Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 297: The Corregidor Fortress Armed to the Teeth
King Zheng Guohui of Chu led a group of ministers to the top of the fortress mountain, overlooking the surrounding terrain from here. For a moment, he was full of smiles and confidence.

Since the successful Northern Expedition and the conquest of the Hainan Islands two years ago, Fort Corregidor, a key gateway to Manila Bay, has been under construction.

Spanish colonization period

On this tadpole-shaped island, an extremely strong fortress was built at the highest point of the tadpole's head, which can accommodate hundreds of soldiers.

After the establishment of the State of Chu, it continued to build defensive facilities in the Corregidor Fortress, expanding the original main fort by three times and adding two secondary fortresses, forming a pattern of one main and two secondary fortresses.

Since preparations for war began several months ago, Fort Corregidor has ushered in a new peak in construction.

The State of Chu transported 1.13 convicts to the island and carried out intensive transformation of the island, striving to turn it into an impregnable sea fortress that would deter the enemy.

At a height of 16 meters from sea level, the hill of Corregidor Island was opened up and a main passage with a width of 4.2 meters, a height of about 5 meters and a length of 2.12 kilometers was built.

On both sides of the main tunnel, many warehouses, soldier caves, water tanks and bottom-level gun turrets were excavated. There were 13 bottom-level rotating gun turrets densely arranged, and each turret was equipped with a 15-inch Dahlgren long-barreled smoothbore gun.

The difference between the 15-inch Dahlgren shore gun and the naval gun is that the 15-inch Dahlgren shore gun is more slender, with a much longer barrel, and its range is also much longer.

Besides
At Fort Corregidor, there are three forts on the tadpole's head, one main and two secondary forts, connected by high and thick walls, forming a fortress group that covers the entire island.

that's not counting
This tall and thick wall is connected to the tadpole's tail, on which a large bunker is built. It can house four main sea-going guns and more than ten secondary guns to implement a fire blockade on the northwest strait that has completely blocked the shipping route.

There are three large bunkers built on the long tadpole tail, all made of solid rocks and covered with several layers of steel mesh and concrete, making it difficult for heavy artillery to break through.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu and a group of ministers went to the island for inspection. Tens of thousands of workers on the island were still working hard on the construction.

Now the main tunnel that runs through the entire island has been built. The floor inside the tunnel is made of thick stone slabs, and the rocks on both sides and the top are covered with a layer of wire mesh and smoothed with concrete.

There are still a large number of stone houses to be built within the mountaintop fortress community.

A tall 7-story pagoda in the center has been built to the 4th floor, and the rest is still under construction.

After completion, this seven-story pagoda will be a landmark building on Fort Corregidor. It can be used for overlooking the sea and for surveillance, and it can also be used to set up a lighthouse to guide the direction of passing ships.

The Chu government spared no expense in investing millions to build this fortress, and it was equipped with nearly 300 artillery pieces of various calibers, including 27 -inch Dahlgren long-barreled smoothbore guns, forming a three-layer firepower network from top to bottom. The firepower was closely connected from the tadpole head to the tadpole tail, and the defense was extremely amazing.

On the peninsula across the strait, more than a thousand laborers worked day and night to build a fortress battery that could form crossfire with Fort Corregidor.

Basically, there are no weaknesses anymore.

"How is it...when will it be completed?" King Zheng Guohui of Chu asked after taking a look around.

This question was again answered by Lieutenant General Huo Haisheng. He raised his hand and saluted and replied;

“In reply to your Majesty, the fortress now has 90% of its defensive capacity. Once the artillery batteries on the other side are deployed, it will have 10% of its defensive capacity.

By the end of this month
The number of convicts building the fort will be reduced by half, and there are still some delicate tasks left, which will take some time to complete, but it will not affect the full function of the fortress.

If the enemy attacks in advance, the convicts can be evacuated at any time.

There are now more than 4300 officers and soldiers in the fortress. This week, it is planned to transfer a few more battalions to expand the number of people guarding the fortress to more than 6000.

Before the enemy arrived, the total strength of the entire fortress area was no less than 10,000 people. Even if the enemy was several times their number, they could only stop here with regret.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu nodded in agreement and said, "Storing a large force here to keep the enemy out of Manila Bay is much better than fighting a city defense battle in Manila."

"Your Majesty is absolutely right. The fortress is connected by telegraph. As long as there is a need, we can send reinforcements to the fortress at any time. There is absolutely no problem with that."

"Very good. We are about to face an unprecedentedly powerful enemy, so we cannot be too meticulous in our preparations. The Army and Navy should work together to conduct a map-based exercise. One side will play the attacker, the other the defender. Set up offensive and defensive conditions according to the varying sizes of the British fleet, and conduct multiple simulations."

"We, your humble servants, will faithfully follow Your Majesty's orders and will work with relevant personnel to advance the on-map combat drill."

"We can set up a sand table. We don't have to conduct drills in a fortress. We can also conduct drills at the Manila Advanced Military Academy. It's up to you to make the arrangements."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

King Zheng Guohui of Chu checked the stone house built in the fortress. The doors and windows had not been installed yet, but the wooden bed frame had been delivered. It was a three-story wooden bed, but the bed boards had not been put up.

Lieutenant General Qian Jiang, Minister of Military Affairs, introduced:

"Your Majesty, a large cabinet will be installed at the entrance, also with three layers, four horizontal compartments, for a total of 12 cabinets.

