Chapter 1634 Operation Conquest to the West
In this age of discovery, colonial countries had a very simple and crude way of dividing their spheres of influence. After occupying a natural harbor somewhere, they declared sovereignty over the land and everything on the land, and then incorporated it into their own country's territory. . Sometimes there is no occupation at all. As long as the country's navigators arrive at the place, they will be the first to plant a flag and unilaterally declare sovereignty. Especially the Western colonists who came to the Far East were too far away from their home countries to ask for domestic instructions on everything, so this so-called "verbal occupation" became the norm.
Of course, if someone believes in his superior strength, he doesn't need to care whether the place he likes is already occupied by another family, he can just take the people with him immediately. Everyone is fighting with each other and speaking based on their strength. No one will take this verbal occupation seriously - unless the country that is doing this is Haihan.
Except for the few ports that Annan State donated to Haihan in the form of concessions in the form of concessions in gratitude for the assistance of Haihan's army after the civil war, almost all of Haihan's colonies in the South China Sea were taken over bit by bit by force. of. Countries that have tried to challenge Haihan in the past few years have all failed without exception. It is undoubtedly a very risky choice to compete with Haihan for territory.
If Haihan really declares its occupation of Luzon Island after defeating Spain, it can be expected that countries such as Ming Dynasty and Annan will never have any objections, because they do not have enough ability to compete for this piece of land across the sea. Even if countries like the Netherlands and Portugal are jealous, they don't dare to challenge Haihan's authority.
This time, the North Route Army assembled in Kaohsiung Port, in addition to several elite troops from Haihan, also joined as always a military observation group composed of several officers selected by the Fujian military to conduct the entire combat operation. Observe. Haihan was not worried that there would be anything wrong with allowing Xu Xinsu's men to see his side's highest combat power. In fact, during the Liaodong campaign, there was always a military observation group from Fujian operating with the army. The Ministry of National Defense believes that doing so will, firstly, consolidate mutual trust between the two sides, and secondly, allow the other party to clearly understand the extent of the gap in strength between the two militaries, so as to dispel the other party's restless thoughts.
This time the military observation group not only included military attaches from the Fujian Ming Army, but also military attaches from Korea. Due to the advent of severe winter in the Liaodong War, both sides unanimously chose to cease the war, so the Korean military observation group watching the war in Liaodong had nothing to do. The general who led the team was named Li Xi, and he was a distant relative of King Li Zhu. Seeing that nothing happened in Liaodong, he wanted to sneak back to North Korea to rest for a few months, and then come back to Liaodong to watch the battle in the spring, but instead Unexpectedly, the Haihan Army took the initiative to invite him, asking him to go south with the army and go to the South China Sea to observe a battle that the Haihan Army would launch early the next year.
Li Xi was also a person who had a free-spirited nature and couldn't take time off. Hearing that there was still a battle to be fought in the south, he agreed without asking how far south it was. Of course, if he had known that the battlefield was on an island six thousand miles south of Jinzhou, he might not have been willing to travel so far across the ocean to see the excitement.
In short, Li Xi left Liaodong with the Haihan Army in a daze. He first stayed at Zhifu Island in Dengzhou, Shandong for a few days, and then the troops packed up and headed south from the sea, staying at Zhoushan Port in Zhejiang for a few more days. After Li Xi inquired, he learned that Zhoushan Port was more than a thousand miles southwest of North Korea, and he thought that the battlefield Haihan mentioned was probably nearby. Unexpectedly, after staying for a few days, the fleet set off again, continued southward along the coastline, crossed the Fujian Strait and arrived at Kaohsiung Port.
Li Xi, who had never left Korea before, had no idea where Kaohsiung Port was located. After asking General Haihan, he learned that this place was already three thousand miles south of Seoul. And getting here is only half of the entire voyage to the battlefield. Only then did Li Xi realize that the "south" mentioned by the Haihan people was really not a joke. The march span of the participating troops was so large, which also made him speechless. As a general who leads troops, he naturally knows how difficult it is to mobilize large-scale troops in such a large area, and the logistical supply arrangements required for such a military operation are even more complicated.
