Wild North America 1846

Chapter 586

January 1872, 21

The northern end of the Red Sea, off the coast of Suez

On the vast sea, several flaming wrecks of sailing warships were floating and sinking, and several iron-clad giant ships passed by with billowing black smoke from their chimneys, performing a sad song of blood and fire that conquered the weak.

Floating corpses on the sea, wooden barrels and charred sail fragments are everywhere. The cold bow of the ironclad battleship plowed the sea and drew a clear track. These sunken Egyptian sailing warships are their masterpieces and conquerors Medal of honor.

Inside the large conning tower of the "Evil Wind" armored cruiser
His Highness Tang-Li Xin, who was wearing the uniform of the Rear Admiral, was full of spirits on his young face, and he said to the Deputy Commander of the Expeditionary Force, Brigadier General Zheng Huaishan, with satisfaction; "It was a great fight, my Deputy Commander, this naval battle can be called A classic example of a teaching style."

"Thank you for your reputation, Your Highness. I really dare not take it as Huaishan. This is the merit of Your Highness's willingness to sit on the expedition fleet. All the soldiers of my expeditionary army fought bravely to be the first, and they made it all."

"Hahahaha... Raising the great power of our empire beyond thousands of miles of waves is a great achievement, and the Commander-in-Chief will ask for the credit on his behalf." His Highness Tang-Li Xin also laughed loudly, and turned to look at the person in charge. Major General Fan Pengfei, deputy commander of the expeditionary force who commanded the operations on land.

Major General Fan Pengfei immediately stood at attention and saluted, and said, "Please give instructions, Your Highness."

"Deputy Commander Zheng's good show is over, and the obstacles of the Egyptian fleet have been cleared away. Now it's up to you." His Highness Tang-Li Xin pointed his hand in the direction of Suez City, and said loudly; "This is Wanli At the end of the journey, I will give you 48 hours. At this time the day after tomorrow, I will set up the headquarters of the expeditionary force in the city. Occupy the city and keep the sword open for three days."

"As ordered, Your Highness, don't seal the sword for three days." Major General Fan Pengfei repeated the order with a serious expression.

Any move that dares to humiliate the empire will inevitably lead to bloody revenge.

The port city in front of us, which flourished due to the construction of the Suez Canal, was the terminal of the canal shipping connecting the Nile River and the Red Sea in the seventh century AD, and has a history of more than 1100 years.

In the era of the Ottoman Empire, this was an important military port and commercial port in the Red Sea. On April 1541, 4, Estevo da Gama led the Portuguese fleet to raid the Port of Suez under the control of the Ottoman Empire, trying to capture it, because the Ottomans were heavily guarded. , was forced to retreat.

After the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, it developed into an important port city with a busy port transshipment business. There are only 14.3 urban residents who make a living from the canal transshipment trade. Now it is about to usher in the baptism of brutal war.

According to information
The city of Suez is composed of three parts: the new city, the old city of Port Ibrahim and the port of Taufik. After learning about the large-scale expedition of the Tang Empire, Egyptian Pasha Ismail quickly mobilized three elite infantry divisions with a total of about 1.85 People rushed to the aid of Suez City.

In addition, there were originally more than 1760 Egyptian soldiers in Suez City, with a total strength of more than 2, and thus formed the Northern Army. The second son Issam served as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, and the German Major General Ludwig served as the Chief of Staff of the Army. .

Because the German army has shined in European wars for more than a decade, German-style military training has been favored. The Ottoman Empire even hired General Moltke, the chief of staff of the German army, as the chief of staff of the Austrian army, and gave them high salaries and generous gifts.

The more distant ancient eastern countries also revealed similar intentions, but they have not yet been implemented.

Major General Ludwig was one of the senior generals who followed General Moltke to the East for gold panning. After arriving in Suez, he immediately tried his best to organize the men in the city into militias and issued weapons such as knives and guns for training to assist Egypt. army defense.

After a few months, a total of about 1.52 people's militias have been compiled, which is a force that cannot be ignored.

However, due to the lack of advanced weapons such as muskets, most of these militiamen used swords, guns and shields, and their combat effectiveness was relatively low.

In a city of more than 14 people, the regular Egyptian army plus militia exceeds 3.5 people, so all the members of Suez City are now soldiers.Even residents who don't hold knives and guns are serving the Egyptian army, washing and cooking or transporting food and grass, and there are almost no innocent people.

After annihilating Egypt's backward sailing fleet, the warships of the Datang Empire's expeditionary force gathered at Taufik Port, intending to forcibly land here.

The prelude to the bloody battle thus kicked off
"Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom..."

The artillery on the armored cruiser and the armed merchant ship fired violently, burying the Egyptian army gathered here in the violent explosion of fire, the port and houses on the shore were bombarded to pieces, the Egyptian army was killed and wounded, and had to retreat from the artillery fire coverage.

Then the large immigrant ship forcibly docked at the pier, and a large group of heavily armed imperial soldiers poured down from the ship.The soldiers lined up quickly under the command of the chief, and attacked the Egyptian army with intensive volleys of gunfire. The battle became intense from the very beginning.

With the passage of time, more and more soldiers of the Tang Empire landed in Taufik Port, and the battle line gradually deepened into the port area, leaving behind a large number of corpses of the Egyptian army along the way.

