"Which side is besieging Laoag?" Suddenly, the oldest Arab merchant spoke and broke the silence.

"Abdler, naturally, those damn Han Chinese are armed." Argyle said indignantly.

"But are they pirates?" Abdel suddenly asked a question.

"The pirates plundered our ships and plundered our wealth, so we feared, we feared that the wealth that we had accumulated for generations in Laoag would be plundered and even cost with our lives, so we helped the Spaniards to defend the city of Laoag."

Abdler's words struck a chord with the Arab businessmen, who nodded their heads one after another.

"But now it's not pirates who are besieging the city of Laoag, it's a government army in exile." Abdeler looked around and made sure there were no idlers waiting, then continued.

"We all know very well that the Han Chinese armed outside the city is a group of exiles, they have an organization, they have an army,"

"So what do they want, plunder the wealth?" Abdel shook his head.

"What they really want is the city and the population."

"To put it bluntly, these Han Chinese are fighting for land with the Spaniards."

Yargli seemed to understand what Abdel meant.

"You mean let's support the Han Chinese." Argyle said coldly.

"We are not allies with the Spaniards, we are not Spaniards, we do business in Luzon, we trade in Laoag, they collect taxes and protect us, and now they can't guarantee the safety of our merchants, so why should we support them now?"

"We're just doing business in Laoag, and who the rulers of Laoag or Luzon are, does it matter to us merchants, if they don't affect our earning of gold."

Seeing that the Arab businessmen present were somewhat moved, Abdel continued

"Abdler, you are right, we are not Spaniards, there is no need to defend the interests of the Spanish Empire." Argyle agreed.

"But what happened to Weigan, you also know that, the Han armed destroyed the Chamber of Commerce and embezzled the wealth of the rich merchants of Weigan." An Arab businessman objected.

"We violated the interests of the Spaniards so we were hanged by six captains, and the Vigan merchants violated the interests of the Ming people, so naturally they will have to pay the price." Abdel did not wash his name for the Ming army's extermination of the Vigan Chamber of Commerce.

"In fact, these Han Chinese forces are not difficult to communicate, do you remember Mutafy?"

"You mean the mercenary leader." Argyle had some impression of the man.

"I remember this man, I heard that he provided protection to the Wigan Chamber of Commerce, but in the end he helped the Han people to rob the wealth of the Wigan Chamber of Commerce, and became one of the richest people in Vigan." The middle-aged Arab businessman nodded, not seeming to be disgusted by Mutafi's actions.

"A very good captain who gets along well with the Arabs and the Han Chinese in Vigan, and this is something to be emulated." Abdel said with a smile.

Yagli frowned, and the merchants present clearly supported Abdler's proposal.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Spaniards have been entrenched in Luzon for hundreds of years, and they cannot be overthrown by an exiled army, don't forget that they can continuously transfer troops from Europa and the Americas, and the Han Chinese army can take Laoag and even occupy northern Luzon, but in the end they will definitely be exterminated by the Spaniards because of the exhaustion of troops."

Jawgli looked coldly at the Arabs present, and we ended up being torn to shreds by the enraged Spaniards.

The Arab businessmen present suddenly withered as if they had been poured a basin of cold water.

Arglee's words are not unreasonable, the Spaniards were defeated by the Ming in Luzon, but behind it was the Spanish Empire.

Even if the Ming army took all of Luzon, occupied Manila, and drove the Spaniards into the sea.

Spain could still mobilize troops from all over the world to continue the war.

And the Ming army in Luzon was just an army in exile, so it developed after running to Luzon and robbing thousands of Han immigrants.

Standing behind him was Daqing, who regarded him like a thief and wanted to cut it down.

The merchants were shrewd, especially the merchants who could establish themselves in a large place like Rawagvigan, and they were well aware of the inferiority of the Ming army, even better than some of the generals in the Ming army.

This is also the reason why after the Ming army occupied Wigan and other places, local merchants preferred to secretly communicate with Manila rather than cooperate with the Ming army, they all knew very well that the Ming army could not win.

As for the Chinese merchants' willingness to support the Ming army, it was mainly because they had no choice, and the moment the Ming army landed in Luzon, they were already regarded as thieves by the Spaniards.

Even if they give their entire wealth to the Manila authorities, they will not survive.

The previous massacres of the Han people have long proved everything.

Liu Yu, who was in the Ming army camp outside the city of Laoag, understood the current situation of the Ming army better than the Arab merchants.

The Four Seas Trading Company had just brought a thousand stone of grain from Vigan for the Ming army.

At present, the supply of grain and grass and logistical supplies of the Ming army are basically maintained by the Four Seas Commercial Bank.

Since the Ming army did not have enough money, all the supplies were mostly on credit.

Although the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce has complaints, there is nothing they can do, and now they have been tied to the chariot of the Ming army, and they have no way to live if the Ming army is defeated.

Of course, in order to repay the outstanding contribution of the Four Seas Commercial Bank, Liu Yu also reduced the commercial tax from the original 20% to 10%.

But in times of war, however, the shipping lanes were largely cut off, and the merchant houses of the Four Seas lost their two main trading points in Laoagmanila, and as far south as Batavia, merchants could not even think of it.

Not only because of the long sea distance and the number of pirates, but also because what happened in Luzon had already reached Batavia.

The Dutch in Batavia were terrified that the Ming army would continue to move south, and banned ships other than Manila from entering Batavia.

Even the Chinese who have lived in Batavia for a long time have been affected by this.

Although the Dutch in Batavia did not raise their butcher's knives against the Chinese, looting and massacres occurred from time to time, and many Chinese merchants who were afraid of implicating themselves fled one after another.

Not long ago, Vigan had taken in three Chinese ships that had fled from Batavia.

"My lord, Vigan's trade with Manila and Laoag is basically cut off, and the maritime trade is almost extinct, I'm afraid it won't last long."

In the camp, Su Langqing said to Liu Yu with a sad face.

Liu Yu is also helpless, in order to maintain the expenses of Huben Town, Fubo Town, and Xiaoyong Town, he has racked his brains and scraped together.

Now there are more than 600 people in Shuishi Town, and this is not counting the thousands of pirates who have surrendered.

The soldiers, gunners, people, and craftsmen added up to four or five thousand people, and the grain and grass alone were enough to give Liu Yu a headache.

It is also thanks to Su Langqing that thousands of stones of grain were transported from Weigan in time by sea, which solved the urgent need, but this could only last for about ten days.

Although the summer harvest has passed, the tribes in Luzon should have surplus grain and can buy grain from the tribes at low prices.

However, from all over the country to hire men to transport grain to Vigan, and from Vigan to Rawag by sea, the daily consumption of food and drink is staggering.

The daily expenses made Su Langqing bleed, and the most important thing was that the money was all from the Four Seas Commercial Bank.

With these four or five thousand people and horses, not to mention the Four Seas Trading Company, even the entire Vegan can't stand it.

The Ming army's expropriation and oppression have made Vigan and the tribes everywhere very dissatisfied.

Some tribes have secretly withheld grain taxes and even openly attacked officials who levy grain.

Liu Yu also knows all this, but he has no better way.

On the one hand, the Ming army's contempt for Shengfan, coupled with the lack of civilian officials in the Ming army, could not take care of the area outside of Weigan City.

Liu Yu can only turn a blind eye to these students, after all, he is really short of people, there are no officials to govern and he can't send troops to suppress them, and sometimes the butcher's knife is not easy to use.