1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2020
Before the city of Manila was built, Cebu was used as the regional capital by the colonial authorities for about six years in history, and it can be regarded as a short-lived glory.After the fall of the Manila area this year, Cebu's status has been improved again, and it has been re-established as the colonial capital.The status of local officials has also risen accordingly, and they have become one of the few "beneficiaries" after the war.

Colonel Fernando, Cebu's city defense commander, is a member of this special group.Although he had assumed this position before the war, his status, prestige and influence at that time were not the same as they are now.Colonel Francis in Manila, who has the same position and military rank as him, used to have a much higher status in the Philippine Islands. However, after the end of the First World War in Manila, Francis turned to Haihan and became a traitor, while Cebu took over Manila. The status of the colony became the capital of the colony, so Fernando also became one of the most influential generals of the colonial garrison.

It is no exaggeration to say that apart from Governor Aragones, Fernando is probably the second person with real power in the local area at present. The army and militia armed forces stationed in Cebu and surrounding areas, including armed sailboats at sea, are now all All have to listen to his orders.The scale of armed forces he can directly command has at least tripled compared to before, which is really an unimaginable situation in the past.

In order to demonstrate his ability, after taking over the troops withdrawn from Manila, Fernando began to deploy maritime guards in the surrounding waters and started to build new city defenses in Cebu.Strengthening the defense of the ruled area as soon as possible is the defense method Fernando has chosen.

Now Haihan and the Spanish colony are no longer separated by the entire South China Sea as in previous years. The shortest sea route from Manila Bay to Cebu Port is only a little over [-] nautical miles. With the speed of the Haihan fleet's advance, It only takes two to three days at the fastest to kill at the door of the house.Therefore, Fernando believes that early warning measures at sea and fortifications on land must be improved as soon as possible, so that it is possible to take effective resistance measures in time when the Haihan people launch an attack.

Of course, to achieve this, in addition to having to invest a lot of human and financial resources, there is also the need to ensure his ability to control the existing armed forces.Fernando's plan was successfully supported by Aragones, and he was given sufficient command authority to mobilize and command all the armed forces in the region on behalf of the colonial authorities.

Although it is a good thing to be in power, Fernando still feels uneasy from time to time, because he knows why he is in such a situation. Haihan is like the sword of Damocles hanging over the head of the Spanish authorities. It can fall from the sky at any time.The defensive means deployed by him can not only protect Cebu, but also relieve his worries a little.

If Haihan cannot be defeated militarily, then the Kingdom of Spain's dominance in this area will only gradually diminish until it is completely expelled by Haihan.Deep down in Fernando's heart, he was still eager to expand his military strength as soon as possible, so that he would not have to adopt the strategy of retreating and defending all the time. Maybe after two or three years, he would be able to have the strength to wrestle with the Haihan people again.

However, to Fernando's dissatisfaction, most of the colonial officials except Governor Aragones, especially the upper-level officials who are mainly civil servants, almost all have a pessimistic attitude towards continuing to fight Haihan, and oppose the existing A large amount of resources will be invested in military construction under the conditions.They think that doing so will only make Haihan tougher, and it may bring the countdown to the next war between the two sides earlier, and the current situation in the colony can no longer afford the next round of large-scale war.

The civil officials believed that since the Haihan people did not take any further action, they should put their energy back on trade to ensure that the colony could continue to maintain commercial relations with the eastern countries. For this reason, they could even temporarily compromise with the Haihan people and negotiate In exchange for peace, after the overall strength of the colony is slowly restored, then consider the plan of revenge against Haihan.But in Fernando's view, this approach is tantamount to being slaughtered. The Haihan people are not good men and women. Once they find out that the colonial authorities have temporarily abandoned military construction, they will never let go of such a fighter. Raise troops to fight at the door.

Therefore, no matter what others think, Fernando still believes that the military struggle must be adhered to, and Haihan's temporary truce cannot be taken lightly.Thanks to his efforts, armed sailboats have been patrolling key waterways in the waters near Cebu. Although this kind of action has basically not yielded any gains, it has indeed played a role in calming people's minds.

When he received the news from the port, Fernando was attending the graduation ceremony of the recruit training. This is the third batch of recruits recruited by the colonial authorities this year. A total of 450 five people have completed the basic training and will be assigned to the local area in the future. In the land and sea armies.Fernando originally prepared a long speech for today's graduation ceremony, to cheer for these young men who are about to enter the army, but news came from the port that a sailing ship related to Haihan had just arrived, and some people on board Things may require him to go to the scene to check in person.

The report from the scene was Second Lieutenant Joaquin, a naval officer that Fernando was very optimistic about. He was young and full of fighting spirit, and could withstand the pressure of long-term patrol missions on the front line.According to the original words of Second Lieutenant Joaquin quoted by the messenger, he hoped that Fernando would go to the port as soon as possible to see what was found on the ship, because how to deal with the current situation was beyond the scope of the second lieutenant Joaquin's authority.

Fernando believed in the professional judgment of this subordinate and believed that the other party should have discovered something important, so he decisively compressed the content of the speech and reduced the speech time to one-tenth of the original plan.Of course, the hard-earned manuscripts will not be wasted, and he can use them again when the next batch of recruits finishes training.After hastily finishing his speech, Fernando left the scene ahead of time and drove to the east port in a carriage.

"What happened?" When Fernando got out of the car, Second Lieutenant Joaquin had already rushed up to meet him, so he asked the question straight to the point.

