Chapter 1645 Important Information

Yan Chujie knew that the person who came was from Chaosheng Merchant Store, and what he had braved the wind and rain to deliver to Cavite at this time was naturally very important information. He immediately opened the envelope, took out the letter inside, and

After browsing it, he handed it to his adjutant and gave a few instructions in a low voice.

Ran Tiancheng stood there without even daring to raise his head, let alone pricking up his ears to listen to the orders given by Yan Chujie. He only hoped that the benefits Ran Tianlu had prepared for the Haihan people were rich enough to impress them at once, so that he would not have to waste words.

Re-negotiate the terms with the other party.

After Yan Chujie finished arranging things, he asked Ran Tiancheng: "Boss Ran has been working hard all the way, haven't you had a meal on the way?"

Ran Tiancheng responded quickly: "I rushed here to see you, sir, but I didn't have time to eat, but it doesn't matter... Are you satisfied with the things you sent?"

Yan Chujie nodded and said: "You have done a good job. I will reward you for your merits when the war situation in Manila stabilizes. In this way, I will have someone take you to eat some hot food first, and someone will ask you later. You know

Whatever it is, I’ll just answer it slowly when the time comes.”

Ran Tiancheng vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he didn't react for a while. An officer took him out of Yan Chujie's office and went to a nearby canteen. He asked the kitchen to cook him a bowl of beef noodles, and then brought him a bowl of beef noodles.

I gave him two sesame seed cakes - this was a treatment only senior officers could enjoy on the battlefield.

Ran Tiancheng took the noodles into his mouth and then remembered that he was here to give money, but why did General Haihan reward him based on his merits? What's the point of talking about merits when spending money to buy peace? Is it possible?

The envelope that he handed over to the other party did not contain the check that Ran Tianlu mentioned?

The more Ran Tiancheng thought about it, the more he realized that this was the truth, and the chopsticks in his hand stopped. He did not know the true identity of his brother. He only knew that he had a wide range of contacts and had trade relationships with businessmen from many countries.

But Ran Tiancheng is not very clear about the relationship with the Haihan people. But the Haihan people are now approaching the city. If they can receive the information sent from the city, it will naturally save a lot of trouble. If Ran Tianlu sends it

Something related to this can well explain Yan Chujie's attitude.

The secret letter sent from Manila City, under the instruction of Yan Chujie, had been sent to the headquarters for review by several other generals. Regarding what Ran Tianlu said in the letter about the Spaniards stepping up their efforts to build chain bombs, the generals naturally aroused the interest of the generals.

They attach great importance to.

Although the "Black Shark" is equipped with a steam-powered propulsion system, the main power source it relies on is still the sails on the ship. Steam propulsion is only used as a temporary supplementary power during combat, not as the protagonist. Otherwise, the "Black Shark"

During the mission, the ship probably had to follow two supply ships, one carrying coal and one carrying fresh water, to ensure its endurance at sea.

Since it still relies on the sail system, masts and sails are defensive weaknesses that cannot be completely solved, and chain bombs happen to be one of the most effective weapons used to deal with masts and sails in naval battles. For Haihan, it is a must.

Defensive attack methods.

Of course, the "Black Shark" has considered various attack methods that need to be defended at the beginning of its design. Chain bombs are naturally one of them, and there are certain corresponding strategies for this. The defense of the sail is not particularly effective.

There is no way to use soft canvas to cover flying artillery shells. The most effective defense is to increase the combat distance and stay outside the range of the enemy's chain projectiles.

The mast needs to be defended against more than just chain bombs. If ordinary solid artillery shells hit the wooden mast, it will also cause devastating consequences. Therefore, the lower half of the mast of the "Black Shark" is also covered with a layer of outer layer.

Iron armor, and a variety of reinforcement measures have been taken to ensure that the mast will not break even if it is hit directly by a shell. In the previous confrontation with the Manila fleet, the "Black Shark" had been very carefully controlled

The purpose of the engagement distance is to avoid being hit by chain bombs launched by Spanish warships in weak parts of the ship.

