Chapter 1643 God is not in favor

The senior generals here are actually already familiar with the map of the Manila area. Since the middle of last year, the Ministry of National Defense has distributed the map to them as a reference for formulating combat plans. With the intelligence obtained

There is more and more information, and the military defense markings on the map are becoming more and more detailed. On the map now posted, even the location of the Manila Port coastal defense fort and the artillery deployment status are clearly marked.

This information is indeed very precious to the Haihan generals who set foot in Manila for the first time. Otherwise, they would have to spend a lot of time investigating the enemy's deployment during the march into Manila, and they may have to pay some in the process.

The cost of casualties. The military value of these critical intelligence provided by the Ministry of Security has been difficult to measure in terms of money.

"If the weather conditions are good in the next few days, then we will attack the port at the mouth of the Pasig River first according to the original plan. This area is also the area with the most intensive coastal defense batteries, and we will not launch an attack as soon as we come up.

Instead of landing, the navy will first try to clear a landing area on the coast. If that doesn't work, then we will switch to another plan and find another landing site."

Yan Chujie stood up and walked to the map to explain the next battle plan to the generals. In fact, the Haihan Army's plan was not complicated. It was just to clear the coastline, implement a landing, and then attack the city of Manila. However, this process of Spanish

People should also know very well that although their weapons and equipment are slightly backward, they have the advantage of the home field and there are many defenses that can be used. Therefore, during the implementation process, they must fight with them and eliminate their geographical advantages as much as possible.

.

Yan Chujie continued: "If the weather conditions become bad and are not conducive for us to launch an attack, then we will be stationed in Cavite first. Although the Spanish have emptied all the supplies here, we have seen the barracks near the port which are quite good.

, it is entirely made of stone, and it can be used as a bunker with a little modification. In addition, once we occupy Cavite, it will be easier to blockade Manila, and we will have space to hoard supplies and assemble troops. I plan to notify Sanya immediately,

Let the base camp prepare the follow-up material supply, and first prepare for a long-term battle here."

The action plan formulated by the Ministry of National Defense of Haihan is to conquer Manila in one go. Considering that the amount of supplies and ammunition carried during the expedition is limited, and it is unknown whether a suitable place can be found to establish a front-line base near Manila, the Ministry of National Defense

It was decided to control the combat cycle of the entire operation to about twenty days, so that even if the city of Manila was not captured in the end, there would still be enough spare power to retreat to Hainan Island.

Of course, the Ministry of National Defense has more than just this set of combat plans. This is just the most conservative plan among them. In fact, there are preparations for taking the Port of Cavite as a frontline base, and even directly landing at the Port of Manila to attack the city.

Plan. Since the Port of Cavite has been successfully captured on the first day of breaking into Manila Bay and the de facto occupation has been completed, the subsequent battle will give Haihan an extra buffer space, which may not necessarily be the case.

The entire combat operation also needs to be compressed and completed within twenty days.

The generals unanimously agreed with Yan Chujie's proposal. They did not want to compress the action time too tightly, which would probably result in more casualties in order to achieve the combat goal within the limited time. If the battle casualties are too large

, then this operation may not be worth the gain for Haihan.

Although the voyage between Sanya and Manila Bay requires almost crossing the entire South China Sea, as long as there is a stable port in Manila Bay, it is not impossible to establish a maritime supply line. Of course, the Ministry of Shipping has affirmed that

We have to apply for a special fund from the Executive Committee to maintain the operation of this temporary supply line. However, these matters do not need to be worried by the generals present. There will naturally be relevant personnel to hand over to the Maritime Department. Haihan has been there for so many years.

In foreign wars, a set of default operating procedures has long been formed among various departments, and there is no need to discuss the process separately.

That night, the remaining Spanish armed personnel made no further attempts to launch a counterattack against the Haihan-occupied area on the Cavite Peninsula. After the first day of fighting in Manila Bay, an unexpectedly quiet night ushered in.

Hai Hanjun was also able to relax a little mentally and physically after being tense all day long, and took the time to rest.

