After nightfall, the rumbling of artillery outside the harbor from time to time stopped, and only a few fires on the sea could be vaguely seen on the pier, but only the rising and falling waves were left in the ears, which made the tension of the day dissipate a lot for a while.

A light rain came down in the middle of the night, and the weather was much cooler, Thomas slept at home until dawn, and when he got up early in the morning, he went out to the barn, as long as his goods in the Jesuit were safe and sound, it was best, how the Spaniards and pirates were fighting was not in his concern, and yesterday's attack in the fortress was only a momentary gaffe.

It stands to reason that as soon as the warning signal came out in the city yesterday evening, there should have been patrols and supporting cavalry on the other side of the Bashi River at night, and if the pirates still want to attack today, more reinforcements from Chechitan and the surrounding princely states in Manila will arrive at the latest in the afternoon.

'Huh, what's going on?' ’

As he walked, he thought about it, when he suddenly stopped with a slip of his feet, and saw a small barricade surrounded by hemp appear outside the gate of the barn, like half a blockhouse. I don't know what the brown sack contains, it looks extremely heavy, the layers of sacks are densely packed together, it looks very strange, it looks like the cargo of a Chinese merchant ship, and it is very tightly packed, and in the hemp surrounding, you can also see the soldiers walking back and forth, all of them with short hair and short clothes, fierce and abnormal, two of them are standing by the door, each holding a musket, vigilantly watching around.

The appearance of these soldiers made his mind tremble for a moment, there were both Chinese and natives, but none of them looked like Dutch or English robbers, not even black slaves.

He couldn't help but look at the fortress not far away in a moment's distraction, at first he only felt a little strange but did not see the clue, but then realized that the Burgundian tenth-character flag that was still flying on the fortress yesterday did not know where to go, and was replaced by a red flag that he had never seen before.

A terrible thought suddenly popped into his mind, but then he felt that it was too absurd, he had fought at sea for many years in the past, whether it was a fleet encounter or a port attack, as long as the military strength of both sides reached a certain scale, there would always be a stir, but looking at today's posture, could it be that those alien soldiers actually occupied the port quietly?

It's not uncommon to occupy the harbor, after all, the sea is not deep, and most places can be crossed, and it is not impossible to sneak ashore in a rowboat in the dead of night. But it was really strange that the thieves didn't make a noise when they came ashore, and they didn't even put a fire. And although the fortress of Cavite is not very large, it still has stone walls and artillery to rely on, among which there are nearly 100 elite Spanish musketeers and the most powerful Bangbanja warriors, who will be captured by people unknowingly? There was not even a sound heard in the night, and where did the soldiers stationed at the fortress go?

And, who are these alien soldiers with short hair and short clothes?

Hair ...... Short-coat ...... The firearms also look quite sharp......

Thomas instantly seemed to have caught something, could it be ......?

His thoughts were duly interrupted by a shout, the source of which was a capable short-haired warrior, and beside him stood a Chinese man who looked like a generalist, about forty-five or sixteen, who was the owner of the barn, and who was quite familiar with Thomas on weekdays.

When Thomas saw this, he secretly said that it was not good, but although he wanted to turn around and flee, his feet did not obey the ground wood on the spot, and he saw the warrior and the barn owner come forward.

"You're the Jesuit Father Thai?" The soldier had apparently heard what the Chinese barn owner had said about Thomas, and asked in Chinese, but an ugly smile appeared on his face, which made him quite afraid.

Thomas hurriedly replied, "The villain is the Jesuit Tytamo, I wonder what Mr. has to say?" ”

"What is Mr. not sir, we are the Great Song Fubo Army, our army has officially taken over this place last night, the Great Song Haidong Road recruited the special proclamation to the military and civilian disciples of Cavite, as long as you listen honestly, this army will protect the safety of your life and property, there are your goods in this warehouse can be counted by yourself, and our army will give preferential prices if necessary, and you can also spread this word to the church and people who know you well in Hong Kong, don't panic."

Thomas glanced at the intersection as the soldier said this, and it seemed that there were other soldiers holding a special tin roll and shouting something similar.

'Great Song? ’

Thomas suddenly remembered, it is said that those Australians in Borneo are self-proclaimed descendants of the Great Song Dynasty, so the appearance of these short-haired soldiers makes sense, looking at the dress of this group of people and the Fubo Army they call themselves, most of them are the army of Australians.

