On July 24, the 16th year of Wanli's reign, the fast ship "Left-wing Hussars" arrived at Tianjin Port. Two days later, the captain of the ship, Luo Yuan, arrived in Beijing and reported the entire expedition process to Gao Pangshi in person. Not only the battle process,
It also includes the detailed process of the negotiations with the Spanish colonial authorities in Manila, the withdrawal of Spanish troops from the city of Manila, and the entry of the land division under Gao Yimin to take over the city of Manila.
On the evening of the next day, Gao pragmatically called a meeting of dignitaries from Beijing and China at the Rixin Building on the grounds of "a regular financial meeting of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance". All the dignitaries from Beijing and their families attended the meeting.
There is no need to elaborate on the battle report during the expedition, because a brief battle report has been sent before. Luo Yuan mainly talked about the negotiation and the process of entering the city. However, these processes themselves are not particularly worth mentioning. On the contrary, after these, Luo Yuan
Another part of the report aroused everyone's interest.
Which part of the report? It refers to a conclusion that Gao Zhenxin and Gao Yimin came to at the same time after comparing the intelligence they knew before the war with the intelligence they learned after occupying Manila. They knew why the Spaniards chose to evacuate Manila "very easily".
As we all know, during the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty sent envoys to comfort the Southeast Asian countries and ordered them to surrender. However, due to the initial rule of the world, the foreign policy was relatively negative and strict sea bans were imposed on the southeastern coast.
By the time of Emperor Chengzu, the surrounding areas of the Ming Dynasty were pacified. Due to the policy of "recuperation and recuperation", the country's national strength was gradually increasing. Zhu Di began to think about developing overseas and began to adopt a more open foreign policy. He sent envoys everywhere to attract foreign countries to come to Korea.
, there were frequent tribute and trade exchanges for a time.
From Hongwu to Yongle, the Philippine Islands, Luzon, Hemaoli, Fengjiashilan, Gumalailang, Sulu and other places sent envoys to China 15 times. Objectively speaking, economic development, navigation, and shipbuilding
The increasingly developed technology also caused the Ming Dynasty to have an increasing influence on the island countries in Southeast Asia. Trade with other countries was no longer limited to the "Western" countries. The Philippine island countries located in the "Eastern Ocean" also had increasingly close and frequent relations with the Ming Dynasty, whether it was official tribute.
The exchanges and private trade are much higher than those of previous dynasties.
Around 1565 to 1571, the Spanish colonial expedition headed by Legazpi relied on firearms and crosses to occupy the central and northern parts of the Philippines as their colonial stronghold. The political, economic, and foreign affairs of Philippine society were directly controlled by the Spanish colonial government.
However, the Spanish still pretended to be the Kingdom of Luzon to communicate with the outside world, especially the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty knew nothing about it at that time.
As mentioned before, before Spain occupied Luzon, there were already a number of Chinese immigrants living here. In May 1570, when Gaudi arrived in Manila, “there were 40 married Chinese living in this town.
", but overall the number of Chinese living in Luzon at that time was still very small, and they "lived among the natives."
A large number of Chinese went to the Philippines in a later period, that is, after the Spanish colonists occupied the Philippines. The reason was that not long after the Spanish occupied the Philippines, trade between Western China flourished.
At that time, local productivity in the Philippines was backward and all kinds of products were scarce. The Spanish colonial authorities urgently needed to maintain trade relations with the Ming Dynasty merchants who came to Luzon to meet local handicraft production, technical services and their daily needs. The Spanish colonial authorities also had to ensure that Manila
The port served as a transit point for the galleon trade—the basis of Manila's prosperity.
Therefore, the authorities in West Philippines adopted a friendly and benevolent attitude towards the Ming Dynasty merchants and craftsmen who came to the Philippines in the early days. They "welcomed overseas Chinese to immigrate to the Philippines and encouraged West China trade."
At the time of the Ming Dynasty, the coastal people could not bear the domestic political situation of internal and external troubles, frequent Japanese invasions, and harsh tax policies. Especially in Fujian, which was close to Luzon. After the "Longqing Switch", the domestic chaos slowly ended, but at that time, it opened up a new era.
There was a new shipping route from Yuegang to Luzon, so a large number of local people went to the Philippines to participate in trade. After the rise of private ports, the amount of this trade was further expanded.
The continuous development of Sino-Philippine trade stimulated the enthusiasm of Chinese people to go to the Philippines, resulting in a significant increase in the number of Chinese in the Philippines. In the report of 1573, the Spanish Governor of the Philippines, Lavisalis, mentioned: "During the two years we spent on this island
(1571-1573), the Chinese arrived every year in larger numbers and more ships."
At this time, the trade between the people of the Ming Dynasty and the Philippines was relatively stable, but politically speaking, there was no direct contact between the Ming court and the West Philippine authorities.
At this time, specifically in 1574 (the second year of Wanli), the first major event in the history of relations between the Ming Dynasty and West Africa occurred: the Lin Feng Incident.
