Of course, for the Spaniards, this was not the most terrible thing. The most terrible thing was that they had not only lost themselves to the Chinese, but also sent away more Filipino aborigines.
They were all valuable goods that had been bought with money. Once they were all dead and those tribes knew about it, would those tribes find trouble with them or the Ming Army?
They knew very well how the Spaniards had successfully colonized the Philippines.
After this war, the Spanish's ten years of military strength had been destroyed. They had completely lost all their advantages in the Philippines. Only a few hundred soldiers remained in the Governor's Palace in City M, waiting desperately for death.
What they regretted most was that they had provoked the Chinese when they shouldn't have provoked the Chinese. Those who advocated for war were the culprits of their deaths, but they were powerless in every sense, because those who advocated for war were all dead. They had been killed by Xiao Ruxun.
The only five remaining warships had escaped to somewhere unknown. A few hundred people could not give them much hope. The remaining hundreds of people were trapped in the Governor's Palace in City M, and they had no will to fight at all. They looked to the west in despair, waiting for the appearance of the Ming Army.
The governor had recovered from his illness, but after learning the news of the defeat, he fell ill again. He had been frightened twice in a row, and everyone thought that the governor would die.
However, the governor did not fall. He dragged his sick body to hold a final meeting. He made the decision to give up resistance, surrender to Xiao Ruxun, and accept all the conditions.
No one objected. In fact, no one would object anymore.
On November 10th, Xiao Ruxun arrived in City M, which was undefended. The governor of the Philippines opened the city and surrendered. He led the remaining few hundred people out of the city to surrender. He offered all the identity documents of the governor of the Philippines, begging for Xiao Ruxun's forgiveness and mercy.
Bishop Alexander was rather timid with more than 200 missionaries in City M. Without the protection of the army, the missionaries were also very uneasy and did not dare to go around preaching as before.
To put it bluntly, the Catholics could not stand without the might of Spain.
Among the group of missionaries, there were two who could speak Chinese, so they came out to act as interpreters, so that Xiao Ruxun could understand what the Viceroy was saying.
After listening to the translation, Xiao Ruxun squinted his eyes and sized up the sickly governor.
"You want me to forgive you? But what about the hundreds of my soldiers who died in battle? This war didn't need to be fought, but now it's getting worse and worse, and more and more soldiers are dying. Isn't this your fault? Do you need me to forgive you? "
The Governor's face was pale.
"General Xiao, we no longer have any military force, and we do not intend to use any means of military force. What happened before was a stupid thing done by some people who opposed my decision in private. It has nothing to do with me or anyone else here. We are all firmly against this war, especially the Archbishop, he is against it! It was those foolish officers who decided to fight you in private! "
Not only did the Viceroy explain himself, but he also called Bishop Alexander, who had a good relationship with Xiao Ruxun, over. The two of them begged for mercy together.
Bishop Alexander naturally knew his current situation, so he quickly said, "Yes, General Xiao, we tried our best to stop them, but they launched a mutiny and held us hostage. We have no way to stop them, and can only passively defend here. It's really very difficult for us!"
In order to survive, Bishop Alexander had a knack for lying, but it had to be said that this was indeed a very good method. Putting the blame on the dead, Xiao Ruxun could not always fish the dead up from the bottom of the sea and ask them if the situation was true or false.
Fortunately, Xiao Ruxun had no intention of killing them, or else he could have ordered a massacre.
"I won't kill you. I accept your surrender, but first, you have to surrender to the Great Ming Dynasty, pay tribute to the Great Ming Dynasty every year, and give me 80% of the local spice trade in Luzon and 80% of the minerals you mine every year, instead of giving it to your distant and untouchable king."
Xiao Ruxun's conditions stunned everyone for a while.
They instantly understood the situation they were in.
Was there any difference between this and betraying the king?
The Viceroy thought for a long time, but he could not figure out what the difference was. Spain was at war, and needed the production of spice trade and minerals to support the war, otherwise the country would go bankrupt. The Philippines was a very important economic source, otherwise, it would not be named after the king.
Now that 80% of the income would go to Xiao Ruxun, the remaining 20% would be enough for them to maintain their own needs. Would there be a penny left for Spain to support the war? If the war in Spain could not be sustained and their hegemony could not be sustained, would they become sinners?
The Viceroy looked at Xiao Ruxun with a pained expression.
"You'd better think it through. If you don't accept my conditions, I won't kill you. Even if I don't pursue the matter after I leave this place, those aboriginals have lost so many people. Do you think they won't pursue the matter that easily?
You have a lot of conflicts. In the past, they did not dare to confront you because of your military strength and weapons. But now that you have no military strength and have become so weak, do you think they will come for revenge? "
Xiao Ruxun looked at the Viceroy and the officials around him mockingly. These officials all looked as if they had eaten shit. They either looked at the Viceroy or looked at each other. Then, without exception, they all lowered their heads and kept quiet.
The situation was terrible. Nothing so terrible had ever happened before. They were actually forced to become sinners of the country, a group of people who could not protect the interests of the country, but had to hand over the interests of the country.
Even the missionaries who were translating lowered their heads awkwardly.
But it had to be said that Xiao Ruxun's proposal was reasonable. They still had a lot of conflicts with the Filipino natives. Although there were tribes who were willing to cooperate, there were always those who were not.
Over the years, they had colluded with those tribes and cooperated with each other. They knew very well how many natives they had killed and how many lives they had taken.
They also knew very well how much those who had been harmed hated them.
There wouldn't be any reinforcements from the country right now, but Xiao Ruxun's mighty army was right in front of them. If they didn't accept it, not to mention whether they would be killed by him, would those cunning and greedy natives let them go? They had limited ammunition and manpower, but City M had a lot of reserves and wealth, which was very attractive.
They could not escape death. If they refused Xiao Ruxun, they would have no way to live.
Any rational person would make the decision that was best for their own interests at this moment.
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