Whether or not to go to war with the Spaniards now requires silence to make a decision. From the comprehensive comparison of several pieces of information in hand, the total number of Spanish marines in the entire Luzon Islands at this time was about 500, and there were 200 naval officers and men, which were the core strength of Legazpi, and as for the other 2,000 black sailors, and 2,500 Indian soldiers, there was almost no combat effectiveness.

The reason why the Spaniards, who were already seriously undermanned, and who were stationed in Manila and Cebu, dared to commit such a taboo was because they did not take the indigenous peoples into account at all—because they conquered the West Indies with only 400 armies and 100 navies; Conquest of Mexico...... The 'Aztec Conquest War', which is known as the most arduous in the history of Spanish colonization, only used 800 troops, and the conquest of the huge Inca Empire took only 169 soldiers and no navy.

The great victories in Africa and South America made the Spaniards more and more convinced that their army was as simple as pinching down ants to destroy the lower civilizations, and that it was thanks to the personal intervention of His Majesty Philip II that the governor of Mexico could not bear to part with the love of the governor of Mexico.

Shen Mo is still very clear about the combat effectiveness of Wang Zhi. Taking Manila is not a problem. But the question is, will it provoke the anger of the Spaniards? You must know that at this time, there were thousands of Spanish warships sailing on the ocean, and nearly 100,000 elite naval and army forces, always guarding the territory, sea power and interests of the world's largest empire. Therefore, once the war starts, whether it will attract the main force of the Spaniards must be considered carefully before making a decision.

After some careful consideration, Shen Default became the main force of the Spaniards, and it was almost impossible for him to leave the European mainland. His reasons were threefold: first, the two sides were too far apart, and it would take eight months for a warship to travel from Spain to Luzon on the nearest shipping route. Besides, this waterway, as well as Asia and Africa, is the sphere of influence that the Portuguese consider themselves, so how can they lend them the waterway and let them touch their own backyard? So the Spaniards had to go to Mexico before the Panama Canal was dug up, but before the Panama Canal was dug they had to go ashore and walk to the west side of the continent and board ships in the Pacific Ocean before they could continue to sail to their destination, back and forth, for at least one year and three months. Judging from the current sailing experience, the loss rate of personnel will be as high as 50 percent after sailing for more than one year, and although it is possible to transit in Mexico, the pre-war loss rate of more than 30 percent is also difficult for the Spaniards to bear.

Second, although the Spaniards had defeated France, reached the peak of their national power, expanded their territory to the maximum, and were enjoying the glory of being the king of the world, the belligerent Philip II had too many enemies, and at the same time had to deal with the challenge of the Netherlands**, the emerging Britain, and the wars against Germany and Turkey, even if there were many armies, they were firmly pinned down in Europe, and it was not bad if they did not draw troops from the colonies, how could it be possible to draw forces from Europe for the sake of the colonies?

Thirdly, the good student silently remembers that the history textbooks say that Spain had always had a plot against Portugal, and that in 1580, that is, fourteen years later, it finally annexed the latter. Obviously, the Spaniards already had a plan to capture the thief and capture the king, take Portugal, and take over its Asian and African colonies, so it is unlikely that they will send an expeditionary force around the world to seize Asia.

Combining three reasons, Silent believes that if there is no deep hatred, or a reason to have to fight, even the war madman Philip II will never go on an expedition to open up a 'far eastern battlefield'. Therefore, after the capture of Luzon, there will only be enemies from Mexico and South America, and the threat is much smaller. As long as you plan well, you can completely resist this low-intensity offensive and take this opportunity to gain a foothold in Luzon.

"The right time, the right place, and the right people" Shen Mo opened his eyes, slapped his palm on the Luzon request for help, and said in a low voice: "If you don't take it, you will be blamed."

