Chapter 2924

While Li Yuandezhang was intensively preparing for his next move in Sanya, on Luzon Island at the other end of the South China Sea, the garrison troops were already preparing to set off south.

The Manila authorities have been on hold in recent years, failing to thoroughly clean up the Spanish colonial forces still operating in the southern Philippines. It is generally believed that Qiu Yuan and Xiao Liang, who are in charge of Manila, do not seem to have much ambition to expand their territories, but instead focus their energy on expanding their territory.

All of them are placed on the development and management of Luzon Island.

But this is just a superficial phenomenon. This pair is not that honest and friendly person. The reason why they do not take further action against the Spaniards in the southern part of the Philippine Islands actually has a very practical reason.

After Haihan captured Manila from the Spanish in 1637, there was no opponent comparable to Haihan's army in the central and northern parts of the Philippine Islands, including Luzon Island.

Although the indigenous tribes in some places were unwilling to submit to Haihan's rule, the primitive swords and bows were ultimately no match for strong ships and cannons. The Haihan army was much more efficient at destroying hostile tribes than the Spaniards. In just a few years, Lu

All the rebels on Song Island were wiped out.

If there is no opponent, then there seems to be no need to continue to maintain a large armed force. At this time, the Executive Committee has begun to shift its focus to the mainland, investing military resources in the far north, while containing the Manchu and Qing Dynasties for the Ming Dynasty.

, gradually encroaching on the southeastern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty.

During this period, the top priority of the Manila authorities was no longer external expansion, but to try to maintain the existing scale of the armed forces on hand and prevent the Executive Committee from finding reasons to reduce military expenditures, control armaments, or even disband local armies.

Therefore, the defensive pressure from external hostile forces became the best reason for the Manila authorities to maintain local armed forces. Even though the Spanish sphere of influence had shrunk to the sea thousands of miles south of Manila, under the efforts of Qiu Yuan and Xiao Liang,

Under the circumstances, the Spanish still played the role of "a major threat to the region" for Haihan.

To put it bluntly, this is actually a sign of self-respect for the invaders, but in this special period, no one is pursuing the truth. The Executive Committee only needs the Manila authorities to suppress Spain's northward expansion momentum, and does not want them to

Engaged in a time-consuming and labor-intensive battle for islands in the southern Philippines archipelago.

Even after successfully driving away the Spaniards and occupying some islands, Haihan did not have enough energy to develop these areas at that time. Instead, he had to invest more Han immigrants and garrison troops in the local areas to maintain his rule, which was not in line with the rule of law.

The committee's major policy policy is to shift the center of governance northward. Even if the Luzon Region wants to do this, it may not be able to get the support of the executive committee.

Therefore, under the influence of many internal and external factors, the Luzon Region has maintained a subtle attitude in recent years. On the one hand, it has proactively reduced its conquests against the Spanish colonists in the south, allowing the Spaniards to continue to survive; on the other hand, it has

It still maintains a considerable scale of local armed forces and patiently waits for opportunities to arise.

Although this has greatly slowed down the Luzon Region's external expansion, due to the significant reduction in military operations, the Luzon Region has also been able to invest more resources in the development and construction of existing sites, and its financial situation has been improving over the years.

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The military expenditures allocated to garrison troops have not been affected by the reduction in military operations. On the contrary, they have been increasing year by year. However, advanced weapons and equipment have been given priority to the Northern Region and Donghai Region, which are in the war zone.

Even if the Luzon Region is willing to spend money, it will be difficult to implement large-scale equipment upgrades for its garrison troops.

However, such frustrating days are over. With Qian Tiandun and the special warfare division moving south, Haihan's external expansion direction has finally begun to adjust. The South China Sea area, which has been shelved for ten years, finally has hope.

A long time coming opportunity.

According to the discussion results of the Cam Ranh Port Conference, the Luzon Region will be responsible for the external offensive on the east side of the South China Sea. The planned scope of military operations includes but is not limited to the southern Philippines Islands, Borneo, Sulawesi Island, Maluku Islands and other vast areas.

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To carry out military operations in such a large area, the Luzon Region certainly has sufficient reasons to expand its military. After the meeting at Cam Ranh Port, Xiao Liang immediately applied to the Ministry of National Defense to place the Luzon Region under its jurisdiction.

The Fourth Detachment of the South China Sea Fleet and the Fourth Division of the Army purchased a batch of weapons and equipment to replace a large number of old equipment that are still in service.

The purchase list proposed by Xiao Liang includes 4,000 new rifles, 150 artillery pieces of various calibers, 12 latest model warships, as well as special weapons such as grenades, landmines, and sea mines.

There are also a large number of military uniforms, ordnance, tents, medicine and other supplies.

The entire list contains more than 70 procurement items. Regardless of the type of items or the total amount, this is the largest military purchase order in the Luzon Region in the past ten years.

Xiao Liang also generously said that since the Ministry of National Defense and the Manila authorities have not yet reached a conclusion on the military expenditure sharing for this operation, the Manila authorities can advance the procurement funds for these equipment and supplies.

Of course, Xiao Liang actually understands that the Luzon Region’s request is a big deal. Not to mention whether the Ministry of National Defense can agree to it, even if it is agreed, the Ministry of National Defense does not have enough inventory to complete the delivery in a short period of time. The final review

As a result, both parties will probably take a step back, and the orders submitted by the Luzon Region will shrink significantly, but the advantage is that the proportion of spot delivery will be greatly increased.

As for whether the equipment delivered to the Luzon Region can reach the same level as the special operations division, Xiao Liang does not have too many illusions about this. One is the local garrison that has basically made no achievements in recent years, and the other is Haihan

The ace unit of the army and the undefeated division respected by all people, it is completely impossible for the two to enjoy the same treatment.

A more practical goal is to first replace the "antiques" from the 1930s that are still used by local garrisons, so that the combat effectiveness of the troops can be effectively improved.

And Xiao Liang is still a little worried. If the generation difference between the replacement equipment is too large, the troops may need some time to adapt to the new equipment, and such an adaptation period will greatly delay the progress of military operations. From this perspective, it is temporarily necessary to retain and

Keeping some of the old equipment is not necessarily a bad thing.

The response of the Ministry of National Defense was unexpected, and beyond Xiao Liang's expectation. There was no negotiation process, and Yan Chujie directly cut the order in half, and then quickly allocated part of it from the weapons inventory to deliver it to the Luzon Region.

Although this is far from Xiao Liang's original procurement target, at least the delivery period is short enough. Xiao Liang was even able to organize some troops to replace weapons and equipment for a ten-day assault training before the operation began.

Xiao Liang actually knew that it would be difficult for the soldiers to adapt to the new weapons in such a short period of time, but in order to launch operations as soon as possible, he had to hurry up and put them on the shelves.
Chapter completed!