Chapter 500 497 [Landing in Manila]

Half a month later, the remaining Spanish galleons and small warships arrived outside Manila Bay again with some repairs.

The Chinese and Dutch fleets immediately went to surround them, and the Spanish fleet fled directly, leading them to Mindoro Island again. Then, the Spanish fleet sailed southeast without even setting up gun emplacements.

Wan Bangyan and other naval generals from the Datong Army were planning to pursue them with all their strength, but they found that Zheng Zhilong's flagship had issued a return flag order.

At the same time, the Dutch flagship also ordered no further pursuit.

Wan Bangyan suddenly realized that the southeast belonged to the dragon's pond and the tiger's den, and he was likely to suffer huge losses if he pursued him.

Spain has indeed declined, but it has been running the Philippines for nearly a hundred years, and its foundation is so strong that even China and the Netherlands cannot match it if they join forces.

The southern islands of the Philippines are complex, with Spanish beacons and Spanish coastal defense guns everywhere. When the Netherlands attacked Spanish strongholds before, they only dared to attack Cebu Island and Zamboanga, and did not dare to go deep into the southern islands.

Once you get in, you may not get out!

Therefore, the Spanish fleet can hide calmly in the southern archipelago and come out whenever it wants. As the Chinese and Dutch fleets passed by, their whereabouts were revealed in minutes, and Spain had a complete early warning system there.

Zheng Zhilong looked at the enemy ships going away and couldn't help but sneered: "You want to seduce me, you are a little too young!"

The Chinese and Dutch fleets returned to Manila. Not long after they sailed, Spanish warships caught up with them. As soon as Zheng Zhilong set up his formation to attack, the Spanish warship turned its sails, circled and fled toward the southeast again.

"Don't chase him, let him go!" Zheng Zhilong ordered.

The Chinese fleet did not pursue, and the Dutch fleet naturally did not pursue either. The Spanish's plan to lure the enemy had long been seen through.

In this regard, the Chinese and Dutch fleets blocked Manila, while the Spanish fleet was stationed in Mindoro Island. The two sides faced off across 80 kilometers of sea.

The Spanish castle on Corregidor Island is still besieged by the Chinese and Dutch armies.

This must be uprooted before we can attack the city of Manila. Because attacking Manila will not happen overnight. If you want to besieged for a long time, you must pull out the nails in the throat.

The "Z" shaped trench was dug, and on the 18th day, the trench was finally dug near the castle.

Chen An, the accompanying maritime merchant, said: "General Wang, if the war is delayed for another month, it will be impossible to fight. It will be the rainy season, and it will rain every day. If you want to attack Manila, you should send troops in the autumn, but you really shouldn't send troops in the spring."

Wang Hui was not discouraged and said: "When the rainy season comes, build a house to live in, and live there until autumn to continue attacking the city!"

There is no way to send troops in the autumn. One more day will bring many variables. By then, Spain will have passed its weakest period.

Chen An sighed: "Prepare more doctors and medicinal materials."

The hot and humid weather has caused nearly a hundred Datong soldiers to fall ill. The officers of these soldiers of the Luzon Expeditionary Force were drawn from the regular army, and the soldiers were all from Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

But the soldiers from Fujian and Guangdong could not withstand the Philippine climate because they had to dig trenches every day.

The Spanish defenders in the castle were in despair as they watched the Chinese soldiers dig trenches bit by bit.

After approaching the castle, the artillery in the city was completely useless, and we could only rely on matchlock guns for defense.

The slopes of the outer mounds have also been dug through by the Datong Army, and all the Spanish defenders near the mounds have withdrawn into the castle. They did not dare to fight on the outside because there were too few of them and they would be killed by the Datong army digging tunnels.

Now that the battle has reached this point, Corregidor Island has basically been captured, and there is no need to spend too many troops.

While continuing to dig tunnels and taking time to rest, Wang Hui ordered two-thirds of his troops to land at the Manila port for operations.

As for the castle on the island, just dig tunnels and bury explosives there.

The method of siege with explosives is difficult to deal with Chinese fortified cities, but it can deal with this kind of bastion. The foundation of the bastion is not deep and the walls are not thick. They are no different from the walls of a small county town.

"boom!"

On the 24th day of the siege of Corregidor, a loud noise was heard on the island, and a wall of the castle was blown down.

"kill!"

Tie Hong rushed out of the trench with a wrought iron rod, and when the Spanish defenders were stunned by the bombing, he led his troops to break in through the huge gap.

This black guy is very senior. If he were a Han Chinese, he would probably have reached the level of brigade commander. But this world is all about face after all. Although he fought bravely and worked hard to read and write, because of his identity as a black man, he could only serve as the deputy to the commander-in-chief Wang Hui.

Spanish defenders in other areas, after experiencing the initial chaos, were quickly mobilized for defense.

But the Datong Army has already rushed in. The castle here is not the castle in Manila. It is only defended on both sides by bastions and outer slopes. The slope was dug through and the castle was blown down. They had no other options.

Tie Hong broke in with a stick. The cotton armor he had just put on was already sweating due to the high temperature.

A Spanish defender raised his gun at him. Tie Hong directly smashed out the wrought iron rod, then accelerated and pounced on him. He knocked out the enemy knocked down by the iron rod with one punch, picked up the iron rod and continued to charge. The second enemy's head was smashed by him.

"Bang bang bang!"

The Spanish defenders on the city wall began to shoot at the Datong army that was rushing towards them.

