1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1630 Final Preparations

For a country, which form is more beneficial to the long-term development of the country, whether it is the supremacy of imperial power or the democracy of the executive committee, this question is too profound, and it is difficult for Fei Cexian to understand the reason.But judging from the current situation, the speed of Haihan's development from scratch in less than ten years is really astonishing, and Haihan also used this as an argument to use public opinion control to shape the The image of a mighty and righteous ruler emerges.Although Fei Cexian has not been here for a long time, he can already clearly feel that the authority of the Executive Committee in Haihan is no less than that of the imperial power in Daming.

But Fei Cexian really couldn't convince himself to accept the argument that "the Haihan system is better than Ming Dynasty", so he can only think that this is a temporary phenomenon. Haihan is not that powerful, but when the country was established, It happened that Da Ming was in the most difficult time and had no time to take care of his existence.Given time, when Daming recovers from the chaos of the war, it will definitely be able to regain its former glory and let the Haihan people see the true strength of the empire.

Of course, his idea is more like a kind of helpless self-consolation. After all, judging from Haihan's current development momentum, it is difficult for Daming to keep up with Shanghai Han's development speed, let alone contain it.Fei Cexian is actually very aware of these situations, so he doesn't have any specific measures in his mind to make Da Ming rise again, because he really can't think of how Da Ming can disintegrate Haihan's strengths in various aspects. Dominance.Every time I know more about Hai Han, the temperature of my heart will be colder.

For Haihan's war against Spain, the propaganda work in the preparatory stage was so complicated and meticulous. It is conceivable that the military preparations were even more comprehensive.Looking back on the history of the Ming Dynasty, Fei Cexian seems to have rarely arranged so many propaganda methods for public opinion before launching a foreign war.Of course, with the size of Daming, it is indeed difficult to achieve the effect of propaganda coverage like Haihan, and Haihan also has the black technology of telegraph in his hands, which can transmit messages across thousands of miles, even in overseas territories. Knowing the latest official instructions in a short period of time, its efficiency is far from comparable to Daming's "Eight Hundred Li Expedited".

Although Fei Cexian had no direct contact with the Spaniards, he checked the history of the Haihan war in the library the day before yesterday, and learned that the record between the two countries has always been one-sided. Now that Haihan is actively preparing for the battle, he wants to The city of Manila, which is thousands of miles away from the sea, may not have noticed this, and this battle will probably become another military operation for Haihan to expand its territory.

Near the end of the year, many Daming sea merchants are waiting in Sanya to settle the payment, finalize the order for the next year, and ship the last batch of Haihan goods back to Daming by the way.The news about Manila City published in various newspapers in Sanya naturally also attracted the attention of interested people.

Among the Daming maritime merchants who have trade relations with Manila, many of them sell the industrial and agricultural products produced in Haihan, acting as middlemen to earn the difference, and some special products of the Spanish American colonies are also sold through this Channels into Haihan and Daming.However, Haihan officials and the media have been constantly reminding businessmen to proceed cautiously to Manila during this period of time. Those who are a little bit vigilant have begun to realize that Manila is by no means encountering so many coincidences. Han was targeted.As for the reason, anyone who has not lost their memory will remember the naval battle between the two fleets off Sanya more than a year ago.

Although Hai Han had won a complete victory at the time, how could he let this kind of deceitful behavior go unnoticed with the style of the executive committee.After a year, it is probably time to settle this old account.Some well-informed and well-informed merchants have already begun to find connections, hoping to get online with the Haihan military, so that they can take care of their own shops and personnel when they invade Manila, so as not to be trapped by soldiers and refugees. spread.

Although such a move sounds exaggerated, for businessmen, it is one of the necessary means to protect themselves in the flames of war.It is definitely worth the price to give the military some benefits in exchange for safety. Anyway, the target of Haihan Kingdom is the Spaniards, not the maritime merchants like them who specialize in cross-border trade.If the military needs it, they can even entrust the military to bring letters, asking their family members stationed there to cooperate with the Haihan Army's local military operations as much as possible, and exchange military merit for the military's asylum.

