lovenovelstory Chapter 7 Luzon Rebels
Chapter 7 Luzon Rebels
The next morning, before dawn, Chen Feng had already woken up.
He turned his head to look at the straw mat beside him. Wang Muning was curled up, breathing evenly, and was obviously still asleep.
Chen Feng quietly got up, tucked the thin blanket around his junior sister, and then had the energy to start sorting out the current situation.
According to my memories from my previous life, the US military was bound to be the victor in yesterday's naval battle in Manila Bay.
The outcome of the Spanish-American War was already predetermined. The US military would most likely blockade the ports next. As for whether to launch a ground offensive immediately, he could not remember the details, but he was certain that Spain would sign the Treaty of Paris at the end of this year, selling the entire Philippine archipelago to the United States for 20 million US dollars.
However, things won't go smoothly for the Americans after they take over. They will have to fight the Philippine independence army for several years, at which point Luzon will fall into a new round of war.
War means chaos, but it also brings opportunities.
But where should we seize this opportunity?
Should they take advantage of the conflict between the US military and the Independent Army to stockpile food, salt, and iron, or should they try to contact Master Yang and rely on the timber company to do some arms resale business?
Chen Feng rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on; he didn't even have any capital left.
"Brother Chen, are you awake? We need to get going."
Zhang Xiuwu's voice suddenly came from outside the door, sounding a bit hoarse from not having woken up yet.
"He's awake, come out right away."
Chen Feng bent down and gently woke Wang Muning: "Junior sister, it's time to go. We still have a day's journey to Manila."
Wang Muning opened her eyes groggily, rubbed them, and followed Chen Feng out of the room.
In the courtyard, Zhang Xiuwu had dark circles under his eyes, with bluish-black discoloration under his eyes, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept all night.
He kept touching his cheek, and when he saw Chen Feng come out, he explained apologetically, "My brother's leg injury has worsened, and he can't walk far, so I have to break my promise and can't go to Manila with you."
"Brother Chen, I'm sorry, only Xiuwu can accompany you. We need to leave some people in the village to reinforce the fence in case the locals come again." Zhang Xiuwen was leaning against the wall, limping as he approached. His right trouser leg was wrapped with a newly changed strip of cloth, from which faint traces of blood seeped.
"It's alright!" Chen Feng waved his hand, and seeing Zhang Xiuwu still touching his cheek, he joked, "Are you worried about not finding a wife after being disfigured?"
Zhang Xiuwen laughed along: "My younger brother used to always say he wanted to marry a certain family's young lady, but I'm afraid that won't be possible now."
"What's there to worry about if a real man doesn't have a wife!" Zhang Xiuwu muttered, knowing that his chances of marrying the young lady were slim, and his face was very disappointed.
The group walked to the campfire where they had left the night before, where the smell of burning still lingered in the air.
Three oxcarts were parked to the side, with sacks piled high. The old yellow oxen on the cart shafts had their heads drooping and occasionally flicked their tails to shoo away mosquitoes.
Wu Dequan and three burly men walked over, each holding a rough porcelain bowl filled with a thin corn porridge so thin you could see your reflection in it. They shoveled it into their mouths along with pickled vegetables.
"Brother Chen, Sister Wang, eat while it's hot." Feng Qinlan walked quickly over from beside the earthen stove, carrying a porcelain bowl in each hand, steam rising from the rim of the bowls. "This was just cooked this morning, with some sweet potato added, it'll keep you full."
Her eyes were slightly red. Yesterday, while clearing the rubble, villagers found the remains of her parents in the burned-down house. There wasn't even a proper coffin, so they buried them with straw mats last night.
"tasty!"
Chen Feng didn't stand on ceremony and picked up the bowl to drink.
Feng Qinlan handed over another cloth bag. "Brother Chen, there are some roasted sweet potatoes and braised meat inside."
"Braised pork?"
The image of the monkey's corpse instantly flashed into Chen Feng's mind.
Feng Qinlan noticed his concern and forced a smile. "I know you don't eat monkey meat, Brother Chen. This is beef, from a cow that was slaughtered by the indigenous people yesterday."
"Ugh!"
Chen Feng took the cloth bag, a warm feeling rising in his heart. Not knowing how to comfort himself, he could only sigh deeply.
As they set off, Zhang Xiuwu climbed onto the oxcart and lay down in a pile of sacks. "I'm going to take a nap. I couldn't stay awake last night. Please walk slowly and don't wake me up."
No sooner had he finished speaking than snoring began.
Three burly men led the way, pulling the oxen by ropes. Chen Feng and Wang Muning followed beside the oxcart, while Wu Dequan lagged behind, glancing back occasionally in the direction of Zhangjia Village with a complex expression.
