There was not 150 days, nor 15 days. In just 10 days, 40 24-pound black pot cannons began to fire wooden shells endlessly at the Santiago Fortress!
The reason why the trench-digging project progressed so quickly was because the Yamada Party captured two to three thousand strong men from Pampanga, took their families hostage, and forced them to dig trenches against the Spanish cannonballs—— Anyone who is afraid of death and refuses to work will have their family members beheaded by the brutal Japanese devils on the spot!
Under the force of the Yamada Party, the construction of the approach trench and the parallel trench progressed very quickly. In just eight days, the parallel trench was dug to a distance of less than one mile south of the Santiago Fort. Then it took another two days to widen and strengthen the parallel trenches. By the morning of the 10th day, 40 24-pound black pot guns unloaded from the warship were erected in place.
Then the Santiago Fortress became a hell on earth!
The shells equipped with wooden tail fins have stable ballistic trajectories, and after inserting wooden tube fuses, most of the shells can survive until they hit the ground before exploding!
Now the Spaniards guarding the Santiago Fortress suffered a disaster. The 40 black pot cannons kept roaring, the fire was spitting out, and the smoke was filled. One by one, the 24-pound cannonballs filled with black powder roared into the sky, and then hit hard Landed all over Fort Santiago. As soon as I saw it, clusters of smoke pillars and fireballs rose up. Earth, stone and bricks flew everywhere. Houses and buildings were either blown down or ignited by explosive gunpowder!
Although the walls of Fort Santiago are very strong, the area inside the fort is not large, and there are no sturdy buildings that can withstand 24 pounds of explosive shells. Before Fort Santiago was bombarded, no Spaniard knew that parallel trenches could be used to fortify the walls. The mortar bombardment method can cross the city wall and directly kill the people inside the fortress!
Therefore, no one will build anti-gun fortifications that can hide tens of thousands of people within the solid bastion walls.
When the bombardment continued until December 20, the people in the Santiago Fortress finally couldn't bear the life of being bombarded where death could come at any time. Even Bishop Gonzalez, the most qualified person in the castle to go to heaven, can't stand it anymore.
"Your Majesty the Governor, we should end this hopeless war... No one can survive such bombardment. Many people have died now. If the war is not stopped immediately, all of us will They will all die miserably!"
In a gate hole of Santiago Castle (this is a good place to hide from cannonballs), the bishop, who had recently lost some weight, finally met Governor Coqueira, who was in desperate situation.
Coquilla, who was leaning on a broken chair and looking very decadent, seemed to be stimulated by Bishop Gonzalez's words. He trembled, and then looked at Gonzalez with horrified eyes, "What are you talking about?" What? Do you want me to surrender to the barbarians? I am a Spanish noble officer and a devout Catholic... I should die gloriously in battle and then my soul ascends to heaven to be with God forever.
If I surrender, the Spanish Empire will lose all its colonies in East Asia. When I return to Spain, I will be hanged in a square in Madrid! "
The Governor of Coquilla is right. If he loses all the East Asian colonies and returns to Spain empty-handed, he will definitely be arrested and sentenced to hanging. In the original history, he just lost the island. I went to several loss-making bases and ended up in prison for four years.
Now, all the East Asian colonies - after the fall of Manila, all Spanish colonies in East Asia under the jurisdiction of New Spain will definitely fall one after another. Eventually, Spain will lose all its colonies in the east, and may even lose Spain's co-monarch ally Portugal. All the Eastern colonies are also involved!
Philip IV, who has not yet encountered enough setbacks, will definitely hang Coquilla... Now Spain has not lost the 30 Years War, the 80 Years War, the Franco-Spanish War, and has not defeated Portugal. leave. So Philip IV was still a little arrogant, thinking that his Spain was still a country favored by God!
"No, no, no..." Bishop Gonzalez shook his head repeatedly, "It's not that serious... Governor, you should see some positive factors from this failed battle."
