Zhao Hao arrived at Lingayen Gulf in Luzon on the eighth day of the sixth month in the seventh year of the Wanli reign, and the whole journey took two months.
Firstly, the wind direction and ocean currents were not favorable this season, and secondly, he also avoided this year's No. 1 typhoon in Naha on the way... Well, it was definitely not for a secret meeting with the Ryukyu Saint.
When passing through Taiwan, he was dragged by Fatty Tang to attend the establishment ceremony of the newly established Taitung City. If there weren't a bunch of people waiting for him in Luzon, Fatty Tang would have dragged him to Western Taiwan to discuss the site selection of the planned water storage dam.
Zhao Hao had just visited Taiwan at the beginning of the year, and he expressed strong disdain for Tang Youde's behavior of forcing a relationship with him by relying on his familiarity with him. However, he still agreed in principle to the management committee's request to set up two cement plants in Fengshan and Keelung.
There is no way, because the young master favors the fat man so much, and Fatty Tang alone takes eight buckets.
And Zhao Hao did not lie to Tang Youde. There were indeed a lot of people waiting for him in Luzon.
In addition to Sebastian, whom he had rescued with great difficulty, and Captain Drake who claimed to be the Queen's special envoy, there was also Liang Qin, the group's plenipotentiary representative in Goa, who followed Sebastian back, and the representative of the Sultanate of Banten who sent Sebastian back.
There were even two other kings - Sulu Sultan Yazid and Brunei Sultan Saif, who were also eagerly awaiting the king's return in Yongxia City.
Otherwise, Mr. Zhao would not go south in this season. He usually goes to Luzon after the typhoon season in autumn and the wind turns north at sea. It is the cool season in Luzon at that time, which is much more comfortable than the current high temperature and high humidity.
However, Luzon is not all as hot as a steamer at this season. At least in the western part of Luzon Island, there is a pleasant place with a cool climate and beautiful scenery. That is also Zhao Hao's destination.
Lingayen Bay is 300 miles north of Yongxia Bay, facing the mainland, and is an excellent deep-water sheltered bay. Moreover, if the fleet from Taiwan goes to Lingayen Bay, it will shorten the journey by more than 500 miles, at least two days, compared to Yongxia Bay.
Moreover, Lingayen Gulf is located at the northern end of the Luzon Plain, on the Agno River Delta, and is a rare fertile land.
When the Spaniards colonized Luzon, after they established a foothold in Manila, today's Yongxia City, they could not wait to occupy this place, named the left bank of the river Lingayen and the right bank Dagupan, and then divided the territory. They also established parishes and forced all the natives to convert.
After the Battle of Manila, the Spaniards and their 100,000 native followers were driven out of Luzon by the Coast Guard, and Lingayen and Dagupan became no-man's land.
Don Paulo was not polite and took it over to the Luzon Governor's Office. It also became the second administrative district established by the Luzon Governor's Office after Yongxia City.
Because it is across the South China Sea from Chaozhou Prefecture, Zhao Hao named it Wangchao City, the Agno River was renamed Wangchao River, and Lingayen Bay... has not been renamed yet.
Originally, Master Zhao wanted to save trouble and simply changed the name to Wangchao Bay. However, the current Guangdong General Lin Daoqian hoped that Master Zhao would change the name of Lingayan Bay to Lin Daoqian Bay, and he was willing to donate 200,000 taels for the naming rights. But Master Zhao has not agreed to it yet.
It's not that Mr. Zhao didn't want to set a precedent for selling naming rights. Jiangnan Group is a company, and making money is natural and not shameful. But when Lin Daoqian reminded him, he suddenly realized that he could use the naming rights to set up a counterpart aid project. For example, the new Suzhou Bay, the new Hangzhou Bay, the new Ningbo, the new Dongguan, etc., and it can also strengthen the bond and feelings between the mainland and overseas territories. Why not?
However, no policy can be decided on a whim. It must be feasible and verified by the relevant departments of the group; a plan must be drawn up; and then a pilot project, exploration and demonstration must be carried out. Only after these three steps can regulations be formed and then promoted.
So this matter is still in the discussion stage, but the enthusiasm of all prefectures and counties is very high, so it should not be a big problem.
Just thinking about the fact that in the future there may not be a New Zealand, but it may be called New Henan; New Delhi may be called New Texas; New Orleans may be called New Macau... Mr. Zhao becomes full of energy.
In fact, every time he leaves his home country, he becomes a different person. When he is in China, he is very reserved, hiding behind the scenes, fearing that he will be too conspicuous.
Once in overseas territories, he no longer needed to pretend, and his ambitious, narcissistic and chauvinistic nature was fully revealed.
This is the king he created, and his character and style will directly determine the collective character of overseas Han people. Only if he has a strong character and a domineering style, can the Han immigrants overseas have sufficient martial virtues and dare to fight!
If he is timid and overly cautious, he will not be able to change the problem that Han people overseas are scattered like stars in the sky, and gathered together like a pile of shit!
Therefore, Zhao Hao did not refuse the grand welcoming ceremony organized by the Governor's Office and Wangchao City, and gave a practical but exciting speech to the citizens who came to greet him at the dock.
He assured the citizens who had only been in Wangchao City for one year, or less than two years at most, that the group would always take "creating a better world" as its mission and make people's lives better year by year!
