Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 307 Retreat

Thousands of Bam soldiers rushed down the mountain, and before them was the already defeated Spanish army.

After seeing the natives rushing down the mountain, the Spanish soldiers retreated even faster. Many soldiers threw away their helmets and armor, lost their hats, and even their rifles.

In a short period of time, at least a thousand rifles were abandoned on the battlefield.

How could Sultan Bam miss such an opportunity? He immediately ordered his soldiers to clean up the battlefield and collect all the weapons and equipment discarded by the Spaniards.

Needless to say, the rifles equipped by the Spanish army must be more advanced than those equipped by the Bam army. Once all these rifles are equipped to the troops, the Bam Sultan will have greater confidence in resisting the Spanish attack.

Following the order of Sultan Bam, the indigenous soldiers were not in a hurry to catch up with the Spanish army, but instead began to collect the scattered rifles on the battlefield.

Shoes, hats, rifles, bullets, and other items left behind by Spanish soldiers on the battlefield. These items also reflect the panic of the Spanish army during their retreat, which also reassures the Sultan of Bam.

Judging from the current situation, the defeat of the Spanish army is absolutely real. Although it is unclear why the well-equipped Spanish army collapsed so quickly, it is a good thing for the Kingdom of Bam anyway.

Before Sultan Bam could be happy for long, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed.

boom! Boom boom!

First, the Spanish army's artillery fired continuously at the Bam army, causing the Bam soldiers who were cleaning the battlefield to panic and search for shelters to protect themselves.

Under the suppression of artillery fire, these natives hid in their bunkers and dared not show their heads, which also created opportunities for the Spanish army to attack.

Under the horrified gaze of the Sultan of Bam, a steady stream of Spanish soldiers rushed out and advanced towards the chaotic Bam army.

The Bam army, suppressed by artillery fire, had no way to react. In order to collect rifles, the natives were scattered far away, and some of them had not even noticed that the Spanish army had launched an attack.

Suddenly, the natives were surprised to find that the Spanish artillery stopped firing.

Before they could catch their breath, they heard continuous gunfire.

boom!Boom!

When their companions fell one after another, the group of natives finally reacted and hurriedly picked up their rifles to fight back.

But they forgot one thing, which is the huge difference between a muzzle-loading rifle and a breech-loading rifle.

Although the Bam army was also equipped with a large number of rifles, the vast majority of them were muzzle-loading rifles, and the proportion of breech-loading rifles was negligible.

The reason is very simple. First, European countries have only been equipped with breech-loading rifles for a short time. Breech-loading rifles are a product that has only been produced in the last decade.

Secondly, it is not regular military factories that sell weapons to these indigenous countries, but private trading companies and other forces.

These people most likely would not be able to obtain large-scale breech-loading rifles. Instead, they had a large number of muzzle-loading rifles that were outdated and gradually being phased out by the armies of various countries. This was why these African natives were able to be equipped with muzzle-loading rifles in large numbers.

Because muzzle-loading rifles have been eliminated by the armies of various countries, private trading companies can purchase a large number of rifles and bullets at a very small cost.

After these rifles were shipped to Africa, they were actually more valuable than new guns. After all, these natives had no ability to produce rifles.

After all these transactions, the trading companies could make a lot of money just by earning the price difference. Not to mention that they would also obtain a large amount of ivory and palm oil from various indigenous tribes in Africa. These local African products would be shipped back to Europe, and they could make a lot of money from the Europeans.

If it was in the era when slavery had not been abolished, the main products of these trading companies would still include black slaves.

Unfortunately, after slavery was abolished in Europe and America, the slave trade lost its largest market, and black slaves were no longer the main product of trading companies.

However, in the vast Africa and other colonies, human trafficking similar to the slave trade still exists.

After all, not all colonies have sufficient population. Even if there is a population, the labor cost is definitely higher than that of these almost free black laborers.

