Chapter 795: No Escape
Among the maritime powers in the South China Sea, only the Spanish have not directly dealt with Haihan. The information they have about Haihan basically comes from hearsay from various private channels, many of which are either flattering or disparaging, and the objective credibility is not high. However, the Spaniards have always regarded themselves as a superior country in Europe, just like the Ming Dynasty in the Far East, and they simply did not bother to collect detailed information about such a local force. To be honest, if the existence of Damuan Port hadn't hindered the trade channel between Manila and Ming Dynasty, they wouldn't even pay attention to the Dutch at all.
The superior men don't care much about Haihan's movements, so don't expect civilians like Jose to care about such things. Jose's knowledge of Haihan basically came from the merchants and sailors of the Ming Dynasty. Regardless of whether they have a cooperative relationship with Haihan or not, these people are mostly in awe of Haihan and will not talk too much about Haihan in front of outsiders. The information that Jose can learn is basically superficial. .
Prior to this, Jose only knew that Haihan had a very large influence in Fuzhou and Guangzhou provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and the private armed forces under his command seemed to be quite powerful, because the Dutch in the south had suffered a big loss in their hands. But none of these things have anything to do with Spain directly, at least not before he was captured here.
As Jose's alertness gradually decreased, Jin Ming's questions became more and more explicit: "What is the defense status of the two castles of Chicken Coop and Tamsui? How many soldiers are stationed? How many artillery pieces are each equipped with?"< br>
Although Jose felt that these questions were inappropriate, considering the threats he had received previously, he still felt that keeping himself alive was more important now. After all, even if he tried his best to keep these answers in his stomach, no one in El Salvador would be grateful to him for this. If news of his death spread back, the first thing the authorities would do would probably be to confiscate the blacksmith shop. No one would care about the life or death of a young blacksmith.
Compared with the Netherlands, which has only just emerged, Spain, the old maritime empire, has richer operational experience in the construction and operation of overseas colonial strongholds. The two strongholds they built in the northern part of Taiwan Island have relatively complete defense systems and are stationed there. A professional army was formed, and all were equipped with a certain amount of long-range firepower.
According to what Jose told us, the newly built Tamsui stronghold alone was equipped with eight 12-pound cannons and four 3-pound cannons, and was stationed with 200 soldiers and about 1,000 immigrants - most of whom were affiliated with the Spain then immigrated to the Southeast Asian natives. The reason why Jose understands these situations so well is precisely because of his special status. Most of the shells used by these artillery pieces in Tamsui Stronghold were cast locally, and the person who completed this work was Jose. As for the daily repair and maintenance of artillery and firearms, it is basically within the scope of his work. Even if he does not deliberately inquire, Jose will know the relevant military information of the stronghold very well. Jin Ming was determined to bring Jose back to Penghu, taking this factor into consideration, and the subsequent progress fully demonstrated that Jin Ming's adventure was valuable.
The city of Salvador in Jilong Port, which has been in operation for a longer time, is stronger in defense than the Tamsui stronghold, with as many as 14 12-pound cannons, 8 3-pound cannons, and two 24-pound cannons. In addition, the Spanish armed fleet based at Jilong Port has six warships, equipped with a total of more than 40 artillery pieces. There are about 500 Spanish army personnel, about 300 Spanish navy personnel, and about 300 mixed auxiliary troops from multiple ethnic groups, with a total strength of over a thousand. And there are only about 3,000 ordinary people like He Sai in the local area.
Maintaining a garrison with such a high population ratio in overseas strongholds would not be easy even for the wealthy Haihan. Penghu has only been developed for a short time after Haihan took over and has a small permanent population. The proportion of local garrison troops is already quite high. But if you include the population of the immigration base, the proportion of the garrison is actually only 20%. This number is far lower than the Spanish population structure of Jilong Port. Moreover, the Penghu base has adjacent Fujian that can continuously import supplies, but the Spaniards in Jilong Port can only count on irregular logistical supplies from Manila, more than 2,000 miles away. Such a high proportion of troops would definitely be difficult to maintain by relying solely on local output. It is no wonder that the Spaniards would later reduce the size of the troops stationed in Taiwan and military expenditures.
