A month later, Zhao Hao and his party arrived in Luzon. However, they did not go to Yongxia, but instead met the kings of various countries who had been waiting for a long time at Daimao Port, and then, under the escort of the war zone combat fleet, they sailed directly to Borneo to put an end to the long-lasting Nanyang War.

After the Battle of Leyte Gulf last year, the Spaniards in the Far East completely lost hope of reinforcements and victory, as well as the crucial control of the sea.

Then, the Spaniards in Cebu and Brunei were easily blocked in Cebu Bay and Brunei Bay by the Coast Guard fleet.

The following year, Luzon launched another "New Year Offensive". Ten thousand marines and twenty thousand soldiers, under the cover of the Coast Guard fleet, launched a landing operation on Cebu.

There were still nearly 5,000 soldiers of mixed composition in Cebu City at that time, and the morale was low and the people were panic-stricken. Fortunately, 1,000 Spaniards who survived the Battle of Leyte Gulf escaped into Cebu City, bringing the number of Spanish soldiers in the city to 2,000, which shocked the ragtag army composed of Mexicans, Southeast Asian natives, and Japanese ronin.

But even the Spaniards were frightened by the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Seeing the overwhelming Ming troops landing, how could they dare to go out of the city to fight? They could only hide in Cebu City and defend it with the sturdy castle.

However, the Ming people had long anticipated their reaction. In the battle plan formulated by the theater staff office in accordance with Zhao Hao's instructions of "it is better to waste more time and materials to minimize casualties", there was no plan to storm Cebu City.

The Spanish have occupied Cebu for fifteen years since Legazpi built the city. It has always been the Spanish base in Southeast Asia. The evil colonists built this nest at all costs, just so that if they were to be listed one day, they would have a place to hide.

In addition, the city had stored a large amount of military supplies in order to welcome the arrival of the Invincible Fleet. Therefore, the General Staff believed that if Cebu was attacked directly, huge casualties would inevitably occur.

At this point in the battle, the Coast Guard has already secured victory, so there is no need for any more unnecessary sacrifices. Zhao Hao doesn't want the Yongxia Heroes Cemetery to be filled up so soon.

So after the siege, the soldiers and the civilians who arrived later, with lightning speed, dug a circle of deep trenches around the small city of Cebu.

By the time the Spaniards came to their senses, they had been cut off from the city's contact with the outside world.

The commander of the Cebu City garrison also took the trouble to organize several trench capture operations. However, this time the attack and defense were reversed, and the Spanish became the weaker party. The Ming people easily resolved their offensive with deep trenches and high bunkers.

After leaving behind hundreds of corpses, the Spaniards no longer struggled in vain. They huddled in the city and watched the Ming people build solid and tall fortifications outside the trenches, set up cross-fire points with no blind spots, and even pushed the Xuande cannon onto the camp wall, completely cutting off their thoughts of breaking out.

Moreover, after the fortifications were completed, so many troops were no longer needed to besiege the city. A large number of military and civilian forces boarded ships and evacuated Cebu, greatly reducing the cost of the siege.

The withdrawn troops were transferred by the fleet to Brunei Bay, where they did the same thing to Brunei City, and surrounded it before the rainy season arrived.

Moreover, the distance between the two positions was beyond the range of artillery fire, so they couldn't even fire at each other to vent their anger. They could only stare at each other through the rain on their respective city walls. Thinking about who I am, where am I, and what am I doing?

Out of boredom, they built several tall towers overlooking the city, so that they could launch rockets into Cebu city from a high vantage point.

Originally, the officers and soldiers were just trying to kill time, but they didn't expect that it would be a god's move, and the war ended faster than expected.

Originally, according to the deduction of the General Staff, the Spaniards should have no problem holding out for more than a year with their strong fortresses and sufficient food and supplies.

However, Cebu City is similar to the original Manila Royal City. Although the outer circle of the city wall is made of stone, the buildings inside, except for the church and the Governor's Palace, are basically made of bamboo and wood.

After continuous rocket attacks from Oda City, all bamboo and wooden buildings were burned down. The limited number of stone buildings could not accommodate so many homeless people, so a large number of Cebu residents had to sleep on the streets.

Under the heavy rain and scorching sun, the city soon became plagued by diseases and mosquitoes. There were so many dead that they could not be buried and they could only be left to rot in the streets. As a result, more people were infected and sick, and even the commander of the garrison died of the disease. Cebu became a city of despair.

The remaining people had completely lost the will to fight, and they just wanted to escape from this plague city. So after the acting commander, Lieutenant Colonel Mata, failed to obtain his request for an honorable surrender, he quickly ordered the white flag to be hoisted and chose to surrender unconditionally.

On the contrary, dealing with the epidemic in Cebu City took a lot of manpower and material resources from the war zone's epidemic prevention department, and it took a full two months to completely purify Cebu City.

At the same time, Jin Ke transferred Lieutenant Colonel Mata and his party to the city of Brunei, ordered them to enter the city to persuade them to surrender, and promised to return them freedom if they succeeded.

In fact, there are 80,000 indigenous believers in Brunei, and the consumption of supplies is astonishing, far less than that of Cebu. They have eaten up all the food and are beginning to starve.

So after confirming from Lieutenant Colonel Mata that there would be no reinforcements, they quickly raised the white flag and surrendered the city.

