In the past few years after the reunification of Hainan Island by the Haihan Army, almost all of the combat missions of the Haihan Army were carried out overseas, and the only large-scale military operation on the island was to quell the riots in the Shilu Mine. During this period, there was no foreign invasion or attack on Hainan Island, so the officers were a little surprised when they heard the news.

However, some of the more senior officers quickly thought of why the Spaniards took the initiative to provoke the Haihan, mostly to avenge the expulsion of the Haihan army in the Taipei area. At the beginning of 1633, the Haihan army launched an offensive in the Taipei area against the Spanish coastal strongholds of Tamsui and Jicoop, and successfully expelled them completely from the island of Taiwan. At that time, after Spain suffered this loss, it did not immediately take military retaliation, but only conveyed its strong dissatisfaction to Haihan through intermediaries, and demanded that Haihan withdraw from the region and compensate Spain for war losses. Of course, these demands were automatically ignored by Haihan, the war has come to an end, who cares about the feelings of the defeated country?

Haihan planned this action at that time, and it was certain that it would be difficult for Spain to immediately counterattack Taipei at that time, because at the end of the previous year, Haihan had reached an agreement with the Dutch East India Company on the division of rights and interests on the island of Taiwan, and if Spain wanted to return to Taipei, it would not only have to fight hard with the Haihan army, but also have to guard against the old rival Dutch waiting for an opportunity to sneak attack him at any time. If you want to deal with the two maritime forces of Haihan and Holland at the same time, even if they are as strong as Spain, you have to weigh them carefully.

Two years have passed since this was measured, and the Manila authorities have not retaliated with any retaliation, seemingly acquiescing in Haihan's control of the South China Sea. Later, Haihan established the South China Sea Trade Alliance, and Portugal, the Netherlands and other countries in the region joined one after another, but the Manila authorities remained silent, did not make any statement, and did not send people to participate, as if they were independent of Haihan's diplomatic circle.

After Haihan was wary of it for a while, he returned the focus of development to the direction of north and south, and did not take the initiative to provoke the Spaniards again. Although the two countries have completely severed diplomatic exchanges, the people-to-people trade between Manila and the Ming Dynasty has always been relatively prosperous, so there are still many Ming merchants engaged in entrepot trade between Hainan Island and Luzon Island, and products from the Spanish American colonies can also be seen in the market of Sanya.

Of course, the Spaniards were not completely idle during this period, as evidenced by the Spanish espionage case that caused a stir in Port Victory in early 1634. The sheer number of people lurking in a seemingly accidental death incident was also a wake-up call to the security services, and the Spaniards seemed to have little reaction, but they may have secretly collected a lot of relevant information, and if they really found any loopholes, maybe retaliation would come unexpectedly.

In the aftermath of the espionage case, the Manila authorities remained silent, as if the spies caught in Victory Harbor had nothing to do with them. Unexpectedly, after more than a year, the Spaniards seem to be finally ready for war, and it seems that this time they are probably going to settle the old accounts with Haihan. However, perhaps the Spaniards did not expect that Haihan's work in espionage was not at a disadvantage, and they also deployed intelligence officers in Manila for a long time to lurk for a long time to collect local military and political information.

It is not difficult to make a judgment on the authenticity of the information sent back this time, and it is necessary to make long-term preparations for large-scale cross-sea operations in this era, and it is difficult for a large seaport city like Manila to completely conceal the gathering of personnel and materials, and it is not difficult for people with a heart to detect the signs of war as long as they conduct long-term monitoring of specific groups of people and areas. With some targeted investigative work, it is almost impossible to determine who the Manilan authorities want to target by military means.

According to the report, the Manila authorities have recently secretly hired a group of Chinese sailors who have been in and out of Sanya many times, or who are familiar with the coastal terrain of Hainan Island, and it is very likely that they will play the role of leading the way. Although this incident has not spread among the general public, many people in the local Chinese circle have heard the news to a greater or lesser extent. However, when the Spaniards were going to start, the local intelligence officers did not find out the exact time, and could only infer from some fragmentary information such as the progress of material preparation that the Spanish armed fleet should set off within half a month.

