Chen Li, the son of the pirate Chen Shuangxi, was the commander of Shengzhou in the Ming Dynasty.
Shengzhou was named by Wang Yuan, which means the prosperity of immigrants.
But how big is Shengzhou? I don’t know. If Chen Li is powerful enough to occupy all of Central America, then Central America will be Shengzhou!
Today, Shengzhou is equivalent to the later Republic of El Salvador, plus the surrounding areas of the Bay of Fonseca.
Chen Li made it clear that he wanted to be independent, and other shareholders had no choice, because all the confidants they sent had become Chen Li's confidants. However, Chen Li did not burn bridges by crossing the river. Not only did he promise to return the shareholders' principal, but also pay sufficient interest every year.
It even distributed dividends to shareholders in the first two years.
In order to repay the debt, Chen Li raided ancient Mayan temples everywhere, plundered the gold and silver items in the temples, and killed the disobedient natives nearby.
Now, Chen Li's territory is about 35,000 square kilometers, slightly larger than Beijing in later generations.
There are more than 5,000 Han immigrants, most of them are young and strong men, and there are also hundreds of women who came with their husbands. There are more than 6,000 indigenous male slaves in the territory, all of which are given to the Han immigrants as serfs, that is, to help farm the land.
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The Han immigrants cherished their indigenous serfs very much, as if they were animals. They were beaten if they did not work, but they did not mistreat them intentionally, and they fed them every day.
Among the plundered indigenous women, the beautiful ones were given priority by the leaders, and the rest were given to Han immigrants as wives.
Over the past few years, more than 2,000 descendants of immigrants have been born here. Basically, they are all mixed-race Chinese, and only a hundred or so are pure-blooded Chinese.
In addition, there are some indigenous tribes that are willing to coexist peacefully with Han immigrants. Chen Li treats these friendly tribes relatively favorably. The two tribes that initially took refuge with Chen Li even began to gradually become Chinese, because the two sides communicated very frequently, and as time went by
The Han people learned advanced farming techniques.
These natives used farm tools shipped from the Ming Dynasty, wore fabrics shipped from the Ming Dynasty, and ate salt shipped from the Ming Dynasty. Many of them had no problem communicating in Chinese.
The Fonseca Bay of another time and space, the Dasheng Bay of this time and space, and the river delta built Shengzhou City.
Of course there is no city wall, only a wooden fence surrounding it on the side not close to the sea.
Several large ships came from a long distance, sailed into Dasheng Bay, and docked at Shengzhou Port.
Chen Li was already waiting at the dock. Lu Fang clasped his fists and said, "Commander Chen, I've been waiting for a long time!"
Chen Li looked at the new immigrants coming off the boat and wondered: "How come this time there are half men and women, and there are also children?"
Lu Fang smiled bitterly: "Under the rule of Wang Xiang in the Ming Dynasty, the people seemed to be much richer, and immigrants were not as easy to recruit as before. There were poor people who were willing to go to sea, also to Nanyang and Tianzhu. Who would come to the barren land of Yinzhou?
Land? In addition, Prince Wang (Wang Ce) has occupied Luzon and is accepting immigrants on a large scale. How dare we compete with Prince Wang for people?"
"Aren't these Han Chinese?" Chen Li pointed at the new immigrants.
Lu Fang explained: "They are all common people from Champa, Nanpan and Huaying. After these three small countries were destroyed by the Ming Navy, they had to transport a large amount of food to the court every year. Coupled with the exploitation of the officials of the three countries, they broke their families and fled.
There are countless of them.”
Chen Li said depressedly: "Why did you move them here? They don't even speak Chinese!"
Lu Fang defended: "Although they don't speak Chinese, many of these immigrants come as couples, and even bring children with them. Let them live together with Han people, and they will be able to speak Chinese in a few years. At least, these immigrants
The craftsmanship of the people in farming is much better than that of the natives of Yinzhou."
"It's okay, at least he can farm," Chen Li said helplessly, "It's true that this eldest son Wang is not living in the capital, but he actually went to Nanyang to break up the soil and found a country, and robbed people from us hard-working people. He
Why bother?"
Lu Fang smiled and said: "I heard an explanation."
Chen Li asked: "What do you mean?"
Lu Fang said: "An official who was exiled to Nanyang said that those who have reformed the law since ancient times have had no good end. Our king prime minister is probably leaving a way out for himself."
"By the way, speaking of officials, have you got a few scholars?" Chen Li asked hurriedly.
Lu Fang said: "There are very few Ming officials assigned to Yinzhou. Even if there are, they are assigned to Tanhaihou. Where can we get them? The scholars who voluntarily go to sea all go to Nanyang and Tianzhu, and are not willing to come to our Yinzhou.
"
Chen Li said impatiently: "Did you get it or not?"
Lu Fang smiled and said: "I got it, but it's not even a scholar, it's just a boy. If this boy was born elsewhere, he would be considered a talent, but he was born in Zhejiang. He didn't pass the exam until he was more than 20 years old.
, but it brought down the family. His parents died of illness one after another, and his wife and children had no food and clothing. I spent more than 20 taels of silver to buy a good coffin for his mother and chose a geomantic treasure land for burial, so that the boy was willing to take it with him.
My wife and children go to sea together."
"Where are the people?" Chen Li asked.
