MTL - I-Chapter 1020 1016【News from Madagascar】
Chapter 1020 1016 [News from Madagascar Island]
The envoys came to the border of Persia and were warmly welcomed by the governor along the way.
But after arriving in the capital of Persia, the situation has changed. The nobles and officials were still very enthusiastic, but they never saw the Persian emperor. The new emperor was a drunkard, drunk all day long.
Whoever wants to see the emperor has to pass through the eunuch.
Xie Yuan had no choice but to visit the eunuchs first, but the reply he got was that if he wanted to see the emperor, he could, but he had to bribe the eunuchs first, and the money was too little.
Xie Yuan turned to look at Deputy Envoy Pang Anguo: "We came to Persia? Why do I feel like I'm back in Ming Dynasty?"
Pang Anguo said: "It is still the Ming Dynasty of the Zhengde and Wanli dynasties."
"Let's go, there's no need to meet. Within ten years, Persia will definitely decline." Xie Yuan sneered.
It’s more than just a decline. Even the Turghut tribe went to Persia to rob it, and the huge Persian Empire lost its temper.
The nobles of Persia are very satisfied with Emperor Jiumengzi. The centralization of power by the previous two emperors caused great headaches for the nobles, and now they just regained their former privileges. They wished that the new emperor would never show up.
The envoys came all the way to the Persian Gulf. After waiting for two full months, a Persian merchant ship finally headed to Southeast Asia.
We had to negotiate the price, the boat ticket was very expensive, and the envoys had more than 2,000 horses and hundreds of camels.
Hundreds of camels were all sold, as were the horses used to carry the armor, and only the best war horses were left to be shipped back with the ship.
Just as they were about to board the ship, the Persian merchants brought a few "natives".
One of the "indigenous" asked: "But the messenger of the Celestial Dynasty?"
"Are you Chinese?" Xie Yuan asked doubtfully.
This person has a Han face, but the clothes he wears... well, they are also Han clothes, but they always feel a bit nondescript.
Hearing the familiar Chinese, the man burst into tears. After crying for a long time, he finally said, "Angel, we are naval soldiers living on a deserted island. We have lived on the island for more than ten years!"
"More than ten years?" Xie Yuan immediately came to his senses, "Are you the first batch of envoys to Europe?"
The man nodded hastily: "We encountered a storm, and more than a hundred people were stranded on a deserted island. There are also a few boatmen, but it is okay for them to repair the ship, but it is very difficult to build a ship by ourselves. After more than ten years of construction, we finally made it." A small sailing boat. Governor...Brother Deng proclaimed himself the governor, and he asked me to take people across the sea. Fortunately, we soon saw land in the west, and we followed the shore to the north, and encountered the Omani harbor castle. Omani Send us to Persia, saying that we can return home on a Persian merchant ship."
Xie Yuan was not in a hurry to go back, and hurriedly asked: "How big is that island?"
"It's very big, maybe as big as several Qiongzhou (Hainan Island)," the man said, "We have already occupied the west coast of the island, and we are conquering the indigenous countries in the middle of the island."
Xie Yuan was dumbfounded. There are several islands as large as Qiongzhou, and more than a hundred Chinese are still expanding?
In fact, the area of Madagascar is larger than 17 Hainan Islands.
Xie Yuan then ran to find the local governor, contacted the Persian merchants through the governor, and got some boats from the merchants to go south.
All expenses will be paid in advance by the governor, and the reward is that a batch of goods exclusive to the governor will be shipped and placed in Chittagong for Persian merchants to pick up. They must be rare and good products, such as brocade, imitation Ru porcelain, top-quality tea, etc., which ordinary merchants cannot buy with money.
Xie Yuan first went to visit the King of Oman, who was very generous and sent two warships to **** them southward.
By the way, there is an Omani prince who is still studying in Nanjing at this time.
Finally arrived in Madagascar, the original "Boina City" was changed to "Wangxiang City" by the Chinese.
Mixed-race children born to Chinese and indigenous women, the oldest are 14 or 15 years old. There are also some teenagers between the ages of 16 and 20, who were the first aboriginal children captured or rescued by the Chinese. They learned to speak and write Chinese characters since they were young. .
In the complex river network around Wangxiang City, rice is planted everywhere, and many drinking water irrigation canals have been dug.
There are many "luxury houses" around the city, all of which are the houses of big Chinese landlords. The shape of the house is also Chinese. At first glance, it looks like a village in southern China.
Governor Deng Youzhang led dozens of people out of the city to greet them. When they saw the envoys, they also burst into tears.
"Boss Deng, you are tired." Xie Yuan said with emotion.
Deng Youzhang quickly said: "I'm not tired, it's good to meet people from my country. We didn't expect to go back to China, so we just wanted to know how our family is doing. My old mother is almost seventy. I haven't known her for more than ten years. It's been a good day."
Xie Yuan asked: "What is the specific situation here?"
Deng Youzhang immediately explained: "In the beginning, there were 88 people from the navy, 73 civilians, logisticians, and sailors who floated on the island, and 4 Persian slaves. Those 4 Persian slaves also learned to speak Chinese. They are brothers. 165 people floated on this island, and over the past ten years, 7 people have died of illness or battle, and now there are only 158 old brothers left.”
