Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 520 Attack and Defense

The bombardment stopped, and taking advantage of the hot air balloon bombing and the panic of the enemy, a sharp whistle sounded. A team (company) launched an attack, and the cannons that the defenders had been hiding suddenly opened fire. Fortunately, because the formation was loose, the two cannons fired solid bullets, which did not cause too many casualties. Only one person was shot and died on the spot, and three others were hit by bullets on the position.

The precision shooters in the team immediately concentrated their fire on the artillery positions. The bullets hit the sandbags, making a popping sound, and several gunners were hit. The rest of the people suppressed the fire with rifles and continued to rush forward swiftly. Suddenly, a sharp whistle sounded, and the whole team immediately retreated. When they returned to the starting position, the artillery behind them roared again, focusing on the two exposed artillery positions. At the same time, the hot air balloons in the sky turned around and threw explosive packs at this outer defense fortress. How can I describe the effect of the bombing? It was very average, but for the militiamen who held their positions, the mass was in vain and their morale suffered a great blow.

At the same time, two exposed gun positions were hit by concentrated fire, and more than a dozen shells were fired continuously, destroying two twelve-pound guns removed from the battleship.

One side of the fortress area is close to the sea, so the Spanish outer defense position is composed of three defensive fortresses, distributed in an inverted "品" shape.

To attack the fortress in the core area, the three newly built fortresses on the periphery must be taken down first, so as to compress the Spanish defense depth.

As the attacker, they were at a disadvantage. Despite this, the well-trained Nanyang New Army, with the support of new rifled guns and reasonable tactical arrangements, first destroyed the enemy's artillery, gained an absolute upper hand in the exchange of fire, and suppressed the Spanish militia. The two forts ahead suffered heavy casualties after a morning of fierce attacks, and their already low morale was about to collapse.

In the last attack in the morning, our troops who had reached the front of the battle line threw a row of grenades, crossed the trench with bayonets in hand, and rushed into the position through the gap. The Spanish militia collapsed. The officer killed three people in a row but failed to stop their escape. When the bayonet with a cold glow pierced into their body, this relatively responsible officer took a look at his opponent, who was a young man with acne on his face.

After the collapse, the defensive battle turned into a battle royale. Similar incidents were not uncommon for the Spanish, but before they were the pursuers, now they were the pursued.

I don’t know how they felt when they were slaughtering the natives, and how they feel now before they die.

In the eyes of the colonists, black slaves and Indians were not considered human beings. Even if you believed in religion, you would still be looked at differently because of your skin color.

At the temporary place for receiving the wounded, six or seven nuns were trembling in fear when facing the bayonets, but they did not retreat. Instead, they stood at the door and looked at the new army soldiers with fear in their eyes.

The language difference made it impossible for the two sides to communicate. The soldier holding the bayonet hesitated and turned back to ask his companion: "What should we do?"

"Leave five men to guard the door! The rest of you continue to move forward."

After Mammy died, Sister Eve was the leader of these nuns. She was the one standing in front just now. I thought I would die today, but I didn't expect the pagan soldiers to not force their way in. They just left a few people to guard. The humiliation I was most worried about did not happen.

When Eve tried to close the door, the soldier pointed a bayonet at her and asked her to retreat. Eve took a step back, but still stared at the door: "There are only wounded here, they have no ability to resist."

The soldiers who didn't understand said: "Don't close the door, don't go out, don't kill if you surrender your guns, and treat prisoners well."

The two outermost defensive forts were taken down, and the central fort became particularly eye-catching. The Nanyang New Army paused its attack and waited for the cannons. It did not continue to attack, but instead switched to defensive alert and cleared out the remaining enemies.

There were many buildings in this area, which actually caused a lot of trouble for the attacking new army. If they attacked along the road, facing the fortress, they would definitely suffer heavy losses.

It was already afternoon and the weather was too hot, so the new army suspended the attack and consolidated the defense of the two positions they had captured.

The three outer forts were cleverly chosen to basically prevent threats to the core fortress area from all directions. The key point is that the buildings in this urban area are all inhabited by Spaniards and are made of bricks and stones. The advantage is that there is a relatively solid hiding place when defending, but the disadvantage is that it is difficult to take it back after it is destroyed.

Two outer forts were lost in one morning. They were expected to hold out for at least a month. The Spanish governor was so angry that he cursed the militiamen as useless, but he didn't dare to curse in public for fear of hurting morale. He could only hide in the house and curse in front of the bishop and the fleet commander.

"We must take it back." The bishop said in a firm tone, and the governor and the fleet commander nodded in agreement.

