Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1420 Fort San Diego

In the past few days, Jiang Shan always walked into the office of the Foreign Intelligence Service a little later than usual in the morning.Moreover, he also developed an unobtrusive habit, as soon as he sat down, he would unconsciously put his hand under his nose, as if there was still a little bit of nice perfume on his fingers.

The secretary in the bureau sent the documents waiting to be processed and placed them in different document baskets according to different labels.This is the confidential secretary transferred from the political security confidentiality training class, and he is only responsible for work.Jiang Shan has never purchased a life secretary. He lives alone in an apartment and eats in the cafeteria.

He closed his eyes for a while to get rid of the lingering female image in his mind last night, and then picked up the document bag with a red stamp on the first floor. The label on the top indicated that this document came from Macau Station.The level of the letter is Urgent and Top Secret.

The Macao station is a main window for the Foreign Intelligence Agency to spy on the movements of Europeans in Southeast Asia and maintain a channel with the Jesuits. It enjoys the position of the first-class station.

Opening the kraft paper bag sealed with sealing wax, a European-style letter slipped out of it.He knew from the exaggerated coat of arms that it was Lando's letter.

It contained a letterhead with a beautiful family crest printed on it, and it was so thick that there was a large stack.The Portuguese of Count Vananova is very sloppy, and the translation is attached below: In his letter, he used extremely lengthy words to discuss mineralogy issues with his subordinates who were purely non-existent. Require.Jiang Shan took a quick glance and turned the letter paper over, the real information was written on the back.The codebreaker in the secret room has already applied a layer of iodine solution on the paper, so that blue writing appears on the back of the originally blank letter paper, and the combination and arrangement of letters are all encrypted ciphertext.

In addition to the original document, there is also a printout that has been decoded and sorted out in the confidential room.The report is written in English, a language Jiang Shan is very familiar with, so there is no translation.In the letter, Weiss described in detail his new discovery in Manila-the newly built artillery range. The Spaniards already had some kind of rifled gun, equipped with grenade and shrapnel with some kind of fuze.In the end, Weiss cautiously put forward his own speculation: Ship A, that is, the missing traveler on the Mackerel, the Japanese-American Hale is currently in Manila, and has become the chief military engineer that the Governor of Salamanca relies heavily on .

Jiang Shan read the report three times from the beginning to the end, put down the manuscript in his hand, grabbed the handle of the magnet phone on the desk and shook it a few times, then picked up the receiver: "Hello... the main telephone station... please answer the executive committee... ...Who is there?...Chairman Wen?...Okay, then pick up Chairman Wen's office..."

Despite his modest public appearances, Count Vananova caused quite a stir among Manila high society.The local ladies are all interested in him, and the various legends about the earl are the most eye-catching topics at the tea party in the boudoir.This inevitably displeased the husbands, that is, the colonial officials and wealthy businessmen.The great merchants especially hated the count, because his unassuming extravagance made their nouveau riche worthless and ludicrous.Esteban Sanabria went around preaching that the count was a complete liar, and that he was actually a fraudster who had escaped from New Spain.But at a fundraiser in preparation for Saint Peter's Feast, Sanabria was lambasted for his remarks. "You're always used to judging others by yourself," the Jesuit from Macau blasted him. .The Dominican and Franciscan monks who received a large donation from Mr. Lando also joined the chorus with one voice.Sanavria found himself not only the laughing stock of the whole city, but also the danger of becoming an enemy of the priests and becoming a heretic. It is said that His Excellency the Inquisitor has always been very concerned about the beliefs of wealthy businessmen, in order to avoid attracting their attention. He had no choice but to swallow his anger towards the count, so secretly he hated the count even more.

This turmoil did not have any impact on Weislando, or he simply had no time to pay attention to these trivial matters.He is now trying to win over the colonial officers, inviting them to hunt together, and entertaining them in the villa with a feast that has never been seen in the local area.All this quickly paid off, and Major Alfonso praised the count's excellent horses and weapons, as well as his excellent marksmanship.Colonel Echasso indulged in rum, rhubarb liqueur, brandy, and china plates full of delicacies.Especially the rum that is cooled with well water after adding fruit juice, it is like a fine liquid in the terrible temperature of Manila.Since the Jesuits praised the count for his valor in fighting for the glory of the Lord, and since he was so generous, the man was definitely "one of his own," was the unanimous opinion of the colonial officers.Echasu wrote a personal letter for the first time, inviting Weiss to participate in the cricket match.

