While Xue Chengcai was attacking the natives, Wang Guangen also led his troops to land at the northernmost tip of Cebu Island.
Although the island is similar in shape to a spear, it is the largest of the three islands, covering nearly 4,700 square kilometers.
Most of the island is plain, and it is very easy to cultivate land, making it extremely suitable for agricultural production.
The prince said that there was a copper mine on the island, but the specific location was not mentioned in the book, so Wang Guangen had to send people to find it himself.
However, these things have made Wang Guangen very satisfied. As long as he can cultivate the land and harvest grain, copper mines are not necessary.
If copper mines can really be found, the lives of the soldiers and their families will be much better in the future.
Looking at the map, there are two large islands on the west side of Cebu Island, which are almost three times the size of Cebu Island.
Wang Guangen guessed that this was left by the prince to Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing. After all, these two people had too many people, totaling up to 40,000.
Including family members, the total would be over 100,000, and it would be unjustifiable not to reward a larger island.
Besides, it can be inferred from the unit number that Wang Guangen's unit belongs to the Fourth Division of the Ming Dynasty Expeditionary Force.
There should be three more divisions ahead, but these three divisions have not shown up for a long time. They should have come together long ago.
Xue Chengcai and Hui Dengxiang also speculated in this way, but others had no way of knowing the prince's thoughts.
They, who were surrendered generals as rogue bandits, were already grateful to the prince for receiving such transcendent treatment.
Before setting off, the prince had kindly reminded him that one man and one horse owns an island, occupy your own, and don’t worry about others.
Those islands that seem to have no royal masters landing on them should actually have been divided up already, but they have not been announced to the public yet.
The three people can all be allocated a place in the same palace, so naturally they will not make any further progress and make the prince dissatisfied.
If they lose the opportunity to obtain local goods, their life on the island will be no different from the indigenous barbarians.
Wang Guangen's plan is very simple and can be implemented in three steps.
First, take advantage of the island’s topographic features and sweep it from north to south.
All the natives who obey their teachings can survive, otherwise there is no need to waste food.
Secondly, use these indigenous people to reclaim land. The larger the area, the better.
If possible, we should also find copper mines, which would be great if they could be mined in the open.
Finally, plant high-yield crops, wait for the local fleet to arrive after harvesting, and exchange the food for local goods.
If all goes well, it will probably take five years to develop.
Wang Guangen wants to use this opportunity to prove that he is not a reckless man who only knows how to kill people. He cannot compare with those civil servants who are good at using tricks, but at least he must be better than the other two people who came to Luzon together.
There is another relatively big difficulty in realizing this plan. Perhaps it is not a big difficulty, but it is just a stumbling block.
That is, there may be Spanish red barbarians with higher combat effectiveness stationed on this island!
The reason is simple. The Philippine Islands were discovered by Magellan, and Magellan was slaughtered for asking the chiefs of nearby islands to pay taxes to the Spanish Empire.
Another version says that the globe-trotting explorer was assassinated by stubborn natives during a friendly visit to the archipelago.
All in all, it was dead and completely cold.
But after the Spanish occupied Cebu Island, they used it as a stronghold and extended their claws to the archipelago.
Cebu, the capital of Cebu Island, has been the center of the Philippine territory for several years and is now the second largest city in the Philippines.
Therefore, it is very likely that the Spanish army is stationed here. There may not be a large number, but there should be many native soldiers who are servants.
With 5,000 men and horses in his hands, Wang Guangen felt that it would not be a big problem to deal with 1,000 Spanish red barbarians and 4,000 native soldiers.
The prince said that there were only three thousand Spanish Red Barbarians in the entire Luzon region, and no matter how important Cebu Island was, it could not station a thousand Red Barbarians.
At most five hundred, the more likely number is within three hundred.
The number of native soldiers cannot be ignored, and may reach thousands.
In short, you must be more careful and don't underestimate the enemy. If you lose, no one will come to save you.
Wang Guangen looked at the map carefully and saw that Cebu City is located in the middle of the island and on the east coast.
It is very close to Bohol Island, and it takes at least two days to get there by boat. I am determined to join forces with Prime Minister Huiden to attack the city.
But after thinking about it, he gave up. He didn't even know the strength of the enemy's troops, so he was so timid. It was too frightening.
Our troops carried a lot of artillery. Although they did not have a single Hongyi cannon, the Fo Lang machine could also attack the city, and the mortars could even shoot in a straight direction.
First see if you can annihilate the enemy in the field. If not, then think of ways to attack the city.
The current plan is to leave a thousand people to guard the family members and supplies.
The remaining four thousand troops were divided into four lines, one on the east bank and one on the west bank, with two lines in the middle to support each other.