"The Spaniards still have some brains! They figured out how to fight so quickly." After reading the relevant information, Wang Tom's face was not nervous. This is because the Haihan Army has already captured Cavite and is standing firmly.

With a port as an advance base, if we want to fight the Spaniards at sea again, there will no longer be a situation where the "Black Shark" single-handedly enters the enemy's formation, and naturally there will be no risk of being surrounded and suppressed by the opponent's warships at sea.

.

Although the "Black Shark" is designed as an ironclad ship that attaches great importance to defense, its main tactic is not to rush into the enemy formation to attract firepower, but to use its advantages of maneuverability and speed to wander around the periphery, seize a favorable position, and then use the ship to

The two highly accurate naval guns bombarded enemy ships.

In this confrontation with the Manila fleet, the "Black Shark"'s tactics were entirely to delay the attack on Cavite, otherwise it would not have taken such a risky approach to fight the Spanish warships. Now

The battleships of the Haihan Fleet have basically been freed up. The next time they confront the enemy, the three majestic-class battleships in the fleet will be the main force on the frontal battlefield. The battle risks faced by the "Black Shark"

It will be reduced a lot. This trick played by the Spaniards in a sneaky way may not even be of use at all.

Tom Wang knew this very well, so he was not too afraid of the tactics that the Spaniards came up with. However, the intelligence agency was able to manage to send this news from Manila at such a critical time. The risks taken during this period were unimaginable and unimaginable.

This shows the extent of his efforts, so although this news can only be of limited help to the navy, Wang Tom also gave a very high evaluation to the intelligence work.

Qian Tiandun was interested in another thing: "The person who sent the news from Manila was said to have taken the overland route and stopped for one night. In fact, he arrived in two days. Considering the current situation,

If the weather conditions are bad, we can complete this journey in two days. Then when the weather improves, maybe we can advance to the vicinity of Manila in one day."

"This is not easy." Roger, who was lying on the map, straightened up and said, "Look, the land route from Cavite Peninsula to Manila requires crossing three rivers. The messenger has one person and one horse, as long as he can

It would be easier to find a small boat by the river and cross the river, but we have too much heavy equipment and supplies, and crossing the river will delay a lot of time. It may not be possible to complete it in two days, let alone one day."

"Then we can adopt the method used in the previous war in Annan, marching by land and water, transporting supplies to the north by ship, and all personnel traveling by land." Wang Tom immediately proposed another plan: "Look, there is a village about eight kilometers away from Manila.

Pasay Town, according to the standards on the map, this coastal town has a fishing port. We can transport supplies and equipment here to land, meet up with the troops traveling by land, and then complete the last stretch of the journey and approach Manila City."

"But the Spaniards may also think of this and deploy a defense line locally." Roger added.

"That doesn't matter. If they station troops locally, then they can start fighting. Don't you have confidence in our strength?" Wang Tom asked with a smile.

Roger also smiled: "Let's start the fight? That's just what I want."

Roger did not come here for a vacation with his ace troops. He did not gain any military exploits in the battle in Cavite. This has made him hold back his energy and plan to fight for battle in the subsequent battles.

opportunity.

The composition of Roger's South China Sea Special Operations Group is different from other units of the Hai-Han Army. Many people are not Hai-Han themselves, or even not Han at all. When Roger formed this team on Ambona Island,

When we were in the army, the source of soldiers was more complicated. In addition to the Han people, there were also many slaves who were selected from the slaves sold to Ambon Island from various countries. After they accumulated a certain amount of military exploits in the army, they were granted Haihan nationality.

opportunity.

Roger gave them a new life and taught these soldiers to use fighting to prove their worth. This unit will not have too much psychological burden when it goes to war with any country. For Haihan, this is more like

It is an international mercenary. This force defeated the coalition forces of Britain and Johor in the South China Sea, and guarded Haihan's strategically important position at the east exit of the Strait of Malacca, so it was able to rank among Haihan's ace troops.

And now they need to prove their strength through fighting here, in front of many colleagues.