Judging from the scale of the garrison alone, the Spanish investment in deploying defensive forces is undoubtedly much greater than that of their Dutch counterparts in the south. It’s no wonder that the Dutch established a stronghold on Taiwan Island more than two years ago, but they have never been able to expel their opponents from the island. If they wanted to go head-to-head, the Dutch's armed forces in Taiyuan Port alone would definitely not be able to conquer the Spanish stronghold. Even if they knew it was a thorn in their side, the Dutch could only pretend to turn a blind eye. After Haihan intervened in Fujian affairs, the Dutch no longer bothered to deal with the conflict with the Spanish. After all, the two sides maintained peace with each other most of the time, and Haihan was obviously not an easy target to deal with.
But the Spaniards probably haven't become wary of Haihan to this degree yet. Even their senior leaders know some of Haihan's achievements in recent years. After all, you won't know the pain until a slap is slapped on your butt. Back then, The Dutchman didn't really regard Heihan as an evenly matched opponent before he was beaten.
Jin Ming asked questions related to military intelligence several times in confusion to make sure that the data given by Jose were the same every time to avoid being fooled by him using improvised information. As a blacksmith, the military intelligence that Jose can really understand is limited to this level. If you want to ask him in detail about a certain commander's combat style, you probably won't be able to get anything out of it.
Of course, Jose's intelligence value was not only reflected in the military aspect. Du Rong and Jin Ming planned to take advantage of such a hard-won Spanish living man and extract all the information they knew from his mind. This will greatly help Heihan understand the actual situation of Spanish society in this era, as well as the attitude towards dealing with the Spanish in the future.
"Good job!" Qian Tiandun patted Jin Ming's shoulder hard before leaving. This small gesture made him feel flattered.
"Serve the Executive Committee!" Jin Ming stood at attention reflexively and responded loudly.
For the military, Jose's appearance was undoubtedly a huge unexpected gain. It would have taken a lot of time and effort to collect intelligence, but through Jose, it had already obtained first-hand information. This will definitely play a very important role in the military's subsequent battle plan to deal with the Spaniards.
Gao Qiaonan received the notice from Qian Tiandun summoning him on the training ground. After handing over the matter at hand to his adjutant, Gao Qiaonan hurriedly reported to Qian Tiandun's office.
"Come and take a closer look with me to see what is the best way to attack this place." Qian Tiandun waved Takahashi Nan to his desk to look at the map spread out on the table.
This map is a 1:100,000 satellite image of the northern part of Taiwan Island. On the map, you can clearly see the mouth of the Tamsui River and the Yangmingshan and Guanyin Mountains on the east and west banks of the Tamsui River. "Today the Ministry of Security sent a Spaniard. According to his explanation, in addition to Jilong Port, there is also a Spanish stronghold at this location." Qian Tiandun pointed to the river bank near the mouth of the Tamsui River: "There is a castle here called Santo Domingo City, with about ten cannons and two to three hundred garrison troops."
"General, what do you mean... we want to attack here?" Gao Qiaonan has been following Qian Tiandun for several years and is very familiar with his style of doing things. To suddenly take out a map for tactical deduction, it was obvious that he had fallen in love with this place.
Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "Yes, Taipei is not as good as Taiyuan Port. We can temporarily let the Dutch go, but the Taipei area is the target area that we must directly win. As for this credit, I don't want to give it to others. ”
"I understand my humble position!" Takahashi Minami was so excited that he rubbed his hands together. For him, there is really no pleasure in bringing a militia army armed to the teeth to fight against the primitively armed indigenous people on the island of Taiwan. In contrast, a powerful opponent like Spain would be more interesting.
Takahashi Nan looked at the map carefully and then asked: "Excuse me, General, how far is this castle from the river bank?"
"It's only a distance of one or two hundred meters. It depends on the tidal influence at the specific period. However, we can get more detailed information, so this link is not a problem." Qian Tiandun responded.
