1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 197 Black Guards in Luzon ([-])

Balian City was first built in 1581 and was ordered by the then governor of the Spanish colonial government, Gonzalo.In the beginning, Balianyi was only a temporary residence for Ming people who came to the Philippines to sell goods and wait for the next monsoon to return home. Later, it gradually became a stable settlement of Ming people.So the Spanish colonial government decided to concentrate Ming businessmen in the area of ​​​​Balian.

At that time, there were more than 1 Ming people living in Balian. On the one hand, because of its indispensable economic influence on the Philippine economy, it aroused the wariness and hatred of the Spanish colonial authorities. The company district is located outside the city walls of Manila and within the range of the artillery in the city. It is isolated from the main urban area, just like the Jewish or Moorish districts in Spanish cities at the same time. A curfew is imposed at night, and if you go out, you will face the penalty of beheading.

Almost all houses in Balian are built with bamboo and wood, and there are very few masonry buildings.All this was also specifically requested by the Spanish colonists, because this situation was extremely conducive to the Spaniards suppressing any resistance here by force, and even set fire to massacre.

"You guys came at the wrong time!" Qiao Wanchun shook his head and sighed in a bamboo building.

Qiao Wanchun came to Luzon eight years ago and has been engaged in the wholesale trade of Ming products in Manila. His trading partners are mainly Spaniards and Genoese.In his hands, or directly from the merchants from the port of Daming, they obtained a large amount of goods from Daming, and then transported them to Acapulco, Mexico through the Pacific route trade, earning several times the profit.

However, in 1635, the new Governor Sebastian Coquera went to the Philippines to take office. When he passed through Mexico, he was very surprised to see that the warehouses in various places were full of Chinese fabrics and other commodities that could not be sold due to high prices.So, after arriving in 1636, he stopped sending trading ships to Acapulco, Mexico.

As a result, the shortage of silver in Manila and even the entire Philippine market was extremely serious, and Philippine commerce was hit even harder, and the revenue from import and export duties was greatly reduced.The already empty national treasury has long been unable to maintain the huge military expenditure, and now the situation has worsened.

In order to save the predicament, the Spanish colonial authorities intensified the excessive taxation of overseas Chinese, and the arbitrary collection of general commodities.Spanish soldiers who lacked normal supplies often went to Chinese houses and looted food and clothing at will.Manila merchants who had purchased overseas Chinese goods were also unable to pay for the value of the goods due to the lack of funds shipped from Mexico.

Because Qiao Wanchun is a merchant in Manila, several Manila merchants who bought his goods owed him a large amount of money, which made the current business very difficult.In addition, the heavy taxation and arbitrary collection by the colonial government made things worse.A few months ago, in order to conquer a group of distant pirates, almost all the Chinese merchants in the entire Balian area were conscripted by the colonial government for free with a large amount of war supplies.

"Haven't you ever thought of going to the Spanish colonial government to petition and complain?" Cheng Guangyin asked, "The Spaniards are doing this, so it won't give you a chance to survive!"

"Why didn't you go to petition?" Qiao Wanchun said with a wry smile: "Last month, the Spanish colonial government said that it wanted to guard against the Dutch attack and confiscated our goods. Since then, isn't it going to cut off our livelihood? Hundreds of merchants, Jointly signed a letter to the Spanish colonial authorities, but so what? Ignore it!"

"Why don't you just leave and go back to our Daming!" Wu Keyi, a businessman who came with He Qing, was very angry when he heard that this Xiyi was too bullying.

"Several years of hard work, and dragging my family along, how can I leave so easily." Qiao Wanchun sighed heavily again.So what about the Ming Dynasty, the government, subordinate officials, bandits, refugees, and military disasters, how much better than Lu Song?

Westerners in Luzon don't care about production, they care less about business, and they live a luxurious life. Ming people can earn a lot of money soon when they come here.With money, it is inevitable to buy a house here. Although there are various restrictions and oppression by the Westerners, they can barely make ends meet.In this world, there is no good place for businessmen and poor people.
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"Brother He, the Ming people in Luzon hate Xiyi so much, can we encourage them to revolt and cause trouble for Xiyi?" Cheng Guangyin whispered in the inn where he was resting.

"Rebellion? What did they use to revolt?" He Qing shook his head, "A group of unorganized businessmen can't accomplish anything. Moreover, this place is outside Manila, within the range of the Spanish artillery. Under the artillery fire , It is estimated that there are countless casualties."

"Then what are we going to do? Didn't you hear what those people said just now? Our businessmen who come to Manila temporarily can only stay for a month. Otherwise, we will be arrested and do coolies!"

"Hey!" He Qing sneered, "You don't know, sometimes, in some places, as long as you have money, you can change the rules?"

"He Tou is right!" Another black-clothed guard, Qu Shaorong, said, "In the past few days, let's carry more money with us. I heard that the barbarian soldiers here are owed several months of military pay. And it’s easier to buy.”

"Tomorrow, we will investigate the situation inside and outside the city separately. You should all be vigilant and don't show your feet." He Qing ordered: "Also, don't try to inquire about the military deployment of the Westerners, let alone directly investigate the military deployment of the Westerners. facility."