He had made up his mind, but Shen Mo could not hand over the Luzon people's request for help, nor could he give Wang Zhi an answer, because before that, he had to talk to one person first. He instructed Hu Yong outside: "Prepare the sedan chair, master, I will go to the official department"

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Hearing that Shen Mo was visiting, Yang Bo, the secretary of the ministry, frowned when he was on the spot, and said to the people around him: "The night owl enters the house, and if he doesn't come to good things, I'm afraid this kid will calculate me again." Yang Bo also thinks he is shrewd, but every time he is confused by silence, and in the end he is sold and helps count the money. Don't talk about it from afar, let's just say that the latest time, the Xuanda reinforcements mutinied, and they went out of the city to suppress it, and met Shen Mo at the city gate. Along the way, he lowered his eyebrows and accompanied him, and poured ** soup on himself. As a result, he really dizzed himself, and along the way, he knew it with affection and reason, and struggled to speak, really treating him Shen Heigou as a runaway youth, thinking that he could turn back as a prodigal son.

Because he believed the silent nonsense, he thought that he was just going out for a walk, so he didn't punish Ma Fang, and agreed to send him to go on the expedition with him. It is said that he is enough to repay his grievances with virtue, right? Who knew that this kid was only a hundred grateful on the surface, but as soon as he turned around, he stole the talisman and transferred Qi Jiguang's Shenji Battalion.

It's all come to that point, Yang Bo still has illusions about the silent promise, until the news of Wanquan's victory came, he woke up like a dream, it turned out that people had been playing with themselves hateful and wise all his life, so this kid was in vain

As soon as he thought of this, Yang Bo was angry, but the other party is now different from what it used to be, and has become a scholar of the old university...... Although Yang Bo doesn't take this kind of cabinet member in his eyes, but 'I'd rather bully the white beard than provoke the young man', Yang Bo doesn't want to cause trouble for his children and grandchildren, so despite a hundred reluctance in his heart, he still doesn't dare to slack off. Before the silent sedan chair entered the door, he first put on his life clothes and came to the courtyard to greet him.

Shen Mo got off the sedan chair, saw Yang Bo standing on the west side and bowed, and hurriedly returned the salute and said, "Bo Lao Yan can be like this." ”

Yang Bo replied with a smile: "If not, wouldn't it make people laugh at the old man's rudeness." The two greeted each other like this and walked into the signing room together.

After talking about tea, he looked around silently, and asked with a smile: "Old Bo, I heard that you are in the market every day, why are you so deserted today?" ”

"It's not because you're here that I'll drive them all to the front yard, otherwise it would have been like a church meeting." Yang Bo shook his head and smiled bitterly: "This old bone is about to be tossed and scattered by them." ”

"I just closed the door and thanked the guests, and no one was seen." Shen Mo gave him an idea.

"The old man doesn't want to, but some people have the ability to squeeze the door." Yang Bo said sarcastically, but he didn't dare to go too far, and immediately said: "It looks like it's the root of the year, and it's Jingcha after the turn of the year, and the Beijing officials are like burning their butts." ”

"It's been a difficult year......" Shen Mo said thoughtfully.

"Only when it is chaotic can it be cured." Yang Bo was vigilant in his heart: "The old man can't lose the initiative, otherwise he will let this kid go to Java." Then he immediately started to say something else: "It's the virtuous brother who is in the cabinet every day, how can he have time to come to the small temple of the elder brother?" ”

"I'm here to compensate Bo Lao, not here." Silently said and stood up, bowed deeply to Yang Bo and said, "Because I acted naively, I made Bo suffer a lot of grievances, I'm really sorry"

"Where is it...... Yang Bo hurriedly held on, but shouted wildly in his heart: "It's here again, it's here again, can you change it for something fresh?" Make up your mind, no matter what Shen Mo says, he must be sure that Qingshan will not relax, and he must not be fooled again. Then he said: "Let the past pass, and the old man doesn't care about it anymore." ”

"But I can't let it go," Shen Mo was unconscious, and still said with a sincere face: "I can't sleep recently, and I often reflect on Meng Lang at that time, and I feel more and more guilty, it's like Mount Tai pressing the top...... Crush people into meatloaf. As he spoke, he turned his face over and said, "Why don't you hit me twice?" ”

