Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 99: No Disturbance
The entire Luzon Islands
佩德罗少将掌控的军团约有20个连，分为两个营，每个营各十个连，每连总计100人（注；1名上尉连长、1名中尉副连长、1名少尉、4名军士、6名一级下士、6名二级下士、2名鼓手和82名士兵）。

Due to lack of personnel, these companies were never actually fully staffed.

The company with the smallest number of people has only more than 40 people.

The four companies mobilized by Governor Major General Pedro were in good condition. They were stationed in the Manila and Cavite military ports, with a total of 4 people in the four companies.

They belong to one grenadier company and three flintlock companies.

Port of Manila

The gathering of Portuguese soldiers was a grand affair. Every company arrived at the dock beating drums, as if afraid that others would not know. The officers and soldiers were dressed as proudly as roosters.

At the port, many white upper-class gentlemen and ladies had already arrived in carriages, seemingly to hold a grand party.

The white gentlemen spoke arrogantly, showing off their knowledge, and even mentioned that Governor Major General Pedro had requested reinforcements from His Majesty the King.

The purpose is to attract the attention of those elegantly dressed ladies. If you can hook up with one of them, it would be awesome.

The word "confidentiality" does not exist in the dictionary of these white gentlemen.

A man in a light-colored short jacket stood not far from these white gentlemen. He listened to what they said completely, then lowered his head and walked out of the crowd.

This person was none other than the secret envoy Wang Haigou, who was ordered to establish a spy base in Manila. He had already settled here with more than 10 carefully selected people.

He looked around cautiously to make sure no one was paying attention, then walked into a teahouse. This teahouse, not far from the port, was his home.

Most of the other personnel found various shelters near the forts and the Governor's Mansion to make a living.

Walking into the rented teahouse, Wang Haigou looked serious. He secretly winked at the shop assistant, then lifted the door curtain and walked to the back without stopping.

The information we obtained today is very important and must be reported to the General immediately.

Just these days
Wang Haigou collected a lot of information from various channels, including intelligence about population, society, the Portuguese’s promotion of language education, the distribution of white forces, etc. The areas involved are very diverse and have strong reference value.

It is said that some people are born with a strong sense of intelligence and are suitable for this job.

About an incense stick of time
Wang Haigou came out from the back holding a cloth bag, walked to the intersection and called a rickshaw. After getting in the car, he quickly headed towards the old town of Manila.

His destination this time was a local Manila businessman named Wang, who was his subordinate. After knocking on the door, he went straight in.

More than half an hour later
Only then did Wang Haigou leave the merchant's house. He received the other party's promise that he would set out to sea tonight and deliver the intelligence to the general of Davo City as quickly as possible.

By this time

Wang Haigou finally felt relieved. He leisurely returned to the Manila port and saw these Portuguese white people still on the dock. It seemed that they were being given a lecture by a certain officer.

There were four sailing warships docked at the port, which was a big move that the Franks had not seen in many years, and it attracted a lot of discussion among local Chinese.

It was no secret that these Spanish troops were heading to Cagayan; almost everyone knew about it.

Due to the lack of information in today’s society, local Chinese are unaware of the changes taking place in Mindanao.

From what these Frankish white people said, they were going to deal with some Chinese rebel forces, which made people speculate.

Wang Haigou snorted coldly, his expression extremely disdainful;

With just over 300 people, they want to deal with the general's army of tens of thousands. It is simply a pipe dream.

He was recruited by Zheng Shouzhong very early and was one of the first immigrants to follow him south. He was very clear about the strength of the Chinese immigrant army and the colonization policy, and would not blindly believe in the fighting power of the foreigners.

In his opinion
Even if the Franks sent out tens of thousands of troops, there would be no way to shake the general's ruling position in Mindanao without a bloody battle and the collapse of the earth and the sky.

Two days later

Zheng Guohui received an urgent secret report from Manila, which was very detailed, which finally made Zheng Guohui feel relieved.

Because the transoceanic voyage was so long, the reinforcements that Governor Frank requested from His Majesty the King would not arrive at all within a year or two.

If four companies of troops are used to occupy Cagayan, then Frankie will only have 4 companies left in the Luzon and Cebu Islands.

Of course

When a crisis comes, the Franks can also mobilize the power of white colonists to jointly defend important areas, which is another matter.

At least for now
In other words, from now until June next year, the Portuguese on the Luzon Islands have no intention of fighting to the death with him. This is the tactic of "dragging".

Well, time is on my side.

If Cagayan is willing to occupy it, then let it occupy it. It is not a good time for Zheng Guohui to be too strong now, which will trigger a heated war between the two sides. The time is not right yet.

To this end, he convened a special meeting of the highest military and political leaders, informed them of the actions of the Franks, and established a policy of "non-interference".

