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Chapter 558 Actively Prepare for War 2
"Colonel Juan, as a Spanish officer, have you been too indulgent during this time?"

I wanted to call the fleet commander and the bishop over to make arrangements, but after seeing Juan, my anger could no longer be suppressed. A dignified Spanish colonel, with wrinkled military uniform, unkempt face, bloodshot eyes, and obviously still hungover.

"Dear Lord Governor, the storm is coming soon. We will probably be buried in this cursed land. If we indulge a little before we die, God will not blame us."

But Colonel Juan didn't feel guilty at all. He just found a chair away from the desk and sat down. He took out a handful of tobacco from his pocket and put it in his mouth, chewing hard. The saliva flowed from the corner of his mouth. His cuffs were wiped, and he was ruder than the sailors on the ship.

"You... I hope this letter can cheer you up!" Governor Aguna really wanted to have this guy arrested and thrown into prison, but at the moment, Manila Port couldn't do without him, so he had to hold back his anger and throw Pang into jail. I crumpled my letter into a ball and threw it away.

“…Dear Lord Governor, I am now indifferent to anything coming from the native land… Bishop Joseph, please forgive my rudeness, but you must put your feet up, this is the Governor’s letter.”

It's a pity that Colonel Juan didn't want to look at it at all. He let the paper ball hit his shoulder and rolled to the door, too lazy to move. At this time, the door was opened, and a tall man wearing a cassock and a four-cornered hat walked in and stepped on the paper ball.

"Colonel Juan, a hangover is very harmful to the body. I suggest... Your Majesty the Governor, is the Ming Emperor going to declare war on Spain?"

The person who came was none other than Bishop Joseph of the Philippines. He lowered his head to pick up the ball of paper. While opening it, he tactfully criticized Colonel Juan. His speech was very slow and his voice was low. It sounded a bit sacred when he closed his eyes and listened. However, the speed of his speech soon became rapid, his voice no longer had the magnetism, and even his facial expressions lost their sense of sanctity.

"As far as I know, the Ming Emperor's imperial edict is equivalent to a declaration of war. Please forgive me, I still don't fully understand the thinking mode of Easterners." Governor Aguna was still piled behind the table and gave an ambiguous answer.

"Declaration of war? Who is declaring war with whom?" As soon as he heard about the war, Colonel Juan finally woke up and looked at the bishop with dark brown eyes. When he didn't get an answer, he turned to the governor.

"Read it for yourself. After reading it, please tell me and the bishop how many soldiers and ships we need to resist this irrational and crazy move." Governor Aguna pointed at the letter in the bishop's hand and stopped looking at it. Colonel An took a look, stood up, walked to the wine cabinet, poured a large glass of wine and handed it to Bishop Joseph.

"Haha... Hahaha... This is so funny. Three months ago, I seemed to have seen another declaration of war in this room. Yes, that was a declaration of war. In the eyes of the Ming Emperor, who loved him? To ignore it is an extremely serious insult.

Unfortunately, no one was willing to listen to me. They neither wanted to meet the Ming Emperor in person to explain the reasons, nor did they have any official documents authorized by the king to convey. They were not even willing to write to the Duke and the King about the matter.

Now, I only have 3 ships, less than 70 artillery pieces, and more than 2000 soldiers scattered in at least seven places. How to face several times the number of black sailing ships, several times the number of cannons, and countless enemies? "

At this time, Juan took the letter from the bishop's hand, glanced at it briefly, and then laughed uncontrollably. While laughing, he expressed his inner anguish, his voice getting louder and louder, and eventually turned into a roar.

If there is anyone who knows Ming Dynasty best among the Spanish officials stationed in the Philippines, it is none other than Colonel Juan. Ever since he secretly went to the Ming Dynasty as a special envoy, he began to pay attention to the Ming Dynasty navy all the time. Although he has a pure background in the army, as a commander of a garrison fleet who has been on an expedition to the Americas and participated in many small and medium-sized naval battles, it is difficult not to be interested in ships, especially ships that are not under his command.

In Manila Port, he heard Portuguese and Chinese businessmen mention black sailing ships, but he actually saw them from a distance outside Guangzhou Port. Although he couldn't see clearly, he was sure of one thing. The sailboat with black sails was not too big, and its speed and steering were very fast, making it very suitable for fighting on the sea.

Going north from Guangzhou Port, I saw two black sailing ships along the way, but the distance was still too far to see its true appearance. Until we arrived at the entrance of Dago and saw the black sailboat moored at the pier at close range, we could no longer calm down.

There are three identical three-masted sailing ships, each with a full-length gun deck and 3 gun ports on one side, for a total of 14 guns. If you include the four black sailing ships seen along the way, the Ming Navy has at least seven pure sailing warships equipped with full-length gun decks, with no less than 28 guns.

Although these sailing battleships are not as big as the battleships of the Spanish Armada and have more guns, their thin hulls indicate that they can move more freely and quickly in the sea. If two or three ships besiege a battleship with three gun decks, they will win. It’s really hard to tell if it’s negative.

However, if they are dealing with armed cargo ships used by the Philippine garrison fleet, in a one-on-one situation, Spain will most likely have the upper hand in the boarding battle, and the black sailing ships will definitely be more powerful in the artillery battle.

Unless the artillery equipped by the Ming Navy is too backward, or the gunner training level is too poor, the possibility of a boarding battle is very small. It was a bit like the British strategy against the Spanish galleons, rogue but effective.

Now that two years have passed, the Ming Navy must have more warships, while the Philippine garrison fleet only has one more brig and a hundred soldiers. It is almost impossible to win this naval battle.

"Colonel Juan, don't forget that we have strong city walls and fortresses. If we cannot defeat the Ming Emperor's army outside the port, we can still force them to retreat under the city walls. This should not be considered a failure. Your Excellency, Governor, you What does it mean?"

Even before the fight started, our own general began to badmouth him, which made Bishop Joseph very dissatisfied. In his opinion, the Ming Dynasty is indeed not worth fearing. A few hundred Portuguese sailors can occupy an island next to Guangzhou Port, which is enough to prove that the Ming Dynasty's military power is not strong.

Even though there were more people, there were hundreds or thousands of times more natives on the Philippine Islands than Spanish soldiers. They never gave up resistance, but the result was the same. The more they come, the more they die. As long as they withstand the attack for the first one or two days, they will retreat sooner or later.

"Well...if possible, I still hope that Colonel Juan can arrange to garrison the fleet to test the opponent's strength. If we can defeat the Ming Emperor's navy outside the harbor and capture a few important generals, maybe it can be used as a basis for negotiation. chips.

Like the Portuguese fishermen, asking for a piece of land or an island to build a castle and port along the coast of the Ming Dynasty would be a great achievement comparable to capturing the Manila Port! "

With the support of the bishop, Governor Aguna suddenly felt confident. He no longer thought about how to shrink his head and be a tortoise, but had the urge to take the initiative and use offense as defense. Of course, the following fantasies are just to inspire courage, and the real purpose is to prevent major damage to the Manila port and affect economic income.

(End of this chapter)