As for the Catholic Church, Xiao Ruxun really had no trust or expectations. They were in cahoots with the Spanish government. He didn't know what they would do to play hide and seek with Xiao Ruxun. However, Xiao Ruxun was very clear that it was absolutely impossible for the bishop and Ricci to persuade the Philippine Governor's Office to let them go. They must have other plans and ideas to fool him.
France and Genoa were currently enough to protect China's commercial interests in Europe. Therefore, they signed a business alliance with them and bound their relationship to protect the profits together. After that, Xiao Ruxun arranged the specific matters to Yuan Huang and asked him to arrange the supply of goods to Europe. Xiao Ruxun had other things to do.
The spies who came back from the Philippines brought back very important news.
Three years ago, after the fleet returned from the Philippines, Xiao Ruxun had such an idea. He put his own people inside the Philippines and mixed into the local Chinese community in order to obtain effective intelligence, spy on the military power of the Spanish authorities and the number of the local indigenous servant army, and so on.
This group of spies, selected from the most trustworthy personal guards in the Ningxia headquarters, was the earliest intelligence force of Xiao Ruxun.
At first, there were only 30 people, carefully selected from the trusted subordinates in the Ningxia headquarters. The leader was Zhang Wu, a 27-year-old private soldier who followed Xiao Ruxun from his hometown. He was a deputy captain in the personal guards. He was very careful and cautious. Xiao Ruxun let him pick the most reliable 30 people in the personal guards to form the first intelligence force. Xiao Ruxun named it Black Water.
At first, the 30 people were only responsible for sneaking into the Philippines to investigate the whereabouts of the Chinese and the armed forces of the Spanish. After 50 of the 30 people returned, Zhang Wu explained to Xiao Ruxun that this group of people recruited 20 strong young men from the Chinese community in the Philippines and volunteered to help the army attack the Philippines. The reason was that the Chinese there were being abused by the Spanish and the Chinese merchants.
The group of people that Xiao Ruxun couldn't take with him were hidden in other mountains and forests to do heavy physical labor such as logging and mining. They lived a life worse than death. Those who escaped were killed, and those who slacked off were also killed.
Moreover, the people who killed them were mostly the lackeys of the Chinese merchants. The Spanish people just watched from the side and rarely did anything, which made Xiao Ruxun even more resentful.
After that, Xiao Ruxun expanded the Blackwater troops to 100 people, and they sneaked into the various islands of the Philippines in batches. They drew a map of the Philippines and placed it in his war conference room. Little by little, they collected the geographical and hydrological data of the Philippines.
Not only did they collect the population data, but they also collected the data including the military distribution of the Philippines and the distribution of naval ships. The mission was successfully completed. They didn't fail once in the past three years, and they didn't lose a single person. This made Xiao Ruxun look at Zhang Wu in a new light.
This time, it was a routine reconnaissance mission. Zhang Wu, who returned from the Philippines, brought back the latest information. The map of the entire island of the Philippines and the distribution of the military and population were almost complete. The preparations to attack the Philippines were almost complete. Now, it all depended on the timing.
Xiao Ruxun personally received Zhang Wu, who returned from the Philippines.
"Zhang Wu, not bad. You did a good job."
Xiao Ruxun looked at the map and hydrological data that he brought back and patted Zhang Wu's shoulder with great joy. "Reward! Reward them handsomely! Every one of your secret agents must be rewarded. With this information, I have more confidence in dealing with the foreigners. It will be much easier to deal with them. You did a good job! "
Zhang Wu smiled to express his happiness. Then, he told Xiao Ruxun a very important piece of news.
"Shiro, this time, when we went to Luzon, we did the same thing as before. We contacted the people there and obtained a lot of information. There is one piece of information that I think is very important."
Xiao Ruxun raised his head and looked at Zhang Wu. "Speak."
"On the 20th of May, a few official ships from Daming arrived in Luzon. They went to the island to find some people and asked some questions. They stayed for about half a month before they all returned to Daming."
Xiao Ruxun had a puzzled look on his face.
"Official ships?"
"Yes, official ships. I heard that they came from the palace because there were eunuchs among the crew. The people who gave us the information were sent to serve the people from the palace. The foreigners didn't know what they were going to do, so they didn't dare to stop them. They just sent people to serve them and ask for information.
The information they got back said that the purpose of these official ships was to find mountains of gold, silver, and copper. It is said that there are rumors in Daming that there are mountains of gold, silver, and copper on the main island of Luzon. "
Xiao Ruxun blinked and said doubtfully, "You have been in Luzon for so long. Have you heard of mountains of gold, silver, and copper? There are some in Myanmar and Japan, but if there is one in Luzon, why don't I know about it? Luzon is most famous for its spices, not gold. "
Zhang Wu replied, "I think so too. The local people in Luzon have never talked about the legend of mountains of gold. How did the imperial court know about it? If the local people don't know about it, how could we know? There must be something fishy about it. The imperial court wouldn't send people to Luzon for no reason. If it was really for mountains of gold and silver, who gave the news to the imperial court? "
Xiao Ruxun thought for a moment, but he still couldn't understand.
"When we attacked Country R, there were many mountains of gold, silver, and copper. Now they are all under our control. Wu Weizhong is keeping an eye on them. But how could there be mountains of gold and silver in Luzon? If it was me who knew about it first, how did the imperial court know about it? It's really hard to understand! There are mountains of gold and silver in Country R, but there are people in the imperial court who think that there are also mountains of gold and silver in Luzon, right? "
Zhang Wu shook his head and said, "It seems that the foreigners are also very confused about this matter. I heard from our informant that the foreigners seem to be very nervous. They are all over there discussing what the Daming's official ships and eunuchs are doing there. It seems that they have recently sent a few ships to Macau to inquire about the news, and a few ships to Siam to inquire about us. I just don't know what is going on."
"The imperial court is short of money again? It can't be, right? Putting aside the silver in Country R, we pay 100,000 catties of copper to the imperial court every year. No matter what, they can't be short of money, right? A few million taels of silver isn't enough for the imperial court to squander? Why are you in such a hurry to look for gold and silver? "
Xiao Ruxun was puzzled, and Zhang Wu had no clue. Xiao Ruxun could only ask Zhang Wu to continue to inquire about the relevant news in the Philippines. If there was any news, they should inform him immediately. He didn't care about anything else.
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