Chapter 1317 Making a fuss

Everyone's views on whether the invading Spanish fleet has the ability to compete with their own army are surprisingly unanimous. No one doubts that the troops stationed in the mainland can defeat the Spanish armed forces that come to the door on their own. The main point of disagreement is that the Spanish fleet is coming.

Will the news of the attack cause a relatively large impact and turmoil on the local society? The military wants to maximize the results of the war and annihilate all enemy forces as much as possible, while the civilian officials hope to minimize the impact of the war on Hainan Island.

Degree - It would be best if the local people could not be aware that a war was taking place.

Of course, that is an unlikely situation. Even if the Haihan Army has a strong fighting capacity, there will still be many traces to follow when gathering troops to prepare for war. Tao Donglai's order has been divided into deployments, and soon all the garrison troops will be deployed.

The whole place is busy, and all military personnel who are on leave will be notified immediately to cancel their leave and report back to the army. All the troops on the island must begin to assemble and stand by. It is impossible for no one to notice such a big move, so it will cause great harm to the civilian population.

The impact is inevitable, it just depends on the degree.

Tao Donglai smiled bitterly and said: "I think your estimate of the current situation may be too optimistic. Although our strength is indeed much stronger than the Spaniards, please don't forget that in this confrontation, we are temporarily in a

Passive position. The current intelligence we have shows that Sanya is the opponent's first choice target, but this does not mean that the Spanish attack target is limited to this area, so I ordered the entire island's border defense forces to enter a state of war preparation.

We are now considering how to reduce the impact of the war on social stability. I think it is better to vaccinate the people first and let the official release the news than spreading rumors among the people."

Tao Donglai never thought of concealing the situation that Haihan was facing a foreign invasion from the public. The Executive Committee had a very high prestige in the country. As long as the Executive Committee took the initiative to disclose war information, it would be hidden from the public.

It would be impossible for Xiaoxiao to use the war to create any big rhythm. And as long as the people are not in chaos, this battle that was foreseen in advance will not cause any major losses to Haihan.

Tao Donglai's prestige within the Chuanhua Group is still quite high, and most people are accustomed to the tradition of Tao Donglai making the final decision on major issues. As for the opinions given by Tao Donglai, everyone in the meeting, look at me, I

Look at you, no one raised a voice to question him.

Upon seeing this, Tao Donglai continued: "Since no one has any objections, I suggest that the Propaganda Department take action as soon as possible to inform the people that sporadic wars may occur in the coastal waters of Hainan Island in the near future. As for the reason... let's say it is to exterminate pirates.

Well, after the war is over, we will slowly release the truth to the people."

With a few words from Tao Donglai, the Spanish fleet was classified as a low-class pirate. This is why Haihan had such confidence. If it were other Europeans like Portugal and the Netherlands, they would definitely not dare to despise the Spanish Empire so much.

Armed fleet. Especially the Dutch who had been fighting with the Spanish on Taiwan Island for several years. In order to compete for control of the Northeast Asian routes, the two countries fought quite frequently in Taiwan and nearby waters. The Dutch couldn't eat it.

Shaoqi is also quite wary of Spanish armed sailing ships, so he has not yet set foot in the waters near Luzon Island.

Ning Qi smiled and said: "Old Tao, you are very quick to throw the blame away. You just threw the matter to me in just a few words?"

Tao Donglai said sternly: "How can this be called scapegoating? This is the new appointment given to you by the organization. The Propaganda Department is the mouthpiece of the Executive Committee. If you don't need it now, when will you wait? When you are done with your work here, go back and open one.

Yes, let’s arrange the work. By the way, remember to notify Yu Xiaobao and ask him to take action on the Youth League side as well.”

After the general tone was set, the response plan was quickly released. In addition to Tao Donglai's previous orders to the garrison in various places, the Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Transportation and other departments will also cooperate with the needs of the war.

, began to implement respective preparations in various fields.

Two hours after the secret report was sent to Fort Victory, Yu Xiaobao also received a notice from the Executive Committee, requiring the Youth League to cooperate with the Propaganda Department and notify various units as soon as possible that the military would soon clear out pirates in the waters near Hainan Island.

