1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 816 The Next Goal

Go upstream along the Danshui River, all the way west through the valley between Yangming Mountain and the Central Mountain Range, and you will reach the coast of Jilonggang.Although this distance is only about a hundred miles, there are actually no artificially built roads on the way, and basically the whole journey is in the wild, which is really not an easy journey.Moreover, the indigenous tribes living in the mountains are also very hostile to the Spaniards due to past conflicts, and they will cause trouble for them as long as they seize the opportunity.Although the Spaniards have used this land transportation line several times after they opened it up, they are almost always forced by the situation. Because of the weather or other objective reasons, they cannot use the sea lanes, so they will take the risk of transporting materials and personnel through this transportation line. ——Of course, the people who travel between the two places through this channel are basically combat materials and armed personnel, and ordinary people generally will not take this risky route.

On the first day of the war, the Spanish ship was sunk and injured by shells fired from the Danshui River by the Haihan battleship. There was not even a complete small fishing boat left, and the Haihan people would definitely not use it kindly. His own boat will take them away from here, and he will not wait patiently for Jilong Port to send a boat to pick them up.The only way for them to get out of here now is to rely on their own two legs.In terms of the size of the personnel, there is no big risk at all, at least there are hundreds of people, but before they set off, all the metal weapons were confiscated by the Haihan Army, and the only thing they rely on for self-defense is wooden sticks, bamboo spears, etc. It's a thing.For this team that is about to pass through the area where the natives are active, it is indeed a big safety hazard.

Moreover, there are a large number of civilians in this team, plus all kinds of pots and pans, the speed of movement must not reach the level of the army.According to the estimates of the military personnel, it would be considered smooth to complete this journey in two to three days.Of course, if you encounter troublesome tribal armed forces on the way, it will be hard to say.

Gao Qiaonan watched the team slowly enter the jungle to the west, and then gave an order to his subordinates: "Let the brothers in the upper reaches of the Tamsui River hide and don't expose their whereabouts. In addition, send people to follow the Spaniards, but don't Just alarm them and make sure they don't play tricks along the way."

Although the Spaniards chose to surrender and offer the city, Takahashi Minami was not so careless as to completely ignore their reaction. He knew that the opponent would definitely not admit defeat to this defeat, and there might be some tricks that had not yet been used.Even though the opponent has been disarmed, even if he comes back, it is impossible to cause too much trouble for Haihan, but it is always right to be cautious. Valley passage.

Gao Qiaonan was not in a hurry to enter the city, but sent a company of soldiers into the city to check whether there were any remaining personnel and other potential dangers.Then he personally operated the radio station and reported the current combat progress to the Penghu base.

According to the plan in advance, the troops led by Takahashi Nan will not be stationed here for too long, and other troops will soon come to this stronghold to take over the local garrison tasks, and it is very likely that a group of immigrants will arrive at the same time and start to attack Danshui. This area of ​​the estuary underwent a new round of colonization.

Gao Qiaonan was a little surprised by the search results in the city. He originally thought that all the residents in the city had been evacuated, leaving only an empty city here. He never thought that there were more than 70 people in the city who chose to stay.Of course, there are no Spaniards among them.These people basically moved from the city of Manila on Luzon Island, and they had a little bit of property in the local area. They were unwilling to give up and leave, and planned to stay and fight.Although there has been a new owner here, the nearby land still needs someone to cultivate and manage it. They think that since they can work for the Spaniards, they can also work for the new owner.

Gao Qiaonan was also a little dumbfounded about this. His plan did not include taking in the people who used to live here, because no one knew whether there would be spies arranged by the Spaniards among these people. It will be a hidden danger that must be guarded against.Gao Qiaonan could only order these people to be gathered together for temporary resettlement, and after the supply ship from Penghu arrived, they would be transported to the immigration transfer center at the Penghu base, where they would be broken up and redistributed.When you go elsewhere, even if there are Spanish spies, it will be difficult to have a channel to pass on the news, and the threat will naturally be much reduced.

