Chapter 2994
Although the two prisoners had European faces, they were not real Spaniards. They were just mixed-race children left by the colonists in the Philippine Islands. Their origins were not qualified to enjoy the treatment of colonists, and they were unable to integrate into the local indigenous groups. They could only make a living by working for the Spanish as servants.
After the Haihan Army invaded Cebu not long ago, they followed their masters and fled to the mountains and forests west of the city to avoid the war.
However, the place they went to was not a temporary residence for ordinary people, but a separate secret shelter. It is said that this place was organized and built by their owner. All the craftsmen involved in the construction were transferred away from Cebu Island after the completion, and their daily maintenance was also responsible for their close friends. Most locals did not know that such a place existed on the island. location.
After hiding in the mountains and forests for half a month, they finally got news about another team that was separated when they fled. It is said that the team was responsible for transporting some important items, but because the packhorse pulling the cart was exhausted on the way, they could only bury some of the items nearby.
Their master had to confirm the whereabouts of these important items before he would try to escape from Cebu Island, so he sent these two servants to dig out these boxes at the burial site and bring some of the important items back to the shelter.
The important items they were talking about were the few books in the box of documents. The Spanish translator who accompanied the team had limited literacy, and could only tell that the contents of these books were related to the Spanish military deployment in the Philippine Islands. As for the specific contents, I am afraid that the relevant experts from the Military Intelligence Bureau would have to slowly study them.
However, through these materials, the confessions of these two unlucky men, and the information previously obtained by Xiao Zhengyang, it is basically possible to determine the identity of this mysterious owner, who is the Governor of Cebu, Vidal, whom the Haihan Army has been searching for to no avail.
According to Spanish tradition, in the past, there would only be one Philippine governor in the South China Sea, with jurisdiction over the Philippine Islands, Jilong Port in Taiwan, and many colonies in the southwest Pacific.
However, with the rise of Haihan, Spain's sphere of influence in Southeast Asia shrank rapidly. First, it lost Tamsui Port and Jilong Port in northern Taiwan in 1633, and later in 1637, Manila was captured by Haihan, and even the then-Philippines Governor Aragones was also captured.
After losing the Manila area, the Governor's Palace and other official agencies had to move south from Luzon to Cebu. If the subsequent chief executive continued to use the title "Governor of the Philippines", it would be a bit deceiving, so he simply changed it to the Governor of Cebu - when Manila is recaptured from Haihan, he will change it back to the previous title. Late.
After Aragones and before Vidal, there was actually a Governor Lopez in between. However, Lopez was not keen on confrontation during his tenure, and his energy was mainly focused on operating ocean-going trade routes between Southeast Asia, the Americas, and Europe.
The current Governor-General Vidal took office seven years ago. This man is not willing to divide the Philippine Islands equally with Haihan. He has been promoting the resumption of colonial settlements in the central Philippines and gradually pushing the actual control line towards Luzon Island.
Of course, such an attempt was very dangerous. Haihan had already decided to take action before Bidar could accumulate enough armed forces to launch a war. This move was a thunderous move, and the colonies that the Spaniards had spent many years operating in the southern Philippine Islands had been lost in just one or two months.
And this time when the Haihan Army attacked Cebu, they no longer took the initiative to withdraw their troops after the battle as before, but assumed a posture of occupying this place for a long time. After breaking through the fortress group in the city, Vidal knew that he was unable to resist the Haihan army's offensive on the frontal battlefield, so he could only escape into the mountains and forests, hoping to avoid this disaster first and then make plans.
Relying on the secretly built shelter, Vidal and his party escaped many rounds of searches by the Haihan Army. But his whereabouts are not without clues. Many people in the team transporting important items were captured. In order to save their lives, some of them revealed the location of the buried items and claimed that Governor Vidal would definitely send someone to dig out after learning about it. Take these things with you. It was the Marine Corps to which Xiao Zhengyang belonged that had this key information, so they set up an ambush near the mining area and waited for Vidal to appear.
Although Vidal did not appear in person, he caught the men he sent, which had the same effect. Xiao Zhengyang felt that the Toledo camp, which was more than 20 miles away, was too slow to call for help. The coming and going might delay the fighter's opportunity, so he simply used the existing manpower, plus the temporarily recruited Zheng Agui team, to rush to the shelter where Vidal was hiding. Carry out arrest missions.
Bidar's shelter is located in an inaccessible valley and built into a natural cave. Because there is a mountain spring water source in the cave, as long as there are enough food reserves, the cave can be closed to the outside in one direction, take concealment measures, and then hide silently for a long time.
Although the confessions of the two prisoners were consistent, saying that the cave had only one entrance and exit, Xiao Zhengyang was worried that the duck around his mouth would fly away, so he deployed several people on the outside of the valley to act as lookouts, and then sealed off the area near the entrance of the cave.
According to what the prisoner said, there were about thirty people in the Vidal family, as well as servants and guards, hiding in this cave. There are only less than ten armed guards with real combat effectiveness, but there are bunkers built inside and a large number of guns and ammunition for the defenders to use.
If a forceful attack is to be launched, the side defending in the dark will have some geographical advantage, and casualties will inevitably occur in the fight.
There are many ventilation holes in the cave connected to the outside world, and the air circulation is unimpeded. It is not easy to smoke out the people inside with fire attacks.
After Xiao Zhengyang surveyed the environment, he also believed that it would not be easy to attack by force, so he decided to try to persuade him to surrender, and even asked the Spanish translator to come forward and speak.
In order to facilitate the operation, during this operation, there was a standard text for the surrender call, and the Spanish translation did not need to be modified at the moment, and the shouting was started directly. The general idea is nothing more than "Listen to the people inside, you have been surrounded by the Haihan Army. You must give up resistance immediately and raise your hands to surrender to save your life."
After shouting several times, there was a response from the cave, asking the Haihan Army to send people into the cave to negotiate.
This is of course an extremely dangerous job. If the Spaniards break the pot and die together, the people who go in to negotiate will definitely become victims.
Zheng Agui knew that it would not be his turn as an outsider, so he decided to watch the excitement and see how Xiao Zhengyang appointed the candidates.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Zhengyang had no intention of assigning others, but decided to take action himself. He first spoke to the deputy for a few words, then asked the Spanish translator to follow him into the cave.
(End of chapter)