Chapter 1331 Everyone has their own plans
"Using war to promote peace? The entire South China Sea separates Manila from Hainan Island, and there are no supply points in between. Wouldn't it be too risky to launch an offensive against Manila?" Ning Qi was right. Yan Chujie raised objections to his opinion.
In the past two years, Haihan has focused most of its energy on opening up the northern route of the Ming Dynasty. The expansion to the south has only focused on the development of Star Island and Bangka Belitung Islands. As for the Spanish-controlled Philippine Islands, Haihan only sent a small number of intelligence personnel to lurk there, and did not take any real military measures to contain or attack them.
This is not because Haihan looks down on the areas occupied by Spain, or ignores Spain's presence in the South China Sea. On the contrary, it is precisely because Haihan is quite afraid of Spain and does not want to further intensify the existing conflicts. In addition, There is no intention to expand the control area to the Pacific in the short term, so there is no need to forcefully establish a strong enemy in the east. In the long run, the two sides are indeed competitors, but Haihan at least has no plans to take active force against Manila.
Considering the nature of this war, it is reasonable for Haihan, as the victor, to take some retaliatory measures against the Manila authorities. However, at this time, we have to take into account the limitations of the objective environment. Haihan’s influence on the waters of the Philippine Islands The geographical environment is unfamiliar, and the risks of conducting such long-distance cross-sea operations will also be considerable. As far as the current preparations are concerned, they are probably not much different from the Spaniards who came to Sanya blindfolded. That's why Ning Qi thought the military's attitude was too radical and quickly spoke out against it.
Yan Chujie said: "No, no, no, please listen to what I have to say first. When I say war to promote peace, I don't mean attacking Manila specifically, but launching operations at sea to limit the scope of activities of Spanish ships. As long as they can cut off their movement from north to south. commercial routes, the Spaniards will soon be overwhelmed. ”
Ning Qi said: "The problem is that these sea routes are not so easy to cut off. How many fleets do we have to send to the distant sea to perform such tasks? Does our fleet have enough combat endurance? If the fleet needs to patrol the sea for a long time to perform it Blockade mission, how do we maintain a supply line over such a long distance?”
Ning Qi's series of questions are basically to the point. The straight-line distance between Manila and Hainan Island is more than 700 nautical miles, and the distance between Haihan's overseas colonies rarely exceeds 500 nautical miles. This is It has even exceeded the voyage between the two overseas bases from Zhoushan, Zhejiang to Zhifu Island, Shandong. Except for some very small islands and reefs, there are basically no large tracts of land in the South China Sea. Long-term cruising at sea will indeed face supply problems.
Spain's plan to attack Sanya this time was also limited by these objective conditions, so it tried to use quick tactics, but in the end it failed. And if Haihan wants to find another way to engage in a protracted war, the material supply problem he will face will only be more difficult than his opponents.
As the Minister of National Defense of Haihan, Yan Chujie has commanded quite a lot of battles, large and small, in the past eight years. With his combat experience, could he fail to consider such a simple issue? Ning Qi would not underestimate Yan Chujie's level so much. He believed that the other party's plan, which seemed to be full of loopholes, actually had another purpose. For example, this could be used to propose to the Executive Committee the expansion of the naval establishment, increase in the number of warships planned to be built, etc.
As expected, Yan Chujie responded solemnly: "What Minister Ning said makes sense. Our naval strength does still have many shortcomings at this stage. It does not mean that after winning this battle, we will be invincible in the South China Sea." There are still many areas beyond our reach. Therefore, in order to avoid such a situation, I think the navy's establishment still needs to be further expanded. In particular, an armed fleet with long-range combat capabilities and long-term maritime endurance should be used in the future. There are some long-term preparations for the development of our country’s navy in the past few years, and they can be implemented gradually now.”
