August 8, 1640 (the autumn of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen), Luzon, Manila.

Sebastian Coqueira, the Spanish Governor in the Philippines, received both good news and bad news in August.

The good news is that after more than ten days of hard fighting, the Spanish army used several artillery pieces to bombard the city wall every day, and finally captured the city of San Pedro, removing the most important obstacle to Calamba City.

The Spanish army that invaded the city of San Pedro immediately launched a brutal massacre of the city, killing hundreds of Ming people and natives who failed to escape, and also hanged all the prisoners they captured while pursuing the rioting Ming people.

Die on the city wall.

The commander-in-chief of the Spanish army, Colonel Porzi Onato, also ordered the execution of more than ten Ming servants who escaped during the siege, and sentenced dozens of Ming servants to hard labor. Afterwards, the Spanish army was temporarily under repair in San Pedro City.

state, waiting for the colonial authorities in Manila to deliver the supplies needed for the army, and then continue to march towards Santa Rosa.

Another bad news is that the Batangas port stronghold southwest of Manila was captured by the rioting Ming people. Moreover, the two armed merchant ships stationed there were almost swam into the middle of the river by the Ming people one night.

After approaching the ship, it was almost set on fire.

When several alert sailors on the ship discovered that someone was approaching the ship in the dark, they promptly alerted them, called their companions, fired muskets into the water, and then started the ship, thus avoiding the consequences of the ship being set on fire.

In the following days, the rioting Ming people, regardless of casualties, frequently swam to Spanish armed merchant ships in the river at night and launched raids. They also made a large number of wooden rafts, piled various ignition materials on them, and attacked Spanish ships from the upper reaches of the river along the water.

.

With no choice but to avoid being attacked, two Spanish armed merchant ships had no choice but to sail out of the river mouth at night and park on the sea outside the port.

Unexpectedly, thousands of rioting Ming people outside the city took advantage of the Spanish ships to leave the river mouth at night and launched a full-scale assault on the Batangas stronghold at night. After several hours of fierce fighting, they successfully entered the city.

After half of the Spaniards in the city were killed, the remaining ones hurriedly fled to the dock, drove small boats, and escaped from the stronghold. At dawn the next day, two Spanish armed merchant ships immediately approached the dock and reluctantly fired several rounds of artillery bombardments at the Batangas stronghold.

, but without any results, after wandering for a few days, they turned around and returned to Manila.

Governor Coquilla became alert immediately after learning that the rioting Ming people had captured the Batangas port stronghold. It stands to reason that many Ming people in the Philippines initiated riots, and in order to avoid the Spaniards from annihilating them step by step, they should be constantly reinforced.

The several Spanish strongholds they occupied may rush toward the southeast of Luzon Island to find room for movement.

But they happened to capture a stronghold near the sea. Don't they know that it can easily be attacked or blocked by the Spaniards who have maritime superiority?

"Do those rioting Ming people still have outside aid?" Navy Commander Colonel Rohr Scheidt also looked puzzled. "Could it be that the Ming government will send someone to intervene?"

"No, I don't think the Ming government will come to intervene." Governor Coquilla shook his head and said: "Our Philippine authorities have twice purged (massacred) the Ming people here in the past few decades.

, their emperors did not blame us. I suspected that it was the warlord of the Ming Dynasty, the naval general Zheng Zhilong, who might take some action against us. I heard that his navy and army only obeyed his personal orders. We are here

Two strongholds in Formosa were also captured by them."

"Zheng Zhilong?" Colonel Rohr Scheidt said softly with a bitter look on his face: "If he wants to interfere with the Ming Dynasty uprising in the Philippines, it will be a very troublesome matter. Our maritime power is insufficient, and the army is

To counter the rebellion, the American trade fleet is about to leave. I am afraid it will be difficult for us to prevent them from landing in the Philippines."

"If we can't prevent them from landing in the Philippines, then we must defend Manila." Governor Coquilla said: "Your navy sent ships to Ming Dynasty and Annan. In addition to purchasing and replenishing our material reserves, you must also find ways to inquire about Zheng Zhilong's navy.

trends so that we can prepare for defense in advance."

