Chapter 1633
Take the initiative
Chapter 1633 Take the initiative
Although Aragones was reluctant to admit it, the current situation in Manila is indeed a bit like meat on a chopping board, and Haihan is the knife that hangs in the air and does not know when it will fall.The lack of intelligence from the outside world makes it difficult for Aragones to judge what Haihan will do next, whether to continue to implement a soft trade blockade against Manila, or to send troops to directly attack Manila.Without a clear judgment, it would be difficult for him to take targeted measures, and he couldn't just rely on praying to God every day as a defensive measure against Hai Han.
If the wrong action hadn't been launched last year, Aragones could have deployed defensive measures more calmly, and even boldly carried out a little trickery, such as sending his own fleet to Hainan Island when Haihan sent troops to attack Manila. Break through empty doors and see who can break through the opponent's city faster.
Of course, this is just a random thought. Last year's raid had already shown the Spaniards how terrifying Sanya's shore defense capabilities are.Even if the main force of Haihan's navy is not there, if the Spanish fleet wants to break into the port and land, it must first try to break through this super lethal firepower net.Judging from the battle situation last year, almost no Spanish warships could withstand a round of concentrated fire from the Sanya coastal defense forts at close range. If you want to forcefully break through this pass, you may have to pay a considerable price.
However, compared to the immobile coastal defense fort, what made Aragones more uncomfortable now was the Haihan fleet waiting for an opportunity.He is well aware of the terrible record of this maritime armed force in the past few years. Without exception, the European counterparts who came to the Far East have suffered a lot under the hands of this fleet.The Portuguese and the Dutch had already chosen to compromise with Haihan, while the British withdrew from the competition in the South China Sea after their defeat at Xingdao.That is to say, except for Spain, all other western counterparts have given up on continuing to fight against Haihan, because of the existence of Haihan's fleet, they cannot gain sea control like in other places.
After losing the stronghold of Taiwan Island, Spain's situation is actually as passive as other western counterparts, except that Manila City is far away from the Haihan occupied area, and Haihan's main focus is on Daming and Indochina Peninsula. On the coastline, the area of the Philippine Islands will not be taken into account for a while, so the Manila authorities at least have some buffer time to deploy defensive measures.But when the real thing came to an end, Aragones realized that the preparatory work he had done before did not seem to have much preventive effect, especially the intelligence work on Haihan was a complete failure, and he was completely unable to judge the next move of the Haihan people. .This is undoubtedly worse for the Manila authorities who are in a passive position.
In desperation, the only thing Aragones can do now is to order his subordinates to strengthen the monitoring of the Han Chinese-inhabited areas inside and outside the city. Expand some.In case of collision with the Haihan fleet, at least it can send an early warning signal to Manila and enter the state of combat readiness early.
During the raid on Sanya last year, Juan Luis was in charge of commanding the Manila Fleet. Although the battle was ugly, Juan at least brought most of the Manila Fleet back to port.Even if his flagship "San Diego" was beaten and sent to the dock for overhaul, Aragones still let him stay in the post. After all, there are no powerful military officers in Manila to replace, so Juan was really withdrawn. The position of fleet commander can only be taken by Aragones himself.
Joao Pinto, the commander of the American Fleet who also participated in that battle, was not as lucky as Juan. Since only three of the eight main warships in his fleet returned to Manila, they were dismissed by domestic orders for investigation.And Joao Pinto didn't have the contacts of Aragones to help him escape the crime, so he could only obediently return to the country to receive treatment.
As a general who led troops to fight, Juan was naturally brooding about this defeat, and thought that one day he would fight another battle with the Haihan people to restore the prestige of the Spanish Empire.But he really didn't expect that this opportunity would come now, and his preparations were still far from the odds of winning.To compete against the Haihan Fleet again at sea, Juan is not sure that he will perform better than he did last year.
