Guatemala City was renamed "Silver Mountain Town" by Chen Li. The name was of course derived from the silver mines.
The real "Silver Mountain" is actually in the northeast of Chen Li's hometown, only more than 200 miles away from Shengzhou City, and only more than 100 miles away from the edge of Chen Li's territory. It is the capital of Honduras and has the largest silver bank in Central America.
Mine, but it has not been discovered yet, only a group of Mayan natives thrive.
If Chen Li knew the truth, he would definitely slap himself in the face, ignore the silver mine right under his nose, and go all the way to fight with the Spaniards to death.
Now, Shengzhou has one city, two towns and eight villages.
Shengzhou City is located in the delta where the river flows into the sea. Not only is the land fertile and suitable for farming, but it can also conduct supply trade with the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty.
Xiangsong Town, a specialty product of Xiangsong Gum, is located between two parallel rivers. The soil here is more fertile, and a large amount of volcanic ash accumulates around it, so no fertilizer is needed. Moreover, when the town was rebuilt, it was not built on the burned-out Su Ge
Tuotuo, instead moved several miles westward and was sandwiched between two rivers, making it extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Yinshan Town, specializing in silver, is located at the bend of the river, and there is also a castle left by the Spanish. The soil here is also fertile, and it is a field in the eyes of the Han people. Even with primitive farming techniques, there are good harvests.
In fact, in the coastal area to the west of Shengzhou City, the land there is more fertile, and the climate is more suitable for agricultural cultivation, and there will be no rainy season for half a year. Unfortunately, it is still a virgin forest, and only indigenous people who make a living by hunting, corn and other crops are not available.
It was not transmitted because there was a mountain range that isolated it.
At this point, with the exception of Panama, the entire Central America was the territory of the Chen Lihe indigenous people, and all Spanish colonists had been driven away.
Chen Li actually controls about one-eighth of these lands, and indigenous tribes, large and small, occupy the remaining seven-eighths.
Chen Li left 500 soldiers to guard the castle, while other troops attacked in all directions, taking guides to sweep away the surrounding tribes. They grabbed food, slaves, and women, but the land was of no use. The territory was too big to control effectively.
The indigenous women in the prostitution camp were all isolated and asked to do some light work.
Just because a Spanish prisoner revealed that all the native camp prostitutes were infected with syphilis. Subsequently, more than a hundred Spanish prisoners of war collectively took off their pants for inspection, and those infected with syphilis were gathered together and imprisoned.
The cannon fodder slaves who participated in the siege were given the status of free citizens because of their meritorious service in the battle. The indigenous women snatched from the raiding tribes were assigned to them to start families and farm around Yinshan Town. At the same time, a group of Han people were moved over to teach the indigenous people about freedom.
They cultivated the land, and at the same time taught these indigenous people to speak Chinese.
There are five hundred garrison troops permanently stationed in the castle, and the wives and children of the soldiers will also move here, and they will have priority in selecting the land around the town.
As for the newly captured natives, they were all sent to mine silver.
"Commander Chen, we have made a fortune." Zhou Hong smiled from ear to ear.
Chen Li asked: "Has the statistics been calculated?"
Zhou Hong said: "There are more than 120,000 taels of silver, and there is quite a lot of food, but there is nothing else."
Last time they only got tens of thousands of taels of silver, but they got a lot of grain, sugar cane, tobacco and rum. This time it was a lot of silver and grain. The Spaniards seemed to be focused on mining and didn't care about the little crops in the fields.
After all, growing food is purely to fill our stomachs.
Chen Li said: "You're all the way away, so don't bother Mr. Huang. Old Li can read and ask him to make up the household registration list of Yinshan Town. You can escort Mr. Huang to Mexico City as an envoy."
"Messenger?" Zhou Hong said in surprise.
Chen Li said with a smile: "We can't keep fighting and make a treaty with the Spaniards, saying that this is our territory and they can't come over without permission. Fighting consumes too much food. What we should do in the future is to mine more
Money, recruit more immigrants, and build more villages and towns. Ten or twenty years from now, we will have money, people, land, and food, so why are we afraid of the Spaniards?"
"That's the truth." Zhou Hong laughed.
Zhou Hong was born into a military household. He couldn't make it any longer, so he went to work as a sailor for maritime merchants, and occasionally appeared as a pirate, and gradually grew into a small leader.
Today, Zhou Hong has a wife and a concubine, two sons and a daughter, and hundreds of acres of land growing tobacco and rice in Nanyang. In Shengzhou, he also picked two indigenous beauties as his concubines, with more than thirty to his name.
Slaves helped him farm the land.
Zhou Hong did not reject Huang Liangding's method of transferring books.
Even if his slaves are transferred, he can still catch new slaves. Central America is full of indigenous people. After all, the Mayan civilization was born here. Even though the Mayan civilization has been destroyed, the farming technology has been passed down, and most Mayan tribes rely on farming.
The population reproduces more quickly than hunting tribes.
Chen Li's class returned to Shengzhou, and Huang Liang immediately came to report the situation.
Huang Liang said: "Commander Chen, please set the rules and do not deliberately abuse slaves!"
"What's wrong?" Chen Li asked.
Huang Liang explained: "After the relocation law was promulgated, many Han people were even more harsh on slaves. Anyway, in a few years, these slaves will become free people and will no longer help them cultivate the land. They will all die."
Chen Li asked: "How should we set the rules?"
Huang Liang said: "Slaves who farm the land for five years can automatically become free citizens. Each ordinary Han citizen can be assigned at most one free slave. If you want more, you have to pay the court to hire them. If a slave dies unexpectedly, the Han people must pay a fine.
