Chapter 1191 - Manila Galleon

The Executive Committee meeting room was packed—beyond the Executive Committee members themselves, nearly every ministry and commission head had come. This was a typical enlarged meeting. The ostensible reason was naturally that the matter was of great importance, a "national policy" level operation. In reality, everyone knew how many people's childhood "pirate dreams" this carried.

Even several people from the financial department showed up—their stated reason was to assess the operation's costs and returns, including what impact this large influx of silver would have on the Senate's fiscal situation.

The Directorate of Finance was preparing to gradually promote circulation notes in "Yellow Zones" like Guangzhou starting at the end of 1632. This would inevitably require a certain amount of precious metal reserves. Existing precious metal circulation, roughly sufficient for import needs, would appear inadequate. This silver revenue thus became quite important.

Large wooden tubs stood in the four corners and central open space of the meeting room, giant ice blocks emitting white wisps of cool vapor. Even so, the room remained uncomfortably warm.

The Executive Committee meeting room was originally configured to accommodate twenty-five people. Now with nearly forty squeezed in, the heat from too many bodies left everyone dripping with sweat. But the atmosphere was enthusiastic; no one minded.

As Executive Committee Chairman, Wen Desi announced the start of the meeting. Qian Shuiting carried his carefully prepared briefcase of materials to the podium and signaled for the curtains to be drawn—not for secrecy, but because he needed the projector.

"Comrades, I will now give a brief report on the operation to seize the Manila Galleon." With that, he opened his laptop and projector.

He first explained the origin of the Manila Galleon. Manila Galleons departed from New Spain—the Spanish American colonies—every February or March, arriving in Manila between May and July each year. Two galleons were dispatched each time.

Manila Galleons were royal vessels. The primary purpose of the voyage to Manila was to transport subsidies for the Governor-General of the Philippines—that is, the Spanish colonial government's administrative expenses. The amount varied annually, generally between 200,000 and 300,000 pesos.

In Philippine colonial revenue, the largest portion came from silver shipped from the Americas, followed by taxes and license fees collected from local Chinese. However, compared to the colonial government's huge expenses and pitiful local income, without the royal subsidy, the Philippine government couldn't sustain itself. In letters to the King, the Philippine Governor-General cried poverty every time, demanding more subsidies.

"I found detailed figures for the royal subsidy obtained by the Philippine colony from the Americas annually from 1630 to 1634. Last year it was 203,915 pesos; this year it is 232,569 pesos. We know each peso weighs approximately 37 grams. Calculated this way, that's over eight tons of silver."

This figure wasn't particularly electrifying, so Qian Shuiting had more to add.

"Although the royal subsidy itself isn't enormous, the Manila Galleon also transports non-royal property—payments for goods purchased in the Philippines by New Spain viceroys and merchants, and payments for goods sold in the Americas by Philippine merchants. These latter two amounts are very substantial. Smuggling trade between the two colonies of New Spain and the Philippines is rampant—including the Governor-General's own participation. Massive quantities of Chinese goods are shipped to the Americas via this route. Though we cannot know exactly how much silver each ship carries, historically Manila Galleons were captured four times. One yielded a million pesos in coins; two yielded goods worth about two million pesos; and one botched job still produced hard currency worth four to eight hundred thousand. So the silver coins and goods carried each time are likely worth around one million pesos. If we do this right, capturing just one ship gets us at least 500,000 pesos—very likely far more. We know most silver flowing into late Ming China came from American silver in the Manila trade—so the Manila Galleon cannot possibly carry only the official silver coins."

This data caused a stir among those present. The potential haul was too tempting.

"What is the armament situation of these ships?" Navy Chief of Naval Operations Chen Haiyang asked. He concerned himself more with this issue.

"According to our information, there are two Manila Galleons in 1632: the flagship San Luis and the San Raimundo. However, detailed tonnage records don't exist in the available data." Qian Shuiting pressed a key, displaying the next slide—a side-profile structural diagram of a Spanish galleon.

"However, judging from available data, these ships must be galleons. Please look—this is the typical structure of a galleon." He pointed at the slide. "I found the composition of the Spanish Far East Fleet in 1627. We can use the largest vessel among them to estimate the equipment and personnel situation of these ships."

