Dragon Sea Empire

The ship Fu Xing will hide in the mouth of the river north of Badalan during the day, and cruise along the beach at night, ready to pick up Yin Feng and his party at all times.If Yin Feng has not appeared on the beach after two months, they can return on their own.

Yin Feng and others climbed Dalun Mountain smoothly.According to Zhang Wei's hastily drawn schematic diagram, a group of four people walked on the mountain path. The local aborigines were probably recruited to Manila by the Spaniards, so they basically did not encounter any danger.

In total, the four men carried a revolver, a dagger, and an ax as weapons.

It took them five days to cross the mountain, hiding under the cliff during the day, and traveling under the moonlight at night.After encountering a heavy rain, four people stood on the hillside, facing the emerald green plain. In the mist after the rain, the city of Manila was faintly visible, and the Pasig River meandered around the city.

Before the Spanish occupation, Manila was only the capital of the state, a small city located by the lake.After the Spaniards arrived, they brought the American trade route by the way. They used galleons to transport Chinese merchants from the "world factory" with advanced production technology at that time - a large number of cheap and high-quality goods shipped from China to Manila to their American colonies. And Europe, and then transport the huge profits earned from the Americas back to Manila to buy Chinese goods.As a result, this trade not only made many Spanish and Chinese businessmen rich, but also promoted the development of Manila, which in turn attracted thousands of skilled Chinese artisans and poor refugees who came to make a living; The production and business activities of all walks of life provide this emerging colonial city with all the goods and services needed to earn money from the Spaniards to send back to the country to support their families.For a time, the blending of different civilizations in the East and the West produced amazing miracles: Manila rose from the ground in just over thirty years and became so prosperous that many Spaniards believed that it would soon become the capital of the East. Rome.For the Spaniards, the material life in Manila is too rich, and they can also get in touch with the mysterious ancient oriental country, which they cannot enjoy in Europe, America or any other place.No wonder many colonists who traveled all over the world never wanted to leave after they came to this Far Eastern colony that had no mineral resources.

……

After walking down the mountain for another day or so, I met many Tagalog natives in the woods, but they had no hostility towards this small group of biologists, and no one paid any attention to them.After the Chinese came to Luzon Island, the Tagalog people were the first to trade with them, so the Tagalog natives are generally friendly to the Chinese.The earliest people who called the Chinese "physiological people" were the natives of the Tagalog tribe. After the Spaniards occupied Luzon, they also called the Chinese "physiological people".In fact, this is also what the Chinese call themselves: the pronunciation of "business man" in Hokkien dialect is "physiological farmer".

They bypassed the eastern part of Manila. Now, a dirt road lay in front of them. One end of the road stretched for about 200 meters and there was a residential area with a towering church attached to it.On the west side of the other side of the road, there is a manor-style building. At this moment, many Spaniards are gathering at the gate of the manor.Yin Feng and others were in the woods on the other side of the road, planning to find an opportunity to cross the road and enter the residential area.

"This should be Binondo, a village of biological Christians. I don't know where that manor is, and where there are so many Spaniards." Yin Feng glanced at the simple map in his hand.Suddenly he thought of a problem: Although the map is crude and rough, the location and orientation are basically accurate.As an ordinary small businessman, how could Zhang Wei draw such a schematic diagram of the terrain?

"Someone is coming, a lot of people." Magaro lay down on a rock and was observing his surroundings. He had good eyesight and saw a long line of people coming out of Binondo village at a glance.Yin Feng and others also stood on the rock and looked around: a large group of Chinese in simple clothes was surrounded and escorted by countless Spanish soldiers and native auxiliary soldiers, walked out of the settlement of Binondo, and walked to the manor in the west.

This group of Chinese came from the main road, and they must pass by the hiding place of Yin Feng and others.Spanish soldiers and indigenous servants patrolling on both sides of the road are approaching the rock.Yin Feng and the others looked around anxiously. The black man, Magaro, pointed to the north of the manor and said, "There is a bush over there, why don't you go and hide there?"

The four people came to this low bush, only to realize that this is a large swamp along the coast.About 100 meters south of the bush is the manor where many Spaniards gathered. Between the manor and the swamp is a large artificially planted sugarcane field.The sugar cane has been harvested, and only a few sporadic half-stalks of sugar cane stand in the ground.

Yin Feng heard from small businessman Zhang Wei that many sugarcane manors in Manila were planted by Spaniards hiring Chinese.

The sugar cane fields here have already been harvested, what did the Spaniards do with these Chinese?

They lay down in the bushes and watched the group of Chinese being escorted into the manor and driven into a warehouse shed from a gap in the trees.The gate of the big shed was facing the direction of Yin Feng and others.The Chinese crowded into the hut, and the Spanish soldiers, led by several officers, scattered and surrounded the whole hut. Many native servants followed behind the Spanish soldiers with spears and bows, and some held torches.

After all the Chinese were driven into the greenhouse, the hundreds of Chinese inside were already crowded together.The gate was closed, and several aborigines pushed a cart full of timber and blocked the gate.

The Chinese inside the door made a lot of noise: "Didn't you say to check the household registration and residence permit? Why do you want to close the door?"

"let me out……"

A Spanish military officer in his 40s was fully armed, stepped forward, raised a pistol and fired a "bang" shot into the house from the window of the shed.The chaotic noise in the greenhouse suddenly stopped.

This is a signal.

