Chapter 1636 Labor Intelligence

The party that gets the benefits usually won't refuse the labor force. Even though this is a sensitive period, the outside world should not be allowed to contact the military restricted area. However, Colonel Francis, who is in charge of the command of Manila city defense, heard that some businessmen took the initiative to labor, and

The content of the labor offer given by the other party was indeed very attractive, so he readily agreed and arranged for his attendant Gonzalo to receive Ran Tianlu.

Gonzalo is no stranger to Ran Tianlu, because he is a devout Christian who regularly goes to the city's cathedral to pray and repent, and often sees Ran Tianlu there. Gonzalo does not have as many thoughts and ideas as the Governor.

He was worried that for him, Ran Tianlu, who also believed in Christianity and could speak Spanish, was one of his comrades. As for the identity of the Han people, this was not a problem in his opinion. You must know that there are many Spaniards who are actually aliens.

As a Christian, he would rather stay with Ran Tianlu than admit that those pagans are compatriots in the same country as him.

The so-called labor force, of course, focuses on the management of senior officers. As for the ordinary Spanish soldiers, it can be whatever you want. Ran Tianlu prepared two thousand silver coins and three thousand kilograms of rice for this labor force as a formal reward.

The content of the gift list, but in fact, he also prepared a separate gift list for senior officers like Francis and Gonzalo.

The gift list prepared by Ran Tianlu for Francis was very generous, and the gifts Gonzalo received were two gold bars and a set of exquisite porcelain from the Ming Dynasty. This set of porcelain would sell for at least three hundred silver coins in the local market. Gonzalo's feelings for Ran Tianlu

He was very happy with the generous act. Of course, he also knew that the other party was not a philanthropist, and he would not give him such a generous gift just because they were familiar with each other in the same church. He still understood the saying that politeness must have something to ask for.

Yes, so after accepting Ran Tianlu's "laojun" gift, he took the initiative to ask the other party if there was anything he needed help with.

Ran Tianlu knew that Gonzalo was a real person, so he expressed his intention to come, saying that he actually knew a little bit about the recent depression in the market, but he was not sure whether the local Spanish armed forces could withstand the sea that might attack in the near future.

He was not sure at all about the Han army, so he wanted to use the name of Labor Army to inquire about the real situation from the military. If the security was not secure enough, he also planned to leave Manila temporarily and return to Daming to avoid the limelight.

Gonzalo became anxious upon hearing this and quickly stated that the local city defense was impregnable. Not only were there thousands of armed guards inside and outside the city, but also the Manila fleet was assisting in defense at sea. No matter it was Haihan or any other country, it wanted to be armed.

Invading Manila was impossible. Gonzalo swore to Ran Tianlu that as long as the Haihan people dared to come to Manila, their blood would stain the waters of Manila Bay red.

"This is the only way you can brag like this before the war!" Ran Tianlu naturally didn't believe a word of Gonzalo's swearing. He had full confidence in the combat effectiveness of his own army, but in order to minimize the size of his own army,

In case of losses during the battle, he still had to try to find out more detailed military intelligence.

Ran Tianlu said that he was of course full of confidence in the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army, but he still hoped to know how the defenders would respond if the Haihan army landed in Manila Bay to attack the city, so that he could feel more confident.

On normal days, Gonzalo would naturally disdain such a request. How could he leak military secrets to civilians, let alone a Han Chinese. But today is different from the past. The situation in Manila City is precarious. If these businessmen are afraid of

Zhan ran away, and God knows whether they will come back after the war. Gonzalo would not be stupid enough to believe that he wanted to temporarily avoid the limelight. If one Ran Tianlu wanted to leave, there might be dozens of Ran Tianlu behind him.

We are waiting for news. If the operation is not done well and a large number of people leave at once, it will definitely have an impact on Manila's future trade.

Besides, the benefits that Ran Tianlu gave out today are actually before his eyes. They earn more than he earns in a year right away. Gonzalo is not in a position to accept the money first and then fall out, so he can only agree to Ran Tianlu's request at the moment.

He took him to walk around Manila City's defense line.