With nothing much going on along the way, they started chatting, and Chen Feng actually learned quite a bit.
Since the Spanish occupation of Luzon in the 16th century, they have incorporated the indigenous people of the coastal plains into the colonial system through religious and forced migration policies.
First, one must be a Catholic, accept the Spanish language and culture, and settle in a designated village community.
Secondly, they had to abandon slash-and-burn agriculture and seek a living on Spanish-dominated plantations, becoming tenant farmers or laborers for colonial officials.
The indigenous people in the inland mountainous areas were mostly in an uncivilized state, existing in the form of tribal alliances.
The Balangai tribe, which launched a surprise attack yesterday, was forcibly relocated from the inland by the mountain expeditionary force formed by the colonial authorities a few years ago, and therefore still retains many indigenous cultural traditions.
"Did these natives stage a large-scale rebellion?" Chen Feng rubbed his chin as he slowly followed the oxcart.
"Of course there is! I heard from my dad that there's a guy named Andres, who's really powerful. He has tens of thousands of men under his command. He rebelled in Balintavac two years ago and killed a lot of Spaniards." Zhang Xiuwu woke up at some point and suddenly sat up from the oxcart, his hair a mess.
He first took a sip of water, then said with great interest, "Their rebellion didn't amount to much. Andres was the leader, but he was killed by the second-in-command last year, and the rebel troops were all driven into the mountains by the Spanish."
Wang Muning asked curiously, "Were any Chinese people involved?"
"Of course!" Zhang Xiuwu perked up, jumped off the oxcart, and walked alongside Chen Feng, saying, "There's a guy surnamed Liu, I think he's a leader of the Hongmen, who organized over three thousand Chinese armed men to join Aginado's rebellion. In the battle of Imus, they completely annihilated three thousand Spanish soldiers, restoring the prestige of us Chinese!"
Wang Muning then asked, "With the rebels so powerful, can Spain hold out?"
Zhang Xiuwu scratched his head, looking bewildered: "I don't know either. Maybe it's because the Spanish had a lot of foreign guns. But ever since the rebellion, the Spanish have been very strict in checking firearms. Our village used to have two old muskets, and they were both confiscated."
Pointing to the indigenous people working in the fields, Chen Feng asked, "What do we Chinese usually do to make a living? We haven't seen many Chinese villages along the way."
Zhang Xiuwu replied, "We Chinese generally make a living through handicrafts, such as sugar refining, shipbuilding, and hardware processing. Or we engage in trade, bringing silk and porcelain from the Qing Dynasty and transporting sugar and tobacco from here."
"Are there very few Chinese people like your family who rent land to farm?" Chen Feng asked again.
Zhang Xiuwu shook his head: "It's not a small number, there are still ten or twenty thousand people, mostly around Manila."
Wang Muning asked curiously, "The hatred between the Chinese and the natives is so great, why don't they just seize their land? They wouldn't have to pay rent if they did."
As expected of the head镖师's daughter, she exuded a bandit-like aura.
Zhang Xiuwu looked at her with surprise and explained, "The Spanish don't allow us Chinese to form large-scale armed forces, and the land in the mountains isn't worth much either."
Chen Feng added, "There should be another reason: doing business is more profitable than farming, so those large Chinese families definitely wouldn't be interested in such paltry sums."
Zhang Xiuwu nodded vigorously: "That's right! Our village only earns a few dollars a year from the fields, which is far less than what we make from a single trip to the sea."
Wu Dequan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up: "How much silver does that ship cost?"
"We don't use silver here, we use pesos. I don't know the exact amount, but even if we sold all the possessions of our village, we still couldn't afford it," Zhang Xiuwu said.
Chen Feng smiled slightly and joked, "Uncle Wu, you still want to do business at sea?"
Wu Dequan sighed in disappointment, "At my age, I'm practically half-buried in the ground. If I don't take a chance, how will I ever get married and have children? Abandoning my ancestors' graves is already unfilial; if I also sever the Wu family line, how will I have the face to meet my parents in the afterlife?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiuwu patted him on the shoulder: "Uncle Wu, isn't that simple? The indigenous women in the mountains aren't worth much; you can marry one for a few bags of corn. The only problem is that they don't understand Mandarin and can't do housework."
Wu Dequan's eyes lit up, clearly intrigued, but he quickly frowned again: "I saw the indigenous corpses yesterday, and it gave me the creeps... Besides, could they be as ferocious as those ambush attackers?"
Just as Chen Feng was about to say something, he heard the sound of horses' hooves in the distance.
"Someone's coming!" Zhang Xiuwu's expression changed, and he jumped onto the oxcart in an instant.
The three burly men immediately became alert and pulled out long knives hidden under the oxcart.