'Never underestimate your enemy, and use all your strength even when fighting a rabbit!'
——"Coast Guard Operations Manual·General Principles·Article 1"
As soon as the Spaniards set out, they were clearly seen by the reconnaissance balloons at sea.
This advantage of exclusive battlefield vision can greatly save the physical strength of the marine police officers and soldiers. And more importantly, it makes them feel at ease.
In order to ensure victory in this decisive battle, not only did the three marine battalions heading south go into battle together, but Zhao Hao also issued an unprecedented order, leaving only on-duty personnel on the ships of the advance fleet, and the remaining 2,000 coast guard officers and soldiers all disembarked to participate in the battle!
You know, every Coast Guard officer is trained through rigorous training at the Coast Guard School, and has gone through long periods of seagoing, training, and combat. Even a third-level police officer is Zhao Hao's favorite!
But this time he directly ordered them to go ashore and fight. Even if they were only used as reserve troops and artillery, it was enough to show how much he valued this battle!
Because Zhao Hao knew very well that for a long period of time, the biggest enemy of the Coast Guard fleet was the Spaniards.
Therefore, his combat staff have always attached great importance to intelligence gathering and detailed research on the Spaniards.
Professor Ping, who has been dealing with the Spaniards for half his life, provided a lot of valuable information.
Although he was reluctant to admit it, he still said frankly that since the Spanish phalanx showed its prowess, European countries have actually followed suit, and Portugal is no exception, but none of them can compete with the original.
This was in addition to the Spanish people's religious fanaticism, their wealth, which enabled them to support well-equipped professional soldiers, and the kingly aura accumulated from years of victory.
Another very important point is absolute discipline and team spirit.
The Spaniards in later generations, who were so lame, could not imagine that their ancestors could remain unmoved even when enemy shells fell on them.
In addition to the 25-man squad under the company, they also have a combat team of 6. The team members eat, sleep and train together, and have a deep friendship and tacit understanding with each other, which allows them to always face the enemy's scattered soldiers as a team after a melee on the battlefield, naturally occupying an absolute advantage.
Pinto also warned the marine officers and soldiers not to underestimate the Spaniards in Luzon and think they were a small army. But in fact, only the bravest and craziest desperadoes would come across the ocean - and what the Spanish phalanx needed most was courage!
Therefore, their performance on the battlefield may not be worse than that of the elite troops in the local area.
Since last year, the Marine Corps' training focus has shifted to how to fight the Spanish phalanx. Wu Da also specially organized a "blue team" to imitate the Spanish phalanx and fight the Marine Corps in various environments in order to explore different tactics to deal with different battlefield conditions.
After the Marines arrived in Luzon, they significantly revised their tactics based on the personal experience of Ximen Qing and others - to overcome the range advantage of the enemy's heavy muskets! They also used the two months to intensify their training.
Zhao Hao and his combat staff repeatedly surveyed every inch of land in the Manila area and selected the most suitable battlefield in order to maximize the geographical advantage.
In the end, they chose the north bank of the Pasig River, west of the camp, as the first battlefield of this battle.
So what he was most worried about before the war was that the Spaniards must not go to the south bank!
In order to dissuade them from going south, Zhao Hao ordered the construction of a high wall and sent 5,000 soldiers to garrison there.
But what if the Spanish did not want to be led by the nose and wanted to have a taste of siege? Not only would no one eat the feast that they had carefully prepared, but would the soldiers who had just undergone more than two months of military training be able to withstand the Spanish heavy muskets and super-long spears?
Of course, the staff officers also prepared a plan to send inland support boats to attack the Spaniards halfway across the river once they moved south. It should not be a problem to repel the enemy, but it would be too difficult to win the battle in one go.
As a result, the other party came west without hesitation, which finally put Zhao Hao's heart at ease. He smiled to Jin Ke, "No wonder Professor Ping said that the Spaniards never surprise people. They really came straight here."
"We really thought too much." Jin Ke smiled bitterly, "We thought of the seventh floor, but they were actually on the first floor."
"Just wait for the show to begin!" Zhao Hao walked out of the operations room with a smile.
Of course he couldn't just sit and wait, so he went to inspect the field hospital set up in the camp.
The doctors and nurses at the Coast Guard General Hospital have made all preparations.
The stretcher team and transport team composed of Chinese people are also on standby.
The cooks and the women helping in the kitchen also began to wash vegetables, cut meat, boil water and pluck the hair, so that the officers and soldiers could have a hot and delicious lunch...
All the Chinese people in Luzon have become parts of the Chinese war machine and are operating efficiently!
Come on, red-haired devil! Let's see who is the strongest in the world!
~~
The Spanish reconnaissance cavalry moved around vigilantly, expanding the reconnaissance range to ten miles away.
