Chapter 799 Mixed joys and sorrows

Since the Spanish manpower is very limited, there are almost no military personnel deployed outside the city of Santo Domingo. There are only some immigrants who know how to farm in the plantations to guide the natives in taking care of the fields. This is not because the Spanish are lazy and unwilling.

The reason for going out of the city to work is because they have suffered many hidden losses when developing this area. They were assassinated many times by hostile indigenous tribes in the forest. There are also double digits of people who died in Tamsui. Although

This has become a thing of the past, but the shadow left in the hearts of the Spaniards is difficult to erase. The governor of Santo Domingo City, Gusman, had to implement a ban, stipulating that the Spaniards should try to minimize their visits outside the city if not necessary.

activities, and you are not allowed to leave the city at will after dark.

There are no light or dark sentries, no patrols, and almost complete abandonment of the outer defense line. This defensive deployment method undoubtedly leaves ample space for the reconnaissance platoon. As long as Chen Yixin maintains the forward route of the reconnaissance platoon and does not directly enter the plantation range, the Spaniards will

The existence of this secret force is basically undetectable. Even if occasionally plantation workers notice someone moving in the forest, they will only think that it may be hunters from indigenous tribes hunting in the forest. Of course, due to the ban and many lessons learned from the past,

Because of the existence of the forest, no one would dare to enter the forest to check the real situation, so the reconnaissance activities in the outer area can be regarded as unhindered and without any scruples.

The only thing that the scouts need to be careful about is the various poisonous insects, snakes and ants in the dense forest. These guys lurk among the dense branches and leaves, and will attack anyone passing by at any time. They are far more dangerous than the Spaniards huddled in the castle.

Threat. Fortunately, these veterans have been living in the tropical jungle for many years and have their own methods of dealing with these hidden killers in the forest. In the past two days, no one was injured due to such accidents.

In the next two days, Chen Yixin led his team around the Spanish stronghold for more than half a circle, reconnaissance of its terrain and defense measures from various angles. The results can be said to be mixed, but the good news was the Spanish's peripheral defense.

It is almost completely in a state of giving up, which is undoubtedly good news for Haihan who wants to use military operations to seize control of this place; but the worry is that the terrain of Santo Domingo City is more favorable to the defenders, and it may not be possible to fight by then.

Can be easily taken.

Although Chen Yixin was convinced that his side was strong enough to capture this stronghold, he had to admit that without special means, it would probably not be possible to capture this castle in a day and a half. The plan for today is not to pursue a quick victory;

We should consider how to cut off the communication between this place and the outside world, and then start slowly after surrounding the castle.

As for this alternative, Gao Qiao Nan had made some preparations in his previous battle plan. The land passage from Tamsui to Jilong River is to go upstream along the Jilong River, a tributary of Tamsui River, and cross the Taipei Basin.

, the valley between Yangmingshan and the Central Mountains, and finally reaches Jilong Port. On the upper reaches of the Jilong River, about thirty miles away from Santo Domingo City, there is only one extremely narrow river near the famous Grand Hotel in Taipei in later years.

The trail along the river is sandwiched between the foot of Yangmingshan Mountain and the Jilong River. This is also the only way for land communication between the two places. If the Haihan Militia wants to cut off the land connection between the two places, it only needs to deploy a small number of people here.

Troops, supplemented by fortifications and heavy firepower weapons.

The night before retreating, Chen Yixin decided to personally explore the conditions of the local docks along the river. After nightfall, the group put down a makeshift bamboo raft on the upstream river beach and slowly paddled downstream along the river bank.

There was no public lighting outside the city of Santo Domingo, and the area including the dock was completely dark, which also provided an excellent cover for the actions of Chen Yixin and others. It took everyone half an hour to arrive.

to the dock area outside Santo Domingo.

It is said to be a wharf, but in fact it is just a few trestles built on the shore to facilitate the docking of ships that come to deliver supplies. It is not at the same level as the comprehensive wharf built by the port operated by Haihan. Everyone used the moonlight to move the bamboo rafts

We rowed to the trestle, fixed it under the trestle with a rope, and then followed the support legs of the trestle and climbed to the shore one after another. Only two people were left on the bamboo raft to take charge of the reception. By the way, we used this time to survey the area near the pier.

water depth and flow velocity.

Chen Yixin dared to lead a team to sneak in in the dark, but of course he was not unprepared. The magic weapon he relied on was the RNOHC640 binocular thermal imager that Qian Tiandun temporarily transferred to him from the military supply depot before departure. This American-made military

The thermal imager was one of the high-end military products purchased by the North American Gang before the time travel. Because its price was as high as six figures, only two were purchased at that time, and one of them has been assigned to Qian Tiandun for safekeeping. Electronic products cost a penny.

To put it into perspective, the nighttime imaging quality of this thing is far superior to that of a relatively simple head-mounted night vision device.

With the help of this treasure, Chen Yixin can easily detect signs of human activity a hundred meters away, so that he can avoid it as early as possible. However, the reality is that his tool does not seem to be effective, because there are no human traces within his field of vision.

, there was no sign of guard activity even on the city in the distance.

"The nerves of these Spanish guys are really thick!" Chen Yixin was speechless about the low vigilance of the Spaniards. Haihan's Victory Fort in Sanya has not been attacked by foreign enemies since it was fully completed, but the defensive force on duty

But he never relaxed. There were two shifts of guards on duty every night, and there would be irregular patrol teams outside the fort. How could they be as careless as the Spaniards? With such military quality, it is no wonder that they settled here.

So many people would be killed one after another by the primitively equipped natives. If the opponent were replaced by the Haihan militia, or even the special operations battalion under Qian Tiandun, Chen Yixin estimated that the Spanish casualties would be at least

Dozens of times the original number.

The residential areas outside the city are very sparsely distributed, and the Spaniards seem to be too lazy to carefully plan this sparsely populated area. The wooden houses inhabited by lower-class workers are scattered in the wilderness with no rules at all.

The castle on the hillside basically does not provide much protection. If this kind of town planning was placed in a colony under Haihan's rule, the person in charge of related affairs in the Ministry of Construction would probably have to be dragged out by the executive committee to make plans.

It is obvious that the Spaniards attach very limited importance to this place, which is probably limited to the extent of "occupying this place and preventing the Dutch from taking action". There is no overall planning and long-term development goals at all.

Of course, if the Spaniards really valued the colony on Taiwan Island, they would not have waited until the Dutch became established here before hurriedly sending people to build a colony. The level of development of the colony was indeed related to the high-level officials.

is closely related to the importance attached to it. Compared with Haihan's care for each new colony, Chen Yixin seems to have a better understanding of why this old maritime empire has gradually embarked on a downhill road in recent times, slowly losing ground to its rivals in the same field.

We have lost the first-mover advantage.

Chen Yixin originally wanted to lurk close to the city to see the city's defense situation, but his subordinates prevented him from going there in person. For these veterans, as the "chief", Chen Yixin's personal safety was better than that of the big soldiers like them.

His life was much more important. It was an extremely risky move to conduct reconnaissance here. How could he be allowed to get under the enemy's nose? At that moment, two people forcibly snatched the job and quietly moved towards the direction of the castle.

Others are lurking in residential areas outside the city, waiting for news.

About forty minutes later, the two scouts returned intact. Their close-range reconnaissance operation did not alert the defenders in the castle. So the group quietly retreated to the river bank and left the dock on the bamboo raft they came from.

, paddling towards the downstream estuary.

After the team landed at the estuary, they cut off the ropes binding the bamboo raft and let it float into the sea without leaving any suspicious traces. Chen Yixin and others took a short rest on the shore and ate some dry food.

Replenish their strength and then march northward along the coastline overnight. They must rush to the meeting point at sunrise to meet up with another detachment returning by land from the upper reaches of the Tamsui River, and then leave here by boat.

At four o'clock in the morning, the two detachments reunited smoothly. After waiting for more than an hour, the Guangzhou ship that took them here appeared at sea again. During the three days when the reconnaissance platoon landed, the ship moved this ship every day.

We will visit here every time so that we can help them leave this place in time when emergencies may arise.

The entire retreat process went very smoothly without any trouble. The Spaniards in their sleep could not have imagined that Suo Ming Wichang had already come to their door and circled around. When the Haihan people come again next time, they will probably not have any more troubles.

Chance to sleep so peacefully.

A day and a half later, Chen Yixin and the reconnaissance platoon returned to Magong Port in Penghu. Qian Tiandun received the news and went to the pier to greet him in person. During this reconnaissance operation, which took more than six days in total, the team basically completed the target at the mouth of the Tamsui River.

Various scheduled reconnaissance missions in the area resulted in zero casualties and no alerting the enemy at all. If I had to find fault with this operation, it would probably just be the failure to capture anyone alive with intelligence value from the local area. But that would be very possible.

The reconnaissance operation will be exposed, which will arouse the vigilance of the Spaniards. Moreover, Haihan already has an intelligence source like Jose in his hands, and it is not very meaningful to arrest the other party alive from the local area - unless he directly captures the other party.

Officers or other administrative officials, but the local Spaniards rarely left the castle and the possibility of capturing them alive was slim.

That day, Qian Tiandun held a banquet to welcome Chen Yixin. After he had had enough wine and food, Qian Tiandun began to talk about business: "You have been busy there for a few days. How do you feel?"

"The Spaniards are not as powerful as we expected, but it is still difficult to attack this castle." Chen Yixin put down his chopsticks and informed Qian Tiandun of the situation he saw there. For an armed stronghold with such a special terrain,

Chen Yixin also wanted to hear Qian Tiandun's opinion. After all, he had commanded many critical battles in this time and space, and he would definitely have more effective tactical arrangements.

"The castle is built on a hillside?" Qian Tiandun thought for a moment and then continued to ask: "Are there any other bunkers on the outside?"

"Not at all. I think the Spaniards have completely given up on peripheral defense methods. There are no bunkers, no outposts, and no warning measures." Chen Yixin recalled what he saw and responded to Qian Tiandun's question: "I think they are vigilant.

The security is quite low. They probably never expected to encounter foreign enemies approaching the city, and they lacked corresponding means of rejection. The Spaniards probably placed all their hopes on their city defense firepower. After all, the possible foreign enemies could only be

By projecting troops to the local area through the Tamsui River, they only need to deal with threats from this direction."

The Spaniards had probably exhausted all their enthusiasm when they first selected the site to build their stronghold. The location of the city of Santo Domingo was indeed extremely beneficial to the defenders. Although the downstream river mouth impact plain had a flat terrain, it was difficult to move it.

Heavy equipment such as artillery has been dropped on the shore, and there are no roads leading to the area where Santo Domingo City is located. When a large number of troops land there, they will face the difficulty of quickly transporting equipment and baggage to the front line.

And if the enemy wants to send troops upstream through the Tamsui River, the situation is not much better. First of all, it is difficult to avoid the surveillance of the Spanish strongholds located at high altitudes, and it cannot achieve the effect of surprise troops. Secondly, the river banks upstream are almost

They are all in a primitive forest state, and it is also impossible for the baggage equipment needed for military operations to pass quickly.

If troops who want to attack the local area land at the dock below the city, they will have to face fire from high places. If they choose to land a little further away, it will be difficult to quickly put heavy equipment into the battlefield. This is very difficult for the commander.

That said, it is undoubtedly a dilemma.

"This is so embarrassing!" Qian Tiandun sighed, stroking the stubble on his chin. If the special operations battalion wanted to attack head-on, of course, there would be a great chance of conquering the Spanish stronghold. But the problem is that the special operations battalion uses this method

This tactic will inevitably cause casualties, and it is likely to be a number that neither Qian Tiandun nor the military can accept. Qian Tiandun will never let the elites he has painstakingly trained execute such low-level tactics of exchanging human lives for results.

Tactical mission.

"What do you think if siege tactics are used?" Qian Tiandun could only change his mind.

With the strength of the navy and land forces stationed in Penghu, it is not too difficult to cut off the land and water channels between the local area and the outside world at the same time. According to Jose, the city of Santo Domingo is very dependent on supplies from Jilong Port, basically every month

A batch of supplies must be transported from the city of El Salvador to the local area. If siege tactics are adopted to cut off the supply channels, it seems to be a good choice.
Chapter completed!