1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3194
Next to the official road leading to Victory Square, troops from all over the country are queuing up here, waiting for the signal to enter.

And right next to these troops, thousands of onlookers have gathered.

Through the flags displayed by these troops, people who are a little familiar with the establishment of the Haihan Army can identify their identities through the numbers and logos on the flags.And their location, battle history, and equipment have all become topics of interest to the onlookers.

Among them, several troops from overseas regions, because of their equipment and personnel composition, are quite different from those of Haihan's local troops, so they have become the focus of public attention.

Zheng Agui has lived for more than 20 years in his life, and he has never been surrounded by so many people. This makes him a little embarrassed, even more nervous than when he first stepped into the battlefield to attack Masbate Town.

Before this, Zheng Agui had seen the most crowded scene, and it was only when Bangui Battalion went to Cavite base for pre-war training last year, he saw troops from all over the Luzon region at the port.

However, at that time, the troops gathered in Manila Bay were only a few thousand people at most, which was far from being able to compare with the lively scene in front of him - as far as he could see, there were almost all crowds of people, shoulder to shoulder, and it was impossible to count There are as many as tens of thousands.

The Bangui area where Zheng Agui was stationed in the past was just a remote seaside town on Luzon Island.In his eyes, Manila, the capital of the Luzon region, is already a very prosperous big city, but if you compare it with Hangzhou, it is obvious that this is the real big city.

In terms of population size, urban area and infrastructure facilities, Hangzhou is far beyond Manila, and beyond Zheng Agui's cognition.

And after he heard that the East China Sea region took control of this big city without bloodshed, his admiration for Shi Diwen was even greater.

You must know that when Cebu was attacked in the South China Sea last year, the small harbor town with no walls at all made Bangui Camp go through a very hard battle, and it really suffered a lot.

It is hard to imagine what kind of deterrence the East China Sea Region must have to make a city like Hangzhou, which is well-equipped with urban defenses, surrender without a fight.

But having said that, as a soldier, it is natural to obtain military merits on the battlefield in order to have the capital to be promoted.If you don't fight, it will be too difficult for a poor soldier like Zheng Agui to climb up.

And Zheng Agui was promoted to second lieutenant after the war because of his outstanding performance in the South China Sea battle last year, and went to the military academy in Manila for a period of time to study.

At the beginning of the year, the Luzon Region received a notice to send troops to Hangzhou to participate in the National Day Celebration. Zheng Agui, as a new meritorious person, was selected into the list without any suspense.

The rewards Zheng Agui received are not limited to this. After the military parade, he will be one of the outstanding young officers selected by the Luzon Garrison to study abroad at the Army Academy in Sanya.

If there is no accident, Zheng Agui will be promoted again after studying abroad.When he returns to Camp Bangui, he will probably be formally appointed as the company commander.

This time, the Luzon region sent a battalion led by Yu Tiezhu, the commander of the Fourth Lu Division, to Hangzhou to participate in the military parade.

This team arrived in Hangzhou more than half a month earlier than the Executive Committee.

Before he came to Hangzhou, Zheng Agui thought that the military parade was similar to that in Manila, and he just went through the scene on the school grounds and went to work.But after arriving here, he realized that the task this time was not that simple.

After their troops settled down in Hangzhou, they immediately began to receive strict queue training.The only task every day is to make the queue as uniform as possible under the guidance of the instructor.

As for visiting Hangzhou City, these troops who came from afar will probably have to wait until the completion of the military parade mission to get a holiday to take a good look at this city that will soon become the capital of Haihan.

Although he knew that one of the purposes of this military parade was to show the military power to the public, Zheng Agui still felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by so many people.

He glanced at another adjacent army, and was immediately attracted by the banner of this army.

This troop is not from the South China Sea region, nor is it affiliated to the mainland of Haihan. A sea eagle with a yellow beak, a white head and a black body is embroidered on the flag, and its designation is "First Division of the North American Expeditionary Force".

Zheng Agui heard some rumors about this army when he was studying in the military academy in Manila.It is said that its station is on the far side of the ocean, several times farther from Haihan mainland than Luzon.

And the commander of this force is the former naval commander Wang Tom, one of the most famous and legendary generals in the Haihan Army, and his reputation seems to be even greater than that of Luzon Garrison Commander Xiao Liang.

Zheng Agui noticed that many soldiers in this army had long hair with shawls and ornaments made of feathers on their heads. Some of them even braided their long hair into weird braids, which did not look like Han people. .

It happened that the staff officer Feng Xingbang was nearby, so Zheng Agui asked Feng Xingbang what the origin of these foreign soldiers were.

Feng Xingbang was well-informed, so this question didn’t bother him, so he heard him talk eloquently: “They are indigenous soldiers recruited locally by the expeditionary force, and the Spaniards call them Indians. Look at their facial features. Does it look like us Han people? It is said that his ancestors were the Yin people who traveled from China to the other side of the ocean thousands of years ago."

Zheng Agui wondered: "Isn't that the same language as ours?"

Feng Xingbang shook his head and said: "Probably because of the long time, the language they inherited is quite different from ours, and there is no writing available, so they have been stagnant in a very primitive tribal state, so it is extremely difficult to recruit and train these people."

When Zheng Agui heard this, he understood that there are many indigenous races like this in the Luzon region, and many of them have always retained the original social system based on tribes.It is not difficult to subdue them, but the process of turning these natives into soldiers who obey orders is quite difficult.

In the fight against the Spaniards last year, the performance of several troops with a high proportion of native soldiers was not particularly satisfactory. The reason is that the obedience of these native soldiers is relatively poor.

But even if the native soldiers are not so easy to use, you still have to hold your nose and continue to use them.After all, the number of Han Chinese in overseas regions is limited. If only Han Chinese are recruited as soldiers, the size of the garrison may shrink to an unacceptable level for the government.

"Consultant Feng, they seem to have captured a lot of Spaniards."

"That's right, the Spaniards are against us everywhere, if you don't catch them!"

Zheng Agui has sharp eyes and has already noticed that there are two prison cars parked on the other side of the North American Expeditionary Force phalanx, and the prisoners inside are obviously from southern Europe.

The parade of prisoners of war in the streets is one of the highlights of today's military parade. Zheng Agui's Fourth Army Division also brought a group of Spanish prisoners of war captured in the battle last year, and they are now being held in the prison car next to them—— This is also one of the highlights that attracts a large number of onlookers.

(End of this chapter)