Chapter 1668 Attacking Manila (18)

"Sir, we have already left the city."

Hearing his entourage whisper these words from the car window, Aragones finally relaxed a little. He was temporarily out of the dangerous environment in the city and no longer had to worry about being captured by the Haihan people. However, this did not mean that he had already

It is safe. After leaving the city, you must at least cross the Pasig River before entering the safe area. Until Haihan completely controls the situation in the city, the area north of the Pasig River should be relatively safe.

As the highest official of the Kingdom of Spain in Southeast Asia, Aragones certainly did not need to compete with the fleeing civilians for the few boats on the river. Before leaving the city, his subordinates had already arranged a route for him.

A sailboat had been moored long ago, waiting for his arrival. As for the people who wanted to squeeze in, they were stopped at a distance by his private army.

When Aragones left the city, the Haihan Army was only a few streets away from the castle area in the north of the city. He knew that the situation was over and staying in the city would not help, so he simply chose to flee. As for the whereabouts of Francis, the commander of the city defense,

But even he didn't know it clearly. When Francis was asked to come forward to negotiate with the Haihan people, even if the relationship between the two came to an end, Francis no longer paid attention to him as the governor from that time on.

Aragones is well aware of this, but he will no longer try to improve the relationship between the two. Although both parties have not made a clear statement, they both understand that after this battle, the two will definitely go their separate ways.

All parties will no longer cooperate. And Francis has not communicated with Aragones at all about how he plans to command the final battle. Therefore, Aragones is also very worried about how the civil war in the city will end.

It is difficult to make a clear judgment.

After stepping onto the deck of the ferry, Aragones looked back at the city of Manila again. He could still faintly hear the sound of artillery coming from the city. It seemed that the war in the city was still not over, and there were still defenders fighting tenaciously against the invaders.

resistance. But perhaps they didn't know that the Governor who was supposed to stand behind them to provide support had already sneaked out of the city and became a deserter.

The fighting in the city was actually far less intense than Aragones imagined. The Haihan Army captured the last stronghold of the defenders in the city without too much difficulty. The sound of cannons he heard on the banks of the Pasig River was the sound of Haihan.

The Han army shelled the castle gate, and soon after the defenders in the castle chose to surrender.

It is true that Francis did not leave the city, but the troops he could command were not enough to make a comeback, and there was not even a chance of causing trouble for the Haihan Army. After the Haihan Army conquered the last stronghold, it began

The city was cleansed door to door according to the blocks in an orderly manner. Anyone who tried to resist with force would be killed. There were at least a thousand Spanish defenders scattered and hiding in the city. Although there were many people, they could no longer organize themselves to continue fighting.

Most of them had no choice but to surrender obediently and let the Haihan soldiers kidnap them, escort them out of the city in batches, and imprison them in a temporary prison area outside the city.

If these military personnel captured by the Haihan Army cannot get enough ransom money for themselves after the war, most of what awaits them will be to be transported to a remote mine to spend the rest of their lives as miners. Of course, if

If they can get money, their life in captivity will not be too difficult, and as soon as the money is received, Haihan, who has a good business reputation, will immediately fulfill the contract and release him.

But at this time, Francis no longer had so many plans. For him personally, his career future had already been entirely staked in the city of Manila. Losing this city would be equivalent to losing his future goals. Even if

There was no point in escaping. So he planned to fight to the death in the city, at least to leave a good reputation. Later, it was recorded in history that the city of Manila fell, and he, Francis, died on the battlefield as a commander, which was considered a well-deserved death.

Although Francis was determined to die, he did not want to die without doing anything. He planned to sneak attack General Haihan and try to drag him into the water. This would not be a loss. However, he also knew that Haihan's security measures were extremely strict.

, it is almost impossible for him to get a chance to assassinate him at close range. The only thing he can do is to hide in a hidden spot and wait for the opportunity to attack.

