Chapter 1661 Attacking Manila (11)
The Spaniards had been colonizing the Philippines for more than half a century, and they were naturally much more familiar with the various local products than Haihan, who had just arrived, and the geographical information compiled by the colonists was of no significance to Haihan. Compared with those gold and silver treasures packed in boxes, Haihan can save a lot of time and money in developing Luzon Island in the future.
While his men were counting the property, Yan Chujie called Ran Tianlu to him and asked him: "What kind of priest is this who stores the church property in the store..."
"Chief, it's Father Blanco." Ran Tianlu heard Yan Chujie's protracted tone and quickly responded with interest. Although he didn't know what Yan Chujie's intention was when he mentioned Father Blanco, he still calmed down and listened carefully, for fear of missing a word.
"Well, this priest, after we break the city, you try to find him and see if you can get more things out of his mouth." Yan Chujie pointed to the book recording the local natural features and said: "Find out The source of this information, let’s see if he can provide more things like this.”
Ran Tianlu happily accepted this order. He has known Father Blanco for a long time, and they have some personal friendship. Although business matters are more important, he will never be emotionally partial to Father Blanco, but if there is an opportunity to give him a hand, he can help him in his work. He would still be happy to get a safe situation in this war. Now that the chief has entrusted this job to him, Ran Tianlu can use this command arrow to save Father Blanco - provided that he survives before he finds him.
But Ran Tianlu was not very optimistic about this. He knew that Father Blanco would never hide in the church and wait for the war to end. Instead, he would take a group of people from the church to the battlefield to help treat the wounded. In a war-torn environment, no one could guarantee his personal safety, and no one knew whether a stray bullet would hit him when the city was being destroyed.
The cleanup work didn't come to an end until late at night. Although Ran Tianlu had predicted in advance that these properties were valuable, the final inventory results still greatly excited the generals who led the troops this time. According to a rough estimate, the estimated value of this batch of gold and silver treasures is at least more than 4 million Haihan coins. The accurate value of some handicrafts made of gemstones and pearls cannot be estimated yet. Since launching this operation, this can be regarded as the biggest gain of the expeditionary force.
"With this, you can deal with the executive committee." Yan Chujie patted the box containing the money proudly: "Ran Tianlu, you have made a great contribution this time!"
"Every low-level position is done according to the instructions of the chief. I don't dare to take credit for this kind of credit!" Ran Tianlu was very knowledgeable and did not forget to ask for credit for the security department to which he belonged.
Yan Chujie ordered all these boxes to be re-sealed with seals prepared by the military, and then transported to the fishing port of Pasay Town, where they were loaded onto ships and transported to a temporary base in Cavite Port for safekeeping. Such a large amount of money was not safe enough no matter where it was placed. Yan Chujie decided to wait for the war situation to stabilize and dispatch a naval ship to send it back to Sanya first.
In addition to this important event that night, the Army was naturally not idle either. Before dark, two platforms about ten meters high had been set up one mile away from the city wall. In the first half of the night, snipers were arranged to carry out precise strikes on several illuminated places on the top of the city. Since the shooting point was located high up, the lighting made the defenders on the city head a living target. After several rounds of shooting, the defenders who realized that they were exposed quickly extinguished the lighting on the city head to avoid losing their lives in vain.
After forcibly solving the surveillance on the city, the engineering troops of the special operations battalion took action. The engineers, all dressed in black, carried explosives and tools on their backs and quietly moved toward the city gate. They had to plant explosives under the city before dawn, and what could really provide them with cover was not the snipers lying on the high platform a mile away, but the night cover that allowed them to hide themselves.
There is no moat or other structure outside the south gate of Manila, which saves the engineers a lot of trouble when approaching the city gate.
