Han’s Son is Not a Slave

Luzon, the area of ​​Manila, the Philippines. During the reigns of Hongwu and Yongle of Ming Dynasty, Lu Song sent envoys to China three times.

At first, Zhou Shixiang did not know that Luzon was Manila, nor did he understand the situation there. He rushed to Jinsha in a hurry, in order to obtain detailed information on Luzon from Zheng Xi.

After Zheng Mingjun's uncle and nephew led the navy rebellion, Zheng Jing had already returned to Jinsha from Xinghua. Zheng Xi took advantage of the situation and led his troops to the Tong'an and Zhongqing areas, and formed a situation of encircling Jinxia with the sixth and seventh towns of the Taiping Army who had moved south earlier. Surprisingly, Zheng Xi did not take advantage of Zheng Jing's "illness" to kill him, and immediately waved his troops across the sea to seize the island, but stopped the offensive on the pretext that the army had cut off supplies.

Without the help of Zheng Xi's department, Suna did not dare to force the crossing. Dasu mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and two naval divisions participated in the battle, but they failed to win the Jinsha. Learning from the past, Suna, who is not good at water warfare, also lacked confidence in seizing Jinsha alone. Therefore, after consulting with the town general of the seventh town, Hu Qili, he also stopped the front-line military operations.

After Zhou Shixiang received the report, he also guessed that Zheng Jing would not "contribute" any more. Probably this uncle really didn't want to bear the reputation of pushing his own nephew, or he felt that his lips were dead and his teeth were cold, and he was afraid of Zheng Jing. Once dead, it will be his turn next.

Zhou Shixiang admired Suna's prudence. If Suna forcibly crossed the sea and seized the island, Zhou Shixiang might not agree. Although the main force of the Jinxia navy had been taken by Zheng Mingjun's uncle and nephew to defect to him, one third of the navy's warships remained in Jinxia. Zhou Shixiang would never launch the Battle of Jinsha until the last navy force in Zheng Jing's hand was completely resolved. At present, the possibility of solving Zheng Jing and Jin Xia Zheng Jun is actually much more likely than a military one.

The military officer Guo Xiong suggested that the Donghai Navy in Zhoushan should be sent south to deal with the remaining navy forces of Zheng Jing. As long as there is not even a single warship left in Zheng Jing's hands, then crossing the sea and landing is as easy as running on the ground. However, Zhou Shixiang rejected this plan, because Zheng Mingjun’s uncle and nephew and Feng Xifan had the intention to make great contributions, but the soldiers they brought were from Zheng Jun and had inextricable ties with Jinxia, ​​which made them abandon their old ways. It may be possible for the master to re-introduce the new master, but it would be very sad for them to turn their guns on their former comrades immediately.

Zhou Shixiang didn't want to be too hasty, he not only wanted Zheng Mingjun's uncle and nephew and Feng Xifan to die, but also wanted to completely win over the hearts of Donghai Marines and make them the backbone of the Ming Navy in the future. It is to use them, not to trust them. Furthermore, the East Sea Division has just been established, the camps and ports are being built, the placement of soldiers and families is in progress, the maintenance of warships and the replenishment of supplies, etc. It may allow the East Sea Division to immediately exert their due combat effectiveness. Hastily adjusted them to go south again to participate in the Battle of Jinsha, which would not be worth the loss.

In Zhou Shixiang's plan, the direction of the battle that the East Sea Division is about to enter is in the north, outside the distant pass, rather than in Jinsha.

If it wasn't for the news from Lu Song that Liu Guoxuan received, Zhou Shixiang wouldn't be so anxious to go south. He wanted to give Zheng Jing a little time to think about it, and also give Zheng Xi a little time to think about it.

The massacre against the Han Chinese in Luzon changed Zhou Shixiang's itinerary. When he suddenly arrived in Tong'an, Zheng Xi was immediately panicked, thinking that Zhou Shixiang was here to raise his teacher to ask his guilt. But when he led the civil and military general Zhou Shixiang into Tong'an City, he found that His Royal Highness the King of Qi did not scold him for his intention to stand still, nor did he inquire about the situation of Jinxia and Zhengjing, but asked Zheng Xi about Luzon Island. Happening.

Zheng Xi didn't know much about Lu Song, and Huang Zhao, who was busy with Lu Song's situation, introduced to His Royal Highness King Qi. According to Huang Zhao, around the Jiajing period, the Spaniards occupied Luzon Island and built a city there called Manila. I don’t know where the Spaniards got a lot of gold and silver to Manila, and then went to Daming through the local Chinese to exchange for silk, porcelain and other goods, and they made a lot of money. Among them, the Zheng family played a role that could not be ignored, because the maritime trade between Lu Song and Daming was basically in the hands of the Zheng family. In recent years, because Dongfan was occupied by the Dutch, the sea route was divided by red-haired ghosts. But whether it is the Spaniard or the red-haired ghost, their main trading partner is the Zheng family. The main source of goods provided to them by the Zheng family was from merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, Zhejiang and Fujian.

Knowing Manila, Zhou Shixiang naturally had the impression of the Philippines, and then the map of the entire Southeast Asia and even Europe and South America appeared in his mind. The maritime trade mentioned by Huang Zhao can obviously be summed up in one line, that is, white people in Europe transport the gold and silver looted from South America to the Philippines and other places, and then purchase goods from Eastern China through local Chinese merchants. The purchase targets of those Chinese Chinese businessmen are naturally the Zheng family who have mastered the coastal waterways of China, and then the Zheng family will purchase the goods that Westerners need from Jiangnan and other places to sell. And those merchants in the south of the Yangtze River drew another line, that is, the problem of textile workshops and cash crops discovered by Zhou Shixiang in Songjiang and other places not long ago.