Although these businessmen have not received any professional military training or intelligence training, if they can really act as a leading party in the local area, it can indeed save the Haihan Army a lot of trouble during wartime.Therefore, among these people, the military and the Ministry of Security will also conduct purposeful screening to find some businesses with suitable conditions, and use their knowledge of the area and their offices in Manila to assist the military in carrying out their tasks.

"Da Cheng Hong" is one of the firms selected by Haihan officials, but it is different from those merchants on the market who are eager to find military cooperation. The reason why Da Cheng Hong was selected was not because the shopkeeper got through joint, but because of its special background.

According to the data registered by Dacheng Hong in the Haihan Commercial Department, this is a firm run by a Ming businessman named Wang. Manila in Luzon.At first glance, there seems to be nothing special about it, but if you look at the bank accounts of Dacheng Bank in Haihan Bank, you will find that the source of its funds is actually a bank under the name of Xu Xinsu in Fujian.Of course, this bank has reached a cooperative relationship with Haihan Bank for universal deposits and withdrawals a few years ago, so it is very convenient for Dacheng Bank to transfer funds between Fujian and Hainan Island.

The money that Dacheng Bank earned from trade with countries in the South China Sea was remitted back to the bank in Fujian through Haihan Bank, and then used as development funds for the Xu Xinsu Group.And this Dacheng Bank itself is just a branch of Xu Xinsu's trading business in the South China Sea. It is only for the convenience of doing things that it specially set up such a business shell that seems to have nothing to do with Fujian Xu's.

Of course, such a commercial organization affiliated to Xu Xinsu's private business would naturally undertake the task of collecting intelligence.Dacheng Hong has stationed agencies in the ruled areas of various trading partners. While carrying out trading activities in the local area in the form of commercial warehouses, it is also secretly collecting intelligence information on military, political, business and other aspects.And Xu Xinsu and Haihan have long been inseparable symbiotic relationship, this information will naturally be shared with Haihan, and some tasks are even entrusted by Haihan to Da Chengxing to perform.

As for the shopkeeper of Dacheng Hong, in fact, he has a lot of connections with Haihan.His surname is Wang Minglin, from Fujian. In 1631, Ning Qi led a mission to Fujian, but was assassinated in Zhangzhou City, and this Wang Lin was present at the time and experienced the turmoil together, and thus became acquainted with Ning Qi.Later, through Ning Qi's introduction, Xu Xinsu sponsored Wang Lin to study in Haihan for three years, and then under Xu Xinsu's instruction, Wang Lin opened Dachenghang, with himself as the shopkeeper.

When Wang Lin came to Haihan to study abroad, he originally wanted to learn Haihan's advanced technology or the way of governing the country, but after arriving here, influenced by the strong local business atmosphere, he changed his career to study business management. Later, under the arrangement of Ning Qi, Entered Haihan Commercial Department as an intern for a period of time.Therefore, Dacheng Hong's management style is almost in line with Haihan, but it is somewhat different from the traditional Mingshang management style.

One of the reasons why Haihan officials chose Dacheng was because Wang Lin was familiar with Haihan affairs, and it was easier for the two sides to communicate.However, for the sake of confidentiality, the military only recently began to contact Wang Lin on this matter.The professional intelligence personnel deployed by the Ministry of Security have actually been lurking in Manila for a long time. The cooperation that non-governmental commercial organizations like Dacheng Hong can provide is only as an unnecessary backup method.

Wang Lin has stayed in Sanya for several years, and has cooperated with Haihan officials not once or twice after opening Dacheng, so he is very calm about the tasks he receives.He himself belongs to the well-informed upper-class people. There have been rumors about Haihan's intention to attack Manila for a long time, and the news has been gradually confirmed by the newspapers recently. As for the fact that Haihan officials took the initiative to find him, it was only a matter of course. After all, Dacheng Hong has offices inside and outside Manila, and its understanding of the local area is far better than that of ordinary maritime merchants. It can indeed provide more valuable intelligence information for the Haihan military.

