Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 61 Decisive Battle: Episode ([-])

The footsteps of the decisive battle are close at hand.

On July 7, a group of gaucho cavalrymen appeared in several abandoned production team villages on the south bank of the Dayu River. They were ambushed by two platoons of the third cavalry sentry who were resting here. After leaving five corpses, they panicked. recede.

On July 7, the Gaucho cavalry appeared for the first time on the banks of the Dayu River, and began to spy on the reality of Dingyuan Fort on the north bank of the river.

On July 7th, a large-scale scout battle broke out again on the south bank of the Dayu River. The cavalry passing through the two outposts encountered dozens of gaucho cavalry, and the two sides fought fiercely.In this battle, the pistol-swinging cavalry who passed through the crowd showed their splendor, killing more than 4 cavalrymen of Gaoqiao, and only seven of them were killed or injured. However, Xu Yu, the new acting battalion commander of the cavalry battalion, was injured in the scuffle.In the afternoon, the main force of the Spanish cavalry arrived, and the cavalry battalion passed through the crowd could not support them, and they completely retreated to the north bank of the Dayu River.

Major Antonio Carlos was riding a horse, surrounded by a large number of cavalry, silently observing the Dingyuan Fort on the north bank of the Dayu River.The perimeter of the castle is about 600 meters, and it is an extremely solid masonry mixed structure fortress.The city wall is about 5 meters high, and several towers are built on it, and some cannons seem to be erected on the towers; a moat about 3 meters wide is dug outside the city wall, and the moat leads directly to Dayu Lake, which is extremely abundant in water.

"It seems difficult to conquer easily. Captain Torres, what do you think?" Major Carlos suddenly turned his head and asked Captain Torres who was accompanying him.

"As you can see, sir. As long as this fortress has two hundred elite musketeers, supplemented by a certain number of cannons, it is indeed a difficult bone for us who lack heavy siege artillery. If we insist on If you attack forcibly, you may pay a high price." Captain Torres replied truthfully.

"I heard that the city wall of Tatan Port is even more majestic..." Major Antonio Carlos couldn't continue speaking at this point.That's right, for the Royal Army, which lacks heavy weapons, if the Tatans are determined not to shrink back, what should they do?A long siege like on the European battlefield?Major Carlos shook his head, this is completely impossible for this Spanish army.The La Plata region does not have the material basis to support the Royal Army's long-term combat. For the Royal Army, which lacks supplies and has low morale, the only feasible strategy is a quick victory.

"Captain Torres, tomorrow you will lead the troops to build the bridge across the river. After the bridge is built, I will lead the main force to cross the river quickly and launch a tentative attack on this castle of the Tartans. If we don't pull out this nail, we will never be able to go all out." Siege Tatan Port." Major Carlos sighed and said, "God will bless us!"

……

Dingyuan Fort.At this time, a military meeting was being held, and five or six military officers and a dozen heads of various factories and production teams were sitting in the small venue.

"To take the initiative is to seek death!" Chang Kaisheng said with a mouthful of saliva, "Our strategy is to stay the same, stick to it, and see who consumes more energy than the other! The Spaniards traveled across mountains and seas to transport all kinds of supplies. , The loss on this journey is much higher than ours. There is enough food for us to eat for more than a year in the fort, and there is no shortage of drinking water. It seems that the Spaniards do not have those 32-pound and 36-pound siege artillery. !"

"Old Chang is right!" Lin Youde echoed. He and Chang Kaisheng are currently the top leaders in both military and political aspects of Dingyuan Fort. inner heart. "So everyone can relax and explain clearly to the employees and villagers in their departments when they go back. Dingyuan Fortress is impenetrable, and the Spaniards can't get in. At the same time, they can't besiege us for a long time. The final winner of this war will definitely It belongs to the executive committee and belongs to everyone!"

"The training of the reserve militiamen in the fort can't be stopped. I don't have high requirements for them, as long as they can go up the city wall and shoot guns." Chang Kaisheng said, "At present, our regular army only has two infantry posts with 164 soldiers and one artillery post with 45 soldiers. The number of people is still relatively small, and these more than 100 militiamen are an important supplementary force when defending the city. Well, it’s an emergency, so I won’t say much. Everyone, go to work, everything will go according to plan, and confidence is the most important thing!”

On July 7, Leonid rode his horse to inspect a village of the former pioneering brigade east of Dingyuan Fort.The residents of this village have now all moved into Dingyuan Fort, leaving only an empty village.Leonid, who has now been promoted to second lieutenant platoon leader, opened a courtyard with a half-closed door. He and his cavalry have been patrolling all morning, and now they need to rest.

