Chapter 1329
Chapter 1329
Chapter 1329
"The military strength gap between Daming and Haihan may be as big as Spain!" Liu Shang couldn't help but have such a strange thought in his mind.Although he didn't want to admit the existence of this gap, the objective facts were right in front of his eyes, and he, Liu Shang, was not a person who would choose to escape from reality.
If when he first arrived in Sanya, he still had the idea of secretly learning key military technologies from Haihan in order to narrow the military gap between the two countries, then at this moment, in the face of vivid examples, he has basically given up such an idea After all, the gap between the two countries is so large that it cannot be changed by individual power.Moreover, Liu Shang has been thinking about a very real question recently. If all he saw and heard in Haihan in the past two months was sent back in a secret report, would his superiors think he was crazy?
If he had been himself not long ago, Liu Shang would not have believed that there was an island country that was more advanced and powerful than Ming Dynasty on the coast of the South China Sea. There were too many new things that had never appeared in Ming Dynasty, and many of them could even be unimaginable. describe.For the existence of steam engines and iron-clad ships, Liu Shang didn't think that his boss, and his boss's boss, would be convinced of the power of these things through written descriptions.If I tell my superiors that I made a judgment like "I'm sorry we can't beat Haihan", I'm afraid I will be punished, right?
Liu Shang suddenly understood why there were always many ambiguities in the reports sent back by the intelligence personnel who had been lurking in Haihan before.Especially when it comes to relatively subjective opinions on the comparison of the strengths of the two parties, they are generally mentioned in a few words. Presumably, the predecessors also felt that it is not appropriate to tell the truth about some situations, and telling the truth will cause trouble for themselves.Now I seem to be in such a situation, should I tell the truth, or follow the example of the predecessors to report good news and not bad news?
However, Liu Shang will soon have no time to worry about this problem. A new order has been sent from above, requiring him to report back to the Youth League immediately and participate in the formulation of follow-up publicity activities about the "Sanya Great Victory" with the staff of the Propaganda Department plan.Haihan officials have carried out fanfare publicity for the Xingdao Battle thousands of miles away. The current big victory completed under the noses of Haihan people is naturally going to be written in a big way.The reason why Liu Shang was selected is also very simple. He once compiled a storyteller about the Battle of Xingdao, which was well received by the people, and then he was temporarily recruited to serve in the propaganda department. His performance was also very decent, so Yu Xiaobao named Liu again. Shang, let him join this task with a relatively strong time limit.
This publicity campaign is also different from publication platforms such as newspapers. The pens of various newspapers have already acted immediately, striving to produce a "special issue" within a day or two to discuss this battle. report.What Liu Shang and others have to do is to cooperate with the publications to promote a wave of publicity. This time, they must not only target the domestic people, but also take into account the external publicity. They must let the countries that have established diplomatic relations with Haihan know that Spain's He fell into a big somersault at the gate of Haihan's house.
The people set off firecrackers, add two extra dishes for dinner, and go to bed with a happy mood. This is considered a simple celebration.However, on this night after the war, many people still had no time to rest in order to complete the follow-up work.
The Ministry of Security was one of the departments that really started to get busy after the battle was over. All prisoners of war collected by the military from the battlefield had to go to the intelligence agency for preliminary identification and registration.According to the personal situation of the prisoners of war, most of them will be sent to hard labor camps for hard labor, depending on their performance in labor reform to determine whether they will have a chance to regain their lives.And a small number of prisoners of war with special identities or certain skills, such as officers, craftsmen, navigators, etc., will be detained separately and dealt with separately.
Of course, before the prisoners of war are dealt with separately, the relevant departments will definitely arrange a grand victory parade in Sanya, escort these unlucky ghosts to the street, and show the public the direct results of this battle.
At present, there are more than [-] prisoners of war detained in the Shengli Port Naval Base. This is not a particularly large number in Haihan's wars over the years, but this is the first time that Haihan "resisted foreign invasion" after the founding of the country. The meaning of this war is different from the previous battles to expand overseas territories.
Among the more than 700 prisoners of war, not all of them were Spaniards. About half of them were a motley army composed of Luzon natives, Chinese descendants, Malays, blacks, and sailors from other European countries. Half are genuinely Spanish.These prisoners of war were divided into groups of ten, and their ankles were chained with chain shackles to prevent their escape.There are quite a few wounded prisoners of war, but those who are more seriously injured can only resign themselves to their fate. The people Haihan sent to treat them are all interns from the medical department, and it is inevitable to be sloppy when dealing with wounds-of course, it may be these The students didn't want to heal the enemy's wounded soldiers, so they took the opportunity to vent their dissatisfaction.
