Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1432 Cockfighting
He hadn't finished his coffee when the phone on the desk rang.It was Zhan Wuya from the Manufacturing Director Department. He knew that someone from the Foreign Intelligence Agency was active in Manila, so he asked if he could help cover a small survey team from entering the Philippines.The Manufacturing Directorate focused on the rich mineral resources of the Philippine Islands. In addition to the well-known gold and copper mines, they paid more attention to the two dominant minerals in the Philippines, nickel and chromium.

"...These two ores are very, very, very important to us..." Zhan Wuya used three extremes to emphasize his tone.His anxiety is natural.If the chemical industry wants to expand its production capacity, it has to get rid of glass and ceramics, two materials that are seriously insufficient in processing performance. Using these materials to manufacture equipment, the chemical industry of the Senate will always be regarded as an expanded laboratory production.

The chemical industry clamors for corrosion-resistant metal pipes and pressure vessels all day long, and the medical department urgently needs stainless steel to manufacture new surgical instruments; the machinery industry department is also extremely eager for high-performance alloy steel and anti-corrosion coating materials, and even the financial department has proposed The "Australian Mithril Coin" made of stainless steel will be issued.However, chromium and nickel are scarce resources in Hainan and even in the whole of China. Only some associated chromite sand was obtained when monazite was mined in Wenchang.The manufacturing director department concentrated its technical force to smelt a little experimentally, and the output was far from enough for industrial production.Zhan Wuya was very troubled by this.

"It's quite difficult, but we will try." Jiang Shan said on the phone, "We have to wait for the intelligence agents to gain a firm foothold and establish a considerable relationship with the upper echelons of Manila before we can proceed. Yes, we will send the ship ourselves It’s absolutely fine to go, but the Spaniards are far more aware of the situation in the Philippines than we are, and if we can get the support of the local Spaniards, the exploration work will be much more convenient.”

Putting down the phone, Jiangshan began to think about the next question: how to support Mr. Lando to meet the new requirements of the Manufacturing Director Department.

Parian - Jiannei, the Chinese district outside Manila, among the low buildings with bamboo, wood and grass roofs, the cockfighting ground is the most eye-catching.Further north, in Binondo, there is also a cockfighting farm mainly used by the Tagalogs, but it is much smaller and more rudimentary.

There used to be various casinos in Parian. Since the governor levied a gambling tax in order to broaden the financial resources, the gambling industry has become more and more prosperous.Cockfighting, a game full of local colors, has become a gambling method that is both ornamental and sufficiently stimulating.Even those who were not originally interested in gambling would pay a copper to watch the game in the boring afternoon or evening.They are often instigated by the frenzied atmosphere very quickly, and lose the last "lead piece" on their bodies.In Jianai, one can hear every day that a rich businessman went bankrupt because of a cockfight or a poor man became rich because of a fluke.

The Parian cockpit is like a big bamboo cage for keeping parrots, with holes all over it, and even from the outside, you can roughly see the movement inside.The arena is surrounded by wooden boards to form a three-story balcony, and in the center is a circular cockfighting arena.The conical roof is also made of bamboo, and there are several skylights on it for lighting and ventilation.Whenever there is a sudden rainstorm and it is too late to close the skylight, the fighting cocks on the ring and the audience on the balcony become drowned together.Nevertheless, this large cage is always hard to find when there is a cockfight.Each person needs to pay an entrance fee of one copper, but the cockfighting field that can accommodate more than 500 people is always full, and the outside is full of people who cannot squeeze in. There are large groups of indigenous people, Chinese people, mixed races and others White Europeans, peddlers of drinks and snacks pushed their way through the crowd, peddling their wares.The arena was full of people; coupled with the roosters full of pits and valleys, the noisy crowing sounded one after another, resounding inside and outside the arena.

Only there was no movement in the cockfighting arena. Several Chinese people in silk shirts were walking around collecting bets. The audience threw out piles of "lead pieces", countless silver coins, and coins of different sizes and shapes. One piece of Chinese silver ingots, and even bags of placer gold in little pockets.The referee placed piles of bets on the sandy floor of the cockfight, and the audience enthusiastically discussed the winner of the previous game and competed to make bets on whose rooster would win this time.

Two Tagalog chickens came into play.It was obvious that they were veterans of cockfighting. After a few teases, the feathers of the two cocks stood on end, their crowns turned purple, and they were furious, as if they were about to fight for life.Immediately, the auditorium was noisy and passionate.

"Bet another hundred pesos, bet on the yellow one." A white European man in a captain's costume yelled, the voice was like a boulder falling on the shore, causing countless waves, and the people rioted. Reach out or pat each other's shoulders, indicating that they want to increase the bet.

