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Text Chapter 553 Mindoro

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    Xianfeng 553_Xianfeng full text free to read_Chapter 553 Mindoro is from

    In the impression of most local officers, the Philippines is a place suitable for vacation. Compared with the frequent battles in the country, the Marine Corps here not only enjoys special overseas service subsidies, but is not trapped in the winter, but can still  It can be said that it is the most comfortable place to receive the local officers and soldiers' heating expenses, cotton-padded clothing vouchers and other items.

    However, in the special position of Governor of the Philippines, Lin Mengchu knew that his responsibilities were as heavy as Mount Tai, and he could not relax for a moment. On the mainland, he might be able to allow one or two failures and retreat, but fighting on such an island,  Failure in any battle will lead to his death without a burial place. No one has the ability to swim back to the mainland from the Philippines. As a soldier, he only allows victory.

    What's more, compared with the mainland, the power he can rely on in the Philippines, with a population of tens of millions, is only 200,000 Filipino Chinese, some Filipino natives, and one of his own infantry divisions.  The problems are a hundred times more complex than those on the mainland. For example, during the war on the mainland, religious issues were insignificant.

    But in the Philippines, almost everyone believes in Catholicism. Although some Protestant pastors were introduced, the impact was very small. Therefore, Lin Mengchu had to win over one faction and fight against another. Even in this situation, there are still many Catholic anti-Hong Kong factions in Luzon Island.  Some fanatical Catholic believers even refused the church land assigned to them by the Hong Army. The Hong Army had no choice but to distribute the land that originally belonged to them to people in neighboring villages.

    Lin Chumeng didn¡¯t know that this situation was similar to the Mexican Civil War in the 1920s.  Progressive governments wanted to allocate land under the control of Catholic dioceses, while Catholic priests declared that no allocations could be made or those who were allocated the land would not be allowed to go to heaven.  As a result, the government had to allocate the land they had cultivated to others, and Mexican Catholics succeeded in turning some of their most loyal followers into staunch anti-Catholic elements, according to observations by American journalists in the 1970s.  Catholic priests are enthusiastic about these poor people who are below the line of abject poverty, but these people who have lost their land are full of hatred for Catholicism.

    And now Lin Mengchu is facing not only the Catholic problem. He and the entire Philippine garrison must learn everything about the management of the occupied territories from scratch, even Spanish, the most popular language in the entire Philippines, and have to hold a pen in one hand and a gun in the other.  Be prepared for the Spanish's next counterattack.

    Not long ago, the Spaniards planned a successful raid.  A garrison on an isolated island in the middle of the country, including sixty-seven men, including a deputy company commander, and an entire reinforced platoon were wiped out, with no survivors. Similar tragedies have happened two or three times in the Philippines.  .

    Based on the experience of the Yanzhou operation, the smallest detachment of the Hong Army in terms of warfare is a reinforced battalion, so as to prevent unexpected losses.  But in a country with a thousand islands like the Philippines, if each island is stationed with a reinforced battalion of troops, then Lin Mengchu must have at least 200,000 troops. In fact, he only has one infantry division with two brigades, with a total of four infantry divisions.  The corps plus three ** infantry battalions are just that.  Therefore, on many islands, the Hong Kong Army only has one reinforced company, and sometimes there is only one reinforced platoon or even a reinforced squad plus a few officers.

    But these islands have to be equipped with troops, otherwise they will control the Spanish and use the resources on the islands to counterattack Luzon: "Huai Zhi, we must pay attention to the next Spanish raid!"

    "That's right!" Opposite him was Ye Huaizhi, who was born in the Red Turban Army. Due to his special performance when capturing Manila, he has now become the leader of the Marine Mobile Group of the Marine Brigade. This mobile group can be said to be the most important in the entire Philippines.  The regiment is even equipped with a fleet of sea transport ships.

    "Although we have suffered a loss, the Spaniards cannot guard against our support!"

    The example he mentioned was an offensive and defensive battle with the Spaniards last month. The defense was on a medium-sized island near Mindoro. There were only 42 defenders there, so the Spaniards thought they could easily defeat it.  The island could be taken, but after three days of fighting, the remaining thirty or so defenders still fought hard. The Spaniards had no choice but to replace the indigenous troops and go into battle in person, but they were still frustrated in the bayonet formation. At the critical moment, Ye Huaizhi  After personally leading two companies of reinforcements across the sea, the Spaniards retreated hastily, leaving at least sixty corpses behind before escaping from the sea.

    But when Lin Mengchu looked at the map of the entire Philippine Islands, he felt like he had no place to start. The Philippine Islands were too vast, and the Spanish had been operating here for three hundred years. Therefore, the strength of a mere infantry division could not be firmly established.  Controlling the entire archipelago, so far, the Hong Army has only occupied the northern part of the Philippine Islands.The ? part is just a part of the middle part.

