Chapter 816 Next Target
Follow the Tamsui River upstream and go all the way west through the valley between Yangmingshan and the Central Mountains to reach the coast of Jilonggang. Although this journey is only about a hundred miles, there are actually no man-made roads along the way. Basically, the whole journey is in the wild, which is not an easy trip. Moreover, the indigenous tribes living in the mountains were also very hostile to the Spaniards due to past conflicts and would cause trouble for them whenever they had the opportunity. Although the Spaniards used this land transportation line several times after opening up it, they were almost always forced by the situation. They were unable to use sea lanes due to climate or other objective reasons, so they took the risk to transport materials and personnel through this transportation line. ——Of course, the people traveling between the two places through this passage are basically combat materials and armed personnel, and civilians generally will not take this risky route.
On the first day of the war, the Spanish ships were sunk and damaged by artillery shells fired from the Tamsui River by the Haihan battleship. There was not even a complete small fishing boat left, and the Haihan people would definitely not be kind enough to use it. His own ship will send them away from here, and he will not wait patiently for Jilong Port to send a ship to pick up these people. The only way they can get out of here now is to rely on their own two legs. In terms of the size of the personnel, it cannot be said that there is much risk. There are still a few hundred people at least. However, all the metal weapons were confiscated by the Haihan Army before their departure. Currently, they only rely on wooden sticks, bamboo spears and the like for self-defense. stuff. For this team that is about to pass through the area where the natives are active, it is indeed a big safety hazard.
Moreover, there are a large number of civilians in this team, plus all kinds of pots and pans of household items, so the traveling speed will definitely not be able to reach the level of the army. According to the estimates of military personnel, it would be considered a success if it could be completed in two to three days. Of course, if you encounter troublesome tribal armed forces on the way, it will be difficult to say.
Gao Qiaonan watched the team slowly enter the jungle to the west, and then gave an order to his subordinates: "Let the brothers in the upper reaches of the Tamsui River hide themselves and do not expose their whereabouts. Send others to follow the Spaniards, but do not Just alert them and make sure they don't do any tricks on the way."
Although the Spaniards chose to surrender and offer the city, Takahashi Nan was not so careless as to completely ignore their reaction. He knew that the other side would definitely refuse to admit defeat this time, and might have some dirty tricks that they had not yet used. Although the opponent has been disarmed, even if he comes back, he will not be able to cause too much trouble to Haihan, but it is always right to be cautious. By the way, you can also take this opportunity to explore the stretch from the upper reaches of Tamsui River to Jilong Port. River valley passage.
Takahashi Nan was not in a hurry to enter the city, but sent a company of soldiers into the city to check whether there were any remaining personnel and other potential dangers. Then he personally operated the radio and reported the current combat progress to the Penghu base.
According to the prior plan, the troops led by Takahashi Nan will not be stationed here for too long. Other troops will soon come to this stronghold to take over the local garrison tasks, and it is very likely that a group of immigrants will arrive at the same time and start to attack Tamsui. This area of the river mouth underwent a new round of colonization.
The results of the search in the city surprised Takahashi Nan. He originally thought that all the residents in the city had evacuated, leaving only an empty city here, but he never thought that there were more than 70 people in the city who chose to stay. Of course, there are no Spaniards among them. These people basically moved here from Manila, Luzon Island, and they had a little bit of local industry. They were unwilling to just give up and leave, and planned to stay and give it a try. Although there has been a new owner here, the land nearby still needs someone to reclaim and manage it. They believe that since they can work for the Spaniards, they can also work for the new owner.
Takahashi Nan was also a little bit dumbfounded about this. His plan did not include taking in the people who originally lived here, because no one knew whether there were spies arranged by the Spanish among these people. If these people were left, they would also be in trouble in the future. It will be a hidden danger that must be guarded against. Gao Qiaonan could only order these people to be gathered together for temporary resettlement. After the supply ship from Penghu arrived, these people would be transported to the immigration transfer center at the Penghu base, where they would be broken up and redistributed. When you go elsewhere, even if there are Spanish spies among them, it will be difficult to have a channel to pass the news, and the threat will naturally be reduced a lot.
