Chapter 2043
Chapter 2043
Chapter 2043
Whether it is to stabilize the morale of the army or his true thoughts, Tao Donglai finally expressed his attitude and will continue to give trust and support to the intelligence department.But everyone who participated in the investigation knew very well that the "monsters and monsters" Tao Donglai called were not simple characters, and it was already difficult to deal with them only by relying on the usual methods used in the past.
Even if it is confirmed in advance that a sea merchant will smuggle a batch of arms from Cebu in the near future, even if the strength of the Haihan Navy is far stronger than the opponent, it is still difficult to intercept it at sea. The bureau can't even formulate a surefire strategy.Although Yan Chujie didn't admit it, if the military's action plan is to be effective, it still depends on luck to be on Haihan's side.
It's up to people to plan, but it's up to God to make things happen. What Haihan can do now is to let the Manila garrison send a few more ships to monitor the key waterways.And the response of the Manila authorities was not slow. On the day of the joint meeting in Sanya, six warships, large and small, had already left Manila Bay and headed for the waters near Verde Island for deployment.
All these warships belong to the newly established Manila Fleet last year. The personnel and ships are mainly drawn from the naval forces that were originally stationed in the South China Sea and participated in the Manila Battle last year. How much worse are some combat units.The fleet is also familiar with general sea patrol missions, and there is no problem in performing such missions of monitoring waterways.
And the cargo ship that returned to Manila to report had already carried the original team to Cebu again. They had to pick them up from Cebu before the identities of Jose and other Hispanic intelligence agents were exposed.Although the intelligence agency used carefully prepared false evidence and a series of means to temporarily deceive the Spaniards, making them mistakenly believe that the overseas military aid has achieved excellent results, what happened in Hainan Island and other places is likely to happen in the near future. After sending it back to Cebu, the Spaniards will definitely realize that the information they received before is forged, and the identities of Jose and others who came to Cebu with this information will definitely not be concealed.
Therefore, although Jose and other three Hispanic intelligence agents have successfully lurked in Cebu and have the opportunity to take further measures, considering security issues, they can only give up the plan to let them stay there for a long time. Time to withdraw to Manila.
The man in charge of directing this monitoring operation is Major Jiao Fei of the Manila Fleet, who is currently serving as the fleet commander.Jiao Fei was one of the direct beneficiaries of the Battle of Manila last year. Not long after the war ended, he was promoted from captain to major because of his outstanding performance in the battle, and was promoted from the captain of the Majestic-class battleship "Weyong" to the newly established Manila Fleet Commander - This is also one of the few fleet commanders in the Navy currently served by naturalized officers.
Jiao Fei was able to receive this honor, apart from his early experience in the Daming Navy and his rich sailing experience, there is actually another reason that the official will not mention, that is, he can be qualified as a senior naval officer among the traversing crowd. There are really not many candidates for generals, and after counting and counting, in fact, only a few members of the North American Gang knew military affairs and had a relatively solid foundation in sailing skills. When you go to sea, you will feel dizzy. The theoretical knowledge in your mind may be enough to command a ship, but it is not enough to command a fleet to carry out large-scale combat operations across regions.
Among the members of the North American Gang, Tom Wang and Shi Diwen served as generals in the navy, Roger and Morgan served in the army, and Johnson and Qiao Zhiya had already retired and changed jobs.However, travelers like Sun Changmi, Yue Zhiyun, and Xie Chun, who knew how to sail, did not choose to serve in the army for various reasons.Therefore, as the pace of Haihan's external expansion accelerated, the navy had to use a large number of naturalized officers in the positions of commanders at all levels. Naval officers like Wu Sen, Xie Li, and Jiao Fei also began to board the ranks step by step. stage of history.
Most of these naval officers are immigrants from Ming Dynasty and Annan. Before joining Haihan, they had more or less military experience, so after receiving military training, they could quickly master Haihan-style combat methods.The Haihan Navy has almost invincible ships and guns in this era of sea. It has almost never been defeated since it was formed. Therefore, these naturalized naval officers are also quite proud and never fear any opponent.
