Chapter 2023
From the perspective of a Spanish official, Lopez is certainly not willing to advocate a compromise attitude towards Haihan, but if he wants to support Aragones' strategy, he would rather choose to temporarily negotiate peace with Haihan. He believes that the changes in the situation in the South China Sea in the past few years have proven that Aragones' approach is not feasible. If he continues to fight Haihan on the frontal battlefield, he will only bring humiliation to himself and will not change the current passivity of the colonial authorities. The situation may instead get deeper and deeper, eventually leading to the complete collapse of the colony.
When the Manila intelligence department formulated this plan, it did not take into account these contradictions within the Spanish colonial authorities, and did not make targeted arrangements in advance. But in this way, Lopez, who stood opposite Aragones out of political interests, naturally would not agree with the symbolic meaning of Jose and others. He believed that it was just a ploy used by Aragones to incite emotions. Props, not to mention there are doubts as to whether the experiences of these people are true, it would be too hasty to conclude that armed resistance is effective.
Of course, Lopez was not sure whether the experiences of Jose and others were true or false. If he was slapped in the face if he raised questions, he would be passive. Therefore, the primary target of his questioning was not Jose and others, but It's because Aragones' strategy has not changed significantly compared to the past, which makes it impossible for people to see the hope of victory through armed struggle.
And this is exactly the view held by most of the officials in the colonial authorities who oppose Aragones. If we still follow the old routine of fighting Haihan, then why should our side, which has never won a victory, win the war? Do you expect the other party to make mistakes on their own initiative?
And these young men that Aragones touted were just poor boys who escaped from Manila. They were lucky enough to rob a Haihan cargo ship. How can they be expected to defeat the powerful Haihan on the battlefield? military? The so-called courage, honor, and sacrifice for the country are mentioned every year, but they are difficult to change the disadvantages of our own troops on the battlefield. Now I don’t know where to get a few people to set an example. Can this be used to boost our troops? Morale, defeat the Haihan people?
Aragones's face didn't look good at this time. The other party deliberately jumped out at this time to cause trouble for him, obviously just to prevent him from getting off the stage. Of course he knew what the other party was up to, but today he was not going to swallow his anger anymore. Since Lopez mentioned this section, he had to take this opportunity to talk about it.
"To defeat the Haihan people, courage and determination alone are of course not enough, but if you can only talk in the conference room, then you really don't even have the slightest chance!" Aragones said to Lopez unceremoniously. He responded by taunting the other party with words and never actual actions.
Lopez was not someone who was easily angered. He just snorted coldly but did not answer the other person's words. He knew very well that as long as the other party could not come up with a new plan, he would not receive a positive response to his doubts, and no one present would ignore this key point.
But Aragones didn't intend to stop there, and continued: "Do you think these brave young people just killed a few Haihan people and robbed a ship? Of course it's not that simple. They also brought us Very important information came in, which proves that the strategy I formulated before is effective!”
"You may still remember that after we moved from Manila to Cebu this year, someone came to us to seek cooperation, hoping that we could follow Haihan's military export model and provide military training and weapons to other forces and countries besides Spain. Equipment. I remember that many people were not optimistic about this cooperation model at the time, but it turns out that my persistence at the time was right! Our cooperation with the outside world has caused a lot of trouble for the enemy. The proof is in Jose and the others. Brought to this ship in Cebu”
When Aragones said this, he showed his trump card: "This is a secret letter sent from Manila City to the Star Island stronghold in the Strait of Malacca. The writer and recipient are the administrative officials of these two places respectively. Sir. The information they conveyed through this secret letter shows that our military output in the north has achieved excellent results, and the Haihan people are currently in a state of distress due to this, and may even change their overseas military deployment due to this. .”
Not only Lopez, but also Jose and others pricked up their ears when they heard this. They did not know the exact content of the letter beforehand, but they were certain that all the information mentioned in the letter was intended to deceive the Spanish. After this letter arrived in Cebu, it seemed to have begun to play a role. Even senior officials like Aragones were convinced of the news mentioned in it.
However, Jose and others did not understand the official struggle of the colonial authorities. What they were interested in was the cooperation partner mentioned by Aragones. That was their main goal in venturing into Cebu. As long as their identity could be confirmed, they would The mission of this trip is more than half completed.
However, Aragones did not mention the identity of the cooperation partners at this time, but repeatedly emphasized the objective results achieved by this method of military output, because he needed to convince others present that the progress achieved so far was due to He made the right decision and built enough confidence in this special measure. In this way, he can increase military output in the future, thereby indirectly inhibiting Haihan's development momentum.
"Mr. Governor, how authentic is this letter? Can you confirm that the information is reliable?" Lopez did not immediately accept this. He always felt that Aragones's purpose of convening everyone to discuss matters at the Governor's Palace today was too purposeful. Strong, which makes the whole thing less credible in his eyes.
"Yes, we have managed to confirm this letter. Gentlemen, I have reason to believe that the description of the current situation of Haihan in this letter is true." Aragones responded with certainty Lopez questioned: "Haihan is facing a situation where fires are breaking out everywhere. At this time, we cannot stop and wait and see. Instead, we should add a few more dry firewood to the burning flames to make the fire burn brighter."
"But I have to remind you, Mr. Governor, so far we have only recovered one-third of the sales amount for the weapons and equipment we provided to our partners. If we want to continue to supply them, we may first have to close the previous transaction. It will be more reasonable if the settlement is clear." Navas, the official in charge of finance, was speaking, an old Spanish man who seemed to be dying but still maintained a shrewd mind.
