Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 34: The Reality and Facts of the Luzon Islands

In Zheng's father's generation, all males, whether born legitimate or illegitimate, were ranked together, from the eldest son Zheng Shouren to his uncle Zheng Shouxin who was ranked thirteenth. It was a very prosperous family.

My eleventh uncle Zheng Shouzhong, who went to Southeast Asia, was a more astute and capable person among my uncles. He had courage and vision, which enabled him to take on such an important task.

When it comes to Zheng Guohui's generation, this arrangement can no longer be made.

Zheng's legitimate children already have five branches, and if you add the illegitimate children, there are even more of them, and it is really impossible to count them all.

After the clan discussion, the ranking system was changed to that of each branch separately, which was also the common practice of some large and increasingly prosperous families.

Although Zheng Guohui is the second young master of the eldest branch of the family, the eldest young master died early, so he is actually the eldest son of the eldest branch, and his younger brothers are all born out of wedlock.

After the death of the future Grandpa Zheng Shouren, all the property of the eldest son will be inherited by Zheng Guohui alone.

His biological sister couldn't be found, and neither could his half-brothers, let alone his half-sisters. There was no chance for any of them.

In terms of his status in the Zheng clan, Zheng Guohui is the eldest son of the eldest house. In addition, he holds a high position and his say is second only to the old clan leader Zheng Shouren.

Eleventh uncle Zheng Shouzhong works for Zheng Guohui. His status is slightly higher than the clan manager, after all, they are related by kinship.

Front yard study
When Zheng Guohui walked over quickly, his eleventh uncle Zheng Shouzhong had already lowered his hands and was standing at the door of the study waiting politely.

Seeing Zheng Guohui take the lead in clasping his fists and bowing, he said, "Sir, I have been fortunate to fulfill my mission. I have traveled to many places in Southeast Asia and obtained a large amount of detailed information on humanities and geography. I am just about to report it."

"Okay, okay! Uncle Eleven, you've lost weight and look much more haggard. You've made great contributions in this journey across the ocean." Zheng Guohui held his uncle Zheng Shouzhong's arms with both hands and said with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Zheng Guohui called him "Eleventh Uncle" to show closeness, but Zheng Shouzhong could not call him "eldest nephew" because his status as a illegitimate uncle was not high enough and he could not be arrogant in front of the host.

Fourth uncle Zheng Shouye could call him "good nephew" because he was his biological uncle, and there was another level of separation between him and him.

Zheng Shouzhong took out a thick stack of handwritten manuscripts, which densely recorded the humanities, geography and climate conditions of the islands in Southeast Asia. It was also the result of his hard work over the past year.

Seeing this, Zheng Guohui took it with a smile, but didn't rush to look at it. Instead, he instructed his aide Zheng Xin, "Mr. Zheng, please have some refreshments brought over. I need to have a good chat with Uncle Eleven here. Don't disturb me if there's nothing else to do."

"Yes, sir." Zheng Xin took the order respectfully and left.

He is now in charge of the preparations for the Tzu Chi School. Dong Huanzhang is too busy in Nanjing to handle it, so he has to hand over the affairs of Tongzhou City to Zheng Xin to share the trivial matters.

The Tzu Chi Association in Tongzhou City is recruiting a large number of people, especially literate scholars and juren. It needs as many as forty or fifty of them, who will be hired as teachers after examination.

Among the teachers, those who were recruited as scholars were given two taels of silver and five dou of rice every month, and those who gave excellent lessons were rewarded.

The poor scholar was hired as the head of the teaching group and grade leader, and was given seven taels of silver, one stone of rice, five catties of meat, and a chicken and a duck every month. The treatment was quite generous.

Zheng Xin has been busy with the preparations for the Tzu Chi school these days and soon disappeared.

In the study

The maid served tea and snacks, secretly glanced at Zheng Guohui, and then retreated with a blushing face.

This study is the outer study of Master Zheng Shouren.

In the entire mansion

Only Master Zheng Shouren and Second Young Master Zheng Guohui can enter at will. No one else is allowed to enter, not even the concubines.

As soon as Zheng Guohui came back, this outer study room was his to use.

Master Zheng Shouren has a study in the inner house in the backyard. These days, he entertains relatives and guests who come to visit him and stays in the study.

"Uncle Eleven, come...try this tea produced in Wuyi Mountain. The tea soup is rosy red and has a rich aroma. It is called Zhuangyuan Red." Zheng Guohui took the initiative to introduce and offered him tea.

Zheng Shouzhong held the teacup in both hands, raised his hips slightly to express his gratitude, and replied, "Your Excellency, there is no need for this. Shouzhong is truly humbled."

"Hehehe..."

Zheng Guohui smiled and did not show excessive modesty. He signaled Zheng Shouzhong with his eyes to drink some tea first. He picked up the thick manuscript and began to read.

There are also two stacked maps in the manuscript, which are the size of a small square desktop when unfolded. They depict the distribution of islands in the South China Sea in great detail and look concise and clear.

There are also scales and foreign words on the side of the map, Zheng Shouzhong explained;

“Report to the Lord;
One of these maps was purchased from an English captain in Penang for twelve pounds, but it has a much larger geographical scope and is more detailed in its illustrations.

As far away as Arabia and India, all are clearly presented on it.

In addition, this map was purchased from Bazavia, where the red-haired foreigners were entrenched, and the scope mainly covers the South Pacific islands.

The original owner was a white man of Red Indian descent, who was said to have worked at the Dutch Governor's Office. He died in a duel and it was found by someone by chance.

"Well, very good. These detailed Western maps are worth any price. Let me take a look at them first."

Zheng Guohui stared at the map with bright eyes, comparing it with his memories of later generations, and soon felt the difference.

