1587 saw preparations for war in Manila, building fortifications under Sedeño's supervision and cramming weapons and supplies. The same year, fortuitously, a Japanese delegation came from Hirado under the command of Konishi Yukinaga, a Japanese Christian and grand admiral of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, to offer 6,000 vassals and "all the people and soldiers [Spain] asked" to collaborate with any invasion against China, Borneo, Siam or Moluccas.