If measured by North Korea's military strength, it is absolutely impossible to realize such an action plan. Let alone the South China Sea, where Kaohsiung Port is located, North Korea cannot send an organized fleet to fight here. During his stay in Kaohsiung Port, Li Xi also saw Haihan's various preparations for this battle. He was secretly glad that North Korea did not become Haihan's opponent.
I think that when Wang Tom brought most of the fleet to the vicinity of Seoul, his momentum had already made North Korea lose the courage to resist. Now this fleet also includes several other people who fought on the Liaodong front line and the Jin people were unable to fight back. An elite force, its strength cannot be doubted. However, it is said that this is only the Northern Route Army among the three participating armies. The other two armies will set off from other places and then meet at the predetermined combat location.
Li Xi can also participate in some pre-war mobilization meetings with a low level of confidentiality as a military observer, so he has a rough understanding of Haihan's next combat operations. Although Li Xi didn't know what the lineup of the other two Haihan troops was, since the Haihan elites he knew could only play one-third of the three-pronged army, he thought that the strength of the other two troops should be about the same. With such thunderous momentum to focus on one target, their opponents, the Spaniards, would probably have no choice but to ask for their own blessings.
Now that the participating troops in Kaohsiung Port are basically ready, they are just waiting for the departure order from Sanya.
In fact, the combat troops assembled at the two ports of Kaohsiung and Jinlan completed their preparations for the war earlier than the Sanya base camp. The reason is that the Sanya Navy will bring the "Warrior" class prototype ship that has completed sea trials to go out with it this time, and the ship's steam The maintenance work of the power system had to be temporarily re-produced due to quality problems with some spare parts, which resulted in a delay in the entire war preparations.
Of course, the military can also choose not to take this new warship on an expedition, but the Navy insists that actual combat is the best test. This cross-sea battle is far more useful than a hundred sea trials. It is just the right time to see this What problems remain with the operation of the ship in combat conditions. Therefore, even if the progress of preparations for war was delayed because of this, the Navy still chose to take this ship with it on the expedition.
Naturally, no one would want to leave unless the navy left, so the participating troops at the Sanya base camp had to wait three more days for this. It was not until all preparations for the prototype ship were ready that the Ministry of National Defense submitted an application to the executive committee for departure. The codename specially formulated by the Executive Committee for this operation is also very vivid and relevant - Zhengxi. According to Tao Donglai's explanation, the "West" refers to both Spain and the Western colonial countries that entered the Far East. Nowadays, all the Western countries that have had experience with Haihan have given in. Spain is the only opponent that is still strong and refuses to bow its head. Defeating this opponent does have extraordinary special significance for Haihan. .
The day before the troops set off, the "Haihan Times" published a special issue for the first time in a long time, announcing to the people that the Haihan Kingdom would send troops to go on an expedition to Manila as revenge for the Spanish initiative to provoke the war last year, and at the same time to liberate the local people. Bullied Han immigrants. If the Spaniards refuse to surrender, the Haihan army will attack the city of Manila and drive the local Spaniards out of the South China Sea.
Due to the previous long-term publicity offensive as a basis, and the troops stationed in Sanya recently starting to gather on standby, it was not hidden from anyone who was interested. The people in Haihan who learned the news were not particularly surprised. Haihan's foreign wars are already very frequent, not to mention that the opponent he is going to fight this time is Spain, which has taken the initiative to provoke Haihan before. The majority of the people support this.
But the people who were most supportive and excited about this matter were not the citizens of Haihan, but the ministers of Portugal and the Netherlands stationed in Haihan. As Spain's direct competitors around the world, these two countries are of course eager to see Spain suffer misfortune. Although they have been unable to do anything against the Spaniards in the Far East in the past few years, this time it was the Haihan people who rolled up their sleeves and took action. No matter how powerful the Spaniards were, they would only get beaten if they encountered this god of death.
