Chapter 1607
Good Reason
Chapter 1607 Good Reason
Although the Spaniards' surprise attack on Sanya ended in failure, Hai Han took note of the account. Although he did not take any public military retaliation afterwards, everyone with a discerning eye knew that Hai Han would never let it go and endure the situation. Tone, just waiting for the right time.Li Nai is well aware that the Haihan Security Department and the military have sent so many people to the city of Manila to lurk, and they are definitely not doing nothing. Maybe the blueprint of the city defense of Manila city has already been sent back to Fort Victory for the senior military officials to refer to. up.Perhaps the senior executives of Haihan think that the time is ripe, and it is time to prepare to attack Manila.
However, Li Nai feels that the news that the "Warrior" class battleship on the front page has completed sea trials may not be absolutely related to the actions that the military may take next. built.Unless it is when the navy is in action, it is forced to bring the prototype ship used for testing.
Of course, since the newspapers have just started to create public opinion, using Hercynian trade as a topic to attract public attention, Li Nai believes that it will be some time before the war breaks out.Haihan has always been more particular about launching foreign wars, and will definitely take the initiative in the propaganda war to let the domestic people realize the justice of the war, so that there will be more sufficient reasons for mobilization.And Haihan's strong military strength allows it to win the final victory in every foreign war, so the people also trust the decision of the executive committee to start the war. After all, every war will be accompanied by the good news of expanding the territory and The huge economic benefits after the war are enough reasons for ordinary people to go to war.
As for how the wind will blow in the future, Li Nai can actually predict a general idea. Haihan will gradually attract the public's attention to the topic of Haixi trade through various publicity methods, and portray Spain as a hideous villain. , and then create an emergency at the right time, so that the official can take the initiative to declare war on the Spaniards for just reasons.
How the Spaniards will be taught a lesson in the end, Li Nai can't imagine for the time being, but if Haihan really plans to go to Manila, then there is still a lot of preparation work that needs to be done.In addition to public opinion building, purchasing military supplies and other means, the assembly of the army is also a relatively obvious external feature before the war.Compared with other preparations, this is also the easiest move to expose military intentions.
If only relying on Haihan's fleet stationed in the Sanya military port, it may be possible to complete the raid on Manila, but it may not be able to achieve the results expected by the Executive Committee.After all, there are only a dozen combat ships in this fleet. This force is not enough to destroy the city of Manila, which the Spaniards have operated for more than 60 years, or to seize the actual control of the area and drive the Spaniards out of the area.If the purpose was only to send a small fleet to Manila Bay to show off its strength, Li Nai believed that Hai Han would not have to endure such a long time.
Manila is more than [-] nautical miles away from Sanya, and more than [-] nautical miles away from the Pearl River Estuary. Due to objective reasons such as ocean currents, wind direction, and sea conditions, the actual voyage will be one-third to one-fourth longer than this theoretical distance. wait.If it is the Fuchuan or Guangzhou Ship of the Ming Dynasty, it will take at least ten days to travel from Sanya to Manila, and it will take seven or eight days to reach the destination from the Pearl River Estuary.
Although Li Nai has never been to Manila in person, many sailors in Fu Ruifeng have been to the area ruled by the Spanish, so he generally knows the local situation.The Spaniards have gained a dominant position in the local area since 1571, built the stronghold of Manila, and operated it for more than 60 years. They have built the local area into the most important Spanish colony in the Far East, and actually controlled most of the Philippine Islands through Manila. .
What the Spanish colonists implemented locally was a special form of trade named Manila-Acapulco trade by Haihan, that is, the transoceanic trade between Spain’s American colony Mexico and the Philippine Islands in the Far East, also known as It's the galleon trade.The Spanish galleon fleet sails northward from Manila every June by the southwest monsoon, sails eastward along the "black current" on the Pacific Ocean, and finally arrives at the port of Acapulco in America. , which lasted about three months.Part of the Spanish fleet that attacked Sanya last year was this type of galleon that sails back and forth across the Pacific Ocean every year.
