Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2374 Mindanao Island

On April 1699, 4, Ishii Ezuza Sendos.

Ishii Zuosuo is located by a small lake, which the locals call Lake Sebu.Saibu Lake is backed by a mountain, and there is a large plain in front of it, which is very suitable for the development of agriculture. Therefore, Ishiiwei sent more than a thousand troops in October 1698, led by Qianhu Zheng Yuan, to occupy this place.

There are currently more than 700 military households in Ishii Zuo, all of whom migrated from Fujian.Fujian has many mountains and little land, and it has been in peace for decades. The population is seriously overpopulated and must be exported.And their export targets, in addition to Taiwan, which is close at hand, also have the newly opened colony Ishiiwei.

To be honest, the supreme ruler of Fujian, Zheng Kezang, had a negative attitude towards the colonization of Mindanao.It was only because of repeated requests from the people on the east coast that he sent thousands of people across the sea in 1697.The biggest local opponents of the Fujian colonists were not the native Moro people, but the harsh local climate and environment, which was the biggest killer of their attrition.

Fortunately, over the years of colonizing Taiwan, the Zheng family has also gained some experience.Especially after they learned from the people on the east coast that the so-called "miasma" is mainly various tropical diseases such as malaria, they have also taken certain preventive measures, and the death rate has dropped compared to before.But the decline is the decline, and there are still a lot of people who died after all. This is also a hurdle that cannot be avoided in tropical development.There is no other way but to rely on human life to fill it.

Ishii Acropolis currently has the largest population, with more than 3600 households and more than 1 people.After two years of development, they have opened up a large amount of farmland under the city and harvested two seasons of grain.Although it is still difficult to be self-sufficient and the storage is not abundant, but give them another one to two years, and they can barely be self-sufficient in food.

In addition, Ishiiwei also has three garrison offices of thousands of households under its jurisdiction.In addition to the Ishii left place on the shore of Lake Seb, there are also the Ishii back place at the mouth of the Grand River in later generations, and the Ishii front place near the small town of Malungon in later generations.

I won’t talk much about Zuo Qianhu. There are more than 700 households, and they have established a firm foothold by the lake.Houqianhusuo was established on a piece of flat coastal land, and currently has more than 900 households, with a total of more than 3000 immigrants settled.Due to the limited amount of flat land along the coast, the local residents have to go fishing to subsidize their households, otherwise they may not have enough food.However, after sending professional and technical personnel to investigate, the people on the east coast found that if Fuzhou is willing to allocate funds to build reservoirs and irrigation canals, it is completely feasible to develop agriculture in this place.After all, the hinterland of the port is actually a hill, not a mountain, and it can be farmed.The only thing the immigrants need to worry about is how to retain the rainwater that falls during the rainy season as much as possible, and then irrigate the fields on the hills, so as to solve the development bottleneck of Shijinghou.In addition, Ishii's back office is actually serving as the outer port of Ishiiwei City. Ishiiwei's pitifully small naval force—well, it is a dozen Chinese-style sailboats transferred from Fujian. The elite warships are reluctant to transfer. Come to Nanyang——it is also moored in the back station, and it is equipped with about a dozen small-caliber old-style artillery, which has limited power, but it is surprisingly powerful against the surrounding pirates.Even against the Spanish warships in Manila, it is not incapable of fighting. After all, the number of Spanish warships is small.

There are only more than 500 immigrant households in Ishii Mae, and because it is deep inland, it seems to be the most dangerous.Fortunately, Zheng Sandao, the commander of Ishii Guards, also knew the importance of guarding the city in front of the screen. The local military households were all people from Fujian who were more capable of fighting. After that, they can be regarded as good at fighting, and they can firmly gain the upper hand against the indigenous Moro people, provided that the opponent's number is not too large.

All in all, although the Fujian Zheng family was reluctant, after two years of immigration and reclamation, the Nanyang colony of Ishiiwei was initially established.At this time, even if Zheng Kezang is unwilling, he will continue to invest more manpower and capital.He has already spent the 20 yen loan in French currency provided by the Bank of Taiwan, and added a second loan of 20 yen, intending to completely stabilize the rule of Ishii Wei.

Today, people from the East Coast sent an expedition team of botanists, agricultural scientists, mining scientists, intelligence personnel, and army officers to the left of Ishii. Under the protection of more than a hundred officers and soldiers sent by Qianhu Zhengyuan, In the next few months, I plan to conduct a systematic inspection of the surrounding environment and properties of Zuoqianhusuo, so that I can have a good idea when formulating policies in the future.

The officer leading the team was Army Reserve Captain Kentaro Komatsu from the port of Dili.This gentleman is now very successful in the East Bank system. Not only the local garrison commander in Dili appreciates him, but even Director Tang in Wuzhou has heard of this man's bravery in fighting against the Portuguese and the natives. The future of the Japanese military officer is very good.

"Mr. Song, you are a mining expert. I heard that there is a lot of blister copper in Davao, where the Moors live. There must be copper mines with good reserves in the area. Why don't you go there to investigate?" Sitting by the lake In a wooden gazebo, Komatsu Kentaro, with a saber on his waist, asked in fluent Chinese.