The reason why the entry ceremony was delayed until mid-October was, firstly, for the same purpose of epidemic prevention; secondly, to wait for the arrival of Zhao Hao and his distinguished guests; thirdly, to prepare for a grand victory parade...

~~

On October 15, the eighth year of the Wanli reign, the South China Sea entered the cool season and the sea was calm. The gentle northerly wind blew away the heavy humidity that permeated the rainy season, and the sea surface finally became clear.

At around nine o'clock in the morning, two brand new blue giant ships, the HMS Haiquan heavy battleship with hull number 15 and the HMS Nanyang heavy battleship with hull number 16, slowly sailed into the Brunei Bay one after the other.

These two heavy battleships are sister ships newly launched by Jiangnan Shipyard this year, with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons and 86 guns. Both the tonnage and the number of guns exceed those of previous battleships.

Over the years, each pair of sister ships produced by Jiangnan Shipyard has been greatly improved on the basis of the previous pair. There is no other way. The shipbuilding business starting from scratch must cross the river by feeling the stones, constantly accumulating experience in construction, and actively making adjustments based on the feedback of the coast guard, in order to find the perfect warship in Yang Fan's mind.

After seven iterations, the design of these two "Sea Power Class" warships has finally reached perfection.

The tonnage finally exceeded 2,000 tons. While adopting replaceable full armor, the Sea Power class ship has become more slender and graceful. The completely disappeared forecastle and almost disappeared poop have brought excellent stability to the warship. The more mature steering wheel and sail cable system have greatly improved the maneuverability of the warship, making this big guy of more than 2,000 tons as easy to control as a destroyer.

The launching of the 'Haiquan Class' marked that the Ming Dynasty's warship design and construction level finally returned to the world's top after two hundred years!

Therefore, Zhao Hao was very proud of these two warships. He made an exception and ordered the two ships to be put into service directly after the sea trials without returning to the factory, and to follow him south. He also specially gave the two ships temporary names to serve as review ships for this grand military parade.

The 15th ship Haiquan was the main review ship in the front, carrying Zhao Hao and his distinguished guests - the kings, sultans, and rajas of ten Southeast Asian countries, including Aceh, Bachang, Fuzhou, Pattani, Champa, Makassar, Banten, and Sunda, as well as the tribal leaders of Mindanao and even the farther Guinea Island.

Together with Luzon, Sulu and today's host Brunei, there are now only five or six small countries under the control of Portugal in the entire South Seas, and they were strictly ordered to absent from today's naval parade.

Although the Coast Guard Fleet defeated the powerful Portuguese fleet before, it failed to drive them out of Southeast Asia. Therefore, although the local emperors of these Southeast Asian countries actively moved closer to the group, they could not help but have some small thoughts of trying to please both sides and take advantage of them.

But since the coast guard fleet annihilated the Spanish Invincible Armada last year, the countries in Southeast Asia understood where their destiny lies, completely dispelled their illusions, and vied with each other to request to emulate Luzon, Sulu, and Brunei and obtain the title from the Ming Dynasty.

Zhao Hao had stayed in Beijing for such a long time before, and he had a very important purpose, which was to register the Nanyang countries in Beijing.

This time he went south, he brought a bag of books and seals. His father-in-law agreed to establish nine new administrative regions: the Governor-General's Office of Aceh, the Governor-General's Office of Java, the Governor-General's Office of Makassar, the Governor-General's Office of Johor, the Governor-General's Office of Banten, the Governor-General's Office of Sunda, the Governor-General's Office of Pattani, the Governor-General's Office of Champa and the Governor-General's Office of Jiugang.

Among them, the Jiugang Xuanweisi located in the Strait of Malacca was re-established. During the Yongle period, Zheng He, on behalf of the imperial court, appointed Shi Jinqing as the Jiugang Xuanweisi, and built a fortress and warehouse in Palembang as the Ming Dynasty's naval base and foothold for operating in the West.

Later, after Xuande stopped his journey to the West, the descendants of the Shi family continued to serve as envoys to Jiugang, maintaining this overseas territory for the Ming Dynasty.

It was not until the Zhengtong period that it was annexed because of its isolation and helplessness...

Zhao Hao re-established the Luzon Governor's Office, and of course he would not forget the Old Port Xuanwei Office. But because it was too long ago and he couldn't find any descendants of the Shi family, he let Lin Fengxian serve as the Xuanwei Envoy...

~~

What is quite ridiculous is that Zhao Hao, father-in-law and son-in-law, set up three prefectures, three cities and three envoys in one breath, but it did not cause much trouble in the court.

Only the flatterers gave a few bland compliments, saying that Prime Minister Zhang was wise and brave, and that the young cabinet minister had expanded the territory to thousands of miles.

Although he had integrated his thoughts in this way, Mr. Zhao still felt sad. He finally realized the loneliness that Zheng He had felt back then...

Eunuch Zheng made seven voyages to the West and managed Southeast Asia. His contribution was unprecedented and he will be admired by all generations!

But the Ming people only focused on the blind civil servants in front of them, and could not see his merits at all. Instead, they slandered him in every possible way...

But it doesn’t matter, history will give Zheng He a correct evaluation.

The same goes for Zhao Hao...

ps. Write a little more~