The Pasig River that runs through Manila flows out from a huge inner lake in the southeast, passes through Manila and flows westward into Manila Bay. At the bend of a tributary on its south side, under the warm sunshine at noon, a group of Tagalog girls and children are swimming in the clear water. Bathing and playing in the water. The word "Tagalog" means water people. This is their traditional outdoor activity. Although these indigenous people who have just become Christians have been under colonial rule by the Spaniards for decades, they are obviously still Not completely corrupted by "civilized" European culture.
From the direction of Binondo, the new Chinese district in Manila, three sampans with very low water lines slowly turned in from the Pasig River. Chinese sailors rocked the oars, and the sampans slowly passed by the place where Tagalog girls were playing in the water. Passing by, several young people on the boat were singing with gusto the courtship songs of men and women from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in southern Fujian. Suddenly they saw the scene in the river in front of them, and the singing gradually stopped.
A young man on the boat in front said to the little middle-aged man behind him: "Uncle Zhang, the weather is really hot. Let's take a bath in the water."
Uncle Zhang is Zhang Wei, a Chinese who has lived on Luzon Island for more than 30 years. He has long been no longer interested in local indigenous customs. The young man is Luo Xiaocheng who is surveying the terrain with him. In view of the scene of naked women playing in the water in front of everyone. , Zhang Wei knew his true thoughts without using his brain.
Zhang Wei said angrily: "It's only February, but it feels too hot. I say young people, we have important tasks to do. Please behave yourself and don't cause trouble."
The boat was getting closer and closer. Luo Xiaocheng stared at the Tagalog girls in the water. His brain was filled with blood when he saw their appearance. He seemed to want to jump into the water and play with the naked girls at any time. Fortunately, another boat caught up and sat on it. An Xiaosi, the commander of this operation, said with a sullen face: "Don't cause trouble. If you miss the moment when the army lands, it will be a serious crime of beheading."
Luo Xiaocheng sighed and nodded: "My subordinates understand that all actions must be obeyed."
He shook his head, reluctantly turned to look at the Tagalog girls, and shouted to them in Tagalog: "Hello,"
Tagalog girls and children splashed in the water, laughing and shouting: "Physiological Man, come down, Physiological Man, let's swim together,"
The almost naked girls were not shy at all. They looked openly at the biological man on the boat, chatted and laughed with each other, and seemed not to be disturbed.
The young man Luo Xiaocheng had never seen such a scene in his hometown of Haicheng County. He couldn't help but take out a lot of dried lychees and dried fish from the cabin and threw them to the girls and children, teasing them to swim forward to pick up the gifts on the water. The fit and healthy His body was splashing in the river with sparkling water splashes.
Luo Xiaocheng said to Zhang Wei with a playful smile: "When our army takes over Luzon, uncle, I will marry a local girl here as my wife. Anyway, I don't have many relatives in my hometown."
A dozen young people on the neighboring boat burst into laughter. An Xiaosi, with a sullen face, suppressed a laugh and said, "You don't even have hair all the way, so you're just thinking about getting a wife."
Zhang Wei suddenly said seriously: "Stop making trouble, Fort Santiago is here,"
Fort Santiago at the mouth of the Pasig River in Manila is a symbol of Spanish colonial rule.
The Santiago Fort is located on the south bank of the estuary of the Pasig River. It looks abrupt and majestic amidst the natural scenery of the river beach. There is a simple dock next to the fort, where two Spanish army patrol boats are usually moored, and occasionally merchant ships and fishing boats are temporarily docked.
The Manila port is just north of the river mouth. The fort overlooks Manila Bay. The three 36-pound heavy guns and three 24-pound bronze cannons on it are a huge threat to any enemy who attempts to attack Manila by sea. In recent years, due to The most hard-working workers, the Chinese, have disappeared. The fortifications around Manila have basically not been increased, and the existing facilities have not been well maintained and repaired.
Cracks have appeared in some parts of the castle, so Captain Mark Gonzalo, the commander guarding the fortress, asked Governor Acuna to send people to repair it. Governor Acuna has recently been busy auctioning his belongings for cash and gold and silver, and is preparing to pack them back. Spain had no time to deal with such trivial matters, so it casually passed the matter to its business agent, the New Christian businessman Francisco de Montoya. An Xiaosi, who was pretending to be a servant at Montoya's house, immediately caught him. Taking this opportunity, a Chinese-physiological construction team was formed, recommended by Montoya, and entered Fort Santiago to carry out repair and maintenance work, casually and thoroughly inspecting the castle inside and out.
