On July 24, the 16th year of Wanli's reign, the "Left-wing Hussars", a short-circuit express ship, arrived at Tianjin Port. Two days later, the captain of the ship, Luo Yuan, arrived in Beijing and reported the entire expedition process to Gao Pangshi in person. Not only the battle process, but also the detailed process of the negotiations with the Spanish colonial authorities in Manila, the withdrawal of the Spanish troops from the city of Manila, and the entry of the land division under Gao Yimin to take over the city of Manila.
On the evening of the next day, Gao pragmatically called a meeting of dignitaries from Beijing and Central China at the Rixin Building on the grounds of the "regular financial meeting of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance". All the dignitaries from Beijing and their families attended the meeting.
There is no need to go into details about the battle report during the expedition, because a brief battle report has been sent before. Luo Yuan mainly talked about the negotiation and the process of entering the city. However, there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the process itself. On the contrary, after these, another part of Luo Yuan's report aroused everyone's attention.
Which part of the report? It refers to a conclusion that Gao Zhenxin and Gao Yimin reached at the same time after comparing the intelligence they knew before the war with the intelligence they learned after occupying Manila. They knew why the Spaniards chose to evacuate Manila "very easily".
As we all know, during the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty sent envoys to comfort the Southeast Asian countries for their surrender. However, due to the initial rule of the world, the foreign policy was relatively negative and strict sea bans were imposed on the southeastern coast.
By the time of Emperor Chengzu, the surrounding areas of the Ming Dynasty were pacified. Due to the policy of "recuperation and recuperation", the country's national strength was growing. Zhu Di wanted to develop overseas and began to adopt a more open foreign policy. He sent envoys everywhere to attract foreign countries to come to Korea. , there were frequent tribute trade exchanges for a time.
From Hongwu to Yongle, in the Philippine Islands, Luzon, Hemaoli, Fengjiashilan, Gumalailang, Sulu and other places sent envoys to China 15 times. Objectively speaking, the development of the economy and the increasingly advanced navigation and shipbuilding technology have also made the Ming Dynasty's influence on the island countries of Southeast Asia increasing day by day. Trade with other countries is no longer limited to the "Western" countries. The relationship between the Philippine island countries located in the "Eastern Ocean" and the Ming Dynasty They have also become closer and more frequent, and both official tribute exchanges and private trade have become more frequent than those of previous dynasties.
Around 1565 to 1571, the Spanish colonial expedition headed by Legazpi relied on firearms and crosses to occupy the central and northern parts of the Philippines as their colonial stronghold. The political, economic, and foreign affairs of Philippine society were directly controlled by the Spanish colonial government. However, the Spanish still pretended to be the Kingdom of Luzon to communicate with the outside world, especially the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty knew nothing about it at that time.
As mentioned before, before Spain occupied Luzon, there were already several Chinese immigrants living here. When Gaudy arrived in Manila in May 1570, "there were 40 married Chinese living in this town." However, overall the number of Chinese living in Luzon at that time was still very small, "living among the natives." ".
The Chinese came to the Philippines in large numbers much later, that is, after the Spanish colonists occupied the Philippines. The reason is that not long after the Spanish occupied the Philippine Islands, trade between West China flourished.
At that time, local productivity in the Philippines was backward and all kinds of products were scarce. The Spanish colonial authorities urgently needed to maintain trade relations with the Ming Dynasty merchants who came to Luzon to meet local handicraft production, technical services and their daily needs. The Spanish colonial authorities also had to ensure that Manila The port served as a transit point for the galleon trade—the basis of Manila's prosperity.
Therefore, the authorities in West Philippines adopted a friendly and kind attitude toward the Ming Dynasty merchants and craftsmen who came to the Philippines in the early days. They "welcomed overseas Chinese to immigrate to the Philippines and encouraged West China trade."
At the time of the Ming Dynasty, the coastal people could not bear the domestic political situation of internal and external troubles, frequent Japanese invasion, and harsh taxation policies. In particular, Fujian is close to Luzon. After the "Longqing Switch", the domestic chaos slowly ended, but at that time a new shipping route from Yuegang to Luzon was opened, so a large number of local people went to the Philippines to participate in trade. After the rise of private ports, the scale of this trade was further expanded.
The continuous development of Sino-Philippine trade has stimulated the enthusiasm of Chinese people to go to the Philippines, resulting in a significant increase in the number of Chinese in the Philippines. The Spanish Governor in the Philippines, Lavisalis, mentioned in his report in 1573: “During the two years we spent on this island (1571-1573), the Chinese arrived every year with greater numbers and more ships. arrival".
At this time, the trade between the people of the Ming Dynasty and the Philippines was relatively stable, but politically speaking, there was no direct contact between the Ming court and the West Philippine authorities.
At this time, specifically in 1574 (the second year of Wanli), the first major event in the history of relations between the Ming Dynasty and West Africa occurred: the Lin Feng incident.
