Chapter 1670 A plan to make a fortune

When the Haihan Army captured Manila, all the Spanish immigrants with some connections had actually fled the city to avoid the war, and those who were forced to stay in the city were almost all civilians with no background. However, this situation also has advantages and disadvantages.

The good thing is that most of these civilians don't dare to cause trouble. They can only stay at home according to the new owner's requirements and accept door-to-door inspections. The public security pressure faced by the Haihan Army will not be so great. The disadvantage is that they can learn from them.

The oil and water recovered will be very limited. Most of the wealth in the city has been taken away by the fleeing nobles and wealthy merchants. Most of what is left in the city is only real estate such as houses. This will naturally make the military very disappointed.

Of course, this is also directly related to the tactic of surrounding three buildings and one tower used by the Haihan Army during the siege. In order to break the fighting spirit of the defenders and people in the city, an escape channel to the north was specially set aside. Although the number of successes was reduced due to this,

It eliminated the resistance encountered by the Haihan Army during the siege and avoided unnecessary battle casualties, but it also caused a large amount of wealth in the city to be lost through this escape channel. It is not that easy to recover the money.

Something happened.

The military had an estimate of the direct benefits after the war when formulating the battle plan, but if we do not count the windfall that Ran Tianlu received from Father Blanco and the income from the resale of the captured defenders' weapons, then

It is still far from the estimated number before the war. The headquarters even held a special meeting for this purpose to discuss how to capture the rich people who fled to the north bank of the Pasig River as soon as possible - even if they cannot be captured, they must be captured

Bring back the money.

"According to the preliminary investigation and statistics of the intelligence personnel of the Ministry of Security, we estimate that we can obtain at least five million yuan in property from Manila City, but the actual income now is less than one million yuan. Even for this money, Pasig River

All the Spanish colonial villages and towns on the north coast must also be cleared." Yan Chujie looked at the generals present and asked: "Do any of you volunteer to take on this task?"

It is different from the active struggle before the siege. Qian Tiandun and others looked at me and I looked at you. After exchanging glances, no one responded. On the surface, this job seemed to be a fat one, but in fact

It is not that simple. There will be military police accompanying the operation to supervise the financial collection status. Their troops will face very high risks if they want to take advantage of the money. And this kind of pursuit and suppression operation with a clear purpose involves the actual situation of the Ministry of National Defense.

Naturally, the proceeds will not be recorded as military merit and reported to the superiors, so as to prevent the recovered money from being remembered by the executive committee.

After working for a long time, with no money and no credit, naturally everyone was unwilling to take the initiative to take on this thankless job. It would be better to let the troops stay here in Manila City, guard the city gates and catch the stragglers in the city, and catch one

Wouldn't it be a hundred times better than this errand to have a real contribution?

Yan Chujie didn't know what these people were thinking. Seeing that everyone was sitting in silence and not expressing their opinions, he simply opened the skylight and spoke openly: "Since you are not willing to take the initiative to send troops, you can only follow the old rules of the past and start every day."

Some troops will be drawn from each army. Considering that the plain area north of the Pasig River is large and the Spanish settlements are relatively scattered, I think each army should draw a company."

Wang Tom was the first to object: "My army only has four companies in total, and I have to dedicate a quarter of my manpower. Qian Tiandun's army has almost caught up with the reinforced regiment, and they only have one company. So.

Isn’t it unfair to allocate tasks?”

Yan Chujie ignored his complaints and continued: "Whoever's troops are the first to recover property worth one million yuan, the Ministry of National Defense will issue a separate reward of two hundred thousand yuan!"

This condition finally aroused the interest of the generals. This money has little personal significance to them, but if it can be used as a reward to distribute to the troops under their command, it can also be a way to win people's hearts and boost morale. Moreover,

It is relatively fair to send a company from each army to participate, and you can also compete to see which army has the stronger mobility.

However, someone soon pointed out that Harugong's cavalry battalion would undoubtedly have the upper hand in this competition. How could two-legged infantry outrun the four-legged cavalry. So for the sake of fairness, the target amount of the cavalry battalion was

It was raised by half. At that time, all the generals went back to mobilize their troops and prepared to cross the river the next day to pursue the Spanish in the northern plains.

