Judging from the attitude of the representatives sent by the Philippine Liberation Organization Katipnan, it can be seen that these natives will not let Lin Daxin easily take over the entire Philippines. However, Lin Daxin didn't care too much about this, and the 200,000 army sent by Katipunan was just a rabble with few firearms in Lin Daxin's opinion, and it was just a joke in front of the powerful Dingbei army.

So Lin Daxin ordered the Northeast Navy to use transport ships to send more weapons, ammunition and supplies to Manila, preparing to deal with these indigenous armies in the Philippines by force.

When the United States learned that Spain had sold the Philippines, a colony in Asia, and Guam and Wake Island, two important strategic islands in the Pacific Ocean, to Lin Daxin, the United States immediately accelerated the process of war against Spain.

On 22 March, the United States sent a letter to the Minister to Spain demanding that Spain cease fire in Cuba and abolish the concentration camp law.

At this time, Spain was still lucky, and in order to avoid war against the United States, it immediately declared a truce with the Cuban rebels. But the United States has become even more aggressive in the face of Spain's concessions. The U.S. Congress issued a resolution that Spain must recognize Cuba's independence and demanded that Spain withdraw from Cuba. At the same time, Congress granted the president the right to use force, and also announced to the outside world that the United States had no intention of annexing Cuba.

Spain, which had always backed down, also understood at this time that the Americans would not give up lightly, unless Spain offered the two colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico.

However, the Spaniards considered themselves in Cuba and Puerto Rico. There were 200,000 troops, most of them old, sick, disabled and servants, but there were also 12,000 Spanish regulars who were strong in combat. These regular armies are new, well-armed and well-trained, and the fleet withdrawn from the Philippines and the 12,000 regular troops, which are equally combat-ready, are on their way to Cuba by sea.

The Spaniards could not give up their most important colonies, Cuba and Puerto Rico, so Spain rejected the unreasonable demands of the United States and ordered the Spanish troops in Cuba to be put into a state of readiness.

Then on March 28. The U.S. Navy blockaded Cuban ports, and a large American New York-class armored cruiser seized a Spanish merchant ship preparing to go to sea.

On April 2, Spain, which had run out of patience, declared war on the United States. The next day, the United States declared war, and the Spanish-American War broke out.

Cuba was the main battlefield of the Spanish-American War, and the United States formed an expeditionary force of 25,000 men in advance to attack Cuba. At the same time, the United States Navy sent two detachments to blockade the Cuban coast.

Spain originally stationed more than 200,000 troops in Cuba and other places. However, the fighting force was only 12,000 Spanish regular troops, and the Cuban rebels had already occupied large areas of Cuban territory, and the situation was very unfavorable for Spain. The fleet and 12,000 regular troops withdrawn from the Philippines are still on the sea route to support.

Shortly after the start of the war, the acting secretary of the US Department of the Navy, Theodore ? Roosevelt disagreed with the collective decision of other high-level Americans because of Asian problems, so he angrily resigned from his post and formed the First Volunteer Cavalry Regiment of the Volunteer Army to go to Cuba to participate in the war.

In the words of Roosevelt: "At a critical juncture when America is on the rise, I cannot wait in the rear for the war reports from the front." I'm going to bring the news of victory to the American people on the front line! ”

Inspired by Roosevelt, a large number of young people in the United States joined Roosevelt's volunteer army. The First Volunteer Cavalry Regiment reached the scale of nearly 10,000 people.

On 20 April, the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, led by Rear Admiral Sampson, sailed outside the port of Santiago, the most important in Cuba, and a few days later rendezvous with another U.S. fleet, making the U.S. Navy concentrate three Indiana-class all-steel battleships, two Chishach-class all-steel battleships, and one Illinois-class all-steel battleship, a total of six powerful all-steel battleships. 2 New York-class large armored cruisers and 2 Brooklyn-class large armored cruisers, as well as 4 Olympia-class protective cruisers.

A total of 14 powerful new warships, as well as 8 torpedo boats, formed a tight blockade of the fleet in the Spanish port of Santiago.

At this time, there were 1 wooden-hulled cruiser and 2 small gunboats originally stationed in Cuba in the port, as well as 2 protective cruisers, 2 wooden-hulled cruisers and 2 gunboats led by Admiral Severa, who had been supported from the Spanish mainland.

In addition, because Lin Daxin gave Spain 11 million pounds, so that Spain's military spending became much more generous, and before the war, he urgently purchased a large armored cruiser with a displacement of more than 6,000 tons, 3 protective cruisers and 6 torpedo boats from Argentina, Chile and Brazil in South America, and these more advanced warships were also sent to the port of Santiago by Spain.

Spanish warships throughout Cuba were concentrated in the port of Santiago.

The Spanish regular army in Cuba had 8,000 men defending Santiago and the other 4,000 in Havana.

The U.S. Army originally wanted to attack Havana, the capital of Cuba, but at the request of the Navy, it agreed to join forces with the Navy to attack Santiago, Cuba, the main concentration of Spanish naval and land forces.

Before the attack of the US Navy and Army, in the middle of the night of April 25, seven warships led by Rear Admiral Montoho, which Spain withdrew from the Philippines, and 12,000 Spanish elite regular troops on transport ships, finally arrived outside the port of Santiago after more than a month of sailing.

After that, Spain's seven warships and 12,000 regular troops took advantage of the night, and the US Navy did not expect that Spain and the Philippines would withdraw their fleet and army and come directly to Cuba, allowing seven warships and more than 20 transport ships to break through the blockade of the US Navy and enter the port of Santiago.