For more than a year, many people who did not witness the battle may have forgotten the horror of the Haihan fleet, but for Juan's fleet, it has never had time to return to its pre-war state.The flagship "San Diego", which was severely damaged in the battle last year, returned to sea after nearly a year of overhaul, and it was only two or three months ago.And those armed sailboats that were sunk in the battle did not have time to be fully replenished. Today's Manila fleet has even declined in strength compared to before the last battle.
The reason is also very simple. The local shipyards in Manila are limited in scale. After most of the technicians are assigned to the docks for repairing damaged warships, there are not enough manpower and docks to start building new ships.Moreover, because Governor Aragones was worried that the Haihan Army would attack Manila, most of the limited military expenditures in the past year were spent on strengthening the local coastal defenses and city defenses, leaving little funds for the fleet to purchase new ships and weapons. many.Although Juan intends to seek revenge from the Haihan people, considering the current situation of the Manila fleet, it is really inappropriate to fight the Haihan fleet at this time.
But the problem is that the right to choose is not in Juan's hands. Aragones has made it very clear when he gave him the order that the Haihan fleet may attack at any time. Now it is not a question of whether to fight or not, but I don't know when the Haihan people will do it.
"I don't ask you to defeat the Haihan fleet at sea, but I hope you can cause them as much damage and trouble as possible, and delay their landing process, so that we have a greater hope of keeping the city of Manila. If you do When we arrive, I will allocate funds for you to build a brand new fleet after the war!" Aragones is not blind to the situation, nor does he have the extravagant hope that the fleet led by Juan will be able to send the Haihan people home, he only hopes Their own armed sailboats can play their due role in the battle, at least to slow down the rhythm of Haihan's attack.
Aragones was no idiot, he knew very well what the opponent's biggest weakness would be if Haihan sent troops to attack Manila - he had already considered the same problem when planning the raid on Sanya last year.However, at that time, Aragones held a meeting with his generals and believed that as long as they could break into the port and complete the landing in one fell swoop, then the local products would be enough to maintain the supplies of the fleet personnel, and there was no need to maintain a maritime supply line between Manila and Sanya.Of course, in hindsight, this idea really underestimated the Haihan people, but now that the offensive and defensive positions have changed, Haihan, as the party that initiates the offensive, also faces the same problem, that is, supplies.
Aragones believes that as long as the city of Manila can be held for a period of time and the opponent is not allowed to obtain supplies from the local area, maintaining a one-way sea supply line of more than 1000 kilometers is enough to drag down the opponent's offensive.And how long the Manila fleet can drag the opponent at sea will probably affect the trend of the subsequent battle.Although he won't pin all his hopes on Juan, this is very likely to be a turning point in the battle, so he must cheer up Juan, use the strength at hand, and create as many enemies as possible for the Haihan people. trouble.
As for the promise to Juan... let's get through the current hurdle first!If they really can defeat the Haihan people, even just this once, they will be qualified to fight against Haihan in the future. Naturally, more businessmen will come to Manila, and they will not have to worry about lack of funds to build a new fleet.
Of course, Juan understood what Aragones' order meant. If he wanted to fight the Haihan fleet at sea, it would be a very dangerous task.The scene of the battle with the Haihan Fleet off the coast of Sanya last year is still vivid in his memory. The Spanish sailing ship is completely behind the opponent in terms of seaworthiness and firepower. If he does it again, he is not sure whether he can survive the battle again life.But for the brand new fleet that Aragones had promised, he had to gamble on it, a treat any admiral could only dream of.
Afraid that this reward was not enough, Aragones took the initiative to increase the size: "If we defeat the Haihan people this time, then I will ask His Majesty the king for your credit. After all, our imperial navy just lacks the establishment of a Far Eastern navy commander." .”
Now Juan is really red-eyed, in order to get promoted and make a fortune, he must fight to the death with the Haihan people!
