Chapter 1622 Preparing for War

"That Fei Cexian has been spending time in the library these days? This person is really eager to learn and make progress!"

In the Victory Fort, after listening to He Xi's report, Tao Donglai couldn't help but express his feelings. Regarding the envoys sent by the Ming Dynasty, the attitude of the executive committee was to treat them with courtesy and wait for opportunities to bribe them. If they could be accepted as their own

Of course, using it is the most ideal result. The relevant departments have also made corresponding preparations for this. The Ministry of Security even arranged for Zhang Qianzhi, a cadre, to be next to Fei Cexian as a tour guide who will serve people before and after running.

Fei Cexian will look for opportunities to attack based on his weaknesses.

However, after arriving in Sanya, Fei Cexian behaved very conscientiously and was not eager to start social activities in the local area. Except for a few banquets and entertainment events arranged by Haihan officials, Fei Cexian almost stayed between the guest house and the embassy construction site.

Maintaining two-point and one-line activities. Zhang Qianzhi has been testing repeatedly these days, but can hardly find Fei Cexian's obvious weaknesses. This person has no obvious desire for money, power, or beauty, and he is relatively calm and can see

The Ming Dynasty also had full consideration in choosing him as its envoy to Haihan, and had great trust in his character and loyalty.

Of course, Haihan is not in a hurry to subdue this Ming envoy. Nowadays, Haihan still takes the initiative in the relationship between the two countries. Work related to the various treaty ports established in the Ming Dynasty is also in full swing. Since the Ming envoy is here

There is no rush to start negotiations, and Haihan is eager to buy more time to further consolidate the advantageous position he has achieved. In addition, Haihan is now planning to launch military operations against Spain in the South China Sea. At this time, it is best not to start with the Ming Dynasty.

What kind of dispute is there, lest the military pressure exerted by the north on Ming Dynasty is not enough, causing it to have other thoughts?

He Xi introduced: "The materials this person borrows from the library are relatively mixed, and he can read everything related to my country. Because of the reading permissions, all he can see now are very basic things, and there is no one Explain to him, and Zhang Qianzhi is watching next to him, so there is no need to worry about leaking secrets."

"There are some things that you can ask Zhang Qianzhi to explain to him. There's no harm in understanding them." Tao Donglai responded with a smile on his face.

He Xi nodded understandingly, indicating that he understood. Haihan has many secrets, but he also has many advanced technologies that are suitable for showing to the outside world. For an outsider like Fei Cexian, it is probably not enough for him to see the library.

It is best to combine theory with practice and arrange for him to see the real industrial power. No one in this era can remain calm in the face of the industrial changes brought about by the steam engine, and Fei Cexian is no exception.

"Lao Yan, tell me about the preparations for war at the Ministry of National Defense!"

Since He Xi had made arrangements, Tao Donglai did not need to pay too much attention to Fei Cexian's affairs. The most important thing for Haihan at the moment was still preparations for war. Regarding the attack on Manila, the military actually

It has been planned for a long time, but it only officially entered the implementation stage in the second half of this year.

Since the Spanish have been operating in Manila for decades, and the land and sea armed forces deployed there are not weak, this opponent is not so easy to deal with. Although Haihan has defeated the Spanish twice in the Far East in the past,

But once he launched a surprise attack on Taiwan Island, catching the opponent off guard, and the other time he fought at home, fully occupying the advantage of the home court. This planned operation was to go to Lu, more than a thousand kilometers away from Sanya.

There are almost no supply points on the way to Song Island, so the operation is much more difficult than in the past operations in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty.

There are only two options before Haihan. One is to fight the Spaniards quickly and fight a blitzkrieg. Considering the cross-sea supply problem, Haihan can only launch a wave regardless of whether he can capture the city of Manila.

Of course it would be best to attack the city in one fell swoop, but if the attack fails and the city of Manila is not captured for ten days and a half, then most likely they will have no choice but to retreat to Hainan Island.

