My Daming New Empire

"You don't need to be too polite. Governor Xu, as a citizen of Daming, has contributed to my reputation overseas. Let's get up and speak." Zhu Zhanji came to him and gave him a wink, and Li Liang would agree. Support Xu Chai in front of him.

Because he kowtowed his head twice in a row and knelt down vigorously again, his forehead was bruised and purple, but he didn't seem to care about this injury at all, his eyes were full of excitement, and tears flowed freely.

This kind of excitement and excitement is also the look of most ordinary people when they see him. In this era, being able to see the emperor with their own eyes, even his grandson, is a supreme honor for most people.

Only then did Xu Chai stand up straight and see Zhu Zhanji's face clearly.

Although the grandson is young, he is mature and steady, with high browbones, and he is not angry and majestic.His short mustache was neatly trimmed. Although it was a bit different from the long beard expected by most civil servants, it made people feel his aggressive aura.

Such a good man, he really deserves to be the grandson of my Ming Empire, the future heir of the empire!

Zhu Zhanji was a little disappointed with Xu Chailao. As the grandson of the emperor, he met the most outstanding people of this era every day. Whether it was the elegant civil servants or the majestic generals, he had seen a lot.

Although this Mr. Xu Chai can be regarded as a big man, he was born in a merchant after all, and he is in the middle and lower classes of society, so he is much inferior in appearance.

However, he was able to organize a large fleet and dominate one side, so naturally he could not be judged simply from his appearance.

Zhu Zhanji put his hands behind his back and said softly: "Come with me..."

Following Zhu Zhanji to the bow of the boat, in the twilight, the mountains and rivers of Luzon turned into a dark outline, displayed in front of them.

Zhu Zhanji stared at the mountains of Luzon Island for a while, and then asked softly: "From Beiming Street to Daming Street, is there a plain full of ravines for two hundred miles?"

Xu Chai Lao hurriedly bowed his head and said: "Your Highness, two hundred miles from north to south and one hundred miles from east to west, the size of Quanzhou Prefecture and Fuzhou Prefecture can all be cultivated into fertile paddy fields. If intensive cultivation is done, three crops can be harvested a year. The natives plant it at will, and it can produce two crops a year."

Zhu Zhanji was also from a rural background in his previous life, so he naturally knew that the so-called intensive farming is the process of raising seedlings.If seedlings are raised alone, one season of rice can be harvested in more than three months.

But the natives are mostly lazy, and most of the time they just scatter the seeds in the fields and depend on the sky for their food.

Even so, the fertile farmland deposited by volcanic ash on the Luzon Plain can grow more food than they can eat.

Zhu Zhanji nodded and asked, "How many people are there on Luzon Island today?"

"This..." Xu Chailao replied: "Your Highness, the natives live in tribes. In addition to the plains of Daming Street, there are also many tribes in the mountains. It is impossible to count. Not far from here, there are thousands of tribes. The people who migrated during the Southern Song Dynasty lived in mountainous areas and ignored villains, only occasionally exchanging some daily necessities with villains. However, in the plain area north of Daming Street, there are now about 20 people of various ethnic groups, half of them It's all labor."

Zhu Zhanji asked again: "Does this half of the labor force include women?"

"Yes!"

"Approximately how many people are there in Sulu Kingdom in the south?"

This time Xu Chai Lao didn't hesitate at all, and replied directly: "More than a million people!"

Different from later generations, today's various parts of the Philippines are not populated on Luzon Island, but the small islands in the south are the main settlements.

Most of the small islands here are piled up with volcanic rocks. As long as there is flat land on it, it is very fertile land, and because the mountains are not big, there is no miasma, which is very suitable for living.

The further south you go, the closer you are to the equator. After entering the windless zone of the equator, there are no typhoons, so it is the paradise of the natives.

On the other hand, there are many poisonous insects on Luzon Island, frequent typhoons, and miasma overflowing, so the population is not comparable to that of the small islands in the south.

The main reason why Spain invaded the Philippines in later generations was based in Cebu instead of Luzon.

A house built with painstaking efforts may collapse in a gust of wind. Who wants to live in such a place?

Zhu Zhanji pondered for a while and then said: "I know what you have done in Luzon in the past few decades. You have done very well. In these years, you have gathered thousands of Han people from Fujian to build a It is a great achievement for us to gain our own power and broaden the living environment of our Han people.”

Xu Chailao knelt down and said excitedly: "Your Highness can understand the villain, even if he dies, he will not lose."

Zhu Zhanji turned around and supported him with one hand. He didn't dare to let Zhu Zhanji help him, so he stood up quickly.

Zhu Zhanji said: "For a meritorious person, how can I be willing to let you die. I want you to live well, make a family for you, make a great name for me, and continue to create immortal fame."

