Chapter 224
Luzon is not the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Zhenghe Port and Zhenghe Port Area are Cheng Shijie's private territory. Even the Ming court has no power to dictate to Zhenghe Port and Zhenghe Port Area.
Cheng Shi is confident now.
Because he was Cheng Shijie's adopted son, and Cheng Shijie gave him his only overseas private territory to manage. This represented Cheng Shijie's trust in him, and it was also his responsibility.
To be fair, Cheng Shi is not good at studying. He has been following Cheng Shijie for more than three years and can barely write an ordinary official document, but he has no literary talent. He can only let Cheng Shijie understand what he wants to express. With Cheng Shijie According to my judgment, Cheng Shi's cultural level is not as good as Cheng Jialong's.
Of course, in later generations, Cheng Jialong went to kindergarten for three years and elementary school for four years. If Cheng Jialong's level was not as good as Cheng Shi, who had just studied for three years, Cheng Shijie could only untie his belt and teach Cheng Jialong a mountain of fatherly love.
Cheng Shi's logic of life is very simple. Zhenghe Port and all the people in Zhenghe Port area are like tenants of landlords in the Central Plains. The landlords can beat and scold the tenants, but others cannot say no.
As the saying goes, beating a dog depends on the owner. Now these Spaniards are beating up the merchants in Zheng He Port District on Cheng Shijie's territory, which is to slap Cheng Shijie in the face.
The Lord is worried about the humiliation of his subjects, and the Lord is worried about the humiliation of his subjects.
Under this subtle processing logic, Cheng Shi can die, but he must not pretend to be deaf and dumb, let alone sit on the wall and watch.
Of course, Liaodong is a place that values the rule of law, especially where everyone is equal before the law. Even Cheng Shijie's direct troops cannot rely on their status to bully other people and be above the law, let alone these Spaniards.
Now Wu Shangzhi feels that the sky is about to fall. In Luzon, the Spaniards themselves are the emperors of the earth, and the Spaniards have always liked to use the local indigenous people to deal with the Chinese. When they are fine, they will still look for trouble. Now Cheng Shi's The guard actually beat the Spaniard to death.
"What should I do?"
Wu Shangzhi felt that his breathing was a little difficult, and he almost couldn't lift a breath.
Cheng Shi smiled disapprovingly and said: "It's just a few Western barbarians who dare to resist law enforcement and will be beaten to death in vain!"
Wu Shangzhi said incoherently: "Major General Cheng, do you know that this is not the Ming Dynasty, this is Luzon, and it is the territory of the Spanish."
"No, this is Zhenghe Port, my father's private territory."
Wu Shangzhi knew that Cheng Shi was young and energetic, and it was not easy to argue. He looked at Xie Jinglin and said, "Mr. Xie, please think of a way quickly, something big is going to happen!"
As the Chinese became more and more powerful in Luzon, the Spanish colonial governor-general authorities united with the local indigenous people to oppress the Chinese. Since the 17th century, there have been two large-scale massacres of the Chinese. The last time It had only been 20 or 30 years since the murder. These Chinese people had personally experienced the murder. Their fear of the Spaniards had already penetrated deep into their bones.
Originally, during this period, before Ning Haijun arrived, Luzon was like a powder keg. The indigenous people who originally lived in the mountains or the hinterland of Luzon Island came to Manila in groups to provoke the Chinese, but the Chinese have been tolerant.
But the problem is that in the eyes of the indigenous and colonial governor-general, the Chinese's tolerance is that the Chinese are weak and can be bullied. Even if there was no such thing as Cheng Shi, in the fifth year and the twelfth year of Chongzhen, the colonial authorities and the natives once again carried out a large-scale massacre of the Chinese.
Cheng Shi did not take it seriously. He ordered the guards to arrest the three Spaniards who were causing trouble, collect the bodies of the other two Spaniards who died, and bring them back to the port area.
