Chapter 1607 Sufficient Reason

Although the Spaniards' sneak attack on Sanya ended in failure, this account was recorded by Haihan. Although no public military retaliation was taken afterwards, anyone with a discerning eye knows that Haihan would never give up and endure this.

He said that he was just waiting for a suitable opportunity. Li Nai knew very well that the Haihan Security Department and the military sent so many people to lurk in Manila City. They must not be doing nothing idle. Maybe the city defense drawings of Manila City have already been drawn up.

It has been sent back to Fort Victory for senior military officials to review. Perhaps the senior officials of Haihan believe 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 has completed sea trials on the front page may not be absolutely related to the actions that the military may take next. Even if this kind of battleship has been finalized, it will not be available for a while.

Built. Unless the navy forcibly brings the prototype ship for testing when it is in action.

Of course, since newspapers have just begun to create public opinion and use the Haixi 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, so he must

It will take the initiative in the propaganda war and 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 achieve final victory in every foreign war.

, so the people also have great trust in the Executive Committee's decision to go to war. After all, every war will be accompanied by the good news of expanding territory and huge post-war economic benefits. This is a sufficient reason for war for ordinary people.

As for how the wind will blow next, Li Nai can actually predict that Haihan will gradually attract public attention to the topic of Hainan trade through various propaganda methods, and portray Spain as a hateful villain.

, and then create an emergency at the right time, allowing the official to proactively declare war on the Spanish for just reasons.

How the Spaniards will eventually be taught a lesson, Li Nai cannot yet imagine, but if Haihan really intends to expedition 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 army

The build-up is also a relatively obvious external feature before the start of war. Compared with other preparations, this is also the move that is most likely to reveal military intentions.

If we only rely on Haihan's fleet stationed in Sanya Naval Port, we may be able to complete the raid on Manila, but we may not be able to achieve the results expected by the Executive Committee. After all, this fleet only has a dozen combat ships.

, this small amount of troops is not enough to destroy the city of Manila, which has been operated by the Spanish for more than 60 years, or to seize actual control of the local area and expel the Spanish from the local area. If the purpose is just to send a small fleet to

Manila Bay showed off its strength, and Li Nai believed that Haihan didn't have to endure it for such a long time.

The straight-line distance from Manila to Sanya is more than 700 nautical miles, and the straight-line distance from the Pearl River Estuary is also more than 600 nautical miles. However, due to objective reasons such as ocean currents, wind direction, sea conditions, etc., the actual distance will be one-third to one-quarter longer than the theoretical distance.

It doesn’t matter. If it’s the Fuchuan or Guangzhou Shipyard of the Ming Dynasty, it will take at least ten days to get 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 not personally been to Manila, Furifeng has many sailors who have been to the area ruled by the Spanish, so he generally knows the local conditions. The Spanish have gained dominance there since 1571.

After building the stronghold of Manila and operating it for more than 60 years, it has turned the 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 practiced locally was a special form of trade named Manila-Acapulco trade by Haihan, that is, the trans-oceanic trade between Spain's American colony of Mexico and the Philippine Islands in the Far East, also known as

It is the galleon trade. The Spanish galleon fleet sets sail north from Manila every June on the southwest monsoon, sails eastward along the "Black Tide" in the Pacific, and finally arrives at the port of Acapulco in America, which takes about half a year.

The return journey was a direct voyage along the ocean current, which lasted about three months. Some of the ships in the Spanish fleet that attacked Sanya last year were these large sailing ships that ply the Pacific Ocean every year.

These large sailing ships with a carrying capacity of about 400 tons transport silk, lacquerware, porcelain, cotton, ivory, carpets and other goods produced in China, India, Persia, Japan and other countries in the Far East to Acapulco, in addition to selling them locally in the Americas.

, some high-end goods will be transported back to Spain to be offered to the royal family, 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, cocoa. And the ownership of the large sailing fleet

, is directly in the hands of the Spanish royal family, and is operated exclusively, which means that most of the revenue generated by this route will go directly into the pockets of the royal family, while private merchant ships are not even qualified to enter the game.

It is worth mentioning that in the original historical process, crops such as corn, tobacco, peanuts, and tomatoes were introduced to China through this ocean route. However, in this time and space, Haihan has replaced this part of the large sailing fleet.

Function, the crop seeds they brought were all improved varieties cultivated through advanced agricultural technology. They were far more productive than the native crops of this era and were more suitable as cash crops for large-scale planting. Of course, these benefits can only be achieved in the sea.

Han can only enjoy it in China, but 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, using Catholicism as the only religion, and levying a tithe tax on all people. The local population of the Han people was actually not small. As early as the early 17th century, the Spanish

Thousands of Han people have settled in Manila, but their permanent population is several times that of the Spaniards. However, their social status in the local area is not high. Except for a few Han people who work for the Spaniards, the vast majority of Han residents are local residents.

He plays a role at the bottom of society and only contributes taxes to the Spaniards.

After Haihan took root in Sanya and founded 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 the Ming Dynasty to Manila. Most of the Han immigrants from the Ming Dynasty chose to live in the same country with the same roots and ancestry, and the living conditions were better.

Well, the country of Haihan, where the environment is easier to adapt to, is the target. However, 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.

The Spaniards' plan to work hard.