The Ministry of Security temporarily borrowed a warehouse at the naval base as a venue for the initial trial of prisoners of war.Dozens of tables are lined up in the warehouse, and behind each table are two people sitting, belonging to the Ministry of Security and the military.There was an extra person sitting at a few tables, a Spanish translator temporarily drawn from various departments and folks.Since the number of translators was extremely limited, the interrogation of the Spanish prisoners of war could only be carried out in a concentrated manner. Anyway, the key figures among the prisoners of war were basically Spanish, and it was not particularly important to understand how much the confessions of the other prisoners of war could be understood.
The Ministry of Security and the military already had relatively mature operational experience in interrogating large numbers of prisoners of war like this. First, they asked the prisoners to identify each other, found several Spanish officers or captains among them, and then let them identify the seamen. Special occupations such as craftsmen and navigators designated by the Han Dynasty.After basically confirming that all the people with special identities have been singled out, targeted interrogation and identity registration can be carried out, and the effect of getting twice the result with half the effort can be achieved.
Among the captured Spanish personnel this time, there were only about ten officers and captains, and the flagships of the two Spanish fleets all escaped successfully, so the rank of these commanders was not particularly high.The information that can be obtained from their mouths is of relatively limited reference value to Haihan.After a night of hard work, the confessions and reports of these people were finally sorted out before dawn and sent to the desk of Security Minister He Xi.
Although He Xi is the head of the intelligence department, he didn't sleep the whole night like everyone else in the department.All the harvest of the intelligence department must be summarized here. Although the people below have helped him filter a lot of useless or low-value information, there are still many things that need to be reviewed by him.
Haihan's top priority is naturally to figure out the fundamental reason why the Spaniards launched a surprise attack on him at this point in time.Although the two sides have formed a lot of tension before, the Spaniards have been quiet in the past two years. Although there are some small moves under the table, they have not caused too much trouble for Haihan with an openly hostile attitude.The report sent back by the intelligence personnel lurking in Manila said that this was an action organized unilaterally by the Manila authorities. To rule out other possible hidden dangers.
What He Xi was worried about was that this action was personally instructed by Spain. In that case, the Spaniards might not stop fighting because of this defeat, and might even launch a larger follow-up offensive.With the strength of Spain, as long as they can prepare for a period of time, it is not difficult to launch a cross-sea battle of [-] people in the Far East. Moreover, after learning the lesson this time, I am afraid that they will not be so reckless when they do it next time up.Although the Haihan navy is strong, it is ultimately limited by the number of combat ships. If Spain is really determined to organize a large-scale attack, the navy can protect Sanya, but it may not be able to protect the entire Hainan Island.
Of course, there are other possibilities. Maybe the Spaniards have other methods in secret. For example, after the fleet invaded Sanya, the armed men lurking in the local area launched an attack, creating a situation of cooperation from inside and outside, or acting as a leading party. , Leading the landing Spanish army to attack various key areas of the local area.However, the Spaniards didn't even get the chance to dock in the end. Even if there were other deployments in Sanya City, it was too late to start.The responsibility of the Ministry of Security is to rule out these possibilities. If the Spaniards really arranged these methods locally, they must be uprooted as soon as possible to avoid future troubles.
He Xi quickly browsed through the confessions of several Spanish military officers. In fact, he personally participated in the interrogation of two of them just now, but to be honest, the information these low-level military officers have is limited and does not have much reference value.They only participated in this military operation according to the arrangement of the Manila authorities. All they knew was how many benefits they would gain after capturing Sanya, and some tactics around capturing the port, but they knew little about higher-level strategic considerations. .
He Xi didn't have much doubt about the authenticity of these confessions. He confirmed with his own eyes at the interrogation scene that most of these so-called officers and captains were actually of poor quality. They were not the standard Royal Navy soldiers, but armed Maritime merchants, privateer ship owners, retired veterans, etc. acted as commanders. These people were full of Haihan's gold and silver mountains, and seriously underestimated the difficulty of the battle.Moreover, these people didn't seem to have much scheming at all. In He Xi's eyes, their small calculations were only at the pediatric level.
Many people even immediately asked the interrogator for redemption, because this is a very common behavior in the wars of European countries. As long as the two sides can negotiate a reasonable number, the prisoners of war can also regain their freedom.He Xi personally didn't dislike this. Anyway, it's not worth much to keep these wealthy prisoners of war. It's a good thing to get a little money.Besides, this kind of redemption was not uncommon in Haihan's previous wars. Many British prisoners of war captured in the previous Xingdao Battle had already been marked with a price and demanded ransom fees from the British East India Company.
