Chapter 3571
Chapter 3571
Chapter 3571
After destroying the Spanish fleet that failed to escape, the Luzon Expeditionary Force's clearing operation on Sumba Island came to an end.
According to the confessions of the captives, there were no other undiscovered settlements on the island. During the cleanup, a small number of Spanish immigrants might have escaped to the inland mountains and forests of the island, but that would not affect the overall situation. Even if a few people stayed on the island, they would not be able to make a difference.
The natives on the island probably realized that the newly-appeared Hai Han army was not easy to deal with, so they just stood by and watched the entire battle between the two sides without attempting to get involved.
It was not until the dust settled that the indigenous tribes sent representatives to contact the Hai Han army.
After some gestures, the two sides still found it difficult to communicate. Finally, they had to find the Spaniard who was responsible for dealing with the indigenous tribes among the captives. Only then did they understand that the indigenous tribe wanted to use the local specialties of the island to trade with Hai Han for the supplies they needed.
Before this, this type of transaction had of course always been controlled by Western colonists, but now the fate of the Spaniards was clear, and the indigenous tribes were also able to judge the situation and immediately took the initiative to change their trading partners.
The attitude of the indigenous tribe was exactly what Xiao Zhengyang wanted.
At present, Hai Han does not have the extra resources to develop remote islands like Sumba, but if the natives of the island are willing to actively cooperate and conduct some simple barter transactions, there will definitely be some private businesses willing to take over such business.
Although there are no high-value strategic assets on Sumba Island, the most valuable things are sandalwood and spice crops. But since both the Netherlands and Spain can profit from the colonies here, it will certainly not be a loss for Hai Han to continue to maintain trade relations with the natives of the island.
Xiao Zhengyang presented the indigenous tribe with one hundred kilograms of pig iron, one hundred kilograms of refined salt, and ten jars of fine wine as gifts for the two sides to agree on a trade cooperation relationship.
The other party then gave back dozens of cow and sheep skins. It turned out that the indigenous tribes on the island had gradually learned animal husbandry in the process of contact with Western colonists, and raised a large number of horses, cattle, sheep and other livestock on their own.
This not only avoided armed conflict with the natives of the island, but also successfully incorporated them into Hai Han’s trade network. This can be considered a fairly satisfactory result.
The Luzon Expeditionary Force suffered only three deaths and seventeen injuries in the combat operations on Sumba Island, and the company led by Zheng Agui had zero casualties, which was highly praised by Xiao Zhengyang.
Although the final battle was not the work of Zheng Agui alone, if he had not discovered the enemy situation in time and reported it for help, the Spanish fleet might have slipped away again.
During this process, Zheng Agui did not take credit for himself, but took the initiative to give the credit to his superior Xiao Zhengyang. This extremely sensible approach also made Xiao Zhengyang determined to say a few good words for him in the battle report sent to Manila.
Although the combat between the Luzon Expeditionary Force and the Spanish colonial forces was relatively smooth, it inevitably greatly slowed down the process of developing the New World.
Originally, the Manila authorities expected to build a colonial port with a permanent population of 3,000 in the North Gate Port by the middle of the year and to establish a fixed route from the Luzon region to the New World. However, due to the sudden outbreak of the war, they had to temporarily shelve the development of the New World and concentrate resources on dealing with the Spaniards first.
According to the information provided by the Executive Committee, June and July are the coolest months of the year in the Beimen Port area, with temperatures below 20 degrees Celsius. If the initial infrastructure and farmland reclamation are completed in two or three months, then food crops can be planted in time for the rainy season in the second half of the year. As long as food self-sufficiency can be achieved, the local area will have a firm foothold, and subsequent development projects can be carried out one after another.
However, the war has greatly slowed down the infrastructure construction progress of Beimen Port, and even the plan to transport immigrants to the area had to be suspended due to security issues.
Judging from the current war situation, since the targets are too scattered, this round of war to clear out Spanish colonial settlements will probably have to continue for some time before it can end.
For the various troops participating in this operation, the military merits they can gain from the mopping-up operation are actually far less than those from the war that broke out in the Philippine Islands two years ago.
Because there are basically no large ports like Cebu and Davao in this area, which require the Hai Han army to carry out large-scale offensive operations. Most places are similar to the settlements that Zheng Agui found on Sumba Island, with a small population of 100 to 200 people, and a large population of 1,000 to 2,000 people. It is not difficult to capture such small places, but it is not face-saving to report the achievements to the Executive Committee.
As for falsifying military achievements and exaggerating battle results, that is much more difficult than winning a battle.
All combat operations involve the participation of the Military Intelligence Bureau, which is directly under the command of the Ministry of National Defense and is not under the jurisdiction of the Luzon Regional Garrison Command. The battle report can moderately exaggerate the victory, but if it involves falsification, the Military Intelligence Bureau will not cover up the truth for Luzon.
Under Xiao Zhengyang's personal command, the Bangi Battalion successfully completed the clearing operation on the three islands of Lombok, Sumba and Sumbawa before the thirty-day deadline he set.
However, this does not mean that the Bangui Battalion has completed its mission and can return home. On the long battle line of more than 2,000 miles east of the three islands, several other battalions from the Beimen Port garrison are still fighting. The Bangui Battalion must immediately reinforce other friendly forces in order to complete the clearing operation in this area as soon as possible.
Xiao Zhengyang only gave the Bangui Camp two days to rest and then set out for Timor Island, 600 miles east of Sumba Island.
Timor Island is long and narrow, nearly a thousand miles wide from east to west, and its size is almost exactly the sum of the areas of the three islands that the Bangui Battalion was previously responsible for.
This island used to be a battleground between the Netherlands and Portugal, but as Spain continued to increase its troops in the region in recent years, the other two countries were forced to leave.
Although there are not many Spanish settlements on the island, the planning area of each settlement is relatively scattered. The only way to speed up the clearance is to increase the number of troops.
By the time Xiao Zhengyang and his troops had almost completed the clearing operation in the area south of the Banda Sea, it was already late July.
At this time, Swan Harbor on the west coast of the New World had welcomed Star Island's second colonial fleet and had begun to build new settlements in the inland and southern areas where mineral deposits had been discovered.
In terms of development progress, Swan Port is now far ahead of North Gate Port. It is even expected to harvest the first batch of grain planted in the New World before the end of the year, thus achieving local supply of grain at the fastest speed.
I wish all book lovers a happy Mid-Autumn Festival! May your family be healthy!