Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 721 Bullying people is the foundation of happiness
When building the fortifications before, people from the Overseas Corps cut down a large number of trees from Mount San Bruno, dragged them to the front of the position, turned the direction of the crown to the south, removed the thin branches with saws, and sharpened the thick branches. Iron wire and fork stakes make it firmly fixed, so that a large number of obstacles are laid out in front of the position.

When more than a dozen solid iron bullets roared at a speed visible to the naked eye, these obstacles were the first to be destroyed. Then he fell headlong into the sand, and there was no more movement.

Tens of seconds later, more than a dozen cannons with their muzzles raised roared again. This time, not only an eight-pound bullet, but even a four-pound bullet hit Luzhai.

The purpose of the Spanish army in doing this is not only to show off their prestige, they hope to use the artillery counterattack of the North Navy to determine how many cannons the opponent has, so as to determine the next offensive strategy.

Whether it is Admiral Denava or his generals, they lack understanding of this opponent from the east.If it were Russians, Dutch, or British, they would definitely not come. They could only find a corner where no one was around to swallow the bitter fruit silently, then wiped away their tears and piled up a smiling face and asked, brother, you have enough territory. Do you want some more?Don't be polite to your brother.

It is said that almost all Spanish officers and soldiers who have fought against the overseas corps have felt the power of the 82 mortar shells, but they do not know what guns the North Navy uses.What's more, even if they saw the barrel of the 82mm mortar, they would not believe that this thing could be more powerful than the [-]mm eight-pound gun.So when these people were released and returned to Monterey, the capital of California, they all gave exaggerated descriptions of the artillery used by the Northern Navy, such as the diameter of the gun barrel was almost six inches thick.

Colonel De Alilaga, Governor of California, attached great importance to this. In his letter of appeal to the Governor, he specifically stated that he requested artillery support and allocated more artillery.So Mexico City transferred more than 100 gunners and ten eight-pound guns to the Western Command, and they were transported by warships to Monterey, the capital of California.As a result, the number of field guns in Admiral Denava's troops reached a rare [-].

Don't forget, this is in America, and it's still on the west coast. Fifteen field guns are already there to catch and destroy!This is not counting the twelve-pound guns on the warship.

When the Spaniard fired the second round, in order to paralyze the opponent, Li Changgeng suggested that Lu Qi let the two twelve-pound field guns behind the position fire back, and Lu Qi readily agreed.

Within a few minutes, gunfire rang out from the North Navy position.Unexpectedly, only a few shots were fired, and one of the Spaniards' eight-pound guns was killed and injured; the explosive shells killed 13 artillerymen, two injured three, and one battery was basically useless.

These days, the crew of a field gun in Europe basically has more than eight people. For example, there are eight people in the four-pound gun crew, and 13 people in the eight-pounder gun crew. For power, it must be fully edited.

Admiral Denava, who was on the front line, saw it, and thought that the artillery of the Orientals was really powerful, and the artillerymen were also well-trained. No wonder the dozens of people in the Golden Gate Fortress couldn't handle it at all.After that, the two sides fired a few rounds at each other, and 10 minutes later, two other 12-pound guns of the North Navy also joined the battle.

The two sides fought like this until dark before giving up. Only then did the Spanish generals confirm that the enemy on the opposite side had only four field guns.Of course, there must be some at the fortress of the Golden Gate Fortress. As for how many there are, that is what the navy will do tomorrow.

At around 9 o'clock at night, under the cover of darkness, the artillerymen of the Spanish army secretly moved their gun positions forward by fifty yards, so that they could deal with the four twelve-pound guns tomorrow.On both sides of each artillery, a bunker was built with a wicker basket as high as a person, which was filled with sand and weeds.

The Spaniards thought they were doing it without anyone noticing, and they were full of confidence in the next day's battle.Admiral Denava even sent someone to send an order to the navy, asking them to go north to bombard the Golden Gate Fortress at [-] o'clock tomorrow morning to attract the enemy's firepower. He will send cavalry to cooperate with the attack.However, what he and his generals never expected was that everything the opponent had done before was "to tease you".

At four o'clock in the morning, under the guidance of two infrared drones, the ten 82mm mortar groups, four 75mm gun groups, and four 12-pound gun groups of the Beihai Navy were all ready, and the shooting parameters were calibrated. .In addition, there are two battalions of soldiers from the Overseas Corps who have quietly left the trenches, walked through the trails between the densely packed deer villages, and came to ambush at a position 300 meters away from the enemy's front.

