Just when the war on Qiong Island was in full swing.

Luzon,

Liu Yu personally led the Huben to Mingcheng.

Looking at the city gate where merchants passed, carriages, and slaves entered and exited in an endless stream in front of him, Liu Yu was also full of emotion.

"When I first came to Luzon, our Ming army was stationed in this city."

"I didn't expect that after a few years, what was originally a small seaside city has become a giant city with an endless stream of merchants." After entering the city, Liu Yu sighed to his uncle.

"It's a pity that the border is unstable, the natives often come to attack, and the subordinate societies also rebel from time to time." Liu Quan sighed.

"Now, Talu is the chief soldier of Mingcheng, so let Talu do these things." Liu Yu said.

Appointing him Lu as the chief soldier of Mingcheng, Liu Yu was also thoughtful.

At the beginning, in order to resist the attack of the Spaniards, the Ming army built Mingcheng into a border town.

Responsible for defending against the attacks of the Spaniards and their Fan forces.

Later, after Talu surrendered to the Ming army, Liu Yu also intended to cultivate Talu.

With the support of Liu Yu, Ta Lu also took over the large and small societies in the northern part of the Central Plains Plain in just a few years.

In other words, the Ming court's sphere of influence had reached the northern part of the Central Plain, while the southern part was ruled by the Bolu of Banggui.

But the problem is that the border of the Ming army is still only in the area of Mingcheng.

The reason why he was awarded the title of the commander-in-chief of Mingcheng was to integrate Mingcheng and the Fan Society under his jurisdiction in one place.

The Ming City has developed from a small border city to a large city across the northern part of the Central Plain.

And the fertile fields in the northern part of the Central Plain were also under the command of the Ming court.

It greatly expanded the sphere of influence of the Ming court, and at the same time allowed the Ming court to obtain more arable land.

The vast land south of Mingcheng was entrusted to Talu's soldiers.

Talu controlled the military power of Mingcheng, but the land, money and grain were still in the hands of the Ming court officials in Mingcheng.

Of course, Liu Yu also placed an army of more than 300 people in Mingcheng.

Talu's soldiers were placed outside the Ming city, and the defense of the city was taken care of by the Ming army.

And these three hundred Ming troops are also under his command.

"Now there are more than 1,000 Han people in Mingcheng, thousands of people, and hundreds of merchants and craftsmen, so I am really unwilling to abandon this city." Liu Quan stood on the city wall, looking at the bustling flow of people on the streets below the city, without sighing.

"Uncle, it is also the intention of the Ming Court to let you go north to serve as the commander-in-chief of Dongning, after all, Dongning has just been established as a county, and the situation is still unstable, so you still need to rely on your uncle and the elite soldiers under your uncle." Liu Yu explained.

Just half a month ago, the Ming court established three counties in Luzon.

That is, Beiting, Dongning, Nanpu three counties.

Liu Yu established Beiting County in the northwestern region of Luzon where Laoag and Vigan are located, which means to look north at the homeland and to the north as the court.

After the merger of Mingcheng and Tagalu Minor Society, the Ming court's sphere of influence expanded to the northern part of the Central Plain, and Nanpu County was also established here.

Dongning County, on the other hand, was established by the Ming court in the Cagayan River Valley.

Luzon is fertile for thousands of miles, but the plains are mainly in the central plain and the Cagayan River Valley.

In the beginning, Vigan and Laoag occupied by the Ming court were only small towns in northwestern Luzon.

After several years of development in the Ming Dynasty and the assistance of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, it developed into a coastal trading city.

But the problem was that western Luzon was mountainous, and the Ming court could only rely on the mountain terraces of the Locke people, and the real plain arable land was only a small part of the coast.

It is far from satisfying the expenses of the Ming court.

Therefore, after being blocked by the Tagalog and Spanish forces in the central plain in the south, the Ming court began to set its sights on the Cagayan River valley in the east.

If you think that when Zheng Chenggong drove away the Dutch to recapture the treasure island, the Zheng family only developed the southwest of Taiwan Island, and it can be said that it was only on the side of the whole island.

Liu Yu, who went south to develop Luzon, was different, he didn't need to face the millions of tigers and wolves of the Qing army

Army.

Therefore, when there was Talu in the south to resist the Spaniards, and the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce overseas continued to provide silver taels, it was natural that there would be more troops, manpower, and financial resources to develop the eastern Luzon region.

