Daming Military Empire

Chapter 189
Bruwen was completely enraged by the shameless behavior of the 'Spanish', and sent pirates to rob his merchant ship and ask him for a ransom, as if he was made of mud!He stood up with a livid face, and yelled at Prade: "The seven armed merchant ships were all intercepted by pirates. How did you become the leader of the team? Go, write a report, and write to me the process of your battle with the pirates." clear."

Upon hearing this, Prade quickly saluted and carefully left the room.

The more Bruwen thought about it, the more angry he slapped the letter paper on the table, and shouted: "Guards, go, call Admiral Fan Dimen over here."

The guards outside led away, Bruwen looked at the letter on the table, took a deep breath, and slowly calmed down.

He has lost more than 30 merchant ships, and his position as governor is basically impossible to keep. However, if he can defeat the Spaniards, capture Luzon, and get back all the lost merchant ships and goods, then not only is he not at fault, but he has made great contributions up!Thinking of this, he narrowed his eyes and gradually became concerned.

When the sound of the guard's communication came from outside, he took a deep breath and his face was flushed. As soon as Van Diemen entered, he immediately slapped the table and roared: "The Spaniards are too shameless, Your Excellency, I ask you to send troops immediately to wipe out those shameless Spaniards!"

Fan Diemen was taken aback by his angry appearance, and quickly asked: "My lord governor, what's the matter?"

Bruven pushed the letter towards Van Diemen, and continued to growl: "I have found out that the Spaniards ordered the pirates to rob our merchant ship. I wrote to them to return the merchant ship, cargo and our company's employees. , so they replied."

He knew that Van Diemen coveted his position as the governor. If he told his true thoughts, Van Diemen would definitely go to the waters near Manila and fire two shots before returning. At that time, what was waiting for him was definitely After dismissal and investigation, Fan Diemen can easily take over.So he deliberately confused the concept, saying that the letter sent by the pirates was a reply from the Spaniards, in order to anger Van Diemen, make him hot-headed, and desperately deal with the Spaniards.

When Van Diemen picked up the letter, he added fuel and venom and provocatively said: "They are showing blatant contempt, contempt for our East India Company, contempt for your Eastern Second Fleet, and think that we have nothing to do with them!"

Van Diemen was born as a commoner, and he climbed up entirely by ability. What he hates the most is that others doubt his ability, so he was irritated by success.After all, the governor is his immediate boss, he can't yell at others, he can only hold back his anger, and said through gritted teeth: "Your Excellency, please give an order, I will let the Spaniards know how powerful the Dutch navy is."

Bruwen pretended to be enthusiastic and said: "Why don't I send the fleet directly under the East India Company to go with you."

Van Diemen replied coldly: "No need, Batavia also needs to keep people stationed. I can just take my fleet with me."

Bruwen sneered in his heart and added the last fire. He pretended to hesitate and said, "How about I get someone to call the pirate Liu Xiang to help you? The Spanish army is indeed difficult to deal with. If they stick to Manila, your strength will be reduced." Probably not enough."

Fan Diemen was really furious, he snorted coldly: "No need, pirates are useless in such a large-scale battle, don't the Spaniards still have some garrisons in the chicken coop in Formosa? Putmans leads the pirate Liu Xiang to attack there."

"Okay then." Bruwen pretended to be helpless and took out a piece of formal document paper, signed the order, stamped it with a seal, handed it to Van Diemen, and at the same time solemnly ordered: "Your Excellency Van Diemen, I now formally order you to lead the Eastern Second Fleet to attack Manila."

"Of order, Your Excellency Governor." With a snap, Fan Dimen gave a standard military salute, then, after receiving the order, he turned around and walked away.

The next day, all the fifty super battleships of the Dutch Navy’s Eastern Second Fleet set sail and headed straight for Manila, the headquarters of the Spanish Empire in the East. A great battle that would be recorded in the history of world colonization was about to begin. Both sides played a pivotal role in the history of world colonization. One is the first-generation sea overlord, who still rules nearly one-fifth of the world's land, and the other is the second-generation sea overlord. During this period, their naval power surpassed the sum of all colonial powers!

Bruwen looked at the fleet that was gradually going away, with a strange smile on his face. He suddenly ordered to the commander of the fleet directly under the East India Company, Dewitt: "Assemble all warships immediately, replenish ammunition and supplies, and be ready to support at any time." General Van Diemen."

Diwet didn't dare to be negligent, and immediately took the order to go, Bruwen looked at his back, and said proudly in his heart: "Hmph, Van Diemen, you are still a little tender, if you want to take my position, you should prepare Be cannon fodder, when you and the Spaniard are almost exhausted, it's time for me to play, the glory of defeating the Spaniard is mine in the end!"

