Chapter 1633 Taking the initiative
Although Aragones is reluctant to admit it in his heart, Manila's current situation is indeed a bit like meat on the chopping board, and Haihan is the knife hanging in the air who doesn't know when it will fall. The lack of intelligence from the outside world made it difficult for Aragones to judge what Haihan would do next, whether he would continue to impose a soft trade blockade on Manila, or whether he would send troops to directly attack Manila. Without a clear judgment, it would be difficult for him to take targeted measures. He could not just rely on praying to God every day as a defensive measure against Haihan.
If he had not launched that wrong action last year, Aragones could have deployed defensive measures more calmly, and even boldly made some bold moves, such as sending his own fleet to Hainan Island when Haihan sent troops to attack Manila. Break through the empty gates and see who can conquer the other side's city faster.
Of course, this is just a casual thought. Last year's raid had already shown the Spaniards how terrifying Sanya's shore defense firepower was. Even if the main force of Haihan's navy is not local, the Spanish fleet must first break through this extremely lethal firepower network if it wants to break into the port and land. Judging from the fighting situation last year, almost no Spanish warships can withstand a concentrated fire attack from the Sanya coastal defense battery at close range. To break through this pass, I am afraid that a considerable price will have to be paid.
However, compared to the immobile coastal defense batteries, what makes Aragones more anxious now is the Haihan fleet waiting for an opportunity to move out of nowhere. He is very aware of the terrible performance of this maritime force in the past few years. All European colleagues who came to the Far East have suffered heavy losses at the hands of this fleet. The Portuguese and the Dutch had already chosen to compromise with Haihan. After the British were defeated at Star Island, they directly withdrew from the competition in the South China Sea. In other words, except for Spain, all other Western counterparts have given up on continuing to oppose Haihan. Because of the existence of Haihan's fleet, they cannot gain control of the sea like they can in other places.
After losing its stronghold on Taiwan Island, Spain was in the same passive position as its other Western counterparts, except that the city of Manila was relatively far from the area occupied by Haihan, and Haihan's main focus was on the Ming Dynasty and the Indochina Peninsula. On the coastline, the Philippine Islands area will not be taken care of for a while, so the Manila authorities at least have some buffer time to deploy defensive measures. But when the real thing came, Aragones discovered that the preparations he had made before did not seem to have much preventive effect. In particular, the intelligence work on Haihan was a complete failure, and there was no way to judge the next move of the Haihan people. . This is undoubtedly adding insult to injury for the Manila authorities who are in a passive position.
In desperation, all Aragones can do now is to instruct his men to strengthen surveillance of the Han-inhabited areas inside and outside the city. At the same time, he asked his general Juan to send some ships to patrol the waters off Manila Bay to cover the maritime surveillance area as much as possible. Expand some. If it really hits the Haihan fleet, it can at least send an early warning signal to Manila and enter a state of combat readiness early.
During the raid on Sanya last year, Juan Luis was in charge of commanding the Manila Fleet. Although the battle was ugly, Juan at least brought most of the ships of the Manila Fleet back to port. Even though his flagship "San Diego" was beaten and sent to the dock for overhaul, Aragones still allowed him to stay in his post. After all, there were no powerful military attachés in Manila to replace him. He really removed Juan. The position of fleet commander can probably only be taken by Aragones himself.
The commander of the American Fleet, João Pinto, who also participated in that battle, was not as lucky as Juan. Since only three of the eight main warships in his fleet returned to Manila, he was dismissed by domestic orders for investigation. And Joao Pinto did not have the connections like Aragones to help him escape the crime, so he had no choice but to return to his country and accept punishment.
As a general who led troops in war, Juan was naturally bitter about this defeat, and he also thought about one day fighting the Haihan people again to restore the prestige of the Spanish Empire. But he really didn't expect that this opportunity would come now, and his preparations were still far from winning. If he wants to compete with the Haihan fleet at sea again, Huan is currently not sure that he can perform better than last year.