However, this kind of action is more like a dessert after a meal than a battle. It belongs to the sideshow of this expedition. The generals seemed to be very concerned about the conditions proposed by Yan Chujie, but in fact they were only half-joking. Everyone

The real focus is actually on those targets who were on the arrest list before the war but disappeared after the war.

The Governor of the Philippines, Aragones, was naturally one of them. He didn’t need to be reminded. He knew that Haihan must have made many arrangements to capture him, so he had already secretly escaped from Manila before the city fell completely.

, planning to go around to the north of Manila Bay and then take a boat out to sea. But unfortunately, halfway through, I received news that the ship that had been prepared in advance had not had time to sail out of the Manila port, and was intercepted by the Haihan army that invaded the port.

.

This means that the original plan has been stranded. If there is no way to find other ships that can go to sea, then Aragones probably will not be able to escape from Manila Bay by sea. But if he wants to go around the land to Batangas

, then they would have to travel hundreds of miles in the mountains. The supplies carried by his group probably could not support such a long journey that would take several days.

This situation is really unacceptable to Aragones, who is used to living in a comfortable life in Manila. The only solution for now is to collect supplies in nearby colonial villages and develop a new escape route.

Try to leave before the Haihan people take action to raid this area.

But during the war, it was not easy to raise supplies such as food and horses from the people. Aragones' position could no longer buy him the respect and obedience of the people. The envoys sent to nearby villages and towns were almost without exception.

They all came back empty-handed. Aragones had no choice but to acquiesce and let his private army take forceful measures to directly plunder the property of local immigrants. During this period, several bloody conflicts inevitably occurred, and both sides of the conflict

It was the Spaniards. The Haihan Army had not yet crossed the Pasig River, but the internal strife on this side of the river had already begun to kill people.

Regarding the Spanish civil strife that occurred on the north bank of the Pasig River, Manila City has not yet received relevant news. However, if the people in the city knew that escaping out of the city might not survive the massacre of their own families, they might also be grateful to themselves.

He was previously deprived of the opportunity to escape from the city.

At present, there are only two places in Manila that can barely be said to be safe. One is the cathedral in the center of the city, which has been turned into a temporary hospital and shelter. The Haihan Army has designated an entire block for this place.

It can accommodate more than 3,000 people eating, drinking, sleeping, eating, drinking, sleeping, etc. Of course, there are also many of Haihan's arrest targets hiding in it, but under constant and repeated interrogations, many people have been arrested one after another. Although Father Blanco

He was dissatisfied with the way the Haihan Army filtered this place like a sieve several times every day, but after all, the situation was stronger than the people. At least the Haihan Army did not kill innocent people here indiscriminately, so he could only hold his nose and admit it.

Another place is the Chaosheng Trading Post, which is located outside the city wall in the south of the city and is run by merchants from the Ming Dynasty. It is said that this place was completely preserved because it was used as a frontline headquarters by the Haihan Army during the war.

Shopkeeper Ran has also established a relationship with the Haihan people and is currently the only merchant in the entire Manila Port who can arrange ships to go out to sea.

As a result, those merchants from various countries who were stranded in Manila naturally regarded the Chaosheng Commercial Warehouse as a shortcut to leave Manila. Some people also heard that the goods stored in the Chaosheng Commercial Warehouse were more secure, so they tried their best to

They transferred the goods that were originally stored elsewhere to Chaosheng Merchant Store, hoping to use this sign to find a safe place to store their goods. Of course, if they learned that the pre-war Spanish Church had entrusted it to Chaosheng Merchant Store,

A batch of property has been taken away by the Haihan Army, so this idea may be given up.

Ran Tianlu has indeed been very busy in recent days. On the one hand, he has to assist the Haihan Army in arresting many target persons inside and outside the city. On the other hand, he has to maintain the operation of the business store so that he can raise supplies for the army on the spot. Haihan

After the army broke through the city, he had another task, which was to receive the businessmen from various countries who flocked to the city every day and respond to their various requests.

There is no doubt that this is probably the busiest period since the opening of Chaosheng Commercial Inn. Ran Tianlu has been running around for several days. Even if he drinks tea non-stop, he is still a little exhausted. But there are still several people sitting in the commercial inn.

Diao couldn't issue an eviction order to drive away all the merchants who were waiting for him to meet. After he got up and sent away the previous group of Ming merchants, he forced himself to let his subordinates bring in the merchants to meet them.

