We soon received word that the second battle of the war had been fought—and that the Republic had suffered another defeat. More than two weeks after the Battle of Manila, Heneral Luna launched a counterattack aimed at recapturing the city. It failed, with Filipino KIAs reaching up to five hundred.
Of course, I did not inform the people of Marinduque about this.
Nor was I discouraged.
The political war in the province—or at least in the three major towns—had been won. I had achieved political supremacy. I could now shift my focus from merely trying to look intimidating to becoming genuinely intimidating—and being ready to join the war as soon as possible.
It had become increasingly clear to me that I could not train the recruits to the level I wanted to. I was, after all, only one man, with no instructional resources aside from what I had in my mind—and we did not have the luxury of time.
So I decided to redraft my eight-week training regimen and trimmed it down by half.
