1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 373 Luzon Matters ([-])
Compared with Qi Tian, ​​the general manager of Hanzhou, who is full of confidence that he will end the war with the Dutch sooner or later, the Spanish governor in the Philippines, Sebastian Coquera, is more concerned about how to quell the growing riots of the Ming people in the Philippines. And it seems particularly lack of confidence.

A few months ago, he had instructed the army commander to announce to the Ming people outside Manila that they would use the heads of the riot Ming people to come to the Spaniards in exchange for urgently needed rations.In the first few days, there were really hungry Ming people who went looking for rioters in the Kalamba area, trying to kill them in exchange for food to satisfy their hunger.

But it didn't take long for the governor of Coquera to discover that the Spaniards who often went out of the city to inspect would always disappear inexplicably, and even the native servants would go out of the city and never heard from them.

The governor of Coquera thought that these missing Spaniards and natives could not bear the death threat of the rioters and sneaked away.Later, a man of Ming who had "converted" to God came to him with terrible news.The Ming people who rioted in the Kalamba area also issued a notice after learning that the Spaniards tried to provoke the Ming people to kill each other with food, that is, any Ming people who get the heads of Spaniards or native servants can Come to San Pedro to pick up enough rice to feed each person for ten days.

Then, the Spanish and native servants who went out of Manila to patrol the city must have been killed by the hungry Ming people outside the city, and then their heads were exchanged with the rioting Ming people for food.

Once the news spread, the Spaniards in Manila immediately turned pale.This means that in the entire Philippines, except for the city of Manila, there is no safe place anymore.The Ming people outside the city are likely to have been coerced by those rioters, and there are more than 1 people!

"Your Excellency, do you need to bombard the Ming people outside the city?" Colonel Polzionato, the commander of the army, asked solemnly.

"What happened to the Ming people outside the city?" Governor Coquera asked a little nervously.

"Aside from constantly fleeing the settlements, those Ming people did nothing else. ... They may feel that it is impossible to break into the city of Manila."

"Are they...all fleeing to San Pedro, or Calamba?"

In the Philippines, only Manila and Calamba currently have surplus food.It is impossible for the Spaniards to provide food to the Ming people. In order to beg for work, they can only flee to the original Calamba settlement area.

"Most of them fled to Calamba. There are also Ming people who spent huge sums of money to request the Portuguese ships that came here to take them back to Daming." Colonel Polzionato said with an embarrassed expression.

You must know that the port of Manila is still under the absolute control of the Spanish. Ming people who want to leave, in addition to paying huge fees to the Portuguese ships, may also need to bribe the Spanish port staff at the dock and the soldiers stationed there.

"So, not all Ming people are on the side of the rioters." Governor Coquera nodded and said: "Let's maintain the current status quo, and don't do anything to Ming people outside the city for the time being. After our support arrives, Make plans again...Why did the fleet from Mexico come so late this year, and haven't arrived in the Philippines yet?"

"Perhaps Mexico spent a lot of time raising supplies and personnel." Colonel Polzionato said with some uncertainty.

In the past, the Spanish galleon trade fleet usually transported silver, copper, and cocoa from the Americas from the port of Acapulco, Mexico, to Manila, the Philippines in February and March of that year. Products such as silk, porcelain, lacquerware, cotton cloth, ivory, carpets, and tea from India, Persia, and Japan, as well as embroideries, pearls, and wood carvings from the Philippines, were transported from Manila to the port of Acapulco, Mexico, and sold in Mexico and the West. It belongs to all parts of the Americas and is resold in mainland Spain.

It stands to reason that from the port of Acapulco in Mexico to Manila in the Philippines, it is still a direct flight along the ocean current, which only takes 3 months.Now it is mid-May, but the galleon trade fleet from the Americas has not arrived, making the Spaniards throughout the Philippines worried.

The American trade fleet failed to arrive in the Philippines on time, because the Spanish mainland recruited a large number of armed merchant ships to prepare to attack the Netherlands last year, and the scope of the call also included several squadrons in the Americas.It was originally thought that with its strong fleet strength, after defeating the Dutch navy and covering the army's landing in the Netherlands, some armed merchant ships belonging to the Americas could return to their respective territories.

However, in the Battle of Downs, the Spanish Navy suffered a crushing defeat and lost more than half of its ships, including of course some of the squadrons belonging to the Americas.This made the Mexican fleet participating in the trans-Pacific trade unable to gather enough ships to go to the Philippines for a while, causing many businessmen in the Pacific trade to complain.

However, those powerful Spanish merchants and local American merchants, driven by the high commodity profits, actually persuaded the commanders of the Caribbean Fleet, driving them to vacate several galleons, circumnavigate the entire America, and spend a lot of money. After more than two months, he came to the port of Acapulco in Mexico to participate in the annual trans-Pacific trade.