When the time came to [-]:[-], in the semi-underground headquarters, Lu Qi, who had not slept all night, gave the order to start the attack into the walkie-talkie with red eyes.

"Tom! Tom! Tom!"

As three red signal flares with a brightness of up to [-] candles were fired into the air at the same time, the Spanish soldiers on guard were all stunned.

The first to speak was ten 82 mortars operated by the Beihai Navy's teaching company.Because the distance between the enemy and the enemy is not far, the fired shell exploded on the ground in a blink of an eye, and the straight smoke column spit out bright fireballs, blasting the sleeping Spanish soldiers to pieces, and their flesh and blood flew wildly.

Immediately afterwards, the 75mm guns and 12-pound guns also roared, and they began to shoot almost directly at the bronze guns at the front of the enemy's position.Hundreds of kilograms of gun carriages were overturned by the shock wave, and the wicker baskets used as shelters were also blown to pieces.

Seeing such a thrilling and spectacular scene, Lu Qi finally realized what Fan Tong often said about "bullying people is the foundation of happiness" at this moment.

"Hey, Xiao Fan has had a bad time. He was either kidnapped or shot. We are different. After this battle, the Central Valley will be taken over, and my position in the committee will naturally be established. I will be in Napa Valley tomorrow. Plant hundreds of thousands of acres of grapes and set up a winery. No no! Los Angeles should be occupied and a big house in Beverly Hills! Oh, San Francisco is also good, I remember Hillsboro is a luxury area , Tangled."

Perhaps it was because of the nervousness and excitement in his heart, Lu Qi, who was holding a telescope, turned red and muttered like a broken mouth, but no one around him paid attention, the effect of the shelling and the upcoming charge were what they were most concerned about.

Admiral Denava was awakened at this time. He was wearing a nightgown and had no time to change his military uniform. He ran barefoot to the entrance of the tent, only to see that the camp was full of flames, and the air was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder.Soldiers were running around, howling, bewildered like a group of rats.The war horse was neighing, breaking free from the reins and galloping wildly.

In such a chaotic situation, the orders issued by Denava were ignored at all, he could only be supported by the adjutant on his horse, and ran south without thinking.

"Order from the headquarters, attack!"

When two more 82-pound shells passed overhead and landed behind the Spanish army camp, six hundred soldiers of the Overseas Corps who had been lurking for a long time suddenly stood up, armed with bayonet-mounted percussion rifles, and rushed out together.Amidst the sound of shells exploding, they quickly approached the front of the opponent's position—the artillery position that had been blown into a mess, and then they crossed over like a tide, swept straight and launched a storm-like attack.

Chen Yingqi pulled out the bayonet from the chest of an enemy soldier with a scorched face, and continued to run forward. His next target was a Spanish officer who kept looking back.The man wore a blue sheepskin coat with a yellow high collar, with gilt buttons, red velvet trim at the cuffs and neckline, and a finely made hat with a silver wire brim, in a It is very conspicuous among the defeated soldiers.

"Stop! Run again and kill you!" Chen Yingqi shouted while running, but the other party couldn't understand at all.

Chai Rong, who was not far away from him, became fierce like a tiger at this moment. He bumped into a Spanish cavalryman holding a spear beside a disintegrated carriage. Because of the force, both of them fell down at the same time. Also fell to the ground, so the two quickly started a hand-to-hand fight.

Panting, Chai Rong threw himself on the cavalryman, pressing his knees on the opponent's stomach, desperately grabbing the enemy's arm with one hand, but the other hand was firmly held by the opponent, making him unable to pull out the waistband. dagger.Chai Rong had no choice but to put his head against the opponent's forehead, and use his knees to press down on the opponent's stomach desperately.The desperate Spanish cavalry slammed his feet and hit his ass with his knees, trying to turn over and pin him down again.

Chai Rong wanted to call for help, but the more anxious he became, the more he couldn't make a sound.He was extremely angry, opened his mouth violently, and bit the opponent's big nose with one bite. The Spanish soldier screamed in pain. This sound made Chai Rong even more excited. He actually bit off the nose of the opponent.