Jiao Fei commanded the battleship Valiant in last year's Battle of Manila and set a record of sinking two ships and damaging five Spanish warships. However, because the target was too large, the Valiant also became the target of the enemy's concentrated fire. The hull inevitably suffered some damage, and it stayed in Manila after the battle to start a long maintenance period.
After the Battle of Manila, most of the main warships of the Majestic class were transferred to the north to participate in the Korean War, while the Battleship Valiant was left in Manila for maintenance due to battle damage, and thus missed this opportunity to continue participating in the war.But it is a blessing in disguise, and Jiao Fei, who was forced to stay in Manila, entered the list of candidate commanders for the new fleet.
Therefore, when the Ministry of National Defense ordered the formation of the Manila Fleet, Jiao Fei was selected as the commander of the new fleet, and the Weiyong, which had not yet been repaired, was also designated as the flagship of the new fleet—provided, of course, that it had to complete repairs as soon as possible. In this way, the Navy can justifiably announce the establishment of the Manila Fleet.
However, the newly established Manila Shipyard after the war seriously lacked technical personnel, as well as various tools and materials needed to repair warships, and in addition to the Valiant, there were also more than ten other naval warships waiting in line here for maintenance. .In order to get his ship repaired as soon as possible, Jiao Fei simply lived in the shipyard for several months, and insisted on guarding the shipwrights to repair the Weiyong bit by bit.
This trip south to monitor the waterway between Luzon and Mindoro is not the first combat operation of the Manila Fleet. In fact, since the second half of last year, the fleet has left Manila Bay several times and went south to get familiar with the surrounding waters. , to explore the area of southern Luzon still under the control of the Spanish colonial authorities.
Although the Spaniards lost Manila in the war and moved their government to Cebu in the south, there are actually still some Spanish immigrant settlements on the southern coastline of Luzon Island.Although the people in these places received news of Manila's defeat one after another, not everyone was willing to give up their property and move to the south with the colonial authorities.There are still many people who choose to stay in the local area and live their lives as they like. The arrival of the Haihan people is nothing more than a change of ruler, as long as the house and land are still their own.
Of course, there will be some people among them who will act as informants of the colonial authorities. If Haihan tries to recruit these Hispanic immigrants, then these informants will also become the people under Haihan's rule. Maybe there will be a chance to join Haihan after a while Nationality, then these people will be able to play a greater role.
However, Haihan was not unguarded, and was not eager to absorb the Hispanic immigrants in these settlements.It will take a long time to digest the Hispanic people in Manila. There is no need to rush to increase the proportion of Hispanic people in the area under the administration. After all, these people are from the hostile camp, and to a certain extent they can be regarded as hidden dangers to public security.
On the north and south coasts of the strait to be monitored this time, there is a Spanish settlement facing each other across the sea.To the south is Puerto Galera, where more than 100 Spanish immigrants and more than 1000 Filipino natives settled in this natural bay.Batangas in the north is more famous. Before the Battle of Manila, nearly a thousand Spanish immigrants settled here. However, after the war, a large number of people fled to Cebu. Today, the population that remains there has been compared with Puerto Galera. Not much difference.
In previous reconnaissance operations, the Navy had already visited these two settlements to confirm that there were no Spanish armed personnel activities there.However, the nature of this operation is different. Considering that the ships departing from Cebu may be resupplied at these two places, Jiao Fei still ordered two ships to go to these two places to check for suspicious persons. Cargo ships dock.
Like Yan Chujie who is far away in Sanya, Jiao Fei is not sure whether he can block the target in this place.After confirming that he would stay in Manila to serve, Jiao Fei spent a lot of time familiarizing himself with the sea charts of the Philippine Islands.For him, the entire Philippine Islands will be the scope of activities of the Manila Fleet in the future, and as a commander, he must be familiar with the environment in these areas.
