Dragon Sea Empire

Guam was officially occupied by the Spaniards 40 years later. The occupier happened to be Legazpi, the Spanish admiral who conquered the Philippines. Today, the Spanish rule in the Philippines has been overthrown by the Chinese; now, the Spaniards Guam will also fall into the hands of the Chinese.

When the Legazpi expedition set sail on November 1564, 11, it set sail from the port of Nativide in Mexico, not from Spain. At this time, the conquest of Mexico by Cortes of Spain was fully completed, and 21 On January 1565, 1, two months and one day after the Legazpi expedition set off from Nativy Port, they arrived in Guam, landed and held an occupation ceremony, and the Kingdom of Spain officially occupied Guam. Legazpi Later conquered the whole of the Philippines, was the first governor of the Philippines, was an able administrator, and a conqueror, and since then Guam has been placed under Spanish sovereignty, subject to Spanish law and culture.

After the Spaniards occupied Manila on Luzon Island, they built it as the commercial center of the East and the central city of the galleon trade. Guam became the midway supply port for the galleon trade ships across the Pacific Ocean. A large number of East Asian goods were obtained from China, all of which were concentrated in Manila, from where they were transported by one or more ships to the port of Acapulco in the Kingdom of Mexico, and then sent to the markets of New Spain and Europe.

The Spanish galleon "San Pablo" carried cinnamon from Cebu to Mexico in 1565, and started the galleon trade. Until 1815, the last galleon, the Magellan, sailed out of Acapulco Port and returned to the Philippine Islands. , this trade system that used galleons to travel between the Philippines and Mexico lasted for a total of 250 years. Its long duration is rarely seen in the history of the world. It played an important role in the Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines.

The establishment of the galleon trade, the culmination of a long and daring endeavour, by explorers and adventurers in pursuit of the riches of the East, sailed from the Philippines every July, carrying the best of the various commodities concentrated in Manila, Sailing northeast to about 7 or 38 degrees north latitude, the westerly wind there will send the ship across the Pacific Ocean to Cape Mendocino on the northern coast of California. Once there, the galleon goes down the coast, about three thousand You can arrive at the port of Acapulco in about 40 nautical miles. Due to the stormy winds encountered when sailing at high latitudes, and to avoid the English and Dutch pirates lurking on the west coast of America, the Spanish authorities later moved the route farther south. But the wind isn't as smooth there, and as a result ships often travel five months or more across the Pacific Ocean to reach the port of Acapulco.

The waters around Guam are the only way for galleon trade. If the Spaniards mobilize troops from America and Mexico to attack the Philippines, they will definitely pass through Guam.

Before Yin Feng sent troops to Guam, the Chinese in the Ming Dynasty never knew much about Guam. The shareholders of the board of directors thought that Yin Feng was crazy when they heard that they were going to send troops to the ocean in the far east.

At this time, Guam was nominally under the rule of the vice-king of Mexico, the Spanish Empire. According to the laws and customs of Spain, His Majesty the King appointed the highest official of Guam as the governor, and some documents called it the mayor. , his immediate superior is the Spanish Governor of the Philippines.

Officials set up by Spain in Guam, the second level is the commander. He commands the army and is responsible for other military administration on the island, but his authority is lower than that of the governor. The governor has higher military power. In addition to being responsible for military administration, the commander sometimes acts The governor, the governor and the commander are all stationed in Agana, Guam. In addition, there is a garrison army, including one captain and 100 soldiers. It is composed of Spanish and Filipinos. Captain Juan Santa Cruz Si is the command of this garrison.

Due to the concentration of population, and because it has been the political center and cultural center of Guam for a long time, Agana has a regional organization that is very different from other parts of the island. This is the parish system, which is similar to the original Luzon colony. Similarly, each parish consists of a group of family members around a church or branch church. Families in this area are obliged to donate money to maintain the church and obey the spiritual rule of the priest. Each parish holds certain religious ceremonies and holds Belonging to the celebration of its patron saint, the parish of San Ignacio was the earliest and most central, inhabited by families of the highest order.