Half a month ago, An Xiaosi, who had been waiting for news from Taiwan, arrived at the first batch of Chinese merchant ships coming to Manila for trade this year. Chen Zhongji, a close confidant of the ship owner, brought the last orders before the war.
Starting today, for five consecutive days, it is the date that the Chinese company's army may land as agreed in the ship owner's message. In the past few days, the construction team composed of more than a dozen Chinese company spies lurking in Manila, including Zhang Wei, An Xiaosi and Luo Xiaocheng, The team came to work every morning and worked until dusk. Captain Mark Gonzalo cleared out a vacant stable near the castle for these Chinese craftsmen to rest at night. He did not show any pity for these hard-working Chinese workers. They are suspicious, and they say to everyone: "Look at these physiological people, busy like bees from morning to night; what they do alone in one day, those Tagalog natives have to work for a week, and let the cooks give them lunch They increase the amount and make some Chinese rice for them,"
Of course, the most important reason why he treated the Chinese workers so favorably was that De Montoya secretly gave him a lot of money in order to take over the work of repairing the castle. Zhang Wei, the leader of the Chinese workers, was also a smart man. From the day the construction started , and kept giving Captain Gonzalo some small favors.
The third day of the maintenance project was a Sunday, and everything in the maintenance project was still going on as usual. An Xiaosi and several of his men were cleaning up the garbage on the fort; Zhang Wei and others were repairing the stairs in the soldiers' lounge on the second floor of the castle. Suddenly the alarm bell on the top of the castle rang, and several Spanish officers rushed out of the room. Captain Mark Gonzalo went to the Manila Cathedral to attend Sunday mass. Now the highest-ranking officer in the castle was a second lieutenant, and several junior officers. Asking each other while getting dressed:
"What happened? Could it be a lost merchant ship?"
"This is the second time this month. Where is the ship?"
"The sentry said it was a Junk ship,"
The leading Spanish second lieutenant looked at the several Chinese craftsmen who were working on the floor of the corridor and frowned: "Is it a Chinese merchant ship? The order from above is to give preferential treatment to Chinese merchant ships. Let Second Lieutenant Mara take people to the dock. Pay attention to your attitude."
Several officers walked up the stairs to the top of the fort. After they disappeared, An Xiaosi's figure suddenly flashed into the corridor, clapped his hands and said softly: "Brothers, get ready to work."
Luo Xiaocheng jumped up: "Fourth brother, this is our ship,"
"Yes, I can see clearly. There are four blue flags and one red flag hanging on the top of the mast on the ship. I'm going to take action immediately."
…
This small group of Spanish soldiers went to the simple dock to welcome the Chinese merchant ships, carrying some buckets and dry food. Most of the ships had their canvases scattered and their masts skewed. It looked like they had encountered a storm at sea. The Spanish soldiers were really here to help, but When the ships docked, they saw fully armed Chinese soldiers holding spears, broadswords, crossbows, and flintlock muskets.
The leading Spanish lieutenant was announcing to the Chinese sailors who were the first to jump off the side of the ship: "You can't dock here. The commercial port is to the north of the estuary. We..."
A sailor turned around and raised his hand. The small black crossbow arrow in his hand made a slight "bang" sound. The Spanish second lieutenant immediately inserted the small arrow from the pistol-trigger crossbow into his throat. His eyes widened and he said nothing. Fall backwards.
The three Junk ships that appeared near the south bank of the Pasig River estuary are indeed the ships of the Chinese Company. They are not carrying merchants or goods, but 80 soldiers from the three teams of Zhao Tie's escort infantry regiment, as well as the escort team. Three teams of student soldiers from the military academy, plus sailors brave enough to fight in close combat selected by the war fleet, totaled more than 240 people. Originally, a total of five ships participated in the attack, but the advance fleet encountered strong winds the night before, and the other two ships fell behind. .
More than fifty Chinese teenagers jumped off another boat quickly, led by Yan Siqi.
"Come on," he rushed towards the pier while raising his hand to fire an arrow. Every young man behind him raised his hand to fire an arrow, and a series of crossbow arrows were shot out. This small group of Spanish soldiers were caught off guard, and almost everyone They were all hit by three or four arrows.
