GBP Chapter 315 Using Cannons Against Chapter
Chapter 315 Using Cannons Against Chapter
??
Salamanca had no better option than to pray that the other side wouldn't harbor deeper hostility. The entire fortress had fewer than a thousand army soldiers, tasked with guarding the castle's key points and preventing potential unrest and riots within the city. The Spanish colonists weren't afraid of the local natives, but they were deeply wary of the tens of thousands of Chinese. These Chinese were hardworking and had a talent for business; almost all commerce in the Philippines was controlled by the Chinese. The authorities levied high taxes on the Chinese while simultaneously worrying about their growing wealth.
This accumulated resentment, when it reached a certain point, could be ignited by a small spark, unleashing a bloodbath. In the early 17th century, the Wanli Emperor, having just completed three major campaigns and facing financial difficulties, heard that the Spanish in Luzon possessed vast amounts of silver. Mistaking Luzon for a silver-producing region, he set his sights on mining there. When the colonial authorities learned of this, coupled with previous Chinese rebellions, they easily suspected the Chinese of colluding with them to seize the Philippines. Therefore, they chose to strike first. In 1603, the Spanish colonists incited the local indigenous people to carry out a large-scale massacre of the Chinese. This massacre is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 people.
This incident caused a great sensation at the time. Legend has it that Emperor Wanli was furious upon hearing the news, saying: "Yi and others deceived the court, provoked trouble overseas, causing 20,000 merchants to die by the sword, damaging the prestige of the country, and deserved to die. They should be beheaded and their heads displayed at sea. The chieftain of Luzon killed merchants without authorization. The governor and the provincial officials should discuss the crime and report it to the emperor."
However, considering the issue of national strength, the decision was ultimately abandoned. The official attitude of the Ming Dynasty was: "Among the four classes of people in China, merchants are the lowest. Why should we wage war against such lowly people? It is not a pity to abandon them." In other words, the Ming Dynasty believed that these people who went to the Philippines were all merchants, and merchants were not worth the court's military action against.
If history had not changed significantly, a few years later, in 1639, the Spanish would have launched another massacre, in which many Chinese who had converted to Catholicism were also brutally killed.
Of course, fleet commander Gao Jie was unaware of all this. He simply followed the general's instructions, blockading the port and looking for an opportunity to give these Iberians a taste of their power.
It was March, and the fleet that had transported silver from the New World had not yet returned. There was no naval force in Manila harbor that could stop the Qiongzhou Camp. Only a few galleons belonging to the Governor's Office were hiding cautiously in a corner, not daring to breathe, for fear of angering this ill-intentioned fleet.
The envoys sent by Salamanca approached the fleet in small boats, waving and shouting frantically to indicate that they were there to communicate and had no malicious intent.
After the envoy boarded the "Guangdong," he conveyed the governor's message, hoping to understand the fleet's purpose. Gao Jie had a pre-prepared letter brought out and asked him to deliver it to the governor, saying, "We hope the governor will do as the letter says and give us a reply by noon tomorrow, otherwise we will use force to achieve our goal."
Half an hour later, the letter was placed on Salamanca's desk. It was written by Liu Ye in English, but the governor didn't speak English and had to call a translator.
The letter was simple, and its contents were roughly as follows: This fleet belonged to a general of the Ming Dynasty, who had just replaced Zheng Yiguan as the maritime hegemon of the Far East. Now he wanted to redefine the rules of the game: the Spanish and the Dutch had to withdraw from the Far East and hand over the strongholds of the Grand General. The Governor-General's Office had to promise to withdraw all soldiers from Keelung and Tamsui. All future maritime trade had to be conducted in ports designated by this general, and high taxes had to be paid as required.
The translator, sweating profusely, translated the letter into Spanish, glancing furtively at the governor's expression every now and then. Just as he expected, the governor tore the arrogant letter to shreds and threw it on the ground.
"The proud Iberian warriors will not yield to the yellow-skinned monkeys of the Far East. The strongholds of Danshui and Jilong must not only not be withdrawn, but must be strengthened," Salamanca said, his beard bristling and eyes wide. "I will immediately write to His Majesty the King and have him mobilize the fleet from the New World to support Dayuan Island."
Looking out at the sails, Salamanca ordered, "Attack the enemy flagship with the fortress cannons, let them know that Manila can cripple any enemy that dares to invade, even without naval support."
The order was relayed down the chain of command to the gun emplacements, and the soldiers quickly turned the heavy 24-pound fortress cannons, aimed them at the fleet anchored in the harbor, and began the tedious preparations for firing.
Gao Jie was waiting for a response from the castle when a sailor on the lookout tower shouted a warning: "The cannons on the castle are moving; it looks like they're aiming at us..."
Gao Jie immediately rushed to the bow of the ship and used binoculars to observe the direction of the castle. Sure enough, the cannons on several gun emplacements were slowly moving, and finally, without exception, they were all pointed at him. It seemed that the rulers of Manila did not want to obediently comply; perhaps they believed that only cannons were the most effective means of communication.
"Damn it, these stubborn Spaniards won't listen unless they suffer a bit," Gao Jie shouted. "Use the bombardment to attack the forts and let them taste the power of explosives."
The two Yongle-class ships opened their gun ports, and their 59-pounder cannons aimed at the top of the castle, adjusting their firing parameters.
Fifteen minutes later, the 24-pound cannon on the castle fired first.
"Boom boom boom!" Several 24-pound cannons fired in succession. Due to insufficient preparation and poor accuracy, several shells fell into the sea, splashing up huge columns of water.
The guns on the "Guangdong" returned fire first, but the targets on the fort were too small, and the counterattack did not hit the fort. One gun landed inside the city, and another hit the city wall.
The shell that struck the city wall left a dent in the surface before falling to its base, then exploded almost simultaneously with the cannonball inside the city. A deafening roar, like muffled thunder, echoed both inside and outside the city.
The sudden explosion shocked the soldiers on the city walls and also stunned Salamanca inside the governor's mansion. He stared in disbelief at the flames and smoke rising from the city, dumbfounded—cannonballs fired from the fleet anchored in the harbor could fly over the castle and into the city; only cannons of 24 pounds or more could achieve such a range, and cannons of that caliber could not fire high-explosive shells unless they were willing to risk the shells exploding inside the barrel.
Gao Jie was unaware that his attack had gone awry; a missed bomb had stunned his opponent. He continued to urge the guns to fire, hoping to destroy the batteries in one fell swoop and completely eliminate the artillery threat to the fleet.
The Shandong also joined the shelling. After correcting the impact point, one of the four explosive shells finally hit the fort accurately. After the shell exploded, the ammunition was ignited and detonated. With a loud "boom", the entire fort collapsed. The 24-pounder tumbled down and fell into the city, deeply embedded in the ground.