Spain's current decline is not just a military defeat, in fact, before the outbreak of the war in Taipei, Spain's trade in Northeast Asia was already declining year by year. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info especially some commodities such as glassware, which were originally monopolized by Western merchants, have been gradually squeezed out of the market by the Haihan Dynasty, which came later. Ming merchants sold more and bought less in Manila, and the trade deficit was getting bigger and bigger year by year, and if it weren't for the silver support of the American colonies, the economic situation in Manila would have collapsed long ago.

In this economic situation, the Manilan authorities naturally did not have much money to spare to strengthen the local armed forces, and Aragonés did not dare to use silver stocks for military expansion, which could easily be accused of "bad motives" at home. So much so that after the Haihan people undeclared war on the Spanish stronghold in Taipei, Aragonés did not dare to take force to retaliate at the first time because he was worried that he would not be able to defeat the Haihan. This is not a right or wrong response, and the Manila authorities have fallen into a series of passivity. Step by step, step by step, and now the Manila authorities are trying to find a suitable way to deal with Haihan's onslaught, only to find that there seems to be little room for their own operation.

At this time, it is not meaningful to reflect on Spain's mistakes in trade strategy, Manila is not a manufacturing center, and the goods it can provide have no obvious advantages in terms of technology and cost, and it is relatively far away from the Ming Dynasty, and it is difficult to compete with Haihan in terms of trade ability.

Aragonés complained for a while, but then turned the subject back to business: "Sánchez, if we wait any longer, sooner or later we will be squeezed out of the Far Eastern market by the Haihans. Without all the good things produced by the Ming Kingdom, our efforts in the Far East would not be of much significance. We can't wait for the situation to continue to deteriorate, we have to find a way to change the current unfavorable situation!"

Sanchez replied, "My lord, if you really want to do it, now is the best time!"

Aragonés exclaimed, "What basis do you have?"

Sanchez said in a deep voice: "The main force of the Haihan people went to fight in the Daming Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions in the first half of the year, and after completing the task, they stayed in the local area as a permanent army. The fleet that went south to conduct military exercises this time also departed from Sanya, judging from its size, it should be one of the main fleets of Haihan. Just imagine, if the Haihan people sent the main forces of both the navy and the army to carry out tasks in the distance, how much defense capacity would their base camp have? If they used this opportunity to directly attack Sanya, they might be able to achieve miraculous results. ”

"That's it?" Aragonés asked, staring at Sanchez's face.

Sánchez couldn't figure out Aragonés' intentions, so he could only nod and say, "Although we don't know much about the specific deployment of the Haihan army, judging from their recent troop movements, the situation should be roughly like this. This is perhaps the time when the defenses of their nest are at their most empty. ”

Aragonés' face was rather disappointed: "Sanchez, I think that after the last incident, the way you think about the problem should become a little more mature and comprehensive, but now it seems that you have not changed because of the previous lesson. Impulses that lack foundation, this kind of character will kill you sooner or later!"

Sánchez looked unconvinced, and before he could say a few words, Aragonés had already raised his hand and signaled him not to continue: "You are 'not very clear' and 'maybe,' and you are ready to start a war based on a conjecture that is not well documented? Sanchez, this is not his own doorstep, but an area more than 20,000 nautical miles away from our country! The total number of Spaniards in the entire Far East is only four or five thousand, how many troops do you think we can commit in this war?"

Speaking of excitement, Aragonés poured the rest of the wine from his glass into his throat, then got up and continued: "The Haihan are not the natives we have killed on Luzon, they not only have guns and cannons, but also know how to fight. They have fully proven their strength when attacking Tamsui and Chicken Coop this year, and if you want to deal with them as enemies of the same level as natives, you are very wrong!"

Aragonés walked up to a map of the South China Sea hanging on the wall, pointed to the location of Qiongzhou Island, and said: "Have you ever thought about it, if the Haihan people deliberately arranged the illusion that the base camp was empty in defense to lure the enemy to take the initiative, then what would be the consequences if we rushed over?"

