Chapter 1511 Dilemma

So on the next day, when the imperial examination results were announced, Zhao Hao bid farewell to his grandfather and prepared to take a boat directly from Qilizhuang Wharf to Tianjin.

Wengshan Lake is part of the Tonghui River, which can be used to reach Tongzhou, Luhe River, and Bohai Bay. So although Zhao Liben still disliked the princess, he still lived in Qili Village after entering Beijing and did not return to his Zhaojia Hutong.

Because it's convenient to run here.

He also encouraged Zhao Shouzheng to live with him in Qili Village, but it was a pity that Mr. Zhao had important matters to attend to and could not accompany him... This is a message for His Majesty, don't let your imagination run wild.

As the chief officer of Zhan Han, Zhao Shouzheng naturally could not be absent from today's ceremony, but Zhao Hao had already said goodbye to his father yesterday. In addition to asking his father to take medicine on time and practice his Wudang Changchun Kung Fu well, he also secretly gave his father a thousand condoms.

Alas, Mr. Zhao is really worried about his father.

As for grandpa, he doesn't have to worry about him at all.

"Are you in such a hurry to go back? It's not just to avoid the scenery in Beijing, right?" Zhao Liben asked calmly.

"Yes, the situation in Luzon is very dangerous. Since the decree has been issued, it is better to go there as soon as possible to deal with it." Zhao Hao nodded. The efficiency of the one-man show is high. After the father-in-law gave the order, the officials quickly issued the decree to allow Xu Zheng to inherit Xu Chailao's post as the Governor-General of Luzon and rebuild the Luzon Governor's Office.

In order to provide necessary assistance to the Governor-General of Luzon, Zhao Hao and the South China Sea Group were also given the power to act at their discretion in Southeast Asia, including limited immigration permits, so that Luzon could better play the role of a barrier to block the invasion of foreigners from the east and west for the Celestial Empire.

At this point, the obstacles on the Ming side have been removed, and Mr. Zhao can do whatever he wants in Nanyang. However, he can't... But there's no need to tell the old man the reason.

Zhao Li was an experienced man. He could tell that his grandson was worried, so he patted his grandson on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Luzon is a good name. It will bring prosperity to our Zhao family! You will definitely be able to build a career there. Work hard. Grandpa will live there in the future!"

"It's only slightly better than the wilderness." Zhao Hao said with a wry smile.

"So why do you need to work hard? Use all your abilities to create another Luzon miracle! Then our Zhao family will be able to attack or defend!" Zhao Liben shook his grandson's shoulders vigorously, full of expectations.

"Grandpa, where are you going to attack?" Zhao Hao was sweating.

"Haha, who can predict the future?" Zhao Liben laughed loudly at first, wildly. Then he stopped laughing and stopped teasing him. "Okay, don't worry, I'm not asking you to be a traitor. Look how scared you are, your face has turned pale."

"Take care, Grandpa." Zhao Hao bid farewell to his grandfather as if escaping, boarded the boat and sailed away downstream.

~~

Two days later, Zhao Hao boarded the Pingjiang, where he had been waiting for a long time, in Caofeidian.

As soon as he entered his exclusive luxury cabin, Zhao Hao threw himself on the big sofa and asked Chen Huaixiu, "Is there any letter from Luzon? Is there any letter from Xiaojing?"

"There is a letter from Luzon, but Xiaojing hasn't," Chen Huaixiu replied softly. She let Zhao Hao rest his head on her lap, massaging his temples while reporting the news from Luzon.

When Sister Ma was not around, Sister Chen naturally became Ma's secretary.

"I received a letter from Don Paul the day before yesterday. He and Liu Xuesheng have arrived at the Manila trading post and have begun to contact overseas Chinese. But the more troublesome thing is that the Spaniards have begun to withdraw their troops to Manila and have negotiated peace with the natives. It is obvious that they are preparing to concentrate their forces to deal with overseas Chinese. So Don Paul is very entangled now. Any radical action from them may stimulate the Spaniards to take action in advance, but if they are not prepared, won't they just sit and wait for death?"

"Yeah." Zhao Hao closed his eyes comfortably, feeling his tense nerves relax a lot.

She is considerate, understanding and has good skills, which is why he likes the older sister.

"Did Jinke send the fleet to warn the Spaniards?" Zhao Hao asked lazily after a while.

"I went there last month and notified the Spanish authorities according to your instructions - if they dare to harm the people of the Ming Dynasty, it will be regarded as a war with our garrison area, and they will definitely retaliate a hundredfold!" Chen Huaixiu was not a professional secretary after all, so he quickly added: "It may be for this reason that Spain withdrew most of the troops sent to attack Mindanao and Java."

"Hmm..." Zhao Hao nodded and sighed, "I hope they can be a little bit afraid..."

The next moment he sat up suddenly and slapped himself, which scared Chen Huaixiu.

"Don't be afraid. I'm just reminding myself to never underestimate these beasts!" Zhao Hao gritted his teeth and forced a smile, saying, "It's because I underestimated their brutality and tyranny that I fell into this dilemma."

"..." Chen Huaixiu nodded. As a senior executive of the group, she knew what Zhao Hao meant.

When the fleet was sent out for a round-the-world voyage in the first year of the Wanli reign, Zhao Hao judged that the Spaniards had already tasted the sweetness of the galleon trade.

