Chapter 2984

What does a copper mine with huge reserves mean to Haihan? Even Yu Tiezhu, who has never been engaged in industrial production, knows that copper is an extremely important strategic material for Haihan's army.

From the bronze cannons used in the early days to the current ammunition made of brass, the weapons and equipment of the Haihan Army in the past generations have required a large amount of copper to be prepared. On the Navy's most advanced steam battleships, such as propellers, bushings, and pump valves

, pipe fittings, etc., a large number of parts must be made of copper.

I remember that when the Haihan Army entered the Shandong Peninsula, they did not choose Qingdao, which had better port conditions, as their foothold. Instead, they went to Fushan County, which was poor and unrest. One of the reasons was to develop the local copper mines in Fushan.

Twenty years later, the Fushan Copper Mine is still the most important copper producing area under the rule of Haihan. Every year, a large amount of copper is shipped across the sea from Shandong to Sanya for processing.

Compared with the distant Dengzhou, this Cebu Island is undoubtedly much closer to Sanya. If there is a large-scale copper mine here, it is indeed of great development value. It can save a lot of money in annual shipping costs alone.

Money.

If a war was to be launched for this purpose, in Yu Tiezhu's opinion, the reasons were sufficient. How could such a precious resource fall into the control of the opponent?

The copper mine seemed to be located not far from the Port of Cebu. Yu Tiezhu originally planned to wait for daybreak before sending troops to the area to conduct reconnaissance. But the prisoner later revealed more information, and the place had nothing to do with Cebu.

The straight-line distance between them is only more than 40 miles, but the middle is all mountainous and dense forests, with no existing roads at all.

Even if you don't get lost, it will take at least two to three days to reach your destination. The correct route to this place is to start from a small fishing village called Toledo on the west coast of Cebu Island and go inland for about

It's only twenty miles away. The terrain there is much flatter and it only takes half a day to reach it.

Cebu Port is located in the middle of the east coast of Cebu Island, which means that you have to bypass the long and narrow Cebu Island from the sea to get to the fishing village of Toledo on the west coast. The time required to take this route is even longer.

A little more, but the journey is relatively easier.

At present, the goal of the Fourth Army Division is still to clear out the remaining enemies in Cebu City. The task of going to Toledo to find out the situation can only be left to the navy.

That afternoon, Yu Tiezhu received a call back from Sanya, which basically confirmed his previous speculation.

"The Ministry of Industry said that Cebu Island is expected to become the most important copper producing area in the South China Sea in the next ten years, so it is necessary to clean up this area to ensure that subsequent development can be carried out safely... Look, what am I saying? Even mining

Even if Si has never been to Cebu Island, he still knows that there are big mines here!”

Yu Tiezhu handed the telegram to Jiao Fei, proudly showing off his previous judgment.

Jiao Fei responded: "That place is also twenty miles away from the west coast. A freight railway must be built first before large-scale mining can be carried out... This is a bit like the development of the Shilu Iron Mine in Hainan Island in the early years."

When it comes to the Shilu Iron Mine, Yu Tiezhu has a say: "The environment in the Shilu Iron Mine was really difficult in the early days, and prisoners and prisoners of war could only be sent to work as miners. Later, there were riots, and I was transferred to participate in the civilian work.

A chaotic war. Developing such a large mine is indeed not something that can be accomplished overnight. Just building roads and harbors will probably take several years."

Although Sanya's call back solved their doubts, there is still no clear answer as to whether the existence of this mine was one of the reasons for launching this operation.

But this is no longer important. The existence of the copper mine was confirmed, which provided a new impetus for the Haihan Army in action, allowing them to step up their efforts to eliminate the remaining enemies.

Entering the fourth day of the attack on Cebu, the Haihan Army's scope of operations has expanded from Cebu Port to some surrounding coastal villages and towns.

Most of the people living in these places are not Spanish immigrants, and the will of these people to resist is obviously not as strong as the residents in Cebu City. Most of their reactions to the arrival of the Haihan Army were fear and obedience, but not many people chose to flee their homes.

.

This is of course also related to the strength of the Haihan Army's actions in the local area. If the city of Cebu had not been captured and the locals had no hope of making a comeback, these people would not necessarily behave so honestly.

Tracking the remaining militants who fled into the mountains and forests was not so smooth. Close to Cebu City is the mountain forest that runs through the entire Cebu Island from north to south and covers an area of ​​thousands of square kilometers. It is necessary to perform in such a strange environment.

In the clearing operation mission, whether commanding the operation or supplying materials, we will face great difficulties.

But if the Haihan Army did not completely clear the island, relying on the colonial authorities to build a large number of temporary residences and material warehouses in the mountains and forests in the past few years, these resisters could still deal with the Haihan Army on Cebu Island for a long time.

long time.

Yu Tiezhu certainly didn't want to let go of the Spaniards on the island. The biggest casualties in this operation were the troops of the Fourth Mainland Division. The current battle attrition was almost two companies, which really made him feel sad.

There was such a big mistake here. If he didn't settle the account clearly, he would have no shame in going back to Manila to report to Qiu Yuan and Xiao Liang.

Yu Tiezhu has led soldiers for more than 20 years. Although the situation in front of him is a bit difficult, it is not difficult for him. The top priority is to cut off the contact between the resisters hiding in the mountains and forests and the outside world. At the same time, he can obtain more information through the confessions of prisoners of war.

With more information, we can decide the next target.

Even if the Spaniards built temporary residences in the mountains and forests in advance and stored survival supplies, that was not their way of life after all. As soon as the storm passed, they would still take the initiative to go out of the mountains and forests to inquire about information and obtain supplies, thus cutting off their communication with the outside world.

Contact us to speed up the process.

Yu Tiezhu ordered a restricted area to be designated on the edge of the city near the mountains and forests, and organized the people to build several miles of fences and a large number of guard towers to isolate all passages between the city and the mountains and forests.

Of course, rather than preventing the Spaniards in the mountains from returning to the city, this measure is more appropriately called fishing bait. If the Spaniards are not willing to have Cebu taken away like this, they will naturally show up soon.

After Zheng Agui's team rested for a day, they began to perform combat missions again. Although two people were reduced, there was no way to replenish the manpower, so he and his men were assigned to an outpost under construction in the west of the city, together with Bangui Camp

Several other teams that had also experienced attrition were mixed into a platoon and guarded here together.

In addition to the Haihan Army, there are about two hundred local people here. Under their supervision, a two-mile-long fence and two three-foot-high guard towers will be built.

After arriving at the camp, Zheng Agui relayed to his men the order he received at the company headquarters: "If anyone tries to escape, fire directly without warning! These people can die, but they cannot be allowed to escape from under your nose!"

"
Chapter completed!