Chapter 3598
Chapter 3598
Chapter 3598
Compared with Shi Chengwu's smooth sailing in Nanjing, the Luzon Army, which was still fighting hard with Spain near the equator, was not so easy.
Half of the two-month deadline proposed by the Luzon authorities for resolving the fighting has passed, but there is still no sign of an end to combat operations in the area between the Philippine Islands and the New World to the south.
There are thousands of islands of all sizes scattered within an area of three or four thousand miles. This complex battlefield environment has led to the dispersion of the armed forces of both sides. In addition, the Spaniards were already prepared to fight a guerrilla war with Hai Han, so there would basically be no large-scale battle that could solve the problem at once.
Although the two sides fought many times, it was difficult for the Hai Han army to wipe out the Spanish main force in one fell swoop. Or to be more precise, the Spanish did not form a so-called main force at all this time. The armed colonists distributed on various islands were their main combat force.
This forced Hai Han to spend a great deal of time clearing out each island one by one, and this method of warfare actually required more manpower than a large-scale battle.
Although Hai Han has a clear advantage in military strength, the Luzon region itself has limited military strength. The troops that can be transferred to this area to participate in combat operations are no more than a few thousand people, far from the strength required for a mopping-up operation.
But what was even more difficult was the supply fleet formed for this operation, which consisted of dozens of cargo ships responsible for delivering supplies to various troops in the war zone.
Compared with the size of the armed fleet, the number of ships in the supply fleet is indeed smaller, and the target locations are not only very scattered but also frequently change, which often results in troops being unable to obtain supplies in a timely manner.
Because supplies were delayed, Zheng Agui's company had been staying in a bay on the western end of Timor Island for a full seven days.
Zheng Agui raised the telescope and looked at the sea. Just like the past seven days, there was no ship in sight.
He sighed and put down the telescope. He had repeated this action almost every two hours over the past few days.
Only the battalion headquarters was equipped with a radio station that could communicate with the outside world. Seven days ago, after his company was sent to this bay, the ship they took hurriedly rushed to another island to perform a mission. Who knew that no ship had appeared since then.
Now Zheng Agui cannot contact the outside world and cannot leave the island for the time being, and his company is also guarding about one hundred prisoners of war.
These prisoners of war were exactly what Zheng Agui came here for. His company cleared out the Spanish colony built in this bay as quickly as possible, but after finishing the task, they were embarrassed to find that they could not leave.
Although these settlers have several fishing boats, these crude production tools are obviously not of sufficient quality to sail across the ocean. Zheng Agui does not want his men to risk their lives to go out to sea to fight on these things.
Moreover, when he came here, he had already agreed with Xiao Zhengyang that after the mission was completed, a ship would come here to pick them up and take them to the next location. He did not dare to take the troops around, so as not to miss the troop transport ship that came to pick him up.
These situations were fine, but the real problem that bothered him now was that the Spaniards who settled here did not store any food. Zheng Agui's men plundered the entire village's food, but the total amount was less than 100 kilograms.
According to the prisoners, two days before Zheng Agui's troops arrived here, a Spanish fleet took away most of the village's food in the name of supplies. The leading officers asked them to temporarily obtain food through fishing and hunting, and then try to transport food to them after repelling the Hai Han army.
There is no doubt that the settlers here have been regarded as victims of the war by the Spanish army. Even if the war is over, it is not certain that someone will come to save them with food. Everyone belongs to different camps, and Zheng Agui does not have much sympathy for these people, but he does not intend to starve the prisoners of war to death here, so he still distributes food to them on time and in a fixed amount without deliberately withholding it.
Zheng Agui's company already had ten days' worth of supplies, so in his opinion, it shouldn't be a problem for them to hold on until they could leave.
But he didn't expect that the wait would last for seven days. Seeing that the supplies and captured food were almost consumed, Zheng Agui had no choice but to order the quartermaster to reduce the prisoners' rations to one meal a day, as long as they were not starved to death temporarily.
In addition, several teams were sent out to fish, hunt and pick fruits nearby to supplement food.
Three days later, Zheng Agui's company had used up all the food they had brought with them and began to rely entirely on the food they obtained locally. As for the more than 100 prisoners, Zheng Agui no longer cared about their lives.
If the supply ship does not arrive, there is no point in keeping these prisoners, and it will only consume limited food.
At this time, Zheng Agui had already judged that some bad situation might have happened in the outside world, which caused the supply ship to be delayed in arriving for support.
Just when he was pondering whether he should completely abandon these prisoners to reduce his burden, the long-awaited supply ship finally arrived.
Seeing the red and blue flag appearing on the sea in the distance, Zheng Agui and his soldiers danced excitedly, even happier than when they won the battle a few days ago.
The arrival of the supply ship brought food to Zheng Agui's company, but also brought bad news.
Although the Spaniards had suffered a heavy blow recently, they still took advantage of the opportunity to launch a sneak attack at night on a supply fleet heading south in the Maluku Sea in the north.
Four cargo ships were sunk in the night, and several others managed to escape with injuries. Hai Han lost at least a hundred sailors in this battle. This was also the direct reason why Zheng Agui's place had not been able to receive supplies for a long time.
Of course, the Spanish did not gain much advantage, paying the price of several large sailing ships being damaged or sunk and hundreds of people being killed.
However, the Luzon Army's combat operations in this area were also greatly affected. It is said that Manila was furious and had applied to the Executive Committee for reinforcements, intending to transfer troops from Fujian and Taiwan to help maintain the sea supply line in the area south of the Philippine Islands.
The original deadline for the action will be adjusted based on the current progress and extended by at least two months in order to completely expel the Spaniards from the area.
In addition to the bad news, Zheng Agui also heard a piece of good news worth celebrating. This autumn's conscription activities will remove many restrictions and relax the authority of overseas regions to expand garrison establishment.
This means that the Luzon region can use this opportunity to increase its military strength on a large scale to solve the long-standing problem of insufficient troops. Active-duty officers like Zheng Agui are likely to be direct beneficiaries, because after the expansion of the military strength, it means that officers will be promoted to higher positions and command more troops.