"Brothers, hurry up." Wang Chuanwei urged as he ran.
The door of the earth building has been opened by the Chinese militiamen who stayed behind.
This earth building looks like a large Roman arena from the outside. However, the door under it is not very big.
Even if the enemy opens the door, the long and narrow doorway can become a position for the defenders to block the enemy.
Fortunately, Santos, who was behind, still moved forward strictly in line.
Only the natives recruited by Santos rushed forward shouting and holding various weapons.
"Commander, please tell those people to slow down. They are going to die by running to the tulou like this." an officer reminded.
"It's okay, just let them go to the earth building to test the enemy's firepower." Santos doesn't care about the life and death of these people. There are too many of them dead, and then he can just default on the debt.
Looking at Carpio who was beckoning his men to rush forward, Santos just smiled coldly.
This fool seemed to want to enter the earth building first. He wanted to fight in first and grab the Chinese things first.
What an idiot! Is it that easy to break into a Chinese earth building?
Wang Chuanwei and his men had already begun to enter through the doorway. They entered the earth building one by one in an orderly manner, then went to the second floor and entered their own shooting port.
With a "bang" sound, the door of the earth building was closed tightly.
The natives who were chasing him outside didn't even know to stop.
They seemed to be trying to break the door open.
"If they want to die so much, let's give them a ride." Wang Chuanwei shouted to the brothers who had returned to their positions.
All of a sudden, bullets were fired from the shooting ports all over the wall.
The natives were shot while running.
Some people are still looking around to find where the bullet came from.
"Retreat, retreat quickly!" Carpio quickly called to his men to retreat.
He is here to pick up bargains, not to bring people to their deaths.
If too many of their tribe's young men die, their tribe will soon be annexed by other native tribes.
In Luzon, many native people still live together in tribes. The tribes even have the bad habit of cultivating and working hard.
If a small tribe is annexed by a larger tribe, they will become their slaves.
Seeing how tight Tulou's defense was, Santos also felt a headache.
If the artillery was still there, he could just let the artillery bombard a point from a distance.
When the time comes, a big hole will be blasted out, and his soldiers can rush in through this hole.
But now, not only did he lose his artillery, but even the explosives were burned by these Chinese militiamen.
Now his soldiers only carry propellant powder with them.
This small amount of explosives certainly cannot be used to blow up the opponent's earthen building.
Now we can only use local methods.
Use musketeers to suppress the Chinese militiamen upstairs, and then let the recruited natives break down the door.
They don't know what is behind this door.
A tug-of-war began.
In Taiwan Fucheng, located on the southwest side of Taiwan, a fleet was slowly sailing out of the port at night.
"Commander, we will be able to reach Manila Bay at four o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Because Commander Liu's fleet has just visited Manila, all Spanish fleets are now gathered in Manila Bay."
"Fresh intelligence ship reports that the Spanish fleet from Manila has not left."
In the captain's room, the intelligence staff was reporting the latest intelligence to Du Hang.
"Order the fleet to advance carefully and form a column to follow the front ship." Du Hang said. Du Hang is very familiar with the waterway from here to Luzon, and it is not too difficult.
He reminded him like this just because most of his subordinates were still novices.
Moreover, this is the first time for the First Fleet to maneuver over such a long distance, and it is also the first time for actual combat.
The reason why this is the first actual combat is because Dong Shuheng has been looking for a suitable target.
The average target is simply not worth exposing the presence of the First Fleet.
This time there were dozens of large battleships. Although they were all sailing battleships, there were more than twenty battleships among them.
Such a naval battle is enough to shock the whole world.
If the Crimean War announced that the sailing battleship generation was about to pass.
Then Dong Shuheng hopes that this duel between the First Fleet and the Spanish Fleet can directly bury the era of sailing battleships.
Du Hang often took this route when he was a merchant ship.
He suddenly thought, wouldn't the president have thought of today's battle at that time?
His initial involvement in the navy was here in Nanyang. At that time, he was only leading an armed merchant ship.
Now his battle to become famous will also take place here. Is this a coincidence?
He could imagine the situation in Manila Port with his eyes closed.
As long as those two dozen battleships are still in the port, they will all be the prey of the First Fleet.
Liu Dahai's Nanyang Navy came to Manila this time in the hope of attracting the Spanish fleet.
On the surface, it seems that Liu Dahai was frightened by the Spanish fleet and left in confusion.
In fact, this is a kind of strategic deception.
In Manila, Governor Blandino was holding a celebration banquet at this time.
In addition to the upper echelons of Manila, there were also representatives from other countries in Manila who attended the banquet.
The navy of the Renaissance Army originally came to attack the enemy, but after seeing the huge fleet of the Spanish, they fled in despair.
This made Blandino feel very happy.
The banquet was filled with people drinking and drinking, creating a festive atmosphere.
