Chapter 951 The Spaniard’s Plan

The Spaniards are not so arrogant as to think that their military force is capable of crushing their two competitors. In fact, the two countries have long been victorious and defeated in their battles with Portugal and the Netherlands in Southeast Asia, and the Spanish sailing ships in the Northeast

The scope of activities in the Asian region is not as active as these two countries. The purpose of establishing a stronghold in Taipei is, on the one hand, to contain the Dutch, and on the other hand, it is also hoped to use the local stronghold to open up trade routes to Northeast Asia in order to pursue

Follow in the footsteps of your competitors.

The Haihan people destroyed the strongholds of Danshui and Chicken Coop. The Spaniards can still regard this as an unexpected result of the raid. However, if the Netherlands and Portugal have been defeated before, then they must carefully consider the sea.

Han's true strength. Although the Spaniards are a bit arrogant, they are not stupid. As long as they pay a little more attention, it will not be difficult to collect more intelligence information about Hai-Han's armed forces.

At this time, the Chinese population living in and around Manila exceeded 20,000, and there were also a large number of Han merchants who went to trade there every year. There were countless rumors about Haihan. The Spaniards did not pay attention to this area of ​​intelligence collection in the past, but now they will

After piecing together the pieces of intelligence bit by bit, they discovered that they had never noticed the emergence of such a powerful opponent only seven or eight hundred nautical miles away from Manila.

Although the Spaniards knew about the existence of Haihan before this, they always thought that this ethnic group was just a group of merchants who were skilled in maritime trade, and never associated them with the image of competitors for sea power. But these so-called "merchants"

It was obvious that he had put on a big show of pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger, and it was only now that he slowly showed his fangs.

Governor Aragones of the Philippines is not an unlearned bureaucrat. Although he got this position because of his close relationship with the royal family, his ability is not worse than that of the previous governors. Before taking office, he served as the North American Governor.

The manager of the Port of Acapulco in the New Spanish Colony had a relatively good understanding of the maritime trade between the East and the West. The two strongholds in Taipei were also new colonies organized and opened up after he took office, so they can be considered his share.

Political achievements, but what Haihan did at the beginning of 1633 had made all his efforts in previous years come to naught.

Although he had learned that the Haihan people might have powerful maritime armed forces, Aragones decided to organize an armed fleet to attack the Haihan people to avenge his family's losses on Taiwan Island. However, the top brass of the Manila authorities, including his staff, were

After comprehensively studying the intelligence gathered from all aspects, most people in the Ming Dynasty believed that there was no need to rush to war with Haihan. Even if they lost their stronghold in Taiwan, Ming merchants would still take the initiative to trade with Spain.

The argument for this view comes from the massive amount of silver that Spain imports to the Ming Dynasty through trade every year. In recent years, the Manila authorities have shipped an average of four million pesos of silver to the Ming Dynasty every year, which is equivalent to about three million taels of official silver in the Ming Dynasty.

Coupled with the underground transactions between Spain and the Ming Dynasty's smugglers, the amount of silver imported from Spain to the Ming Dynasty every year was at least four million taels. During this period, the national fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty was similar to this figure. If the amount was less, it would be such a huge amount.

The circulation of cash in the market will inevitably cause economic turmoil in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty.

The aides believed that in order to avoid the financial chaos caused by the break in the capital chain, Ming merchants would rely on their innate sense of smell to reship goods originally destined for Taipei to Manila for trading. After all, only here would there be inexhaustible cash.

There are no large-scale silver mines in the territory of the Haihan people, so they will definitely not be able to fill the cash hole needed by the market. Expelling Spain from Taipei may seem useful, but in fact it will only cause some damage to Spain.

A small trouble will not change the current situation of Ming Dynasty's dependence on Spanish cash imports.

The aides even suggested that Aragones order the expansion of the docks at the Port of Manila to prepare for the arrival of more Ming merchants. According to their predictions, the negative reaction to the interruption of the supply of cash would be as early as the spring and summer of 1633.

The situation emerged when the Daming Maritime Chamber of Commerce abandoned Haihan, who was helpless and could not bring out enough cash, and chose to take the goods south to Manila to trade with Spain.

