prosperous age

Chapter 1002 1093 Southwest

Southwest of the Philippine Islands, at the seaside pier outside Manila, there are more than sixty ships docked.

Among them, there are eleven Western-style ships, and the others are local ships full of Luzon style.

On the dock, three hundred Spanish soldiers were already waiting in neat rows, and next to them were five queues where two thousand five hundred Filipinos were divided into five groups, with no discipline at all.

Unlike Spanish soldiers who were equipped with muskets and cannons, these Filipinos only used cold weapons such as axes and spears. Apart from increasing the number of people, they seemed to have no useful value.

Outside the remaining queue, a dozen Spaniards who were obviously lieutenants gathered together. The leader looked up at the scorching sun in the sky and said to the others, "I guess it's almost time."

While he was talking, someone next to him took out a pocket watch from his jacket pocket, looked at it, and said with a smile: "They should not be out of the city yet. There are at least ten minutes left."

"Let's start lining up. It'll take some time for those monkeys to line up properly. Don't let them be in a mess when the Governor and the Commander arrive."

Said the leading officer.

Soon, the dozen or so officers dispersed, and several of them walked up to the group of Spanish soldiers and shouted a few commands, and the soldiers responded in unison.

"Everyone, cheer up. The Commander will be here soon."

The man shouted loudly to the group of soldiers, then walked to the shade of a tree and took them away.

The three officers who were with him also followed and walked into the shade of the tree.

The other ten or so people dispersed and walked to the front of the five groups of Filipinos and began to shout commands.

"stand at attention."

Following the officer's shout, the soldiers who had previously looked lazy began to move and slowly formed a square formation.

Although in the queue, soldiers occasionally swapped positions with each other because of mistakes, and it looked like they were doing something similar, but the movements were still very slow and cumbersome.

If it were in a real army, such performance would obviously be unqualified.

So, the two officers next to them took off the wooden sticks hanging on their belts and began to swing them, smashing the slow-moving soldiers in the queue with the sticks. For a while, the screams of the Filipino soldiers in the queue were endless.

Although it looked a bit miserable, under the threat of sticks, the previously lazy soldiers finally perked up and moved faster.

The five teams all behaved in almost the same way, and they had to wave sticks before they would behave themselves.

Just as the queue was gradually taking shape, several horse-drawn carriages appeared from the direction of Manila City. They were obviously the people who were coming today and they were also the people with the most influence in Manila City.

Sure enough, after the carriage stopped not far away, the people who got off the carriage were the Governor-General of the Philippines Ravisalli, the city defense commander Savera and other important officials. The officers who had been hiding in the shade before were already trotting over to greet them.

Ravi Sari was dressed in formal attire, while Savira was only wearing a neat military uniform. This time he was the commander of the expeditionary force.

When Savilla saw the newcomer, he simply asked, "Have the supplies been loaded onto the ship?"

"Everything has been loaded last night. We are just waiting for the commander to give us a lecture before we can board the ship and set off."

The officer replied immediately.

After hearing this, Governor Ravi Sari, who was standing next to him, just nodded in approval when Savera looked over.

"Well, start reviewing the soldiers now and then set off immediately. We can't delay any longer."

Savilla immediately said something to the officer, and when he turned back to reorganize, he whispered to Ravi Sari, "It is estimated that it will take at least a month for the Ming army to receive the news and rush here. It seems like a long time, but when it comes to war, who can be sure?"

"Just follow your plan. Try to draw out Pirate Lin's army and destroy them outside the city with cannons and muskets."

Ravi Sari also said in a low voice.

During this period, they also repeatedly studied the plan of attacking Daimao City, and found that if Lin Feng kept his troops in the city and did not come out, it would be difficult for them to capture Daimao City in a short period of time.

Although the current walls of Daimao City are not tall and strong enough, Lin Feng ordered people to build many fortresses outside the city.

In their view, the role of these fortresses is mainly defensive, preventing the attacking army from advancing quickly to the city of Daimao and delaying their actions.

In the future, if these fortresses are connected by city walls, they can also function as towers on the city walls and serve as the main firepower output points.

Don’t think that the Spanish can easily conquer a walled city just because they can use cannons.

The Spanish warships did have large-caliber cannons, but the cannons of this era were generally not very large in caliber, and the power of the shells when they hit the city walls was actually limited.