But this time the Spaniards came to the door and directly attacked Sanya, the capital of Haihan. The severity of this incident is not comparable to previous foreign wars.He Xi would not be in charge of negotiating the ransom with the prisoners of war, but he could imagine Schneider gearing up at this moment, seizing this rare opportunity, it would be no wonder he didn't squeeze the fat out of the Spaniard's bones.
He Xi's mind returned to the confession report in front of him. If he was the senior official who planned this battle, he probably would not have informed this group of low-quality commanders of the detailed strategic plan.Most of these people have not received confidentiality training, and they do not have a clear understanding of what to say and what not to say.The interrogation of them doesn't even require any means at all, and most of the required information can be obtained through clichés.
Although there is no information of great value, through the confessions of these people, He Xi can basically confirm that the offensive launched by the Manila authorities is a wave. Apart from the incoming Spanish fleet, the Manila authorities have not prepared any follow-up attacks. offensive.This may be because the size of the fleet it can use is limited to this, or it may be that it has miscalculated Haihan's defensive strength and countermeasures.However, in He Xi's view, the former was more likely, because about half of the warships in the invading fleet belonged to the American fleet.
These galleons belonging to the American colonies only come to Luzon Island once a year in the right season, and will not stay in Manila Port for a long time.Judging from this detail, it seems that the timing of the Manila authorities' launch of the operation was to accommodate the itinerary of the American fleet. After earning a vote in Sanya, they returned to Manila to rest for a few days, and it happened to be the season to return to the American colonies.
If this inference is true, He Xi believes that the reason why the Manila authorities chose this time to plan the war will be clear.The Spaniards probably didn't think too much about the situation on Haihan's side, but focused on their own troop build-up conditions. As long as the timing is right and enough troops are assembled, they will launch a wave of surprise attacks and try to occupy Sanya if the effect is satisfactory. If it is not ideal, withdraw to Manila to avoid the limelight.
Of course, from the perspective of the Manila authorities, the chances of a successful sneak attack are quite high, so they were obviously unprepared for Haihan's response, and it could even be said that they were a little at a loss.If it hadn't been for the commander of the fleet to decisively issue the order to retreat, and to delay for a while and a half until Tao Donglai's fleet came back, then they really couldn't leave even if they wanted to.
(End of this chapter)
"The military strength gap between Daming and Haihan may be as big as Spain!" Liu Shang couldn't help but have such a strange thought in his mind.Although he didn't want to admit the existence of this gap, the objective facts were right in front of his eyes, and he, Liu Shang, was not a person who would choose to escape from reality.
If when he first arrived in Sanya, he still had the idea of secretly learning key military technologies from Haihan in order to narrow the military gap between the two countries, then at this moment, in the face of vivid examples, he has basically given up such an idea After all, the gap between the two countries is so large that it cannot be changed by individual power.Moreover, Liu Shang has been thinking about a very real question recently. If all he saw and heard in Haihan in the past two months was sent back in a secret report, would his superiors think he was crazy?
If he had been himself not long ago, Liu Shang would not have believed that there was an island country that was more advanced and powerful than Ming Dynasty on the coast of the South China Sea. There were too many new things that had never appeared in Ming Dynasty, and many of them could even be unimaginable. describe.For the existence of steam engines and iron-clad ships, Liu Shang didn't think that his boss, and his boss's boss, would be convinced of the power of these things through written descriptions.If I tell my superiors that I made a judgment like "I'm sorry we can't beat Haihan", I'm afraid I will be punished, right?
Liu Shang suddenly understood why there were always many ambiguities in the reports sent back by the intelligence personnel who had been lurking in Haihan before.Especially when it comes to relatively subjective opinions on the comparison of the strengths of the two parties, they are generally mentioned in a few words. Presumably, the predecessors also felt that it is not appropriate to tell the truth about some situations, and telling the truth will cause trouble for themselves.Now I seem to be in such a situation, should I tell the truth, or follow the example of the predecessors to report good news and not bad news?
However, Liu Shang will soon have no time to worry about this problem. A new order has been sent from above, requiring him to report back to the Youth League immediately and participate in the formulation of follow-up publicity activities about the "Sanya Great Victory" with the staff of the Propaganda Department plan.Haihan officials have carried out fanfare publicity for the Xingdao Battle thousands of miles away. The current big victory completed under the noses of Haihan people is naturally going to be written in a big way.The reason why Liu Shang was selected is also very simple. He once compiled a storyteller about the Battle of Xingdao, which was well received by the people, and then he was temporarily recruited to serve in the propaganda department. His performance was also very decent, so Yu Xiaobao named Liu again. Shang, let him join this task with a relatively strong time limit.