Of course, this job is not easy. The Philippine archipelago is composed of more than 7000 islands. It can be said that it is the most complicated sea area within the scope of Haihan Navy's activities. It takes ten or eight years to thoroughly understand the geographical sea conditions of this place. Hard work is definitely not enough.
While taking the order to set off, Jiao Fei was already researching the route the target might choose.Starting from Cebu and going north to the mainland, there are many routes to choose from in theory. If those routes with high risks and need to be detoured are excluded, there are at least four or five options left.Of course, the route he was in charge of was the one most likely to be chosen by the other party, but it cannot be ruled out that the other party would choose an unpopular route to avoid Haihan's monitoring for safety reasons.
Go north from Cebu directly through the strait between Wright Island and Masbate Island, then pass through the San Bernardino Strait between Samar Island and Luzon Island, and then enter the Pacific Ocean east of Luzon Island .If you are an old sea dog who is familiar with this sea area, you can lead the ship to sail north along the east coast of Luzon Island, and then reach the southern tip of Taiwan Island through the Bashi Channel. After that, you can continue to go north along the east coast of Taiwan Island to the north destination.This route is completely outside of Haihan's supervision, and it is difficult for the navy to deploy troops so far away for control.
In addition, the opponent can also choose to go north along the west coast of Mindoro Island, so that they don't have to pass through the narrow channel guarded by Jiao Fei.Although this route will take an extra voyage due to the detour, it can greatly reduce the chance of being exposed.
Today is the second day that Jiao Fei's fleet arrived at the scheduled sea area, and so far they haven't found even a single sail.This kind of calm is not good news for Jiao Fei. According to the information sent back from Cebu, the local departure time for the batch of arms should be the last few days. If the other party chooses to go north through this channel, then the Results will be available within five or six days.
There are special watchmen on the mast of the Valiant with binoculars on duty. Under the current weather conditions, the range of visibility can completely cover the entire channel of the strait. As long as there are ships passing here during the day, they will definitely not be able to escape the surveillance of the Valiant. .The other ships spread out, cruising in the waters near the coast, to make up for the control range of the Valiant.
Jiao Fei stood at the bow of the ship and observed with the binoculars for a while. There was indeed no suspicious target on the calm sea, which made him a little disappointed.The Hispanic settlements on both sides of the strait have been warned by the Navy that no boats are allowed to go to sea this month, even for fishing near the shore, so not even a sampan can be seen in this place.
"I have a bad feeling that our errand will come to naught and we won't be able to wait for our target to appear." Jiao Fei handed the telescope to his adjutant, and said with some disinterest: "Wait for the rabbit, I don't know if there will be a The rabbit ran over by itself!"
The adjutant replied: "My lord, it's not easy. Since the Military Intelligence Bureau thinks that the other party will show up here, then we'll just wait. If the other party doesn't come here, we should just come out for training."
Jiao Fei nodded and said: "You are right, pass my order, gather the team, and practice meeting the enemy at sea!"
Since there is no other arrangement at the moment, Jiao Fei intends to use military training to pass the long waiting time without affecting the mission.
After three more days of waiting, the lookout post of the Valiant finally ushered in the first discovery in this mission.Hearing the whistle sounded on the deck, which meant something happened, Jiao Fei immediately put down the chart in his hand, and ran to the deck to ask what he found.Under the guidance of his subordinates, Jiao Fei quickly saw the shadow of the sail on the distant sea through the telescope.
"Here we come!" Jiao Fei was immediately excited by this discovery, and ordered to send out a signal to put all the ships on combat readiness.The Valiant stayed still in the middle, and the two fast boats near the coast moved forward slowly, making the entire formation a pocket shape.
However, as the ship in his field of vision got closer and closer, Jiao Fei realized that something was wrong. Although the target mentioned in the information was a lucky boat, the boat that appeared at the moment was not a lucky boat. It was clearly a Spanish boat. sailboat.But it doesn't matter, as long as you arrive at this place, no matter whether you are a Galen ship or a blessing ship, you have to stop the ship honestly for inspection.
