Therefore, the northern part of the island of Taiwan is a good choice, while the Dutch are still unstable on the island of Taiwan, they can land in the north of Taiwan, occupy the northern part of Taiwan, build their castles and docks, and also follow the example of the Dutch, where they can attract the maritime merchants of the Ming Dynasty to trade with them, so that they still have the opportunity to fight against the Dutch, otherwise, sooner or later, the Dutch will cut off their trade with the Ming Dynasty, cutting off a large financial route for them.

Therefore, after the return of the two reconnaissance ships last year, the Governor's Office of Manila, members of the Legislature, and businessmen in Manila began to gear up and encourage Governor Shierwa to quickly make up his mind and send ships and troops to the island of Taiwan to occupy northern Taiwan.

This is the first time that members of the Manila Parliament and businessmen have gathered at the Governor's Palace in Manila to put pressure on Shi Erva to send troops as soon as possible.

Shi Erwa looked at the plan in front of him, and couldn't help but laugh a little, these people are really too idealistic, they presented him this time, and naturally asked him to send more than ten gunboats and armed merchant ships, carrying all kinds of construction tools and building materials, as well as 1,500 marine soldiers, as well as all kinds of craftsmen who built the city, to the island of Taiwan.

He now knows better than anyone else the current situation of their forces on the Luzon side, the current Spain is far less powerful than before after the destruction of the Armada, and Asia itself is not the focus of their business, although it can make huge profits from trade, but the number of warships that Spain can send here is very limited.

At present, there are only a dozen armed ships that can be used in Manila, most of which are armed merchant ships with light firepower, and the transportation is okay, but for combat use, the firepower is really a little weak.

These people immediately asked him to mobilize more than 10 ships to the island of Taiwan and occupy the northern part of the island, and the number of ships was enough for him, but could he stop the activities of all the ships, leave such an important place as Manila alone, and send all the ships to the island of Taiwan?

In addition, although the Spaniards have occupied the Luzon Islands for a long time, their army strength here is not very large, even if you add those indigenous soldiers recruited locally and all kinds of European scum who have come to venture here, the total strength is less than 5,000 people.

Moreover, these forces are scattered all over the Philippines, and they have to monitor the local natives and immigrants to prevent them from rioting.

And these congressmen immediately asked him to mobilize 1,500 troops to the island of Taiwan, which was simply impossible, and unless he completely ignored the castle of Manila, he could only use at most 800 soldiers to carry out the landing and occupation plan with the fleet.

As for the ships, he could only make a half-fold, and at most six or seven large ships could be dispatched, and ten other small boats could be carried, or it didn't matter if there were a few more, which was already the most ships and troops he could dispatch, and if there were more, he really couldn't handle it.

So he looked at the book in front of him that had been submitted to him, stroked his beard gently, and then put the book back on the table.

"Gentlemen, I have read your plan, and I have no opinion on sending troops to Formosa (the Portuguese first discovered the island of Taiwan and called it Formosa, and the Spaniards were latecomers, and now they are brothers with the Portuguese, so they are also habitually called Formosa), but I want to remind you that I cannot meet your requests!

For no one knows better than I how many troops we have here now, and the number of ships available to us here at the moment is only about seventeen, not even as many as the Dutch's fleet in the Grand Force!

You have asked me to send at least ten or more ships to Formosa, and I beg your pardon for not being able to do that! Unless I can give up here in Manila, I guess if I do, you won't agree!

As for the issue of sending troops, I think it is also very difficult to meet the number of troops you requested, and the total number of troops we have here at present is very small, and at most I can only send 400 troops to carry out this mission.

But in terms of ships, I can only send five large ships with some small boats for this mission, and if there are more, I will not be able to do anything!

But I would like to remind you that there is one thing that you have overlooked, that the northern part of Formosa is not occupied by no one, all you know is that the Dutch did not occupy it, but in the northern part of Formosa, there are still people who occupy it.

As far as I know, one of the bays best suited for a port, known locally as a chicken coop, has now been occupied by a group of Chinese pirates, who have stationed a large number of troops there, and have built forts and many ships.