After crossing the central mountain range of Luzon. After all, the Ming court forces reached the Cagayan River Valley.

After working with the local Iloke people, the Ming court began to deliberately develop these river valley plains.

And Shanhai, one of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, is also exerting its strength at this moment, opening a series of plank roads and post stations along the mountains and plains.

If there is any sea in the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce, which is unknown in the Ming court, but is the most loyal, it is none other than the mountains and seas.

Unlike the other three seas that trade by sea, Shanhai trades by land, so it has the closest connection with the Ming court.

When the Ming court entered the Cagayan River valley in the east, the mountains and seas contributed their efforts, and they worked hard like a military horse.

He made great contributions to the Ming court's conquest of the Cagayan River Valley.

Therefore, after the establishment of Dongning County, Liu Yu deliberately exempted Shanhai from commercial tax in Dongning County for three years.

Now, in the case of the instability of Nanpu County and the instability of the Spaniards in the south, Dongning County has undoubtedly become the most important county seat of the Ming Court.

However, because the number of Han people on the island was too small, the Ming court was unable to send a large number of Han people to Dongning County to reclaim, so when Dongning County was basically dominated by Ilo people, Liu Yu urgently needed a veteran with high prestige to guard the town.

After thinking about it, he had no choice but to transfer Liu Quan from Mingcheng to Dongning County.

"The last general is naturally willing to sit in Dongning for the Ming court." Liu Quandao.

Looking at Liu Quan, Liu Yu nodded, he knew that this uncle of his was only in the prime of life at this time, and it was a good time to show his ambitions.

Now that the Ming court sent troops to the north to conquer Qiongzhou, when he opposed the Qing Dynasty and restored the Ming Dynasty, he could only retreat in the rear of Luzon, which inevitably made this general a little depressed.

"Lord Xiao led the army to attack Qiongzhou, can you capture Qiongzhou?" Liu Quan asked.

"According to the report from the exploration ship, our army has taken Yazhou County and Thanksgiving County, and annihilated hundreds of Qing troops."

"Presumably, at this time, Lord Xiao has already led the sailor to annihilate the Qiongzhou sailor, right?" Liu Yu muttered to himself.

"Yes, after taking Qiongzhou, our Ming army can take advantage of the victory to go north and take Liangguang, and directly attack Fujian and Zhejiang." Liu Quan's face overflowed with excitement, and he couldn't wait to personally step on the horse with a knife to conquer Taqing.

"Uncle, what I mean is that after the Ming army took Qiongzhou, the whole army held Qiongdao to the death, and the sailors went north to Liangguang to relocate the Han population to enrich Luzon Island." Liu Yu suddenly said to Liu Quan.

Liu Quan's body was suddenly shocked, and he looked at the nephew in front of him in disbelief.

"Why?" He gritted his teeth and spat out two words.

"Last year, our army went to Dongpu in the early spring, and it has consumed 100,000 taels of silver."

"This year, our army went north to Qiongzhou, and it has already consumed more than 100,000 taels of military silver, and if we want to take the entire Qiongdao and defend it, we need to invest at least 200,000 taels of silver." Liu Yu took a deep breath and continued.

"In other words, if you conquer a Qiongzhou, my Ming court has already consumed hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."

When Liu Yu said this, he couldn't help but sigh, you must know that the tax revenue given by the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce to the Ming Court for a year is only two or three hundred thousand taels of silver.

And the tax revenue of the three counties on the island is only two pieces of silver.

This was also the result of Liu Yu's encouragement of mercantile development and the exchange of commercial markets with the English, Dutch and even Spaniards in Manila.

Fighting a war, in the final analysis, is just two words, money and food.

The current Ming court is short of money and food, and the key is that there are not enough people.

An expedition to Qiongzhou Island, the Ming court has already consumed most of its financial and material resources, how can it be possible to counterattack the mainland?

Therefore, during the period of conquest of Qiongzhou Island, Liu Yu obviously discovered the huge gap between the national strength of the Ming court and the Qing Dynasty, and the fire of opposing the Qing Dynasty and restoring the Ming Dynasty was completely extinguished by reality.

This is also the fundamental reason why Liu Yu set up three counties in Luzon and worked steadily.

"In that case, what should we do in the future?" Liu

All unexpectedly quieted down, and instead of going crazy, he smiled bitterly and asked.

"Based on the South Seas, rebuild China." Liu Yu muttered.