Although Tortoiseshell City does not produce tortoiseshells, it is rich in sappan wood, a traditional Chinese medicinal material, which was mainly sold to merchants in the Ming Dynasty.
Macapa is sixteen years old this year. His family lives in the sumu forest, planting and collecting sumu specifically for the chief.
Suddenly one day, the chief took more than ten guards and fled into the Sumu Forest in panic: "All men, come here, you will be the king's guards from now on!"
The chief's ancestors went to the Ming Dynasty and were named "King Fengjiashilan" by Zhu Di. Therefore, all dynasties claimed to be kings, and only bowed their heads and called themselves tribal chiefs when facing the Luzon Kingdom.
Macapa, his father and brother were recruited into the army and became the king's bodyguards in a daze, following the chief "Northern Hunting" Dagupan.
Their weapons were just a wooden stick and their own blow darts.
Hundreds of such guards were recruited in the Sumu Forest, and they were as ragged as an army of beggars.
"The king seems to have escaped."
"I heard the sound of cannon in the city. The king must have been driven away by the enemy."
"Then we still go with the king?"
"..."
The beggar guards talked quietly, and his father and brother also warned Macapa to be ready to escape at any time.
After walking along the river for a short while, the beggar army arrived at Dagupan. Hundreds of years later, this was the capital of Pangasinan Province in the Philippines, but now it is just a seaside estuary tribe, and it is subject to the rule of the chief of Tortoiseshell City.
A real king's guard said to them: "You are lying in ambush here. When the leader of Dagupan is lured out, you will rush out immediately to surround and kill him!"
The chief swaggered over and ordered the guards to shout: "King Fengjiashlan is inspecting the territory, Chief Dagupan quickly comes out to greet him!"
This operation was very exciting. Tortoiseshell City was occupied by Song Ling'er, and the chief came to seize the subordinate tribes.
"kill!"
They were answered with javelins and blow darts, because Dagupan is only more than twenty miles away from Tortoiseshell City and can be reached by boat from both river and sea.
The news of the fall of Tortoiseshell City had already reached here. How could the local tribes accept the troubled king?
Macapa, his father and brother were also hunted down, and the enemy rowed boats to pursue them wildly. They did not dare to return the same way they came, and were forced to flee towards the mountains in the northeast.
Several guards and more than twenty Sumulin workers were driven into the mountains.
Macapa was so hungry that his stomach growled, so everyone could only divide into several teams to collect wild fruits in the mountains and capture small animals for food.
"Boohoo!"
A burst of javelins was shot out, and Macapa was so frightened that he quickly dodged and ran away in panic. He subconsciously looked back and saw that his father and brother were hit by javelins, and a group of headhunters rushed out and chopped off the heads of the deceased.
A young headhunter raised his head high and shouted excitedly, while his elders helped him put on red hornbill earrings.
This is a coming-of-age ceremony for the headhunters. Only by cutting off other people's heads can he wear earrings to declare his adulthood. Otherwise, it will be difficult for him to get married, and even if he does get married, he will be laughed at, and people may even suspect that he wants to hunt his wife's head.
Seeing his father and brother's heads being cut off, Macapa was frightened and angry, and was so frightened that he quickly ran away.
There are many ethnic groups scattered throughout Luzon. The natives of Shilang Bay, the northern base of the fleet, and Vigan City, which was conquered by Song Ling'er, are all Ilocanos. The natives of Tortoiseshell City and Dagupan are Pangasinan.
Nan people. These are lowland peoples who are relatively civilized and make a living by fishing and farming.
In the mountains, there live the Igorot people, also known as the Ilonggo people. This is not a real ethnic group, but a collective name for mountain tribes. You can also understand it as "mountain tribe" or "mountain tribe".
These mountain tribes mainly focus on hunting and gathering, and retain traces of a matrilineal society. After marriage, the husband must live in his wife's home.
Their worst custom is headhunting!
Generally, heads are hunted for the heads of rival tribes, but tribesmen also head-hunt each other. For example, if friends fall out, one party takes the opportunity to make a surprise attack and cut off the head of the friend to vent their anger. Or if there is a conflict between neighbors, they cut off the head of the other's son, and then ask the tribe's wizard to judge who is against whom.
wrong.
Historically, it was not until 1972 that the Philippine government promulgated the "Prohibition of Headhunting Law" and the headhunters turned to Catholicism.
Their headhunting is based on sympathetic witchcraft. By cutting off other people's heads, you can get rid of the burden of your life, humiliation, sadness, depression and other negative emotions. Since you can't headhunt, you can only change your beliefs, otherwise it will be difficult to vent the pent-up emotions in your heart.
.
Macapa's father and brother died. He went back to join the others and told what he saw and heard.
The companions were shocked and immediately wanted to escape from the forest. The headhunters came out again and seemed to have followed Macapa all the way.
The dozens of beggar guards were hunted down by headhunters all the way.
Macapa did not know how many days he had escaped in the mountains and forests. He drank raw water and ate wild fruits along the way. He was so hungry that he even swallowed grass roots and bark. Moreover, he was lost and could not tell the difference between east, west, north, south, let alone north.
Where have you gone?