The Haihan military did not publicly summon him, but sent a carriage to Wang Lin's residence one night, and took him to Victory Fort to meet with senior officials of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Security.Wang Lin has been to Manila once by himself, so he has a little understanding of the local area, and he tried his best to answer the questions raised by the senior Haihan officials in detail.

After nearly two hours of interviews, Dachengxing was finally selected as one of the foreign aid agencies that provided assistance to the Haihan military during the attack on Manila.However, Wang Lin didn't have to take any risks for this. He didn't need to go to Manila in person. He only needed to write a letter and hand it over to the military, and then he would tell the staff of Dacheng Bank stationed there what to do.

In the case of Dachengxing and Wang Lin, there are actually other candidates in Haihan's preparations.The Ministry of National Defense hopes that after the arrival of the army, no matter how bad the local situation is, they can find a trustworthy leading party in the shortest possible time.Although the intelligence personnel placed by the Ministry of Security on the ground are more reliable, they are still very small in number, and the guidance and assistance they can provide will be limited.If more civilian forces can be mobilized, the military's local operations may be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort.

On December 28, at the last plenary meeting of the Executive Committee at the end of the year, Tao Donglai made a summary on the relationship between Haihan and Spain and the current situation of Manila City. After the meeting, in the name of the Executive Committee, A note was issued to envoys from various countries that military action will be taken against the city of Manila under Spanish rule in the near future in retaliation for the Spanish fleet attacking Sanya in September last year, and at the same time to rescue the Han immigrants in the Manila area who were oppressed by the Spanish colonists.The note reminded all countries to restrict their nationals and ships to the direction of Luzon Island in the near future to avoid accidents in the war.In addition, if any country, organization or individual tries to stand in the same camp as the Spaniards, then Haihan will treat them as enemies together and use military means to attack them.

The content of this diplomatic note can be described as very domineering. It did not give Spain any chance to explain, nor did it leave room for other countries to try to make peace, and directly announced that they would do it.Although this is already expected by many people, when the war really comes, people will still be amazed at the determination and decisiveness of the Haihan Executive Committee.

When Fei Cexian received this diplomatic note, he was overseeing the construction of the embassy with his legs crossed. The content of the note did not surprise him much. Except that no detailed action time was announced, it was basically in line with his expectations.Occupying the commanding heights of justice, denouncing the opponent, completing preparations for war, and launching a war, this set of procedures is already familiar to Haihan.

And after the executive committee announced this decision, it didn't seem to cause any major commotion in Sanya. After all, before and after the founding of Haihan, the foreign wars never stopped. From last year to this year, the overseas military operations of the Haihan Army It has never been broken. The East China Sea Fleet blocked Hangzhou Bay with excuses. The South China Sea Xingdao defeated the Johor Allied Forces and confronted the Spanish Fleet off Sanya. The Haihan Army landed at Lushunkou and launched a spring offensive in Liaodong. Haihan people have long been accustomed to so many military operations, and they do not regard foreign wars as a big deal.

After all, every time Haihan launches a foreign war, the final result is extremely beneficial to Haihan. Although this war has not yet started, since the Executive Committee has unilaterally declared war, most of the citizens who have heard the news They all subconsciously think that this is just the beginning of another victory.Perhaps in a few months, the city thousands of miles east of Sanya will become Haihan's ruled area. This has actually happened in Haihan's history.

In fact, three days before the Executive Committee issued the diplomatic note, the elite troops brought back from the north had assembled in Sanya, Kaohsiung Port on Taiwan Island, and Jinlan Port in Annan.In order to save time on the road, the military did not transfer all the participating troops back to Sanya, but arranged to gather nearby and attack Manila in three routes.Among the three armies, Sanya has become the departure point with the farthest voyage.

(End of this chapter)