Of course, things are unpredictable, and no one can guarantee that everything will go smoothly. In the future, we will definitely encounter difficulties such as war, famine, and depression. However, the Group solemnly promises three things to all citizens of Wangchao, Luzon, and all overseas immigrants of the Group:
At all times, the Group will firmly guarantee that those who till the land own the land. As long as the Group exists, it will never allow anyone to annex the land of the people as they do in the country!
No matter when, the group, the coast guard and the soldiers will always be the protectors of overseas Han people! As long as the group, the coast guard and the soldiers are still alive, they will never allow anyone to harm all overseas immigrants of the Ming Dynasty!
At all times, the Group will treat overseas immigrants and people in the Jiangnan region equally! This means that their children will also enjoy free education; those working in the Group’s farms and factories will also enjoy employee medical care, free vocational skills training, and various widows, widowers, orphans, and famine relief!
In fact, the staff of the group and the city have repeated these contents many times. But it is necessary for Zhao Hao to repeat it, because the immigrants actually regard him as the King of Luzon. They must hear the same words from his own mouth before they can feel at ease.
~~
After the welcoming ceremony, Zhao Hao, accompanied by Luzon senior officials including Tang Baolu and Liu Xuesheng, and Wangchao Mayor Guo Guo, inspected the village built to receive new immigrants.
But when he saw the rows of stilt bamboo houses with palm leaf roofs, Zhao Hao's face turned unhappy.
In order to attract immigrants, the group not only distributed land per person, but also promised to provide free housing, seeds, farm tools, oxen, and one year's food rations to their entire family.
In the minds of the people of the Ming Dynasty, the rich lived in brick-walled houses and the poor lived in adobe huts. This kind of bamboo and wood house can only be regarded as a shack, right?
One can imagine their disappointment when they ended their quarantine and were allocated new homes...
Zhao Hao stepped on the newly paved gravel road and looked at the obviously newly dug drainage ditch. He said sarcastically, "I'm afraid this road and this ditch were also newly built because of my visit?"
Tang Baolu secretly groaned in his heart and glared at Wangchao Mayor Guo Guo and asked, "Really?"
Guo Guo is Guo Da's cousin, and he is also one of the high-quality servants that the princess gave to Zhao Hao. They have risen step by step with Zhao Hao over the years, and now they are all independent and hold important positions.
Guo Guo knew very well that the most important thing for these people was loyalty, followed by ability, obedience to the law, etc. Therefore, he did not dare to hide it and quickly said honestly: "My lord, at present, only a few villages have built roads and dug sewers. Most of the other villages have simply leveled the ground, and various supporting facilities will be slowly added in the future..."
"Why? The task is set too high and it's difficult to complete?" Zhao Hao's expression eased a little.
"A little bit." Guo Guo wiped his sweat and smiled bitterly: "200,000 immigrants are really too many. Even if we build houses made of bamboo and wood, I'm afraid we won't be able to accommodate them all by the end of the year."
Wangchao City has superior geographical conditions, with a dense river network on the alluvial plain and a large amount of land that can be cultivated without the need for water conservancy construction, so this time it undertook the task of immigrating 200,000 people.
The organizational structure of immigrants is still the family farm system that has been used for more than ten years, with one production team and one village.
However, due to the sudden increase in the number of immigrants, the management scale of each farm had to be expanded.
Now a farm has ten production teams under its jurisdiction, and each production team has to manage 100 farm workers. Each household can provide two to three farm workers, so each production team manages 30 to 50 households.
There are about 30,000 households among the 200,000 immigrants, so 800 such villages need to be built to accommodate the population for that year.
For a new city like Wangchao, which was established less than two years ago and has a population of less than 50,000, building 30,000 houses a year, even if it is 30,000 bamboo houses, is really too difficult.
"It's indeed not easy." Zhao Hao had to admit it.
"Don't worry, sir. The Governor's Office will also fully support Wangchao and settle the 200,000 immigrants." Tang Baolu dared to speak. He smiled and said, "Besides, the people in Luzon live in these stilt houses, which are rainproof, moisture-proof, breathable and cool. It's summer all year round, and that's the advantage. You don't have to worry about freezing."
"Unfortunately, everything is destroyed when the typhoon comes." Zhao Hao said with a sneer.
"It's not that exaggerated. At most, the roof is blown off." Tang Baolu wiped his sweat and smiled, "Wait until the wind dies down and then lay another layer of palm leaves."
"Why don't you live in a house like this?" Zhao Hao gave him a blank look.
"Nephew, when I first came to Luzon, I really stayed there for quite a while." Tang Baolu swore to the heavens, "Old Liu can testify to that."
Liu Xuesheng nodded repeatedly.
"Well, I'll let you down." Zhao Hao also knew that the two million immigrants this year were overwhelming the people below. He couldn't be too picky.
"But from our Chinese perspective, this really doesn't look like a comfortable home." He solemnly instructed Tang Baolu and Guo Guodao, "So we must make it clear to the immigrants that this is just a stopgap measure. Within five years, no, within three years, we must build real housing for them!"
"Understood!" Tang Baolu, Guo Guo and others hurriedly responded loudly.
p.s. My eyes are much better today than yesterday. I went to bed quickly. I hope tomorrow will be better...