These large sailing ships with a load of about [-] tons transported silk, lacquerware, porcelain, cotton cloth, ivory, carpets and other goods from China, India, Persia, Japan and other countries in the Far East to Acapulco, except for local sales in the Americas. , some of the high-end goods will be shipped back to Spain to be enshrined to the royal family and nobles and other upper-class people in society.The fleet sailing from the Americas to the Philippine Islands will be loaded with local products such as silver coins, copper, and cocoa.The ownership of the galleon fleet is directly in the hands of the Spanish royal family, and it is operated exclusively, which means that most of the revenue generated by this route will directly go into the pockets of the royal family, and private merchant ships even enter the game. None of the qualifications.
It is worth mentioning that in the original historical process, corn, tobacco, peanuts, tomatoes and other crops were introduced to China through this ocean-going route, but in this time and space, Haihan has replaced this part of the galleon fleet Function, the crop seeds they brought are all improved varieties cultivated through advanced agricultural technology, which are far more productive than the native crops of this era, and are more suitable as economic crops for large-scale promotion and planting.Of course, these benefits can only be enjoyed in Haihan's country, and the Spaniards are not so lucky, and Haihan will never sell these advanced agricultural technology crystals to his competitors.
The Spaniards implemented a typical colonial model in Manila, strictly controlling the local cultural and educational system, taking Catholicism as the only religion, and levying a tithe tax on all people.The local population of Han people is actually not small. Thousands of Han people had settled in Manila as early as the beginning of the 17th century. However, the permanent population of Han people was several times that of the Spaniards. The local social status was not high, except for a few Except for the Han Chinese who the Spaniards worked for, the vast majority of Han Chinese residents played the role of the bottom of society in the local area, and they only existed to contribute taxes to the Spaniards.
After Haihan took root in Sanya and established the country, he recruited a large number of immigrants with extremely favorable conditions. This directly led to a great decrease in the number of Han people from Daming to Manila. Well, the Haihan country, which is easier to adapt to the environment, is the target, and Manila, which was once prosperous in the past, is listed as unpopular by Haihan. The immigrants are worried that they will be targeted in the future, so they have given up going south to Luzon Island. The plan of the Spaniards to work hard.
This has had a very direct impact on the development of Manila. After all, the local indigenous people are lazy and evil, so a considerable part of the urban construction work is completed by Han immigrants.However, once the source of labor is interrupted, the impact will soon be apparent. Industries such as plantations can only recruit a large number of aborigines, and the quality of the local aborigines is much worse than that of the hardworking Han people.As far as Li Nai knew, Spain sent a fleet to attack Sanya last year, partly because they wanted to use this to damage the reputation of Haihan, so that Han immigrants would give up Haihan as a destination.
Of course, this goal was not achieved in the end, and he shot himself in the foot with a stone. After the Spanish fleet returned in a big defeat, the news spread simultaneously in Haihan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and even parts of the Philippine Islands. Spain not only Instead of attracting more Han immigrants with this action, it became Haihan's promotional materials for recruiting immigrants.
However, cutting off the source of Han immigrants in Manila is still unlikely to completely admit defeat to the Spaniards, because they can also try to transport some immigrants from the Americas, and buy black slaves from Africa and the Middle East to supplement the local labor force.Although these people may not be as easy to use as the Han people, the advantage is that the cost is low, and the Spaniards do not feel distressed when they squeeze them.Therefore, if Haihan wants to completely defeat this competitor, it is still not enough to rely on the current commercial and political means, and ultimately must rely on military action to solve the problem.
Given the distance from Hainan Island to Manila Bay, and the fact that there are hardly any large islands in the middle that can serve as stops for supplies, it will be very difficult to supply supplies during the battle. It is very likely that it is not the Spaniards who live there, but the local Haihan Fleet who went on an expedition.That's why Li Nai always believed that Haihan's revenge against Spain should be done without action, as long as he made a move, it would be thunderous, leaving no chance for the opponent to stand up.
