The Spanish fleet broke through - and then was completely destroyed. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

It must be said that Pascual. Admiral Severa was an excellent soldier with accurate judgment and chose the right time to break through: the battleships New York and Massachusetts broke away from the blockade line one after another, Sampson temporarily left his command position, Schleigh had only three battleships and two armored cruisers, and there was no better opportunity for Severa and his fleet, and he did seize it.

Unfortunately, the admiral was doomed. Even with a near-perfect opportunity, the Spanish fleet's breakthrough operation was unsuccessful.

Because the smoke produced by the burning of inferior coal, the fuel used by the warships, caused the Spanish fleet to be discovered by the American fleet before it approached the entrance to the harbor, resulting in the complete loss of the suddenness of the entire breakthrough operation;

And then there's the inferior performance of the battleship -- the fastest Cristóbal. The sailors of the cruiser Cologne managed to barely reach fourteen knots with all their might, and were overtaken by the USS Brooklyn and the USS Oregon fifty-five nautical miles from San Diego, where they sank, while several other ships were intercepted by American warships near the harbor, some were forced to surrender, others were sunk outright;

As well as the poor qualities of the Spanish sailors.

Throughout the course of the naval battle, the only achievement achieved by these poorly trained and demoralized sailors was to get Cristobal to fight with the help of brandy. The Cologne ran; The shells they fired at the American warship had no effect, killing only one clerical sergeant and wounding one sailor.

By contrast, the U.S. fleet killed about one hundred and sixty Spanish officers and enlisted men in this perfect battle of annihilation, while capturing another eighteen hundred, including Severa, to win itself a more brilliant and remarkable victory than the Battle of Manila Bay.

A result to celebrate.

"Gentlemen, let's toast to the victory of the Atlantic Fleet!" Holding a glass of whiskey, Dewey shouted to the naval officers around him, and received a resounding response.

"To General Sampson and General Schleigh!"

There was a palpable and irrepressible joy and excitement in the officers' tones, but everyone knew that it had nothing to do with the victory of Sampson and Schleigh, but only because the Far Eastern Fleet had just gotten out of a huge trouble: just a few days earlier, the Army and Navy Council had informed Dewey that the Spanish Navy's Neuel. Admiral Camara was heading towards Manila with four battleships, an armored cruiser, five destroyers, and two transports. This intelligence, apparently at least a month late, left the rear admiral and his staff scrambling, and although Kamala's fleet was full of old warships that would not be better than targets in front of Sampson and Schleigh, they could beat the cruisers of the Far Eastern Fleet to the ground.

Therefore, some time ago, Dewey and his staff had been busy making battle plans, and the captains had resumed the intensive training of sailors, ready to solve this serious challenge at the lowest cost; But now, they can no longer worry about Kamala's fleet. Severa's fleet failed, and Madrid had to recall the last of its fleet to Spain to prevent the American fleet from coming from the other side of the Atlantic.

Like the American people in April and May, it is now the turn of the Spanish people to panic.

Dewey liked the result, so he threw a drinking party to celebrate the victory of Sampson and Schleigh - but it was really just a celebration of his fleet out of danger.

As a bystander, Qin Lang knew very well what Dewey and his officers were thinking, and knew that they should be happy and should celebrate in a big way. But he himself was completely unable to participate in the festivities: from the very beginning he knew that it was impossible for Kamala's fleet to reach the Philippines, so the nervousness and worry had nothing to do with him; And when this realization became a reality, he could not be surprised or delighted.

He could only watch from the sidelines, calm as he had ever been, and then join the officers' conversation at the right time and take it in another direction.

"The war is coming to an end."

"What?" Dewey looked at Qin Lang and felt that he couldn't keep up with his rhythm: one second, they were still celebrating the complete destruction of Severa's fleet by the navy, and the next second, Qin Lang had already begun to predict that "the war is about to end." Although it was an inevitable result, Qin Lang's conversion speed was obviously a little faster.

Maybe it's because he didn't drink. The rear admiral guessed. Maybe not drinking alcohol was Qin Lang's way to keep his mind active, however......

"Yes, without Severa's fleet, the Spanish forces of Cuba and Puerto Rico will soon surrender, and then Madrid will have to ask Washington for peace." Dewey gestured, "I expect this to happen within a month." But the politicians' negotiations are likely to continue until the end of the year. ”

December 10. Qin Lang slightly recalled the history he knew. Yes, on December 10, representatives of Washington and Madrid signed the final peace agreement in Paris. Spain relinquished all power in Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States.

