Chapter 2017

Both Ran Tianlu and Fang Peng were troubled by the difficult task assigned by Sanya. Although the superiors had given them relatively large control over the operational funds and measures that could be taken, they did not send any personnel to Manila.

support.

Of course, this is also a helpless move. In fact, no one is more professional than the two of them in Spanish intelligence work. After all, they have both lurked in Manila for a period of time and are more familiar with the social conditions in the Spanish-controlled areas. And if they temporarily work

People transferred from other places will definitely not have such experience.

But they are both regional leaders now, and their identities have been exposed in the Battle of Manila, so they can no longer easily take risks, so it is also impossible to take action personally. The two of them thought about it for a long time, and it seems that they really just have to do it.

The remaining option is to use Hispanic intelligence personnel.

But before that, the two decided to find someone else to discuss the feasibility of this plan. As for who knows the Spaniards’ ideas best, it is of course the Spaniards themselves. Just in Manila, there is a

Former Spanish military attaches can provide them with reference opinions in this regard.

When Francis received the notice, he was not in the exclusive office of the Western Management Bureau, but at his own home. Generally, when there was no official business to deal with, he could decide to go home early to rest. In fact, most of the time, he

In this leisurely state. Although he is the director in name, due to his Spanish identity, most of the official affairs are actually handled by his deputy Ge Yong. Francis is helpless about this situation. He understands that the Haihan people just need

He came forward to be this puppet in order to manage the local Hispanic people, but the real authority can only be in the hands of Haihan officials.

But in this way, he would be happy to be a boss. He would show up at the Western Management Bureau every day, drink tea, read newspapers, learn to write Chinese characters and speak Haihan dialect, and go home to rest around noon.

. Compared with when he was a city defense commander before, although this is a bit less prestigious, the work pressure is indeed much less. Moreover, the treatment Haihan gave him is not bad, at least it is the same as the salary of the former leader.

, which is basically enough to maintain life.

Of course, Francis also understood that if his role to the Haihan people was only to be a puppet, it would only be a matter of time before he was ruthlessly kicked out by the Haihan people. After about two or three years, the local society settled down, and Ge Yong or someone from Sanya

Officials will take over his position, and then such good days will probably come to an end. So even though he seems to be leisurely on weekdays, he is still trying to make Haihan notice that he actually has more potential to tap.

Providing information to Haihan's intelligence department is one of the directions in which Francis now plays his role. As the city defense commander of Manila before, he had access to a lot of military secrets, but now that he has joined Haihan, this information will be available to him.

It became a means for him to settle down and make a living. So when he received a notice from the Ministry of Security asking him to attend the meeting, he was not surprised.

Francis asked his servants to prepare the carriage and horses, and then rushed to the security bureau immediately. When he arrived, he found that in addition to the translator, Fang Peng in military uniform was also present, and he couldn't help but murmur to himself. He knew Fang Peng's identity, but Fang Peng

Peng doesn't usually show up at the Security Department's office, and it seems like there's something special going on today.

"Mr. Francis, we invite you here today because we have something we want to hear your opinion on." Ran Tianlu got straight to the point and explained his intention to Francis.

"Send someone to Cebu to collect intelligence?" Francis couldn't help but frowned after hearing Ran Tianlu's plan, and did not respond immediately.

Although he has taken refuge in Haihan now, this is actually a helpless move to protect himself and his family. If he had a choice, he would certainly prefer to stand with his compatriots instead of fighting for these shrewd and vicious Easterners.

He also understood that the grievances between Haihan and Spain would probably be difficult to resolve in the foreseeable future, and battles on the battlefield would inevitably occur. However, he did not expect that it had not been a year since the Battle of Manila ended, and Haihan would

It seems that Han is about to start preparing for the next military operation against Spain.

Seeing that he had not spoken for a long time, Fang Peng could roughly guess what he was thinking, so he advised: "Mr. Francis, the purpose of our plan is not to find out the military situation in Cebu and then launch a military attack on the local area, but to investigate and

Several cases related to Spain. Simply put, we need to know who Spain is providing weapons, equipment and military training services to, and that is our goal."

But Francis is not a mediocre person. He is very clear about the root cause of the conflicts between the two countries. As long as the two parties have plans to continue to expand their territory in the future, the fight between them will never stop. The Kingdom of Spain cannot do it anyway.

Bowing to a small eastern country, so even if the Spaniards in the East Indies cannot defeat Haihan, the conflict between the two countries will continue for a long time.

Regarding this, the Haihan people, who are very familiar with Western affairs, must also be very clear, and with their style of conduct, how can they benevolent and leave Spain a chance to heal and make a comeback. They say they are investigating other targets, but what they actually implement

It's probably time for another plan.

However, with Francis' current status, he cannot rashly raise objections to prevent Haihan from collecting intelligence. After all, the purpose of the two Haihan intelligence officers coming to him was not to inquire whether this matter could be done, but this matter.

What should be done to achieve the goal safely and efficiently.

Francis thought about the stakes and then responded: "Don't worry, you two. As an official of the Haihan Kingdom, I am of course serving the Haihan Kingdom and will not consider other issues. But I have to send people.

Going to Cebu, I have a question, do you two have a suitable candidate?"

Ran Tianlu did not answer his question directly, but first asked: "What kind of person do you think is suitable for carrying out this kind of task?"

Francis knew that this was Ran Tianlu trying to trick him, but he knew that the other party was very shrewd and did not dare to answer perfunctorily. He responded honestly: "Han people or Haihan people are probably not allowed to do it. They will definitely be subject to strict interrogation and inspection after arriving there.

For surveillance, it is better to use Hispanics or indigenous people in the area. They can pretend to be refugees who escaped from Luzon, so they may be able to fool them more easily after arriving in Cebu."