For these Spanish soldiers who died inexplicably under the rain of arrows, these teenagers didn't even look at them. They stepped over their bodies and rushed towards the castle gate. They were the military cadets, specially selected by Yin Feng for internship. The young warriors were not originally in their turn to be the vanguard, but the other two ships fell behind and the advance team was short of manpower. Mai Xiaoliu, the commander of the advance team, had to send them to the front line.
Soldiers from the First Regiment of the Infantry also rushed onto the pier. Mai Xiaoliu kicked away a corpse of a Spanish soldier, and a series of curses came out of his mouth: "Grandma, what's going on with these student kids? I haven't given an order yet. Damn it, hurry up, don’t be like a fucking little baby,”
At the same time, a burst of fierce gunfire erupted in the Santiago Castle. The gate of the castle was half closed, but it could no longer move. The gate switch control room was occupied by Chinese craftsmen, and the young cadet team rushed into the gate first.
On the fort, several Spanish officers were lying in a pool of blood. The Chinese craftsmen who had been working hard just now were stepping on their bodies and pushing the gunpowder barrels to the entrance of the fort. An Xiaosi and others were blocking the soldiers with muskets on the second floor. At the exit of the rest room, Yan Siqi took the lead and rushed into the castle. He opened fire with a flintlock pistol in each hand. Then he threw his hands back to his waist and quickly pulled out two more flintlock pistols from his waist. "Bang bang", he fired continuously to attack the enemy. The Spanish soldiers who came forward were defeated.
The student soldiers did not have muskets, and the length and weight of the flintlock rifles developed by the China Company were not suitable for their use. In addition to crossbows, each of them was also equipped with a flintlock pistol. "Boom, boom, boom," after a series of shooting sounds , the unsuspecting Spanish soldiers who were originally wandering on the ground floor of the castle were knocked down by bullets that suddenly flew before they could get their weapons.
Since all the officers had been dealt with by Chinese craftsmen, more than 80 Spanish soldiers and dozens of indigenous auxiliary soldiers were trapped in the inner layer of the castle, unable to even access the weapons depot; the gate over there had been blocked. Several Chinese craftsmen sealed it with stones and iron chains. Only less than twenty Spanish soldiers on duty had matchlocks in their hands. Most of them were killed by the student soldiers of the Chinese Company before they had time to light the matchlock. The soldiers were like a storm, sweeping through the entire castle in three minutes. By the time the first regiment of soldiers rushed into the castle, the ground was already covered with corpses. Only a dozen surviving Spanish soldiers were on the tower in the northeast corner of the castle. Resist tenaciously.
An Xiaosi and Mai Xiaoliu met. Before they could exchange greetings, Xiao Liuzi said: "Last night there was a strong wind, and the fleet of the army may have been scattered. We must hold on here until tomorrow."
"Boom," a dull explosion came. The sound was not loud, but the whole castle still shook slightly. Luo Xiaocheng and Yan Siqi, two bold young men, saw the enemies in the tower guarding the passage leading to the castle. Desperately blowing up the aisle door with a gunpowder barrel, a large group of Chinese soldiers rushed into the tower.
Mai Xiaoliu asked Zhang Wei: "Can the Royal City of Manila detect such a big movement here?"
"Don't worry about this. This place is several miles away from the royal city. They won't hear the sound of musketry unless the cannon is fired."
Zhang Wei had been fighting until he finally came to his senses: "Sixth Master, why are these soldiers so young? They are all children." He was very surprised by the fighting spirit and fighting skills of these student soldiers.
Mai Xiaoliu lay down on the fort and watched for a while, then turned around and said to everyone: "There is no problem with the fortress. We have taken it. The problem now is how to hold it. The captain's team may not be ready until night at the earliest." To get here,”
"No problem, the time is just right. The soldiers changing guard will not come until tomorrow morning. As long as nothing happens, no one else will come to disturb us here until tomorrow morning," Zhang Wei had already said to Fort Santiago. Everything was understood thoroughly.
At this time, Yan Siqi, whose head and face were darkened by gunpowder smoke, rushed to the fort brandishing a flintlock pistol, laughing and saying: "Sixth Master, Fourth Brother An, we have taken down the entire castle,"