1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 953 Mutual Computation
Spain's current decline is not just a military failure. In fact, before the outbreak of the Taipei War, Spain's trade in Northeast Asia had shown a downward trend year by year.Especially glassware, which was originally a part of the monopoly of Western merchants, has been gradually squeezed out of the market by Haihan, who came from behind.The merchants of Ming Dynasty sold more and bought less in Manila, and the trade deficit grew year by year. If it were not for the support of silver from the American colonies, the economic situation in Manila would have collapsed long ago.

Under such an economic situation, the Manila authorities naturally have no spare money to strengthen the local armed forces, and Aragones does not dare to use silver stocks for military expansion. Refer to the previous book for the crimes.So much so that after the Haihan people started an undeclared war against the Spanish stronghold in the Taipei area, Aragones didn't dare to take retaliation by force in the first place because he was worried that he would not be able to defeat the Haihan people.This response, which cannot be said to be right or wrong, has caused the Manila authorities to fall into a series of passive situations.One step at a time, one step at a time, and now the Manila authorities want to find a suitable way to deal with Haihan's pressing force, only to find that there seems to be little room for their own manipulation.

At this time, it is not very meaningful to reflect on Spain’s mistakes in trade strategy. Manila is not a manufacturing center, and the products it can provide have no obvious advantages in terms of technology and cost, and it is relatively far away from Ming Dynasty. Some, it is very difficult to compete with Haihan in trade ability.

Aragones complained for a while, but turned the topic back to business: "Sanchez, if we wait like this, sooner or later we will be squeezed out of the Far East market bit by bit by the Haihan people. If we plant good things, our efforts in the Far East will be meaningless. We can no longer wait for the situation to continue to deteriorate, we must find a way to change the current unfavorable situation!"

Sanchez responded: "My lord, if you really plan to do something, then now is the best time!"

Aragones was surprised: "What basis do you have?"

Sanchez said in a deep voice: "The main force of the Haihan people went to fight in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions of Daming in the first half of the year. After completing the mission, they stayed there as a permanent garrison. And the fleet going south for military exercises this time also set off from Sanya, judging from its size. It should be one of Haihan's main fleets. Just imagine, if the Haihan people send the main forces of both the navy and army to perform missions far away, how much defense capacity does their base camp have? If they take this opportunity to directly attack Sanya, It might work wonders.”

"That's it?" Aragones asked, staring at Sanchez's face.

Sanchez was also uncertain about Aragones' intentions, so he could only nod his head and said, "Although we don't know the specific deployment status of Haihan's army, judging from their recent troop transfers, the situation should be roughly the same. During this time Perhaps this is the time when the defense of their lair is the most empty."

Aragones' face was quite disappointed: "Sanchez, I think after what happened last time, your way of thinking about problems should become a little more mature and comprehensive, but now it seems that you haven't changed because of the previous lessons. Change. Unfounded impulse, this character will kill you sooner or later!"

Sanchez showed dissatisfaction, and before he could argue a few words, Aragones had already raised his hand to signal him not to continue: "You are saying 'not sure' and 'maybe', just because the evidence is not enough If you don’t guess, you are ready to start a war? Sanchez, this is not your own doorstep, but an area more than 2 nautical miles away from our country! There are only 5000 Spaniards in the entire Far East. What do you think? How many troops can we throw into this war?"

Speaking of the excitement, Aragones poured the remaining wine in the glass down his throat, then got up and continued: "The Haihan people are not the natives we killed on Luzon Island. They not only have guns and cannons, And they know how to fight. When attacking fresh water and chicken coops this year, they have fully proved their strength, if you want to deal with them as enemies of the same level as the natives, it would be a big mistake!"

Aragones walked to a map of the South China Sea hanging on the wall, pointed to the location of Qiongzhou Island and said, "Have you ever thought about it, if the Haihan people deliberately set up the illusion of the defense of the base camp to lure the enemy to take the initiative? , then what kind of consequences will we have if we hurried over there?"

Sanchez's back broke out in cold sweat, but he really didn't think about the possibility that Aragones said, because in his subconscious, the Haihan people's strategy could not reach such a height.Sanchez stammered: "Perhaps...their intention is not so..."

"Don't say anything to me again!" Aragones yelled and interrupted Sanchez: "It was you who told me that there might be a large number of Ming merchants coming south to Manila! What happened? I lost money A large sum of money was spent, and the best time to deal with it was lost!"

In fact, Aragones may not really think that Haihan's mobilization of troops is a conspiracy theory. He just subconsciously no longer wants to believe the judgment of his staff because of the big mistake he made before.

Seeing that Sanchez stopped arguing, Aragones regained his emotions a bit: "We need more accurate information now. Has this month's report been sent back?"

Sanchez shook his head and said: "According to the past time, it will probably take about ten days."

"It's been too long... Think of a way to make our intelligence system operate more efficiently. Don't get news that happened a month or two ago!" Aragones said sternly: " I don’t want to know how many houses and docks the Haihan people have newly built in Sanya. I want to know their military establishment, weapon standards, personnel appointments, who they are dealing with and who they are planning to deal with! Give me some useful information, don’t always Bring back some second-hand news that doesn't hurt!"

Sanchez could only agree again and again, but secretly felt angry in his heart.In fact, intelligence work is not his main business, but Mr. Harvey, who was in charge of this area before, has been sent to prison, so Aragones entrusted him with this area of ​​affairs - of course, this responsibility is It means that even the pot has to be carried together.