The number of Spanish regular troops in the port of Santiago and the city of Santiago reached 20,000, as well as more than 60,000 other Spanish servants, and the number of Spanish warships in the port also reached 26, but these 26 warships were compared to the American fleet, and the strength was simply worlds apart.

However, the Spanish Navy was prepared to use the cobweb-like mine array and shore defense guns of the port of Santiago to cooperate with the navy to defend the port of Santiago.

On April 29, the U.S. Army landed east of the port of San Diego. The attack on the city of Santiago began, and the navy also launched an attack on the Spanish fleet in the port of Santiago from the sea.

Because the city of San Diego reinforced the 12,000 Philippine colonies over the more combat-ready regular army, although the U.S. Army was under Roosevelt's leadership. The battle was valiant, but it was met with stubborn resistance from the Spanish defenders, and the attack on the city of San Diego did not go well, so Roosevelt had to order the U.S. Army to suspend the offensive and wait for reinforcements from within the United States.

The U.S. Navy was unable to directly attack the port because of the large number of mines in the port of San Diego. It was impossible for the U.S. Navy to use advanced warships to wade through mines, so the attack on the harbor and the Spanish fleet did not go smoothly. The war in Cuba as a whole is at a stalemate.

Originally, the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. It has attracted the attention of the whole world, but these eyes have suddenly shifted to a large-scale naval battle in Manila Bay in the Philippines.

George in Hong Kong? Brigadier General Dewey learned that Lin Daxin had purchased the Philippines. Feeling that the United States no longer had a chance to get involved in the Philippines, he was preparing to lead the American Asian Fleet back to the Americas to join the attack on the Spanish American colonies.

But suddenly I received a telegram from within the United States, suing George? Dewey. The United States has reached a consensus with Italy, which is anxious to seek revenge on Lin Daxin. The navies of the two countries will unite to form a joint fleet to jointly deal with Lin Daxin's fleet in the Philippines.

After the annihilation of the Philippine naval fleet of Lin Daxin, the two countries will, in accordance with the agreement, Italy occupy six major Philippine islands such as Mindanao and Samar Island, and the United States occupies five major Philippine islands such as Luzon and Panay, which is equivalent to dividing the Philippines equally between the two countries.

It turned out that at the beginning of 1898, the Italian Navy had completed a major expansion plan, with six Queen Elena-class all-steel battleships. 8 Queen Margaret-class all-steel battleships, and 10 Barcelona-class large fast armored cruisers. All of them have entered service with the Italian Navy.

The reason why Italy almost exhausted the treasury and a large amount of money of the royal family and rebuilt such a powerful fleet, in addition to dealing with the naval arms race of European countries, was to seek revenge on Lin Daxin. Italy, which has a small belly and chicken intestines, almost from top to bottom, thinks that the Italian Navy has suffered two disastrous defeats in the hands of Lin Daxin's fleet, which is a great shame.

But after these powerful warships of the Italians entered service with the Italian Navy, the Italians found that the fleet under Lin Daxin had also become more powerful, and they also had 10 all-steel battleships, plus the large number of warships that his fleet originally had, the Italian Navy did not have any advantage!

What's going on? Does Italy want to continue to build a large number of all-steel battleships, which cost nearly a million pounds, and other warships that also cost a lot of money, in order to go to Lin Daxin for revenge?

Obviously, this is impossible; according to Italy's current financial situation, it will no longer have the economic strength to continue to participate in the naval arms race in the next few years, and the financial allocation for the navy will not be enough to build a few warships.

At this time, Italy suddenly got a shocking news that Lin Daxin had actually purchased Spain's Philippine colony.

Several powerful countries in the world have long known that the United States, a new empire, has set its sights on the decrepit Spanish Empire and regarded Spain's overseas colonies as its own.

I didn't expect that Lin Daxin suddenly stepped into the bar and sold the Philippines before the United States declared war on Spain, so you can foresee how much the United States hates Lin Daxin.

Since the United States hates Lin Daxin so much, and we in Italy also hate Lin Daxin, the Italians feel that the opportunity for revenge has come, and Italy has always hoped to obtain a colony in Asia, and they consider whether they can join forces with the United States, a new empire, to deal with Lin Daxin, the thorn in Italy's side. The Philippines is big enough for Italy and the United States.

Thinking of this, the Italians suddenly became excited, and the Italian decision-makers decided to stir up the affairs of the Philippines and make full use of the glorious tradition of Italian-stirring sticks.

So the Italians began to contact the U.S. embassy in Italy to inquire about the possibility of cooperation.

After receiving the telegram from the embassy in Italy, the US top leaders, who were biting the root of Lin Daxin's hatred, almost all other top leaders agreed to cooperate with Italy, except for Roosevelt, who opposed cooperation with Italy.

Roosevelt said angrily: "Although that hateful Lin Daxin bought the Philippines, one of our US targets, from Spain in advance, and I am as angry as you, but the war between our United States and Spain is imminent, and it is really unwise to provoke Lin Daxin, who is known as the military strongman in the Far East, at this time!" ”

But Roosevelt's opinion did not get the advice of other American leaders, especially not the President of the United States, William? McKinley's support led Roosevelt to resign from his position as acting secretary of the Navy in a fit of rage and go to the Cuban front.

Then the United States and Italy began to collude, and after some negotiations, an agreement was reached to divide the Philippines equally. (To be continued......)