Chapter 1669 Postwar Manila
Francis' surrender after being trapped in the attic meant that the Manila defenders, starting from the city defense commander, had completely lost their top-down command system, and it was basically impossible for the disbanded armed forces to reorganize. Resisted Haihan's invasion. There may be some stragglers inside and outside the city who are unwilling to accept the fact that Manila City has changed hands, but all the resistance measures they can take are of no avail. At most, they will just let the Haihan Army waste some ammunition to deal with them.
After being carefully searched by Haihan soldiers, Francis saw Qian Tiandun again. When the two met at the negotiating table the day before yesterday, they probably didn't expect to meet again in a different place so soon. However, at this time, their situations had changed. If Francis still had a little room for bargaining last time, then as a prisoner now, it would be difficult for him to say any bold words in front of Qian Tiandun.
"I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon." Qian Tiandun's tone was very calm, but there was still an irrepressible smile between his eyebrows. Being able to capture the army commander in Manila alive must be credited to the special operations battalion for this victory. If nothing else happens, the long-delayed upgrade of the special operations battalion should be implemented soon after the war.
From battalion to regiment, this organizational upgrade seems simple, but Qian Tiandun and others have been fighting for this for several years. This is not just a matter of promotion to a higher rank, but a large number of senior officer positions have been created, which are rare opportunities for many people to advance. Qian Tiandun wants to fight for a better future for his brothers, but the Ministry of National Defense has to consider whether the political stance and loyalty of this ace force, which is almost based on Qian Tiandun's personal team, are as reliable as ever. Calculate how much military spending will be increased and how many weapons will be issued to this force after the organizational change.
There are also many political and military considerations involved, and it is not just a matter for the Ministry of National Defense. The Executive Committee has held many discussions on this matter to balance the opinions of various departments. Qian Tiandun didn't have much interest in these official things, and since he was stationed abroad for a long time, he had little chance to fight for himself on the executive committee. In his opinion, this organizational upgrade will be stuck in Sanya. The main problem is that his unit's military exploits are not rich enough. However, the military exploits achieved during the attack on Manila should be enough for the special operations battalion to overcome this problem. A roadblock.
Being able to capture Francis alive, Qian Tiandun believed that this brought a relatively perfect end to the siege of Manila, and it could be regarded as completely disintegrating the local armed resistance. As for the Philippine Governor who is still at large, Qian Tiandun does not care that much, because judging from the currently known intelligence, the Governor's military talents are extremely limited, and he lacks the two talents of Francis and Juan Luis. Without the assistance of generals, it is basically impossible to organize troops to launch a decent counterattack in the Philippine Islands.
The real purpose of Haihan's expedition to Manila was to use force to complete the occupation of the Manila area and to attack Spanish colonial rule in the Far East. As for completely driving the Spanish out of the South China Sea, that cannot be achieved with just one battle. Manila City is the largest Spanish colony in the South China Sea, but it is not the only one. There are actually many small colonies like Cavite Port within the Philippine Islands. Most of the Spanish immigrants who fled from Manila went to these places to settle.
If Haihan wants to completely clear out the Spanish colonists from the South China Sea, it will not be a task that can be completed in a short time, and the military does not intend to do such a time-consuming, laborious and ineffective task. Now that the Spaniards are unable to resist, Haihan only needs to capture Manila Bay and control all the natural resources on Luzon Island. This mission will be successfully completed.
Francis didn't have any violent reaction to Qian Tiandun's teasing. He knew that nothing he said would help in this situation. He just responded in a low voice: "This is all God's arrangement."
Qian Tiandun couldn't help laughing after listening to the translation: "It seems that God really doesn't like you Spaniards, and he won't even give you a chance to win."
Francis turned a deaf ear to what Qian Tiandun said. He was a soldier and a devout believer, so naturally he would not care about what Qian Tiandun said. Now that he is a prisoner, he no longer has the conditions to talk to the other party on an equal footing. It is impossible to compete with Qian Tiandun on such details.
"Mr. Francis, out of respect for you, I still want to inform you of the next arrangements. Because of your special status, we will send you to a secret location to be held in isolation. Of course, within a year, if you If you can raise a ransom fee for yourself, we can release you immediately after receiving the money. If you need to contact someone to raise the cost, we can also try to do it for you," Qian Tiandun said calmly. Francis described the last chance he had to escape.
Francis smiled bitterly and said: "Unfortunately, my personal property is not much, and I think it has been completely confiscated by you at this time. There is probably no way to squeeze out another money in exchange for freedom. I think you'd better Give me a happy solution so that you don’t have to waste your country’s food.”
"We don't plan to kill you, but we won't keep you in vain. When the situation in Manila stabilizes, we will send you to another place and give you a job to support yourself. But I must What I want to say is that it will be a very hard and tiring job, and it will even make your life worse than death, so if you can still contact anyone to raise money for you, please speak up as soon as possible. " Qian Tiandun didn't agree. Ken easily passed up the opportunity to extract money from Francis and still tried to persuade him to find a way to raise money to redeem himself.
However, Francis always refused to give in. No matter how Qian Tiandun tried to persuade him, he still insisted on his previous attitude and did not seek to escape. Qian Tiandun had no choice but to have someone take him away first.
Simon looked at Francis's back and said angrily: "This guy really doesn't know how to live or die. General Qian should just comply with his wishes and give him a good time!"
Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "What to do with these senior officers among the prisoners of war in the future has to be decided by the Executive Committee. This Francis has some backbone. He actually stayed in the city to make a last stand. Compared with that, what? The Governor is much stronger.”