, This can prevent slaves from being abused. In addition, unless free people have made military exploits, they must be able to speak Chinese when they become Han people. The head of a free people family must be able to speak Chinese, otherwise they will never be able to cultivate land in their lifetime.
Han people!"
Chen Li asked: "How to determine whether you can speak Chinese?"
Huang Liang smiled and said: "Compile a pamphlet and list hundreds of questions. When transferring the register, randomly ask five questions. If you can answer them, you will become a Han citizen. If you can't answer them, you will continue to be a free citizen. The questions will not be too big.
It’s complicated, such as what is your name, how many people are there in your family, how many acres of land do you have in your family, etc.”
"Yes," Chen Li said, "how to govern the people, we all need to rely on Mr. Huang. For a while, I can't think of any official position, so how about Mr. Huang becoming the chief registrar of Shengzhou?"
Huang Liang was not picky either. He cupped his fists and said, "It all depends on Commander Chen's arrangement."
Immediately, Zhou Hong took forty soldiers to escort Huang Liang to Mexico City.
When they passed through Yinshan Town, they also brought more than a hundred Spanish prisoners of war with them. These prisoners of war, all suffering from syphilis, were sent back to Mexico City as a gift to demonstrate the good neighborliness of the Chinese people.
Most of Chen Li's out-of-control territory is plateau terrain, with volcanoes all over the territory, some of which are active volcanoes. The northern plains are still in the hands of the Maya natives. Huang Liang followed the plateau this time and observed the terrain all the way to Mexico.
Go northwest for four hundred miles and encounter a long and narrow lake, which is about two hundred miles long.
Continuing north along the lakeshore, a large river flows into the lake. After walking upstream for a few days, you can already see Spanish plantations and discover Spanish colonial towns in the river valleys.
Huang Liang said to Zhou Hong: "The north bank of the Great Lake should be used as the boundary."
Zhou Hongdao: "The price is high and you pay it back when you get there."
"I know." Huang Liang nodded and said.
Two Chinese, with forty soldiers and a naturalized Spaniard, escorted more than a hundred Spanish prisoners suffering from syphilis. This situation was so eye-catching that they were targeted before they even arrived in the town, and they ended up in the town.
Surrounded by hundreds of colonists outside.
"Array up!"
Zhou Hong gave an order, and forty soldiers lined up and raised their guns.
Huang Liang said to the naturalized Spaniards around him: "Tell them that I am the envoy of the Ming Dynasty!"
The Spanish traitor immediately stepped forward, held his head high, and said proudly: "We are Chinese envoys, going to Mexico to negotiate with the governor. You Spaniards have been defeated in Guatemala, and that place is now the Yinshan Town of the Ming Dynasty!"
A colonist leader rode over and asked, "Are you Spanish too?"
The Western traitor smiled and said: "I am Chinese, I have a Chinese name, my name is Qin and Han. Do you know what it means? Qin and Han are the two greatest dynasties in China."
This Western traitor from the Qin and Han Dynasties was the guy who managed to open the gate of the Guatemala Castle. He was transferred as an official Han citizen by Chen Li on the spot.
The colonist leader said: "You betrayed the governor and the king!"
Qin Han said: "It's not betrayal, it's taking refuge in the powerful."
Spain and Portugal have never lacked betrayers, and they have been ravaged by various forces in turn. Once upon a time, they still believed in God with the Green Scripture, but they were ruled by the Green Religion forces for seven hundred years.
The colonist leader stared at Qin and Han for a few times and said to his companions: "Let them pass!"
After passing two large lakes and several towns, Huang Liang finally arrived in Mexico City.
The city is located in a valley basin, with lakes of various sizes scattered nearby. In later Mexico City, many urban areas were filled in with lakes, and today’s land area is very small.
This city used to be the capital of the Aztec Empire. The Spanish colonists were dumbfounded when they came. There is no city wall, and the lake and water network are natural walls. When the armed conflict broke out for the first time between the two sides, the Spanish colonists suffered the biggest loss.
His whole body was covered with treasures, he fell into the lake and drowned alive.
Huang Liang lamented: "This city is invincible and must be outsmarted."
Zhou Hong exclaimed: "The only way to attack the city is through a few narrow passages. The rest of the city is filled with lakes. The Spanish sent troops to block the passages. No matter how many of us there are, we can't get in. We have to bring at least hundreds of warships."
Huang Liang ordered: "The whole army boils water, bathes and changes clothes!"
Everyone moved out the military cauldron and boiled lake water to bathe on the spot. How could they go into the city to negotiate with a bad smell?
The soap locust is swollen and then crushed to form a natural shampoo.
Huang Liang put on a silk Taoist robe (casual clothes), combed his hair into a bun facing the lake, and fixed the gold crown with a jade hairpin. This outfit was temporarily given to him by Chen Li before his mission.
Zhou Hong put on a full set of fish scale armor and an iron helmet with red tassels on his head, looking mighty and brave.
The traitors to the Qin and Han Dynasties, as well as forty Han soldiers, wore full leather armor with breastplates.
The biggest official Huang Liang has ever seen is just the Zhejiang Education Envoy. You can think of middle school students as standing around and watching when the provincial education director inspects the school.
Recalling and imitating the figure of the Zhejiang Tixue envoy, Huang Liang took the most coquettish steps in his life and strode towards Mexico City from the high platform.
We must let those red-haired Westerners see the magnanimity of the Confucian scholars of the Ming Dynasty!
Zhou Hong followed, and his mind was suddenly full of doubts, why does Mr. Huang look like an opera singer today?