Chapter 799 Mixed joys and sorrows
Due to the very limited manpower of the Spanish, there were almost no military personnel deployed outside the city of Santo Domingo. There were only some immigrants who knew farming to guide the natives in the plantations to manage the fields. This is not because the Spaniards are lazy and unwilling to go out of the city to do work. It is because they have suffered many hidden losses when developing this area. They were assassinated many times by hostile indigenous tribes in the forest, and they died in Tamsui one after another. There are also double digits of people. Although this has become a thing of the past, the shadow left in the hearts of Spaniards is difficult to erase. The governor of Santo Domingo City, Gesman, had to implement a ban, stipulating that Spaniards should minimize their activities outside the city if necessary, and they were not allowed to leave the city at will after dark.
There are no light or dark sentries, no patrols, and almost complete abandonment of the outer defense line. This defensive deployment method undoubtedly leaves ample space for the reconnaissance platoon to move. As long as Chen Yixin maintained the forward route of the reconnaissance platoon and did not directly enter the plantation area, the Spaniards would basically not be aware of the existence of this secret force. Even if occasionally plantation workers noticed someone moving in the forest, they would only think that maybe It is the hunters of the indigenous tribe hunting in the woods. Of course, due to the ban and many lessons learned from the past, no one would dare to enter the forest to check the real situation, so reconnaissance activities in the outer areas can be regarded as unhindered and without scruples.
The only thing that the scouts need to be careful about is the various poisonous insects, snakes and ants in the dense forest. These guys lurk among the dense branches and leaves, and will attack anyone passing by at any time. They are far more dangerous than the Spaniards huddled in the castle. threaten. Fortunately, these veterans have been living in the tropical jungle for many years, and they have their own methods of dealing with these hidden killers in the forest. No one was injured in these two days due to such accidents.
In the next two days, Chen Yixin led the team around the Spanish stronghold for more than half a circle, reconnaissance of its terrain and defense measures from all angles. The results can be said to be mixed. The good news is that the Spanish's peripheral defenses are almost completely abandoned, which is undoubtedly good news for Haihan who wants to use military operations to seize control of this place; the bad news is that Santo Domingo The terrain of the city is more favorable to the defenders, so it may not be easy to win when the time comes.
Although Chen Yixin was convinced that his side was strong enough to capture this stronghold, he had to admit that without special means, it would probably not be possible to capture this castle in a day and a half. The plan for now is not to pursue a quick victory, but to consider how to cut off the communication between this place and the outside world, surround the castle and then start slowly.
Regarding this alternative, Takahashi Minami had already made some preparations in his previous battle plan. The land passage from Tamsui to Jilong is to go upstream along the Jilong River, a tributary of the Tamsui River, through the valleys between the Taipei Basin, Yangmingshan and the Central Mountains, and finally reach Jilong Port. In the upper reaches of the Jilong River, about thirty miles away from Santo Domingo City, near the later famous Grand Hotel in Taipei, there was only an extremely narrow river path sandwiched between the foot of Yangmingshan Mountain and the Jilong River. It is also the only way to travel by land between the two places. If the Haihan Militia wants to cut off the land connection between the two places, it only needs to deploy a small number of troops here, supplemented by fortifications and heavy firepower.
The night before retreating, Chen Yixin decided to go to personally explore the conditions of the local docks along the river. After nightfall, the group put down a makeshift bamboo raft on the upstream river beach and slowly paddled downstream along the river bank.
There is no public lighting outside the city of Santo Domingo, and the area including the dock is completely dark, which also provides an excellent cover for the actions of Chen Yixin and others. It took everyone half an hour to arrive at the dock area outside Santo Domingo.
It is said to be a wharf, but in fact it is just a few trestles built on the shore to facilitate the docking of ships that come to transport supplies. It is not at the same level as the comprehensive wharf built by the port operated by Haihan. In the moonlight, everyone rowed the bamboo raft to the trestle, fixed it under the trestle with ropes, and then climbed onto the shore one after another along the legs of the trestle. Only two people were left on the bamboo raft to handle the situation, and they used this time to measure the water depth and current speed near the dock.
