Chapter 942: A Huge Profit

Latest URL: Governor General's Office.

Zhao Xu had Bate'er sit opposite him, then casually pulled a goose feather pen from the ink bottle on the table and began to write on a piece of paper.

After a quarter of an hour, he pushed the paper toward Bate'er.

Bate'er was literate because his mother was literate.

According to him, his mother and maternal grandfather had once been a scholarly family in the Great Song Dynasty.

They had been attacked by sea pirates and abducted to Manila.

"Your Highness, there are many things on here that I don't quite understand." Bate'er took the paper, read it carefully, and felt a bit confused.

Zhao Xu then explained it to him.

The first article of this contract was that the Manila Governor's Mansion would henceforth be renamed the Southern Protectorate, and at the same time, all the Franks' assets in Luzon would be taken over by the Great Song Dynasty Imperial Court.

Bate'er did not understand what a Protectorate was, but when he learned from Zhao Xu what the duties of a Protectorate were, he was not angry at all; instead, he was very excited.

Dayan Wang said he would support him to be the King of Manila.

Although he was willing, he felt more fear.

He was afraid that the indigenous officials and generals of Manila would not obey his orders.

After all, he had previously been nothing more than a slave.

Now, with a Protectorate responsible for guarding the Southern Region in all of Luzon, he immediately felt reassured.

With the protection of the Great Song army, who could do anything to him?

"The second article is about trade..." Zhao Xu continued, and the following clauses were basically the same as those for Gaoli and Dongying.

Of course, the most important clause was to ban the Frankish currency circulating in Luzon and replace it with the Song Yuan.

As for how Bate'er would govern Luzon, he was not concerned.

But there was one condition: as long as the Protectorate existed, no matter how the throne of Luzon changed, the Protectorate would protect the interests of the Great Song in Luzon.

"Your Highness, everything will be as you wish." After understanding all the clauses, Bate'er said respectfully.

Before the Franks arrived,

the King of Manila had to send envoys to the Central Plains dynasty to pay tribute every year.

To him, this was just restoring the order of the Dongtu that had once existed.

As for the other clauses, he did not care either.

Compared to the oppression of Luzon by the Franks, Dayan Wang could only be described as benevolent to them.

After all, the previous King of Manila did not have much freedom.

After settling this matter, Zhao Xu handed Bate'er over to Zhou Yi.

After taking Manila, the navy could not take action for the time being.

On one hand, they had to recover Cebu and Mian Island, and on the other, they had to take over the assets of the Franks.

Of course, there was another very important matter, which was to assist Bate'er in establishing the order of his own kingdom.

For example, establishing an indigenous army that would obey Bate'er.

The captured Frankish muskets and Artillery could be used for this.

After that, it would be civil officials who obeyed Bate'er; he would take the opportunity to insert some Overseas Song People into this administrative system.

In this way, the control over Luzon would be perfectly closed-loop.

The two left, and Zhao Xu exited the Governor's Mansion, walking east along the streets of Manila toward the largest Rubber Tree plantation in Luzon.

To protect his safety, in addition to the guards led by Commander Xu Lie, Pan Zhang also led two thousand soldiers to accompany and protect him.

"This Manila is truly a place where prosperity and poverty coexist." On the way, Xu Lie looked at the buildings on both sides of the street and said.

In all of Manila, only the central area near the coast was prosperous.

The buildings on both sides of the streets there were basically white, and the roads were paved with stone slabs, appearing clean and tidy.

There were many types of shops along the street, including tailor shops, Wine taverns, casinos, and jewelry stores.

The indigenous people in the shops were also wearing clean clothes.

They were all serving the Franks in Luzon.

But beyond this street, it was just like a refugee camp.

Muddy dirt roads, black domed grass huts, and thin, dark-skinned indigenous people.

"Wherever colonizers have stayed, it is always like this." Zhao Xu hummed softly.

Xu Lie had never seen it, but he had seen a lot of it in history books and video materials.

The group chatted, and after half an hour of trekking, they arrived at the Manila plantation.

At this time, the entrance to the plantation was already guarded by Marine soldiers.

Seeing Zhao Xu's group approaching, the leading squad leader saluted Zhao Xu.

Returning the salute, Zhao Xu asked, "How is the situation in the plantation? It hasn't been damaged, has it?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, no, but the workers in the plantation have all run away," the squad leader replied.

Zhao Xu was stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly.

He was not worried; once order was restored in Manila, these people would return.

Thinking of this, he focused his attention back on the Rubber Tree plantation in front of him.

It was said that this Manila rubber plantation was the largest, but he wanted to see for himself just how big it was.

Now, looking at it, he had an understanding, and his heart was filled with joy.

In front of them, the Rubber Trees were neat, row after row, with an interval of about three meters between each row.

This was because the rubber plantation was artificially planted, so it emphasized neatness.

Moreover, the rubber plantation was also very clean, with no weeds under the Rubber Trees, obviously having been weeded regularly.

One meter above the ground on every Rubber Tree, an iron ladle was hung, and a wooden tube was attached to the ladle, through which white Rubber sap was slowly flowing out.

"This time, I have truly profited," Zhao Xu said with a smile on his face.

From south to north, from east to west, the rubber forest was simply endless.

When he arrived, Bate'er said this rubber forest was about one hundred thousand mu, and it was indeed so.

It could be said that this rubber forest was about thirty li long and about five li wide.

This was just one of the eight rubber plantations in Luzon.

Added together, the rubber forests in Luzon could reach about five hundred thousand mu.

Since the rubber forests in Luzon were all old Rubber Trees over ten years old, calculating based on an annual yield of two hundred jin of Rubber per mu of rubber forest.

Luzon could provide the Great Song with one hundred million kilograms annually, equivalent to one hundred thousand tons of Rubber.

In the modern era, a ton of Rubber is worth nearly ten thousand yuan; even calculating by modern prices, his capture of Luzon was equivalent to obtaining an industry with an annual turnover of one billion.

Moreover, in this era, Rubber is even more expensive.

After walking along the rubber forest for a while longer, Zhao Xu returned, feeling delighted.

Not only the rubber plantations, but the Folangji's spice plantations, cocoa bean plantations, and Tobacco plantations in Luzon were all his now.

Except for the spices which were native to Luzon, the cocoa beans and Tobacco were both introduced by the Folangji from South America.

Both of these belong to tropical crops.

Because the climate is suitable, the cigars and chocolate of the contemporary Philippines are also of superior quality.

Previously, the Folangji had both plantations and cigar and coffee Workshops in Luzon, which was precisely an industrial chain.

Beyond the plantations, Luzon is also known as the kingdom of bananas and coconuts.

Just walking along the way, one could immediately see banana trees laden with green bananas, which were as common as weeds by the roadside.

Transporting these things to the Great Song would not only improve the material living standards of the Song People, but they could also serve as industrial raw materials.

Coconuts can be used to extract coconut oil, and bananas can be used to extract medicinal materials.

These are in terms of agriculture; the mines left behind by the Folangji are of equal value.

In short, in the war for Luzon, he had truly made a massive profit.