"There are more than 830 children born alive. The military doctors on board the ship lacked herbs, and many children died young. We also adopted many orphans and taught them to speak and write Chinese characters. There are more than 500 orphans in total. The oldest A group of them are already able to carry a knife to fight."
"At the beginning, we could use firecrackers and cannons, but now we have run out of gunpowder. We know the formula of gunpowder, but we don't know how to make nitrate. Now we can only use bows, arrows, knives and guns to fight against natives."
"We have built six cities. They are said to be cities, but they are actually similar to small towns in the Celestial Dynasty. The old brothers took their children to be the city lords, the adopted sons served as officials, and the indigenous tribes lived and farmed around the cities. Except for the newly conquered indigenous , the rest of the natives obeyed the rule. After all, we taught them how to plant the land and dig canals, and they harvested more food than before.”
"There are also aboriginal people who have learned to speak Chinese, but those aboriginal aristocrats are brainless and regard Chinese as a noble language, and the common people of the tribe are not allowed to learn it. Any aboriginal commoner who dares to speak Chinese will be beheaded if he is caught. I have not given repeated orders. prohibited by law."
"..."
Deng Youzhang babbled for a long time, and Xie Yuan had already heard many contents on the way.
Xie Yuan was surprised: "There are more than one hundred of you, and you have given birth to more than 800 children in more than ten years. Is this still a large number of deaths?"
Deng Youzhang smiled wryly and said: "We are full of aborigines around us. We are afraid. Those who were born and adopted by ourselves are considered our own. I married eight wives and gave birth to more than twenty children. Only eleven of them died young. The other old brothers, the one with the fewest wives also married four."
"By the way," Deng Youzhang said again, "Many of the wives of the old brothers are the daughters of the nobles of various tribes. For the tribes that voluntarily belong to, the nobles will send their daughters to marry them. If they don't accept them, they will feel uneasy. Tribes The nobles are sending more and more daughters, and the older brothers are getting more and more wives."
Xie Yuan glanced at the teenagers behind Deng Youzhang, and couldn't tell they were of mixed race, as if they were Chinese.
This is because the aborigines of Madagascar, like the aborigines of the Hawaiian Islands, belong to the Polynesian race, and are very close to the genes of the Han people.
Deng Youzhang began to introduce the main officials, completely following the set of overseas governors.
Under the Governor’s Mansion, there are also three prefectures, each of which has two counties, and each county has many villages and towns.
Administrative management is very extensive, and the area of a prefecture is roughly equivalent to an island of Taiwan. A total of six counties, directly ruled by six cities, as well as the rural aborigines outside the cities. Those who are a little farther away from the city still belong to the tribal autonomy and pay some tribute to the county magistrate every year.
Deng Youzhang invited the envoys into Wangxiang City, and said as he walked, "The reason for the rush to expand is that many old brothers can't wait. They also want to be magistrates and city lords. Now there are only six city lords, and only thirty senior officials. Many people."
Xie Yuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You are enfeoffing. After a hundred years, all the city lords and magistrates who are separated will become princes."
"No way, everyone wants to be an official, even those who can't read or write want to be city lords." Deng Youzhang said helplessly.
Xie Yuan asked suddenly: "Do you want to go back to China?"
Deng Youzhang was stunned for a moment, he didn't know it himself.
It is the common wish of all the old brothers to rush to build a ship to get in touch with the motherland, and no one can violate the collective consensus.
But if you really want to let them go, this is really reluctant.
More than 100 old brothers, including the four Persian slaves, are now big landlords. All the slaves they liberated became tenant farmers, farming the land and paying rent for the old brothers.
When you return to your country, you will definitely be able to buy more supplies, eat more exquisite food, and wear more comfortable clothes. But after going back, can they still own so much land? Bring back a bunch of wives and children, will they be able to support them?
After thinking about it for a long time, Deng Youzhang said: "I don't want to go back to China, but I want to contact my family and know if my old mother is still alive. I also have a wife and children in my hometown. If they want to come, I can bring them. If they don't want to come, I'm going to send some money back too... I have money, and I found a gold mine on the island!"
"Gold mine?" Xie Yuan's eyes widened.
Deng Youzhang nodded and said, "Now we can only pan for gold sand. Mercury is needed to refine gold, and there is no mercury on the island. I also discovered iron ore, and I can already make swords by myself. Many indigenous people still use copper weapons, and iron swords conquer them."
Xie Yuan said: "After I return to the country, I will clarify the details to Your Majesty. Your Majesty should formally appoint you as the governor, and then send you mercury and supplies. You are responsible for exchanging them with gold. Of course, the mined gold will belong to you. That’s up to His Majesty and the cabinet to decide.”
"Everything depends on the angel!" Deng Youzhang was willing to distribute the gold to the court, because he couldn't get mercury, so he could only pan for some alluvial gold.
Moreover, with the materials sent by China, they have cotton clothes to wear and a steady stream of ammunition, which can conquer the tribes on the island more quickly.
(end of this chapter)