After Tao Donglai introduced the general situation, he asked people to hang up a map of the South China Sea in the conference room. The straight line from Manila to Sanya was more than 700 nautical miles, crossing most of the South China Sea from east to west, and there were no large islands and reefs in this area to serve as a supply point, so the Spaniards had to go straight to the target if they wanted to attack Hainan Island. At the normal speed of a Spanish sailing ship, if the weather was good, it would take about a week to sail from Manila to Sanya, and given the difficulty of obtaining supplies for such a long-distance journey, this may be one of the main reasons why the Spaniards have been slow to retaliate militarily.

If you take the half-month time in the intelligence, counting the days it took to deliver this message on the way, then there are at most five to seven days before the Spanish fleet will depart from Manila. Of course, it is also possible that when Sanya received the secret report, the Spanish fleet had already sailed out of Manila and was on its way to Hainan Island. The time left for Haihan to prepare for the war may only be four or five days at the shortest, and the longest is only more than ten days.

Time is of the essence, but it's better to have a little buffer than to be caught off guard by an enemy sneak attack. Tao Donglai quickly made arrangements: First, it immediately notified all coastal cities and counties on Hainan Island to assemble garrisons and militia forces to strengthen coastal patrols in the near future; second, the Sanya Navy will double the number of patrol vessels in the open sea with immediate effect, and expand the scope of maritime patrol from the previous 20 nautical mile radius with Sanya as the center to a radius of 50 nautical miles, and at the same time send light reconnaissance ships to the east to conduct a larger search; third, the Sanya Army units have entered a state of readiness for war, and all coastal defense batteries must have sufficient combat personnel on duty 24 hours a day. Fourth, it is necessary to strictly inspect the ships and personnel that have arrived in Hong Kong in recent days to prevent the other side from sending people to infiltrate in advance and take advantage of the chaos at this critical juncture; fifth, all logistics units should do a good job of preparing combat materials and medical and health treatment as soon as possible in accordance with wartime standards.

Although Tao Donglai has not commanded operations on the front line in recent years, he is still familiar with these basic defensive measures.

This book was first published on the Genesis Chinese website, and the following content will be re-edited later for anti-theft

In the past few years after the reunification of Hainan Island by the Haihan Army, almost all of the combat missions of the Haihan Army were carried out overseas, and the only large-scale military operation on the island was to quell the riots in the Shilu Mine. During this period, there was no foreign invasion or attack on Hainan Island, so the officers were a little surprised when they heard the news.

However, some of the more senior officers quickly thought of why the Spaniards took the initiative to provoke the Haihan, mostly to avenge the expulsion of the Haihan army in the Taipei area. At the beginning of 1633, the Haihan army launched an offensive in the Taipei area against the Spanish coastal strongholds of Tamsui and Jicoop, and successfully expelled them completely from the island of Taiwan. At that time, after Spain suffered this loss, it did not immediately take military retaliation, but only conveyed its strong dissatisfaction to Haihan through intermediaries, and demanded that Haihan withdraw from the region and compensate Spain for war losses. Of course, these demands were automatically ignored by Haihan, the war has come to an end, who cares about the feelings of the defeated country?

Haihan planned this action at that time, and it was certain that it would be difficult for Spain to immediately counterattack Taipei at that time, because at the end of the previous year, Haihan had reached an agreement with the Dutch East India Company on the division of rights and interests on the island of Taiwan, and if Spain wanted to return to Taipei, it would not only have to fight hard with the Haihan army, but also have to guard against the old rival Dutch waiting for an opportunity to sneak attack him at any time. If you want to deal with the two maritime forces of Haihan and Holland at the same time, even if they are as strong as Spain, you have to weigh them carefully.

Two years have passed since this was measured, and the Manila authorities have not retaliated with any retaliation, seemingly acquiescing in Haihan's control of the South China Sea. Later, Haihan established the South China Sea Trade Alliance, and Portugal, the Netherlands and other countries in the region joined one after another, but the Manila authorities remained silent, did not make any statement, and did not send people to participate, as if they were independent of Haihan's diplomatic circle.