Further searches of the city of Santo Domingo also basically confirmed the military’s judgment before the war started. This place really has no oil and water to speak of. There are no material reserves in the city at all, and the only food available was evacuated by the Spaniards. Taken away. Although the Haihan soldiers noticed this during the body search, their superiors did not order them to seize the food, so they did not stop it. Of course, no one would be interested in confiscating the spoiled grain carried by the Spaniards.
The most valuable thing in the city is probably the dozens of livestock that the Spaniards were forced to leave here, including eight cattle, more than 30 sheep, more than 20 pigs of various sizes, and two horses—— It is said that they are mounts belonging to Gesman and Lopez respectively.
When Gao Qiaonan heard that he had found two horses, he immediately ran to the stable to find out what was going on. As soon as he saw the two horses, he knew he had found a treasure this time.
The two horses have thick manes and strong muscles, and their heads are a full head taller than Takahashi Minami. Although Takahashi Minami didn't know much about horses, he could tell that the quality of these two horses was quite good. If Qian Tiandun were here, he could tell Gao Qiaonan that these two horses should belong to the oldest and most pure horse breed in the world, Andalusian.
Although there are only two horses, they are both stallions that have never been gelded. Mr. Haru, who is responsible for stallion breeding and cavalry training in Sanya, will definitely jump up with excitement when he hears the news. You must know that the Haihan people had purchased a batch of Lusitano horses from the Portuguese a year ago, which are very similar to Andalusian horses, but until now they have not been shipped from Europe. When these two horses are shipped back to Sanya, they can be used for breeding war horses.
"Take good care of these two babies. There must be a supply of fresh fodder every day." Gao Qiaonan thought for a while but still felt uneasy, and added: "Set up an isolation area outside the stable and arrange a class here. Keep an eye on it, nothing will happen to you or the horse before you transport it away.”
This unexpected gain finally made Gao Qiaonan feel a little better. The value of these two horses was much greater than the dozens of laborers staying in the city. As for the rest of the seizures, they were mediocre. In Takahashi Minami's eyes, they were just a pile of junk. If it weren't for the fact that this castle had certain military value, he really wouldn't have any interest in staying here.
In the battle plan formulated before the war, if the special operations battalion's attack on Santo Domingo City did not go smoothly, the attack on Jilong Port would be postponed. However, due to a strange combination of circumstances, the special operations battalion captured the city of Santo Domingo without much effort and did not even suffer casualties. This result was something that neither Qian Tiandun nor Gao Qiaonan had expected before the war. of. Naturally, Takahashi Minami had no intention of giving up at the first sight. This hard-earned combat opportunity ended before the special operations battalion officially went into battle. He certainly couldn't let it go. Since there was not much wastage in the battle at the mouth of Tamsui River, it was only natural to move on to the next target. The city of Salvador, located in Jilong Port, is not only the main stronghold of the Spanish on Taiwan Island, but also the area that Haihan most wanted to occupy in the northern part of Taiwan Island. The special operations battalion had already formulated a combat plan to attack the city of El Salvador before this expedition, and it could be put to use at this time.
Compared with Santo Domingo City at the mouth of Tamsui River, Salvador City at Jilong Port is larger in building scale and has more defenders. Since the city of El Salvador is located on Sheliao Island at the entrance of Jilong Harbor, the battlefield depth left for the army is also very limited. If the military strength of both the offensive and defensive sides is equal, then the geographical advantage of the defenders is quite obvious. The Dutch came several times in the past few years, but all returned without success. There is no effective way to take the Spanish stronghold here.
Of course, the Haihan Militia had an advantage that Western colonists could not catch up with, and that was weapons and equipment that surpassed the technological level of this era. Heavy weapons like siege cannons had already appeared on European battlefields, but the colonists never imagined that they would see such a heart-rending weapon on the battlefield in the Far East, and the users were Orientals.
