Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 343: Xifei General Longquilo

"Longuillo? But he was the commander of the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Hangdatan eleven years ago?" A gleam of light flashed in Lin Hai's eyes. This man must have a great background.

"Yes, it's this person." Miguel nodded when he heard it. That naval battle was well known among the Portuguese in Asia because it was the largest naval battle ever fought by the Dutch and Spanish in Asia.

In that battle, the VOC sent out a total of 10 large galleons, while the Spanish sent out 9. However, the final result was a disastrous defeat for the VOC, which lost 5 warships including the flagship, 2 of which were directly captured by the Spanish.

The commander of the Spanish fleet, Don Juan Ronquillo, became famous in this battle and was revered as a god by the Spaniards in the Philippines ever since. This battle was also repeatedly mentioned in various documents of the Western Philippine authorities in the following decades.

For example, when writing someone's resume, anyone who participated in this battle would mention: So-and-so, under the leadership of General Longquilo, defeated our enemy, the Dutch, at Hangda Beach.

Hang Da Tan is located near Corregidor Island at the entrance of Manila Bay. There were actually three so-called Battles of Hang Da Tan. The one Lin Hai mentioned was the second one, which took place in 1617, the year after the Spanish-Portuguese joint fleets met in Malacca. It can be seen as a revenge of the VOC.

From 1617 to 1624, the VOC dispatched fleets to blockade Manila Bay every year during the peak season of maritime trade, which almost became an annual routine for the Batavia Navy. Before 1617, they had only carried out a similar blockade mission once in 1609.

Apart from the Battle of Hang Da Tan in 1617 in which Longueiro participated, the other two naval battles took place in 1609 and 1624 respectively. The Spaniards were the winners in both battles. It can be said that the VOC never won a single victory in Manila Bay.

The first Battle of Huntatan in 1609 was relatively small in scale, with the VOC having only five warships and the Spanish six. The final result was that the commander of the VOC fleet, Vitelt, was killed, only one of the five warships escaped, and the remaining four were completely lost.

The one in 1624 was relatively better. The two sides fought a long-range artillery battle that was not painful. They fired their naval guns at each other for a long time, but no serious casualties were caused. When the Dutch saw another Spanish fleet coming to reinforce them from afar, they simply hoisted their sails and ran away, ending the blockade of Manila Bay that year.

This was also the last time the VOC blockaded Manila Bay. In the same year, they also had seven warships fighting the Ming army in Penghu. It was also in this year that the Dutch retreated from Penghu to Tainan under the mediation of Li Dan, and gladly accepted the latter's proposal. The two sides joined forces to intercept merchant ships bound for Manila in the Taiwan Strait.

The Dutch were delighted to find that there was no need to go through the trouble of blockading Manila Bay, and that robbing Tainan could achieve almost the same effect.

After all, the Japanese generals had already stopped trading with the Spanish at that time, and the merchant ships going to Manila mainly came from Fujian. So from then on, they never sent a fleet to Manila Bay again. Historical experience shows that doing so has a high risk of being beaten by the Spanish and not even recognizing their mothers...

But having said that, although the VOC was beaten three times by the Spanish, it must be said that the overall situation on the Asian seas was still dominated by the Netherlands. Because the three Battles of Hang Da Tan all took place outside the Manila Bay, it just proved the famous saying that many people in later generations regarded as a criterion - the forefront of the navy is always in the enemy's port!
On the other hand, although the Siberian authorities had planned to launch offensive attacks many times, they only took action in 1616, and the plan was aborted halfway through its implementation.

Even during the nine times when the VOC blockaded Manila Bay, the Spanish fleet was only dispatched three times. In the other six years, the Spanish authorities chose to hide in Manila City, watching the VOC fleet show off its power at their doorstep and wantonly capture merchant ships that came to trade. This means that even near their doorstep, although the Spanish are more familiar with the hydrology, the soldiers can be more energetic, and the ships can be better maintained and supplied, most of the time they are still not sure of a decisive battle with the VOC.

Because of this, the victory of the three Battles of Hang Da Tan is even more precious. Of the two, the second battle was the largest in scale and the enemy had one less warship. Needless to say, the prestige of its commander, Don Juan Longueiro, in the Philippine military is very high.

"Tavola actually wants to send General Longquilo to Dayuan to watch the battle. I think this is enough to show that he is indeed seriously considering the plan proposed by the company..." Lin Hai suddenly fell into deep thought when he said this. He once again calculated in his mind all the naval battles that took place between the Netherlands and Spain in Asia, in order to more accurately estimate the overall strength of the two sides.

After all, the Netherlands and Spain have fought many times in Asia, and their understanding of each other's strength should be more accurate than that of a third party. Only by making the most accurate assessment of the strength of the two companies can Lin Hai better judge how Tavola will make the next decision, or what kind of strength Huiyou Company needs to show to prompt him to make up his mind.

"That's for sure." Miguel nodded. "Governor Tavola lost Keelung right after he took office, and then signed a secret agreement of reconciliation with the company. Although he found Valdez as a scapegoat, this matter may still give people something to talk about in the future. If we want to completely shut others up, the best way is to join forces with the company and win a decisive victory over the VOC."

"Well, what you said makes sense." Lin Hai was awakened by Miguel's words. He was used to considering the feasibility of the alliance plan from a military perspective, but he often forgot that the Governor-General of the Philippines was a politician.

Tavola said so quickly that he would coordinate Goa's position, which might mean that he was considering joining forces with the Portuguese to attack the VOC. After all, he lost Keelung as soon as he took office, so he must be more eager to establish merit than the average governor-general of the Philippines. Maybe he has already sent a special envoy to Goa.

As for whether Tavola would think that the Friends Company was not qualified to participate, Lin Hai was actually overthinking it. For Tavola, even if he thought that the Friends Company could not contribute in the decisive battle, bringing them along would be beneficial and harmless.

As long as he could defeat the VOC, Tavola could naturally exaggerate the role of the Dayou Company to prove the correctness of his peace treaty with it after losing Keelung. For a politician who could change the situation at will, this was just basic maneuvering, and countless reports from all over the Ming Dynasty to the central government fully demonstrated this point.

"It seems that Tavola is very willing to fight the red-haired man. Perhaps he is just one step away from victory. Should we show him the strength of our company's navy as soon as possible? This will encourage him to make up his mind as soon as possible..."

Lin Hai looked at Miguel and pondered for a moment. The latter also remained silent, as if he was weighing the pros and cons of doing so.

Finally, before Miguel could express his opinion, Lin Hai slammed the table and stood up: "I have made up my mind. I will send someone to Manila to tell Tavola that we will attack Dayuan in advance and ask him to send General Longquilo as soon as possible. The day Longquilo arrives in Keelung is the day for the company to attack Dayuan!"

(End of this chapter)