The entire fleet was much smaller than in previous years. There were only seven Spanish galleons, filled with a large amount of silver, copper, cocoa, and more than 400 musketeers, ordnance, and gunpowder raised at the request of the Philippine Governor. In June, in the eager anticipation of all the Spaniards in the Philippines, it finally arrived at the Port of Manila on June 1640, 6.
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After more than a year of development, the Ming uprising troops located in Calamba City have grown stronger, with the number of people increasing to more than 1, and the territory they control has also increased a lot.The two former Spanish colonial strongholds of San Pedro and Santa Rosa were conquered in the north, and the indigenous strongholds of Tanawan and Libalian were occupied in the south. It is less than [-] meters away from Batangas, the port stronghold of Spain in the south of Luzon Island. Thirty kilometers.

For a while, the uprising Ming people seemed to be in a good situation, and there was a tendency to sweep the entire Luzon Island.

But Cheng Guangyin (Han Zhou Heiyiwei, pseudonym He Guangqing), the leader of the uprising Ming people, felt a sense of danger coming towards the uprising Ming people.

Because the Spaniards in Manila refused to provide food to the more than ten thousand Ming people outside the city, and they also tried to exchange food for the heads of the rebel Ming people, although Cheng Guangyin used his own way to resolve it.But what followed was that Ming people from near Manila continued to flock to the Calamba area.

When they found the Ming people who rebelled, they didn't ask to join the gang to fight against the tyranny of the Spaniards, but they just wanted to beg for a bite to survive.

The arrival of too many Ming people seems to have strengthened the momentum of the uprising team, but in fact it has consumed their small food reserves.You must know that on the entire Luzon Island, although the Spaniards in Manila are relatively short of food, they can rely on the Manila Port they control to communicate effectively with the outside world, and they can import a large amount of food at a cost.

However, apart from seizing a lot of food when the rebellious Ming team captured Calamba and other Spanish strongholds, their more food needs depended entirely on the cultivation of the reclamation area.If they were based on the size of 7000 people at that time, the food they obtained should be enough for them to survive the rice harvest every season.

However, thousands of Ming people flocked from the Manila area, which greatly consumed the food reserves of the uprising team.Cheng Guangyin, who had just gained a large population and thought he had gained a lot of strength, soon woke up from the ecstasy and painfully realized that a large number of people is sometimes a burden.

"Boss, even if we implement food rationing, if we have to feed so many people, I'm afraid it will be difficult to last until the next rice harvest." He Tongfu came to report to Cheng Guangyin with a sad face.

"The elderly and women should eat porridge twice a day, and the adult men will eat porridge once a day." Cheng Guangyin said with a serious face: "Some people will be sent to the mountains to hunt. Also, let the women and children go to the lake to catch fish and touch the porridge. Loach. Damn it, you can always get something to eat... What a crime, I ran out because I was about to starve to death in Daming. Do I have to make me starve again?"

"Boss, I heard..." He Tongfu said hesitantly, "I heard that a Spanish fleet came from Manila a few days ago. They...will they bring a lot of reinforcements?"

"Are you scared?" Cheng Guangyin's eyes froze, staring at He Tongfu.

"There's nothing to be afraid of!" He Tongfu shook his head and smiled wryly: "Anyway, we are all destined to die. If things come to fruition, we will eat and drink hot food with the big boss, and live a rich life; if things don't work out, just throw our lives here. Next time Reincarnation, find a good world, a good family!"

"Don't worry, even if the Spaniards come for reinforcements, there won't be too many of them." Cheng Guangyin said in a deep voice, "We have [-] people here, and we can defeat them with a lot of people. In addition, we will strive to take the seaside area next month." The Spanish stronghold in Batangas has been defeated. Maybe the situation will turn around."

"What turning point?" He Tongfu had a look of hope on his face: "Could it be that you said that Hanzhou would send a boat to support us?"

"Yes! They will definitely come to support us when they get our news." Cheng Guangyin said: "As long as we go to the seaside and occupy a port, we will definitely get help from Hanzhou."

In fact, Cheng Guangyin couldn't confirm at all whether the message he sent would be received by Han Zhou.Even if Han Zhou received the message, can they spare extra energy to support them while fighting the Dutch?

However, he must give all the Ming people a hope, a hope that can defeat the Spaniards and get rid of their tyrannical oppression.If all the Ming people let go of that breath, stopped resisting, and waited for their fate, it would be a retaliatory massacre by the Spaniards and endless oppression.

Han Zhou, will you come to rescue them?
(End of this chapter)