"It's good to take back one, otherwise the morale will be completely gone." The governor's expression was grim. He had no idea how this battle was being fought, but past experience told him that he had to fight back.

"The fleet will send out 1,500 people and 12 cannons to attack the fortress in the south." The fleet commander took the initiative to ask for the job. He had a large number of sailors under him, and their combat effectiveness was no worse than that of the army.

"The Governor's Guard will be responsible for retaking the fortress in the north." The Governor also expressed his attitude.

"Tell the officers in charge below to pay attention to the enemy's combat methods." The bishop added.

When it was not too hot in the afternoon, reinforcements from the core fortress area came to assemble near the central outer fortress. When the cannons were lined up, they couldn't help but look at the sky, hoping that the flying ball would not come.

The reason why Jia Lian did not attack the central fortress was not because he was concerned about the casualties, but because he was a bit hurt by the consumption of the attacking party in the morning. According to the firepower of the morning attack, the military supplies transported to Borneo can only last for a month at most. Even so, there cannot be too many high-intensity battles. Considering that the typhoon season is about to begin, it will take at least 20 days to transport the supplies from Dayuan Island back and forth, which is quite risky. Therefore, Jia Lian issued an order to consolidate the position and clear the battlefield.

Jia Lian's unintentional move played a big role. The Spaniards were unwilling to accept defeat and launched a counterattack. The two battalions of the new army were stationed in the captured positions. When Jia Lian learned that the Spaniards took the initiative to attack, he was overjoyed.

The Spaniards dared to fight back only because they were facing the core area and had not built any decent fortifications or obstacles beforehand, except for a breastwork.

This brick wall is OK for blocking bullets, but it is useless for dealing with cannons. But anyway, elite troops are elite troops. In two hours, a trench was built behind the breastwork, and several observation posts were reinforced behind the breastwork with sandbags. The new military camp in charge of guarding did not count on the breastwork at all, but instead set up another line of defense ten meters behind. As for the masonry room, the windows facing the room were also reinforced with sandbags. The purpose was also very clear, which was to protect against cannons. It can be said that as long as the Spaniards dared to cross the breastwork, what awaited them was a rain of bullets of death.

While we were still reinforcing the trenches here, the warning whistle sounded over there and everyone stopped to rest and prepare for battle.

The Spanish were very generous in their use of artillery, bombarding for about half an hour before stopping. From the noise, one could tell that there were at least twelve cannons.

The defensive position that Cui Luying was in charge of was facing the place where the commander of the Spanish fleet was in charge of the attack.

As the attacking side, following the artillery fire, the Spanish army formed lines and pressed forward quickly.

How should I put it? It is hard to describe the obsession of Westerners with line formations. In the Somme during World War I, the British army played bagpipes and lined up in neat formations to feed Maxim's bullets.

Their confidence came not only from past experience, but also from the fact that after the bombardment, the breastwork was smashed to pieces and not a single defending soldier was seen behind it.

After observing through the telescope, the fleet commander couldn't help but mutter to himself: "Frightened away by the fierce artillery fire? This shouldn't be the case!"

Many things are difficult to change, especially the concepts that are deeply rooted in the bones. If the Spanish soldiers carrying flintlock rifles were asked to form a skirmish formation, they would probably not fight.

Sporadic gunshots were heard, not densely, but every shot had its effect. Soldiers kept falling down, but the overall formation was not greatly affected, and the followers silently filled the gaps.

When the distance was less than 50 meters, the Spanish soldiers stopped, raised their guns, and fired at the few defenders visible behind the breastwork. Before that, the Spanish soldiers had already paid the price of nearly a hundred people.

Bullets rained down like raindrops, hitting the breastwork, crackling like heavy rain hitting banana leaves.

"Charge!" After three rounds of volleys, the Spanish soldiers, without bothering to reload, rushed forward with bayonets in hand.

The gunfire, which had not been dense before, suddenly sounded like a violent storm. In the sight of the fleet commander, the soldiers of the Eastern Empire suddenly appeared from the ground and fired fiercely with their rifles.

Just the rifle fire was like the Grim Reaper's sickle, and the Spanish soldiers fell one by one like wheat. When they were about 30 meters away from the breastwork, an even more terrifying scene appeared. A group of three rapid-fire cannons suddenly, skillfully mounted on the breastwork, opened fire. Reloaded, and fired again. There were at least 50 such groups, that is, 30-meter rapid-fire cannons, emitting Satan's grim smile on the front of a thousand meters wide.

After just five rounds of rapid fire, a line of blood was drawn at a distance of thirty meters, and no one could cross this distance.