"Your Majesty Governor, we have spent a lot in response to the Ming people's riots. If we still need to hoard and purchase large quantities of war reserve materials, our currency reserve funds are obviously not enough." Manila Finance Officer Adrian Anus frowned

said.

"Have all the commercial taxes for the first half of the year been collected?"

"The collection has been completed in mid-July, but the amount collected this year has shrunk by more than half compared to last year." Finance Officer Adrian Annus said: "All the Mingren residence fees and Calamba area land taxes collected in the past have been lost.

.And in order to appease the many Ming people, all kinds of head taxes and assessments were not levied.

Terminal shipping fees and some goods import taxes were also abolished two years ago... However, our expenses have not been reduced at all. On the contrary, due to the expedition to Formosa and the response to the Akito riots, they have increased compared with the previous two years.

Expanded. Therefore, Mr. Governor, our finances can be said to be bankrupt!"

Governor Coquilla's face suddenly turned ugly when he heard this. Manila's finances always seemed to be unable to achieve a surplus. They were either demolishing the east wall and repairing the west wall, or they were starving for food, squeezing the wealth of the numerous people in the Philippines in order to barely support the fragile economy.

Finances of the Philippine Colonial Administration.

Well, squeeze Akito?

"How many Ming people are there outside Manila? What are their current activities?" Governor Coquilla asked.

"There are probably more than 8,000 Ming people outside the city. There doesn't seem to be any big movement. Most of them are waiting for our daily soup." Adrian Anus said: "We need to

Do they charge for meals?”

"Do they...do they still have money on them?" Governor Coquilla asked.

"I think they have more or less pesos on them." Adrian Annus smiled and said: "Those wise people have always been hard-working and well-run. The most important thing is that they are also very frugal.

, I always have a lot of silver coins in my hands. I have to say that the Ming people are really one of the most hardworking people in the world."

"We, Spain, are the country blessed by God. We Spaniards, as the people of the Lord, are the best nation in the world!" Governor Coquilla took a deep look at his financial officer and said: "As for the

Other ethnic groups can only crawl at our feet and gain some mercy from us. People of Ming Dynasty are no exception!"

"Of course, we Spaniards will always be the masters of this world." Adrian Anus shrugged.

"Your Majesty the Governor, Mr. Annus said that we do not have enough cash reserves to purchase war supplies outside the Philippines. Do we need to temporarily withhold part of the payment for the American trade fleet?" Colonel Roll Scheidt felt that the Governor's

The topic seemed to deviate from their previous topic, so they interrupted.

"No, we cannot withhold any payment from the American trade fleet." Governor Coquilla shook his head and said.

Are you kidding me? Behind the merchants who organized the American trade fleet, there were many big shots in New Spain (Mexico), Peru, New Granada and the Viceroyalty of La Plata, and even some powerful people in Spain. But

It's not something he, the Governor of the Philippines, can provoke.

"You think, if Zheng Zhilong of the Ming Dynasty sent his navy and army to attack the Philippines, would the many Ming people here become their internal agents and cooperate with them to attack us?" Governor Coquilla walked back and forth in the room.

After a few laps, he suddenly asked.

"Maybe..., right?" Colonel Rohr Scheidt said with some uncertainty.

"If the Ming people in the Philippines, especially the many Ming people living outside Manila, cooperate with the Ming Dynasty Zheng Zhilong's army to attack us, our situation will be very dangerous." Adrian Anus seemed to hear it.

The subtext of Governor Coquilla said with understanding: "Your Majesty Governor, we must take precautions, take precautions in advance, and implement decisive measures."

"A drastic measure?" Colonel Roll Scheit looked at Adrian Anus with some confusion, "Do we need to imprison all the thousands of civilians outside Manila?"

"Send someone to Colonel Onato and ask him to lead his troops back to Manila immediately." Governor Coquilla nodded and ordered loudly.

In the early morning of August 11, outside Manila, in the Ming people’s settlement area of ​​Balian.

There used to be more than 20,000 people in the Mingren Balian community. Now, due to the lack of food near Manila for more than half a year, many Mingren either fled to places controlled by the Mingren in the Calamba Uprising, or spent high fees to pass through.

After bribing the Spanish at the dock and paying the ship fare, they left Luzon by boat. At this time, the population gathered here had been reduced to 9,000 people.

