Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1192 Manila Galen

The meeting room of the executive committee was full of people - besides the executive committee, the heads of almost all ministries and commissions came - this is a typical enlarged meeting.The superficial reason is, of course, that this matter is of great importance and belongs to a "national policy" level action.In fact, everyone knows how many people's youthful "pirate dreams" are carried in it.

Even several people from the financial department came - their reason was to evaluate the cost and benefits of the operation.Including the impact of this large amount of silver on the financial situation of the Senate.

The Ministry of Financial Superintendent planned to start promoting circulating coupons in Guangzhou and other "yellow areas" at the end of 1632.As a result, a certain amount of precious metal reserves is bound to be required.The original circulation of precious metals, which can roughly meet the demand for imports, is insufficient.This silver income has become quite important.

There are large wooden basins on the four corners of the meeting room and the open space in the middle, and the huge ice cubes are emitting a white cool air. Even so, the room is still a bit hot

The meeting room of the executive committee was originally set up to accommodate 25 people for meetings, but now there are nearly NO.40 people squeezed in, and the heat emitted by the excessive human body makes everyone sweat profusely.But the atmosphere in the room was warm, and no one cared.

Wen Desi, as the chairman of the executive committee, announced the start of the meeting.Qian Shuiting went to the podium with a briefcase of materials he carefully prepared, and motioned to close the curtains—not for the sake of secrecy, but because he wanted to use a projector.

"Comrades, I will now make a brief report on the operation of robbing the Manila Galleon." As he spoke, he turned on his laptop and projector.

He first explained the origin of Manila Galen, which departs from New Spain (Spanish American colony) every February and March and arrives in Manila between May and July every year.Two Galen ships are dispatched each time.

The Manila Galen was a royal ship, and the main purpose of the voyage to Manila was to deliver subsidies for the Philippine Governor—that is, the administrative expenses of the Spanish colonial government in Manila.The amount of this money varies from year to year, usually between 20 and 30 pesos.

In the fiscal revenue of the Philippine colony, the largest part comes from silver shipped from the Americas, followed by taxes and license fees collected from the local Chinese. However, compared to the huge expenses and poor income of the colonial government, if there is no royal subsidy, The Philippine government cannot sustain itself.Every letter from the Governor of the Philippines to the King cries for poverty and asks for more grants.

"I found out the detailed amount of royal subsidy received by the Philippine colony from the Americas from 1630 to 1634. Last year it was 203,915 pesos, and this year it was 232,569 pesos. We know that the weight of each peso is about 37 grams. If calculated in this way, it is eight tons of silver."

This number is not particularly attractive, so Qian Shuiting has more to add.

"Although the royal family subsidy funds are not very large, there are other non-royal properties on Manila Galleon, such as the payment for the purchase of goods by the governor of New Spain and merchants in the Philippines, and the payment for goods sold by Philippine merchants in the Americas. The latter two amounts are Very big, the smuggling trade between the two colonies of New Spain and the Philippines is very rampant—including the governor himself is also involved—a large amount of Chinese goods are transported to America through this route. Although we cannot I know how much silver was loaded on each ship, but Manila Galen was robbed four times in history. Once I got 100 million pesos coins, twice it was worth about 200 million pesos, and once I did it badly. I also got hard currency worth 80 to 100. So each shipment of silver coins and goods may be worth about 50 million pesos. We can get at least [-] pesos if we capture a ship-probably far away. More than that. We know that most of the silver that flowed in at the end of the Ming Dynasty came from American silver traded in Manila—so it is impossible for Manila Galen to only bring these silver coins every time.”

This data made everyone present commotion.This loot is too tempting.

"How is the armed situation of these ships?" Chen Haiyang, head of naval military command, asked.He cares more about this issue.

"According to the information we have, there were two Manila galleons in 1632: the flagships SAN LUIS and SAN RAIMUNDO. However, there is no detailed record of the tonnage of the ships." Qian Shuiting said Then he pressed the keyboard, and the next slide was displayed - a side section structure diagram of Galen of Spain.

"However, according to the available information, these ships must be Galenic ships. Please see, this is a typical structure of a Galenic ship." He pointed to the slide, "I found the composition of the Spanish Far East Fleet in 1627. We can use the largest of these ships to estimate the equipment and personnel of these ships."

