Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 522 The Enemy Will Also Improve
The rumbling sound of cannons in the distance was from the last outer fortress being attacked. Jia Lian, with his big horse and golden sword, looked at the natives brought by Chen Lao Da in front of him with a smile. The natives were the Sioux tribe, which was once quite powerful with 30,000 soldiers. The Spaniards saw that they wanted to show their strength, so they directly brought in several other tribes to give the Sioux a good beating.

The most powerful indigenous tribe in the Manila area in the past has now become a weakling in the eyes of other tribes, and has been driven into the mountains to survive. It is also bullied a lot, and the Chinese are willing to do fair business with them. As the leader of the tribe, Suha learned that there had been changes in the Manila area, so he brought a few people to see what was going on under the banner of doing business. Unexpectedly, he was brought to Jia Lian by Boss Chen, and he repeatedly told him that this was a great man from the Celestial Empire, and whether he could rise again depended on whether he was useful to this great man.

Li Yuan was very curious about how Jia Lian would treat these natives, so he followed and watched with an attitude of learning.

"The territory of the Celestial Empire is tens of millions times larger than this place. We are not interested in the land here. We just want a few ports to facilitate merchant ships to do business. If you want to follow the Celestial Empire, you must demonstrate the value of the Su army. Don't try to get away with it. I don't keep idle people here." What Jia Lian said was unpleasant to the ear, at least it sounded harsh to Li Yuan. He would definitely not tolerate such arrogance.

Just when Li Yuan was curious about the reaction of this dark, thin, short native, Suha knelt down with his hands on the ground and said, "Thank you, Lord Tianchao, for giving Subu a chance to serve. Please rest assured, Lord Tianchao, Subu is willing to send half of its young and strong men to help you attack the fortress."

Li Yuan didn't understand a word Suha said. Wasn't there a translator brought by Boss Chen?

After listening to the translation, Li Yuan thought to himself, this guy's attitude is really a bit low, isn't it?

"I don't care what you say, I only care what you do. Well, I'm short on time, you and Boss Chen go down." Jia Lian acted very cold and arrogant, but Suha still bowed respectfully again, then stood up and left. After Boss Chen and Suha left, Li Yuan couldn't help asking: "Since you want to use him, why don't you treat him with respect?"

Jia Lian was not surprised by Li Yuan's problem. After all, he still lacked some experience.

"Your Highness, in my mind, the Sioux are nothing more than dogs that I drive. There is no need to treat them with courtesy. Moreover, they are uneducated. Before they can demonstrate their value, they are not even qualified to be dogs for the Celestial Empire. In short, Your Highness, remember, you don't have to be too polite to them. If you are polite, they will think you are weak and will definitely push your luck. Besides, there are more than one similar tribes. They are all fighting for a chance to be dogs for the Celestial Empire. The reason they are fighting for the opportunity is not because of the courtesy we give them, but because we are strong enough."

Li Yuan..., after a moment's hesitation, said: "The Celestial Empire has its ups and downs, it is impossible for it to remain strong forever."

Jia Lian smiled and said, "That is a matter for future generations. We should trust their wisdom. Each generation should do its own thing. I cannot predict whether future generations can follow the path we have created."

Li Yuan did not ask any more questions. After that, whenever Jia Lian met with indigenous leaders, he would follow him and watch silently, comparing his thoughts with his own.

The attack on the central fortress in the outer city area was doomed to fail.

After learning that many attacks had failed, Jia Lian did not blame Zhang San. Instead, he comforted him and told him not to worry, because it was the Spaniards in the fortress area who should be anxious.

Jia Lian didn't worry about the specifics of the battle. It wasn't that he was careless, but he knew that he was not as good as Zhang San, the deputy commander, in terms of battlefield response and command capabilities.

In a frontal battle, Jia Lian would go to the front line in person for the purpose of boosting morale due to the advantage in equipment. But in the current offensive, there is no need for Jia Lian to go to the front line in person.

Instead, Li Yuan was assigned a task by Jia Lian to visit the frontline soldiers, while Jia Lian chose to visit the wounded and sick in the field hospital.

Jia Lian had made detailed preparations for this battle and had done his best in logistical supplies, but there was one thing that Jia Lian was very unsure about, and that was malaria.

Once this stuff spreads, it will be really fatal. Right now Jia Lian only has quinine, which has too many side effects.