However, Li Nai's confidence in Haihan was not affected by this judgment. In his mind, the Haihan Army is an invincible existence. Even though the goal of attacking Manila seems to be difficult, he still believes unconditionally The Haihan army will eventually kill the opponent as always.Under this premise, Li Nai believes that the primary issue he needs to consider at present is not to worry about Haihan's Ministry of National Defense, how to formulate a combat plan to attack Manila, but to think carefully for Fu Ruifeng, how to take advantage of this opportunity to continue Make a war fortune.
Since the cooperation between Haihan and Furuifeng, there is no lack of Furuifeng joining in almost every foreign war. Most of the time, they only provide Haihan with support in material procurement and transportation, but there are also a few times when there will be deeper cooperation. , such as using the merchant ship under his command to transport Haihan's intelligence personnel to Manila.
One thing is certain, that is, in these past cooperation projects, Furuifeng has more or less earned considerable benefits.Even in the battle of Liaodong in the far northeast, Fu Ruifeng also undertook the supply of medical supplies, clothing, shoes, quilts and other materials, which can be said to have indirectly contributed to Haihan's victory in Liaodong.
Although it is not clear whether the cotton yarn and medicinal materials sold to Haihan this time will be used in the battle against Spain, Li Nai does not want to stop here. He hopes that Fu Ruifeng can get more from this war. to more benefits.For example, by intervening in the local reconstruction work after the war, or by providing sea transportation capacity to assist in the war, Haihan can approve Freedom's future trade privileges in the Philippine Islands.
However, these thoughts can only be temporarily kept in Li Nai's mind. He knows that if he goes directly to Sanya to ask the people from the Ministry of National Defense, he will definitely only get ashes on the nose.At least wait until Haihan's public opinion offensive has reached a certain level, and the intention of war is more obvious, before making these demands to Haihan's senior management will not appear too abrupt.
"I can only keep an eye on the newspaper!" Li Nai thought.But then he has to return to Guangzhou to return to his life, and he has no way to wait for the first-hand news in Sanya. Li Nai decided to say hello to Furuifeng's manager in Sanya, and let him report in every issue of Haihan Times in the future. Buy it immediately after publication, and then send the above news about Manila and the Spaniards back to Guangzhou by telegram, so as not to miss the opportunity to intervene.
Almost at the same time, Ning Qi convened a meeting with the editor-in-chiefs of several major local newspapers in Sanya, and assigned them recent propaganda tasks, one of which was to ask them to cooperate with Haihan Times on the report on the Spaniards. To be in step, follow the command of the propaganda department.Of course, at the end Ning Qi did not forget to emphasize the discipline of secrecy, requesting that the content of the meeting should not be leaked.
It was not the first time that the editors had received such a political task, and they all nodded their heads in response, but their hearts were already tightened, knowing that since the senior management of Haihan had moved their minds on the Spaniards, they might not be able to do so in the next few months. A big move was made.Relying on newspapers to build momentum and arouse national sentiment is a simple and effective method, and it has always been tried and tested. However, there is an obvious disadvantage in doing so, that is, it is easy for opponents to perceive Haihan's intentions.
If the Spaniard's sense of smell is sensitive enough, it is not difficult to smell the hostility from Haihan in the follow-up reports.If they moved fast enough, they might be able to make some preparations in Manila before Haihan's launch.Of course, the personnel that Haihan sent to Manila to lurk should not be idle. In addition to providing Haihan with local defense intelligence and geographical environment information, they may also be responsible for disrupting the law and order in the city when the war starts, and achieving internal and external cooperation. Task.
At the end of October, Li Nai sailed from Haikou back to Guangzhou. When the ship left the port, he happened to see the fleet stationed west of Haikou City practicing at sea.Seeing the Haihan fleet slashing through the waves in an orderly formation, Li Nai's confidence in the future battle grew a bit.