Lin Feng, a native of Raoping County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province, was a famous pirate on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty from the late Jiajing period to the early Wanli period. In the first year of Wanli (1573), Lin Feng was besieged by Liu Raojie, the governor of Fujian, and Zhang Yuandong, the commander-in-chief, so he fled to the barbarians: "Lin Feng was unable to stand up under the precautions and pursuit of local officers and soldiers. This gave Lin Feng the motive to seek a way out of the Philippines."
The tribe led by Lin Feng included 2,000 soldiers and sailors each, 1,500 women, and hundreds of farmers and mechanics. In addition to weapons and food, the ships also carried livestock, agricultural tools and seeds.
It can be seen from the personnel and items carried by the fleet to the Philippines that Lin Feng's trip to the Philippines was of an immigration nature to a considerable extent.
In the winter of the second year of Wanli (1574), due to the suppression of the government and the pressure of the emerging Jinghua fleet, when Lin Feng set off from Taiwan to Luzon, the Ming court learned of the matter. Official records: "...expelled by the officers and soldiers, Feng Yin went overseas, attacked Tortoiseshell Port in Luzon, built a city and defended it, built warships, and plotted to threaten the foreigners, and then succeeded in his plan. Liu Rao, the governor of Fujian, sent someone to tell the king of Luzon, We gathered all the troops to attack it, the warships were burned down, and the thieves were in chaos."
The "Fujian Governor Liu Rao sent people to inform the Lord of Luzon" mentioned in this, which was the first official negotiation between the Ming Dynasty and Xifei.
In May 1575, Chaozhou Commander Wang Wangao led two warships from Quanzhou to the Philippines to capture Lin Feng. When he learned that the Spanish army was besieging Lin Feng, he transferred to Manila to meet with Spanish officials. The result of the negotiation between the two parties was that the West Philippine authorities captured Lin Feng and handed it over to Wang Wanggao. In exchange, Wang Wanggao returned to China with Spanish missionaries on the ship, demanding trade and missionary work.
In February 1576, Wang Wanggao went to the Philippines again, firstly to allow Xiamen to be used as an outlet for trade (but instead of Spanish ships entering Xiamen for trade, Ming Dynasty's own merchants still departed from Xiamen for trade in the Philippines), and secondly for " Lin Feng was captured alive."
When he learned that Lin Feng had escaped, he asked the Governor of Xifei to work with him to fabricate perjury that Lin Feng was dead, but the Spaniards refused. However, after he returned to China, he still reported false claims. For example, Fujian officials reported to the court: "The general Wang Gao and others defeated the bandit Lin Feng in the sea with the Lu Song Yi soldiers. They burned the boat and beheaded him, and Feng defeated and escaped. He beheaded multiple levels again, and The tributes and artifacts sent by Lu Song can be used to advance."
In this way, there is also a record of this matter in "Ming Shilu", which says that in September of the 1910s in the fourth year of Wanli, the Ministry of Rites discussed rewarding Lu Song for razing Lin Feng.
At this point, the negotiation between China and the Philippines on the Lin Feng incident ended - the Ming Dynasty also rewarded the Spaniards who obeyed orders honestly and sent troops to help suppress the incident.
Although the incident itself seemed a bit weird and even funny, Lin Feng's incident unexpectedly dampened the Spanish colonists' delusions of planning an expedition to China, because "Lin Feng Zhengfei will inevitably leave an impression in the minds of the Spaniards, a person who was expelled from China." The pirates still have the strength to almost capture Manila. China’s strength obviously cannot be underestimated.”
This was also the first time that the colonial rule of the West Philippine authorities was threatened by the Chinese. Since then, the West Philippine authorities have been wary of the Chinese. The governor who came to the Philippines in 1575 immediately built fortifications in Manila and built forts and bastions in an attempt to hold on.
In the following time, maritime trade between China and the Philippines continued to develop, and the number of Chinese living in Manila increased sharply. According to this, after the war, Gao Yimin learned from the missionary in Manila: "In 1584, there were dozens of large ships coming to the Philippines from China, and more than 4,000 Chinese merchants traveled south with them."
According to a report from the Supreme Court of Manila, Audencia, to King Philip II of Castile before the war broke out in June of this year (June 1588), it was said that “the overseas Chinese population in Manila has reached nearly 20,000, and those scattered in various provinces That doesn’t even count.”
As the "Invincible Fleet" offensive was blocked (referring to the time when many ships were burned by Drake's surprise attack before the expedition), Spain tightened its strength. At this time, the rapid growth in the number and economic power of the Chinese in the Philippines made the Spanish The Philippine authorities are somewhat panicked.
The Chinese have become several times or even ten times more numerous than the Spanish, and have monopolized almost all daily commercial trade. This gap has caused the West Philippine authorities to further adopt a vigilant attitude and restrictive policies towards the Chinese in Manila.
Prior to this, in 1582, the West Philippine authorities forced all Chinese in Manila to live concentratedly in a detention area between the north of Manila and the Pasig River, called "Pallian".