After Juan came out of the Governor's Mansion, he called his officers to a meeting to prepare for the battle, and carefully prepared the tactics to deal with the Haihan fleet's attack.Although it is not clear when the opponent will appear, Juan is determined to give the Haihan people a little color this time, and let them know that the authority of the Spanish Empire cannot be challenged!
In the anxiety of the Spaniards, the time finally entered 1637.
Due to the advent of the Little Ice Age, even Kaohsiung Port, which is located in the southern part of Taiwan Island, has dropped to about ten degrees, and the soldiers had to put on thicker winter clothes before going out.However, their destination is located in the tropics, and the temperature is much higher than that of Xiong, so it is estimated that they will have to complete a change of clothes on the way.However, there are sufficient military supplies at Kaohsiung Port, and the mood of the troops is not too affected by the weather.
Although the northern troops assembled here are on standby, they are not doing nothing. In addition to the daily preparation and training of the troops, the navy has also dispatched patrol ships in the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippine Islands. , monitoring changes in weather and sea conditions, so as to provide reference for the headquarters to formulate a southbound route.
In fact, the route has been basically finalized long ago, but if the weather and sea conditions are not ideal, then corresponding adjustments must be made when the departure time.It would be fine if only the northern troops participated in the battle, but because the three places departed separately, the time synchronization requirements for the voyage were very high.In the earliest days, the Ministry of National Defense even hoped to reduce the time difference between the arrival of the three troops to the destination within half a day, but later found that this requirement was really difficult to achieve, so it was relaxed to one day.But for the voyage distance of the first kilometer, this error range still puts extremely high requirements on the fleet's navigation route and voyage arrangement.
Of course, the North Route Army has Wang Tom, the naval commander, in charge, so the preparations in this area are naturally well-organized.Although Wang Tom has never personally sailed to Manila, but with the detailed charts and various geographical data produced by later generations, it is not too difficult for him to formulate a safe route.
"There are many good things in Luzon Island, but it's a pity that Ming Dynasty didn't keep this place." Qian Tiandun chatted with Wang Tom about the history of Luzon Island when he was free: "When Zheng He went to the Western Seas 200 years ago, The overseas Chinese leader Xu Chailao was appointed as the governor of Luzon to take charge of the local military and political power. In terms of historical origin, Luzon can be regarded as a vassal state of Ming. However, Ming has never been interested in this kind of overseas enclave, and slowly Let it develop on its own. If there is a worthy emperor, the Philippine Islands should be the territory of Ming Dynasty at this time."
Wang Tom laughed and said, "It seems that it is very useful for you to supplement your historical knowledge during this period of time!"
"Since you are going to fight here, you must first understand the history and humanities here. Knowing yourself and the enemy is the only way to win a hundred battles!" Qian Tiandun didn't take it seriously after being exposed by Wang Tom. Since he is going to follow the route of Confucian generals, of course It takes more time to read historical documents and learn more detailed information about the combat location.It is not a day or two for Haihan to plan to fight Manila. Qian Tiandun has been repairing relevant documents after receiving the transfer order.It is hard to say how much this information will be useful for the next battle, but Qian Tiandun believes that it is beneficial to enrich his knowledge reserve, and it is worth spending a little more time to understand it.
Tom Wang said: "Let us do the things that Daming can't do! It's a bit wasteful to give a place like Luzon Island to the Spaniards. I heard that the Ministry of Agriculture has long been envious of Luzon Island. I wish we could get rid of the Spaniards sooner and take all of this island."
"This group of people is really greedy, take them all? I didn't even dare to think about it! Don't they know that this Luzon Island is about to be as big as three Hainan Islands, how can we have so many troops to guard such an island? It’s a big island! It would be nice to take down Manila Bay first, occupying it all... It won’t take a few years to digest it all!” Qian Tiandun shook his head repeatedly after hearing this, and did not agree with the Ministry of Agriculture’s idea.
Of course, after this battle is over, there is nothing wrong with just verbally announcing occupation to other countries. Anyway, there are no countries in the South China Sea that dare to challenge Haihan's authority.