At this time, Chai Rong's other hand finally broke free from the opponent's grasp. Panting heavily, he touched his hand to the back of his waist, pulled out the dagger, stabbed it into the opponent's neck, and then twisted it hard.The enemy didn't move anymore, only the gurgling sound was still coming out of his throat.Chai Rong waited for a while, got up from the opponent, pulled out the dagger, spat fiercely at the corpse on the ground, and spat out a piece of bloody meat.

Cannonballs exploded in the distance, bayonets flashed coldly in front of his eyes, grenades exploded from time to time around, fire, blood, smoke, the terrified expressions of the enemies, incomprehensible shouts, and running backs all became his eyes and ears. Clear image.

With the help of the nearby fire, Chai Rong found the dropped rifle, checked it to make sure it was all right, and then rested for a while, then turned his head to look at the figure lying on the ground, feeling happy and feeling Horrified, this was the first time he had killed a person at close range.Before leaving, Chai Rong secretly said to himself: "Don't blame me, if I don't kill him, he will kill me."

Dawn came in a blink of an eye. On the long and narrow peninsula, there were Spanish troops fleeing for their lives. Cannonballs, grenades, and bullets flew all over the sky, and many soldiers who had nowhere to escape jumped into Lake Merced. Swim desperately towards the coast.Behind them, hundreds of soldiers from the Overseas Corps stood on the shore, raised their rifles and fired, reloaded and fired again; because there were too many broken soldiers who jumped into the lake, there was no need to aim at all, and countless corpses soon floated up , only a few routs fled to the coast along the small road on the north side of the lake center.

However, the scene on the sea made them even more frightened.I saw that a few miles away, a Spanish frigate had already caught fire, and the remaining ships of our own were retreating south under the cover of two frigates.Two miles away from the fleet, two slender ships were continuously spraying artillery fire at their own fleet.

Seeing this scene, the broken soldiers' legs went limp, and they sat slumped on the beach. Although the shouts of killing were getting closer and closer behind them, they had no more strength.

When the sky was bright, the Spanish army fleeing south was driven to the foot of Mount San Bruno like a flock of ducks. The yellow and green military uniforms looked like a large swarm of locusts from the air. At the foot of the mountain, people, horses, wounded Soldiers are everywhere.As long as one shell falls here, it can take away dozens of lives.

The terrified Admiral Denava leaned against a big tree, took the water bottle from his adjutant, and drank heavily.The adjutant saw that his white nightgown had become terribly dirty, so he walked up to a well-dressed soldier and glanced at him. He felt that his figure was still suitable, and ordered him to take off his shirt.The soldier who was originally a prisoner was stunned for a moment, then slowly got up with a blank expression, and reluctantly began to unbutton his shirt.

At this moment, several huge explosions sounded at the foot of the mountain one after another, followed by dozens of grenades flying out from the hillside. There was a howl on the ground.

Before the smoke of the explosion dissipated, the Northern Navy and hundreds of Miwok Indians who had been ambushing here for a long time emerged from the grass on the mountainside and attacked the remnants at the foot of the mountain.Wearing a feather crown, Bai Bai and several warriors rushed to the front, yelling and smashing the Indian batons in their hands at the Spanish soldiers.In an instant, rivers of blood flowed at the foot of the mountain, and those who were hit were all broken bones and tendons.

"General, we will cover you and rush out!"

Denava sighed, and said to his opponent, "I can't escape, you see."

The adjutant looked back in surprise, only to see that in the northwest direction, the figure of the enemy army had emerged from the horizon.He trembled all over, and the saber in his hand almost dropped to the ground.

"Surrender."

Nine years later, in 1803, Admiral de Nava, who had left office and returned to Mexico City for retirement, wrote in his "Memoirs":

"...When His Excellency the Governor mistakenly regarded the enemy occupying the San Francisco Fortress as a European army, a big mistake was actually made. It can be said that from the moment I led the troops out of Monterey, the 3000 The human army fell into the enemy's trap. To this day I still don't understand how they monitored the troops' every move. Our military operations were to them like a child wrestling with a giant's arm.

Facing such a powerful and brutal opponent, His Excellency the Governor at that time should have summoned all the military forces of the kingdom in North America to fight back, but he did not do so, but sent someone to negotiate with the opponent to give up Upper California.This is why we retreated again and again, and even lost the whole of California and Nevada.

Now, those pagans from the East not only got Louisiana from the vile French, but even extended their evil claws to Texas, and the enemy was expanding, and the kingdom could not do anything about it.New Spain is at war right now, and all I can do personally is pray to God."

(End of this chapter)