The Dutchman Van Linenberg, as a person familiar with sea conditions, has always been taken by Liu Ximing as a navigation consultant to consult, and when he heard You Degao's words, his heart immediately tightened.

As one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to reach out to Europeans, the Portuguese, Dutch and British built trading houses in Siam early on, and are now vigorously expanding their markets.

If the forces of the Liu family were allowed to intervene in Siam, the efforts of the Dutch and other colonists would probably be in vain.

After thinking carefully about the situation in the South China Sea, Van Lienberg came up with an idea.

"Your Excellency, I wonder if I can make a suggestion?"

It was the first time for Liu Ximing to see Van Linberg, a Dutchman, taking the initiative to propose, so he immediately turned to him and smiled: "Mr. Fan, if you have any good ideas, please tell me directly." ”

With Liu Ximing's permission, Van Limbaugh had a sincere smile on his face.

He nodded at You Degao and smiled to show his friendliness, and then said in broken Chinese:

"Your Excellency, the general just now suggested that you go to Siam, but you have other ideas."

Van Linenberg paused, and everyone in the tent was indeed attracted by his words.

"The Siamese were savage and warlike, and the country was poor, and there was no oil or water, so I thought that the general could go east and go directly to Manila to trade."

"Manila?" , Liu Ximing read this name repeatedly, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"How many weapons does the Big Fur Robot have in Manila right now?" , he grabbed Van Limbau and asked.

Van Limbau was taken aback by Liu Ximing's glowing eyes, and stammered:

"Pavilion, Your Excellency, you, you don't want to attack Manila, I'm just proposing to go there for business."

"Hahaha, of course it's business, but you also have to pay attention to the movements of the Franco, tell me about it."

Liu Ximing sensed that he was a little too excited, and immediately let go of Van Limbaugh's hand and said with a smile.

Van Limbau rubbed his wrist, which had been pinched vigorously, and rubbed his nose to introduce the situation in Luzon to the crowd.

"Since the occupation of Manila in 1571, the Grand Francs have occupied Luzon for 66 years, and now Manila is the center of the Grand Francis rule in Luzon, where the Governor's Palace of Luzon is located."

Having spent many years in the South China Seas, Van Linenberg was familiar with these situations, but as he spoke, the unique pride of being a coachman at sea gradually gained the upper hand.

"The Great Francois Empire has long since declined, and we Dutch people have been freed from the rule of the evil Habsburgs, and now there are only more than 4,000 Grand Frangi people in Luzon, if we were not busy exploring other parts of Southeast Asia, this place would have belonged to us Dutch people long ago......"

Liu Ximing did not interrupt Van Linenberg's boasting, just as he also wanted to know about the current world history, and only when Van Linenberg's mouth was dry did he ask:

"I heard that the Grand Franc often transported large quantities of silver from Amerigo to Luzon to trade with Chinese merchants, do you know the specific situation?"

Amerigo is the current full name of South America, and Liu Ximing's impression is that the Spaniards should have ruled all of Central and South America except Brazil.

Van Limbaugh's gaze at Liu Ximing was full of admiration: "Your Excellency, you are really the most knowledgeable Ming man I have ever met, that's right, every year the Great Franc will send several Galen galleons laden with silver to Luzon." ”

"After buying large quantities of Oriental specialties such as raw silk, porcelain and tea, the ships would return to the Peruvian region of America and eventually export their goods to Mexico and Europa."

Liu Ximing smiled and rubbed his hands, "When will their treasure ship arrive, do you know this?" ”

Van Limbau lowered his head and pondered for a moment, "The Manila galleon sets sail in May and June every year, takes the monsoon in the Pacific Ocean to Peru in the east, and returns to Manila in the west by the monsoon six months later. ”

"Hahaha, that's it, let's leave for Manila immediately."

Liu Ximing slapped the table excitedly, it was already February 22, and there was not much time left for him.

In the past few days, the Zheng family and the Ruan family have preliminarily completed the work of consolidating the defense line and the newly occupied territory, and Liu Ximing and them have already cleared their money and goods, and it is really not ambiguous at all to say that they will leave.

On the morning of 23 February, the Fubo Division, who had re-boarded the ship, set sail for Manila with the fleet.