More soldiers appeared behind the breastwork, holding rifles, aiming calmly, and firing. In the eyes of the fleet commander, these were all undead soldiers from hell.

Harvesting lives with the most efficient and cruel means.

The Spanish soldiers' formation was finally incomplete. The subsequent soldiers who rushed forward instinctively, when they saw everything clearly in front of them, subconsciously braked, turned around, and ran away.

Some people just dropped their weapons. You don't need to run too fast at this time, just run faster than your companions.

The undead soldiers continued to shoot for a while, and then with another magical whistle, they disappeared behind the wall of white smoke. It seemed that they had not appeared before, and were still lurking underground, waiting for the next undead summons.

The fleet commander was trembling all over, his limbs were cold: "Fire, fire all the shells."

Boom boom, the cannon fire started again, the twelve-pounder shells once again destroyed the broken breastwork. The defensive position was dead silent, lifeless.

After the gunfire stopped, the commander of the Spanish fleet finally saw clearly what was happening in front of him. On the road of charge, people were lying densely scattered on the ground. Some were already dead and motionless, some were not dead yet and were groaning and gasping, and some were struggling to walk back.

The hot air balloon appeared again, and the artillery quickly hid. But this time, instead of dropping explosives, they dropped a roll of white cloth with a document written on it. The general meaning was that the Spanish were allowed to collect the bodies under the white flag, and the soldiers of the Great Zhou Empire would not open fire.

The Spanish fleet commander received statistics showing that 1,500 men went out to fight, but less than 1,000 returned. The force that was deployed was reduced by one third.

He was not an isolated case. The Spanish Governor's Guard launched an attack on the northern fortress and suffered equally heavy casualties. 1,200 men went into battle, but less than 600 returned, with more than half of them killed or wounded.

There is not much controversy about whether to collect the bodies. In such hot weather, if the bodies are not collected, they will all be suffocated to death tomorrow.

As the sun set, the Spaniards waving white flags walked onto the battlefield. These people were not soldiers, but civilians, including many women and children.

The Nanyang New Army kept its promise and did not fire a single shot, allowing the other side to carry away all the corpses and wounded in front of the battlefield.

As night falls, the pungent smell of gunpowder still lingers in the air, and the symphony of chirping insects echoes in the night sky.

After dark, the New Army's battle statistics were sent to Jia Lian. At the cost of 13 deaths and 66 serious and minor injuries, it was estimated that more than 3,000 defenders were killed or wounded, more than 1,200 rifles and four artillery pieces were seized, and more than 400 prisoners were taken, most of whom were women in logistics and medical care, as well as the wounded.

Perhaps they were very confident in their own defense, so there were actually two warehouses in the two outer fortresses, storing large amounts of rice, gunpowder, projectiles, etc. This was really a pleasant surprise.

At least the consumption of gunpowder has been temporarily compensated. As for the consumption of Minié bullets, overseas Chinese have been organized to produce them. This thing is not difficult, as long as there is cork.

As for the prisoners, they were very troublesome, especially the wounded Spanish soldiers. We specifically asked for instructions on whether we should just dispose of them.

Jia Lian instructed that killing prisoners was unlucky! After disarming them, they should be resettled in a centralized place.

In fact, according to the opinions of the front, Cui Lu suggested that they just end it all. Zhang San was also quite tempted, but fortunately he was relatively stable and asked Jia Lian for advice.

There was no other choice but to find some empty houses in the indigenous area, temporarily house them, leave some food and water nearby, send dozens of people to guard them, and then leave them alone.

This is why Jia Lian emphasized military discipline. Some things require a lot of hard work. They may not have much effect in the short term, but over time, the water will wear away the stone.

Well, it’s just not cool enough.

Jia Lian was not so saintly as to use the medicines he had brought with great difficulty to treat the wounded and to prepare some food and water. They had to ask God themselves whether they could survive.

As for those nuns, Jia Lian issued strict orders not to have any evil thoughts, and if discovered, they would be severely punished.

Again, the consequence of the breakdown of military discipline is that the army is no longer an army, but a group of beasts. They can humiliate Spanish women, and they will do the same to indigenous women.

Jia Lian did not care too much about the results of the battle. Instead, he held a banquet at the headquarters, invited Boss Chen to dinner, and asked him about topics related to the indigenous people.

How should I put it? Including the officers and soldiers of the navy, as well as the sailors and auxiliary soldiers on the transport ships, the entire expeditionary force added up to 50,000 people. Compared with the natives, this number is not even a fraction.

(End of this chapter)