After hearing this analysis, Aragones also felt that it made some sense. He had been in office for several years and had done some research on the economic situation of the Ming Dynasty. He knew that the domestic cash in the Ming Dynasty had always been relatively dependent on external input, and the three most important

Among the channels, Spain is one of them. The other two are clearly Japan, Portugal and the Netherlands. Japan produces its own silver mines, but its output is far less than the silver mines controlled by Spain in the Americas, while Portugal and the Netherlands produce silver.

The two countries do not have this Pacific route controlled by Spain. Their cash is almost all shipped from distant Europe, and the quantity and cost of use cannot be compared with Spain.

Of the cash imported into the Ming Dynasty from outside every year, the Spanish family accounts for about 60 to 70% of the share, and the rest is divided up by other companies. Under such a proportion, the loopholes caused by the sudden interruption of cash imports are not

No one can make up for it in a short time. Although the Haihan people are extremely rich, they probably cannot raise millions of taels of silver in just a few months to subsidize trade needs. The Spanish stronghold was captured

Although this matter is really annoying, it can really be put aside for now, because once there is a fight with Haihan, the maritime merchants in Fuzhou and Guangzhou will probably give up going south to Manila during this period in order to avoid the war. Aragones

I plan to put the time until the second half of the year, after the annual sailing fleet to America sets off, and then settle the accounts with the Haihan people.

So Aragones followed the advice of his staff and simply submitted a written letter of protest to Sanya through an intermediary for Haihan's decision to start a war on Taiwan Island, condemning Haihan's undeclared war and demanding that the island be taken back.

Of course, the effect of this written protest can be imagined. After it was sent out, it was like a stone sinking in the sea, without even a bubble popping up. At the same time, Aragones also ordered the expansion of the pier of Manila Port, and

Improve the port's freight and warehousing facilities to prepare for the coming tide of merchant ships.

Then we had to wait until summer, and not many Ming merchants came south to Manila to trade as the aides expected. Because there was not enough cargo to ship, Aragones had to reduce the size of the fleet heading to America by half.

, hurriedly hit the road in the last period before the ocean current changes direction.

By this time, the script was obviously no longer consistent with the actual plot. Of course, Aragones also knew that this was a serious error in the judgment and speculation of his staff. After the fleet left the port of Manila, Aragones immediately

Several members of the staff were sent to prison for crimes such as "corruption of public funds", "bullying superiors and subordinates", "dereliction of duty", etc. There was no other way, someone had to take the blame for such a major mistake, and the Governor obviously did not want to

Perhaps by playing such a disgraceful role, he would only be aggrieved by the think tanks who once worked for him.

The so-called "collapse theory" of the staff at the beginning has unknowingly turned into a big joke, but Aragones knew that these people under his command were not idlers, and the inference they made was not unfounded, and he himself agreed with it at the beginning.

This led to the speculations of his staff. Pushing someone to take the blame was just to cope with domestic accountability, but Aragones would not just fool the country and just let it go. He still had to figure out what happened, so that the Ming Dynasty's economy

The situation did not develop in the direction expected at all. News from all aspects were slowly pieced together, and only then did the Spaniards gradually realize what happened after the Battle of Taipei.

The Spanish were forced to withdraw from the southeast coast, which indeed caused an obvious shortage of cash in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty. However, the Haihan people were obviously well prepared for the emergence of this situation. On the one hand, they raised nearly one million taels of cash in advance.

Silver was shipped to Penghu as a reserve. On the other hand, the Fujian government and business circles also jointly guaranteed Haihan and promoted the use of a paper voucher printed by Haihan locally. Although the settlement field of this voucher is mainly concentrated

In terms of bulk trade, it has not been widely circulated among the people, but this has greatly alleviated the lack of cash.

The shortage of cash in the market did not last long. From the turn of spring and summer, the Haihan people began to settle and cash in some of the previous temporary payments with vouchers, and what they used turned out to be a large amount of gold.