.

Pirates? Yu Xiaobao was obviously a little confused when he received this news. Pirates have completely disappeared from the waters around Hainan Island in recent years. Moreover, the Haihan Army has a "bad reputation", even if it is active in the South China Sea

And sporadic pirates in the Sulu Sea east of Palawan Island will never take the risk to rob the territory ruled by Haihan.

For the pirates, although the Haihan Kingdom has a lot of wealth, their own lives are more important. I think back then, the Shibazhi people who dominated the coast of Fuguang had tens of thousands of people and thousands of ships. Wasn't it the same?

The Haihan people were completely wiped out. At that time, some Shibazhi personnel who fled to the South China Sea also spread the ferocity of the Haihan army to wherever they went, making pirate gangs who had never dealt with the Haihan army regard them as pirates.

Therefore, Hainan Island has not been attacked by pirates in recent years. However, the Ministry of National Defense often uses military means to deal with some troubles in the name of suppressing bandits.

In the peaceful and prosperous times, how could blind pirates actually come to the door? Yu Xiaobao's first reaction to this order was to doubt whether the news was wrong. There were not many countries in the South China Sea that even had the courage to openly oppose Haihan.

How come there are private armed forces like pirates rushing to Hainan Island to die?

Yu Xiaobao thought about it and felt something was wrong, so he immediately called Ning Qi to ask what was going on. Ning Qi did not elaborate on the reason due to confidentiality reasons, and only mentioned to Yu Xiaobao, "

This propaganda is in line with the needs of military operations."

Yu Xiaobao put down the phone receiver and thought about it for a while before roughly guessing the truth. The military may be dealing with a special target that is not suitable for the public to know, so it needs to use the name of exterminating pirates to announce war to the people.

Warning. However, Xiaobao did not associate the matter with Manila, thousands of miles away. He just subconsciously believed that the military needed propaganda to cover its combat missions.

Since it was a task assigned by the executive committee and there were clear time requirements, Yu Xiaobao did not dare to neglect it and quickly summoned his subordinates to assign work. Although the Youth League has great authority and influence, the full-time staff of this department

In fact, there were not many. After Yu Xiaobao was busy with this stall, he remembered that he had a newly recruited publicity expert Liu Shang who could come in handy. He immediately asked someone to send a message to the training center and asked Liu Shang to hurry up.

Report back.

Liu Shang came out of Fort Victory, went back to his residence to pick up his luggage, and then went to the training center to check in. Not long after finishing these things and resting in the dormitory, Yu Xiaobao's notice arrived. Liu Shang also

I am a bit dumbfounded. Can I still complete the induction training? I entered the training center twice, and both times I was caught before the class started. And this time it was faster than the previous time, and I even paid for a meal.

Before he could get through, he was recruited by Yu Xiaobao again.

Although he felt a little emotional, he still had to take on the errands that he had to take, and this was not something that Liu Shangneng could refuse. At that moment, he could only pick up his luggage again and go through the school leaving procedures again.

Later that day, news began to appear in the Sanya market. Officials said that unidentified armed ships had recently been found operating in nearby waters. The military believed that this might be a pirate fleet cruising nearby, waiting for an opportunity to attack people entering and leaving Hainan.

Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of ships from various countries traveling to and from Hainan Island, the military will launch a large-scale maritime anti-bandit operation in the near future. During this period, it will also strengthen inspections of ships and personnel entering and leaving the port to ensure social stability.

.

Not everyone may believe this statement, but the vast majority of the people still trust the official information. The Haihan Army has always won every battle, and has never lost in battles against pirates in the past, so in

I heard that the government was going to send troops to combat pirates, and the public's reaction was very stable. Almost no one worried about the hypothetical proposition of whether the Haihan Navy could defeat the pirates. The only suspense was how long it would take the navy to complete such a task.

Of course, some people are worried about this. For merchant ships that need to enter and exit the port in the near future, the official news will undoubtedly greatly increase the risks of navigation. Originally, one of the reasons why many businessmen chose Sanya as a trading port is that it has better security.

, but if there are pirates operating even near Sanya, then it can be said that there are no safe ports in the entire South China Sea.

