Where did the Chinese transport fleet go?

Haigli's heart was soaked with a basin of cold water. He could not imagine what kind of problems would arise next. If the Chinese reinforcements broke through the blockade and entered the Minduluo Sea, it would be difficult to intercept them.

After all, in the sea, it is impossible to find the Chinese fleet by relying on telescopes and gazes: "Hurry, we must move quickly and speed up our movements! We must never let the Chinese fleet go!"

However, before searching for the Chinese transport fleet, they still needed to recover the problems of these British ships. In history, the Dutch once forced the British war to intercept British merchant ships for inspection. Now they are forcibly inspecting the war. Although the British cooperated well, the British ship owner turned against each other as soon as the search was completed.

They demanded compensation from the Spanish for their losses and protested that British ships had already hung their national flags and should not be intercepted and inspected by the Spanish, and these problems have hurt Hegree's mind.

What's even more terrible is that this huge fleet that can carry at least one land regiment has no trace yet. He had to order the entire fleet to disperse and use all means to search for the fleet. Therefore, he even announced: "Whoever can block the Chinese transport fleet will receive a heavy reward!"

However, they ran around Manila for three days and three nights, and even shelled a French cargo ship, causing the sailors above to be killed and injured, but they did not find the legendary transport ship. For this reason, the Spaniards ventured into the vicinity of Manila Port and briefly received fire with the Chinese armed steamships and fortress artillery.

In the end, nothing was found. The Spanish had to consider the anger and revenge of the French. They believed that the French government would definitely send a bill asking for compensation. Napoleon III was not a weak person to be bullied.

Hegre still risked his life and led his flagship to Manila many times, and obtained some sporadic information from small boats sent by Catholic guerrillas. At least one thing is certain that the Chinese mobile infantry regiment was not in Manila at all.

Not in Manila...

Hegli already understood: "They didn't board the boat in Manila at all, they went to other ports!"

For island countries like the Philippines, there are too many ports to use besides Manila, and Hegree has to pray: "I hope other troops can block the Chinese fleet."

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In fact, the two fast sailing ships have now approached Minduro Island. Ye Huaizhi looked around with a vigilant look, hoping that there would be no trace of enemy ships.

As Haigli guessed, his troops hiked more than 100 kilometers overnight, and then boarded a boat at other ports. Two sailboats disguised as fishing boats filled his troops and quickly sailed towards Minduluo.

Although I encountered many storms and sailing boats along the way, and even Spanish patrol boats, the French flags cast on them made everyone pass by. In such a vast ocean, it is very difficult to deliberately search for such two ships.

Now it is not far from Minduluo Island, and the entire army knows nothing about the situation on the island. What is even more worrying is the serious shortage of troops, because they are transported by sailboats. Therefore, the two ships are only loaded with a reinforced infantry company, led by the regiment commander Ye Huaizhi himself.

There were 220 soldiers in total, without a cannon. Each soldier carried almost no supplies except for carrying sixty bullets and three-day dry food after landing. Even his combat luggage only carried 1,500 bullets. This can be said to be an extremely risky battle.

"We have such a little force, and we may not be able to fight on land enough, but we are surrounded by the Spanish..." An officer said in Ye Huaizhi's ear: "There are at least two thousand enemies!"

"No problem!" Ye Huaizhi firmly believed in his judgment: "We have 220 best soldiers, and just a brave assault behind the Spanish is enough."

"But……"

"Just go to land!" Ye Huaizhi said: "What I am worried about is what will go wrong with this last journey..."

As he was speaking, the sail top shouted: "There are ships...there are ships..."

"The Spanish patrol ship?" Ye Huaizhi suddenly became nervous: "Don't be surprised, our ship is not even equipped with a cannon!"

"Calm, calm!"

The viewing whistle on the top of the sail quickly came from the news: "It seems to be the Spanish ship?"

"Can you fight against fully armed enemies with the Minni rifle?" Ye Huaizhi gritted his teeth and took a breath: "You must be close to fight! Be careful to hide!"

This was the biggest adventure in his military career, and he was unwilling to be the protagonist of the tragedy himself.

A few minutes later, good news came from the sail top: "It's not a warship, nor is it equipped with artillery!"

That would be easy. Even the enemy's transport ship should be able to take it down with 220 heroes. The two ships passed by, and soon the two sailboats docked in a small harbor: "Prepare kayaks and kayaks, all combatants must land within an hour!"