The city of Santo Domingo is located just over one kilometer away from the coastline of the estuary. The rise and fall of seawater tides also have a certain impact on the docks outside the city. Normally docked ships will not be greatly affected, but if they are to perform military missions such as landing operations, such uncontrollable factors must be taken into account. Otherwise, it would be very embarrassing for the navy to find out when it reaches the shore that it cannot reach the shore.
Takahashi Minami estimated the scale of the map in his mind, and then said: "The river here is at least three miles wide, and the Majesty-class warship with the largest tonnage can easily change direction on the river. I think the fleet can be faced directly from the river. The castle provided suppressive fire to cover the infantry landing."
Among Haihan's amphibious warfare subjects, carrier-based artillery fire cover for infantry landings is the most basic content, and the special operations battalion has practiced this tactic many times without exception. However, there is a necessary prerequisite for using this tactic, and that is that the range of the ship-based artillery is far enough. Otherwise, if it can only hit one or two hundred meters away, the landing force will not be able to fully deploy the formation, and fire support will not be available. The good thing is that it becomes fire coverage for one's own troops. The ship-borne artillery of the same era generally has a relatively short range. On the one hand, this is because there is no way to ensure the accuracy of shooting in maritime operations. Just having a long range may not improve the hit rate. On the contrary, the cost of the artillery will be greatly increased. On the other hand, The ship's artillery deck space is limited. If the gun body is too large, deployment and operation in a narrow space will increase a lot of difficulty.
Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect those naval guns that can fire within a hundred meters or even shorter distances at sea to provide fire support to the land. This tactic can only be used by the Haihan militia with huge technological advantages in weapons. Play. When the Spaniards built this stronghold, they probably did not expect that someone in this world would use this kind of tactics to launch an attack on the mainland. At this distance, Han's warships could anchor on the shore and launch bombardments on the castle in a relatively stable manner. A large ship like the Majestic class has more artillery on a single side than the total number of artillery on the defender's side. The bombardment of more than twenty cannons is enough to form a barrage against the castle, and this does not include the artillery fire from the army's landing. , can suppress the opponent more effectively in terms of firepower.
"Keep talking." Qian Tiandun affirmed his subordinate with his eyes and encouraged him to continue speaking his mind. The Haihan Militia currently has no shortage of grassroots soldiers, but there is still a gap in the demand for senior command talents. Large-scale battles often require time travelers to personally command to the company and platoon level. The scale of the troops participating in the battle is limited now, so the problem is not that big. If we compete in the Central Plains in the future, and tens of thousands of troops are often invested, will we still have to rely entirely on time-travelers to command grassroots combat units? Obviously, cultivating naturalized civilian officers is the real solution, and Qian Tiandun is also happy to take advantage of this opportunity to exercise his trusted officers' ability to deduce war situations.
"As long as the army can land smoothly, the next thing will be easy to handle." Takahashi Minami continued: "The range and accuracy of the army's artillery are definitely far superior to the Spaniards. The 24-pound army cannon has a range of 200 meters. I can't think of any better way out for the defenders than surrender."
"Then what if the city's defense force increases, or reinforcements arrive from the outside?" Qian Tiandun planned to take a test at Gaoqiao South.
"Then give up the siege for the time being and implement the tactic of encircling the point and calling for reinforcements." Takahashi Nan immediately responded: "The terrain in this area is very flat. The reinforcements must either enter the city and defend it, or they can only retreat far enough to safety. From a distance, we can watch us destroy the castle bit by bit. Of course, if they plan to come up and block the bomb holes, then I won't mind killing them more."
Qian Tiandun smiled and said: "I will give you this map for now, and you can go back and make a more detailed battle plan for me. I will give you five days, and the battle time must not exceed two days, and the troop input cannot exceed Penghu's existing strength." Two-thirds of the military strength, and must be accompanied by a corresponding logistics supply plan? "
"Complete the mission resolutely!" Takahashi Nan responded loudly without hesitation.
(End of chapter)