Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 95: Waiting for the opportunity
Lin Fei thought that what the Spanish military engineers used should be cement, and the old craftsman Qin Xiren didn't understand it, so he didn't recognize it.
Qin Xiren went on to say, "Those Spanish military engineers treated the gray powder as a treasure. They usually wouldn't let us touch it. We only took it out when we needed it. We had to add water when we used it. There were also strict rules when adding water. We couldn't make any mistakes in the amount of water we added. Anyone who made a mistake would be whipped."
"They also built the wall differently from others. The walls I built before were all built with stones and soil, but these people used steel rods. They placed a lot of steel rods outside the original wall, dug deep pits in the ground, and buried the steel rods in them."
"The process was very particular. The depth of the pit and the distance between each pair of steel bars could not be wrong. Anyone who made a mistake would be whipped. We were very nervous at that time. We had to measure each size five or six times for fear of making a mistake. After they buried the steel bars, they poured the mud made of powder over and let the mud solidify into lumps around the steel bars. After the lumps solidified, they asked us to apply a layer of mud-like substance on the wall to protect the lumps."
Lin Fei was very surprised after listening to Qin Xiren's narration, because according to the old craftsman, the Spanish used reinforced concrete when they reinforced Cotabato City! This thing was first invented by a French gardener in 1865, and later gradually spread to all parts of the world.
Qin Xiren suddenly stood up, bowed, and said, "I heard that Your Majesty is going to attack Cotabato City. Is that true?"
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Yeah, what's wrong?"
Qin Xiren said: "I want to remind you that the walls of Cotabato City are very strong and even explosives can't blow them open."
Lin Fei was surprised and asked, "Even the explosives can't be blown up? How did you know?"
Qin Xiren said: "After the wall was built, several Spanish officials came to inspect it. They piled several large bags of explosives at the base of the wall and then detonated them. There was a loud bang, and people's ears were buzzing. A large cloud of black smoke covered the base of the wall. When the wind blew away the black smoke, we saw that the wall was intact, and only the outer protective layer was blown away."
Lin Fei asked hurriedly: "You said that the Spanish used explosives to conduct experiments. Do you know what explosives the Spanish used?"
Qin Xiren was stunned and asked, "Are there many kinds of explosives?"
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Of course! Different types of explosives have very different explosive powers."
Qin Xiren shook his head and said, "Then I don't know."
Lin Fei asked: "Then tell me, what does that kind of explosive look like?"
Qin Xiren lowered his head in deep thought, and after a while he said, "I remember now, it was black powder."
Lin Fei thought to himself that the black powder was most likely gunpowder, and the explosion power of black gunpowder was not strong, so the Spanish city wall should not be as strong as imagined.
While thinking about it, Lin Fei asked: "Why did the Spanish build such a strong wall?"
Qin Xiren said: "I heard that it was to prevent Muslims from killing their way in. A few years ago, Muslims on the island used homemade explosives to blow a big hole in the original city wall, then entered the city and killed many Spanish officials. Only then did the Spaniards make up their minds to build a new city wall."
Lin Fei nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, I understand. Do you have anything else to say, old man?"
Qin Xiren shook his head and said, "That's all I know. Your Majesty, do you have a way to break through their walls?"
Lin Fei smiled confidently and said, "Of course there is a way."
Qin Xiren asked hurriedly: "What do you have in mind?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "I plan to use our strengths to attack the opponent's weaknesses!"
Qin Xiren was confused and asked, "What does this mean?"
Lin Fei said, "Old sir, this matter involves military secrets, so you'd better not ask for now. You will know it later. You know the situation in Cotabato very well, so why don't you stay in my army? I want to recruit miners in the city to form an engineering company. You happen to be a craftsman in earthworks, and you are old and virtuous, enough to lead those craftsmen. You can be the company commander of the engineering company."
Qin Xiren quickly knelt on the ground, kowtowed repeatedly, and said: "It is my great honor to serve Your Majesty!"
Lin Fei helped Qin Xiren up and handed him over to He Kaisheng. He then wrote a brief report on the condition of the Cotabato city wall and asked the printing workshop in the city to print it and distribute it to senior officers of the entire army.
After He Kaisheng settled Qin Xiren, he came to find Lin Fei and said with a smile: "Captain, I know how you want to attack Cotabato."
Lin Fei laughed and said, "You actually guessed it? Then tell me, how do I plan to attack Cotabato?"