Why were black slaves so popular in America? The reason was that these black slaves were not treated as human beings. Not to mention the income generated by their labor, they could not even get three meals a day.

Slave owners could earn income by continuously exploiting black slaves, and use the money they earned to buy new slaves, without having to worry about this low-cost labor force becoming less and less.

There is a relatively interesting rumor. It is said that the important reason why the limbs of American blacks in later generations are well-developed is that the black slaves sold to America at that time were carefully selected by slave traders and were all quite strong.

Even if those with weaker health were able to pass the selection of slave traders, they might not be able to survive the long sea journey.

Before the birth of ironclad ships, European countries relied on sailing warships to cross the oceans, using wind as power.

This also greatly increased the time required to travel from Africa to America. In the slave trade era, it took at least one and a half to two months to transport these black slaves to America.

If you are unlucky and encounter bad weather, the time required will be extended to more than three months.

Moreover, ocean voyages at that time involved facing many dangers, and the physical fitness of the black slaves who were able to reach America alive was still worthy of recognition.

Let’s talk about the situation on the battlefield.

Although Bam's army picked up thousands of standard rifles equipped by the Spanish army, because few of the natives knew how to use breech-loading rifles, these thousand rifles were almost useless.

Even if someone knows how to use a breech-loading rifle, there are considerable differences in their use due to the different designs of breech-loading rifles in different countries.

A small number of natives were able to use the Spanish rifles, but because it was their first time, they not only shot inaccurately but were also unfamiliar with loading the ammunition.

On the other side of the battlefield, this group of natives faced the well-prepared Spanish army.

Although Spain's colonial army was also composed of indigenous people, these indigenous people were carefully trained and their combat effectiveness was still worthy of recognition.

Moreover, these natives were not black. The colonial division was composed of Moroccans, Filipinos and Lan Fang people. There was no trace of black people at all.

As the soldiers of both sides began to fight, the huge gap in their military qualities soon became apparent.

On the native soldiers' side, many had not yet reacted because of the bombing they had experienced before. Facing the Spanish troops that quickly rushed in front of them, half of the natives were still in a daze. On the Spanish side, after confirming that the enemy had entered the shooting range, the soldiers picked up their rifles and poured their bullets on the enemy without hesitation.

The indigenous soldiers were already in a panic, and after being suppressed by the firepower of the Spanish army, many of them had lost their fighting spirit.

"Damn it, let them retreat quickly." Sultan Bam, who was watching all this halfway up the mountain, had tears in his eyes. The number of his elite musket troops was decreasing sharply every second.

If this musket unit could not be preserved, even if the army could evacuate safely, it would not be able to compete with the Spanish army in subsequent battles.

Even in the long run, even if he could resist the attack of the Spanish army, he would not be able to keep his country going.

The Kingdom of Bam itself was a relatively small country, and the reason it could exist was that it had a musket army of up to 5000 people.

Without hot weapons, not to mention the well-equipped Spanish army, even the army of the neighboring Arrow Alliance could not resist.

You know, the Arrow Alliance, like the Kingdom of Bam, also trades with Europeans.

Moreover, the Aro Alliance has a larger population, and all the large tribes can form a firearms army of up to 3000 people.

Sultan Bam didn't even dare to think about whether he could still maintain his ruling position if his musket army suffered heavy losses.
Even though Sultan Bam deeply regretted his decision to launch the attack, he could not change the current situation on the battlefield.

Although the Bam Kingdom's 5000-man musket battalion looks powerful, in fact, it is only relative to other natives.

The vast majority of the indigenous tribes and national armies on this continent suffer from insufficient training, backward equipment and poor combat effectiveness.

Such shortcomings still exist in later generations, which is why the vast African continent has a huge population but no truly powerful country has emerged.

Under the Spanish army's strategy of first suppressing the enemy with artillery fire and then charging head-on to suppress the enemy's firepower, the natives on the battlefield panicked for a moment and didn't know whether they should hide to save their lives or bravely pick up their weapons and fight back.