In fact, the power of artillery is not as destructive as the destructive power of large catapults on city walls.

It’s just that because of its strong penetration, if it was bombarding the city gate instead of the city wall, the effect would be greater.

But don't forget, although Lin Feng is a pirate, they also have firearms.

Some of the firearms were captured from Ming army garrisons, and more were obtained by robbing passing ships at sea.

Of course, a small part also came from those daring merchants in Europe who sold some firearms at high prices for profit.

However, these artillery pieces are generally small-caliber and have limited power.

But Lin Feng has artillery, which is also a huge threat to the Spaniards.

However, the cannons on their bows were rather heavy and difficult to unload from the ship, so they thought of luring the pirates out of the city, preferably on the beach. Then they could use the cannons on the eleven armed merchant ships to teach Lin Feng a good lesson.

Because the sun was scorching, Ravisal didn't have the heart to say much to the soldiers who were going to the expedition. It was really uncomfortable to stay under the sun.

So, after a few simple words of encouragement and promises of many benefits, he ended his morale-boosting speech.

Then Savera gave the order to start boarding the ship.

Two thousand eight hundred soldiers, plus several hundred sailors on the ship, are the entire force sent to encircle and suppress Lin Feng.

Just as Li Jin thought, there were still more than 200 soldiers left in Manila, as well as two merchant ships responsible for transporting supplies to the front line.

Although the Spanish hoped to end the war as soon as possible, they also made plans for the worst. If the siege turned into a siege, they would need continuous supplies to supply the troops on the front line.

As the ropes were untied at the dock, the warships left the shore and headed towards the bay.

Ravisalli and several leading figures in Manila only stood on the dock for a moment, and then, unable to withstand the scorching sun, they got on their carriages and headed for the city.

Not far from the dock, several Chinese people watched all this from afar, until most people on the dock had left, then they turned around and went back to the house behind them.

This is a tavern that has been run by Chinese for many years. It is a place for sailors on merchant ships to drink, and its business has always been good.

Especially after the Spaniards came here, the city of Manila became the Spanish base in the East Asian waters, and more Spanish merchant ships came and went.

The owner of the tavern was replaced just half a year ago, but since everything in the tavern remained the same, even the manager was still the original owner of the tavern, not many people knew about it.

"Sir, do you want to send someone to contact the north?"

After entering the room, a short and strong man said to the middle-aged man in front.

"Even if I leak the information I have gathered to them, will it be of any help to them?"

The middle-aged Chinese man just sat in the main seat and said casually, "These barbarians are determined to wipe out Lin Feng and his gang of thieves as soon as possible. In theory, for the benefit of the court, the Ming army should find a way to mess this up. But, is this a good idea?

Lin Feng is a wanted man by the imperial court. If we let him escape again, and the higher-ups investigate, I'm afraid neither you nor I can afford to bear the consequences."

"This"

When asked this question, the thin man hesitated and couldn't respond.

“Speaking of which, the Yi people are still doing what they agreed with the Ming army, but you and I both know that it would be safest to wait until the main army arrives.

Unfortunately, the ocean is vast. Even if the navy received the news, they still had to ask for permission before heading south. According to this calculation, it would take at least two months for the army to arrive.

By this time, the Yi people would have probably already captured Daimao City."

The middle-aged man continued speaking, then shook his head with some regret and smiled bitterly.

These two people were the intelligence personnel sent to Luzon Island by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. They established the Luzon Station, which was responsible for collecting various intelligence here.

In order to gather information, they used the silver they brought to rent the tavern.

What could be easier than getting information in a place like this? Sailors traveling between merchant ships would utter all kinds of words after drinking, some of which were quite shocking.

However, although they will look at the records of this information, it will still take a lot of time to screen and verify it, and the information will only be secretly brought out via merchant ships every few months.

This time, because of Lin Feng's arrival, they immediately became nervous. They not only had to collect information about Lin Feng, but also had to find out the Spaniards' response plan.

“During this period of time, you should work harder and continue to hide in the Governor’s Mansion to get information.

The others also told them not to act rashly and to just act as usual.

In this matter, there is no order from above, so we should not act rashly. We should just follow the original order and listen and watch more."

