Chapter 1316 Tao Donglai’s deployment

In the past few years after Haihan unified Hainan Island, almost all the combat missions of the Haihan Army were conducted overseas. The only large-scale military operation on the island was to quell the Shilu Mine Riot. During this period, there were no foreign enemies.

An invasion or attack on Hainan Island occurred, so the officers were a little surprised when they heard the news.

However, some more senior officers soon thought of why the Spaniards took the initiative to provoke Haihan. This was probably to avenge the expulsion of Haihan's armed forces in Taipei. In early 1633, Haihan

In the Taipei area, the Spanish army launched offensives against the Spanish seaside strongholds of Tamsui and Jilong. Not only did they seize these two fortresses, they also successfully drove them out of Taiwan Island. After suffering this embarrassing loss, Spain did not immediately take any measures.

Military retaliation only conveyed strong dissatisfaction to Haihan through an intermediary, requiring Haihan to voluntarily withdraw from the area and compensate Spain for its war losses. Of course, these demands were automatically ignored by Haihan. The war has come to an end, so who cares?

How do you feel about a defeated country? If you have the ability, don’t argue with each other. Just let everyone see the real deal.

Haihan planned this action at that time because he was sure that Spain would be unable to immediately counterattack Taipei in such an environment, because at the end of the previous year, Haihan had reached an agreement with the Dutch East India Company on the division of rights and interests in Taiwan Island. If Spain

If you want to return to Taipei, you not only have to fight hard against the Haihan army, but you also have to be wary of the Dutch, your old rival who has already worn the same trousers with Haihan, waiting for an opportunity to sneak attack on you. If you want to deal with the two maritime armed forces of Haihan and the Netherlands at the same time, even if

Even if it is as strong as Spain, it needs to be weighed carefully.

After considering this, two years have passed, and the Manila authorities have not taken any retaliatory action. They seem to have acquiesced to Haihan's sole control in the South China Sea. After that, Haihan established the South China Sea Trade Alliance, Portugal, the Netherlands and

Countries in the region joined in one after another, with great potential to elect Haihan as a regional leader. However, the Manila authorities remained silent. Not only did they not make any statement, they also did not send anyone to participate in the meeting, seemingly independent of Haihan's diplomatic circle.

After Haihan had been wary of it for a period of time, he returned the focus of development to the north-south direction, and did not actively provoke the Spaniards anymore. Although the two countries completely cut off diplomatic exchanges, the private trade between Manila and the Ming Dynasty

It has always been relatively prosperous, so there are still many Ming merchants who actively act as middlemen and engage in re-export trade between Hainan Island and Luzon Island. Not only can you buy various industrial products exported by Haihan in the market in Manila, but also in Sanya

Products from Spanish American colonies can also be seen on the market. Both countries pretend not to know about such re-export trade completed by middlemen, and have not deliberately blocked this hard-to-define nature, but the profits are quite huge.

of international trade.

Of course, the Spaniards were not completely idle during this period. This was fully proved by the Spanish espionage case that caused a stir in Port Victory in early 1634. That time, there were so many potential personnel involved in a seemingly unexpected death.

This also sounded the alarm to the security department. The Spaniards seemed to have no reaction, but secretly they may have collected a large amount of relevant intelligence. If they were allowed to find any loopholes, perhaps retaliation would come unexpectedly.

After the espionage case, the Manila authorities continued to remain silent, as if the spies captured in Port Victory had nothing to do with them, and they did not even make any request to Haihan through an intermediary to redeem the prisoners. Unexpectedly, a year later

After a while, the Spaniards seemed to finally be ready for war and quietly began to assemble the fleet. It seemed that this time they were going to settle old accounts with Haihan. But maybe the Spaniards didn't expect Haihan either.

Han was not at a disadvantage in terms of espionage work. He had also deployed intelligence personnel in Manila for a long time to collect local military and political information.