Further searches on the city of Santo Domingo also basically confirmed the military's judgment before the start of the war. There is really no oil and water in this place, and there are no material reserves in the city at all. It was taken.Although the Haihan soldiers noticed this during the body search, their superiors did not order them to seize the food, so they did not stop it.Of course, no one would be interested in confiscating the grains that the Spaniards carried that had begun to mold.

The most valuable thing in the city is probably the dozens of livestock that the Spaniards were forced to leave here, including eight cattle, more than 30 sheep, more than 20 pigs of all sizes, and two horses—it is said that they were The mounts belonged to Gusman and Lopez.

When Gao Qiaonan heard that he had found two horses, he immediately ran to the stable to find out.As soon as he saw the two horses, he knew he had found a treasure this time.

The two horses had thick manes and muscular bodies, and their heads were a full head taller than Gao Qiaonan's.Although Gao Qiaonan didn't know horses very well, he could tell that the quality of the two horses was quite good.If Qian Tiandun was here, he could tell Gao Qiaonan that these two horses should belong to the oldest and purest breed of horse in the world, the Andalusian.

Although there are only two stallions, they are all stallions that have never been gelded. Haru Gong, who is in charge of stallion breeding and cavalry training in Sanya, will definitely jump up with excitement when he hears the news.You must know that the Haihan people had asked the Portuguese to buy a batch of Lusitano horses (Lusitano) that are very similar to the Andalusian horse bloodline a year ago, but they have not been shipped from Europe until now.When these two horses are transported back to Sanya, they can be used for breeding of war horses.

"Take good care of these two treasures. There must be a fresh supply of fodder every day." Gao Qiaonan thought about it but felt uneasy, and added: "Set up a quarantine area outside the stable, and arrange a class here Keep an eye on it, before it is transported away, even if there is an accident, nothing will happen to the horse!"

This unexpected harvest finally made Gao Qiaonan feel a little better. The value of these two horses was much higher than the dozens of laborers who stayed in the city.As for the rest of the seizures, they were lackluster, and in Takahashi Nan's eyes, they were nothing more than a pile of rubbish.If it wasn't for the military value of this castle, he really had no interest in staying in this place.

In the combat plan formulated before the war, if the special operations battalion's attack on Santo Domingo did not go smoothly, the attack on Jilonggang would be postponed.However, by mistake, the Special Operations Battalion took Santo Domingo City without much effort, and even there were no casualties. The result was that Qian Tiandun and Gao Qiaonan did not expect it before the war. of.Naturally, Gao Qiaonan didn't have the idea of ​​accepting it as soon as it was good. This was a chance to fight, and the special warfare battalion was over before it officially entered the battle. He certainly couldn't stop there.

Since there was not much consumption in the battle at the Tamsui Estuary, it became a matter of course to move on to the next target.Salvador City, located in Jilonggang, is not only the main stronghold of the Spaniards on Taiwan Island, but also the area Haihan most wants to occupy in the northern part of Taiwan Island.The Special Operations Battalion had already formulated a combat plan to attack the city of El Salvador before this expedition, and it could be used at this time.

Compared with the city of Santo Domingo at the mouth of the Tamsui River, the city of Salvador in Jilonggang is larger in scale and has more defenders.Since the city of Salvador is located on Sheliao Island at the mouth of Jilonggang Harbor, the depth of the battlefield left for the army is also very limited.If the military strength of the offensive and defensive sides is equal, then the geographical advantage of the defenders is quite obvious. The Dutch came several times in the past few years, but they all returned without success. There is no effective way to take the Spanish stronghold here.

Of course, the Haihan Militia has an advantage that Western colonists can hardly catch up with, that is, weapons and equipment that surpass the technological level of this era.Heavy weapons like siege cannons had already appeared on European battlefields, but the colonists never imagined that they would see such insane weapons on the battlefields of the Far East, and the users were Orientals.

