Chapter 2982
The temporary canteen of Banji Camp is located in a small street restaurant. In addition to the firewood stove and kitchen utensils in the back kitchen, the cooking team is probably interested in the more than a dozen sets of tables and stools where the tired soldiers can sit and eat. .
This block is already empty of ten houses. Most of the local people evacuated here before the fighting started. The owner of the restaurant has also disappeared long ago.
However, when the owner evacuated, he only took away the ingredients in the store, leaving behind the pots, pans, pans and other furnishings, so the store was requisitioned by the Haihan Army along with the store.
There is no signboard at the entrance of this restaurant, but judging from the tableware used and the wear and tear on the tables and stools, this should be a Spanish restaurant that has been in business for a long time. Perhaps because of this, there is no need to use signs to attract customers.
In the past, the main focus here may have been Spanish dishes such as paella or potato omelette, but now the chef has been replaced by the Haihan cooking class, so today's breakfast is rice porridge and steamed buns that are more in line with the eating habits of the Han people.
Since wheat is not grown in Luzon, the flour used to make steamed buns actually comes from thousands of miles away in the north. Being able to ensure that soldiers eat hot pasta on the front lines of combat is the ultimate level that the logistics department can achieve.
A bowl of hot porridge and two or three steamed buns will fill your stomach and you will have the strength to continue carrying out the next combat mission.
It was not yet light up at this time, and most of the tables and benches in the shop were empty. There were not many soldiers coming to have breakfast at this time, and most of them had just completed their night vigil duty. It will take at least an hour for the place to slowly become lively.
After finishing breakfast, Zheng Agui sat still and took out cigarettes from his pocket. He silently handed one to each of his subordinates present, and finally took one out and put it in his mouth.
Next to him, Qin Bo wisely took out a box of matches, lit them, and then went over to light Zheng Agui's cigarette.
Zheng Agui actually doesn't know how to smoke. He didn't even touch this thing much before going on the expedition. Even now, he just lets the smoke circulate in his mouth and nose before spitting it out. He doesn't dare to inhale it into his lungs to avoid choking himself.
But he had just spent a very bad night, and he had to do something to stabilize his mood so that he could stay calm in front of everyone.
"Everything in the world is unpredictable. Now that we are on the battlefield, everyone must be prepared to be shrouded in horse leather!"
Zheng Agui said in a deep voice: "Saving one's life for the country is the highest honor for us as soldiers. We must never forget it! We must complete the mission and defeat the enemy. This is the best memorial to our fallen comrades!"
Everyone remained silent, but their eyes became determined. What Zheng Agui said was not a new theory, but some propaganda slogans that they had heard repeatedly almost every day since they joined the army.
Normally, it seems that no one cares much about these slogans, and many people even think that it is just a way to numb the spirit. But when they step onto the battlefield and truly come into contact with the gap between life and death, they find that they can give them the greatest encouragement. It is precisely these slogans that are repeated every day.
Why to fight and for whom to die are ideological questions that every army must solve. Hai Hanjun's approach is to connect it with personal value and sense of honor.
This may have a limited impact on soldiers with little knowledge and limited education, but as long as such awareness is instilled day after day, it can still have quite good effects. The reason why Zheng Agui encouraged his men after asking for breakfast was because during the watch last night, the team he led encountered a sneak attack by the resisters and paid the price of one death and one injury.
The battle happened suddenly, and the number of enemies who launched the attack was far greater than theirs. However, Zheng Agui responded in time and commanded his men to severely defeat the enemies.
They killed eight people on the spot and captured two, but an unknown number of enemies escaped from the battlefield under the cover of darkness.
Zheng Agui used his limited rescue skills to treat his injured men during the battle. However, the problem was that they did not carry much medicine and bandages, and it was difficult to achieve the purpose of rescue on the spot. There was no stretcher nearby in the middle of the night. or horse-drawn carriages to evacuate the wounded. By the time the medics arrived after receiving the news, one of the wounded had already died due to excessive blood loss.
They watched the whole rescue process together and watched the bodies of their comrades being carried away. Then he was interviewed by people from the Military Intelligence Bureau and told about the attack and battle. In order to further investigate the deployment status of the Spaniards, the Military Intelligence personnel finally took away their prisoners.
The battalion headquarters sent another squad to replace them. The duty that was supposed to be on duty until the morning was changed more than an hour in advance.
Although everyone was very tired, no one could sleep at this time, so Zheng Agui led everyone to the canteen next to the camp to fill their stomachs before making plans.
"According to the order of the battalion headquarters, we have half a day to rest, so... I hope that when I see you again at noon today, each of you will be ready for battle!"
Zheng Agui threw the cigarette butt to the ground and stepped on it hard: "If you feel uncomfortable, then kill a few more Spaniards on the battlefield to avenge our brothers!"
Zheng Agui's men were only one of the seventy-three people killed in the battle on this day, and the Haihan Army's death toll in the entire battle in Cebu was close to two hundred.
Compared with this number, the battle losses suffered by the Subic Battalion during the earlier battle on Panay Island seemed to be nothing more than trivial.
In the headquarters, the senior officers all had pale faces. The intensity of resistance and the number of casualties encountered by the Haihan Army in Cebu this time exceeded the records of previous attacks here. Since the establishment of the Luzon Region, it has never suffered such heavy casualties in any military operation.
The staff may have expected that the Spaniards would organize a relatively strong resistance in Cebu, but they did not expect that it would lead to the current situation.
It took the Haihan Army two days to capture all the manned forts in Cebu City and control most of the city. But this does not mean the end of the battle. The Spaniards hiding in various places are still carrying out sporadic resistance actions and continue to cause casualties to the Haihan Army.
Although the resisters paid a heavier price in casualties, their fighting will was obviously much stronger than before. They had abandoned the city and fled into the mountains long ago, but this time they wanted to kill Haihan at any cost. The army was driven out of their territory.
The command believes that there must be some reason unknown to Haihan, and at the moment, the answer can only be found by interrogating the prisoners.
(End of chapter)