Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 183: Occupation of Cavite

"Overseas survivor Huang Zongfa pays homage to His Excellency. We long for the Celestial Empire's army to recapture this place. We are willing to lead the army, even if we die a hundred times, we will not regret it."

After boarding the ship, Huang Zongfa respectfully paid his respects to the leading officer, Major General Pan Tianshou.

Major General Pan Tianshou led more than 800 officers and soldiers of the "Ren" Regiment of the Second Expeditionary Division on this mission to carry out a surprise attack on the city and fortress of Cavite, and sneaked into the city in advance.

Major General Pan Tianshou did not overdo this insider, but gave him some support and said:
"Mr. Huang, please stand up. No need to be so polite.

Our Celestial Empire's army followed the will of Heaven and the people, recovered the old territory of Southeast Asia, punished the criminals and avenged the people, with the intention of creating an ideal home for overseas Chinese. This is an invaluable achievement!

The fact that you are able to follow the trend shows your wisdom.

If you can surrender the city and make a contribution to our commander-in-chief, I will recommend you to the righteous man Huang, and you will win a bright future with a title for your wife and children. Isn't that wonderful?"

"Thank you very much for your kindness, General. I will pledge my entire fortune and do my best to clear the obstacles for the Celestial Empire's army and make a small contribution." Huang Zongfa replied excitedly.

Isn’t the highest goal that overseas Chinese pursue to bring honor to their ancestors and to provide honors for their wives and children?
Major General Pan Tianshou nodded and asked, "If that's the case, how many strong men can you gather to provide support?"

"Your Excellency, General, I am the leader of the Chaoyi Gang. I have over 700 members under my command. They are all dock workers and peddlers, all of whom are ordinary people. I am willing to serve as the vanguard of the army."

"But, do you have enough weapons?"

"Reporting to the general, the Franks have very strict control over weapons. We can only gather more than a hundred swords and guns, not a single musket."

"That's okay. We have plenty of weapons on board. I can equip each of your men with a sword and shield to help me capture the city."

"In that case, I thank you in advance."

"Well, I see the city is heavily guarded. Is there any way I can sneak in without being noticed by the ghosts?"

"General, this city wall is a piece of crap. It's shiny on the surface, and the side facing the dock is mostly intact, but the rest of it has fallen into disrepair and is more than one area has collapsed. Wait until nightfall, and I'll lead the army into the city."

"Haha...that's great."

After hearing this, Major General Pan Tianshou felt relieved, a smile appeared on his face, and his expression became more friendly.

If there were no such accomplices, they would not have been willing to resort to swords and guns in a fight, and the casualties of the soldiers would have been secondary.

If we fail here, I will have no way to explain to the Marshal.

Since other generals performed well, Major General Pan Tianshou naturally also had a desire to win.

Not only must the battles be fought beautifully, but casualties must also be kept to a minimum. We must not let Huang Shan, Dong Kuifa and his ilk monopolize the glory.

There was competition between the First Expeditionary Division, the Second Expeditionary Division and the Third Expeditionary Division, and there was also competition among the generals. They all wanted to stand out in front of the Marshal, so naturally they had to rely on their military achievements.

It won't take long

Some servants carried loads onto the boat, which contained large buckets of hot broth, flatbreads and other food that must have been prepared long ago.

Major General Pan Tianshou arranged for more than 10 sailors to eat first. After more than half an hour, when there were no problems, he ordered the broth and bread to be sent to the cabin so that the officers and soldiers hiding in the cabin could have a full meal.

His caution is not without reason, but he must not capsize in the ditch.

When it gets dark
A sailboat behind arrived late, then approached the dock and stopped on the outside of the sailboat that arrived earlier, and stopped it with a rope.

At this time, there were few people at the dock, and the several indigenous nobles in charge had returned to the city. The city gates were closed, and many indigenous soldiers were patrolling with guns and knives.

These native soldiers could not enter the heavily defended fortress. From the measures taken by the Royal City of Manila to control the natives, it can be seen that whether they were servants, waiters or maids, they had to leave before dusk. The Spanish whites did not trust them.

The indigenous soldiers could only patrol the outer cities or some towns, acting as lackeys and thugs of the Spanish white colonists and being the colonists' right-hand men.

At around eight o'clock in the evening
Many members of the Chaoyi Gang rushed over. After receiving their swords and shields, they started talking excitedly, but were immediately stopped by Huang Zongfa with a stern voice.

