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Chapter 1315 The Fall of Luzon

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    ??Outside the window of the ward, there is a unique peach tree in Lingnan, with dense dark green leaves. The crown of the tree is large and wide, like an umbrella, shielding the people in the ward from the scorching afternoon sun.

    The dining table has been removed, and Zhao Hao and the two old Master Pans were drinking tea while discussing the plan to reopen the Maritime Silk Road.

    "But it is difficult to take over these millions of Nanyang trendy people for your own use." Pan Zhonghe picked up a small tea cup and took a sip of Beiyuan Tea Ceremony: "These people are naturally emotionally different from those maritime merchants.  Pirates are closer to each other and have great distrust of the government. Moreover, most of them have been rooted in various countries in Southeast Asia for generations, so intimidation by the fleet alone will not be effective."

    "That's right, so what if your boat is strong and powerful? I haven't been to the sea for a few years, but I still live well in the local area." Pan Jixun also nodded. He is a big river sect and has some instinctive prejudice against the ocean sect.

    "No, no, Nanyang is no longer peaceful." Zhao Hao shook his head and smiled lightly: "According to the latest news from Luzon Station, the Spanish have captured Manila, and the local Sultan Suleiman died in the battle. The Spanish occupied  After Manila, high-pressure rule was adopted again, and the life of the local Han people was already very difficult"

    When Zhao Hao finished the trial voyage and returned to Tamna last time, he received reports from Jiangnan Trading's trading stations in Cebu and Manila, saying that the Spaniards had begun to frequently spy on Manila, and were purchasing military supplies and recruiting in Macau, Annan, Malacca and other places.  Aboriginal soldiers.  There are various signs that they are about to launch an invasion of the Little Luzon Sultanate in Manila.

    When Zhao Hao arrived in Chaozhou, he received the latest report - Spain's so-called "Governor of the Philippines" Legaspi, with the support of Mexican reinforcements, formed a force including 400 Spaniards and five large sailing ships.  , a fleet with more than 2,000 troops and 23 large and small ships launched an invasion of Manila.

    In the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, it was simply wishful thinking to conquer a country with just over 2,000 people, most of whom were indigenous mercenaries with low combat effectiveness.

    But that¡¯s an illusion caused by the Ming Dynasty¡¯s isolation from the country for a long time.  This army of two thousand people is more than enough to deal with the Southeast Asian countries that have not yet formed a strong national organization.

    In fact, Legazpi only planned to invest half of his troops to deal with the native soldiers of Luzon.  The other half of the force was used to guard against sneak attacks from behind by Portugal and the Ming Dynasty's Dahai Lord.  Especially the Portuguese in Macau, who had already held a grudge against them for blatantly violating the treaty and occupying Cebu. Now that they saw that the Spaniards were pushing their limits and wanted to completely occupy Luzon, there was no guarantee that they would not jump out and disturb their good deeds.

    As for the more powerful Ming Empire?  Legazpi was not worried, because Spain was also a big empire, so he knew how slow it was for such a country to make decisions.  I'm afraid that by the time the Ming Dynasty makes a decision and dispatches the fleet, the grass on the grave of Sultan Suleiman of Luzon will be two feet high, right?

    Soon after the Spanish fleet went to sea, it encountered wind and waves. Two ships leaked water and returned. In the end, only 880 people landed in Manila Bay.  But those hill-like giant ships and rows of roaring artillery had scared the leader of the Lord's faction, Raja Matanda, to remove his defenses and raise the white flag to surrender, allowing the Spaniards to enter Manila unscathed.

    But the battle is not over yet.  Because Suleiman, the Sultan of Luzon, had taken the initiative to withdraw to the north to buy time to unite all forces and seek help from neighboring countries and the sovereign country.

    But the execution of the plan was not smooth. None of the countries in Southeast Asia were willing to offend the terrifying Francois easily They could not distinguish between Spain and Portugal, so they confused them.

    There is nothing wrong with this, because they are the same species, but the former is stronger and therefore more brutal and direct, while the latter is weaker and uses more roundabout methods.

    Ming Dynasty is not afraid of Spain, it is terrible trouble.  Moreover, the imperial court in Beijing has always been very dissatisfied with attracting people from Fujian and Guangdong to abandon their homes and travel to the sea to escape the royal Luzon Kingdom.  Even considering Spain's invasion as a punishment for defectors and harborers, how could it possibly send troops to assist?

    With foreign aid cut off, Suleiman could only rely on his own people. However, the indigenous people on Luzon Island were in disarray, and their mobilization power was appallingly low.  In the end, Suleiman tried his best to recruit only 2,000 people.

    "Compared with the shortage of troops, the gap in weapons and equipment is even more disappointing.  The so-called warships of the Luzon natives are up to 25 meters long and have a slender hull that can carry more than two hundred people.  But 80 percent of them were oarsmen, and there were only thirty or forty fighting soldiers.

    These soldiers stood on a high platform in the middle of the ship, holding javelins, bows, arrows, and darts to fight the enemy. They were extremely primitive and backward.  Compared with them, Japan's navy is a powerful armada.

    So this is a desperate war whose outcome is already doomed before it even begins.  Suleiman, with all his troops, had just sailed into Manila Bay when he was attacked.They suffered heavy shelling from the Spanish fleet and suffered heavy losses.