As soon as the news came out, the port management centers of Victory Port and Sanya Port were swarmed by merchants. Everyone was very concerned about the specific sea area where the pirates appeared and whether the military would block the entry and exit of the port during this operation.

Can the safety of foreign and foreign ships in Sanya and other ports be guaranteed?

Fortunately, the port administration department was well prepared for the merchants' reaction, and immediately announced some new security measures. First, it was recommended that ships traveling to and from various ports on Hainan Island in the near future purchase the "Navigation Safety Insurance" officially launched by Haihan.

In order to avoid possible property losses; secondly, it is recommended that merchant ships travel together to reach a fleet size of more than ten ships, and Haihan warships can also be hired at cost to escort; thirdly, cooperate with port arrangements, temporarily adjust routes, and try to avoid

Navigation route east of Hainan Island.

The news soon reached the ears of the Portuguese and Dutch envoys living in Sanya. These people were very aware of the current security situation in the South China Sea. They had a much keener sense of smell than ordinary people. They immediately judged that the suppression of pirates was just an excuse for the Haihan military.

, must have other motives for gathering troops. Although they each signed a peace agreement with Haihan, these colonialists also understand that the initiative for peace is not in their own hands. As long as the Haihan people think it is necessary, they will do so at any time.

You can tear up the agreement and start a war, fighting for the colonies you control in the southeastern waters of the Ming Dynasty - Macau occupied by Portugal and Damuan Port occupied by the Netherlands. These places are all within the range of the Haihan fleet.

The two embassies invariably sent people to visit Fort Victory, hoping that the Haihan Executive Committee and the Ministry of National Defense would provide a clear explanation for the arrangements for this military operation with questionable purposes. However, they did not receive a more detailed explanation. The official reply from Haihan was

Please be patient and wait for further news.

It's damn good if this works out. The envoys of the two countries failed to get a definite answer, and the ominous feeling in their hearts became even stronger. The Dutch were counting on Haihan to attack Macau, which is closer to Hainan Island, while the Portuguese

They can only hope that there really is the pirate fleet claimed by the Haihan people in the South China Sea. Of course, they never thought that the Spaniards, who had been silent and silent, would jump out to cause trouble at this juncture, and all of Haihan's reactions were...

It happened because of this. In fact, it had no direct relationship with them. It was just me adding too much drama.

At the moment, Haihan's senior management can't take care of these worried dramas. The top priority is to mobilize troops to attack the Spanish fleet. Although everyone is convinced that their navy can defeat the Spanish, they must still pay enough attention to tactics.

The steam fleet that had just been disbanded in Danzhou a few days ago was asked to rush to Sanya immediately to assemble. Tao Donglai was convinced that with this powerful fleet guarding Sanya, it was impossible for any enemy to invade from the sea.

.

Even the iron-clad experimental ship "Warrior" that became famous in the military exercise was also called by the Ministry of National Defense. The weapons, steam engines, iron armor and steel keels equipped on that ship all represent the current state of the art.

The highest level of Haihan Industrial Manufacturing can be said to be a real killer weapon that transcends the times. Even if it is put into actual combat, it will not be a big problem. However, the cost and operating expenses of this ship are very considerable, and the construction period is also long. In a short time

There is no way to mass-produce it internally, and it can only be used as a prototype ship to accumulate experience and train operators. Using this ship to fight is actually a bit of a waste of time, but the Executive Committee strongly requires that the Ministry of National Defense must

To be sure, you have to add this weight to the balance.

Of course, the Ministry of National Defense had to add an additional temporary military expenditure for this purpose to ensure that the "Warrior" has sufficient supplies of materials and ammunition. Not only does this ship need at least two to three supply ships to accompany it when it goes to sea, but also

Two more warships must be sent as escorts to prevent the supply ship accompanying the "Warrior" from being plundered by the enemy during the battle. In this way, the cost of this ship's battle is almost equal to

That's half the fleet.

However, in the end, the senior officials of the Executive Committee covered their eyes and signed the military expenditure application. No matter how expensive the military expenditure was, the war would still have to be fought. At worst, after the war was over, they would try to ask for compensation from Spain to fill the account.
Chapter completed!