The Dutch have always been the most astute merchants in the world, and as merchants naturally cannot leave their ships empty.

However, Huaxia is a highly self-sufficient country, and with the rise of Liaodong industry, Huaxia now no longer needs European products.

The Dutch could only bring some spices and pepper from the South Seas to Daming for sale.

Putmans even bought European perfumes on the streets of Kyoshi, and the unique design of the glass bottle and gold-plated nozzle made these perfumes far more valuable than European perfumes.

Soon he filled his ship.

Although Europe has always been in deficit in trade with China.

But they were still keen to ship large quantities of silver here.

It is true that Chinese silk, pottery, and tea are quite popular.

But this was not enough for the Spaniards to transport all the silver from Mexico to the Ming Dynasty.

These Europeans brought silver from all over the world to Daming, in addition to exchanging it for a large number of commodities for their own needs.

Also exchange it for gold as much as possible.

Because of the lack of silver, the price of silver was high, much higher than that of Europe in the same period.

In the first year of Hongwu, one tael of gold was exchanged for four taels of silver.

Since then, it has declined, but it is still higher than the rest of the world.

During the Jiajing period, one tael of gold could be exchanged for 6 taels of silver.

Although the exchange rate of 1 tael of gold for 8 taels of silver was stable from Longqing to Wanli, it was still much higher than the exchange rate of 1 tael of gold for 15 taels of silver in Europe during the same period.

It is precisely because of the huge exchange difference that Europeans like to ship silver to Daming for shopping, or to exchange it for gold.

Later generations generally believed that after the "Longqing Switch", about 170 million taels to 500 million taels of silver flowed into the Ming Dynasty.

We only saw the inflow of silver, but we did not see the cunning Europeans taking advantage of the exchange rate difference to arbitrage our gold with a large tael of silver.

Among them, the Spaniards made the most money, and they transported almost all the silver plundered from the Americas to Daming.

However, at this time, Putmans found that the gold exchange for silver in the Ming market had all become 1 for 10, and Huaxia strictly prohibited the use of gold in foreign trade, and could only trade with silver.

It also forbade the exchange of gold and silver with European merchants.

However, the exchange rate differential is equal, and the West can exchange silver for a large amount of gold; Li Xianzhong could also use gold to exchange for large quantities of silver in Europe.

Of course, all this presupposes that he has to master a large amount of gold.

So the gold mines on Luzon made him salivate, which was the root cause of his move on Manila.

Originally, when he learned that Huaxia was about to go on an expedition to Manila, Fan Wencheng, the head of the household, almost had a sad face, but after hearing that there was a lot of gold on the island, he became smiling again.

It's just that Li Xianzhong, who has just ascended the throne for less than 3 months, actually wants to drive the imperial expedition in person, which really shocked the cabinet.

Although Li Xianzhong has been absent from Beijing for a long time since the Liaodong Army entered the customs, there has never been any problem in the operation of the Huaxia government.

But after all, he has just ascended the throne, how can he drive the expedition at every turn?

This time, all cabinet members, including Yan Mingtai and Li Sanshun, were unanimously opposed.

Yan Mingtai said: "The Spanish did not have many troops on Luzon, and Sun Chuanting, the governor of Liangguang, had experience in conquering the island of Taiwan, and Zheng Zhilong, the Governor of the Ryukyus, helped him. Why do you need Your Majesty to do it personally? ”

Li Sanshun also said: "With the latest sail battleships of the Liaodong Naval Division to help, why does Your Majesty need to transfer 20,000 forbidden troops from Beijing to the south, this is inevitably too much of a fuss!" ”

Li Xianzhong said: "The Spaniards have only established a few bases on the island, and the island has a large number of indigenous people. Unlike Korea, the Wa Kingdom, the Ryukyus, and Annam, Luzon did not have a unified regime, and although it was radiated by our Chinese civilization, it was not transformed into a king. ”

"It was easy to occupy the stronghold of the Spaniards, but it would take a long time to completely conquer the land."

"Now that our finances are tight, it is naturally impossible to invest money in these newly conquered areas. Only the maximum amount of resources can be extracted from Luzon. ”

"The easiest way to do this is to enslave the island's natives and make them free labor. Provide a steady stream of gold mines, grains and fruits and other resources and wealth for our China! ”

Li Xianzhong's words couldn't help but remind them of the large number of Korean laborers in Liaodong.