Lin Feng, a native of Raoping County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong, was a famous pirate on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty from the late Jiajing period to the early Wanli period. In the first year of Wanli (1573), Lin Feng was besieged by Liu Rao, the governor of Fujian, and Zhang Yuandong, the commander-in-chief.
, but fled to the foreign barbarians: "Lin Feng was unable to stand under the precaution and pursuit of local officers and soldiers, which gave Lin Feng the motive to seek a way out to the Philippines."
The tribe led by Lin Feng included 2,000 soldiers and 2,000 sailors each, 1,500 women, and hundreds of farmers and mechanics. In addition to weapons and food, the ship also carried livestock, farm tools, and seeds.
It can be seen from the personnel and items carried by the fleet to the Philippines that Lin Feng's trip to the Philippines was of an immigration nature to a considerable extent.
In the winter of the second year of Wanli (1574), due to the suppression of the government and the pressure of the emerging Beijing fleet, when Lin Feng set off from Taiwan to Luzon, the matter was learned by the Ming court. The official record: "... was driven away by the officers and soldiers, and Feng was
He went overseas, attacked Tortoiseshell Port in Luzon, built a city and defended it, built warships, and plotted to threaten the Japanese, and then tried his best at home. Liu Rao, the governor of Fujian, sent an order to the leader of Luzon to gather troops to attack it. The warships were burned down and the bandits were in chaos."
The "Fujian Governor Liu Rao sent people to inform the Lord of Luzon" mentioned in this, which was the first official negotiation between the Ming Dynasty and Xifei.
In May 1575, Chaozhou Commander Wang Wangao led two warships from Quanzhou to the Philippines to capture Lin Feng. When he learned that the Western Army was besieging Lin Feng, he transferred to Manila to meet with Western Philippine officials. The results of the negotiations between the two parties were
However, the West Philippine authorities captured Lin Feng and handed it over to Wang Wanggao. In exchange, Wang Wanggao brought Spanish missionaries back to China on the ship and asked for trade and missionary work.
In February 1576, Wang Wanggao went to the Philippines again, firstly to allow Xiamen to be used as an outlet for trade (but instead of Spanish ships entering Xiamen for trade, it was still Ming Dynasty's own merchants who set out from Xiamen to trade in the Philippines), and secondly for "
Lin Feng was captured alive."
When he learned that Lin Feng had escaped, he asked the Governor of Xifei to work with him to fabricate perjury that Lin Feng was dead, but the Spaniards refused. However, he still made false claims after returning to China, as the Fujian officials reported to the court.
: "The general Wang Gao and others defeated the bandit Lin Feng in the sea with Lu Song's barbarian soldiers, burned the boat and beheaded the people, and Feng was defeated and surrounded and escaped. They beheaded many more people again, and took the tribute cultural relics from Lu Song to advance."
In this way, there is also a record of this matter in "Ming Shilu", which says that in September of the 4th year of Wanli's reign, the Ministry of Rites proposed to reward Lu Song for razing Lin Feng.
At this point, the negotiation between China and the Philippines on the Lin Feng incident ended - the Ming Dynasty also rewarded the Spaniards who obeyed orders honestly and sent troops to help suppress the incident.
Although the incident itself seemed a bit weird and even funny, Lin Feng's incident unexpectedly dampened the Spanish colonists' delusions of expedition to China, because "Lin Feng Zhengfei will inevitably leave an impression in the minds of the Spaniards, a person who was expelled from China."
The pirates still have the strength to almost capture Manila. China’s strength obviously cannot be underestimated.”
This was also the first time that the colonial rule of the West Philippine authorities was threatened by the Chinese. After that, the West Philippine authorities became wary of the Chinese. The governor who came to the Philippines in 1575 built a large number of fortifications in Manila and built forts and bastions in an attempt to hold on.
In the following time, maritime trade between China and the Philippines continued to develop, and the number of Chinese living in Manila increased sharply. Accordingly, after the war, Gao Yimin learned from a missionary in Manila: "In 1584, within one year, there were actually 1,000 large ships coming to the Philippines from China.
There were dozens of ships, and more than 4,000 Chinese merchants crossed south with them."
According to a report from the Supreme Court of Manila, Audencia, to King Philip II of Castile before the war broke out in June of this year (June 1588), it was stated that “the overseas Chinese population in Manila has reached nearly 20,000, and those scattered in various provinces”
That’s not even included.”
As the "Invincible Fleet" offensive was blocked (referring to the time when many ships were burned by Drake's surprise attack before the expedition), Spain tightened its domestic power. At this time, the rapid growth in the number and economic power of the Chinese in the Philippines made the Spanish
The Philippine authorities are feeling a bit panicked.
The Chinese have become several times or even ten times more numerous than the Spanish, and have monopolized almost all daily commercial trade. This gap has led the West Philippine authorities to further adopt a vigilant attitude and restrictive policies towards the Chinese in Manila.
Prior to this, in 1582, the West Philippine authorities forced all Chinese in Manila to live together in a detention area between the north of Manila and the Pasig River, called "Pallian".
