Daming: I help my wife be the empress

Chapter 716
"What tasks did the higher-ups arrange for me?" Hu Youcheng asked expectantly, "Do you need me to organize a manpower in Manila to support the attack on the island?"

Chen Yanfeng smiled and asked, "Why do you think the imperial court is going to attack Luzon Island?"

Hu Youcheng bowed his hands to the north, and said: "Your Majesty loves the people like a son, and has long been paying attention to Luzon.

Xiyi has stolen and occupied Luzon for nearly a hundred years, and massacred the people living here in the Ming Dynasty twice, not to mention, there are also many oppressors on weekdays.

And now that Luzon is like a couch in Nanhai Province, how can I, Ming Dynasty, allow it to be presumptuous?Not to mention that Xiyi actually planned to massacre the Ming people in Luzon for the third time. "

"Your analysis is good," Chen Yanfeng nodded approvingly, "Your Majesty does intend to collect Luzon Island."

Hu Youcheng said excitedly: "How do we cooperate with the higher authorities? As long as Xiyi can be driven away and Luzon becomes the territory of Ming Dynasty, all Luzon Ming people are willing to shed their blood!"

Chen Yanfeng said: "The task assigned to you by the higher authorities is very simple. It is to organize the Ming people in Manila to defend themselves, so as to ensure that there will be no large number of casualties among the people here before the Ming Dynasty invades Luzon."

Hu Youcheng nodded first when he heard this, and then said: "We have stockpiled a batch of weapons before, but the main ones are cold weapons. There are very few muskets, and there is not even a cannon. I wonder if the higher-ups can provide more support?"

"Don't worry," Chen Yanfeng laughed, "The merchant ship I brought today is equipped with weapons, and there will be other similar merchant ships coming over later. You only need to prepare at least 500 people of civilian bravery."

"What weapon? A musket?"

"It's mainly flintlock guns, and there will be ten tiger squatting guns, and some grenades."

Hearing this, Hu Youcheng couldn't help standing up and clapping his hands, and said excitedly: "This is great—with guns and cannons, I feel like I can attack Manila City."

"No need." Chen Yanfeng said, "Just follow the instructions from above and lead the Ming people in Luzon to do a good job of defense."

"Understood!"

···
Although Hu Youcheng acted eagerly in front of Chen Yanfeng, in fact the work of organizing the people of Luzon Daming was not so easy, and it could even be said that it was more difficult to do.

In the next two days, Hu Youcheng secretly contacted ten clan elders with the surnames in the Balian inhabited area. In the land of Shenzhou, Hokkien people have the most clan concept, and Ming people in Lusong are mainly Hokkien people. They also need to live together in groups to survive in foreign countries. Therefore, the surname Zong The old man became the representative of the real power of the local Ming people.

This morning, Chen, Lin, Hu, Zhou, Wang, Li, Wu, Cai, Zheng, Zhang, and ten clan elders secretly gathered in an inner courtyard of the Chen family mansion.

Among the ten surnames, the Chen family and the Lin family are the most powerful, but today the Chen family is the landlord, and it is not easy for the elder Chen Min to speak first.

Lin Lide, the elder of the Lin family who came to attend the meeting, looked at Hu Youcheng, and said first, "Since Hu Xiaoqi has summoned us here, please speak up if you have anything to say."

Hu Youcheng was originally the family of the Hu family in Manila in Fujian, plus he was able to get a lot of rare goods from Daming, so during the more than three years in Manila as a scout, he also had contact with other clan elders with big surnames. know.

Previously, various families also speculated that he might be a spy of the Ming court, but it was only in recent days that he really learned of his identity as Jinyiwei Xiaoqi.

Because if he did not disclose his identity, it would be difficult for him to gain the trust of these elders.

And without the help of the patriarchs, it would be difficult to organize many bright people in Manila just by relying on the downline and non-staff personnel he has developed in the past three years.

If they were in the territory of Ming Dynasty, Chen, Lin and others were all merchants, and they would definitely stay away from Jin Yiwei. Even if they had to contact them, they would be cautious and treat them like honored guests.

But Luzon is not the land of Ming Dynasty after all, and in the past hundred years, Ming people in Luzon were massacred by Spanish colonists several times, but they never received the support of the Ming court, so these clan elders did not have too much respect for Hu Youcheng's identity as Jinyiwei.

Not being too in awe doesn't mean not being in awe, let alone not paying attention.