Sánchez was in a cold sweat when he heard this, he really didn't think about the possibility that Aragonés was talking about, because in his subconscious, the strategy of the Haihan people could not reach such a height. Sanchez stammered, "Perhaps...... They didn't mean it that ......way."

"Don't say anything to me again, maybe!" Aragonés interrupted Sanchez with a roar: "It was you guys who told me that maybe a large number of Ming merchants would come south to Manila!

In fact, Aragonés may not really think that Haihan's troop movement is a conspiracy theory, he is purely because of the big mistakes he made before, and he is no longer willing to trust the judgment of his staff members subconsciously.

Seeing that Sánchez was no longer arguing, Aragonés replied slightly: "We need more accurate information now, has this month's report been sent back?"

Sanchez shook his head and said, "According to the previous time, it will probably take about ten days to wait. ”

"It's been too long...... You have to think of a way to make our intelligence system work more efficiently, and don't get any news that happened a month or two ago!" Aragonés said in a stern tone: "I don't want to know how many new houses and docks the Haihan people have built in Sanya, I want to know their army establishment, weapon standards, personnel appointments, who they are dealing with and who they are preparing to deal with! Give me a little useful information, don't always come back with some innocuous second-hand information!"

Sanchez could only agree again and again, but he was secretly angry in his heart. Intelligence work is not actually his main job, but Mr. Harvey, who was in charge of this part of the affairs before, has been sent to prison, so Aragonés handed over this part of the affairs to him to take charge of - of course, this responsibility means that even the pot has to be carried together.

As early as two years ago, the Manilan authorities had sent people to Sanya to lurk, and regularly transmitted information back to Manila every month under the cover of merchant ships. However, due to the fact that the people lurking in the local area were not able to blend into the Haihan bureaucracy and could not reach the real inner circle, a lot of intelligence information was superficial, and there was not much military and political information with real reference value. The reports sent back to Manila every month are just miscellaneous matters related to people's livelihood, and when Haihan raided the Taipei stronghold, the personnel lurking in Sanya failed to send back the slightest warning message in advance, and Aragonés would be angry with the staff in charge of intelligence gathering afterwards, which is actually understandable.

Aragonés lost his temper and still left the matter to Santos. Santos returned to the port with a stomach full of anger, he originally wanted to take advantage of the news he received to ask for credit, but he never thought that he would be scolded again. He immediately ordered the Arab merchant Hassan to be summoned again, and instructed him: "Hassan, I have a secret letter to be sent to Sanya as soon as possible, and according to the old rules, I will pay you twenty silver coins for your hard work." ”

But Hassan smiled slyly and said, "No, no, my lord, twenty silver coins are just the price of the past, and now it costs fifty silver coins to send a letter to Sanya." ”

Sanchez said angrily: "The voyage from Manila to Sanya has not changed, why has the price increased so much?"

Hassan replied: "The Haihan people have previously announced a decree that whoever successfully exposes the hidden spies will be rewarded with fifty Haihan coins, which may be converted into Spanish silver coins and a little more. I also took into account the long-term cooperative relationship between us, so I was willing to accept your deal, and maybe someone else took the letter from you on the front foot and took the money, and then asked the Haihan people for a reward. ”

Sanchez was dumbfounded, and he couldn't immediately confirm whether Hassan's words were bragging for himself or if they were true, but he really wouldn't dare to take such a stupid risk if the intelligence agents who had been lurking in Sanya for two years were exposed just for the difference in the price of thirty silver coins.

"This profiteer!" Sánchez cursed secretly in his heart, but he didn't dare to offend Hassan easily, this guy had sent several letters to the people lurking in Sanya in the past, and if he offended him, his own inside line would also be in danger.

