Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 92: Step by Step
Lin Fei knew that Yuan Zhengxiong had something important to say, so he looked at him intently. Yuan Zhengxiong finally said, "It's not easy to beat Cotabato."
Lin Fei asked: "Is there anything difficult about fighting in Cotabato?"
Yuan Zhengxiong said, "Cotabato was established by the Spanish after they destroyed the Sultanate of Mackinao. The purpose of establishing this city was to prevent Muslim counterattacks, so the city walls are more than ten meters high. Cotabato is also the ruling center of Spain in Mindanao. The Governor of Mindanao is in Cotabato. I think he has at least five thousand troops under his command. If you want to attack there, it will cost a lot."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "Thank you Mr. Yuan for reminding me. I'll keep it in mind, but Cotabato has a large population and many factories. I'm going to take it down no matter what."
When Yuan Zhengxiong heard Lin Fei say this, he laughed twice and said no more. Lin Fei asked him to go back and began to arrange the march to Cotabato.
Cotabato is located in the central part of Mindanao, more than 200 kilometers away from Butuan City. There were no roads in Mindanao at that time, and it took a long time to walk more than 200 kilometers, so Lin Fei decided to adopt a step-by-step strategy, taking over the villages between Butuan City and Cotabato one by one, turning these places into his own logistics bases, and then attacking Cotabato.
Lin Fei took out the list of villages and distribution map compiled by the Spaniards, and found that there were 35 villages with a population of more than 5,000 people, and more than 40 villages with a population of more than 1,000 people. The agricultural population around Butuan City was about 400,000. Lin Fei was surprised, thinking that with so many villages, there would definitely not be enough people to establish grassroots governments one by one, and he could not set up a government here like he did in Samar and Leyte.
Lin Fei thought to himself, I might as well use economic control measures on these villages. The people in these villages will definitely come to Butuan City to sell food in exchange for salt, cloth, tea, wine and other items. I will force the villagers to use Huaxia currency for exchange. When Huaxia currency circulates in the villages, I can use Huaxia currency to buy food and recruit migrant workers.
At this time, the first batch of Chinese currency had been shipped from Bazahai City and sent to Santander Bank to be exchanged for pesos and gold in the city, so I didn’t need to do much with my economic control measures. However, economic control alone was not enough. I also had to find a way to win over the hearts of the people and make the people in these villages willingly support the Chinese Empire.
Is there any way to make them willingly submit? Carrying out land reform is definitely a good way. In Mindanao at this time, land is the only means of production. Without external interference, the means of production will gradually be concentrated in the hands of a small number of people. In other words, there will definitely be a group of people who own a large amount of land, and landlords will appear in each village.
If I seize the land from these landlords and distribute it to the landless and land-poor farmers, I won't have to worry about them not supporting the Huaxia Empire. After seizing the land, I can also recruit Chinese to cultivate it, thus increasing the population of the Huaxia Empire.
However, land reform is not an easy task. First of all, it is necessary to conduct a land survey to find out how much land there is and who owns it. There is no need to worry too much about this because the Spaniards have conducted land surveys and the relevant data are compiled in books.
After the land survey is completed, someone has to implement the reform. It does not take too many people to implement the reform because once they arrive in the village, they can mobilize the local Chinese. However, even so, the candidates have to be carefully considered. Those who implement the reform need both soldiers with guns and literati who are eloquent .
The role of the military is to subdue those who dare to disobey, and the role of the literati is to publicize the achievements of the Chinese Empire and make the locals loyal to the Chinese Empire.
Lin Fei made up his mind and told his plan to the General Staff Headquarters, asking them to make a detailed plan. Just as Lin Fei sent the plan to the General Staff Headquarters, a voice of "report" suddenly came from outside the door.
Lin Fei recognized Niu Dalong's voice, raised his head and said to the door: "Come in."
Niu Dalong pushed the door open and Lin Fei was stunned when he saw him. Niu Dalong's face was bruised and his clothes were torn. It was obvious that he had a fight with someone. Lin Fei never allowed fighting in his army. Lin Fei's creed was that hitting your own people was not a big deal. If you have the ability, go fight the enemy on the battlefield.
Lin Fei frowned, and said with anger in his tone: "You fought with others? Didn't I say that fighting is not allowed?"
Niu Dalong said aggrievedly: "Captain, I didn't fight."
Lin Fei slammed the table and said angrily: "No fight? Then what's wrong with your face and clothes?"
Niu Dalong raised his head and said stubbornly: "I was beaten by someone, I didn't fight back, it doesn't count as a fight!"
Lin Fei almost laughed out of anger. He slapped the table lightly and asked , "Who hit you?"
Niu Dalong said: "An old farmer."
