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"Li Jing, how did we find that there are so many churches along the way, and are there still missionaries in them?" On the third day after the meeting, Geng Jingzhong left the governor's palace and began to inspect his new territory with Li Jing, the director of the inspection department who was very familiar with the terrain of Luzon Island. But the first stop was not to go straight north to inspect the immigrants from the two counties, but to shoot the horse and head south.

With Manila as the center, there is also a plain within a radius of 20 kilometers. This area is very similar to the Mawei Army's Nanri Island station, and the area of this area is about the same as Nanri Island. This small plain is dumbbell-shaped, with Manila City right in the center. It is arguably the richest area of Luzon, where all the estates of the Spaniards were concentrated. It's not just because it's close to Manila, but in the southeast corner of this small plain is the Inner Lake, the largest lake in Luzon.

Anyone who cultivates a farmer must need water, and although the climate in Southeast Asia is hot and rainy, there are times of drought. It is precisely because of the high temperature here in Luzon that as long as it does not rain for a month, the dealers in the fields will be greatly damaged. The water in the land evaporates quickly, and the tiny rivers dry up completely within a month or two. Water has always been indispensable for human development, but the area close to this inner lake is different, with abundant water, so the Spaniards have also made it a priority for development.

The manor land around Manila City, as well as the land around the inner lake a little further south, were all left by Geng Jingzhong. This piece of land. The total area has reached more than 300 square kilometers. Nearly 5,000 hectares. Nearly 600,000 acres of fertile land. The fertile land in this area is to be divided into military fields, and the best is of course reserved for the soldiers who were born and died for themselves. The Mawei Army now has more than 60,000 people, and each of them can be divided into ten acres of good fertile land. Although the standard set earlier was 20 mu per person, and 15 mu per person was given to military dependents, it was not enough to divide all the land here, but less than half of the military dependents in the army were ready to emigrate, and the land here was completely coped with.

The relocation of military dependents is about to begin. This work has been prepared since the beginning of the formulation of the military field policy. In the past six months, the preparatory work in advance, such as counting the population and dividing the regions, is almost over, and the relocation of tens of thousands of military dependents is just around the corner. With the experience of the previous large-scale relocation of civilians, this time it is much easier to handle just more than 50,000 military dependents, but this project will have to wait for another two months, just after the New Year, there are many things on Luzon, and a little slow will not be rushed.

"Back to the prince, this was originally a Spanish settlement. A large number of estates here belong to the Spaniards. But the people who work in the fields are the local natives. They call themselves Tagalogs, but they are not much different from us. Part of the church here is dedicated to the worship of the Spaniards themselves, and the rest is for the natives. Their god is called Jesus, who is similar to our Buddha, and they talk nonsense about the equality of all beings, but in fact they are oppressing people of other races. Li Jing pointed to a church not far away and said indignantly. He didn't know that Geng Jingzhong was recruiting these Western missionaries in Fujian, and because Geng Jingzhong didn't know about them.

"Hehe, the equality of all beings is inherently deceitful. If they are egalitarian, then why should they have different churches? You haven't told me yet, are there still missionaries in here? Geng Jingzhong continued to ask.

"Oh, Lord forgive me, there are no missionaries in there now. Since the capture of Manila and the surrender of the Spaniards, a total of forty-three missionaries have been counted. On the orders of Chief of General Staff Li, the missionaries were escorted to Fujian. That is, in the last caravan a year ago. Li Jing first confessed, and then replied.

Geng Jingzhong seemed to remember something, nodded and said: "I seem to remember that a few years ago, I said that a group of Spanish prisoners were sent to Fujian, but I didn't know that those people were all missionaries. Well, it's okay, Fujian is now in short supply of these Western missionaries, as captives, just honest to work for the king first. Geng Jingzhong showed a smile, these people are okay to cooperate, if they don't cooperate, they will throw all the fish in the sea to feed, anyway, the Spaniards in Luzon are not a good thing. Go, keep moving on, go to the lake and have a look! ”

This Luzon Inner Lake is also the largest lake in the Philippines. It covers an area of more than 900 square kilometers. The inner lake is about fifty-one kilometers long, and it looks like a chicken's claw, but this claw is a bit thick. Later scientists analyzed that the inner lake may have been formed by volcanic eruptions that blocked and separated the original Manila Bay deep into the inland waters.

"This lake is good, it looks like it's not small." Geng Jingzhong rode around the lake, observing the surrounding terrain.