"......" Yang Bo was speechless, it is said that the bigger the official, the bigger the spectrum, but this silence does the opposite, making people cry and laugh. He had no choice but to wave his hand again and again: "Please spare me, don't pour me ** soup again." Saying that, Zhengse said: "Who in the capital doesn't know, you Shen Ge are so busy that your feet don't touch the ground, how can you have the time to come to me to play treasure." ”

"How do you call it a treasure?" Shen Mo said helplessly: "I sincerely came to ask for forgiveness." ”

"There's nothing to forgive or forgive," Yang Bo knew, going around with him, and if he didn't get it, he got into it again. simply opened the skylight and said brightly: "I know that you are a drunkard, not drinking." ”

"What's that?" Shen Mo asked with a smile still on his face.

"Yu Jingcha" Yang Bo said word by word. Seeing that Jingcha was about to turn the corner, the officials of the various yamen in the capital were all in a mess. But it's not the noisy and noisy on the surface, on the contrary, these days the yamen is very quiet. Now they are all very well-behaved, and they don't wait for a little bit every day, and they sit in the middle of the room as early as possible, neither visiting the door, nor talking to each other, no matter what they have to do, they are all very busy.

But that's just scratching the surface. In the Beijing Chacha, no matter how big or small the officials of the two Beijings are, they have to go to "Self-Chen Neglect of Their Duties", and count their incompetent places, which is to give people a handle and let others slaughter them - once the person in charge of the Beijing Chacha wants to abolish you, they don't even have to make a conspiracy, they will depose the crimes you have listed, so that you will suffer losses and have nowhere to cry out for injustice. Someone wants to ask, then when I report myself, I don't write about my shortcomings, right? That's even more the end. For no man is perfect, except a saint. So you have to smear yourself more or less, if you are not willing, it is a crime in itself, called 'arrogant and impetuous'. It is the officials' honor and disgrace to leave behind, all in the thoughts of the officials and the bigwigs of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, which is called 'Say you can do it, you can do it, and if you can't do it, you can do it; If you say no, you can't do it, and you can't do it; 'Horizontal criticism' is not acceptable.

Because of this, Yang Bo will be here in the market. There are always relationships in the officialdom, and those lobbyists who are either related to the family or have great powers can squeeze into the door, all begging him to open up the net, almost annoying him to death.

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Shen Mo doesn't have to worry about himself, although the scholar also has to show himself, but the emperor decides to stay above the three grades, and there is no need to buy Yang Bo's account. But in the officialdom, unless you want to be a lonely minister, you will never be a person, but a member of a complex network, don't worry about yourself, but also think about the same year and your subordinates.

In the same year as the Shen Mo gang, the qualifications are definitely top-notch, but the weakness is that the time to enter the department is too late. Jiajing has entered the career of 35 years, and it has only been 11 years since he was fully completed this year, not to mention that people like Shen Mo have created and risen to a high level, just like Lin Run and Zou Yinglong, who have made great contributions and promoted to the third grade. Most of them were promoted normally in the same year...... those who progress quickly, like Xu Wei, the four products of the country's sacrificial wine; Zhu Dashou, four products and few Zhan things; Sun Yan, Governor of Sipin Shandong; Tao Dalin Sipin Jiangxi Inspector; Zhu Dashou, the deputy envoy of the four-grade Fujian according to the inspection, this is all relying on their own height, and with the help of brothers, in order to reach this height. As for more people, they are still spinning around in five or six grades...... Not to mention his students.

It can be said that the weakness of silence was exposed in this Jingcha. Although he is a cabinet scholar with a high level of official residence, his network power is still in the growth stage, and he can't face the cruel wind and snow. Elders like Xu Ge and Gao Ge do not have this kind of concern...... Gao Gong's peers, as long as they are still in the court, are above the third grade, and the students of Xu Jiejie have all become high-ranking officials in the ministry, and Jingcha can't move their muscles and bones.

