When the Ming ship carrying Zhu Yujian slowly departed from the port of Surat, Reed, an employee of the East India Company who saw him off on the dock, quickly returned to the British Merchant House in the city and wrote a report to Methwald, the general manager of the East India Company's Asian region.

In the letter he reported to Methwold: "... Although the Chinese, like the British, are extremely unfamiliar with the political situation on the Indian mainland, and the Indians and the Chinese have not had any official contact in the sense before.

However, the Mughal Empire clearly attached great importance to the visit of the Chinese, and as soon as the representative of the Ming royal family arrived in Surat, he was warmly received by local officials, as if they were receiving envoys of their own emperor...

And in Delhi, the representative of the Ming Dynasty also easily integrated into the communication of high society... I can assert that Sir Thomas Rowe did not receive such courtesy when he arrived in India on behalf of the British Crown 34 years ago.

In a sense, the Mughal Empire did consider the Ming to be an empire that was not weaker than its own, but the British were viewed as if they were a princely king under the emperor.

Therefore, this representative of the Ming Dynasty has made almost no effort and has easily met the various requirements of the Ming Dynasty in business. And in my opinion, even if the company tried its best to bribe the officials of the Mughal court, it would be difficult to get the same treatment.

… I suggest that companies should follow behind the Chinese and take advantage of the preferential treatment that the Chinese received from the Mughal emperors, which will undoubtedly save the company at least decades of development time locally and break into the interior of India..."

As Reed wrote the report, Meswold, the East India Company's general manager for Asia, was in Manila mediating conflicts between Japan, the Four Seas Trading Company, and the Spaniards, with representatives from Portugal, the Netherlands, and the Ming Dynasty.

The Spanish ruled the colonies brutally, and in fact the rest of Europe was well aware of them. It's just that the European countries that have the ability to go overseas to colonize in this era have almost no difference in the methods of oppression and exploitation of the colonial people, so everyone rarely uses this to attack each other.

However, this time the Spanish chose the wrong target of provocation, and when the Chinese and Europeans attacked Japan and Batavia together, dividing up Japan's commercial interests and the Dutch's rights and interests in the Spice Islands, the Dutch, British, and Portuguese had in fact recognized that China had become one of the Asian maritime powers.

Unless the Chinese voluntarily give up the right to defend their interests, there is no power in Asian waters to restrain such a powerful maritime power. The Spaniards provoked Chinese immigrants in the Philippines, and the European colonizers, including the Portuguese, were actually quite complicated.

According to the international rules of the European countries, the Philippines is a colony of the Spaniards, and unless invited by the Spaniards, all affairs in the colony should be handled by the Spaniards themselves, and the countries should not interfere in the internal affairs of their colonies.

Therefore, these European colonists have been trying to prevent the intervention of the Ming government, hoping that the Spaniards can quell the so-called indigenous rebellion within a controllable range. But what they didn't expect was that even if the Ming Dynasty did not intervene in the name of the official, just the alliance of the Four Seas Trading Company and the local forces of Japan had already blocked the Spaniards in Manila and could not go out.

When it was determined that the Spaniards could no longer turn the tables, even the Dutch, who were the least likely to deal with China, changed their attitude at the ASEAN meeting. These Europeans, who had tried not to get involved in the Filipino uprising, quickly changed their tune and said that the ASEAN Association should set up a mediation committee to mediate the conflict between Manila and the Japanese and the Four Seas Trading Company.

The change of these European colonizers was not a discovery of conscience, but a determination that even if the Ming did not mobilize regular force, the Spanish rule in the Philippines would be difficult to maintain with the power of a client state and a commercial company. So why don't they jump in and get a piece of the action? Isn't the purpose of their joining ASEAN precisely to use this organization to distribute benefits?

So not long after receiving the news of the Philippine Suppression War in Beijing, the ASEAN, which had been struggling for a long time, passed a resolution to mediate the conflict in the Philippines at an astonishing speed. China, the British East India Company, and Portugal each sent people to Manila to mediate the war. The Netherlands, Japan, North Korea, and Bo Ni sent observers to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the indigenous rebellion in the Philippines.

This was not good news for the Spaniards, as the Governor of Manila, Coqueira, and some officials were still struggling to resist the rude demands of Guo Qing, the representative of the Four Seas Trading Company, and when they heard that the mediation committee had arrived in Manila, they thought that they could use the power of the committee to recover some losses.

But what Coqueira and the Spaniards never expected was that the first thing the British and Dutch did when they arrived in Manila was to demand that both the Manila and Japanese armies should lay down their arms, be monitored by officers from the ASEAN Combined Fleet, and negotiate in peace.

By the time the mediation committee arrived in Manila, the Japanese had occupied the entire Inner Lake Plain, and only the Imperial City of Manila and the island of Cebu were still in Spanish hands. The demands of the British and Dutch seemed fair, but the Japanese were merely entering the barracks, and the Spaniards were handing over the garrison of the royal city of Manila to the Oriental Association.

Naturally, Coquilla was reluctant to hand over this last straw, so he rejected the conciliation committee's suggestion, arguing that the royal city of Manila could not be handed over to the conciliation committee until China and Japan withdrew their troops from Luzon. However, the residents of the Royal City of Manila have no intention of confronting China and Japan at this time, and although the Royal City of Manila is strong, they cannot hide in the city for the rest of their lives.