The Dutch made such a big move, and Manila naturally knew about it very quickly. The Spanish Governor Coquian was also angered. Handing over all the merchant ships, cargo and crew, and now quietly driving the fleet over, is it really easy to bully the Spanish Empire!
He recently heard that the merchant ship of the Dutch was robbed, and the pirates also transported the robbed goods to Manila for sale in various ways, but what does this have to do with him, the Netherlands is not an ally of Spain, on the contrary, they are still Spain He is not obliged to help the Dutch fight pirates and collect stolen goods at all.

He was originally prepared to watch the Dutch and the pirates fight to the death with the mentality of watching the fun, but now, the Dutch didn't go to the pirates, they went straight to him!
Coquian was not the kind of weak and incompetent person. He had participated in countless battles in the American colonies, and he was considered a battle-hardened veteran. Facing the overwhelmingly superior navy of the Dutch, he did not panic. Instead, he calmly issued a series of orders based on the strength comparison between the enemy and us.

First of all, he ordered all Spanish merchant ships to sail into the Passy River to prevent the Dutch from jumping over the wall in a hurry and directly venting their anger on them.

Then, he ordered the Spanish army that was attacking Sulu to withdraw to Manila to prepare for the Dutch attack.

In the end, he ordered all ten super battleships of the Spanish Navy to gather at the mouth of the Passy River, and cooperate with the forts along the coast to block the Dutch fleet.

Manila City is a port city, located in the west of Manila Bay, on the south bank of the Paxi River. There are forts built on both sides of the port, which can condescend and block the entire port. Coquian is not afraid of the Dutch fleet attacking from the front of the port. The only thing he is worried about is The Dutch rushed into the Passy River and flanked them from the north, so he ordered the super battleships of the Spanish Navy to block the mouth of the Passy River.Although the Dutch super battleships are several times the size of the Spanish navy, with the cooperation of coastal forts, it is almost impossible for them to attack.

It is said that Van Diemen came here full of anger, and originally wanted to go directly to the city of Manila, but when he saw the strict defense measures near the Manila port from a distance through the binoculars, his heart was a little hairy.Of course, he was not afraid of not being able to beat the Spaniard, but he was worried that the loss would be too great to go back and explain.

He calmed down and thought for a while, and finally decided to send out a lifeboat and send a letter to the Spanish Governor Coquian, which probably meant to ask Coquian to hand over the robbed merchant ships, goods, and employees of the East India Company. When he came out, he would withdraw his troops immediately, otherwise, he would attack Manila.

When Coquian received the letter, he was so angry. He didn't send someone to rob the Dutch merchant ship. What would he pay for it?Just fight, who is afraid of anyone, he didn't bother to reply, and directly drove the Dutch messenger back.

After hearing the messenger's description, Fan Diemen couldn't help hesitating. He was clearly confident. Should he fight or not?
Just as he was hesitating, there was another movement in the place where the Dutch were detained in Manila. There was also a conversation in Spanish. Then, a captain was called out, blindfolded, and was held hostage by a dozen pirates Heading towards the south of Manila.

Since the Spaniards withdrew all their troops to the castle, the civilian area of ​​Manila was in chaos, and there were fleeing crowds everywhere. They were not very conspicuous. They waited until they bypassed the fort on the south side of the port and walked for a couple of minutes. In the same way, the captain was pushed onto a small fishing boat, and the two pirates directly raised the small white flag and rowed the boat towards the Dutch fleet.

When they reached the sea more than a mile away from the Dutch fleet, the two pirates pulled the black cloth from his eyes, then stuffed a small white flag and a letter into his hand, and said, "Go and give the letter to Your General Van Diemen." He jumped into the water and swam to the shore.

The captain looked at the letter and the small white flag in his hand inexplicably, and then raised his head to look around, only to realize that their Dutch fleet was not far ahead!
Without hesitation, he stuffed the letter into his bosom, put the little white flag on his back, and then desperately rowed the small fishing boat towards the nearest warship, shouting in Dutch as he rowed: "Don't worry!" Shoot, it’s your own people, don’t shoot, it’s your own people.”

This unlucky but lucky captain was sent to Van Diemen very quickly. Fan Diemen is so strange, isn't the Spaniard not planning to compromise? Why did they send someone to deliver the letter so soon? Did they suddenly figure it out?

He opened the letter curiously, and almost spit out a mouthful of blood out of anger. The letter said:

Your Excellency: Since your arrival made the situation extremely tense, the difficulty of our search has doubled, so we have to increase the price of the search. Now each merchant ship needs 100 million taels of silver, and each crew member needs 2 taels. As for For the goods on board, if you are willing to withdraw your troops immediately, we will still help you buy them at the original price.Finally, we have to regret to tell you that your arrival made us very unhappy. I hope you can realize your mistake and withdraw your troops immediately, otherwise the search price will increase!

Fuck, Van Diemen's face was flushed with anger, he tore the letter in his hand to shreds, and then shouted: "Order, all warships are ready to attack!"

(End of this chapter)