So we don't just find a place to land and complete the occupation of the northern part of Formosa, because this group of Chinese pirates may become our biggest obstacle!

You don't know if you have thought of this! Where we should land and where we should occupy is not mentioned in your plan, nor is there any specific plan of action after landing, and I have no way to approve such a plan! Gentlemen, please think more carefully! ”

After listening to Shi Erwa's words, the parliamentarians began to talk to each other, and expressed their opinions on what Shi Erwa had said, and for a time the buzz filled the room in the conference room of the Governor's Palace.

After some deliberation, one of the councillors asked Shierva: "May I ask you, Governor, the last time you sent a ship to Formosa to investigate, did you find out the identity of the pirates who occupied the chicken coop?" And the number of troops and populations and defense facilities where they are located, are there any detailed explanations? ”

Shi Erwa nodded and said: "These things, Captain Ma Du who came back has made detailed records, according to Captain Ma Du said, when they arrived at Jilong Bay, they once met with the group of Chinese pirates who occupied Jilong Bay, and the group of Chinese pirates tried to intercept them and approach Jilong Bay, but the two sides did not clash after the end!"

According to Captain Mado, a flag embroidered with a wolf's head logo was hung on the mast of the Chinese pirate's Kron ship, and after investigation, we now know the identity of the Chinese pirate flying this flag.

They are a group of pirates who were entrenched in the coast of Fujian in the Ming Dynasty, calling themselves sea wolves, and in the past two years, they have often sent ships to us to do business with us, bringing a certain amount of porcelain and raw silk and other things, and at the same time purchasing saltpeter and canvas from us, as well as some Indian cotton cloth!

But they didn't buy the arquebuses we recommended to them and the guns they forged here, unlike the other Chinese pirates, and they didn't ask for our gunpowder outright! It's kind of weird.

According to some of the people who came to our Chinese merchant ships, this group of Chinese pirates, who called themselves sea wolves, have been very powerful along the coast of China in the past two years, controlling a large area of the coastal areas of Fujian, and have defeated the army of the Ming Dynasty, and even defeated a group of very powerful Chinese pirates.

Their headquarters, which is often referred to by the Chinese as the old camp, should be on an island called Xinghuafu off the coast, but I don't know when they ran to Formosa and occupied the pretty good port of Jilong Bay.

According to Captain Mado's observation, they have a lot of boats in Chicken Coop Bay, most of which are fishing boats, mainly fishing on the surface of the sea!

In addition, the pirates also built a fort on the island at the mouth of Chicken Coop Bay, which is said to be very strong, and also built a fort on the other side of the mouth of the harbor, and also built a castle in Chicken Coop Bay, and the specific number of troops and local population stationed there is not yet known. ”

After listening to Shi Erwa's explanation, these councillors exchanged words for a while, but soon someone stood up and said to Shi Erwa: "Your Excellency, if you say so, we don't think this is a problem, we actually know very well how strong the Chinese pirates are, their Kron ships are not vulnerable to our cannons at all.

In addition, the artillery they use is also some very old and outdated Chinese-style artillery, the firing range is very short, and the power is very small, and it does not pose any threat to our warships at all!

If there are no residents in the area, this may not be a good thing for us, but if there are residents now, it will be good for us.

Because when we go there, we also need to build a castle, and we can't do this kind of work by our own manpower.

We also happen to need a lot of slaves to work for us, and now that someone has built a castle for us in Chicken Coop Bay, it saves us a lot of trouble! We can completely drive them away, occupy their castle, and use it directly as our castle, only need to modify it slightly, which will reduce our workload a lot! ”

After listening to the words of this councilor, there was a chorus in the conference room, these Spaniards have been dealing with the Chinese for a long time, and often trade with Chinese pirates, who often transport the goods they have looted to Manila for sale.

The Spaniards now knew that the pirates were in a hurry to make a profit, deliberately keeping the purchase price very low so that they could get more out of it.

(Come back to get something, and rush back to the hospital immediately, the little guy's condition is not optimistic, and his heart is like a knife!) I don't know if I can come back to update it at night, I try to keep it updated! ）