Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 249 The Battle Between the Mountains ([-])

At noon, the whole army had lunch on the spot in this desolate mountain.The staple food for lunch is wheat cake, accompanied by canned soybeans, beef, and cheese. The soldiers ate their lunch in silence, while sipping the cool boiled water in the cowhide water bag.This desolate mountain is full of fine gravel and sand, occasionally mixed with some low bushes, which looks desolate and barren.

"I'm afraid even the poorest shepherd would not want to come here." Lieutenant Zamparini of the Army's Fourth Company sighed.After being out for so long, his originally meticulous hair has now become a messy bird's nest.He also saw the battle in the morning from a distance. Those Xhosa blacks had astonishing tactical and organizational skills. They were able to calmly organize an ambush with hundreds of people, and at the same time organize a retreat safely when the enemy was chasing them. what level?

Anyway, Zamparini knew that if these people hadn't been veterans who had fought in several battles, it would be impossible for them to do this.Zamparini frowned at the thought of fighting such an enemy on the battlefield of their choice. Perhaps this raid was not a good opportunity to make a fortune?It is said that before this operation, the higher-ups had set a goal. For every 500 people captured, the headquarters of the Garrison Army will reward all combatants with three yuan each, and the distribution of spoils will be calculated separately.But now that they have been out for more than ten days, there are only a few dozen prisoners, and there are no spoils at all; not only that, but the 104th company has also lost about twenty soldiers. No matter what, the business is losing money.

"It's really a bad start!" An Dahai, who was sitting next to Zamparini, thought to himself.After the autumn harvest, their fourth company will be transferred back to the East Coast Army and return to the mainland as a whole. The second company of the army will replace them and join the South African garrison sequence.In other words, An Dahai's time in South Africa has only been a few months, and it will be difficult to find such a place where he can make a fortune next time.

Now the border of the mainland is very peaceful, both the gaucho horse bandits and the charuya people stay far away from the people on the east coast, for fear of causing trouble to the upper body.In other words, they will have no battles to fight when they return to their homeland, which means that there will not be enough spoils to distribute, which means that they can only get that little dead salary-although this dead salary is in many countries. It is already very high in the eyes of people.

During the two years of serving in South Africa, An Dahai had saved a lot of money.He participated in several attacks on the surrounding indigenous tribes and last year's large-scale mopping up operation. After several operations, the spoils allocated to him were sold for 80 yuan, not to mention that his military salary in the past two years was almost equal to Not a penny was moved.But this money is still not enough. After returning to the mainland, it will cost the boss a lot of money to marry a wife, and then the two younger brothers and one younger sister will have to go to school and work. There are so many places to spend money.Really hope to make some more money on these Xhosa before I go!

No matter how careful the soldiers are and how strong their desire for war is, Xie Hansan, who is conservative by nature, will not take any risks with his army, which is related to the safety of the river fort, especially when this army has lost [-]% in a daze. Come on personal case.The Xhosa people were no longer the weak and deceitful natives they encountered before. They obviously had a certain degree of organization and combat effectiveness.The mountainous terrain leading to the river valley area is rugged, and there are terrains suitable for ambushes everywhere. The hundreds of main forces under his hands cannot withstand such uncontrolled attrition.We'll wait until we get in touch with Commander Leonid's cavalry, and I hope they won't run into any trouble.

Just half an hour after lunch, the cavalry unit, which had been out of contact for four hours, finally sent someone back to contact them.A few hours ago, they were besieged by a large number of Xhosa blacks in the valley of the Xianghe River in front. It is estimated that the number of Xhosa blacks besieged is no less than 90. They are generally equipped with large shields and spears. They have extremely tenacious fighting will and are well-trained. , know how to cooperate in combat.Leonid led 20 cavalrymen to charge through the flat river valley, with pistols and sabers in battle, and only then managed to break through a gap and rushed out.Even so, after rushing out of the encirclement of the Xhosa, they still lost eight riders and five horses. In addition, there were nearly [-] riders who suffered injuries of varying degrees. The army suffered the heaviest loss since then.

Looking at the dusty cavalry in front of him, Xie Hansan was speechless.At this point, the whole thing is clear.The Xhosa blacks now have a strong organization, sufficient manpower and experienced fighters. It is estimated that their organizational ability and command system have been developed in perennial wars, and they should be relatively effective.So now the problem is coming, when the enemy has obvious precautions and has already ambushed and besieged you, if you force your way forward again, regardless of victory or defeat, the purpose of this battle has already been lost first, right?