Liu Xi's departure made the Zheng family breathe a sigh of relief, followed by another evil.

Zheng Jie took advantage of the continued mobilization of domestic soldiers and horses, and completed the onslaught of 50,000 soldiers and horses with a supplement.

Who knew that there were only a few soldiers of the Ruan family in the city of Nghe An who pretended to defend themselves, and when they saw the Zheng family attacking, they fled from the dock in a puff of smoke, and the Zheng family took back Nghe An almost effortlessly.

It turned out that Tao Weici had already advised Ruan Fulan that Nghe An was lonely north of the Ling River, which could easily cause a long-term confrontation with the Zheng family and consume national strength.

At present, the Ruan family has just occupied Ha Tinh and Quang Binh, and it still needs to spend a lot of time to win over the people's hearts, so it is best to retreat to Lingjiang at this time.

Because the Zheng fleet had been completely annihilated, the Nguyen fleet could block the entire Ling River, and the two sides were once again in a stalemate.

Zheng Jie originally wanted to forcibly attack the south in one go, but after hearing the news of the defeat of the Zheng family in Yi'an, the Mo dynasty in the north and the Bao warrior family on the separatist side were all a little ready to move, and Zheng Jie had no choice but to lead his troops back to the court to suppress the place.

The South China Sea in February and March is the most beautiful season, the waves are not big, the sun is not too violent, and with the clear blue water, the beauty makes people palpitate.

Riding the southwest monsoon, the whole fleet was blown full of sails by the wind, and it broke the waves like arrows from the string.

A group of young soldiers in the ravines of Sichuan experienced the initial discomfort, and every day they were immersed in the novelty of going to sea, and laughter resounded throughout the fleet.

Liu Ximing is a descendant, and he has prepared the items needed for navigation, and there is space, so he can eat fresh oranges and other fruits on the ship every day, and his health problems are even more worry-free.

Liu Ximing had already told the soldiers of the whole army in his daily classes, and there was also a specially compiled naval drill book, even if he returned to the mainland in a few months, I believe that You Degao and others would be able to survive smoothly.

If there is any shortcoming, it is gunpowder and other war materials.

Fortunately, now that the Sichuan-Hanzhong-Guanzhong trade route has been opened, the Liu family can barely obtain enough materials to produce gunpowder.

However, the consumption of gunpowder by the Liu fleet was too large, and a salvo of the whole fleet was 1,854 guns fired at the same time, and at least more than 3,000 catties of gunpowder were consumed.

Liu Ximing has now made up his mind to take Manila, and the Philippine archipelago is rich in materials, saltpeter and sulfur can all be found, and it is the most suitable place to be used as a naval base.

As for the temporary base in Sanya, it has been left behind by Liu Ximing, anyway, only a temporary camp and a temporary dock have been built there, so there is nothing to regret.

The long-term voyage made Liu Ximing's plan clearer and clearer.

According to Van Linenberg, the Spaniards now occupy Luzon and Mindanao, but they can only maintain superficial colonial rule, mainly relying on commercial means to exploit the natives.

The Spaniards numbered no more than 10,000 people in the entire Philippines, along with a variety of missionaries, artisans, and soldiers, and even fewer in the cities.

This gave Liu Ximing an opportunity to take advantage of.

In this case, even if the Spaniards wanted to counterattack after taking Manila, they lacked overwhelming strength to fight against the Fubo Division.

At this time, there were still three months before the Pacific monsoon, and even if the Spaniards transmitted the message back to South America in time, it would take at least nearly a year for their reinforcements to arrive, and the Liu family had plenty of time to react.

In this thought, the Liu family's fleet is gradually approaching the Philippine Islands, and Manila is already in sight.

With Van Linenberg and other Dutchmen leading the way, and sailing downwind, Liu Ximing and his entourage reached the ocean outside Manila Bay in only seven days at an average speed of 11 knots.

In order to avoid being discovered by Spain, Liu Ximing led his fleet to stop outside Lubang Island in the southern part of Manila Bay to avoid the storm, and he took two bird ships, the Pengzhou and the Nanchong, disguised as merchant ships, and headed towards Manila.