The tile field is actually a piece of land circled on the training ground outside Fort Santiago, surrounded by shade trees, the grass is as thick and soft as a blanket, and the hollow tile balls made of mud will not break even if they fall to the ground.At eight o'clock in the morning, the officers had already gathered, all dressed up and riding war horses as if they were going on an expedition, lined up majestically in two rows.

The drums were thundering, and the cavalry captain Pilar under Echasu's subordinates was the first to stand out, and a cavalry beside Weiss immediately went up.The two engaged in a wonderful chase, with Captain Pilar showing off his riding skills, deftly avoiding the tile ball thrown by the pursuer, or parrying it accurately with his shield.Another cavalry rushed out from the opposite row to meet the captain, turning the chaser into a fleeer in an instant.Weiss rode out and rushed to support his companions.One by one, the riders rushed out of the ranks, and the game eventually evolved into a melee game of throwing tiles.The servants ran around behind, picking up the ball with hands and feet and handing it to the master, and had to be careful to avoid the horseshoes.This is a technical job.The clumsy Shrek was hit several times by the tile balls flying around like stray bullets, and fell on the grass. Fortunately, he was not trampled by the horse's hoof.

The game ends at ten o'clock in the morning.The count obviously had a lot of fun, and proposed to visit the fortress of Fort Santiago.Of course his request was met, but the old colonel felt a little tired after two hours of strenuous exercise.He asked Captain Pilar to accompany him, and after expressing his apology, he quickly went back to the barracks.

"It's really cool here." Captain Pilar turned his head in surprise, and found that the count was watching him with his trademark toothy smile, which was used to hide his real expression.It was almost noon, and the tropical sun began to emit a poisonous white light. Beads of sweat oozed from under the cavalry captain's powdered wig, and trickled down his cheeks like a river.The earl's patience was simply too much for him. He seemed to be very interested in every room, every corner, and even every sewer and ventilation hole in the fortress. walking at the same pace.Pilar did not know that his distinguished guest was using foot measurements to estimate the size of the fortress, the distance between the gun emplacements and the fortifications, and the barracks, and thought that the count might have sprained his hip while riding.

They made it all the way to the top of the castle, and behind the battlements of the wall, dark-skinned Tagalog sentinels with spears stood beside the flashing cannons.The guns are all made of copper and equipped with four-wheeled gun carriages.The largest has a 42-pounder cannon, enshrined in a separate battery.From the patina of the cannon, it can be seen that this cannon has been here for many years, but what caught Lando's attention was a hinged cannon mount with an inclined slide that gave it a shooting range of nearly 180°, which is not like a Spanish masterpiece. Weiss carefully observed the huge wooden gun mount and the iron sheet wrapped on the surface. The iron sheet has not rusted yet, indicating that it was newly manufactured.Weiss raised his hand above his head and felt in the muzzle, which had no rifling.It is just an ordinary muzzle-loading smoothbore configured on this suspicious gun mount.

"Look at this thing." Captain Pilar interrupted his train of thought.

"Isn't this a stove?" Weiss found that there was a brick stove every few gun positions on the fort. "I know the thing next to it. It's a bellows used by the Chinese."

"That's right, it's a furnace. We're amazed at how well you've seen."

"If this is a stove for throwing grenades, I don't understand why such an elaborate blast stove is needed? Isn't the normal way to set up a brazier? Could it be that the colonel hopes that the soldiers on the fort can still have a hot meal, isn't that a Proper approach will spoil them all."

"You're so wrong now," the captain sweated, showing the pretentious smile that fools often show when they are self-righteous, "This is the masterpiece of the governor. He did it after he listened to that Japanese guy's idea." It’s a new thing. What is baked on this stove is neither bread nor a soup pot, but cannonballs. Have you ever seen that the cannonballs must be set on the stove to burn red before firing.”

"No, it's the first time I've heard of it."

"Then shoot it out and set the target on fire - that's a really good idea - huh, maybe wrap the cannonball in lemongrass, sprinkle some salt and pepper, and it becomes a savory roast chicken. And then Once a cannon is fired, the Dutch and the British will surely thank us for our gift. Are you tired, let me take you down."

Lando thought that the captain's knowledge was really limited, or rather, he had been on duty in the Philippines where he could only see the low-level warfare of the natives.Red-hot incendiary bombs are nothing particularly new in Europe.

But that's okay, Manila's defenders are a bunch of rookies than a bunch of veterans of the 30-year war.

(End of this chapter)