At this time, on the sea outside the port of Manila, a hundred huge ships several feet high were marching majestically in a neat phalanx, and around them, there were two hundred wheels accompanying the escort, and the fleet composed of a full three hundred warships and warships was quite rare in this era.

Originally, in the eyes of the common people, the wheels of several zhang long were already considered big ships, but in front of the Zhenyuan cruiser and the Weiyuan battleship, the wheels were like chickens under the eagle, and they looked so weak.

The fleet slowly approached the port, and the civilians on the shore suddenly let out a burst of exclamation, it was so spectacular, it was simply spectacular!

The Spaniards also have super battleships, but since organizing five armada expeditions to Britain, the number of their super battleships has been less than a hundred, and in the entire Far East, there are only more than ten in total, and it is difficult to see ten such giant ships near the port of Manila at a time, but they did not expect that this time, hundreds of giant ships appeared in front of them at the same time.

The exclamations of the common people were all filled with a hint of satisfaction, and it was worthwhile to see so many huge ships, and they had come all the way to the port to watch.

Zhang Bin looked at the amazed expressions of the ordinary people on the shore with a telescope, and couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in his heart, the Ming Dynasty has not been so powerful overseas for nearly two hundred years, and the scale of the fleet under his command is only comparable to the fleet led by Zheng He when he went to the Western Ocean, however, at that time, Zheng He's fleet in the Western Ocean was only fifty or sixty giant ships, and more than two hundred other ships, and he brought a hundred giant ships this time, although the Zhenyuan cruiser and Weiyuan battleship are not necessarily as big as Zheng He's treasure ship, but, The combat power is definitely much stronger than Zheng He's treasure ship.

Of course, the reason why he brought so many huge ships was not only to deter the Spaniards, Manila was only the first stop on his southward journey, he also had to lead the fleet to Batavia and Malacca, and hand over some of the Zhenyuan cruisers and Weiyuan battleships to Zheng Zhilong, so that he could guard the gate of the South Seas, and not let the Dutch, Britain and France and other powers rush in to show off their might.

At this time, the governor of Manila, Coqueira, was also shocked, he really didn't expect that the Ming Empire had so many super ships under the governor of the southeast alone, and Spain had organized many invincible armadas to fight in all directions, but the most was one hundred and thirty super battleships, and that was decades ago, at least he hadn't seen it.

At that time, the super battleship was not as big as it is now, it could generally have about thirty meters, and it could be called a super battleship if it was equipped with more than ten or twenty guns, which was like the super giant ship of the Ming Empire in front of me, with a length of at least fifty or sixty meters, and there were hundreds of guns, such a fleet, even if it met the Spanish armada, it would not necessarily lose, not to mention, now Spain is no longer able to organize the armada.

The strength of the Ming Empire is so terrifying, a governor can easily pull out an invincible armada, no wonder they dare to capture the Far East headquarters of the Dutch, such a strength, even the current Netherlands may not have done it!

Of course, he didn't know that the entire Ming Dynasty had such a fleet under Zhang Bin, and other places were at most armed ships, and they had no combat effectiveness at all.

Zhang Bin looked at the shocked expression of this goods, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but bend an arc, and he came out with a hundred giant ships, which was really extraordinary, even the Spanish governor was startled, and he dared to say half a word in front of him when he saw this goods!

He thought for a while, and then said to Qi Yuangong on the side: "Yuangong, wait for you to lead the Qi family army to get off the ship and control the entire port, and I will take five groups of personal guards in." ”

Qi Yuangong couldn't help but worry when he heard this: "This! Isn't it too dangerous, my lord? ”

Zhang Bin shook his head and said with a smile: "According to the information spied on, the Spanish only stationed more than 10,000 people in Luzon in total, minus the battleships and other places stationed, it is not bad to have two or three thousand people in this Manila fortress, and two or three thousand ordinary soldiers may not be able to do the five groups of personal guards under me." Besides, their fortress is more than 1,000 acres, and it is still full of people. ”

Qi Yuangong still insisted: "Even if you can't get through the water, you have to go in, Fanghua has handed over your safety to me, if she knows that I didn't accompany you to protect you, she has to beat me when I go back!" ”

When Zhang Bin heard this, he said embarrassedly: "Okay, you go to the fortress with me, as for the soldiers of the Qi family, let Yuan Bi wait at the port." ”

When Qi Yuangong heard this, he could only nod helplessly, it would be almost enough to let him follow, anyway, he had armor on his body, and ordinary muskets could not hurt him, and he was sure to protect a person in two or three thousand ordinary soldiers.