But in the middle of the night, the wind on the sea suddenly became much stronger, and some of the marching tents set up in the open air on the coast began to sway in the strong wind. The headquarters found that the weather conditions had suddenly changed, and immediately ordered all personnel to enter the nearby building temporarily.

Get out of the limelight.

Towards the early morning, strong winds and rain began to rage over Manila Bay. Even though the Haihan Army was prepared for such weather conditions, there were still leaks or even waterlogging in many temporary residences, resulting in some troops being unable to move.

Do not relocate in the rain.

Fortunately, the Haihan Army had prepared enough oilcloth raincoats before the start of this operation, and the participating troops had basically been or had been stationed in the South China Sea area. They were no strangers to such windy and rainy weather conditions, so there was no

Chaos occurred due to this sudden change in weather.

After dawn, the windy and rainy weather did not get better, but got worse. Many of the marching tents set up at the port the day before yesterday had been blown away by the strong wind last night. Fortunately, after each department counted the number of people, it was temporarily gone.

There were no casualties. Yan Chujie summoned the military doctor and asked him to quickly prepare cold-repellent products such as ginger soup to prevent widespread colds among the troops.

During the meeting the day before yesterday, some people believed that bad weather not only brought trouble, but also was a good opportunity to launch an attack, because the Spaniards also used muskets and artillery, but their combat effectiveness in harsh environments was not comparable to that of the Haihan Army.

Compared with standard weapons, such weather can greatly limit the performance of its coastal defense artillery. But in this weather, let alone attacking Manila City, it has become very difficult to assemble troops outdoors, let alone cross the sea to conduct a landing battle.

Although this kind of weather can inhibit the performance of the Spanish defenders, it is also extremely unfriendly to the Haihan Army and cannot take advantage of it at all.

"Stop the action temporarily and wait until the weather gets better." Yan Chujie looked at the pouring rain outside and could only make such a helpless decision.

It is difficult for everyone to raise any objections to this. If we force ourselves to go to sea to attack Manila Port in such weather, it would be good to be able to exert 20% of the combat effectiveness. The risk is too great. Of course, there is no need to worry about the Spaniards here.

If a counterattack is launched at this time, what the Haihan Army cannot do, they will also be unable to accomplish.

However, the cessation of the attack on Manila did not mean that the Haihan Army's operations in Cavite had ceased. At the insistence of the generals, the various departments of the Haihan Army still mobilized troops to conduct a careful reconnaissance of the remaining parts of the Cavite Peninsula.

After advancing to the town of Noveleta at the root of the peninsula, the headquarters ordered the troops to be withdrawn and used this place as the dividing point between Haihan and Spanish-controlled areas. During the advancement process, it was inevitable that there would be some remaining defeated generals who were dying.

Struggled, but they failed to cause any more trouble to the Haihan Army, because the command headquarters had already issued an order to kill without mercy on the frontline troops, so any armed personnel who were discovered by the Haihan Army and did not surrender directly were almost immediately eaten.

bullet.

In the Cavite Peninsula area, including the town of Noveleta, all Spanish nationals, regardless of whether they participated in the resistance, are under arrest and detention. Following yesterday, the military arrested more than 80 Spanish immigrants.

.However, only a few of them were armed men, and the others were just ordinary civilians. According to their confessions, there were still some armed men who fled to Baqueol and Las Piñas, east of the Cavite Peninsula.

Parañaque and other towns tried to reorganize their troops and then wait for an opportunity to launch a counterattack.

The Haihan Army did not have to worry too much about such stragglers. When they attacked Cavite yesterday, even the Spaniards and natives only had a few hundred people to participate in the resistance. Most of these people had been wiped out, and the Manila fleet had also

After retreating, the remaining people have no one to rely on and can no longer create much momentum.

In this process, the arrangements Haihan made before the war came into play again. There is an office of the Ming Dynasty company "Dacheng Bank" in Cavite. After showing the employees a souvenir from their boss Wang Lin,

, the guys from "Dachengxing" temporarily acted as guides for the Haihan Army. Not only did they search every Spanish immigrant on the Cavite Peninsula, but they also dug out the secret granary where the Spaniards were hiding in a certain house.