After Ran Tiancheng completed the mission of delivering the message, he did not return to Manila City. This was not because he wanted to stay on his own initiative, but because the Haihan military needed to get more information about the current situation in Manila City from him. Ran Tiancheng himself

Knowing that he would not be able to get off the boat, he simply let go and told the Haihan military everything he knew about the situation.

After another two days, the rain slowly subsided and the weather finally began to clear up. However, the results of the cavalry battalion's reconnaissance from the town of Noveleta to the north near the town of Parañaque were not ideal, because for many days

Due to the heavy rain, the rivers along the way were swollen. The ferry that Ran Tiancheng mentioned had already been washed away by the river water, and the ferry could not be found. If we must march by land, we should wait for the river water level to subside before trying to cross the river.

, otherwise we can only go around to the upper reaches of the river and find a place to cross the river where the river is narrower and the water is not so strong.

But no matter which method is used, it will take a lot of time. This is not a situation that the command headquarters wants to see. So after another round of preparation meetings, the command headquarters decided to move across the sea from the Cavite Peninsula.

The next attack target was the hoped-for Pasay Town. After capturing Pasay Town, the final march to Manila City was launched from the land using the local area as the starting point.

The straight-line distance from Cavite to Pasay Town is about eight kilometers, which translates into a voyage of about five nautical miles. At the speed of the Haihan Fleet, it will reach its destination in less than an hour. However, after launching a formal offensive

Before, the Navy very carefully sent out a reconnaissance ship to conduct a close observation of the fishing port near Pasay Town, and determined that there were no obvious fortifications on the local coast. As for whether there were troops stationed there, Haihan was not sure.

Too worried. After all, people in the Army want to make a difference on the battlefield as soon as possible. If there is a Spanish garrison in the local area, it will just improve the Army's record.

The command headquarters was worried that long nights and heavy dreams would give the Spaniards more time to prepare for the battle, so they launched a new wave of offensive in the early morning of the next day after completing the reconnaissance. Almost all the combat ships of the fleet came out to guard more than 20 troop transport ships.

Drive east toward Pasay Town.

Before daybreak, the Haihan Army carried out a landing operation at the fishing port. The process was unimaginably smooth. There was no resistance at all, and there was no garrison presence as expected by the command. After searching the villages near the port, it was found that

, all the people here have already fled, leaving only empty houses and some broken fishing boats upside down on the beach.

"That's it? No enemies?" After Roger set foot on land, he received a disappointing report. There was no sign of the Spaniards within one kilometer of the landing site. Obviously, the Spanish did not regard this fishing port as a fishing port.

This place was completely different from Roger's imagination that the Spaniards would fortify themselves layer by layer and then retreat to Manila City. It was like clenching a fist but hitting it in the wrong place.

Focus on the cotton top.

However, for the sake of caution and to prevent the Spaniards from trying to lure the enemy deeper, Roger assigned two of his generals, Marcus and Dulu, to lead the teams east and north respectively to explore the enemy's situation.

Both of them joined the army as foreign slaves in 1633 on Amborna Island. One is a black man, and the other is from Aceh, Sumatra. However, after accumulating military exploits in the past few years, not only have the two of them been freed from slavery long ago,

, joined the Haihan nationality, and now lead a company each with the rank of lieutenant.

Feedback soon came back from the situation in Pasay Town, which found that all ten houses in the town were empty. It seemed that the Spaniards not only retreated to defend, but also planned to fortify the walls and clear the country, hoping to cut off the possibility of the Haihan Army obtaining supplies and labor locally.

"If this was fighting inland, their approach would be more effective. Unfortunately, this is in a coastal area. We have to complete the delivery of materials and personnel, as long as we have ships." After listening to the situation report, Wang Tom said,

He still doesn't have a high opinion of the Spaniards' response tactics. He believes that the only thing that needs to be careful is that the Spaniards intend to preserve their strength by avoiding war. Their purpose of doing this may be to hope that they can fight with the Haihan Army.

Start a head-on battle below the city, relying on Manila City's solid city defense and military superiority to disrupt Haihan's attack.
Chapter completed!