Chapter 422 Zheng Chenggong occupies the Philippines
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After Liu Guoxuan established the bridgehead in Lingayen, he gathered the Han people in the surrounding countryside of nearly a hundred miles within just a few days.
The villages, towns, and villages that were dominated by Han people sent representatives to serve Wang Shi. Liu Guoxuan's preliminary statistics showed that there were more than 7,000 pure-blood Han people and more than 20,000 mixed-race people.
The voluntarily donated military rations also amounted to more than 4,000 dan, and there were also grains purchased by the royal division, including more than 10,000 dan of dried meat. In this way, the conflict of rations for the army's long-term operations could be greatly alleviated, and the supply fleet at the rear could also be relieved.
Don't push it too hard.
The bridgehead area controlled by Liu Guoxuan soon spread from Lingayen City to the west to the entire Angono Peninsula, and to the east he captured Fort San Fernando, the Spanish military fortress at the north entrance of Lingayen Bay, and completely annihilated it very easily.
The last count of the garrison in the fort revealed that there were only over 200 musketeers and four light cannons.
In this way, the entire three sides of the coast of Lingayen Bay, as well as the deep area, were all captured by Liu Guoxuan. The south direction also extended for nearly a hundred miles, leaving only 150 miles away from Manila City.
However, going further south, you need to climb over some hilly areas and face the mountains on the north shore of Manila Bay. Therefore, Liu Guoxuan was not in a hurry and directly set up a forward camp on the edge of the hills to prepare for Zheng Chenggong's main force to move together.
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On the side of Zheng Chenggong's main force, knowing that Liu Guoxuan's landing on the northern line was successfully established, he boldly continued to advance south and tried to establish a second landing site directly near Manila Bay.
Although it is possible to wait for Liu Guoxuan to push southward by land from Lingayen Bay, it will be slower after all. Moreover, Luzon is no better than the mainland. In fact, the indigenous villages and towns are very scattered and the level of development is not high. The 150 miles southward
The road is not full of people, but there are still some primeval rainforests in the middle.
So if we really want to talk about the convenience of marching, it is actually much more convenient to take a boat than to climb a mountain. The greater value of Liu Guoxuan's stronghold is just to raise food on the spot for the Ming army on Luzon Island, so that those who want to support the Wang Division can
When the Han people had the opportunity to contribute, they sought the protection of the imperial court as soon as possible.
This consideration is completely necessary, because as Liu Guoxuan established the landing site, the Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines, Manuel Aguirre, responded almost immediately and increased the massacre and plunder of innocent Han civilians on the island.
I'm afraid these people will become insiders.
This also caused the Han people on the island to flock even more crazily to the small safe zone established by the Ming army. The towns from Lingayen City to Fort San Antonio were filled with people who had fled from other places in just a few days.
Han people.
A considerable number of these Han people originally did not care about politics, were resigned to the situation, and had no intention of becoming citizens of the Ming Dynasty, but now they have been completely forced to come over.
Zheng Chenggong learned about this situation and strengthened his determination to try for a quick victory. So on the second day of November, after sailing to the entrance of Manila Bay, he decisively broke into the bay and launched a maritime offensive.
Zheng Chenggong's initial idea was not to engage in a fortified castle siege. He knew that although the Ming Dynasty now had the Vauban siege method, other old-fashioned Western bastion fortresses could also be breached, but after all, the Vauban siege method required several months of construction preparations.
, with tens of thousands of troops crossing the sea to fight, the cost of food and grass would be too great.
The Spanish have always been proud of their naval power. If they could severely damage their fleet first, completely destroy their confidence in fighting, and surrender directly, it would be twice the result with half the effort.
Unfortunately, Zheng Chenggong had a good idea, but Liu Guoxuan's landing had already warned the Spaniards.
Lieutenant General Ramon Prado, commander of the Spanish fleet in Southeast Asia, chose to sail the main fleet out of Manila Bay in advance to avoid the war. Only Governor Manuel and Major General Francisco Paola were left to lead the army garrisons to defend the coast of Manila Bay.
