In the past few mornings, Jiang Shan always walked into the Office of the Foreign Intelligence Service a little later than usual. Moreover, he had also developed a habit that was not very noticeable. As soon as he sat down, he would unconsciously put his hands on his nose.
It seems that there is still some pleasant perfume smell left on the fingers.
The secretary in the bureau sent documents waiting for processing and placed them in different document baskets according to different labels. This is a confidential secretary transferred from the political security confidential training class. He is only responsible for work. Jiangshan has never purchased a life secretary.
, he lives alone in an apartment and eats all his meals in the cafeteria.
He closed his eyes for a while to get rid of the lingering female image in his mind last night, and then picked up the document bag with a red stamp on the first floor. The label on it indicated that the document came from the Macau station. The letter was classified as urgent and top secret.
The Macau Station was a major window for the Foreign Intelligence Service to spy on the movements of Europeans in Southeast Asia and maintained a first-class station position with Jesuit channels and channels.
Opening the kraft paper bag sealed with sealing wax, a European-style letter slipped out. From the exaggerated coat of arms on it, he knew it was Lando's letter.
Inside was a pile of letterheads with the exquisite family coat of arms printed on the letterhead. Count Vananova's Portuguese writing was very sloppy, and the translation was attached below: In his letter, he used an extremely long length to express his wishes to a person who was purely false.
The subordinates talked about mineralogy issues and made various extremely complicated requirements for the mining machinery ordered in Macau. Jiang Shan glanced at it briefly and turned the letter over. The real information was written on the back. The decryptor in the confidential room had already
A layer of iodine solution was applied to the paper, allowing blue writing to appear on the back of the originally blank letter paper. The combination of letters was encrypted cipher text.
In addition to the original document, there is also a typed manuscript that has been decoded and sorted by the confidential room. The report is written in English, which is a language that Jiangshan is very familiar with. There is no translation. In the letter, Weiss described in detail what he had done in
A new discovery in Manila - the newly built artillery shooting range. The Spaniards already had some kind of rifled cannon, equipped with grenades and shrapnel shells equipped with some kind of fuse. Finally, Weiss cautiously put forward his speculation: the armored ship, that is,
Hale, a Japanese-American time traveler who has been missing on the Mackerel, is currently in Manila and has become the chief military engineer that the Governor of Salamanca relies heavily on.
Jiang Shan read the report three times from beginning to end, put down the manuscript in his hand, grabbed the handle of the magnet phone on his desk and shook it a few times, then picked up the phone: "Hello... the main telephone station... Please call the Executive Committee...
…Who is here?…Chairman Moon?…Okay, then go to Chairman Moon’s office…”
Although the number of public appearances is not many, Count Vananova has caused quite a stir in Manila's upper class. Local ladies are very interested in him, and the various legends about the count are the most eye-catching at the boudoir tea party.
topic. This inevitably caused displeasure among the husbands, that is, colonial officials and wealthy businessmen. The big businessmen especially hated the count because his unassuming luxury made their nouveau riche style of spending millions worthless and extremely ridiculous.
Esteban Sanavría spread the word everywhere that the count was a complete liar, and was actually a fraudster who escaped from New Spain. However, at a fund-raising meeting held in preparation for the feast of St. Peter, Sanafría
Ya's remarks were severely rebuked. "You are always used to judging others by yourself," the Jesuits from Macau criticized him. The Dominican and Franciscan monks who received large donations from Mr. Lando
Sanafria also joined in the chorus with one voice. Sanafria found that not only had he become the laughing stock of the whole city, but he was also in danger of becoming the enemy of the priests and becoming a heretic - it is said that the Inquisitor's belief in wealthy businessmen has always been
He was very concerned about it, and in order to avoid attracting their attention, he had to swallow his anger towards the count, so secretly he hated the count twice as much.
This incident did not have any impact on Weiss Lando, or he had no time to pay attention to these trivial matters. He is now committed to winning over the colonial officers. Inviting them to hunt together, and setting up a banquet in the villa that has never been seen in the local area.
They all achieved results quickly. Major Alfonso praised the Count's excellent horses and weapons, as well as his excellent marksmanship. Colonel Echasu indulged in rum, rhubarb liqueur, mixed fruit brandy and plenty of delicious food.
The porcelain plate was full of joy. Especially the rum, which was added with fruit juice and cooled with well water, was like a nectar in the terrible temperature of Manila. Since the Jesuits all praised the count for fighting to defend the glory of the Lord,
If he is brave, and he is so generous, then this person is definitely "one of our own", which is the unanimous view of the colonial officers. For the first time, Echasu wrote a personal letter inviting Weiss to participate in the tile-throwing game.