Spain's several battles with Haihan in the past few years have cost a lot of money, and the result of the defeat means that these expenditures are completely unrewarded pure investments, unlike Haihan's case of expanding in a circle after one battle, and in the end they simply continued. The city of Manila was captured, and the investment in previous wars was recovered with one great victory.
There was no shortage of silver in the Philippine colonies. Every year, sailing fleets across the Pacific would transport large amounts of silver from the American colonies to fund the colonies' acquisition of oriental specialties. However, the colonial authorities did not intend to settle their military exports through gold and silver. Instead, they required the other party to provide high-quality Ming Dynasty specialties as repayment at a discount. To the colonial authorities, the actual value of these Eastern commodities was much higher than silver. After all, when the silver was shipped back to the country, a silver coin was still just a silver coin, but the economic value of silk, porcelain, tea and other exquisite handicrafts was It will increase several times after being shipped back to the country. However, before that, the Spaniards did not receive sufficient goods from their partners and only settled part of them upon delivery. Aragones may not care too much about such details, because Spain is not the leading party in this partnership, and he even has to count on his partners to open channels for him overseas and attract more forces to join this cooperation for the purpose of fighting Haihan. circle, so certain concessions had to be made on the details of the transaction to achieve this cross-border cooperation.
Aragones can make concessions and may even forget these details over time, but Navas, the official in charge of finance, has been paying attention to this matter and mentioned this part of the transaction again at this time. Since it is a transaction, he will not tolerate his own loss-making transactions. The interests of the Kingdom of Spain must be protected.
Regarding this issue, Aragones immediately responded positively: "I will negotiate with the other party soon...Mr. Navas, in fact, we will probably be able to sit down to discuss this matter later. ”
When Aragones said this, he did not shy away from Jose and others present. Perhaps in his eyes, these were just three foreigners who had just arrived. Even if he heard the discussion between the officials, he would definitely not understand. What are they arguing about. But at this time, the benefits of selecting Hispanic personnel from the Haihan Intelligence Department became apparent. Not only could Jose and others use their status to lower the vigilance of the Spaniards, but they also had no language barriers and could easily collect intelligence from various occasions.
Aragones' response to Navas at the moment has already attracted Jose's attention - since Aragones claimed that he can discuss the details of the transaction with his partner today, it means that someone from the other party must be based in Cebu. This is also consistent with previous predictions made by the intelligence agencies. Thinking of the so-called celebration banquet arranged by the colonial authorities in the evening, Jose felt that his luck might be overwhelming and he could see the target person appear today.
Aragones thought of something and added: "Since Haihan conveys military information much faster than us, I think our partners have not confirmed the information at this time. We can discuss it in the subsequent negotiations." Be proactive and strive for better cooperation conditions.”
The Spaniards also knew little about the black technology of telegraphy mastered by Haihan. Many people, including Aragones, preferred to regard this skill that they could not explain as a kind of witchcraft, but they also understood that this skill had important military applications. The advantages brought by the application in the field are almost unsolvable. Fortunately, the Haihan Army did not seem to have the conditions to use this skill on the battlefield anytime and anywhere, so the colonial authorities were still able to fight.
According to the secret letter, Manila Chief Executive Qiu Yuan directly received the news from the north, and the method of transmitting this news was most likely the mysterious telegraph transmission method. By some strange combination of circumstances, the colonial authorities received the news several days faster than the partner's local envoy. This was enough to give the colonial authorities a great information advantage during negotiations.
Three Spanish youths who escaped from Haihan brought the colonial authorities rare good news in recent times. In the eyes of Aragones and others, this was an accidental event that could change the situation of the colonial authorities. After a long period of bad luck, This reversal of fortune is the beginning of a comeback in the competition with Haihan, and an opportunity to integrate local resources to resolve internal conflicts. By making good use of this incident, perhaps the international situation will slowly change in favor of Spain. .
Even Lopez, a political opponent who has always questioned Aragones’ foreign strategy, dare not say out loud that the authorities’ cooperation projects in the north are worthless. Regarding the content of that cooperation project, Lopez, as a senior official, also roughly knows. At best, if it can really achieve the expected results, it will probably make the Haihan people exhausted for a period of time, putting out fires everywhere. Even if it is not enough to shake its foundation, at worst it can buy the colonial authorities more time to restore their strength, and it is even possible to seize Haihan's loopholes and launch a counterattack.
If it is true, as claimed by senior officials of Haihan in the secret letter, that Haihan mobilized combat troops from the overseas colonies in the south in order to quell the chaos in the north, then it would be an excellent opportunity to counterattack Manila while its defenses are empty.
But Lopez is actually a little worried that allowing Aragones to succeed will create new variables in the ownership of the position of Governor General of the Philippines. If Aragones succeeds, the colonial authorities will inevitably be inclined to support his strategy and form a larger armed force for him to command. When the time comes, the country will send an order to adjust his position. They will have military power in their hands. Documents coming from thousands of miles away may not be resolutely implemented.
Lopez thought of this and couldn't help but cast a sharp look at Fernando. This man had been partnering with him for several years. He thought he was a trustworthy partner, but he didn't expect that after the colonial authorities moved south to Cebu this year, Seeing that almost all the senior generals stationed in Manila failed to escape, this guy thought that his chance to rise had arrived, so he decisively defected to Aragones, and then quickly took over the land and sea forces that had fled from Manila.
When Fernando defected to Aragones, it meant that Lopez lost the strong support of the military, which directly caused him to lose a lot of confidence in the battle with Aragones.
(End of chapter)