(End of this chapter)
Whether it is to stabilize the morale of the army or his true thoughts, Tao Donglai finally expressed his attitude and will continue to give trust and support to the intelligence department.But everyone who participated in the investigation knew very well that the "monsters and monsters" Tao Donglai called were not simple characters, and it was already difficult to deal with them only by relying on the usual methods used in the past.
Even if it is confirmed in advance that a sea merchant will smuggle a batch of arms from Cebu in the near future, even if the strength of the Haihan Navy is far stronger than the opponent, it is still difficult to intercept it at sea. The bureau can't even formulate a surefire strategy.Although Yan Chujie didn't admit it, if the military's action plan is to be effective, it still depends on luck to be on Haihan's side.
It's up to people to plan, but it's up to God to make things happen. What Haihan can do now is to let the Manila garrison send a few more ships to monitor the key waterways.And the response of the Manila authorities was not slow. On the day of the joint meeting in Sanya, six warships, large and small, had already left Manila Bay and headed for the waters near Verde Island for deployment.
All these warships belong to the newly established Manila Fleet last year. The personnel and ships are mainly drawn from the naval forces that were originally stationed in the South China Sea and participated in the Manila Battle last year. How much worse are some combat units.The fleet is also familiar with general sea patrol missions, and there is no problem in performing such missions of monitoring waterways.
And the cargo ship that returned to Manila to report had already carried the original team to Cebu again. They had to pick them up from Cebu before the identities of Jose and other Hispanic intelligence agents were exposed.Although the intelligence agency used carefully prepared false evidence and a series of means to temporarily deceive the Spaniards, making them mistakenly believe that the overseas military aid has achieved excellent results, what happened in Hainan Island and other places is likely to happen in the near future. After sending it back to Cebu, the Spaniards will definitely realize that the information they received before is forged, and the identities of Jose and others who came to Cebu with this information will definitely not be concealed.
Therefore, although Jose and other three Hispanic intelligence agents have successfully lurked in Cebu and have the opportunity to take further measures, considering security issues, they can only give up the plan to let them stay there for a long time. Time to withdraw to Manila.
The man in charge of directing this monitoring operation is Major Jiao Fei of the Manila Fleet, who is currently serving as the fleet commander.Jiao Fei was one of the direct beneficiaries of the Battle of Manila last year. Not long after the war ended, he was promoted from captain to major because of his outstanding performance in the battle, and was promoted from the captain of the Majestic-class battleship "Weyong" to the newly established Manila Fleet Commander - This is also one of the few fleet commanders in the Navy currently served by naturalized officers.
Jiao Fei was able to receive this honor, apart from his early experience in the Daming Navy and his rich sailing experience, there is actually another reason that the official will not mention, that is, he can be qualified as a senior naval officer among the traversing crowd. There are really not many candidates for generals, and after counting and counting, in fact, only a few members of the North American Gang knew military affairs and had a relatively solid foundation in sailing skills. When you go to sea, you will feel dizzy. The theoretical knowledge in your mind may be enough to command a ship, but it is not enough to command a fleet to carry out large-scale combat operations across regions.
Among the members of the North American Gang, Tom Wang and Shi Diwen served as generals in the navy, Roger and Morgan served in the army, and Johnson and Qiao Zhiya had already retired and changed jobs.However, travelers like Sun Changmi, Yue Zhiyun, and Xie Chun, who knew how to sail, did not choose to serve in the army for various reasons.Therefore, as the pace of Haihan's external expansion accelerated, the navy had to use a large number of naturalized officers in the positions of commanders at all levels. Naval officers like Wu Sen, Xie Li, and Jiao Fei also began to board the ranks step by step. stage of history.
Most of these naval officers are immigrants from Ming Dynasty and Annan. Before joining Haihan, they had more or less military experience, so after receiving military training, they could quickly master Haihan-style combat methods.The Haihan Navy has almost invincible ships and guns in this era of sea. It has almost never been defeated since it was formed. Therefore, these naturalized naval officers are also quite proud and never fear any opponent.