The chickens took off the leather sheaths from the chicken feet, revealing the sharp distance irons mounted on the back of the shins, and the audience was silent.A gong sounded, the referee made a gesture, and both sides released the cock at the same time.The two fighters parted their neck hair, lowered their heads, and stared at each other for a long time, then suddenly jumped up and flew towards each other.The captain let out a howl of wild animal cheer.The two roosters turned around, bowed their heads and stood facing each other, then slammed into each other again, fighting for three or four rounds, and pieces of chicken feathers flew everywhere.The yellow chicken flew over the opponent's head and grabbed it with its claws; the white chicken did not show weakness, and counterattacked, kicking the opponent staggeringly.The white captain began to curse until the yellow chicken stood up again and pounced on the enemy with redoubled ferocity. The captain stood up first, waving his arms and shouting, and the audience who bet on the yellow chicken with him also cheered in unison.But at this point they couldn't distinguish anything, and the battle entered the melee stage. The fighters bit the cockscomb and twisted into a ball. Suddenly one fell down, and then the other was knocked to the ground again, and blood-stained chicken feathers flew up into the air.

On the highest step, a hunched man sat there quietly. He was wrapped in a black cloak and did not bet with anyone.This man didn't pay much attention to the situation on the cockfight ring, but he seemed to be quite interested in the fanatic captain.The captain was raising his convulsed fists above his head, and let out a blood-curdling yelp.The yellow fighting cock had already fallen sideways on the ground, then struggled to stand up, and fled with a limp; fell down again after a few steps, dragging its wings, wriggling slowly on the sandy ground, leaving a long trail on the ground blood.

The crowd became noisy again, some were smiling, some were pale, and could only silently hand over their bets to the winner.The owner of the defeated man bowed his head and picked up the yellow rooster, "Make it a salad! The bastard gave me three hundred pesos," roared the captain, pumping his fists in fury until the next pair of cocks After the samurai appeared on the stage, he calmed down a little.

The audience erupted as the new pair were bigger and stronger than the previous couple.When the Tagalog people put the distance iron on the fighting cock, there was a commotion in the seats, and the gamblers took out their bets one after another. "Three hundred pesos," said the captain, holding up a sack, "one all-in for the red one, he'll kill the gray one!" The buzzing of the audience grew louder, and soon began to form around the ring again. There are piles of bets of varying heights.

The two Tagalog chickens put down their chickens and retreated. The fiery red-feathered gamecock and the shorter silver-gray feather chicken immediately fought into a ball and jumped into the air.As soon as the claws landed, they immediately pounced on each other, the sharp beak pecked fiercely, the iron gleamed, the speed of the movement was dizzying, and the arena fell silent for a while. Everyone has almost never seen such a fierce fight in the cockfighting arena.Suddenly, the silver-gray chicken was hit, and the fire-red chicken drilled a distance iron into the other's wing. Both chickens fell to the ground. He pecked at each other's head.

"Hoo, hoo," cried the captain, "peck it, stab it, kill that damn rat!"

The two chickens finally separated, jumped up and bumped into each other, and fell to the ground again.The flaming chicken rushed forward to try to hit the opponent, but the silver-gray chicken dodged sideways abruptly, making everyone gasp.Before the fiery red rooster could turn around, the silver gray rooster had already attacked.They rolled ferociously on the ground, then stood up again, beak to beak, the upper side beat their wings violently, and the lower side slashed at each other with the spatulas on their legs; then they flew into the air again, and they all fell to the ground, furious. Land battles were launched once again.

There were several cheers from the audience, but they were suppressed by the captain's scolding immediately.The silver-gray chicken cut the opponent and bled.Spreading black spots appeared on the breast of the flamingo, and the red feathers fell down.But again it lashes out at its opponent with its mighty wings until the foe falls, on which it leaps to finish off.But the silver-gray chicken crouched, dodged, and avoided it with unbelievably quick reflexes.The situation changed rapidly, and the flaming chicken turned around and beat the opponent face to the sky, hitting the silver-gray chicken's breast twice, leaving a little blood on the ground.But the silver-gray chicken managed to retreat, jumped into the air to avoid the enemy attack, and hit the red chicken on the neck when it fell.

The two roosters are now with messy feathers and blood dripping, kicking each other with their claws, turning around in circles, looking for the opponent's weak point.The captain nearly leaped to his feet, letting out a barrage of screams mixed in Spanish and French.The Flame Rooster seemed to be inspired, and suddenly launched a dazzling gust of attack, taking advantage.It beat the silver-gray chicken violently with its wings, and stabbed the other side with a spatter of blood.As usual, the silver-gray chicken retreated step by step. Seeing that failure was imminent, when the captain yelled in ecstasy, it soared into the sky unbelievably, and fell down impartially to insert a distance iron into the heart of the fire-red chicken.The latter fell down and became a wriggling mass of feathers, with blood oozing from its mouth.

(End of this chapter)