The second plan is a larger operation, that is, land and establish a stronghold near Manila, and then use it as a base to deliver troops and military supplies to the local area. After preparations are made, launch an offensive nearby Manila. The advantage of this is that before the war

The preparations are more complete, and the troops do not need to immediately engage in high-intensity siege battles after crossing thousands of miles of sea, and they can obtain supplies nearby. The combat effectiveness they can exert is definitely greater than a wave of offensives. Even if the war is unfavorable, the sea will

The troops sent to the local war by the Han Dynasty can also have a buffer and can continue the offensive for a longer period of time.

But no matter which plan it is, the amount of manpower, material and financial resources consumed during the period is not small, and the operational risks cannot be ignored. Even though the Ministry of National Defense has rich command experience, it is extremely cautious about this operation. From demonstration to start

During the implementation, every step during the process was reported to the executive committee for discussion. The formulation process of the operational plan can be said to be very careful.

The reason why Haihan was so cautious was because Spain, his opponent this time, was not that easy to deal with. In 1571, the Spanish colonist Legaspi arrived from Manitoba, invaded and occupied the Philippines, and built a castle there.

and forts, the city of Manila became the capital of the Spanish colonial rule in the Far East. Over the decades, in order to consolidate the foundation of their rule, the Spaniards have been constantly renovating and strengthening the city, and have deployed Spanish troops in the Far East there.

Almost all elite armed forces.

Although there is still a clear strength gap between the Spanish army in Manila and the army that served the Spanish royal family on the European battlefield, it is undeniable that this army is still stronger than the military power of Portugal, the Netherlands and other Western countries in the Far East.

Many, the equipment rate and quantity of muskets and artillery are also much higher than those of their European counterparts, and the number of troops is in the thousands. If they defend the city, it will not be easy for the Haihan army to capture it.

"Our combat plan is prepared in two stages." After Yan Chujie hung the map of Manila Bay on the wall, he explained to everyone present: "The first stage is to destroy the Spanish maritime power. According to what we have

According to the intelligence, there are about 18 to 25 warships stationed in Manila Bay, with displacement ranging from 100 tons to 500 tons, and no less than 30 armed merchant ships. The Spanish galleon fleet is six

They set off from Manila Bay in May, but they are still floating in the Pacific Ocean. They will arrive at the port of Acapulco in the Americas in about a month. However, their return journey will follow the ocean currents and sail directly to the Philippine Islands, which will only take about three months.

Time can go back to Manila. So if we are going to take action, it is best to complete the operation before March next year."

"As long as we can quickly clean up Manila Bay in the first stage, then the difficulty of attacking Manila City in the second stage will be relatively easy." Yan Chujie pointed to the east side of Manila Bay and said: "If we take the first action plan,

We have about ten days to attack this city. But according to the intelligence we have now, if we try to attack Manila, in addition to the consumption of ammunition, the number of casualties will probably not be too few.

"

"How many troops do the Spaniards have?" Tao Donglai asked with concern.

"The army remains at least around 2,000 to 2,500 people, which does not include the sailors and Spanish civilians they can recruit into the army at any time as temporary soldiers. In addition, the local armed forces they can command are almost the same size. Although

These local armed forces use cold weapons as their main weapons, but after all they are a trouble that cannot be ignored. According to our estimates, they were able to gather more than 6,000 people to participate in the war during the war. I have to say that this war

It may be more difficult than hunting wild boar skins in Liaodong."

Yan Chujie's description is very cautious, which shows that the Ministry of National Defense is also very cautious about this. Although Haihan has been able to achieve a record of winning with less and more in foreign wars all year round, it is still under the situation of great disparity in combat effectiveness between the two sides. If the opponent's equipment

With a considerable number of firearms and strong cities for defense, and fighting at home, the Haihan Army would have to pay a certain price in exchange for victory.

The Executive Committee and the military do not doubt that they can achieve the final victory of the war, but how much price they will have to pay for it and whether the results will meet expectations are currently uncertain. The Executive Committee and the Military

The party is also constantly evaluating this, hoping to make a judgment that is most beneficial to itself.

"Then what does the military plan to do? Take a gamble or take it slow?" Schneider asked.