In the darkness, Macapa was awakened by mosquito bites and suddenly found a reflection between the rock walls.
He subconsciously walked over and reached out to pick off a "stone", which was heavy and heavy. The "stone" stopped shining when it was separated from the moonlight. Macapa lifted it up to shine in the moonlight, and the smooth surface of the "stone" glowed again.
Faint light.
Macapa opened his mouth and bit it, leaving an imprint on the surface of the "stone".
Gold?
After wandering around in the mountains for more than a month, Macapa was already skinny and skinny. He finally walked out of the mountains in a daze. Then he walked all the way down the river and once again came to the outskirts of the Dagupan tribe. He did not dare to stay longer and detour.
After passing the tribe, we returned to Tortoiseshell City along the river.
Sumulin has been taken over by soldiers of the Ming Dynasty and has become the exclusive territory of Song Ling'er and Wang Ce.
Macapa's mother, sister-in-law and sister are now Song Ling'er's employees, responsible for planting and collecting sappan trees.
When informed of the death of his father and brother, Macapa and his family burst into tears.
A few days later, a group of Han immigrants arrived in Sumulin. Macapa's mother and sister-in-law were forced to remarry and became the wives of these immigrants. His younger sister was also forced to marry a Han man.
Macapa could not stop these atrocities, but he soon calmed down his anger. Because after living together for half a month, he found that these Han people were very nice and treated his mother, sister-in-law and sister very well. Even if the two parties could not understand each other's language, their feelings were still strong.
The communication was very smooth. The Han people always rushed to do the dirty work and left the delicious food to their wives.
Macapa had to admit that these Han people who suddenly appeared felt more sorry for their wives than their fathers did to their mothers, or brothers to their sisters-in-law.
In fact, it’s easy to understand. Before the Han people immigrated, they didn’t have enough to eat. They finally got a wife. How could they not cherish her?
It seems that the Han people are not that scary.
Macapa took out the nugget of gold and hid it in his arms all the way to the city. He found out where the Han leader lived, which was the castle where the chief had lived before.
"Jiliguala..."
Kneeling outside the castle and shouting for a while, some guards rushed out to chase him away, but Macapa kept shouting.
Suddenly, a Han man came over and asked, "Do you want to see the noble person inside?"
Macapa quickly said: "Yes."
The Han asked: "What's the matter with you?"
Macapa said: "It's very important."
The Han nationality was none other than Chen Feng, the magistrate of Tortoiseshell County. He was invited by Song Ling'er to discuss matters and happened to see Macapa shouting outside the castle.
Not long after, Macapa was brought in, and Chen Feng smiled and said, "Just tell me if you have anything to say."
Macapa knelt down and looked up at the noble lady in front of him. She was dressed in gorgeous clothes and her skin was as white as coconut flesh. She was so beautiful that Macapa did not dare to look at it, so he quickly offered the gold nugget: "Gold!"
Chen Feng was stunned, took it over to check, took two more bites, and said solemnly: "Madam, gold nugget."
Everyone knows that there are many gold mines in Luzon, but they are mainly distributed in southern Luzon Island, and they mainly collect gold sand, supplemented by mining gold mines. At least in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the gold mines in northern and western Luzon Island had not yet been established.
was discovered, because that place is all the territory of headhunters.
The place where Macapa discovered gold nuggets was later known as the Antamaku Mine in eastern Baguio.
There are several large gold mines in the surrounding mountains surrounding Baguio, and it is only over 200 miles away from Tortoiseshell City!
By the way, Baguio has not yet been named (Baguio means scenery in the indigenous language, and the Chinese translate it as Baguio, which is a praise for being like a fairyland). It has beautiful scenery, warm winters and cool summers, fertile land, and average temperatures
Around 17 degrees Celsius, the surrounding mountains are full of gold, silver and copper mines, which is very suitable for building a city as a ruling center.
Song Ling'er got the gold nugget and asked, "Where did you pick up the gold?"
Translated by Chen Feng.
Macapa pointed to the north and replied: "In the mountains of the headhunters."
Song Ling'er smiled and asked, "What do you want?"
Macapa replied: "I want a large piece of land and a wife."
"Can!"
Song Ling'er promised: "As long as you learn to speak Chinese, all treatment from now on will be the same as that of a Han person. Are you willing to be a Han person?"
Macapa has no concept of ethnicity at all. He only knows that the Han people are very rich and have better food and clothing than the indigenous people. Thinking that he can live that kind of life, he suddenly said happily: "I want to be a Han Chinese."
Song Ling'er said: "Well, you will be a guide to find gold mines, and then I will find a teacher for you to learn to speak Chinese."
Manila?
There is no need to fight for the time being, and the King of Luzon does not dare to fight. The two sides can coexist peacefully after a truce.
Song Ling'er decided to focus on emigrating to Tortoiseshell City. There is a natural harbor for commerce, fertile land for agriculture, and gold mines waiting to be mined. This place can be designated as the capital in the future!
Of course, if Baguio is developed and an official road connected to the harbor is built, it will be more suitable for living and ruling.
Baguio, which enjoys spring all year round, is much more comfortable than Manila, which is scorching hot all year round. Tortoiseshell City was a summer resort for wealthy people hundreds of years later.