Flagship of the Far East Fleet: Galleon San Ildefonso, 1400 tons, 41 guns, 651 men, slightly smaller Galleon Santa Teresa de Jesús, 1150 tons, 39 guns, 495 men, Galleon Peña de Francia, 1000 tons , 34 guns, and a total of 437 people.

"Because this fleet is also responsible for the task of transporting troops on land, nearly half of the personnel on board are army soldiers and artillery. Manila Galen will not carry so many troops. So we can estimate that these two ships should be 1000 tons Left and right, 40 guns, 400 soldiers and sailors."

"In addition to gold and silver, the dozens of light and heavy cannons and dozens of tons of copper on the ship are also a considerable fortune. If the ship can be towed back, the wood and sails on it are also very useful." Wu De said as soon as he opened his mouth Out of the true nature of the Planning Institute.

"That's right." Qian Shuiting nodded, "As Defoe said: a ship is a floating treasure house—especially this kind of regular ship that travels between two colonies. The cargo is also an asset to us."

"According to your information, our navy can defeat the silver ship relatively easily. After all, the effective range, rate of fire and penetration of our front-loading rifled guns are much stronger than the Spaniard's big snake and half snake gun Already." Lin Shenhe, who attended the meeting, said.

"Your original touch fuze won't work. What we want is capture, not sinking. The Spaniards can use all kinds of shells without scruples. But they don't have explosive shells anyway, and it is useless to pull the 901 out to hit them. Question. When the British attacked the Armada, the typical shelling distance was only 100 meters." Mr. Wen summed it up confidently.

Generally speaking, the veterans are still very confident in their naval ships, and so far, both 854 and 901 are lonely masters at sea, and they have never really driven meat. Only a few 901s have carried out cross-shore firepower in Shandong Support missions.

"However, the main problem is actually search and discovery." Qian Shuiting released a map of the Philippines with a projector, "From the known information, the silver transport ship came from the Philippine Sea in the east, passed through Luzon Island and Sasa The San Bernardino Strait between the Falkland Islands, after entering the Sibuyan Sea, and then through the strait north of Mindoro Island to Manila."

"Isn't this almost going backwards in the direction of the coward Kurita?"

"In my opinion, you can choose the strait north of Mindoro, the Sibuyan Sea or the San Bernardino Strait for interception."

Immediately someone came out to criticize: "Don't even think about the first two interception points. There are so many islands and straits in the Philippines. Where can we get such detailed hydrological data? If we run aground, we will really lose nothing. Nimi It ran aground there when I was developing a small DD in the 20th century - and I was forgiven because the hydrological data there are too complex."

"I think we might as well take Manila and take over the colony directly. The Philippines is rich in natural resources..."

"It's not difficult to take Manila. The Spaniards don't have many troops in the Philippines."

Seeing that the topic was about to turn to the Manila Raiders, Ma Qianzhu began to speak: "Let me make a statement first: I am not in favor of taking down the Philippines-too diversify resources. Secondly, although I don't know much about naval technology Question. However, there are some important influences that need to be considered first: we now regard Zheng Yiguan as the current main opponent and target. The silver ship that hit Spain may have an additional enemy—although we are defending Bopu The war has already been fought, but that is not considered a public act. And we all know that a large amount of Spanish silver flows into China at this time, if we enter into a state of hostility with the Spaniards, will we lose this source?"

Wen Desi glanced at the participants: "I think the old horse is right. I personally think that it is better not to make too many enemies for the time being. Even if we can occupy Manila, there are not so many people to occupy and develop the Philippines. This time, it is enough to get a ticket, and there is always enough money. As for how to avoid entering a state of hostility with the Spaniards, I think it is nothing more than a confidentiality issue. You may wish to discuss this issue in detail. Of course, if it doesn’t work It's the easiest to silence everything. What do you think, old Qian?"

"Killing the Silver Ship will cause a serious economic blow to Zheng Zhilong - we have discussed this before." Qian Shuiting said, "As for complete secrecy, it is difficult to implement, our guns and ships are very special , and there is no guarantee that every sailor will keep their mouth shut—it will be even more difficult to keep the secret if the ship is towed back to the port for dismantling." Qian Shuiting said.

(End of this chapter)