(End of this chapter)
Although the Spaniards' surprise attack on Sanya ended in failure, Hai Han took note of the account. Although he did not take any public military retaliation afterwards, everyone with a discerning eye knew that Hai Han would never let it go and endure the situation. Tone, just waiting for the right time.Li Nai is well aware that the Haihan Security Department and the military have sent so many people to the city of Manila to lurk, and they are definitely not doing nothing. Maybe the blueprint of the city defense of Manila city has already been sent back to Fort Victory for the senior military officials to refer to. up.Perhaps the senior executives of Haihan think that the time is ripe, and it is time to prepare to attack Manila.
However, Li Nai feels that the news that the "Warrior" class battleship on the front page has completed sea trials may not be absolutely related to the actions that the military may take next. built.Unless it is when the navy is in action, it is forced to bring the prototype ship used for testing.
Of course, since the newspapers have just started to create public opinion, using Hercynian trade as a topic to attract public attention, Li Nai believes that it will be some time before the war breaks out.Haihan has always been more particular about launching foreign wars, and will definitely take the initiative in the propaganda war to let the domestic people realize the justice of the war, so that there will be more sufficient reasons for mobilization.And Haihan's strong military strength allows it to win the final victory in every foreign war, so the people also trust the decision of the executive committee to start the war. After all, every war will be accompanied by the good news of expanding the territory and The huge economic benefits after the war are enough reasons for ordinary people to go to war.
As for how the wind will blow in the future, Li Nai can actually predict a general idea. Haihan will gradually attract the public's attention to the topic of Haixi trade through various publicity methods, and portray Spain as a hideous villain. , and then create an emergency at the right time, so that the official can take the initiative to declare war on the Spaniards for just reasons.
How the Spaniards will be taught a lesson in the end, Li Nai can't imagine for the time being, but if Haihan really plans to go to Manila, then there is still a lot of preparation work that needs to be done.In addition to public opinion building, purchasing military supplies and other means, the assembly of the army is also a relatively obvious external feature before the war.Compared with other preparations, this is also the easiest move to expose military intentions.
If only relying on Haihan's fleet stationed in the Sanya military port, it may be possible to complete the raid on Manila, but it may not be able to achieve the results expected by the Executive Committee.After all, there are only a dozen combat ships in this fleet. This force is not enough to destroy the city of Manila, which the Spaniards have operated for more than 60 years, or to seize the actual control of the area and drive the Spaniards out of the area.If the purpose was only to send a small fleet to Manila Bay to show off its strength, Li Nai believed that Hai Han would not have to endure such a long time.
Manila is more than [-] nautical miles away from Sanya, and more than [-] nautical miles away from the Pearl River Estuary. Due to objective reasons such as ocean currents, wind direction, and sea conditions, the actual voyage will be one-third to one-fourth longer than this theoretical distance. wait.If it is the Fuchuan or Guangzhou Ship of the Ming Dynasty, it will take at least ten days to travel from Sanya to Manila, and it will take seven or eight days to reach the destination from the Pearl River Estuary.
Although Li Nai has never been to Manila in person, many sailors in Fu Ruifeng have been to the area ruled by the Spanish, so he generally knows the local situation.The Spaniards have gained a dominant position in the local area since 1571, built the stronghold of Manila, and operated it for more than 60 years. They have built the local area into the most important Spanish colony in the Far East, and actually controlled most of the Philippine Islands through Manila. .
What the Spanish colonists implemented locally was a special form of trade named Manila-Acapulco trade by Haihan, that is, the transoceanic trade between Spain’s American colony Mexico and the Philippine Islands in the Far East, also known as It's the galleon trade.The Spanish galleon fleet sails northward from Manila every June by the southwest monsoon, sails eastward along the "black current" on the Pacific Ocean, and finally arrives at the port of Acapulco in America. , which lasted about three months.Part of the Spanish fleet that attacked Sanya last year was this type of galleon that sails back and forth across the Pacific Ocean every year.
