Chapter 1636
Labor Intelligence
Chapter 1636 Labor Intelligence
The side that gets the benefits usually won't refuse such a thing as laboring the army, even if it is a sensitive period at this time, the outside world should not be allowed to contact the military restricted area, but Colonel Francis, who is in charge of the city defense command of Manila City, heard that a businessman offered to labor the army, and The content of the labor force given by the other party was indeed very attractive, so he readily agreed, and arranged for his attendant Gonzalo to receive Ran Tianlu.
Gonzalo is no stranger to Ran Tianlu, because he is a devout Christian who regularly goes to the cathedral in the city to pray and confess, and often sees Ran Tianlu there.Gonzalo doesn’t have as many thoughts and scruples as the governor. For him, Ran Tianlu, who also believes in Christ and can speak Spanish, is his fellow man. As for the identity of the Han Chinese, this is not a problem in his opinion. You must know that there are still many Spaniards who are actually pagans. He would rather stay with Ran Tianlu than admit that those pagans are compatriots in the same country as him.
The so-called labor force, of course, focuses on the management of senior officers. As for ordinary Spanish soldiers, they can do whatever they want.Ran Tianlu prepared [-] silver coins and [-] catties of rice for his labor this time as the content of the gift list on the surface, but in fact, he also prepared another gift list for senior officers like Francis and Gonzalo.
The gift list that Ran Tianlu prepared for Francis was quite generous, while the gifts Gonzalo received were two gold bars and a set of exquisite porcelain from Ming Dynasty. This set of porcelain would sell for at least [-] silver coins in the local market.Gonzalo was very happy with Ran Tianlu's generous behavior. Of course, he also knew that the other party was not a philanthropist, and he would not give him such a generous gift just because they were familiar with each other in the same church.The so-called courteousness must be sought, he still understands this truth, so after accepting Ran Tianlu's "labor army" gift, he took the initiative to ask the other party if there was anything he needed his help with.
Ran Tianlu knew that Gonzalo was a real person, so he expressed his intention to come to him, saying that he actually knew a little bit about the recent depression in the market, but he wondered whether the local Spanish armed forces could withstand the sea that might attack in the near future. Han Jun, he is not sure at all, so he wants to use the name of Lao Jun to ask the military about the real situation.If the security is not safe enough, then he also plans to leave Manila temporarily and return to Daming to avoid the limelight.
Gonzalo became anxious when he heard this, and quickly said that the local city defense is impenetrable. Not only are there thousands of armed guards inside and outside the city, but also the Manila fleet is supporting the defense at sea.Whether it is Haihan or any other country, it is impossible to invade Manila with arms.Gonzalo swore to Ran Tianlu that as long as the Haihan people dare to come to Manila, their blood will surely stain the waters of Manila Bay red.
"I can brag about this kind of bullshit before the war!" Ran Tianlu swears to Gonzalo's oath that he will not believe a word. He has full confidence in the combat effectiveness of his country's army, but in order to minimize his country's army He still had to find out more detailed military information about the losses in the battle.
Ran Tianlu said that he is of course full of confidence in the fighting power of the Spanish army, but he still hopes to know how the defenders will respond if the Haihan army lands and attacks the city in Manila Bay, so that he can have more confidence in his heart.
If it was left on a daily basis, Gonzalo would naturally dismiss such a request. How could he leak military secrets to civilians, let alone a Han Chinese.But today is different, the situation in Manila is precarious. If these businessmen run away because they are afraid of the war, God knows whether they will come back after the war.Gonzalo would not be foolish enough to believe the words of temporarily avoiding the limelight. If one Ran Tianlu wants to leave, there may be dozens of Ran Tianlu waiting for news behind him. If the operation is not good, he will leave as soon as he leaves It will definitely have an impact on Manila's future trade.
Besides, the benefits offered by Ran Tianlu today are really in front of his eyes. Once he makes a move, he will earn more than him in a year. It is not good for Gonzalo to turn his face after collecting the money, so he can only agree to Ran Tianlu's request at the moment. Take him around the defense line of Manila City.