He arranged for his men to take the soldiers who had boarded the dock and sneak into the collapsed part of the city under the cover of night, and finally gather at a ruined temple and a nearby charity cemetery.

This cemetery is where Chinese people are buried. Few people pass by here on weekdays, making it a good place to hide.

More than 650 officers and soldiers plus more than 700 gang members filled the dilapidated temple and the surrounding cemeteries. Fortunately, they could barely rest on the ground, so it didn't matter if the conditions were a little worse.

Now everything is ready, all we have to do is wait for the "Count Fabiano Perez" sailing warship to take the stage.

The Cavite Fort was originally a stockade built by Prince Isnan. The Spanish occupied this place in 1571 and spent 37 years to build the fort.

The Cavite Fort is similar to a small city, different from the Corregidor Fort on the island. It is much larger in area and has weaker defense than the latter.

The Spaniards stationed two companies here, with a total strength of about 130 to 140 men.

In theory, given the size of the Cavite Fort, it can easily accommodate one or two thousand people to maximize its defensive capabilities.

Even if it is besieged by a heavy army of 20,000 or 30,000 people, it can still hold out for a long time.

This is not because the white colonists are arrogant, but because there are too few descendants of Spanish whites. There are only more than 2 people in the entire Greater Manila area. How many soldiers can be recruited?

Don't even think about Europe. In the perception of Europeans today, the Far East is basically the end of the world, almost the end of the world.

Even if there is a slight possibility, a poor person who cannot make a living in Spain would not be willing to go to the Far East to live a life of luxury.

These Spaniards have too many choices. They can go to Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Nicaragua in Central America, or Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil or Argentina in South America. They can easily arrive by crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

There are only two sea routes to the Far East. One is to reach Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then continue north to bypass the Strait of Magellan, which is a daunting journey for all sailors.

Then sail south along the South American coastline for more than 8000 kilometers to reach Panama in Central America. From here, follow the ocean currents to cross the entire Pacific Ocean, which is still a journey of 9000 to kilometers.

Circling most of the earth, it can be said to be a dangerous journey with a high risk of death.

The other sea route is also not that short, as it requires following the African coast all the way to Johannesburg, South Africa, then going around the Cape of Good Hope to the Arabian Sea, where you can cross the Indian Ocean...

Various innate conditions restricted the large-scale immigration of Spanish white colonists. After more than 300 years of colonial rule, only this small number of people were accumulated.

Faced with the vast South Seas region, colonial development was beyond our capabilities.

The same was true for the Dutch colonists in the south. Due to the lack of human resources, the vast majority of white colonists gathered on the small island of Java and were unable to further develop the vast East Indies.

In the early morning of the next day after a silent night, the sailing warship "Count Fabiano Perez" docked at the pier in a crooked manner, and the loud shouting broke the quiet morning.

"Go get help, go get help from Fort Cavite, this is an emergency, you damn idiot!"

"I want to see the commander of the fortress. There are many wounded here who need treatment. We need doctors, stretchers, medicine, everything..."

"What the hell! Go find the person responsible! If you delay, I will hang you all."

The old actor who was standing on the dock and shouting, scolding the native nobles in fluent Spanish, hurried to the fortress to inform them.

This veteran actor is Pierre Buffon, a junior officer from the United States. He is of Italian descent, has a typical southern European appearance, and can speak authentic Spanish.

Some of his white companions from America pretended to be wounded and even carried more than 30 white corpses off the boat, creating a very realistic attack effect.

Those native nobles would never have dreamed; who would deceive them with dozens of white people's corpses?
On weekdays

If one white person died, there would be chaos, let alone so many deaths. These indigenous nobles felt like the sky had fallen.

About the time it takes to stick an incense stick

More than a dozen carriages drove out of Cavite Fort, led by the fort commander, Major Pedro Gonzalez, and hurried all the way here, looking extremely anxious.

When he arrived at the dock, he saw dozens of corpses lying on the dock and dozens of wounded people wrapped in bandages. His expression was shocked beyond words.

"Oh my God! This is the end of the world. How could this happen? Can anyone tell me?"

Pierre Buffon, in a state of dramatic ecstasy, rushed over and shouted, "Are you the commander of the fortress?"

"Yes, I am Major Pedro González, and you are..."