——The grain stored here was previously sold to the Spanish by "Dacheng Bank".

Hearing that nearly seven tons of grain had been seized, Yan Chujie's complexion finally improved a little. Compared with gold and silver treasures, it is more practical to seize grain at present. After all, the treasure cannot be directly used as military rations, but grain can extend one's life.

Good stuff. If you divide these tons of food, it can almost satisfy the Haihan Army's military food consumption for several days.

Of course, not all was found in the dozens of Spanish immigrant homes that were searched in Cavite. A lot of money was confiscated from the homes of several merchants, including more than ten boxes of Spanish silver coins shipped from the Americas.

"Finally something has been gained!" Looking at the boxes of silver coins brought back, the generals' expressions became much more relaxed. Since so much oil and water can be scraped out here in Cavite, what about the Spanish settlements?

It's definitely not that bad in Manila. Even the windy and rainy weather seems to be getting less bad.

The clearing campaign on the Cavite Peninsula lasted for two full days in the continuous heavy rain. If it were not for the limited troop strength and poor weather conditions, the headquarters would probably have to divide its troops to raid all the cities and towns within a radius of dozens of miles.

It was impossible. During this period, there was no movement in the direction of Manila Port. The headquarters believed that this was due to the weather on the one hand, and on the other hand, the Spaniards had completely lost contact with the Cavite Peninsula. They waited for the exact news to be sent back to Manila.

It will indeed take several days for the authorities to make judgments and take response measures.

"What the hell are you doing! Is this the fight to the death you promised me? One day! No! In less than one day, you lost the Port of Cavite!" Philippine Governor Aragones said in his official residence

He loudly reprimanded Juan who looked tired. He really couldn't accept that such a one-sided war situation appeared at the door of his home.

"Are the Haihan people all devils? I heard that they only dispatched five ships! Mr. Juan, it is not a whole Haihan fleet, but five ships! I defeated your Manila fleet in this way, please tell me

"How on earth did you direct this battle?" Aragones got excited and almost slapped Juan in the face with his waving hands.

"My Lord Governor, I have no intention of shirking my responsibilities, but I still want to point out to you that the Haihan people have installed a new type of warship, which is faster and more accurate than their existing warships. The hull is also covered with

It's a layer of iron armor, and our cannonballs hitting it are basically scratching it. The Manila fleet's sailboats have almost no chance of winning against this kind of warship." Although Juan was sprayed with saliva, he still responded calmly: "

But fortunately, the number of this new type of warship seems to be very small, and only one was dispatched during the battle. When the news comes back from Cavite, perhaps we will be able to confirm its number more accurately."

"What do you want to say? So the reason for your failure is because the Haihan people equipped a new type of warship?" Aragones did not fully understand Juan's intention, and his anger was not appeased.

"Because the new battleship's combat method is different from other Haihan battleships, it adopts a separate combat method." Juan continued: "Your Majesty Governor, although we have temporarily lost the Cavite Port, the Manila Fleet is still there.

We can rely on Manila Port and continue to deal with the Haihan people. If that warship is dispatched again, I will definitely try to kill it at sea! Destroying that warship may force the Haihan people to retreat."

"Is it that simple?" Aragones didn't quite believe what Juan said. It wasn't that he didn't believe that Juan couldn't destroy the Haihan battleship, but he didn't believe that this would force Haihan to retreat.

Juan responded: "With Haihan's shipbuilding level and financial resources, he has not been able to build a few more ships. This shows that this kind of warship is very advanced. Once it is damaged in a battle, it will definitely have to be brought back to Sanya to repair it. Then they will be destroyed.

The most powerful new weapon may also destroy their confidence in attacking the city of Manila."

Before Aragones could refute, Juan had already continued: "Sir, we currently have no better way to retreat from the enemy. Any possibility is worth a try!"
Chapter completed!