Nine-character policy, pirate nature

After hearing Hu Youcheng's words, the elders were stunned again, and then they all looked surprised.

Chen Min asked urgently: "Listen to Hu Xiaoqi, is the imperial court planning to support us with a batch of muskets?"

The powerful guns of the Ming Dynasty have now spread throughout Southeast Asia. After all, the Dutch, who were previously very popular in Southeast Asia, were frightened by the Ming army in the Battle of Dongbo Island.

Nowadays, the Eighth Alliance settlement lacks even cold weapons, and there is not a single musket. This is one of the reasons why they are unwilling to confront the Spanish.

But if they had the muskets supported by the imperial court, they would be much more confident against the Spaniards.

Hu Youcheng smiled and said: "Yes, the imperial court has prepared a batch of flintlock guns, ten tiger squatting cannons, and some grenades.

The first batch has arrived in Manila, and others will follow."

There is a procedure for customs inspection in Manila, but even in later generations, there are various ways to hide things. In this era, it is naturally easier to evade inspection, or to prevent people from being inspected.

Therefore, Chen Min, Lin Lide and others did not have any doubts about Hu Youcheng's words, but were excited.

Lin Lide said: "Hu Xiaoqi said there is a way to break the Eighth Alliance Death Land, but is it true?"

The other elders also knew that the key was to crack the Eighth Alliance Death Land, so they spoke one after another.

"The Eighth Alliance is surrounded by Western forts and fortresses. How can we crack them?"

"It's a pity that the forts and the garrison in the fortress are all Westerners, not Japanese or Tufan. Otherwise, we can send people to sneak in and deal with them from the inside."

"There are dozens of large and small forts and eight fortresses. If you want to crack it, it will be difficult to reach the sky."

“···”

After the clan elders finished their discussion, Hu Youcheng said with a smile: "It is really difficult for us to break through these forts and fortresses. But it is not difficult for us to just stay in this Eighth Alliance settlement for a period of time.

The nine-character policy given to us from above is to dig deep holes, accumulate food widely, and train the people to be brave!"

Dig a hole deep, accumulate food widely, and train the people to be brave?

Everyone chewed this and thought for a while.

Although Lin Lide is a businessman and a clan leader, he usually pays attention to the training of Spanish soldiers and dealing with the rebellious natives. At this time, after thinking for a while, he said: "Is this deep hole dug to deal with shelling?"

"That's right." Hu Youcheng nodded, "As long as you dig bomb shelters and artillery-proof trenches, artillery is not that scary."

Lin Lide shook his head, "The method is a good one, but it's a pity that it's not easy to use in this Eighth Alliance - didn't Hu Xiaoqi explain the terrain here to us?"

Balian is located near Manila City, on the south bank of the Pasig River. It was originally called Jiannei. What is Jian? It means mountains and rivers.

With the land under our feet, water will come out within just a few feet of digging, so how can we dig deep?"

Chen Min had a different opinion, saying: "As long as we can avoid the shells, we can stay in the puddle."

Lin Lide said: "But..."

Seeing that the two were about to argue, Hu Youcheng smiled and said: "Mr. Chen, Mr. Lin, don't fight. The superiors are so concerned about Manila, how come they don't take into account the topography of the Eighth Alliance?"

So when we transport weapons here, we will also transport a batch of cement.

Westerners may not know its function. Even if they know, it is easy to smuggle it over.

All we need to do is build a few key cement fortifications in the Eight Alliance settlements before the Westerners carry out the massacre, coupled with bomb shelters and trenches, it will be enough to deal with the Westerners' artillery fire and attacks."

cement?

The elders were a little confused after hearing this.

However, although the Ming Dynasty's ban on cement was published in newspapers and periodicals, rumors still spread among the people.

Chen Mindao: "I heard from people that the domestic government has mastered a magical building material, which is suspected to be related to the soil brought by the emperor from the fairy world. It condenses when it sees water, and after a few days, it can turn soil into stone, making it indestructible.

Could it be true?"

Although Hu Youcheng knew that the so-called soil-resisting theory was not credible, he did not criticize it at this time. Instead, he laughed and said: "Yes, this thing is cement."

The clan elders suddenly became excited.

"The imperial court is actually willing to provide such treasures to help. Now we, the Eight Lian Ming people, can be considered safe."