(End of this chapter)
Although Aragones was reluctant to admit it, the current situation in Manila is indeed a bit like meat on a chopping board, and Haihan is the knife that hangs in the air and does not know when it will fall.The lack of intelligence from the outside world makes it difficult for Aragones to judge what Haihan will do next, whether to continue to implement a soft trade blockade against Manila, or to send troops to directly attack Manila.Without a clear judgment, it would be difficult for him to take targeted measures, and he couldn't just rely on praying to God every day as a defensive measure against Hai Han.
If the wrong action hadn't been launched last year, Aragones could have deployed defensive measures more calmly, and even boldly carried out a little trickery, such as sending his own fleet to Hainan Island when Haihan sent troops to attack Manila. Break through empty doors and see who can break through the opponent's city faster.
Of course, this is just a random thought. Last year's raid had already shown the Spaniards how terrifying Sanya's shore defense capabilities are.Even if the main force of Haihan's navy is not there, if the Spanish fleet wants to break into the port and land, it must first try to break through this super lethal firepower net.Judging from the battle situation last year, almost no Spanish warships could withstand a round of concentrated fire from the Sanya coastal defense forts at close range. If you want to forcefully break through this pass, you may have to pay a considerable price.
However, compared to the immobile coastal defense fort, what made Aragones more uncomfortable now was the Haihan fleet waiting for an opportunity.He is well aware of the terrible record of this maritime armed force in the past few years. Without exception, the European counterparts who came to the Far East have suffered a lot under the hands of this fleet.The Portuguese and the Dutch had already chosen to compromise with Haihan, while the British withdrew from the competition in the South China Sea after their defeat at Xingdao.That is to say, except for Spain, all other western counterparts have given up on continuing to fight against Haihan, because of the existence of Haihan's fleet, they cannot gain sea control like in other places.
After losing the stronghold of Taiwan Island, Spain's situation is actually as passive as other western counterparts, except that Manila City is far away from the Haihan occupied area, and Haihan's main focus is on Daming and Indochina Peninsula. On the coastline, the area of the Philippine Islands will not be taken into account for a while, so the Manila authorities at least have some buffer time to deploy defensive measures.But when the real thing came to an end, Aragones realized that the preparatory work he had done before did not seem to have much preventive effect, especially the intelligence work on Haihan was a complete failure, and he was completely unable to judge the next move of the Haihan people. .This is undoubtedly worse for the Manila authorities who are in a passive position.
In desperation, the only thing Aragones can do now is to order his subordinates to strengthen the monitoring of the Han Chinese-inhabited areas inside and outside the city. Expand some.In case of collision with the Haihan fleet, at least it can send an early warning signal to Manila and enter the state of combat readiness early.
During the raid on Sanya last year, Juan Luis was in charge of commanding the Manila Fleet. Although the battle was ugly, Juan at least brought most of the Manila Fleet back to port.Even if his flagship "San Diego" was beaten and sent to the dock for overhaul, Aragones still let him stay in the post. After all, there are no powerful military officers in Manila to replace, so Juan was really withdrawn. The position of fleet commander can only be taken by Aragones himself.
Joao Pinto, the commander of the American Fleet who also participated in that battle, was not as lucky as Juan. Since only three of the eight main warships in his fleet returned to Manila, they were dismissed by domestic orders for investigation.And Joao Pinto didn't have the contacts of Aragones to help him escape the crime, so he could only obediently return to the country to receive treatment.
As a general who led troops to fight, Juan was naturally brooding about this defeat, and thought that one day he would fight another battle with the Haihan people to restore the prestige of the Spanish Empire.But he really didn't expect that this opportunity would come now, and his preparations were still far from the odds of winning.To compete against the Haihan Fleet again at sea, Juan is not sure that he will perform better than he did last year.
