1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 465 The Development of Safe Island
On February 1643, 2, Luzon, Ping An Island (now Catanduanes Island in the southeast of the Philippines).

The "Yongjin" and other four Qi State immigrant ships docked slowly at the Ping'an Fort Wharf. Immediately, a group of local soldiers and officials rushed in. According to the established procedures, they began to organize the immigrants to disembark, wash their bodies, receive meals, and distribute temporary residence.

"Why did you run to the southwest of Ping'an Island? And you bumped into the Spaniards." Cao He, commander of Ping'an Fort, asked, "Are there any storms on the road?"

"That's not right!" Captain She Mingguang said: "The storm was blown to the edge of the Luzon mainland, and we made a complete circle around Ping An Island. The two Spanish armed merchant ships we encountered probably didn't want to go with us. Fighting, confrontation for a while, everyone dispersed. Hey, don't tell me, when our fleet circled Ping An Island, we found a bay in the south of the island, and there was a large flat plain. You can send someone over there to have a look, and occupying it will be enough to cultivate a lot of fertile land."

"Really?" Cao He couldn't help asking curiously after hearing the words: "Are there any natives there? How are the rivers, water sources and soil quality?"

"I don't know if there are any natives. There seems to be a river." She Mingguang said, "However, the location there is very good, facing a wide bay, and it is a very good anchorage. conditions are much better.”

Cao He nodded, indicating that he had made a note of it, and would send a small boat to the south to have a look and establish a stronghold at an opportunity.In the early days of Pinganbao, an immigrant ship came here after encountering a huge storm. Although it is located at the mouth of the river, typhoons occur frequently from June to October every year. Once the storm rises, it will deeply affect this place, so here Not a suitable place to call for a ship.

However, the area around Ping Anbao is flat and fertile, with several rivers passing through the plain and abundant rainfall, which is very suitable for growing rice.After more than two years of development, there have been more than 600 settled immigrants here, all of whom were left here because of various physical discomforts and were not suitable for long-distance sailing.

Moreover, relying on a large number of immigrants transiting here every year, Ping'an Fort has reclaimed more than [-] mu of cultivated land along the banks of the river, which can not only support the past immigrants, but also supply a large amount of food to Midway Island (now Palau Koro). Seoul Island), which strongly supported the immigration transport on the eastern route.

In addition to growing food, Pinganbao also organized the natives and immigrants captured locally to harvest a large amount of nearby abaca. After rough processing, it was packaged and shipped to the immigrant boats, and brought back to the mainland for the production of fishing nets and cables.

There are countless wild abaca growing in the jungle of Ping An Island. Because the stems and leaves are similar to plantain trees, immigrants thought it was wild plantain at first, and did not pay much attention.

However, in October of the previous year, when Ping Anbao dispatched soldiers to capture more local natives to increase labor, they broke through the native tribes on a coast and discovered that the fishing nets they used for fishing were actually made of this It was made of abaca, which surprised Cao He.

You must know that in Hanzhou, the introduction of fiber crops such as sisal and jute has been very short and the output is very limited. Therefore, the production of hemp materials in Hanzhou has been unable to develop due to raw material problems.Most of the fishing nets and marine cables are purchased from the Batavia market, and occasionally, they are also purchased from Daming.

Nowadays, abaca, which can be seen everywhere on Ping An Island, can be used as a material for making fishing nets, so can it be processed into various hemp materials and cables?

With an attitude of trying, Cao He ordered people to collect some abaca and bring it back to the mainland through the immigrant fleet to try out the production of hemp.

Sure enough, in June last year, news from Hanzhou mainland confirmed that this abaca can be used as raw material for fishing nets, ropes, and linen, and asked Ping An Island to harvest a large amount and do preliminary processing to supply Hanzhou Indigenous hemp production.

Abaca is an annual herbaceous plant. It is named abaca because its stems and leaves are similar to plantain trees.There are fibers in the petiole. The fibers are slender, tough and light, and they are not easy to rot even if soaked in seawater. They are high-quality raw materials for fishing nets and marine cables, and can also be used for weaving mats, carpets and high-quality linen clothing.

Abaca is mainly produced in tropical and subtropical regions. Later generations of the Philippine island of Luzon and Mindanao are the main producing areas, and it is exported at the port of Manila, so it is also called Manila hemp.If the leaves are cut after one year of planting, they can be cut continuously for 10 years.The fiber is taken from the leaf sheath, the hard fiber is soft, buoyant and resistant to seawater erosion, and has great strength.It can be used to weave fishing nets, ropes, crane ropes, power transmission cables, burlap or packaging bags, etc.The fibers of the inner layer can be made into a durable muslin without spinning, which is used for clothing and shoes and hats.

In view of the fact that the wild abaca on Ping’an Island all grows in mountainous areas and the environment is relatively harsh, Cao He not only ordered people to capture a large number of natives and drive them to harvest the stems and leaves of the abaca, but also let the immigrants who settled here transplant some of the abaca in plain areas so that they can be reaped nearby in the future.

On the other hand, there are extremely abundant hardwood resources such as camphor wood, catalpa wood, nanmu wood, and teak wood on Ping An Island, and the location is closer to Daming than Weiyuan Island (now New Guinea Island). The trend of exporting to Daming.

It can be said that Ping An Island far exceeds the role of Midway Island in terms of location and economic value. Sometimes, when the wind direction is extremely favorable, the immigrant fleet will sail directly to Weiyuan Island. Tongzhou Fort (now Manokwari City, northwest of Papua Island, Indonesia), without the need to transit through Midway Island for supplies.As a result, the status of Midway Island, which hangs alone in the ocean, seems to be a bit embarrassing.