After Haihan was wary of it for a while, he returned the focus of development to the direction of north and south, and did not take the initiative to provoke the Spaniards again. Although the two countries have completely severed diplomatic exchanges, the people-to-people trade between Manila and the Ming Dynasty has always been relatively prosperous, so there are still many Ming merchants engaged in entrepot trade between Hainan Island and Luzon Island, and products from the Spanish American colonies can also be seen in the market of Sanya.

Of course, the Spaniards were not completely idle during this period, as evidenced by the Spanish espionage case that caused a stir in Port Victory in early 1634. The sheer number of people lurking in a seemingly accidental death incident was also a wake-up call to the security services, and the Spaniards seemed to have little reaction, but they may have secretly collected a lot of relevant information, and if they really found any loopholes, maybe retaliation would come unexpectedly.

In the aftermath of the espionage case, the Manila authorities remained silent, as if the spies caught in Victory Harbor had nothing to do with them. Unexpectedly, after more than a year, the Spaniards seem to be finally ready for war, and it seems that this time they are probably going to settle the old accounts with Haihan. However, perhaps the Spaniards did not expect that Haihan's work in espionage was not at a disadvantage, and they also deployed intelligence officers in Manila for a long time to lurk for a long time to collect local military and political information.

It is not difficult to make a judgment on the authenticity of the information sent back this time, and it is necessary to make long-term preparations for large-scale cross-sea operations in this era, and it is difficult for a large seaport city like Manila to completely conceal the gathering of personnel and materials, and it is not difficult for people with a heart to detect the signs of war as long as they conduct long-term monitoring of specific groups of people and areas. With some targeted investigative work, it is almost impossible to determine who the Manilan authorities want to target by military means.

According to the report, the Manila authorities have recently secretly hired a group of Chinese sailors who have been in and out of Sanya many times, or who are familiar with the coastal terrain of Hainan Island, and it is very likely that they will play the role of leading the way. Although this incident has not spread among the general public, many people in the local Chinese circle have heard the news to a greater or lesser extent. However, when the Spaniards were going to start, the local intelligence officers did not find out the exact time, and could only infer from some fragmentary information such as the progress of material preparation that the Spanish armed fleet should set off within half a month.

After Tao Donglai introduced the general situation, he asked people to hang up a map of the South China Sea in the conference room. The straight line from Manila to Sanya was more than 700 nautical miles, crossing most of the South China Sea from east to west, and there were no large islands and reefs in this area to serve as a supply point, so the Spaniards had to go straight to the target if they wanted to attack Hainan Island. At the normal speed of a Spanish sailing ship, if the weather was good, it would take about a week to sail from Manila to Sanya, and given the difficulty of obtaining supplies for such a long-distance journey, this may be one of the main reasons why the Spaniards have been slow to retaliate militarily.

If you take the half-month time in the intelligence, counting the days it took to deliver this message on the way, then there are at most five to seven days before the Spanish fleet will depart from Manila. Of course, it is also possible that when Sanya received the secret report, the Spanish fleet had already sailed out of Manila and was on its way to Hainan Island. The time left for Haihan to prepare for the war may only be four or five days at the shortest, and the longest is only more than ten days.

Time is of the essence, but it's better to have a little buffer than to be caught off guard by an enemy sneak attack. Tao Donglai quickly made arrangements: First, it immediately notified all coastal cities and counties on Hainan Island to assemble garrisons and militia forces to strengthen coastal patrols in the near future; second, the Sanya Navy will double the number of patrol vessels in the open sea with immediate effect, and expand the scope of maritime patrol from the previous 20 nautical mile radius with Sanya as the center to a radius of 50 nautical miles, and at the same time send light reconnaissance ships to the east to conduct a larger search; third, the Sanya Army units have entered a state of readiness for war, and all coastal defense batteries must have sufficient combat personnel on duty 24 hours a day. Fourth, it is necessary to strictly inspect the ships and personnel that have arrived in Hong Kong in recent days to prevent the other side from sending people to infiltrate in advance and take advantage of the chaos at this critical juncture; fifth, all logistics units should do a good job of preparing combat materials and medical and health treatment as soon as possible in accordance with wartime standards.

Although Tao Donglai has not commanded operations on the front line in recent years, he is still familiar with these basic defensive measures.

(End of chapter)