    However, Suleiman still ordered the fleet to continue charging, hoping to close in on the invaders and use their strength to start a hand-to-hand battle.

    However, he didn¡¯t know that his opponent¡¯s navy was the strongest in the world and would not give him any chance.  Facing these fragile boats that were overestimated, the Spanish galleons didn't even need to fire their cannons. They just grabbed the wind and ran into them with full sails, sinking these natives with ease.

    In the end, Suleiman was shot and killed, and his fleet was wiped out.  In order to frighten the local indigenous people, Legazpi ordered all the prisoners to be killed, and their heads were hung in Manila as a warning to others.  As expected, the locals were so frightened that no one dared to resist the invaders.

    Then, Legazpi moved the governor's palace from Cebu to Luzon and forced all Luzon people to convert to Catholicism.  This is nothing to the local indigenous people, because the Dashi Cult has only been spread locally for a short time. Only the upper-class nobles believe in Allah, and the majority of lower-class civilians are still very unclear.  So Legazpi killed all the upper-level officials who dared to resist, and forced those who did not dare to resist to convert, and the matter was settled.

    The Spaniards are most worried about the Chinese community, which numbers more than 20,000 people.  With one-tenth of the population, this group controls 80% of the local wealth.  And it was backed by the powerful Ming Empire This was of course Legaspi's misjudgment. In fact, the Ming Dynasty regarded these overseas Han people as thieves and wanted to get rid of them quickly.

    Of course, the Chinese would not tell the Spaniards this. The Spaniards knew they were in the wrong when they invaded and occupied the Ming vassal country, and they would not take the initiative to confront their suzerain country, so they have been kept in the dark for many years

    ??~~

    "Spain is a very interesting country." Mr. Zhao said slowly to the two old masters Pan while sipping Chaoshan Kung Fu tea:

    "Although they were the first country to start large-scale voyages, they have always been very conservative. They don't want their gold and silver to flow out, and they don't want their wealth to be made by foreigners. With the mentality of 'there are always unscrupulous people who want to harm me,' they treat all foreigners, especially  They are pagans, extremely hostile and defensive. So one can imagine the situation of the local Chinese."

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this ¡®washed duck¡¯ just a local tyrant and evil gentry who does bad things?¡± Pan Jixun laughed and said in disbelief: ¡°This kind of thing can build an empire on which the sun never sets?¡±

    "First, they have an early start." Zhao Hao said with a smile: "And their army is really strong. Not only is the navy strong, but the army is also strong. If we want to reopen the Maritime Silk Road, they are the enemies we must defeat.  !¡±

    "Then take action early and drive them out of Luzon before they have a firm foothold!" After Pan Zhongzhen came to Guangdong, he truly felt how close the red-haired ghost was to the Ming Dynasty.  How can you allow others to snore on the side of the couch?  The old professor, who always convinced people with his virtue, naturally started shouting and killing.

    "I think so too, but how can it be that easy?" Zhao Hao spread his hands and said: "Our fleet, which has only been established for more than two years, is not the opponent of the Spaniards. Even if we can fight with them, we can't.  We don¡¯t have the conditions to fight with it at all!¡±

    "Why?"

    Facing the puzzled looks of the two old masters, Zhao Hao pointed to the leftmost tea cup on the tea tray in front of him and said: "Our coast guard fleet is on Tamna Island."

    Then he pointed to the tea cup on the far right and said: "The Spanish fleet is on Luzon Island. The distance between the two places is more than four thousand miles."

    Then he pointed to the teapot, justice cup and other utensils between the two teacups and said: "In the middle there are Ryukyu and Taiwan Oh no, senior officials, and the masters of Fujian and Guangdong who are making trouble in the middle. No.  After all these forces are settled, how can our fleet go south?"

    "Uh" The two old Master Pans smacked their lips and fell silent.  They had been officials of the Ming Dynasty, so they would naturally despise the forces at sea.  But this time, the fleet that once covered the sky, didn't they have a deep enough impression?

    Fortunately, this siege was originally designed to exploit weaknesses and avoid strengths. What would happen if we encountered such a huge fleet at sea?  Just thinking about it makes you shudder, right?

    "In addition, we have to be famous both internally and externally." Zhao Hao sighed again, a little confused: "Externally, Luzon is not a hostile Japan, and the flow of people and information with Fujian and Guangdong is very frequent. So it is not  It may be like in Japan, even if the sky is broken, no one in the country will know about it.¡±

    The two old Master Pan are both veteran cadres with extremely high political awareness, so they naturally understand what Zhao Hao means.  Without an upright name as a cover, rashly sending a fleet to Luzon to start a war will eventually arouse the jealousy of the imperial court.  At that time, there will be big trouble!

    "What about external affairs?" Pan Jixun asked again.

    "Externally? Nine out of ten countries in Nanyang are vassals of our Ming Dynasty. Although they have been in power for more than a hundred years, they have received the blessings of the Celestial Empire." Zhao Hao said with a teasing smile: "After all, like me  The Ming Dynasty also adheres to the principle of 'little comes, thick goes', which has been unshakable for two hundred years, but it is rare to see it in a thousand years."

    ps. First update, please vote for me!  !  !  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com)He said with a smile: "After all, it is rare to see a suzerain country like me, the Ming Dynasty, that has adhered to the principle of 'little come and thick go' for two hundred years."

    ps. First update, please vote for me!  !  !  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
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