Chapter 1637 Strategy and Tactics
It's just that the advanced naval guns equipped with the "Warrior" class cannot be mass-produced at present. Haihan Ordnance Industry has been struggling for several years to come up with such two qualified products and install them on the ship. Using two naval guns to deal with a fortification with more than twenty coastal defense guns is quite suspenseful no matter how you look at it. Even Yan Chujie, who knows the performance of naval guns best, understands that this kind of challenge is not fully guaranteed. If something goes wrong, the ship has a complex structure and it will be difficult to repair it nearby.
What Yan Chujie can do is probably to let the test ship try to launch shelling on the coastal defense forts. But this must first clear the sea near the harbor and free up all the coastal waterways so that the test ship can bombard the coastal defense batteries. Adjust the position at any time during the process. In case of danger during the shooting process, you can evacuate from the dangerous area in time. But to truly completely destroy these coastal defense forts, I'm afraid it's not enough to rely solely on naval warships. Army landings are still needed to cooperate with the operations.
The military has long known about the existence of coastal defense forts in Manila Port. Before Ran Tianlu sent back the key information, it had conducted several tactical deductions. The combat goal was to conquer these forts guarding Manila Port at the minimum cost. But formulating tactics is one thing, and actually implementing these tactics in an unfamiliar environment is another. The reason why some armies and generals are derided as "paper tactics" is that they cannot implement the planned tactics in actual combat. The combat plan is implemented in place, or there is a lack of means to respond to changes in the war situation.
Of course, in terms of actual combat experience, the Haihan Army must be considered the best in the entire Far East. No other country's army can compete with multiple countries on the battlefield like Haihan in less than ten years. Confronted and defeated every opponent they encountered. In addition to advanced weapons and tactics, such results are also due to experienced commanders.
When Haihan formed the army in the early days, almost all the travelers who had served as soldiers concurrently held officer positions in the army, and the sources of grassroots officers were diverse. Most of them came from naturalized civilians, including Zeng. There are people who have military experience in countries such as Ming Dynasty and Annan, and some of them have even been officers in other countries. For example, Wu Sen, who has been promoted to deputy commander of the Sanya Fleet in the Navy, was a general officer of the South Vietnamese Navy before joining Haihan.
Those who have military experience will generally climb the ranks slightly faster than others after joining the Haihan Army. Most of the first batch of people to be promoted as officers will have personal backgrounds similar to this. Haihan later established military academies for the army and navy to provide these officers with specialized training and refresher courses to improve their military literacy and change the tactical habits of the cold weapon era that they had mastered.
The strategy and tactics of the Haihan Army are difficult to crack for the outside world. In fact, after fighting with Haihan once or twice, the armies of many countries have roughly understood Haihan's tactics that rely on weapon performance to control the combat distance. system. Whether it is a naval battle or a land battle, the greatest advantage of Haihan's military weapons is the killing distance and accuracy. The effective range of these advanced weapons is an insurmountable life-and-death line for Haihan's opponents.
The redefined long-range attack method makes it difficult for all countries that fight against Haihan to find a way to crack it. Most opponents have focused on how to restrain the various advanced weapons equipped by the Haihan Army, while ignoring that Haihan is also ahead of all competitors in this era at the strategic and tactical levels. Even the Western colonial armed forces, which were also equipped with a large number of firearms, could not help but fall into tactical misunderstandings, equating the strength gap between the two sides with the gap in weapon performance, while ignoring that the real determinant of the direction of the war was the military quality of the combatants.
The training that Haihan soldiers received since joining the army is obviously different from the army of this era. Although the military investment in the elite route is huge, the effect is also very obvious. Coupled with the continuous battle arrangements all year round, almost all troops have Have the opportunity to get practical training on the battlefield. In the entire Far East, only Haihan has the combat effectiveness and financial resources to support such a route of training through combat. After several years of operation, the result is now a victorious army that is invincible in every battle.
Although the achievements of the Haihan Army were not so exaggerated as to make the Spaniards flee after hearing the news, the war atmosphere created before the launch had already made the Manila authorities panic. After all, there were only a few businessmen like Ran Tianlu who tried to find out the truth from the Spaniards. More Ming businessmen realized that the wind was going in the wrong direction, or well-informed people learned from private channels that Haihan had signs of war with Manila, so they had already put away their petty behavior. He left this place without making a sound. Now that we know that Manila City may become a battlefield in the near future, naturally no one wants to be in danger, and those who have the ability to leave this place will definitely not stay.
Although officers like Gonzalo will swear to businessmen that they will protect the safety of Manila, there are obviously more foreign businessmen who are pessimistic about Spain. In the few days after Ran Tianlu sent the information, foreign businessmen in Manila began to leave in droves. It seemed that although the Manila authorities had implemented an information blockade in advance, they were not able to completely isolate the spread of information among the people.
Of course, Aragones also noticed this trend from the reports of his subordinates, but he could not issue a ban prohibiting foreigners from leaving Manila. Doing so would not have any other result except causing greater chaos and more panic. . The top priority is to try to appease the local people so that they will not be swayed by baseless rumors.
On January 5, Aragones summoned his main civil and military officials, the heads of various districts in Manila, and representatives of the Han and indigenous residents, and asked them to clarify to the public the current rumors in the market, and that there was no Haihan preparing to attack. That possibility exists in Manila. Moreover, there is a fortified city in Manila that can be defended, and war preparations have been carried out for a long time. Even if the Haihan army comes across the sea, they can only hit the iron plate and be bloody.
Aragones claimed that the Haihan would not launch an offensive against the city of Manila, but he had no evidence to support this argument. However, the recent abnormal conditions in the local trade market make it difficult for people not to believe that the war is imminent.