Francis did not hide in the old castle in the north of the city. He knew that after the Haihan Army captured it, they would search it every inch. If he hid there, he would definitely be discovered. And the Haihan Army would definitely think that he, the commander, wanted to hide.

In the castle, unless he had already escaped from the city, he would not have thought that he voluntarily left the army and hid in the attic of a private house in the city.

Of course, this attic was not chosen at random. It faced the main road leading to the north gate of Manila. The view was very wide. With a rifle mounted on it, one could control the streets within a hundred meters from above. Francis planned to wait for General Haihan to pass.

When you go outside the north gate to check the conditions of the Pasig River, shoot at the target. The closest point on the attic to the main road is less than 30 meters, so you can completely use the lethality of the rifle to complete a sure kill.

Somewhat ironically, the rifle that Francis planned to use to perform this task turned out to be a Haihan-made flintlock gun that he had spent a lot of effort and went through many circles to purchase from somewhere in the Ming Dynasty for a lot of money.

.Although this gun is an export version and not a model equipped by the Haihan Army, for Francis, the accuracy of this gun is very high, enough to complete the requirements of the assassination mission.

The few dozen or so dead soldiers under Francis sneaked into several other houses nearby. Their mission was to disrupt the enemy's attention during the operation and provide cover for Francis' key blow.

.Although covering will expose their bodies and may put their lives in danger, these dead soldiers still intend to follow Francis until the last moment.

Francis waited in the attic all morning, but there was no senior general he expected to pass this main road. High mental stress for a long time can easily make people feel tired, and Francis was no exception. He observed again with his telescope with red eyes.

After the situation on the street, I finally couldn't stand the oncoming fatigue, so I sat on the floor and began to close my eyes and rest.

Francis originally wanted to take a short rest and continue to monitor the movements outside, but since Haihan defeated the Manila fleet, it was difficult for him to sleep peacefully. On average, he only slept three or four hours a day at most. Haihan attacked

In the past few days in the south of the city, it was even more difficult for him to sleep, so he just breathed his last breath. But after Haihan invaded the city yesterday, the string that had been stretched for many days was finally broken. The accumulated fatigue came over him like a tide, and he couldn't sleep at all.

It was beyond his ability to resist. As soon as his eyes closed, Francis seemed to have fainted and fell straight into sleep.

Francis didn't know how long he slept. What woke him up was the sound of gunshots coming from the street outside. It took him at least half a minute in a dazed state to confirm that the gunshots he heard were real and not real.

Conjectures in a dream. By the time he remembered his battle plan, the gunshots outside had become sparse and soon disappeared completely.

Why did the Haihan people shoot outside? The answer is obvious. They must have discovered the defenders who were still resisting. At this time, the only people fighting Haihan on this street were the group of dead soldiers commanded by Francis.

Francis came back to his senses, quickly opened the attic window facing the street, and looked out.

He saw some Haihan soldiers cleaning the battlefield on the street. Several corpses were grabbed by their feet and dragged along the street. Although the corpses could not be seen clearly, judging from their clothes, it was not difficult to recognize Francis.

It turns out that those are his subordinates. These people will take the initiative to show up and exchange fire with the Haihan Army. Either the Haihan Army discovers their hiding place, or General Haihan passes here, they will take the lead according to the plan.

Launch an attack and create chaos to attract the attention of the Haihan army, thereby creating an opportunity for Francis, who is hiding in the attic, to take action.

However, Francis did not see the figure of General Haihan appearing on the street, and he had a terrible thought in his heart, that is, during the period of time when he was "coma", he had missed the best opportunity to take action.

Francis expected it to be true. The reason why this group of dead soldiers launched a suicide attack was because senior generals such as Yan Chujie, Qian Tiandun, and Harugong were preparing to go to the North City Gate via this road to check the status of the Pasig River.

Surrounded by men and horses, it was naturally easy for the assassins to discover that a high-value target had appeared. However, due to such a disturbance, Yan Chujie and others naturally did not rush forward for safety reasons, but retreated to a safe area.

Let the special operations battalion clear out the resisters here.

