Haihan has always had a very clear purpose in waging wars against foreign countries, either for the land, for the population, for the special strategic points, or for the production areas of important resources. An area like Taipei, which has gold deposits, and happens to be within the reach of Haihan, is naturally under its own name. As for what the Spaniards who currently occupy the area will think, Haihan does not need to think about this kind of question, just as the Spaniards will never think about the feelings of the local natives about their foreign invaders.

Taking another situation in time and space as a reference, the Jinguashi area, as an important gold-producing area in East Asia, has been mined for nearly 100 years, and it was not until the 80s of the 20th century that the ore veins here were almost dug up, which shows that its reserves are still considerable. If we measure it by the military expenditure of Haihan in launching foreign wars in the past, then the operation of attacking Taipei will definitely be a profit and not a loss. Since large economic gains can be obtained, the arguments for opposition such as reckless military use and high military spending are not so strong. As for questioning the combat effectiveness of the special operations battalion, no one will take it seriously, it is the amphibious unit with the most outstanding combat record and the most elite personnel composition among the Haihan militia regiments, and there is a military order for victory set by Qian Tiandun, so there is really nothing to worry about.

Of course, since the horses have to run, they must first feed the horses, and the materials needed for the war still need to be allocated as soon as possible. In addition, although Qian Tiandun claimed in his report that the Penghu garrison was sufficient to complete the corresponding combat mission and there was no need to send another troops to coordinate with it, in consideration of the defensive emptiness that might be caused by the troops' departure, the Central Military Commission was still prepared to temporarily transfer half of the fleet from the military base on Hong Kong Island to assist in the defense.

While the Haihan side began to quietly prepare for the war, the Spaniards in Taipei did not realize the danger of approaching. In the city of San Salvador in Chicken Coop Harbor, the local governor Alcarazo was venting his frustration to his subordinates with a grim face: "It's been six days! These slackers haven't repaired my armor yet, don't they really want to eat this bowl of rice anymore?"

His subordinates replied tremblingly: "My lord, Jose of the blacksmith shop has been missing for eight days, and his apprentices can only do chores, and they can't do such delicate work as repairing armor. ”

"The castle is such a big place, can't you find him in eight days▲》dǐng▲》diǎn▲》小▲》said,.+.o▽s_();?" Alcarasso scolded angrily: "It's all rice buckets! I can't find an alcoholic for so long!"

"My lord, we have searched everywhere inside and outside the city, and we have also gone to the tavern to ask everyone who saw José that day, but I am afraid that ...... I can't get it back. The subordinate cautiously reported: "José was seen leaving the tavern drunk that day and heading in the direction of the docks. There was no lighting on the pier at night, so maybe he had fallen into the sea. ”

Alcalasso was silent for a while before he said: "This drunkard drowned a small matter, and it is troublesome to delay the daily affairs of the locality." He also hoped that he would be able to bring out a few apprentices and assign them to work in the city of Santo Domingo, but after taking them for so long, he only taught them how to make stoves......! Take my orders and confiscate the bastard's blacksmith shop Jose!"

As the hapless José had predicted, Lord Alcarazo would not send manpower to the sea to retrieve his body, but would immediately confiscate all his personal possessions, which were actually in Alcarazo's private pocket. The upper echelons didn't care about the life or death of the little blacksmith, but only the inconvenience caused by the absence of a blacksmith in the city of Salvador. Of course, no one would have thought that this drunken blacksmith was not drunk and fell into the sea to feed the fish, but was quietly taken away, after all, he was just a blacksmith, and he was not a big man, he asked for money without money, he had no identity or identity, and his only property was the blacksmith shop in the castle, and he couldn't move or cash out, so it didn't make sense for him to start at all.

After Alcaraso finished scolding, his heart was still very uncomfortable. The conditions in Taipei are not good, and the people of Manila are not willing to come and settle down at all, especially those craftsmen with a skill, and they are not willing to come to such a far wilderness to suffer. Therefore, according to Diǎn in Jilong Harbor, it has been established for so many years, but there has always been only one professional blacksmith in Jose, and he was also assigned when he first came, if it weren't for this, he probably wouldn't have taken the initiative to apply to settle here.