This had a very direct impact on the development of Manila. After all, the local indigenous people were lazy and disgusting, so a considerable part of the urban construction work was completed by Han immigrants. But once the source of labor was interrupted, the impact would be rapid.

It became apparent that industries such as plantations could only recruit a large number of indigenous people, and the quality of the local indigenous people was far inferior to that of the hard-working and hard-working Han people. As far as Li Nai knew, Spain sent a fleet to attack Sanya last year.

Part of the reason is to use this to damage the reputation of Haihan, so that Han immigrants will abandon Haihan as a destination.

Of course, this goal was not achieved in the end, and it shot itself in the foot. After the Spanish fleet returned in defeat, the news spread simultaneously in Haihan, Guangdong and Guangxi, and even parts of the Philippine Islands. Not only did Spain

This operation did not attract more Han immigrants, but instead became a propaganda material for Haihan to recruit immigrants.

However, cutting off the source of Han immigrants in Manila is still unlikely to make the Spaniards completely surrender, because they can also try to transport some immigrants from the Americas and purchase 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 did not feel sorry for them when they squeezed them. Therefore, if Haihan wants to completely defeat this competitor, the current business and political methods alone are still not enough. In the end,

We still have to rely on military action to solve the problem.

Considering the distance from Hainan Island to Manila Bay, and the fact that there are almost no large islands in the middle that can be used as supply stops, it will be very difficult to supply materials during the operation. If the operation lasts too long, it will not be able to survive in the first place.

The people who live there are probably not Spaniards, but the local Haihan fleet who is on an expedition. So Li Nai has always believed that Haihan's revenge on Spain must be to stay still. If he moves, he will be thunderous, leaving no chance for the opponent to stand up.

.

But Li Nai's confidence in Haihan was not affected at all by this judgment. In his mind, Haihan's army was invincible. Even if the goal of attacking Manila seemed to be difficult, he would still believe it unconditionally.

The Haihan Army will eventually kill its opponents as always. Under this premise, Li Nai believes that the primary issue he needs to consider now is not to worry about the Haihan Defense Department and how to formulate a combat plan to attack Manila, but to worry about Fu.

Ruifeng thought carefully about how to use this opportunity to make another war fortune.

Since the cooperation between Haihan and Furifeng, Furifeng has joined almost every foreign war. Most of the time, it only provides Haihan with material procurement and transportation support, but there are also a few times where there is a deeper cooperation.

, such as using his merchant ships to transport Haihan’s intelligence officers to Manila.

One thing is certain, that is, in these past cooperation projects, Furifeng has more or less earned considerable benefits. Even the Liaodong Campaign in the far northeast, Furifeng also undertook the

The supply of medical supplies, clothes, shoes, quilts and other materials can be said to have indirectly contributed to Haihan's victory in Liaodong.

Although it is unclear whether the cotton yarn and medicinal materials sold to Haihan this time will be used in the war against Spain, Li Nai does not want to stop there. He hopes that Furifeng can obtain it from this war.

to obtain more benefits. For example, participating in the local reconstruction work after the war, or assisting the war by providing maritime transportation capacity, allowing Haihan to approve Freifon's future trading privileges in the Philippine Islands.

However, these thoughts can only remain in Li Nai's mind for the time being. He knows that if he goes directly to Sanya to ask the people at the Ministry of National Defense, he will definitely only get a slap in the face. At least he will have to wait until Haihan's public opinion

After the offensive has reached a certain level and the war intention is more obvious, it will not be too abrupt to make these demands to Haihan senior officials.

"All we have to do is keep an eye on the newspapers!" Li Nai thought. But then he had to return to Guangzhou to resume his duties. There was no way to wait for the first-hand news in Sanya, so Li Nai decided to call Furifeng's manager in Sanya.

He asked him to buy every issue of Haihan Times immediately after it was published, and then send the news related to Manila and the Spanish 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 editors-in-chief of several major local newspapers in Sanya and assigned them recent publicity tasks. One of them was to ask them to cooperate with the Haihan Times on reports about the Spanish.

To keep in step and follow the instructions of the propaganda department. Of course, at the end, Ning Qi did not forget to emphasize the confidentiality discipline and required that the contents of the meeting should not be leaked to outsiders.

This is not the first time that the editors-in-chief have received similar political tasks. They all nodded in agreement, but their hearts were already bright. They knew that since Haihan’s senior management was interested in the Spaniards, they were afraid that in the next few months they would

A big move has been made. Relying on newspapers to build momentum and stir up national sentiment is a simple and effective method that has always been tried and true. However, this method also has an obvious drawback, that is, it is easy for opponents to detect Haihan's intentions.

If the Spaniards have a keen enough sense of smell, it will not be difficult to smell the hostility from Haihan in the subsequent reports. If they move quickly enough, they may be able to make some preparations in Manila before Haihan launches. Of course

, the personnel sent by Haihan to lurk in Manila should not be idle either. In addition to providing local defense intelligence and geographical environment information to Haihan, they may also be responsible for trying to disrupt public security in the city when war breaks out, and achieve cooperation between inside and outside.

At the end of October, Li Nai set off from Haikou and returned to Guangzhou. When the ship left the port, he happened to see the fleet stationed west of Haikou City practicing at sea. He saw the Haihan fleet cutting through the waves in a neat formation.

Li Nai is a little more confident about the future war.
Chapter completed!