Outside the ward window, the water walnut tree, unique to Lingnan, has lush dark green leaves and a large and wide crown, like an umbrella, shielding the ward from the afternoon sun.

The dinner table had been cleared, and Zhao Hao and the two old Pan masters were drinking tea while discussing the plan of reopening the Maritime Silk Road.

"But it is difficult to recruit these millions of Chaozhou people from Southeast Asia for your own use." Pan Zhongxian picked up a small teacup and took a sip of Beiyuan tea. "These people are naturally closer to the merchants and pirates emotionally, and they don't trust the government. Moreover, most of them have been rooted in the Southeast Asian countries for generations. Intimidation by fleets alone will not be very effective."

"Yes, so what if you have strong ships and powerful guns? People haven't gone to sea for a few years and are still living well there." Pan Jixun also nodded. He was a member of the river faction and had an instinctive prejudice against the ocean faction.

"No, no, Nanyang is no longer peaceful." Zhao Hao shook his head and smiled faintly: "According to the latest news from Luzon Station, the Spaniards have captured Manila and the local Sultan Suleiman was killed in the battle. After the Spaniards occupied Manila, they adopted a high-pressure rule. The lives of the local Han people have become very difficult..."

When Zhao Hao returned to Tamra after completing his trial voyage, he received reports from the Jiangnan Trade Stations in Cebu and Manila that the Spanish had begun to frequently spy on Manila, and were buying military supplies and recruiting native soldiers in Macau, Annan, Malacca and other places. All signs indicated that they were about to launch an invasion of the Little Luzon Sultanate in Manila.

When Zhao Hao arrived in Chaozhou, he received the latest report - the so-called Spanish 'Governor of the Philippines' Legazpi, with the support of Mexican reinforcements, formed a fleet of more than 2,000 soldiers, including 400 Spaniards, five large sailing ships, and 23 large and small ships, and launched an invasion of Manila.

In the eyes of the Ming people, it was simply wishful thinking to want to conquer a country with only more than 2,000 people, most of whom were indigenous mercenaries with low combat effectiveness.

But that was an illusion created by the Ming Dynasty's long period of isolation. To deal with the Southeast Asian countries that had not yet formed a strong national organization, this army of 2,000 people was more than enough.

In fact, Legazpi only planned to deploy half of his troops to deal with the native soldiers of Luzon. The other half was used to guard against the Portuguese and the Ming Dynasty's sea lords from behind. The Portuguese in Macau, in particular, had already been resentful of their blatant violation of the treaty and occupation of Cebu. Now that the Spaniards were going further and wanted to completely take over Luzon Island, there was no guarantee that they would not jump out and ruin their plans.

As for the more powerful Ming Empire? Legazpi was not worried, because Spain was also a great empire, so he knew how slow such a country was in making decisions. I'm afraid that by the time the Ming Empire made a decision and sent out its fleet, the grass on the grave of Luzon Sultan Suleiman would be two feet high, right?

Soon after the Spanish fleet set out to sea, it encountered storms again. Two ships were leaking and returned, and only 880 people landed in Manila Bay. However, those huge ships like hills and rows of roaring cannons had frightened the peace-loving chieftain Raja Matanda, who removed the fortifications and raised the white flag to surrender, allowing the Spaniards to enter Manila unscathed.

However, the battle was not over, because the Luzon Sultan Suleiman had already taken the initiative to retreat to the north, buying time to unite all forces and seek help from neighboring countries and the suzerain.

But the plan was not implemented smoothly. The countries in Southeast Asia were unwilling to offend the terrifying Portuguese easily... They could not distinguish between the Spanish and Portuguese, so they confused them together.

There is nothing wrong with this, because they are birds of a feather, the former is just stronger and therefore more brutal and direct, while the latter is weaker and therefore uses more roundabout means.

The Ming Dynasty was not afraid of Spain, but it was afraid of trouble. Moreover, the imperial court in Beijing had always been dissatisfied with the Luzon Kingdom, which attracted the people of Fujian and Guangdong to abandon their homes and flee to the sea. They even regarded the Spanish invasion as a punishment for defectors and harborers. How could they send troops to help?

Without external aid, Suleiman could only rely on his own people. However, the natives on Luzon were scattered and their mobilization capacity was shockingly low. In the end, Suleiman tried his best but could only recruit 2,000 people.

Compared with the shortage of troops, the gap in weapons and equipment was even more despairing. The so-called warships of the Luzon natives were only 25 meters in length at most, and the hull was slender, which could carry more than 200 people. But 80% of them were rowers, and there were only 30 to 40 combat soldiers.

These soldiers stood on a high platform in the middle of the ship, fighting the enemy with javelins, bows and arrows, and darts. They were extremely primitive and backward. Compared with them, the Japanese navy was a powerful and invincible fleet.

Therefore, this was a hopeless war whose ending was doomed before it even began. As soon as Suleiman and his entire force entered Manila Bay, they were bombarded by the Spanish fleet, causing heavy losses.

