Although Manila actually has no fleet available, Zheng Sen is not arrogant enough to use his fleet to compete with Manila's batteries. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoSo the fleet flaunted outside the port of Manila and left. But Aquila knows that this does not mean that the blockade in Manila has been lifted. Because God knows if these Chinese fleets really went far. What's more, Manila no longer has any sea power, and in such a situation, it would be unreasonable for those damned Dutch not to take advantage of the fire and loot. Aquila knew on his heels that the Dutch warships were now ready to pretend to be pirates and take advantage of the Spanish ships. Because if the Dutch were in such a predicament, he was afraid that he would have to send the army directly to see if he could take Batavia.

"Lord Governor, I'm afraid we have to negotiate with those Chinese." At an emergency military meeting, Aquila's deputy, Elber, said, "Otherwise, the commercial losses alone would be unbearable." ”

"Summing at this time? Isn't that tantamount to surrender? At this time, God knows what terrible conditions those pagans would propose. No, Mr. Governor, I think that the more difficult the times, the more we must not compromise easily, and as long as we are steadfast in our faith, God will surely bless us and guide us to victory over the wicked infidels. Bishop Alessandro said loudly.

Aquila knew that the reason why the bishop had such a tough attitude was because the bishop played a large role in the massacre of the Chinese, and a large part of the proceeds of the massacre and plundering of the Chinese also went into his hands. When the envoys of the Zheng family came to declare war, the conditions put forward included the demand for the return of the plunder and the payment of reparations. If this is true, it means that the gold that has been given to the glorious God will be spit out. In the bishop's opinion, this is absolutely intolerable.

"Puyol, the army will definitely be able to withstand the attack of those infidels and protect Manila, right?" Bishop Alessandro asked another army officer.

"As long as we have enough supplies, we can repel any attack." Puyol replied simply.

"So what are we worried about? Why surrender to those infidels? Bishop Alessandro asked in a loud voice.

"Bishop," Aquila felt she had to speak, "you know, it's unlikely we'll get reinforcements from home. So if the war continues, it will be very troublesome for us. Our land forces, of course, can defeat the enemy, but a long-term blockade is not something they can solve. And, Bishop, you know, how much the country now needs the wealth that we can earn for the country against those traitors and heretics. ”

Bishop Alessandro was silent, it was indeed impossible to send them any reinforcements from the country. According to the news brought back by the cruiser that escaped, three months earlier, the Spanish and Dutch navies had fought a great battle, and as a result, the evil heretics had won by selling their souls to the devil in exchange for their power. Now the Spanish navy has suffered heavy losses, and on land, the Catholic traitors France are ready to move, and with their support, the Catalans are a little less honest. Under such conditions, there is absolutely no way to provide them with any assistance in the short term, and they are even required to contribute as much as possible to the country economically.

"And most of the damned traitors and heretics will come and take advantage of the fire." "Even to stabilize the Chinese temporarily, we need to negotiate with them," Elber said. ”

Bishop Alessandro looked at the crowd and saw that most of them seemed to be in favor of starting negotiations with the Zheng family, so he said, "Well, if it is only as a stopgap measure, I agree that we can talk to the infidels. ”

……

"After winning this battle, the Spaniards will probably come to us to sue for peace. Assen: Do you want to talk to them? Zheng Zhilong, who had just won a battle, was obviously in a good mood.

"We still have to talk about it at the end, but we can drag it out slowly." Zheng Sen replied as he took out a large chart, "Daddy, look, this is a chart drawn by our people when they went to the vicinity of Luzon to look for struvite stones. Daddy, look here, first of all, we have to send a team of men and horses to land in this area. Daddy, my people have looked around this area, and it's a nice natural harbor, and it's located just right on the route that can hold the Spaniards, so we built a fort here, and a small port. The Spaniards don't have any warships anymore, and if we deploy even two cruisers here, we'll be able to completely end the Spaniards' shipping. And around here, on this island, and on this island, there are struvite stones. The reserves are good, and with this port, it will be convenient to mine in the future. In addition, our expedition team bought some small things made of malachite from local natives in this area. The natives said that there were a lot of them on the hills on their side. Daddy, you know, where there's malachite, there's copper. Of course, it's not bad for us to use Japanese copper these days. However, the more the mine is for the sake of future generations, the better. ”

"It's connected to Manila by land?" Zheng Zhilong frowned.