"The Emperor really cares about us and other people overseas, but we have not shown any filial piety to our king and father for many years. We are so ashamed."

"The Western Yi trapped us in these eight alliances and thought they were sure to defeat us. This time they must make them look good, haha..."

After some exchanges, Hu Youcheng completely gained the trust of the clan elders and received the promise of full help from the eight alliances and ten surnames.

Later, he discussed with the ten surnamed clan elders how to select and train civilian warriors, how to provide cover for transporting weapons, building cement fortifications, and how to communicate with each other, etc. They made detailed plans on various matters before leaving.

meeting.

···

The Spaniards were not unaware of the anomalies in the Eight Alliance Settlement, but they just didn't have the time to investigate.

Because the Ming Dynasty’s envoy is coming to Manila.

The current Spanish Governor in Manila and the governor of the entire Greater Luzon Islands Colony is named Diego Fajardo Chacon.

This man took office in 1644, and he is exactly fifty years old this year. He has begun to go bald due to his long-term enjoyment of research and beauty, but his figure is still relatively strong, and his bearded face still retains the fierceness of his youth.

On this day, he stood at the top window of the Governor's Mansion, looked at the sea in the distance, and asked: "Do you know who the Ming envoy is coming this time?"

Nestor, the young affairs officer on the side, said: "Sir, I think it is probably the Kuang Lu who defeated the Dutch at the negotiation table."

"Then what do you think the Ming envoy is going to do?" Diego asked again.

Nestor thought for a moment and said uncertainly: "Perhaps it has something to do with the rumors that Mingren wanted to capture Luzon?"

Diego sat back at the table, cut a cigar and smoked it, saying: "The Ming envoys must have bad intentions when they come this time. What is the specific reason? We will know when they arrive in Manila tomorrow.

There are two things that need to be done now - first, let those bastards under Oscar stop going out drinking and looking for women tonight, have a good night's rest, and cheer me up when I welcome the messenger tomorrow.

We must let the people of the Ming Dynasty know that our Spanish soldiers are not as easy to bully as those water shrimps in the Netherlands. Our army is a strong army and is well-known in Europe.

The second thing is to ask the people below to keep an eye on the Ming people in the Eighth Alliance. If they find that they have contact with people from the Ming Dynasty mission, report it to the Governor-General's Office immediately. Do you remember?"

"Remember, Your Excellency!"

···

Zhaowu fifth year, June 19th.

Because the weather in Nanyang was already very hot at this time, the ironclad Qiongzhou, which the Ming Dynasty envoys boarded, arrived at the port of Manila at around 7 o'clock in the morning.

The Spanish navy has long seen the Ming Dynasty's armored ships at sea, but most of the Spaniards, as well as the Tufans and Japanese in Manila, as well as a large number of Ming people, saw the Ming Dynasty's iron-clad ships in the Manila port for the first time.

Although Spain deployed troops to stop the people a mile or two away, many people still watched from a distance.

"Is this an ironclad ship? It's indeed covered with iron!"

"It's Baogang!"

"Da Ming is really rich."

"People in the Ming Dynasty are so good at making money, how can the Ming Dynasty not be rich?"

"Such an ironclad ship, I'm afraid even the Spanish fleet in the bay can't stop it, right?"

"We can certainly capture it by cooperating with the forts, but I'm afraid it's impossible to take prisoners - I heard that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are not afraid of death. If they are pressed, they will probably blow up the ship."

“···”

Diego, who came to the dock in person to greet the Ming Dynasty envoy, was looking at the Qiongzhou ironclad greedily, and was really considering whether he could snatch it directly.

Western countries have been conducting great voyages for two to three hundred years, and Spain is an old-fashioned maritime colonial empire. As governor, Diego is very clear about what the emergence of a new type of warship means.

He heard that the Dutch once wanted to buy an ironclad ship, but the Ming people refused directly without giving them a chance to negotiate the price.

It can be seen that this kind of warship can be imitated, so Mingren is unwilling to sell it.

Now the opportunity to snatch one is right in front of him, should he take action?

When Diego was thinking about this matter, the clerk Nestor leaned into his ear and said: "Your Majesty the Governor, the envoy who came is indeed that Kuang Lu. In addition, according to the navy's report, a huge Ming fleet is here.

There are at least ten armored ships like this in the open sea!"

First update.
Chapter completed!