Aragones, who was already dozens of miles away, suddenly sneezed loudly, but he didn't take it seriously. All he thought about was the next escape route. According to his idea, it would not be a problem if he kept escaping to the inland area in the north. A hundred miles north of Manila is the territory of some local indigenous tribes. His status as the governor of the Philippines cannot be used locally, and the indigenous people there are also They may not be willing to arrange room and board for him. Aragones originally wanted to go all the way around to the west along the coastline of Manila Bay, and then go through the mountains to Subic Bay, where he could escape to the sea. But it is said that Subic Bay has also been occupied by the Haihan people, and this escape route has become a dead end. The only solution for now is to take the risk of going out to sea from the north of Manila Bay at night, passing through the narrow channel at the mouth of Manila Bay at night, and then turning south after reaching the open sea, heading to Batangas Port to avoid the wind.
Of course, the prerequisite for completing this escape plan is that the Haihan Army will not pursue him personally, and that there are loopholes in the channels entering and exiting Manila Bay. However, Aragones is relatively optimistic about this. He believes that the Haihan Army will not relax after capturing Manila City. There are still a lot of follow-up matters that need to be properly handled, so they have no time to take care of people like him who have slipped through the net. It's a normal behavior.
The fact is, as Aragones expected, the capture of Manila only means that the war launched by Haihan has achieved a staged victory, not the end of the entire operation. In this coastal city that has just changed hands, there are still many affairs waiting for the new owner to handle them one by one.
The first to bear the brunt is the shore defenses of Manila Port. The Spanish authorities spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to build forts and other coastal defenses before the war. Since Haihan collected relevant military intelligence in advance, Haihan's army has been adopting a strategy of siege but not attacking this area, resulting in the loss of these defense facilities. It saw little use during the war. Although it had a large enough deterrent effect, it was only a deterrent and failed to cause any real damage to the Haihan Army.
After the city defense army surrendered, the completely isolated port defenses were naturally no longer able to conduct independent operations. After the situation in Manila City was clarified, the defenders here had no choice but to surrender to save their lives.
However, the Haihan Army had some difficulties in how to deal with these coastal defenses. The Spaniards were very attentive when building these coastal defense forts. Even if they were completed in a temporary rush, the quality of the project was not bad. The coastal defense cannons deployed here also gathered some of Spain's best large guns in the Far East. caliber artillery. If we simply demolish this place, it would be a waste of resources, and it would also be uneconomical from an economic point of view.
Finally, Yan Chujie called the Portuguese and took the initiative to ask them if they were interested in buying all these coastal defense guns at a price. If the Portuguese don't buy it, then they can go back to the Ming Dynasty, Annan, and Matalan, countries that are very interested in arms trading, and persuade them to buy the large number of weapons that Haihan captured in Manila.
As a representative of Portugal, Simão went to the port to see the real objects and was very satisfied with the condition of these coastal defense artillery pieces. However, he asked for a greater discount on the price, and he hoped that Haihan could purchase all the artillery pieces captured in Manila. They were also packaged and sold to Portugal, which was something the military could only dream of.
After some bargaining between the two parties, Simang finally ordered a total of more than 60 artillery pieces deployed by the Spanish in and outside Manila at a package price of 1.1 million Hainan dollars, as well as more than 1,300 muskets that had been captured so far. . Because the Portuguese contributed some efforts in this war, when Haihan disposed of these weapons and equipment, the price given to Portugal was quite reasonable. This price was cheaper than purchasing Haihan weapons of the same quantity and specifications. Much more.
The Spanish artillery captured during the war was also what the military wanted to fight for. This special unit has extremely high requirements for combat experience and practical operation capabilities. There are quite a few veteran artillerymen in the Spanish defenders who have retired from the regular army, and their combat effectiveness is no less than that of Haihan's artillery unit. The Haihan Army hoped that these artillerymen could be used for their own purposes, and promised that they could use their service years to exchange for their future freedom.
Although this condition sounds a bit incredible, in practice it was welcomed by the Spanish artillery. Most of these Spaniards did not have the conditions to raise money to redeem themselves. If serving Haihan for a few years could buy them freedom, then why not do it. This is much better than working as a miner until death. As for nationality, loyalty, etc., why should we care about those things when our lives are almost gone? The purpose of their coming from Europe to the Far East is to make a fortune. As for working for the Kingdom of Spain or for some other country, it actually makes no difference to these mercenaries who are just employed by the Manila authorities. At most, there is a slight difference in language. Just an obstacle.
Of course, even if these Spanish artillerymen are willing to accept the conditions and serve in the Haihan Army, they will not be assigned to the army immediately. They still need to undergo a hundred days of recruit training after the war. During this period, they also need to learn Chinese. Only after passing the test can they enter the army. Those who are eliminated will still be sent to the mines to work as laborers.
As for those ordinary soldiers who have no special skills, if they do not have the financial resources to redeem themselves, they can only be sent to other places to work as miners. Of course, a senior officer with a certain cultural foundation like Francis would make the best use of his resources even if he was assigned to work as a miner. He would be used as a clerk or something like that, so that he would not have to work in the tunnels like ordinary miners.
As for the cleanup work in the city, it was not as smooth as the reception port. The Manila authorities organized thousands of armed forces to fight against Haihan during the war, but only a small part of those killed and captured. Many paramilitary personnel were scattered and hiding in various hidden places in the city, or simply He restored his identity as an ordinary civilian, hoping to avoid being hunted by the Haihan army. However, this is not easy. The Haihan Army has already found the military roster at Francis's official residence, and is arresting him according to the map. No one can escape easily.
For a time, the entire city of Manila was in chaos and there was no peace. According to the estimates of the headquarters, the arrest work will take at least three or four days to complete the task.
(End of chapter)