If they really didn't take Hu Youcheng seriously, they wouldn't have taken the risk of coming here to meet Hu Youcheng when the rumors were jittery.

Hu Youcheng was a secret agent, and he didn't have the habit of putting on an official position. He didn't care about Lin Lide's cold tone.

He waved his hands to the elders of the sect, and said: "A month ago, there were rumors circulating in various parts of Luzon, saying that I, the Ming Dynasty, wanted to take Luzon Island. You must know about this, right?"

The clan elders either nodded or frowned.

Lin Lide asked, "So what if you know?"

Hu Youcheng said: "If you can hear this, the Spaniards can hear it too. Have you ever thought about what the Spaniards will think and do when they hear about it?"

Lin Lide frowned, "There are rumors in the market that the Spaniards want to slaughter the Luzon Ming people again, is it true?"

"Of course it's true." Hu Youcheng said and looked at Chen Min.

Chen Min said: "Brother Lin should know that my Chen family has an eyeliner in the Governor's Mansion in Manila, and the news came from that informant more than half a month ago.

Although the Spaniards were only planning this matter at the time and never made a decision, but the previous generation did this evil several times, and we have to guard against it. "

After hearing Chen Min's words, the rest of the elders all looked worried and began to discuss in a low voice.

Just because the relationship between the Luzon Ming people and the Spaniards and the local Fans has always been bad, and the Spaniards have several previous convictions for massacring the Ming people, similar rumors have occasionally appeared before.

Although it makes people panic every time, most of them are nothing.

Because the Spaniards really could not do without the help of Ming people in their colonization in Luzon, it is impossible to massacre every once in a while-the frequency of once every two to 30 years is already quite high. If the frequency of massacres is higher, no Ming people will dare to come.

Therefore, although the clan elders were a little worried when they heard related rumors a few days ago, they didn't really believe them.

But if the Spaniards are really planning this, then it is probably true.

This made most Zong elders anxious——

"Westerners actually want to slaughter us? What should we do?"

"I can only escape early."

"Escape can only take away some floating wealth. What about the workshops, shops, and land that our family managed to set up?"

"Brother Cai, saving everyone's lives is the most important thing. If the family property is gone, we can earn money in the future."

"Actually, it would be a good idea to escape in advance. I'm afraid that the Westerners are already prepared and won't let us escape."

"···"

Hu Youcheng was a little disappointed when he heard the elders' comments, and couldn't help but said: "When you heard that the Westerners were going to massacre, did you all just want to escape?

I would rather abandon the family business I have accumulated over the years than dare to resist. Where is your backbone and courage? "

After hearing this, the elders were silent for a while.

Immediately Lin Lide sneered and said: "Bone, courage? In the 31st year of Wanli, 37th year of Wanli, and 12th year of Chongzhen, the Westerners were massacred three times. Those with backbone and courage were killed long ago!

In addition, Hu Xiaoqi gathered us, what kind of plan did he really think we couldn't see?
I'm afraid that the imperial court really wants to attack Luzon, and we want to attack Manila as an internal response?If this is the case, I can only say that the imperial court thinks highly of me and wait for the head of Guizhou overseas! "

Although Hu Youcheng knew that what Lin Lide said might not necessarily represent the thoughts of most Manila Ming people, he was still short of breath when he heard these words, and he lost his mind when he spoke.

He said: "If the imperial court wants to take Luzon back, wouldn't it be a good thing for you people? If Luzon is the land of Ming Dynasty, why are you oppressed by Westerners and natives, and why are you repeatedly slaughtered like pigs and sheep? !"

"Pigs and sheep?" Lin Lide smiled, "This is a good analogy, Hu Xiaoqi, let's take a look around the eight-link settlement, aren't we just pigs and sheep raised by Westerners?
Since they were pigs and sheep, it would be nice if they could escape early when they knew they were going to be slaughtered.Instead of letting us escape, you want us to fight the slaughterer. How is this different from letting us die? "

After hearing this, the rest of the people either lowered their heads with gloomy faces, or sighed.

Obviously, they didn't want to resist the Spaniards, but they knew clearly that doing so would mean death.

After all, Hu Youcheng has only been here for more than three years. After listening to Lin Lide's words, he realized how much psychological pressure and deterrence the uniqueness of the eight-link settlement has caused the Ming people here.

At the same time, he realized that Lin Lide and others had misunderstood him and the court.

　First more.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)