Chapter 626 God Is the only One Left!

In mid-September, strong winter winds had already formed in the Far East.

The clipper ship, driven by the monsoon, could reach a speed of more than ten knots per hour. In the era when the 18th century had not yet ended, it was definitely the fastest ship in the world with a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. Even if half of the margin was used, it would only take four days to travel 1,200 kilometers from Nanjing to Takao Port in Taiwan.

But in fact, the bilateral communication means were faster than this "four days".

The message route from Nanjing to Nanyang was not entirely by sea, that was a supplement. To be fast, the first choice was pigeons. Over the years, pigeon nests had long been established in various places in China. Nanjing used pigeons to contact Lingnan. It only took one day and one night for the entire Southeast Navy and the Nanyang Navy in Guangdong to mobilize.

Then the pigeons flew from Guangxi to Annan, from Hongji City to Da Nang, from Da Nang to Qui Nhon, and then the message was passed all the way to Ha Tien Town. Only then did someone take the message on a clipper boat and head straight to the main forward base of the Nanyang Navy on Zengmu Island.

In fact, the news from Nanjing City and Ye Tingyang's sneak attack on Dabanya were within two days. When the clipper boat sent by Ye Tingyang arrived at the Sulu Islands, the many navy warships stationed there were on the move and reported to Zengmu Island that the latter's warships had already left the port.

China now has hundreds of "pigeon soldiers" who die every year, but the scale of pigeon nests is getting bigger and bigger, and the investment is getting higher and higher. A special research room has been formed to cultivate flying pigeons. For this purpose, a special code compilation department has been set up to be responsible for the compilation of communication codes for pigeons. It can be said that a lot of manpower, material and financial resources have been invested. That is to be able to receive intelligence and news faster!

Many times, if a message arrives one day earlier, all the investment will be earned back.

Zhu Fu [Zhu Fu's younger brother Zhu Wo should be the one who discovered Hawaii. Sorry, Zhu Fu is a full-time naval officer] took a small boat into the Pasig River. This river is also called the Pasig River. It is 40 to 50 miles long and connects Lake Bey with Manila Bay. There is a Spanish royal city and a fort on its south bank.

The Chinese here mainly live on the north bank of the Pasig River. Most of the Chinese who can live on the south bank are people who have a closer relationship with the big duck, such as those who work in the royal city or Chinese mixed-race, or those whose daughters are attached to foreigners.

"Is this Manila? Hasn't it been built for 200 years? This place looks worse than my hometown Yantai."

Among the guards who came with Zhu Fu, there was a little Shandong, who was from Yantai, Shandong, and had just returned home to visit his relatives in the summer. After returning, he talked about Yantai every day, obviously shocked by the changes in his hometown Yantai in the two years since he joined the army.

At this time, he looked around at Manila on both sides of the Pasig River, and was quite disappointed psychologically.

In many people's minds, Manila's status is no less than Batavia. It is one of the few big cities in Southeast Asia. But it is so bad?

"I don't think it is much better than Hexian." Zhu Fu himself agreed with the guard's words.

To be honest, he was a little disappointed. Manila is not as good as he thought. It is really not much better than Hexian Port, let alone Yantai.

There are only a few ports in the whole north, Tianjin in Hebei, Yantai, Qingdao [Jiaozhou] and Weihai in Shandong, Lianyungang in northern Jiangsu. Excluding the northeast region, there are only these few natural ports in the whole north. How can it not be developed?

Moreover, Yantai is the first place to open ports in Shandong. In recent years, it has only engaged in the re-export trade of contracted slaves, which has become the largest "labor" export market in the north.

And Manila has declined since the decline of the large sailing trade in the second half of the 18th century.

There are no flat roads, no neat street lights, no clean and orderly docks, and no tall steam cranes and rumbling trams. There are very low houses everywhere. Although there are tall coconut trees everywhere, it doesn't make people feel bright at all. The whole world seems to be covered with a layer of gray.

It's my first time in Manila. The representative sent by the Nanyang Navy to ask Carlos to surrender was not him.

Carlos angrily refused to surrender last time. Then the Nanyang Navy Marine Corps, which had occupied Danba, began to march towards Manila along the north side of Manila Bay. At the same time, another group of marines that landed in Lingayen also began to attack Manila from north to south.

The Chinese guards in various places should not take the initiative to attack. Their main task is to protect the safety of local Chinese. Only the Chinese guards in Lingayen sent a part of them to follow the marines. Their main task is to guide.

Fighting? That depends entirely on the marines of the navy.

The rocket launchers in their hands were a deadly weapon. They could only see their big ducks suffering from this weapon.

The ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar was still at the end of the rainy season in the Philippines. There was a lot of rain, which had a great impact on the performance of muskets and artillery. Therefore, the Marine Corps did not even want the light artillery assigned to them. They carried only light and medium mortars and a large number of detachable rocket launchers.