And this time in Beijing, after the cabinet and the Ministry of Officials and the Metropolitan Procuratorate have discussed, they have already set the tone - the yuan will be changed next year, and in order to establish a new style of the Longqing Dynasty, it is necessary to vigorously rectify the rule of officials, so this time the Beijing inspection must not follow the form, at least one out of ten in Beijing alone, that is, 300 places.

The situation at this moment is a bit like the appearance of the gods in the romance of the gods, where all the big guys agree on the god list, the number of gray and gray is a certain amount, your little brother is not unlucky, but my unlucky; Mine doesn't want to be unlucky, it's just his. Anyway, you have to scrape together a certain number of unlucky people before you can give an account to the boss.

Shen Mo is barely one of the big guys now, but he is the weakest one, if he doesn't think of a way, his little connections will have to be on the list. In addition, Yang Bo already hated him so much, who wouldn't he pit him at the moment?

For the silent thoughts, Yang Bo understands very well. Looking at this kid's young face, a burst of happiness rose in Lao Yang Bo's heart, he knew today, why bother in the first place? You had to do it at the beginning, and you didn't think it would fall into my hands today, did you?

With such thoughts in his heart, how could Yang Bo spare the silence, so after breaking his mind, he sighed and said in a tone of voice: "The officialdom in the capital has always had an unhealthy atmosphere, chasing after the wind and shadows, looking at literature and righteousness, forming a party for personal gain, playing tricks and tricks, being bold and black-hearted, and filling their own pockets. You also know the determination of the imperial court this time, but it is really inhumane to let the old man, an old man who is half buried in the loess, be in charge of Jingcha. After a pause, he looked at Shen Mo almost sarcastically and said: "Don't look at those people, now they are all pretending to be filial sons and grandsons, squeezing smiling faces to come to us, once you know that his family's official position is gone, don't you hate to eat us alive?" You say it's a difficult errand. ”

Before Shen Mo came, he was mentally prepared to make Yang Bo angry. There is no way, when he insisted on leading the army to fight, the old man hated himself, and then he was angry with him several times, and Lao Yang Bo's resentment towards himself was probably piled up. If you don't let him vent first, it will be a collapse if you want to talk to him about anything.

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Yang Bo was sneering again, seeing that Shen Mo kept smiling, without even blinking his brows, he accepted all the orders, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "People say that the prime minister can hold the boat in his belly, so it can be seen that I can't be the prime minister." ’

If you want to say that the old gentleman is kind, Shen Mo is okay here, he was a little embarrassed at first, coughed twice, and said in a low voice: "You better go back, no matter how you say it, you are also an old man, and you shouldn't deign to come here." ”

"If I don't come, others won't be able to get into your old eyes." Silence or laughter, a sincere smile can melt the ice for thousands of years.

"Alas......" Yang Bo was finally defeated by Shen Mo, and sighed: "Let's be honest, the list of your boss and old 2 has already been handed over, I can't afford to offend these two, except for the ones on the list, none of them can be moved; But I can't let those who have no door and no faction go all over, so this time your disciples will be the focus of Jingcha. "You can't let yourself lose money, of course, there is no need to say this, people don't die for themselves.

Shen Mo was not surprised, kung fu was outside the poem, everything was too ordinary, so after knowing that his own people would be the top tank for others, he just put away his smile, and his voice still couldn't hear a trace of anger and said: "There is always a discussion for everything." ”

Yang Bo couldn't help but secretly admire Shen Mo's forbearance, and said in his heart, how could he polish all his anger at this age? But he still said helplessly: "It's still the same sentence, the two of them, I can't afford to offend." ”

"You can't afford to offend?" Shen Mo suddenly laughed and said, "It's a joke, there are still people who Puzhou Gong can't afford to offend?" ”

"I can't, I really don't want to." A hint of arrogance flashed on Yang Bo's face.

"I can promise you one condition." He said silently: "As long as I don't violate the king's law, I will promise anything." ”

This is equivalent to writing a blank check, Yang Bo's heart moved, and said, "I want three conditions." ”

"Up to two." Shen Mo shook his head and said: "Three things that will leave me with nothing, and the things that outweigh the losses are not necessary." ”