Chapter 953: Scheme against each other

The current decline faced by Spain is not just a military defeat. In fact, before the outbreak of the Taipei War, Spain's trade in Northeast Asia had already shown a downward trend year by year. Especially glassware, which was originally made from

Some of the goods that Western merchants specialize in have been gradually squeezed out of the market by Haihan who came up from behind. Ming merchants sold more and bought less in Manila, and the trade deficit became larger year by year. If it were not for the support of silver from the American colonies, Manila would

The economic situation of this place has long since collapsed.

Under this economic situation, the Manila authorities naturally have no spare money to strengthen the local armed forces, and Aragones dare not use the silver stockpile for military expansion at will, which will easily be used by people in the country as having "illegitimate motives."

The crime was mentioned in a book. So after the Haihan people declared undeclared war on the Spanish strongholds in Taipei, Aragones was afraid that he would not be able to defeat the Haihan people, so he did not dare to take violent retaliation at the first time. This cannot be said to be right.

The wrong response has caused the Manila authorities to fall into a series of passivity. One step is slow and the other is slow. Now the Manila authorities want to find a suitable way to deal with Haihan's pressing pressure, only to find that there seems to be not much left.

It gives you room to operate at home.

At this time, it is no longer meaningful to reflect on Spain’s mistakes in trade strategy. Manila is not a manufacturing center, and the goods it can provide have no obvious advantages in terms of technology and cost. It is also relatively far away from the Ming Dynasty.

For some, it is difficult to compete with Haihan in trading ability.

Aragones complained for a while and then turned the topic back to business: "Sanchez, if we continue to wait like this, sooner or later we will be squeezed out of the Far East market bit by bit by the Haihan people. Without the various products produced in the Ming Dynasty,

If we plant good things, our efforts in the Far East will be meaningless. We can no longer wait for the situation to continue to deteriorate, we must find a way to change the current unfavorable situation!"

Sanchez responded: "Sir, if you really plan to take action, now is the best time!"

Aragones was surprised: "What basis do you have?"

Sanchez said solemnly: "The main force of the Haihan people went to fight in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas of the Ming Dynasty in the first half of the year. After completing the mission, they stayed there as permanent troops. And the fleet that went south for military exercises this time also set out from Sanya. Judging from its size,

It should be one of Haihan's main fleets. Just imagine, if the Haihan people send the main forces of the navy and army to perform tasks far away, how much defense capability does their base camp have? If they use this opportunity to directly attack Sanya,

Maybe it will work wonders."

"That's it?" Aragones asked, staring at Sanchez's face.

Sanchez was also unsure of Aragones' intentions and could only nod his head and said: "Although we don't know the specific deployment status of Haihan's army, judging from their recent troop movements, the situation should be roughly like this. During this period

Perhaps this is when the defenses of their home base are at their weakest."

Aragones looked quite disappointed: "Sanchez, I think after what happened last time, your way of thinking about problems should become more mature and comprehensive, but now it seems that you have not learned anything because of the previous lessons.

Change. Impulse without basis. This kind of personality will kill you sooner or later!"

Sanchez looked dissatisfied. Before he could explain a few words, Aragones raised his hand to signal him not to say any more: "You said 'not sure' and 'maybe', just relying on one piece of insufficient evidence."

Are you ready to start a war based on speculation? Sanchez, this is not your doorstep, but an area more than 20,000 nautical miles away from our country! The total number of Spaniards in the entire Far East is only four to five thousand, you

How many troops do you think we can put into this war?"

Speaking of excitement, Aragones poured the remaining wine in the glass down his throat, then stood up and continued: "The Haihan people are not the indigenous people we killed on Luzon Island. They not only have guns and cannons,

And they know the tactics of fighting very well. They have fully proved their strength when they attacked Tamsui and Chicken Coop this year. If you want to deal with them as enemies of the same level as the natives, you are making a big mistake!"