"Positive factors?" Governor Coquilla glanced at Bishop Gonzalez, "Bishop, what exactly do you want to say?"
"How to break the bastion!" Bishop Gonzalez looked at Governor Coquilla, "This is what His Majesty the King wants most... If the Flanders Army can easily break the Dutch bastion, Spain will We will soon be able to conquer the entire Netherlands, and once the Netherlands is conquered by us, God’s flag will surely be planted throughout Germany.
Compared with such achievements, your failure in the Philippines is nothing! "
This is a life-saving straw that looks very reliable! A glimmer of hope suddenly appeared in Governor Coquilla's eyes.
"That's right! The same method used by the Chinese to attack the Santiago Fortress can be used to destroy Amsterdam!"
Bishop Gonzalez nodded heavily: "Yes! As long as you can return to Spain!"
"I must return to Spain..." With the hope of living, Governor Coquilla certainly did not want to go to see God. "Bishop, can you come forward to negotiate with them? Van Diemen. The villain should not be able to kill a respected bishop!"
"Okay, leave it to me!" Bishop Gonzalez crossed himself on his chest, "God will bless us!"
...
When Gonzalez arrived at the Cavite commercial port under the escort of a group of Ming army infantry, the place had been hastily cleaned up, and the corpses in the commercial port had been removed and buried deeply by the Pampanga people captured by the Yamada Party. , but traces of the fire can still be seen everywhere, with half-burned and blackened houses everywhere. The owners of these houses have all changed. The Chinese businessmen who escaped from the narrow Chinatown of Balian are now the owners of various properties in the commercial port of Cavite. These Chinese businessmen and workers who had obtained new industries began to get busy as soon as they settled down with their families. The entire Cavite commercial port has now become a large construction site, full of Chinese people busy repairing houses.
Bishop Gonzalez met Van Diemen and Zheng Zhihu who were in a good mood in a luxurious residence that originally belonged to him. Qin Yiming, the general soldier, didn't care about negotiations and didn't know how to kidnap people, so he threw them all away. These two honest businessmen.
"Bishop, on behalf of the General Qin of the Ming Empire, I welcome you to Cavite," Anthony Van Diemen spoke fluent Spanish - Gonzalez is Spanish, and Zheng Zhihu can also speak a little Spanish. "Since the land battlefield of this Luzon War was solely responsible for the Ming Dynasty's army. Therefore, Chinese rules must also be used regarding the treatment of prisoners and the redemption of prisoners."
Gonzalez glanced at Zheng Zhihu, who had a fierce look on his face - he had heard about this person and also knew that the official party represented by Zheng Zhihu was a reputable businessman. Whether it is collecting protection fees or kidnapping, they are all very reputable and you can definitely cooperate with them with confidence.
"What are the Chinese rules?"
Zheng Zhihu said with a smile: "Actually, there are three points. One is the meat tickets... no, the private property of the captives will be confiscated! The second is that the low-status prisoners must support themselves and work for us; the third is that redemption can be wholesale and retail Two ways.”
"What are wholesale and retail?" Gonzalez sounded a little strange, "Can wholesale be cheaper?"
Zheng Zhihu said with a smile: "Of course...the wholesale price is an average of 1,000 silver pesos per person! The retail price varies from person to person, and it is very troublesome to set the price individually. For someone like the Bishop, you have to It’s a little more expensive, at least 300,000 silver pesos. Bishop, do you think you should choose wholesale or retail?”
"Wholesale, of course wholesale!" Gonzalez said quickly, "There are about 2,000 Spanish people in Santiago. Each person costs 1,000 silver pesos, which is 2 million silver pesos. Isn't that expensive?"
Zheng Zhihu said with a smile: "How many Spaniards there are in Santiago City, you don't care. We will count them ourselves."
Gonzalez did not expect how big the baskets would be if he asked Zheng Zhihu to "count", so he nodded and said: "Okay, then you can count them yourself!"