He Kaisheng smiled and said, "You told old craftsman Qin Xiren that we should use our strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses. Our strength is field battles. Automatic rifles and mortars are things that the Spanish do not have, but these two things can be very useful in field battles."
Lin Fei smiled and nodded, saying, "You guessed it right. I do plan to use a field battle to destroy the main force of the Spanish army in Cotabato, and then capture Cotabato in one fell swoop."
He Kaisheng said: "I have guessed your method of luring out the Spaniards!"
Lin Fei exclaimed: "You guessed this? How do you think I'm going to lure out the Spaniards?"
He Kaisheng said confidently: "Besiege the point and attack the reinforcements! It's the same method we used when we attacked Butuan City. Am I right?"
Lin Fei laughed loudly and said, "Old He, Old He, you guessed wrong this time!"
He Kaisheng was startled and asked, "Don't we need to surround the enemy and attack the reinforcements? Then how could the enemy come out?"
Lin Fei said: "This time I plan to wait and see!"
He Kaisheng asked hurriedly: "How do you wait for the enemy to tire out?"
Lin Fei said: "We have now conquered Butuan City and incorporated the nearby villages into the sphere of influence of the Huaxia Empire. We have also carried out land reform and killed many people from the Spanish Church. The Spaniards in Manila must know about these things. What will they do after they know? They will definitely attack us."
"Look at the location of Butuan City, which is close to the sea. So the Spanish have two options for attacking us. One is by sea, sending troops from the Visayas Islands and heading straight for Butuan City. The Spanish dare not choose this route because their navy was destroyed by me. The other is by land, which is to march from Cotabato. This is the only way for the Spanish to send troops, so they will definitely come from land. We just need to wait and annihilate the enemy."
He Kaisheng thought for a moment, gave a thumbs up, and said, "Your Majesty, you have thought it through. However, we are more than 200 kilometers away from Cotabato. How can we know when they will send troops and where they will be?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "I was just about to go find you about this matter . I'll leave it to you to arrange."
He Kaisheng said ashamedly: "Captain, I don't have such a great ability to know where the Spaniards are hundreds of kilometers away. How can I arrange this matter?"
Lin Fei said, "Aren't we carrying out land reform in various villages recently? The farmers who have been allocated land should be grateful to our Huaxia Empire. You select Chinese people in these villages and set up an intelligence network for us. This intelligence network operates like this. Once a village finds that the Spaniards are coming, it will immediately report to the next village, and so on. The reports will be made from one village to another, and finally reported to us."
He Kaisheng suddenly realized and said, "So that's how it is. Well, I'll go and arrange this right away."
After He Kaisheng finished speaking, he said goodbye and Lin Fei began to stay in Butuan City. On the one hand, he trained new recruits, and on the other hand, he sent troops to carry out land reform in the surrounding villages. In the process of reform, Lin Fei took large tracts of land occupied by the Spaniards for himself and did not distribute it to the local people. This was Lin Fei's plan for the future. He had decided that after conquering Mindanao, he would recruit a large number of Chinese from Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan and other places to immigrate to Mindanao.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye. During these five days, the land reform work progressed all the way to Cotabato. During the progress, many Spanish churches stood up to resist, but they were all wiped out by Lin Fei's subordinates. The Chinese in each village were organized and entrusted with important tasks.
In five days, Lin Fei's men advanced more than 100 kilometers in the direction of Cotabato. On January 21, the most marginal village of Tempas suddenly sent news that the Spanish army dispatched more than 500 people to our village on January 19 and rested without disturbing the villagers. On January 21, the intelligence of January 19 was sent. It took two days to deliver the intelligence on the dirt road of more than 100 kilometers, which was not slow.
Lin Fei was disappointed when he saw this information, because the enemy only had more than 500 people, which was not enough to fight. The next day, on January 22, the village of Rossya, five kilometers away from Tampas Village, sent a message that on January 20, the Spanish army arrived in our village, with a number of about 500 people.
Lin Fei was surprised. He thought that Rosia Village was so close to Tempus Village, only five kilometers away. The Spanish army could n't walk there . What was going on? Why were the Spanish army walking so slowly? Even if the Spanish army's combat quality was extremely low, it was impossible for them to walk only five kilometers a day. You know, a normal adult can walk five kilometers in about an hour.
Four days later, intelligence from various villages came in one after another. The intelligence showed that by January 24, the Spanish army had only advanced 30 kilometers, an average of 6 kilometers a day. The intelligence also said that the Spanish army would rest for a long time every time they arrived at a place, as if they were not out to fight, but to relax and have fun.