Most of the residents of Manila knew very well that it was almost impossible for the Viceroyalty of New Spain to mobilize a fleet to rescue Manila, and even if such a fleet were to be transferred, it was impossible to say whether it would be able to defeat the Ming fleet guarding the bay of Manila. Not to mention, whether the food in the city can support the rescue fleet.

So far, everyone has lost a lot because of this damn war, and Coqueira can't ask them to pay for their lives. After all, it was not the barbarians who were hostile to them, and many of them had very deep ties with the Four Seas Trading Company, but they still had some doubts about the Chinese's assurance, after all, the Spaniards had slaughtered the Chinese in the first place.

But with the participation of the British and the Dutch, the mediation committee is different, after all, everyone is a European compatriot, and there should be no way to go back on their word. Therefore, after receiving assurances of life and property from the representatives of the conciliation committee, the citizens of Manila staged a mutiny, disarmed those loyal to Coquela, and handed over the defense of Manila to the ASEAN forces composed of British, Dutch, and Chinese.

It should be said that the Conciliation Committee did not disappoint the expectations of the citizens of Manila, and after taking over the defense of the royal city of Manila, it immediately resumed the flow of goods between the city of Manila and the outside world, and suppressed the high food prices during the war. The mediation committee also set a time for the opening of the city gates, and the city began to regain its vitality by slowly resuming commercial activity in Manila.

But as the citizens of Manila began to relax and celebrate the arrival of peace, the upper echelons of Manila were suddenly embarrassed to find that the appetite of the mediation committee was much greater than that of the Four Seas Trading Company. At the very least, the Four Seas Trading Company also left them a share of Intramuros Manila, the Central Philippine Islands, and the Spice Islands.

But the conciliation committee wanted the Spaniards to hand over control of the royal city of Manila and their share of the Spice Islands, leaving them with only the worthless Central Philippine Islands. Neither the current Governor Coquilla nor the former Governor Silva could have left their signatures on such a humiliating agreement.

But when Manila's parliamentarians and officials accepted the bribes from the Four Seas Trading Company and the Conciliation Committee. The Four Seas Trading Company agreed to keep the personal property of the Spaniards in Luzon, and they only confiscated the property of the Spanish crown and the church to cover their own losses. As for the conciliation committee, it was decided to divide the 15 per cent share of spices in the name of the Kingdom of Spain into three parts, one for the expenses of the Association for the public affairs of the Association, one for the maintenance of the security of the city of Manila, and the last share for the distribution of special expenses to the Manila Parliament.

So things started to change, and for Manila's legislators and officials, they had their best interests within the rules. Although the kingdom lost control of Luzon and its share of the Spice Islands' revenues, at least they kept the property and lives of their subjects safe, and there was no better agreement in the present situation.

As a result, the parliamentarians and officials of Manila approached Governor Coqueira, who was under house arrest in the Governor's Palace, and demanded that he sign on behalf of the king.

After reading the terms of the agreement, Coquela finally yelled at the rebels angrily, "You call this an agreement, I think it's just a pile of shit. Even if Judas betrayed Jesus, he received thirty pieces of silver, and you demanded that I betray the Kingdom by paying for my honor and my life. Mr. Silva, do you also think that this agreement can be signed? ”

Silva, who was standing at the back of the crowd, was embarrassed by Coqueira's name, but he quickly returned to his normal expression and said: "No, now you are the Governor of the Philippines, and I have no right to interfere with your power to sign." But if you didn't risk losing the challenge to the Chinese, how could you have put us in such a predicament? I think that as the Governor of the Philippines, you have a responsibility. ”

A middle-aged congressman who was a former naval officer who was missing half an ear was already impatient to entangle with Coqueira, and he slapped the desk in front of Coquela viciously and said, "Mr. Coqueira, this is the mess you messed up, and naturally you should clean it up yourself." You can live to sign this agreement, and we do not refuse to sign your name after your death. We don't have that much time to waste on you here, so make your decision now. ”

Coquela looked at the officers with short muskets behind the councillor, and said with a slight change of color on his face: "You are threatening a colonial governor appointed by the king, this is treason..."

The middle-aged congressman took out a dipping pen from the pen holder on the table nonchalantly, and then handed it to Coqueira and said, "Then you have to return to Spain alive before you can appeal to Your Majesty, don't you?" Dead people can't speak. ”

Coquela glanced at the room and saw that no one was willing to speak up for him. He hesitated, but finally took the dipping pen and quickly signed the agreement. Before he could say anything, the Speaker, who was waiting on the sidelines, quickly snatched the agreement, and then ran out of the room like a gust of wind, and the councillors and officials who had come to threaten him also left the room as if the tide had receded, and the people did not even look at the Governor.

Coqueilla was a little blank for a moment, but he looked at the former governor Silva who was about to leave at the end, and couldn't help but say: "Signing in such a situation will not be valid, this is a farce." ”

The former governor looked back at him, took off his hat and bowed to him, then closed the door and left without saying a word. Panicked, Coquela knelt down and began to pray to the statue of the Virgin in the room.