"Your Majesty, Governor, we have confirmed with great certainty that the Zamboanga Fortress was breached by the Dutch." Colonel Roll Scheit, commander of the Spanish Navy in the Philippines, reported sadly to Governor Sebastián Coqueira, "The enemy

Departing from Hele Island, we arrived in Zamboanga the next day. In the afternoon of that day, Zamboanga fell. All the military and political officials and soldiers in the city were captured by the enemy."

"Zamboanga didn't even hold out for a day?" Governor Sebastián Coquilla was very shocked. Although the Zamboanga Fortress was not as solid and solid as Manila, it was impossible for the Dutch to hold it for half a day.

, it was broken.

"Yes. The Zamboanga Fortress did not hold out for even a day." Colonel Roel Scheidt said: "Moreover, we received a request for help from the Holy Name of Jesus City (Cebu) yesterday. The Dutch have been in the city for three days.

They attacked our important city before."

"Isn't the defense of Holy Name of Jesus City like that of Zamboanga?" Governor Sebastian Coquilla asked with a gloomy face.

"Oh, probably not." Colonel Roll Scheidt said: "Holy Name Jesus City is the first place we landed and colonized. The city is as solid as Manila, and there are more than fifty people in the city

With experienced musketeers and more than 300 native servants, the enemy will not be able to break through easily."

"Do we need to go to rescue?" Governor Sebastián Coqueira breathed a sigh of relief. If the Holy Name of Jesus City was attacked by the Dutch again, the Spanish losses would be too great. In addition to more than three hundred people in the city,

Soldiers, as well as four to five hundred colonial officials and civilians, and even some baptized local tribal leaders, are all the people of the Lord. Damn Dutch commodity dealers!

"My Lord Governor, I think... we cannot go to the rescue!" Colonel Rohr Scheidt said: "The Dutch do not attack Manila directly because they are afraid of our strong defensive strength here. If we rashly send ships and personnel to rescue

Holy Name of Jesus City, I think it is unwise, the Dutch are obviously trying to lure our fleet out and start a decisive battle with us."

"Isn't your navy confident of defeating the Dutch?"

"Mr. Governor, we... we just suffered a... setback three months ago. At present, we are still temporarily conserving our strength." Colonel Rohr Scheidt implicitly pointed out that a few months ago, almost all of the expedition fleet was

The army was annihilated, and the current naval strength was not enough to fight a decisive battle with the enemy.

"I remember that the Cavite Shipyard has built two warships in the past three months. Is our naval strength still insufficient?" Governor Sebastian Coquilla asked.

"Mr. Governor, we don't have that many sailors to supplement at the moment." Colonel Rohr Scheidt explained.

"..." Governor Sebastian Coquilla was silent. He began to think eagerly in his mind about how to restore the strength of the Philippine Navy fleet faster. Otherwise, the Dutch could blockade the Philippines unscrupulously.

"Colonel Scheidt, although there are obvious shortcomings in our naval strength, we cannot blindly hide under the protection of the Manila Bay coastal defense batteries as we do now. We must have a proactive offensive spirit instead of retreating like this.

Avoid fighting. I think your navy must have a way to defeat this Dutch attack." Governor Sebastian Coqueira looked into the eyes of Colonel Rohr Scheidt and said.

"Active offensive spirit?" Colonel Roel Scheidt carefully chewed what the governor said. He wanted to rely on the Philippines' only six remaining warships plus two new warships that have not formed combat effectiveness to fight against the enemy's fifteen armed forces.

The merchant ships fought. To be honest, Colonel Scheidt was not sure that he could win the battle.

Seeing Colonel Rohr Scheit deep in thought, Governor Sebastian Coquilla couldn't help but shake his head. The Philippine colonial army bullied the natives too easily, causing them to not know how to deal with the enemy in difficult adversities.

.

"Colonel Onato, do you have any good suggestions?" Governor Sebastian Coquilla turned to the army commander, Colonel Polzi Onato.

"..." Colonel Polzi Onato shook his head in embarrassment, "I'm very sorry, Mr. Governor, I don't have any good suggestions at the moment."

Governor Sebastián Coquilla’s face suddenly turned a bit ugly. They were really a bunch of idiots with big muscles in their brains!

"Sir Governor, can we think of a way to separate the fleet gathered by the Dutch?" Camille Franco, the justice of the Manila Court, suddenly said.

"Huh?" Governor Sebastian Coqueira turned to look at Justice Camille Franco, with a strange look on his face, "Dear Franco, tell me your constructive thoughts."