"I was lying on the boat," Lu Fang said. "I was seasick at sea and kept vomiting. It took me half a month to get used to it. Then I fell ill again. I took a few medicines and got better. Logically speaking, I should have gotten off the boat and moved around. I guess,
This boy seems to be putting on a show, and Commander Chen needs to go and invite him in person."
"Is he stupid after reading "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms"? A boy still wants to visit the thatched cottage three times?" Chen Li laughed angrily and sighed, "Oh, in this poor place, a boy can be considered Zhuge Liang, so why should I be Uncle Liu Huang?"
Chen Li boarded the ship and entered the cabin. He saw a scholar lying on the bed with his wife and children taking care of him.
"Chen Li, the commander of Shengzhou in the Ming Dynasty, whose courtesy name is Decheng, I have met Mr. Chen!" Chen Li showed great gestures and even performed the disciple ceremony.
The scholar was quite surprised and asked: "Have you read the book?"
Chen Li said: "My master is Mr. Fengyi from Hangzhou."
The scholar got up from the bed in confusion, bowed respectfully and said, "I am Mr. Fengyi's disciple. I am rude. My surname is Huang, my single name is Liang, and my character is Tongming."
Chen Li cupped his fists and said, "It turns out to be Brother Tongming."
Huang Liang asked: "Brother Decheng, does he know that Mr. Fengyi was exiled to Nanyang?"
"Is this happening?" Chen Li was very surprised.
Huang Liang said: "At the end of last year, a merchant in Haining County died of illness, leaving only an orphan and a widowed mother alive. This man was poor when he was young, and his family did not provide relief. He could only go to sea to make a living and earn a lot of money. But after he died of illness,
, but the family property was misappropriated and occupied by the tribe, and the orphans and widowers had no way to sue the officials. The government said that this was a family matter and it was not suitable for officials to interfere. Mr. Fengyi held a sword alone and killed the black-hearted patriarch, and forced the elders of the tribe to kill him.
The property was returned to the orphans and widowers. After the incident was completed, Mr. Fengyi went to the government to surrender, saying that killing for justice and surrendering to the government would lead to benevolence, and asked his disciples not to blame the government for this."
Chen Li clenched his fist and exclaimed: "How magnificent!"
Huang Liang said: "The Jishi sect was so famous in Hangzhou that the county magistrate did not dare to make a decision, so he sent Mr. Fengyi to Hangzhou Prefecture. The Hangzhou prefecture did not dare to deal with it, so he sent Mr. Fengyi to the Inspector General. Finally, the Inspector General
I personally decided the case and said that Mr. Fengyi killed someone for benevolence and justice. Although his crime was originally committed, he was forgiven, so he was sentenced to exile in Nanyang and was not allowed to return to the Ming Dynasty for life."
Chen Li said with enthusiasm: "This is what a man should be like."
Huang Liang said: "This incident caused a sensation in the south of the Yangtze River, and Mr. Fengyi's name was well known to the officials and the people. At the beginning of this year, the Shilin Xunbao published the Qingtian injustice case, and the Jishi faction wanted to imitate Mr. Fengyi. Jiang Yao, the envoy to the left, personally came forward to dissuade him.
, saying that he would handle the matter properly, so the Jishi faction did not kill anyone. Soon after, the court sent people to try the unjust case, otherwise the Jishi faction would have many more righteous men."
The two chatted again, and Chen Li said: "Brother Tongming, Shengzhou is a place outside of China. Please spread the way of saints here."
Huang Liang smiled and said: "This is what we should do, and it is our duty to do it."
Chen Li personally invited Huang Liang's family of three to disembark and arranged accommodation for them. He really treated this young boy as if he were Zhuge Liang.
Huang Liang was observing Shengzhou City. This port city was really shabby.
The city and outside the city are all low-rise wooden and thatched houses. Not to mention that they cannot keep up with the cities of the Ming Dynasty, they are not even as good as the cities in Nanyang. In other words, they are not as good as the ordinary towns of the Ming Dynasty!
But strangely enough, the people here are very energetic and have warm smiles on their faces.
The reason is very simple. The population here is scarce, and the officials are even more pitiful. All taxes on farming are exempted for ten years, and all the food grown belongs to you.
They are very poor, but they have unlimited hope for the future and naturally have an indescribable spirit.
After Huang Liang's family had been properly arranged, Chen Li ran to ask Lu Fang: "Did you know that Mr. Fengyi was exiled to Nanyang?"
Lu Fang nodded: "I know."
Chen Li asked: "Why don't you invite sir to come to Shengzhou?"
Lu Fang smiled and said: "Not to mention Nanyang, there are countless people in Tianzhu who hire Mr. Fengyi. The Japanese Yoshitaka Ouchi is Mr. Fengyi's brother. Mr. Fengyi is now a military advisor in the Ouchi family. He can come to us.
?”
"That's it, forget it," Chen Li asked, "How much paper shell ammunition did you purchase?"
Lu Fang said: "It's enough for us to have a good fight. I also got three hundred more firecrackers."
"Okay, we will go on the expedition after the rainy season!" Chen Li clapped his hands.
People in Shengzhou did not have to pay taxes, but they had to perform corvées for free.
Usually when building docks and building wooden fences to surround the city, every household would work together.
The same is true for this war. Not only did each family have to send people, but they also brought three days' worth of dry food and drinking water. Chen Li was responsible for the remaining military rations and ammunition.
In Guatemala, Spaniards gathered again and arrested many natives for mining silver. Chen Li was going to kill people and steal the silver this time!
(There is a lot going on these days, the leader will update more tomorrow.)