Li Xianzhong used only a little grain to treat them as cattle for many years.

However, these people can be regarded as having survived now, and if they work hard to be a "livestock" for Li Xianzhong for 5 years, they can become the people of China.

The development of Taiwan Island also has the credit of these "livestock", and the natives of the Potbelly Kingdom on the island were also arrested by Sun Chuanting and turned into "livestock".

When I think of these ministers, I understand.

It seems that in the near future, Luzon will become an important economic growth point for the Chinese court.

Moreover, the island is also suitable for farming, so it is completely self-sufficient in food.

At present, the methods adopted by China in these places are no different from those of the Western colonizers, and the first step is to carry out bloody colonial rule, using relatively primitive methods to realize the plundering of resources.

It's just that China has huge population resources.

With a large number of immigrants, these colonies can be turned into territories under their direct control.

Judging from Taiwan's experience, basically after six or seven years, these localities will be able to achieve direct jurisdiction.

In a decade or two at most, it can be completely territorialized.

Those natives who are enlightened will be sinicized and become the people of China.

And those natives who tried to resist and were unwilling to accept Sinicization were either killed directly, or squeezed out of the last bit of value in endless labor.

In the end, the cabinet accepted Li Xianzhong's idea of colonial rule and agreed to send 20,000 forbidden troops south.

However, I still hope that Li Xianzhong will give up the idea of driving in person.

In the end, Li Xianzhong had to move out of his son Li Shizu, who was born in Wanli 48 and is now 13 years old, so it's time to experience.

Li Xianzhong decided that during his southern expedition, the crown prince would supervise the country and observe government affairs!

The cabinet reports to the prince every three days, and the prince observes the decisions of major events.

The crown prince can express his opinion, but it does not affect the final decision of the cabinet.

Although this prison is only nominal, in fact, it is just a time to observe the government, but it is a rare opportunity for the crown prince.

Only when he actually comes into contact with these government affairs, as well as ministers, can he have a more intuitive understanding.

Li Xianzhong still assigned his son homework, and when he came back, he had to check his homework.

In Li Xianzhong's view, sometimes it is better to read thousands of books, but it is really better to travel thousands of miles.

If it weren't for the cabinet's obstruction, he really wanted to take his son with him to go on the expedition and let them learn in actual combat.

However, considering that the second child is only 11 years old, it will be a few years later.

The assembly of the Huaxia army was very rapid, and in only five days the grain was loaded into the grain silo of the Beijing division, and a large amount of ammunition needed for the expedition was transported directly from Lushun to Tianjin.

Li Xianzhong knew very well that he could not give the Dutch time to go back and report the news.

When they were ready, the two sail battleships of the Liaodong Naval Division and dozens of large warships set sail.

Although the two 2,080-ton Sail Battleships carried the heaviest supplies, they were still the fastest in the fleet thanks to the latest three-masted Crownsails.

Huge sails up to fifty or sixty meters high provide the boat with a speed of more than 10 knots.

"In fact, as early as 100 years ago, a large number of Fujianese people went to Luzon to do business, and more and more people bought land near Manila to settle down," Zheng said. ”

"Later, the Spaniards on the island thought that the Chinese were too much of a threat to them, so they united with the natives of the island to oppress the Chinese and impose high tariffs."

"The Chinese people on the island fought against them for decades, and in the 23rd year of Wanli, the Chinese people on the island revolted, killed the governor of Manila, Das Marinas, and killed hundreds of Spanish soldiers, who finally took the flagship of the Spaniards and fled Manila."

"After that, the Spaniards stepped up the suppression of the Huaxia, and in the 33rd year of Wanli, the Spaniards united thousands of Yabang natives and the 500 Wa Ronin on the island to massacre the Huaxia people on the island."

"Although the Chinese people on the island resisted, they were brutally slaughtered because of the lack of weapons and food in their hands."

"The Spaniards even ordered that no Chinese people should be left, and even some people in Manila who were kind enough to take in the Chinese were killed by them, and finally more than 30,000 Chinese people on the island were slaughtered by them!"

The officers and men of the Liaodong Naval Division on the ship were all indignant when they heard that the Spaniards had slaughtered their compatriots, and claimed that they must break these Spaniards into pieces!

