The Spanish royal family also noticed the problem of the weak foundation of Philippine colonial rule early on, so in recent decades, the Philippine Governor's Office has mainly developed believers through Catholicism, and then controlled the locality.

Liu Ximing was somewhat moved by the fact that, according to Lingen, there were about tens of thousands of indigenous and Chinese who believed in Spanish Catholicism.

However, Lin Gen's next sentence made Liu Ximing cry and laugh, "As long as we Han people can live well, we can believe anything."

This meal took a long time, but although he ate a lot, Li Biao only paid 300 yuan.

Seeing Li Biao using copper coins to trade, Li Bing's expression was quite excited, the copper coins of the Ming Dynasty were hard currency in Luzon, and many natives only recognized this.

took out a tael of silver as a benefit fee, Liu Ximing and the others said goodbye to Lin Gen and embarked on the return journey back to the port.

Although he got a lot of information, Liu Ximing was still a little unhappy, what he wanted to inquire about the most, what famous leaders and other figures in Balian City did not ask.

I don't know if there really isn't such a character here, or if Lingen doesn't want to elaborate on it.

Liu Ximing and the others didn't go far away, and Lin Gen, who was originally blushing and drunk, suddenly became energetic.

He said hello to Li Bing, stood up and looked at the backs of Liu Ximing and the others, and one dodged out of the door and turned into an alley.

Among the many red-roofed houses, a brick house looks unremarkable.

Lingen stopped in front of the house and knocked on the door.

"Is Brother Yang here? It's me, Agen. ”

Without waiting for the people inside to ask, Lin Gen directly reported his identity.

The mahogany door creaked open, and a middle-aged woman with a wooden hairpin pinned to her hair opened the door, smiled at Lingen and welcomed him in.

In the small courtyard, a capable man in clothes walked out of the back room, "Agen is here, why did you just come back from the dock at this point, have you eaten, if not, let your sister-in-law give you a little bit." ”

Lin Gen smiled and rushed to open the door, and the woman saluted, "Sister-in-law, you don't have to worry about it, I'll just say a few words to Brother Huang." ”

Giving Huang Yang a look, Lingen and the two of them went into the main room and closed the door.

"Brother, I met a group of people today......"

Lin Gen didn't talk nonsense, and directly told Liu Ximing and others about the situation.

"The strangest thing is that they are the one who starts, it doesn't look like a perennial businessman, with fine skin and tender meat, plus his sturdy guards, I don't think they should be simple."

"And they also specifically inquired about the situation of those people, including how many people are in the castle, how many cannons they all want to know, Brother Yang, do you think they want to fight the Manila people?"

Huang Yang collected the clothes that were sliding down a little

with a contemplative expression.

"You say they only have two ships? It's unlikely. ”

"There are not many boats, but there are cannons on this ship, I look like the kind of gunboat built by the Zheng family, brother, do you think it will be the Zheng family?"

Huang Yang shook his head, "You said it yourself, they are speaking official language, Zheng Yiguan is also from our Fujian, his subordinates will not be like this." ”

"That's it, don't you have to help him find a cloth merchant tomorrow, then you definitely need to carry the goods, and then I will bring some brothers over, you ask him to hand over the work to us, and I will find out when the time comes."

"Okay, that's it, then I'll go."

Lingen and Huang Yang discussed and decided tomorrow's affairs, and then hurriedly took their leave.

Liu Ximing and the others had already returned to the ship at this time, and it was true that as Lingen said, the Spanish guards along the way were very wary of the Han Chinese.

They only stood on the street leading from the pier to the fort and looked carefully in the direction of the fort for a short time, and immediately the Spanish soldiers came and reprimanded them.

Manila's port is quite lively, and in addition to some shops, there are also many European taverns and restaurants with double sliding doors.

From time to time, scantily clad prostitutes solicited business near the tavern, including both native and Japanese women with Han or Japanese faces.

