Chapter 3571
After annihilating the Spanish fleet that failed to escape in time, the Luzon Expeditionary Force's clearing operation on Sumba Island has come to an end.
According to the confessions of the prisoners, there were no other undiscovered settlements on the island. During the clearance process, a small number of Spanish immigrants may have escaped into the mountains and forests of the island's interior, but that would not affect the overall situation, and it would not be a problem for a few scattered people to stay on the island.
The natives on the island probably also realized that the newly-appeared Haihan Army was not easy to mess with. They stayed on the sidelines during the battle between the two sides and made no attempt to participate.
It was not until the dust settled that the indigenous tribes sent representatives to contact the Haihan Army.
After a lot of gesticulating, the two sides still found it difficult to communicate. Finally, they had no choice but to find the Spaniard who was responsible for dealing with the indigenous tribes from among the prisoners. Only then did they understand that the indigenous tribes wanted to use the island's local products to trade with Haihan for what they needed. supplies.
Before this, of course, this type of transaction had been controlled by Western colonists, but now the fate of the Spaniards is right in front of them, and the indigenous tribes are also very good at assessing the situation and immediately take the initiative to switch transaction partners.
The attitude of the indigenous tribes played right into Xiao Zhengyang's hands.
At present, Haihan does not have the extra resources to develop remote islands like Sumba Island, but if the indigenous people on the island are willing to actively cooperate and conduct some simple barter-style transactions, then there will definitely be some private businessmen willing to take over such business.
Although there are no high-value strategic material outputs on Sumba Island, and the most valuable things are only sandalwood and spice crops, since both the Netherlands and Spain can profit from the colonial settlements here, it is up to Haihan to continue to maintain ties with the island. If you enter into trade relations with the indigenous people, you will definitely not lose money.
Xiao Zhengyang presented a hundred catties of pig iron, a hundred catties of refined salt, and ten jars of fine wine to the indigenous tribes as gifts for the trade cooperation relationship agreed between the two parties.
The other party immediately gave back dozens of cow and sheep skins. It turned out that the indigenous tribes on the island gradually learned animal husbandry during their contact with the Western colonists, and raised a large number of horses, cattle, sheep and other livestock on their own.
This not only avoided armed conflict with the indigenous people on the island, but also successfully integrated them into Haihan's trade network, which can be regarded as a quite satisfactory result.
During the combat operation on Sumba Island, the Luzon Expeditionary Force only suffered three casualties and seventeen wounded. The company led by Zheng Agui even achieved zero casualties, which was highly praised by Xiao Zhengyang.
Although the final battle was not due to Zheng Agui alone, if he had not discovered the enemy's situation in time and reported for help, the Spanish fleet might have escaped again.
Zheng Agui did not greedy for credit in this process, but took the initiative to hand over the first credit to his boss, Xiao Zhengyang. This extremely sensible approach also made Xiao Zhengyang determined to say a few more good words for him in the battle report sent to Manila. .
Although the battle between the Luzon Expeditionary Force and the Spanish colonial armed forces was relatively smooth, it inevitably greatly slowed down the development of the New World.
Originally, the Manila authorities expected to build a colonial port with a permanent population of 3,000 in North Port in the middle of the year, and set up a fixed route from the Luzon region to the New World. However, due to the sudden outbreak of the war, they had to put it on hold temporarily. During the development process of the New World, resources were concentrated on dealing with the Spanish first.
According to information provided by the Executive Committee, the area where Beimen Port is located is the coolest time of the year in June and July, with temperatures during this period of less than 20 degrees. If it takes two to three months to complete the preliminary infrastructure construction and farmland reclamation, food crops can be planted just in time for the rainy season in the second half of the year. As long as we can achieve food self-sufficiency, we will have a firm foothold in the local area, and then various subsequent development projects can be carried out one after another.
However, the war has greatly slowed down the infrastructure construction process of Beimen Port, and even the plan to transport immigrants to the local area had to be suspended due to safety issues.
Judging from the current war situation, because the targets are too scattered, this round of war to clear out Spanish colonial settlements may have to last for some time before it is expected to end.
For the various forces involved in this battle, the military merits gained from the clearance operations were actually far less than the war that broke out in the Philippine Islands two years ago.
Because there are basically no major ports like Cebu and Davao in this area, the Haihan Army needs to carry out a large-scale offensive. Most places are similar to the settlements Zheng Agui found on Sumba Island. The small ones have a population of one or two hundred, and the large ones only have one or two thousand people. It is not difficult to conquer such small places, and there is no need to report credit to the executive committee. face.
As for falsely reporting military exploits and exaggerating the results of a war, that is much more difficult than winning a war.
All combat operations involve personnel from the Military Intelligence Bureau, which is directly under the orders of the Ministry of National Defense and is not under the jurisdiction of the Luzon Regional Garrison Command. Battle reports can moderately exaggerate victory, but if fraud is involved, the Military Intelligence Bureau will not cover up the truth for Luzon.
Under Xiao Zhengyang's personal command, Bangui Battalion successfully completed the clearing operations on the three islands of Sasak, Sumba, and Sumbawa before the thirty-day time limit set by him.
However, this does not mean that the Banji Battalion has completed its mission and can return to North Korea. On the long front of more than two thousand miles east of these three islands, several other battalions from the Beimen Port garrison are still fighting. middle. The Bangui Battalion must immediately reinforce other friendly forces in order to complete the clearing operation in this area as soon as possible.
Xiao Zhengyang only gave Bangui Camp two days of rest, and then set off for Timor Island, six hundred miles east of Sumba Island.
Timor Island is long and narrow in shape and nearly a thousand miles wide from east to west. Its size is almost exactly the combined area of the three islands that Bangui Camp was previously responsible for.
This island used to be a battleground between the Netherlands and Portugal, but as Spain has continued to increase its troops in the area in recent years, the other two have been driven away.
Although there are not many Spanish settlements on the island, the planning area of each settlement is relatively scattered. To speed up their eradication, the only way is to increase the investment of troops.
When Xiao Zhengyang led his troops to clear up the area south of the Banda Sea, it was already late July.
At this time, Swan Harbor, located on the west coast of the New World, had already welcomed Star Island's second colonial fleet, and began to build new settlements in the inland and southern locations where proven mineral deposits were located.
In terms of development progress, Swan Port is now far ahead of Beimen Port, and it is even expected to be able to harvest the first batch of grain planted in the New World before the end of the year, achieving local supply of grain as quickly as possible.
I wish all book friends a happy Mid-Autumn Festival! May the whole family be healthy!