In the Bashi Strait, the fleet of the Nanyang Navy left Manila and headed north.
But they did not go to the coast of China. Instead, they crossed the Bashi Channel and headed east.
This may be the first long voyage of the Renaissance Navy.
A total of four large steam-powered supply ships followed Liu Dahai's Nanyang Navy.
"Damn it, let me pretend to be a grandson for once, these young people! It's so unkind, ugh..." Liu Dahai complained in the command room of the flagship.
This time he went to Manila and lost all his people. His fleet was not as good as the Spanish.
Okay! In fact, it’s really far different. They are also wooden battleships, and the battleship is the king, while Liu Dahai’s cruiser is considered silver at best.
Not only the quality is not as good as others, but also the quantity is far behind.
As a result, Liu Dahai walked around Manila Bay and ran away.
However, his goal had been achieved. In order to frighten the Renaissance Navy, Blandino transferred all Spanish naval warships to Manila Port.
"Commander, please calm down, we old bones can just help these young people." Du Desheng, the naval chief of staff, who is also an old man, comforted him at the side.
"Sigh... Shu Heng is the same. It's okay if he doesn't give me any new warships. After all, we old guys can't play with new things, but... let's not talk about it. It's pointless for us two old men to complain here."
"Commander, don't you think such an important matter as this long-distance attack should be left to you? I think the president still trusts us old people the most."
"Commander, this is the furthest our navy has ever attacked, right?" Seeing that Liu Dahai still looked unhappy, Du Desheng continued to comfort him.
After hearing this, Liu Dahai calmed down a little.
"Okay, then let's go teach the Spaniards a lesson. We happened to go to Peru to read a book and meet that boy. We even got a native wife in Peru." Liu Dahai said, seeming to have found pleasure in this long-distance expedition again.
.
…
A circle of corpses of natives had fallen in front of the Wang family earth building.
However, the earth building was still in the hands of the Wang family. At this time, the battle was already very hard.
"Uncle, why haven't the reinforcements arrived yet? Is there any accident?" Wang Chuanwei was a little worried, so he asked the head of the Wang family.
The head of the Wang family is a very shrewd and capable middle-aged man in his forties. It is he who actually manages more than a thousand people, most of whom are members of the Wang family, and there are also some other small families who have joined.
Being able to manage so many people in an orderly manner shows that the head of the Wang family is very capable.
"Probably not. The Spaniards don't have that many troops to intercept the reinforcements. You and your tribe will hold on. Regardless of whether there are reinforcements or not, we will persist until the end."
"Yes, uncle." Wang Chuanwei nodded in agreement.
The door of the earth building has been broken open by Luzon natives with wooden stakes. However, the people inside the earth building have already built sandbags in the passage.
They took turns shooting non-stop through the top of the sandbags.
All of a sudden, the natives who swarmed in fell down one after another. In an instant, the corpses of the natives almost filled the passage.
"Have our explosives arrived?" Santos asked. After the cannon was destroyed, Santos sent people to the nearest Spanish stronghold to deliver gunpowder.
"Captain, they will be here soon. We will put explosives inside the door and detonate them later," one of Santos' men said.
"Okay, let's do it." Santos said.
While he was feeling proud, another soldier came to report.
"The regiment leader discovered the Chinese reinforcements, which are coming from the dock by the river."
"What? Reinforcements? They must be coming from other plantations."
"Gather the soldiers and let us repel the reinforcements first," Santos ordered.
…
Niu Jie took the brothers of the 8th Division from Tainan Port and arrived at the mouth of the Cagayan River in less than a day's sail.
They did not move with the First Fleet. Instead, they went directly up the river to northern Luzon where the Cagayan region is located.
The Spanish power here is very weak, because the fleets are concentrated in the Manila area, and there are basically no coastal defense facilities here.
The local Chinese were very powerful, and the Luzon colonial authorities were too lazy to set up coastal defenses here.
There were tax collectors sent by the Spanish locally, that is, in the main towns.
Along the way, the Eighth Division easily captured the Spanish strongholds along the river.
As for those Chinese manor houses, they were naturally ready to welcome Master Wang's arrival.
Niu Jie feels it is easier than defeating the Qing army. But this is not their main target.
The military's battle plan is to capture the city of Santiago on the upper reaches of the Cagayan River.
Then use this as a stronghold to attack Manila City from the rear of Manila.
The 1st Marine Brigade will land near Manila City. Their main purpose is to attract the attention of the Spanish enemies in Manila City.
Manila's defense facilities have been in operation for hundreds of years and are very strong.
Moreover, Manila's terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
In the later Spanish-American War, 15,000 American troops and more than 20,000 local rebels captured the city of Manila.
In fact, it was not considered a capture. The Spanish defenders in the city surrendered themselves.