This publicity campaign is also different from publication platforms such as newspapers. The pens of various newspapers have already acted immediately, striving to produce a "special issue" within a day or two to discuss this battle. report.What Liu Shang and others have to do is to cooperate with the publications to promote a wave of publicity. This time, they must not only target the domestic people, but also take into account the external publicity. They must let the countries that have established diplomatic relations with Haihan know that Spain's He fell into a big somersault at the gate of Haihan's house.
The people set off firecrackers, add two extra dishes for dinner, and go to bed with a happy mood. This is considered a simple celebration.However, on this night after the war, many people still had no time to rest in order to complete the follow-up work.
The Ministry of Security was one of the departments that really started to get busy after the battle was over. All prisoners of war collected by the military from the battlefield had to go to the intelligence agency for preliminary identification and registration.According to the personal situation of the prisoners of war, most of them will be sent to hard labor camps for hard labor, depending on their performance in labor reform to determine whether they will have a chance to regain their lives.And a small number of prisoners of war with special identities or certain skills, such as officers, craftsmen, navigators, etc., will be detained separately and dealt with separately.
Of course, before the prisoners of war are dealt with separately, the relevant departments will definitely arrange a grand victory parade in Sanya, escort these unlucky ghosts to the street, and show the public the direct results of this battle.
At present, there are more than [-] prisoners of war detained in the Shengli Port Naval Base. This is not a particularly large number in Haihan's wars over the years, but this is the first time that Haihan "resisted foreign invasion" after the founding of the country. The meaning of this war is different from the previous battles to expand overseas territories.
Among the more than 700 prisoners of war, not all of them were Spaniards. About half of them were a motley army composed of Luzon natives, Chinese descendants, Malays, blacks, and sailors from other European countries. Half are genuinely Spanish.These prisoners of war were divided into groups of ten, and their ankles were chained with chain shackles to prevent their escape.There are quite a few wounded prisoners of war, but those who are more seriously injured can only resign themselves to their fate. The people Haihan sent to treat them are all interns from the medical department, and it is inevitable to be sloppy when dealing with wounds-of course, it may be these The students didn't want to heal the enemy's wounded soldiers, so they took the opportunity to vent their dissatisfaction.
The Ministry of Security temporarily borrowed a warehouse at the naval base as a venue for the initial trial of prisoners of war.Dozens of tables are lined up in the warehouse, and behind each table are two people sitting, belonging to the Ministry of Security and the military.There was an extra person sitting at a few tables, a Spanish translator temporarily drawn from various departments and folks.Since the number of translators was extremely limited, the interrogation of the Spanish prisoners of war could only be carried out in a concentrated manner. Anyway, the key figures among the prisoners of war were basically Spanish, and it was not particularly important to understand how much the confessions of the other prisoners of war could be understood.
The Ministry of Security and the military already had relatively mature operational experience in interrogating large numbers of prisoners of war like this. First, they asked the prisoners to identify each other, found several Spanish officers or captains among them, and then let them identify the seamen. Special occupations such as craftsmen and navigators designated by the Han Dynasty.After basically confirming that all the people with special identities have been singled out, targeted interrogation and identity registration can be carried out, and the effect of getting twice the result with half the effort can be achieved.
Among the captured Spanish personnel this time, there were only about ten officers and captains, and the flagships of the two Spanish fleets all escaped successfully, so the rank of these commanders was not particularly high.The information that can be obtained from their mouths is of relatively limited reference value to Haihan.After a night of hard work, the confessions and reports of these people were finally sorted out before dawn and sent to the desk of Security Minister He Xi.
Although He Xi is the head of the intelligence department, he didn't sleep the whole night like everyone else in the department.All the harvest of the intelligence department must be summarized here. Although the people below have helped him filter a lot of useless or low-value information, there are still many things that need to be reviewed by him.
Haihan's top priority is naturally to figure out the fundamental reason why the Spaniards launched a surprise attack on him at this point in time.Although the two sides have formed a lot of tension before, the Spaniards have been quiet in the past two years. Although there are some small moves under the table, they have not caused too much trouble for Haihan with an openly hostile attitude.The report sent back by the intelligence personnel lurking in Manila said that this was an action organized unilaterally by the Manila authorities. To rule out other possible hidden dangers.
