Regarding the conquest of the Philippines, Chen Liuzi has been in a state of watching a play, because his positioning of himself is completely different.

In the early days of the trading company, Chen Liuzi believed that the identity of the commander of the navy was the most important, and he wanted to do everything himself, just like Yang Yandi now.

It's just that Chen Liuzi's thinking is changing, and he no longer thinks about how to defeat the enemy in naval battles, but builds more and more advanced warships for the navy and cultivates more talents.

He has gotten rid of the thinking of a general, but Yang Yandi has not, which is also what Li Zhaoji hopes he can do, he hopes that his brother-in-law can help him in various fields, and just be a fleet commander.

But hearing Tang Mu say this, Chen Liuzi's face changed slightly and immediately asked, "Tang Mu, do you know that seven years ago, the Spaniards massacre of the Chinese in Manila?" Tang Mu nodded slightly, and Chen Liuzi said, "Don't the Spaniards pay for this?" ”

"Of course, there is a price, but it depends on how you pay it." Tang Mu said. He stood up and said: "From the perspective of national feelings, to avenge the tens of thousands of compatriots who were mutilated in the Manila massacre, it is necessary to have reciprocal revenge and make the sinners pay the price." So who is guilty? The essence of the Manila massacre was that the Spanish rulers, represented by the then governor of Manila, Coqueira, found that there were too many Chinese gathered around Manila. For this reason, the Spaniards raised their tax ........ "In Manila, a Chinese has to pay a residence tax of 10 pesos to Spaniards every year, and this is 20 pesos in Manila, other cities in the Metropolitan Governorate of the Philippines.

In addition to the residence tax, there are also taxes such as tribute tax and housing tax, and if you want to reduce taxes, you have to convert to Catholicism and need to shave your hair, which many people don't want.

But even under the pressure of such heavy taxes, there were still a large number of Chinese who came to settle in Daming, except for a small number of trading merchants, most of them just couldn't survive in Daming.

As a result, the number of Chinese in Manila quickly climbed, surpassing the Spaniards, and occupied almost all of the commercial and handicraft sectors.

In order to reduce the number of Chinese living in the cities, the Spaniards forced the Chinese to settle in the countryside of Neihu Province and threw them into plantations, which was met with resistance, and the Spanish carried out the massacre.

The landlords of the plantations, the Catholic Church, the vassals of Spain, and the natives of Luzon all participated in the massacres and looting, and it can be said that if you want to avenge the Chinese, you have to kill all the people in and around the castle of Santiago.

This meant that the ruling center on Luzon was completely destroyed, and the trading companies needed to build a ruling order from scratch by force.

But in reality, it was impossible to kill them all, and since there were a large number of Spanish-controlled plantations in the nearby countryside, and there were at least half a million Catholics, if the massacre were to be carried out, it would be a long war, and the trading companies would have thrown their troops and resources into Luzon uncontrollably.

Chen Liuzi was a Nanyang Chinese, and the Chinese community clearly had an indelible hatred for the Spaniards in the Philippines, and the Nanyang Chinese community occupied a position at the top of the trading company second only to the Ming people in Guangdong.

Relatively speaking, the top management of trading companies from Guangdong is not impressed. Although Guangdong is closer to the Philippines, because of customs and Zheng Zhilong's relationship, most of the Chinese in Manila are made up of Zhang and Quan, and they will also exclude people from other places.

At a time when nationalism had not yet awakened, Cantonese people had no special feelings about the Hokkien being slaughtered by the Spaniards in Manila.

Liu Mingde coughed lightly and said: "Luzon is not worth investing too many resources in us, if the Spaniards have to pay the price because of the Manila massacre." I suggest that the conquest should be stopped altogether, and that the siege be carried out by sea, so that we would only need one or two naval battles to show our attitude towards that massacre. This is the reason why Lee Zhao-ji convened this high-level meeting, not to decide who to choose the commander-in-chief, but to decide the policy of the rule.

The massacre meant that Luzon would become a quagmire of war, and without massacre, it would not be able to avenge the sin of seven years ago, and it would suffer a bit in public opinion.

Fortunately, none of the decision-makers who were able to attend the meeting were directly related to the Manila massacre. Mobilizing people to avenge others and investing the wealth and manpower of a trading company is obviously not something that normal people would do.

In this regard, Chen Luzi was also helpless, although he wanted to retaliate against the Spaniards, he definitely wanted to consume the resources that the trading company had hard-won obtained.

"A gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late, there will be opportunities in the future." Li Zhaoji said slowly. The reason why the Spaniards slaughtered the Chinese was because the number of the Chinese and the advantages they achieved in society threatened the rule of the Spaniards.