Although the Dutch East India Company did not send ships and manpower to participate in this operation like Portugal, it generously donated a batch of cotton cloth and cotton yarn produced in the Indian Peninsula to the Haihan military as support for this operation. Although the East India Company may not be able to reap any benefits from Luzon after the war, Spain has been stepped on. The trade-off between the two means that the Netherlands can get more trade opportunities in the Far East. This is exactly It was the change in the international situation that the East India Company dreamed of. Regarding the fact that Haihan sent troops to attack Manila, the Dutch were naturally happy to see the result, so that Haihan's army could completely drive the Spaniards out of the South China Sea, and drive them as far away as possible.
In addition to competition in colonization and trade, the Portuguese also had a special relationship with the Spanish in domination and resistance. Nowadays, the independence struggle in Portugal is in full swing. Any opportunity to attack Spain overseas is naturally not to be missed. So this time Portugal sent two ships and hundreds of people to directly participate in the operation led by Haihan, hoping to take this opportunity to give Spain an unforgettable blow.
However, during the operation, the Portuguese could only hand over the command of the participating troops to Haihan, and all combat instructions were uniformly issued by Haihan. Although this inevitably gave a sense of inferiority, the Portuguese did not care about these details in order to achieve their purpose of attacking Spain. Besides, with the powerful Haihan Army as the main force, even if they go, they may not be able to get the opportunity to directly participate in the battle on the front line.
Of course, among the troops departing from Sanya, the presence of the Annan Military Observation Group is also indispensable. If the situation between Annan and Siam was not becoming tense, Annan would definitely have sent an elite force to Manila with the Haihan Army to assist in the battle given the deep cooperative relationship between the two countries for many years. Although Annan did not directly send troops to participate in the war this time, he lent troops to Haihan and deployed them to the Xingdao base in the Strait of Malacca to temporarily replace Roger's South China Sea Special Warfare Group, which can be regarded as indirectly doing Haihan a big favor. Of course, this favor is not in vain. According to the conditions agreed in advance between the two countries, Haihan will deliver four exploration-class warships to Annan within the year as a thank you for the loan.
In addition, part of the supplies needed by the Haihan army assembled in Cam Ranh Bay were purchased nearby in Annan, which received strong cooperation from the local government and saved Haihan a lot of trouble.
On January 3, 1637, the Haihan Executive Committee issued an order to the Ministry of Defense to launch the "Conquest of the West". The troops assembled in Sanya, Kaohsiung, and Cam Ranh Bay finally waited for the moment to set off.
This time, the Ministry of National Defense mobilized a number of elite troops from all over the country to participate in the operation, and the troops were divided into three groups and marched toward Manila at the same time. More than 5,000 people from the army and navy participated in the battle, and more than 100 ships participated in the battle, including troop transports and supply ships. This could almost be regarded as the largest overseas combat operation since the founding of the People's Republic of China. If it can be said that the Haihan Army's operations in the past were often based on small numbers and large numbers, with a huge disparity in strength, then at least this operation will not be much inferior to its opponents in terms of strength.
And a sea-crossing expedition of this scale requires an astonishing amount of supplies. There are more than 20 comprehensive supply ships that provide coal and fresh water for naval steam warships. Considering that the journey was far away, it was difficult to maintain a dense frequency of supply transportation on this route, so when the expedition was launched, they brought enough supplies to sustain the troops for twenty days of operations. Although the military has also formulated a follow-up material transportation plan, everyone hopes that this war will not last too long, because for Haihan, the military expenditures of this war are too large and the fighting time will be too long. If it goes on for a long time, I am afraid that the national finance will have a deficit that is difficult to fill at the beginning of the year.
The military expenditures of the thousands of people participating in the war, calculated from the time they received the order to leave the station and go to the assembly point, averaged tens of thousands of yuan per day. The military expenditures during the assembly period alone had already cost hundreds of thousands. This is not even mentioned. The cost of transferring defense units to the original garrison locations of these participating units is included in the calculation. The consumption of various military supplies purchased in advance for this battle reached millions. If it hadn't been for the huge profits made from the Dutch and Malayans through the arms purchase order auction in September, Heyhan's military expenditures during the preparation period might have made the executive committee change its mind and not fight this war. .
(End of chapter)