Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 63 Decisive Battle: Theme ([-])

On July 7, after paying dozens of casualties, the Spaniards who finally built the bridge began to cross the river in large numbers.First infantry, then cavalry, and finally artillery, a total of 6 Spanish soldiers crossed the Great Fish River and began to camp on the north bank.The crossing crowd had almost completely stopped their endless harassment tactics at this time, and all troops retreated to the fort for defense, and even the cavalry troops, which were so glorious a while ago, disappeared temporarily.

The Spaniard is still facing an embarrassing situation at this time.The enemy is fully huddled in the strong castle, and they lack the siege artillery, and they seem somewhat powerless in the face of this difficult bone.

When Dingyuan Fort was originally designed and built, it was mainly considered to defend against the attacks of local aborigines. The city built at that time was small in scale and simple in structure.Later, considering the threat of the Spaniards, the executive committee, under Xiao Bailang's suggestion, carried out an extension and renovation on the original site of Dingyuan Fort.The newly built brick wall is more than 3 meters thick. The city wall has changed from the previous linear shape to a large number of prismatic designs to reduce the bomb nest area.In addition, some newly constructed protrusions on the wall provided a lot of side fire damage to the main wall.Generally speaking, Dingyuan Fort is a fairly strong small fortress, and it is bound to pay a huge price to conquer it.

The Spaniards were busy at the ferry, and Captain Torres played the role of engineer at this time. He was directing a large number of soldiers to transport heavy artillery across the river.These artillery are 4-pound and 6-pound field guns, which are not very useful in siege battles, but they are indispensable in field battles, although Captain Torres doubts whether these Tatans will fight them in the field.

The real siege artillery still depends on the navy.Under the strong request of Major Antonio Carlos, the commander-in-chief of the campaign and the commander of the task force, Diego Garcia, finally agreed to dismantle some naval guns from the severely damaged "Judge" battleship to support the army's front line fight.Of course, these naval guns are extremely heavy, and transportation is quite troublesome.Luo Qia is not close to Dingyuan Fort, and it will take a day or two for infantry to march lightly, let alone dragging some heavy naval guns to walk.For this reason, the Spaniards cut in half the horses used to transport logistics supplies to drag these naval guns. Even so, they could only drag 2-4 artillery pieces forward at a time.

After a total of six Army field guns were safely transported across the river, Captain Torres returned to the endless construction work.The construction of ferry defense facilities, the construction of artillery positions, and the construction of fortification bunkers for the upcoming naval heavy artillery.Captain Torres noticed that the Tartans had some abandoned brick kilns and lime kilns outside the city, but unfortunately the damage was so severe that they could no longer be reused.Full of regret, Captain Torres simply ordered the demolition of these buildings, and the materials obtained were just used to build his own camp.

Beginning on July 7, the weather gradually became severe.The winter on the east coast is always so annoying. The continuous rain and snow not only added countless difficulties to the Spaniards who were constructing, but also a real disaster for the logistics troops transporting materials.

Lieutenant Fernando was leaning against a carriage transporting blankets. He had suffered from a severe cold since last night. He was so dizzy that he couldn't walk, so he could only lie down on the carriage.By this morning, his body had improved slightly, which made him feel a little happy.In this day and age, a cold can also be fatal at any time.Although his health improved, he still couldn't walk down the road.Lying in the car with nothing to do, he simply took out a stack of papers from his bag and started writing a diary, which was his daily habit.

"On July 7, the light rain continued. After the whole day of rain yesterday, the road surface has become quite slippery and muddy. Some sections of the road are even very bad. If you are not careful, the wheels will get stuck and you will not be able to walk. An ammunition vehicle is in the In the afternoon, I fell into a mud hole, the vehicle rolled over, and the gunpowder barrel rolled to the ground. My excellent deputy, the young Lieutenant Marco from Valladolid, commanded the soldiers escorting the vehicle, and it took two full hours to let the vehicle On the road again."

"July 7th, Xiaoxue. Maybe God is testing our patience and will. At noon, the axle of a wagon transporting grain broke. The repair craftsmen told me that due to lack of materials, this vehicle cannot be repaired in a short time. I can only order the wagon with 9 sacks of wheat to be abandoned, and maybe we can find a way to recover it when we return."

"July 7th, moderate snow. The snow is getting bigger and bigger, but my cold has recovered miraculously. I have been able to get off the road and share some of the heavy work of Second Lieutenant Marko. Marko has been exhausted for the past two days , when I couldn't work, he took care of everything, and everything was in order, and I couldn't have done it better. He's a good lad, and he's going to have a future."