The Spaniards used to live very comfortably on the island. The fall of Luzon a few years ago made Guam an orphan hanging overseas. The interruption of the galleon trade made the Spaniards in Guam lose their source of income. These Spanish colonists on the island The latter have spent the past few years in panic, and they also sent ships to ask for help in the direction of Mexico, but there has been no news so far.

The current Spanish governor of Guam, Pisco, certainly knows the importance of the island in the Spanish colonial empire, and he firmly believes that troops from his country or Mexico will arrive soon.

However, in December 1609, at the beginning of the first month of the lunar calendar in the 12th year of Wanli, the Spanish sentinels saw a large number of ships appearing on the western sea on the beach, flying the Chinese flag on a blue background that they were most afraid of, and they waited for the expedition of the China United Company fleet.

Fan Tao, the deputy commander of the navy, led the battleship Feihu, ten three-masted warships, twenty Fuchuan-type transport ships, 100 cannons, and 3000 soldiers. Some military preparations were made, and a small fort was built in Agana. However, there were only 100 regular colonial troops, of which only 50 were Spaniards. The rest were unstable native Filipino Pampanga, and some Mexican Indians, the native Chamorros are tall and strong, but they are rebellious and have a loose social organization. Although they seem to obey the Spanish colonists, they are not willing to fight for the Spanish colonists.

The Spanish army immediately abandoned the beach of Guam and retreated to the fortress of Agana, trying to stand firm and wait for help. They don't know much about the Spanish army's defeat in the Manila War. They only learned about it from sporadic Luzon fugitives, and they don't know the equipment and organization of the Chinese army. Therefore, their fortress is just a simple structure made of wood mixed with earth and rocks. Fortifications; and what they are about to face is more than 100 cannons of the Chinese Army.

As the commander of the expedition to Guam, Yan Siqi was yelling and directing the landing on the Flying Tiger. Fan Tao, the fleet commander, observed the situation on the island with a telescope, and murmured, "The owner of the ship is really a god. There is such a big island in the middle of the sea, how does the owner know about it?"

Yan Siqi chuckled: "The owner of the ship said that we will be the first group of people who came here from Zhongtu. From now on, this will be the territory of our Chinese company, and further east, there will be even more extensive land."

Fan Tao sighed: "Truth, go further east and see how big this ocean is."

The Dutch guide listened to it, and laughed: "We Dutch have already crossed this ocean, from here to the east, to reach the other side of the continent, it takes five months to walk on the sea, in these five months There will be no land to be seen, but the sea and the sky,"

Fan Tao nodded: "That's right, the captain said the same thing. Well, brother Yan, your troops have already landed, and the next battle is all up to you."

Yan Siqi still didn't go to Shuihuaying's residence that night. He heard the news that Shuihuaying hanged herself the next morning, and then buried the poor girl by the beach in Kagoshima with his own hands.

Since then, he has been asking Yin Feng to participate in combat, any combat mission is fine.

So, he came to Guam and led the fifth regiment of 2000 soldiers to land on Guam. This is the first batch of Chinese troops to attack the Mariana Islands in history, and it is also the first time that Chinese armed forces have crossed the first island chain and entered the central Pacific region. In this era, there is no concept of "the first island chain". This is just Yin Feng's personal obsession.

When Spanish Governor Pisco and Garrison Commander Juan Santa Cruz saw the surrounding Chinese army pushing dozens of cannons, their brains short-circuited for a moment and they looked at each other. There were only two cannons in their simple fortress. , 80 matchlock guns, in any case, it is impossible to fight against the enemies who are armed to the teeth.

After Yan Siqi led a battalion of fighters to seize the Spanish Governor’s Palace and church in Agana, some local indigenous leaders and chiefs came to meet him and offered gifts to express their friendship. Before he had time to order the establishment of Good artillery positions, the Spanish garrison fort to the east of Agana had already raised the white flag and surrendered.

Yan Siqi jumped on his feet and cursed: "Damn, it's useless to be concerned with the lads, my master, I haven't officially started the fight, why did I surrender?"