There is reliable information that the gold is not the wealth accumulated by the Haihan people in trade in the past, but comes from the Jilong area in Taipei that they recently occupied at the beginning of the year. After occupying the local area, the Haihan people couldn't wait to recruit a large number of miners along the coast of Fujian.

Go to this place to mine mineral deposits, and a certain size of Haihan army has been stationed there to protect you.

Aragones believed that this information was one of the main reasons why the Haihan people launched an undeclared war on the Taipei area. They must have determined in advance that there were gold mines in the area through some channel, and then launched the war brazenly.

The output of this gold mine can probably make up for the lack of precious metal circulation in the Ming Dynasty, and will not be greatly affected by Spain's withdrawal. The Haihan people have calculated all subsequent developments. It is no wonder that the Ming merchants did not wait for the war after the war.

Flooded into Manila in large numbers.

If the business reputation of the Haihan people was not so high, then the circulation coupons they used probably would not be able to play the role of firefighters in the Ming Dynasty market. If there were no gold mines in Taipei, it might not cause trouble and attract the covetousness of the Haihan people. But these

Assuming that none of them happened, the Haihan people captured Taipei, opened a gold mine, and successfully overturned Spain's position in the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade market. These were the real purposes behind this war.

In addition to admiring the Haihan people's methods, Aragones can also be sure of another thing. This group of Haihan people are by no means just businessmen who are just looking for petty gains. Their grasp of the overall situation far exceeds that of others, including their own family.

The political, economic, and military methods displayed by the domestic opponents in this matter are all worthy of praise. This is not a pattern that ordinary smugglers can play, but a big chess game that can only be operated by genuine advanced players.

At this time, Aragones truly understood why the Portuguese wanted to hug Haihan's thigh, and the Dutch could still tolerate Haihan's arrogant behavior after suffering several losses. Presumably, they are not without temper.

, but really understands Haihan’s strength and is unwilling to fight him head-on. Of course, Aragones can probably guess that his European neighbors must be laughing at the Manila authorities somewhere.

Due to a mishandled response, not only has the best opportunity to regain Taipei been lost, but Spain's share of the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade market has been replaced by Haihan and other forces.

Although Aragones has not given up trying to solve the problem with force, he also knows that this will not be easy. According to the information he has, Haihan has a professional army with thousands of people, and the weapons and equipment are not at all easy.

It is not inferior to the muskets, artillery, and sailing giants of European countries, and its record is very proud. It is said that it has rarely suffered defeats since its formation, and it is known as the first victorious army in the South China Sea. With such an armed force, Aragones is really

There is no certainty of victory.

The situation of Spain's military garrison in the Far East is similar to that of the Netherlands. Because the country's immigrant population is extremely limited, a considerable part of the army is trained indigenous auxiliary soldiers, and their combat effectiveness is relatively worrying. The army that is truly composed of nationals is not large in size, and most of them

The overall combat effectiveness of soldiers who are just immigrants working part-time for a military salary cannot be compared with that of the professional army. If the Dutch have suffered several defeats at the hands of Haihan, then Aragones does not have much confidence that he can be better than the Dutch.

Do better.

After the time entered the second half of the year, news first came that the Haihan Army had conquered the Zhoushan Islands off the Hangzhou Bay of the Ming Dynasty, eliminated the local pirates and established a stronghold. The local government of the Ming Dynasty seemed to have accepted this incident by default. Soon there was news.

The news reached Manila, and the Haihan fleet went to Miyako Island in the East China Sea and wiped out the Shibazhiyu Party, which was once famous on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty.

The former news means that Haihan's control over the coastal waters of the Ming Dynasty has expanded a lot, including almost all areas that can engage in maritime trade. It is probably only a matter of time before he monopolizes the maritime import and export trade of the Ming Dynasty. The latter news

This means that the Dutch have basically completely lost their competitiveness and trading rights along the Ming Dynasty. Without the middleman Shibazhi, if they want to continue to maintain trade with the Ming Dynasty, they will have to hand over trade orders to the middleman Haihan.

Besides, there seems to be no other way to go. It seems that the Portuguese are the shrewdest. They embraced Haihan's thigh early on and basically maintained their position in the Ming Dynasty's foreign trade system.
Chapter completed!