Far East Fleet flagship: Galleon San Ildefonso, 1400 tons, 41 guns, total crew 651. Slightly smaller: Galleon Santa Teresa de Jesús, 1150 tons, 39 guns, total crew 495. Galleon Peña de Francia, 1000 tons, 34 guns, total crew 437.

"Because this fleet simultaneously carried troops for land combat missions, nearly half the personnel aboard were army soldiers and artillerymen. The Manila Galleon wouldn't carry so many troops. So we can estimate these two ships should be around 1000 tons, 40 guns, 400 soldiers and sailors."

"Besides gold and silver, the dozens of light and heavy cannons and dozens of tons of copper aboard are also a considerable fortune. If we can tow the ship back, the timber and sails are quite useful as well." Wu De revealed his Planning Commission colors the moment he spoke.

"Exactly so," Qian Shuiting nodded. "As Defoe said: a ship is a floating treasury—especially this kind of scheduled liner between two colonies. The various goods carried aboard also represent a fortune to us."

"According to your data, our navy can defeat the treasure ships relatively easily. After all, our muzzle-loading rifled guns have effective range, rate of fire, and penetration far superior to the Spaniards' culverins and demi-culverins," said Lin Shenhe, attending as a non-voting delegate.

"Your primitive contact fuzes can't be used. We want capture, not sinking. The Spaniards, conversely, can use various shells without scruples. But since they don't have explosive shells anyway, deploying the 901s against them poses no problem at all. When the English fought the Armada, typical engagement range was only 100 meters." Chairman Wen summarized confidently.

Broadly speaking, the Elders had great confidence in their naval vessels. Moreover, so far—whether the 854 or 901—they remained lonely experts at sea, never having truly tasted blood. Only a few 901s had performed shore fire support missions in Shandong.

"However, the main problem is actually search and discovery." Qian Shuiting projected a map of the Philippines. "From known data, the treasure ships approach from the Philippine Sea to the east, pass through the San Bernardino Strait between Luzon and Samar, enter the Sibuyan Sea, then pass through the strait north of Mindoro to reach Manila."

"Isn't that almost exactly Coward Kurita's route in reverse?"

"I believe we can choose the strait north of Mindoro, the Sibuyan Sea, or the San Bernardino Strait for interception."

Someone immediately raised objections: "Don't even consider the first two interception points. Philippine islands and straits are as numerous as ox hairs. Where would we get such detailed hydrological data? If we run aground, we'd be stealing a chicken only to lose the rice. Even Nimitz ran aground there driving a small destroyer in the twentieth century—and was forgiven only because the hydrological data was simply too complex."

"I think we might as well just take Manila and directly receive the colony. The Philippines has abundant natural resources..."

"Taking Manila wouldn't be hard; the Spaniards don't have many troops in the Philippines."

Seeing the discussion drifting toward a Manila strategy, Ma Qianzhu finally spoke: "Let me state my position first: I do not approve of taking the Philippines—it disperses resources too much. Secondly, although I don't understand naval technical issues well, some important impacts must be considered first: we currently treat Zheng Ikkwan as our main opponent and strike target. Hitting Spanish treasure ships might add an enemy—although we fought at Bopu, that wasn't an overt act. Moreover, we all know massive amounts of Spanish silver are flowing into China at this time. If we enter a hostile state with the Spaniards, will we lose this source?"

Wen Desi surveyed the attendees: "I think Old Ma has a point. I personally feel it's better not to make too many enemies right now. Even if we can occupy Manila, we don't have the manpower to occupy and develop the Philippines at present. This time is just to grab a score; one can never have too much silver. As for avoiding hostilities with the Spaniards, I think it comes down to secrecy. Everyone might as well discuss this issue in detail. Of course, if secrecy fails, killing everyone to silence them is the simplest option. Old Qian, what do you say?"

"Taking out the treasure ships will deal a severe economic blow to Zheng Zhilong—we've discussed this before," Qian Shuiting said. "As for complete secrecy, implementation has difficulties. Our guns and ships are very distinctive, and we can't guarantee every sailor will keep their mouth shut—if we have to tow the ship back to port for dismantling, maintaining secrecy becomes even harder."

(End of Chapter)