Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 24 Fierce Battle

ps: Two chapters in one
While Ikidok was contentedly waiting for the arrival of reinforcements, he did not know that the reinforcements he was pinning his hopes on were walking into the encirclement of the Chinese army.

After two days of traveling, the reinforcements from Puno arrived at the small town of Emodut, 30 miles from Arequipa. The residents of the town had already fled without a trace to escape the war. It was less than a few hours away from Arequipa. After two days of traveling, Umato decided to spend the night in the town of Emodut. Umato arranged soldiers on guard around the town and then found a room to rest.

Outside the town of Emmodut, three dark shadows observed the situation for a while and then quickly rode away on horseback. They were scouts sent by Li Mingyuan, scattered within fifty miles around Arequipa to gather information about reinforcements.

In order to ensure the encirclement and annihilation of the enemy reinforcements, Li Mingyuan brought out the cavalry regiment, most of the artillery regiment, the 1st Mixed Brigade, three divisions, the broadsword team, and the reconnaissance battalion, with a total number of 45,000 people. Among the 45,000 people, the cavalry regiment, the reconnaissance battalion and the 1st Mixed Brigade were the first to arrive at the vicinity of Arequipa, while the three divisions and the artillery regiment only hurriedly arrived at noon today. The artillery regiment had a large number of artillery pieces and transportation was inconvenient. Li Mingyuan equipped the entire army's mules and horses to the artillery regiment, and it took a day and a half to meet up with Li Mingyuan's vanguard troops.

"Prince, according to the report from the brothers in the reconnaissance battalion, the enemy forces from the Puno direction are stationed in the small town of Emodut." Liu Pu said at the headquarters camp of the Chinese Independence Army.

"Emodut is less than twenty miles away from our army," Li Mingyuan drew a line on the map.

Then he said, "The entire army will set out immediately, and launch the attack after each unit reaches the battlefield."

"Yes"……

The next day, before dawn, the assembled soldiers of the Independence Army took advantage of the enemy's most relaxed time before dawn to launch an attack.

Twenty heavy artillery pieces were lined up at the town of Emmodut. Following Luo's order, the artillerymen beside the heavy artillery immediately lit the fuse, then covered their ears and moved to the side. The fuse sizzled to the end, followed by twenty huge roars. Twenty shells fell along a parabola into the Peruvian military camp, instantly killing and wounding a large number of Peruvian soldiers in the tents. The Peruvian soldiers awakened by the sound of the artillery ran out of the tents in panic, but running out of the tents did not mean the end of their bad luck. After the twenty heavy artillery pieces were fired, hundreds of various field artillery pieces followed, and the sky-covering shells covered the small town, making the Peruvian army lose their way.

Umato walked out of the room in the small town, grabbed a soldier running around beside him, and asked, "Which unit are you from, and why are you running around in the barracks?"

"Commander, I am the company commander of the Third Regiment of the First Brigade. Just now a shell hit the brigade commander's room and he was killed on the spot. Now the entire First Brigade is in chaos and we can't find the commander at all."

"Deputy division commander, I order you to take over the first brigade now and organize the troops for defense immediately."

The Puno garrison consisted of a division, with Umato as the commander.
"Everyone else, follow me to the artillery battalion. We must suppress the enemy's artillery." Umato shouted to the soldiers of the guard battalion around him.

Accompanied by the sound of artillery fire, Wang Dashan's First Mixed Brigade first launched an attack from the east of the town. To the east was Peru's First Brigade, commanded by Peruvian Deputy Division Commander Jose Villar. When Jose arrived at the First Brigade's position, Wang Dashan's Mixed Brigade had already attacked. Some old Taiping Army soldiers with long scarves on their heads rushed to the position first, and the muskets in their hands fired. A Peruvian soldier in front fell to the ground and was forgotten. At this moment, a nearby Peruvian soldier turned the muzzle of the gun and aimed at the Taiping Army veteran who was charging in front. The Peruvian soldier was about to shoot when a loud roar rang out. A white light flashed, and a big knife instantly chopped the Peruvian soldier's neck. The one holding the big knife was a soldier from the big knife team following the mixed brigade.

"Thank you, brother." The old Taiping Army soldier realized that the other party had just saved his life and thanked him.

"We are all brothers, don't be polite." The big knife team was replying when a Peruvian soldier with a bayonet attacked him. The old Taiping Army soldier was quick-witted and pulled out the dagger from his body and threw it out in an instant, shooting the attacking Peruvian soldier to death.

"Now we are even." The soldiers of the Big Sword Team couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

"Brother, the battlefield is not the place to talk. After the battle, we two brothers will have a good drink."

"I agree. Let's compete to see who kills more enemies. The loser will treat us to a drink." said the soldier from the Big Knife Team.

"It's a deal," the Taiping veteran said, shooting down a fleeing Peruvian soldier.