"Yes, He Tou!" The two promised solemnly.
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Since the inner city of Manila is basically inhabited by Spaniards, ordinary Ming people are forbidden to enter the city.Of course, for those extraordinary people, besides the big merchants of the Ming Dynasty who accepted the baptism of the Catholic Church, there were also many small craftsmen, such as gardeners, barbers, weavers, carpenters, and even bakers were engaged by many Ming people.

He Qing just looked at the tall city walls and numerous artillery in the inner city, and gave up the idea of ​​entering the city to investigate.Although, he can spend some money, buy some small craftsmen, and go in with him.However, as the core area where the Spaniards ruled Manila and even Luzon, its defense and investigation must be very strict.

The black-clothed guards came to Luzon to investigate Spain's political, economic and military intelligence. By the way, they could distinguish those Ming people who could rely on them and those Ming people who needed to beware. They were not here to spy on the city's defense facilities in Manila.Besides, with Hanzhou's current strength, it is estimated that he would not dare to send troops here.Most of the harassment and attacks were initiated in small villages and towns in Luzon where Spanish defenses were weak.

The residential area of ​​Ming people outside the city—Balian, is densely packed with houses without any planning, and there is no special distinction between residential areas, commercial areas, and warehouse areas.After just a rough stroll around, He Qing can estimate that there are more than 2 Ming people living here.Think about the backcountry in Hanzhou, such a large piece of land, there are only more than 2 people.

If these people can be brought back, then Hanzhou's production and living standards can be raised several levels.It includes a considerable part of the handicraft industry in the mainland, from the most basic food, drink, and lax, to birth, old age, sickness and death. There are not only basic industries such as woodware, ironware, lacquerware, and textiles that meet people's daily life, but also various workshops such as grain processing and oil extraction. , department store snack wholesale, restaurants and hotels and other commercial facilities.

It can be said that the Ming people and Ming merchants in Manila maintained and satisfied the normal order of production and life in the Spanish colonies. The Spaniards in the Philippines, except for the soldiers who were driven here, were all keen to participate in the profitable galleons. Trade (trans-Pacific trade), disdain to engage in other low-profit and difficult operations, let alone to get involved in retail and intermediary business.

Some craftsmen engaged in handicraft production in Spain came to the Philippines. Compared with the bright craftsmen, their skills were naive and ridiculous, and even they themselves were discouraged by this.The Spaniards should have been handy at baking bread, but the Spaniards in Manila did not manage this industry well, so they had to ask Ming people to manage it.

"If you want to attack the Spaniards, you may not even need to send troops over here. As long as the Ming people in Luzon are encouraged or plundered to leave this place, the Spaniards will collapse in less than a month!" He Qing thought secretly, " Or you can try to block Luzon's trade channels and trap them to death."

After only staying in Luzon for two days, He Qing and the black-clothed guards discovered a very critical problem.The Spaniards can't do without the Ming people here, but they are always on guard against and rejecting the Ming people.At the same time, they also discovered another problem, that is, there is actually a shortage of food in such a huge Luzon.

The cause of the food shortage in Luzon is entirely Spain's wonderful trade restriction policy.In order to restrict and exclude the merchants of Ming Dynasty, they imposed a 6% import tax on the goods of merchants of Ming Dynasty, and imposed berthing taxes of 25, 30 and 50 pesos respectively according to the tonnage of the incoming cargo ships. The colonial government will send staff to register, evaluate, and purchase in batches, and private transactions are prohibited.

The consequence of these policies is the lack of market supply.Merchant ships from Ming Dynasty still come to Manila for trade as usual, but there are no products from the mainland on the market, and the prices are astonishingly high if they happen to be seen.The goods that were sold on the frontier street and not many people paid attention to them, but now they can't find them.

As the Spaniards completely destroyed the original production relations in the Philippines and massacred the natives, agricultural production declined and food shortages occurred.A large amount of grain and food needed by the Spaniards in the Philippines came from Ming Dynasty.Due to the imposition of import tax on goods of Ming Dynasty and mooring tax on ships, trade costs increased, and food and food occupied a large space and made less profit. Merchants in Ming Dynasty would rather carry other commodities with higher value than grain, food.As a result, there is a shortage of such commodities in Luzon, and their prices have skyrocketed.
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"Who are they? Why are they being escorted by the Spanish?" He Qing sat in a window of a bamboo building and found a group of more than 200 Ming people walking southward under the escort of several Spanish soldiers. go.

"Oh, they were all forced to farm in Kalamba." The shopkeeper of the restaurant glanced out the window with a sympathetic look on his face, "It's a crime! I won't let you live a good life, and you must be forced to farm. .”

"Aren't they farmers before?" He Qing asked.

"Most of them were merchants or craftsmen in the former city, and there were also merchants who went to the sea. Farmers, no more than half." The shopkeeper of the restaurant said with a miserable face: "Maybe, in a few days, I will Forced to farm the fields. Alas, what does this barbarian master think?"

"What do you think? Since the barbarians are the masters, we Ming people have to be oxen and horses!" He Qing followed the shopkeeper's words.

"Yes, we ordinary people are the same everywhere." The shopkeeper looked at the group of Ming people who were escorted by the Spanish soldiers, with endless sadness in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)