Since then, Chinese trade and movement have been subject to considerable restrictions. Starting from the time of Governor Langillo Peña Rossa, the Chinese were conscripted into hard labor, and it became a rule thereafter that the Chinese were conscripted into all expeditions and major projects. For example, Westerners treat serving Chinese people like slaves.
This situation finally triggered an incident after the Beiyang Fleet expedition and achieved an overwhelming advantage:
"In early July of the 16th year of Wanli (1588), the (expedition) army besieged Manila on both land and sea. The barbarian chief de Vera ordered 250 people from the exiles to join the army to help in the battle.
The barbarians lay down and lay down, but the Chinese were made to patrol day and night. If they were tired, they would often smash them, or they would be punished painfully and taste the bitter poison. The famous Pan He Wu and other conspirators said: "Death by rebelling, beating to death, stabbing to death, etc., otherwise you will die in battle. If you don't kill the chief to vent my anger, if you win, your clothes will be returned to you, that is, you will not win, but you will not die." Late too. '
It was decided that he would go to bed in the middle of the night and sneak into the Governor's Mansion to assassinate the chieftain, holding the barbarian's head and shouting. The Yi chiefs were startled and did not know what they were doing. The Yi guards were all killed and the Yi chiefs fled in their sleeping clothes, only escaping with their own bodies. "
What this internal report says is: After Manila was besieged, de Vera, while negotiating with Gao Zhenxin and others, recruited 250 Chinese as colonial vassals inside Manila and asked them to patrol the city day and night. At this time, the Spanish army should eat and sleep, while the Chinese army was punished at every turn and worked hard, so a big brother appeared to take the lead.
The leading brother was named Pan Hewu. He told his brothers that anyway, the left and the right would die, so it was better to kill De Vera. If it happened, the Beijing army entered the city and we returned home in glory, even if we didn't succeed, we would die. It's better than being bullied into this by the Spaniards.
Apparently everyone agreed, so Pan and the Five Bands quietly sneaked into the Philippine Governor's Mansion in the middle of the night, and suddenly a rebellion broke out. Working together internally and externally, they killed everyone in the Governor's Mansion. The guards at the Governor's Palace tried to stop him, but they were all killed.
Governor de Vera was of course horrified, and without caring about any aristocratic manners or gentlemanly demeanor, he immediately fled in his pajamas, "only to save himself." The rebellious Pan and Wu and others took advantage of the chaos in the city to sneak to a city gate, seize control of the city gate, and successfully escape from the city.
Unfortunately, the expeditionary force was negotiating with the Spaniards at that time, and the Army Division was digging the Pasig River to store water, which was far away from the city gate. It was too late to take advantage of the situation and attack the city. Only Pan and Wu Yi Xing were picked up and protected in the army.
This incident seriously deepened the suspicion of the Chinese in the West Philippine authorities. After some internal discussion, they believed that "China is a big country with a vast territory and a large population, and is very close to the Philippines. Now it has ambitions towards the Philippines, with tens of thousands of residents living there." Overseas Chinese in the Philippines have mobilized to cooperate. This situation is really dangerous. However, the Kingdom of Castile is far away in Europe and cannot engage in extensive immigration to the Philippines to facilitate confrontation, nor can it send a large number of troops. Therefore, the current situation is extremely dangerous and cannot be contained. .”
If the city was not besieged on land and sea, the furious Governor de Vera would almost certainly have launched a major purge of the Chinese in Manila. It is a pity that the current situation is critical. If the Chinese are purged in the city, not only is it very likely to arouse resistance from the Chinese, but it will also anger Commander Gao Zhenxin, who "seems to have a very bad temper". Then the negotiations will inevitably fail, and the Spanish in Manila will have to fight to the end. .
Fighting to the death sounds very passionate, but Governor de Vera is a nobleman and a politician. He does not want to be buried with the city of Manila, and he dare not drag the two to three thousand Castilians in the city to die together, and kill the prisoners by the way. of two thousand Castilian naval officers.
So he could only swallow the bitter pill and succumbed even more to Gao Zhenxin's "coercion."
He originally insisted on demanding during the negotiations that "the Ming court needs to sign a peace treaty with us and clearly recognize that the Ming court's territorial requirements for the restoration of Luzon only involve the original territory of the Kingdom of Luzon and are not allowed to extend beyond the country's original territory." He claimed and claimed the land." After this incident, he no longer dared to persist.
In this way, Gao Zhenxin and Gao Yimin, who arrived later, naturally followed the snake and followed the stick, saying that the territorial scope of the "Kingdom of Luzon" could not be decided until the Ming Dynasty carefully verified the history. The expeditionary force was only here to fight and could not do anything about it. We have to wait for the domestic reply to make precise requirements.
Is the "domestic reply" the imperial court's reply? It’s hard to say, but obviously the first internal meeting of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance held today will “answer” this question.
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