20demayo Chapter 28 That's a pretext for war
Chapter 28 That's a pretext for war
The Spanish governor of the Philippines, Alcedo, along with the bishops and officials of the city, and some Spanish soldiers, gradually gathered at Santiago Castle before noon.
Alcedo gathered the bishops, officials, and generals to discuss how to deal with the current situation.
Army Regiment Commander Garcia first reported on the information he had gathered:
"The lookout confirmed through binoculars that the Han Dynasty's naval fleet was extremely large, consisting of at least one hundred ships."
"After they landed, they quickly occupied the dock and then continuously transported troops ashore."
"Based on the size of their fleet, there are at least more than 10,000 troops, and possibly more than 20,000 troops."
"Then, their army doesn't seem to be preparing to attack the castle directly, and is now rapidly moving into the surrounding residential areas."
"The worst news is that they have entered Chinese communities and are forcing Chinese people to cooperate with them, to load and unload goods and build fortifications for them at the docks, and even to participate in combat directly."
"Our troops were ambushed in a Chinese-populated area and lost at least sixty white soldiers and two hundred auxiliaries."
Bishop González was very excited after hearing this and said:
"My God, with 10,000 to 20,000 troops joining forces with 20,000 Chinese in the city, the situation may be getting out of control!"
Does anyone know what they're up to? Are they looting or taking over Manila?
"They can't possibly be here to arrest smugglers who fled here, can they?"
Commander Garcia immediately said:
"It doesn't seem like looting. Looting doesn't require that many people, nor does it require specifically gathering Chinese people."
"If the goal is to catch smugglers, there's no need to go to such lengths; they should simply ask us to cooperate in the arrests."
"They are likely preparing to take Manila, or even the entire Philippines."
Governor Arce, listening to these analyses, also felt utterly overwhelmed:
"Your Excellency, please arrange for someone who can translate to go out and make contact with them, and find out what their purpose is."
In remote areas under European control, especially in overseas colonies, church personnel often assumed some of the responsibilities of local bureaucrats, and the humble church served as a temporary town hall.
Bishop González certainly didn't want to send his subordinates out of the city under these circumstances, in case they were killed by the enemy and had nowhere to seek justice or compensation. But this was something that church personnel usually did.
Bishop González reluctantly arranged for a missionary who could barely speak Chinese, and two mixed-race believers who could understand Spanish.
The three men, escorted by ten Spanish soldiers, left the city and headed towards the Han landing force's position, carrying a white flag.
The white flag was originally meant to express a willingness to negotiate, but on the battlefield, a unilateral request for negotiation usually meant a surrender, so it gradually became primarily used for surrender.
The Han army didn't actually know what a white flag meant, but seeing that there were only a few people on the other side, and they were openly walking towards them, they guessed that they were probably there to negotiate.
Upon receiving the report, the officer in charge of on-site command immediately dispatched a company of infantry to meet them.
After the two sides made close contact, the Spanish priests and the mixed-race believers quickly explained their purpose and were then escorted and supervised by the welcoming soldiers into the Han army camp.
The officer in charge of the on-site dispatch sent someone to report to Chen Huacheng. Chen Huacheng did not personally meet with these Spanish envoys, but instead directly handed them a pre-prepared notice.
Before setting out on the expedition, Chen Huacheng had the military council draft a proclamation and proclamation, which he intended to present as an ultimatum to the Spanish when he officially attacked the Spanish capital.
Now that the other party has come out on their own initiative, let them take it back.
The priest and the two mixed-race believers received the notice with trepidation. After returning to the castle, they quickly translated the contents of the notice into Spanish and sent it to the governor, bishop, and officers for review.
After receiving the original and the translation, the bishop read them aloud to the governor and officers on the spot, since most of the officers were illiterate.
The bishop who read the proclamation aloud, along with the governor and officers listening nearby, found the opening lines of the proclamation utterly absurd.
After patiently listening for a while, Army Regiment Commander Garcia couldn't help but roar:
According to the Han Chinese, the Han army launched a major offensive against Manila in order to hunt down smugglers!
"Because we Spaniards in Manila took in smugglers who had fled from the Han Dynasty, they want to seize Manila to punish us."
"Don't you think this is utterly absurd?"
The other officers around couldn't help but ask questions and raise doubts as well:
"Do they need to launch a major attack over something like this?"
"This is probably just an excuse, isn't it?"
Bishop González has also realized what's happening:
"This is probably just a pretext for war. Even if they catch the smugglers, they can't just retreat like this."
"If these smugglers weren't in Manila, they might have found other pretexts for war."