At this time, the fleet has entered the port, and the ten Zhenyuan cruisers in front of it have successively docked, and Coqueira is coming over a Zhenyuan cruiser and running over to greet it, and a Zhenyuan cruiser is running over to greet it, but there are only Ming soldiers coming down from above, and one team after another, rushing to the dock, no one pays attention to him at all, so he is not embarrassed to stand in front of the suspension ladder.

In this way, twenty Zhenyuan cruisers came up in a row, and Coqueira felt that his eyes were about to be dazzled, and the dumpling-like landing operation of the Ming soldiers came to an end.

After a while, another Zhenyuan cruiser approached the dock, and Coqueira thought that this should be the main master, so he hurriedly ran over to greet him with a smile on his face.

As a result, as soon as the hanging ladder was lowered, another team of Ming soldiers ran down, and he instantly fell into a stupor, how many people did this governor bring, and there were not so many people in his fortress including his family and employees, is it necessary to be so careful!

There were four or five hundred people coming down from this boat, and Coqueira thought that this was the end of the matter, and it was time to wait for the next boat, and he was about to turn around and let go of the side, so as not to hinder people from collecting the suspension ladder, but he never thought that no one would go up to collect the suspension ladder at all, but there were hundreds of people neatly lined up on both sides of the suspension ladder, standing straight and straight, as if waiting for this.

Could it be that the southeastern governor of the Ming Empire is coming down?

He looked up with a look of hope on his face, and sure enough, a Ming Empire official in a big red robe slowly walked down the hanging ladder, followed by a large number of Ming generals in armor.

It should be that, he hurriedly stepped up and stood by the hanging ladder with a smile on his face.

Zhang Bin naturally knew that this guy was the governor of Manila, Spain, and the intelligence spies had already painted his portrait, and before this guy could speak, Zhang Bin smiled and said: "Your Excellency the governor, I took the liberty to visit, I disturbed, I disturbed." ”

The translator behind Coquilla hadn't had time to catch up, but Guo Huaiyi, who was behind Zhang Bin, had already translated Zhang Bin's words aloud.

Hearing this, Coquela hurriedly stroked his chest and said warmly: "Welcome, welcome, Your Excellency the Governor, welcome to Manila." ”

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then walked side by side in the direction of Wangcheng.

Through a few words, Zhang Bin was keenly aware that this guy seemed to have something to ask for himself, otherwise this guy would not have shown such enthusiasm, and even had a little stammering in it.

He was sure that the Spaniards should want to go with him, they should also want to cooperate with him, and he should probably be a little more reserved to get more benefits.

So, he found a topic and talked to Coqueira about the structure of the Royal Manila City, and he was full of praise for the structure of the Royal City of Manila, as if he really just came to visit, to visit, and nothing else.

Now Corquila is a little anxious, this Governor can not turn around and leave, then his money-making plan will be in vain.

As soon as he arrived at the Governor's Palace, he immediately couldn't wait to invite Zhang Bin and his party to the conference room, and said eagerly: "Your Excellency the Governor, there is something I want to ask you for a favor." ”

Sure enough, this guy has something to ask for himself, Zhang Bin pretended to be generous and said: "Your Excellency the Governor, what is the matter, you just say, as long as I can help, I will definitely help." ”

His tone seemed to be very talkative, and Coqueira simply said directly: "That's right, we have a route from the west coast of the Americas, passing through Dongying and Formosa, and then going to Manila to purchase some goods, and then return to the European mainland." Originally, Dongying had a good relationship with us, we could resupply in Dongying, and then resupply in Formosa, and then arrive in Manila, so that the fleet did not need to bring too much fresh water and food, and could load more other supplies, and the profit was okay, so there were many fleets that used to take this route. However, now that Dongying has fallen out with us because of the relationship with the Dutch, and San Salvador in Formosa has also been recovered by your country, our fleet has no place to resupply on the way, so we need to carry more fresh water and food, and less supplies to carry, so there are fewer fleets to take this route. ”

Zhang Bin patiently listened to Guo Huaiyi's retelling, pretended not to understand, and asked curiously, "Is there a problem with this?" Isn't there less of a fleet, and you don't save a lot of trouble? ”

When Coquela heard this, he fainted by mistake, and he couldn't say in front of these people that if the fleet was less, the benefits of his own fishing would be less, he thought for a long time before he lied and said: "Your Excellency the Governor, you don't know, the less this fleet comes, the less taxes in Manila, if the taxes keep decreasing, I, the governor, will not be able to do it!" ”

And this kind of thing?