However, Suleiman still ordered the fleet to continue charging, hoping to get close to the invaders and use the advantage of military strength to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

However, he did not know that the enemy's navy was the strongest in the world and would not give him any chance. Facing these fragile boats that did not know their own strength, the Spanish galleons did not even need to fire their guns. They simply took advantage of the wind and rammed into the natives with full sails, and easily sank them.

In the end, Suleiman was killed by a cannon and his fleet was annihilated. In order to deter the local natives, Legazpi ordered all the captives to be beheaded and their heads to be hung in Manila as a warning to others. As expected, the locals were frightened and trembled, and no one dared to resist the invaders.

Then, Legazpi moved the Governor's Office from Cebu to Luzon and forced all Luzon residents to convert to Catholicism. This was not a big deal for the local natives, because the Arab religion had only been spread in the area for a short time, and only the upper nobles believed in Allah, while the majority of the lower class people were still not convinced of Islam. So Legazpi killed all the upper class who dared to resist, and forced the upper class who did not dare to resist to convert, and the matter was settled.

What the Spanish were most worried about was the Chinese community of more than 20,000 people. This group, with one-tenth of the population, controlled 80% of the local wealth. And they had the powerful Ming Empire as their backing... This was of course a misjudgment by Legazpi. In fact, the Ming Dynasty regarded these overseas Han people as bandits and wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Of course, the Chinese would not tell the Spaniards this. The Spaniards knew they were in the wrong when they invaded the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, and they would not take the initiative to confront their suzerain state, so they have been kept in the dark for many years...

~~

"Spain is a very interesting country." Young Master Zhao sipped Chaoshan Kung Fu tea and said to the two old Pans slowly:

"Although they were the first country to start the great voyages, they were always very conservative. They did not want their gold and silver to flow out, and they did not want foreigners to make money from them. They had the mentality of 'there are always wicked people who want to harm me', and they were extremely hostile and defensive towards all foreigners, especially pagans. So the situation of the local Chinese can be imagined."

"Isn't this 'washed duck' just a local tyrant who has done all kinds of evil things?" Pan Jixun sneered and said incredulously: "Can such a person establish the Sun... the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets?"

"First, they took action early." Zhao Hao smiled and said, "And their army is really strong. Not only is the navy strong, but the army is also strong. If we want to reopen the Maritime Silk Road, they are the enemy we must defeat!"

"Then take action as soon as possible, and drive them out of Luzon while they are still not firmly established!" After Pan Zhongxian arrived in Guangdong, he truly felt how close the red-haired devils were to the Ming Dynasty. How can I allow others to snore beside my bed? The old professor, who had always won people over with his virtue, naturally also shouted for fighting and killing.

"I want to, but it's not that easy." Zhao Hao spread his hands and said, "Besides, our fleet, which has only been formed for more than two years, is no match for the Spanish. Even if we can fight them, we don't have the conditions to do so!"

"Why?"

Facing the puzzled looks of the two old Pan masters, Zhao Hao pointed to the teacup on the far left of the tea tray in front of him and said, "Our coast guard fleet is on Jeonra Island."

Then he pointed to a teacup on the far right and said, "The Spanish fleet is on Luzon Island, which is more than 4,000 miles away."

Then he pointed to the teapot, fairness cup and other utensils between the two teacups and said, "In the middle are Ryukyu, Taiwan... Oh no, Dayuan, and the sea lords of Fujian and Guangdong who are stirring up trouble. If we don't deal with these forces, how can our fleet go south?"

"Uh..." The two old Pans smacked their lips and kept silent. They were once officials of the Ming Dynasty, so they naturally looked down on the forces at sea. But this time, the fleet that covered the sky and the sun, didn't it leave a deep impression on them?

Fortunately, Zeng Yiben had taken advantage of his weaknesses to attack the city. If he had encountered such a huge fleet at sea, what would have happened? Just thinking about it makes people shudder, right?

"In addition, we have to have a legitimate reason, both internally and externally." Zhao Hao sighed again, a little confused: "Externally, Luzon is not a hostile Japan, and the flow of people and information between it and Fujian and Guangdong is very frequent. So it is impossible to be like in Japan, where the sky is exposed and no one in China knows about it."

The two old Pans were both senior cadres with high political awareness, so they naturally understood what Zhao Hao meant. Without a legitimate name as a cover, rashly sending a fleet to Luzon to start a war would definitely arouse the fear of the court. By then, there would be big trouble!

"What about the outside world?" Pan Jixun asked again.

"Foreign countries? Most likely, the countries in Southeast Asia are vassals of the Ming Dynasty. Although they have been deprived of the imperial power for more than a hundred years, they have received a lot of grace from the Celestial Empire." Zhao Hao said with a teasing smile: "After all, it is rare to find a suzerain country like the Ming Dynasty that adheres to the 'returning favors with less' policy for two hundred years without wavering."

ps. First update, please vote for me!!!