For more than a year, many people who did not witness the battle may have forgotten the horror of the Haihan fleet, but for Juan's fleet, it has never had time to return to its pre-war state.The flagship "San Diego", which was severely damaged in the battle last year, returned to sea after nearly a year of overhaul, and it was only two or three months ago.And those armed sailboats that were sunk in the battle did not have time to be fully replenished. Today's Manila fleet has even declined in strength compared to before the last battle.
The reason is also very simple. The local shipyards in Manila are limited in scale. After most of the technicians are assigned to the docks for repairing damaged warships, there are not enough manpower and docks to start building new ships.Moreover, because Governor Aragones was worried that the Haihan Army would attack Manila, most of the limited military expenditures in the past year were spent on strengthening the local coastal defenses and city defenses, leaving little funds for the fleet to purchase new ships and weapons. many.Although Juan intends to seek revenge from the Haihan people, considering the current situation of the Manila fleet, it is really inappropriate to fight the Haihan fleet at this time.
But the problem is that the right to choose is not in Juan's hands. Aragones has made it very clear when he gave him the order that the Haihan fleet may attack at any time. Now it is not a question of whether to fight or not, but I don't know when the Haihan people will do it.
"I don't ask you to defeat the Haihan fleet at sea, but I hope you can cause them as much damage and trouble as possible, and delay their landing process, so that we have a greater hope of keeping the city of Manila. If you do When we arrive, I will allocate funds for you to build a brand new fleet after the war!" Aragones is not blind to the situation, nor does he have the extravagant hope that the fleet led by Juan will be able to send the Haihan people home, he only hopes Their own armed sailboats can play their due role in the battle, at least to slow down the rhythm of Haihan's attack.
Aragones was no idiot, he knew very well what the opponent's biggest weakness would be if Haihan sent troops to attack Manila - he had already considered the same problem when planning the raid on Sanya last year.However, at that time, Aragones held a meeting with his generals and believed that as long as they could break into the port and complete the landing in one fell swoop, then the local products would be enough to maintain the supplies of the fleet personnel, and there was no need to maintain a maritime supply line between Manila and Sanya.Of course, in hindsight, this idea really underestimated the Haihan people, but now that the offensive and defensive positions have changed, Haihan, as the party that initiates the offensive, also faces the same problem, that is, supplies.
Aragones believes that as long as the city of Manila can be held for a period of time and the opponent is not allowed to obtain supplies from the local area, maintaining a one-way sea supply line of more than 1000 kilometers is enough to drag down the opponent's offensive.And how long the Manila fleet can drag the opponent at sea will probably affect the trend of the subsequent battle.Although he won't pin all his hopes on Juan, this is very likely to be a turning point in the battle, so he must cheer up Juan, use the strength at hand, and create as many enemies as possible for the Haihan people. trouble.
As for the promise to Juan... let's get through the current hurdle first!If they really can defeat the Haihan people, even just this once, they will be qualified to fight against Haihan in the future. Naturally, more businessmen will come to Manila, and they will not have to worry about lack of funds to build a new fleet.
Of course, Juan understood what Aragones' order meant. If he wanted to fight the Haihan fleet at sea, it would be a very dangerous task.The scene of the battle with the Haihan Fleet off the coast of Sanya last year is still vivid in his memory. The Spanish sailing ship is completely behind the opponent in terms of seaworthiness and firepower. If he does it again, he is not sure whether he can survive the battle again life.But for the brand new fleet that Aragones had promised, he had to gamble on it, a treat any admiral could only dream of.
Afraid that this reward was not enough, Aragones took the initiative to increase the size: "If we defeat the Haihan people this time, then I will ask His Majesty the king for your credit. After all, our imperial navy just lacks the establishment of a Far Eastern navy commander." .”
Now Juan is really red-eyed, in order to get promoted and make a fortune, he must fight to the death with the Haihan people!
After Juan came out of the Governor's Mansion, he called his officers to a meeting to prepare for the battle, and carefully prepared the tactics to deal with the Haihan fleet's attack.Although it is not clear when the opponent will appear, Juan is determined to give the Haihan people a little color this time, and let them know that the authority of the Spanish Empire cannot be challenged!