Zheng Zhilong said: "Even the Ming Dynasty broke off trade with the Spaniards after hearing about it. I wonder why His Majesty wants to resume trade with them? ”

Li Xianzhong said: "That is naturally to confuse the Spaniards, and the fact that I resume trade with them does not mean that I will not recover the blood debt of the year!" ”

"You have to be ruthless when dealing with Westerners, these people are nothing more than a bunch of barbarians in the mask of civilization, and I don't have so many etiquette to talk to them here."

"From the moment their hands were stained with the blood of the Chinese people, they were doomed to a tragic end."

Zhu Chunchen on the side said: "Why are there Japanese people everywhere, and there are traces of this group of dwarf frustrations in Manila, we must make them look good!" ”

Today, the three major battalions of the Jingshi under the control of Xungui are only 10,000 people.

Zhu Chunchen simply quit his errand in Beijing and concentrated on picking up the silver.

This expedition is not in the budget, and the household department naturally did not allocate silver, and 2 million taels of silver was borrowed by Li Xianzhong from the Liaodong Bank as the expenses of this campaign.

But even in Manila, someone has to put in the first money.

Zhu Chunchen and others were the investment group invited by Li Xianzhong.

After taking Manila, someone needs to invest in gold mining and plantations.

Someone had to take over the property left by the Spaniards.

The natives were able to hand over a few dollars to Li Xianzhong, but none of them had much productivity.

Only by letting the Chinese people invest, the imperial court sends troops, the investors contribute money, and everyone joins forces to develop and plunder.

These people then paid taxes to the imperial court, so that the imperial court could continue to develop locally.

As long as there is money to be made, the enthusiasm of these people to invest will be even higher, and with their financial support, the exaggerated pace of the Chinese Empire will be faster!

If you have to rely entirely on the funds of the imperial court, now Huaxia can be said to be in ruins, where not to spend money?

Even if Li Xianzhong goes to grab it, it's not enough!

Don't say it's ten or eight years of waiting, even if you let yourself cultivate for three or five years, you can't stand it!

Fifteen days later, the fleet arrived at the port of Keelung in Taiwan.

At this moment, the 10,000 Huaxia Army led by Sun Chuanting and the South China Sea Navy Division were already on standby in Taiwan.

To be honest, the attack on Manila by an army of 30,000 is indeed a bit of a fuss.

However, this campaign was only a rehearsal, and although Manila was different from Annam, the tropical environment was relatively similar.

These soldiers will soon be sent to Annam, of course, in absolute secrecy.

After two days of rest in Keelung, the team set sail for Manila.

Taiwan is not far from Manila, crossing the Bass Strait and entering Luzon.

Four days later, Huaxia's fleet sailed into Manila Bay.

The reason why Li Xianzhong went south so quickly was that he did not give the Dutch time to report to Spain.

Since the sinking of the Spanish 1,200-ton Santiago six years ago, the Dutch have been eyeing Manila.

In order to ensure the safety of Manila, King Philip IV of Spain transferred a San Juan with a displacement of 1,800 tons from Europe!

Five other 1,200-ton Galen ships, together with the San Juan, formed the lead ship of the Manila fleet.

However, in order not to startle the snake, the main fleet of the Huaxia Navy Division did not appear directly, but only dispatched two sail battleships.

Two 2,000-ton giant ships flying the Sun, Moon and Dragon flags appeared all of a sudden, which still made the Spaniards a little panicked.

However, considering that the two sides have just signed a trade agreement, they do not dare to open fire rashly.

Soon the flotilla stationed in Manila stepped forward to try to stop the two warships from entering Manila.

The huge warships of the Huaxia Navy Division still formed a shock to them, and they also deliberately kept their distance.

The first mate said: "At present, the Spanish warship is about 12 miles away from us, and it is completely within range. ”

For an ordinary battleship, about 12 miles is almost the maximum range of the artillery, and this distance is basically safe.

However, the sail battleships were equipped with 32-pound cannons, and the range reached a terrible 18 miles, so they could fire their guns calmly.

The two sail battleships had a tacit understanding and aimed at the San Juan, the flagship of the Western Banga.

The Yan'an fired first, and they used solid shells, which had passed through the deck of the San Juan smoothly and directly hit a piercing.