After handing over the battle to Zhang San, Jia Lian began to pay attention to this matter.

All the doctors were collected by Jia Lian when he was in Guangzhou. He also spent money to set up schools and trained a group of medical staff. Doctors had to take students, and take more students.

After several years, the field hospital finally took shape. Now there are ten famous doctors, and each of them is forced to teach twenty students.

It is impossible for a doctor not to have students. Jia Lian is not the kind of person who will reason with you. Of course, if you have outstanding students, Jia Lian will also give you a sufficient reward.

The director of the field hospital was named Lu, a famous doctor in northern Guangdong who was particularly good at treating snake bites. After being discovered by Jia Lian's men, dozens of his family members were "invited" to the medical school.

In order to win Doctor Lu's loyalty, Jia Lian even got him a position as a seventh-rank medical officer.

Including the students of other doctors, the field hospital is still well staffed.

When Jia Lian arrived, Dean Lu came out to greet him. After greeting him, Jia Lian asked directly, "How many malaria patients are there recently?"

"No malaria patients have been found yet. I guess the health regulations promulgated by Your Excellency have taken effect. Although the claim that mosquitoes spread malaria is unfounded, it is still desirable that our army pays attention to killing mosquitoes wherever they go." This is how Dean Lu answered Jia Lian, which shows his character.

Jia Lian didn't care about the defiance in his words and continued to inspect the wounded.

"After today's battle, 53 wounded soldiers were sent here. One of them was so seriously injured that he died on the way here. There are still eight seriously injured soldiers. I don't know if they can survive."

After hearing Dean Lu’s report, Jia Lian felt a little distressed. Each of these soldiers was carefully trained.

"Guns have no eyes. Let's go and check on the wounded." Jia Lian walked into the ward and first checked on a few seriously injured patients, and then checked on all the wounded.

Jia Lian kept comforting the wounded along the way, and he could call out the names of several of them, all of whom were young people. Seeing Jia Lian here, the wounded were very excited. After receiving encouragement, the young soldiers wished they could recover from their injuries right now and continue to fight for Jia Lian.

"How effective is allicin?" Jia Lian extracted allicin through chemical methods, which is currently the only effective antibiotic. It's not that he didn't think about penicillin, but it was too difficult to get started. The same goes for artemisinin. He gave it all to Lavoisier, asking him to lead a group of students to slowly work on it. Whether it will succeed depends on God's will.

"So far, the effect is good." Dean Lu answered seriously. Jia Lian had no temper with him. When he was tied back to him, he had already offended him. Now he didn't care about that, as long as he could do his job well.

Dean Lu didn't hate Jia Lian that much, but he just couldn't get over it. Famous doctors in ancient times were all like this, they would pass on their skills to males instead of females, and those with other surnames would get out of the way. Now that he was forced to teach students, it was impossible for him not to have any grudges in his heart. Of course, he only had a little grudge, after all, Jia Lian treated him too well. The only thing he couldn't get over was that Jia Lian sent troops to arrest his family, which scared him a lot.

In the evening, Jia Lian came to the General Staff Office and began to summarize the day's battle. At this time, Li Yuan had already arrived.

Li Yuan was a studious man, but the more so, the more troubled Jia Lian was. He really didn't know how to treat him.

Jia Lian still has some conscience, although not much.

Several young staff officers from the General Staff Office have already compiled a detailed account of what happened during the day.

The battle itself was unremarkable, consisting of artillery bombing, hot air balloon bombing, infantry attack, and shooting.

The key to today's battle was that the Spanish artillery played an important role. In previous battles, the Spanish also summed up their experience, so the artillery was able to hold its breath and did not fire.

Although the Spanish artillery was constantly discovered and destroyed during the battle, several guns survived and blocked the gap with grapeshot at the critical moment, which was the main cause of casualties.

"The front has decided to change tactics. We will not rush to break through the gap tomorrow. Instead, we will make full use of our firepower advantage, blast at multiple points, break through at multiple points. The commandos should bring more grenades, explosive packs, pickaxes and other tools. If they encounter a house blocking the way, they should directly break through the wall instead of going around it."

Fan Ping made his final report, and Jia Lian nodded expressionlessly: "Today's battle should be summarized as a profound lesson, and the officers at all levels below should be informed. We can't be anxious just because the enemy is not strong. The enemy is also improving. All kinds of pre-war plans must be made in detail, and we can't take the past successful experience as the criterion."

