Chapter 795 No Escape

Among the maritime powers in the South China Sea, only the Spaniards have not directly dealt with Haihan. The information they have about Haihan basically comes from hearsay from various folk channels, many of which have various or

The objective credibility of statements that praise or disparage is not high. However, the Spaniards have always regarded themselves as a superior country in Europe, just like the Ming Dynasty in the Far East, and they simply did not bother to collect detailed information about such a local force.

To be honest, if the existence of Damuan Port had not hindered the trade channel between Manila and Ming Dynasty, they would not even pay attention to it even the Dutch.

The superior men don't care much about Haihan's movements, so don't expect civilians like Jose to care about such things. Jose's knowledge of Haihan basically comes from the merchants and sailors of the Ming Dynasty.

Regardless of whether they have a cooperative relationship with Haihan or not, these people are mostly in awe of Haihan and will not talk too much about Haihan in front of outsiders. The information that Jose can learn is basically superficial.

.

Prior to this, Jose only knew that Haihan had a very large influence in Fuzhou and Guangzhou provinces of the Ming Dynasty, and the private armed forces under his command seemed to be quite powerful, because the Dutch in the south had suffered a big loss in their hands. But

None of these things have anything to do with Spain directly, at least not before he was captured here.

As Jose's alertness gradually decreased, Jin Ming's questions became more and more explicit: "What is the defense status of the two castles of Jilong and Tamsui? How many soldiers are stationed? How many artillery pieces are equipped with each?"

Although Jose felt that these questions were inappropriate, considering the threats he had received previously, he still felt that it was more important to keep himself alive at the moment. After all, even if he tried his best to keep these answers in his stomach, there would be no one in El Salvador.

I will feel grateful to myself for this. If the news of my death comes back, the first thing the authorities will probably do is confiscate the blacksmith shop, and no one will care about the life or death of a young blacksmith.

Compared with the Netherlands, which has only just emerged, Spain, the old maritime empire, has richer operational experience in the construction and operation of overseas colonial strongholds. The two strongholds they built in the northern part of Taiwan Island have relatively complete defense systems and are stationed there.

A professional army was formed, and all were equipped with a certain amount of long-range firepower.

According to what Jose explained, the newly built Tamsui stronghold alone was equipped with eight 12-pound cannons and four 3-pound cannons, and was stationed with 200 soldiers and about 1,000 immigrants - most of whom were affiliated with the

Spain then immigrated to the Southeast Asian natives here. The reason why Jose knew so much about these situations was precisely because of his special status. Most of the shells used by the artillery in Tamsui Stronghold were cast locally, and this work was completed

The man was none other than Jose. As for the daily maintenance of artillery and firearms, it was basically within his scope of work. Even if he didn't deliberately inquire about it, Jose would know the relevant military information of the stronghold very well. Jin Ming was determined to take Jose

It was this factor that was taken into consideration when he was brought back to Penghu, and the subsequent progress fully demonstrated that Jin Ming's adventure was very valuable.

The city of Salvador in Jilong Port, which has been in operation for a longer time, is stronger in defense than the Tamsui stronghold, with as many as 14 12-pound cannons, 8 3-pound cannons, and two 24-pound cannons. In addition,

The Spanish armed fleet stationed in Jilong Port also has six warships, equipped with a total of more than 40 artillery pieces. There are about 500 Spanish army personnel and about 300 naval personnel in the local area, a mixed auxiliary force composed of multiple ethnic groups.

There are about three hundred people, with a total strength of over a thousand. And the number of ordinary people like He Sai there is only about three thousand.

To maintain a garrison scale with such a high population ratio in overseas strongholds, even a wealthy Haihan will not have an easy time. Because the development time of Penghu after Haihan took over was still short, the permanent population is not large, and the local garrison ratio

It is already quite high. But if you include the population of the immigration base, the proportion of the garrison is actually only 20%. This number is far lower than the Spanish population structure of Jilong Port. Moreover, the Penghu base has adjacent

Fujian can continuously import supplies, but the Spaniards in Jilong Port can only count on irregular logistical supplies from Manila, more than 2,000 miles away. Such a high proportion of troops will definitely be difficult to maintain by relying solely on local output.