Only 220 soldiers were invested, which was the result of Ye Huaizhi's struggle in front of Lin Mengchu. He believed that the whole regiment was not very meaningful to move to Minduluo Island. As long as the defenders could persist in fighting, he led one or two companies to land. Even if the Spanish's fighting will not collapse, they would suffer great setbacks. It would be extremely unwise to take a whole infantry regiment to adventure at sea.

But the moment he looked at the beach, he felt a deep sense of weakness. He felt that his troops were indeed too few, only 220! His only hope was to successfully meet with the defenders. Otherwise, it would be difficult to continue to fight with the sixty bullets carried by the soldiers and the one thousand five hundred bullets in combat luggage.

Facts proved that his pessimism was very reasonable. The entire landing operation lasted for two and a half hours before it came to an end. Fortunately, there were no Spaniards nearby, but the company commander could not find the platoon leader, the platoon leader could not find the squad leader, and the squad leader could not find his superior. The landing organization was still in chaos. Fortunately, he had already controlled the landing site, and Ye Huaizhi took the combat map as soon as possible.

The Spaniards must have learned the news that the landing was on their way to the landing ground, or a powerful Spanish army was rushing to the landing ground, and their soldiers had been struggling on land and at sea for several days, quite tired, but now there is no time to rest at all, so they must speed up.

"The troops moved closer to friendly forces, and I led the vanguard line to the front, put on the bayonet, and ready to fight hand-to-hand at any time."

Ye Huaizhi issued a clear order, and he personally walked in the ranks of the pioneers, ready to have an encounter with the Spaniards at any time.

He had fought with real Spanish troops several times and knew their details: "Blow the Spanish hard with bullets, bayonets, and with our fists!"

The entire strengthening company advanced south in the battle formation. A few minutes later, gunshots came. Ye Huaizhi could be said to be a fighting man among the rising stars of the Hongjun Army. He told his soldiers: "I will lead you to continue moving forward. Even if there are 10,000 Spanish people in front, I will still lead you to penetrate their formation."

But the gunshots stopped quickly. In half a minute, the scouts came with a few people and said in surprise: "It's a friendly army, a comrade-in-arms of the Minduluo Garrison Camp!"

"Ye Huaizhi!"

Ye Huaizhi reported his name, and he knew clearly that among the entire Philippine troops, whether it was the navy or the army, as long as he reported his name, the other party would definitely know.

"Captain Ye, it's good that you're here. We were still worried!"

Sure enough, the name Ye Huaizhi had been heard in the ears of these officers. A second lieutenant officer he was carrying said: "That's great, great! Commander Ye personally led the team up!"

"Where is the Spaniard?"

"Espanyol?" The lieutenant gave an unexpected answer: "They have withdrawn."

"What's going on?"

The young lieutenant quickly replied: "They attacked the island for four days and once attacked the Minduluo Provincial Government, but we beat them back with bayonets. The Spaniards left a total of seventy bodies, and we also suffered a lot of casualties..."

"It's a feint!"

Ye Huaizhi quickly judged the purpose of the Spaniards: "How is the situation in the army?"

"The combat power, including the minor wounded, is less than two-thirds." The lieutenant introduced the specific situation: "The Spaniards have all withdrawn the day before yesterday."

Soon Ye Huaizhi figured out the specific story. The Spanish obviously planned to leave after making a fortune. But the problem was that since they had such a speculative mentality, their will to attack was not firm enough. Although the landing troops exceeded 2,000, most of the attacks mobilized only seven or eight hundred, and the result was that they were comparable to the defenders.

Especially the battle in the provincial government damaged the Spanish's spirit. Not to mention the bodies and wounded people they took away, there were more than 70 Spanish bodies left in the provincial government. In a few days, the Spanish paid at least three or four hundred losses, so they couldn't get anything and gritted their teeth instead. They suspected that the friendly forces of the Hong Army might arrive at any time, so they retreated in a hurry.

But the second lieutenant analyzed: "The enemy's target is probably Luzon Island, especially in southern Luzon!"

There has always been the most active area for the Catholic guerrillas. The Hong Army has insufficient troops there, but Ye Huaizhi has relaxed: "Is Southern Luzon? That's easy to deal with!" (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!