Chen Yixin dared to lead a team to sneak in in the dark, but of course he was not unprepared. The magic weapon he relied on was the RNOHC640 binocular thermal imager that Qian Tiandun temporarily transferred to him from the military supply depot before departure. This American-made military thermal imager was one of the high-end military products purchased by the North American Gang before the time travel. Because its price was as high as six figures, only two were purchased at that time, and one of them has been assigned to Qian Tiandun for safekeeping. You get what you pay for in electronic products, and the nighttime imaging quality of this thing is far superior to that of a relatively simple head-mounted night vision device.
With the help of this treasure, Chen Yixin can easily detect signs of human activity a hundred meters away, so that he can avoid them as early as possible. However, the reality is that his tool does not seem to be effective, because there are no traces of people within the scope of vision, and there is no sign of guard activity even on the distant city top.
"The nerves of these Spanish guys are really rough!" Chen Yixin was speechless about the Spaniards' low vigilance. Haihan's Fort Victory in Sanya has not been attacked by foreign enemies since it was fully completed, but the defensive force on duty has never been relaxed. There are two shifts of guards changing guard every night, and there will be irregularities outside the fort. How could they be as indifferent as the Spaniards when patrol teams appeared. With such military qualities, it's no wonder that after they settled here, the primitively equipped natives killed so many people one after another. If the opponent were replaced by the Haihan Militia, or even the special operations battalion under Qian Tiandun, Chen Yixin estimated that the Spanish casualties would be at least dozens of times the original number in the same period of time.
The residential areas outside the city are very sparsely distributed, and the Spaniards seem to be too lazy to carefully plan this sparsely populated area. The wooden houses inhabited by lower-class workers are scattered in the wilderness with no rules at all. The castle on the hillside basically did not provide much protection. If this kind of town planning was placed in a colony under Haihan's rule, the person in charge of related affairs in the Ministry of Construction would probably have to be dragged out by the executive committee to make plans. It is obvious that the Spanish attach great importance to this place, which is probably limited to the extent of "occupying this place and preventing the Dutch from taking action". There is no overall planning and long-term development goals.
Of course, if the Spaniards really valued the colony on Taiwan Island, they would not have waited until the Dutch became established here before hurriedly sending people over to build a colony. The level of development of the colony is indeed closely related to the attention of the top management. Compared with Haihan's care for each new colony, Chen Yixin seems to have a better understanding of why this old maritime empire has gradually embarked on a new journey in recent times. Going downhill, I slowly lost my first-mover advantage in front of my opponents in the same field.
Chen Yixin originally wanted to lurk close to the city to see the city's defense situation, but his men held him back from going in person. For these veterans, as the "chief", Chen Yixin's personal safety is much more important than the lives of the top soldiers. Reconnaissance here is an extremely risky move. How can he be allowed to get under the enemy's nose? . At that moment, two people forcibly snatched the job and quietly moved toward the castle. The others were lurking in the residential area outside the city, waiting for news.
About forty minutes later, the two scouts returned intact, and their close reconnaissance did not alert the defenders in the castle. So the group of people quietly retreated to the river bank, still riding the bamboo raft they came from, leaving the pier and rowing towards the downstream estuary.
After the team landed at the estuary, they cut off the ropes binding the bamboo raft and let it float into the sea without leaving any suspicious traces. Chen Yixin and others took a short rest on the shore, ate some dry food to replenish their strength, and then traveled north along the coastline overnight. They had to rush to the meeting point at sunrise, meet up with another detachment returning by land from the upper reaches of the Tamsui River, and then leave here by boat. At four o'clock in the morning, the two detachments reunited smoothly. After waiting for more than an hour, the Guangzhou ship that brought them here appeared again at sea. During the three days when the reconnaissance platoon landed, the ship would visit here at this time every day so that it could promptly assist them in leaving this place if any emergencies might arise.
The entire retreat went smoothly without any trouble. The Spaniards in their sleep had no idea that Suo Mingwu Chang had come to their door and circled around. When the Haihan people come again next time, they probably won't have the chance to sleep so peacefully again.