These large sailing ships with a load of about [-] tons transported silk, lacquerware, porcelain, cotton cloth, ivory, carpets and other goods from China, India, Persia, Japan and other countries in the Far East to Acapulco, except for local sales in the Americas. , some of the high-end goods will be shipped back to Spain to be enshrined to the royal family and nobles and other upper-class people in society.The fleet sailing from the Americas to the Philippine Islands will be loaded with local products such as silver coins, copper, and cocoa.The ownership of the galleon fleet is directly in the hands of the Spanish royal family, and it is operated exclusively, which means that most of the revenue generated by this route will directly go into the pockets of the royal family, and private merchant ships even enter the game. None of the qualifications.
It is worth mentioning that in the original historical process, corn, tobacco, peanuts, tomatoes and other crops were introduced to China through this ocean-going route, but in this time and space, Haihan has replaced this part of the galleon fleet Function, the crop seeds they brought are all improved varieties cultivated through advanced agricultural technology, which are far more productive than the native crops of this era, and are more suitable as economic crops for large-scale promotion and planting.Of course, these benefits can only be enjoyed in Haihan's country, and the Spaniards are not so lucky, and Haihan will never sell these advanced agricultural technology crystals to his competitors.
The Spaniards implemented a typical colonial model in Manila, strictly controlling the local cultural and educational system, taking Catholicism as the only religion, and levying a tithe tax on all people.The local population of Han people is actually not small. Thousands of Han people had settled in Manila as early as the beginning of the 17th century. However, the permanent population of Han people was several times that of the Spaniards. The local social status was not high, except for a few Except for the Han Chinese who the Spaniards worked for, the vast majority of Han Chinese residents played the role of the bottom of society in the local area, and they only existed to contribute taxes to the Spaniards.
After Haihan took root in Sanya and established the country, he recruited a large number of immigrants with extremely favorable conditions. This directly led to a great decrease in the number of Han people from Daming to Manila. Well, the Haihan country, which is easier to adapt to the environment, is the target, and Manila, which was once prosperous in the past, is listed as unpopular by Haihan. The immigrants are worried that they will be targeted in the future, so they have given up going south to Luzon Island. The plan of the Spaniards to work hard.
This has had a very direct impact on the development of Manila. After all, the local indigenous people are lazy and evil, so a considerable part of the urban construction work is completed by Han immigrants.However, once the source of labor is interrupted, the impact will soon be apparent. Industries such as plantations can only recruit a large number of aborigines, and the quality of the local aborigines is much worse than that of the hardworking Han people.As far as Li Nai knew, Spain sent a fleet to attack Sanya last year, partly because they wanted to use this to damage the reputation of Haihan, so that Han immigrants would give up Haihan as a destination.
Of course, this goal was not achieved in the end, and he shot himself in the foot with a stone. After the Spanish fleet returned in a big defeat, the news spread simultaneously in Haihan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and even parts of the Philippine Islands. Spain not only Instead of attracting more Han immigrants with this action, it became Haihan's promotional materials for recruiting immigrants.
However, cutting off the source of Han immigrants in Manila is still unlikely to completely admit defeat to the Spaniards, because they can also try to transport some immigrants from the Americas, and buy black slaves from Africa and the Middle East to supplement the local labor force.Although these people may not be as easy to use as the Han people, the advantage is that the cost is low, and the Spaniards do not feel distressed when they squeeze them.Therefore, if Haihan wants to completely defeat this competitor, it is still not enough to rely on the current commercial and political means, and ultimately must rely on military action to solve the problem.
Given the distance from Hainan Island to Manila Bay, and the fact that there are hardly any large islands in the middle that can serve as stops for supplies, it will be very difficult to supply supplies during the battle. It is very likely that it is not the Spaniards who live there, but the local Haihan Fleet who went on an expedition.That's why Li Nai always believed that Haihan's revenge against Spain should be done without action, as long as he made a move, it would be thunderous, leaving no chance for the opponent to stand up.