"Back to the prince, this lake is big enough, it is sixty miles long and wide, even in Fujian and Guangdong, I have never heard of such a big lake. Although this Luzon Island is an island, but the area is not small at all, in addition to this inner lake, there is a small lake 20 kilometers to the south, called Taal Lake, which is about one-fifth the size of this inner lake, but the surrounding fertile land area is much less, mainly because it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, only the southernmost part has a fertile field, and the other foot parts of the mountain are almost negligible. ”

"Oh, there's a lake over here? That's pretty good. There are no lakes in Fujian, hehe, there are two of them here. However, I observed that the terrain around this lake is a little low, and if it is a rainstorm season, won't the lake rise and flood the fertile fields? Have you thought about this question before? Geng Jingzhong observed all the way and always felt that something seemed wrong, and he didn't notice it until this moment. To say that several major lakes in Chinese mainland, the most typical is Hongze Lake, the terrain of the lake is higher than the surrounding fields, once the heavy rain is continuous, it is normal for the surrounding fertile fields to be flooded on a large scale, Geng Jingzhong's hometown in his previous life is not far from Hongze Lake, and the flood in 98 years can be described as fresh in memory.

Although Li Jing was originally in charge of inspection, he has been in Luzon for ten years, and he is still very familiar with the situation here. "It's true, the prince, almost every year, the acres of land by the lake will only be flooded once a year within 100 meters closest to the lake, but after a month, the lake water will slowly be discharged into the sea, and it doesn't matter. Earlier, Chief of General Staff Li also sent special personnel to inspect the Bashi River, which drains into the sea, and the result was that the Bashi River was fully capable of draining the rising water out of the lake. Oh, the Bashi River is the one at the gate of Manila, which you have seen when you went out of the city before. ”

Geng Jingzhong's mind immediately appeared that the river he had just seen was indeed quite wide, not to mention like the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, but it was much wider than the ordinary river that Geng Jingzhong had seen before, almost seventy or eighty meters wide. I just don't know if the whole river is so wide, but depending on the width of the river, and remember that the inner lake is so close to Manila Bay on the map, the flood drainage capacity should be good. "From this point of view, this place is really a treasure land, by the way, this fertile land continues to employ the Tagalog people to continue farming, and when the military family comes over after a while, move them away!"

"Yes, my lord, that's how the Chief of the General Staff gave the order! Now all of the former Spanish estates have been taken over by the 4th Naval Detachment in Manila,"

"Oh, haha, he knows my heart best!"

The inspection of the south side of Manila City took Geng Jingzhong a whole day, the construction of the Spanish manor was indeed good, and Luzon, as a colony operated by the former Spanish Kingdom for a hundred years, is the earliest and most mature land in Southeast Asia. Whether it is the Chinese population, local products or town construction, it is far stronger than other places in Nanyang, and the Mawei army attacked suddenly, and captured all the Spaniards at once with great strength, and this piece of architecture was completely preserved. When the military family immigrates here, it will save time on building houses.

Along the way, Geng Jingzhong became more and more proud of his decision to take Luzon. Geographically, Luzon is the most important springboard in Southeast Asia, and from Luzon it can control larger islands in the south. From an economic point of view, Luzon is rich in staggering mineral resources. I remember that the geography book said that the whole Philippines ranks third in the world in gold ore reserves, fourth in the world in copper ore reserves, fifth in nickel ore reserves, and sixth in the world in chrome ore reserves. Although Luzon is only a part of the Philippines, there should be a lot of mineral deposits on this island of Luzon alone. You must know that the largest copper-producing country in Southeast Asia in the future is the Philippines, but it has not yet been developed.

But now Geng Jingzhong only remembered that Luzon was rich in gold and copper, and he couldn't think of anything else. But just remember these two items, and you can slowly develop this treasure island in the future. After inspecting the area around this inner lake, Geng Jingzhong had a more detailed understanding of Luzon's agriculture, forestry and fishery resources, and there was really nothing wrong with the number given by Li Jing. Geng Jingzhong remembers that in later generations, not all rice was cultivated in Luzon, and it seems that there were several major tropical and subtropical crops, and the yield was of great importance in the world in later generations, and it seems that Luzon's tropical forestry was the first of the local economy until the 20th century.

"Let's go home, we should go see the newcomers tomorrow!" Geng Jingzhong is really very satisfied with today's inspection, his new territory is stronger than Taiwan in any respect, as long as more people immigrate over and develop Luzon Island on a large scale, with this stronger than Fujian and Taiwan's resources, then in the next ten years it will become the most important industrial and agricultural raw material production area in the Mawei Army's sphere of influence in Southeast Asia. The nearly 600,000 natives who had adapted to the colonial economy were not only their best labour, but also an important consumer market, not including the immigrant population, which will be greatly increased in the future. (To be continued......)

PS: First update