Chastity Layman

At the end of June, Luzon Island welcomed a large number of new gold diggers. These were all recruited by Qin Lang from the mountainous areas in central Guizhou, Guangxi and northern Annan, and some were recruited from Yunnan. Now they arrive in batches by boat. .

When they first set foot on the Golden Silver Port Wharf, they heard good news.

A lucky gold digger panned for gold in the upper reaches of the Jinsha River for three months. After finding no gold, he simply went all the way north. In the mountainous area, I was lucky enough to pick up a bull's head gold weighing more than 30 jins.

Get rich overnight.

The Qin family bought the piece of bull's head gold for 5,000 guan, and then the Qin family sent several gold prospecting teams there, and countless gold diggers who heard the news also went north one after another. Several rivers and streams with gold sand were found.

The Qin family's gold prospecting team also sent out news that they had successfully found gold seedlings, that is, gold veins. In the eastern mountainous area of ​​Beihai Bay in the central plain, several gold mineralization zones were discovered, as well as silver, copper and iron ore belts.

They also confirmed that the reserves are astonishing, far exceeding the gold sand in the upper stream of the Jinsha River in the south of the Golden Harbor today.

Ever since, gold diggers are now heading north one after another.

"Go to Xinjinshan!"

Slogans like this are everywhere.

They called this side San Francisco, and called the newly discovered Jinshan in the north as Xinjinshan, and simply called the later Lingayen Bay in the north as New Jinshan Bay, and the current Manila Bay as San Francisco Bay.

The adventurers rushing to the new gold mountain to pan for gold, there are many people who are lucky to get rich overnight, which stimulates the nerves of the gold diggers even more.

Qin Lang, who was in Luzon, also took the opportunity immediately and sent people to Lingayen Bay in the north to build a new port town, which was called Xinjinshan City. He also took advantage of the opportunity to change the name of Cash and Silver City to San Francisco City.

New mines and gold panning towns were quickly established.

More and more people rushed there, but San Francisco was deserted for a while, just now a new batch of gold diggers arrived.

"Is there really that much gold in Xinjinshan?"

Qin Lang nodded. The Qin family's prospecting team did find a gold mineralization zone, and the reserves are very high. Compared with this side, it is not a star and a half stronger.

"My God, we can mine so much gold here every year, and it's even higher over there. Wouldn't it be possible to produce more gold?"

"The gold here is mainly the gold sand in the river. The gold mines in the upper reaches are relatively shallow and easy to mine. However, the gold mines in Xinjinshan in the north are all in the mountains. The transportation is inconvenient and mining is even more difficult. Moreover, the news from there , there are many island natives in the mountainous area to the north, and the mineralized zone happens to be on the territory of these island tribes, so if you want to open mines, you have to drive these indigenous people away first."

"Now the conflict has become more intense, and dozens of gold diggers have been attacked and killed."

Qin Lang told Lao Huang who came from Wu'an that he had already organized a security team to take a boat to Xinjinshan Bay to deal with the aborigines in the mountains.

"Would it be too big for us to develop at both ends?"

Lao Huang looked at the map. San Francisco was in Manila Bay, while Xinjinshan was in Lingayen Bay in the north, and the distance between the two was five hundred miles.

The mining area of ​​Xinjinshan is not a coastal plain area, but a mountainous area to the east, one hundred and fifty miles away from the mouth of the newly built Xinjinshan Bay landing point.

Qin Lang wasn't too worried.

The colonies are all to seize the most essential positions first, and it is impossible to spread out and develop slowly. The conditions in Manila Bay are indeed unique. He is planning to use the gold rush as an opportunity to develop sugar cane-sugar, cotton and linen-textile. The big industry even plans to grow tea here, make porcelain, glass, etc., and develop trade with the help of navigation in the future.

The discovery of the new Jinshan mineralized zone is of course good news, and it is a trend to develop northward.

Fortunately, there are no threatening indigenous forces on the island. With the big boat in hand, the Qin family can go around to the north to build another stronghold. After occupying Lingayen Bay, they can build a gold mining town in the Baguio gold mining area.

Adjust the development strategy, from the previous development centered on Manila, in the central plain, to the simultaneous development of the northern and southern bays.

Just one south and one north, occupying both ends of the central plain, with the benefits of two major bays.

"But the distance is too far, five hundred miles!"

Qin Lang didn't think it was a problem. Although the distance was hundreds of miles, the Qin family had the advantage of sea navigation, and the navigation between the two bays was not a problem.