    If it weren¡¯t for the two infantry battalions that had just been supported, the Hong Army would not even be able to completely control the entire Luzon Island. Therefore, Lin Mengchu said to the map: "I wonder which island the Spaniards will attack next?"

    "It's hard to guess!"

    Ye Huaizhi was already well aware of the Spaniards' recent tactics of attacking at sea and using large forces to attack the small ones. The Spaniards usually concentrated hundreds or even thousands of troops and took advantage of their water mobility to suddenly attack some marginal islands.  Landing and then besieging the few defenders on the island, this tactic was successful time and again. At most, the Hong Army even lost an entire infantry company, but that time Spain dispatched at least 2,000 people.

    Therefore, Ye Huaizhi believes that there is a problem with Lin Mengchu's current strategy: "We should fight back. Since Spain can attack us, we can also attack the Spaniards! We can concentrate at least two marine battalions."

    "This is meaningless!" Lin Mengchu had his own opinion: "Time is with us!"

    Compared with the risky leap forward in the early days of the Philippines, Lin Mengchu now adopts mobile defense tactics. He patted Ye Huaizhi on the shoulder and said: "The backbone of the entire Philippine defense is you, yes, it is you!"

    "Then I won't let any friendly team suffer losses!"

    While the two sides were discussing, a staff officer ran into the magnificently decorated governor's office and said in a very argumentative tone: "Your Majesty the Governor, the Spanish have landed!"

    "Where is it?" Ye Huaizhi asked first: "Where is it?"

    ¡°In Mindoro!¡±

    "This is impossible!"

    "Absolutely impossible!"

    It is absolutely impossible. Both Ye Huaizhi and Lin Mengchu made such judgments. How is this possible?  Why is it Mindoro.

    Mindoro is not one of those isolated islands. It is one of the top seven largest islands in the entire Philippine archipelago. Defense in the Philippines is of utmost importance. You must know that the size of this island alone is as big as the entire mainland.  What's more, Mindoro Island is the defense barrier for the entire Luzon Island.

    ¡°If Mindoro falls into the hands of the other party, the defense of the entire Luzon Island will be open and it will be in a very dangerous situation.

    But the problem is that Lin Chumeng has deployed heavy troops on Mindoro Island: "I remember that there is one of our infantry battalions in Mindoro?"

    "Yes, it is a defensive infantry battalion, but there are some troops responsible for the defense of the outer islands. There are about two-thirds of the infantry battalions on the island"

    Lin Mengchu quickly found the top-secret defense monthly report sent back by the Mindoro Island garrison commander at the end of last month: "At the end of last month, we had 426 officers and soldiers on Mindoro Island, and about  One hundred and forty local soldiers, there should be no troop mobilization for this."

    That¡¯s strange. With the addition of indigenous soldiers, the entire Mindoro Island¡¯s defense force exceeds 500 people. Although it seems that using 500 people to guard an entire place seems a little thin, this is the special nature of the defense of the Philippine Islands.  , five hundred soldiers are enough even for attack.

    Therefore, Lin Mengchu quickly asked: "What is the news coming from Mindoro Island?"

    "Commander of Mindoro Island Guard Wang Zhongchu sent an urgent message: On the 13th, twenty-three enemy ships, large and small, and four steamships suddenly landed on our eastern coastline of Mindoro. On the same day, about 700 enemy troops landed on land, and two artillery pieces  They were all Spanish soldiers. We defended an infantry platoon on the eastern front and fought hard to break through, losing about one-third. On the 14th, the enemy continued to attack, and we fought hard to repel them. As of noon today, we had lost about 20 prisoners.  According to the natives, the enemy has landed on land with five to six hundred men, half of whom are indigenous soldiers, and they are carrying six or seven artillery pieces. In view of the special situation, we are determined to fight to the end!"

    There was no request for help or other expressions in Wang Zhongchu's letter, but Lin Mengchu could still imagine the difficulty of the battle. There were now more than a thousand enemy troops landing, more than twice the number of defenders, and there was the possibility of continued reinforcements.  So Lin Mengchu said: "Big deal!"

    "It's not just a big deal, it's a life-and-death effort!" Ye Huaizhi said clearly: "The next step in the Philippines campaign depends on the outcome of this battle."

    "Don't be afraid of him!" Lin Mengchu stood up and punched the large square table left by the Spanish Governor: "How many troops can the mobile group dispatch now? No"

    Ye Huaizhi pretended not to understand Lin Mengchu's prompt: "The mobile group can reinforce two marine battalions to Mindoro at any time. The third marine battalion must wait for the return of the forward transport ship before it can continue transportation!"

    But Lin Mengchu paid attention to the map again: "If the Spaniards want to capture it, I'm afraid it's not Mindoro Island, right?"

      Ye Huaizhi answered very cleverly: "Time is always with us, so the Spaniards can't afford to wait, but we must at least have a clear judgment and decision"

    Xie Feng 553_Xie Feng full text free to read_Chapter 553 Mindoro has been updated!

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