Aragones walked to a map of the South China Sea hanging on the wall, pointed to the location of Qiongzhou Island and said: "Have you ever thought about it, if the Haihan people deliberately arranged the illusion that the base camp's defenses were empty, in order to lure the enemy to take action

, then what will be the consequences if we rush over?"

Sanchez felt cold sweat break out on his back. He had never thought about the possibility Aragones said, because in his subconscious, the Haihan people's strategy could not reach such a high level. Sanchez stammered

Said: "Maybe... their original intention is not that..."

"Stop talking to me about maybes!" Aragones roared and interrupted Sanchez: "It was you guys who told me that there might be a large number of Ming Dynasty businessmen coming south to Manila! What happened? I lost money.

I made a huge sum of money and lost the best opportunity to respond!”

In fact, Aragones may not really think that Haihan's troop mobilization is a conspiracy theory. He is just subconsciously no longer willing to trust the judgment of his staff because of the big mistakes he made before.

Seeing that Sanchez was no longer arguing, Aragones regained his temper a little: "We need more accurate information now. Has this month's report been sent back?"

Sanchez shook his head and said: "According to the past time, it will probably take about ten days."

"It's been too long... Think of a way to make our intelligence system operate more efficiently. Don't get information every time that happened a month or two ago!" Aragones said in a stern tone: "

I don’t want to know how many new houses and docks the Haihan people have built in Sanya. I want to know their military establishment, weapons standards, personnel appointments, who they are dealing with and who they are preparing to deal with! Give me some useful information, don’t always

Bring back some innocuous second-hand news to deal with it!"

Sanchez could only agree repeatedly, but he was secretly unhappy. In fact, intelligence work was not his main business. It was just that Mr. Harvey, who was previously responsible for this area of ​​affairs, had been imprisoned, so Aragones handed over this area of ​​affairs.

He was given the responsibility - of course, this responsibility meant that he had to shoulder the responsibility as well.

The Manila authorities had sent people to lurk in Sanya as early as two years ago, and regularly passed information back to Manila through the cover of merchant ships every month. However, because the people lurking there failed to blend into the Haihan bureaucracy, they could not contact the real people.

In the inner circle, a lot of intelligence information is superficial, and there is not much military and political information that is truly valuable for reference. The reports sent back to Manila every month are just chores related to people's livelihood. When Haihan raided Taipei

At the stronghold, the personnel lurking in Sanya failed to send back any warning information in advance. It is actually understandable that Aragones would be angry with the staff responsible for intelligence collection afterwards.

After Aragones lost his temper, he still left the matter to Santos. Santos returned to the port full of anger. He originally wanted to take credit for the news he received, but he never expected to be scolded again.

He was furious. He immediately ordered people to call the Arab businessman Hassan and told him: "Hassan, I have a secret letter to be sent to Sanya as soon as possible. According to the old rules, I will pay

Twenty silver coins for your hard work."

But Hassan smiled slyly and said: "No, no, my lord, twenty silver coins was just the price in the past. Now it costs fifty silver coins to send a message to Sanya."

Sanchez said angrily: "The voyage from Manila to Sanya has not changed, so why has the price increased so much?"

Hassan responded: "The Haihan people have announced a law before. Anyone who successfully exposes a potential spy will be rewarded with fifty Haihan coins, which can be converted into Spanish silver coins or a little more. I also take into account the relationship between us.

I am willing to accept this business from you because of our long-term cooperative relationship. If it were someone else, I might have accepted the letter from you and taken the money, and then went to the Haihan people to ask for reward."

Sanchez was dumbfounded. He couldn't immediately confirm whether Hassan's words were bragging to blackmail him or if they were true. But if just for the price difference of 30 silver coins, the information that had been lurking in Sanya for two years would be revealed.

The personnel were exposed, and he really did not dare to take such a stupid risk.

"This profiteer!" Sanchez cursed secretly in his heart, but he did not dare to offend Hassan easily. This guy has sent several letters to people lurking in Sanya in the past. If he offended him, his insiders would also be in danger.