Each of these stone houses can accommodate 12 soldiers. In the middle of the island ahead, there is a large dormitory that can accommodate more than a hundred soldiers. It is now under construction.

The fortress above is equipped with a war wound hospital and five large kitchens in the front and back, which can provide meals for 5 officers and soldiers at the same time.

There were several large collective kitchens in the middle and rear of the island. The food reserves had been stored, and new batches of ammunition were delivered every two days to replenish the ammunition reserves.

The fortress has 21 water reservoirs, sufficient for over a month's use by tens of thousands of soldiers. "The fortress's defenses are now fully functional, with ammunition and food in sufficient supply. The soldiers' morale is high, and they vow to live and die with the fortress, and will not disappoint Your Majesty."

"Well, before the battle, we need to properly relieve the pressure on the soldiers and avoid excessive training." King Zheng Guohui of Chu said as he walked with his hands behind his back. "We need to think of ways to improve logistics and ensure that there is meat and vegetables every day, so that the soldiers are well fed and have the energy to fight."

When the group walked near the stone tower under construction, King Zheng Guohui of Chu saw a large bronze bell more than one meter tall placed aside. The bell was planned to be hung high up in the stone tower and used as an alarm.

Once it is struck, the sound can be heard within a radius of dozens of miles.

Even at the Fubo Fortress (note: formerly the Santiago Fortress), if there is no noisy environment, such as in the dead of night, you can still hear it faintly.

The bronze bell does not need to be transmitted so far, its sound can be heard in the nearby Cavite Fort.

Then the alarm was transmitted through the alarm bell of Fort Cavite to Fort Fubo (note: formerly Fort Santiago), and then to Fort Intramuros, Manila, thus sounding the alarm for the entire city.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu walked along the long city wall all the way to the Tadpole Tail. The tall fortress building here is a platform several dozen meters wide. Standing here and looking at the blue sea, a sense of pride arises in his heart.

He smiled at the crowd and said;

"With this fortified city shielding the center of Chu, why should we fear the British fleet?"

Prime Minister Li Hezhang shared the same sentiment and said, "I simply cannot imagine how the English could have conquered our mighty city. We will most likely perish here in disgrace."

A group of ministers echoed and expressed their agreement.

Every time I inspect Fort Corregidor, I gain extra confidence because this fortress is built too solidly, it's like a hedgehog.

The 2.12-kilometer-long main tunnel allows soldiers to travel to various locations for support without danger when the fortress is under heavy artillery fire, making it extremely convenient to mobilize troops.

There are two gates in the fortress, which can concentrate troops to counterattack the enemy troops that land on the beach and annihilate them on the beach.

Unless the British brought ironclad warships, braved the rain of heavy artillery bombardment, and broke through the artillery blockade of the Channel, it would be almost impossible.

Information collected so far indicates that the Royal Navy's Third Fleet is not equipped with heavy ironclad ships, and at most has only a few armored warships.

The defensive capabilities of armored warships are far inferior to those of heavy ironclad ships.

A coated warship is a warship like the "Foubin", the flagship of the French Far East Fleet. It is essentially a wooden sailing ship, but it is covered with a layer of iron, which greatly enhances its defense.

But facing the intensive heavy artillery bombardment, it could not withstand it.

An ironclad heavy ship is an iron-hulled ship, just like the Taishan battleship. It was given 6.5-inch thick heavy armor from the beginning of its construction, and the ship's partitions were all made of thick I-beams. The defensive capabilities of the two are incomparable.

in the UK

The Royal Navy is building a large number of heavy ironclad ships. Today's "Warrior" class is the latest battleship. It has been launched and is in service, but only in the British Home Fleet.

By the late 19s, naval powers such as Britain and France, which possessed world-class ocean-going navies, had fully realized the huge performance advantages of ironclad ships over old sailing warships and entered the era of building ironclad ships.

The use of wooden sailing warships in the navies of European powers also entered its end era.

However, due to the huge amount of historical reserves, major naval powers in the world such as Britain and France still mainly use wooden sailing warships, and it is far from the era when steam ironclad warships play the leading role.

This replacement process will last for two to three decades, or even longer.

As dusk approached, King Zheng Guohui of Chu and a group of his ministers walked down the fortress chatting and laughing. After a brief greeting at the dock, they boarded the steamer.

The accompanying guards also boarded the steamer and hung on both sides of the ship's hull like a string of candied haws, arranged from front to back, so it didn't seem crowded.

The small steamer "dudu" was emitting black smoke and quickly and flexibly left the dock and headed towards Manila city.

an hour and a half later

The setting sun had just sunk below the sea, and the sky was still filled with golden sunset glow. The small steamer that had been speeding all the way arrived at the port of Manila and docked at the pier near the Fubomen Fortress.

This dock is heavily guarded and is a small dock frequently used by government officials and the military. There are seven or eight small steamers docked at the dock, all of which are dedicated passenger steamers.

The small steamer approached the dock steadily. A team of carriages had already been parked there. The carriages were engraved with aristocratic emblems, including those of earls, viscounts, and baron families. They were all private carriages coming to pick up the ministers.

The most eye-catching thing is the row of six royal carriages, with golden royal emblems engraved on the carriages, making them look particularly noble and majestic.

After several days of busy work, King Zheng Guohui of Chu and the ministers looked a little tired when they got off the small steamer. After a few brief greetings at the dock, they each got into the carriage of the mansion.

The Royal Guards led the way, leading the noble carriages all the way towards the Avenue of Glory. Everyone along the way avoided them...

(End of this chapter)