Although these Western maps have scales, the islands are drawn too large and are slightly less accurate, but the basic appearance is reflected and everything that should be there is included.

The ocean seemed too small and the islands seemed crowded together.

In fact, the distance between islands is very far, and there are also significant errors in their locations.

The flaws do not outweigh the merits. In today's extremely backward surveying and mapping conditions, it is a blessing to be able to obtain such an accurate map. We cannot ask for more. What is particularly valuable is that
Below the precise map drawn by the English, there are dozens of densely packed markings, presumably indicating that the British captain had personally visited the area.

That is the latitude and longitude of the island, which is of greater reference value.

After repeated comparison

Zheng Guohui began to read the manuscript again. From this thick manuscript, it can be seen that his eleventh uncle Zheng Shouzhong led two cargo ships to Southeast Asia, stopping at Zhangzhou, Guangzhou and Hong Kong along the way.

The first stop was to go south to Manila. After staying there for more than a month, he went to the Cebu Islands in the central Luzon Islands and Mindanao in the south to investigate and do business.

We conducted a detailed investigation of the local humanities, geography, crops and climate, and obtained a lot of valuable information.

This was the part he was most interested in, so he read it carefully.

Soon, several lines of statistics caught Zheng Guohui's attention.

According to the rough statistics of the Portuguese colonists in the Luzon Islands

At the beginning of this century, there were about 170 million indigenous people in the Luzon Islands, mainly concentrated in Manila, Cebu, Mindanao and other places.

By 1845, the island's indigenous population was about 300 million, although the difference may be small.

By 1860, the total Aboriginal population had grown to over 340 million.

the most important is
The Portuguese army only had 1500 troops stationed in the Luzon Islands, including 850 in Manila, 420 in Cebu, and more than 7000 indigenous vassal troops. The total force did not exceed .

In addition, the Colonial Governor's Office also had a fleet of 8 sailing warships, which was a powerful army in the Nanyang region.

Although the Portuguese army is small in number, they are well-equipped, well-trained, and have strong combat effectiveness and should not be underestimated.

Looking at the history of the Franco-Japanese colonization of the world over hundreds of years, the vast majority of wars were fought with the few outnumbered against the many, and they won more than 80% of the time, which is enough to prove their strength.

Zheng Shouzhong carefully observed that among the eight sailing ships of the Portuguese fleet, only one was a three-masted sailing ship, the flagship "Rena Christina", with a displacement of about 760 tons.

The rest were smaller schooners, with a displacement ranging from 280 to 450 tons.

The fleet was generally equipped with Portuguese bronze cannons, ranging from heavy cannons weighing a thousand pounds to small cannons weighing over a hundred pounds. Compared with the sharp artillery of England, they were already outdated, and the gun platforms were also equipped with old stuff.

Zheng Shouzhong was worthy of being a man who had broadened his horizons after going to Southeast Asia. He keenly noticed that the Portuguese weapons were backward.

On his two cargo ships
There were several British Armstrong cannons that Zheng Guohui had obtained with great difficulty. The purpose was to guard against rampant pirates and ensure the safety of cargo and crew.

Such caution was worthwhile. During the more than one year-long voyage to Southeast Asia, Zheng Shouzhong's small fleet consisting of two sailing cargo ships encountered five or six waves of pirates.

As soon as the cannon sounded, the pirates turned around and left without any hesitation.

Zheng Shouzhong had fired artillery himself, so he had some understanding of the old-fashioned artillery equipped by the French on the Luzon Islands, but he didn't think much of it.

In addition to the above important information
Zheng Shouzhong stayed in Manila for a long time and discovered several artillery batteries built by the French, which was an unexpected surprise.

There are three sea batteries in Manila and two in Cavite, all of which are equipped with these antique French copper cannons. The only difference is that they are larger, often weighing thousands of pounds or even more.

The caliber of artillery pieces varies, and the weight of their shells also varies, mostly between 20 and 40 pounds. If you get hit by one, it's no joke.

……

Looking at this information full of useful information, Zheng Guohui has a more thorough understanding of the current situation in the Nanyang region and is more confident in conquering it.

This information is truly priceless. It's great and comes at the perfect time.

Zheng Guohui discovered a major mistake, that is, the original plan to go to Hainan Island for reclamation was completely the opposite of the original plan.

Hainan Island is quite far away from the Luzon Islands and it takes 7 to 8 days to reach there by boat.

Traveling south from Taiwan Island, it only takes two days to reach the northern part of the Luzon Islands and three days to reach the Port of Manila, which is very convenient.

Based on his experience during the inspection, Zheng Shouzhong directly put forward his opinions;
If heading south to the Luzon Islands, it would be better to order the fleet to sail directly to Mindanao, which would only take five to six days to arrive from the island.

There are almost no Portuguese people in Mindanao, and there is no effective colonial rule in the area, so it still remains in the state of indigenous tribes.

The fleet heading south could rest in the Penghu Islands and replenish vegetables, food and fresh water. The imperial court did not set up any government offices on the islands, and usually no one paid attention to them.

The Portuguese colonists effectively ruled the northern part of the Luzon Islands centered on Manila, the central part centered on Cebu, the southern Mindanao Island, and had almost no presence in the eastern Makassar Islands.

After gaining a foothold in Mindanao, it was only a short distance to go north to attack the Cebu Islands, which could be reached in just one to two days.

It would only take three to four days to sail north to attack Manila.

How long does the sea voyage take?

That depends on the ocean currents, wind direction and season before we can make a final conclusion.

Occupying Mindanao also has the advantage of allowing people to adapt to the local tropical rainforest climate in advance, thus avoiding large-scale casualties caused by a large number of epidemics and water and soil incompatibility.

This is one of the important factors affecting the success or failure of the conquest of tropical regions.

(End of this chapter)