Chapter 1665: Land Offering

The area of ​​Borneo is seven times that of Luzon Island. It can easily accommodate not only 100,000 indigenous people, but even 1 million.

The Spaniards had long coveted this piece of fat meat. Even without the pressure of 100,000 natives, they would have tried every means to eat Borneo as a substitute for Luzon.

So, after two years of preparation, the new Governor-General of the Philippines, Francis, formed an expeditionary force of 2,200 people, including 200 Spanish soldiers, 200 New Spanish soldiers, 1,500 indigenous soldiers, and 300 defectors recruited from Borneo.

In addition, the reorganized Philippine fleet also went out in full force to support the expeditionary force's landing operations.

Before landing in Borneo, the Spanish first attacked the Sulu Kingdom because the Sulu Archipelago was between Mindanao and Borneo. If this obstacle was not cleared first, the supply line of the expeditionary force would be threatened.

Sulu was an archipelago country, so it naturally relied on the navy to defend the country. But their small sailboats in the South China Sea were no match for the Spanish navy. They were completely destroyed. The capital, Hele Island, also fell into the hands of the Spaniards, and became a springboard for the other side to attack Borneo.

Before the fall of Horaku Island, Sulu King Yazid fled to Borneo under the protection of his loyal guards and took refuge with Brunei King Sayif.

Last April, the Spanish fleet arrived at the capital of Brunei, and issued an ultimatum to the King of Brunei.

But Seif remained unmoved and tore the letter from the Spaniards to pieces.

Saif’s confidence comes from the city of Brunei that his father and his sons have carefully built over decades!

Ever since the Red Devils wreaked havoc in Southeast Asia, he and his son were very worried that one day their capital would fall like Malacca. So they spent all their money to upgrade Brunei City into a stone city wall that was rare in Southeast Asian countries.

Moreover, over the years, they have been spending a lot of money to recruit cannon craftsmen from Türkiye, Egypt and India to cast hundreds of cannons of various sizes and deploy them on the city walls.

This made King Saif very confident that Brunei was the strongest military fortress in Southeast Asia and would never repeat the mistakes of Malacca.

At the same time, fleets from various tribes in Borneo that were loyal to the king had also gathered in Brunei. He firmly believed that he could repel the invaders!

However, imagination is beautiful, but reality is very bleak...

In a blink of an eye, nearly a hundred Brunei warships were wiped out in the Brunei Bay.

Those Brunei soldiers were undoubtedly brave, but their rowing boats did not even have cannons, so they were like an egg against a rock when facing the Spanish sailing ships.

The large snake cannons on the Spanish ships could blow a native ship to pieces with one shot. As a result, they didn't even have a chance to get close and fight back. The maritime power that had helped Brunei to dominate Borneo in the past was gone.

Soon after, the same fate befell the defenders of Brunei. The cannons they had asked the British to cast had too short a range. They were no problem against the infantry attacking the city, but it was sheer wishful thinking to challenge the long snake cannons on the Spanish galleons.

As a result, after a round of bombardment, the Spaniards destroyed the artillery position that King Seif had high hopes for at a small cost. The defenders on the city wall were also frightened by the huge losses and the terrifying artillery shells, and they abandoned their positions one after another.

After destroying a large section of the city wall on the sea side, the Spanish expeditionary force took advantage of the situation and landed on the Calais warships equipped with small artillery and successfully occupied the city of Brunei.

King Saifu had no choice but to follow the glorious tradition of the indigenous people of Southeast Asia and led the remnants of his troops and subjects to evacuate the city of Brunei and hide in the nearby forests, preparing to attack after the enemy troops withdrew.

However, they miscalculated this time. The Spanish conquered Borneo in order to settle the natives...

The Spaniards demolished the magnificent mosque and converted it into a Catholic church. After looting all the valuables in the city, they used their fleet to transport a large number of indigenous believers and settled them in and around Brunei, the core area of ​​the Brunei Kingdom.

The expeditionary force was not in a hurry to withdraw, so it used Brunei as a base to launch a sweep of North Borneo. With a large number of indigenous believers joining the army and the traitors from Borneo leading the way, the Spaniards continued to launch devastating attacks on tribes loyal to Saifud.

Although Saif led his royal guards and those local warriors who were unwilling to surrender to the invaders, and split up into small groups to harass the Spanish army and Brunei City in turns, he still could not change the situation of more and more pagans coming to settle there.

As a result, after most of the expeditionary force withdrew to Cebu, Saif and his men were still unable to recapture Brunei...

As time went on, the authority of Brunei in Borneo was on the verge of collapse, and more and more vassal tribes, either under pressure or inducement, began to convert to Catholicism.

This made Seif very frightened. He seemed to have seen his country following in Manila's footsteps.

So he discussed it with Yazid, and the two of them settled their subordinates, quietly left Borneo and headed straight for Luzon.

~~

"For now, the only country that can save our two countries is the Celestial Empire!" The two kings knelt in front of Master Zhao and begged bitterly, "Please, Master, save us for the sake of our two countries being vassals of the Celestial Empire!"

