Chapter 690: This Is the Original Sin!

On the south bank of the Pasig River along Manila Bay, a tall, thin Spanish white man in a white silk shirt, accompanied by a large crowd of native attendants and several white men dressed much like himself, was strolling along the riverbank.

On the south bank of the Pasig River stood a castle under construction. Great blocks of stone were transported along the Pasig River, and coolies — Chinese and Luzon natives — carried the boulders down from the boats one by one, then hauled them to the worksite. There were not many coolies on the job, so progress was very slow. This fortress, called Fort Santiago, had been dragging on for decades, and even now only the outer stone wall and the gate were finished. The main body of the inner fortress was still under endless construction, and no one knew when it would be completed.

The tall, thin man with a sharp nose and black hair was named Diego Parado Chacón, the current Governor-General of the Philippine colony.

He walked slowly along the Pasig River, head lowered and hands clasped behind his back, lost in thought. The river water soaked his trouser legs, but he did not notice at all. Occasionally he would suddenly turn his head to gaze at the slowly progressing Fort Santiago, his thick brows knitted together.

A somewhat fat-looking Spaniard with a large beard drew close to him and said in a low voice, "Your Excellency the Governor-General, are you still worried about that giant dragon awakening in the north?"

The speaker was named Sebastián Caballero, the Royal Judge of Manila. According to the custom of the Spanish colonies, whenever a new governor-general succeeded an outgoing one, the new governor-general was responsible for reviewing the departing governor-general, and the testimony of the Royal Judge, who handled the colony's legal affairs, would play a crucial role in that review.

Therefore the number-two man in the colony was usually the Royal Judge.

Diego Parado Chacón sighed softly. "Your Honor, are you not worried at all? That giant dragon in the north is awakening at a speed beyond our imagination... It has not only organized and trained a Dutch-style army, but has also opened a naval academy, built galleons, and even wants to cross the Pacific to trade with New Spain! Probably no East Asian monarch has ever made such a demand before, has he?"

Caballero had lived in the Philippines far longer than Chacón. He thought for a moment and said, "In fact, there was one Eastern monarch who made the same demand — the King of Japan, several decades ago... but he was refused by the Viceroyalty of New Spain!"

New Spain did not practice an open-door policy, at least not along the Pacific coast. So Tokugawa Ieyasu's sudden fancy back then had been rejected by the Viceroyalty of New Spain — because the Spanish feared that Japan would accumulate wealth through Pacific trade, develop its own maritime power, and become Spain's rival in the Pacific!

"But can we refuse the demands of the Great Ming Empire the way we refused the Japanese?" Chacón said. "And they are now very close to the Portuguese and the Dutch! Perhaps you do not yet know this: the former Governor-General of Batavia of the Dutch East India Company, Van Diemen, has been appointed the Dutch ambassador to the Great Ming... This is unprecedented!"

The Governor-General of the Philippines looked deeply worried!

Although Van Diemen himself was, like Chacón, full of vigilance toward the Great Ming's "awakening," the newborn Republic of the United Netherlands was a nation of merchants that put profit first, and they could not possibly refuse the high profits to be had from China!

So when Van Diemen returned to the homeland and reported his gains in China to the board of the East India Company and the States General of the Republic of the United Netherlands, and presented the letter written in French from the Great Ming's Prince Regent and Crown Prince to the Stadtholder of the Republic, the Prince of Orange, the States General and Prince William II of Orange decided to respond to the Ming Crown Prince's request, send an ambassador to the Great Ming, and at the same time welcome an ambassador from the Great Ming Empire to the Netherlands.

Considering the hostile relations between Spain and the Netherlands, the friendly relations between the Great Ming and the Netherlands already posed a serious threat to Spanish rule in the Philippines. The state of war between Spain and the Netherlands had formally ended the previous year, 1648. The Netherlands had won the Eighty Years' War of independence and gained sovereign independence, but the hatred between the two sides was not so easily dissolved.

In addition, there was another Western nation very friendly to the Great Ming — the Kingdom of Portugal — which was also fighting a war of independence against Spain!

Before 1640, the Portuguese throne had belonged to King Philip IV of Spain, but in December 1640 a riot broke out in Lisbon. Portuguese nobles seized the royal palace, deposed Philip IV from the throne, and installed João, Duke of Braganza, as the new king, styled João IV.

The Portuguese War of Independence broke out from that moment!

Although the war between Spain and Portugal was not fought with great intensity, the hostility between the two countries was plain to see.

Moreover, the Spanish Empire's own relations with the Great Ming Empire were not very good either. Because there were many Chinese merchants in Manila, the Spanish colonizers had always worried that the Great Ming would invade the Philippine colony.

As a result, relations between the Governor-General's office in the Philippines and the local Chinese in Manila would from time to time become extremely tense, followed by bloody clashes and massacres... Just nine years earlier, in 1640, the Chinese in Manila had launched an armed uprising against the Spaniards.

And after the uprising was suppressed, the Governor-General's office in the Philippines imposed heavy taxes on the Chinese and Chinese merchants!

Although relations had eased somewhat after Governor-General Chacón took office, as the Great Ming became more and more active at sea, many Chinese in Manila had once again grown "excited."

And a few days earlier, news from the Kingdom of Champa across the sea had plunged Chacón into deep worry.

In Chacón's view, the Great Ming's occupation of the Kingdom of Champa was a great step by this ancient Eastern empire toward the Age of Discovery!

"Your Honor," Chacón said, "I think we need to levy new taxes to raise more funds for building the city of Santiago and recruiting troops... Our army in Manila is far too small, fewer than 2,000 men. To hold the Philippine colony, we may need an army of 10,000, of whom no fewer than 3,000 should be Europeans."

"Your Excellency the Governor-General," Caballero understood Governor-General Chacón's thinking, but he believed the situation was not yet so grave. "So far, the Great Ming Empire has shown us no hostility whatsoever... In fact, the Ming Emperor has been very friendly. He has invited our merchants to establish trading houses in the commercial port of Shanghai, and he also hopes to hire our scholars and engineers, and he has repeatedly assured us that he will not invade the Philippines.

I think we can take necessary defensive measures, but we should not display excessive hostility... An army of 10,000 would very likely turn into an enormous waste. I think you must know that excessive taxation would strangle all commercial vitality in Manila. If the Philippines loses its economic value, then is there any need for it to exist?"

The Spanish Royal Judge paused. "Your Excellency the Governor-General, what we should do now is send someone to Nanjing to meet with the Ming Emperor and strive to conclude a treaty that can guarantee the security of the Philippine colony. If you have no suitable candidate, I can make the trip myself."

"Your Honor, you may make this trip." Chacón stopped walking and turned to look at Fort Santiago in the glow of the setting sun. "But I think you should understand that the greatest difference between us and the Dutch merchants is that we do not pursue only economic gain — we will also fight to the end for the glory of the Lord. If the Ming Empire wants to seize the Lord's castle of Santiago, then it must be prepared to bear the wrath of the entire world empire!

Our Spanish world empire is vaster and greater than his ancient empire! If it comes to war, the victor will surely be Spain!"