Gilmore means wilderness and swamp in ancient Latin.

As the name suggests, the assembly point designated by Governor Sander was a wasteland in the upper reaches of the Pasig River. It was far away from the Ming army's position and had an endless expanse of land, so it would not be ambushed and was suitable for the army to assemble.

The Spaniards who arrived earlier directed the baptized natives who accompanied them to build a temporary camp with wood and bamboo that could only shelter from the wind and rain.

Over the next month, troops from various strongholds arrived one after another, and the camp soon became insufficient, so it was eventually expanded to more than five times its original size.

By the end of September, Gilmore had gathered nearly 100,000 people!

In fact, there are not many real Spanish officers and soldiers here.

Each stronghold had at least a dozen Spanish officers and New Spanish soldiers and at most dozens of people, depending on the amount of land and population controlled. Only a few large fortresses with churches could mobilize around a hundred people.

Therefore, the army that is really useful is only about three thousand people.

Add to that more than a hundred priests and a large number of black slaves who served the masters and did heavy work, there were only about 7,000 people.

The remaining 90,000 people were all natives under their control. When they heard that the master was going to war, these baptized native believers made the sign of the cross and said, "We are willing to fight together and contribute to defending the glory of God!"

The Spanish gentlemen were rough and brave, and their minds were not very flexible. They thought this was a good thing. With the idea that the more the better, they readily agreed to let them go together...

Who would have thought that when they set out on the journey, this group of South Asian monkeys would bring their families and all their belongings with them, as if they were moving.

The masters were all shocked and asked what they were doing. The natives argued that the Lord wanted to protect our wives, children and elders and save us from war.

Now the Igorot people are rebelling everywhere. If the Lord's army leaves, they will definitely attack our villages on a large scale and massacre the Lord's believers!

Is the Lord no longer caring about us? No way, no way?

The Spaniards were speechless. It seemed that if they were not allowed to go on the journey, God would have abandoned them. But if these indigenous believers were really gone, not only would the efforts of the past three years have gone to waste, but where would they get food and grass in the future? Would they all be left with nothing?

The priests especially cherished the fruits of their labor. Every believer was deceived and deceived by them, so how could they lose them? They also helped to persuade them, thinking that this would make them more pious, and the huge momentum would also intimidate the people of Ming.

There was no other choice, so the masters had to take the population under their control and set off. This is why it took two months to complete the assembly.

My goodness, now Gilmore Camp has become the gathering base for all the indigenous tribes. These people are always looking for trouble, whether it is tribal conflict, stealing other's supplies, or sleeping with other's wife.

Moreover, they were so stupid and lazy that they couldn't even dig a ditch properly... and they were also very greedy. They had already consumed most of the food they brought before the battle began...

The Spanish commander, Colonel Sordo, was so worried that he wanted to cry.

"How can we fight a good war with this bunch of insects?" At the pre-war meeting, he once again complained to his three phalanx commanders and the chief priest, Father Franco.

The Spanish infantry phalanx was both a tactical and an administrative unit. A phalanx consisted of 1,000 to 1,250 officers and soldiers, divided into five companies.

The soldiers were temporarily recruited, but a total of 29 officers and non-commissioned officers were permanently organized, which allowed them to become more familiar with their positions and enable the phalanx to exert greater power. This was revolutionary in Europe.

After complaining, the colonel asked, "Have all the troops from various places arrived?"

"Although there are still eight strongholds that have not arrived, it is estimated that no more people will come." Major Mendoza, the military police chief in charge of this matter, reported: "The last group of people to arrive was Agoao in Dagupan, the northernmost, eight days ago."

"It seems that no one will come anymore." Lieutenant Colonel Raul, commander of the first phalanx, sighed.

Those who didn't come might have been ambushed by the brutal Igorots along the way, or they might have simply watched them die without helping. It didn't matter which one it was, because they couldn't be counted on anyway.

"Where are the reinforcements from Cebu?" the colonel asked again without giving up.

"We just received news that they still couldn't break through the Ming fleet's defense line. Instead, half of their sailboats were sunk. They have already returned to Cebu," said Lieutenant Colonel Gonzalez, the commander of the second phalanx who also served as the liaison officer.

Cebu also received Governor Sander's request for help, but they were also very frightened when they saw that Major General Bamond's main force had been killed. After hesitating for a long time, they sent a fleet of more than a dozen sailing ships, carrying more than a hundred Spanish troops and 800 recruited Tattoo Island natives, to the north to reinforce Luzon.

However, they were fiercely blocked by the naval fleet and could not enter Manila Bay. They had to go around to the north and try to land at Daimao Port, but the Ming destroyers followed them closely, not only ruining their landing plan, but also sinking several of their sailing ships.