"Hide quickly!" The Spanish army was at least somewhat knowledgeable. When rocket shells fell on their heads, the officers commanded the soldiers to hide in the woods and bushes, and some simply ran into the trenches. However, many native soldiers just looked at them stupidly, and a considerable number of Spanish soldiers among them saw the rockets in the firing state for the first time.

Suddenly, thunder and lightning struck, and the earth shook. With each rocket shell landing point as the center, there were flashes of fire, blowing dry and uprooting trees, and screaming.

To the Marines 1,800 meters away, it was like a bunch of small mushrooms suddenly bursting out on the ground, and bright orange-red flames rose violently from the ground, rolling around and expanding into the air. After the bright flames shone for a few seconds, the black mushrooms began to expand straight up, and finally dissipated under the influence of the wind. The whole process lasted for more than half a minute!

After the explosion, the Marines sent out the vanguard to attack.

This is the usual way of the Chinese troops.

After being bombed, the big ducks and native soldiers were completely in disarray. At first, many people were stupid and were approached by the Marines. They could no longer run away, so they could only choose to fight or surrender, and many people who woke up early ran away cleanly.

Later, after two or three rocket attacks, the Marines often did not need to send troops to attack again, as all those who could run had already run away.

The Chinese guards responsible for cleaning the battlefield always looked up at the Marines as if they were looking up at gods. The remains of the battlefield, the large tracts of dense jungle, were like being swept by a storm, and the large potholes on the ground were big enough to bury coffins.

The fortifications built with trees and the breastworks built with sandbags were all in ruins.

Many corpses were intact, with no signs of shrapnel, but their mouths were wide open. When the clothes were peeled off, the dense red dots on their bodies could be seen. The more people hid in the tunnels, the more they died.

The faces of the dead were distorted, and the fear and pain of death seemed to be solidified on their faces.

After going south from Lingayen, after one or two battles, the Marines were worried that the big ducks would break up and pull the troops into the rainforest to fight guerrilla warfare.

However, the course of the war soon proved that their worries were unnecessary. As the Marines moved south, they used rocket shells to wash the ground whenever they encountered a heavy concentration of enemy troops. But they succeeded again and again!

They learned a lesson after two or three times, but they thought it was useless after four or five times. If they succeeded after six or seven times, it was the opponent's problem.

After encountering an enemy with an irresistible firepower advantage, they still gathered troops again and again to fight head-on. This was incomprehensible to the Chinese. They had never seen such a fool. It was obvious that gathering together would be devastating, but the big ducks just gathered together like they were dying. The war concept that had been formed by the European army made the Spanish officers unable to think of how to fight after dispersing the troops.

Guerrilla warfare was not in the minds of European officers of this era.

They might lure the enemy, but after luring the enemy, the final choice was to fight head-on and concentrate a large number of troops.

Luzon belongs to the tropical region, with dense rain, inconvenient land transportation, and even more inconvenient for heavy artillery to accompany the movement. The Spaniards suffered a heavy setback.

With more than 10,000 army troops, Carlos left 3,000 men to defend Manila. He gave up many cities and drew heavy troops that had previously suppressed the indigenous uprising army to attack Lingayen's Chinese Marine Corps. A full 6,000 to 7,000 Spanish troops faced a Marine Corps of 2,000 men, but the result was a complete defeat.

Attack! Attack! Attack! Marching forward! The smooth progress of the Marine Corps was completely unexpected.

It was just that too many Spaniards escaped, and the terrain of this place was not suitable for pursuit, which gave the Spaniards the opportunity to fight again and again.

Facing a disadvantageous situation, the Spaniards on the opposite side immediately gave up the initial offensive plan and adopted a defensive posture. It is not known whether they were behind in military command or simply did not understand what kind of enemy they were facing.

In the original time and space opium war, the Qing army could not win in the field battle, so could they hold on by switching to defense?

Even if it was defense, it would depend on what kind of land you were defending, right? How much better were the defenses of Tarlac, Capas, and Malolos than the breastwork trenches?

After the Spanish changed their combat strategy, the only convenience for the Marines was the captives. As long as they were surrounded and shouted a few times to surrender, the Spaniards in the surviving army would take the lead in surrendering. With this group of people taking the lead, the indigenous soldiers also surrendered immediately. The entire battle process was a whirlwind and a triumphant advance.

Moreover, these captives were quite obedient. They would gather wherever they were asked to. Except for the Spanish officers who refused to work when they were asked to build a temporary prisoner camp by themselves, the others could be said to be very docile and obedient.

Of course, there were also Spanish soldiers who were unwilling to work, and then they were all obedient after being severely beaten.

These people were much easier to deal with than the Russians.

Almost no one would run away.