After the Spanish occupied Manila Bay in 1571, they built castles and forts on the south bank of the Pasig River. From that time on, this place became the capital of Spanish colonial rule in the Philippine Islands. Later, the city of Manila also gradually built on this basis.

Expanding outwards, over decades, today's city was formed along the Pasig River.

In a broad sense, Manila City includes settlements of more than ten square kilometers on both sides of the Pasig River. However, in fact, the areas that the Spanish authorities focus on defense are mainly concentrated in the castle area on the south bank of the Pasig River. Most of the Spaniards who settled in Manila City

They all live in this area, and the north bank of the Pasig River is mainly an area inhabited by Han immigrants and local indigenous people. The non-Hispanics who can live on the south bank are generally relatively wealthy businessmen, or have long been completely attached to Spain.

Han Chinese or indigenous people, such as Ran Tianlu, was one of the people who moved here as a wealthy businessman.

It was precisely because of this that he had the opportunity to enter the same church with the Spaniards to inquire about the news. You must know that although there are churches in the city on the north bank of the Pasig River, their scale is far less than that of the churches on the south bank, and they are not as large as those on the south bank.

Not many Spaniards go there to pray.

But even though Ran Tianlu lives here, he usually does not have the opportunity to really step into the key areas of the city defense to observe the Spanish defense situation up close, let alone be accompanied by senior officers and explain to him while visiting. Although Gonzalo is very

Carefully avoiding many key details, Ran Tianlu is not an honest businessman, but a professional spy who has been systematically trained. There are many things that Gonzalo does not need to explain at all. He knows them at a glance.

It's mysterious.

The outer defense line of Manila City is mainly divided into two parts. The first is several fixed forts on the coastline. The Spanish deployed about twenty large-caliber artillery here, although Gonzalo was careful to omit the performance of these artillery pieces.

Introduction, but based on its caliber and barrel ratio, Ran Tianlu was able to roughly calculate its range based on the formulas he had learned before. Moreover, most of these artillery pieces were fixed on the base of the artillery carriage, and each gun required more than ten guns in wartime.

Twenty gunners cooperated to operate, and in Ran Tianlu's opinion, the convenience of operation was far inferior to that of Sanya's coastal defense forts.

Ran Tianlu also noticed that there are special flat passages built near these forts. This is not only to allow personnel and ammunition to quickly reach the forts during wartime, but also to transport more artillery to the forts from the rear when necessary to strengthen the harbor.

Fire blockade in the direction. However, these passages are not usually open to civilians, and Han Chinese like Ran Tianlu have no chance to step into this place.

In addition to observing the range and manning of these coastal defense guns, Ran Tianlu also pretended to look at the sea view, lying on the crenellations of the forts and carefully observing the sea areas covered by these forts. He had to take everything he saw in front of him.

He kept it all in his mind, and tried to draw it up after returning home, so that the information he found could truly have military value.

Gonzalo didn't know that this Ming Shang had so many calculations in his mind. He thought that there would be no problems in taking him here to take a look around. However, Ran Tianlu asked some questions in the process that were obviously amateurish. Gonzalo

Then he smiled and made some random remarks to fool the past.

After seeing the forts mainly distributed on the coastline, Ran Tianlu was taken to the second part of Manila's outer defense line, the outermost wall of the city.

Compared with the fort defense line, the firepower of this city wall defense line is weaker. Ran Tianlu did not see dense forts on the city wall, but there are many shooting holes specially designed for muskets at the crenellations of the city wall. It seems that the Spanish will

The defense tasks of this layer of defense are mainly completed by the musketeers.

This outer city wall is about six to seven meters high. Most of the sections are made of strips of stone. A few sections are made of earth. The outside is covered with a layer of bricks and stones. The wall is narrow and wide at the bottom, but there are still walking trails on the upper part.

Fighting and mobilizing troops. A trench was dug outside the city wall, about three meters wide, and the water of the Pasig River was introduced as a moat. Ran Tianlu knew that this small moat was not deep, and children often swam in it when it was hot, and it was not as shallow as an adult’s chest.

