Chapter 2019

If Hispanic people want to get a life-changing opportunity after the change of rulers in the Manila area, they can only find such official jobs and rely on working for the official to gain recognition from the authorities, thereby gaining the opportunity to naturalize. After successfully joining,

Only after obtaining Haihan nationality can one hope to break through the class and transform from a lower-class person to a superior person. Jose may not have had such awareness before, but he has been slowly instilled with many concepts in the past six months after joining the army, and naturally he has already understood himself.

The future lies.

Becoming a Hispanic intelligence officer means that Jose will completely break away from his previous status and truly enter an official career. This is a situation that he did not even dare to think about during the Spanish rule. Several generations of Jose's family have gone up.

They are all farmers, but starting from his generation, the family's destiny seems to be finally developing in a better direction.

Therefore, for the intelligence agencies, it is a catch-up operation, but for participants like Jose, it is an excellent opportunity to change their destiny, even if he knows that his professional abilities may still be relatively lacking, and he may even

Despite taking great risks during the mission, he was still willing to take the risk.

Not to mention, there are two excellent role models in front of him. Jose once listened to Ran Tianlu and Fang Peng recount their experiences of lurking in Manila City. The mission that these two men performed at the beginning was the same as the mission he received now.

Is it? They are also lurking in enemy territory to collect intelligence, and the targets are also Spanish colonial authorities, and at least they have Hispanic identity as a cover. Logically speaking, the difficulty of performing the task should be easier than the original situation of these two officers.

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These two officers relied on their achievements as spies in Manila City to be promoted to regional leaders. As we all know, Haihan's main opponent in this region is Spain, and some professionals will inevitably be needed in the future.

As the first Hispanic intelligence officer to be responsible for the intelligence work against Spain, it is obviously very likely that the first Hispanic intelligence officer will receive excellent treatment and serve as an example for those who come after him. This is indeed a goal worth taking the risk for Jose.

As for everyone except Jose, they have not shown many strengths yet, especially the local natives of Luzon Island. Perhaps they are limited by their vision and knowledge. Basically, they can only do things step by step as instructed, subjectively.

Poor mobility. If it were not for the need for a group of indigenous intelligence agents who can easily conceal their identities, the Ministry of Security and Military Intelligence would not even want to recruit these indigenous personnel with low qualifications.

The main responsibility of these indigenous intelligence agents who were selected to participate in this operation was to act as crew members, transport Jose safely to Cebu, and cooperate with his actions as witnesses who could prove Jose's identity - to put it bluntly

That is, a tool man.

Ran Tianlu didn't expect these people to collect any valuable information from Cebu. As long as they could cooperate with Jose safely, it was enough. Therefore, the most important thing he told them was to "forget their identities and put themselves aside."

Just treat them like ordinary sailors." As long as these people don't take the initiative to cause trouble after arriving in Cebu, Ran Tianlu believes that his arrangement will be able to deceive the Spaniards and allow them to settle down safely in the local area.

Due to the rush of time, it is difficult to impart more systematic professional knowledge to these personnel. We can only seize the time to strengthen their understanding of intelligence collection work, let them know where to start after they go to the local area, and clarify what they need to investigate.

Through which channels the information will be obtained, and what taboos must be avoided in intelligence work.

As for the goal of building an intelligence network, Ran Tianlu and Fang Peng hold relatively conservative opinions on this for the time being. Although they also want to achieve this goal, the people they send out have no relevant experience, and it is easy to cause trouble if they operate rashly, so they plan to

After Jose successfully settles in the local area, we will slowly plan the establishment of the intelligence network. Of course, if Jose can successfully complete the preliminary preparations, then when the intelligence network is initially established, it will most likely be handed over to him to operate.

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While training the personnel involved in the operation, preparations for related materials were quickly completed. The Military Intelligence Bureau specifically found a small sailboat captured at the local port at the beginning of the year, and hid a large sum of money in the cabin on the ship.

Operation funds, but Fang Peng asked Jose not to use the reserve funds unless absolutely necessary, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the Spanish authorities. Of course, if Jose becomes greedy and wants to take the operation funds for himself, then he may

You have to consider the situation of your family in Manila.

After ten days of intensive special training, Jose and others boarded the sailboat from the pier at the mouth of the Pasig River one early morning and quietly sailed away from Manila.

"Brother Fang, what do you think? What are the chances of something happening?" Ran Tianlu asked Fang Peng, who was also seeing him off, as he watched the sailboat go away on the sea.

Fang Pengsurong said: "If they can successfully settle there, then I think there should still be a chance to continue the plan. As for how far Jose and the others can achieve, it's hard to predict. It depends on the local people.

What's the situation! What does Brother Ran think?"

"Me? I'm quite optimistic." Ran Tianlu returned his gaze to the sailboat: "I should be 30% sure!"

Fang Peng was not surprised at all, and nodded with a matter-of-fact expression: "Thirty percent...then you are indeed quite optimistic."

This was a relatively optimistic view after completing the special training. You can imagine how uneasy they were when they received this order. Although the 30% chance still sounds quite risky, it is better than

Death in vain. As for what achievements Jose and others can achieve in Cebu, it probably still depends on their fate. If their fate is not good, they may die as soon as they arrive in Cebu.

Jose has also had the experience of going out to sea by boat before, but it was just fishing with other people's boats, and the range was within Manila Bay, and the farthest he only went to Corregidor Island at the mouth of the bay. And he

Since I was born, I have never really left the confines of Luzon Island, but I never thought that leaving Luzon Island for the first time would mean going out to do big things.

The twelve people on this ship were selected by two intelligence agencies, but only two of them have relatively rich navigation experience and can understand charts, identify directions, and calculate voyages, while the rest can only serve as

Sailors are responsible for menial manual labor such as manipulating sail ropes.