In fact, the fleet could continue to head north and land reinforcements at Balintang, but the commander was worried that the fleet would be pursued by the Ming fleet for a long time and would be unable to protect itself. So he left the battlefield and returned to Cebu on the pretext that the ship had encountered a storm and was leaking badly...

"Damn it! I think they are just watching me die without helping me!" The colonel cursed angrily and said to the priest and his men, "Gentlemen, it seems that there will be no more help! We should decide the next step as soon as possible!"

"Yes." Everyone nodded and turned their eyes to the dirty map on the table, which was stained with wine and oil.

According to common sense, they should go south after gathering, cross the Pasig River from the upper reaches, and gather around the south side of the royal city. In this way, they can rely on the solid city and fortress to fight against the Ming people. With the powerful firepower support on the city and the Pasig River as a barrier, they can attack or defend, and the initiative will return to the hands of the Spaniards.

But on the map, a new straight black line was drawn on the south side of Manila Royal City.

That was the masterpiece of the Ming people in more than two months. They actually built a high earth wall on the south side of the royal city, extending from the banks of the Bashi River to the seashore. It was 1.8 kilometers long and 6 meters high, with trenches on both sides, gun emplacements and shooting towers on the wall, and a barracks under the wall with troops stationed inside.

This is nothing to be surprised about, it is just a small project. If there is cement, in such a long time, with the civil engineering skills of the Chinese, they can build a whole bastion.

What’s interesting is that the Ming army’s barracks were actually located on the north side of the city wall, which is the direction of the royal city.

This shows that this wall was mainly built for reinforcements outside the city.

For the Spaniards, who were mainly light infantry and had only a small number of cavalry, attacking the enemy was a bad idea. In order to avoid casualties, they usually dug trenches to besiege the enemy city, using the range advantage of artillery and heavy muskets to continuously kill the enemy. In the end, relying on the strong national strength, they exhausted the enemy until they could no longer hold on and surrendered.

But this is Manila, not Europe. They don't have the money to fight a siege, not to mention that they can't afford to waste time.

Fortunately, there was a second route before them - heading east from Gilmore, crossing the river and heading straight for the Ming camp on the beach. As long as their camp was destroyed, the siege of Luzon would be lifted.

Although this would put them under attack from enemy naval guns, as long as they launched an attack from the east, the Ming camp would be right between them and the fleet, becoming the best cover for the Spaniards.

But outside the Ming camp, there was also a small river serving as a barrier. Fortunately, the narrowest part was only 10 meters wide, and the water flow was not fast, so it was still possible to force a crossing.

"Reconnaissance shows that the Ming army used to besiege the city is about 10,000, and several thousand of them are wearing beautiful uniform blue uniforms," ​​Cavalry Captain Barbero reported. "They should be the main force of the Ming army."

Because he was worried that they would not be willing to come to rescue again, Governor Sander strictly ordered the major and his subordinates not to reveal the true situation in the city. The colonel and others did not know the miserable situation in the city.

As a result, they had always mistakenly believed that the Ming people were waging a difficult siege.

It stands to reason that after more than two months of fierce fighting, the Ming people must have suffered heavy losses and were exhausted, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.

Therefore, the colonel and his officers were very optimistic about this battle and decided to march west tomorrow, three miles away from the enemy camp, then turn to the southwest corner, and use square formations to cover the native servant army to build a bridge from the narrowest part of the river. Then they would cross the bridge and rush into the beach camp, killing! killing! killing!

The Spanish battle plan was that simple.

After all, they have not lost any field battle in the half century since the phalanx matured.

When you have absolute confidence in your fighting ability, you will naturally subconsciously choose simple and direct tactics, without paying too much attention to tact and strategies.

~~

The next morning, the wake-up whistle sounded throughout the Gilmore Camp.

The Spanish soldiers yawned, walked out of the stinking tents, and sat down in the camp where feces and urine were everywhere.

The slaves had prepared breakfast in advance. As usual, this pre-war breakfast was particularly rich. It consisted of bacon chopped with an axe and hard bread chopped with an axe, plus some diced onions and wild coriander cooked into a paste. Of course, the Spanish called it bread soup.

The Spaniards in dirty wide-brimmed hats ate with wooden spoons, while the Mexican soldiers ate directly from the bowls with their hands.

After breakfast, each Spanish soldier was given a boiled egg and two baked potatoes. The natives were given a banana leaf rice wrap. This was all they had for the day.

Then the priests placed the cross and led the officers and soldiers in devout prayer.

"Bah!" After the prayer, the order to set off was sounded. The camp gate opened and the scout cavalry went ahead.

The Spanish officers and non-commissioned officers urged the Mexican soldiers to check their equipment again, and then they lined up and set off one by one amid the farewell of the indigenous believers.

ps. Keep writing~~~