Chapter 2016

Haihan is very familiar with using military means to occupy areas that were originally ruled by another country. Over the years, foreign territorial expansion has mostly been carried out in this way, and the effect is very significant. Compared with Haihan, Among other ruling areas conquered by force overseas, the process of Manila being included in the Haihan territory was not special. After finding sufficient reasons for using force, they assembled heavy troops to attack the local area, drive away the original rulers, and then build a local A new governing body affiliated with Haihan.

Of course, it was difficult for the defeated to accept such an ending. After all, it took the Spanish more than half a century to build this city in Manila Bay and regarded it as the empire's bridgehead and trade center in the far east. But such an important city However, the area was taken away by the rising star of the South China Sea by force. The Spaniards were naturally unwilling to fail and kept trying the possibility of recapturing the city of Manila from Haihan after the war.

However, the offensive and defensive battle around Manila City at the beginning of the year severely damaged the Spanish authorities, losing more than half of their armed forces. They also realized that if they continued to fight the Haihan Army on the frontal battlefield, they would only suffer the loss. On the one hand, sending a fleet to attack Manila Bay is considered to be an unrealistic idea. After all, in the history of naval battles between the two sides, Spain has almost never taken advantage. Just achievements.

Therefore, the Spanish authorities improved their strategies and no longer tried to solve the problem directly by force. Instead, they started to have other ideas. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Establishing relationships with other anti-Haihan forces has also become a key factor for the Spanish authorities in One of the countermeasures at this stage.

But this is easy to say, but not easy to implement. After losing the bridgehead of Manila, the Spanish authorities had no choice but to move their seat south, initially to the Batangas region at the southern tip of Luzon Island, but this place It was too close to Manila Bay, and the Haihan fleet stationed in Manila Port could raid here at any time. It was extremely unsafe to place the base here, so they could only continue to move south.

At this time, Spain had actually established a large number of colonies in the East Indies, but there were only a handful of places that could reach the scale of operations in Manila. After all, Spain had been operating in this area for more than half a century, and its main resources were It was placed in Manila. But this approach of putting eggs in one basket has now tasted the bitter fruit. Once you encounter a strong enemy like Haihan, conquering Manila is equivalent to defeating Spain.

Because there was not much room for choice, the Spanish authorities quickly confirmed that they would move the seat south to Cebu in the Visayas. Cebu actually has a longer history than Manila. It was long before the Spaniards came here. Before that, the local area was already a very prosperous tribe. In April 1521, the Spanish navigator Magellan arrived in Cebu. Between 1565 and 1571, Cebu was the capital of Spain in the East Indies. The Spanish It landed in Manila in 1571, half a century later than Magellan.

However, the seaport conditions in Cebu are not as good as those in Manila with its natural bay. Therefore, after building a castle in Manila, the Spanish authorities quickly moved their seat to Manila in the north. In fact, the shortest flight between the two places is only It is more than 400 nautical miles away, but Manila's location is closer to the Ming Dynasty, the trade target of the Spaniards. This not only facilitates their cross-border trade, but is also an important springboard for northward development.

In 1626, the Spanish built two fortresses, Santo Domingo City and San Salvador City, in the northern part of Taiwan Island in an attempt to establish a colony there. If this process was not interrupted by the Haihan people who fell from the sky, at least in the next few years

, they still hope to extend their trade routes and control areas further north.

Of course, after Haihan sent troops to seize the two ports of Tamsui and Jilong in 1633, the Spanish colonial authorities could no longer continue their wishful thinking. They suddenly discovered that their main opponents in the East were not around the world.

The Dutch, who are fighting fiercely, are a small country that has only been established for a few years and has never been heard of before.

In the subsequent years of fighting with Haihan, it can be said that Spain did not gain much advantage. Instead, it allowed Haihan to find an excuse to raise troops to attack. After losing Manila, the Spanish authorities finally realized what had happened in the past few years.

If you make a wrong decision, start adjusting your coping strategies.

In the battle against Manila, the Haihan Army used a joint force composed of the Ming Dynasty, Annan, Portugal and other countries. This also made the Spaniards begin to reflect on their own weak strength in this area, except for the East Indies.

Except for the indigenous soldiers, there was not even a single reinforcement from the outside. Although the Governor of the Philippines, Aragones, did not understand what "the wise man will help more", he also knew that if he continued to rely on his own strength to fight against

If Haihan fights against each other, the effect will definitely not be ideal.

The crime of abandoning Manila will definitely be held accountable by the royal family, but Aragones does not know when domestic sanctions will arrive in the Philippines. Since he has not left office yet, he also wants to try his best to do more things when the time is right.

At that time, they counterattacked Manila and made the Haihan people understand that the Kingdom of Spain was not a soft persimmon.

In fact, in the past two or three years, it is not that no one has come to us and wants to join forces with the Spaniards, but Aragones has not relented and agreed due to various considerations. But now the Spaniards have no capital to be picky anymore.

, in order to curb Haihan's development momentum in East Asia and the South China Sea, it would be impossible without attracting more forces to join. So the proud Governor-General of the Philippines finally lowered his head and began to fight with some people he did not approve of before.

Make contact and follow each other's suggestions to seek like-minded allies on a larger scale.

The cooperation process was not as smooth as Aragones expected. Because the geographical scope spanned was so large and the time required for information transmission was also very long, Aragones had to choose to compromise to a certain extent and reach a rough agreement.

After expressing the intention to cooperate, they began to invest resources unilaterally according to the other party's requirements and left it to the other party for implementation.

There is no other reason. The potential cooperation partners are all in the northern coastal areas of the mainland, and if the Spaniards show up there, it will be too ostentatious, and it is easy to attract unnecessary attention, or even get burned more seriously. They only

A small number of manpower can be sent to sneak into these areas with the help of partners to participate in and supervise the implementation process of the plan. In this way, Spain will not be able to dominate the direction of the operation, and the early investment will easily end up in vain.