Moreover, the natives of Luzon only know how to chew betel nuts and bask in the sun. When they are hungry, they climb trees to pick bananas, and when they are thirsty, they climb trees to pick coconuts. They are too lazy to do any work and do not know how to do it.

This is understandable. In such a superior natural environment, where you are well-fed and have no worries about food and drink, why would you still have to work hard?

According to the intelligence from the trading house, if there were no Chinese in Manila, the Spaniards would return to a primitive society overnight, where even with money they could not buy food, vegetables, shoes and other necessities of life, and there would be no barbers, no tailors, no shoemakers, and no carpenters.

Zhao Hao optimistically judged that as long as he did not take the initiative to provoke them, the Spaniards would tolerate the Chinese settling in Manila. They would not be able to tolerate it until they saw that Luzon was about to completely become a Chinese country.

So he approved the round-the-world voyage plan and let Zhang Xiaojing and Lin Feng join the fleet.

At that time, Zhao Hao's wishful thinking was to take advantage of the honeymoon period of trade between the two sides to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the Spanish and see if there were any uses for their ridiculously large colonies. He also wanted to see if he could create some opportunities to disrupt the enemy's rear when he went to war with the Spanish in the future.

The result was far beyond his expectations. Before the long-distance fleet left Asia, the Spaniards could not help but cleanse Manila!

Zhao Hao was immediately embarrassed.

Spain is not a weakling like Portugal. They are now the strongest country in Europe and regard themselves as the most powerful empire in the world!

Their confidence is justified because they now have jurisdiction over a territory of more than 25 million square kilometers and control a population of over 30 million!

The ambitious King Philip II of Spain possessed a first-class navy and army, and most importantly, he had a strong military force and sufficient reserves!

Not only do they have a much larger population in Europe than Portugal, but more importantly, in the vast New Spain, the American colonies, there are more than 10 million people who have been basically domesticated! The colonies also have extremely strong financial resources. These executioners who slaughtered America do not need to call on European troops. They can form a powerful fleet at any time and kill Asia in waves!

The newly born Jiangnan Group and the Coast Guard Fleet still need time to grow and become stronger before they can challenge the world's strongest, even at home.

This is the fundamental reason why Zhao Hao was reluctant to go to war with the Spaniards.

Moreover, once a war breaks out with the Spaniards, will the Portuguese, who have just signed a humiliating treaty, take advantage of the situation and wait for an opportunity to take revenge?

What's more troublesome is that he has completely lost contact with the long-distance fleet and doesn't even know where they are.

If we go to war with Spain, it will definitely not be as simple as going to war with Portugal. It is likely to turn into a protracted tug-of-war!

Starting from the west coast of North Africa, they entered the Spanish territory, and going west to America, they were the Spanish colonies with strict defenses. Once the two sides entered a state of war, Xiao Jing and Lin Feng's global fleet would likely become the target of the Spanish hunting - this kind of prey that came to the door was not only an excellent target for revenge, but also a top bargaining chip to force the enemy to bow down. Why not take it?

Even if the Spanish did not realize this, once the Portuguese learned of the war between the two sides, they would definitely remind the Spanish immediately! The trick of killing someone with a borrowed knife is not only played by the Chinese.

Send someone to chase the fleet back? No chance. Xiao Zhuzi and her friends left Sanya in late September of the first year of the Wanli reign, and have been sailing outside the region for more than half a year! Where can you chase them? How can you catch up?

These are all things Zhao Hao has to worry about.

This created a dilemma: if war was not declared, the overseas Chinese in Luzon could not be protected, but if war was declared, the long-distance fleet would be in danger, and the side was not truly prepared.

Of course, there is another option, which is to evacuate the Spanish as the Spanish wish...

This is a path that Zhao Hao has been considering over and over again in the past few days.

But Zhao Hao definitely didn't want to take this route unless it was absolutely necessary! Because this was the first battle of the Coast Guard outside the country, not only the overseas Chinese in Luzon were watching, but also the millions of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, as well as many countries large and small in Southeast Asia!

Backing off at the first appearance would have dealt an unimaginable blow to the confidence of overseas Chinese. It would also have seriously shaken the perception of Southeast Asian countries that "our Celestial Empire is invincible." I don't know how much it would cost to recover in the future.

So from a strategic perspective, either you fight resolutely or don't step forward. After all, they have been absent for more than a hundred years, so a few more years won't make a difference. Evacuating the Chinese is actually a very bad choice...

~~

"There aren't many Han Chinese in Luzon, right? I heard there are only 20,000 or 30,000 at most? It seems that Java is where the overseas Chinese mainly live." Seeing Zhao Hao so entangled, Chen Huaixiu was a little puzzled and asked, "Are you a little too concerned about them?"

"Maybe..." Even to his dear sister Huaixiu, Zhao Hao did not explain to her what the Dalun Mountain Massacre was, let alone what the Hongxi Massacre was, the Indonesian anti-Chinese sentiment... and the bloody history of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia?

What weighed on his mind were not only the lives of the 20,000 Chinese in Manila, but also the innocent souls of tens of millions of overseas Chinese who died in previous massacres in another time and space!

Since he has decided to draw the sword for overseas Chinese and make Nanyang a permanent barrier for the Ming Dynasty, he must not sit idly by and watch tragedy happen, not even once!

ps. Keep writing and try to finish the third chapter... don't wait any longer.

(End of this chapter)