However, Li Nai's confidence in Haihan was not affected by this judgment. In his mind, the Haihan Army is an invincible existence. Even though the goal of attacking Manila seems to be difficult, he still believes unconditionally The Haihan army will eventually kill the opponent as always.Under this premise, Li Nai believes that the primary issue he needs to consider at present is not to worry about Haihan's Ministry of National Defense, how to formulate a combat plan to attack Manila, but to think carefully for Fu Ruifeng, how to take advantage of this opportunity to continue Make a war fortune.
Since the cooperation between Haihan and Furuifeng, there is no lack of Furuifeng joining in almost every foreign war. Most of the time, they only provide Haihan with support in material procurement and transportation, but there are also a few times when there will be deeper cooperation. , such as using the merchant ship under his command to transport Haihan's intelligence personnel to Manila.
One thing is certain, that is, in these past cooperation projects, Furuifeng has more or less earned considerable benefits.Even in the battle of Liaodong in the far northeast, Fu Ruifeng also undertook the supply of medical supplies, clothing, shoes, quilts and other materials, which can be said to have indirectly contributed to Haihan's victory in Liaodong.
Although it is not clear whether the cotton yarn and medicinal materials sold to Haihan this time will be used in the battle against Spain, Li Nai does not want to stop here. He hopes that Fu Ruifeng can get more from this war. to more benefits.For example, by intervening in the local reconstruction work after the war, or by providing sea transportation capacity to assist in the war, Haihan can approve Freedom's future trade privileges in the Philippine Islands.
However, these thoughts can only be temporarily kept in Li Nai's mind. He knows that if he goes directly to Sanya to ask the people from the Ministry of National Defense, he will definitely only get ashes on the nose.At least wait until Haihan's public opinion offensive has reached a certain level, and the intention of war is more obvious, before making these demands to Haihan's senior management will not appear too abrupt.
"I can only keep an eye on the newspaper!" Li Nai thought.But then he has to return to Guangzhou to return to his life, and he has no way to wait for the first-hand news in Sanya. Li Nai decided to say hello to Furuifeng's manager in Sanya, and let him report in every issue of Haihan Times in the future. Buy it immediately after publication, and then send the above news about Manila and the Spaniards back to Guangzhou by telegram, so as not to miss the opportunity to intervene.
Almost at the same time, Ning Qi convened a meeting with the editor-in-chiefs of several major local newspapers in Sanya, and assigned them recent propaganda tasks, one of which was to ask them to cooperate with Haihan Times on the report on the Spaniards. To be in step, follow the command of the propaganda department.Of course, at the end Ning Qi did not forget to emphasize the discipline of secrecy, requesting that the content of the meeting should not be leaked.
It was not the first time that the editors had received such a political task, and they all nodded their heads in response, but their hearts were already tightened, knowing that since the senior management of Haihan had moved their minds on the Spaniards, they might not be able to do so in the next few months. A big move was made.Relying on newspapers to build momentum and arouse national sentiment is a simple and effective method, and it has always been tried and tested. However, there is an obvious disadvantage in doing so, that is, it is easy for opponents to perceive Haihan's intentions.
If the Spaniard's sense of smell is sensitive enough, it is not difficult to smell the hostility from Haihan in the follow-up reports.If they moved fast enough, they might be able to make some preparations in Manila before Haihan's launch.Of course, the personnel that Haihan sent to Manila to lurk should not be idle. In addition to providing Haihan with local defense intelligence and geographical environment information, they may also be responsible for disrupting the law and order in the city when the war starts, and achieving internal and external cooperation. Task.
At the end of October, Li Nai sailed from Haikou back to Guangzhou. When the ship left the port, he happened to see the fleet stationed west of Haikou City practicing at sea.Seeing the Haihan fleet slashing through the waves in an orderly formation, Li Nai's confidence in the future battle grew a bit.
(End of this chapter)