A day and a half later, Chen Yixin and the reconnaissance platoon returned to Magong Port in Penghu. After receiving the news, Qian Tiandun went to the dock to greet them in person. During this reconnaissance operation, which took a total of more than six days, the team basically completed all scheduled reconnaissance missions in the target area of Tamsui River Estuary, with zero casualties and no alarm at all. If we had to find fault with this operation, it would probably be that we failed to capture anyone alive with intelligence value from the local area. But doing that would most likely expose the reconnaissance operation, which would arouse the vigilance of the Spaniards. Moreover, Haihan already had an intelligence source like Jose in his hands, so it would not be very meaningful to arrest anyone alive from the local area—— Unless they directly capture the other party's officers or other administrative officials, the local Spaniards rarely leave the castle and the possibility of capturing them alive is very slim.
That day, Qian Tiandun held a banquet to welcome Chen Yixin and cleanse him from the dust. After he had had enough wine and food, Qian Tiandun began to talk about business: "You have been busy there for a few days. How do you feel?"
"The Spanish are not as powerful as we had expected, but it is still difficult to attack this castle." Chen Yixin put down his chopsticks and informed Qian Tiandun of the situation he saw there. Regarding this kind of armed stronghold with special terrain, Chen Yixin also wanted to hear Qian Tiandun's opinion. After all, he had commanded many critical battles in this time and space, and he would definitely have more effective tactical arrangements.
"The castle is built on a hillside?" Qian Tiandun thought for a moment, then continued to ask: "Are there other bunkers on the outside?"
"Not at all. I think the Spaniards have completely given up on peripheral defense methods. There are no bunkers, no outposts, and no warning measures." Chen Yixin recalled what he saw and responded to Qian Tiandun's question: "I think their vigilance The resistance is quite low. They probably never expected to encounter foreign enemies approaching the city, and they lacked the corresponding means to resist them. The Spaniards probably placed their hopes on their city defense firepower. After all, the possible foreign enemies could only be seen. By projecting troops to the local area through the Tamsui River, they only need to deal with threats from this direction.”
The Spaniards had probably exhausted all their enthusiasm when they first selected the site to build their stronghold. The location of the city of Santo Domingo was indeed extremely beneficial to the defenders. Although the downstream river mouth impact plain had a flat terrain, it was difficult to move it. Heavy equipment such as artillery has been dropped on the shore, and there are no roads leading to the area where Santo Domingo City is located. When a large number of troops land there, they will face the difficulty of quickly transporting equipment and equipment to the front line.
And if the enemy wants to send troops upstream through the Tamsui River, the situation will not be much better. First of all, it is difficult to avoid the surveillance of Spanish strongholds located at high altitudes, and cannot achieve the effect of surprise troops. Secondly, the riverbanks upstream are almost in a virgin forest state, which also cannot allow the heavy equipment needed for military operations to pass quickly.
If troops who want to attack the local area land at the dock below the city, they will have to face fire from high places. If they choose to land a little further away, it will be difficult to quickly put heavy equipment into the battlefield. This is undoubtedly a dilemma for the commander.
"This is so embarrassing!" Qian Tiandun sighed, stroking the stubble on his chin. If the special operations battalion wants to attack head-on, of course it will have a great chance of conquering the Spanish stronghold. But the problem is that if the special operations battalion adopts this tactic, casualties will inevitably occur, and it is likely that the number will be unacceptable to both Qian Tiandun and the military. Qian Tiandun would never let the elites he had painstakingly trained carry out such low-level tactical tasks where human lives were exchanged for results.
"What do you think if siege tactics are used?" Qian Tiandun could only change his mind.
With the strength of the navy and land forces stationed in Penghu, it is not too difficult to cut off the land and water channels between the local area and the outside world at the same time. According to Jose, the city of Santo Domingo is very dependent on supplies from the Jilong Port, and a batch of supplies is shipped to the local area from Salvador City basically every month. If we adopt siege tactics and cut off its supply channels, it seems to be a good choice.
(End of chapter)