However, it is fortunate that this position is still in the upper part of the warship, and it does not cause the inflow of seawater.

Before the Spaniards had time to congratulate themselves on their good fortune, another Yulin's guns arrived as scheduled.

The flowering shells they adopted, the shells caused a huge explosion on the deck!

The first round of shelling alone severely damaged the enemy ships, and also greatly boosted the confidence of the Chinese gunners.

In the second round of shelling, more shells hit the enemy ship due to the data reference of the first round.

Almost instantly, the San Juan exploded in half, and quickly sank into the sea.

With the flagship sunk, the rest of the battle lost its suspense.

In the face of the enemy ships that had already raised the white flag, the Huaxia Navy Division did not relent, and continued to open fire and sink them one by one.

Naturally, the Spanish sailors who fell overboard became their targets.

As the blood of the Spanish soldiers flowed into the sea, it also attracted a large number of sharks.

After finishing the Spanish fleet, those batteries on the shore of Manila were completely defenseless.

The 32-pounder cannon on the Sail Battleship smashed their batteries to pieces.

A large number of Chinese soldiers landed near Manila.

How had the Spaniards ever seen such a powerful artillery?

They all retreated to Fort San Diego, north of Manila.

Unfortunately, this fortified fortress did not save the Spaniards, as he was still a little further from the coast.

The range can exceed 18 miles, and a large number of 32-pound flowering catapults can be fired into the city.

Then the Chinese soldiers took advantage of the night to bombard the castle with heavy mortars.

Eventually, the Spaniards in the city surrendered.

In the end, more than 1,000 Spaniards, including Azquita, the Spanish governor in the Philippines, became prisoners of the Chinese army.

Azquita was personally involved in the massacre against the Chinese 29 years ago, when he was just a small second lieutenant, and now he is the governor of the Philippines!

Li Xianzhong asked people to read out the crimes of the Spaniards back then, and then Ling Chi Azqueta in public!

All the Spaniards were forced to attend the execution with the local indigenous chieftains.

The execution lasted three days, although Azquita had already died the next day.

But the executioner still executed him with 3,888 knives.

After that, all the Spaniards voluntarily surrendered their property and signed a confession.

to avoid being tormented by this terrible punishment.

Li Xianzhong found the Chinese people who escaped from Manila ahead of schedule, as well as the descendants of those killed in the catastrophe that year.

It was they who sent some of the Spaniards to the gallows.

Li Xianzhong then had the local natives erect hundreds of crosses on the farms they had slaughtered the Chinese on the outskirts of Manila.

They were crucified alive with nails.

This horrific scene frightened the Dutch in Manila to flee.

Li Xianzhong did not stop them from leaving, he wanted to let Westerners know the fate of offending Huaxia.

At this time, the leader of the indigenous people of Yabang was trembling at Li Xianzhong's feet, not because of anything else, but because his tribe was the biggest accomplice of the Spaniards in the massacre of the Chinese.

With the help of the Spaniards, his tribe became the largest tribe on the island of Luzon, numbering more than 50,000 people.

Under the encirclement and suppression of tens of thousands of Chinese soldiers and high rewards, in the end, no one from this tribe survived.

This was also a great deterrent to other tribes.

However, Li Xianzhong did not slaughter them, as long as they worked on the farms and mines of the Huaxia people.

The Spaniards enslaved them in this way, and the natives did not resist much.

Compared with the indigenous people of Yabang, the Chinese people are quite kind to them.

Soon, Zhu Chunchen and others bought a large number of estates around Manila, and also participated in the largest gold mine around Manila.

Originally, there were many Chinese doing business here, but now that the Chinese court is here, their waists are even harder.

With the help of these local Chinese, the imperial court quickly took control of the situation in Manila.

After the money was invested, the financiers quickly recruited a large number of overseers from Huaxia to manage their estates.

Li Xianzhong began to gradually emigrate from North Korea, Taiwan, and some places in China where there are many people and little land.

And let Zheng Zhilong be the governor of Manila, and now they only control most of Luzon, and a large number of islands in the south-central Philippines do not control.

It was clear that Manila was just a springboard, and in the end he was going to take charge of the whole of Southeast Asia.

Thank you for your monthly passes, recommended tickets, and follow-up support!

(End of chapter)