In the last few days of 1613, a lot of gossip was flying in the areas controlled by the Chinese Company.
Legend has it that a hundred thousand troops related to the Latins have arrived across the sea. An overwhelming fleet has arrived on the east coast of Luzon Island. There are also legends that the imperial court will launch troops to attack Taiwan Island and cooperate with the Spanish to attack the China United Company.
Yin Feng burst out laughing when he heard this: A hundred thousand troops crossed the Pacific. If the Spaniards had this strength, they would have unified Europe and conquered all America long ago. Regarding the news that the court will join forces with the Spaniards, the possibility is even smaller: the Ming Dynasty court has not yet I still don’t know that the Luzon barbarians came from Europe. After losing Luzon, the Spaniards almost lost their foothold in Asia. Not a single Spanish ship has come to China in these years. How could they collude with the imperial court? superior.
However, this kind of news confuses and shakes people's hearts. Yin Feng then ordered the "Business Daily" to publish the news of war preparations. The newspapers were hung in the four gates of important cities such as Manila and Cebu. They were asked to be read aloud by literate company employees. At the same time. Luo Xiaocheng, the Luzon general manager of the Chinese Army's Military Intelligence Department, and Li Moge, the Luzon general manager of the company's security department, sent a large number of undercover spies and spies to investigate everywhere.
Through their efforts, they actually dug out some people who were spreading rumors: several Pampanga Catholics working at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Manila, a Jesuit novice at the Manila Monastery, Mulroney, and a Portuguese Jesuit novices.
In the early morning of that day, hundreds of Chinese soldiers armed with live ammunition broke into the Notre Dame Cathedral and arrested people one by one according to the list that Brother Li had found out in advance.
The presiding priest of Notre Dame Cathedral and Bishop Michael of the Catholic Family of Manila hurriedly came to Yin Feng. After he bowed his hands and saluted according to Chinese etiquette, before he could speak, Yin Feng threw a pile of documents to him: "Your Majesty, this is the confession of the Spanish spy lurking in your church."
He took a brief look at the documents. These documents were copied in Chinese and Spanish. Bishop Michel wiped the sweat from his head and said awkwardly: "This should have nothing to do with our Jesuits. This is those indigenous people." You did it. We...we Europeans have always supported you.
Yin Feng's serious doubts about religion began to ferment. He slapped the table angrily and said in broken Portuguese: "Time and time again, you Jesuit insiders always stand against me. Why is this? Is it possible that I It is wrong to allow you to preach freely."
Bishop Michel became a little nervous: "Oh, no. General, you know that we, the Jesus Society, are your friends. We will definitely help your company..."
Yin Feng stopped him and said coldly: "I hope to see you show your sincerity with actions. Novice monk Mulroney will be sent to the Taipei coal mine in Taiwan to do hard labor. And you, the Jesuits..." Yin Feng paused for a moment. Said: "You can use your influence among the Pampanga indigenous people to appease their emotions."
The Pampanga people believed in Catholicism during the Spanish rule. They were once the most loyal supporters of the Spaniards. After these years of suppression by Chinese companies, there are still many tribes in Pampanga who are secretly dissatisfied with the Chinese rule. .
Bishop Michel reluctantly agreed to the job. In the past few days, the Ministry of Security and the Ministry of Military Intelligence have made repeated attacks, raided some indigenous churches, and found many hidden weapons in Pampanga territory. Yin Feng had to Ordered the recruitment of Daan's Yioro-Tagalog indigenous troops to go to the Xianbinlanluo Mountains in the central area of Pampanga to suppress the riots. At the same time, all the Zhuangding teams and Manila garrison teams from all over the country entered a state of combat readiness.
Soon, the entire Luzon Island, Cebu, Leyte Island and other places received orders from Yin Feng: all the armed forces of the Chinese Company entered a state of war to prevent the arrival of the Latins.
Jewish businessman Duarte de Montoya set out from the port of Acapulco. Relying on the lightness and speed of the Dutch pirate's schooner, it took him five months to cross the Pacific to Cebu in the Philippine Islands. The local Chinese company garrisoned the troops. The 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Infantry Brigade was notified by the port officials: A businessman on the red-haired ship said that there was a Spanish army situation to report.
Soon, the Jewish businessman Duarte de Montoya arrived in Manila, personally escorted by the supervisory officer of the first battalion. The Bernardo family brought information about the main commander of the Spanish Expeditionary Force from Europe. But this time, members of the Montoya family, a Jewish businessman, brought him information on the basic composition and size of the Spanish Expeditionary Force.
At this time, the Chinese army's confidence in defeating the enemy was even higher.
At this moment, the Spanish Asian Expeditionary Force, which had traveled a long distance, had become exhausted.
The expeditionary force followed the sailing trade route westward across the Pacific Ocean. The journey was miserable.
In 1587, King Philip II of Spain banned the transfer of Chinese textiles from Mexico to Peru. Four years later, he further banned trade between Peru and the Philippines, Japan, and China. By 1604, trade between Peru and Mexico was also completely banned. Through these restrictive measures, the Spanish rulers tried to protect their country's silk industry and export trade. However, they never dared to completely stop the galleons trade. In 1586, Philip II made a plan to stop Mexico's exports to China. merchandise. However, the Vice-President of Mexico strongly opposed it. He believed that without Chinese goods, the Mexican colonial government and the Philippine colony would suffer financial difficulties.