When seven members of the Datong Army were killed, Tie Hong had already climbed up the nearest city wall along the stone steps inside the city. Behind him were several people, all armed with melee weapons, who attacked the Spanish arquebusiers who were shooting downwards.

Lopez, the Spanish commander, drew his sword and took a step forward to stab him.

Tie Hong is tall and tall, with long arms and legs, and a long wrought iron rod. He didn't take the knife seriously at all, he just hit it with a stick, and Lopez's neck was broken.

After clearing this section of the city wall, Tie Hong rushed to another section, shouting as he ran: "The world is united, long live your majesty!"

There were also a large number of indigenous warriors who rushed into the castle one after another. When they saw the Spanish defenders, they killed and vented their anger. The natives were bullied so badly that they would never show mercy to the Spaniards as long as they seized the opportunity.

Corregidor Island was successfully captured, including the losses during the landing: 43 Datong troops were killed and 185 indigenous soldiers were killed, regardless of minor or serious injuries.

However, the number of patients in the Datong Army has reached 154, and 3 of them died directly from the disease.

It was like the Dutch attacking Malacca, 90% of the casualties were from illness. Because the main force attacking Malacca were mercenaries recruited from Europe, they were extremely unacclimated to the climate in Southeast Asia when they first arrived.

Fortunately, the Datong Expeditionary Force was well prepared and brought doctors and a large amount of medicinal materials. It also stipulated that drinking raw water was not allowed.

After taking Corregidor Island, the island was immediately converted into a military base for the Tatung Army. Fuzhou - Zhuluo - Tortoiseshell City - Corregidor Island, supplies are constantly arriving, and the long-term battle will not fail due to lack of food.

The Spanish fleet huddled in Mindoro did not dare to go north to cut off the Chinese army's food routes because there were too many Sino-Dutch coalition warships and they were afraid that they would not be able to come back if they went north.

…

In Binondo District outside Manila, the Chinese leader is missionary Chen Liangxun.

This guy took off his priestly clothes and put on a traditional Hanfu. He took thousands of Han people and their families and came to the port to kneel to greet the Datong Army: "Chen Liangxun, an abandoned overseas citizen, kneels to greet the heavenly soldiers and generals. Long live, long live, long live the Datong Emperor." Long live!"

Li Guangzhi, a Fujian merchant who was accompanying the army, picked up a stick and walked over, hitting Chen Liangxun on the head with the stick.

"Ah... have mercy on me, have mercy on me!"

Chen Liangxun screamed and fell to the ground, then got up again, kowtowing in pain and begging for mercy.

Wang Hui shouted: "Come back and disobey military orders!"

Li Guangzhi said: "General, this guy has forgotten his ancestors and has already believed in the red-haired devil's religion. He also gave himself a foreign name, usually wore foreign clothes, and often bullied the Han people in Luzon. Even the merchants who had just arrived in Manila to do business , there are many people who were defrauded by him, if we don’t kill this person, it will not be enough for the people to be angry!”

Wang Hui thought about it carefully: "Arrest this man's whole family and keep him in custody. The rest of the Han people who believe in Christianity are not allowed to be harassed!"

"Long live the general!"

The other Chinese people hurriedly shouted that it would be good if they could save their lives. As for Chen Liangxun's life and death, they didn't care.

The Fujian merchants accompanying the army were furious when they saw Wang Hui arresting Chen Liangxun's family and stopped shouting about beating or killing the remaining Chinese.

"General, spare your life, general, spare your life, the common people are willing to give up all their property!" Chen Liangxun said paralyzed.

He was really desperate. Those damn Spaniards were determined not to allow religious Chinese to enter the city. They were asked to defend the outer forts, but even the Spanish defenders gave up the outer forts and huddled in the city and refused to come out.

Wang Hui said with a cold face: "Your property will naturally be confiscated. As for whether you can survive, it depends on how useful you are."

"It's useful, the common people are useful," Chen Liangxun said like he was pouring beans from a bamboo tube. "The city wall of Manila is defended by Pampanga soldiers. Both the Spanish and Japanese troops have withdrawn to the castle in the city. The common people...the common people are willing to take risks. , go and recruit those Bangbangya soldiers."

The Datong army had captured Chen Liangxun's wife and children. Wang Hui smiled and said, "Go ahead."

Chen Liangxun immediately rushed to the city of Manila and shouted in dialect: "The Chinese emperor's army is coming, and the Spaniards cannot hold it. As long as you surrender, your previous crimes will no longer be pursued. If you dare to resist, kill them all!"

There were thousands of Pampanga soldiers, and their families also withdrew into the city.

Hearing Chen Liangxun's shouting, some people were immediately moved, but more local soldiers did not believe it, because they killed the Chinese the most ruthlessly.

Although the Spanish soldiers withdrew into the castle, a few officers remained on the walls.

A Spanish officer shouted: "The rainy season will begin in one month. As long as we persist for one month, the Chinese army will definitely withdraw. If you surrender, the Chinese will retaliate and kill you all!"

This is very effective.

Yes, it will be the rainy season in one month. Do the Chinese dare to continue the siege?

The soldiers' morale in Bang Bang Ya was immediately high, and some soldiers even shot arrows at Chen Liangxun.

Chen Liangxun fled back in embarrassment and cried: "General, they are stubborn and can't persuade us to surrender."

"Trash, drag him down and lock him up!" Wang Hui said contemptuously.