In the past few years, the mortality rate of officials who came to Bandan to take office is actually not low. A total of more than ten officials have died while in office, and most of them died of illness!
Being acclimatized was still the biggest enemy for the Tang Dynasty's expansion in Southeast Asia. Even the Department of Medicine of the Imperial College of Medicine had already put forward many countermeasures to deal with this situation.
However, this kind of measure is still based on prevention, mainly good hygiene, but the lack of modern medicine is still a big problem. There is only one way to improve this situation, and that is to completely improve the living environment, especially Healthy environment.
This is why in most cases, the people of the Tang Dynasty who immigrated overseas did not have contact with the local indigenous people, let alone live in the indigenous cities. They chose new places to open up and build cities and living strongholds.
Bandan City is the most obvious example. Bandan City was not built in the original aboriginal gathering place, but a newly built bastion nearby. As for the original Bandan City, it was actually abandoned long ago.
Cheng Zhizhai didn't want to die in Wandan like Zhu Jiaxiang, he desperately wanted to return to China!
So the three of them left Zhu Jiaxiang's bedroom and came to the side hall. Cheng Zhizhai suddenly said: "No matter what, I have to return to China!"
Cheng Zhizhai suddenly said this, and Xia Zhiquan and Yang Hong on the side were slightly surprised. This man suddenly said that he wanted to return to the country, but this was not easy. He was not an officer like Yang Hong and Xia Zhiquan, but a civilian official.
The three people present actually came to Bandan for different reasons!
Cheng Zhizhai was demoted, and it would be extremely difficult to return to work in China.
Yang Hong was promoted. Although he failed to compete for the head of the main force in China and was forced to come to Wandan to serve, this was not a demotion, but a compensation from the superiors for his inability to take up the position of the main force.
Because there are battles to be fought in Banten, and fighting in battles means having military merit, which is at least much better than serving in the garrison headquarters of various provinces in the country or serving in various reserve divisions. Those are the complete losers in the competition.
But Xia Zhiquan is different. He didn't come to Wandan to serve because he was demoted. He came to serve here because of his promotion, and he is also a fleet commander trained by the Navy!
Because the key strategic direction of the navy has now become Nanyang, and among the current two fleets of the navy, the First Fleet is responsible for the waters north of Daemuan Island, controlling the Gyeonggi and controlling the East China Sea, Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea and other domestic coastal areas. Yu is also responsible for controlling the waters surrounding Japan.
But on the surface, it seems that the First Fleet controls a large sea area, and it also controls Gyeonggi, which is very important. But in fact, the above-mentioned sea areas are almost all the internal seas of the empire, not to mention the domestic coasts, and there are not even pirates. Not to mention the enemy's navy. As for Fuso, they didn't even have a sampan, so they couldn't possibly pose any threat to the imperial navy.
Therefore, the daily tasks of the First Fleet actually have nothing to do with combat. Most of them are just symbolic patrols. This is why in recent years, the Imperial Navy has begun to reduce the size of the First Fleet and increase the size of the Second Fleet. scale.
The Second Fleet is responsible for the sea area south of Taiyuan Island. Currently, they are responsible for the entire South China Sea. In this place, there are many pirates and they are also facing a huge threat from the Portuguese. There are also The situation of the maritime power of the indigenous Southeast Asian countries and the ships that occasionally come to other Western countries is quite complicated, and the combat tasks are very heavy.
As the main fleet, the Second Fleet has a heavy task. However, in the Tang Navy's operational plan, the main fleet is used for decisive battles at sea. Daily patrols and small-scale maritime conflicts are not their tasks. These tasks belong to Overseas Squadron.
The Imperial Navy currently has three overseas squadrons, namely the Ryukyu Squadron, the Luzon Squadron, and the Banten Squadron, among which the Banten Squadron is of greater importance.
Xia Zhiquan can serve as the commander of the Bandan Squadron. He has to squeeze out many competitors to sit in this position, and if nothing unexpected happens, he will obtain his title of rear admiral in this position.
Therefore, strictly speaking, Xia Zhiquan is different from Cheng Zhizhai and Yang Hong.
But one thing is the same. They are all eager to make contributions. Cheng Zhizhai wants to make achievements and then be transferred back to the country to work. Whether it is to return to the economy or to work in a local area, he is willing to do it, as long as it is not in Wandan. Such overseas territories.
Yang Hong wanted to make some achievements and be transferred to the front-line main force. In this way, he would have the opportunity to advance to another level in the fiercely competitive army, cross the threshold of a general, and become a general, even just a brigadier general.
Xia Zhiquan, on the other hand, wanted to make achievements and be successfully promoted to rear admiral in the Bandan Squadron, and then seek the position of commander of the main squadron.
Although their identities and political futures are different, their goals are very similar. Therefore, Xia Zhiquan's plan to attack the natives of Banten Island and eliminate several hostile lords was unanimously agreed by the other two Recognize.
In this matter, they have common interests and demands!
Now that he has decided to fight, the next thing is to discuss how to fight, and Cheng Zhizhai consciously kept his mouth shut about this kind of thing. He is a civil servant, and he can decide whether to fight, but how? Fighting, he has no authority to intervene in specific military operations.