If Francis hadn't fallen asleep just now, he might have seized this opportunity to carry out an assassination. Taking advantage of the chaos, he had a high probability of hitting one or two targets. It's a pity that fatigue defeated him. It looked perfect.

In the end, the battle plan was not fully implemented. While Francis was regretful, he couldn't help but began to worry about whether his hiding place would be noticed by the Haihan people. If the dead soldiers deployed outside were caught alive by the other party, maybe he would

This hiding place of yours has been exposed.

Francis' worries were not unreasonable. Before he could decide whether to move his hiding place immediately, he saw a large group of Haihan soldiers running towards the house where he was hiding. Francis screamed in pain secretly, knowing that

Most likely it was for him, so he immediately took up arms and prepared to fight the opponent in the attic for the final fight.

If the Haihan soldiers charge towards the attic, Francis's rifle will only have one shot chance. It will take too long to reload and there will be no time to stop the opponent. However, he also has a short blunderbuss, one long and one short, and he can fire twice.

opportunity, after the fight, he could only rely on the waist knife to complete the final confrontation. However, Francis himself was not optimistic about whether the waist knife could be used. He knew that he would probably be killed by the enemy before he could take out the knife.

Zanshe was turned into a hornet's nest.

Francis clutched his rifle tightly, thinking that even without General Haihan as a target, it would be enough to kill two Haihan soldiers. However, although he heard that Haihan soldiers had arrived below the attic, no one followed him for a long time.

The ladder climbed up to the attic. Just when Francis was wondering, he saw smoke rising faintly from the entrance to the attic, which soon became thicker, and he smelled the smell of burning firewood.

Obviously, the Haihan people were sure that he was in the attic, and they were not willing to pay a high price to capture him, so they simply lit a few braziers downstairs and tried to pour the smoke into the attic. So.

As the situation continued, Francis was either choked and fainted, or had no choice but to rush out of the attic and be subdued by his opponent.

Francis tore off a piece of cloth from his clothes, poured water from the kettle on it to moisten it, and then covered his mouth and nose to prevent the smoke from choking his lungs. Before he could decide whether to continue to stay in the attic or to

I quickly rushed out to find some relief, but there were already calls for surrender in Spanish from downstairs.

The content of persuading him to surrender is very simple. He is asked to put down his weapons, raise his hands high, and immediately leave the attic to surrender. Haihan will guarantee his personal safety. If he continues to resist, I'm sorry, I will have to trap him in the attic.

Until done.

"The war is over. All the soldiers should go home and recuperate instead of being roasted and fucked in the attic." Qian Tiandun said to Simang: "You tell him that if you surrender now, I can make the decision."

Give him some preferential treatment, such as occasionally having a drink with me and chatting about some interesting topics."

"This sounds like a very good condition." Xi Mang lost no time in flattering him: "General Qian is truly benevolent and righteous!"

Simang translated what Qian Tiandun said into Spanish and loudly conveyed it to Francis, who was still hiding in the corner of the attic and was hesitating. After waiting for a while, there was still no sound, and Simang asked Qian Tiandun: "General Qian,

There is no movement at all in the attic. Is there something wrong with the intelligence? Maybe we should send someone up to have a look?"

"How about you go up and take a look?" Qian Tiandun asked with a half-smile.

Simang shook his head quickly and said: "That's not necessary. He hasn't come down for such a long time. He either passed out or was pointing a gun at the stairs, waiting for someone to go up and kill him."

Although Simang was timid, his judgment was very accurate. Francis was indeed waiting for an opportunity to take action. It was just that the Haihan Army had seen a lot of various tricks, and there was an accurate intelligence source that pointed out that Francis was hiding in the attic.

Naturally, he would not be left with any chance to take action. No matter how determined Francis was to fight to the death, he could only give up his original idea under such circumstances.

After pouring smoke into the attic for more than half an hour, Francis finally threw the weapon downstairs while coughing dryly, indicating that he wanted to surrender.
Chapter completed!