It's just that although this hidden condition allows the engineers to approach the city gate, it will also bring great obstacles to their construction operations. Without lighting, it is difficult to carry out complex construction operations. However, the engineering troops have long developed a set of night action plans specifically for this kind of environment. In order to avoid attracting the attention of the defenders on the tower, the engineering troops carried a special portable cloth tent with an arched structure and a thick, light-proof material. It is made of black oilcloth. When using it, you only need to open the folded part and stand it up to form a simple arched tarpaulin, and the engineers can install a weak lighting object at the center point to assist the construction. Looking down from the top of the city, you can only see a dark patch of darkness. It is difficult to distinguish the existence of the cloth tent when the visibility is not high.
Two experienced officers opened the tape measure, first measured the location, and marked the approximate construction point under the city wall. Then several arched tents were spread out against the city wall. Under each tent was an engineering team, and each started construction.
The excavation tools used by engineers are also specially made, and the silent hand drill is the most important tool. They needed to drill dozens of arm-thick holes under the walls, and then bury explosives and detonators inside. This job requires both carefulness and patience. If a loud noise is heard by the defenders on top of the city, all previous efforts may be wasted.
Since the city wall near the south gate is covered with bricks and stones, and the engineers did not dare to let go of the construction work, the drilling progress of several hand drills was much slower than expected. After an hour, only two holes were drilled. Each hole reaches the standard. By four o'clock in the morning, the project had barely completed half of the construction work, but if only this small amount of blasting holes were charged, it was very likely that the planned blasting target would not be achieved.
It would be getting brighter later, and if we continued the construction work, our whereabouts might be exposed if we retreat later. In desperation, the engineers had no choice but to withdraw their troops and return to the camp. Fortunately, the positions of these tunnels are perpendicular to the city wall, and their existence cannot be seen from the top of the city, so there is no need to worry about being discovered by the defenders during the day.
Of course, after daylight entered, the Haihan Army would not let the defenders in the city idle. Several large-caliber mortars have arrived at the front line. They can fire shells weighing dozens of kilograms or even stone bombs, and can also directly project explosive packets. However, there is no accuracy at all, and the hits are basically random. .
It is certainly unrealistic to expect such a few mortars to blast through Manila's city defenses, but this thing is very useful in destroying the morale of the defenders and the people in the city. Two rounds fired from time to time are enough to make the enemy within range People in the city have always maintained a high level of tension, because there is no guarantee that a shell will fall from the sky to take their lives at the next moment. Roger, who was responsible for attacking the east area of the city, could no longer sit still. Since the headquarters deployed most of the artillery in the main attack direction in the south of the city, Roger only had a few small-caliber guns used to suppress the scene. The battle in the city was ineffective, so there was no follow-up action after his troops took control of the east side of the city. But Roger didn't want to just watch, so he simply took a company and continued heading north, advancing to the Pasig River Basin a few miles away.
Roger did not lead his troops to turn to the north of the city, because the siege plan formulated by the headquarters deliberately left an "escape passage" in the north of the city. If he blocked this gap, the people in the city would really have no choice but to They fought desperately, and this was obviously not in Haihan's interests.
The Haihan Army turned a blind eye to the Manila people who escaped from land and sea. As long as they did not take the initiative to throw moths into the flames, they would let them escape. Even if these people escape, they will not be able to mobilize reinforcements to solve the dilemma in Manila City, and the Haihan Army does not want to focus on these small fish and shrimps. For Haihan, occupying the city of Manila is both the goal and the goal of this operation. Conquering the city as soon as possible is the first priority of Haihan's army.
As a result, despite the prohibition order issued by Governor Aragones in the city, prohibiting non-military personnel from entering and exiting all city gates, some people will still use various channels to escape from Manila. Since the North City Gate was not allowed to leave, some people left the city through the West City Gate leading to the port, and then went around to the north. This disorganized and desperate public mood can no longer be restored by relying on orders from the Governor-General's Office.
On January 26, the main attack direction of the Haihan Army was still concentrated near the south gate. Many of the crenellations on the city wall had been flattened by artillery shells. A large number of houses in the city close to the city wall were smashed to pieces by the flying artillery shells. hole. According to statistics from the Haihan Army, Haihan's artillery positions deployed outside the city fired more than 300 rounds of various types of artillery shells during this day, but no real infantry siege operations were launched.