Now the Renaissance Army will definitely not be able to capture Manila with only six to seven thousand men from the First Marine Brigade. In other words, it can be captured, but it will also cost huge casualties.
If the Eighth Division could suddenly attack at this time, it would definitely greatly reduce the morale of the Spaniards.
"Clan Chief Liu, is the Wang Manor you mentioned far from here?"
Niu Jie, who was going upstream along the Cagayan River, suddenly received a visit from a Chinese clan leader.
The patriarch of these Chinese families, whose surname is Liu, is an old man. The old man came here to report that the Wang Family Manor was under siege.
This shocked Niu Jie.
This attack on Chinese people turned out to be really done by Spaniards.
They are so bold. The Renaissance Army has already announced its protection for the Chinese in Nanyang. Attacking the Chinese is equivalent to declaring war on the Renaissance Army.
Spain is openly provoking war.
Fortunately, the president is always so decisive and will never hesitate when it comes time to fight.
This is what everyone in the Fuxing Army admires most about Dong Shuheng.
Under the leadership of Dong Shuheng, the spirit of the entire Fuxing Army was positive and enterprising.
Immediately, Niu Jie detached a regiment of soldiers and rushed to the Wang family's manor by boat under the leadership of the Liu family.
Because of the arrival of Wang Shi, the local Chinese did not need to send reinforcements.
This also shortens the support time.
These native soldiers were not taken seriously by the Renaissance Army. Even the Spanish army was inferior to Tsarist Russia.
The only thing the military is worried about is the city defense fortress of Manila. The range of the huge cannons of those city defenses even exceeds the range of the breech-loading guns of the Renaissance Army.
But the Renaissance Army also has a way to deal with it. If it doesn't work, why not just dig trenches? It's still very difficult for those huge cannons to dig trenches.
"Clan leader, captain, a group of reinforcements came from the river, about two thousand people. It doesn't look like they were sent by other families." A lookout on the top of the earth building reported.
"How did you know it was reinforcements?" Wang Chuanwei asked.
"The military uniforms they wear seem to be similar to the ones the captain brought back from the mainland. I saw the captain wearing them before!" the Chinese young man on guard reported.
"Uncle, let me go and take a look." After hearing this, Wang Chuanwei looked happy and said to the patriarch beside him.
"Well, go ahead, maybe Master Wang is really here." The clan leader nodded.
Wang Chuanwei came to the sentry tower on the top of the earth building and looked into the distance.
A group of soldiers in the distance are running towards this side in a column.
The soldiers in the field of vision were wearing flower-green military uniforms, wearing single-brimmed hats, and carrying rifles behind their backs.
They seemed to be in a hurry and were running forward.
At this time, Wang Chuanwei saw that the Spanish servant troops on the other side of the earth building had also begun to move.
They obviously discovered the reinforcements coming from the river.
Looking at the posture, the Spanish servant army seemed to want to attack the supporting army.
Wang Chuanwei's lips revealed a sneer.
If they want to attack the Renaissance Army in the wild, it is simply a way to die.
Maybe they were wiped out before they could even touch the edge of the Renaissance Army.
Wang Chuanwei issued an order to the militiamen below to prepare for a counterattack, and asked people to open the passage to the earth building first.
And he himself stayed on the watchtower.
Now, except for a group of natives still guarding the outside of the earth building, no one is attacking the earth building.
After a while, Patriarch Wang and several elders of the Patriarchs also went to the sentry tower.
I saw more than a thousand Spanish servants outside and less than a thousand natives rushing towards the Renaissance army.
Santos prepared to rush forward and attack in formation.
The strange thing is that the reinforcements on the opposite side are not in a hurry at all.
They changed the column into a horizontal formation, and the soldiers raised their guns and stood ready in front.
"Captain, do you want the machine gun to go up?" the staff officer of the Renaissance Army's regiment asked the commander.
"Forget it, there's no need for a machine gun to attack these small fish and shrimps. It's a waste of bullets," the regimental leader replied.
Four hundred yards, for such a group charge, the Renaissance Army can already shoot.
"Bang bang bang..." Gunshots rang out, and the running natives were shot and fell to the ground.
When Santos was about to advance to 200 yards, he asked his men to line up.
But the people on the opposite side fired first. What puzzled him the most was why his own people fell down one after another.
I saw the people on the opposite side shooting continuously, but I didn't see them cleaning the barrels and loading ammunition.
The Spaniards never taught themselves how to use muskets like this.
Shouldn't Spain be the most powerful country? Why are these Chinese reinforcements more powerful than the Spanish?
Santos's clothes were so obvious that snipers had already targeted him.
"Bang", a hot bullet shot into his chest.
Santos fell to the ground on his back with confusion.
ps: A few days have passed since November, and Dugu Jun’s updates have never been slack. Everyone is welcome to vote for it!