In the anxiety of the Spaniards, the time finally entered 1637.
Due to the advent of the Little Ice Age, even Kaohsiung Port, which is located in the southern part of Taiwan Island, has dropped to about ten degrees, and the soldiers had to put on thicker winter clothes before going out.However, their destination is located in the tropics, and the temperature is much higher than that of Xiong, so it is estimated that they will have to complete a change of clothes on the way.However, there are sufficient military supplies at Kaohsiung Port, and the mood of the troops is not too affected by the weather.
Although the northern troops assembled here are on standby, they are not doing nothing. In addition to the daily preparation and training of the troops, the navy has also dispatched patrol ships in the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippine Islands. , monitoring changes in weather and sea conditions, so as to provide reference for the headquarters to formulate a southbound route.
In fact, the route has been basically finalized long ago, but if the weather and sea conditions are not ideal, then corresponding adjustments must be made when the departure time.It would be fine if only the northern troops participated in the battle, but because the three places departed separately, the time synchronization requirements for the voyage were very high.In the earliest days, the Ministry of National Defense even hoped to reduce the time difference between the arrival of the three troops to the destination within half a day, but later found that this requirement was really difficult to achieve, so it was relaxed to one day.But for the voyage distance of the first kilometer, this error range still puts extremely high requirements on the fleet's navigation route and voyage arrangement.
Of course, the North Route Army has Wang Tom, the naval commander, in charge, so the preparations in this area are naturally well-organized.Although Wang Tom has never personally sailed to Manila, but with the detailed charts and various geographical data produced by later generations, it is not too difficult for him to formulate a safe route.
"There are many good things in Luzon Island, but it's a pity that Ming Dynasty didn't keep this place." Qian Tiandun chatted with Wang Tom about the history of Luzon Island when he was free: "When Zheng He went to the Western Seas 200 years ago, The overseas Chinese leader Xu Chailao was appointed as the governor of Luzon to take charge of the local military and political power. In terms of historical origin, Luzon can be regarded as a vassal state of Ming. However, Ming has never been interested in this kind of overseas enclave, and slowly Let it develop on its own. If there is a worthy emperor, the Philippine Islands should be the territory of Ming Dynasty at this time."
Wang Tom laughed and said, "It seems that it is very useful for you to supplement your historical knowledge during this period of time!"
"Since you are going to fight here, you must first understand the history and humanities here. Knowing yourself and the enemy is the only way to win a hundred battles!" Qian Tiandun didn't take it seriously after being exposed by Wang Tom. Since he is going to follow the route of Confucian generals, of course It takes more time to read historical documents and learn more detailed information about the combat location.It is not a day or two for Haihan to plan to fight Manila. Qian Tiandun has been repairing relevant documents after receiving the transfer order.It is hard to say how much this information will be useful for the next battle, but Qian Tiandun believes that it is beneficial to enrich his knowledge reserve, and it is worth spending a little more time to understand it.
Tom Wang said: "Let us do the things that Daming can't do! It's a bit wasteful to give a place like Luzon Island to the Spaniards. I heard that the Ministry of Agriculture has long been envious of Luzon Island. I wish we could get rid of the Spaniards sooner and take all of this island."
"This group of people is really greedy, take them all? I didn't even dare to think about it! Don't they know that this Luzon Island is about to be as big as three Hainan Islands, how can we have so many troops to guard such an island? It’s a big island! It would be nice to take down Manila Bay first, occupying it all... It won’t take a few years to digest it all!” Qian Tiandun shook his head repeatedly after hearing this, and did not agree with the Ministry of Agriculture’s idea.
Of course, after this battle is over, there is nothing wrong with just verbally announcing occupation to other countries. Anyway, there are no countries in the South China Sea that dare to challenge Haihan's authority.
(End of this chapter)