The infantry takes the lead, and the artillery follows up. If there is resistance, it will bombard first, then charge, and push forward from north to south.
Before that, they still had to have a good meal, take a good rest, and restore the soldiers' physical strength before they could plan on attacking.
The sky here is very blue, the water is very clear, and the scenery is very beautiful. It is not too much to say that it is picturesque.
The children were busy catching crabs on the beach, while the soldiers who knew how to swim went into the sea in small groups to fish, and those who knew how to tree had already picked coconuts to drink.
Since none of these people had ever seen the sea, let alone such a beautiful bay, they were particularly excited to come here.
The reward the prince mentioned was indeed extraordinary.
Before, some people secretly underestimated that they were sent to a barbaric land, but now they all put this complaint behind them.
If only the weather is like this in summer, what is rare is that it is like this all year round.
If there was no war, it would be enough for the men and children, except for the women, to wear single clothes, which would save a lot of money on clothes.
"General~!"
General Ya also took his soldiers to try his luck, and he really got a good gift to please his master.
"Look!"
"Hiss...this..."
When Wang Guangen saw this, he hurriedly took out the booklet given by the Crown Prince. It described many seafoods produced in the Luzon area, as well as pictures of their appearance. Although it was in black and white, it was still clear.
"Oh~! This is lobster!"
"No wonder it's so big!"
The brochure said that the lobster meat was extremely tender and delicious. Whether it was braised, steamed, or even grilled over fire, it would make people rave about it. Wang Guangen hurriedly asked the cook to clean it up like river shrimp, and then put it directly into the pot to cook. one time.
If you switch to ordinary fish, just bake it directly on the fire. Since it is a rare seafood such as lobster, you must use seasonings to achieve the best taste.
Later, a soldier presented another fish that was pink all over. According to the brochure, it was a sea bream!
Although it is not big, weighing only a pound, the meat quality is not comparable to that of river fish, especially because it has few burrs, making it very convenient to eat.
Just bake it. After sitting on the boat for many days, we finally arrived in our own territory. It was time to have a toothpaste.
"Dad, look, big crab!"
Wang Guangen's third son ran up to him holding a crab with teeth and claws. His little hands were already full of mud, but his little face was extremely excited.
"Okay, okay! My son is so awesome!"
As a father, I naturally have to praise him. Although the crab is only as big as an adult's hand, to a child, it is indeed a big crab.
Wang Guangen's one wife and three concubines gave birth to three sons and two daughters. After more than ten years, the sons married several more women and gave birth to a bunch of grandchildren, so that they could have a full house of descendants.
Prior to this, strict regulations were still in place, and children, including adults, who could not swim were strictly prohibited from entering the sea.
Once drowning, do not drag others down, especially when rescuing a drowning person. It is easy to drag the person who knows water to death.
Wang Guangen knew all about the abilities of his soldiers.
Even those who know how to swim can only survive in rivers and ditches.
This is the sea. If you are not careful, you will become a floating corpse.
Sure enough, something happened on the first day and five people drowned, two adults and three children.
The adults thought it was okay, but suddenly a wave came over and the person disappeared.
The child was giggling on the rocks, but his foot slipped and he fell into a puddle between the rocks. He couldn't climb up and was filled with water.
The prince warned in the booklet that you must pay attention to safety in the water.
If you don't know how to swim, don't go into the water. Don't go to dangerous places.
Violating the rules is very likely to result in death, and now it has come true.
If a body is found, it can be buried on the shore. If they cannot be found, their families have no choice but to accept their fate.
After giving the order to all the soldiers and their families, they all became honest.
But Wang Guangen also knows that the deterrent effect of this kind of thing is only for one or two days. After three days, there will still be people who are not afraid of death.
He can only take care of his family. If others want to die, they can't stop them. They will go to the sea to find death.
When the sweep began, as many as fifteen people were dead. Fortunately, there were only two soldiers inside, and the others were all family members.
The prince said that there are at least 100,000 natives living on the island, and together they can be a great force.
Draw one out of five, and the total number of combatable soldiers is 20,000. Fortunately, the various tribes are scattered throughout the island.
A battalion sent by Wang Guangen defeated an indigenous tribe closest to the landing site with a lot of effort.
Nearly a hundred native soldiers were killed and hundreds more were captured, including men, women, old and young.
The indigenous chief survived by chance, but was still indignant when he saw Wang Guangen.
Wang Guangen laughed at this, saying that barbarians were barbarians, they were naked and full of nonsense.
If you can understand what you are saying, you must understand that you must farm the land honestly from now on, otherwise no one will survive!
After the victory, Wang Guangen's troops fought and won again and again. After nearly a month, they finally advanced outside Cebu City.