The huge trade profits made merchants eager to join the galleon trade without hesitating risks. The galleon sailed from Manila to Mexico. It took 6 to 7 months and it had to sail at high latitudes with strong winds and cold weather. The voyage was long and arduous, and there were many wrecks. Since the beginning of the galleon trade, the number of galleons wrecked on the way accounted for 6% of the total number of ships at sea. Countless wealth was lost. After the fall of Luzon, from 1607 to this year, in the six years from 1607 to this year, smuggling merchant ships remained the same. It constantly travels between Manila and the Port of Acapulco in Mexico. However, all these trade revenue bypasses the Spanish royal government. The financial crisis in the Mexican colonies, and even the entire Spanish North American and Central American possessions, is still getting more and more serious.
This expedition to East Asia is a force put together by the whole country of Spain. The main reason is that East Asia is too far away. It is necessary to transport such a large force from Europe to Asia. In the Spanish Imperial Government, which has just experienced three years of peace, It's simply a financial nightmare.
If it weren't for the Spanish Catholic Church and the hard push of some Madrid nobles, the King of Spain would have almost backed down.
When the Spanish Empire's East Asia Expeditionary Force left the port of Acapulco, its total number was about 5,000. Later, a support force sent from South America caught up with the expeditionary force on two Karak-type three-masted sailing ships.
Just like that, when crossing the Pacific, the total number of infantrymen of the Spanish Expeditionary Force reached 6,000, including 3,000 native Spanish regular soldiers, more than 1,000 native white troops in South America, and more than 800 mercenaries from European countries, including 300 Swiss spearmen. .500 elite Germanic mercenaries from the Holy Roman Empire; 500 miscellaneous sailors composed of pirates of various nationalities and European desperadoes recruited in Central America. Regular Spanish Imperial Navy personnel - more than 800 on three main battleships Among them, there are also a small number of black and Indian auxiliary personnel.
In addition to the three Galen-type three-masted battleships, the escort fleet carries an average of more than 50 guns per ship. There are also ten schooners, each carrying ten to fifteen guns. There are ten three-masted sailing ships. Each ship They carry about twenty guns. The troop carriers are mainly Karak-type merchant ships that traveled between both sides of the Pacific in the early sailing trade. There are about ten ships. There are also more than ten logistics ships and auxiliary ships. The entire fleet has nearly 60 ships. It consists of several ships with cross flags. It occupies the sea surface with a radius of more than ten miles.
The living environment of Spanish and Portuguese ships is notoriously messy around the world. The conditions on each ship are similar. Except for the Karak, which carries European mercenaries, the situation is slightly better. The conditions of the other ships are basically the same bad. .
After leaving America, there were idle soldiers and sailors making trouble and fights on the deck of every ship all day long. The poor trainee sailors slept haphazardly in the space between the mainmast and the foremast. They were treated as the lowest class. The weak ones do the cleaning work, while the strong ones operate the water pumps. Sometimes they are used as ship's doctors, carpenters, leak-proofers, or carpenter's assistants and apprentices. As soon as it gets light, the teenagers must gather on the deck. For one hour, they sang hymns on behalf of the officers and sailors. In addition, it was their job to pray.
It didn't take long for the tropical climate to make many young sailors sick and die. Soldiers and sailors stopped fighting and hid listlessly under the deck. Most of them were crowded into small spaces. The sanitary facilities were extremely poor. There were almost no toilets. The food was of the same order. It was hard to swallow. Drinking water and wine depended on daily rations, but only a small portion of food was distributed every month. The bacon on the ship went bad and rotten due to the tropical heat, giving off an unpleasant stench. Even Alonso Fonseca, the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, could only treat the rotten meat. It was not just the food that rotted. When it was hot or the ship was not sailing smoothly, the water on the ship would give off a smell. The Spaniards, sailors and mercenaries from all over the world could only twist their noses and drink water.
Before seeing the shadow of the Mariana Islands, Spanish soldiers and sailors, and European mercenaries had not received any fresh food for four months and twenty days. In addition to carrion, they could only eat biscuits. But these biscuits had already It cannot be said to be biscuits, but powder covered with small insects. Because these bugs have eaten the most nutritious ingredients, and it also emits a strong smell of rat urine. Even the officers and the chaplain of the army drank it. It was the dirty yellow water that had been stored in the bottom tank for many days. The Spanish sailors also ate the cowhide that was installed on the top of the sail frame to protect the mast rope from being scratched by the sail pole. Because of being exposed to the sun and rain, these cowhide As a result of the wind, it became extremely hard and unpalatable. The sailors soaked the hides in the sea for four or five days, then took them out and placed them on hot coals before they could barely swallow them.
Along the way, the number of deaths among the expeditionary force due to illness has reached 129. Twelve people committed suicide for no apparent reason. Twenty-one people were missing after they crashed and fell into the water during a storm.