Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 98: Hold on
Li Tianqian agreed, said goodbye and left. After a while, he came back and said, "Your Majesty, no one in the village has ever seen the cannons in the city. They said that there were no cannons on the top of the city a while ago, and the cannons were only pushed up in the last few days."
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Since we can't find anyone to ask for details about the artillery, then we don't need to ask. We have to lure the enemy out before fighting anyway."
Li Tianqian asked: "Your Majesty, how can we lure the Spaniards out?"
Lin Fei said: "We didn't kill the people from the church we captured today, did we?"
Li Tianqian shook his head and said, "We planned to send them to the farm to do hard labor, so we didn't kill them, and we haven't sent them away yet."
Lin Fei said: "Well, pick one of them and have him go back to deliver the letter and ask the Spaniards to pay the ransom."
Li Tianqian hesitated for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, if we still use this trick, will the Spaniards be fooled?"
Lin Fei thought for a while and said, "It's hard to say. Let's try it first. If it doesn't work, we can try other methods."
Li Tianqian then found a thin, skinny and timid man from the Spanish church captives, and asked him to return to Cotabato, find the fox general Servetus, and tell him to pay a ransom to the Huaxia Empire, otherwise all the church members would be killed.
The man agreed and crawled all the way back to Cotabato. At this time, Servetus had already learned that the Chinese Empire army occupied Pahrump. Hearing that the man was back, he hurriedly asked his men to bring him to see him.
When the man saw Servetus, he told him about the ransom. Servetus frowned and asked, "How many of them are there?"
The man said, "I think there are at least two thousand people!"
"I know that," said Servetus. "What weapons do they have?"
The man said, “There’s a gun.”
Servetus asked hurriedly, "Besides guns, what other weapons did you see? I heard they have a kind of 'ground cannon', have you seen it?"
The man shook his head. Servetus was disappointed to hear that the man knew almost nothing. He asked, "What else do you know? Tell me everything, including what time this unit goes out for training, what time it eats, how many doctors there are in the army, how many civilian workers there are in the transport team, and all these details. I want them all."
The man shook his head timidly and said he didn't know. Servetus was a little unconvinced and asked, "You were caught by them, so you don't know anything?"
The man said helplessly: "General, this is not my fault. They arrested me and locked me up. I couldn't see anything."
Servetus sighed, waved his hand and said to the man, "Forget it, go and have a rest, and don't tell anyone about this."
The man did not dare to ask any more questions and left obediently. Servetus walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. At this time, a tall and thin old man walked in and said to Servetus: "I heard that the army of the Huaxia Empire is in Palan Village. I wonder if it is true?"
Servetus looked up and said, "It is true, General Racheneau."
It turned out that the old man who came in was Brigadier General Lacheno who was defeated by Lin Fei on Ibayat Island. He came to Cotabato as a special envoy of Philippine Governor-General Sanders. Lacheno said, "General Servetus, what are you waiting for? Why don't you send troops to attack the army of the Huaxia Empire?"
Servetus hesitated and said, "General Racheneau, I don't think it's a good idea to attack rashly."
Lacheno showed dissatisfaction on his face and said, "General Servetus, you are afraid of fighting. In the country, such behavior will be brought to the military court."
"Don't you think something is wrong?" said Servetus.
Lacheno was stunned and asked, "What's wrong?"
Servetus said: "Where did this Huaxia Empire come from? Where is their capital? How many people are there? What is the level of industry? We don't know these things. Isn't it strange that such a country can wipe out our Butuan City's garrison in one fell swoop and occupy Butuan City?"
Lacheno said disdainfully: "Why do you think so much? I think they are just a group of bandits made up of Chinese pigs. The loss of Butuan City is entirely due to the lack of vigilance of our garrison troops. Now that we have made full preparations, they will definitely not be able to take advantage, so we should attack as soon as possible."
Servetus shook his head and said, "The Chinese Empire's army is definitely not just a bunch of bandits. The army I sent out recently encountered them in the town of Magtuga, and was completely wiped out. That army was fully prepared, but it was still wiped out by the Chinese Empire's army. Do you think they are bandits?"
Lacheno was speechless. He hummed and groaned for a long time before saying, "I heard that our missionaries were captured by the Huaxia Empire's army. The man who came today was one of them. Aren't we going to rescue them?"
Servetus sighed and said, "The Huaxia Empire is doing this to lure our troops out. If we really go out, we will fall into their trap."
Lacheno said coldly: "Then what do you think we should do?"