Of course, another way to solve the problem is to kill Hassan immediately to completely avoid the risk of leaks. However, Sanchez has just taken over the intelligence stall, and he cannot find anyone else to take over Hassan's role of picking up secret messages to Sanya, so

He could only tolerate the extortion by this Arab profiteer. But considering the security issues in the future, Sanchez believed that Hassan could no longer be hired with peace of mind and had to find a proper solution.

"Okay Hassan, just as you said, fifty silver coins." Sanchez tried his best to restrain the anger in his heart and made his tone obviously calmer: "Tomorrow I will have someone send the secret message to your ship, you

Let’s leave for Sanya as soon as possible.”

"But the goods I want to buy haven't been collected yet." Hassan complained: "The Haihan people are very interested in buying cattle and sheep skins, but this time I am still short of half of the amount I want to buy. I asked your people today

Yes, they said that due to various reasons, it will be out of stock in the near future, and the price may have to be increased."

The reason for this matter is that Sanchez knows that most of the cattle and sheepskins sold in the Manila market are trafficked from the American colonies, and the sales targets are mainly Haihan. These people seem to have a special hobby for leather products, and the number of purchases every year is

Very large. It is said that even the soldiers under his command began to be equipped with leather military boots on a large scale, plus leather belts, armed belts, and water bladders. This outfit was simply a luxury. However, the animal husbandry in the Lingnan area of ​​the Ming Dynasty was not

Underdeveloped, the supply of cattle and sheep leather is far less than that of the American colonies with a large number of farms, and there is no advantage in terms of price. Therefore, Spain has become Haihan's main supplier of leather. Even after the two sides turned against each other, this kind of transaction continued.

It continues to be carried out through intermediaries.

However, a large-scale livestock plague occurred in Spain's colonies in the Americas last year. In order to prevent infection, a large number of cattle and sheep were slaughtered and directly burned and buried. This resulted in a reduction in the number of cattle and sheep skins delivered to Manila by the previous galleons.

It is now almost the end of the year, and the sailing fleet from the Americas will not arrive here for several months. The stock of cattle and sheepskins in Manila has begun to be emptied, and it is useless for Hassan to complain.

"If you don't have any leather, just buy something else!" Sanchez said angrily: "Does the Haihan people only buy leather from you?"

"They also need copper, a lot of copper." Hassan added: "Leather and copper are the most purchased goods from me."

The industrial development process of Haihan requires a large amount of copper resources. However, the existing Shilu mine production is still mainly iron ore, and the copper ore output cannot meet its own needs. Therefore, the Philippines, which is rich in copper ore reserves, has also become a maritime region.

One of the goals of Haihan's acquisition of copper. Of course, the Spanish are not stupid. Copper has many functions in military and navigation. Therefore, the Manila authorities have been controlling the amount of copper exported to Haihan to try to prevent Haihan from using the copper produced in the Philippines.

Copper to strengthen its own strength.

Copper has high density, high unit value, and does not require complicated packaging and storage. It is suitable to be used directly as ballast, so it is also a highly profitable commodity for maritime merchants. However, Hassan is used for

The quota for purchasing copper has long been used up, and now the matter is obviously being negotiated with Sanchez.

Sanchez took a deep breath, calmed down, and then nodded and said: "Okay Hassan, I will open a bill of lading for you right now, and you can take away the goods you want when you go to the warehouse and pay. But

I want to remind you that the goods you buy can only be shipped directly and cannot be stored locally!"

Sanchez's method is also to prevent speculators like Hassan from playing tricks. If he buys a lot in one go and then transports it to the sea one by one in the future, then the current law restricting copper exports will be equivalent to being invalidated. Let him

If you ship it directly and ship it away, you can only make a profit for this trip, and you won't break the rules too much.

Hassan smiled and bowed humbly to Sanchez and said, "Thank you for taking care of me, sir. I think I can leave early tomorrow morning. I will definitely forward your confidential message to you. Please rest assured!"

"I also wish you all the best in your trip to Sanya and that you can make a lot of money from the Haihan people!" Sanchez forced a smile and said through gritted teeth.
Chapter completed!