"How could we not go? It's just that the local area is not yet our control area. It's a disaster rather than a blessing if we go now." Teacher Song shook his head and said, "I hope Director Tang will persuade Li Yuanyin to give the troops to him sooner rather than later." Send it over."

Mr. Song mentioned that Li Yuanyin sent people, which was actually a decision made by the East Coast people at the end of last year. That is, after seeing the success of the Ishiiwei colony, Tang Moyu, who has become the director of the Lianwu Management Committee, and the Southern Exploration Team. After discussion, the two decided to pay for the ship and assist Li Yuanyin, the general soldier of Chaozhou in the Southern Ming Dynasty, to send people to colonize Mindanao, and the location of the colonization was also determined for them, that is, Davao City, the third largest city in the Philippines in later generations.

Davao is currently still ruled by Moro natives who believe in the Green Church.Spanish missionaries from Manila once came to preach, but failed and disappeared.The Spaniards were furious, they sent hundreds of people ashore, dealt with the Moro natives, and asked them to accept the rule of Manila.But these natives were also cunning. Once the Spanish army left, they turned back.Manila was very annoying, and the local area was of little value, so they negotiated with the local natives, asking the other party to accept the rule of the Spanish king in name, and pay a certain amount of tribute every year (actually not much money), and the Spaniards allowed it. They are self-governing, and they are not forced to convert their religion, so everyone is happy.

In other words, unlike Ishiiwei in the south, Davao still has a certain degree of attention. The local natives can also directly contact the Spanish colonial government in Manila, which is still a bit troublesome.But what is the style of the people on the east coast?That is synonymous with domineering and domineering!Especially in the Far East, they dared to compete with their allies, the Portuguese on Timor Island. Couldn't they do something to Spain, a friendly country that is only in name?What's more, the Spaniards in Davao don't pay much attention to it.It's nothing more than a few diplomatic condemnations, but it can't lose a hair.

It is said that Li Yuanyin has agreed to the request of the people on the east coast to deploy [-] elite soldiers to land in the Davao Bay area.He also understands very well that Chaozhou Mansion is actually a dead land, with the Zheng family in Fujian to the north and the righteous brother Li Yuanhao's territory to the south, he can't develop in any direction.The only value that currently exists is to serve as a buffer zone between Guangdong and Fujian.And it just so happened that in the past few years he has vigorously developed industry and commerce under the guidance of the people from the east coast, and he has saved some money in his pocket. Why not exchange it for guns, medicines, tools, agricultural tools, and technical services from the people of the east coast, and bring them to the Davao area? Open up a new base as a place to stay for future generations.Chaozhou is not a safe and peaceful place after all!

According to the plan, when the northeast monsoon blows in October this year, Li Yuanyin will rent some of the armed transport ships of the Bank of Taiwan to transport 1000 leading troops and a large amount of supplies there, and then land in the Davao Bay area to establish a stable stronghold.Then, it will take another year to transport the remaining [-] soldiers, strengthen the local strongholds, and expel the natives to distant places, so that subsequent immigrants can have space to survive after they come.

Li Yuanyin even chose the place names of the colonies.The Davao River, the largest river in the area, was renamed the Xinhan River, and the selected landing point was named Hanyang because it was located on the north bank of the Xinhan River.Hanyang City is expected to welcome the first batch of immigrants in early 1701, all of whom are landless and landless poor in Chaozhou Prefecture.These people live in poverty, are full of desire for land, and are relatively adaptable to the hot and humid environment of the tropics. Coupled with some technical guidance and services provided by the people on the east coast, they should be able to quickly enter the role and slowly develop within a few years. Self-sufficiency in terms of food, and then other plans.

The Lianwu Management Committee has also carefully deduced that the manpower and material resources that Li Yuanyin can mobilize are not as good as Zheng Kezang, but he is obedient and willing to invest in the colony, so the colonial operation in Davao may not be as good as Zheng Kezang Zheng is bad.At least, people are willing to select the elite from the whole army and bring the latest guns and cannons to Mindanao to fight the world. Can you, Zheng Kezang, do this?I'm afraid it will be difficult!

"Li Yuanyin has always been obedient, and there is no problem in asking him to send troops." Komatsu Kentaro said seriously: "The Spanish colonial power in Mindanao is not strong, it can even be called weak, and they don't care much about it. Zheng Kezang, Li Yuanyin and other outsiders had precious early development time. And when they gained a firm foothold, it would be difficult for the Spaniards to expel them. Mindanao, Brunei, and Dili are under our control. Then the Spice Islands will be completely blocked by us. Once we turn against the Dutch in the future, as long as we are willing, most of the spice business of the Dutch East India Company will be paralyzed. I admire Shangfeng’s foresight.”

"Hehe, I don't care about the spice business. What I care about is the local copper resources in Davao. Electricity technology is slowly beginning to emerge. Copper resources will only become more and more scarce. It is better to control Davao earlier. Good." Teacher Song said with a chuckle.

(End of this chapter)