Chapter 2987
The battle that broke out in the early morning came and went quickly. The two sides fought for only a moment. But although the Spaniards were defeated, the Haihan army did not dare to be careless and beware of a second wave of offensive. The outpost sent people back to the camp overnight to request reinforcements.
Zheng Agui led his men and held on in the drizzle until dawn, when reinforcements and ambulance personnel finally arrived.
"Platoon Leader Yang, why did you arrive just now! If the enemy launches several more waves of offensive, this outpost may not be able to be defended!" Zheng Agui couldn't bear it when he saw that the leading officer was a second lieutenant platoon leader whom he knew. I complained a few words.
Platoon Leader Yang, who looked tired, responded: "I have been on the road all night. Post No. 7 asked for help from the camp after repelling the enemy's offensive. The situation should not be that urgent, so I arrived a little late. ”
Only then did Zheng Agui realize that it was possible that more than just Post No. 7 had been attacked last night. After further questioning, he learned that the Spaniards actually launched night attacks on eight locations at the same time, with varying scales.
This multi-point offensive method is obviously to let the Haihan Army focus on one thing and miss the other, and then choose the areas with weaker defenses to launch the real offensive. The opponents encountered at Outpost No. 7 were defeated in one blow. It was very likely that this was just the target of a feint attack.
There are lucky ones, and of course there are unlucky ones. The No. 2 outpost, more than ten miles away, became the main target of the opponent's night attack because it was set at the protrusion of the outer defense line.
There was an entire platoon of troops stationed at Post No. 2, but the Spaniards were obviously determined to capture this post in the salient, so they invested heavily in the night attack and used artillery to attack the bunkers and barracks of the post. attack. This also caused Outpost No. 2 to become the battlefield with the most serious damage last night, with a total of four dead and sixteen injured.
Several mobile units in the camp were exhausted last night, fighting fires everywhere. Compared with several other battlefields, the situation encountered at Outpost No. 7 was indeed not serious, and only three people were injured in the battle. So it was not until after dawn that the reinforcements arrived.
After understanding what happened last night, Zheng Agui had nothing to complain about. After all, Bangui Camp only has so many troops deployed on such a long defense line. It is inevitable that they will lose sight of one when encountering multiple attacks.
The best solution is of course to add more troops to the entire defense line, but this seems difficult to achieve in the short term. After a short rest in Cebu, the participating troops have already set off for the next battlefield.
Although the Luzon Region does not plan to continue advancing the front southward for the time being, in the recently occupied central area of the Philippine Islands, in addition to Cebu Island, there are still many islands that have not been completely cleared and must be cleaned up.
You must know that among the seven large islands occupied by this operation, Cebu Island only ranks fifth in area. For the navy and army belonging to the Luzon Region, this round of military operations is far from over. When it's over.
For the troops guarding Cebu City, they will have to face a shortage of troops for a period of time.
Ten days after occupying Cebu, good news finally came from the navy. The fleet heading to the west coast of Cebu Island for prospecting had successfully landed in the town of Toledo.
Two hundred Marines encountered little resistance and successfully occupied this seaside town. Perhaps because it is far away from Cebu City, not many Spaniards have settled here. Most of them are mixed-race and Latino immigrants from the American colonies. Through questioning these residents, the previous intelligence was indeed confirmed. If you follow the Hailawan River next to the town, you will go to the rumored copper mine.
However, this copper mine was only explored last year, and the colonial authorities had not yet had time to organize mining. Many of the residents currently settled in the town of Toledo only moved here this year. The colonial authorities also clearly informed them that the reason for being resettled here was to arrange for them to work as miners.
Originally, there was a team of musketeers guarding the town, but fighting has been ongoing in nearby areas recently, and that team of musketeers had been ordered to be transferred to Cebu City half a month ago. Calculating the time, it should have happened to coincide with the Haihan Army's attack on Cebu Port a few days ago. Most of them would have been buried in the ground by this time.
Following the guidance of the locals, the Marines followed the Hailawan River to the location of the mine in the mountains and forests. The area has been left unattended, leaving only more than a dozen sampling pits of various sizes and a row of simple work sheds.
The Marine Corps successfully extracted hundreds of kilograms of ore samples locally, transported them to the seaside on packhorses, and then loaded them on ships and transported them back to Cebu Port. When a supply ship returns to Manila, the ore will be transported back and then transferred to Sanya to be handed over to the Ministry of Industry.
Although this process is somewhat cumbersome, it is a necessary process for an industry such as mining that requires huge initial investment. Even if the grade of these ores is recognized by the Ministry of Industry, there is a high probability that a special exploration team will be sent here to conduct secondary sampling in order to inspect the veins and mining environment here and formulate corresponding plans for subsequent formal mining.
If this copper mine has long-term mining value, then all the costs of this military operation in the Luzon Region will be worthwhile, and it can provide thousands of employment opportunities for the region, allowing the Luzon Region to advance in the process of industrialization. A big step forward in the process.
But until the remaining Spanish armed forces on Cebu Island are completely wiped out, both exploration and mining will face great risks. Therefore, the top priority of the Cebu garrison is still to eliminate those resisters hiding in the mountains and forests.
On December 1, a small fleet quietly arrived at the port of Cebu. Xiao Liang, who is in charge of the military power of the Luzon Region, personally came to Cebu to deal with the thorny problems currently encountered by the Haihan Army.
Xiao Liang also brought a battalion with him on this trip. This battalion was not a conventional force, but was composed of a group of veterans mobilized and recruited by the military within the Luzon region before the start of the war.
The area occupied by the Luzon Region in this operation has exceeded more than half of the previous jurisdiction. Even though a large number of militia troops were deployed as security forces in the occupied areas, they still faced the dilemma of insufficient troops because the front was too long.
This resulted in the Haihan Army using a relatively conservative strategy on Cebu Island, building a defense line outside Cebu City to prevent the Spanish on the island from launching a counterattack. Such tactics obviously did not satisfy the superiors, so Xiao Liang led the troops personally. Get to the front line.
"I hope to solve the problem in Cebu Island within a month. As for the reason, I don't think I need to explain any more."
When Xiao Liang said this, he raised his hand and made a gesture of counting money. Jiao Fei and Yu Tiezhu laughed heartily when they saw this.
(End of chapter)