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508 Manila Defense (II)

"It was basically clear that this force was an expeditionary fleet sent by Spain from the European mainland, and many of their infantry had just come down from the battlefields of the German Wars of Religion, and they were quite experienced veterans. To read the latest chapters, please lock in the Aishang Novel Network biquge.info"

"Yes, no wonder the navy was able to sneak up on us, and the army held out for so long without being defeated......

"In addition, the captives have given a lot of information about the current situation in Europe, which is recorded here...... Captain Don, do you want to see it? ”

"Stay and see, though I may not be able to understand it...... Alas, it would be nice if Professor Li, Pang Yu or Zhao Lide, those who are well versed in European history, were here. ”

While Ling Ning was outside observing the enemy's situation, Tang Jian and several of his modern assistants were also learning more about the enemy's situation, but they did so by interrogating the prisoners. During the battle a few days ago, the Spaniards recklessly landed and recklessly attacked the city, but they were all repulsed, and of course a large number of prisoners and wounded were left behind, and it was not difficult to find a few officers among them to find out about the enemy's situation.

The Qiong Navy has always attached great importance to staff intelligence work, especially this sudden attack, and it does not know much about the details of the enemy, which is a very unfavorable situation for the Qiong Navy, which has always been accustomed to planning and then acting. Therefore, Tang Jian attached great importance to the interrogation of prisoners, and together with a special interrogation team under his command, he carefully identified and questioned each prisoner, from which he learned a lot of detailed information about the enemy army.

The captives were basically unable to hide anything from the interrogators of the Joan navy, and even if one or two people tried to get some false news to deceive them, they were quickly exposed to the others because they had not communicated beforehand - the secrecy of military intelligence was not popular in those days, and the Spanish army had never taught its soldiers and officers to secrecy, and they could only rely on their own wisdom and judgment.

In addition, Joan's navy was cunning in taking advantage of the Spanish religion. They put the interrogation in a Catholic church, and let the captives swear not to lie to the crucifix before giving an explanation, and the reason is easy to find - you tell us honestly, and we will treat you better, or we will bandage your wounds, etc...... The Jong Navy had always pursued a humanitarian policy towards prisoners, and even on the island of Luzon, the treatment of Spanish prisoners remained unchanged.

After several days of interrogation, the interrogation records submitted to Tang Jian quickly reached a thick book, and Tang Jian was dizzy because there was too much information on it. Several times, after leaving behind the interrogation records, Tang Jian couldn't help but lament his lack of historical knowledge - the intricate information confessed by the captives really gave him a headache.

It is no wonder that Tang Jian had a headache, and the Spanish Empire at this time was at the peak of its most powerful and glorious history - that is to say, it began to gradually decline from this stage. But in any case, Spain at this time was still the first in Europe, both in terms of navy and army. In fact, the title "empire on which the sun never sets" was first used to describe Spain, and Britain only inherited it.

The failure of the "Armada" expedition to England in 1588 only proved that the myth of the European invincibility of the Spanish navy was shattered, but it was the Spanish army that prevailed throughout the Anglo-Spanish War that followed. The Spanish fleet was still considered to be the strongest in Europe. Britain and the Netherlands were left behind.

On the land side, with its well-trained infantry phalanx "eri", the Spanish Army once rampaged through the European theater and became the protector of Roman Catholicism. Although during the Thirty Years' War of Religion, this advantage was strongly attacked by the Swedish Army's new artillery tactics. But not long ago, at the Battle of Lützen in 1632, King Gustav II of Sweden, the head of the Protestant army, who had caused all the Catholic nations of Europe to tremble, had been killed in battle, and all the generals of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, who were on the opposite side of the Habsburg dynasty, were overjoyed, believing that God was favoring them. Without that genius military commander, the Swedish army would have been useless even if it had won the Battle of Lützen, the day of the defeat of the Protestant army was imminent, and the German Wars of Religion would soon be over.

Under these circumstances, when Spanish Prime Minister Olivares received a report from the East that the local army had been defeated by the Chinese, and that even the city of Manila and the North Island of Taiwan had been lost, he was furious. Once Spain lost Manila, it not only meant that the sea routes connecting Europe and the Americas would be cut off, and the import of raw silk, porcelain and other goods from China would also be hopeless, and the loss of the support of these oriental riches would be absolutely fatal to the Kingdom of Choice, which had just declared bankruptcy in 1627.

The Spanish Empire had to react to this, both for the sake of face and for the sake of the guilt, and quickly, to put things to rest before the European nations realized the fatal effect of the incident on Spain - and under such pressure, the Spanish Empire, which had always been slow to move, was rarely shown to be extremely efficient. The naval officers dug through the piles of old papers for a "plan to conquer China" that they had made in their heyday, that is, before the defeat of the Armada, and used it as a basis to formulate a plan for the recapture of Manila. And -- it was carried out!