"Sir, what happened is this. When our ship was patrolling the north this morning, we found this sailboat heading south along the coastline." Joaquin pointed to a sailboat docked on the pier not far away and said: "That's the one. We thought the ship was a bit unfamiliar, so we took the initiative to lean on it. After arriving, the people on the ship hung out the flag of our country to show their identity, and then my ship took the ship back to the port. Check the origin of this ship."

Joaquin paused here, as if he was adjusting his emotions, and then continued: "The people on board claimed that they escaped from Manila, and this is a cargo ship going from Manila to the Straits of Malacca. We then searched the hold and found what they said was the cargo, as well as... the bodies of several Haihans."

"The people on board hijacked Haihan's cargo ship? Are they ours?" Fernando was surprised when he heard the news, and hurriedly asked.

"There were three Spaniards, and there were nine Filipinos, all of whom were sailors on the ship, while ours were prisoners, who were to be sent to Haihan for hard labor in the local port, but One of the young men named Jose seized the opportunity to subdue the guard after the ship set off, and used the guard's weapon to kill several armed guards on board, and then said that the sailors fled with them, so they went south to sleep service."

"Are there any Haihan people alive on board?" Fernando asked sharply.If there are captives on board, it is easy to verify the authenticity of these things.

"It's a pity that no one was left alive, sir." Joaquin also showed a disappointed expression: "According to their confession, there were originally six Haihan people on board, including four soldiers and the other two were civil servants. After killing the Haihan soldiers, I originally wanted to keep those two alive, but unfortunately they couldn't persuade them to surrender because of the language barrier, so the two Haihan people jumped into the sea directly."

When Joaquin said this, he pointed to a place on the shore covered with canvas: "I have already had the bodies of those Haihan soldiers lifted down. It happened six days ago, so the corpses have already begun to rot, but Judging from the figure, military uniform and the weapons we found, it is indeed a Haihan soldier."

When Fernando heard that it happened six days ago, he resolutely gave up the idea of ​​going to check the corpse.Although it has just entered January at this time, and it is still winter in many places, Cebu, which is close to the equator, still maintains a relatively high temperature. The corpse has already been in a state of decay in six days, so there is no need to see it with your own eyes. Just leave the autopsy to the military doctor.

"Is there anything else on the ship that can prove their claim?" Fernando didn't relax his vigilance, and remained vigilant.

He knew that there were still many Hispanics in Manila, and it would not be unusual for some of them to change their stance and join the Hai Han, since there were also many Han Chinese who served the colonial authorities back then.When Manila fell, part of the reason was that there were Haihan spies lurking inside and outside the city, who provided intelligence to the Haihan army while destroying the city defenses. Fernando did not want a similar situation to happen again in Cebu.Especially those spies who look like Spanish but choose to work for Haihan, they must be attacked and eradicated.

Joaquin nodded and said: "My men have searched all the cabins on the ship and found a batch of supplies transported from Manila to the destination. In addition, we also found in the luggage of the two Haihan officials who jumped into the sea. The bill of lading was written, and the content indeed corresponds to the materials found on board, mainly living materials, medicinal materials, and some local products produced in Luzon."

"Since you have found the luggage of Haihan officials, there should be something to prove their identity?" Fernando continued to ask.

"Sir, that's really the case. We also found a secret letter." Joaquin took out a kraft paper envelope as if by magic, and there was a wax seal on the seal to prevent unauthorized tearing: "This is also in that envelope." It was found in the luggage of two Haihan officials. I asked the Han people to identify the text on the envelope. This should be a secret letter sent by Qiu Yuan, the chief executive of Haihan in Manila, to Luo Jie, the commander of the garrison in Xingdao. There will be content related to the ship."

Fernando raised his eyebrows when he heard the words. He had never heard of the name of the Haihan general in Xingdao, but he had an impression of the name Qiu Yuan. It is said that Haihan was a capable person who was transferred from China to Manila to take charge of government affairs. All Haihan's current administration measures in Manila are said to have come from this person.As Joaquin guessed, this secret letter is likely to contain the real mission of the ship and the relevant information about the three exiled Spanish prisoners on board.

After Fernando received the letter, he didn't open it in a hurry, because he also thought that the content of this secret letter was probably written in Chinese characters, and various code words might be used in it, and most of them couldn't be seen at the moment. I will slowly study the mystery later.

"Where are the people on board? I want to meet these brave people!" Fernando had already believed most of the confessions of the people on board at this time. After all, the evidence found so far is very real and looks relatively credible. letter.And if the confessions of these people on board are true, then these Spanish prisoners can be regarded as heroes.

Joaquin quickly brought Jose and the others to Fernando and asked him to personally question them.

After finding out who José was, Fernando went straight up to him and asked him, "Tell me, brave young man, for what crime were you exiled by the Haihans? And how did you escape? "

Jose hunched his back slightly, and responded in a humble tone: "My lord, the hateful Haihan invaded my family's farm, took away all the horses, cattle, sheep, and grain, and set fire to my home. I In a fit of anger, they sneaked into the army horse farm of the Haihan people, poisoned the alfalfa feed, and killed more than a dozen army horses. They sentenced me to death at first, but then changed the sentence to exile overseas for some reason, and sent me to Go to a faraway place to do hard labor."

Jose licked his somewhat dry lips, and then continued: "After leaving Manila, I attacked the guard while he was serving food, and then killed several other unsuspecting Haihans together with my two companions. Soldiers. These native sailors on the ship also helped us, but after something like this happened, they could no longer return to Manila, so they had to flee with us.”

(End of this chapter)