Servetus said firmly: "Hold on! The Chinese Empire has more than 2,000 soldiers. These people consume food every day. They also have to undergo various trainings. Each person consumes at least one kilogram of food a day, not counting vegetables and meat. There are more than 2,000 of them, and they consume 2,000 kilograms of food a day!"
"The nearby villages definitely don't have that much food in stock. They have to transport food from the rear. The people transporting food also need to eat. You know what transportation is like in Mindanao. It takes a lot of people to transport food, and it takes a lot of time. A lot of food will be consumed on the way! Over time, the Huaxia Empire will definitely not be able to hold on."
Lacheno frowned and said, "It is a big military taboo to hold out like this. The defenders are like rabbits, and the attackers are like eagles. How can a rabbit beat an eagle?"
Servetus smiled and said, "Our walls have been reinforced. Even the latest British 15-pound cannons can't blow them open. How can the enemy blow them open? Since they can't blow open the walls, they can only climb up the walls with ladders. We have deployed cannons and Maxim heavy machine guns on the top of the walls. If they dare to climb up the walls to attack, we will destroy them all."
Seeing Servetus's determination, Lacheno snorted coldly and said lightly: "You are the commander of the garrison. You will bear any consequences of this order." After that, he turned and walked out.
Neither of them mentioned rescuing the missionaries, so the matter was put on hold. Two days passed in a flash, and Lin Fei asked Li Tianqian, "Hasn't the Spanish sent anyone to talk about paying the ransom?"
Li Tianqian shook his head and said, "No!"
Lin Fei called Zhang Chuang over again and asked, "Have the Spanish made any moves these days?"
Zhang Chuang shook his head and said, "The Spaniards are not making any movement. They have no intention of coming out at all."
Lin Fei sighed softly and asked Zhang Chuang to continue his reconnaissance. At this time, Li Tianqian came over and said, "Your Majesty, isn't this similar ?"
Li Tianqian quoted an allusion from the Three Kingdoms period, in which Zhuge Liang led an expedition to the Central Plains in the north, and Sima Yi stationed his troops at Wuzhangyuan, holding out for more than a hundred days. Zhuge Liang died of illness, and the Shu army was defeated. Lin Fei certainly knew this allusion, so he nodded and said, "The Spaniards in the city must have known that we were coming. Since they didn't send troops to fight, they must have wanted to delay us to death."
Li Tianqian's expression changed, and he said, "Your Majesty, the food we have obtained from the land reform in various places these days can only last for ten days. After ten days, we will have to rely entirely on Chen Jingui's logistics department to transport food. It is a long distance from Bazahai City to here, and a lot of food will be consumed on the way. If this continues, I am afraid that the empire will not be able to support it."
Lin Fei certainly understood this truth. He thought for a while and said, "Do you have any solution?"
Li Tianqian said, "We now have three strategies in front of us. Your Majesty, would you like to listen to them carefully?"
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Tell me, what are the three strategies?"
Li Tianqian said: "The best strategy is to lure the enemy into battle. Our army is very capable in field battles, so it's no problem for us to annihilate the enemy completely."
Lin Fei smiled bitterly and said, "This best strategy is no longer useful. The commander on the other side is General Linghu, who is no ordinary person. I'm afraid we can't lure them out."
Li Tianqian said: "The middle strategy is to 'retreat and build a city'. Build a new city between Butuan City and Cotabato, recruit people to store food, and wait for the right time to attack Cotabato."
Lin Fei thought to himself that this was a solution, but he couldn't do it. According to Li Tianqian's idea, building a city, recruiting people in the city, and hoarding food would take at least a year. A year! The Japanese had set up a colonial government in Taiwan, and the compatriots' 200 million taels of silver also fell into the pockets of the Japanese. How could this work!
Lin Fei did not tell anyone about this matter, but asked: "What is the next step? What is it?"
Li Tianqian's expression darkened, and he said, "The worst strategy is to attack the city like ants, build ladders, and climb up the wall."
Lin Fei burst out laughing and said, "Old Li, Old Li, aren't you nicknamed 'Li Thirty-Six'? How could you come up with such a bad idea? If our two thousand people climb the wall attack the city, we will be defeated in a few days."
Li Tianqian did not laugh, but said solemnly: "So I said this is the worst option. The worst option is always a last resort."
Lin Fei laughed again, and Li Tianqian asked tentatively: "Your Majesty, you are laughing, do you have a good plan to defeat the enemy?"
Lin Fei smiled and said, "I can't say if I have a good plan to defeat the enemy, but at least I have thought of a way."
Li Tianqian asked: "What method?"
Lin Fei laughed and said, "Old Li, the three strategies you mentioned don't seem to be comprehensive. One strategy is missing."