"The document concludes by openly declaring to us that wherever a river flows, wherever the sun and moon shine, is the territory of their Great Han Kingdom."
"So they demanded that the governor surrender before they attacked the city, so that the people inside would have a chance to survive."
"Otherwise, they would kill all the resistance fighters after the city falls, leaving not even chickens or dogs behind."
"We only have three thousand troops; it's impossible for us to withstand their attack."
After the bishop finished explaining the situation, he and the army commander looked at Governor Alcedo, waiting for the governor to make a decision.
Alcedo looked pained, but unwilling to face the current situation, he remained silent for a long time before shaking his head and waving his hands, saying:
"Let's see how things go first. They haven't attacked yet, have they?"
"Moreover, our fortified cities are not so easy to breach, and their generals may not have enough mathematical knowledge."
"Even if they had it, it would take them many days of preparation to possibly breach the city walls."
"This announcement may just be a scare tactic to intimidate us so that we can directly seize this most important city in the Philippines."
In fact, the others were also hesitant; it was almost impossible to make the choice to surrender directly when faced with an irresistible attack.
Governor Alcedo's words were endorsed by many officers and priests, who were confident in the city's defenses.
The Spanish capital can be considered a star-shaped fortress, with each corner of the fortress being a so-called bastion.
Facing this type of fortified city, the correct traditional attack methods are very troublesome.
They needed to use mathematical knowledge to plan their route, avoiding artillery fire while digging trenches and advancing to the city walls.
Then, a large number of cannons were mobilized to bombard the city walls for many days, gradually causing them to collapse.
Soldiers could then climb the collapsed earthen slopes up the city wall and enter the fortress.
Attacking a fortress in this way, even without making any mistakes along the way, is extremely time-consuming.
Therefore, the governor, bishops, and officers of Manila were not very nervous, feeling that they had plenty of time to hesitate.
They all decided to wait and see, at least to confirm that the Han army was capable of launching a proper attack, before continuing to discuss whether to surrender.
…………
After the Han Dynasty naval landing force took control of the Manila port, large transport ships from the fleet subsequently docked at the port in batches.
A large number of army troops from the ship began to quickly land and take full control of the Chinese-populated areas.
The vast majority of young and strong Chinese were forcibly driven out; some went to the docks to assist the army in unloading supplies ashore, while others led more landing troops to control the city.
After taking control of the Chinese-populated areas, more soldiers began to enter the indigenous-populated areas.
By evening that day, almost all of the 20,000 main force troops involved in the battle had landed.
A small number remained at the dock, controlling the dock and surrounding area, building fortifications, and transporting supplies from the ships.
Most of the other troops entered the city to work with local Chinese to control streets, intersections, and public facilities.
Of the more than 80,000 indigenous people living around the city, most of them were trapped in the city by the opposing troops, except for a small number who had fled to the surrounding fields in advance.
They had never seen such a situation before, and now they were all hiding in their simple houses, observing the situation with trepidation and paying attention to the movements of the large army outside.
The first day of the Great Han Navy's surprise attack on Manila has come to an end.
That evening, the troops inside and outside the city took turns resting, while others were assigned to guard posts and keep an eye on the enemy.
After a tense night, the next morning, the Beiyang Fleet, carrying two main divisions from Zhejiang totaling 20,000 men, and the Nanyang Fleet, carrying two main divisions from Guangdong totaling 20,000 men, entered Manila Bay at roughly the same time.
The Guan Tianpei fleet stationed in Cavite came out to guide them, leading the two new fleets towards the outskirts of Manila.
Forty thousand fresh troops disembarked around Manila and then went in batches to the indigenous communities outside the city.
With 60,000 troops, the city was completely under control, and the residents had no chance to escape.
The army gradually drove the natives out of the city, using local Chinese as translators and ordering the natives to work for the army.
They dug ditches, filled in garbage, cut down trees, and built watchtowers and barracks.
Although the Han army had not yet conquered the Spanish capital, the fortified city itself was already trapped.
Even if they can't take it down immediately, they can keep besieging the people inside until they surrender or starve to death.
The Luzon Army's mission is long-term: to occupy the entire Luzon archipelago with Manila as its center.
During the dry season this winter, the 60,000 militiamen who have already been prepared will be sent over to begin the development and construction of Manila.
Over the next three to five years, one million militiamen will be sent over to take full control of and develop the entire archipelago.
The scale of the war in the Han Dynasty's homeland was beyond the imagination of the European colonies.
The senior generals and soldiers in the Han army all had a high level of education, and some of the soldiers had studied bastion warfare tactics.
However, neither of them was prepared to fight the Spanish royal city's defenders in a normal way; the two sides were simply not a suitable opponent.