As soon as José disappeared, several of his apprentices were not able to come up at all, and the blacksmith shop immediately came to a standstill. This may not cause much trouble in the short term, but if it drags on for a long time, all kinds of things in the castle will definitely be affected. Even if you ask for help from Manila, you don't know how long it will take to wait for the next blacksmith.

As soon as the cause of José's disappearance was determined, his officers reported that two cannons and seven rifles needed to be repaired before they could be used, and that there were more than a dozen pieces of armor that needed to be maintained. The apprentices in the blacksmith shop obviously couldn't afford this heavy responsibility, and the damaged weapons and equipment could only be thrown into the warehouse temporarily, when the next blacksmith came, and when they could be repaired.

Due to the hot and humid environment in Taiwan, the corrosion and loss of metal weapons is very fast, and regular maintenance must be carried out to maintain normal use and function. However, the soldiers' professional skills are limited, and most of them can only do the simplest external rust removal by themselves, and more professional repairs and maintenance can only be done by blacksmiths. The only person in the entire Taipei region who has mastered the technology of repairing weapons and equipment is Jose, and his disappearance will affect the garrisons in the entire region as a result.

Alcaraso also tried to hire Ming blacksmiths from Fujian to work for himself, but due to the large power of Shibazhi in the strait, all the blacksmith shops along the coast of Fujian were closely monitored by the government, lest they be taken away by Shibazhi or voluntarily surrendered. The Spaniards, though not ill-intentioned, were also blocked, and no one dared to accept their hiring. After all, even if Alcarazo could hire a blacksmith from the Ming Dynasty, it would be extremely limited, because most of the guns used in the Spanish army were made in Europe, and not everyone could repair them. What's more, there are also opposition voices within the Spaniards, believing that hiring a Ming blacksmith may lead the country's advanced military technology to leak out of this link, and cheapen this terrifyingly large Far Eastern Empire.

However, there are also a very small number of people who are more sensitive to changes in the outside world have noticed the recent rise of another large arms dealer in the South China Sea, more than seventy percent of the arms purchased by the Fujian military in recent years are from the Haihan, and according to the description of the Ming maritime merchants, the Haihan people not only make weapons, but also use these weapons well, and the private armed forces under their command have very strong combat effectiveness, and have been providing military support to the Fujian military to resist the offensive of the Eighteen Zhi pirate gangs.

However, this attention did not attract the attention of Alcarazo, and Fujian was only a part of the Spanish trade network in Northeast Asia, and more trade came from Zhejiang, Ryukyu, Korea, Japan and other places. Haihan had never approached Spain on his own initiative, and Alcarazo did not see the need to condescend to these arms traffickers. In his mind, Haihan is very similar to the Portuguese, in the business of all kinds of camps, as long as there is a profitable business will participate. As for the arms, didn't the Portuguese also do such a dirty thing as salvaging the shipwrecks of the British and then selling the guns on board to the Ming Dynasty? Alcarazo did not think that the Haihan had the same weapon-making technology as the Europeans, and most of the arms they sold to the Fujian military were also resold from Portugal or some other European country, and there were really not too many such commercial groups that made their fortune as second-hand dealers in the Far East, and Alcarazo believed that the Haihan should be only one of them.

The backward intelligence system and the arrogant mentality of no one in the eyes made the Spaniards very slow to understand the changes in the Far East, and they did not realize the significance of the series of movements of the so-called arms trafficker in the strait. While the Spaniards were still in a state of flux, their potential adversaries had quietly entered the mouth of the Tamsui River, reconnoitred their base Diǎn, and listed it as one of the next targets for military strikes. If this object had been replaced with Dayuangang, I am afraid that the local governor Hans would have been so frightened that he would not be able to sleep.

In January 1633, the Penghu militia was stationed.