What He Xi was worried about was that this action was personally instructed by Spain. In that case, the Spaniards might not stop fighting because of this defeat, and might even launch a larger follow-up offensive.With the strength of Spain, as long as they can prepare for a period of time, it is not difficult to launch a cross-sea battle of [-] people in the Far East. Moreover, after learning the lesson this time, I am afraid that they will not be so reckless when they do it next time up.Although the Haihan navy is strong, it is ultimately limited by the number of combat ships. If Spain is really determined to organize a large-scale attack, the navy can protect Sanya, but it may not be able to protect the entire Hainan Island.
Of course, there are other possibilities. Maybe the Spaniards have other methods in secret. For example, after the fleet invaded Sanya, the armed men lurking in the local area launched an attack, creating a situation of cooperation from inside and outside, or acting as a leading party. , Leading the landing Spanish army to attack various key areas of the local area.However, the Spaniards didn't even get the chance to dock in the end. Even if there were other deployments in Sanya City, it was too late to start.The responsibility of the Ministry of Security is to rule out these possibilities. If the Spaniards really arranged these methods locally, they must be uprooted as soon as possible to avoid future troubles.
He Xi quickly browsed through the confessions of several Spanish military officers. In fact, he personally participated in the interrogation of two of them just now, but to be honest, the information these low-level military officers have is limited and does not have much reference value.They only participated in this military operation according to the arrangement of the Manila authorities. All they knew was how many benefits they would gain after capturing Sanya, and some tactics around capturing the port, but they knew little about higher-level strategic considerations. .
He Xi didn't have much doubt about the authenticity of these confessions. He confirmed with his own eyes at the interrogation scene that most of these so-called officers and captains were actually of poor quality. They were not the standard Royal Navy soldiers, but armed Maritime merchants, privateer ship owners, retired veterans, etc. acted as commanders. These people were full of Haihan's gold and silver mountains, and seriously underestimated the difficulty of the battle.Moreover, these people didn't seem to have much scheming at all. In He Xi's eyes, their small calculations were only at the pediatric level.
Many people even immediately asked the interrogator for redemption, because this is a very common behavior in the wars of European countries. As long as the two sides can negotiate a reasonable number, the prisoners of war can also regain their freedom.He Xi personally didn't dislike this. Anyway, it's not worth much to keep these wealthy prisoners of war. It's a good thing to get a little money.Besides, this kind of redemption was not uncommon in Haihan's previous wars. Many British prisoners of war captured in the previous Xingdao Battle had already been marked with a price and demanded ransom fees from the British East India Company.
But this time the Spaniards came to the door and directly attacked Sanya, the capital of Haihan. The severity of this incident is not comparable to previous foreign wars.He Xi would not be in charge of negotiating the ransom with the prisoners of war, but he could imagine Schneider gearing up at this moment, seizing this rare opportunity, it would be no wonder he didn't squeeze the fat out of the Spaniard's bones.
He Xi's mind returned to the confession report in front of him. If he was the senior official who planned this battle, he probably would not have informed this group of low-quality commanders of the detailed strategic plan.Most of these people have not received confidentiality training, and they do not have a clear understanding of what to say and what not to say.The interrogation of them doesn't even require any means at all, and most of the required information can be obtained through clichés.
Although there is no information of great value, through the confessions of these people, He Xi can basically confirm that the offensive launched by the Manila authorities is a wave. Apart from the incoming Spanish fleet, the Manila authorities have not prepared any follow-up attacks. offensive.This may be because the size of the fleet it can use is limited to this, or it may be that it has miscalculated Haihan's defensive strength and countermeasures.However, in He Xi's view, the former was more likely, because about half of the warships in the invading fleet belonged to the American fleet.
These galleons belonging to the American colonies only come to Luzon Island once a year in the right season, and will not stay in Manila Port for a long time.Judging from this detail, it seems that the timing of the Manila authorities' launch of the operation was to accommodate the itinerary of the American fleet. After earning a vote in Sanya, they returned to Manila to rest for a few days, and it happened to be the season to return to the American colonies.
If this inference is true, He Xi believes that the reason why the Manila authorities chose this time to plan the war will be clear.The Spaniards probably didn't think too much about the situation on Haihan's side, but focused on their own troop build-up conditions. As long as the timing is right and enough troops are assembled, they will launch a wave of surprise attacks and try to occupy Sanya if the effect is satisfactory. If it is not ideal, withdraw to Manila to avoid the limelight.
Of course, from the perspective of the Manila authorities, the chances of a successful sneak attack are quite high, so they were obviously unprepared for Haihan's response, and it could even be said that they were a little at a loss.If it hadn't been for the commander of the fleet to decisively issue the order to retreat, and to delay for a while and a half until Tao Donglai's fleet came back, then they really couldn't leave even if they wanted to.
(End of this chapter)