Fort Santiago is located in the northwest of the old Royal City of Manila.

The construction of this castle began three years ago and has not yet been completed, but the priority fortifications have taken shape. The 20-meter-high stone castle is equipped with towers and turrets, and there is a moat outside the city.

Before Fort Santiago was ready for habitation, the Spaniards in Manila could not wait to move in, because only in this tortoise shell could the evil invaders sleep peacefully.

This is also the reason why the Spaniards cannot do without overseas Chinese. Their old nest has not been built yet, how can they do without craftsmen?

The two buildings currently being built as a priority in the castle are the Catholic Church and the Governor's Residence.

The second Governor-General of the Philippines, Sandro, was born into a declining aristocratic family in Madrid. He came here with the mission of reviving his family's glory, attempting to establish greater achievements than his predecessor and build a great Asian empire for Spain!

Nowadays, Spanish nobles are proud of luxury and enjoyment. Although Sander has great ambitions, he can't help but be infected with some habits of enjoying enjoyment. Even in the newly conquered wild land of the Philippines, he hopes that his life will be as consistent as possible with the status of a noble.

At this time, he was having dinner with senior Spanish officers in his official residence, which had gray stone corridors and green-tiled high round pavilions.

Under the illumination of silver candlesticks, the long dining table covered with a blue velvet tablecloth was filled with Spanish-style roasted lamb legs, paella, boiled dishes, stews, cold soups, and of course, several bottles of expensive wine produced in the Iberian Peninsula.

There was even a small band of Mexican musicians nearby, playing elegant court music to entertain these well-dressed bandits.

To say they were well-dressed was only half true, because the hot and humid climate meant they would never dare to use a 'codpiece' to decorate their crotch. That would actually hatch chicks.

So they could only keep aristocratic attire on their upper body, and only wear baggy shorts on their lower body, revealing their hairy thighs, while sitting there holding glasses of wine, maintaining aristocratic elegance.

"Colonel Salsito, where is our little black friend?" the Governor asked his mercenary commander.

"Sir, six thousand Pampanga soldiers have arrived with us."

Colonel Salsido, with his unkempt hair and beard, quickly swallowed the mutton in his mouth, put down his knife and fork, and said, "If it weren't for the rain, they should have arrived in Kaledo."

Calledo is a place name given by the Spanish, located on the other side of the river in the Jiannei Delta.

"Poor little black people, I hope they are not soaked to the skin." Governor Sander said with noble compassion.

"Don't worry about it. They are not wearing any clothes anyway." Colonel Goyte, the commander of the Manila garrison, laughed mischievously.

"Hahaha!" The Spanish officers burst into laughter.

"Alright, everyone." Governor Sander wiped away the tears from his laughter and said seriously, "Now that the black army has arrived, it's time for us to start our 'clearance operation'."

As he spoke, he took a sip of the blood-red Portugal and said coldly, "Since those Ming people are unwilling to leave on their own initiative, let the black people help them."

"Yes." The Spanish officers nodded.

They naturally knew that the Governor-General had always believed that the number of Ming expatriates in Luzon should be controlled within 10,000 so that they could feel a little more at ease.

This number can both ensure the basic operation of the city of Santiago and prevent the Spaniards' quality of life from declining too much, and not threaten their local rule.

But the warning from the Coast Guard fleet was still fresh in his mind, so Governor Sander hesitated to take action. First, they had not yet established a firm foothold in the Philippines; second, it was too far from Mexico; third, the cost of conquering Luzon was huge. In addition to maintaining a large number of troops, they also had to spend a lot of money to bribe some of the natives, and these expenses were basically paid from the profits of the galleon trade.

After learning from the Portuguese lessons, Sander did not dare to easily fall out with "Prince Zhao" who dominated Chinese waters.

But that's human nature. If he doesn't want to do something, then he can do whatever he wants. But if he has to give up under the threat of others, then he will not give up. Even if he can't do it directly, he will find a way to do it in a roundabout way.

This is especially true for the Spanish team, which is currently at the peak of its popularity.

At this time, rebellions broke out in northern Luzon, and his army had to put out fires everywhere. But fighting the rebellious natives in muddy villages and dense forests was not what the Spanish army was good at, and the casualties were very heavy, which could be called a nightmare.

Sander had no choice but to call on his Pampanga friends and let the natives fight against the natives, replacing his own army.

But the people of Pampanga are not stupid. Fighting in the rainy season is not only dangerous, but also very hard. So they have to pay more!

Governor Sander thought of a way to kill two birds with one stone. He said to the leader of the Pampanga people, I will not give you more money, but allow you to plunder the ravine before going to war as a reward. As long as you fight well, I will let you plunder the Ming people again when you come back as a reward. How about that?

The people of Pampanga, who lived in the central plains of Luzon, had long coveted the wealthy overseas Chinese, but had never dared to act recklessly because of their power. Now that the Spaniards had given their approval, how could they not agree?