"Hey, what are you doing? Help the two majesties up." Zhao Hao sat firmly on the chair and stretched out his hand to help them up. He thought to himself that even a king in trouble like me could play mahjong. I must hold a "King's Cup" someday and let them play a few rounds to get rid of the bad luck!

Xu Kezheng, Tang Baolu and others who accompanied the meeting quickly helped Seif and Yazid up.

"You two have given me a big problem." Young Master Zhao said with embarrassment: "You know the national policy of the Ming Dynasty. In the second year of Wanli, I was almost punished by the court because of sending troops to Luzon. I was accused of destroying the ancestral system. Thinking about it now, I still feel scared..."

Don Baolu thought to himself, "Wow, young master, you really speak without thinking. How many of those people in the court know where Luzon is?"

With some sympathy, he peeled two candies and stuffed them into the mouths of the two kings who were about to cry.

Don’t say anything more, just accept your fate. Who made you run into our young master?

"Fortunately, there are 20,000 overseas Chinese in Luzon, and the Luzon Governor's Office was established during the Yongle period. Fortunately, Governor Xu's descendants are still alive." Zhao Hao pointed at Xu Kezheng and said, "I used all my tricks and finally got the order to re-establish the Governor's Office. That's how I got through this dangerous situation."

As he said this, he waved his hands vigorously and said, "I won't let this kind of head-losing thing happen again!"

Fearing that the two wouldn't understand the hidden meaning of his words, Zhao Hao emphasized the words "again".

But he obviously underestimated the two kings' understanding. Before they came, they went to Yongxia City to seek advice and already knew how to ask the Celestial Empire to send troops.

Naturally, they understood everything at this point, and they hurriedly tried to get close to each other and express their loyalty:

"My ancestral graves are still in Nanjing. I am half a Nanjing person!" Saifu patted his chest and said, "Bournemouth was once the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and it is still the territory now!"

"My ancestral graves are in Dezhou, and I have many relatives in Ming Dynasty!" Ye Qide went further and said, "I am half Shandong people. I want to trace my ancestry and bring the land and population of Sulu into the territory of the Celestial Empire!"

As he said this, he presented with both hands a document titled "Request for the Submission of Territory by the Kingdom of Sulu"!

Zhao Hao looked through the memorial and was filled with emotion.

In another time and space, under the pressure of the Red Demons, the Sulu Kingdom also asked China for annexation several times. Unfortunately, by then, the Qing Dynasty had been replaced by Dai Qing, who was even more keen on closing the country to the outside world than Da Meng, so it was naturally rejected.

The Ten Perfect Old Man issued an edict saying: "The Sulu Kingdom is willing to be civilized. The land and people of the country are under our rule and care. There is no need to send any more maps."

She's already perfect in every way, so I don't want to add to her burden.

But this time, Zhao Hao will not refuse again!

Because you have to shoulder the responsibilities that you should bear! Otherwise, sooner or later, there will be a day when you have to make a list!

He gladly accepted the book "Request for Submission of Territory by the Kingdom of Sulu" and showed a brilliant smile to the Brunei King Saifu.

Although Biyao was cool, Saiful wiped his sweat and cursed Yezid in his heart for being unsportsmanlike and daring to launch a sneak attack.

We had agreed to test the waters today, but I didn't expect this guy to have someone write the music list first. I was careless, I was careless...

Of course, what Saifud did not write was that the territory of Sulu was just a bunch of fragmented islands. How could it be compared with Borneo, which he considered to be the largest island in Southeast Asia?

Yezid didn't feel bad about donating his land, but he did.

But what choice did he have after being squeezed by this guy? He couldn't help but sigh, pretended to touch his sleeves, and then slapped his head and said, "Oh, I forgot to bring it."

Then he apologized and went out. After a while, he brought back a mahogany box and presented it to Master Zhao.

Cai Ming took it and examined it before handing it over to the young master.

Zhao Hao took a look and saw a box of black soil. It also had a strong smell of pine needles, and was obviously just dug from outside... But the idea was clear.

This is a donation of land!

Young Master Zhao gladly accepted the box of soil and said to Saifu with a smile, "You still have to write a formal memorial. If you don't know how to write, ask Old Ye to teach you. He writes very well."

Ye Qide nodded and said, "I am willing to serve you."

Zhao Hao shook his head, but the smile on his face was much more sincere. He said, "However, I cannot take charge of such a big matter. I will submit it to the capital as quickly as possible, and please make the decision, Your Majesty."

"Ah..." The two of them panicked and looked at Xu Kezheng. The Governor of Luzon could say that the affairs of Nanyang were decided by Mr. Zhao.

"Don't worry, both of you!" Zhao Hao smiled and held their hands, squeezing them tightly and saying, "No matter what the result is from the court, I will definitely send this army! Even if I am punished by the court, I will never let the people of the Ming Dynasty be bullied by the red-haired devils again!"

"Thank you, sir."

"Young Master is truly a savior!" The two were naturally moved to tears of gratitude.

"You're welcome. We are late." Zhao Hao waved his hand and said proudly, "But don't worry. Now that we are here, we won't leave again!"

(End of this chapter)