Relying on the advantages of sharp weapons, the soldiers of the Tang Empire gained an absolute crushing advantage in the confrontation with the old-fashioned muskets of the Egyptian army, and the enemies they fought retreated step by step.

about 3:00 pm

The fierce fighting has lasted for more than 4 hours. The stubbornly resisting Egyptian army finally couldn't bear it anymore. After leaving more than 3400 corpses in Taufik Port, they retreated in embarrassment and retreated to the old city of Ibrahim Port and the city center.

compared with

The imperial soldiers who successfully repelled the enemy had only more than 310 casualties, of which 67 were killed and 243 were injured. The loss can be described as minimal.

On the pier of Taufik Harbor

"Press me up and beat me hard, keep applying strong offensive pressure, and don't leave the enemy a chance to breathe." Major General Fan Pengfei, the deputy commander of the expeditionary force in charge of directing the land attack, looked stern, pointing his finger in the direction of the old city, command loudly;
"The Egyptians used urban buildings to build defensive walls in an attempt to stop the advance of the imperial army, which is simply wishful thinking!
I will tell them with fierce artillery fire that all stubbornness will be crushed.

The imperial army will launch an attack in both east and west directions at the same time, smash down like two iron fists, and maintain a continuous strong attack pressure until the enemy is completely defeated.

Each attack direction is assigned an artillery regiment, and I will use artillery fire to smash their tortoise shells and open a gap to attack the city.

All soldiers, our Royal Army will use this battle to frighten the barbarians from other lands and conquer this land where the Arabs live forever.

Wherever the army goes, it is the territory of the empire.

Everyone who is stubborn and restless will be killed without mercy, His Highness has spoken first; go into the city without sealing the knife for 3 days, and now prepare to launch a full-scale attack. "

"Obey, Your Excellency the Deputy Commander." A group of military officers were excited, and they clasped their fists in awe-inspiring manner.

The Imperial Expeditionary Army took the 4th Division of the Royal Marines as the main force, and strengthened the artillery and cavalry regiments attached to the 3rd Division, with a total of 1.93 officers and soldiers.

Judging from the strength of the regular army, the difference between the two is almost the same.

However, the Tang Empire's army has advanced weapons and equipment, strong training and comprehensive combat effectiveness, and has the advantage of artillery fire. Facing the city of Suez, which is strictly defended by the Egyptian army, it has formed a dimensionality reduction strike advantage, which is especially obvious on the battlefield.

After the order to attack was issued, the Expeditionary Force of the Tang Empire formed a pincer-shaped attack posture with one left and one right. Using sharp artillery fire as a leading strike, the strong houses and stone walls defended by the Egyptian army were blown to pieces, shrouded in a sea of ​​​​flames.

These solid defense facilities did not bring support to the Egyptian army, but instead became a bloody slaughterhouse, which suffered heavy damage from artillery fire.

The Egyptian soldiers hiding behind the houses and defensive walls, after the heavy shells fell, the corpses and limbs were torn into pieces by the violent explosion, flying all over the sky.

Every time a shell falls, it explodes into a bloody mess within a radius of more than ten meters...

After the artillery fire, the dense infantry formation charged and stormed. Under the rain of bullets, the Egyptian army had to continue to retreat.

After more than two hours of fierce fighting in the city, the Egyptian army was completely defeated, and the officers ordered them to flee in all directions.

Seeing that the general situation was over, Lieutenant General Issam, Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Army of Egypt, and Major General Ludwig, Chief of Staff, had to give up resistance, and led a small number of defeated soldiers to flee in delusion.

never thought

The experienced Major General Fan Pengfei had already guarded against this move. If they really escaped the so-called capture of the thief and the king, it would not be considered a complete victory.

"By God Almighty, are these demonic orientals going to kill them all?" Seeing a large number of chasing cavalry, and the cavalry of the Egyptian guards who were guarding them were shot down one after another, Lieutenant General Yissam's expression Shocked and angry, he couldn't help but curse.

Major General Ludwig, who was riding on the horse and fled together, smiled miserably when he saw this, pulled out the saber at his waist, and said generously;
"My lord, please go ahead. I will lead all the cavalry guards to block the pursuers. Please tell my dear Elena that I love her forever."

The so-called food for the emperor is a matter of loyalty to the emperor.

Major General Ludwig, who originated from the German Junker military aristocrat, is a loyal practitioner of the traditional Teutonic Knights' bravery and fearlessness. He cherishes the Prussian mercenary tradition and is ready to defend the glory of soldiers with his life.

Lieutenant General Yissam looked at the large number of cavalrymen who were chasing closer and closer, and when he knew that it was not polite at the moment, he immediately gave an order to the captain of the Mamluk guards; "From now on, you unconditionally obey Ludwig's staff Long order, until the last moment of life, may Allah bless!"

While talking
A group of cavalrymen from the Tang Dynasty came out from the hills in front of them, but unfortunately they blocked the way. It turned out that cavalrymen had already ambushed here.

There is a strong enemy in front, and there are pursuers behind.

Lieutenant General Issam was completely desperate at this moment, he reined in his handsome mount and changed the subject; "Forget it, give up resistance. Any struggle is meaningless, and General Ludwig Similarly, if there is a chance to return to Cairo alive, Your Excellency the General will personally say to Elena: "You love her forever". Noble prisoners like us are worth redeeming, may Allah bless you!"

Seeing that his employers had given up, Major General Ludwig had no choice but to throw away his saber, spread his arms and surrendered.

(End of this chapter)