In addition, in the middle of the two is the Central Plains of Yimapingchuan. There are no high mountains and dangers, and there are large rivers entering the sea on both sides. They are connected through the tributaries of the two large rivers. In fact, almost the entire journey may be navigable by inland rivers. .

This distance is not as good as Chang'an to Luoyang.

A fast horse can reach it in one day.

"There are so many natives on the mountain over there, are they amazing?"

Qin Lang smiled and said to Ah Huang, "It's far worse than Dongfan on Liuqiu Island. In fact, most of them still use stone tools and bone tools, just like primitive people."

"Oh, it turned out to be a group of wild monkeys, so there is nothing to worry about." Lao Huang immediately felt relieved when he heard that. When Qin Lang landed on Liuqiu Island, he had a deep understanding of how to fight against the Fan tribes on the island.

In fact, the Liuqiu Island Fans often communicate with the Central Plains. Among them, the Pingdi Fans already have a lot of iron weapons, and bows and arrows are also good.

Opponents who use animal bones, stone tools and wood as weapons are of course not worth mentioning.

"If this is the case, we will first build a fortress at the mouth of the Xinjinsha River (Cagayan River) in Xinjinshan Bay to facilitate communication with San Francisco through inland waterways, and then eighty miles to the east. Build a stronghold at the mouth of the Xiaojinsha River, then go along the river into the mountains, build another stronghold in the gold mining area, and station a security team to protect the mines and gold pans, and attack and guard against the natives."

Lao Huang's proposal was exactly what Qin Lang wanted.

First build three strongholds as support, and then build some small blockhouses or wooden villages along the way for supplies along the way and for patrolling and protecting the road.

At that time, some villages can be built in the surrounding area.

Those three fortresses are the most important. It is essential to build a port city in the bay. It will not only facilitate sea and inland waterway navigation, but also develop agriculture, industry and commerce in the northern plain.

It is even more necessary to build a fortress in the mining area in the mountains. A strong fortress must be built to ensure the safety of the gold mines and gold diggers in the mountains.

In addition, building a fortress in the mountainous area is also condescending, which not only deters the natives, but also strengthens the protection of Xinjinshan Bay.

"It seems that Saburo has really made up his mind to stay here. Have you thought about how to explain to the court? Will they agree?"

"What if we develop here and the court comes to pick peaches again?"

"So up to now, I have kept the secret of the route strictly, and have not told others that our industry here has not recruited other families as before." Qin Lang replied.

"But paper can't hold fire. We now have more than one hundred thousand people. If this momentum continues, ten years from now, it's possible to double it a few more times, or even ten times. How can we still hide it?"

Lao Huang reminded Qin Lang that the Feng An family and the Feng family in Lingnan immigrated to develop Qiongdao together, but didn't the imperial court quickly reform the land and return it to the people?

Furthermore, Ruqiu Island, Qin Lang took the lead to conquer the island at the beginning, and now it has become the Zhengzhou of the imperial court.

Another example is the Fuqing Port developed by the Qin family, which has now become Fuqing County.

Another example is Wu'an Mansion.

The imperial court has a bad habit of picking peaches. If you do well, he will definitely come to pick them.

"Treasure Island is Qin Lang's last bottom line. I will not hand it over. It is different from Wu'an, Fuqing and even Liuqiu. It used to have nothing to do with the Central Plains. It is not all the frontiers of China since ancient times. It belongs to the local area and is located overseas, so my business here is only my private property."

Lao Huang also knows that the sea trade has been booming in recent years. In fact, many wealthy families have set up small private property overseas, set up some strongholds, set up some manor planting, or secretly set up a small island overseas, trained some armed guards, secretly Build some weapons or something, anyway, as long as you don't bring them back to the Central Plains, it's okay to keep a low profile.

But the problem is that Qin Lang's action is too big.

In just a few years, there have been more than 100,000 people here.

And this time Qin Lang came back again, recruiting people all the way, gold diggers and various craftsmen, even beggars and orphans, as long as he was willing to go with him, he would take people with him.

Now the first batch of 2,000 people has just landed on the island, and there are still a dozen more to follow.

The Qin family is throwing money into it regardless of the cost, and it is completely robbing people. Not only do other families lament that the Qin family is ugly, it makes it difficult for them to recruit people, and many local officials are also very dissatisfied. Qin Lang wasted money and robbed people at that time, which was digging the wall of the imperial court.