Merchants and sailors from all over the country dangled around the harbor, and many white men in the uniforms of the Spanish defenders wandered about drunkenly, quite drunken and dreamy.

For the sake of safety, the soldiers on the Pengzhou and Nanchong were all arranged on the ship, and Liu Ximing and the others had been out for so long, and Liu Dehui and the others were already a little anxious.

Seeing that they came back smoothly, Liu Dehui breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly greeted them.

"Go back to the cabin and say", Liu Ximing waved his hand and took the lead into the cabin.

Liu Dehui, Li Biao and other officers followed in.

The captain's room of the Pengzhou is also in the aft part of the ship, and the small cabin is stuffed with Liu Dehui, Li Biao and other officers, and the smell of tobacco wafts from the cabin.

After listening to what Liu Ximing saw and heard in the port, the officers in the room fell silent.

It's just that the tragic situation of the Han people described by Liu Ximing obviously made everyone quite angry, and even senior officers like Liu Dehui couldn't help but clench their fists and grit their teeth and purse their lips.

"Okay, let's not talk about the Han people in Manila, let's talk about Manila itself."

Liu Ximing opened his mouth to break the tension in the cabin, he took out a piece of yellow paper from the table, and drew on it a few times the port situation he observed.

"There is some good news and some bad news at the moment," he said, looking at the officers.

"The good news is that the Furlan-man treasure ship has arrived in Manila, and if Van Linenberg is to be true, the two ships are at least loaded

Millions of taels of silver. ”

"Hiss", Liu Dehui and the others took a breath.

"There are two good news, one is that the strength of the Francois is indeed relatively weak, and it is okay to deal with the natives, but our strength is obviously superior against our family."

"The second one is the Han people in the city, I was worried that I would not be able to consolidate after the occupation of Manila, but now that they are there, there is no such problem, among these people there are craftsmen and small merchants, which is what we need the most."

"When I came back just now, I noticed that there were white flags hanging in front of several households, which should be the families of those who were requisitioned and transferred to Calaba for reclamation as Lin Gen said, and the Han people in Manila do have a deep hatred for the Fanren."

"In addition, thirty-four years have passed since the Franc Man massacre the Manila Han talents, and there are still many survivors who still remember it vividly, and the Manila Han people are always on the lookout for them, except for a few traitors, others should be on our side, but how to mobilize them is still a big problem."

"Of course, there are pros and cons, and the disadvantage is that the Franz people are very well guarded, not only the sentry posts are dense, but the most important thing is their castle."

Liu Ximing compared the area between the port and the castle on the map.

"There should be about two miles between the port and the castle, just from the side facing the port, I just observed that there should be 16 guns, Li Biao, how are you observing?"

"There should be 17 doors, and there is another one in the left corner," Li Biao added.

"Okay, then it's 17 doors", Liu Ximing added a stroke on the map.

"We don't know how thick the castle walls are, but as far as I know, the castles of the Franciscans are generally made of stone, which is very strong."

"In addition, there are three Furlong Galen galleons on the docks, which are equivalent to the fourth-class battleships I mentioned earlier, which is also a big problem."

Liu Dehui pursed his lips in contemplation, and finally drew two places on the map with his finger.

"Second brother, according to what you say, we have to figure out at least three questions during our stay in Manila, one is whether the Ming people in Balian City can be used by me, the second is the specific situation of the Francoji Castle, and the third is their deployment in the port area."

"That's right, after figuring this out, we can discuss specific tactics."

Liu Dehui's performance made Liu Ximing feel gratified, after more than three years of growth, this class of officers has initially possessed the ability to analyze the battlefield.

"In this way, tomorrow we will send one or twenty people to pretend to disembark the ship to purchase, and by the way, we will touch the situation in the port, and I will talk to that Lingen to see if I can get a little more information."

"Well, I'll arrange it."

Because they were in the enemy camp, the Pengzhou and Nanchong specially increased the number of people on duty at night, and the night was safe.