After the meeting in Aragones, not only did it not play its due role, but some local Spaniards also began to arrange a retreat. Manila was not the only colony occupied by Spain in the Philippine Islands. Some people with connections began to arrange for their families to leave Manila temporarily and take ships to other places for temporary refuge.
Even ordinary civilians without boats, after sensing this atmosphere, began to move to remote agricultural towns such as San Rafael and Baliwag in the northern interior. These agricultural areas, which have only begun to be developed in recent years, are two full days away from Manila, so at least they will not be directly affected by the war in the first place.
Now the Manila authorities can no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb, otherwise the city of Manila may have fallen apart before the Haihans came. Aragones had no choice but to sign a governor's decree with a broken face, imposing wartime control on the city of Manila. Anyone who spreads rumors of war among the people will be regarded as enemy spies and will be arrested first. For a time, people in Manila were panicked, while people living outside the city hurriedly tried to leave here to avoid being harmed by the war. Ran Tianlu has naturally seen the changes in Manila City in recent days. Although he had stayed behind closed doors to avoid suspicion after joining the army, his subordinates would still report outside trends to him as soon as possible. Public opinion in Manila suddenly exploded. Ran Tianlu would not think that this was just a coincidence. It was probably colleagues lurking in the local area who had secretly started to mobilize, deliberately releasing some news that was unfavorable to the Manila authorities among the people.
This method is of course also part of the intelligence war. Although Ran Tianlu is not responsible for implementing this task, he can imagine that this should be a plan arranged by the above. Before the war started, public opinion was used to create social chaos in enemy-controlled areas. This method had been used many times in Haihan's past foreign wars, and the effect was quite good. It also played an obvious role in Manila this time. The Manila authorities obviously lacked countermeasures for such unconventional means, and they were unable to completely stop the local people from escaping from the war. In just a few days, at least more than 2,000 people left the city of Manila by water and land.
Aragones was almost so angry that he had a heart attack. Normally, he wouldn't mind the people of Manila being diverted to settle in other colonial settlements, but now the war is about to begin, and these ungrateful untouchables only want to think about it. Saving his money and life while abandoning the city of Manila was an extremely chilling move for him.
The only good thing is that most Spanish immigrants still stay in Manila. After all, they have no local roots and can only seek official asylum. Of course, if Aragones hadn't signed the governor's decree, perhaps even more immigrants from the country would have chosen to flee.
Among the three Haihan fleets, the first to sail into the Philippine waters was naturally the Northern Route Army heading south from Kaohsiung. When the other two fleets were only halfway through their voyage, the Northern Route Army had already seen the coastline of northern Luzon Island. In order to wait for the progress of the other two groups, the Northern Route Army slowly moved south along the west coast of Luzon Island, and arrived at Subic Bay, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay, on January 9.
Subic Bay is located in the southwest of Luzon Island. It is a natural deep-water harbor that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Among the many expansion plans of the Ministry of National Defense, Subic Bay is also one of the alternative overseas military bases. However, the Executive Committee believes that this place is too close to Manila Bay. Even if we occupy this area, we will have to fight the Spanish sooner or later. In this case, it is better to directly attack the Manila Port, which is larger and has certain infrastructure facilities, than to build it from scratch. A port is much simpler.
The Ministry of National Defense formulated a three-way march plan, and its assembly point was this bay. The main reason why this place was chosen was that it was convenient for the fleet to dock and rest, and there was no need to worry about changes in sea conditions caused by bad weather. The three groups of people took different times on the way, so they agreed to come first, wait first, and then go south into Manila Bay together after gathering.
Although Subic Bay is a natural deep-water port, there are not many people settled here, only two fishing villages. However, one of the fishing villages was actually made up of Spanish immigrants, which somewhat surprised Tom Wang. You must know that in the Far East, these immigrants from Europe are extremely valuable labor force and are the basis for Western countries to achieve colonial rule there. However, it is indeed a waste of resources to let these immigrants form their own fishing villages.
These Spanish immigrants were frightened by the appearance of the Haihan fleet, but they did not show too much hostility. After asking someone to inquire, Wang Tom found out that these Spanish people did not even know that the Manila authorities had fought with Haihan last year, so naturally they did not understand the purpose of this armed fleet breaking into Subic Bay.
"It's a pity that we don't need this place." Wang Tom looked at the blue sky and white clouds above the bay and said with regret: "Even if this place is not a military base, it is a very good choice as a vacation spot."
"Develop it yourself. When Manila is conquered, you can come over and start business slowly when you are free." Qian Tiandun was lying on a beach chair wearing sunglasses, enjoying the warm winter sun unique to the tropics. While basking in the sun, he talked to Wang Tom chimed in: "How about spending some money to build a high-end resort here?"
"There's no time to enjoy it now, forget it." Wang Tom shook his head and rejected Qian Tiandun's invitation. Since he was appointed as the commander of the Navy, he has rarely stayed in the same place for three to five months. The battle in Liaodong last year was a special case. With a job like his, even if you give yourself a vacation, you may not have the energy to go somewhere specifically for vacation. After all, there are no planes in this world, so we can only go there by boat, and the time on the road alone may not be enough.
Regarding the Spanish immigrants who settled in Subic Bay, Tom Wang did not deliberately make things difficult for them. The war between countries is very cruel, and the role of small people like these is almost non-existent. Even if they are all captured or killed, it will not hinder the upcoming war. However, in order to prevent anyone from tipping off the incident, Wang Tom ordered the fishermen here to be temporarily prohibited from going to sea to avoid causing trouble.
Two days after the Northern Route Army arrived at Subic Bay, the other two fleets also arrived here. Although the time difference between the arrival of the three troops at their destinations could not be controlled within one day as originally planned by the Ministry of National Defense, the assembly on the front line was finally successfully completed.
(End of chapter)