Lin Fei burst out laughing, pointed at Niu Dalong and said, "Haven't you practiced martial arts before? You often brag about being the last disciple of some master, how come you were beaten by an old farmer?"
Niu Dalong said helplessly: "He is Chinese and old, I didn't feel comfortable fighting back."
Lin Fei asked: "Why is the old man still so angry? Why did he hit you?"
Niu Dalong said: "Today I led my men on patrol to the grain store and found a few farmers arguing with the grain store owner. I went over to ask and found out that the farmers were there to sell grain, but they refused to accept Chinese currency and insisted on gold, which led to the argument. I tried to persuade them with kind words, but the farmers started fighting without giving me any explanation, and I was beaten up."
Lin Fei's heart moved, and he wondered why the Chinese didn't use Huaxia currency? If this spread out, it would be extremely detrimental to the prestige of the Huaxia Empire. Lin Fei hurriedly asked: "Where are the farmers?"
Niu Dalong said: "We have caught them, and they are outside now."
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Call the leader."
Niu Dalong walked out and brought in an old man in his fifties. The old man had dark skin, wrinkles all over his face, a white beard, and a look of panic.
Lin Fei stood up, moved a chair for the old man, asked him to sit down, poured him a glass of water, and asked, "Old man, which village are you from? What should I call you?"
Seeing Lin Fei so gentle, the old farmer's panic faded a little and he said, "I'm from Dawaxi Village. My Chinese name is Zhang Wu. I won't mention my Spanish name."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "Dawasi Village? I know that village. It is the closest to Butuan City. There are more than 10,000 people in the village. It is one of the largest villages near Butuan City."
Zhang Wu, the old farmer, nodded. Lin Fei then asked, "Old man, why don't you use Huaxia currency?"
The old farmer sighed and said, "These grains must be exchanged for gold, otherwise the lives of my family... will be gone!" After the old farmer said this, his eyes were full of fear and tears actually fell down.
Seeing the old farmer was so scared, Lin Fei was furious, with a murderous look on his face. He said angrily, "Who is so bold as to bully the Chinese under the rule of our Huaxia Empire? Old man, don't be afraid. Tell me who said this?"
The old farmer's face changed drastically, and he said in a trembling voice: "Yes...it's the Bishop."
Lin Fei was stunned and asked, "Bishop? What bishop?"
The old farmer said, "There is a church in the village. The head of the church is called the bishop, named 'Dado'. More than half of the land in the village belongs to them. We can only rent their land to plant, and after planting, we have to give more than half of the harvest to them."
It turns out that in Mindanao, the Spanish rule at the grassroots level in rural areas was mainly carried out by the Catholic Church. These churches nominally carried out religious activities, but secretly took advantage of the Spanish privileges to wantonly occupy land and plunder wealth. There were no devout believers in these churches at all, only villains who used religion as a cloak to put money into their own pockets!
Most of the villages on Mindanao were inhabited by Muslims who believed in Islam. The Catholic Church had religious conflicts with them and did not dare to bully Muslims openly. However, the Chinese were the smallest in number on Mindanao. Not only was the Central Dynasty far away, it also regarded these Chinese who went to Southeast Asia as "traitors" and ignored them completely. Therefore, the helpless Chinese became the target of wanton oppression by the Catholic Church.
Lin Fei knew all these things. He had originally planned to deal with the Catholic Church when carrying out land reform, but he did not expect that they would oppress the Chinese so much. So Lin Fei said to the old farmer, "Don't be afraid, old man. I will make the decision for you. When does the bishop ask you to go back?"
The old farmer said, "Just go back before tomorrow night."
Lin Fei said, "Well, you stay here for one night. I will bring the land reform team to your village tomorrow to kill that damn bishop!"
The old farmer said doubtfully, "Are you serious? The bishop has a large group of thugs and three rifles. Can you be his opponent?"
Niu Dalong laughed and said, "Why don't you think before you speak, old man? Our emperor has wiped out all the Spanish troops in Butuan City. Listen carefully - it's the Spanish army. Everyone has a quick gun. Our emperor can even wipe them out. Why would he be afraid of a group of thugs?"
As Niu Dalong was talking, he got the old farmer out. Lin Fei immediately asked the General Staff to speed up the confirmation of the candidates. The next morning, a land reform team was formed. This team consisted of 100 people, two of whom were combat backbones seconded from the army, 80 were newly trained city guards, and the rest were responsible for propaganda and administration.
This was the first mission of the Land Reform Team, and it concerned the future of the Chinese Empire, so Lin Fei personally followed with five members of the sniper team, and went out of the city to Dawasi Village.
The crowd walked quickly and soon approached the village. At this time, Lin Fei suddenly discovered something strange.