Everywhere is dangerous.
Although Zheng Chenggong tried to replicate his success in "secretly crossing the Luermen" on Damuan Island, he let the fleet break into the mouth of Manila Bay at night. However, after dawn the next day, he found a Spanish ship in the open area of the bay.
None of the main battleships were found.
Waiting for Zheng Chenggong were only the bastion forts in the main city of Manila, the coastal defense artillery fortresses on the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island at the mouth of the bay, plus a few single-masted shallow-water mortar gunboats.
This was the first time that Zheng Chenggong encountered Europeans using shallow-water mortar gunboats in a naval battle, because when they attacked the Dajuan Island occupied by the Dutch before, the Dutch did not have such warships. Zheng Chenggong was careless at first and was almost assassinated.
Speaking of this kind of small single-masted warship equipped with mortars, in fact, players who have played "Empire Total War" in later generations are familiar with it. In the late 17th century, all Western naval powers already had one.
This kind of ship is equipped with 2 to 4 heavy mortars with high elevation angles, so there is no need to consider the rolling recoil or the accuracy of the shelling. The shells fired can be several times heavier than the flat-fire naval guns. The hull can rock up and down for a long time after firing a shot.
Whether you can hit the target after firing depends entirely on luck, but the effective range can be up to 800 steps or even two miles, which is much farther than a flat-firing naval gun. In the game "Empire Total War", it will be very dangerous for a heavy warship to be blinded by a few shots.
Later, in the steam battleship era of the 19th century, this type of ship was transformed and powered by steam engines, and became the "mosquito ship" that Li Hongzhang was fooled into buying in the late Qing Dynasty. It was famous for its ability to withstand heavy artillery at high elevation angles.
The reason why the Spaniards prepared shallow-water heavy gunboats in Manila was because they valued Manila too much. It was the only port for them to receive American silver and import Ming goods. After nearly a hundred years of colonial construction, they had their own warships in Manila.
Shipyards can build gunboats on site and can supply this type of ship.
In contrast, the Dutch did not do enough construction on Taiyuan Island before. The Dutch only regarded Taiyuan Island as a trading base. There was no local shipyard that could produce warships on their own. The warships were built in the Netherlands and then shipped there.
In the Far East. In this case, it is difficult for a small ship like a single-masted mortar gunboat to sail far across the ocean, so it cannot appear in the Far East.
It can also be seen from this that the Spanish colonists' accumulation of hundreds of years of farming in the Philippines cannot be underestimated, and it is many times harder to defeat than the powerful Dutch.
Zheng Chenggong didn't pay attention at first, and focused his attention on the coastal defense batteries in Manila City. As a result, many rounds were stolen by those single-masted mortar gunboats, until a troop transport ship was directly hit, and the bottom of the ship was blasted and flooded.
Zheng Chenggong was shocked and angry, fully aware of the threat posed by these little ones.
Fortunately, it was not too late. After Zheng Chenggong changed his firepower, even though these small gunboats were still firing wildly, the accuracy was too poor after all. Zheng Chenggong's fast frigate pressed forward and sank it in just half an hour's artillery battle.
Seven or eight single-masted mortar gunboats.
However, the Ming Army had only one 32-gun sail frigate that was hit by a mortar, which blew through the deck and one side of the ship, and it was flooded and tilted.
Unfortunately, the Spanish remaining single-masted mortar gunboats also immediately took advantage of their shallow draft and retreated to avoid the cover of the Manila and Bataan Peninsula coastal defense batteries.
The Ming warships were afraid of the threat of coastal defense fortress guns, and due to draft problems they could not get too close and would run aground, so they had to give up temporarily.
…
After the first day of naval battle, Zheng Chenggong also discovered that if he wanted to land directly in Manila City, he would be vulnerable to being stolen and damaged by the sloop mortar fleet, and he would have to beware of attacks from all directions.
Although the area of Manila Bay is much larger than that of Anping Bay in the past, the bay is as deep as fifty miles, and the forts on both sides cannot reach the sea in the middle of the bay.
