On the right side of the ship is the Philippines' coastline, and on the left is the endless turquoise South China Sea.

General Mario stood at the bow of the ship, staring at the empty sea level in front of him. Behind his flagship, was one Spanish sailing ship after another, with long snakes, following the friendly ships ahead to the north.

"We will be the laughing stock of the whole of Europe." After hearing the footsteps coming from behind, Mario said without looking back. He knew that it must be Captain Leonardo walking behind him.

"Shameless Chinese." The captain's heavy voice came into his ears, and the anger was obvious.

Spain is the empire of the sun never set in this era. Its colonies are spread all over the world. Good things around the world, including gold, silver, spices from Southeast Asia, as well as Chinese porcelain and silk, are constantly sent back to the land through her fleet. However, hundreds of years have passed since the heyday of the Kingdom of Spain. She has been constantly challenged by the Netherlands and Britain. The Kingdom of Spain, which is unable to compete with many challengers, has had to maintain its defensive position on all fronts. Now the Spanish soldiers no longer have the ambition to expand their territory for the kingdom, but just hope to preserve the existing land.

The trade between Spain and China has been going on for hundreds of years. The initial model was to buy mercury from China, transport the mercury to South America for a large amount of silver, and then return it to China, and acquire more mercury. The difference was enough to allow Spain to purchase a large amount of luxury goods such as porcelain - these are very popular goods in Europe. But forty years ago, because the silver mines in South America began to dry up, this amazing trade route was seriously threatened; fortunately, Japan discovered silver mountains in succession, and its scale was so large that it had never appeared on the earth. The Spaniards changed the original bilateral trade model with China, added Japan to it, and maintained the survival of the Maritime Silk Road.

Later, they encountered aggressive challenges from the Dutch, but because of the large enough profits and Spain's maritime strength, Spain's Manila Governor's Office and the Dutch Batavian Parliament could also maintain peace. However, as the Qing army entered the pass, the wars throughout China made Spain lose most of its supply. At first, the Spanish hoped that the Ming army would win, or the Qing army would quickly unify China so that trade could continue, but the Qing Dynasty's ban on sea bans that began more than a decade ago gave the heaviest blow to the maritime trade.

In this dark era, the appearance of Deng Ming was tantamount to the lightning that broke through the long dark night. The young Duke of the Emperor Ming challenged the Qing Dynasty's sea ban, which made the Manila Governor's Office think that he was simply an envoy sent by God. At that time, Manila was still mocking the Dutch's short-sightedness because Batavia actually put treasure on the side of the Qing court, hoping to provide weapons and naval support to the Qing court in exchange for the opening of the maritime market to the Dutch.

At that time, the Governor General of Manila said in a report to the local area that he should invest in the Duke of Emperor Ming Deng Ming, and this would definitely receive a warm response from the other party, because the other party undoubtedly needs profits from the sea trade to help him win the civil war. Moreover, before this cruel Chinese civil war produced a winner, the Ming army might be friendly or even flattering to Spain, and would also adopt a default attitude towards the Spanish expelling China's forces in the Philippines.

However, the Duke obviously refused to cooperate with the predictions of the Governor General of Manila. He did not show strong interest in regaining the long coastline of his motherland. Instead, he actively squeezed out Spain and the Dutch from trade with Japan. After losing Japan's silver mountain, the resources that Spain could trade with China became very limited. In order to obtain Chinese luxury goods, Spain had to take out the American gold they had never been willing to take out before.

Although the Duke looked less and less like an angel, Manila masturbated that the Duke was unprecedentedly positive about the maritime trade. The amount of goods he brought out was equally unprecedented, and there were reasonable tariffs and tried his best to reduce unnecessary trade obstacles. Until this time, the Governor's Office of Manila could still convince the local people that the Duke was kind and friendly to Spain.

"We are all deceived by this devil." Mario sighed again.

In the past eight years, the Duke sent envoys to Manila three times and twice to Batavia, assuring the Spanish Governor and the Dutch Parliament that he absolutely had no intention of changing the division of power in Southeast Asia. To prove his sincerity, the Duke declared war on Britain a few years ago without hesitation in the Dutch conflict - although it was just a gesture, it was also a reassuring statement.

"Weizhi always thinks that the Chinese are not good intentions." Captain Leonardo said in a rough voice.

In recent years, China has continuously sent reclamation groups to the Philippines. Unlike the previous Chinese, these people came with weapons. After landing, they immediately started to reclaim the land and adopted a tough policy without hesitation against those natives who dared to roam outside their manors.

Although the Spaniards also adopted the same attitude towards the natives, they still felt extremely uneasy after seeing the always docile Chinese adopting a colonial attitude similar to them. This also made the Spaniards in Manila feel vigilant about the duke. Some people have long called for the use of force to expel the Chinese from the Spanish sphere of influence, such as Captain Leonardo, one of them.