Francis is not a fool. Of course he can understand that although the Haihan Army's movement in the south is quite large, it is still a feint attack in a certain sense. Otherwise, there is no reason to continue to besiege and not attack when the long-range firepower has completely suppressed the defenders. .
Francis believed that the Haihan Army was waiting for a suitable opportunity, but he had no idea what this opportunity meant. The only thing that gave him some comfort was that the Manila Port in the west of the city and the Pasig River Basin in the north of the city were still under his control, and the Haihan Army had not shown any intention of forcibly breaking into these two areas. If the defense line in the south of the city is really broken, then the Spaniards in the city will at least have one step to retreat, so that they will not be truly trapped and die in the city.
As for the Governor's prohibition order, Francis could also imagine that this order could not be fully implemented. After all, the relationship between the Spanish immigrants in this city was so intricate that a ban could completely block it. The most fundamental reason is that the human heart cannot be blocked!
Francis had no good way to deal with the siege of the Han army outside the city. He could only try to organize manpower to continue to strengthen the wall under attack in the south of the city. If Haihan does not send infantry to attack the city, delaying it for one day will be beneficial to the defenders. The longer it is delayed, the weaker Haihan's advantage will actually be. Francis could only hope that the ammunition reserves of the Haihan Army would be depleted quickly, so that maybe when he woke up one morning, he would get good news that the Haihan Army had taken the initiative to withdraw its troops.
But this is of course just wishful thinking on the part of the Spaniards. The Haihan Army has made very thorough preparations for this operation. Even taking into account the ammunition consumption required for the month-long siege, the combat preparation materials shipped to Manila are enough to support Haihan. The army stayed here until mid-February. If subsequent supplies can keep up, the duration of the continuous operation can be extended further.
The battle on the 26th continued for a whole day with Haihan's unilateral shelling. After nightfall, the engineering troops still followed the same pattern and sneaked into the city to continue construction. As long as someone dared to show his head on the city wall, he would immediately be attacked by snipers. After a few more people were killed, no one would dare to stand upright and walk on the city wall, let alone lean outside the city wall to watch the situation below the city. .
With the construction experience last night, four more teams of engineers were dispatched this time to speed up the construction. After more than six hours of work one night, the scheduled blasting project was finally completed. Hundreds of kilograms of high explosives were buried in the tunnel under the base of the city wall, and then the fuse connected to the detonator was extended southward until it was safe. distance.
All the personnel of the special operations battalion began quietly gathering at four o'clock in the morning to be on standby. Now that the explosives near the city gate have been planted, Takahashi Nan did not intend to drag out the war here for another day.
The sky had just begun to turn pale, and most of the people and defenders in the city were sleeping when they heard a huge explosion coming from the south of the city. This was the loudest sound many people had ever heard in their lives. Almost at the same time, there was an obvious tremor on the ground. Many people even thought there was an earthquake when they woke up from their sleep.
However, this movement came from the blasting operation of the South City Gate by the Haihan Army. Huge smoke and dust rose tens of meters high, and the shock wave generated by the explosion disintegrated the city wall into countless fragments, which were thrown towards the city. Some stones weighing dozens or hundreds of kilograms tilted down from the sky, like hundreds of trebuchets attacking the city simultaneously.
How many of the Spanish defenders near the city wall were dead or injured was completely unknown at the moment. The few survivors walked out of the smoke and dust in disgrace, looking blankly at the ruins of the city wall that had turned into a pile of rubble. They had no idea what happened. What's going on.
After a moment, the miserable howls of the injured began to be heard from everywhere nearby. However, these people were considered lucky. Those who could scream would not die for at least a while, while those unlucky ones who were actually buried alive by the ruins could not even come out. No chance to make a sound.
The command post originally set up by Francis was actually only a few dozen meters away from the South City Gate. However, because many shells flew into the city during yesterday's shelling, he retreated a little further for safety. In the end, this just happened to allow him to escape the disaster. Most of the roof of the original command post had been destroyed by falling masonry. If he had stayed here yesterday, he might have been buried alive.
(End of chapter)