Maybe they only need a few minutes to figure it out, but the battlefield will not give them these few minutes to think.

The Spanish army was getting closer and closer to these natives. Under the fire suppression of the Spanish army, fewer and fewer native soldiers dared to show their heads. Most of the natives hid under the bunkers, their mood was almost collapsed.

In the end, the war didn't last long.

In order to pursue the Spanish army, the Sultan of Bam sent out an entire musket battalion plus several thousand troops armed with cold weapons. Thousands of these nearly 10,000 natives suffered casualties in the attack of the Spanish army.

Jyoti had no intention of accepting prisoners of war because due to limited military forces, keeping these prisoners would always be a hazard.

Therefore, after the war on the front line ended, Jyoti quickly ordered the execution of thousands of prisoners of war.

Because the soldiers of the colonial army were all white or yellow, they had no psychological burden about killing the surrendered blacks.

Following Jyoti's order, thousands of surrendered black soldiers were quickly killed. They were hastily buried in a pit together with the black soldiers who died on the front battlefield.

As for the Spanish soldiers who died in battle, they would receive better treatment.

Whether they were Moroccans, Filipinos, Lanfangs, or Spanish officers who unfortunately died in battle, they would be transported to the Guinea colony and buried in the mausoleums there.

Spanish officers will receive a certain amount of pension, and the families of the fallen officers will also receive certain preferential treatment and compensation.

As for those ordinary soldiers, they did not receive much pension after dying in battle, but their families could also get some compensation, such as land or other assets.

Because of this, these indigenous soldiers were not opposed to fighting for Spain. Indigenous soldiers also received salaries, although not as much as regular troops, but at least it was an income.

Moreover, joining the Spanish indigenous army can enable themselves and their families to obtain the right to reside in the Spanish colonies, and they will be given priority to obtain Spanish citizenship in the future. This is also the reason why they are willing to join the Spanish indigenous army.

After the battle, Jyoti did not call and order the soldiers to clean up the battlefield, but instead paid attention to the movements of the natives.

As the native musket battalion was almost wiped out, Jyoti flexibly changed his war plan.

Even though the Kingdom of Bam still has nearly 20,000 troops left, these troops basically use cold weapons and cannot pose a threat to the Spanish army.

Jyoti even had reason to believe that even if this 20,000-strong indigenous army returned to defend Fuban, the three colonial garrison regiments attacking Fuban would be able to defeat these indigenous peoples with their powerful firepower.

Since the natives had no firearms, the Spanish army, equipped with a large number of firearms, could only crush them completely.

In the face of a large disparity in weapons, even a human wave offensive could not change the outcome of the war.

If these natives chose to retreat, Jyoti would catch up with them without hesitation and turn their retreat into a defeat.

These natives did not have such high military literacy. When they found that their rear was attacked by the enemy and there were large groups of enemies chasing them, even the calmest people would fall into panic.

Just as Jyoti guessed, after the musket battalion was defeated, the natives began to retreat.

Sultan Bam was not a fool. With his 5000-man musket army, he could have fought against the Spanish army.

Even if we can't repel the Spaniards, there will be no problem in defending.

As the musket-equipped army was annihilated, so too was the Sultan of Bam's hopes of holding his ground.

There is no point in continuing to defend here, so it is better to retreat a distance and rely on the capital's rich team for defense.

Sultan Bam still has a stockpile of several hundred muskets in Fuban. Equipping the army with these muskets will have no problem in carrying out the defense.

At worst, they could reorganize the army and flee to the deep mountains in the north with their people. As long as they escape there, the Spaniards would never be able to find them.

Of course, if they fled to the mountains, how to feed these people would be a problem. However, Sultan Bam had no good choice at the moment. He had to retreat to save his army first, and then make other plans.

(End of this chapter)