After the Spaniards occupied Manila Bay in 1571, they built a castle and a fort on the south bank of the Pasig River. Since then, this place has become the capital of Spain's colonial rule in the Philippine Islands.After that, the city of Manila gradually expanded outwards on this basis. Over the past few decades, the city of today has been formed along the Pasig River.
In a broad sense, the city of Manila includes more than ten square kilometers of residential areas on both sides of the Pasig River, but in fact the Spanish authorities focused on defending the area, mainly concentrated in the castle area on the south bank of the Pasig River.Most of the Spaniards who settled in Manila lived in this area, while the north bank of the Pasig River was mainly populated by Han immigrants and local aborigines.The non-Hispanic people who can live on the South Bank are generally wealthy businessmen, or Han Chinese or indigenous people who have long been completely attached to the Spaniards. For example, Ran Tianlu is one of them who moved here as a wealthy businessman.
It was precisely because of this that he had the opportunity to enter the same church as the Spaniards to inquire about news.You must know that although there are churches in the urban areas on the north bank of the Bashi River, their scale is far smaller than that on the south bank, and not many Spaniards go there to pray.
But even though Ran Tianlu lived here, he usually didn't have the opportunity to really step into the vital area of the city defense to observe the Spanish's deployment at close range, let alone be accompanied by a senior officer who would explain to him while visiting.Although Gonzalo carefully avoided many key details, Ran Tianlu is not an honest businessman, but a professional spy who has undergone systematic training. There are many things that Gonzalo does not need to explain at all. You can see the mystery at a glance.
The outer defense line of Manila City is mainly divided into two parts. The first is several fixed forts on the coastline. The Spaniards deployed about twenty large-caliber artillery here, although Gonzalo carefully omitted the performance of these artillery pieces. However, according to its caliber and body ratio, Ran Tianlu can roughly calculate its range based on the formula he learned before.Moreover, most of these cannons are still fixed on the base of the cannon carriage, and each cannon requires more than ten or twenty gunners to cooperate in operation during wartime. In Ran Tianlu's opinion, the convenience of its operation is much worse than that of Sanya's coastal defense forts. cut.
Ran Tianlu also noticed that there are special level passages built near these forts. This is not only to allow personnel and ammunition to quickly reach the forts during wartime, but also to transport more artillery to the forts from the rear when necessary to strengthen the protection against the harbor. direction of fire blockade.However, these passages are usually not open to civilians, and Han people like Ran Tianlu have no chance to step into this place.
In addition to observing the range and staffing of these coastal defense guns, Ran Tianlu also pretended to be looking at the sea, and leaned on the crenels of the forts to carefully observe the sea area covered by these forts.He had to keep everything he saw in his mind, and try to draw it when he got back, so that the information he found could truly have military value.
Gonzalo didn't know that this Ming merchant had so many calculations in his mind. He thought that there would be no problem if he took him here for a quick look. However, Ran Tianlu asked some questions in the process, which was obviously very amateurish. Gonzalo Then he also smiled and made a few nonsense casually to fool the matter.
After seeing the forts that were mainly distributed along the coastline, Ran Tianlu was taken to the second part of the outer defense line of Manila City, the outermost wall of the city.
Compared with the fort defense line, the firepower of this city wall defense line is weaker. Ran Tianlu did not see dense fortresses on the city wall, but there are many shooting holes specially designed for muskets on the city wall crenellations. It seems that the Spaniards will The defensive task of this layer of defense is mainly handed over to the musketeers to complete.
The outer city wall is about six to seven meters high. Most of the sections are made of strips of stone, and a few sections are made of piled soil, and the periphery is covered with a layer of bricks and stones.The city wall is narrow and wide, but there are still trails on the upper part for combat and mobilization of troops.A trench was dug outside the city wall, about three meters wide, and water from the Bashi River was introduced as a moat.Ran Tianlu knew that the small moat was not deep, and children would often swim in it when it was hot. The shallow part was not as deep as an adult's chest, and the deepest part was only about two meters.Such a small river can at most act as a roadblock, and when the siege battle is really launched, it may be filled up in a short while.