, it is no wonder that the Spaniards later reduced the size of the army and military expenditures stationed on Taiwan Island.

Judging from the size of the garrison alone, the Spanish investment in deploying defensive forces is undoubtedly much greater than that of their Dutch counterparts in the south. It is no wonder that the Dutch established a stronghold on Taiwan Island more than two years ago, but have never been able to remove their opponents from the island.

If they wanted to fight head-on, the Dutch's armed force in Damuan Port alone would definitely not be able to conquer the Spanish stronghold. Even if they knew it was a thorn in their side, the Dutch could only pretend to turn a blind eye. After Haihan intervened in Fujian affairs

, the Dutch didn't even bother to deal with the conflict with the Spanish. After all, the two sides had maintained peace with each other most of the time, and Haihan was obviously not that easy to deal with.

But the Spaniards probably haven't become wary of Haihan to this degree yet. Even their senior leaders know some of Haihan's achievements in recent years. After all, you won't know the pain until a slap is slapped on your butt. Back then,

Before the Dutchman was beaten, he did not really regard Heihan as an evenly matched opponent.

Jin Ming asked the military intelligence-related questions several times in confusion to make sure that the data given by Jose was the same every time, so as to avoid being fooled by him with improvised information. As a blacksmith, Jose

The military intelligence that can really be learned is limited to this level. If you want to ask him in detail about a certain commander's combat style, you probably won't be able to get anything out of it.

Of course, Jose's intelligence value is not only reflected in the military aspect. Du Rong and Jin Ming plan to take advantage of such a hard-won Spanish living man and extract all the information in his mind. This will greatly help

Yu Haihan understood the actual situation of Spanish society in this era and his attitude towards dealing with Spanish people in the future.

"Good job!" Qian Tiandun patted Jin Ming's shoulder hard before leaving. This small gesture made him feel flattered.

"Serve the Executive Committee!" Jin Ming stood at attention reflexively and responded loudly.

For the military, Jose's appearance is undoubtedly a huge unexpected gain. It might have taken a lot of time and effort to collect intelligence, but Jose has already obtained first-hand information. This will be of great help to the military in the future.

Formulating a combat plan to deal with the Spanish will definitely play a very important role.

Gao Qiaonan received the notice from Qian Tiandun summoning him on the training ground. After handing over the matters at hand to his adjutant, Gao Qiaonan hurriedly reported to Qian Tiandun's office.

"Come and take a closer look with me to see what is the best way to attack this place." Qian Tiandun waved to Gao Qiaonan and asked him to go to his desk and look at the map spread out on the table.

This map is a 1:100,000 satellite image of the northern part of Taiwan Island. On the map, you can clearly see the mouth of the Tamsui River and the Yangmingshan and Guanyin Mountains on the east and west banks of the Tamsui River.

"Today the Ministry of Security sent a Spaniard. According to his explanation, in addition to Jilong Port, there is also a Spanish stronghold at this location." Qian Tiandun pointed to the river bank near the mouth of the Tamsui River:

"There is a castle here called Santo Domingo City. It has about ten cannons and two to three hundred troops."

"General, what do you mean... we want to attack here?" Gao Qiaonan has been following Qian Tiandun for several years and is very familiar with his style of doing things. He suddenly took out a map for tactical deduction. It was obviously him.

I'm already attracted to this place.

Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "Yes, Taipei is not as good as Taiyuan Port. We can temporarily let the Dutch go, but the Taipei area is the target area that we must directly win. As for this credit, I don't want to give it to others.

"

"I understand the humble position!" Takahashi Nan was so excited that he rubbed his hands repeatedly. For him, there is really no pleasure in bringing a militia army armed to the teeth to fight against the primitively armed indigenous people on the island of Taiwan. In comparison,

On the contrary, a strong opponent like Spain would be more interesting.

Takahashi Nan looked at the map carefully and then asked: "Excuse me, General, how far is this castle from the river bank?"

"It's only a distance of one or two hundred meters. It depends on the tidal influence at the specific period. But we can get more detailed information, so this link is not a problem." Qian Tiandun responded.