Under their vigilance, the first phalanx of one thousand officers and soldiers was the vanguard, the second phalanx was in the center, and the third phalanx was the rearguard. The three thousand Spanish officers and soldiers then formed a marching formation and marched due west.
As for the more than 10,000 indigenous soldiers who assisted in the battle, except for a thousand who served as the pontoon troops, using carts to pull bamboo rafts, wooden boards and the like to follow the Spaniards, most of the others were sent to the direction of the royal city to contain the Ming siege troops.
The scouts reported that everything was going well ahead, and the Spaniards quickly built a bridge across the first river. After a short rest, they waited for the native pontoon troops to catch up, and then they raised their guard and headed towards the Ming camp more than ten miles away!
Two hours later, the Spaniards arrived three miles due east of the Ming army camp.
If it were in Europe, the enemy would have already lined up and were ready for battle. However, at this time, the Ming army camp was completely silent, and no one could be seen outside the camp.
Only the nameless river in front of the camp made the sound of gurgling water...
This surprised the Spaniards, but at this point it was impossible to change the plan.
Then the chief drummers of the three phalanxes struck the war drums, and the Spaniards followed the drum beats and changed from a marching formation to a V-shaped battle formation.
Each entrance was a square formation. The spearmen in each square formation were arranged in a dense rectangular horizontal formation. At the four corners were musket soldiers arranged in dense square formations.
Although the Spanish were proud, they were not rigid and dogmatic. Because the enemy had no cavalry, they reduced the number of spearmen to one-fourth, and three-fourths of the soldiers took up muskets. The extra musketeers were arranged in five rows on each of the four sides of the square.
The reason for arranging them in five rows is that when the Spaniards use their specialty of retreating shooting, each shooter needs to fire four shots after completing the shooting before he can reload and shoot again.
In addition, each phalanx was equipped with a small cavalry to deal with emergencies.
When the Spanish completed their formation, they marched towards the river in the southwest to the beat of drums.
The natives carried bamboo rafts and wooden boards and followed the right side of the square, preparing to build a bridge.
At this time they could clearly see that not far away on the opposite side of the river, there was a long row of bamboo fences, which looked like the wall of the Ming camp.
But they were so close, why didn't the enemy react? The natives were frightened and their speed slowed down.
The supervisors following behind them immediately swung their swords to urge them on. After they chopped down two natives, they advanced faster and faster.
When they were within a few dozen meters of the river, suddenly, straw mats flew across the river, and a long line of Marines with only half of their bodies exposed, wearing wrought iron helmets with vines wrapped around them, appeared!
The Spaniards soon realized that the enemy had dug a trench across the river, covered it with straw mats, and hid the soldiers inside. They wanted to shout at the natives to withdraw from both sides!
But the dense gunfire drowned out their voices.
The Marines had practiced this countless times. They quickly raised their guns, aimed, and pulled the trigger!
Bang bang bang bang, white smoke rose, and the natives dozens of meters away on the other side of the river were shot down.
The Marines who finished shooting immediately stepped back to reload. The Marines in the row behind them stepped forward to shoot, then stepped back. Another row of Marines stepped forward to shoot!
This is not learning from the Red-haired Ghost, but the Three-stage Strike of the Ming Dynasty's traditional program! The training time of the Marines is much longer than that of ordinary troops, so they have plenty of time to master various postures.
After three rounds of shooting, one or two hundred natives were shot down, and they turned around and retreated without any orders from Spain.
If the Spanish phalanx could not defend against cavalry charges, it would have been dispersed by these South Asian monkeys.
The Spaniards used their hedgehog-like spears to force the natives to retreat in circles, then marched forward at the sound of drums and stopped 200 meters away from the enemy, preparing to use their thick and large matchlock guns to teach the Ming army a lesson for their insufficient range.
The musketeers on the front line inserted the bracket into the ground, placed their muskets on it, then removed the fuse that had been wrapped around their hands so that they could blow air at any time to keep it smoldering, and prepared to clamp it on and shoot.
Suddenly they saw that all the enemies in the trenches lay down.
"Coward!" The Spaniard laughed and felt that he had won.
Before the laughter died down, a sharp whistle was heard, and the long bamboo fence was pushed down by everyone!
Pointing at them were hundreds of thicker and larger artillery pieces, and they were not even field artillery!
It was the Xuande Cannon that was too thick! The Yongle Cannon that was too long!
Yes, we can’t fire because of the camp, and even if we move all the people away, the view will still be blocked.
But would this be a problem for Master Zhao and his staff? Wouldn't it be enough to dismantle the guns and pull them ashore for use? !
In order to achieve the best shooting effect, the crazy Master Zhao even built a fence to block the enemy's line of sight so that they could walk closer and then fire!
Just now, through the gaps in the fence, the gunners had enough time to complete all shooting preparations!
The fall of the fence was the signal, and the gunners pulled the trigger one after another. The earth-shaking rumble of the cannon sounded, and tongues of orange flames spurted out!