Of course, this is not all bad for Spain. In addition to reducing the risk of exposure of personnel involved in the operation, it will also save a lot of personnel expenses. This method does not require Spain to send a large number of personnel overseas.

Just provide military assistance, and this is not a free investment. The partner will also give corresponding economic rewards. However, because the destination is far away, the repayment period may be longer. If the operation goes smoothly, the Spaniards can even

Make a lot of money from the arms trade brought about by this partnership.

But for these overseas cooperation objects and related plans, not many people in the Spanish authorities actually know the inside story. Only a few direct participants sent overseas and senior officials responsible for the plan formulation have key information. Therefore, within Aragon,

Si actually didn't think much about the issue of confidentiality, and he didn't think Haihan would be aware of his ongoing plan in the short term.

However, things are unpredictable. Who would have thought that the Spanish partners did not intend to keep a low profile. When they learned that the Joseon Crown Prince was on an envoy to Haehan and might study in Haehan for a long time, they immediately formulated an assassination plan in an attempt to use this opportunity.

To affect the diplomatic relations between North Korea and Haihan.

But in fact, Cebu was not notified by its partners in time. The few Luzon people sent to participate in the operation were only personnel sent by the Spanish authorities to the partners in the early stage to act as mobile forces. After that, a series of weapons were sent to various places.

The exposure of relevant incidents finally allowed Haihan to return his attention to the South China Sea and focus on the Spanish side. However, at this time, Aragones still had not learned what was happening in the outside world, and had no idea that Haihan was using

Various means were used to trace the source and whereabouts of these weapons, as well as the third-party forces that provided channels for the Spaniards.

After receiving the telegram instructions from Sanya, the heads of the local security department and the military intelligence agency in Manila immediately met to discuss the matter. It is only in Manila that the heads of these two agencies can sit together for a meeting.

A unique scene, because Ran Tianlu and Fang Peng were partners who used their identities as the boss of Chaosheng Commercial Inn and the leader of the guard before that, and they experienced the most dangerous moments together during the Battle of Manila, which can be regarded as a unique scene.

Therefore, between the two of them, the competitive relationship between the Ministry of Security and the Military Intelligence Agency is not as obvious as elsewhere, and many security and intelligence matters are discussed and handled together.

In the instructions sent from Sanya this time, the Executive Committee also clearly requested that the two departments work together to ensure that the relevant investigations can proceed smoothly. This is exactly what they want, and they no longer have to think about how to avoid friends.

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Inquiring into the situation in the Spanish-controlled areas has actually never stopped, whether before or after the Battle of Manila. However, considering security issues, neither department has rashly tried to send people deep into enemy-controlled areas to inquire.

As for intelligence, as for the establishment of an intelligence network in enemy-controlled areas, it has always remained a paper plan and has not been put into practice.

This is not because they do not strive to make progress and work perfunctorily, but because it is difficult for a clever woman to make a living without rice. After the war, the total number of personnel stationed in Manila of the two intelligence agencies was less than fifty, and half of them were responsible for intelligence compilation and statistics.

, the civilian personnel analyzed, and excluding the field operators who specialize in special tasks, those who have real experience in lurking espionage, and they themselves are only about ten people. And these people are almost all Han Chinese. If you want to go to the Spanish

The Port of Cebu under the rule is really a very eye-catching presence.

Therefore, in order to more covertly monitor the Spanish-controlled areas, the two intelligence agencies successively recruited a group of young Hispanics and Luzon natives after the war. Although these people are not yet loyal to Haihan, they are

For them, working for the Haihan Intelligence Agency not only provides them with better development opportunities and more generous remuneration, but also provides them with the highly sought-after Haihan nationality. It is difficult to find a better way out than this in Manila.

.

However, due to cultural differences, in order to train these foreign young people into intelligence personnel who can carry out independent missions, the training required is not as simple as that of Han employees. Although the intelligence collection and transmission process can be carried out using the skills they have mastered.

To complete the language and text, professionals will be responsible for translating and organizing the materials later. However, because these newcomers do not understand Chinese at all, a lot of time has been spent in the training process, and the training effect is far from the ideal level.

According to the assessment standards of these two intelligence agencies for newcomers, no newcomer has yet reached the passing mark. A wiser approach is to let the newcomers continue to lurk locally as civilians and receive professional training while practicing basic espionage skills.

After a year or two, he will have learned almost all the skills he needs to learn, and then he will be sent to lurk in the Spanish-controlled areas in the south.

But the instructions from Fort Victory advanced this time point by at least a year. The above request asked them to send a group of foreign intelligence personnel to the areas around Cebu as soon as possible to investigate who was carrying out the Spanish military output. If

It would be best to find out what forces are in this system.

"This is really difficult!" Ran Tianlu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "With the newcomers we have on hand, if we send them to Cebu, we are afraid that their identities will be exposed soon. If they are incited to become double agents again, we will be in trouble.

But it’s so big!”

Fang Peng said solemnly: "But this is an order from the Executive Committee. You and I are not allowed to argue. No matter how difficult it is, we can only follow it. For the current plan, we can only think about how to arrange it to minimize the risk. As for the Executive Committee

Regarding the request for investigation, I am afraid that it will not be easy to find out the truth, unless there is a way to contact senior Spanish officials. But these newcomers we recruited before are all from civilian backgrounds. Even if they go to the local area, they will not be able to find out the truth.

It is difficult to have channels to reach high-ranking officials.”

After some discussion, the two felt that this move was very difficult. The most difficult thing was that they did not have the right people to carry out the task. Even if they could formulate an action plan, these people might not be able to complete it.
Chapter completed!