Jiao Fei commanded the battleship Valiant in last year's Battle of Manila and set a record of sinking two ships and damaging five Spanish warships. However, because the target was too large, the Valiant also became the target of the enemy's concentrated fire. The hull inevitably suffered some damage, and it stayed in Manila after the battle to start a long maintenance period.
After the Battle of Manila, most of the main warships of the Majestic class were transferred to the north to participate in the Korean War, while the Battleship Valiant was left in Manila for maintenance due to battle damage, and thus missed this opportunity to continue participating in the war.But it is a blessing in disguise, and Jiao Fei, who was forced to stay in Manila, entered the list of candidate commanders for the new fleet.
Therefore, when the Ministry of National Defense ordered the formation of the Manila Fleet, Jiao Fei was selected as the commander of the new fleet, and the Weiyong, which had not yet been repaired, was also designated as the flagship of the new fleet—provided, of course, that it had to complete repairs as soon as possible. In this way, the Navy can justifiably announce the establishment of the Manila Fleet.
However, the newly established Manila Shipyard after the war seriously lacked technical personnel, as well as various tools and materials needed to repair warships, and in addition to the Valiant, there were also more than ten other naval warships waiting in line here for maintenance. .In order to get his ship repaired as soon as possible, Jiao Fei simply lived in the shipyard for several months, and insisted on guarding the shipwrights to repair the Weiyong bit by bit.
This trip south to monitor the waterway between Luzon and Mindoro is not the first combat operation of the Manila Fleet. In fact, since the second half of last year, the fleet has left Manila Bay several times and went south to get familiar with the surrounding waters. , to explore the area of southern Luzon still under the control of the Spanish colonial authorities.
Although the Spaniards lost Manila in the war and moved their government to Cebu in the south, there are actually still some Spanish immigrant settlements on the southern coastline of Luzon Island.Although the people in these places received news of Manila's defeat one after another, not everyone was willing to give up their property and move to the south with the colonial authorities.There are still many people who choose to stay in the local area and live their lives as they like. The arrival of the Haihan people is nothing more than a change of ruler, as long as the house and land are still their own.
Of course, there will be some people among them who will act as informants of the colonial authorities. If Haihan tries to recruit these Hispanic immigrants, then these informants will also become the people under Haihan's rule. Maybe there will be a chance to join Haihan after a while Nationality, then these people will be able to play a greater role.
However, Haihan was not unguarded, and was not eager to absorb the Hispanic immigrants in these settlements.It will take a long time to digest the Hispanic people in Manila. There is no need to rush to increase the proportion of Hispanic people in the area under the administration. After all, these people are from the hostile camp, and to a certain extent they can be regarded as hidden dangers to public security.
On the north and south coasts of the strait to be monitored this time, there is a Spanish settlement facing each other across the sea.To the south is Puerto Galera, where more than 100 Spanish immigrants and more than 1000 Filipino natives settled in this natural bay.Batangas in the north is more famous. Before the Battle of Manila, nearly a thousand Spanish immigrants settled here. However, after the war, a large number of people fled to Cebu. Today, the population that remains there has been compared with Puerto Galera. Not much difference.
In previous reconnaissance operations, the Navy had already visited these two settlements to confirm that there were no Spanish armed personnel activities there.However, the nature of this operation is different. Considering that the ships departing from Cebu may be resupplied at these two places, Jiao Fei still ordered two ships to go to these two places to check for suspicious persons. Cargo ships dock.
Like Yan Chujie who is far away in Sanya, Jiao Fei is not sure whether he can block the target in this place.After confirming that he would stay in Manila to serve, Jiao Fei spent a lot of time familiarizing himself with the sea charts of the Philippine Islands.For him, the entire Philippine Islands will be the scope of activities of the Manila Fleet in the future, and as a commander, he must be familiar with the environment in these areas.