, the deepest point is only about two meters. Such a small river can at most serve as a roadblock. When the siege battle actually begins, it will be filled up in a short time.

However, although the city wall of Manila is not high and cannot be said to be very strong, it is actually quite long and solidly surrounds the central city where the Spaniards live. Although the local aboriginals have attacked the Spanish invaders several times in history,

There was an armed riot, but it never broke through this urban area, which shows that its actual function is not bad.

On the inside of this city wall is the residence of the local Spaniards. Architectural details full of Spanish style such as red pottery tiles, hand-plastered walls, small arches, wrought iron window bars, etc. can be seen everywhere here. According to Ran Tianlu's statistics,

There are at least 3,000 Spaniards living in Manila, and more than 80% of them live within this city wall.

But this is not the last line of defense in Manila. The castle built by the Spanish in the last century is located in the center of the city wall. The governor's residence, local treasury, weapons depot and other important facilities are all in the castle. That is where

The core of the entire city of Manila. But even if Gonzalo was not wary of Ran Tianlu, he would not take him to visit that place. After all, it is the center of power of the Kingdom of Spain in the Far East. It is impossible to allow a foreign businessman to do whatever he wants.

In and out.

Of course, Ran Tianlu would not insist on such treatment. Being able to figure out the deployment of the Spanish on the two outer lines of defense had already achieved the purpose of reconnaissance. Any other request would easily arouse the other party's suspicion.

After the visit, Ran Tianlu inevitably flattered Gonzalo, praising that since the city of Manila had such a strong defense, he had failed to discipline the Haihan people and returned home. He wanted to stay in Manila to witness the victory of Spain with his own eyes. After returning to the business inn,

Ran Tianlu immediately closed the door to thank the guests, carefully recalled what he saw and heard during the day, and then wrote it down one by one.

Ran Tianlu spent two days preparing the text and map information, and then handed them over to his own company's departing merchant ship, which took them to Sanya. This precious information arrived in Sanya at the same time that the army led by Yan Chujie left the port.

The day before the expedition, when the Ministry of Security handed it over to the military, no more than five people had passed this information after Ran Tianlu.

Regarding Manila's urban defense information, Haihan has actually collected a lot of it one after another, but such a detailed report is indeed the first in history. Ran Tianlu's report even recorded in detail the artillery of the Manila Coast Defense Battery

The configuration and fire coverage were information that no one had ever been able to check before. In Yan Chujie’s words, the value of this piece of information alone was at least worth an army company’s strength.

"The Spaniards have put a lot of effort into fortifications. If you look at the distribution map of the forts, they basically cover the entire port area. If we want to achieve landing, we must either attack hard under artillery fire, or we must

Find a coast far away from downtown Manila." After carefully studying the map sent back by Ran Tianlu, Yan Chujie pointed out the key to his officers at the war preparation meeting.

Manila Bay covers an area of ​​nearly 2,000 square kilometers, and the coastline where Manila City is located is only one section. It is not difficult to find another suitable place to land. But for Haihan, time may be the biggest enemy. If

The beachhead is far from the city of Manila, so it will take a lot of manpower to transport various combat materials to the front line, thus slowing down the pace of the attack. This is the scene that commanders least want to see, and Yan Chujie is also worried.

Here it is.

If naval guns are used to bombard coastal defense batteries on land, it will basically not take much advantage. The shooting platform of a battleship is not as stable as a gun battery on land, and the range and power of naval guns are relatively limited.

The only advantage he had was probably the number of artillery pieces. But Yan Chujie didn't want to take the risk of letting his warships get within 400 meters to fight the Spanish forts head-on. Doing so would probably result in more losses than gains.

Of course, Haihan is not without a chance. Yan Chujie also has a secret weapon in his hand, which is the new battleship that will accompany the army this time. Although the "Warrior" class battleship is only equipped with two cannons, one in front and one in the back, these two

The door gun is no longer a traditional smoothbore gun structure, but a rifled gun using the most advanced manufacturing technology. Its range and accuracy are far superior to traditional naval guns, and it is fully capable of challenging coastal defense batteries.
Chapter completed!