The supervisor officer of the fifth regiment suppressed a smile and said, "Captain Yan, Brother Yan, forget it, the captain has said something beforehand, allowing the Spaniards to surrender,"

Soon, the entire Spanish colonial army disarmed. In this way, the Chinese army occupied the entire Guam without firing a single shot. Moreover, within a month, Yan Siqi quickly controlled several larger islands in the Mariana Islands. The Guam native property owner class is composed of the descendants of Chamorro nobles. Members of this group are called "higher people" and they refuse to mix with the rest of the group who are regarded as "lower people". Therefore, Yin Feng's Chinese company occupation army first cooperated with them, and the original indigenous social structure in the Guam area was not touched. Yin Feng planned to cooperate with the upper-level of the indigenous people, and stabilize the situation in the occupied area first.

Guam began to garrison 10 two-masted warships and 500 Chinese soldiers. A solid masonry fortress was built on the basis of the original Spanish fortress, which was defended by 500 soldiers from the Chinese Army Guam Garrison Battalion. To counterattack Luzon, the troops coming from Mexico will definitely pass through Guam. The Chinese Army Guam garrison will send a warning message to Luzon as soon as possible, and try to delay the Spanish army's attack.

This news did not make people in Taiwan Hong Kong feel any emotion, but Yin Feng was very excited; he finally made the Chinese warships cross the traditional East Asian waters and penetrate deep into the central Pacific region. Next, he plans to send people To find the Hawaiian Islands, and eventually, he wants to occupy some strategic points in the Pacific Ocean east of Taiwan to ensure the safety of the Chinese company's base in Taiwan.

By 1610 (the 38th year of Wanli), the Zhonghua United Company had grown into the maritime overlord of East Asia in just seven years; it defeated the Dutch, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Japanese in succession, and also defeated several attacks by the Ming Dynasty officials and troops. , succeeded in negotiating peace with the government of the Ming Dynasty, and basically stabilized his control area. Yin Feng's army and fleet have basically controlled the sea routes along the coast of China, as well as the sea trade routes between China and Japan, as well as most of the China-South Seas. The transportation routes, some islands along the southeast coast, such as Haitan, Jinmen, Xiamen, Nan'ao, etc., have also been controlled by the China United Company in the name of Huaxing Lianhao Shop.

The Ryukyu Mission claimed that Yin Feng's fleet rescued Ryukyu and helped Ryukyu defeat the Japanese invaders; the governor of Fujian had to commend the Taiwan Inspection Department, and at the same time warned Yin Feng not to use weapons outside without authorization.

In fact, at this time, the top and bottom of the imperial court had already understood that they could not control the Zhonghua Company at all. The newly appointed governor of Fujian, Chen Zizhen, had already appealed to the imperial court, asking the imperial court to send troops to rectify the situation along the coast and restart the implementation of the sea ban policy. Of course, on the surface, he still wanted to To appease Yin Feng.

By this year, no matter the Western maritime powers, the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, or the Ming Dynasty government, they all had to pay attention to the monstrosity of the China United Company.

Yin Feng and Zhonghua United will usher in a rare period of peace.

However, in 1609, the Dutch (Northern United Provinces) and the southern provinces controlled by Spain began an armistice. The Dutch and the Spaniards signed a treaty and began a peace period known in history as the "12-year truce period". Mediation, during the truce, the Netherlands vigorously built its navy, and its sea power reached its peak. The process of scrambling for colonies began on a global scale. In Southeast Asia and East Asia, the Dutch fully managed the Spice Islands and Batavia, and began to challenge China. The joint company's dominance in China's overseas trade.

The Dutch first supported Huatian Company, the Chinese armed maritime gang founded by Yuan Jin and Li Zhong, and the only Chinese gang in East Asia that could compete with the China United Company. The Dutch adopted the strategy of using Chinese to control China Measures have successfully seized the territory of the China United Company in Batavia and Aceh, and as the Dutch escaped from the European battlefield, a greater crisis is coming.

The Spaniards gradually regained their strength from the European battlefield, determined to avenge the shame and humiliation of losing the Philippines. The proposal to recapture Manila had already been submitted to the king's case. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before the Spanish colonial army came to Manila.

The Zhonghua Company will face a greater crisis, but it seems that only Yin Feng is aware of the existence of the crisis in the entire Zhonghua Company.