Located on the south bank of the Pasig River, in the colonial governor's palace in Manila, Luzon Governor Juan Cerezo (Cerezo) was fighting fiercely with Marina, the wife of Spanish Luzon Army Colonel Omore.
Governor Juan was operating on the mainland and was transferred back to the Spanish mainland. As the wife of Colonel O'Moore, she was actually fed up with Luzon's climate and harsh living environment.
Relatively speaking, there are no traces of modern civilization in Luzon now, except for the port area and the church area, and Marina's husband is also a madman in military training. Although Marina came to Luzon with the army, in fact, she is a Yue may not be able to see Omol a few times.
In this way, Omore left the beautiful and charming land uncultivated and asked the governor to do it for him.
However, at the most critical moment, Louis, the officer in charge of colonial affairs, said anxiously: "Your Excellency, something big has happened!"
Juan yelled at Luis outside the door: "Damn it, if you don't give me a strong reason, I guarantee you will spend a few wonderful nights with the gorillas!"
Of course Louis knew what the Governor was doing, but the problem was that this matter was too big.
After two sticks of incense, Juan, who was dressed neatly, came to the meeting hall of the Governor's Palace. At this time, the hall was filled with senior police officials and senior military officials from the Luzon colonial authorities, including of course Juan's mistress Marina. Husband Colonel Omore.
Juan came into the hall and everyone stood up.
Juan waved his hands and said: "Gentlemen, you already know the situation, what should we do now?"
"We must show some respect to those people from the Ming Dynasty. We will never give in, otherwise, Luzon will be detrimental to His Majesty the King's rule!"
"The authorities have tolerated it, but they cannot tolerate it indefinitely. The prestige of the civilized world cannot continue to be lost like this!"
"We should relax the suppression of those indigenous monkeys a little bit... In order to maintain order, we must also let those indigenous monkeys express themselves..."
Omore said fiercely: "They captured three of my men, and two others were killed by them. This is a provocation to the Spanish Imperial Army. Our Army will never give up!"
The opinions of the Luzon colonial authorities were almost unanimous, that is, they expressed strong dissatisfaction with Ning Haijun.
On the surface, it was for the three Spanish soldiers who were captured. In fact, the deeper meaning was that it was the goods in the Zhenghe port warehouse. Recently, Ning Haijun's main navy fleet has been frequently dispatched. They have hijacked a total of fifty-five ships from the waterway. Thirty-two of these merchant ships have been given to the Spaniards at a price. Now they need these twenty-two cargoes and do not intend to pay.
Governor Juan was always silent. After everyone looked at him, he said softly: "Have you forgotten that there are more than fifty Ming army battleships cruising around here?"
Compared with Zheng Zhilong's 3,000 warships, Ning Haijun's navy is undoubtedly weak, but the problem is that no matter how weak it is, it is not something that the Luzon colonial authorities can handle. The Spanish Empire only has thirty warships in Luzon. Even with the addition of The Grand Fleet has only thirty-seven ships in total, of which seven battleships are permanently stationed in the Imperial Guard and fifteen battleships are permanently stationed in Manila. However, these twenty-two battleships are old broken ships of 400 to 600 tons. .
When placed on Europa, it only counts as a fifth-level light cruiser, and seventeen of them are armed merchant ships. Even the Grabona, the flagship of the Spanish fleet in Luzon, is only a 680-ton warship, but it was built thirty years ago and has not left Manila for a long time.
"Do their warships dare to fire on our Spanish Empire?"
Captain Simon could no longer bear it and said loudly: "They will never be able to withstand the anger of the Spanish Empire, and they will never dare to fire on our warships!"
"It makes no sense to say these things. I govern Luzon for His Majesty the King. I hope Luzon can be safe and sound. The flag of Spain will always fly here. His Majesty the King does not want to see too much bloodshed."
Governor Juan said calmly: "Whether they are indigenous people or Chinese, they are the ones we need to be wary of when necessary. Keeping them in such opposition is the principle of our rule... Gentlemen's opinions, I think there are still That makes perfect sense. Maybe it's time for us to say something, Louis!"