"Brother, I've killed one more than you."

"Haha, brother, don't be too proud too soon. Watch me." The soldier from the Big Knife Team said as he rushed forward.

"Deputy division commander, the enemy's attack is fierce and we can hardly stop it," a regiment commander in charge of the defensive position east of Emodut reported to Jose.

"You must hold on, or we'll all be dead." He Sai's face was blackened by the gunfire, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.

"Deputy division commander, please ask the commander to send artillery support, otherwise I won't be able to hold the position even if you kill me."

"Messenger, ask the division commander for help, and request the artillery battalion to fire at our positions to the east."

The Peruvian artillery battalion was hidden at night and was not attacked by the Chinese Independence Army. Umato commanded the artillery to set up positions, but before suppressing the artillery of the Chinese Independence Army, he received a request for help from He Sai.

"What the hell is He Sai doing? Even if I gave him a brigade, he still couldn't stop the enemy's attack."

Umato scolded the messenger loudly, but the reinforcements had to be sent, otherwise the east gate position would not be able to be defended and everything would be ruined.

"Order the artillery to change direction and aim at the enemy in the east." Umato gave an order and the soldiers moved the cannon that had just been adjusted.

Li Mingyuan stood on the mound outside Emmodut, observing the situation inside the town with a telescope. It had been an hour since the attack began. After the initial chaos, the Peruvian army had reorganized its defense and had now initially stabilized the situation. Only the eastern position was crumbling under the attack of the mixed brigade and the broadsword team.

Li Mingyuan deployed 30,000 soldiers in the first wave of attack. He would send the remaining 15,000 men into the battlefield only after breaking through the enemy's defensive positions.

The battle lasted for an hour. Li Mingyuan initially estimated that the enemy suffered at least two thousand casualties. Most of these casualties were caused by the Chinese army taking advantage of the enemy's confusion after the shelling.

Although the artillery fire was loud, the impact it had on the enemy was mainly psychological. About five to six hundred Peruvian soldiers died directly from the shells.

"Prince, our brothers from other units are about to capture the enemy's positions. The cavalry regiment cannot just stand there and watch." Cavalry regiment commander Li Dawei requested to fight.

"Don't worry. Wait until the enemy's artillery unit appears before you can take action."

Wang Dashan's First Mixed Brigade and the Big Sword Team attacked fiercely, and several gaps had been broken in the positions on the east side of the town. More than 200 Chinese Independence Army soldiers rushed to the Peruvian positions and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.

When they were on the mainland, the Taiping Army mostly used cold weapons to fight against the Qing soldiers. Therefore, Chinese soldiers had an innate advantage in hand-to-hand combat. Most of the more than 200 soldiers who rushed to the Peruvian positions were veterans of the Taiping Army, and a small half were soldiers of the Big Sword Team. Faced with the Peruvian soldiers who outnumbered their own on the positions, the Chinese soldiers did not show any fear. They worked in groups of three, using the hand-to-hand combat tactics taught by Li Mingyuan, and attacked with their backs covered.

In the Chinese Independence Army, the soldiers of the Big Sword Team learned specialized machete techniques, while ordinary Chinese soldiers practiced bayonet tactics.

Both the hack and slash method and the bayonet tactics have their own advantages and disadvantages. A qualified broadsword soldier can easily kill two ordinary bayonet soldiers, but in order to master the sword method, the broadsword soldiers need to undergo long-term and arduous training, and the selection requirements for broadsword soldiers are much stricter than those for ordinary soldiers. Soldiers who are not strong and have extraordinary arm strength cannot use broadswords flexibly.

The requirements for bayonet tactics are not so high. Many people know that during World War II, Japan's bayonet tactics were very powerful. A group of three Japanese soldiers could fight against fifteen Chinese soldiers without losing.

However, few people know that the Japanese learned bayonet tactics from France. Li Mingyuan, who served in the French Foreign Legion in his previous life, also learned a lot about French bayonet tactics. So in his spare time, Li Mingyuan compiled a set of manuals on hand-to-hand combat for soldiers. Each company of troops was given a copy, and the squad leaders copied it from the company commander. And every night after explaining the tactics to senior officers, Li Mingyuan would take half an hour to explain the skills of bayonet tactics to the company commanders of the Chinese Independence Army.

After more than twenty days of intensive training, the Taiping soldiers who had a foundation in cold weapon combat made the most rapid progress and are now able to master general three-person tactics, while the newly joined Chinese workers are still a long way from mastering them.

The Peruvian soldiers on the battlefield were no match for the Chinese soldiers in bayonet fighting. More than 200 Chinese soldiers killed 1,000 Peruvian soldiers and forced them to retreat. As time went on, more and more Chinese soldiers poured into the Peruvian army's positions.

The eastern defense line was about to be completely breached by the Chinese army.

"Deputy division commander, the enemy has occupied one-third of the position. The brothers are unable to resist and are retreating one after another."

