Gusmann did not understand Haihan's approach too well, Spain's main competitor in the Far East was a European country such as the Netherlands, and there was no direct conflict of interest with Haihan, and there was no record of hostility between the two sides, so how could this group of armed businessmen say that they would do it without warning. After all, in this place where the Tamsui River is poor and has no valuable resources, the Spaniards themselves want to stop and give up this colonial base that only has input but no output, why did the Haihan people actually send troops here to make trouble? Do they think that there is gold hidden in the land here?

However, his subordinate Captain López, probably out of his military vocation, had some knowledge of Haihan as a potential competitor, and explained to him: "My lord, the Haihan people have been expanding very rapidly from south to north in recent years, and they have not been satisfied with this after occupying Penghu, and I have heard that they have begun to send ships to the southern coast of Formosa in the second half of last year. For them, perhaps except for the Ming Empire, other forces will be regarded by them as opponents and enemies. ”

"Isn't the south part of Dutch territory? Can they really swallow their anger and watch outsiders step in?" asked Gusmann, suspiciously. If it had been the Spaniards who did this, I guess the Dutch would have jumped to their feet. In the past few years, they have done a lot of tricks against the Spanish occupation in Taipei, but they are forced to have limited strength and cannot completely drive the Spaniards out of this area. If it weren't for the fact that Gusman also knew about the discord between the Dutch and the Haihan, he really had diǎn doubts that the Dutch had paid to hire the Haihan army to come here to find trouble.

"I don't know...... Probably the Dutch can't do anything about them. López also has very limited sources of information, and although he knows more than Guersman, he is not clear about the current changes in the shape of the Tainan area. He could only judge from the old intelligence that the Dutch probably had suffered defeat under the Haihan militia, and because the accident in Batavia last year prevented Dayuangang from receiving rear support, so they could not effectively resist the "invasion" of Haihan. Of course, compared to the weakness of the Dutch, their current situation does not seem to be much better.

"Well, leave the damned Dutchmen alone, these Haihans...... Are you really going to attack our castle?" Guersman was still a little skeptical, because there was nothing in the city of Santo Domingo that was worth dǐng ↙↙diǎn↙ in a small ↙ story, .¢.o↙s_ (); War to fight for something.

"Personally, I think...... The reason for their attack may have been simply to take full control of the west coast of Formosa. López's speculation is not complete, but it is not far off.

"Well, we can't surrender to these invaders anyway, dear Captain López, I think you must have a way to expel them, right?" Now that war seems inevitable, Gusman can only rely on the appearance of the military for now. He was just a simple administrative officer, basically ignorant of such matters as warfare, and had no intention of interfering in military operations. López has repelled several armed attacks by the Dutch and natives over the past few years, and is the only person Guersman can now rely on.

"Yes, my lord, we will be victorious, as always, and these barbarians will not stay long in our land. López replied confidently. Although it was not known what the true purpose of his opponent was, he believed that the fortifications of Santo Domingo and the well-trained soldiers under his command would be enough to keep off these unwanted guests. Of course, if he could see the 48-pounder siege guns still being assembled on the banks of the river, he might not have taken his opponent so lightly.

"Very good...... I will give you two hundred silver coins that you can use to reward your soldiers. Tell them that for every enemy they kill, they will be rewarded with a silver coin. After driving out the enemy, I have another reward!" Gusman was not stingy at a critical time, and took the initiative to give money to reward the defenders.

"Your Excellency is so generous, I promise that the soldiers will do their best to kill the enemy!" López reassured Gusman.

After quietly calming Gusman, López immediately returned to the city walls. Although he appeared to be calm, the actual situation outside the city was far more severe than what he had told Guersman, and the enemy forces numbered at least five hundred men alone, far outnumbering the defenders, and blocked all roads in and out of the city of Santo Domingo in the distance.

López might not have been particularly nervous if it was just a threat from land, but he noticed the presence of some sailboats on the river, which was clearly aimed at blocking the sea lanes. Originally, he also planned to send someone to go to sea by boat and return to Jilong Port to call the police for help, but he could only give up reluctantly when he saw the opponent's posture. There are only two small sailing boats on the pier in Santo Domingo, and the others are all flat-bottomed river boats, which are okay to fish on the freshwater river in normal times, but it is too risky to go to sea.

López also couldn't figure out the number of ways for the Haihan militia to fight, and he didn't dare to give the order to attack, all he could do now was to defend the castle, observe the opponent's actions, and then make a move. Although such a passive situation is not something that López is happy to accept, he does not have a better choice at the moment.

"Pass my order, immediately organize a reserve, let the quartermaster distribute weapons to the peasants, and prepare for battle!" López watched more and more Haihan soldiers appear outside the city, and his mood gradually became nervous. It seems that the other party is not just here to march with arms, but really intends to make a move against Santo Domingo.

While the Spaniards inside the city were making a chaotic mobilization of the whole city, the special operations battalion of the militia army outside the city was also unhurriedly completing the outer blockade. One of the things that Takahashi Minami was very worried about was that the Spaniards would send people out of the city to break through the siege as soon as they discovered the militia army, and the Haihan side, which had not yet had time to complete the siege, would inevitably release a few fish that slipped through the net. Although even if someone can escape the encirclement, they may not really be able to go to Jilong Harbor to report the news, Takahashi Minami still does not want some uncontrollable accidents on the battlefield.

But the Spaniards' sluggish response gave the special operations battalion enough time to deploy on the periphery, blocking all major access roads in and out of the castle. In Takahashi's view, this kind of defensive method that tends to be conservative is completely backward and primitive tactics. The various tactics he learned during the years he followed Qian Tiandun were almost all sports warfare based on the mobility of the troops. How to intersperse and cut on the battlefield and mobilize the enemy to follow his own rhythm is a high-level tactic that has been proven to be truly effective in many years of actual combat.