"exist!"
"Go and meet those Ming people. You must give us a satisfactory explanation for this matter!"
"OK!"
"Gentlemen, you can go back and make arrangements. Scare them, but don't go too far! All the arrangements before and after this operation must be reported to the Governor's Mansion, waiting for my signature and approval!"
The butt determines the head, and the head determines the thinking.
As the governor of Luzon and as a force in the Far East of the Spanish Empire, Spain's power is too weak. There are only more than 4,000 Spanish in the entire Luzon. They are the Dutch and Portuguese who are nominally Spanish. All white people plus Together, there were only more than 4,500 people.
But the problem is that these more than 4,000 people are too few.
After the destruction of the Spanish Armada, even now, the main battleships are still less than 130 third-class battleships or above, while the main battleships of the Ning Navy are fourth-class battleships or third-class battleships, even the powerful Dutch East India Company , and dare not underestimate Ning Haijun's maritime power.
What's more, since the battle between Ning Haijun and Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhilong has suffered several big losses in a row. If this continues, maritime rights in the South China Sea will be difficult to defend.
A war with Ning Haijun is not in the interest of the Spanish Empire. Of course, if there are enough interests, what does it matter if a few people die, even dozens or hundreds of people?
…
Zhenghe Port District, Wu's mansion.
Representatives of 245 Chinese merchants in Manila and various clans, and 200 to 300 people came to the Wu family again, hoping that Wu Shangzhi could come up with an idea.
"It's all the fault of that Major General Cheng!"
"If you have no hair on your lips, you can't do your job well!"
"Oh, who says it isn't!"
"General Cheng is such a wise man, and it just happened to be because of Cheng Shi!"
"Tiger father and dog son, the success is insufficient and the failure is more than sufficient!"
"You can't blame General Cheng for this. It is said that this Major General Cheng is just General Cheng's adopted son!"
"Adopted son, no wonder!"
Everyone in the Wu family meeting hall was almost unanimous in condemning Cheng Shi's recklessness.
Wu Shangzhi looked at the crowd and said: "We have to give General Cheng the face, and we have to give the foreigners face. Everyone, hurry up and spend some money and give it to the foreigners! We must make it clear to the foreigners that this matter has nothing to do with us. No!"
At this moment, an old man slowly stepped out of the hall. He had a typical Hakka appearance and deep-set eyes. Although his beard is white, he still looks very capable.
"Mr. Wu!"
"Father!"
This old man is the head of the Wu family in Luzon, and he has developed the Wu family to a point where it is so wealthy that it rivals the country. Wu Dakuan, who was also a member of the Colonial Bureau Council, would make the Luzon Chinese community tremble whenever he stamped his feet.
Mr. Wu looked at the crowd and said, "You think too simply!"
"too easy!"
Wu Shangzhi was a little confused: "Father, what you mean is..."
"If the wolf wants to eat the sheep, there is no excuse!"
Wu Shangzhi and Wu Dakuan are people from two eras. When Wu Dakuan grew up, the Spaniards had just arrived in Luzon. At the beginning, the Spaniards were actually very afraid of the Ming Dynasty. After all, Ming Dynasty is a behemoth.
In the 21st year of Wanli, Governor Dasmarinas led a warship to attack islands near the Philippines. Due to insufficient manpower, he recruited more than 200 Chinese to work on the ship. However, when they got on the ship, the Spaniards beat and cursed the Chinese, and some Chinese were even beaten to death.
This aroused dissatisfaction among the Chinese brothers. At that time, there were only a few dozen Spaniards on the ship, and the Chinese outnumbered them several times. So a sentry officer named Pan Hewu said to everyone: "Let's just resist. Resistance is Death, if you don't resist, you will die. If the rebellion succeeds, there may be a way to survive."