However, being surrounded all the time, Zheng Chenggong also had to worry about being attacked by small enemy gunboats at night, and also worried about the Spanish main fleet hiding in the open sea coming back to attack at any time. Zheng Chenggong decided that it would be better not to spread out his forces, but to attack each one step by step.
Therefore, the Ming army temporarily withdrew from the eastern half of Manila Bay and concentrated its attacks on the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island, which were the outer barriers of the bay.
After the Ming fleet retracted its position, it re-established a beachhead on the west coast of the Bataan Peninsula, set up camp and transported the siege artillery to the shore. After a few days of short preparation, it was almost ready to attack by force.
During this period, the Spaniards also tried to send out small-scale death squads to attack the Ming army's siege artillery camps in the dark at night, but they were all severely beaten and annihilated by the Ming army on night patrol.
At the same time, Liu Guoxuan's troops also opened up a land passage of more than 100 miles in the north, connecting the occupied area from Lingayen Bay to the Bataan Peninsula. More and more fleeing Han people gathered in the occupied area.
, although they brought some food, because these Han people also needed to eat, the rations were a little tight for a while.
Zheng Chenggong ordered his troops to divide up their troops to collect grain from the local indigenous people who had conflicts with the Han people, and let the Han people lead the way. Anyone who dared to resist would be killed directly. Of course, Zheng Chenggong strictly explained that only those who had previously "assisted the Spanish"
The indigenous tribes with hatred for "killing the Han people" began to take action.
After arranging the military supplies for a protracted war, Zheng Chenggong asked Liu Guoxuan about the composition of the Spanish troops.
Liu Guoxuan had been ashore for many days and had obtained detailed information from the local Han people, so he informed him: "These Francois usually have a garrison of more than 2,000 to 3,500 people in Manila. This place has been occupied."
They have been in business for hundreds of years and take it very seriously.
After these Francois massacred our Han people in the past few years, they were afraid of the Ming Dynasty's retaliation, so they repeatedly asked for more troops from their country. Since then, they have increased their troops by about 1,500 every year, and they have added two rounds so far. Now in Manila and the Bataan Peninsula,
The three fortresses on Corregidor Island housed a total of 6,500 Buddhists and natives. The key point was that they also gathered tens of thousands of indigenous soldiers who hated the Han people.
The local natives are lazy and have always hated Fujian. The Han people from Chaoshan are more diligent than them and are good at amassing wealth, so they have evil intentions and often rob the Han people. The people of Folangji are well aware of the people's sentiments. For many years, they have taken advantage of the laziness of the native people and are greedy for money.
Instigating them to deal with the Han people, some of these tribes have become rich by looting and extorting the Han people, and have become the accomplices of Fo Langji's rule, and it is impossible to win over them."
Hearing this, Zheng Chenggong had a stern look on his face: "Then what else is there to fight for? Anyone who dares to deal with our Han people with the Folangji people will be killed! I heard that most of the natives belong to different tribes and rarely interact with each other. We are watching a few of them.
If one tribe is destroyed, it will not offend everyone.
Given time, other tribes will naturally not dare to hate indiscriminately. Six thousand five hundred true barbarians and tens of thousands of natives are nothing to be afraid of!"
Zheng Chenggong knew very well that the Spaniards could not have good relations with all the indigenous people. They just needed some thug tribes to suppress the Han people. Because the Spaniards were not here to do charity, they would not be so kind as to rob Han people who were good at business.
, but treated the indigenous people well, who were also the targets of exploitation and oppression by the Spaniards.
In fact, during the same period, the European colonists engaged in the slave trade in West Africa. They would recruit some black indigenous tribes to serve as thugs to capture prisoners, and then ask them to buy the prisoners at a low price, saving the white people from having to capture them themselves. The Spanish natives of the Philippines were recruited
, which is equivalent to a tribe of thugs who "help capture other black people as slaves."
If you kill them, you don't have to worry about falling into the vast ocean of national war. Instead, you will be punishing the people for justice.
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In the remaining days of early November, Zheng Chenggong made siege arrangements at the Bataan Peninsula landing site. The Ming army dug some outer artillery bunker tunnels according to local conditions, but they did not dig too close to the fort.
