1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3609

In the autumn of 1658, with the defeat of Spain in Southeast Asia, this round of war led by the Luzon region came to an end.

However, it was not easy for the Luzon region to win this battle. If we count from the time when the Luzon fleet arrived in the New World in May, the confrontation with the Spaniards lasted about four months, far exceeding the 60-day battle plan formulated by the Manila authorities before the war began.

If reinforcements had not been brought in from other places in time during the war, and if the two new forces from Fujian and Taiwan had not been deployed to the battlefield, the war might have lasted even longer.

The direct losses of the Luzon region in the war were not too great. Most of the ships destroyed were cargo ships that were responsible for transportation, and the number of casualties was also controlled in the three digits. The entire fighting process was almost entirely carried out in the area controlled by Spain, and the territory of the Luzon region itself was basically not affected by the war.

However, the huge expenditure of this war almost emptied the treasury of the Luzon region.

The vast war zone and the long supply lines forced the Luzon Region to mobilize more than two-thirds of its military forces and nearly half of its ocean-going cargo ships. When requesting troops from Fujian and Taiwan to help, the Luzon Region even had to mortgage the chromite mines on Palawan Island and borrow money from the Haihan Bank to pay for the relevant expenses.

After the war, the Luzon region will need to invest a lot of resources to complete the preliminary construction of the New World colonies.

The Manila authorities had high hopes for the mineral development of the New World, but such a huge initial investment had far exceeded that of its competitor, the Sing Tao District, and the construction progress lagged far behind due to the war.

As far as the project of developing the New World is concerned, the competition between the two regions of Sing Tao and Luzon has actually been decided.

Of course, Luzon will not give up this project because of this. In the long run, the profits brought by mineral mining in the New World will definitely cover the initial investment, and it is only a matter of time to make a profit.

The Bangui Battalion commanded by Xiao Zhengyang did not return to its original place immediately after the war, but was arranged by the combat command to be temporarily stationed in Beimen Port.

The reason for making this arrangement is actually very simple. Instead of transferring another troop from Luzon to be stationed at Beimen Port, it is better to let the Bangui Battalion take on this task nearby. This will allow the troops to rest while maintaining local security, saving both time and trouble.

After returning to Beimen Port, Zheng Agui was already familiar with the environment here. However, the most significant change he noticed was that the number of prisoners accommodated in the Beimen Port POW camp had increased significantly, and it seemed that a lot of people had been brought here recently.

After asking the civil affairs officer, I learned that Manila sent all the civilians captured in this war to Beimen Port. The purpose was of course to use these prisoners to make up for the shortage of local labor.

However, this has also caused the local population structure of Beimen Port to enter a very strange state, that is, the number of detained prisoners of war has exceeded the normal local immigrant population. It is no wonder that the combat command transferred the Bangui Battalion to Beimen Port for garrison.

Zheng Agui was not aware of the plans of the top leaders, but in his opinion, Beimen Port was indeed a good place to exile prisoners. There was nothing but the sea and wilderness all around. Even if they escaped from the prisoner-of-war camp, it would be difficult for them to survive. The only way to survive was to accept Hai Han's management.

However, the mining department has not yet completed preliminary exploration of mineral deposits in the surrounding areas, so these prisoners will not be given the status of miners for the time being. One of the daily tasks of the Bangui Battalion is to take them to the wilderness to reclaim farmland or cut down nearby forests for timber. In mid-September, a commendation order from the Ministry of National Defense was delivered to Manila. Zheng Agui won the second-class merit for his achievements in Sumba Island and was promoted as he wished, from company commander to deputy battalion commander of the Bangui Battalion. After completing further training, his military rank will also be upgraded from the current captain to major.

This was not a surprise to Zheng Agui, it was a natural thing. However, after being promoted to the battalion level, if he wanted to move up, it was not a goal that could be achieved by accumulating military merits alone.

Zheng Agui was born into a commoner family, had no family background, and had limited connections in the military. However, Xiao Zhengyang had always admired him, and this was his only high-level connection in the military. If nothing unexpected happened, in another ten or eight years, the military command of the Luzon region would most likely be handed over to him by Xiao Liang.

But at this time Xiao Zhengyang had already returned to Manila to report on his work. Even if Zheng Agui wanted to get close to him, he had no chance. He could only calm down and handle the tasks at Beimen Port properly, such as supervising the prisoners of war to reclaim wasteland.

Although the terrain near Beimen Port is relatively flat, the soil and climate are not suitable for agricultural cultivation. In addition, the local labor force is mainly Spanish prisoners, and it is unlikely to expect these people to learn Chinese agricultural farming methods in a short period of time.

Food crops like rice, which require careful cultivation, certainly cannot be given to prisoners of war to cultivate, and can only be operated by the Han immigrants who moved in. Currently, the only crops that are given to the prisoner-of-war camps to cultivate are potatoes and corn, which are simple to grow and easy to survive.

Potatoes can be harvested three times a year, and corn can be harvested twice a year, and they do not require detailed care. Most importantly, the Spanish are familiar with these two crops, which are native to the Americas. They have been planted on a large scale for more than a hundred years, so they are very familiar with them.

Of course, the potatoes and corn they planted here were all special varieties bred and improved by Hai Han. Their yield and quality were much better than the original seedlings obtained by the Spaniards in the Americas.

As long as the planting area reaches a certain scale and there are no natural disasters during the period, the most basic local food supply needs can be met in one year at most.

As for the planting of other cash crops, their current priority is behind grain crops. Only after the food problem is solved will we have the spare capacity to consider the possibility of generating income from agriculture.

The supervisory tasks that the Bangui Camp is responsible for are actually not much different from vacation.

Every morning, the prisoners were taken to the designated fields, given farming tools and seedlings, and then supervised to work. As long as the farming work was going on normally, no intervention was needed.

Wait until dusk to gather the team, collect the farm tools, count the number of people, and lead the team back to the camp.

According to the standards set by Manila, these prisoners can be released after working for five years in the local area based on their work performance. This period is neither short nor long. For most prisoners, they have the opportunity to wait until the day of release, so there is no need to struggle.

Some even believe that life here is better than in the colonial settlements because they don't have to worry about food supply and safety.