Everyone nodded repeatedly, so hundreds of Chinese took advantage of the night and slaughtered all the Spaniards on the ship, and the governor of Luzon was also killed. The governor's son, Lang Lei Maoqing, learned of the news and reported it to the governor of Fujian, demanding punishment of the culprits. The Ming court did not conduct the so-called investigation and ignored it.
However, as the Ming Dynasty's national power became weaker and weaker, not to mention Luzon, even Fujian was attacked by the Dutch and Spanish.
Wu Dakuan vaguely understood that if those people who lived overseas in the Ming Dynasty wanted to live well and live like a human being, they must have strong strength in the court.
While Wu Shangzhi was having a meeting with everyone, it was Xie Jinglin who visited Wu Dakuan and told Wu Dakuan that Ming Dynasty was now weak in national power and had no strong military, and overseas Chinese were bullied everywhere.
Now Ning Haijun's people killed the Spaniards who made trouble in the Zhenghe port area, but why did the Spaniards just shout and kill instead of directly sending troops?
It is because they have 800 soldiers in Zhenghe Port and more than 50 warships nearby. More than 50 warships and hundreds of artillery are their confidence. The Spaniards can only be polite.
What if the country is strong? What if there are many warships? Do those foreigners still dare to look at you sideways and pinch your necks? In the final analysis, it is just one sentence. Only when the country is strong can we have our status! The Zhenghe Port Area in Manila was built by everyone. Why should the Spaniards step on us?
Wu Dakuan relayed Xie Jinglin's words to everyone and said, "Everyone, tell me, is this the truth?"
"This is the principle, but the problem is that not many officials are good people!"
Wu Shangzhi said: "We take refuge in them. If they rush to make money and hide when they see difficulties, they have boats and can leave at any time. What should we do? Everyone has a family and business, and they are reluctant to save up even if they want to leave. net worth!"
"that is!"
Wu Dakuan sighed and said: "Mr. Xie told me, let's take a look and don't make a decision yet!"
"have a look!"
"right!"
"Mr. Xie said, look at how Ning Haijun does things!"
Wu Dakuan said: "Everyone should be careful during this period. Anyway, during this period, we also bought a lot of iron from Ning Haijun. We should seize the time to build soldier ninja. If there is a real fight, we won't just sit back and wait to be killed!"
When Ning Haijun built Zhenghe Port Area and Zhenghe Port, he purchased a large amount of building materials from Chinese businessmen and hired many people for construction.
In fact, let alone others, even Wu Shangzhi and his family have stockpiled equipment that can arm five or six hundred people. Although each family is not as good as the Wu family, they can still arm seven or eight thousand people! "
While they were talking, Wu Shichang, Wu Shangzhi's eldest son, came over and reported: "Father, grandfather, we just got the news that talks between Major General Cheng and the foreigners have broken down!"
“Talk about having a meltdown!”
"Yes, it is said that the Spaniards asked them to rather kill people in the navy to pay for their lives. Major General Cheng asked two donkeys to be brought in, and in front of the Spaniards, he chopped off one of them with a knife! He also told the Spaniards, one life for a life. , they killed two Spaniards, and they also paid for it with the lives of two donkeys!”
Wu Dakuan understood that Ning Haijun had no intention of negotiating with the Spanish.
In fact, it is.
Before Cheng Shi arrived in Luzon, he knew that Ning Haijun's large forces had already gone to Daguang and were led by Chen Dayong. Although Ning Haijun had purchased Tamsui City and Zhenghe Port from the Spanish, the problem was that Ning Haijun was in Never fear any enemy on land.
As for the few hundred Spaniards who were in charge, if a fight broke out, they would be the first to die.
"Now, let's see what they do!"
Unlike later generations, where there were six road bridges on the banks of the Pasig River, now there is not even a single bridge on the Pasig River, and the only way to travel between the south and north banks of the Pasig River is by ferry.
Manila Bay, Spanish fort on the south bank of the Pasig River.