It's just that the warships that attacked the port yesterday were obviously flying the flags of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, could it be that these three have formed an alliance? If this is the case, then Manila will be very bad, and the other party has gone to great lengths to make such a cover-up, which makes Thomas feel that the Australians have a lot of plans, but fortunately, their attitude as soldiers is still kind, and there is no way to see the means of taking the Krabi fortress without blood.

Thinking of this, Thomas's eyes became unusually respectful under the hesitation, and his speculative temperament rose in his heart again, "I don't know what the villain can do?" ”

After all, it seems that most of the so-called Fubo army has already occupied the port, if it is close to it, it is a way to understand the situation, whether it is business or to avoid trouble, first-hand information is extremely valuable, this is also to see the Fubo army soldiers treat people Thomas will think this, really change the Dutch, he is afraid how far to run is the safest.

When the little soldier of the Fubo Army heard him say this, he looked at the priest with some surprise, and after a while, he asked indifferently: "Are you willing to be the general officer of our army?" ”

…………

At this time, Liu Jinqiu was standing on the wall of the not high fortress of Cavite, looking at the departing British and Dutch joint slave hunting fleet outside the port in the distance, and the shadows of the six warships and three troop transports of the Fubo Army were nearby. At this moment, he was in a very relaxed mood, after dark yesterday, several teams of bad people led by the patriarch himself staged a thunderous means under the cover of the landing rowing boats of the Fubo army, and it only took an hour to control the Krabi fortress by relying on the absolute superiority of the night sight. By sunrise, the Fubo soldiers had taken full control of all the important intersections in the harbor, and the landed backers and bad men had already set out early to maneuver to the ambush positions of the preset reinforcements from Manila.

The place was now impregnable, so the fleet of Jaco and Quark was sent north with the Li family to harass and contain them at the mouth of the Bashi River, and of course it would be nice to sink a few warships or cruisers that the Spaniards had come to reinforce on the way.

And just now, the Recruiting Division received a radio message from the front that the two warships that had gone to the San Bernardino Strait to wait for the rabbit had successfully captured two other Spanish galleons this morning, although these two galleons were not the royal family's silver ships, but they were also very valuable, and the silver on board had not yet been counted, but they were only roughly calculated to harvest no less than the two ships that had been captured before. In this way, the four Spanish sailing ships that arrived in the Philippines after the rainy season turned out to be one of the 'clutches' that could not escape the senate's 'claws'.

It must be known that although the senators are all equal, they are not likely to fight for power and profit, but the distribution method of maids just announced by the Senate is also differentiated, at least after those beautiful girls who are bought from the mainland and Persia to meet the aesthetics of the senators have undergone some training, this priority can be compared by the merit points of the senators.

When Thomas was brought to Liu Jinqiu, Liu Yuan was proud, and he heard that he was a newly recruited general, but he was also kind and pleasant, he was proficient in English, but he was not very familiar with Spanish, and after learning that Thomas could actually hear and speak Chinese, he naturally had a good face.

When Lieutenant Castro was picked up and slipped up, the two of them, who had been talking about it yesterday, looked at each other without embarrassment.

For the next two hours, Thomas was an eye-opener.

He kept repeating and translating the same questions of the patriarchs, over and over again, asking about names, places of origin, origins, etc., but occasionally asking irrelevant things, but it was this constant questioning that made Lieutenant Castro, who was still arrogant yesterday, like a defeated rooster, and after a while he answered everything, looking at Castro's numb eyes, Thomas couldn't help but be secretly frightened, this simple method of questioning by the Song people was so fierce that it seemed to be able to win people's hearts.

Thomas only quietly saw that there were many more people like him, all of whom were here to help the chiefs interrogate the prisoners of war, and it seemed that neither the army of Cavite nor the servants of the Spaniards had escaped.

At this time, he no longer had much fear of the Fubo Army, and the order was basically restored from the market alone, and even some Chinese merchants and vendors had brought their own fruits and vegetables to the gate of the Cavite Fort to solicit business, and the logistics department of these fresh fruits and vegetables that could supplement vitamin C (note: the nomenclature of the Senate) did not refuse to come, and for a while, the citizens were much less afraid of the Fubo Army.

When Thomas saw such a scene, he looked at the warships anchored in the harbor and felt a little less apprehensive, and much less apprehensive than yesterday.

After coming out of the fortress, he secretly thought in his heart how to help himself in this accident, and at this moment he clutched a piece of paper from Chief Liu in his hand, which was full of goods that the Fubo army would need for a period of time in the future.

Thomas was pleasantly surprised to find that the iron pot he had hoarded did not need to be shipped to the Americas, and he could directly realize it from Australians and make a fortune.