"I'm Pierre Buffon, the second mate on the ship. Our warship encountered the French in the strait, and they opened fire on us without asking any questions. We fought a terrible and bloody battle with the French. The captain was also seriously injured in the battle. Oh, it was terrible."

"The French... that's incredible. What do you need from me?"

Pierre Buffon shouted with foam flying at the mouth; "Our crew members need treatment, they need doctors, medicines, quiet and comfortable beds, and everything you can provide. We also need more manpower to help these warriors, we need churches and priests..."

"Oh... OK, OK." In this extremely short period of time, the large amount of information that came in made it difficult for Major Pedro Gonzalez to think, and he subconsciously agreed.

He brought more than 30 people with him and was preparing to carry the body onto the carriage with the help of native soldiers.

Pierre Buffon immediately stopped them and pointed to the white people pretending to be injured and said;

"Damn it, it's the wounded who need medical attention now, their wounds urgently need to be treated, not these warriors who have gone to heaven.

Let our people get on the carriage and send them to the hospital for treatment immediately.

Oh, and we have some guys who need medical help."

He was talking about some Chinese soldiers who had just gotten off the ship. These Chinese soldiers were mixed in with the white wounded and quickly boarded the carriage.

The dozen or so carriages were soon filled with people and immediately turned around and headed towards the fortress.

At the dock at this moment
Several hundred native soldiers had gathered, as well as more than thirty white soldiers from the fort, who were unaware of the danger they were in.

On the sailing ship "Count Fabiano Perez" and the two large sailing ships docked at the dock, hundreds of musketeers were hiding inside the ship's side, ready to launch an attack at any time.

Major General Pan Tianshou held up a telescope and watched the carriage convoys enter the Cavite Fortress one after another, with an unconcealable smile on his face.

That's it...

He then waved his hand and ordered, "Begin, let the brothers give them great gifts."

Give an order

The musketeers hidden on the inside of the ship stood up in unison, and calmly aimed their guns at the enemy's panicked look.

This sudden change made Major Pedro Gonzalez seem to understand something. He looked at Major General Pan Tianshou with difficulty, then suddenly turned his head in horror to look in the direction of the fortress.

There came the distinct sound of gunfire, heralding the fall of the fortress.

"Oh... no, no!"

Major Pedro Gonzalez touched the holster on his waist with a look of despair, and then there was a "crackling" sound of dense volleys of gunfire, which made him tremble in the rain of bullets, and fell to the ground covered in blood like a rag doll.

There was no reason why the musketeers could miss at a close range of more than ten or twenty meters.

After the dense volleys of gunfire, most of the white and indigenous soldiers on the dock were cleared out, and a strong smell of blood wafted around, giving the ancient dock a bloody hue.

At this moment

Gunshots and shouts were also heard from the direction of the city. After hearing the gunshots, the soldiers ambushed in the city suddenly attacked and launched a surprise attack on the indigenous soldiers.

The sailing warship "Count Fabiano Perez" brought more than 500 officers and soldiers. They dispersed and rushed all the way to the fortress and into the city.

The sounds of gunfire and shouting became more frequent and continued intermittently for more than half an hour before gradually becoming sparse.

The surprise attack force captured the Cavite Fortress, and with the help of internal and external forces, they eliminated the defense of the indigenous vassal army in one fell swoop and achieved a complete victory.

Under the dense and deadly hail of bullets from the officers and soldiers of the Great Chu, most of the indigenous vassal troops, who were mostly armed with cold weapons, were killed or wounded in a short period of time, and the rest surrendered obediently.

The Cavite Fortress fell completely into the control of the Great Chu Expeditionary Force without even firing a single shot.

Major General Pan Tianshou immediately dispatched a speedboat to report the good news of victory to the Marshal, and at the same time commanded the army to begin to completely eliminate the stubborn resistance forces in the city.

Through Huang Zongfa, he quickly mobilized overseas Chinese and organized a militia force of nearly 3000 people. With more than 650 officers and soldiers who entered the city as the core, he formed more than 10 search and seizure teams to comb through and clear the entire town.

Those indigenous nobles must be eliminated as soon as possible. We cannot allow these people to react and incite the indigenous tribal warriors to rebel, causing greater chaos in the city.

The cleanup lasted for several hours before the sporadic gunfire stopped.

At this time, it can be announced that Jiamidi has completely fallen into the control of the Great Chu Expeditionary Force and there will be no more recurrences.

(End of this chapter)