"It seems like there really are Spanish Red Barbarians!"
"General, it doesn't matter what Hongyi is, just beat him to death!"
"That's right! Is Hongyi counting the balls? If he shoots an arrow in the face, he will definitely die!"
Wang Guangen rode on his horse and looked at the city with a telescope. He saw a flag flying at the top of the city that he had never seen before. The natives were determined not to have such a thing.
According to captured indigenous insiders, there were only a hundred red barbarians in Cebu City, and the other hundreds were all native soldiers with low combat effectiveness.
The rest of the story is really difficult to find out due to language translation barriers. It took a lot of effort to get just this bit of information.
"Master! Let's fight or not!"
"There is no rush! Attacking the city rashly may lead to loss of soldiers, which will be detrimental to our army, so we should focus on siege first. If the red barbarians can go out of the city to fight, it would be the best. If the red barbarians can stand firm and wait for reinforcements, then our army can adapt to changes."
"The general is wise!"
Attacking a city is no joke. There are only so many people in our army, and if one dies, one will be missing. The imperial court will not easily add more manpower to itself.
Everything must be done carefully and carefully. One careless move can cost hundreds of people. Wang Guangen understands this simple and easy-to-understand truth.
As for Cebu City Marina, there is no way to obtain reinforcements and supplies from the sea.
If we can contact the nearby Zheng fleet, we may be able to solve this problem. Otherwise, we have to be cautious and patient.
It didn't matter that Hongyi couldn't retreat. Wang Guangen personally led 2,500 soldiers and horses to station outside the city.
Five hundred people guarded their families, and the remaining two thousand people were divided into four groups and continued to advance south.
Our troops have taken down the entire island of Cebu to see what the red barbarians in the city should do!
Three months ago, Manila’s request for help arrived here in Cebu.
Fifty men from the Cebu garrison were mobilized and sailed north on an armed merchant ship for reinforcements.
There are now less than a hundred Spanish defenders in the city, and the main force is less than 400 native soldiers.
If before, the Ming army had not attacked Manila but directly attacked Cebu Island, the defenders on the island would have dared to fight in the field with the invading enemy.
There is currently no information about Manila, and it is still unclear whether it has fallen. Naturally, the Spanish defenders in Cebu City are living like a year.
The Ming army landed on the island again and began to attack various places. The defenders could only wait and see what happened, but they were actually powerless.
Once the field battle failed and the main force was unable to return intact, Cebu City, which had been working hard for nearly seventy years, would be surrendered.
After much deliberation, it was most appropriate to stick around and wait for reinforcements. As long as reinforcements were sent from the mainland, it would be easy to relieve the siege.
Seeing that the enemy was not in a hurry to attack the city, the defenders felt relieved and looked at the enemy outside with peace of mind.
Little did they know that this Ming army not only besieged the city, but also did not delay the push from the other side.
The defenders had no time to care about the life and death of the natives on the island. Only by repelling the invading enemies could they think about the natives.
Previously, the Spanish defenders had dismissed the Ming army's combat effectiveness, thinking it was no better than the natives of the island.
The empire could capture the Inca Empire with hundreds of soldiers. According to this calculation, it could capture the arrogant Ming Empire by sending tens of thousands of soldiers.
However, the situation has changed now!
After the Dutch Empire was captured by the Ming army, the northern part of Spanish Formosa was also taken away by the Ming army.
The Governor of the Philippines, Coquilla, has strictly ordered the defenders in the territory to be on strict alert to guard against a surprise attack by the Ming army.
This is an order that has never been issued, which shows that the governor is already afraid of the Ming army.
As the defenders of the island, they have no idea how many people are coming from the other side.
There are more defenders in San Salvador than in Cebu. What's the result?
They were completely wiped out by the Ming army!
If tens of thousands of Ming troops landed on Cebu Island on a large scale, no matter how good the imperial soldiers in the city were, they would not be able to withstand the enemy in the field!
I'm afraid I won't even have a chance to retreat from the battlefield, and I'll have to be annihilated by the opponent!
I used to despise the Ming army, but that was just contempt, actual combat was another matter!
You can't just stop fighting when you see that your side is about to lose, and tell the other party just like you haven't been there!
Therefore, even though the defenders had long heard that the northern part of the island had fallen one after another, they did not easily send out reinforcements.
The defenders were betting that the opponent did not have heavy artillery and would not be able to blow down the city wall.
Fortunately, the bet was right!
But he still didn't dare to leave the city, for fear of falling into the opponent's trick.
Although we saw two or three thousand people, what if we go out to fight in the field and thousands of people emerge from the other side? What should we do then?
