The urban area of Jinshan, with the port area as its core, is not too large, with a radius of only a few miles. The periphery of the city is full of crisscrossed farmland and fenced-in pastures, and there is not much to explore outside. Aragones spent only one day traveling around the city.
If he were to run this place by himself, Aragones believed that he would not be able to build such a small coastal town with the same efficiency. But to him, what was even more terrifying was that Haihan, after building the city, was able to spare resources and manpower to organize an armed fleet to conquer new territories in the south.
The local people were not surprised by the large number of Hispanic immigrants brought back from the south. The victory of the Haihan Army was a matter of course to them. In the eyes of the local people, these Hispanic immigrants who were kidnapped back to Jinshan Bay were nothing more than Just the spoils of this war.
Continuously expanding territory externally and annexing the resource producing areas and geographical hubs of other continents are originally the colonial methods of the European maritime powers, but Haihan is obviously better at this. It has only been four years since he set foot in North America. With such impressive results, over time, the areas controlled by Spain in Central and North America will probably be impacted one after another.
Can the Viceroyalty of New Spain in Mexico stop Hayhan's armed fleet? Aragones didn't even have the slightest confidence in this. In his opinion, when Haihan goes south again, the local troops will probably suffer the same fate as DeSantis.
But as a loser, Aragones was obviously unable to change the situation. Since he had chosen the path of self-preservation, he could only continue along this path. In the current situation, finding a better resettlement environment for yourself is the first priority.
After waiting patiently for two days, Aragones was finally summoned by Tom Wang. But the civil affairs official who was traveling with him told him that the meeting time given to him by Tom Wang was very short, so he should keep the conversation short and not waste the precious opportunity.
Tom Wang is not putting on airs, he is really busy. Jinshan Port is not a big place, but all matters large and small need to be handled by him. Reviewing documents and holding meetings to deal with government affairs every day takes up a lot of time. He also has to meet people from all walks of life and subordinates at every opportunity. Work arrangements are often scheduled in advance. The day is full.
When Aragones arrived, there were still several people lined up outside Tom Wang's office, so he had to wait patiently. Fortunately, these people didn't stay long after entering, and it was his turn soon.
What surprised Aragones was that this senior official, who was obviously Chinese, could speak Spanish, which saved him the trouble of needing a translator to communicate.
"I heard that you have some opinions on our resettlement? Tell us your requirements!" Wang Tom didn't intend to waste time chatting with Aragones, and asked straight to the point.
Aragones remembered the advice of the civil affairs official, and did not dare to go around in circles at the moment, and responded quickly: "Dear Sir, Mr. Morgan of your country promised to allocate me land for building a farm, but after arriving at Jinshan Port, he did not I think this is a very unreasonable arrangement to allocate enough employees to me.”
Wang Tom said: "We hope that new immigrants can manage the allocated land on a household basis. Maybe you should take your family to learn how to do farm work."
Aragones was naturally dissatisfied: "But there are more than two thousand people working for me in San Diego Bay. It was your country that claimed to protect my interests, so I chose to cooperate and gave up San Diego Bay to come here!"
< br>
Wang Tom said: "Those people are not your personal property and are not within the scope of the protection we promised. If you want to find someone to work for you, then just spend money to hire them."
Aragones said anxiously: "You are treacherous!"
But Tom Wang shook his head slightly and said: "I think you haven't figured out why you came here."
Aragones responded angrily: "Of course it's because our skills are inferior to others and we can't defeat the Haihan Army on the battlefield!" Wang Tom continued to shake his head and said: "That's not the point... We asked you to settle in Jinshan Bay. I hope the Spaniards in San Diego Bay will know that as long as they cooperate well with my country, even former officials can have a chance to turn over a new leaf.”
"But if you don't cherish this opportunity, then I don't mind letting all the Spaniards who come to settle in Jinshan Bay know how we will deal with those who are unwilling to cooperate!"
When Aragones heard this, he couldn't help but shudder. Although the other person's words had no tone, he could smell the danger in them.
Aragones defended: "I am not unwilling to cooperate, I just want to seek reasonable treatment."
Wang Tom said: "As the victorious party, we did not take away your property, slaughter your family, demote you as slaves and send you to the mines as coolies, but we gave you respect, allocated land to you, and exempted you from taxes... If you think this treatment is not reasonable enough, then I can only send you to stay with the prisoners of war. Maybe they will tell you how precious everything you have now is!"
Aragones' treatment was obtained by betraying his country's fleet. If he were allowed to stay with the prisoners of war, he would probably be torn to pieces by the angry people on the spot.
He was far from losing his mind, and of course he could distinguish what was important and what was serious. Seeing that Tom Wang's tone was not kind, he did not dare to say any more, so he had to take the initiative to stand up and leave.
Wang Tom said: "If you really don't want to run a farm, you can also do business in the city. But if you choose to settle in the city, the land we allocated to you elsewhere will be taken back. You should think carefully and let the civil affairs officer make arrangements for you. ”
Aragones thought to himself, wouldn’t it be necessary to hire talents from outside to run a business? What is the essential difference between this and running a farm? But he did not dare to question it anymore, so he had to say that he would go back to discuss it with his family, and then left the office.
On the way back to the hotel, Aragones was also thinking about another path proposed by Tom Wang.
Staying in urban areas for development and focusing on business should be better than cultivating wasteland for farming, and it is also a feasible way out. But he doesn’t speak the local language and lacks connections. What kind of business can he do?
He walked around the city the past two days and saw many shops in the area. But the rice, flour, oilcloth, pots, pans, chickens, ducks, and fish sold in shops all had to be sourced. It was obviously not possible to purchase the goods by yourself.
Moreover, these businesses earn only hard-earned scraps. After all, he also comes from a sailing family. Several generations of his family have worked hard overseas, so he has no interest in this kind of small business.
Aragones actually has two merchant ships under his name. A month ago, he was delivering goods and went south to ask for help and move reinforcements. He happened to miss DeSantis' fleet at sea. Calculating the time, we should be on our way back now.
Perhaps we can wait until the two ships return to San Diego Bay from Mexico, ask the Haihan people for them, and then resume their old business and continue shipping.
But with the way the Haihan people behave, it seems uncertain whether they can return the two boats to themselves, and more importantly, whether they can allow themselves to sail the boats out to sea.