Although Sun Zhen is a rough man, he can also feel that the atmosphere in the camp has changed a little subtly recently, the veterans have obviously been stimulated, and the amount of training every day has increased a lot compared to when he was first assigned some time ago. In addition, amphibious landing training, which needs to be carried out in coordination with the navy, has recently become more frequent. Although the officers did not mention a word, Sun Zhen is no longer the ignorant ordinary man when he first arrived in Penghu, and he also has a certain analytical ability after several months of military training. In other words, it may not be long before he will have his first combat mission after joining the army.

"Keep up with the team! Don't desert! You'll already die once on the battlefield!" Sun Zhen was in a trance, and he was kicked in the ass. The person who kicked him was the platoon commander Wang who supervised the training, a veteran who enlisted in the army five years ago, all the way from Annan to follow Qian Tiandun to Fujian, obviously of Annan descent but speaking a northern accent, Sun Zhen was very close to his accent when he first came in, and once thought that he also fled from the north of the Ming Dynasty.

Like other veterans, Platoon Commander Wang treats recruits like Sun Zhen very strictly, and only stops to rest when they feel that their bodies are hollowed out, and the soldiers privately call him "the mean king". However, Sun Zhen admired the platoon commander very much, for example, the field armed training that is now underway, the platoon commander is also carrying more than 20 pounds of equipment on his back like them, and he has to supervise them back and forth in the team while marching, and spur the team to maintain the marching speed in a simple and rude way.

Of course, Sun Zhen also knew that one of the reasons why Platoon Commander Wang worked so hard was that he made a bet with the steak leader of the second platoon, whoever led the team lost in today's field training, and the loser would give the meat dishes for dinner to the other party. Of course, eating one less meat dish is not a big deal, but the problem is that Platoon Commander Wang has lost three times in a row in similar gambling contracts before, as the saying goes, there are only three things, and if he loses, Platoon Commander Wang will not be able to live on his face, so he is staring very closely today, as long as someone falls behind or is distracted, he will use a light whip leg to remind.

"There are still five miles left, everyone work hard, I won the old cow today, I will add vegetables to everyone out of my own pocket!" Looking at the opponent who was chasing after his team, Platoon Commander Wang could only use a killer move: "Each class has a chicken!"

This chicken blood fight was still quite effective, and the soldiers who had already reached the upper limit of their bodies immediately had the motivation again, gritting their teeth and rushing towards the final diǎn in the distance. In the end, the reward of the platoon commander Wang was not in vain, and the platoon under his command completed the armed training with a distance of 30 miles ahead of the opponent by nearly half a mile, and also refreshed his own training record in this event.

Sun Zhen sat on the ground, twisted the plug of the cowhide water bag, and poured a big gulp of water into his stomach before he panted and asked Platoon Commander Wang: "Platoon Commander, today's results should be considered good in the special operations battalion, right?"

"Not a bad fart, it's far away!" Platoon Commander Wang probably felt sorry for his military salary afterwards, and his face was still as black as the bottom of a pot: "If it weren't for a few of you recruits dragging your feet, your grades would at least be able to increase by half a pillar of incense." In the past, when General Qian personally led the team to practice, the marching speed was much faster than yours!"

"Platoon commander, are you bragging?" Sun Zhen didn't believe too much in this, in his eyes, a high-ranking military like Qian Tiandun was proud of his identity, and it was unlikely that he would personally lead the team to train.

"Bragging? General Qian led the armed training once every six months, and then you will know that it is powerful, and you can't cry until you cry!" Platoon Commander Wang had a hideous face, as if he had thought of some extremely bad memories.

Sun Zhen didn't dwell on this issue anymore, there were people who argued with the mean king before about winning or losing, and as a result, he was punished for running twenty laps of the playground, and he didn't want to be punished like this when he was exhausted. Sun Zhen wiped the sweat from his forehead, changed the topic and asked, "Platoon commander, the armed training has been arranged so frequently recently, and the amphibious landing exercise is still being carried out, is it going to war?"

"Whether to fight or not to fight is the decision of the leaders, what we have to do is to train well and prepare for battle!" Wang Platoon Commander replied with a straight face: "Listen to the command in action, don't ask what you shouldn't ask!"