"I'm afraid we don't have the conditions to take it slow." Yan Chujie explained: "For this operation, the Ministry of National Defense is preparing to concentrate all elite forces, including the special operations battalion stationed in Liaodong, the Marine Corps, and the Donghai Station stationed in Zhoushan.

fleet, the South China Sea Fleet stationed in Sanya, the South China Sea Special Warfare Group stationed in Xingdao, etc. Such large-scale defense changes will have certain security risks. For example, Liaodong and Shandong areas had to transfer three infantrymen from the south.

battalion as a supplement. We will eventually need to assemble about two full fleets and four battalions of land forces, not including the logistics troops. Even if we can maintain cross-sea supplies for a long time, we still have to solve Manila City as soon as possible and try our best to

To prevent other overseas controlled areas from being exploited for loopholes."

The military's determination to complete the victory in one battle was very thoroughly demonstrated by Yan Chujie's words. It has been very rare in recent years to mobilize the military's elite troops to be deployed in one place like this. The participating troops were originally deployed at the north and south ends.

, from the Liaodong front line to Bangka Belitung Island in the South China Sea, the distance is thousands of miles away. This shows how difficult it is to mobilize and change defenses.

By mobilizing these elite troops deployed on the front line to fight in the South China Sea, the Ministry of National Defense naturally took a lot of risks. The longer the battle in Manila drags on, the more dangerous the original garrison areas of these troops will become. Therefore, the Ministry of National Defense hopes to solve it at once

problem to avoid triggering a chain reaction.

"Even if all the troops on Hainan Island are mobilized, it won't be enough to fill the hole, right?" Although Schneider was not a military expert, he still had an idea of ​​the general situation of the Hainan Army, and he immediately continued to ask Yan Chujie.

Yan Chujie nodded and acknowledged Schneider's guess: "So this time we secretly borrowed some troops from our allies. Annan State sent about 1,500 troops south to Xingdao to help defend it, and then Xu Xinsu transferred about 1,000 troops from Fujian

We sent the musketeers to Liaodong for temporary support. The Portuguese also sent 500 people, who will go to the Philippines with us."

"The Portuguese are very good at seizing opportunities." Schneider expressed his understanding that the Portuguese would take the initiative to participate. After all, they want to break away from Spanish rule. If they can seize the opportunity to defeat the Spanish in the Far East, they will definitely not miss it.

The 500 people sent by Portugal will definitely not go to the front line to do odd jobs. Their musketeers and artillery have good military qualities. They were also military advisers to the Ming Dynasty in the past. They should be able to provide some assistance to the Haihan Army during the battle.

.

"Raising troops for a thousand days, using them for a while, we have provided military assistance to these allies in the past, and now we have finally received some rewards." Tao Donglai said with great relief. Of course, in fact, the military assistance Haihan provided to these allies

It's not free, but they have made considerable economic gains from it. However, these allies are actually very happy to participate in such borrowing operations. After all, being able to send troops to station on the front line of Haihan's border defense is also an extremely rare training.

means, and there is no need to worry about heavy casualties - at least Haihan has guaranteed that no large-scale war will break out wherever they go.

As for the reason for not directly borrowing troops to participate in the battle, the main reason is that the Ministry of National Defense believes that there is a certain strength gap between the troops of these allies and the Haihan regular army, and the command system is not unified. It is not a big problem to conduct military exercises in peacetime, but in real time

When fighting an opponent like Spain, it is safer to join your own troops. As for why the Portuguese were able to join the coalition, Haihan thought that they were connected with the Spanish language and culture, so that they would not need to carry field translators.

, they can also be responsible for detaining and interrogating Spanish prisoners of war after the war. Portugal only sent 500 people to participate in the war. In fact, it was only two or three ships. In a battle of this scale, they could not help much, but they could not add much.

chaos.

Of course, it is necessary to assemble troops deployed in different parts of the world, prepare combat materials, and then transport them to the Philippine Islands more than 2,000 miles away to fight. The time required and the coordination of all aspects of this process are also very troublesome.

The system engineering of the Ministry of Defense alone is difficult to complete, so the Executive Committee needs to take the lead in convening a meeting to coordinate the work of various departments. Today's meeting is already the 13th meeting held on this theme in three months.

meeting.
Chapter completed!