"What I see now is what is called a fortress. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info" Qin Lang's voice broke the silence he had started nearly half an hour ago. He stood in front of an enlarged map of Manila, gazing at all the buildings and facilities marked on it—the only tool he could use in the war. For the rest of the day, he was going to watch it all day.

Governor Augustine relocated his army and all Hispanic residents to Manila's Old Town, hiding behind that seemingly impregnable wall. It must be said that this is a typical bad idea. Ostensibly, the moats and walls of the Old Town were sufficient to withstand any attack from the front, and the three batteries were also capable of posing a serious threat to Dewey's fleet. But in fact, Manila's city walls are single-story bastion structures, and there are only a few triangular fortresses as support points, even if traditional methods are used to conquer it, it is only a matter of time, Qin Lang can also use poison gas.

Of course, now is not the time. Qin Lang is neither benevolent nor moral, and he doesn't like boring humanitarianism, but he has almost no way to deal with mustard gas contamination. Just to avoid unnecessary non-combat attrition of his mercenaries, he is ready to use traditional methods first.

The corners of his mouth curled upwards as he tried to imagine the predicament of the Spanish soldiers, who had never been trained in street fighting. There were countless traditional ways to break through the moats and fortress-type walls of the old city - even if he knew more than ten, Qin Lang sneered, all he had to do now was to pick one or a few of the ideal results that fit the strategic and tactical goals.

Interestingly, however, no matter which approach he chooses, the most basic strategic objectives are always achievable.

"The Philippine army has launched a fierce assault on the Old City at your request." A military adviser entered the room and reported to him that "the Spanish army resisted stubbornly and the fighting was raging. ”

"Obviously, the Spaniards knew very well that death would be the best outcome if they were captured by the Filipinos." Qin Lang turned around slowly, "I'm sure the commanders must understand my plan, right?" ”

"Of course, Brigadier General. All the artillerymen and machine gunners who were responsible for providing fire support to the Filipinos were given orders not to shoot too accurately. ”

"Excellent." He laughed, paused for a few seconds and asked, "What about the loss?" ”

"So far, at least three hundred people have been killed and nearly a thousand wounded." The military adviser replied, "The Spaniards had almost nothing to lose, except for ammunition. ”

"Good." Qin Lang nodded, "At this rate, within a few days, the Philippine army will suffer heavy losses, and the Spanish army will be running out of ammunition. At that point, our army will be able to attack and crush our opponents, while at the same time keeping the exhausted Allied forces out of Manila in a reasonable way. ”

"Everything will go as you expect, Commodore General." The military adviser did not doubt Qin Lang's conclusion at all: his judgment was always correct, and there had not been any mistakes, and as a result, most people were blinded. Fortunately, the military advisers who were selected by Qin Lang to participate in the Philippine campaign still had the most basic judgment and could express some opinions. "But there's also the problem that even if we use the strength of the Spanish army to inflict heavy losses on the Filipinos, Aguinaldo could easily recruit more into his army......"

"Hastily recruited recruits are no substitute for seasoned veterans, much less good commanders in the army. After this war, Aguinardo's military power will be greatly weakened - even if on the surface, he has more soldiers than before. Qin Lang snorted, "It will be easy to eliminate him." ”

And so he did. But on the other hand, Qin Lang didn't really mind that Aguinaldo had a more powerful military than before - if Congress refused to extend his employment contract and instead used the army to suppress the Filipino rebellion, a strong Philippine army would be enough to prompt lawmakers to change their decision. For Qin Lang, letting the army get this "job" is undoubtedly a very unfortunate result.

As for the national interests of the United States...... As an arms dealer and mercenary leader, Qin Lang would not consider this kind of thing that lacked a direct connection with him.

Secretly sneering for a while, he put away his thoughts and made a gesture to the military adviser, "Let our soldiers keep their current state while urging the Philippine army to attack more violently......"

As he spoke, a mercenary who was working as a guard walked in. "General, General Natibida of the Philippine Army is outside. He wants to see you. ”

"Natibida?" Qin Lang turned to the military advisor and smiled, "Maybe the Filipinos need stronger fire support." ”

"Do you need to refuse, sir?"