In addition, the Weiyuan Fleet plans to obtain a supply point in the southern part of Mindanao as a southern support point for its plot against Luzon. If it is realized, the positioning of Midway Island will be in a relatively marginal position for a long time .

Cao He naturally doesn't care about the future of Midway Island. He only knows that Ping An Island is very suitable for growing rice, and can do two or even three crops a year, providing enough food for the immigrants sailing east .In the future, because of the large supply of abaca and timber, it will attract more local attention and material input.In a few more years of development, Ping An Island will definitely become one of the most important overseas territories of the Great Qi Kingdom, just like Xinsheng Island.
-
At this time on Xinsheng Island, Zhang Wenqi welcomed an important guest, the envoy of the Dayue Kingdom (Annan post-Li Dynasty), Zheng Mingqing, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, enshrined Zheng Zhu (Zheng Bing, the fourth generation leader of the Zheng regime, titled Qingdu King) ) ordered to come to Xinsheng Island.

Annan Zhengzhu (Zheng Bing) launched the Southern Expedition last year (1642). Because of the sudden intervention of the Qi people on Xinsheng Island, the good situation achieved in the early stage was ruined. Let the Nguyen rebels in the south push the battle line to the front line of Jiang (now Vietnam Zhengjiang).This also shows that the Southern Expedition planned by Master Zheng ended in failure.

In February 1643, someone used the name of King Dai Viet to attack Zheng Bing on the grounds that the Southern Expedition had failed. Some ministers even linked up with local military towns in an attempt to overthrow Zheng Bing's court and control of power.For this reason, Zheng Bing first led his troops to surround the palace and forced the reigning Li Shenzong to give the throne to his son Li Zhenzong.Later, he ordered his younger brother Zheng Ji to dispatch an army to forcefully suppress the local resistance forces, temporarily stabilizing his Zheng regime.

The failure of the Southern Expedition that had been planned for many years made Zheng Bing particularly angry and regretful.After hearing the report from the naval commander, the Ruan rebels in the south mainly relied on the tyrannical naval forces of the Hanzhou people, defeated the warships of the Dai Viet Navy many times, and assisted the Ruan rebels to land behind the Zheng army many times, so that Zheng The army lost ground before and after, and failed.

As news of Hanzhou people continued to come in, Zheng Bing became more and more interested in them.It turns out that this new force living in the far south, the main people in the country are from Daming, and a few years ago, it occupied a small island off the coast of the Kingdom of Cambodia.They defeated the attacks of the Nguyen rebels in the south twice, and attacked the Nguyen coastal towns for several years.It can be said that the southern rebel was beaten to shame, but there was no way to deal with it.

At the same time, someone also reported to Zheng Bing that a few years ago, this Hanzhou faction had asked the local government of Hongji (now Halong City, Vietnam) to meet with the emperor of Dayue Kingdom and to join forces with Zheng Jun to attack the Nguyen family. traitor.However, the local officials at the time rebuffed it, and also denounced it as "the bandit forces on the Cuoer Sea, how dare they cling to our country of Da Viet to plot the rebellion of the Nguyen family, it is really ridiculous."

"It's ridiculous to be honest." The failure of the Southern Expedition was precisely because of the intervention of this Hanzhou force, which ruined the good situation.A few years ago, he heard that the rebels of the Ruan family in the south were attacked by the sea and destroyed most of their naval forces. It was because of this that Zheng Bing made the decision to gather a large army for the southern expedition.

Who would have thought that the "pirates" who attacked the Ruan family several times in the past would shake hands with him and make peace with him. Instead, they joined hands to destroy most of the Zheng army's navy, and frequently launched side landing operations, defeating the Zheng family's southern expedition army and advancing the front line again. to the pre-war position.

Zheng Bing immediately ordered that the envoy officials of Hanzhou be beheaded, and at the same time send envoys to Xinsheng Island, trying to stop the war with them and conspire with the Ruan family.

Zhang Wenqi couldn't help laughing after listening to the request of Zheng Mingqing, the Minister of Rites of Dayue State.

Sure enough, as the king said, in this world, as long as your fist is hard enough, you will win the respect and awe of more people, and you will naturally have more "friends" and "allies" around you.Beating the Annan Ruan family and the Annan Zheng family can also make the two sides compete to win over and use it as a boost. They are looking at the sharp firearms of my Daqi Kingdom and the superior navy ships. !
"My Daqi Kingdom has already shaken hands with Guangnan Kingdom and is committed to maintaining a long-term peaceful and stable environment in the local area. I am not a capricious person." Zhang Wenqi said solemnly: "As for the dispute between your Da Viet Kingdom and Guangnan Kingdom, we Daqi will not intervene again in the short term, let alone conspiring with you in Guangnan."

If we want to intervene, we will have to wait until our Daqi North Sea Fleet returns to Xinsheng Island before we can make a difference.

"My king heard that your country has a lot of connections with the Great Ming Dynasty, and my Da Yue was established by the Ming Dynasty. It stands to reason that it should belong to the same civilization of the Celestial Dynasty. And the Ruan family is the rebellion of our Da Yue Kingdom. Your two countries should Respect orthodoxy, and attack the Ruan family together." Zheng Mingqing said solemnly: "My country of Dayue is a kind and friendly cousin, and the king of Qingdu (Zheng Yi) invited me, the king of Dayue, to make peace with the king of your country as a princess. What do you think, my lord? ?”

(End of this chapter)