Justice Camille Franco first nodded to the commanders of the Philippine Army and Navy, and then said to Governor Sebastian Coquilla: "The Dutch have gathered fifteen armed merchant ships, but we are currently

There are only six warships. If we rashly engage in battle, we may fall into their siege. However, if we set a trap to separate their fleet, can we defeat them one by one?"

Colonel Rohr Scheidt's eyes lit up after hearing this. Yes, if one-on-one, the Dutch armed merchant ships with small tonnage and few artillery are no match for Spanish warships. As long as they are separated, even if the ship

With one or two more ships than their own fleet, the Spanish fleet is also confident of sinking them into the sea. It's funny to me, but I always think about how to increase the strength of the fleet in my hand to the same as that of the Dutch before preparing for a decisive battle with them.

"Colonel Scheit, what do you think of the suggestions of our Justice Franco? Do you think there are conditions to implement them?" Governor Sebastian Coqueira asked.

"Thank you very much for the advice of our Justice Franco!" Colonel Rohr Scheidt smiled and nodded at Justice Camille Franco, and then confidently said to Governor Sebastián Coquilla:

"I now have a good plan to implement this strategy. However, we will make some sacrifices. Lord Governor!"

“In war, there will always be sacrifices!” Governor Sebastián Coquilla said: “But in order to defend our Spanish colonial territories and to repel those evil Dutch commodity traders, I think that some sacrifices will

It's all worth it. Now, go perfect your plan and defeat our enemies!"

"Colonel Onato, from now on until we defeat the Dutch, all ships in Manila port are not allowed to leave. If there are new ships, the same will be done. Also, for some merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty, tax officials can be allowed

and the army confiscated their goods at half price and used them as war materials." Governor Sebastian Coqueira ordered

"Yes, Lord Governor!" Colonel Polzi Onato listened to the Governor's order and couldn't help but feel a little excited. It was time to boost the morale of the soldiers in the army. As for the compulsory confiscation of goods from Ming merchant ships at half price,

They were not bothered at all. They did not have to worry about fierce resistance from Ming merchants, let alone that Ming merchants would not come back in the future.

The huge Ming Dynasty produced countless goods, so there will always be many merchants willing to come to the Philippines in exchange for our silver. Don’t merchants all have to take some risks to earn gold and silver? We charge some goods at half price.

That's it, they suffered some losses this time, maybe they will bring more goods next time.

--------------------------

Qu Shaorong still sneaked into the Ming servants recruited by Spain. He originally thought that he would be assigned to the outer city of Manila as a defensive soldier. He followed hundreds of Ming servants in the Spanish military camp and only received rough training for two weeks.

time. Then, each person was given a two-meter-long wooden spear, followed a group of Spanish musketeers, and marched south for more than 20 miles to a shore fort.

The fortress is more than five hundred meters away from the shore, guarding a huge shipbuilding yard next to it. There are many forts arranged beside the dock and on the hillsides on both sides. A rough count showed that there are twenty artillery pieces, staring at the outside with eager eyes.

of sea.

Qu Shaorong and his group of more than 200 Ming servants were stationed in a camp outside the fortress. It can be seen that once an enemy is encountered here, their group of Ming servants will be the first to counterattack the enemy's landing.

Wave cannon fodder.

Every day, Spanish officers would come over and conduct some necessary military training on their group of servants, including military formations, queues, spear thrusts, charges... As for retreat and roundabout attacks, they were not needed at all. Their purpose

, which is to delay and consume the enemy's possible landing operations.

One day a month later, Spanish officers suddenly gathered them together, then walked to the dock and began to board two newly built warships.

"Where are we going?" Qu Shaorong asked his companion in a low voice.

"I don't know." The Akito shook his head, "They probably want to send us to a certain stronghold in Spain. I heard that the Dutch red-haired ghosts came over and occupied the Spanish land."

"I think these two ships look like newly built warships. They won't go out to fight the Dutch fleet."

"No, these two ships have only been built for a month and have not been tested at sea. At most, they will be used as transport ships to transport us to an island in Luzon."

"New ships can't go to war?"

"Of course not." The Ming person seemed to be very knowledgeable about ships. "A new warship needs at least two or three months of sea trials to see what problems there are on the ship. It may have to be repaired in the shipyard four or five times."

"Oh." Qu Shaorong looked at Mingren with admiration, "You know so much."

"I have an uncle who lives in this shipyard. I heard what he said."

"Can Akito also work in this shipyard?"

"Of course, half of the shipwrights inside are from Ming Dynasty. Only the big shipwrights and the key craftsmen are Spanish."

Qu Shaorong silently noted this down. Hanzhou is short of shipwrights, especially those who can build large ships. If there is a sudden attack and the shipbuilding yard is wiped out, the future shipbuilding industry in Hanzhou will inevitably decline.
Chapter completed!