It is not difficult to judge the authenticity of the intelligence sent back this time. Large-scale cross-sea operations in this era involve combat supplies of thousands of people. Even powerful sea-power countries must make long-term preparations. Large-scale cross-sea operations like Manila

It is difficult to completely conceal the gathering of people and materials in a seaport city. As long as a concerned person conducts long-term surveillance of specific groups of people and areas, it is not difficult to detect signs of war. If you do some targeted investigation work, you can basically confirm it.

Who is the target that the Manila authorities want to use military means to deal with?

The secret report pointed out that the Manila authorities have recently secretly hired a group of Chinese sailors who have been in and out of Sanya many times or are familiar with the coastal terrain of Hainan Island. It is very likely that they will be used to lead the way. Although this matter has not been disclosed to the public

The news spread internally, but many people in the local Chinese circle had heard the news more or less. However, when the Spaniards were going to take action, the local intelligence personnel did not find out the exact time. They could only use the materials

According to some fragmentary information such as the preparation progress, the Spanish armed fleet should set off within half a month.

After Tao Donglai introduced the general situation, he asked people to hang up a map of the South China Sea in the conference room. The straight-line voyage from Manila to Sanya is more than 700 nautical miles, crossing most of the South China Sea from east to west, and there is nothing on this sea area.

Large islands and reefs can be used as supply points, so if the Spaniards want to attack Hainan Island, they must go straight to the target in one go. At the normal speed of Spanish sailing ships, if the weather is fine, it will take about a week for a large fleet to sail from Manila to Sanya at sea.

, considering the difficulty of such long-distance raids to obtain supplies, there may be supply fleets that will be delayed for a few days to follow. Perhaps this is one of the main reasons why the Spaniards have not launched military retaliation against Haihan.

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If we take the half-month time limit in the intelligence and include the few days it took to transmit the news on the way, then it will take at most five to seven days before the Spanish fleet will set off from Manila. Of course, it may also be in Sanya.

When Bian received the secret report, the Spanish fleet had already left Manila Port and was currently on its way to Hainan Island. The time left for Haihan to prepare for the war may be only four or five days at the shortest and more than ten days at the longest.

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Although time is tight, it is better to have a little buffer time than to be caught off guard by an enemy sneak attack. Tao Donglai quickly made arrangements. First, he immediately notified coastal cities and counties across Hainan Island to assemble garrison and militia forces to strengthen coastal patrols in the near future;

Second, the Sanya Navy will double the number of patrol vessels in the outer seas from now on. The maritime patrol range will be expanded from the previous 30 nautical miles radius centered on Sanya to a radius of 50 nautical miles. At the same time, it will dispatch light reconnaissance ships heading east to attack the enemy fleet.

Conduct a wider search of the shipping routes and sea areas in use; third, the Sanya Army has entered a state of war preparation, and all coastal defense forts must have sufficient combat personnel on duty 24 hours a day; fourth, strictly inspect the ships and personnel arriving at the port in recent days,

To prevent the other party from sending people to sneak in in advance and taking advantage of the chaos to cause trouble at this juncture; fifth, all logistics units should make preparations for combat supplies and medical treatment as soon as possible in accordance with wartime standards.

Although Tao Donglai has not commanded operations on the front line in recent years, he is still familiar with these basic defensive measures. As for whether it is necessary to publicly inform the public, Tao Donglai believes that it is not necessary yet. If the public knows that a war is about to start at their doorstep,

It may lead to mass panic, and it is difficult to guarantee that there will not be chaos such as large-scale exodus. In addition, Tao Donglai does not think that the Spaniards have any hope of setting foot on the land of Sanya. If the other side's fleet can rush to the port and implement the landing, then

Tao Donglai probably needs to seriously reflect on the combat capabilities of his own army.

After Tao Donglai gave the order, the various departments of the Ministry of National Defense immediately separated for implementation. After roughly completing the deployment, he rushed back to the office of the Executive Committee. After receiving the notice, the main heads of the various departments currently in Sanya all

We have already come here to gather and wait for Tao Dong's report on the situation.

"The Spaniards are coming. Although we can despise them strategically, we still have to pay enough attention to them tactically." After Tao Donglai entered the conference room and sat down in a hurry, he first set the tone for this matter: "

I’m notifying everyone to come here, and I hope that everyone can come up with plans to tide over the crisis together.”