Lieutenant Fernando finished writing the last letter on the letter paper, then stuffed the entire stack of letter paper into his leather bag, jumped out of the car, and yelled: "Okay, boys, let's get going when you have enough rest. We are far from the front line The camp is less than a day away, so everyone cheers up. The snowstorm is getting bigger and bigger, try to drive more before nightfall, and then find a sheltered place to spend the night. Marko, go and urge the team! "

"Yes, sir!" Marco bowed to the order, and just about to turn around, he saw his body froze suddenly, pointing to the front and trembling lips said: "Brother... Cossack!"

Fernando was shocked when he heard the words, and turned around to take a look. He immediately felt that every hair on his body stood on end, and then his whole body trembled.

In the low hills about 500 meters away to the west, about a hundred cavalrymen dressed in dark blue military uniforms and black-brimmed caps rode down the gentle slopes of the hills on their horses. After reaching the flat ground, they began to accelerate slowly. Armed with sharp sabers, they lined up in a loose formation and rushed towards the convoy firmly.

"Get ready to fight!" Lieutenant Fernando finally reacted, "Marco, surround the carriage! Forget it, it's too late, damn Tartans, they came too fast! Everyone hide behind the carriage! Spearmen! Pikemen raise their spears! Musketeers shoot free!"

The entire convoy, which was resting, was thrown into chaos, and the spearmen flocked to the place where the weapons were piled up, intending to retrieve their spears.However, due to the slippery ground and the collision of personnel, many spearmen fell to the ground.Under the command of the officer, some spearmen who had retrieved their weapons tried to separate the chaotic crowd and went to the front of the carriage to meet the enemy. It's shaky.

"Shoot!" The sound of rumbling iron hoofs was getting closer, and the Cossack cavalry had already entered the range of the matchlock guns. Lieutenant Fernando loudly ordered the musketeers to start shooting.

"Oops! The primer was blown away by the wind!" "God, the matchlock went out!" A few small waves were splashed by the surging Cossack cavalry formation.

"Bang! Bang!" The Cossack cavalry, each armed with a Model 1633 flintlock pistol, opened fire.Since this kind of pistol does not need a matchlock, and the primer is well protected by the lid of the medicine pot, as many as [-]% of the pistols in our hands were fired, and a large number of Spaniards in front of us fell down immediately.After firing, the cavalry quickly stuffed their pistols into their saddlebags, then brandished their sabers and slashed at the Spanish crowd behind the carriage.

Due to the sudden incident, the Spanish system was a bit chaotic. After the Cossack cavalry rushed into the crowd, the last resistance of the Spanish system disappeared, and everyone was fighting on their own.Some brave Spanish spearmen, led by Second Lieutenant Marko, stabbed the Cossack cavalry with their sharp spears. The musketeers also threw away their bulky matchlock guns and drew out their light swords at their waists to fight.But their efforts could not change the overall situation after all. After a pistol volley, Lieutenant Marco and some brave Spanish soldiers died in battle, and the last courage of the Spaniards disappeared.

Many Spanish soldiers dropped their weapons and tried to surrender, but the Cossacks responded with sabers still slashing down.The Spaniards collapsed, and many of them turned around and fled outwards, but they were soon chased down by the Cossack cavalry.There were fewer and fewer Spaniards who were still standing and resisting on the battlefield. In the end, only Lieutenant Fernando and seven or eight spearmen remained.

Xu Yu, the battalion commander of the cavalry battalion who went into battle with minor injuries, led a group of cavalrymen to surround them. His saber was still dripping blood. The Spanish deserter he cut down just now was the first person he killed in his life.At this moment, he could only feel that his whole body was trembling with uncontrollable excitement, and even the knuckles of his right hand holding the saber were a little white due to excessive force.

"Let's send them on their way!" Xu Yu said coldly, "We can't take any prisoners this time. Everyone will take part of the things that are usable on the carriage, and destroy all the rest. Don't leave a single bit for the Spaniards!"

At his command, a pistol salvo sounded, and the last of the Spanish warriors fell!

Lieutenant Fernando vomited blood and fell on the grass. The blood flowing from the corner of his mouth stained the snow on the ground red.

"The devil! Heretic...the devil! Asuncion...Little Juan..." Lieutenant Fernando murmured angrily, and his eyes became more and more lax.It wasn't until the Cossack cavalry who made up the knife pierced his heart with a sharp saber again that he finally stopped whispering unconsciously.With his eyes wide open, he looked at the northern sky, which was the direction of Asunción.

(End of this chapter)