Although the Spaniards once played the role of a strong man in the European theater, it is clear that not every Spanish officer had outstanding military qualities. Choosing a defensive method such as retreating and defending to the death may have a good effect against the primitive indigenous armed forces, but if you want to use such an old-fashioned method to fight against the Haihan militia, it will inevitably be a bit overwhelming. That is to say, the basic equipment of the special operations battalion is not in line with the professional skills of siege warfare, and the environmental constraints make the deployment of some arms not smooth enough; if other battalion-level combat units in the army encounter such a scene, it is estimated that the commander's mouth will already crack with laughter, and it will be enough to directly push the artillery to the front line and make a good blast.

As the detachments gradually arrived at the predetermined positions, the encirclement of the Haihan army on the periphery of Santo Domingo was basically completed. The only thing that displeased Takahashi Minami was that the artillery brought from the upstream bank was in trouble on the way due to poor roads, and the sappers were still trying to pave the road so that the heavy gun trucks and heavy flatbed trucks transporting ammunition could get to Guò. But even the most optimistic estimates would take at least two to three hours to complete the transportation of just a few miles. This means that even if the other combat units of the special operations battalion are now in place, it will be difficult to immediately launch a general attack on the Spanish territory. Without heavy artillery to open the way, Takahashi Minami didn't plan to let his men use their bodies to fight the enemy hiding behind the battlements of the high wall.

"Inform the detachments and let the brothers eat in batches, and then talk about it in the afternoon. Takahashi Minami saw that it was already past noon, so he ordered to suspend the attack and stop to rest and replenish his energy. However, he didn't intend to let the defenders in the city relax just like that, and he had to find a way to make them tighten their nerves.

"Let the brethren of the Navy go to the event. Takahashi Nan then ordered: "There are just a bunch of targets on the dock over there, so let them practice their guns." ”

Since the battle plan abandons the battle plan of allowing warships to go directly to the river bank to bombard the Spanish territory, the main task of the navy in this operation is to block the shipping lanes and act as a means of transport, and may also have to undertake some logistical tasks, such as building logistical facilities, collecting prisoners, and so on. However, such an arrangement is obviously difficult to satisfy the navy, after all, it is difficult to get any combat achievements by undertaking these tasks, and in the end it can only become a green leaf that supports the army's achievements.

Since he now needs to coordinate the army and navy as a campaign commander, he can no longer favor the army, and he must take into account the situation of the navy and appropriately share some credit. For example, the ships docked at the pier outside the Spanish base are good objects to use for credit. The sailors and crews of the ships had already abandoned their ships and fled into the city, and the navy had no trouble attacking them, as long as they did not get too close to the river bank, and the city's artillery did not take advantage of them.

After the herald signaled the warships on the river, several warships soon pounced on the target like hungry wolves. In order to save ammunition and hit accurately, these boats even unscrupulously anchored in the center of the river, and only after the hull movement slowed down did they start firing at the target.

The rumbling of cannon immediately reached the castle hundreds of meters away, and Gusman, who was drinking the soup, shook his hand and the spoon fell into the bowl. He immediately grabbed the brass bell in his hand and shook it desperately, and when the servant came in, he asked loudly, "What's going on outside? Who is firing the cannon?"

"My lord, I'm going to inquire about it. The servant quickly answered, and walked away quickly.

In a moment the servant returned to Gusman's table and reported to him the latest situation of the battle: "My lord, the enemy outside has opened fire on our ship from the river. ”

"And what about our counterattack?" asked Gusman, shaking his fist.

"Your Excellency...... The crew had already returned to the city, and there were no of us on board. The servant replied with some embarrassment.

"Ah...... Then we won't have any casualties, and that's fine......" Gusman had to make a round for himself, but he was still a little reluctant to be attacked unilaterally by the enemy: "You go and tell Captain Sù López not to watch the enemy move, but at least to respond, otherwise the enemy will treat us all as dead." Well, don't we have a lot of artillery too? Let Captain López shoot them back!"

"That's gibberish!" said Guersman, a layman's operational advice, which made López laugh and cry when he heard it.

As a serving officer who has commanded many defensive battles over the past few years, López is well aware of his own defensive capabilities and weapon performance, and the Haihan army is deployed outside the city just outside the maximum range of the city's anti-aircraft guns, and in every direction. The sailing ships on the river also kept a strict distance from the river banks, as if there was an invisible layer of boundaries that kept them out of range of Spanish artillery. López felt that such a scene was really strange, it seemed that the Haihan people had completely mastered the range of defensive fire in all directions of the city of Santo Domingo, but he could not think of how such a military secret, which even ordinary soldiers did not know, could leak the news, and could only regard it as a coincidence. Of course, he couldn't have imagined that this information had been provided to his opponent by a blacksmith who was in charge of maintaining weapons in Taipei.

Although his opponent may already have some of his own military secrets, López cannot risk exposing them. When the Haihan warships began to bombard the ships on the shore, López had already calculated the distance, and he was sure that these Haihan warships were perfectly outside the range of the city's fire resistance, and if they fired a deterrent counterattack, it seemed that they would not be of any other use than exposing the range of the artillery. Only a layman like Dǐng's boss, Gersman, would ask him to use artillery to fight back for the sake of his own face.

But López was a soldier and a commander who could decide the fate of the defenders at this time, and he would not follow the words of his layman superiors. After sending away Gusman's servants, López did not order the city to open fire again, but continued to observe the movements of the enemy army.