Zhang Bin didn't expect it, he still pretended to be confused and said: "This, is there anything I can do to help you?" ”

Isn't this nonsense, if you don't take San Salvador back, don't we have another supply point, Coqueilla said helplessly: "Your Excellency the Governor, I want to ask you to open San Salvador, so that our Spanish fleet can get supplies, so that there will be more fleets going this way." Of course, if you can get Dongying to reopen a supply point for us through your connections, it will be even more grateful. ”

Hehe, gratitude is not worth a few dollars, there is no benefit, who will help you for no reason, Zhang Bin pretended to be embarrassed: "This, Your Excellency the Governor, you should know that our Ming Dynasty implements a sea ban, and without the permission of the imperial court, no one is allowed to trade with other countries privately, and you let me open a supply point in Dongfan, which is against our Ming law." Also, Dongying is not friendly with our Ming Dynasty, and we fought with them not long ago, so it's very difficult to get them to open up supply points. ”

Coqueira keenly found that there seemed to be no intention of refusal in these words, and that being difficult did not mean that it could not be done, and the governor was probably asking for benefits.

If you have benefits, you can give them, but you can't say these words in front of so many people, he thought about it, and said mysteriously: "Your Excellency the Governor, I suddenly remembered, I still have something I want you to see, if you don't mind, can you go to the study with me to have a look?" ”

This guy, it seems that he wants to discuss with himself, he estimates that he can get a lot of benefits from the goods shipped from the Americas, otherwise it would be impossible to be so active, just be able to get benefits, the more benefits he can get, the more benefits he can get, Zhang Bin pretended to be curious, and said with a nature: "Oh, what is it?" I'd love to see it. ”

Coqueira didn't explain, but got up directly and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, please, just bring your translator." ”

Immediately afterwards, he explained to the officials participating in the meeting: "You wait here. ”

After saying that, he made an inviting gesture and motioned for Zhang Bin to go with him.

Zhang Bin explained to the generals present and took Guo Huaiyi to follow.

At this time, Ou Lu should call the study an office or something, but Guo Huaiyi still translates it into a study according to the habit of Daming, the so-called "study" of Coqueilla is not the same style as Daming's study at all, there is not only a desk inside, but also a large chair similar to a sofa, Coqueilla directly invited Zhang Bin to sit down in the study, and then said in a low voice: "Your Excellency the Governor, if you can find a way to open a supply point for me, I will pay you 100,000 taels of silver a year, and open two for 200,000 taels a year, What do you think? ”

If it was an ordinary Ming official, 200,000 taels a year would be enough for them to risk the crime of killing their heads to do illegal things, but Zhang Bin owed no excitement at all, because 200,000 taels was nothing to him at all.

He didn't want silver, but something more important than silver.

He pretended to be righteous and said: "Your Excellency the Governor, do you know that you are bribing, in the Ming Dynasty, officials who accept bribes are to cut off their heads, and I can't accept your money." ”

When Coqueira heard this, he looked at Zhang Bin dumbfounded, and then looked at Guo Huaiyi with doubts, is there anyone who is not greedy for money, he suspects that Zhang Bin does not dare to "accept bribes" in front of the translator, what should I do?

Just as he was frowning and pondering, Zhang Bin suddenly proposed: "However, this matter is not negotiable, as long as you can do two small things for me, I will find a way to open two supply points for you." ”

When Coqueira heard this, he immediately said excitedly: "Oh, what's the matter, you say, as long as I can do it, there is absolutely no problem." ”

Zhang Bin nodded, stretched out a finger and said, "First of all, our Daming Dongshengtang firm wants to have a silver tael exchange shop in Manila. ”

What does it have to do with him, whatever you want to exchange, Coqueira nodded without hesitation: "No problem, you can open it casually." ”

Zhang Bin said: "The safety of this shop is very important, so we want to open it in the fortress, and we hope that you can provide us with a large enough courtyard in the fortress, at least a hundred people can live, and there must be a warehouse of the same area." ”

Hearing this, Coqueira frowned, there are rules in the Royal City of Manila, non-Spaniards and their families cannot live in it, and it is really a bit difficult to live in more than 100 people plus a warehouse of the same area covering at least forty or fifty acres, and there are only about 1,000 acres in the Royal City in total.

However, for his own benefit, he still gritted his teeth and nodded: "Okay, I'll find this place for you, but you have to put my name on it, otherwise, this will be very difficult." ”

It's just a small problem, it's just a name, it's not a problem at all, even if he wants to get a little red from it.

Zhang Bin said without hesitation: "Okay, your name will be hung on the house at that time." ”