Of course, there is another solution to the problem, which is to kill Hassan immediately and directly, completely avoiding the danger of leaking the news. However, Sanchez has just taken over the intelligence stall, and he can't find anyone else to replace Hassan in Sanya to pick up the secret letter, so he can only tolerate the blackmail of this Arab profiteer. But considering the future security issues, Sanchez believes that Hassan can no longer be hired with peace of mind, and must try to find a proper solution.

"Well, Hassan, as you say, fifty silver coins. Sanchez tried his best to restrain the anger in his heart, and let his tone be obviously calmer: "Tomorrow I will have someone send the secret letter to your ship, and you will leave for Sanya as soon as possible." ”

"But I haven't got the goods I want to buy yet. Hassan complained: "The Haihan people are very interested in buying cattle and sheepskins, but this time I am still nearly half the amount I want to buy." I asked your people today, and they said that for various reasons, it is out of stock recently, and maybe the price will have to increase. ”

The reason for this is that Sanchez knew that most of the cattle and sheepskins sold in the Manila market were trafficked from the American colonies, and the sales were mainly aimed at the Haihan, who seemed to have a special love for leather goods, and the annual purchase was very large. It is said that even the soldiers under his command began to be equipped with leather military boots on a large scale, plus leather belts, armed belts, and water bladders, which can be called a luxury. However, the animal husbandry in the southern region of the Ming Dynasty was not developed, and the supply of cattle and sheepskins was far less than that of the American colonies with a large number of farms, and there was no advantage in terms of price, so Spain became the main supplier of leather purchased by Haihan.

However, the previous year, a large-scale livestock plague broke out in the Spanish colonies in the Americas, and in order to prevent the infection, a large number of cattle and sheep were slaughtered and burned and buried, which led to a decrease in the number of cattle and sheep skins transported to Manila by the previous galleon fleet. It's almost the end of the year, the sailing fleet from the Americas is still months away, and Manila's stock of cattle and sheepskins has begun to be empty, so Hassan has no use complaining.

"If there's no leather, then you can buy something else!" said Sanchez angrily, "Is it true that the Haihan people only buy leather from you?"

"They also need copper, a lot of copper. Hassan added: "Leather and copper are the goods they buy the most from me. ”

Haihan's industrial development process requires a large amount of copper resources, and the existing Shilu mine production is still dominated by iron ore, and the output of copper ore cannot meet its own needs, so the Philippines region, which is rich in copper reserves, has also become one of the targets of Haihan's copper acquisition. Of course, the Spaniards are not stupid, and copper has many military and maritime functions, so the Manila authorities have been controlling the amount of copper exported to Haihan, trying to prevent Haihan from using copper produced in the Philippines to strengthen its own strength.

Copper has a high density, high unit value, and does not require complex packaging and preservation, so it is suitable for direct use as ballast, so it is also a highly profitable commodity for maritime merchants. However, Hassan's quota for copper procurement has long been exhausted, and it is clear that he is negotiating terms with Sanchez to mention this matter.

Sanchez took a deep breath and calmed down his emotions before nodding and saying, "Okay Hassan, I'll open you a bill of lading, and you can go to the warehouse and pay to take away the goods you want." However, I would like to remind you that the goods you buy can only be shipped directly onto the ship, not stored locally!"

Sanchez's method is also to prevent speculative businessmen like Hassan from playing tricks, if he buys a lot of them in one go, and then ships them to the sea one by one, then the current decree restricting the export of copper is equivalent to invalidation. Let him load the ship directly and transport it away, at most, it will be a trip to earn this trip, so as not to break the rules too badly.

Hassan smiled and bowed humbly to Sanchez and said, "Thank you for your care, I think I can leave early tomorrow morning, and I will definitely pass on your secret letter, please rest assured!"

"I also wish you all the best in this trip to Sanya, and you can make a lot of money from the Haihan people!" Sanchez said through gritted teeth, barely squeezing out a smile. (To be continued.) )