the Australian Development Plan, I've been cautious about approaching the Dutch. ”

"So where do you borrow the money from? Most of the business of Nanyang Chinese businessmen was monopolized by Nanyang Bank. ”

"I guess you wouldn't have guessed that it was the Indians who offered me cooperation."

Since gaining free access to the sea in the Andaman Sea, the number of Indian merchants in the Commonwealth has grown rapidly. But it was true that the Order did not expect the Indians to reach into faraway Borneo.

"I came into contact with several usury merchants who had great influence on the Mughal court. Their alliance controlled the economic lifeblood of many provinces in India and made them richer. ”

The Mughal Empire did not control all of India, and they advanced south only to the Deccan Plateau. In South India, there are also two sultanates, Golconda and Bijapur. The Indian merchant who had previously had the most contact with the Federation was the kingdom of Golconda, which controlled the Coromante coast, southeastern India. Direct contact with the upper echelons of the Mughal Empire was recent.

The Mughal Empire is probably the richest country in the world right now, richer than China, or at least their government is richer than China. India's textile industry is in a stage of explosive growth, and the textile industry has driven the financial industry. India's commercial bills of exchange were also popular in Southeast Asia, and the Dutch did not dare to provoke the powerful Mughal Empire's royal merchants.

Nanyang Bank has cooperated with Indian financial businessmen, and this order is well known. But like all feudal autocracy, usury merchants were parasites of imperial power, and credit came from the Mughal princes who stood behind them. The outcome of these princes' political struggles determined many things, and the Orderly was more cautious about the cooperation of Indian merchants.

Shou Xuan raised his head, "It's Aurangzeb's people who are looking for you?" ”

"No, it's his brother, the Governor of Bengal, Shashuja."

Rangzeb was the vice-king of the Deccan of the Mughal Empire, and Shashuja was the vice-king of Bengal.

The current Mughal emperor Shah Jahan had four sons who controlled the military and political power of several provinces. The Mughal Empire has the largest number of armies in the world, and each of these four princes has tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops in their hands, and the cavalry is like a cloud of artillery. There is no need to think that there will definitely be a bloody civil war in the future succession to the throne.

"What conditions did the Mughals make?"

"They offered to borrow at a 50% interest rate per annum, and I called them insane. Only businessmen who run sea trade will accept an interest rate of more than 50%, and I am engaged in the development of mines and farming, and the risk is much smaller than that of running sea ships. ”

"What was the last interest rate you talked about?"

"15 per cent per annum, plus colonization rights on both sides of the 80-kilometre area of the Ribas Valley."

“…… How much money did you borrow? ”

"150,000 taels, in place in 3 years. The Sharibas Valley is Indian, and I have nominal suzerainty, but they don't have to pay taxes to me, and I don't have to take care of their defense. ”

"Exploit the manpower you need."

"They are responsible for themselves."

He was amazed that in the territory he had carved out with the Sultan of Sulu, between Kuching and the Rajang River, there was a vast primeval forest, and there were some Iban villages and farms on the banks of the various rivers. In order to escape the pirate attack, the Iban moved far away from the mouth of the river, and their settlements were located on inland rivers.

In places like the Sharibas Valley, there are all towering trees except for trees, and of course these tropical hardwoods are more valuable as long as they are cut down, but that requires manpower.

Mellot grinned and said, "Don't look at me like that. I am also surprised that the Mughals readily agreed, and were ready to bargain. ”

"You didn't secretly promise the Indians anything else, did you?"

Melo spread her hands, "Absolutely not." ”

Bengal is the richest province in India, and 150,000 taels is a drop in the bucket. The Dutch and the British had a lot of trade with Bengal, but they were very cautious about intervening in the military and political situation in the Bay of Bengal.

Chittagong, not far from the mouth of Bengal, belonged to the Buddhist kingdom of Arakan. The Kingdom of Arakan came to the aid of the European pirate states in Tianga, a group of European pirates, mainly Portuguese, who held back the Mughal fleet in Bengal. Although the Mughals could muster up to 200 warships, they were no match for the pirate states so far. The alliance between the Kingdom of Arakan and the Dianga temporarily controlled the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal, and neither the Dutch nor the British had any intention of intervening in it.

"Well," Shou Xuan stretched out his right hand, "Mr. Colonel, I am very satisfied with your work this year. Everything is progressing steadily, so be prepared. In the next 2 years, I will give you many immigrants from Guangdong. ”

"How many are there?"

"Maybe more than 100,000."