Ning Qi thought to himself that this is what you really wanted to say, but he didn't want his statement to be used as a topic by Yan Chujie so easily. He shook his head and said: "Lao Yan, these words of yours are all clichés. Expanding the army Of course, it is an inevitable measure in the process of national growth, but it does not happen as soon as you think of it. Your military has a development plan, and the Executive Committee has also approved the military expenditures that should be allocated on an annual basis. If you find reasons to apply for additional military expenditures, It’s unreasonable.”
Yan Chujie was exposed to Ning Qi's thoughts, but he did not look ashamed. He continued to talk: "This Spanish invasion is an emergency, and there is no such drama in our plan. Although we are in this battle We won the battle, but the Spaniards have also sounded the alarm to us. Even if our existing force is the strongest in the region, we still can't stop the enemy from coming to our doorstep. So in the current international environment, seven or eight. The radius of a hundred nautical miles is not absolutely safe. We need to ensure that the combat radius of the naval fleet can reach this level, so that we can maintain sufficient deterrence against those with ulterior motives like Spain, and our existing fleet is obviously unable to reach this standards, so I will propose a new development plan.”
Ning Qi didn't answer immediately. He glanced at Gu Kai, who was sitting opposite him, and saw that his face also looked gloomy. The Ministry of Security and the Ministry of National Defense successively put forward requests to change the current situation at today's post-war summary meeting. This may be just a coincidence, but it may also be that He Xi and Yan Chujie had reached some tacit understanding beforehand. The Ministry of Security and the Ministry of Defense under their management have always had many in-depth cooperation projects in the fields of security and intelligence. They can be said to be natural allies politically. Whenever they need help, they will naturally spare no effort to promote it.
Ning Qi and Gu Kaike cannot be said to be political allies. In fact, there are quite a lot of political differences between them. However, they have relatively consistent views on the power restrictions of the military and security departments, and believe that there must be strict supervision. Mechanisms to limit the development of these privileged departments and violent institutions to prevent them from gradually breaking away from the management of the Executive Committee after the power they control becomes too expanded. By then, there will be a bunch of civilian bureaucrats sitting in offices and governing the country in Fort Victory, and it will be difficult to maintain a political balance with the military and intelligence agencies that have privileges.
Gu Kai and Ning Qi's eyes met, and he said understandingly: "Of course Lao Yan can propose a plan, but please come up with a specific written manuscript and let the executive committee arrange a special meeting for discussion. But today's The main purpose of the meeting is the post-war summary. I think some irrelevant issues should not take up the valuable time of this meeting. Let’s get back to business and discuss the placement and handling of prisoners of war.”
Gu Kai believed that the proposals from the military and the Ministry of Security were all impromptu ideas, and no corresponding written materials should have been prepared. If we continue to discuss this at this time, it will actually allow He Xi and Yan Chujie to increase their presence here. So he interrupted decisively and used a dragging tactic to bring the topic to a halt, preventing Yan Chujie from letting it go any further.
Yan Chujie laughed dryly, but did not force the topic to continue. He followed Gu Kai's wishes and returned to the previous business issue. There is actually not much discussion value about the placement of prisoners of war. After experiencing many foreign wars, Haihan has a relatively mature routine for handling prisoners of war, and the division of labor and cooperation between various departments is relatively clear. Even though the target this time is Spaniards, there is nothing special about it. It just needs to be carried out according to the past routine of handling prisoners of war. Those who should be imprisoned were sent away, and those who should be sent to hard labor camps were sent away. Some craftsmen who could be retained were assigned to work in the corresponding labor units after ascertaining the details as soon as possible and not having any serious bad deeds.
The few remaining prisoners of war who are to be exchanged for ransom and war compensation must be taken care of first, and the injuries and illnesses that need to be treated must be treated. If they die in the prisoner of war camp, it will be a real loss of money.
Schneider came up with a compensation plan he had drawn up overnight, preparing to claim three million Spanish silver coins from the Manila authorities for the Spanish fleet's attack on Sanya. Of course, this number is only a unilaterally proposed standard. In terms of the actual military expenditures of Haihan's challenge, it can be said that the lion's mouth is wide open. Schneider is not sure that the other party will definitely agree. In the end, it will still have to go through the back-and-forth calculation. It will be resolved slowly through several rounds of negotiations.