"Master Zhang has written a self-criticism report and placed it on your desk." Adjutant Fan Ping said again in a low voice.

Jia Lian nodded and said nothing more. What he said just now was not only a criticism of Zhang San, but also of the staff officers below. The battle between the two fortresses was too smooth before, which was due to the effect of the fog of war. The enemy lacked understanding of our army, and the morale was low, which was equivalent to being caught off guard. Now that the enemy has discovered the tactics to restrain our army, our army must also make corresponding changes.

The next day, Jia Lian went to the front line to watch the battle. Zhang San came forward with a guilty look on his face. After Jia Lian greeted him, he said calmly: "I have read the self-criticism report. Everyone makes mistakes and always relies on past experience. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes, just make targeted improvements. I still hope that before every battle in the future, we will do a good job of reconnaissance and preparation, and maximize our own advantages during the war, while limiting the enemy's advantages. What I said are the most common truths. Everyone actually knows them, but they are occasionally overlooked. Please remember that a small negligence before the battle will cost the soldiers blood during the war."

Everyone stood in silence to listen to the lecture. The follower Li Yuan took a notebook to write it down. Recently, he has been writing some records about Jia Lian, wondering if he could write something in the future and publish it when he goes back.

"Okay, everyone, take your positions and get ready to begin. Your Highness, please watch the battle with me." After Jia Lian finished speaking, he looked at Li Yuan, who waved his hand to indicate that he had nothing to say.

In fact, Li Yuan had spoken to the soldiers yesterday, but how should I put it? He could clearly feel that the soldiers of the new army respected him, but that was all. If he really wanted to command them, he couldn't.

Not to mention obedience.

Twenty-four twelve-pound guns and four twenty-four-pound guns were concentrated on the target and aimed at the last fortress on the periphery, launching a fierce bombardment.

Jia Lian had been watching in silence. Today's battle was very fierce from the beginning. The commandos carried explosive packs and entered the front position when the artillery fire began. Five minutes after the shelling began, the commandos began to move forward, almost stepping on the artillery fire. This tactic was the new army's trump card, because it was very easy to cause accidental injuries. It had only been practiced before, but not often used.

After the attack was thwarted yesterday, the new army soldiers, who were full of anger, directly used this tactic and adopted the tactics of multiple blasting and multiple assaults.

When the two hot air balloons flew over the fortress, they began to drop explosive packs continuously, as if they were not worried about hitting the commandos. This made Jia Lian see the ferocity of the new army.

The Spanish defenders had never seen a war like this before and planned to copy yesterday's successful tactics. However, they found that with continuous explosions, the fences and earth walls were blown into the sky. The hidden militia and soldiers were severely impacted by the explosions. Many of them had bleeding ears and noses, and fell down after standing up and taking a few steps.

Jia Lian looked at the battlefield silently and thought of the conscienceless cannon. It was not difficult to make, but the range was too short. It could only work on opponents who were surrounded by trenches. Of course, in defense, as long as it was well hidden, it could also play a significant role. However, the equipment of the new army now seemed to be difficult to encounter defensive situations. The weak opponents were also a problem.

Continuous explosions created multiple gaps. After the new troops poured in from all directions, the demoralized Spanish militia collapsed first, followed by the regular army.

The new army changed its strategy of charging and attacking recklessly, and the tactic of breaking through the wall at multiple points worked wonders, unexpectedly surrounding a group of Spanish Governor's Guards who had no chance to escape.

The Governor's Guard, which consisted of more than a hundred people, had a strong fighting spirit. After discovering that they were surrounded, they launched a breakout operation.

The breakout was met with dense grenades and accurate shooting. In the end, more than half of the hundred people were killed or wounded, and they surrendered.

Surrender is nothing new in the history of wars throughout history. The army that modern Chinese people have seen, whose fighting will is so tenacious that it is almost mythical, is unique in history.

Because of the thorough preparations before the battle, today's siege went very smoothly and the last fortress on the periphery was captured in just one morning.

The results of the battle were that 2,000 enemies were annihilated, 800 were killed or wounded, and over 1,000 were captured. This battle report was not exaggerated.

A simple calculation shows that the Spaniards who remain in the core fortress now have only about half of their original combat effectiveness.

It can only be said that because of the boasting of Britain and France, the Spaniards adopted the most conservative tactics, which did cause a lot of trouble for the new army.

(End of this chapter)