After all, the Ming army's siege artillery this time were all transported by sea, and sea routes are most suitable for transporting heavy equipment, so the tonnage of the siege mortars carried by Li Dingguo must be much heavier than when Li Dingguo attacked the city of Ava in Myanmar - Li Dingguo was then
The artillery must be transported by land over the Jiaoshan Mountains, so cavalry artillery can only be used.
With the heavy siege mortar, there is not much difference in the range of the defender's fortress artillery, and a lot of length of the Vauban siege communication trenches that need to be dug can be saved. A few hundred or two hundred steps of digging will be enough for the mortar's range.
Already.
The Ming army soon spared no effort to use heavy-duty shells for bombardment. The Spanish defenders were not to be outdone and counterattacked with the fortress coastal defense artillery. Unfortunately, most of the straight coast defense artillery ballistic paths hit the back slope of the Vauban siege trench.
It has no effect at all.
After the Ming army blasted a gap in the protective wall of the security fortress, they drove a large number of indigenous prisoners forward to carry earth and fill the trenches. Those who dared to fail to do so would be immediately killed with volleys from behind——
Of course, these indigenous people were all tribesmen identified by the Han as working as lackeys for the Spaniards. This was completely retribution. After the Ming army captured them, they were not in a hurry to massacre the tribesmen. They just gave them a chance to make use of their merits and atonements.
.
Seeing the natives swarming up to destroy the moat, the Spaniards could only fire wildly and fire back. The Ming army urged them with muskets from outside the shooting range. For a while, the dead were lying on the ground.
Finally, after several days of destruction, the moat outside the Bataan Fortress was almost filled with earth, rocks and corpses. Thousands of indigenous cannon fodder were used. The Ming army forcibly found a smooth path for the attack, and then the main force came in.
Firepower was prepared to swarm forward, and they rushed up to the bastion wall to shoot at the Spanish troops, fighting hand-to-hand with bayonets.
After a series of bloody battles, in the end, the 2,000 Spanish defenders and more than 5,000 indigenous defenders in the Bataan Security Fortress were all annihilated by the Ming army.
After the Spaniards killed more than 600 people, and hundreds of the remaining 1,400 people were injured, they surrendered directly and spinelessly.
The indigenous troops were used as cannon fodder by the Spaniards and were often in dangerous positions at the front, so they suffered more casualties, with a total of two to three thousand casualties, and the rest were captured by the Ming army.
The Ming army did not raise idlers, and directly disarmed these prisoners, and gave them some carrying poles and sandbags, so that they could serve as vanguards and destroy city defense facilities in subsequent battles.
Then the Ming army repeated its old tricks and took less than half a month to capture Corregidor Island. There were about 800 Spanish soldiers and more than 2,000 indigenous soldiers on the island. They were also annihilated by the Ming army, and the remaining troops collapsed and surrendered.
After clearing all peripheral obstacles in a month, all the land west of this line from the southern shore of Lingayen Bay to the Bataan Peninsula has been occupied by the Ming Dynasty and has become one continuous area. It can also be said that the land on Luzon Island west of Manila is basically
fell into the hands of Ming Dynasty.
In early December, Zheng Chenggong took a brief rest. Starting in the middle of December, he finally advanced to the outside of Manila and began final preparations for the attack.
The total Spanish garrison in Luzon was only 6,500 people. Two important areas were occupied, and some other outlying cities were lost. There were only 3,700 Spanish white soldiers left in Manila.
Governor Manuel Aguirre had no choice but to make a desperate move, gathering all the sloop mortar guns and preparing to rely on the city of Manila to defend the city.
At the same time, a liaison ship was also dispatched, so that Vice Admiral Ramond Prado, who had been hiding in the outer sea and patrolling the outer sea, trying to intercept the Ming army's supply fleet, came back with the Philippine fleet to support the decisive battle. At this point, it is impossible to count on the security fortress to consume Zheng Chenggong.
If the Spanish fleet is captured again, even the old nest will be lost.