All the Spanish soldiers surrounding the shed raised their guns together and shot at the shed; the native servants threw torches into the house one after another, and suddenly thick smoke rose, and a large flame burst out from the window of the shed; this shows that the shed was placed in advance. Firelighter.Accompanied by flames and thick smoke, there were countless miserable and desperate cries.A middle-aged Chinese man with short shaved hair leaned to the window and screamed in Spanish: "Soy cristiano!" (I'm a Christian!)

The Spanish officer who fired the first shot raised his hand and knocked the biological man Christian down on his back. Immediately, a burst of flames rose from the window.

Some nimble Chinese jumped out of the window, but before they landed, they were shot to death by muskets, or shot by indigenous bows and arrows, or stabbed to death by spears.Someone screamed and climbed up the window with flames all over his body. He was stabbed by a spear at the window, fell back, and fell directly back into the increasingly fierce fire.

"Crackling" gunshots sounded continuously, the roof of the shed burst into flames, and the inhuman screams in the shed reached a climax.The Spanish soldiers fired their guns excitedly, and the natives enthusiastically shot arrows and stabbed spears, mercilessly killing all the Chinese who tried to escape the flames.The flames grew more and more violent in the shed, and a Spanish officer picked up a small keg of gunpowder and threw it through the flaming window.

"Boom", a large group of flames suddenly burst out from all the windows of the greenhouse, and several soldiers who were caught off guard set their hats and beards on fire, causing other soldiers to laugh.Amid the laughter, in the hellish shed, the screams of despair and dying suddenly subsided, and gradually became silent, leaving only the crackling sound of burning wood.

Soon, with a bang, the greenhouse collapsed in flames and thick smoke, and there were no living creatures in the firelight.

Yin Feng took a breath, smelled a strong burning smell, and couldn't help coughing a few times.Turning back to look at his companions, they stared blankly at the massacre not far away as if under a spell, their faces were all pale, and they almost forgot to breathe.

This was the beginning of the massacre of Chinese in Manila in 1603.

Yin Feng took a deep breath, put the revolver that he was holding tightly in his hand back into his arms, and slapped the stunned companions awake one by one.The black Magaro sat slumped on the muddy ground by the swamp, and while drawing the sign of the cross, he murmured: "The devil, the devil, God, this is the devil!"

The two Danmin sailors were young men brought by Yin Feng from Hainan. In the past two years, they fought Japanese pirates with Yin Feng and saw them killed in battle, but they were also frightened by this naked massacre.They looked at Yin Feng, gasping for breath, obviously distracted, with erratic eyes.

To be honest, Yin Feng was also frightened. He had seen massacre scenes in movies at most before, but now it can be regarded as a real reproduction.The scene that was too real made Yin Feng lose his sense of reality for a while. He watched the whole process like watching a movie, and then he felt creepy, and his back was full of cold sweat.At the same time, he felt anger mixed with annoyance, and a sense of powerlessness surged into his heart, which made him almost unable to breathe, making him feel that his ability was still too weak.

He understood: he was still late, the fate of the massacre of the Chinese in Balian had arrived irreversibly.

"What should I do?" He unconsciously made a sound and took a deep breath.The others looked up in unison and stared blankly at him.If the tragic fate of the Zeng family brothers cannot be reversed, he does not want to take the lives of the few subordinates in front of him meaninglessly.

He looked at the two sailors, one of whom was a distant relative of Mai Dahai's family, named Mai Xiaoliu, who was only 17 years old.Magaro's face was ugly, and he kept making the sign of the cross on his chest.

"Everyone has seen that this place is about to become a slaughterhouse. I don't want to bury your little lives here..." Yin Feng sighed: "I am entrusted by my family, and I must save people to the end."

Mai Xiaoliu swallowed, and struggled to find his vocal organ: "Captain,...why, those... Ganla people want to kill all Tang people?"

"Why?" Yin Feng said with a sneer: "Because we Tang people have made too much money, because Tang people are not Christians, and because we Tang people married and had children with aboriginal people..."

The two sailors looked at Yin Feng in disbelief, thinking he was joking.Magaro looked up and said in Portuguese: "The Spaniards are devils!"

"In any case, we have reached this point, and there is nothing we can do." Yin Feng said to himself, thinking for a moment, and decided to go to Binondo first to find Li Dan before speaking.

"Lao Ma!" He called Magaro by his Chinese name, and said in a pleading tone: "Can you help me go to Brother Li Dan's house? The Spaniards here also have many black slaves. You appeared on the street It will not attract attention." He pointed in the direction of Binondo: "Right now, the situation of Binondo is unknown, but fortunately, Captain Li Dan also knows you. The whereabouts of my brothers."

Magaro nodded and agreed without hesitation.Yin Feng once promised him that he would redeem himself for him, but he has never met Magaro’s legal master—the Ballades missionary who went to Beijing with Matteo Ricci. Therefore, the relationship between Magaro and him It has always been like a friend or a servant.

So, everyone walked back for a while, Yin Feng and others temporarily hid in the forest by the swamp, and Magaro set out to find out the situation.

Yin Feng and the others sat on the ground in the forest, and the mosquitoes flying from the swamp bit them wantonly.As the sky gradually darkened, the mosquitoes attacked more frantically.It seems that the location of the meeting was chosen wrongly. Yin Feng and the others had no choice but to rush towards the direction of Magaro with their heads in their hands, leaving the edge of the swamp.

Here is the intersection of dense forests and large sugarcane fields, with sparse trees and overgrown weeds, and not far from the main road leading to Binondo.Yin Feng and others were lying in the grass, gnawing dry food, while waiting dully for Magaro to return.