"Oh my God, this plan really exists......"

Tang Jian had really heard of such a plan before, it was on the eve of Beiwei and others going to Manila to investigate, when they first dealt with the Spaniards, those people in the literature and history group took it out as a joke. Tang Jian didn't believe that there was really a political family that could formulate such a thing at that time, but now he heard about this plan from the mouths of those prisoners, and it was actually implemented seriously, so he couldn't help crying and laughing.

Why can't you laugh and cry, and look at what the Spaniards are trying to achieve in this battle plan:

Goal: Conquer China, establish a global empire, and become the king of kings.

Military Objective: Conquest of China. Based in China, expand to the rest of Asia. Then, with Chinese manpower and war resources, he supported the European local army to attack the Nordic enemy and control the island of the world.

Religious Goal: Conquer China, advance by China, and occupy the Holy Land of Palestine.

Economic goals: to conquer China, develop China's rich resources, and transplant Chinese manpower to develop the colonial cause and save the Spanish Empire from economic crisis.

…… Etcetera.

"Is that Olivares, and the king and ministers of Spain, brain-dead?"

Tang Jian was surprised by this, but Ling Ning, who returned after observing the enemy's situation, expressed his understanding:

"They're not brain-dead, they're just used to taking advantage of the Americas. Since the Incas and Aztecs could be wiped out with a few hundred colonists, they now used thousands of regular armies and fleets to deal with the Ming Dynasty, which was already very face-saving. And, frankly speaking, if it really relied on the strength of the Ming Dynasty itself, at least in the coastal areas, it would definitely not be able to stop the offensive of the Spanish fleet. ”

-- It's unrealistic, but it's a battle plan. There is now the number one power in Europe that puts it into practice, even if it is a joke, it has to be taken seriously. Tang Jian was not very interested in the situation in Europe, he only knew that this time the Spaniards sent all the elite soldiers, all of whom were veterans who had just fought the European General War, regardless of the weapons and equipment and techniques and tactics of these people, the fighting spirit alone was tenacious enough, and it was difficult to defeat them once like they had dealt with the local colonists in the past, and most of the remaining people would surrender because they had lost their fighting spirit.

"It seems that it will be difficult to defeat them until there are no reinforcements......"

Tang Jian finally came to such a conclusion, and Ling Ning also agreed.

"The Qionghai has already departed, and it will be on the battlefield in about a week at most. Before we take care of the other side's navy, it is better for us to take a defensive position first. ”

The two reached a consensus, and then each dispatched his men and horses according to this principle - Tang Jian was in command of the army, and Ling Ning was in command of the navy. However, according to Tang Jian's idea, he asked Ling Ning to also command the army part, that is, the Fourth Regiment, which was scheduled to be stationed in Luzon in the future.

"I am the commander of the 1st Regiment, and since the 4th Regiment is called the Marine Corps, sooner or later it will belong to your navy, and it will inevitably need a permanent commander. Although you and Wen Deji have not decided who will take this position in the end, this war is a very good whetstone, whether the Fourth Regiment can grow into a qualified force depends on the test of this actual battle, since you have encountered it, then take it! ”

After hesitating for a moment, Ling Ning agreed to this request. However, it was not convenient for him to give orders to the officers and men of the Fourth Regiment as commander at this time, which required the consent of the Committee and the military team. But with Tang Jian's cooperation, the aspects he involved were not only limited to the navy, but also had to take over matters on land.

In the following days, the two sides continued to stalemate, and the Qiong Navy continued to send small squad-platoon-level troops to cruise around the Spanish military camp, maintaining contact with the other side at any time - just like the Chinese playing Tai Chi pushers, always experiencing the strength of the opponent, as long as they found a flaw, they would use their strength to destroy the enemy with thunder.

So far the Spanish defenses have been good, the camp is well laid out, and there are no flaws to be exposed. However, they had come all the way to Luzon to seek a decisive battle, but now they had been beaten so that they were hiding in the camp and did not dare to go out, which in itself was a sign of defeat. Of course, the Spaniards themselves did not seem to think so, and they patiently hid behind the camp, under the cover of the fleet's artillery fire, as if they were waiting for something.

The Joan navy was more confident, and it would not take a few days for their steel warships to rush into Manila Bay, and then none of the wooden sailing ships on this side would be able to escape.

At the end of the day, this is the South China Sea, and time is on the side of the Chinese. RO！ ~！

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