A ring is surrounded by a ring. The "consumers" at the end are white people who are thousands of miles away, the other end is the thousands of handicraft owners and farmers in Daming, and in the middle are all kinds of "maritime merchants" including the Zheng family. . The "currency" connecting this line is gold and silver looted by white people from South America and other places. In other words, through colonization and other means, the white people transported batches of goods from Daming almost free of charge, and Daming could only benefit from the Zheng family and those businessmen and workshop owners. The craftsmen and peasants earned nothing but small profits.

Clear the line, understand the key points, and things will become easier. A simple practical question is why the Spaniards in Luzon massacred the Chinese who helped them profit.

Huang Zhao didn't quite understand this, but he told Zhou Shixiang that the Spaniards had slaughtered the Chinese twice before. Once in the Wanli period and once in the 12th year of Chongzhen.

The massacre that took place during the Wanli period was largely related to Emperor Shenzong. At that time, Daming had just ended the "Three Great Expeditions". Although they were all victorious, they consumed most of the country's strength, so that the treasury was empty and the finances were tight. Therefore, Emperor Shenzong, after learning that the Spaniards had a lot of gold and silver in Luzon, thought that there was a lot of gold and silver in Luzon. There are huge silver mines that can be mined, so we are ready to send troops to attack Luzon, drive away the Spaniards, and bring Luzon and the surrounding area into the Ming Dynasty's territory to solve financial problems.

The Wanli Emperor wanted to incorporate the Philippines into the Ming Dynasty, and the fact that His Majesty Shenzong was motivated by greed for profit really surprised Zhou Shixiang. Thinking about it carefully, His Majesty the Shenzong coincides with his current thoughts, and it also proves that as long as there are enough benefits, people will be crazy about it.

If the Wanli Emperor's abacus is actually implemented, then it is very likely that the Emperor Shenzong will become the most glorious person in Chinese history and the most profound influence on China and the world.

It’s just that this news was somehow known to the Spanish in Luzon. In addition, the Chinese in Luzon had resisted because of the Spanish’s heavy taxation, so the Spanish believed that the Chinese would cooperate with the Ming army to occupy Luzon. The Spaniards, who were accustomed to robbers, attacked first, inciting the local indigenous people to carry out large-scale massacres against the Chinese. An estimated 20,000 people were killed in this massacre.

Because at that time, Daming and Lu Song and other places had sea trade exchanges, the news quickly spread to Daming and to the ears of Emperor Wanli. His Majesty, who was posthumously named "Shenzong", was extremely furious, and decreed: "Yi et al have deceived the imperial court, provoked overseas provocations, caused 20,000 merchants and civilians to rub their swords, harmed the country and humiliated the country, and there are more people who died. Song Chief was arrogant in killing merchants and civilians, and he was apprehended by officials to discuss the crime."

However, because the three major expeditions consumed most of Ming's national strength, and Emperor Wanli died soon, the plan to send troops to pacify Lu Song came to nothing. The cabinet officials who presided over the government even believed that the Chinese who came to Luzon were all businessmen, and that businessmen were not worthy of the imperial court's use of force. It is said that "of the four peoples in China, merchants and merchants are the most humble. How can the untouchables raise the army and revolutionize and abandon them."

Hearing this, Zhou Shixiang shook his head secretly. He found that Huang Zhao and others' views on this matter were similar to those of the officials back then, and they also believed that the court should not use force for businessmen. Thinking of the so-called "scholars, peasants, industry and commerce" in this era, the deep-rooted ideas cannot be changed in a short time, so Zhou Shixiang didn't say much about it.

The second massacre of the Chinese by the Spaniards occurred in the 12th year of Chongzhen. At that time, the Chinese in Luzon and other places rioted again because of the tyranny of the Spaniards, but they failed in the end. After the incident, even many Chinese who had converted to Catholicism were brutally killed by the Spaniards, with more than 50,000 dead. Since the Daming Dynasty was already precarious and unable to take care of itself, this incident did not cause any disturbance in Daming, as if it had never happened.

Zheng Xi remembered something and said: "King Qi, in the eleventh year of the Yongli calendar, the eldest brother once wrote to an overseas Chinese Jiapitan in Batavia, Java, asking him to stop doing business with the Spaniards in Luzon~www .wuxiaspot.com~ And when the eldest brother was there, he expressed his indignation at the Chinese in Luzon many times, and proposed to lead troops to attack Luzon and punish the Spaniards."

Liu Guoxuan, who was slightly wounded in the naval battle, also said: "The general will also know about this matter, but the lord was preparing for the Northern Expedition at that time, and he really couldn't spare his troops and horses to go on an expedition. Later, the lord returned to Jinsha after the defeat in the southern capital. At that time, he also got angry about the Luzon incident."

Zhou Shixiang nodded, Liu Guoxuan got the news of the Luzon Spanish massacre of the Chinese, and he knew the most, so he asked about the situation in Luzon this time. Liu Guoxuan said that the specific situation is not very clear, and it is not clear how many people died.

Gan Hui added: "People in Luzon have always been loose, and they only use money to buy peace when they encounter troubles. When a crisis comes, they have no power to resist, which leads to tragedy. If they have the power to protect themselves, how can they die like this? There are many people, thinking that the Spaniards are said to have come from the polar region of Europa, and there are not many people. The people of our country really want to work together, so they can’t be arrogant.”

"How long does it take to sail from my country to Luzon?" Zhou Shixiang asked a question he was most concerned about.

Liu Guoxuan thought for a while, and said: "From Zhangzhou Waiyang Cape to Penghu, Shamatouao at the southern end of Dongfan to Apali Dagang in the north of Luzon, this route departs every spring in March, at most 20 days. to Manila."