When the man came in, he took the initiative to greet Ran Tianlu and said, "Shopkeeper Ran, I'm sorry for bothering you! I'm here today because I really have something to ask for. I hope that shopkeeper Ran will help you out of the friendship of the same clan!"

Ran Tianlu did recognize this man. His surname was Ran and his first name was Hui. However, this Ran was not the other Ran. They just had the same surname, but they were not related in any way. Moreover, this man was not from Ming Dynasty. He was a mixed race of Spaniards and local Han immigrants. However, because of this

Due to his special background, Ran Hui managed to get along well in both Spanish and Han circles, and thus embarked on the path of doing business.

Ran Tianlu invited him to take a seat, ordered his servants to bring hot tea, and then asked him what was going on. It turned out that Ran Hui had just purchased a large amount of porcelain from the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants before the war, and before he had time to sell it, Hai

The Han army entered Manila Bay, so naturally there were no buyers for his batch of porcelain. Now that the war was over, Ran Hui wanted to get rid of this batch of porcelain as soon as possible, exchange it for gold and silver, and then try to leave here and go to other places.

Let's talk about the place to avoid the limelight. But at this time, the entire Manila trade market has stagnated, and there are no customers to buy his porcelain. Ran Huisi thought about it and finally approached Chaosheng Merchant Store, hoping that Ran Tianlu could help him find a way.

.

After hearing this, Ran Tianlu couldn't laugh or cry, and shook his head repeatedly: "You may not know something, but Haihan is also a place where porcelain is produced. Although the workmanship is not as exquisite as the official kilns of the Ming Dynasty, it has its own uniqueness. You want to sell these porcelains."

If you sell it to the Haihan people, where will they get it? Even if you want to buy it, it would be easier to buy it directly from Daming. Unless you can lose all your money and sell it to the Haihan people at a very low price, I don't see the need for them.

Take this deal."

Ran Hui responded: "The shopkeeper misunderstood me. This batch of porcelain is not intended to be sold to the Haihan people at a low price. It is intended to be transported to Sanya for sale through their route. I heard that the Sanya market is open all year round, and there are merchants from dozens of countries.

They will all purchase things there. Presumably these porcelains can be sold locally for at least a decent price. I am willing to pay 30% of the final selling price, and the second part will be paid as tribute to the military men of Haihan. The first part will be accepted by the shopkeeper.

It’s considered hard-earned money from matchmaking.”

When Ran Tianlu heard about this condition, he thought it was pretty good. He happened to know a little bit about the condition of the batch of porcelain in Ran Hui's hands. The price was at least 300,000 yuan. If it was shipped to Sanya for sale, sales shouldn't be a problem.

Let’s see if the Haihan Army is willing to do this.

Ran Tianlu then thought about it, and there was still one link that needed to be resolved in arranging this matter, so he asked Ran Hui: "Do you have a ship to carry this batch of porcelain?"

Ran Hui shook his head and said: "The shopkeeper should also know about my situation. They receive goods from Ming merchants locally and then sell them slowly. If there is a ship, there is no need to be so troublesome. If the shopkeeper can arrange one for me

The shipping is the best, and the freight is easy to negotiate.”

Ran Tianlu thought that the Haihan Army had dozens of logistics supply ships, which were docked at the Port of Manila and Cavite Port. If the Haihan Army was willing to let go, it would not be a big deal to rent a supply ship to return the goods to Sanya.

It's difficult. It's just that the war has just ended, and there are few local merchant ships left that can go to sea. The price of renting a ship from Haihan will definitely not be cheap.

Ran Tianlu told Ran Hui directly that even if the Haihan Army agreed to this matter, the cost would probably be quite high.

Ran Hui said: "Even if it is expensive, it is still better than losing this batch of goods in my hands. To be honest, what I want to do is to take advantage of this opportunity to leave Manila. The shipping fare is more expensive, so just treat it as travel money!"

Ran Tianlu saw that he was serious, so he nodded and said: "Then I will write this down first, and then go find the adults in Haihan to hear the news. You can come back later tomorrow to hear the news."

Ran Hui stood up on his own initiative, bowed deeply to Ran Tianlu and said, "I would like to thank you in advance for your righteous deed by the shopkeeper!"
Chapter completed!