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"The last train has left and the operation is over. [No pop-up novel website]" Weiss interrupted, while unscrupulously glancing at the waist and high chest wrapped under the dress.
Jiang Shan coughed, reminding him to pay attention to his behavior.
"You can go back in my official car." Jiang Shan walked out first. He didn't want this woman to be there, let alone delay his business. A red-flag carriage stopped outside the auditorium. Jiang Shan gave the driver a few instructions, and the gentleman opened the door with great style. Liu Shuixin lifted up her skirt and stepped on the pedal, revealing her thighs wrapped in stockings, and gave a moving smile to the two men standing beside the carriage. Weiss Lando whistled wildly.
"Where will you stay when you come back this time? Are you still in the second guest house of the general office?" Jiang Shan asked as he watched the red flag carriage turn a corner and disappear outside the gate of Fangcaodi.
"Yes, it's better to live there than in the church." Lando said, "It's hard to pretend to be a devout believer."
"Let's walk there, okay?"
"It's five kilometers away, Director."
"Are you in a hurry?"
"Huh? No, there's no car to sit in anyway."
They walked out of the gate, and the students on duty at the gate saluted them. Outside the door is a large fruit forest - originally there was only a small forest of mixed trees, but now the Gaogang where the entire campus is located has been planted with various fruit trees by students. There was no one around, and the sand and gravel made a rustling sound under their shoes. They walked down the high hill and took a detour on a road near the sea. The silence of the night was broken by the Bobu Shipyard in the distance. The factory building was brightly lit, drowning out the starlight in the night sky near the horizon. From time to time, bunches of sparks erupted from the chimney, just like lit fireworks. The boiler emits a hoarse sound of steam, the bucket howls low on the sky bed, and the crane rattles. The winch screamed like a piglet when it braked, and the steam engine hummed monotonously, combined with the clatter of hammering iron and the squeak of sawmills. The whole factory was like a machine whose outline was hidden by the night. The giant beast is crawling on the beach, breathing with its powerful iron lung.
"It's so beautiful!" Jiang Shan said.
Lando couldn't understand what was so beautiful about this, but he knew the aesthetic tastes of these Chinese people: riveted and strong, silly, big and black. "A new warship is about to be launched? Oh my god, let me think about it. Whose turn will it be?"
“Have you been to Manila?”
"We visited after 370 years." Weiss wanted to make a joke, but when Jiang Shan didn't answer, he continued: "Operation Hunger was quite exciting, but the Spanish ship was really dirty, full of feces and rats. Now what do you think? Sack Manila? Okay. I can pretend to be a Spanish official, just call him Francisco Franco. No need for a warship, I just need to bring ten cans of poison gas, and as soon as the valve is opened at night, you can Put on your gas mask and empty the coffers in Manila." He suddenly remembered something and stopped: "Damn it. The Jesuits are going to recognize me, and then I'm going to be burned at the stake!"
"There are not many Jesuits in Manila," Jiang Shan smiled. "The religious orders in Manila are mainly Franciscans and Dominicans. Even if there are Jesuits, most of them have never been to Macau - although the Portuguese and They are a king, but they are not friendly to each other."
"One is enough."
"Mr. Lando, have you ever heard of the famous saying of ancient Chinese strategists: control others but not control them."
"No, but when I was in Africa. Someone told me a Chinese saying: strike first to gain strength."
"The report you gave us this time pointed out that Li Siya has been in frequent contact with the Spaniards recently. We sent special personnel in Macau to investigate. Among the Spaniards who visited Li Siya, one of them was the special envoy of the Governor of Manila."
"Manila wants to get the information that was sold to Batavia, right? Did you get it?"
"Perhaps we have it. Lisiya is not loyal to anyone. It is not surprising that she would sell information to the Spaniards. But except for a moment, she has never been a real threat to us." Jiang Shan didn't want to talk more. There are some things about this issue that not everyone can know.
Lando realized that this was Jiang Bureau's hint that Li Siya was no longer someone who needed his care.
Jiang Shan took out a linen handkerchief and wiped his sweaty forehead, and began to talk about some strange signs from the Spaniards: they were purchasing large quantities of pig iron from Guangdong through agents in Macau. Saltpeter, mercury, and zinc ingots called white lead. These goods were shipped from Anping to Manila by boat. These items were rarely purchased directly from China by the Spaniards before. Now, the Spanish are even trying to recruit coppersmiths and blacksmiths in Guangdong to work in Manila. In the past, they only recruited sailors.
