open sea

Chapter 771
East of the Port of Acapulco.

In the early morning, the canyon was covered with damp mist, and the damp military tent was wet with rain. It felt sticky to the touch and made people feel uncomfortable. Fortunately, the air was very fresh in the rain, which could dispel the strong smell of blood in the canyon.

A simple canopy was erected on the edge of the camp, and the merchant's entourage and a large number of soldiers were cutting wood in the rain to make defensive equipment.

Bernal frowned and looked towards the camp.

Wounded soldiers, lying here and there on the muddy soil surface are all wounded soldiers. Since no one except the nobles will consider that ordinary soldiers have any needs other than a blanket and a mouthful of hot soup during the battle, their military tents are seriously insufficient. A large number of wounded soldiers could only lie on the muddy ground drenched in light rain.

Gloomy clouds filled the entire camp.

His night attack failed after the reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty arrived quickly. Even if the mercenaries on both wings fought bravely and once climbed over the barrier to meet the Ming army, they could not make up for the numerical advantage of the flood of reinforcements from the Ming army. Knock them back one at a time.

The narrow corridor behind the barrier wall limits the width of the battle, and there are very few soldiers on both sides in the battle, so even if the attack is frustrated, the battle can still continue.

Taking advantage of the scrambling of the defenders, the phalanx infantry advanced the battle line to a distance of a hundred steps from the Ming army's fortress, and constantly suppressed the fire with many newly recruited musketeers. , the mercenaries and the aborigines withdrew back.

"Actually we have more people, with more than 600 people attacking on both sides, but those despicable Ming people put traps on the road, a kind of three-legged iron nails, so that the troops behind cannot pass quickly. We've been flanked in the wall fortress."

"A lot of people got punctured feet and couldn't continue fighting."

The mercenary leaders who have experienced battles now feel that the Ming army is a bunch of gods. Compared with them, the New World is their homeland, and the Ming army is an expedition... Who the hell brought a few nails for the expedition!

I think back then when the Spanish conquistadors came to the New World in a boat, there was no food or water on the docked boat, and the poor people looked everywhere, and they were either beaten to death by the aborigines or starved to death. To feed many people is to send manpower on a large scale.

Even so, the so-called 'large scale' is nothing more than three or five ships.

At this moment, the mercenary leader did not mourn for his subordinates who died in the war, but only felt sorry for the pioneers who died of starvation and disease in the New World.

If that generation had the power to assemble five hundred twenty-ton transport ships, they could colonize the whole world!

"I saw."

What Bernal meant was that he saw the mercenaries approaching the 'fortress' of the Ming army and being repulsed. In addition to these, he also noticed that the fortifications of the Ming army were divided into two layers, except for those stone walls that were built to resemble the walls of the Ottomans. In addition to the gunfire of the Ming army, there seems to be another layer underground.

At night, he could clearly see two rows of gunfire from the Ming army behind the fortifications.

"Let your people keep an eye on the position and take advantage of the rain to dig trenches. No one knows when the Ming army will attack. We have to build fortifications."

Positional warfare is far from the mainstream in this era. Bernal didn't plan to build trenches and fortifications at all, and he didn't even plan to set up a camp. He brought [-] good men, and they advanced here, attacked, and then won the victory. valid reason.

Who would have thought that the Ming army could build such thick fortifications in a short period of time?
For Bernal, positional warfare is a compromise that the attacker has no choice but to make.

"Attack? It's raining now."

The surprise of the mercenary leader is not surprising. Western generals try to avoid fighting in bad weather. Most of the time, this avoidance will be the unanimous decision of two or more parties, and it really depends on military needs.

Who would want to fight in winter or rain when roads are difficult to march on, soldiers cannot get enough rest, and supplies are hampered?
But Bernard replied in a sullen manner: "Our opponents are not those French fools who plunged their country into civil war, let alone the aborigines here, those Ming people—do you know what they are thinking?"

This was actually the most troublesome thing for Bernal. During the short-term battle, he realized that the enemy he was facing was completely different from the past, and it was really not a wise decision to attack a new enemy without sufficient understanding.

He didn't understand the Ming army's combat strategy, and he didn't know its behavior habits. This battle seemed to be getting more and more difficult.

But fortunately... Bernal raised his head, the visibility in the Rain Angel Canyon was much worse, but he could still see the Ming army barrier shrouded in rain and fog.

"It's a good thing they don't look like they're going to fight me in the rain."

The cook carrying hot soup entered the tent, and the servants at the back served ham risotto, fish soup, and half a glass of wine in turn.

But this is only Bernal's food, the treatment of the soldiers outside is much worse, they only have soup with no meat and a small piece of bread, this is the food that has just been reduced today, otherwise they can eat two more slices of red intestinal.

It is not yet known how long this battle will last, and Bernal dare not let the soldiers let go to eat, so he can only consider as protracted as possible.

But fighting in the rain?What a joke!
The coach of the Ming army, Sai Lugong, has been soaking his feet all night, so he has no time to let his subordinates dance with you in the rain.

The battle at night lasted for nearly an hour from the Western Army's attack to its retreat. Later, the Western Army retreated and the rain began to fall. Naturally, the civilians were rushing to prepare for the arrival of the rainy season, and at the same time they had to take away the civil servants. Call them back to save them from getting sick again in the wild.

Bernal became more and more frightened, but Chen Mu felt relieved because of this night attack. Although the western army's offensive was fierce and the night attack was also very scary, it actually did not bring much loss to the Ming army.

Only 22 people were killed that night, but many were injured, but what does it matter?

Chen Mu dared to pat his chest and say that his army has the best battlefield medical methods. The hospitals are already outside the canyon. No, they moved to the port village after the rain. The field hospitals have been established in the port village. No one died on the way to the hospital, and basically they won't die later.

Hundreds of wounded soldiers from the Western Army were not taken away. One can imagine their fate.

He didn't even think about taking the initiative to attack. He couldn't stay in the trenches in rainy weather for long, but anyway, the flag army under the barrier wall and canopy lived relatively comfortably. Even if the Spaniards attacked again, they could fight better while waiting for work.

There is no need to be greedy for meritorious service and let the banner army lose their lives so far away.

But just as Chen Mu was thinking about what to add to the flag army today to restore the low morale caused by the bad weather and night raids, the guerrilla flag army in green capes rushed all the way from the muddy foothills.

"Commander, General Lin has been stationed ten miles east of the Spaniards!"

(End of this chapter)