The idea that Francis came up with actually coincided with the ideas of Ran Tianlu and Fang Peng, and they had exactly the same plan. Since Haihan occupied Manila, Spanish immigrants on Luzon Island have also been fleeing, especially those who

Far away from the city of Manila, after hearing the news of the fall of Manila, the first reaction was to escape from Luzon Island as soon as possible, otherwise the enemy would slowly clear them out, which would probably end with a family being destroyed.

However, most of the Spaniards who were able to escape from Luzon actually lived in the Manila Bay Area. Those who could escape did so during the war. Therefore, it often takes a long time for Hispanic immigrants who subsequently fled to find a boat.

The opportunity to go to sea can even be realized by asking the local indigenous people for help. Until almost a year after the war, there are still sporadic Hispanic immigrants fleeing Luzon by sea, and most of these immigrants who escaped will choose to go to Luzon Island.

Heading south to Cebu, after all, it is the second largest Spanish colony in the region, and just going there means safety.

Going to Cebu as a refugee is probably the cheapest and most difficult to expose the cover method. However, the unanimous opinion did not let Ran Tianlu let Francis go, but continued to ask: "Then if this method is adopted, what will happen to us?"

What are the negative consequences of the goal to be achieved?”

Ran Tianlu kept asking questions, which meant that he wanted to take the exam for Francis. Francis did not dare to neglect, and continued to respond cautiously: "If you go to Cebu as a refugee, then the biggest problem is probably that it is difficult to contact the upper class people.

, the channels for obtaining information will be subject to certain restrictions."

The problem mentioned by Francis does indeed exist objectively. If you go to the local area as a refugee, according to the usual practice, you will most likely be resettled by the authorities to the outskirts of the city, where the refugees will be allowed to open up wasteland and farm land in exchange for work. If you have skills,

People may still have the opportunity to stay in the city and work, but most of them can only engage in lower-level occupations - after all, most of the truly capable people have already escaped from Manila and only fled to Cebu at this time.

, most of them are farmers scattered throughout Luzon Island.

Going to Cebu with such an identity, it is naturally difficult to have the opportunity to contact high-level people. It is even more difficult to find out secret military information. At least in the short term, it is unlikely to achieve the goal.

Francis continued: "I suggest that the two people you are looking for have a better family background, so that they can create a better false identity. After going to Cebu, they can find opportunities to blend into the upper class. Only by contacting

Only high-level officials have the opportunity to obtain the information you want."

So this goes back to the question Francis raised at the beginning, whether there is a suitable candidate who can take on a more senior role in order to get a good start in Cebu.

But this is precisely one of the shortcomings of the intelligence department currently exposed. Fang Peng and Ran Tianlu exchanged glances with each other, and both of them saw the helpless emotions on each other's faces.

The Hispanics and indigenous people they are currently recruiting from the local area are all from civilian backgrounds. If they want to forcefully pretend to be upper-class figures, they will be exposed to insiders soon. And having said that, most of the upper-class people on Luzon Island originally lived in

In the city of Manila, there are inextricably linked social relationships between these upper-class figures. If they just fabricate a false identity, even if they successfully infiltrate the upper class after arriving there, they will still be exposed due to lack of understanding of these social relationships.

Therefore, although Francis's proposal is good, it is quite difficult to implement, even more difficult than the task of sending people to Cebu to collect intelligence. If they have such a person under their command, they may not need to go out of their way to

Francis called over.

"I'm afraid this can't be done. To be honest, no one under our command can meet the conditions you mentioned." Ran Tianlu finally told the situation frankly.

After hearing this, Francis felt relieved. Of course, he did not hope that Haihan could succeed so easily. After all, thousands of Spaniards in Cebu were his compatriots. And if Haihan quickly succeeded in the East Indies,

Defeat Spain, or even completely drive Spanish forces out of this area, then his role in Manila will become even more negligible. By then, his official position and his current living conditions may also be affected by this.

Therefore, regardless of whether it is public or private, it is beneficial and harmless for Haihan to deal with this matter more slowly.

As for sending some people to Cebu pretending to be refugees, Francis really doesn’t think this method will have much effect. At first, the Manila authorities sent spies like this to Hainan Island, but in the end these Han spies

However, the effect they had was extremely limited, and they failed to play any role in the two key battles with Haihan. These people were of too low status and could only collect some insignificant social and economic information in Haihan Kingdom.

intelligence, but little valuable intelligence has been collected in the most critical military field.

Francis also knew that the two local recruits in front of him were newcomers. It would be good if these people could lurk safely in Cebu. Higher expectations were a bit unrealistic. However, if this was inappropriate, he would definitely not directly

Just say it and let the Haihan people slowly understand it on their own.

Of course, what needs to be done still has to be done. Francis still enthusiastically gave many suggestions on how to lurk in the local area. This was not just a matter of earning trust in front of Haihan officials. He knew that he had given

The more detailed the opinions, the more likely it is that Haihan officials will adopt this approach, and this is already the approach with the least negative impact on the Spanish-controlled areas.

"This is the only thing I can do, and leave the rest to God to decide!" Francis secretly justified his behavior in his heart. He knew that his behavior was actually betrayal to his compatriots, but

You have to find a way to make yourself feel better.

The three people discussed behind closed doors for half a day, and finally came to the conclusion that they could only send people to Cebu to lurk first. As for the task of gathering intelligence, it would depend on the situation of the lurkers in the local area. After all, there is nothing that can be done about this kind of thing.

It's too hasty, not to mention that there are no suitable candidates to carry out the task here in Manila. Try to perfect the action plan, and then seize the time to give the candidates a short training before traveling. That is all they can do at the moment.
Chapter completed!