The courtyard is not big, and the courtyard wall is obviously an earthen wall that was pasted with mud by the owner later.There is a chicken coop in the corner of the earthen wall. There is nothing in the chicken coop, and a few dry grape vines are crawling on the chicken coop frame.Eleven cavalrymen rushed into the courtyard, and these Cossacks from Zaporozhye took out the military water bottles and dry food bags at their waists, talking in low voices while eating and drinking.After eating and drinking, they took out some containers from the saddlebags to hold water for the horses to drink, because the only few wells in the village had been blocked, and the rainwater collection tanks and filter tanks had also been filled up, so they could only use the water they carried with them. Pour water into the cowhide kettle to feed the horses, and at the same time take out some horse feed made of soybean meal for feeding.These war horses are Andalusian horses and Lusitano horses that have been hard-won, and there are only more than 130 horses at present. These Cossack cavalry are particularly dedicated to serving them.

After the rest, Leonid and the eleven riders began to move eastward at a slow speed.There is a narrow bend in the southeast, which is a good fording point.In the morning, a few Spaniards quietly crossed the Big Fish River from here, strolling back and forth at the bend of the river, not knowing what they were going to do.Leonid was chasing a few Gauchos scout cavalry and let them go for a while.Now that the weapons, leather armor and other trophies of the Gaucho cavalrymen were quietly placed in the saddlebags of his subordinates, Leonid, who had freed up his hands, decided to come over to see what the Spaniards were doing.

The crowd got off their horses about a mile away from the bend of the river. Leonid climbed up a small slope, brushed aside the dense grass on the slope, and took out his binoculars to look ahead.Seeing this, Leonid couldn't help but gasp. He saw many thick trees tied up in a row and floating on the river. Several wooden stakes were nailed into the river channel around these wooden rafts. Many Spaniards were busy on both sides of the river. making new rafts.

This is to build a floating bridge, Leonid was shocked.After sending two of his men back to report, Leonid continued to observe that the Spaniards had a complete defense force on the north bank in addition to a large number of people who were making rafts. 60 infantry with breastplate spears are sitting neatly on the ground to rest, and some infantry equipped with matchlock guns are patrolling around.Leonid had no doubt that as long as he and his men appeared there, these Spaniards would immediately form a hedgehog-like spear formation to cover the friendly troops who were building the bridge.

But it can't make them too comfortable, Leonid thought, he had to create some pressure on them, and by the way, slow down their bridge-building progress.Thinking of this, Leonid got on his horse, greeted the remaining eight men at the same time, and galloped towards the bend of the river. The distance of more than 500 meters passed in a flash, and soon, the rhythmic sound of horseshoes sounded at the river bend.The Spaniards quickly discovered the arrival of these uninvited guests. Under the command of the officer, their infantry formed a three-row tight formation at the fastest speed.There are about a dozen arquebus soldiers on both sides of the spear array. These people have loaded their ammunition, leaning against the spear array, and pointing their guns in the direction where the enemy may appear.

It's really like a hedgehog who can't open his mouth!Leonid spat secretly, turned his horse around in an arc beyond the range of the Spaniard's arquebus, and turned towards the east.His cavalry also turned eastward with their skillful riding skills. Finally, the nine cavalry stopped about 200 meters to the east, staring at the Spaniards.

The Spanish officer saw Leonid and the others peeking around like flies and refused to leave, so he had no choice but to run with two legs, after all, could not run with four legs.The soldiers had to step up their vigilance, and at the same time ordered those who built the bridge to move faster.

Half an hour later, the sound of horseshoes sounded again.About 20 cavalrymen came from the direction of Dingyuan Fort in the west. Leonid gave them a strange look. The horses riding are also some Finnish draft horses.In it, Leonid saw Jiang Zhiqing, the deputy sentry of the infantry's first sentry. Jiang Zhiqing led the group to get off the horse more than 32 meters in front of Leonid and others, and then took out a handful of guns from the saddle bag of the horse. Take the [-]-B flintlock rifle and start loading ammunition.

More than 20 people lined up in a loose one-line formation. After loading the ammunition, they collectively raised their guns, and then fired a round of volleys amidst Jiang Zhiqing's deep password. Most of the more than 20 rifles were fired successfully, and the Spaniard's spear array was suddenly opened with a gap.After the fight, these people saw that the Spanish matchlock gunners were rushing this way under the order of the officer, so they didn't want to fight, so they simply got on their horses and went to the other side.

Leonid grinned, using the long-range 32-B flintlock rifle to bully the Spaniards' spears and old matchlock guns. This depressing dilemma of being beaten and unable to fight back will definitely make the Spaniards vomit blood and collapse.There was another volley of gunshots from the west side. This time, Jiang Zhiqing and the others were shooting from stationary horses, and their accuracy was slightly lacking. However, several people fell down again in the Spaniard's spear formation.

The Spanish commander was yelling something, his voice was rather hurried and anxious.The Spaniards on the other side of the river also responded loudly, and soon, some Spanish soldiers who appeared to be holding flintlocks were rowing towards the north bank in small boats under the command of an officer.Jiang Zhiqing and the others fired two rounds of salvo and knocked down more than a dozen Spanish spearmen before galloping westward reluctantly, and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

The good show is finally over.Leonid smiled, turned his horse's head and rode eastward, and disappeared into the autumn grassland after a while.

(End of this chapter)