Gao Qiaonan was a little upset that this heavy artillery arrived on the battlefield with great difficulty, but he did not fire even a single live ammunition during the attack on Santo Domingo. Utility has never had a more intuitive understanding.And the siege guns that took a lot of time to arrive here had to be reloaded and transported by sea to the next battlefield.It was another hassle to transport this heavy thing to the pier for loading.

In fact, it can be expected that in the next battle against El Salvador, the special warfare battalion will still be difficult to become the protagonist on the battlefield, and the four large-caliber siege guns will be the one with the most scenes in this battle figure.Only after the siege bombardment broke through the city wall would it be the turn of the special warfare battalion to clean up the remnants of the enemy.But it doesn't matter to Gao Qiaonan, anyway, the credit for capturing the enemy chieftain alive in the end must belong to the special warfare battalion rather than the artillery unit.

The Special Operations Battalion had a short day's rest, and Takahashi Minami ordered the slaughter of a few pigs to reward the "hard-working" soldiers.Although the usual food in the special warfare battalion is not bad, and meat can be eaten from time to time, but almost everyone thinks that the spoils of war taste better.

Early the next morning, the second convoy from Penghu arrived at the mouth of the Tamsui River.However, since the capsized Spanish ships on the pier would be difficult to clean up for a while, the fleet had to dock a little farther away from the castle.

Along with the combat supplies, an army company transferred from Guangdong will be stationed here in place of the Special Operations Battalion so that they can be freed to continue their combat missions.At the same time, there is also an order from the Executive Committee to establish an administrative agency here. From now on, the areas north of the Danshui River, west and south of Yangming Mountain will be managed by the newly established Danshui County, and its administrative office will be temporarily established in Spain. The city of Santo Domingo left behind.Of course, the city will also be renamed Tamsui City in the future, and the original Spanish name will no longer be used.

The fleet transported more than 150 immigrants, most of whom were transported from nearby Penghu for resettlement.Since Kaohsiung Port in the south is also in the development and construction stage, there is a huge demand for immigrants. Recently, the immigration base in Penghu has been in short supply. If Qian Tiandun did not personally order, these more than 100 people would have been taken by Kaohsiung. Picked up.

Gao Qiaonan decided to divide the troops into land and water. The field ambush army originally deployed in the dangerous area of ​​the upper reaches of the Danshui River marched directly to Jilong Port by land, while the troops on the Danshui River side boarded ships and passed by sea. .The voyage from Tamsui River Estuary to Jilong Port is only [-] to [-] nautical miles, and it takes only one day to get there by boat. Maybe when the Haihan army arrived at Jilong Port, the group of Spaniards sent back from Danshui Estuary hadn't left this side yet. News of the fall was sent back.

It's not that the city of El Salvador didn't feel any abnormal atmosphere. The two cargo ships that transported supplies to Santo Domingo should have returned three days ago, but there is no news yet.There is no entertainment in that ghostly place in Santo Domingo, and it is unlikely that the crew will stay there for such a long time on their own initiative. Besides, the weather has been fine for the past three days, and it is impossible for the delay to be caused by bad sea conditions. .

In addition, on the sea about ten nautical miles away from the port, some fishermen found several unidentified armed sailboats moving, and they did not belong to Spain's old opponent, the Dutch.

Alcarazo thought that there might be some kind of trouble at the mouth of the Tamsui River, but he could not take other actions hastily before receiving the call for help. He could only send another boat to the local area to inquire. information.Of course, after the ship left, it also disappeared into the sea without a sound.

But before Alcarazo could figure out what happened, he received a report that afternoon that a fleet of large ships had appeared on the sea outside the port.Judging from the flags hoisted on its mast, this fleet should belong to a newly rising force in the South China Sea in the past two years, the Haihan Army known as the Ever Victorious Army of the South China Sea.According to the observed situation, all the combat ships in this fleet have opened the gun windows on the side of the ship, which is obviously not a friendly gesture.

(End of this chapter)