So after determining the general direction, Cheng Zhizhai kept silent and just listened to Xia Zhiquan and Yang Hong, the two army and navy leaders in the Wandan area, discussing military affairs.
Xia Zhiquan's proposal was very simple, that is, to directly mobilize about a thousand troops to carry out mopping up operations against several nearby hostile lords, break into their cities, eliminate their armies, and destroy their lords.
The whole combat process will not last too long, the battle will start quickly, and then the battle will end!
Colonel Yang Hong hoped to recruit some more indigenous lords who had surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, so that they could also send troops to fight. Moreover, the battle should be dominated by indigenous troops and supplemented by his own troops.
This is to avoid troop casualties!
After all, in this battle, the main force participating in the battle will be the Banten garrison. The navy will only provide a little support at most, which is of little use. The militia is okay for defending the city and acting as a logistics force, but they can just run away It's still not feasible to fight on the front line.
After all, the militia is a militia, and its combat effectiveness is not very strong. It can be used as a low-level attack, but it is still unreliable to participate in the war as the main force.
However, whether it is the Army, Marine Corps, or militia, if the casualties are too large, it will be difficult to account for it. It is too difficult for them to replenish soldiers. They need to transport them from the country, which takes too long and costs too much.
Therefore, it is not cost-effective if there are too many casualties.
But there is no need to care too much about the casualties of the indigenous troops. Anyway, there are many indigenous people, so it is not a big problem if thousands or tens of thousands die. Moreover, if there are more deaths, it will also help the subsequent situation on Banten Island.
After all, the empire wants land but not people. Regardless of whether it is the natives who surrender to the empire or the natives who are hostile, in the end they will not be needed.
After a day of deliberations, Xia Zhiquan and Yang Hong reached an agreement. The battle is expected to be launched in five days. The expedition force will be led by Colonel Yang Hong personally. All 1,000 people from the Bandan garrison will go out, and the Marine Corps and militia troops will go out.
, is to stay in Wandan City.
The Bandan Squadron also stayed at Bandan Port during this period to prevent the enemy from taking the opportunity to attack Bandan City from the sea. The reason why those pirates were able to attack Bandan City before was because the Bandan Squadron was not around.
Otherwise, with the Banten Squadron here, unless the Portuguese dispatch the main fleet, it is impossible to pose any threat to Banten City with the help of pirate ships and indigenous ships, let alone a successful landing.
With the navy fleet present, as well as the marines and militiamen, the safety of Bandan City can be ensured, and Colonel Yang Hong can safely lead the Bandan garrison on the expedition.
At the same time, the Banten authorities also requested the surrounding five surrendered indigenous lords to send troops to participate in the war. These five indigenous lords ranged from large to small, and the largest one was from Jakarta.
This place was originally a vassal state of Wandan. After the Wandan royal family was destroyed by the Tang Dynasty Western Company, they took the opportunity to break away from Wandan's control and start to stand on their own.
Because Jakarta is too close to Banten, they were also the first lord force to be attacked by the Banten authorities. Needless to say, they were defeated without a doubt and chose to surrender.
At that time, Zhu Jiaxiang abolished the original lord of Jakarta and supported a collateral royal family as the new lord of Jakarta. As a result, Jakarta became the dog leg of the Banten government of the Tang Dynasty. The Banten government repeatedly carried out military operations against the surrounding lords.
When taking action, they will send troops to join the battle.
Because the indigenous people in Jakarta worked hard and did die a lot when fighting for the Tang Dynasty, the Banten authorities treated them fairly well. Various trade policies were relatively friendly to them, and they were even sold to
They were not well equipped with weapons and equipment. Not to mention plate armor and cold weapons, they also shot a batch of matchlock guns at them.
Therefore, the Jakarta Territory is actually the first lord on the entire Banten Island to have an organized musketry unit, but the number is not large, only more than 500 people.
This time, according to the order of the Banten authorities, Jakarta sent most of their main force, a total of more than 5,000 people, including 1,000 matchlock soldiers, four-signed spearmen, sword and shield soldiers, etc.
In addition to the indigenous troops sent by the other four indigenous families, this time the Banten government assembled a total of nearly 10,000 indigenous troops. Under the pressure of the Banten garrison, they launched a campaign against the entire western region of Banten Island.
Mopping up operations!
This kind of mopping-up operation does not aim at occupation, but at annihilating the enemy's effective forces, destroying the enemy's production, and plundering their wealth!
Their first target was an indigenous lord force named Puga from the Bazhang Kingdom who was the closest and also sent troops to besiege Bandan City.
When attacking Puga City, the Banten garrison led by Yang Hong did not directly send infantry to participate in the battle, but only asked the artillery troops to provide long-range fire support from the rear. The indigenous army led by Jakarta besieged the city for five days and successfully captured the city.
, surrounded and annihilated about 5,000 indigenous troops in the city, and then burned the entire city to the ground.
The city of Puga was completely wiped out, leaving only a ruined wall to tell later generations their final fate!
Puga City was breached and even burned, which also announced that Datang's retaliatory action against the siege of Wandan City had officially begun!