So the Pampanga chieftain, Kenwan, immediately went back to the territory allocated to them by the Spaniards and brought back almost all the men who could be mobilized to Manila, just to rob more property from the Chinese!

~~

"After two lootings, most of the Ming people will surely flee. Your goal of reducing the number of Ming people by half will be achieved." Goyite raised his glass and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Your Excellency."

"Congratulations, Your Excellency." The officers raised their glasses.

"What if they are too ruthless and kill all the Ming people?" Artillery Commander Lieutenant Colonel Juan suddenly asked.

"Hiss..." The Spaniards who were about to toast froze there and looked at the Governor.

"Don't worry, I have made a plan and can handle any situation." Governor Sander maintained the calmness of a nobleman and clinked glasses with everyone, saying, "Gentlemen, please don't be impatient. Let's just be spectators and quietly enjoy this good show. It won't be too late to intervene when necessary."

"Yes." There was a clink of the glasses and everyone clinked their glasses.

Lieutenant Colonel Juan, who loved asking questions, took a sip of his wine and asked again, "Sir, can we explain this to Young Master Zhao?"

"Don't worry, his fleet will not be able to appear in Manila Bay before November. Several months is enough time for us to explain to him, apologize, and even compensate him. By November, the young man's anger will have almost passed." Governor Sander said confidently. But he felt that this was a bit weak, so he raised his voice and said:

"Of course, if he insists on fighting, we will fight him to the end! After defeating him, we can go directly to Guangdong to do business and make more money."

"Haha, Your Excellency is absolutely right." A group of Spanish officers applauded and raised their glasses excitedly:

"May the glory of God shine upon the Habsburg dynasty! His Majesty Philip II will eventually be crowned King of the World!"

"We can also share the glory!" Sander raised his glass again, and the atmosphere of the banquet reached its climax.

~~

The largest house in the stream is also bustling.

That is the home of Chen Mei, president of the Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

But the atmosphere here was far from harmonious. The various overseas Chinese leaders invited by Liu Xuesheng were almost making a noise that would break the roof of his house.

"What? Organize the men and form a self-defense force?" The leader of the Zhangzhou gang, Huang Sanlaozhang, said in horror: "Isn't this just walking into the hands of the red-haired devils?!"

"Yes, yes!" Lin Afa, the leader of the Putian people, also nodded and said, "They are just worried that they have no excuse to deal with us!"

"Mother Selin! The barbarians are at the door, why do you care what the red-haired devils think?!" The hot-tempered Fuqing man, Mr. Gao Erye, roared. "If you don't resist, wash your neck and wait for death!"

"That's right!" Half of the leaders were excited and waved their fists, saying, "Fuck him!"

"We Ming men are not easy to bully!"

"You guys are crazy!" Lin Afa also shouted, "Those Pampanga people came to the royal city to suppress the rebellion, and it is unlikely that they came for us! If you continue to fool around, they will really seduce us and suppress us first!"

"Yes, let's go into the city before dawn and figure it out. At worst we can give gifts to the red-haired masters and ask them to control the foreigners." However, there were also half of the calm faction who felt that the matter could still be mediated.

"Bah, wimp! Stick in the stick, stick in the collar pants!"

"You idiots, you are a piece of shit!" The two sides once again fell into a meaningless quarrel.

"Alright, alright, shut up!" Liu Xuesheng raised his voice and managed to suppress them. He then said to Chen Mei, who had been smoking in silence, "President, tell me what we should do?"

"Alas." Chen Mei took two puffs of her cigarette and sighed, "We need to be thorough in our work. We need to step up patrols tonight to prevent the foreigners from crossing the bridge and causing trouble. I'll go to the Stone Castle in the morning and ask for an explanation..."

Before he could finish his words, a burst of gunfire was heard outside.

Everyone was so scared that they stood up and rushed out of Chen's house to look around.

Then, a fire dragon was seen winding towards the direction of East Bridge in the stream.

There was a large group of people with torches rushing towards the bridge!

The sound of gunfire came from the bridgehead, and there were also loud explosions, and it was obvious that a fight had already broken out there.

"What's going on?!" Chen Mei stamped her feet anxiously and said, "Who dares to fire without permission?!"

"My people!" A fat figure walked over quickly. It was Tang Baolu, the director of the Nanhai Trading Company. Behind him were two fully armed bodyguards. He also held a pistol in his hand and said with a murderous look:

"The Pampanga people were about to charge into the stream to burn, kill and loot, but they were stopped by my men at the bridgehead! What are you still standing there for? Go and support them!"

"Okay!" Mr. Gao took the Western musket from his son, raised the gun and roared, "Fight them!"

The young men who had gathered outside long ago shouted and raised their muskets, bows and arrows, and large swords hidden in bamboo tubes, and rushed towards the East Bridge.

Chen Mei saw that his son Chen Yongquan was also among them, holding in his hand the Spanish flintlock rifle that he had secretly kept!

"It's over, it's over..." Huang San Laozhang cried, "How can I explain to Master Hongmao that I have hidden so many weapons?"

ps. I can only write here today...