The location of the city of Santo Domingo is only more than one kilometer away from the coastline of the estuary. The rise and fall of seawater tides also have a certain impact on the docks outside the city. Normally docked ships will not be greatly affected, but if a landing operation is to be carried out,

For similar military tasks, this kind of uncontrollable factors must be taken into account. Otherwise, it would be very embarrassing for the navy to find that it cannot reach the shore when it reaches the shore.

Takahashi Minami estimated the scale of the map in his mind, and then said: "The river here is at least three miles wide, and the Majesty-class battleship with the largest tonnage can easily change direction on the river. I think the fleet can be faced directly from the river.

The castle provided suppressive fire to cover the infantry landing."

Among Haihan's amphibious warfare subjects, carrier-based artillery fire cover for infantry landings is the most basic content. The special operations battalion has practiced this tactic many times without exception. However, there is a necessary prerequisite for using this tactic.

That is, the range of the ship-based artillery is far enough. Otherwise, if it can only hit one or two hundred meters away, the landing force will not be able to fully deploy the formation, and the fire support may turn into fire coverage of one's own troops.

The ship-borne artillery of the same era generally has a relatively short range. On the one hand, this is because there is no way to ensure the accuracy of shooting in maritime operations. Just having a long range may not improve the hit rate. On the contrary, the cost of the artillery will be greatly increased. On the other hand,

The artillery deck space on the ship is limited. If the gun body is too large, deployment and operation in a narrow space will increase a lot of difficulty.

Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect those naval guns that can fire within a hundred meters or even shorter distances at sea to provide fire support to the land. This tactic can only be used by the Haihan militia with huge technological advantages in weapons.

Play. When the Spaniards built this stronghold, they probably didn't expect that someone in this world would use this kind of tactics to launch an attack on the mainland. At this distance, Shanghai and Han's warships could anchor on the shore to achieve a more stable operation.

posture to launch a bombardment on the castle. A large ship like the Majestic class has more artillery on a single side than the total number of artillery on the defender. The bombardment of more than 20 cannons is enough to form a barrage against the castle, and this is not counted.

Including the artillery fire of the Army's landing, it can suppress the opponent more effectively in terms of firepower.

"Keep talking." Qian Tiandun affirmed his subordinate with his eyes and encouraged him to continue to express his thoughts. The Haihan Militia currently does not lack grassroots soldiers, but there is still a gap in the demand for senior command talents. Large-scale battles often

The time traveler needs to personally command to the company and platoon level. The scale of the troops participating in the battle is limited now, so the problem is not that big. If we compete in the Central Plains in the future, and tens of thousands of troops are often invested, will we still have to rely entirely on the time traveler at that time?

To command grassroots combat units? Obviously cultivating naturalized civilian officers is the real solution, and Qian Tiandun is also happy to take advantage of this opportunity to exercise his trusted officers' ability to deduce the battle situation.

"As long as the army can land smoothly, the next thing will be easy to handle." Takahashi Minami continued: "The range and accuracy of the army's artillery are definitely far greater than the Spaniards. The 24-pound army cannon has a range of 200 meters.

We should be able to blast open the castle gate without any effort. Besides surrendering, I can’t think of any better way out for the defenders.”

"Then what if the city's defense force increases, or reinforcements arrive from the outside?" Qian Tiandun planned to take the test in Gaoqiao South.

"Then give up the siege for the time being and implement the tactic of encirclement and reinforcements." Takahashi Nan immediately responded: "The terrain in this area is very flat. The reinforcements must either enter the city and defend it, or they can only retreat far enough to safety.

From a distance, we can watch helplessly as we blow this castle into pieces little by little. Of course, if they plan to come together to block the bomb holes, then I won't mind killing more."

Qian Tiandun smiled and said: "I will give you this map for the time being. You can go back and make a more detailed battle plan for me. I will give you five days and require that the battle time should not exceed two days, and the troops deployed in Penghu should not exceed the existing ones in Penghu."

Two-thirds of the military strength, and a corresponding logistics supply plan must be attached. Can it be done?"

"Resolutely complete the mission!" Takahashi Minami responded loudly without hesitation.
Chapter completed!