Since then, Chinese trade and movement have been subject to considerable restrictions. Starting from the time of Governor Langillo Peña Rossa, the Chinese were conscripted into hard labor, and it became a rule thereafter that the Chinese were conscripted into all expeditions and major projects.
For example, Westerners treat Chinese servicemen like slaves.
This situation finally triggered an incident after the Beiyang Fleet expedition and achieved an overwhelming advantage:
"In early July of the 16th year of Wanli (1588), the (expedition) army besieged Manila on both land and sea. The barbarian chief de Vera ordered 250 people from the exiles to join the army to help in the battle.
The barbarians lay down and lay down, but they made the Chinese patrol day and night. If they were tired, they would often slap them, or they would punish them severely and taste the bitter poison. The famous Pan Hewu and others made plans: "Death by rebellion, death by beating, death by stabbing."
Wait for your ears to die, otherwise you will die in battle; if you don't kill the chieftain to vent your anger, if you win, your clothes and crown will be returned to you, that is, you will not win, and it is not too late to die.'
It was decided that we would go to bed in the middle of the night, sneak into the governor's palace and stab the chieftain, holding the heads of the barbarians and shouting. The barbarian chieftains were frightened and did not know what he was doing. The barbarian guards were all killed, and the barbarian chieftains fled in their sleeping clothes, only escaping with their own bodies."
What this internal report says is that after Manila was besieged, de Vera, while negotiating with Gao Zhenxin and others, recruited 250 Chinese as colonial vassals inside Manila and asked them to patrol the city day and night. At this time
The Spanish army should eat and sleep, but the Chinese army was punished at every turn and worked hard, so a big brother appeared to take the lead.
The leading brother was named Pan Hewu. He told his fellow brothers that anyway, both the left and the right would die, so it would be better to kill De Vera. If it happened, Beijing’s army would enter the city and we would return home in glory, even if we didn’t succeed, we would die.
It's better than being bullied into this by the Spaniards.
Apparently everyone agreed, so Pan and his five men quietly sneaked into the Philippine Governor's Mansion in the middle of the night, and suddenly a rebellion broke out. With the help of internal and external cooperation, the people in the Governor's Mansion were killed. The guards of the Governor's Mansion tried to stop them, but "all were killed"
Blade”—all were killed.
Of course, Governor de Vera was horrified. He didn't care about the noble etiquette and gentlemanly demeanor, so he immediately fled in his pajamas, "just to escape with his body." However, the rebellious Pan and five others took advantage of the chaos in the city and quietly reached a city gate.
He took control of the city gate and successfully escaped from the city.
Unfortunately, the expeditionary force was negotiating with the Spaniards at that time, and the Army Division was digging the Pasig River to store water, which was far away from the city gate. It was too late to take advantage of the situation and attack the city, so it only managed to catch up with Pan and the May 1st Party and protect them in the army.
This incident seriously deepened the suspicion of the Chinese in the West Philippine authorities. They discussed internally and believed that "China is a big country with a vast territory and a large population, and is very close to the Philippines. Now it has ambitions towards the Philippines, with tens of thousands of residents living there."
Overseas Chinese in the Philippines have mobilized to cooperate. This situation is really dangerous. However, the Kingdom of Castile is far away in Europe and cannot engage in extensive immigration to the Philippines to facilitate confrontation, nor can it send a large number of troops. Therefore, the current situation is extremely dangerous and cannot be contained.
."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! If the city was not besieged on land and sea, the furious Governor de Vera would almost certainly have launched a wave of purges of the Chinese in Manila. It is a pity that now
The situation was critical. If the Chinese were purged in the city, it would not only be very likely to provoke Chinese resistance, but also anger Commander Gao Zhenxin, who "seemed to have a very bad temper." Then the negotiations would inevitably fail, and the Spanish in Manila would have no choice but to fight to the end.
Fighting to the death sounds very passionate, but Governor de Vera is a nobleman and a politician. He does not want to be buried with the city of Manila, and he dare not drag the two to three thousand Castilians in the city to die together, and kill the prisoners by the way.
of two thousand Castilian naval officers.
So he could only swallow a bitter pill and succumbed even more to Gao Zhenxin's "coercion."
He originally insisted on demanding during the negotiation that "the Ming court needs to sign a peace treaty with us and clearly recognize that the Ming court's territorial requirements for the restoration of Luzon only involve the original territory of the Kingdom of Luzon, and are not allowed to extend beyond the country's original territory."
He claimed and demanded the land." After this incident, he no longer dared to persist.
In this way, Gao Zhenxin and Gao Yimin, who arrived later, naturally followed the snake and followed the stick, saying that the territorial scope of the "Kingdom of Luzon" could not be decided until the Ming Dynasty carefully verified the history. The expeditionary force was only here to fight and could not do anything about it.
Please make precise requests and wait for the domestic reply.
Is the "domestic reply" a reply from the imperial court? It's hard to say, but it is obvious that the internal meeting of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance held today must first "answer" this question.
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