However, although the city wall of Manila City is not high, and it cannot be said to be strong, it is actually quite long, and it firmly surrounds the central city where the Spaniards live.Although the local aborigines had several armed riots against the Spanish invaders in history, they never broke through this urban area, which shows that its actual function is not bad.
On the inner side of this city wall is the residence of the local Spaniards.Red pottery tiles, hand-plastered walls, small arches, wrought iron window rails and other Spanish-style architectural details can be seen everywhere here.According to Ran Tianlu's statistics, there are at least [-] Spaniards living in Manila, and more than [-]% of them live within this city wall.
But this is not the last line of defense in the city of Manila. The castle built by the Spaniards in the last century is located in the center of the city wall. The core of the entire city of Manila.But even if Gonzalo is not wary of Ran Tianlu, he will not take him to visit that place. After all, it is the power center of the Kingdom of Spain in the Far East, and it is impossible to allow a foreign businessman to come in and out at will.
Of course, Ran Tianlu would not force this kind of treatment. Being able to figure out the deployment of the Spaniards on the two outer lines of defense had already achieved the purpose of reconnaissance, and any other requests would easily arouse the other party's suspicion.
After Ran Tianlu’s visit, he flattered Gonzalo, praising Manila city for having such a solid defense, and punishing the Haihan people to return home. He wants to stay in Manila and witness Spain’s victory with his own eyes.After returning to the store, Ran Tianlu immediately closed the door to thank the guests, carefully recalled what he saw and heard during the day, and then recorded them one by one.
It took Ran Tianlu two full days to prepare the text and map materials, and then handed them over to the departing merchant ship of his own firm to take them to Sanya.And the time when this precious information arrived in Sanya was exactly the day before the army led by Yan Chujie left Hong Kong for an expedition.When the Ministry of Security handed it over to the military, there were not even more than five people who had this information after Ran Tianlu.
Regarding the city defense data of Manila, in fact, Haihan has collected a lot of them one after another, but such a detailed report is indeed the first in history.Ran Tianlu's report even recorded in detail the artillery configuration and firepower coverage of the Manila coastal defense fort, which is information that no one has ever been able to find before.In Yan Chujie's words, the value of this piece of news alone is worth at least one army company's strength.
"The Spaniards have worked hard on fortifications. You can see the distribution map of the forts, which basically covers the entire port area. If we want to achieve landing, we must go up against the artillery fire, or we have to Find a coast far away from downtown Manila." After carefully studying the map sent back by Ran Tianlu, Yan Chujie pointed out the key points to his officers at the war preparation meeting.
The area of Manila Bay is nearly [-] square kilometers, and the coastline where Manila City is located is only a part of it. It would not be difficult to find another suitable place for landing.But for Haihan, time may be the biggest enemy. If the beachhead is far away from Manila, it will take a lot of manpower to transport all kinds of combat supplies to the front line, which will slow down the rhythm of the attack. This is the command This is the scene officials least want to see, and this is what Yan Chujie is worried about.
If you use naval guns to bombard land coastal defense turrets, it will basically not take much advantage. The shooting platform of a battleship is not as stable as a land turret, and the range and power of naval guns are relatively limited. The only advantage is probably the number of artillery.But Yan Chujie didn't want to take the risk of letting his warship get closer to within 400 meters to fight the Spanish fort. The consequences of doing so would probably outweigh the gains.
Of course, Haihan is not without chance, Yan Chujie still has a secret weapon in his hand, and that is the new type of warship that will accompany the army this time. Although the "Warrior" class battleship is only equipped with two cannons, one in front and one in the back, these two cannons are no longer the traditional smoothbore cannon structure, but rifled cannons using the most advanced manufacturing technology. Far superior to traditional naval guns, it is fully capable of challenging coastal defense forts.
