Chapter 3564
Chapter 3564
Chapter 3564
After three days of leisure in Beimen Port, Zheng Agui received a notice that officers at the company and battalion levels should gather at the garrison headquarters for a meeting.
Zheng Agui thought that this should be the routine combat preparation meeting before each large-scale operation. He did not dare to delay and reported to the command center in advance.
The Beimen Port Garrison Command is still operating from a tent office. If it weren't for the guards standing on duty at the door of the tent, this place would actually be no different from the barracks where Zheng Agui's company lives now.
A row of wooden houses built in advance by the vanguard troops were originally intended to be allocated to the command center for use, but because there were many wounded among the troops arriving here, this row of wooden houses was allocated to the military medical office for use.
After the battle with the Spaniards came to an end, many troops arrived at Beimen Port one after another. As a result, there were as many as forty or fifty officers attending the meeting today, so much so that the tent used as the meeting venue could no longer accommodate them.
Battalion-level officers had front-row seats reserved in advance, while company-level officers who arrived late could only stand at the door of the tent and listen.
While greeting the officers he knew, Zheng Agui looked around, wondering who would preside over today's meeting.
The jurisdiction of the Luzon region is almost entirely made up of large and small islands, so the garrison points are relatively scattered. In order to facilitate command and management, the garrison troops in many places are based on battalions. There are at least a dozen independent battalions like the Bangui Battalion.
In this operation to the New World, the troops drawn by the Luzon authorities from various places were mainly such battalion-level units.
Originally, the commander of the Luzon garrison, Xiao Liang, was going to personally lead the operation, but because he was ill before the operation began, he had to hand over the command to his deputy, the Luzon Navy Commander Jiao Fei.
When the Bangui Battalion where Zheng Agui was located finished its combat mission and rushed to Beimen Port, it was said that the Manila Fleet, led by Jiao Fei, was still fighting with the Spaniards in the Bazan Islands in the Maluku Sea, so that several troops that had been fighting for many days could withdraw to Beimen Port in the south to rest.
That sea area is three thousand miles away from Beimen Port. Logically speaking, it is unlikely that Jiao Fei can get here so quickly. Therefore, Zheng Agui guessed that either Jiao Fei would give remote command via the radio, or the superiors would arrange other generals to command the troops stationed in Beimen Port.
The answer was soon revealed. When the meeting time came, a young officer walked to the front of the stage and announced that he would be the commander of the Beimen Port garrison. Zheng Agui was quite familiar with this man, as he was Xiao Liang's son Xiao Zhengyang.
The two had fought side by side on Cebu Island two years ago. At that time, Zheng Agui's team was temporarily recruited by Xiao Liang, and in the subsequent operation, they caught a big fish - Vidal, a senior Spanish official who was the Governor of Cebu at the time.
It was precisely because of his temporary participation in this arrest operation that Zheng Agui was able to obtain valuable military merit and had the opportunity for promotion later.
Last year, the Luzon Region selected meritorious personnel to go to Hangzhou to participate in the National Day military parade. Zheng Agui and Xiao Zhengyang were also in the team, so they had some personal relationship.
When the two met in Cebu Island, Xiao Zhengyang was only a captain and company commander of the South China Sea Fleet Marine Corps. When they met in Hangzhou last year, Xiao Zhengyang had been promoted to lieutenant colonel.
When they met again at Beimen Port today, Zheng Agui noticed that the rank badge on Xiao Zhengyang's uniform was already a colonel. Such a speed of promotion was naturally enviable. The battalion commanders attending the meeting today were majors or lieutenant colonels, and Xiao Zhengyang's rank was even higher, so he was indeed qualified to serve as a commander.
Although Xiao Zhengyang's father Xiao Liang controls the military power of the Luzon region, which will provide invisible help to his military career, most of Xiao Zhengyang's military achievements came from front-line combat, so his promotion is well-founded.
Xiao Zhengyang also noticed his old acquaintance Zheng Agui, but as there were many people in the venue, it was inconvenient for him to greet Zheng Agui specifically, so he just nodded slightly.
Xiao Zhengyang didn't waste any time. After a brief self-introduction, he ordered people to hang up a large map and began to explain the next combat mission.
At present, the scope of the battle between the Luzon Army and the Spaniards is roughly concentrated in the area between Mindanao, Borneo, Papua and the New World.
It looks only three feet square on the map, but in fact it is about the same size as the South China Sea. It includes the Celebes Sea, Maluku Sea, Banda Sea, Ceram Sea, Timor Sea and other sea areas. There are hundreds of islands of all sizes. The largest Island, Sulawesi, is even much larger than Luzon Island. There are countless bays on the coasts of these islands for ships to hide.
The Spaniards had apparently learned from their early lessons and no longer tried to build fortified cities to resist the Hai Han army. Instead, they adopted a more flexible combat strategy, with their combat troops constantly maneuvering between the colonies on various islands using armed fleets and avoiding a head-on confrontation with the Hai Han army.
Although the Luzon Army had the upper hand in strength, it was not easy to wipe out several of the enemy's armed fleets in such a large area, and several attempts to destroy the enemy at sea failed.
After entering the truce period, Jiao Fei, who was commanding the operation, also realized that he had to change his previous tactics. He no longer regarded the opponent's armed fleet as the primary target, but instead deployed more land forces to destroy the Spanish supply points in the area one by one.
Using force to defeat cleverness is a very suitable combat plan to solve the current situation. However, this will inevitably delay the combat cycle and affect the plan to develop the new continent.
Therefore, Manila has given Jiao Fei a deadline, and he must complete the cleanup of this area within two months and open up the route between the Luzon region and the New World.
"Two months may seem like a long time, but you all just returned from the battlefield not long ago. You should be very familiar with the environment there. It is very time-consuming to carry out a clearing operation. We can only improve efficiency by fighting separately."
Xiao Zhengyang pointed to the map and said, "The area under the charge of the Beimen Port garrison is mainly the Timor Sea, the Savu Sea, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and the Aru Islands."
“The area north of the Banda Sea, including Sulawesi and the Maluku Islands, is under the charge of troops led by General Jiao Fei.”
Zheng Agui looked carefully at the range pointed out by Xiao Zhengyang on the map, and couldn't help feeling worried.
The area that the Beimen Port garrison is responsible for is more than 3,000 miles wide from east to west. A single trip by ship takes six or seven days. There are hundreds of islands in between. Can the troops of these few battalions at Beimen Port really complete the clearing mission within the two-month deadline?