Chapter 3601
Chapter 3601
Chapter 3601
They had heard about the Luzon Region's exploration and development of the new southern continent before, but the Luzon Region did not publicly announce the specific location and development progress of this new continent, and the outside world was not very clear about it.
Li Zhencheng asked: "Master Xiao, how long will it take to sail to the new continent in the south, and how far is it from the area where we are currently fighting with the Spanish?"
Xiao Liang said: "If we depart from Manila Bay and head to Beimen Port, it will take about ten days one way. The Lesser Sunda Islands on the south side of the battlefield are still about a thousand miles away from Beimen Port in the New World."
After listening to this, Li Zhencheng calculated in his mind that a one-way trip to Beimen Port would be about six or seven thousand miles. For such a remote place, it was fortunate that the Luzon Region was willing to invest resources in its development. The transportation costs of materials and personnel alone would be frighteningly high.
The most crucial thing is that the two fleets have to act separately. Even if one of them is operating in the war zone closest to the New World, there will be a huge distance between them, which makes it basically impossible to keep surveillance on the Fujian Fleet.
Perhaps because he had thought of the same situation, Xu Kaiyuan seemed extremely satisfied with this arrangement. He immediately volunteered and expressed his willingness to lead the Fujian Fleet to undertake escort missions within the war zone.
Qiu Yuan and Xiao Liang were expecting Xu Kaiyuan to be so enthusiastic. The Xu family had always considered overseas battlefields as a rare opportunity to gain military merit. Since they had sent troops, they would definitely not be satisfied with the escort mission. Participating in the battle was the real purpose of the Fujian Fleet coming here.
"Then I think we can just decide on the assignment of tasks. Xu Kaiyuan will lead the Fujian Fleet into the war zone to perform the escort mission, and Li Zhencheng will be in charge of going to Beimen Port. What do you think?"
Hearing Xiao Liang's suggestion, Xu Kaiyuan agreed without hesitation. Li Zhencheng had already fallen behind because he had not taken the initiative to fight. If he fought again at this time, his intention would be too obvious, so he immediately expressed his willingness to obey the arrangement.
However, Li Zhencheng also proposed an idea: "When the Taiwan fleet completes its mission and returns, can it also enter the war zone to carry out combat missions?"
Xiao Liang smiled and said, "That depends on the situation at the time. If the Taiwan fleet is required to contribute, we will inform you of the specific mission via the radio."
Xiao Liang didn't say anything definite, but he left Li Zhencheng with a glimmer of hope.
Regardless of whether he could continue to monitor the Fujian Fleet, Li Zhencheng also hoped to perform well in this expedition. Especially if Xu Kaiyuan won military merit in the combat operations, he would not be able to return empty-handed.
After a brief meeting, Li Zhencheng and Xu Kaiyuan took their leave and rushed back to the fleet to formulate an action plan.
Xiao Liang asked Qiu Yuan, "What do you think of these two young men?"
Qiu Yuan said: "Although they are sharp, they are a little unpolished. Letting them act independently still has certain risks."
Xiao Liang said: "Only if the Xu family shows real ability can they have a chance to win military merit and maintain the family's political status. Xu Kaiyuan should understand this very well, so he is so proactive."
"As for Li Zhencheng... I'll just arrange a place for him to gain some achievements. If anything goes wrong with him, it will be difficult for him to explain to Li Dou later."
Qiu Yuan nodded in agreement and said, "Li Dou has always been a family-oriented person. Letting his son lead troops to Luzon shows his trust in us. We can't let anything happen to this kid here." Li Zhencheng didn't know what the two heads of Luzon thought of him. His mind was full of the dozen or so complicated nautical charts in front of him.
Although he had roughly looked at the map here before leaving Taiwan and knew that the geographical environment of the mission area was relatively complex, the truly detailed and meticulous combat nautical charts were provided by the local Military Intelligence Bureau in Luzon after he arrived here.
The Military Intelligence Agency sent dozens of charts, not just one or two. It took two horse-drawn carriages just to transport these charts stored in brown paper cylinders.
These drawings included both the overall view of large areas and detailed views of key sea areas and islands. As there were too many drawings, the conference room on the ship could not spread them out at all, so they could only take out some of them for study.
The densely packed islands and complicated waterways on the nautical chart are enough to make the viewer dizzy.
Even though Li Zhencheng is a naval colonel with rich navigation experience, he still needs to rely on the explanations of local combat staff to piece together the general outline of the current battlefield from these nautical charts.
He also understood why the Luzon Region had been unable to deal with the Spaniards in the southern waters for so many years. To wipe out the Spaniards in such a complex environment, it would be difficult for the Luzon Region alone.
Moreover, in addition to exterminating the Spaniards, the Luzon region also had to maintain the New World colonies thousands of miles away. For this reason, a fleet was specially borrowed from other places to escort the supply fleet, which shows that the importance attached to the New World colonies is quite high.
Li Zhenben thought that two or three days of stay in Manila Bay was more than enough time. It was nothing more than coordinating and communicating with the local garrison and the escort fleet, confirming the mission route, receiving supplies provided by the logistics department, and then they could set off.
But after seeing these nautical charts with his own eyes, he realized that he actually did not have much time left to prepare, and even if he only used it to plot the route for this mission, it would be very tight.
After going south from Manila through the Celebes Sea surrounded by Borneo, Mindanao and Sulawesi, you will enter the so-called "war zone".
In view of the special need for the supply fleet to avoid risks as much as possible, the Luzon Operations Command recommended that the shortest route for this mission should not be chosen, that is, to pass through the Maluku Sea, Banda Sea, and Timor Sea in the middle of the war zone directly to the New World.
Although this route has the shortest distance, it also carries the greatest risk of encountering the Spanish fleet. The supply fleet that was attacked before suffered a major setback on this route.
Li Zhencheng really wanted to take his men to confront the Spanish fleet, but this was not the home ground of the Taiwan fleet, and he could not act against the wishes of the Luzon Combat Command, so he could only choose a longer but less risky detour.
One route was to pass through the Makassar Strait between Borneo and Sulawesi Island from the west side of the battlefield, then go south through the Lombok Strait between Bali and Lombok Island, and then turn southeast to the Beimen Port of the New World.
Although this route is nearly half as long as the shortest route through the war zone, it is relatively safe. Moreover, the area around Lombok Island had recently been cleared by Zheng Agui's company, and there were basically no Spaniards in the nearby area.
The other route is to go east, bypass the battle area, and go south along the west coast of Papua Island to Beimen Port. This route is more than a thousand miles shorter than the west route, but there are many sea areas that have not been cleared along the way, so there may be certain risks.