His Excellency the Sixteenth Provisional Governor of the Philippines had an unusually gloomy face, and the sudden appearance of the pirate 'Combined Fleet' at the mouth of the Bashi River caught the Spaniards by surprise.

Alonso had no idea that the troubles in Cavite had not yet been resolved, but the rebels had already deceived them to their doorstep.

A day after the pirates appeared off the coast of Manila, a strange army of shorthair had arrived overland and set up a camp south of Manila.

With the drizzle in the sky, the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.

After all, the last time a pagan army came to Manila was sixteen years ago, when even His Excellency the Doge himself was a gentleman who wandered Manila and Murcia, but what he knew was that the Imperial knights had won the final victory, and the followers of God had overcome the siege of the Chinese 'bandits' more than ten times over, just as his father, Luis Fajardo de Córdoba, had done.

For the first time since taking office last July, Lord Espinado, a member of the Knights of Alcantara, had faced such a difficult situation, following his father's Windward Fleet to expel illegal tobacco growers in the Caribbean who challenged Spain's monopoly and destroying the pirate fleets of John Ward and Kara Osman in the Mediterranean. But even four years ago, he was commissioned by the king to work with his father to transport 100,000 Moses from Gibraltar to Morocco, when his fleet was tasked with clearing Morocco's 'pirate paradise'.

In the East, however, this problem is intensifying all the time.

The fact that the lowland rebels who had been attacking Manila in October last year had not appeared, which even made His Excellency the Governor feel that the arms urgently purchased from Macau for two years in a row were a waste, but the warning that appeared two days ago seemed to confirm this information again, and because of the delay in time, Alonso was once proud of his adequate preparations, and he even asked the Dominican Martinez (Bartolomé) with pity Fr. Martínez sent a navigational warning to the Chinese merchants coming and going from Manila, hoping to win the favor of the mainland merchants during the long preparations for the war.

A few days earlier, while the army had departed by land, the navy had also sent a sizable fleet to Cavite, including two large warships, two medium-sized warships, two two-masted fast warships, and four Calais paddle warships. He expected that the Dutch would be frightened, and that the usual practice of the scoundrels would be to raid a coastal village and then flee back to their base in Java or the Spice Islands, after which they would give up their coveting of the Imperial ports for a long time.

But now the worst was before him, the enemy was replaced by the more difficult Australians, and the definite news from the south indicated that the short-haired Chinese had taken control of West Java from the Dutch, and the Dutch East India Company's delay in attacking Manila was entirely due to the emergence of a more formidable enemy who did not seem to show much goodwill towards the Spanish Empire, at least rumored to have fought them by explorers two years earlier.

Alonso even realizes that some scum from the UK and the Netherlands have chosen to take refuge in the newly emerging powerhouses in the seas, and this joint attack is a signal.

"Can't our artillery hit each other?" This is the third time in the past few days that Governor Alonso has asked the commander of the fortress this question.

"It's troublesome, the enemy's camp is very tricky, just outside the range of the fortress guns, and if it is fired rashly, not only will it not have any results, but it will also cause losses to the residential areas to the south." Captain García de Aldana Cabrera was visibly impatient and frowned, "But maybe Torribio will know something." ”

Hearing the name, Alonso was a little overwhelmed and lifted his forehead.

It was the same gambler who had fled back to Manila a day earlier to bring back the bad news, and what could be more disgusting than a mud-covered and disheveled star.

The news from his mouth shocked and frustrated the entire inhabitants of the royal city, and the army sent by Manila encountered a trap carefully laid by the bandits in Cavite, and it only took a day from the time the army set out to bring back the bad news. Captain Domingo was killed in battle, and all of them, including Chechitan and the indigenous army, were killed or captured, except for him and a few soldiers who fled back to Manila. It is a matter of secrecy as to how he clearly communicated the demands of the enemy without becoming a prisoner of the enemy.

Suddenly, Manila sent almost half of the elite troops in Alonso's hands, the garrisons scattered in Cebu and the Visayas were even smaller and it was impossible to recall Luzon in a short time, and the ships dispatched by the navy were all that Manila had at the moment - unless those river rowboats in the Bashi River could also be counted as boats, so the pressure on His Excellency the Governor can be imagined now.

Having lost his mobile forces, Garcia's defensive arrangements seemed to be stretched, and in the past two days, he had more than once missed the Chang of Zhikura, who had left Manila more than half a month ago, and of course he was mainly worried about the guards of more than 100 people in the hands of Zhicang, most of whom were genuine samurai, with both will and courage, and if they could stay here, they would be a great help, but there were many heavily trained musketeers among them.

Also remembering the support is the Archbishop Miguel García Serrano (O.S.A.), who is also here today, as the Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Manila, who originally thought that returning to Manila from the Diocese of New Serbia (note: Nueva Segovia, present-day Ilocos Region of the Philippines, located in northwestern Luzon) was tantamount to returning to the heavenly kingdom on earth, without facing the attacks of pirates and the perennial resistance of Ilocos. You can indulge in architecture and academics that you love. But the arrival of the invaders forced him to withdraw himself from the construction of the Convent of San Juan de Letran, and as one of the few archbishops in Manila who had been received by Paul V in the same way as the Archbishop, and had returned with the pious Chechtin from the Archdiocese of New Spain, he agreed with Captain Garcia.