As early as two years ago, the Manila authorities had sent people to Sanya to lurk and pass information back to Manila through the cover of merchant ships on a regular basis every month.However, because the people lurking in the local area failed to mix into the bureaucratic system of Haihan and did not have access to the real inner circle, a lot of intelligence information was superficial, and there was not much military and political information that was really valuable for reference.The reports sent back to Manila every month are just miscellaneous matters related to people's livelihood. When Haihan raided the Taipei stronghold, the personnel lurking in Sanya failed to send back any early warning information in advance. Aragones would later blame the responsible The intelligence-gathering staff, in fact, can be forgiven.

After Aragones lost his temper, he still left the matter to Santos.Santos returned to the port full of anger. He originally wanted to use the news he received to claim credit, but he never expected to be scolded bloody again.He immediately ordered someone to call the Arab businessman Hassan again, and told him: "Hassan, I have a secret letter to be sent to Sanya as soon as possible. According to the old rules, I will pay you twenty silver coins." Hard work."

But Hassan smiled slyly and said: "No, no, my lord, twenty silver coins is only the price in the past, and now it takes fifty silver coins to send a letter to Sanya."

Sanchez said angrily: "The flight from Manila to Sanya has not changed, why has the price increased so much?"

Hassan replied: "The Haihan people have issued a decree before. Anyone who succeeds in exposing a hidden spy can be rewarded with 50 Haihan coins, which may be a little bit more when converted into Spanish silver coins. I also take into account the long-term relationship between us. It is because of the long-term cooperative relationship that I am willing to accept your order, and another person may receive the letter and get the money from you, and then go to the Haihan people to ask for a reward."

Sanchez was dumbfounded when he heard it, and he couldn't immediately confirm whether Hassan's words were bragging to blackmail him or it was true, but if only for the price difference of [-] silver coins, let the intelligence that has been lurking in Sanya for two years He really didn't dare to take such a stupid risk if his personnel were exposed.

"This profiteer!" Sanchez cursed secretly in his heart, but he didn't dare to offend Hassan easily. This guy sent letters to people lurking in Sanya several times in the past. If he offends, his insider will also be in danger.

Of course, there is another way to solve the problem, which is to kill Hassan immediately, so as to completely avoid the danger of leaking the news.However, Sanchez has just taken over the intelligence business, and has yet to find someone else to take over Hassan's responsibility to pick up secret letters in Sanya, so he can only tolerate the blackmail of this Arab profiteer.But considering the future security issues, Sanchez thinks that Hassan can no longer be hired with peace of mind, and he has to try to find a proper solution.

"Okay, Hassan, just as you said, fifty silver coins." Sanchez tried his best to restrain the anger in his heart, and his tone was obviously calm: "Tomorrow I will have someone deliver the secret letter to your ship, you Set off for Sanya as soon as possible."

"But I haven't got all the goods I want to buy." Hassan complained: "The Haihan people are very interested in buying cow and sheepskins, but this time the amount I want to buy is still nearly half. I asked your people today Yes, they said that due to various reasons, they are out of stock recently, and they may have to increase the price.”

The reason for this is that Sanchez knows that most of the cows and sheepskins sold in the Manila market are trafficked from the American colonies, and the sales targets are mainly for Haihan. These people seem to have a special interest in leather products, and the number of purchases every year Very big.It is said that even the soldiers under his command have begun to equip large areas of leather military boots, plus leather belts, armed belts, and water bags. This outfit is simply luxurious.However, the animal husbandry industry in the south of the Lingnan area of ​​the Ming Dynasty is not well developed, and the supply of cattle and sheep hides is far less than that of the American colonies with a large number of farms, and there is no advantage in terms of price. Therefore, Spain has become Haihan's main supplier of leather, even if it is the two sides. After the hostility, this kind of transaction will continue to rely on the transfer of middlemen.

However, a large-scale livestock plague occurred in the Spanish colonies in the Americas last year. In order to prevent the infection, a large number of cattle and sheep were slaughtered and then burned and buried directly.It was almost the end of the year, and the sailing team from the Americas would not come here for several months, and the stocks of cows and sheepskins in Manila had already started to be emptied, so it was useless for Hassan to complain.

"If you run out of leather, then you can buy something else!" Sanchez said angrily, "Isn't the only thing Haihan buys from you is leather?"

"They also need copper, a lot of copper." Hassan added: "Leather and copper are the most they buy from me."

Haihan's industrial development process requires a large amount of copper resources, and the existing Shilu mines still mainly produce iron ore, and the output of copper ore cannot meet their own needs. Therefore, the Philippines, which is rich in copper ore reserves, has also become a One of the targets of Han's acquisition of copper.Of course, the Spaniards are not stupid. Copper has many military and navigational functions, so the Manila government has been controlling the amount of copper exported to Haihan, trying to prevent Haihan from using the copper produced in the Philippines to strengthen its own strength.

Copper has a high density, a high unit value, and does not require complicated packaging and storage. It is perfect for direct use as ballast, so it is also a commodity with high profits for maritime merchants.However, Hassan's quota for purchasing copper has long been exhausted, and now he is obviously negotiating terms with Sanchez.

Sanchez took a deep breath, calmed down his emotions, and then nodded, "Okay, Hassan, I'll issue you a bill of lading, and you can go to the warehouse to pay and take away the goods you want. But I want to remind you that the goods you bought can only be shipped directly, and cannot be stored locally!"

Sanchez's method is also to prevent speculators like Hassan from playing tricks. If he buys a lot in one go and transports them to Haihan one after another, the current law restricting copper exports will be invalidated.Let him ship it directly, and at most it will earn this trip, so as not to break the rules too much.

Hassan smiled and bowed humbly to Sanchez in thanks: "Thank you for your care, I think I can leave tomorrow morning, I will definitely deliver your secret letter, please rest assured!"

"I also wish you all the best in your trip to Sanya this time, and you can make a lot of money from the Haihan people!" Sanchez forced a smile and said through gritted teeth.

(End of this chapter)