(End of this chapter)
The side that gets the benefits usually won't refuse such a thing as laboring the army, even if it is a sensitive period at this time, the outside world should not be allowed to contact the military restricted area, but Colonel Francis, who is in charge of the city defense command of Manila City, heard that a businessman offered to labor the army, and The content of the labor force given by the other party was indeed very attractive, so he readily agreed, and arranged for his attendant Gonzalo to receive Ran Tianlu.
Gonzalo is no stranger to Ran Tianlu, because he is a devout Christian who regularly goes to the cathedral in the city to pray and confess, and often sees Ran Tianlu there.Gonzalo doesn’t have as many thoughts and scruples as the governor. For him, Ran Tianlu, who also believes in Christ and can speak Spanish, is his fellow man. As for the identity of the Han Chinese, this is not a problem in his opinion. You must know that there are still many Spaniards who are actually pagans. He would rather stay with Ran Tianlu than admit that those pagans are compatriots in the same country as him.
The so-called labor force, of course, focuses on the management of senior officers. As for ordinary Spanish soldiers, they can do whatever they want.Ran Tianlu prepared [-] silver coins and [-] catties of rice for his labor this time as the content of the gift list on the surface, but in fact, he also prepared another gift list for senior officers like Francis and Gonzalo.
The gift list that Ran Tianlu prepared for Francis was quite generous, while the gifts Gonzalo received were two gold bars and a set of exquisite porcelain from Ming Dynasty. This set of porcelain would sell for at least [-] silver coins in the local market.Gonzalo was very happy with Ran Tianlu's generous behavior. Of course, he also knew that the other party was not a philanthropist, and he would not give him such a generous gift just because they were familiar with each other in the same church.The so-called courteousness must be sought, he still understands this truth, so after accepting Ran Tianlu's "labor army" gift, he took the initiative to ask the other party if there was anything he needed his help with.
Ran Tianlu knew that Gonzalo was a real person, so he expressed his intention to come to him, saying that he actually knew a little bit about the recent depression in the market, but he wondered whether the local Spanish armed forces could withstand the sea that might attack in the near future. Han Jun, he is not sure at all, so he wants to use the name of Lao Jun to ask the military about the real situation.If the security is not safe enough, then he also plans to leave Manila temporarily and return to Daming to avoid the limelight.
Gonzalo became anxious when he heard this, and quickly said that the local city defense is impenetrable. Not only are there thousands of armed guards inside and outside the city, but also the Manila fleet is supporting the defense at sea.Whether it is Haihan or any other country, it is impossible to invade Manila with arms.Gonzalo swore to Ran Tianlu that as long as the Haihan people dare to come to Manila, their blood will surely stain the waters of Manila Bay red.
"I can brag about this kind of bullshit before the war!" Ran Tianlu swears to Gonzalo's oath that he will not believe a word. He has full confidence in the combat effectiveness of his country's army, but in order to minimize his country's army He still had to find out more detailed military information about the losses in the battle.
Ran Tianlu said that he is of course full of confidence in the fighting power of the Spanish army, but he still hopes to know how the defenders will respond if the Haihan army lands and attacks the city in Manila Bay, so that he can have more confidence in his heart.
If it was left on a daily basis, Gonzalo would naturally dismiss such a request. How could he leak military secrets to civilians, let alone a Han Chinese.But today is different, the situation in Manila is precarious. If these businessmen run away because they are afraid of the war, God knows whether they will come back after the war.Gonzalo would not be foolish enough to believe the words of temporarily avoiding the limelight. If one Ran Tianlu wants to leave, there may be dozens of Ran Tianlu waiting for news behind him. If the operation is not good, he will leave as soon as he leaves It will definitely have an impact on Manila's future trade.
Besides, the benefits offered by Ran Tianlu today are really in front of his eyes. Once he makes a move, he will earn more than him in a year. It is not good for Gonzalo to turn his face after collecting the money, so he can only agree to Ran Tianlu's request at the moment. Take him around the defense line of Manila City.