A month ago, the Spaniards forced another two thousand Ming people to go to conquer the rioting Ming people in the Calamba area. I heard that a few days ago, they had captured the city of San Pedro occupied by the rioting Ming people.

The Ming people also suffered seven to eight hundred casualties. Coupled with the insufficient food supply, the entire Eighth Company Ming people community was shrouded in an atmosphere of fear and sadness all day long.

This morning, some Ming people who got up early suddenly discovered that there were many Spanish soldiers and native servants outside the entire community, and they were fully armed. Ming people in the community were not allowed to go out, and they were not even allowed to farm in the nearby fields.

A Mingren interpreter came to inform everyone, saying

It was the Spaniards who recently transported two ships of food from Daming. They specially distributed five-day rations to every Ming Dynasty this morning to celebrate the Spaniards' successful capture of San Pedro City. Let all Ming people gather outside Manila.

In an empty market, Schmi is waiting for the Spanish master.

As soon as this news spread, the entire Ming people's settlement immediately burst into cheers. Unexpectedly, the Spaniards would actually distribute food to the Ming people for free. Most of the resentment they had accumulated against the Spaniards in their hearts immediately dissipated. Although these Western gentlemen are usually mean.

A little more fierce, but they still occasionally think about the people under their rule. This is probably equivalent to our Ming Dynasty government, which wants to open warehouses and provide food relief to the people!

"Are all the troops outside the city in place?" Governor Coquilla asked softly while standing on the wall of Manila, looking at the noisy Balian Mingren community not far away.

"Intercepting troops were arranged on several sides of the community, and a hundred cuirassiers were specially equipped to chase the fleeing Akito." Colonel Polzi Onato also looked at the Eighth Company Akito outside the city. community, with bloodthirsty red eyes.

"Then, let's fire." Governor Coquilla ordered coldly.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." A huge roar of artillery suddenly came from the top of Manila.

The Ming people gathered outside the city were happily discussing that if the Spaniards distributed rations for five days, they would save a little every day, pour more water, and supplement it with wild vegetables and leaves picked from the forest, so they could survive longer. .

"Is it thundering?" You Mingren suddenly heard a rumbling sound and looked at the sky in confusion. There were no rain clouds, the sky was extremely blue, and the sunlight was a bit dazzling.

"ah!"

"ah!"

"..."

Several iron pellets hit the Ming people's residential area in an instant, smashing out a few blood sprays among the surging crowd. Then, after the pellets landed on the ground, they bounced and made a trail of blood backwards.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." The shelling at the top of Manila City continued. The Mingren community of the Eighth Company outside the city was already in chaos, crowded, crying, screaming, and some subconsciously shouted towards They fled to their respective homes. Some of them were quick to see the opportunity and turned around and ran towards the forest in the distance.

Damn Xiyi, they are preparing to kill all the Ming people!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..." Outside the Akito settlement area, there were bursts of musket shooting, as well as many natives and Japanese shouting manically, shouting to kill.

Countless unarmed Ming people fell down on the running road under the attack of numerous muskets, swords, wooden spears, and even hatchets. The entire Ming people settlement area has become a hell on earth. The natives are holding wooden spears and raising their hands. With hatchets, they wildly chopped and stabbed any Akito they encountered. Some greedy and impatient natives even stripped the body of the Akito who had just died. The clothes they took off were randomly rolled into a ball and tied around the waist. Then, with blood-red eyes staring, he continued to stab Akito he met.

Groups of Spanish cuirassiers brandished their sabers and took advantage of the momentum of the horses to chop off the heads of the fleeing men. Then they laughed, galloped their horses, and continued to rush towards the next target.

In August of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, in the name of relief, the Western barbarians in Luzon deceived many Ming people outside the city to gather outside Manila. Without any way, they suddenly fired a volley of cannons and artillery, slashed and stabbed with swords, and wantonly slaughtered the Ming people. At the Manila city wall To the seaside and in the forest, countless corpses were found. Thousands of women and children were tortured to death, and the violent ones committed suicide by throwing themselves into the sea. Thousands of corpses were found on the seaside and river banks, all stained with blood.
Chapter completed!