At the end of the day, it's for profit. And when the trading societies ruled Luzon, when it was developed, the Spaniards and Catholics threatened the interests of the Chinese, and they could also find a reason to massacre them.

You do the first year of junior high school, and I do the fifteenth, which is very fair.

"Tang Mu, are you sure that you will establish a low-cost and effective rule in Luzon, it is certainly not enough to adopt a policy of conciliation towards Catholics." Chen Liuzi asked.

"I think it's a good idea to work with the Jesuits." Tang Mu said softly.

The Spaniards had between 600,000 and 700,000 Catholics throughout the Metropolitan Governorate of the Philippines, and these converts guaranteed their rule over Luzon and were the reason for their repeated resistance to Dutch invasions.

But these Catholics belong to different orders, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Augustinians, the Jesuits, the Augustinian Hospitalists, and the five major orders all have complete orders in Luzon.

The king of Spain also assigned dioceses to the various orders in the Philippines, so that each order had its own territory.

Because of the long-term cooperation with the Portuguese in Macau, the top management of the trading company already has a deep understanding of these churches, and each of them seems to be devout believers, but from top to bottom, from the archbishop to the monks, all are merchants, and their ability to do business is no less than that of any professional businessman.

Because the Church has territory, these churches are the largest landowners in the Philippines, and most of the grange plantations are the property of the Church, and the indigenous people who depend on them are nothing more than serfs of the Church.

In Manila, there is an archbishop who presides over all the orders, but in reality he can only manage the affairs of his own order.

Not only do the Orders own a large amount of land, but they are also the largest financial groups in the Philippines, and they have established charitable organizations and raised funds to issue loans, including the Manila Galleon Trade, which is controlled by the First Sympathy Brotherhood, a charity jointly controlled by several orders.

The Spanish conquest in the East ended at the end of the last century, so the Church gradually overwhelmed the Philippine Governor and became the most important political power in the Philippines, controlling the economy, finance, and education, even the Philippine Governor was also under the supervision of the Archbishop of Manila.

The trading company had contact with all the Catholic churches in the East, but had a soft spot for the Jesuits, and the rest of the churches were rejected by the trading companies.

For example, in the early days of the trading society, a large number of Catholics from Macau and Nanyang flooded the ships of the navy, and these people needed faith, and the compromise of the Jesuit in Chinese liturgy was recognized by many Chinese political forces, including the trading company, and was also rejected by other religious orders.

The Dominicans and Franciscans are uniting against the Jesuits in the East, especially the Dominican monk Le Ngoc Phant, who had traveled thousands of miles to Rome to complain, and finally brought back the Pope's edict last year, criticizing the heresy of the Jesuits, but the Jesuits did not be disgraced and chose to resist.

The Jesuits were influential in China because of their policies, especially in the court, and had a presence in both the Dashun and Ming courts.

In contrast, the Dominicans and Franciscans were able to carry out missionary activity only in certain parts of China, and their influence was not comparable to that of the Jesuits.

The Jesuits cooperated with the trading company for a long time, starting with the issue of Catholics within the trading company, and the cooperation between the two sides continued to increase, for example, it was allowed to preach on Sado Island, where Cheechtan gathered, and there was a church dedicated to Chechitan in Ezo, and now Cheechtin has become a complete believer in the Society of Jesus.

The Society of Jesus also supported and participated in the trade of trading companies in India and the Duyang region, and also exerted influence on European trade.

Recently, the two sides reached an agreement that the Jesuits would not seek to preach to the Manchus, but would be consistent with the trading companies on the issue of the Manchus, which completely eliminated the estrangement between the two sides.

Although the trading company had always adhered to a strict religious policy, refusing to proselytize in Taiwan, Jeju and other territories, and even refusing to accept the Dominican diocese in the chicken coop area, the Jesuits still maintained a harmonious relationship with the trading company, but continued to persuade the trading company to change its religious policy through various means.

This is because, although the Jesuits did not get the desired diocese in their cooperation with the trading companies, their commercial interests expanded, which they liked.

Using the Jesuits to rule over Catholics in Luzon was a way to establish effective rule at a lower cost.

In the colonies, the Catholic Order had the faith, and the colonial governors had armies, complementing each other, but this time, it was just the force of the Spaniards that was exchanged for the force of the trading companies.

"My plan is to occupy Manila, share the land with the Jesuits, and allow them to exist as long as they fulfill their obligations to pay taxes, food, etc. And if other orders are willing to accept similar terms, I think it's okay to cooperate with them. ”