What made Takahashi Minami a little unhappy was that this heavy artillery was finally transported to the battlefield, but it did not fire even a single live ammunition during the attack on Santo Domingo City. This made Takahashi Minami doubt the reality of this big killer. There is never a relatively intuitive understanding of utility. The siege artillery that took a lot of effort to arrive here had to be reloaded and transported by sea to the next battlefield. Transporting this heavy thing to the dock for loading would inevitably be another hassle.
In fact, it can be expected that in the next battle to attack Salvador City, the special operations battalion will still be difficult to become the protagonist on the battlefield, and the four large-caliber siege guns will be the one with the most scenes in this battle. figure. Only after the siege artillery blasts through the city wall will it be the special operations battalion's turn to clean up the remaining enemies. But this didn't matter to Takahashi Minami. Anyway, the credit for capturing the enemy chief alive in the end must belong to the special operations battalion rather than the artillery unit.
The special operations battalion was given a day's short rest, and Takahashi Minami ordered the slaughter of several pigs to reward the soldiers who had "fought hard." Although the food in the special operations camp is not bad and meat is often available, almost everyone thinks that the trophies taste better.
Early the next morning, the second transport fleet from Penghu arrived at the mouth of Tamsui River. However, because the capsized Spanish ships on the pier would be difficult to clear for a while, the fleet had to dock a little further away from the castle.
Along with the combat supplies, an army company was transferred from Guangdong. They will take over the garrison here of the special operations battalion so that they can continue to carry out combat missions. At the same time, it also brought instructions from the Executive Committee to establish administrative agencies here. From now on, the area north of Tamsui River, west and south of Yangmingshan will be under the management of the newly established Tamsui County, and its governance will be temporarily established in Spain. People left behind in the city of Santo Domingo. Of course, the city will be renamed Tamsui City in the future and will no longer use its original Spanish name.
The fleet transported more than 150 immigrants, most of whom were transported from Penghu for resettlement nearby. Since the Kaohsiung Port in the south is also in the development and construction stage, there is a huge demand for immigrants. Recently, the immigration base in Penghu has been in short supply. If Qian Tiandun had not personally ordered it, these more than 100 people would have been transferred to Kaohsiung. Bian was picked up.
Gao Qiaonan decided to divide the troops into two groups: land and water. The field ambush army originally deployed in the dangerous area upstream of the Tamsui River marched directly to Jilong Port by land, while the troops on the Tamsui River boarded ships and went by sea. . The voyage from Tamsui River Estuary to Jilong Port is only fifty or sixty nautical miles, and it takes only one day by boat. Maybe when the Haihan army arrived at Jilong Port, the group of Spaniards who were sent back from Tamsui River Estuary had not yet settled here. News of the fall was sent back.
It is not that the unusual atmosphere in El Salvador has not been felt at all. The two cargo ships carrying supplies to Santo Domingo should have returned three days ago, but there is still no news at all. There is not much entertainment in that damn place in Santo Domingo City, and it is unlikely that the crew would take the initiative to stay there for such a long time. Besides, the weather conditions have been fine in the past three days, and it is impossible for the delay to be caused by poor sea conditions. .
In addition, on the sea about ten nautical miles away from the port, fishermen discovered several unidentified armed sailing ships operating, and they did not belong to Spain's old rival the Dutch.
Alcarazo thought that there might be some kind of trouble at the mouth of Tamsui River, but before receiving the call for help, he could not take other rash actions. He could only send another boat to the local area to investigate. information. Of course, after the ship left, it also disappeared into the sea silently.
But before Alcarazo could figure out what happened, he received a report that afternoon that a large fleet of ships appeared on the sea outside the port. Judging from the flags hanging on its masts, this fleet should belong to the Haihan Army, a new force that has emerged in the South China Sea in the past two years, known as the Ever-Victorious Army of the South China Sea. According to the observed situation, all combat ships in this fleet have opened their side gun windows. This is obviously not a friendly move.
(End of chapter)