And the Australian gave him a bill of goods with mercury, and the demand seems to be quite large.

In the past, Manila continued to supply mercury to the Americas, although the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru produced a lot of its own, but Thomas knew that the Iberian conquerors had been using amalgamation in the local alchemy process, and the demand for mercury was so great that after obtaining a large amount of imports from China, they did not forget to mine it themselves in Palawan.

But it doesn't matter, it's just the attitude of the Australians, who seem to have a strong military force at the moment, but still think in a businessman's way of thinking things that Thomas can accept.

To be honest, he does not have much affection for the Chinese, the Chinese traders in the port provide various services for the port at the lowest price, and even the Spaniards themselves admit that the commercial behavior of the Chinese is indispensable, but he has the same anxiety and vigilance as the Spaniards about the unrestrained expansion of this economic field, and they are really not opponents of the Chinese in terms of doing business, and in his concept, the Chinese obviously include the Australians who have just appeared, and the chief Liu can be counted as one of the representatives.

Even if the Fubo army occupied Krabi today, he was only careful to cater to it out of his own interests. It seemed to him that the fanatical Dominican friars, though they were ostentatious, were of the same kind as themselves, and would not fear being hanged as long as they did not believe in the God of Huguenot.

However, after coming into contact with Elder Lau today, he found that Australians are not as religious as the rumors of the Church in Macau, and even quite dismissive of God's faith.

Thinking like this, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have a layer in mind about the purpose of the Australians' sneak landing, and he was afraid that he was still heading for the Spanish troops stationed in Manila.

There have long been rumors among the Spaniards about the military power of the Australians, especially the power of their firearms, and the business travelers who came and went here have also testified to this, which can also be believed by the quality of the Australian goods that appear in Cavite to believe their excellent utensils.

Having heard that a port in Palawan was occupied by Australians had made the Manila authorities quite jealous, so if it had been known from the beginning that it was the Australians attacking, I am afraid that His Excellency the Governor might not have easily sent his army to fight in the royal city, after all, without the protection of the strong city walls, even those Chinese vendors in the stream could easily kill the Spaniards outside the city.

Could it be that Australians had this idea in the first place? If so, the Australians' scheming is really terrifying, and what is even more terrifying is their step-by-step planning, although it is just their own guess, but Thomas has always had a lot of confidence in his judgment, which is also in line with the logic of interests, but in this way, the reinforcements from the north are not more auspicious? He didn't think that simply facing the Dutch and British fleets would scare Alonso into making his army a turtle in Manila, neither his own reputation nor the interests of trade would allow him to do so.

He shook his head, telling himself not to think about it anymore, just be yourself for now, maybe things are not as you think?

[References]

1、《Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450-1680》Anthony Reid

2, "Sea Language" Huang Zhen

3. "Nanyang Yearbook"

4. Maritime Trade between China and Manila in the Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries, by Li Jinming

5. "Macao-Manila Trade in the First Half of the 17th Century" by Zhao Wenhong and Wu Yingquan

6. "Zhucheng Weekly Consultation" is strict and simple

7、《The Rise of Ayudhya》Charnvit Kasetsiri

8, "History of Overseas Chinese in Nanyang" Chen Bisheng

9、《Chinaese in Southeast Asia》Victor Purcell

10. "A Brief Discussion on the Conflict between China and the European Powers on Southeast Asian Affairs in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries" He Aiguo

11. The Influence of Chinese Immigrants on Southeast Asian Languages and Daily Life in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries by Zheng Fuhong

12、《Statistics for Ship Arrivalsand Departures 1565-1815（by Year and by Decade）》

13、《Alphabetized List of Galleonsand Other Ships(with voyagedates)》

14、《Summary In form ation of Galleon Arrivalsand Departures 1565 through 1815》

15、《The Manila Galleon》Jason Schoonover

16, "Date Jijia Record"

17, "Date Family History" Date Bangzong

18, "Cheng Shi Ji" Yi Da Shi

19, "Wan Department Miscellaneous Notes" Shen Bang

20. "Instructions for the Ministry of Industry and Warehouse"

21, "Wanli Accounting Record" Wang Guoguang, Zhang Xueyan

22. "Regulations on Food and Grain for Officers and Soldiers in Beijing"

22. "Chinese Monetary History" Peng Xinwei

23、《History of the Mutsunokuni》Scipione Amati

24、《Recit de l'entree solemnelle et remarquable faite a Rome,par Dom Philippe Francois Faxicura》Abraham Savgrain

25, "The Historical Changes of Manila's Chinatown" Shen Lixin