Since the Spanish came to the Philippines, they have always adopted hostility and suppression policies towards the Chinese, because the Spanish colonists believed that the local indigenous people lacked commercial and agricultural talents, as well as the ability to organize and resist, and did not pose a threat to the Spanish rule. In Deng Ming's previous life, after the rise of the independence movement in various colonies, Chinese were also the leaders and organizers of the independence movement in the Philippines, and were the number one enemy of the Spanish. Manila's usual practice was to confiscate the property of the Chinese, provoke the indigenous people to rob the Chinese, and then hijack the Chinese to the Spanish concentration camp for agricultural production.

However, this policy became unsustainable after the armed reclamation organized by Duke Deng, because there were too few Spaniards, and the natives were no match for organized Chinese armed farmers. Moreover, the Duke carefully avoided the sensitive areas of the Spaniards, which made it difficult for Manila to make up his mind and not willing to risk the severance of trade and sacrifice the lives of a large number of Spaniards to engage in a long-term war. In particular, these Chinese reclamation groups greatly improved the agricultural situation in the Philippines, and they sold large quantities of food to Manila, which made the Philippines achieve self-sufficiency for the first time. These factors combined make the pro-war faction in Manila still unable to become the mainstream voice.

In addition to the local luxury goods in China and the grain provided by the Chinese reclamation group, the increasing rubber trade has also made Manila feel more at ease over the past three years. This gum is a specialty of South America, and the duke's demand for this crop has reached a thirst point and it has doubled almost every six months. Although Manila and the Governor of South America are puzzled and they can never figure out what the gum is for, since the Chinese need it in large quantities and can greatly alleviate the loss of gold in South America, the Spaniards will not refuse to sell it. Just a year ago, Manila tried to plant rubber tree species in several places, hoping to solve the export problem once and for all after the trees mature in more than ten years.

After learning that the Philippines began to successfully transplant rubber trees, the Duke sent a special envoy for the third time. When the Duke's special envoy arrived in Manila three months ago, he once again announced his determination to maintain peace with the Kingdom of Spain, reiterating the argument that "the Philippines has been the sacred territory of the Spanish since ancient times." Relying on this friendly argument and the guarantee of eternal peace written by the Duke, the special envoy purchased a total of ten ships of gum at a low price - which was almost the sales volume last year. When he found that the Chinese were so enthusiastic in need of this cargo, South America also vigorously strengthened the mining of this gum, otherwise it would not be able to meet China's increasing gum demand.

We will definitely be a laughing stock." Mario sighed again. Leonardo's complaint, including accusations against the Governor's House, made Mario smile bitterly.

The result of the sale of a large amount of gum in Spain at a low price was exchanged for the Duke's ultimatum. At the same time as the ultimatum, the duke also sent a letter from the Duke to the Spanish king and parliament. In the letter, the duke said that although he tried his best to lobby, the Chinese parliament had made up his mind. Therefore, although the friendship between the duke and the Spanish remained unchanged, he still had to choose the motherland between his friends and his motherland in pain, and served as the commander of the expeditionary force in tears, personally led the fleet and army to wait for Manila's reply to the Imperial Parliament's ultimatum.

After the news came back to Europe, Mario knew that the Governor of Manila would definitely be subject to fierce criticism and great pressure in Madrid: Knowing that the other party was just a duke, and knowing that the other party had an imperial parliament, why didn't he sign a treaty directly with the Chinese parliament, and put his hopes entirely on his personal feelings with a duke? Any normal person would think that this approach was extremely stupid. Are the Spaniards in Manila all idiots, thinking that the duke could resist the orders of the royal or parliament?

The problem is not in Europe, it is in extremely authoritarian Asia. This duke is by no means a vassal of the emperor or a tool of the parliament. He himself should be the master of the parliament! This is not a painful choice of the duke or Manila's stupidity, but an unscrupulous treason.

But none of these can be explained clearly to people far away in Spain.

After rejecting the ultimatum of the Chinese Parliament, the Governor of Manila made a quick decision to order the fleet to set off, and it is necessary to annihilate China's expeditionary fleet as soon as possible, capture the duke and bring him back to Manila, forcing him to give orders to the Chinese Parliament and announce a ceasefire.

If the war fails, Manila will bear more guilt, accusing them of foolishly driving the fleet out of the heavily guarded Manila fortress to fight the Chinese. But Mario knew very well that this was a forced one, and they could not even allow the Chinese fleet to land in a dispersed manner, because the Chinese army would receive support from tens of thousands of armed farmers in the colonial regiments. The Chinese not only had an absolute advantage over the Spanish in terms of numbers, but also had enough food. It is impossible to win in a long confrontation without food. As for letting the natives fight against the Chinese Expeditionary Force, it is even more unimaginable. Can the Chinese armed farmers expel the natives from their homes in batches over the years, and still hope that those natives can help the Spanish defeat the regular army of China?
Chapter completed!