You must know that the purpose of this second sweep is not to defeat the Xhosa blacks, but to capture as many local indigenous populations as possible, so as to provide sufficient cannon fodder labor for the upcoming development plan of Madagascar.In the hot, humid and disease-ridden place of the Falkland Islands, you can’t even build a small castle without investing tens of thousands of people, not to mention that the planned base is designed to accommodate a large number of immigrants for production and living. .

Xie Hansan certainly has the ability to gather all the troops at this time, and then let the soldiers put on their breastplates, and then rushed into the Xianghe Valley area in front of them step by step. Those Xhosa blacks must not be able to stop them, and they dare not stop them.But the question is, so what if you occupy that place?What population do you need?The few Xhosa tribes over there are not fools either, they can run away with their soft food, cattle and sheep, would they foolishly wait for you to catch them?

In the end, you fought with those Xhosa black soldiers and suffered a lot of damage, but got nothing. What is this?Not to mention the endless wars and frictions that may follow after the escalation of the conflict.There are only so many people from the east coast in South Africa, and there are more than 3000 people in total. Thinking of fighting a large rising indigenous tribe, especially this tribe may have more than [-] battle-hardened fighters-they are even now After learning how to use a musket, Xie Hansan couldn't help feeling a toothache.Although he will step down as the commander of the South African Garrison in a few months and return to the mainland with the troops, he feels that he cannot rashly provoke a powerful enemy for the Fort in the River before leaving.Although this enemy is currently at war with the people on the east coast, but the conflict has not expanded yet, maybe there is still room for improvement.

Of course, the most important thing is that now that the enemy is ready, this war is meaningless.When his thoughts drifted here, Xie Hansan immediately made a decision. He immediately sent a few messengers back to Hezhong Fort to pass the message to Mo Ming, and asked for instructions on what to do next.After all, he, the commander of the South African garrison, is also a nominal subordinate of the captain of the South African pioneer team.

After doing this, he ordered all the soldiers to put on their breastplates, and then lined up to continue moving forward. The first task at present is to pick up the cavalry troops.Although I don't want to continue the meaningless war with the Xhosa, retreating without a fight seems to damage morale a bit, so continue to advance to the edge of the valley to join the cavalry troops still staying there, and then deploy defenses on the spot, waiting for orders from the rear. way.

After three hours of fast marching, after eliminating the delayed harassment attacks of two groups of Xhosa, Xie Han's three detachments finally merged with the cavalry.The cavalry commanded by Leonid retreated all the way after breaking out of the siege in the river valley, but was intercepted by a group of Xhosa again on the road, causing them to lose another 12 people (four were killed in battle and seven were slightly injured) , seriously injured one person).

"Damn it, who said these blacks are stupid? They even learned guerrilla warfare!" Seeing that the cavalry unit suffered nearly 40 casualties, even the commander Leonid was slightly injured. Xiao Baitu finally couldn't help but yelled, "Why do I think we are like those little devils who went to the countryside back then? We are not familiar with the place, and we are enemies everywhere. They rarely fight face to face with you, so we have nothing to do." Come out. Who said that those Zulus liked to fight the British and Boers head-on, idiot!"

"This is a Xhosa, not a Zulu." Xie Han looked at him blankly and said, "These blacks are already very close to the level of the slave society, maybe they are already at the early civilization level of the slave society. The war in the slave society has tactics, not to mention that they have been fighting and merging with other tribes all year round. Form an army that dares to fight and fight hard, and a few people who have not studied military theory systematically, but what they do What's so special about a general who has a secret art of war?"

The army soldiers quickly found a flat and open ground, and then began to drive piles, pull barbed wire, hang bells, and strictly set up isolation zones and fire ditches between each unit.It was already late at this time, and it was purely courting death to smear the mountain road, so it was bound to camp here tonight.If you camp in the wild and don't repair the fortifications properly, you are simply making fun of your own life.

The soldiers of the Eight Banners waved their shovels and engineer shovels and started the soil work in full swing, while the soldiers of the 104th company and the [-]th company formed their formations, ready for possible enemy attacks.The cavalry unit, which had been fighting for a day, helped the military medical officers treat the wounded and chop firewood in the camp.Some wounded horses were also dragged away and slaughtered under the dejected eyes of the cavalry. These will be used as extra meals for the wounded soldiers at night.

After everything was ready, the night finally slowly enveloped the earth.

(End of this chapter)