Some Spanish officers would also take the initiative to cooperate, and the indigenous soldiers were very obedient when facing the Spanish.

Because of the cooperation of the prisoners after surrender, the follow-up workload of the attacking department was greatly reduced, and the attack was faster.

As the enemy of the Marine Corps, the Spanish Luzon Army Commander was in great pain. The difference in firepower left him powerless in front of the enemy. In fact, he was much luckier than his colleague, the Navy Commander, who did not meet their master at the first shot.

But it can't be stopped!

These people have used advanced weapons to build their own huge colonial empire in two hundred years, and now they are about to be defeated by the enemy using advanced weapons.

Of the army of six to seven thousand men, only two thousand remained when the army commander brought him back to Manila.

At this time, Governor Carlos of the Spanish Royal City, who had frequently received news of the army's defeat, had ordered all naval guns to be moved ashore, and at the same time all the sailors on several warships were concentrated on land.

Carlos also aggressively recruited local Spaniards and loyal indigenous people to join the army. Together with the 2,000 remaining soldiers brought back to Manila by the army commander, the total strength of Manila reached 8,000.

Although these 8,000 people were a mixed bag, they were uneven, and there were even soldiers with no morale who had been defeated in consecutive battles.

Zhu Xun was a member of the naval leadership in the Luzon Campaign. He came to Manila to hold talks with Carlos, and his status was not low at all.

He led people into the star-shaped gate of the Spanish Royal City, and was immediately welcomed into the Governor's Palace. The Spanish Royal City, covering an area of ​​64 hectares, is not small, but there are indeed too many people inside. Even the Manila Cathedral and St. Augustine Church are full of people, just like the Antique Church on the south bank of the Pasig River near the entrance of Manila Bay, which is full of people. In addition to Governor Carlos, there were also Bishop Elmer in the conference hall, as well as Lieutenant Governor Bolocon and Justice Artemio Loiton. This is the power class throughout Manila.

The former army commander was also among them, but now his status has dropped too much. Perhaps Carlos and the others thought that putting a defeated general in this conference hall would weaken their momentum.

There was no courtesy on either side of the meeting, and Zhu Xi said directly: "Your Majesty the Governor, the purpose of my visit this time is to persuade you to surrender. I hope you can make a decision on whether to surrender unconditionally before eight o'clock tomorrow morning." Zhu Xi's The time plan is eight o'clock tomorrow morning, unless the Spaniards detain his party. Then China will not show any mercy to Manila because of this. It will just assume that Zhu Xun and the others were killed by the Spaniards, and the military only considers revenge for them.

Carlos' face turned red, and he was filled with anger. He stared at Zhu Xun with his eyes, and with his golden hair, he looked like a furious lion. Even if Zhu Xin talked to them in a threatening or even abusive tone, the governor would not be as angry as he is now. Because he felt an extreme humiliation.

The Chinese don't take Manila or Spain seriously at all. His tone is like drinking boiled water, without any strong breath. It's like he is not a negotiator but an errand boy. In this way, this gesture from all aspects, from the expression to the heart, shows one thing to Carlos, the Governor of Manila - China does not take Manila's army and navy seriously at all. To them, this group of people in Manila is just a piece of grass that they can easily deal with. Surrendering is good, but not surrendering makes no...difference.

Yes, Manila has no weight, and whether it surrenders or not makes no difference at all.

"There are still eight thousand warriors loyal to the kingdom in Manila. There are strong city defenses and sufficient artillery." The Spaniards, who had completely dragged the naval guns to the shore, had sufficient artillery fire. "There are endless food and ammunition, and there are tens of thousands of loyal and brave Spanish navy and army outside. How dare you ask us to surrender unconditionally?" Carlos said to Zhu Xin in the most sarcastic tone of his life.

Zhu Xun's expression remained calm, and Carlos's ridicule did not cause any fluctuation in his expression. He continued to say to Carlos and the others in a matter-of-fact tone: "Of course, we are asking you to surrender unconditionally. A series of previous wars have proven who is more powerful. What the Governor said is meaningless, I believe you know That's why. I sincerely suggest you surrender unconditionally because you have no better choice than surrendering unconditionally."

"Otherwise I would suggest writing your own suicide note, praying to your Lord, and then facing death."

Zhu Xun did not think at all that the Spaniards were capable of withstanding the saturated attack of rocket shells in Manila. There are so many people here, which in itself limits the survival of the duck.

"I will wait in the hotel until eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

Carlos clenched his fists and looked at Zhu Xun who turned around and left just a few minutes after entering the conference hall. He resisted the urge to shoot him in the back and said in a arrogant tone with a strong head held high: "Manila will never surrender!"

"We are all devout believers in the Lord, and God will not abandon Manila!"

Zhu Xun stood at the door, without looking back, but with absolute ridicule on his lips, "Really? Then the only thing left for you is God."