What does it mean to not disturb each other?

As long as the Franks don't launch a major attack on Zamboanga and Davao, the two sides will "leave each other alone," and the military won't send troops to Cagayan, escalating the conflict. Now, the focus is on development. With the arrival of another fleet of immigrants from Chongming Island expected before the end of the year, properly settling these Chinese immigrants is the top priority.

Since this time
Several indigenous rebel forces hiding in the mountains and forests launched more than a dozen attacks on the immigrant village, but each time they failed and fled back with heavy losses.

Some were surrounded and killed by cavalry.

The indigenous rebel forces in the mountains were short of clothes and could not bear it for a long time. They were forced to fight to the death.

This just shows that the "empty cage and replace bird" immigration policy has been extremely successful.

Whether in the Zamboanga Peninsula or the Davao region, without the support of the indigenous villages, these indigenous rebel forces will be like water without a source and duckweed without roots, and they will not be able to survive for long.

At the Supreme Military and Political Conference
Zheng Guohui focused on the site selection of new copper mines, coal mines and iron mines, as well as the site selection of steel mills, and the construction of corresponding factory facilities was also put on the agenda.

It is impossible that after the iron-making blast furnace equipment arrives, there is nothing prepared here and it is completely blank. That will inevitably greatly delay the commissioning of the steel-making equipment.

Now everything is in place. With the mining of iron ore and coal, a large amount of production raw materials have been stockpiled in advance. After the equipment is installed and debugged, production can be started at full capacity.

The same applies to steel plants and corresponding infrastructure, and we strive to put preparatory work in advance.

The sooner a steelmaking blast furnace is put into production, the sooner benefits can be seen. This is a brand new concept for everyone.

After the meeting

Zheng Guohui led everyone to the riverside fortress construction site again. After more than a month of intensive construction day and night, the riverside fortress now took shape.

The walls of the main fortress were built to a height of more than 3 meters, and initially acquired defensive capabilities.

Around the main fortress, the convicts were still digging a moat, which was not closed in a circle, leaving access roads more than 6 meters wide at the front and back ends.

The main dam on the riverside must be completed before the access roads can be completely dug out to form a moat surrounding the city, and then river water can be introduced to fill it.

The Davao region has a typical tropical marine climate, with temperatures ranging from 20 to 23 degrees Celsius all year round. The temperature difference is very small, and the climate is cool and pleasant.

There is no distinction between spring, summer, autumn and winter here, only rainy season and dry season.

It is now the end of the rainy season, and the sudden downpours are rare and do not last long.

Zheng Guohui came to the top of the fortress and looked at the indigenous convicts working hard in the sun. The construction site with thousands of people was in order, and he felt quite satisfied.

Additional manpower was added here, and the number of convicts reached more than 7000.

There were nearly 5,000 people in the main fortress along the river and more than 2,000 people in the secondary fortress. They were divided into two shifts and worked day and night, without stopping at night.

can be seen
The convicts mixed clay with thatch, then soaked it with glutinous rice paste and beat it, and finally put it into bamboo baskets and walked step by step along the upward road to the city wall construction site.

After pouring the clay, 3 to 4 people are required to lift up the stone rammer and pound it down hard, compacting it layer by layer until it becomes hard and forms the main body of the city wall.

There were more than 2,000 convicts working on the main structure, densely distributed throughout the city wall.

Under the city wall

There were also hundreds of stonemasons wielding hammers and iron tongs to chisel the transported stones into large bricks.

On both sides of the city wall

The convicts built walls with stones, using a mortar made of shell powder, clay, glutinous rice paste and egg white, and built them up layer by layer.

When the material dries and hardens, it is actually harder than stone.

Hundreds of people worked together on the masonry work, and the speed was quite fast, with encouraging progress.

The main fortress of this fortress adopted Father Wehorst's advice and added a bastion on each of the two wings, one in the south and one in the north, which greatly enhanced the defense capability.

Of course, the workload has increased a lot.

Zheng Guohui felt that it was all worth it. He stood on a high place like a god, looking down at his subjects.

The convicts, driven by whips, all worked with their heads down in fear, not daring to look up at the general standing high up, as if they were afraid of the devil.

In the labor camp during leisure time

Sad and mournful folk songs can often be heard, filled with nostalgia for the free days of the past. The "terrible day is coming" in the lyrics refers to the day when the general came with his brutal army.

Zheng Guohui also knew how the indigenous people viewed him, but unfortunately he had no choice on the road to conquest.

Today's world
National consciousness has begun to awaken in Europe. In a few years, this wave of national consciousness awakening originating in Europe will sweep the whole world.

He doesn't have much time left, and there are not many opportunities to reshape the map, so he must seize them.

(End of this chapter)