Although Jose is the commander of this team, he can only play the role of an ordinary sailor on the ship. However, he does not take it seriously and thinks that this is also a learning process. After a journey of hundreds of nautical miles,

, you should also be able to learn a lot of navigation skills.

After sailing out of Manila Bay, the sailboat traveled south along the coastline, then turned east and passed through the strait between Luzon and Mindoro.

The Spanish established colonies on both sides of the strait, namely Batangas and Puerto Galera. However, after this year's Battle of Manila, the Haihan Navy visited these places from time to time, so the Spanish immigrants in these two places

Most of them moved to the southern islands, and the few who stayed there also chose to move inland to settle for safety.

Since the special training period had already consumed too much time, and the information they wanted to collect was of a certain timeliness, there was no plan to stop at the coast during the voyage after departure, and they rushed to Cebu Port day and night. But even though

The two people on the boat, who had sailing experience, almost lost their way at sea when facing the complex marine environment of the Philippine Islands. The original voyage of more than 400 nautical miles did not reach the northern tip of Cebu Island until the sixth day.

At this time, time has entered 1638.

Cebu Port is located on the central coast of the east side of Cebu Island. It is also where the navigator Magellan landed when he first arrived in the Philippines in 1521. As Spain's maritime pioneer, Magellan used force to force the chiefs in this area to surrender to the Kingdom of Spain.

, but his luck was not very good. When he personally led an army to attack an island tribe, he was killed by the natives on the island and was unable to continue his sailing career.

After General Legaspi led his army to conquer Cebu in 1565, he used it as a base to expand to the entire Philippine Islands, and thus began his rule of the Philippines for more than three hundred years. Of course, due to Haihan

The appearance of this uninvited guest has changed the Spanish rule in the Philippine Islands, and their next days may not be as easy as they were in history.

After losing Manila, Cebu became the capital of the Spanish colonial authorities in the Philippine Islands. Although its vitality was severely damaged during the war, there was finally such a backup port city that stepped in in time, so the colonial authorities could still barely operate.

It won't completely turn into a mess just because of the defeat of one war.

For Jose and others, Cebu is just a place that exists in rumors. They know that the Spaniards set foot in this place much earlier than Manila, but they have no idea what kind of city Cebu is.

They had no concept at all. As for how they would settle down and carry out their actions after arriving in Cebu, their superiors only gave them a general action framework. The specific implementation would have to be decided on their own after they arrived in the local area based on the specific situation.

In other words, Jose needs to make a decision on the spot on how to achieve the mission goal. If he makes a mistake in his decision-making and the action fails, it is one thing. The identities of the twelve of them may be exposed because of this.

I can now walk out of Cebu.

Jose also knew that he had a heavy responsibility, so in addition to working as a part-time sailor during the journey, almost all his time was spent repeatedly reviewing several plans prepared by his superiors to ensure that he could perform more naturally after arriving in Cebu.

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When there were still more than ten nautical miles away from Cebu Port, two Spanish armed sailing ships appeared on the sea and approached Jose's ship in an attempt to verify their identities. Jose quickly asked someone to show a symbol

The flag of the Kingdom of Spain with a red cross on a white background to indicate its identity.

The reason why it was not hung on the mast but displayed on the spot was a special arrangement by the intelligence department. They set Jose's ship as a sailboat escaping from near Manila, so the Spanish flag could not be flown on the way.

In order to avoid being noticed by the Haihan warships cruising near Luzon Island. And when we arrived near Cebu under Spanish control, it made sense to take out the flag and display it at this time.

However, perhaps because of the heavy losses suffered in the Manila War, the Spanish colonial authorities now have very strict control over the sea. Even though the Jose ship has displayed its flag, the patrolling armed sailboats are unfamiliar with the ship.

, or a specially divided ship was sent out to follow Jose's ship to Cebu Port.

Compared with Manila Port, the conditions of Cebu Port are obviously inferior. Both the port size and supporting facilities are not as good as Manila Port. In addition, Spain is the loser. Businessmen in Daming and other places are worried that Haihan will attack Spain.

A trade blockade was implemented, so in order to avoid getting into trouble, he simply did not come to Cebu. This resulted in the business atmosphere in Cebu being far less than that of Manila before the war. Jose took a careful look when entering the port. There were almost no sailboats docked on the shore.

They all belong to Spain, unlike pre-war Manila where there were many Chinese sailing ships from the Ming Dynasty.

If Ran Tianlu saw this scene, he would analyze to Jose what negative impact this trade situation would have on the colonial authorities. The large amount of silver shipped by the galleons from the Americas every year should have passed through the Philippines and the northern countries.

The trade was converted into commodities and then shipped back to Europe to earn greater profits. But now the scale of trade between the Philippine colonies and the outside world has been greatly reduced due to the failure of the war, so a large amount of silver is accumulated in Cebu, and there is not much available on the market.

The direct result of commodities for sale is inflation.

However, Jose may not be able to understand such complex economic knowledge at his level. Besides, he is not ready to disguise himself as a businessman, so there is no need to consider the causal relationship between the depression of the local port and cross-border trade for the time being.

What he has to do now is to settle down locally as soon as possible. Only after settling down can he find opportunities to collect the information required by his superiors.

At the signal of the accompanying armed sailboat, Jose's ship docked at a pier. Before the gangplank could be lowered on the ship, a small group of Spanish soldiers came to the pier, asking those on board to identify themselves and the situation of the ship. Look.

It seems that Cebu is still in a state of turmoil after the war, and any foreign ship entering the port will be subject to such strict inspections.

However, Jose was certainly prepared for this and asked these Spanish soldiers to negotiate with a higher-ranking officer, because some of the items on the ship must be officially confirmed by the colonial authorities.
Chapter completed!