"The villain will do his best, and he will die!"

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said: "The imperial court didn't support you enough in the past, and it will support you vigorously in the future. What do you ask for?"

"The villain doesn't ask for anything, as long as His Highness orders, the villain will never frown."

Zhu Zhanji knew that his status was too high, and Xu Chai was in a turbulent mood, wishing to serve the country with his own body, so how could he dare to make conditions with him.He waved to Huang Yuan and Jin Kuo who were standing aside, and they immediately walked over quickly.

Zhu Zhanji introduced: "These two are the chief eunuchs of Duzhi, who are in charge of the trade of the entire fleet, and the other is the naval logistics defense, who is responsible for the deployment of materials for the entire fleet. In the past, the imperial court did not support you enough, so you only It took most of my energy to try my best to turn around among the various tribes in Luzon. From now on, the imperial court will solve your worries for you, and you only have one task, which is to try your best to subdue all the tribes and make them become my confidants. I contribute to the development of Ming Dynasty."

There was a trace of bewilderment on Xu Chai Lao's face, and he didn't understand Zhu Zhanji's words.But he didn't dare to ask, so he could only look at Huang Yuan and the two of them.

Huang Yuan has the lowest status, so he explained: "His Royal Highness is going to change Luzon into Luzon Prefecture, and set up government offices, guards, and water villages in Luzon. Governor Xu knows the situation in Luzon best, so naturally he is the prefect of Luzon. The perfect choice!"

Surprised and delighted, Xu Chai knelt down and said: "But the villain is not from a Jinshi background, but only has a rough knowledge of writing..."

Zhu Zhanji smiled and said: "It's okay, once you are a deputy, the documents will naturally be arranged alone. It is a long-term national policy to set up a mansion in Luzon and bring Luzon into our Ming territory. Letting you be the magistrate is not for you to enjoy happiness , It is not an easy road to bring millions of people on the island into our Ming people. Huang Shoubei, you and Governor Xu, no, it is time to praise the prefect in the future. You and him have a detailed discussion, and later I will host a banquet for everyone."

Huang Yuan said with a smile: "Prefect Xu, please follow me..."

Seeing Xu Chailao leaving with Huang Yuan, Zhu Zhanji couldn't help laughing.

Zheng He's appointment as governor was not in the official ranks of Ming Dynasty, that is to say, this governor was not recognized by Ming Dynasty.

Even if he is a governor, when he returns to Fujian and sees a county magistrate, he still wants to pay homage.

But if Luzon is included in Ming Dynasty and Luzon Mansion is set up, then Luzon Prefect will be a well-known fourth-rank official.Because Luzon has a huge area, which is larger than a chief secretary in Ming Dynasty, even if the tax revenue of this government is very low, it must be the upper government.

This magistrate of the upper government is a legitimate fourth-rank official.From a white body to a fourth-rank magistrate, if it is in the territory of Daming, it will definitely be opposed by hundreds of officials, and the official department will definitely not use the seal.

But now in an overseas barbarian land, those officials regard it as exile to serve as an official in Jiaozhi, not to mention that this is an isolated island that has no land connection with Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Zhanji brought out so many literati this time, the purpose is to let them hide overseas for some experience, so he is not afraid that there will be no place to accommodate them.

When he came back from his voyage to the West, these literati had been practicing for more than a year, and they could already tell whether they were talents or not.

Following Huang Yuan to his public room, Xu Chai Lao saw the dozens of documents in his room, as well as the mountain of official documents, and knew that although the guard had no obvious official position, he was definitely someone that His Highness would value.

Huang Yuan invited him to his desk and sat down, then took out a stack of manuscripts and asked: "Governor Xu, I have some investigations in Luzon, and I want to communicate with you first to see if there is any deviation in the data... ..."

Facing Huang Yuan, Xu Chai was much more at ease, unlike Zhu Zhanji who was at a loss when he advanced and retreated, he had the aura of a big man.

"Huang Shoubei, please tell me, I know everything."

"Since Yongle five years ago, Governor Xu returned to Fujian for the first time. In the past ten years, a total of about 500 people have migrated from Fujian, and more than half of them are young people."

Xu Chai Lao nodded and said: "After the sea ban, the Dongfan people moved back to Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and other places. There are more people and less land. They always have to find a way for the villagers to survive."

Huang Yuan smiled and said, "I'm not trying to settle old scores with you. Your Highness supports Governor Xu's actions, so don't worry."

Xu Chai Lao nodded and said: "The number is about the same, but these years, the villagers have started families and businesses, and have reproduced, and hundreds of children have been added."

Huang Yuan asked, "Are most of them married to native women?"

"Yes!"