More than a year may have made many people who did not witness the battle forget the horror of the Haihan fleet, but for Juan's fleet, there was no time to return to the state before the war. The flagship "San Diego", which was severely damaged in the battle last year, returned to sea after nearly a year of overhaul, only two or three months ago. The armed sailing ships that were sunk during the battle did not have time to be fully replenished. Today's Manila fleet is even less powerful than before the last battle.
The reason is also very simple. Manila's local shipyards are limited in scale. After most of the technicians are assigned to the shipyards to repair damaged warships, there are not enough manpower and shipyards to start building new ships. Moreover, because Governor Aragones was worried about the Haihan army attacking Manila, most of the limited military expenditures in the past year were spent on strengthening local coastal defenses and city defenses, leaving little money for the fleet to purchase new ships and weapons. many. Although Juan was determined to seek revenge from the Haihan people, given the current situation of the Manila fleet, it was really not appropriate to fight the Haihan fleet at this time.
But the problem is that the choice is not in Juan's hands. Aragones made it very clear when he gave him the order. The Haihan fleet may attack at any time. Now it is not a question of whether to fight or not, but I don’t know when the Haihan people will take action.
"I don't force you to defeat the Haihan Fleet at sea, but I hope that you can cause them as much damage and trouble as possible and delay their landing process, so that we have a greater hope of preserving the city of Manila. If you do When it arrives, I will allocate funds for you to build a brand new fleet after the war." It's not that Aragones can't see the situation clearly, and he doesn't expect that the fleet led by Juan alone can send the Haihan people home. He only hopes that Their own armed sailboats can play their due role in the battle, at least slowing down Haihan's attack.
Aragones is not a fool. He knows very well what the opponent's biggest weakness will be if Haihan sends troops to attack Manila. He has already considered the same problem when he planned to raid Sanya last year. However, at that time, Aragones held a meeting with his generals and believed that as long as they could break into the port and complete the landing, the local products would be enough to maintain the supply of fleet personnel, and there was no need to maintain a maritime supply line between Manila and Sanya. Of course, in hindsight, this idea really underestimated the Haihan people, but now that the offense and defense are changing positions, Haihan, as the party that takes the initiative to attack, also faces the same problem, that is, supplies.
Aragones believed that as long as he could defend the city of Manila for a period of time and prevent the opponent from receiving supplies from the local area, maintaining a maritime supply line of more than a thousand kilometers one way would be enough to bring down the opponent's offensive. How long the Manila fleet can drag the opponent at sea is likely to affect the future of the war. Although he will not place all his hopes on Juan, this is very likely to be a turning point in the battle, so he must cheer up Juan, make good use of the power at hand, and create as many things for the Haihan people as possible trouble.
As for the promise to Juan... let's get through this hurdle first! If you really can defeat the Haihan people, even just once, you will be qualified to compete with the Haihan people in the future. By then, more businessmen will naturally come to Manila, and you will not have to worry about having no funds to build a new fleet.
Of course Juan understood what Aragones' order meant. If he had to fight the Haihan fleet at sea, it would be a very dangerous task. The scene of the battle with the Haihan Fleet off the coast of Sanya last year was still vivid in his mind. The Spanish sailing ship was completely behind its opponent in terms of seaworthiness and firepower. If it happened again, he was not sure whether he would be able to survive the battle again. life. But for the brand new fleet promised by Aragones, he had to take a gamble. This was a treatment that any naval admiral could only dream of. Aragones was afraid that this reward was not enough, so he took the initiative to add more: "If we defeat the Haihan people this time, then I will ask His Majesty the King for your credit. After all, our Imperial Navy just lacks a Far East Navy commander. .”
Now Huan was really jealous. In order to get promoted and make a fortune, he must fight to the death with the Haihan people!
After Juan came out of the Governor's Palace, he convened a meeting of his officers to prepare for war and carefully prepared tactics to deal with the attack of the Haihan fleet. Although he didn't know when his opponent would appear, Juan was determined to give the Haihan people some color this time and let them know that the authority of the Spanish Empire cannot be challenged!
