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Chapter 1689 Siege of Dunkirk Fortress
"We have opened the floodgates and turned the land around the fort into a swamp. With the swamp to help us stop the enemy, our Dunkirk fortress is invulnerable."

The Spanish defender and the French fleet commander Blazer had dinner in the fortress, full of confidence in defending the fortress.

"General, the Holy Alliance has landed on the beach, their engineers are groping for the road in the swamp, and the artillery is already using artillery to attack our outer positions!" A Spanish officer hurriedly came to report.

"How could it be possible to launch an attack so quickly?" The Spanish guard stood up in disbelief, and was no longer in the mood to continue eating.

He and Blazer came to the parapet of the bastion, and there was smoke from the artillery in the distance. The army that landed in Dunkirk really stepped on the muddy land, trying to break through the outer defensive positions of Dunkirk.

They could hear sporadic artillery sounds. The attacking troops obviously planned to use artillery to bombard the outer positions of the Dunkirk fort first, and to hit the morale of the defenders first.

On the beach, rowing boats transported infantry and horses to land, while soldiers who had already landed assembled on the beach.

Teams of sappers were laying pontoon bridges and looking for roads suitable for marching, and cavalry found their horses.There was a moment of confusion on the beach.

Fortunately, the troops of the countries of the European Continental Alliance have not gathered in time, and no one has blocked the landing of the Holy Alliance.

Prince Rupert rode a black charge horse with a troop of English cavalry at his side.

"Have you already started attacking the fortress?" Prince Rupert found Commander-in-Chief Sun Chuanting and asked him.

"The Tubang soldiers recruited in the Indian peninsula will conquer the periphery, and then dig trenches and push the artillery under their noses." Sun Chuanting pointed at a group of soldiers wearing turbans with a horsewhip.

Under the leadership of the Chinese military officers, the Indian native soldiers who were the first to go ashore acted as the vanguard to capture the outer periphery of Dunkirk.

During their usual training, they were reprimanded by army sticks and asked to be banned. In order to change their status as a lower caste in the Indian Peninsula, these people became cheap war machines. They held muskets and shot at the Spanish defenders on the periphery.

The Spanish soldiers in the outlying positions used wooden frames to support heavy matchlock guns. When they saw the dark-looking enemy wearing a turban approaching, they felt frightened.

The smoke of black powder filled the air, and from time to time some Tubang soldiers fell to the ground, and the rest continued to move forward.

The Spanish defenders on the outskirts never thought that even the hooded servants were so tenacious. They withdrew from the outskirts in advance before the native soldiers rushed up.

"The servant army recruited from the Indian Peninsula is really useful. The main cost is to supply them with food and drink. As long as we have food, such a servant army can be transported here at any time."

"Originally, the Tubang soldiers were to attract the enemy's firepower, but their training and equipment have surpassed the Spaniards..."

After Cao Bianjiao captured the outlying positions by Tubang soldiers, he arrived with elite soldiers from the Imperial Guard Brigade.Before the imperial guard brigade launched a charge, the Tubang soldiers had already ended the battle early.

This result surprised the officers from China.They found it most cost-effective to use Tubang soldiers to fight here.

"Now is not the time to be in a daze. The engineers are ready to dig trenches and get close to the city wall!"

As the commander-in-chief of the siege of the Dunkirk fortress, Sun Chuanting commanded the engineers to begin the siege of the fortress.

Chu Yun didn't have much time to stay in Europe, so he couldn't be blocked by these strong fortresses and waste a lot of time.

This is why Chu Yun very much avoided going deep into the European continent to fight. The European continent is in a state of war every year, and a large number of fortresses have been built on the borders of various countries. The siege of the fortresses takes a lot of time and puts huge pressure on logistics.

Engineers and ordinary soldiers were urged to build parallel trenches around the fortress and advance around the fortress of Dunkirk.

The Spanish defenders of Dunkirk Fortress faced the aggressive Holy Alliance army. 18000 infantry and cavalry had successfully landed, while the army of the Continental Allies was still hastily assembled.

"General Blazer, we seem to be in big trouble this time."

Seeing that the enemy quickly occupied the outer positions of the fort, the Spanish defender was no longer as calm as before, but worried that the fortress would be quickly captured by the enemy.

"Haven't our reinforcements arrived yet? I don't know what happened to our fleet..." French Fleet Commander Blazer was even more worried.

Spain's General de Mello in Flanders led the Spanish Legion from Brussels outside Dunkirk.

Prince Condé of France led a 10000-strong French army on the border to quickly approach Dunkirk.

Ferdinand III of the Holy Roman Empire ordered Friedrich William, Elector of Brandenburg, to lead 5000 German knights and mercenaries into battle.

Queen Christina of Sweden personally led a 3000-strong Swedish cavalry and light artillery unit to rush south from northern Germany to help Dunkirk.

At this time, the main force of the Kingdom of Sweden was still in the north and another war broke out with the Kingdom of Denmark, and she had only a small number of troops in her hands.

As for the distances between the Ottoman Turkish Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, and Tsarist Russia, even if they organized their forces, they could not support the Dunkirk fortress in the English Channel across a long distance.

The Kingdom of Poland and Tsarist Russia organized part of the cavalry to invade the territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, and because the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the army led by Chu Yun, they did not dare to send troops on the surface. Their Grand Vizier funded France, Spain, Kingdoms such as the Netherlands participated in European wars in the way they waged wars.

The forces of the four kingdoms, Spain, France, Sweden, and German princes, gradually gathered around the fortress of Dunkirk.

The strength of the reinforcements has reached an astonishing 20000 people, and it is still under the premise that all the troops temporarily summoned by various countries cannot arrive in time.

In order to prevent the fall of the bridgehead of Dunkirk and become the base camp of the Holy Alliance to spy on the continent, the European Allies even abandoned some heavy artillery and rushed to Dunkirk with only 3-pound light field guns.

The location of Dunkirk is very important. As long as it is occupied here and has a powerful navy or privateer fleet, it can plunder the ships of various countries traveling to and from the English Channel.

Spain and France want to reach the North Sea and the Baltic Sea by sea, and the Netherlands, the Holy Roman Empire, and Sweden want to enter the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel.

The Spaniards just occupied Dunkirk and used privateers to cause huge losses to the Netherlands. It is really hard to imagine how uncomfortable it would be for other kingdoms if the Dunkirk Fortress fell into the hands of the Holy Alliance.

(End of this chapter)