Fortunately, the voyage between Sanya and Manila is not too exaggerated. If the British prisoners of war captured by Xingdao dealt with post-war matters just by sending a letter to the British base in India, the round-trip voyage would be calculated in months. After several rounds of bargaining, the result may not come until next year.
Schneider has handled similar war claims matters many times in the past, and is relatively familiar with the process and scale, so no one has much objection to his operation plan. Moreover, Schneider is the only financial expert on the executive committee, and it is difficult for others to provide more reasonable opinions from the professional field.
Of course, the most outrageous thing is that Schneider's official letter to the Governor of Manila was written in Spanish. This skill is difficult for anyone to imitate. In addition, the letter also specifically attached the titles and autographs of the Spanish commanders currently captured to confirm that these people are still alive.
Schneider's only worry is that the official and military positions of these personnel are generally not very high, and they are not the leaders of the fleet. It is really difficult to judge how determined the Manila authorities will be to spend money to redeem them. Therefore, although he proposed a relatively high claim amount in the letter, he still left room for bargaining. As long as the other party is not a fool, he should be able to understand his hint.
While the senior officials of Haihan were discussing how to deal with the prisoners of war, these humanoid self-propelled chips had already started working in the prisoner of war camp. Due to the large number of prisoners of war, the prison facilities at the naval base simply could not hold so many people, so they were temporarily placed in the vacated military camp. However, this treatment only lasted less than twenty-four hours before being canceled. An interpreter told them in less than proficient Spanish that they must build a prisoner of war camp on their own, otherwise they would have to live in captivity for the rest of the period.
Except for a few injured persons with limited mobility, the vast majority of prisoners of war were organized. After being given labor tools, they began to dig drainage ditches and septic tanks, build dry latrines, set up tents, and build barbed wire isolation belts in the prison camp. Although this arrangement inevitably attracted complaints from some prisoners of war, the vast majority of them still picked up the tools and followed the instructions obediently, because the prisoners of war knew very well that if the Haihan people decided to execute them, there would be no need to waste such time. Time to work. Since a temporary prisoner of war camp is now being built, it at least means that they can save their lives for the time being.
However, a few officer prisoners of war knew very well the reasons for the Haihan people's arrangement. During yesterday's interrogation, they had already signed their names on the letter registering their identities and requesting compensation. As long as Haihan's negotiations with the Manila authorities do not break down, they and the others can live well. This kind of negotiation will not be able to reach an agreement for a while, so such a temporary detention camp is also very necessary. Of course, not all those imprisoned here will have the opportunity to return to Manila. After all, those who can let the authorities pay a ransom in exchange for their freedom will definitely not be those stinking sailors.
Two days after the battle ended, "Haihan Times" finally published a special issue about the fighting. One thousand copies of the special issue for the public were sold out almost instantly. Under the strong demand of the people , and another 500 copies were printed and put on the market that afternoon, but they were also sold out.
Due to the nature of his work, Liu Shang saw this special issue immediately, and he also participated in the writing of some of its contents. Seeing these contents printed and distributed in newspapers and periodicals, he had mixed feelings for a while. As an intelligence officer of the Ming Dynasty, he lurked to Sanya in order to collect military and political intelligence about Haihan, but now he accidentally became a staff member of Haihan's propaganda department, and even wrote articles to promote Haihan's military strength. A mouthpiece to cheer for Haihan officials. He originally came to subvert Haihan, but now he was working for Haihan's official side. This strange sense of dislocation made him not know how to position his current situation.
The scariest thing is not that I advocated this for Haihan, but that I started to believe it myself. After seeing the actual operations of so many places in Haihan, the exercises of the Haihan army and this actual battle, and the attitude of the people of Haihan towards the war, Liu Shang really did not dare to have too much confidence in the Ming Dynasty regaining Hainan Island. Hope.
(End of chapter)