If you get 18,000 people on the island, you can hide it if you keep a low profile, but if you get 108,000 or even hundreds of thousands of people, they are all from the Central Plains. You are an emperor. Still deaf?

Qin Lang said that he keeps the route a secret, but even if the boats come and go, even if they are all from the Qin family, there are too many people who know the route, so you can ensure that everyone is reliable?

Even if the captain is reliable, but with so many people traveling by boat, there are no hidden spies from the imperial court?

Paper cannot contain fire.

"Ah Huang, you don't have to worry too much. Most of these people I got here are here to pan for gold. They pan for gold here, and most of the money they earn is sent back. This is also beneficial to the local economy of their hometown. Besides, they come to pan for gold. Many of them are poor people in those mountainous areas. In the past, they could not have enough to eat, which was a factor of instability. Now they can make money, take care of themselves, and support their families. I have also helped the court."

"But the problem is that Saburo, you don't intend to only mine gold." Old Huang said.

"Well, but the imperial court doesn't know yet. We don't want them to know our real intention to develop here. We just say that we are mining gold here, and we will go back when the gold mining is finished."

Lao Huang was worried, the Qin family had invested too much here, "What if the emperor finds out, and then wants to set up states and counties here, send officials, and even garrison troops?"

Qin Lang felt a little bit of a toothache, it was possible, but it was something he had been trying to avoid.

"Try to keep a low profile. Now that the imperial court is conquering Liaodong in the east and the Western Regions in the west, and defending Xue Yantuo in the north and frightening the southern barbarians in the north, we don't have much energy to look around. As long as we don't make too much publicity, the emperor probably won't He will pay special attention to such an overseas island." Qin Lang said.

"I hope! I always feel that it is a bit risky to pay such a big cost. Once the emperor targets him, he will be beaten. And have you ever thought about it, even if the emperor doesn't care about it for ten or twenty years, but thirty years and fifty After the next year, won't the future emperor reach out to grab it?"

Qin Lang chuckled twice. After fifty or a hundred years, maybe Datang has long since lost the ability to open up to the outside world, and will only focus on introversion. This is also an inevitable thing for a unified dynasty. It's been made up.

Moreover, he believed that after the Qin family really wanted to run him on this island for thirty or fifty years, the imperial court really wanted to seize it, and they might not be able to seize it.

"Ah Huang, I'm going to readjust the organizational structure of the island. Outside the deacon meeting, there will be a chief steward, deputy stewards, stewards, etc. to take charge of various affairs on the island, and then San Francisco, Xinjinshan and other cities will have mayors. and council..."

The general manager is equivalent to the governor of the island, the deacon board is equivalent to the political affairs hall on the island, and then there are general affairs department, internal affairs department, security department, financial department, personnel department, etc.

As the stalls get bigger and bigger, there must be a strict organizational structure, otherwise it will be chaotic.

"I can't, I, Ah Huang, don't have this ability, why don't we let Zhang Wenyuan be the manager."

"He is still too young, and although he has been with me for a long time, he actually doesn't stand alone, especially if he has experience in handling these specific affairs."

Qin Lang is the head of the house, so Lao Huang naturally wouldn't say that the head of the house should be the head of the house. In his opinion, the head of the house is actually the same as the big housekeeper in the mansion.

Then the mayors of each city are actually equivalent to the stewards in charge of each of the original mansions.

Although the chief steward has great power, it is also the power given by the head of the family, and it is for the head of the family.

The security department, it is easy to understand, that is the guard team, because to avoid some suspicions, so the guards on the island are directly called the security team, literally, to protect safety. But the actual function is to arm servants, and the strength is still very strong.

There are cavalry and infantry, as well as the maritime security team and the inland river security team, etc. The equipment is quite sophisticated, not only bows and arrows, knives and guns, but even crossbow armor. Anyway, it is an army, and the number is not small.

Now there are a total of 1,000 security guards on the island. The Security Corps has a security cavalry team, a security troop, and a security fleet, etc., from coastal patrols to port guards, to fortress defense, as well as public security in the city and road patrols. responsibility range.

In the General Affairs Department, Lao Huang is probably in charge of logistics and miscellaneous affairs, and in the Internal Affairs Department, it may be in charge of supervision. Personnel and finance, that is quite clear.

It seems that Saburo has really made up his mind to run the island with all his strength.

"Thousands of miles of fertile soil, isn't it worth a try?"