Amid the uneasiness of the Spanish, time finally entered 1637.
Due to the advent of the Little Ice Age, even the temperature in Kaohsiung Port, located in the southern part of Taiwan Island, has dropped to about ten degrees, and the soldiers had to put on thicker winter clothes before going out. However, their destination is located in the tropics, and the temperature is much higher than that of Xiongxiong, so it is estimated that they will have to complete a change of clothes on the way. However, the military supplies at Kaohsiung Port were well prepared, and the mood of the troops was not greatly affected by the weather.
Although the northern troops assembled here are on standby, they are not doing nothing. In addition to the troops' daily preparation training, the navy has also dispatched patrol ships in the Bashi Strait between Taiwan and the Philippine Islands. , monitoring changes in weather and sea conditions to provide a reference for the command to formulate a southward route.
In fact, the route has been basically finalized long ago, but if the weather and sea conditions are not ideal, corresponding adjustments will definitely have to be made when setting off. It would be fine if only the northern troops participated in the war, but because the three places set off separately, the time synchronization requirements for the voyage were very high. At first, the Ministry of National Defense even hoped to reduce the time difference between the three troops arriving at their destinations to less than half a day. Later, they found that this requirement was difficult to achieve, so they relaxed it to one day. But for a voyage distance of only one kilometer, this error range still places extremely high requirements on the fleet's navigation route and voyage arrangement.
Of course, the Northern Route Army has Wang Tom, the naval commander, in charge, so the preparations in this area are naturally well-organized. Although Tom Wang had not personally sailed to Manila, with the detailed nautical charts and various geographical information produced by later generations, it was not too difficult for him to chart a safe route.
"There are many good things in Luzon Island, but it is a pity that the Ming Dynasty did not defend this place." Qian Tiandun chatted with Tom Wang about the history of Luzon Island in his spare time: "Two hundred years ago, when Zheng He went to the West, Xu Chailao, the leader of the overseas Chinese, was appointed as the governor of Luzon, taking charge of the local military and political power. In terms of historical origin, Luzon can be regarded as a satellite of the Ming Dynasty. However, the Ming Dynasty has never been interested in such overseas enclaves. Let it develop on its own. If there is a worthy emperor, the Philippine Islands should be the territory of the Ming Dynasty at this time."
Tom Wang smiled and said: "It seems that it is very useful for you to supplement your historical knowledge during this period!"
"Since you want to come here to fight, of course you must first understand the history and culture here. Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you win every battle!" Qian Tiandun didn't take it seriously after being exposed by Wang Tom. Since he now wants to follow the path of a Confucian general, of course You have to spend more time reading historical documents and get more detailed information about the battle locations. Haihan's plan to attack Manila was not a matter of a day or two. Qian Tiandun had been revising relevant documents and materials after receiving the transfer order. It’s hard to say how useful this information will be for the next battle, but Qian Tiandun believes that it is beneficial to enrich his knowledge reserve, and it is worth spending more time to understand it.
Wang Tom said: "What Ming Dynasty cannot do, let us do it! It is a bit wasteful to give a place like Luzon Island to the Spaniards to govern. I heard that the Ministry of Agriculture has long been very greedy for Luzon Island." I wish we could drive away the Spaniards as soon as possible and take over the entire island.”
"Are these people really greedy enough to take over them all? I don't even dare to think about it! Don't they know that Luzon Island is almost as big as three Hainan Islands? How can we have so many troops to guard such a big island? It’s such a big island! It would be great if we can take over Manila Bay first. It won’t take more than a few years to digest it all!” Qian Tiandun shook his head and did not agree with the Ministry of Agriculture’s idea.
Of course, after this battle is over, it would be no problem if they just verbally declare the occupation to other countries. Anyway, no country in the South China Sea dares to challenge Haihan's authority.
(End of chapter)