"Nope. I met with him and accepted his request for enhanced fire support. "Since Congress will bear the full cost of the ammunition consumed by the mercenaries, why not? Wasting taxpayers' money is always a pleasant thing, especially for a taxpayer who has no political rights. Qin Lang smiled happily for a while, and waved his hand gently, "You guys, let's leave." General, please, come in. ”

The military advisor saluted him along with the guards, turned and left the room. Then, the best general in Aguinaldo's army walked in.

However, although Natibida was the best military commander of the Philippine army, Qin Lang still didn't know enough about him, and didn't even know his full name - it wasn't until he arrived in the Philippines and met Aguinaldo that he heard about Natibida and some of his deeds: last year, at a dangerous moment when Aguinado executed another leader of the rebel army, Bonifaxiu, disbanded the "Captinan", and the rebel army was completely defeated, Natibida defeated the Spanish army at the Battle of Aliaga, and established political power in seven provinces in the central Philippines.

In the end, of course, his achievements were also lost in the peace talks between Aguinardo and Rivera, leaving little to ......

It must be said that as a very good military commander by Philippine standards, Natibida's political vision has serious and fatal flaws.

So he couldn't see Qin Lang's plan, and he was turning his plan into reality. However, from his point of view, even if Natibida could see any clues, he could still only take the same action: for political reasons, and with a little hint and encouragement from Dewey, Aguinaldo and the other leaders demanded that the Philippine army retake Manila before the American allies, and he had no choice.

He could only dance to the rhythm prescribed by Qin Lang.

Exactly as he had expected, almost as soon as they met, Natibida made his request. "General Qin Lang, I hope ...... I beg you to invest more machine guns and artillery to provide support, my troops are in dire need of your assistance. The Spaniards resisted stubbornly on the walls, and the soldiers could not even get close to the moat. ”

"Unbelievable." Qin Lang pretended to be surprised and said, "According to the intelligence given to me by Washington, the Spanish soldiers' will to fight is quite weak, and they are almost on the verge of collapse on the battlefield in Cuba. ”

He lied. Even if he did not know what was actually going on there, according to the history he knew, the Spanish Army had shown a tenacious will to fight and excellent fighting ability in Cuba - the battle of San Juan Hill amply proved this, but the American Army became a big joke, and even Roosevelt was frustrated by the battle. However, Qin Lang's purpose was to provoke Natibida to launch a more violent attack by questioning the combat effectiveness of the Philippine army, so why did he tell him the real situation?

And Natibida's vision and insight were not enough to see through his lies.

"I don't know what's going on, General." "But my soldiers have done their best," he assured, eagerly. ”

"Maybe you should pause the attack and adjust your tactics...... Maybe you can wait until my soldiers have finished their preparations, and then they will take on the main task. Qin Lang pretended to think about it, and said slowly: "General, I personally think that we still have a lot of time to capture Manila before the reinforcements sent by the Spanish government arrive in the Philippines. ”

"I don't think we can wait that long...... I mean, we shouldn't waste time. "General Qin Lang, in the name of the Republic of the Philippines and the people of the Philippines, I ask you to provide more fire support to my troops. ”

Qin Lang continued to hesitate and furrowed his eyebrows. "I understand your situation, General. But you have to understand that my troops carry a limited amount of ammunition, and if your army is never able to make a breakthrough, I will waste a lot of time waiting for ammunition supplies from the United States...... Probably, at that time, reinforcements from the Spaniards also arrived. ”

As a little seduction, his tone was not resolute, and the "if" gave Natibida hope. "I can assure you that as long as you can provide twice as much fire support, my army will break through the Spanish army's defenses and occupy Manila within three days."

"Three days? I doubt ......"

"General Qin, please don't doubt the patriotism of the Filipinos." Natibida became serious, "In order to liberate our country as soon as possible, my soldiers are willing to sacrifice anything. ”

Raise the problem to the level of the state and the nation, this kind of game you will and I will too. Qin Lang sneered. There's no need to play this kind of game now, though.

"Okay." He nodded reluctantly, "Three days, twice the firepower." (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.) )