After the Spaniards occupied Manila Bay in 1571, they built a castle and a fort on the south bank of the Pasig River. Since then, this place has become the capital of Spain's colonial rule in the Philippine Islands.After that, the city of Manila gradually expanded outwards on this basis. Over the past few decades, the city of today has been formed along the Pasig River.
In a broad sense, the city of Manila includes more than ten square kilometers of residential areas on both sides of the Pasig River, but in fact the Spanish authorities focused on defending the area, mainly concentrated in the castle area on the south bank of the Pasig River.Most of the Spaniards who settled in Manila lived in this area, while the north bank of the Pasig River was mainly populated by Han immigrants and local aborigines.The non-Hispanic people who can live on the South Bank are generally wealthy businessmen, or Han Chinese or indigenous people who have long been completely attached to the Spaniards. For example, Ran Tianlu is one of them who moved here as a wealthy businessman.
It was precisely because of this that he had the opportunity to enter the same church as the Spaniards to inquire about news.You must know that although there are churches in the urban areas on the north bank of the Bashi River, their scale is far smaller than that on the south bank, and not many Spaniards go there to pray.
But even though Ran Tianlu lived here, he usually didn't have the opportunity to really step into the vital area of the city defense to observe the Spanish's deployment at close range, let alone be accompanied by a senior officer who would explain to him while visiting.Although Gonzalo carefully avoided many key details, Ran Tianlu is not an honest businessman, but a professional spy who has undergone systematic training. There are many things that Gonzalo does not need to explain at all. You can see the mystery at a glance.
The outer defense line of Manila City is mainly divided into two parts. The first is several fixed forts on the coastline. The Spaniards deployed about twenty large-caliber artillery here, although Gonzalo carefully omitted the performance of these artillery pieces. However, according to its caliber and body ratio, Ran Tianlu can roughly calculate its range based on the formula he learned before.Moreover, most of these cannons are still fixed on the base of the cannon carriage, and each cannon requires more than ten or twenty gunners to cooperate in operation during wartime. In Ran Tianlu's opinion, the convenience of its operation is much worse than that of Sanya's coastal defense forts. cut.
Ran Tianlu also noticed that there are special level passages built near these forts. This is not only to allow personnel and ammunition to quickly reach the forts during wartime, but also to transport more artillery to the forts from the rear when necessary to strengthen the protection against the harbor. direction of fire blockade.However, these passages are usually not open to civilians, and Han people like Ran Tianlu have no chance to step into this place.
In addition to observing the range and staffing of these coastal defense guns, Ran Tianlu also pretended to be looking at the sea, and leaned on the crenels of the forts to carefully observe the sea area covered by these forts.He had to keep everything he saw in his mind, and try to draw it when he got back, so that the information he found could truly have military value.
Gonzalo didn't know that this Ming merchant had so many calculations in his mind. He thought that there would be no problem if he took him here for a quick look. However, Ran Tianlu asked some questions in the process, which was obviously very amateurish. Gonzalo Then he also smiled and made a few nonsense casually to fool the matter.
After seeing the forts that were mainly distributed along the coastline, Ran Tianlu was taken to the second part of the outer defense line of Manila City, the outermost wall of the city.
Compared with the fort defense line, the firepower of this city wall defense line is weaker. Ran Tianlu did not see dense fortresses on the city wall, but there are many shooting holes specially designed for muskets on the city wall crenellations. It seems that the Spaniards will The defensive task of this layer of defense is mainly handed over to the musketeers to complete.
The outer city wall is about six to seven meters high. Most of the sections are made of strips of stone, and a few sections are made of piled soil, and the periphery is covered with a layer of bricks and stones.The city wall is narrow and wide, but there are still trails on the upper part for combat and mobilization of troops.A trench was dug outside the city wall, about three meters wide, and water from the Bashi River was introduced as a moat.Ran Tianlu knew that the small moat was not deep, and children would often swim in it when it was hot. The shallow part was not as deep as an adult's chest, and the deepest part was only about two meters.Such a small river can at most act as a roadblock, and when the siege battle is really launched, it may be filled up in a short while.
However, although the city wall of Manila City is not high, and it cannot be said to be strong, it is actually quite long, and it firmly surrounds the central city where the Spaniards live.Although the local aborigines had several armed riots against the Spanish invaders in history, they never broke through this urban area, which shows that its actual function is not bad.
On the inner side of this city wall is the residence of the local Spaniards.Red pottery tiles, hand-plastered walls, small arches, wrought iron window rails and other Spanish-style architectural details can be seen everywhere here.According to Ran Tianlu's statistics, there are at least [-] Spaniards living in Manila, and more than [-]% of them live within this city wall.
But this is not the last line of defense in the city of Manila. The castle built by the Spaniards in the last century is located in the center of the city wall. The core of the entire city of Manila.But even if Gonzalo is not wary of Ran Tianlu, he will not take him to visit that place. After all, it is the power center of the Kingdom of Spain in the Far East, and it is impossible to allow a foreign businessman to come in and out at will.
Of course, Ran Tianlu would not force this kind of treatment. Being able to figure out the deployment of the Spaniards on the two outer lines of defense had already achieved the purpose of reconnaissance, and any other requests would easily arouse the other party's suspicion.
After Ran Tianlu’s visit, he flattered Gonzalo, praising Manila city for having such a solid defense, and punishing the Haihan people to return home. He wants to stay in Manila and witness Spain’s victory with his own eyes.After returning to the store, Ran Tianlu immediately closed the door to thank the guests, carefully recalled what he saw and heard during the day, and then recorded them one by one.
It took Ran Tianlu two full days to prepare the text and map materials, and then handed them over to the departing merchant ship of his own firm to take them to Sanya.And the time when this precious information arrived in Sanya was exactly the day before the army led by Yan Chujie left Hong Kong for an expedition.When the Ministry of Security handed it over to the military, there were not even more than five people who had this information after Ran Tianlu.
Regarding the city defense data of Manila, in fact, Haihan has collected a lot of them one after another, but such a detailed report is indeed the first in history.Ran Tianlu's report even recorded in detail the artillery configuration and firepower coverage of the Manila coastal defense fort, which is information that no one has ever been able to find before.In Yan Chujie's words, the value of this piece of news alone is worth at least one army company's strength.
"The Spaniards have worked hard on fortifications. You can see the distribution map of the forts, which basically covers the entire port area. If we want to achieve landing, we must go up against the artillery fire, or we have to Find a coast far away from downtown Manila." After carefully studying the map sent back by Ran Tianlu, Yan Chujie pointed out the key points to his officers at the war preparation meeting.
The area of Manila Bay is nearly [-] square kilometers, and the coastline where Manila City is located is only a part of it. It would not be difficult to find another suitable place for landing.But for Haihan, time may be the biggest enemy. If the beachhead is far away from Manila, it will take a lot of manpower to transport all kinds of combat supplies to the front line, which will slow down the rhythm of the attack. This is the command This is the scene officials least want to see, and this is what Yan Chujie is worried about.
If you use naval guns to bombard land coastal defense turrets, it will basically not take much advantage. The shooting platform of a battleship is not as stable as a land turret, and the range and power of naval guns are relatively limited. The only advantage is probably the number of artillery.But Yan Chujie didn't want to take the risk of letting his warship get closer to within 400 meters to fight the Spanish fort. The consequences of doing so would probably outweigh the gains.
Of course, Haihan is not without chance, Yan Chujie still has a secret weapon in his hand, and that is the new type of warship that will accompany the army this time. Although the "Warrior" class battleship is only equipped with two cannons, one in front and one in the back, these two cannons are no longer the traditional smoothbore cannon structure, but rifled cannons using the most advanced manufacturing technology. Far superior to traditional naval guns, it is fully capable of challenging coastal defense forts.
(End of this chapter)