Zheng Sen nodded and said, "That's true, but there are no roads in it, only boundless rainforests. Daddy, you know how difficult it is for an army to cross the rainforest. Even if they want to do anything, they can only go by sea. Now it's ...... by sea" Speaking of this, Zheng Sen sneered.

Zheng Zhilong looked at the chart and thought about it.

"Daddy, with this port as the center, you can also immigrate from China in the future, and this piece of land is actually more fertile than Taiwan's. If it is developed, it will be the foundation of its own princes. Zheng Sen added.

This sentence obviously moved Zheng Zhilong. However, he still asked: "This place is so far away from Fujian and Taiwan, and these places are full of malaria, but it is not easy to immigrate." ”

"Daddy, the child got a kind of tree from the naturalist Bell, called 'cinchona', the bark of this tree is soaked in water, which can treat malaria, and the child has also tried it in Taiwan, and its effect is like a god. With this, plus strengthening. Health management, malaria is not impossible to deal with. Although immigrants spend a lot of money, there are many good things in this place, and if they are seriously developed, they can obtain more profits than Taiwan. ”

Zheng Zhilong nodded, but said again: "You think well, but the development of this place is still not easy. If nothing else, this place is so far away that there must be someone there alone. Now in our family, who can take charge of this place and run this place well? Now that Taiwan has not yet been fully developed, you can only focus on Taiwan first. I have some of your uncles, but I can't go there. Who do you think this place can be developed? ”

Zheng Sen laughed when he heard this: "I don't want my father to be so anxious." Daddy, now that we're here to occupy this place, it's just a horse race. Circle it in first. As for development, it is not a matter of immediacy, the immediate thing is just to build a fortress there, put a few cannons, and build a small port, as for the future, in a few years, the younger brothers have grown up, and they are afraid that there will be no people who can take charge of themselves? ”

"What do you mean?" Zheng Zhilong said.

"Take advantage of the present, grab some good places to come down first, and you can also give your younger brothers a foundation in the future." Zheng Sen said.

Zheng Zhilong thought for a while and said, "It's not bad that you can think about your younger brothers like this. But what is the name of this port? ”

Zheng Sen hurriedly said: "It's all up to Daddy to decide." He knew that after Zheng Zhilong had read some books now, he had the habit of being vassally elegant, and he was particularly keen on choosing a name. As for what this place is called, Zheng Sen actually doesn't care, anyway, no matter what it is called, it is impossible to use the name of the previous life to directly call Subic Bay.

"Well, what do you think about calling Zhenyuan Port?" Zheng Zhilong asked......

……

Of course, it is not easy to build a new port, and a lot of preparations have to be made. However, it happened that before the war with Spain, Zheng Sen originally planned to build a small port on the east coast of Taiwan, which was intended to be used as a shelter for whaling ships. The relevant supplies are almost ready, and as for building fortresses, at least, there is no need to worry about artillery. The ships captured in the war with Spain had a lot of cannons on them. In Zheng Sen's opinion, these guns are technically outdated, so it is impossible to continue to use them on the Zheng family's future warships. Now, in addition to selling it to the imperial court, it has another use, that is, it is placed on the fortress far from the town. At least to deal with the local natives, as well as some other potential threats, it will be enough for a short time. As for building materials, near "Zhenyuan Port" is the famous Pinatubo Volcano (this is an active volcano, in the last life, Zheng Sen remembered a certain eruption of this volcano, and almost abolished the US military base there, but this volcano has not yet entered the active period, as for hundreds of years later, Zheng Sen feels that these things are still left to people hundreds of years later to think about), in that area can be mined a lot of good quality basalt and granite, which can be used to build fortresses, The biggest problem at the moment is actually the lack of manpower. Quarrying and construction, in particular, are things that require a lot of manpower and even a lot of dead people. (At least, in this day and age.) The Zheng family doesn't have so many people to consume like this.

But this problem is actually not difficult to solve, isn't it just a bunch of disposable labor? Although the Zheng family did not have these in their hands, the Dutch and Portuguese had this kind of cheap disposable labor in their hands. This one-time labor force is called "black slavery".