Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 717 The Ming Navy Arrives in Manila

"Your Excellency, please don't worry about the situation in front of you, everything is moving towards the good side.

In the past month, the number of merchant ships coming to Manila from the Ming Dynasty has also been increasing. Last week, five merchant ships stopped or traded in Manila, and three of them were merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty.

According to the greedy character of the businessmen of the Ming Dynasty, when the situation in Manila has completely calmed down, our trade with the Ming Dynasty will be completely restored after half a year, and our financial support for the country will become very strong again. "

After seeing Perez's absent-minded expression, Thiago easily guessed what the governor was thinking, so he comforted him with a smile in a relaxed tone.

"I wish it was as you said.

You have to know how important the deal with the Ming people is to us in Spain.

In this world, only the Ming Empire can produce exquisite silk, porcelain, paper, and sugar. These commodities are deeply loved by European nobles, and they are also the most important source of fiscal revenue for our Spanish government.

Therefore, we need to strengthen our friendly relationship with the Ming Empire, and hope that the accident a few months ago will not cause us much trouble!

To this day, I still have reservations about sending an army against such a vast empire.

I don't think our top brass would have agreed to such an absurd proposal if they had had the foresight.

Because once the action fails, the consequences will be very bad, and it will make our domestic economy, which is already in decline, irreparable! "

Thiago's remarks made Perez's depressed mood slightly better, but he still took this opportunity to express his dissatisfaction with Etro and Thiago's suggestion to send troops to attack Ming.

The families of Thiago and Etro are very powerful and influential in Spain, so their proposals or suggestions are likely to be supported by the family and eventually passed by the government.

The Spanish government, which has already sunk down, is very eager to boost the morale of the country through the victory of a foreign war.

Because the victory of the war will bring huge wealth and markets, which will allow Spain to quickly recover and restore the glory of the Habsburg dynasty and its supremacy in Europe.

Based on this kind of thinking, Perez concluded that the possibility of Etro and Thiago's proposal being passed is very high, but the final outcome may not be as wonderful as imagined.

"Your Excellency, the current domestic situation in Spain is already very bad. If we only want to restore the economy through normal trade, that is a very naive point of view.

The fleet strength of the Dutch and the British has widened the gap with ours. As far as I know, the purpose of the Dutch sending a mission to visit the Ming Dynasty this time is to monopolize the European market for Ming products, although the two sides have not reached an agreement. Unanimous, but the strategic intentions of the Dutch are already very obvious.

I think that the Dutch will definitely strengthen their trade with the Ming Dynasty in the future, and the number of merchant ships they send to the Far East will increase dramatically. If that happens, the result will be terrible!

Please imagine, Your Excellency the Governor.

If from now on, dozens of Dutch merchant ships travel between Europe and the Ming Dynasty every year, will the merchants of the Ming Dynasty take the risk of forming a fleet to come to Manila to trade with us?
I don't need to say the answer, you can know it too!
In recent years, our Spanish merchant ships going to Mexico and Chile have been frequently attacked. About five Spanish merchant ships are looted every year. Although there is no evidence to prove who did it, the damn Dutch and British are The most suspect! "

The more he talked, the more angry Thiago put down his teacup and stood up, waving his hands to vent his inner emotions, and his tone and voice became high-pitched.

"When our noble Spanish empire was at its strongest, neither the Dutch nor the English were eligible to pay us tribute!
But now, we have fallen to the point where we are casually bullied by these barbarians!This is absolutely unacceptable to us!

That's why I agree with Mr. Etero's proposal and invite you to sign the paperwork!
We need the wealth of the Ming Dynasty, very much!
Although the Ming Dynasty has a long history, they are now like a dying patient. At this time, if we don't grab a hand, are we going to give up so much wealth to others?
Since the Dutch agreed to send troops with us, it means that they also have the same thoughts as us!
The Ming Dynasty is like a wounded wolf, and we are the hunters!
Therefore, war is inevitable, and it won't be long before the wealth accumulated by the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years will belong to our Spanish Empire!
As long as we defeat their army and kill their emperor, we can rule the Ming Dynasty like we ruled Manila, and drive their people to produce a lot of wealth for us, and we will turn this huge wealth into a power to conquer Europe Soldiers and arms, let the land of Europe tremble because of us!"

Just as Thiago was dreaming of restoring the former glory of the empire, a large fleet had quietly approached the sea off Manila Bay.

After receiving the order from the Ministry of War, Jinghaibo Zheng Zhilong, after analyzing and communicating with Zheng Zhibao, decided to send the main warships of the South China Sea Fleet——Jinghai and Jingyuan to participate in this operation.

These two warships were Western-style two-masted gunships captured during the fierce battle between the Zheng family's fleet and the Dutch fleet. After several years of repairs, they became the most advanced and powerful gunboats in the Far East.

Jinghai and Jingyuan have the same specifications, with a full-load displacement of 32 tons. The entire ship is 11 meters long, 15 meters wide, [-] meters deep, and has a draft of four and a half meters. It has three decks and is loaded with fifty guns of various calibers. The guns are arranged on both sides of the ship and on the front deck.

These two giant ships each carry [-] soldiers, except for the gunners, loaders, resetters, and sailors, the rest are jumping helpers equipped according to the traditional maritime forces of the Ming Dynasty.

Although Zheng Zhilong appreciated the recommendation of the Dutch, he still believed that once a melee battle with the enemy fleet occurred, he would have to rely on jumping from the gang to win the victory. Therefore, he specially submitted to the court and asked the Ministry of War to issue flintlock guns and short guns for use in melee combat.

In addition to the two giant ships Jinghai and Jingyuan, the South China Sea Fleet also dispatched more than [-] other large and small ships, with more than [-] soldiers.

These large and small ships are equipped with a series of close-combat weapons such as spray guns, fire bricks, smoke pots, rockets, crossbow bolts, javelins, machetes, rattan cards, and nail guns. They can be said to be armed to the teeth. Ships of [-] to [-] tons will quickly approach the enemy ship, and then look for opportunities to jump to help fight.

　Thanks to Lan Shuyue for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)