The tile ball court is actually a piece of land circled on the training ground outside Fort Santiago, surrounded by trees. The grass is as thick and soft as a blanket, and the hollow tile balls made of clay will not break even if they fall to the ground. In the morning
At eight o'clock, the officers had gathered, dressed in full body armor and riding war horses, as if they were going on an expedition, and lined up majestically in two lines.
The drums were thundering. The first person to step out was Captain Pilar, the cavalry captain under Echasu. A cavalryman next to Weiss immediately came up to meet him. The two started a wonderful chase, and Captain Pilar showed off his cavalry.
Using his skills, he flexibly avoided the tiles thrown by the pursuers, or accurately deflected them with his shield. Another cavalry rushed out from the opposite row to meet the captain, turning the pursuers into escapers in an instant. Weiss rode out on horseback.
, rushing to support their companions. Riders one by one rushed out of the queue, and the game eventually evolved into a melee game of throwing tile balls at each other. The followers ran around behind, using their hands and feet to pick up the ball and hand it to the owner.
You also had to pay attention to avoid the horse's hooves. This was a technical job. The clumsy Shlick was hit several times by the tile balls flying around like stray bullets, and fell to the grass. Fortunately, he was not stepped on by the horse's hoof.
The game ended at ten o'clock in the morning. The count was obviously very happy and asked to visit the Fort Santiago. His request was naturally met, but the old colonel felt a little tired after two hours of intense exercise. He asked
Captain Pilar accompanied him, and after he expressed his apology, he slipped back into the barracks.
"It's really cool here." Captain Pilar turned his head in surprise and found the count looking at him with his trademark toothy smile to hide his true expression. It was almost noon, and the tropical sun began to shine.
Under the venomous white light, beads of sweat seeped out from under the powdered wig of the cavalry captain, flowing down his cheeks like a river. The count's patience was simply too much for him, and he seemed to know every room, every corner and even every sewer and sewer of the fortress.
The vents were very interesting, and they wanted to examine them carefully, and they kept walking with a certain unnatural and mechanical pace. Pilar did not know that his distinguished guest was using the pacing method to estimate the size of the fortress and the gun positions.
The distance from the fortifications and the camp rooms made me think that the count might have sprained his hip while riding a horse.
They climbed to the top of the castle. Behind the battlements of the city wall, Tagalog sentries with dark skin and holding spears stood next to the shining cannons. The cannons were all made of copper and equipped with four-wheeled cannon carts. The largest one had a
The 42-pounder cannon is enshrined in a separate turret. Judging from the patina of the gun, it seems that this gun has been here for many years, but what caught Lando's attention was a pivot gun mount with an inclined slide giving it a nearly 180°
This was not like a Spanish masterpiece. Weiss carefully observed the huge wooden gun mount and the iron sheet wrapped on the surface. The iron sheet was not rusty yet, indicating that it was recently manufactured. Weiss raised his hand over
On the top of the head, I touched the muzzle and found that there was no rifling. What was installed on this suspicious gun mount was just an ordinary front-loading smoothbore cannon.
"Look at this thing." Captain Pilar interrupted his thoughts.
"Isn't this a stove?" Weiss discovered that there was a brick stove every few gun emplacements on the fort. "I recognize that thing next to it. It's a bellows used by the Chinese."
"That's right, this is the wind furnace. Your knowledge really surprises us."
"If this is a stove used to throw grenades, I don't understand why such an elaborate wind stove is needed? Isn't the normal way to set up a brazier? Could it be that the colonel hopes that the soldiers on the fort can still have hot meals? Isn't this
The proper approach will spoil them all."
"You are totally wrong now," the captain's sweaty face showed the pretentious smile that fools often show when they think they are right. "This is the work of the Governor. He did it after listening to the Japanese guy's idea.
A new thing that came out. What is being grilled on this stove is neither bread nor soup pots, but cannonballs. Have you ever seen that the cannonballs must be placed on the stove to be red-hot before firing."
"No, this is the first time I've heard of it."
"Then you can make the target burn when you hit it - this is indeed a good idea - ha, maybe you should also wrap the cannonball in lemongrass, sprinkle with some salt and pepper, and turn it into a fragrant roast chicken. Then.
Once the cannon is fired, the Netherlands and the British will definitely thank us sincerely for our gift. Are you tired? I will take you down."
Lando thought that the captain's knowledge was really limited, or rather he had been on duty in the Philippines where he had only seen the low-level warfare of the natives. Red-hot incendiary bombs were not a particularly new thing in Europe.
However, it is better that the defenders of Manila are a group of rookies than a group of veterans of the Thirty Years War.