Of course, this job is not easy. The Philippine archipelago is composed of more than 7000 islands. It can be said that it is the most complicated sea area within the scope of Haihan Navy's activities. It takes ten or eight years to thoroughly understand the geographical sea conditions of this place. Hard work is definitely not enough.
While taking the order to set off, Jiao Fei was already researching the route the target might choose.Starting from Cebu and going north to the mainland, there are many routes to choose from in theory. If those routes with high risks and need to be detoured are excluded, there are at least four or five options left.Of course, the route he was in charge of was the one most likely to be chosen by the other party, but it cannot be ruled out that the other party would choose an unpopular route to avoid Haihan's monitoring for safety reasons.
Go north from Cebu directly through the strait between Wright Island and Masbate Island, then pass through the San Bernardino Strait between Samar Island and Luzon Island, and then enter the Pacific Ocean east of Luzon Island .If you are an old sea dog who is familiar with this sea area, you can lead the ship to sail north along the east coast of Luzon Island, and then reach the southern tip of Taiwan Island through the Bashi Channel. After that, you can continue to go north along the east coast of Taiwan Island to the north destination.This route is completely outside of Haihan's supervision, and it is difficult for the navy to deploy troops so far away for control.
In addition, the opponent can also choose to go north along the west coast of Mindoro Island, so that they don't have to pass through the narrow channel guarded by Jiao Fei.Although this route will take an extra voyage due to the detour, it can greatly reduce the chance of being exposed.
Today is the second day that Jiao Fei's fleet arrived at the scheduled sea area, and so far they haven't found even a single sail.This kind of calm is not good news for Jiao Fei. According to the information sent back from Cebu, the local departure time for the batch of arms should be the last few days. If the other party chooses to go north through this channel, then the Results will be available within five or six days.
There are special watchmen on the mast of the Valiant with binoculars on duty. Under the current weather conditions, the range of visibility can completely cover the entire channel of the strait. As long as there are ships passing here during the day, they will definitely not be able to escape the surveillance of the Valiant. .The other ships spread out, cruising in the waters near the coast, to make up for the control range of the Valiant.
Jiao Fei stood at the bow of the ship and observed with the binoculars for a while. There was indeed no suspicious target on the calm sea, which made him a little disappointed.The Hispanic settlements on both sides of the strait have been warned by the Navy that no boats are allowed to go to sea this month, even for fishing near the shore, so not even a sampan can be seen in this place.
"I have a bad feeling that our errand will come to naught and we won't be able to wait for our target to appear." Jiao Fei handed the telescope to his adjutant, and said with some disinterest: "Wait for the rabbit, I don't know if there will be a The rabbit ran over by itself!"
The adjutant replied: "My lord, it's not easy. Since the Military Intelligence Bureau thinks that the other party will show up here, then we'll just wait. If the other party doesn't come here, we should just come out for training."
Jiao Fei nodded and said: "You are right, pass my order, gather the team, and practice meeting the enemy at sea!"
Since there is no other arrangement at the moment, Jiao Fei intends to use military training to pass the long waiting time without affecting the mission.
After three more days of waiting, the lookout post of the Valiant finally ushered in the first discovery in this mission.Hearing the whistle sounded on the deck, which meant something happened, Jiao Fei immediately put down the chart in his hand, and ran to the deck to ask what he found.Under the guidance of his subordinates, Jiao Fei quickly saw the shadow of the sail on the distant sea through the telescope.
"Here we come!" Jiao Fei was immediately excited by this discovery, and ordered to send out a signal to put all the ships on combat readiness.The Valiant stayed still in the middle, and the two fast boats near the coast moved forward slowly, making the entire formation a pocket shape.
However, as the ship in his field of vision got closer and closer, Jiao Fei realized that something was wrong. Although the target mentioned in the information was a lucky boat, the boat that appeared at the moment was not a lucky boat. It was clearly a Spanish boat. sailboat.But it doesn't matter, as long as you arrive at this place, no matter whether you are a Galen ship or a blessing ship, you have to stop the ship honestly for inspection.
(End of this chapter)