Then, there was the war between the United States and the Philippines.

"Personally, I think it's better for us to start thinking about how to deal with our Filipino allies now." He smiled and said, not at all like he was talking about a conspiracy -- or something like that -- that "as soon as Washington signs a peace treaty with Madrid, the war between the United States and the Philippines will immediately break out." Therefore, the troops in the Philippines must be ready to strike first and wipe out our opponents in one fell swoop. ”

"Oh, it's your affair with General MacArthur, General." Dewey shrugged, apparently not intending to join the discussion. Of course, he had a very good reason: he was a naval officer, and he was only good at commanding battles at sea, not planning a war on land. But the problem is that the commander of the US Army unit, who arrived in Manila not long ago, Arthur . Brigadier General MacArthur [Note], he did not want to discuss strategic issues with Qin Lang.

MacArthur was a proud man, like his son, a five-star general in the U.S. Army and Marshal of the Philippines, Douglas. MacArthur was just as proud - and lacking in political vision. On the first day of his arrival in the Philippines, MacArthur declared that Qin Lang was not qualified to discuss military issues with him, but not because of race, but because Qin Lang was neither a graduate of the West Point Military Academy nor a higher military academy for further study, and even if he had a strong mercenary army, his military talent was certainly not up to the standard of a professional soldier.

Of course, this is only a relatively public reason, and a more in-depth and covert reason is that at Umbrella, the Army elite of West Point has been suppressed by second-rate students at the Virginia Military Academy and fool sailors at the Annapolis Naval Academy, and it is certain that this is the result of Qin Lang's connivance, so MacArthur refused to give him a good face as a means of revenge in place of the alumni.

Finally, and least importantly, Brigadier General MacArthur and his 11,000 army soldiers hurried to Manila to find that not only could they find no good place to stay, but they could not make any gain: the captured Spanish soldiers and civilians were looted by the mercenaries, there was no gold, no money, no wine, and the women were lying in the arms of the mercenaries who had made a fortune.

In such a situation, even if the brigadier general was willing to get along with Qin Lang amicably, under the pressure of the junior officers and soldiers, he could only keep a straight face - not to mention that MacArthur had no intention of being friendly at all.

There is no doubt that from a global perspective, this is a rather comical thing that will seriously affect US military operations in the Philippines; And yet it did happen, and no one was ready to change the situation.

MacArthur was clearly not the one willing to change; As a naval officer, Dewey could neither nor was willing to meddle, and had nothing to do with him in matters on land; As for Qin Lang, what did he have to worry about? Umbrella's extended contract with Washington is about to expire, and the mercenaries will soon be withdrawn to the Canton Bay base, and it is the Army's job to deal with Aguinaldo. Of course, if MacArthur was willing to ask him for advice, for the sake of his son's face, Qin Lang would be more than happy to give him some guidance; However, since His Excellency the Brigadier General preferred to bring the relationship between the two sides to an impasse, then he had to face a series of unseemly defeats.

And in fact, MacArthur's attitude is exactly what Qin Lang wants to see: the worse the army is beaten by the Filipinos, the more opportunities his mercenaries have to get new contracts, and they don't have to risk providing technical guidance to the Philippine army, so that they can attack the army more fiercely, because the army itself has sent itself into a desperate situation.

Qin Lang likes the current situation, it is so wonderful that it is refreshing.

"But since you also don't intend to discuss military issues with MacArthur, why would you propose to discuss it at a celebratory reception?" Dewey asked.

He wanted to ask the question while the party was still going on; But he didn't bring it up until the party was over and everyone else had left.

"It's nothing, it's just that Washington needs a suitable excuse from the Army." Qin Lang shrugged his shoulders, "As we discussed before the war began, we need to shift the responsibility for the outbreak of conflict between the United States and the Philippines to the Filipinos - so I want to find a suitable time to alert the Army to this matter." ”

Dewey nodded. "You said that let the Filipinos carry out terrorist attacks and turn them into terrorists."

"No, General, it was we who carried out the terrorist attack and shifted the blame to the Filipinos and called them terrorists." Qin Lang smiled, "This is my way." ”

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Note: Historically, the first U.S. Army commander sent to the Philippines was General Merritt. MacArthur appeared in advance (to be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )