The conversation ended up being meaningless, and the gap between the two sides' opinions was too big. Gao Zhenxin was too lazy to continue talking nonsense with them, and ordered several senior commanders of the Spanish treasure fleet to continue to be detained. At the same time, Gao Yimin, Gao Musan and others returned to the command room to discuss
Arrangements for the next battle.
First of all, several battleships participating in the war need to be temporarily repaired. This task has actually been arranged for a long time, but the spare repair materials stored on the four battleships are not necessarily enough. Now that the damage control reports of each ship have been come up, Gao Zhenxin needs to arrange from other ships
Ships are mobilized for support.
Temporary repairs are definitely not as good as going to the shipyard, but fortunately in this era, shelling from both sides can basically damage the parts above the waterline. Such damage can be temporarily reinforced with some wooden boards, and then a simple waterproof seal can be made.
used.
The injuries on Jinghua's four battleships, especially the two cruisers "Dengzhou" and "Jinzhou", looked very serious. Especially the parts above the deck looked as if they had been washed away by a hail of bullets. There were shocking holes everywhere.
and pieces of wood "chipped" by chain bullets.
But in fact, this kind of damage has little impact on the warship itself. The damage control personnel of each ship initially estimate that the repairs can be roughly completed before the sailors go to bed tonight.
The biggest difficulty in the current battleship repair work is the captured Spanish fleet flagship "San Antonio". The foremast of this Spanish galleon was broken at the waist, and it is now impossible to replace it-not to mention impossible to carry it with the ship.
The tens of meters long mast material cannot be replaced even if there is material. This thing is erected from the keel upwards. There are various reinforcements below the deck, and there are a lot of support cables connected to it above the deck. Even if it is repaired in the shipyard
, those are big projects that require all kinds of disassembly, disassembly, and assembly, not to mention that they are still at sea now.
As a result, the "San Antonio"'s subsequent speed will slow down significantly, which may affect the overall speed of the fleet. As a last resort, Gao Zhenxin had to arrange for another armed transport ship to serve as a tugboat to assist it in increasing its speed.
Although the tonnage of the armed transport ship itself is one-third smaller than it, and it may not be easy to use as a tugboat, it is impossible for several main battleships to be used as tugboats. Several other large Galen ships of the Spanish could have been used as tugboats, but it is a pity that their injuries are not good.
It's not light, and the last part of the voyage to Manila is dominated by headwinds. Using their soft sailing boats is worse than using hard sailing boats, so they don't care about those now. The faster they can, the better, so they have to use an armed transport ship on top.
.
Damage control work is roughly the same. In addition, there is also the issue of treating the wounded. The three people discussed it and felt that it did not seem to be the best choice for each ship to take care of the wounded on its own. It would be better to temporarily change the purpose of an armed transport ship.
Specially designed to accommodate the wounded.
The armed transport ship has a capacity of 180 people, but because it is a transport ship, its carrying capacity is still very strong. As long as it does not participate in combat, it can obviously meet the demand if it is specially used to place the wounded. Not to mention that it will also facilitate the concentration of medical care forces, and the effect should be good.
Can be better.
For this reason, the three of them asked several doctors on board the ship to inquire. The doctors all agreed with this arrangement. Gao Zhenxin no longer hesitated and immediately ordered this to be done. Afterwards, Takagi San thought about the suggestion and said: "Commander, I feel that
If this arrangement is effective, it seems that we can report it to the master to see if our two-ocean fleet can dedicate one or two ships to treat the wounded in the future."
Gao Zhenxin smiled and said: "This is really the same thing between heroes. I was thinking about this just now, and you brought it up."
Gao Yimin next to him also said: "I think this idea is feasible, just like the land division now has a dedicated engineer battalion, the medical team in the engineer battalion is somewhat like the hospital ship you mentioned."
The three of them laughed, and even if the matter was settled like this, they would only wait until the battle was over to report it to the master for a final decision.
Immediately afterwards, they began to formally discuss the siege of Manila. This battle must be divided into two parts, sea and land, and to a certain extent, the connection between the two parts is not too big, because according to the previous
According to intelligence, the fleet is at sea - even if it is docked at the port, it cannot effectively bombard the city of Manila because of insufficient range.
So the first thing they discussed was the landing issue. The key point of the landing issue was whether to let the land division go ashore on the north bank of the Pasig River first, or whether to let the fleet first deal with the Spanish fleet docked in Manila Port, and then the land division would go ashore.
The reason why this sequence is worth talking about is mainly to consider the impact of the opponent's fleet. According to previous intelligence, the Spanish should have 6-7 warships in Manila, all of which are Galenic ships, but are their tonnage all
The 1,200-ton class of large treasure ships is still uncertain.
Normally speaking, the maximum size should be 1,200 tons, because the Armada flagship "San Martin" that went to England this year also seems to be 1,200 tons. From this, it can be judged that the mainstream Galen currently built in Spain is probably 1,200 tons.
At the same time, the Portuguese's flagship "San Juan" in the Armada seems to be at the same level. This means that the two colonies of the "Iberian League" [Note: Philip II is also now the King of Portugal]
The shipbuilding levels of the Empire of Castile and Portugal are basically at the same level - of course, as a land-connected "United Kingdom", it is not surprising that the levels are similar.
Based on the leniency of the enemy, if the Spanish still have seven 1,200-ton Galen ships in Manila, Gao Zhenxin would still prefer to finish the naval battle first, defeat the Spanish fleet or force the Spanish fleet to huddle in the harbor, and then make arrangements
The land division landed ashore.
If not, if Beiyang is attacked by the Spanish fleet while arranging a landing on the north bank of the Pasig River, it may cause large and unnecessary casualties - after all, there is no port on the north bank of the Pasig River, and even if the wooden sailing warship docks, it will not be like in later generations.
The requirements for steel ships are so high, but they can’t just go aground, right?
Whether it is arranging to build a temporary dock or putting down small boats for transportation and landing, the fleet will gather densely during this period and cannot move at will. If the Spanish fleet suddenly comes to attack, just leaving the offshore, adjusting the lineup, etc. will cause a lot of trouble to the fleet.
.
The fleet thinks so, but the land division has obviously different ideas. The Beijing-China Liangyang Fleet and the Spanish Fleet have different tactical ideas. The former has always insisted on artillery warfare tactics and will not consider engaging in boarding battles unless it is absolutely necessary. Therefore, the land division remains.
Being on the ship itself is meaningless. If the fleet suffers any losses in the battle, the land division will suffer the same consequences.
Gao Yimin believed that the Chinese army should disembark as soon as possible. His reason was that since there was no news that the Spanish treasure fleet was wiped out in the first battle, the Spanish in Manila should not have any war preparations yet, and they might even be embracing
Waiting for the arrival of the big treasure fleet.
Under such circumstances, it is unlikely that the Spaniards would know about the land division's first landing on the north bank of the Pasig River. Even if there were Spaniards or their lackeys on the north bank of the Pasig River to inform the Governor's Palace in Manila, it would be too late -
At this time, the expedition fleet should have gone south to find the Spanish fleet for a decisive battle.
Moreover, Gao Yimin believed that the landing of the Army Division would have a greater deterrent effect on the city of Manila, because since there were only two to three thousand Spaniards including soldiers in Manila City, the huge force of the Army Division was enough to make them nervous.
How strong is the land division this time? The total number of infantry, artillery and armed servants is more than 13,000, close to 14,000.
Among them, there were 5,600 armed servants from various noble families, roughly 300 from each family of the three great princes, 200 from each family of marquis, and 100 from each family of uncles.
For its part, Jinghua temporarily mobilized part of the marines of the Nanyang Fleet, and together with the marines of the Beiyang Fleet, they were temporarily organized into two alliances, with about 8,000 people.
Gao Yimin served as the commander-in-chief of the Lu Division and led the temporary first town commander of the Southern Expedition. The 5,600 people under his command were jointly organized into the third temporary association of the Southern Expedition, under the control of Gao Yimin.
It can be said that such a force is even a fraction stronger than Spain's total force in Manila, and the expeditionary force is not native to Southeast Asia. It is a "modern army" with a higher degree of firearms than even the Spanish Army.
Under such circumstances, as long as the Spaniards are not convulsed, they will definitely know how bad their situation is. Although Manila's city defense system itself is considered to be solid and has a bastion-like construction style, bastions are not omnipotent.
If Jinghua relies on its powerful artillery and bombs it indiscriminately regardless of the cost, no matter how strong the castle is, it will eventually be destroyed one day.
What's more, when the Spaniards learned that the large treasure fleet was defeated and captured, and that the waters off Manila were blocked by more than a hundred large ships, this fear was definitely even greater.
Although the bastion is solid, the people in the bastion always need to eat and drink. Although the Spanish regard Manila as a "colonial stronghold" and have always had the habit of carrying out war reserves, the Philippines is not Russia, and the tropical weather is here
, the stored food materials go moldy very early. Once the food spoils or is eaten up, how will you survive?
Are people eating people? There are only more than 20,000 people in Manila. Even if people really engage in cannibalism, they will only survive for a month or two. As long as Manila cannot obtain reinforcements and supplies, failure is still inevitable.
Can reinforcements come? Can they defeat such a huge fleet in the open sea? Obviously it is impossible. Even if the Armada defeats England, it is impossible for the main force of the Spanish navy to send out a large-scale expedition to the Far East. Not only is there a problem of attrition, but also national strength -
—Especially financial issues.
The Kingdom of Castile has long owed a huge amount of debt. Although declaring bankruptcy can solve some of the problems, the so-called "debt" does not actually mean that the debt will be cleared. It just means that it will no longer directly pay out such debt.
A large amount of money will be paid back, and the debt will become a mortgage part of the various tax revenues of the Kingdom of Castile, which will be repaid to the creditors in proportion to the period.
In other words, the money still had to be repaid, but it was forcibly paid in installments. In the original history, Spain later borrowed more and more, and even if the American gold and silver mining continued to increase, it could not make up for it, because there were still
The interest issue - the more you borrow, the harder it will be to pay it back in the future.
Even if bankruptcy occurs at any time, it will only turn sudden death on the spot into a long-term illness. The longer it is delayed, the more it will lead to death.
Under such financial pressure, it was impossible for the Spanish to devote their main energy to the Far East and fight against such a huge maritime force.
In the original history, when the Netherlands was at its peak as a "Sea Coachman", it could only pay tribute to Zheng Zhilong in Nanyang and buy Zheng Zhilong's flag in order to move smoothly in the Nanyang region. Could it be that the Dutch maritime power was not strong enough at that time?
Obviously not. Although Zheng Zhilong claimed to have 200,000 armored ships and 3,000 sea-going ships at that time, there is no need to mention the water content of these 200,000 miles. Just look at their performance when facing the Tatars.
And those 3,000 sea-going ships are not the standard armed transport ships like Jinghua now. Most of them are ships with smaller tonnage, which are incomparable to the Dutch sailing ships. The reason why Luowan naval battle is expected to be won is that
It is true that many ants kill elephants. Secondly, the Dutch are really not used to the large-scale fireship tactics commonly used in Eastern water warfare, and they are not very prepared.
In fact, although the Netherlands had a small land area at that time, it was powerful enough. At its peak, there were about 60 shipyards concentrated on both sides of the Zaan River in the Netherlands. These shipyards generally used wind-powered sawmills and powered material transportation.
Mechanized equipment such as pulleys, pulleys, winches, and heavy cranes have improved the factory's labor productivity and can produce a ship almost a day.
It implements standardized management in shipbuilding design, hull parts and other aspects. The Dutch government has set up a department in Amsterdam to develop navigation equipment, manufacture navigation instruments and draw navigation maps. The socialized shipbuilding model reduces production and use costs.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! This model includes three aspects: First, the sales strategy. The shipyard not only accepts consumer customization but also sells to external parties, which activates the funds of the entire shipbuilding market; second, it reduces costs.
, during that period, ships produced in the Netherlands were 40%-50% cheaper than ships produced in the United Kingdom, and their competitiveness was self-evident; third, there were various types, such as "big-bellied ships" for transportation, which were faster
The "ship" and the "galleon" used for fishing are all popular in Europe.
At that time, the ships built in the Netherlands were reasonably designed, with solid structures and advanced technology, and the ship operators had 20% fewer operators than ships from other countries. This was crucial for the Netherlands, which had a population of only 1.5 million at the time.
What was the result? The result was that during the golden period of the development of the Netherlands, there were 20,000 ships in the world, 3/4 of which belonged to the Netherlands, which was more than the total number of other countries. The situation was like that of the Red Navy after the Gulf War.
Before the U.S. Navy launched its force, it could be said that it was a navy that conquered the world.
However, even with such strength, the Dutch East India Company [one of the two major monopoly colonial companies in the Netherlands] could only give in after fighting Zheng Zhilong in the naval battle of Liaoluo Bay. The East India Company even lamented in its company records
: "The company's power in the Far East was swept away."
Why didn't they dare to retaliate after being beaten so badly? Of course, they couldn't use force. At that time, the Netherlands was a colonial empire with a strong commercial atmosphere (of course, the political system at that time was not an empire, or even a monarchy in the usual sense). It must consider
Is it worthwhile to expedition to the Far East?
Obviously this was a deal that could never be a good deal, so for the Dutch, since they were defeated, it was more reliable to pay the "tolls" than to go on an expedition. This was the characteristic of this era. Distance severely limited the use of power.
Although Spain's maritime strength is strong at the moment, and it even has Portugal as a powerful maritime ally, it is impossible for it to have enough financial resources to support an invincible fleet for the Far East.
Gao Pragmatic has not been worried about military retaliation from the "Two Teeth", but is worried about the impact on trade and silver inflow. It is precisely for this reason.
Not to mention traveling thousands of miles to the South China Sea, just looking at the Anglo-Spanish War can reveal a very interesting phenomenon: if Spain goes on an expedition to the UK, Spain will definitely lose; if the UK goes on an expedition to Spain, the UK will definitely lose.
Distance is so great in this era. Unless the attacking side achieves a crushing victory in technological civilization, it will definitely lose.
Therefore, Gao Yimin insisted that the land division should land earlier and join the fleet to threaten Manila by land and sea. As long as such a strategic situation is created, Manila will learn that the expeditionary force still has 2,000 Spanish prisoners in hand.
, will seriously consider whether to talk to the expeditionary force about peacefully dedicating the city.