More than 20 days ago, Changchang Zhicang and his entourage, under the leadership of Li Siya, set off for Macao on two Portuguese merchant ships, Miguel naturally did not know that the real destination of Zhicang was the southern port of the Ming Dynasty under the control of the enemy in Manila, where he would inspect for several days, and then return to Nagasaki on the Li family's Zhuyin ship.

Without foreign aid, the number of troops that can be mobilized in the entire royal city is now less than 600, plus the natives and Chezhitan on the periphery of the royal city, the total number is less than 2,000. If it is really impossible to do anything, it is only to mobilize all the nobles in the city, after all, if Manila is lost, the residents of the city will not be too good to ask themselves, after all, they themselves have done this in the previous wars of conquest, the word "life and death" is by no means a bluff, those days in the Mediterranean are all reminding him that when the Muslim merchants who have paid the ransom are still cut down and pushed into the sea, the colonists will not have the slightest sympathy in their hearts, and now facing the pagan enemies of the East, Alonso, of course, won't be much of a fluke with the Australians.

In addition to the necessary artillery, the soldiers of the two fortresses of San Tiago and San Gabriel in the north of the city were also transferred to the southern city wall, but the residential area outside the moat could not help, but the news brought back by Torribio gave the Spanish a day of buffer, and the Spanish merchants and their half-breed children who still lived outside the city were able to be contained in the city, and only more than fifty musketeers were left in the southern block of the city to defend together with the Chechitan and Bonbanja, and the most important section of the city wall was on the south gate. Alonso handed over his most trusted nephew, Diego Fajardo Chacón, a knight from the Order of San Tiago, who was up to the task both in terms of his status and experience in the Azores Islands.

Torribbio brought the Aussie's demand, simple and straightforward – to hand over Manila.

Unacceptable conditions, Alonso felt offended, and he would not allow the most important stronghold of the empire in the East to be handed over to a group of infidels of dubious origin, both for his own reputation and for his father's honor.

Fortunately, time was on its side, and most of Manila's grain was stored in various forts in the royal city, and other surrounding princely states may still have grain in stock, but not in large quantities. In the trade season that had just ended, they had exchanged everything they could for all sorts of sought-after goods, salt, deerskins, and timber for cotton, silk, and farm implements from the mainland, which in turn had been exchanged for gold from the more distant mountain tribes, and in this way they could make another profit. Because of such an intermediary, even the remaining rice will be exchanged when necessary, after all, there is no rice and sago and bananas to eat, and missing out on business is a big loss for the tribe.

Therefore, it is not realistic for the Australians to rely on raiding to obtain, and the weather in the rainy season will also prevent them, Ruvio assured him that the enemy's supplies can last for half a month at most, beyond this period I am afraid that they will not be able to guarantee enough morale and safe supplies on the return voyage, of course, the premise is to hold Manila, under this time limit, Alonso is not lacking in confidence, after the initial chaos, at least the morale of the army has finally stabilized, as long as the morale does not fall, The city's reserves were enough to last him until the end of the rainy season.

Not far from the wooden fence wall in the southern block of Wangcheng, a regular camp was already standing there, and a group of Australian and Song soldiers marched in the light rain, not one of them holding umbrellas, looking like they were inspecting the front line.

"The southern part of the royal city is a neighborhood inhabited by indigenous and foreign merchants, and there are no Chinese, and there are local soldiers patrolling the city on weekdays, and most of the local security is maintained by these natives." Mu Xing reported everything he learned to Zhu Dazhao.

At this moment, Deputy Zhu Shu was holding a telescope and carefully observing the south gate of the royal city a few miles away, and behind the tall city gate, the towering spire of Manila Cathedral and the red tiles on the upper floor of the city hall could be clearly seen. It's just that now we have to wait a few days, all for the sake of testing the new armaments of the Japanese army. It is necessary to wait for a sunny day, and this is also to give the tribes and the Chinese merchants in the stream who have verbally submitted a reason to have firm faith, a reason for everyone to see.

"It's hard work for you this time, I don't know when the Tagalu people you contacted are going to enter the army?"

"What does the chief say, when I was in Brunei, my father always taught the villain to serve the Senate, and I only did my best, Tanai, Angono and Binam Ao Nan have all promised to clean the villages of the Bangpanja people for the Great Song Dynasty, but ......"

Zhu Dazhao stood with his hands in his hands, and said with a deep smile: "It's just that you don't have any support for the strength of the Great Song army, and you want to wait and see for a while, right?" ”

"This ......"

"Don't worry, the Senate won't blame you, when this kind of thing happens, it's normal for those tribes to waver, but it won't take long, and they will naturally be persuaded when the day clears." Zhu Dazhao was thinking about the 'distance of truth', although the power of the cannon was enough to deter those princely states, but considering the long-term stability of this place, he also needed to use this opportunity to show more powerful strength, some obvious strength that was not human, this was actually helping Mu Xing platform.

[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、《The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila Official Website》

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、《History of the Mutsunokuni》Scipione Amati

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

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

19、《 The Philippine Islands 1493–1898》Volume

20、《Under New Spain 1565–1761》