Then, the middle-aged man instructed, "You must be more careful when hiding in the Governor's Mansion.

With the appearance of the imperial army here, I am worried that the barbarians will target the Han people here.

You and I are both new here, and it's easy for us to be targeted."

"Yes, sir, I understand."

The short and thin man immediately bowed.

They didn't know that the Ming navy was already on the way, and they thought that the Ming army would follow the usual practice and report to the capital before sending troops.

However, at this time, the Ministry of War in the capital had just received the news from the Fujian-Guangdong Post Station.

The official document was submitted by Xu Qiaoan, a navy commander of Denglai. He had already received the imperial edict and documents sent by express horses from the capital, and immediately dispatched two ships to Luzon to catch up with Yu Dayou and his party.

However, he still followed the rules and reported all his arrangements to the Ministry of War in the capital.

"Zhifu has already sent out his troops, tsk tsk."

Tan Lun took the document from his doctor and read it, then just clicked his tongue twice.

He actually guessed it. It must be that Wei Guangde had hinted something to Yu Dayou before, so he took action immediately after receiving the news.

If the imperial court investigates the matter of leading the navy south, the responsibility will be heavy.

After all, there was no imperial edict or court document to mobilize troops. Although Yu Dayou had the right to act at his own discretion in suppressing the Japanese, he had to fight to Luzon Island, which was a foreign vassal state, so it was not appropriate.

"Make a copy of the official document and send it to the cabinet and give it to Lord Wei. Keep it with me first.

Remember, tell your men to shut up and not spread the news."

Tan Lun gave an order and put the documents away.

When the doctor was about to leave, he was stopped at the door and asked, "By the way, there is still no report from the southwest in the past two days?"

The doctor turned around and bowed, saying, "Minister, I haven't received any news from there. Would you like me to send a letter to ask?"

"No need. No news is good news. If there is really urgent news, then it is a big deal."

Tan Lun shook his head, said just one sentence, and then waved his hand for him to go down.

After everyone left, Tan Lun was the only one left in the lobby. He frowned and began to think.

There are three places in the Ming Dynasty where war may break out today, and one of them is Liaodong.

However, the Ministry of War had already informed the Liaodong governor and, in accordance with Qi Jiguang's wishes, allowed Wang Gao's two sons to continue to jump around and see how many people in Liaodong were still opposed to the court.

Wait until they are all exposed, then take action to get rid of them once and for all.

The second one is naturally Luzon. Now it seems that the first thing to do is to encircle and suppress the pirates. As for whether a war will break out with the barbarians, it is too early to talk about it for the time being.

The last place is naturally the southwest.

Before this, news had come from Yunnan that the three envoys and six consolations outside the region had not carried out the order, and no one had gone to Kunming to introduce the affairs of Myanmar. This was a blatant disobedience of the order.

Therefore, the southwestern provinces are now reorganizing their troops and preparing to respond.

However, when this news was released, Myanmar's Toungoo Dynasty did not respond at all, which was very wrong.

Or, their response was very covert, avoiding the eyes and ears of the imperial court there.

Or, he was so confident that he thought he could fight against the imperial court, so he turned a deaf ear to the imperial court's documents and didn't care at all.

Tan Lun was having wild thoughts, but he did have a rough idea of ​​Mang Yinglong's response.

This time, Mang Yinglong took a countermeasure, which was to gather a large army and prepare for possible interference from the Ming court.

But unlike in the past, he did not concentrate his troops in Toungoo City, but instead had them move secretly to the northwest and hide near Mubang and Mengyang.

Now, Mang Yinglong did not have a clear order for the attack.

According to his original intention, he would take action against Mubang next year, and after completely annexing Mubang, he would send troops to Mengyang.

At that time, the area under his control will be directly bordering the Ming Dynasty.

Regardless of whether the Ming court sent troops or not, he could attack or defend and control the war in Mengyang.

In this way, no harm would be caused to his rule in Myanmar.

However, after he discovered that the Ming court was paying attention to him, he became a little hesitant and felt that he should send troops to Meng Yang in advance.

The current chieftains of Mubang and Mengyang are also very shrewd. If he goes to Kunming as requested by the Ming court, Mang Yinglong will send troops immediately.

But now they are all hiding, so it is difficult to take action.