"No one is allowed to retreat, artillery support will arrive soon." Jose, the deputy division commander of the Peruvian army, roared, waving the pistol in his hand.

"Deputy Commander, we are surrounded by the enemy. If we continue to fight, all of our brothers will be finished. Let's surrender immediately."

The Peruvian commander was frightened by the ferocious fighting style of the broadsword soldiers. Just now, a Peruvian soldier was cut in half by the broadsword, and blood splattered on his face. If it weren't for the guards around him who fought desperately to protect him, he would have died under the sword of the Chinese soldiers.

"If you say something that disturbs the morale of the army again, I will kill you." He Sai pointed his revolver at the Peruvian commander.

Jose and Umato were core members of Thomas's faction. If they lost their 15,000 troops, Thomas would not spare them even if they returned alive, so they acted so proactively on the battlefield.

As the two men were confronting each other, a roar of artillery sounded from behind the position. A group of artillery shells flew over the heads of Jose and the Peruvian commander and hit the Chinese troops who were attacking forward.

"Oh no, enemy artillery fire, lie down quickly"

When the Chinese officer on the position heard the enemy's artillery fire, he immediately gave orders.

The Chinese soldiers who charged in front were all veterans who had experienced many battles. They immediately prostrated themselves on the ground without the officers' orders. The Chinese soldiers reacted quickly, but the Peruvian shells still injured more than a dozen unlucky people. None of the Chinese soldiers who were hit by the shells survived and all died on the spot.

"Order the frontline soldiers to retreat immediately."

In the eastern command post, Wang Dashan gave orders calmly.

"Brigade Commander Wang, our brothers are about to capture the enemy's position. Isn't it a pity to retreat now?" Captain Wu Feipeng of the Big Knife Team was also in the command post.

"Letting the brothers continue to attack now will only result in unnecessary casualties. The prince said before the battle that no matter which unit encounters enemy bombardment, do not hesitate and retreat immediately."

"Since the prince notified us in advance, there must be a way to deal with it. Let's do as the prince asked."

After the Peruvian artillery fired, hundreds of soldiers who had entered the enemy position quickly retreated, and the riddled eastern position returned to the hands of the Peruvians.

"Deputy division commander, the First Brigade suffered 2,000 casualties, and only less than 2,500 soldiers are left to go to the battlefield." After the Chinese soldiers temporarily retreated, the combat staff beside He Sai reported the battle situation to him.

"Deputy division commander, two of my three battalion commanders have been killed. If the enemy launches another attack, I'm afraid we won't be able to resist."

"Don't worry, as long as we hold on, reinforcements from Moyendo and Cusco will definitely come to rescue us."

The casualty rate was nearly half. If they were fighting with other South American countries, they would have surrendered long ago. Because they did not know the Chinese Independence Army and were afraid of retaliation at the hands of the Chinese, they insisted on not surrendering. However, this persistence did not last long. The Peruvian commander who was frightened by the big knife team just now shouted that he wanted to surrender, so He Sai did not dare to intimidate his men blindly, but gave them hope of being rescued.

In fact, what He Sai didn't know was that Moyendo's reinforcements would suffer a similar fate as theirs. The 4,000 Moyendo troops did not carry any heavy equipment such as cannons, but only came to reinforce with a dozen machine guns.

Moyendo is closer to Arequipa than Puno, but the chief of the Moyendo garrison had some conflicts with Iquido, so they deliberately delayed a bit. When the Puno garrison was struggling against the attack of the Chinese soldiers, the Moyendo reinforcements were still more than fifty miles away from Arequipa and had not yet entered the ambush circle of Chen Guozhu and Zhou Daniu's troops.

"Commander Chen, the battle has been going on for over an hour on the prince's side, but there is no movement on our side? Could it be that Mo Yanduo's reinforcements are not coming?" asked Zhou Daniu, commander of the 2nd Mixed Brigade.

"Damn it, I don't understand it either. Moyendo is the closest to Arequipa, but Puno's reinforcements have been here for over an hour, and they haven't made any movement."

"Could it be that Moyendo's commander has a grudge against the commander of the Arequipa garrison, so he watched him die without helping?" Zhou Daniu speculated.

"It is possible. We encountered this situation before when we fought against the Qing army on the mainland," Chen Guozhu agreed.

"But if Mo Yanduo's reinforcements don't come, we will have waited in vain," Chen Guozhu said suddenly.

"Division Commander, Brigade Commander Zhou, enemy troops have been spotted from the direction of Moyendo." A soldier reported while the two were thinking about it.

"Where did they go?" Li Guozhu asked.

"The enemy is still fifteen miles away from us."

"Brothers, get ready and try to wipe out the enemy."

"Yes," the soldier next to him responded loudly after resting for a day and hearing that the enemy had finally arrived.

(End of this chapter)