"Since the Spaniards have come to your door automatically, don't let them go in vain, use this opportunity to teach them a lesson." Johnson didn't speak much at the meeting of the Ministry of Defense just now, but now everyone is at the meeting.

As an insider of the time traveler, he can freely say a few cruel words: "Don't just think about defense this time, why not think more about how to keep the Spaniards! We let them go in Taiwan last time

One yard, it seems that we need to give them some serious injuries before the curative effect can be maintained for a few more years."

"You are an angel in white who saves lives and heals the wounded. Can you not be so cruel when you speak?" He Xi took over the conversation with a smile: "If we want to fight a war of annihilation, it will probably be difficult to achieve the goal by encircling and suppressing them at sea, right? If we let them land, it is also possible.

It will cause social panic. I think we should focus on expulsions to end the fighting as quickly as possible without causing too much psychological pressure on local people and foreign businessmen."

"I agree with Minister He. War can only solve superficial problems. The fundamental problem between our country and Spain is still the conflict of interests, which is difficult to completely resolve through local war." He Xi is a pacifist.

Gu Kai has always opposed the use of military means to solve problems, and everyone has become accustomed to it, so this argument did not cause much reaction.

However, He Xi knew how to be a good person and immediately gave him a reward so that he could continue: "So, does Minister Gu have any good ideas for us to refer to?"

Gu Kai said: "I think as long as it can have a sufficient deterrent effect on the Spanish on the battlefield, we should stop it, so that during subsequent negotiations, both parties can sit down and communicate calmly. If they kill in one breath,

After killing hundreds of Spaniards and creating a life-and-death situation, how can we cease the war afterwards? If we are not sure about ending the war, then it is best not to start it easily."

"You may have made a mistake somewhere. We do not need to engage in any form of truce negotiations with the Spaniards before beating them to the ground." Although Johnson has been unarmed for a long time, this soldier's violent temper

However, he still kept it. Hearing the air of compromise in Gu Kai's words, he immediately responded blankly.

Gu Kai coughed dryly and said: "Of course we have to fight, but what I mean is that when fighting, we must also consider how to end the war in a reasonable way..."

"The best way to end the war is to completely defeat the enemy!" Johnson retorted again before he finished speaking: "Have you ever thought about it, if the Spaniards gain the upper hand in this war, then they will be willing to stop and follow

Shall we negotiate? You will probably say that you can try to communicate with the Spanish at that time, but what I want to say is that only by defeating your opponent can you take the initiative in your own hands, and everything else is nonsense!"

"Stop, stop!" Tao Dong came to see the two people arguing, and quickly stepped forward to stop their argument: "We don't want to delve into the issues of war philosophy. The problem we need to solve now is how

Resolve this crisis at the minimum cost and at the same time strive for the greatest benefit for ourselves. You two think about it first and don’t rush to speak... Ning Qi, what do you think?"

Ning Qi responded calmly: "Actually, my opinion is more similar to that of Minister He. Since the other party is knocking on the door, we must take action to drive away the enemy. But the Spaniards are coming for Sanya. Sanya is in chaos.

The whole Haihan will be in chaos, and what we have to do is to maintain the stable public security situation in Sanya as much as possible without affecting the overall situation."

The Sanya area concentrates more than 30% of the population of Hainan Island, nearly 50% of the commercial institutions, and a large number of industrial production units. A considerable part of the wealth and talents of the entire Haihan Kingdom are in this area. If the war in Sanya leads to the emergence of civil society

If the image is chaotic, the damage it will cause to Haihan will be immeasurable.

He Xi, Gu Kai and Ning Qi have different levels of worry, but the general direction is the same, and their worries are not unreasonable. Since Haihan was officially founded, the mainland has never been invaded by war. Although Haihan

The military has been winning wars outside, but it is really difficult to make a clear judgment at this moment about how high the people's tolerance for war is. As the ruling class of this country, these people here have to weigh it carefully.

Take risks and pursue a perfect victory, or seek stability and achieve a staged victory.
Chapter completed!