At this time, the alarm sounded. The sixteen forts in Manila took off their cannon coats and pointed at Zhenghe Port and Zhenghe Port Area. The Spanish's sixteen forts had forty-six cannons, and Most of them are large-caliber artillery.
In fact, two-thirds of the artillery can bombard Zhenghe Port and Zhenghe Port Area. According to regulations, Ning Haijun is not allowed to deploy artillery in Zhenghe Port and Zhenghe Port Area. Once the two sides fight, Ning Haijun will definitely suffer.
Just when the two sides were on the verge of a fight, the main warships of the Ning Navy appeared on the surface of Manila Bay. But the problem was that there were only five Spanish warships undergoing maintenance in the Manila port. The other warships or armed merchant ships were either running for transportation or Patrolling the open sea.
At least thirty large warships appeared on the sea, and the naval guns of the Ning Navy were also aimed at shelling Manila and the ports on the south bank of the Pasig River.
Juan stood on the pier and looked at the Zhenghe Port opposite with his binoculars. On the pier of Zhenghe Port, Ning navy soldiers and the civilian men accompanying the army packed bags of sand into formations of sandbags.
In Zhenghe Ganggang District, all the commercial streets are empty, the shops are closed, and there are few people.
"Listen, Ming Army warships, you are not allowed to take off your gun jackets and enter Manila Bay!"
"Damn it, you are going to bombard our Zhenghe Port. I still abide by the original agreement?"
Li Zhixiang cursed at the translator who came over: "Go back and tell the Spaniards to give them half an hour. If after half an hour, I still watch the Spaniards' naval guns aimed at Zhenghe Port, we will regard the Spaniards and Ningxia The navy goes to war at your own risk!"
Although the fort has many advantages when facing warships, the question is, do Ning Haijun's warships need to bombard them?
There is no need at all. Just like the previous hijacking of the merchant ship protected by Zheng Zhilong, the Ning Navy warship with superior maritime power can blockade Manila. In less than a month, Governor Juan will not even have to drink whiskey.
Li Zhixiang is still scared of both ends, but he understands that if he makes a compromise with the Spanish today, he, the commander of the Ninghai Navy, will be done.
As the boat returned to the Manila Fort, Juan learned of Ning Haijun's request, and he turned to ask: "Gentlemen, are you ready for a battle with the Ming warships?"
"It will only take up to half a day for our battleship to return after hearing the news!"
"Okay, even if we can repel the Ming army with the help of battleships. Have you thought about the future?"
"after?"
"That's right!"
Juan said angrily: "We are far away from the mainland and will not receive any support within half a year. They are in Liaodong. With their ship's speed, they can reach Manila in more than a month at most!"
"What are you afraid of? We have an invincible fleet!"
"Ignorant, they can build dozens of warships in a year at most. Can the Armada sail to the east?"
Everyone in the colonial administration fell silent.
The Spanish Empire is facing attacks from more than a dozen countries in Europe. They have too much to take care of themselves, otherwise the Dutch would not dare to be so arrogant.
Once a war starts with Ning Haijun, let's not say whether Manila can hold it, but the officials will definitely not be able to hold it. The most important thing is that they will not be able to get cheap goods from Ming Dynasty.
To start a war with Ning Haijun is to fight against one's own money.
While Juan was thinking, on the sea in Manila, the main warships of the Ning Navy began to turn. All the warships lined up and began to move. At the same time, they aimed their side decks at the Manila fort.
Once the battleship is in motion, it is very difficult for the turret to hit the target. At the same time, the Sea Shark-class battleships and the Giant Shark-class battleships began firing shells from their side guns.
"Boom boom boom boom..."
Ning Haijun's warship fired the first round of test shells. Although these twelve shells did not hit the target, the shells that fell into the sea exploded into huge water columns.
Although it did not hit the cannon, one of the five warships undergoing maintenance on the dock was hit, and the warship instantly turned into a huge torch.
Juan's expression changed drastically: "These barbarians, how dare they?"
(End of chapter)