"So, the Spanish want us to pay something for our piracy?"
"No, it has only been less than half a month since we intercepted Manila Galen. The Spaniards' actions have started since the beginning of this year.
It started at the beginning of the war, so I assume their actions were directed against the Dutch. "
The Philippine Governor of Manila, de Tavora, had been worried about the Dutch threat and constantly appealed to the king to send him more money and soldiers to increase Manila's defense. The Spanish in the Philippines were in a bad situation. The Dutch continued to harass them throughout the East Asian seas and repeatedly attacked Spanish colonies, which caused great trouble to the governor.
Senior officials in the Philippine colonies seemed to live in constant fear of a Dutch attack.
"The Spanish are in a bad state," Jiangshan said. "We have a series of reports from the governor to the Privy Council. The Spanish are short of funds - without supplies from Manila Galen, the authorities don't even have the expenses to maintain the status quo. Their manpower It’s not enough. There are harassments from the Dutch at sea and riots from the natives on land. Their trade is very poor and they have to attract a large number of Chinese to cultivate, but they are full of suspicion towards the Chinese.”
"If their condition is so bad, why are they suddenly increasing projects that cost money? It seems that these expanded imports are used for armaments instead of profitable investments."
"That's right. Especially their sudden increase in mercury imports - it's too much. Do you know what amalgamation is?"
"I don't know, I'm an out-and-out soldier."
"The mercury amalgamation method is a process for refining gold and silver precious metals. It requires a large amount of mercury." Jiang Shan said, "We know that gold and silver are produced in the Philippines. But the Spaniards in this time and space don't know..."
Lando's eyes sparkled: "I understand what you mean."
"We need someone in Manila." Along the road, the lights of Bairen City were already in sight. "Even if we could easily defeat any enemy armed only in the seventeenth century, intelligence is still necessary. I need to know exactly what the Spanish are doing." What can you do, what do you plan to do.”
Sending a Chinese would not work. Jiangshan had already considered this. The Spaniards were deeply suspicious of the Chinese, and the Chinese settlement area was restricted. The scope of Chinese activities was mainly in the middle and lower classes of Manila society. The upper class is controlled by the Spaniards, and it is difficult for a Chinese, no matter how rich, to have access to the upper class in Manila.
"Sounds good." Weiss cleared her throat. After walking for such a long time, he wanted to have another bottle of kvass: "But if I mess up, it may be the last time I serve you."
"Do you think so?"
"Please don't be offended, Director. When I have to predict how things will end, I usually think of the worst first."
"In this case: we will engrave your name on the wall of the Intelligence Bureau - if you want, you can designate a naturalized child as your heir."
Neither of them spoke during the last part of the journey. "There will be an Intelligence Bureau meeting at nine o'clock tomorrow morning." Jiang Shan gestured to the naturalized receptionist standing outside the guest house, indicating that he would open the door for Weiss. "I will send a car to pick you up. Good night, James Bond. gentlemen."
"Good night, Mr. M."
Jiang Shan returned to his office, and a thick stack of reports on the status of the prisoners on the Manila Galen ship had been delivered to his desk.
The reports were detailed, with detailed statistics and as much personal information as possible on even the humblest sailors and even slaves.
Among the 289 prisoners were Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, Germans and blacks, as well as Malays and Chinese, the latter two mainly serving as sailors. Others are mixed races. A very typical sailing ship from the Age of Discovery.
The use and disposal of prisoners is a matter for the Planning Institute, but the Intelligence Bureau and the Political Security Bureau must give certain opinions. Who can be used, who can be redeemed and released, and who should "work to death" all come from their suggestions.
He briefly browsed through it, and the report written by Mendoza on the situation of Doña Marina de Arellano aroused his interest. He read the report carefully, and then looked at the reports on the maids and concubines. and the captain's interrogation report, and consulted the loot inventory list. It turns out that what Marina said is completely true - she is indeed a bride-to-be, being sent to Manila to marry her fiancé.
An illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat was going to Manila to get married. Although no one could tell who she was going to marry, Jiang Shan didn't care much - she was probably a Spanish official or something like that.
If that were all, she would be of little use. They couldn't recruit an 18-year-old Spanish girl who had been in a convent for ten years as a spy - not to mention the issue of race, and they had just stolen her dowry. If they stay in Lingao and distribute them to the elders as spoils of war, just how to distribute them and the various questions after the distribution will lead to fierce debates and quarrels.
Extorting a ransom directly seems to be the most profitable and safest approach.
