"Commander, our vanguard was blocked in the town of Bakas." A messenger jumped off his horse and panted.
Tian Fang and his main force are still in the city of Imata. As a vanguard, a mixed group of Chinese and Indians has arrived at Bacás, a small town between Imata and Arequipa.
This small town guards a bridge over the Calliumayo River, which is the only way from Imata to Arequipa.
The entire road is embedded in the valley. This east-west road is blocked by snow-capped mountains on the north and south sides, making this town a strategic location.
Since General Rustu knew that the Donghua Army was invading, he would definitely not let go of such a good place to block the attack.
He dispatched a regiment to garrison at the bridgehead one step ahead. The terrain here is very suitable for defense. Of course, there are more than one roads on the plateau. But if the Donghua Army takes a detour, it will have to march for at least more than a month.
Because they have to go back to the starting point and find a new route.
The roads here are built along natural valleys, and there is no way to artificially set the direction.
The vanguard of the Donghua Army was also very careful when advancing.
Kong Desheng, the leader of the New Second Regiment, arranged the Indian scouts with strong legs to walk on the hillsides on both sides of the road to prevent possible ambush by the enemy.
These Indians graze their cattle in the mountains all year round, and they can walk quickly even on rocky slopes.
Kong Desheng, the leader of the newly formed second regiment, rode on a horse and glanced at the hillsides on both sides from time to time.
Seeing that the Indian scouts on the mountain were very dedicated, they were crouching to maintain balance, and the machetes in their hands were used as crutches. Kong Desheng felt much more at ease.
"Bang bang bang..." The sound of gunshots could be heard vaguely from the front, and it seemed to be coming from the front of the team.
Kong Desheng accelerated his horse and rushed towards the front of the team.
Soon he ran into a soldier who came to report a message.
"Zhang Xiaoliu, what's going on?" Kong Desheng asked hurriedly.
"Captain, the stone bridge in front has been controlled by the enemy. They built a bunker at the head of the bridge. Our sharp knife platoon was unable to reach across." Zhang Xiaoliu said breathlessly.
"What about the enemy's number and weapons and equipment?" Kong Desheng asked again.
"The enemy has at least one regiment and their position is on the west side of the bridge. We saw at least hundreds of tents in the enemy camp opposite."
The Caliumayo River runs north-south here, and stone bridges connect the east and west sides of the river. Similarly, the river is not too wide, but the river banks are steep and there are cliffs in many places, which seem to split a mountain from it.
The Donghua Army is now marching from west to east. After crossing the bridge and walking for a while, the road will turn south, and then walk about hundreds of kilometers to Arequipa.
"The whole army is advancing quickly." After a brief thought, Kong Desheng made the decision to attack first no matter what.
As a newly formed regiment, this time he was able to win the vanguard position. Kong Desheng put down his old face, issued a military order, and also removed his relationship with fellow Tian Fang. If he was really blocked by the enemy and returned without success, he himself
They all feel embarrassed to see others.
The width of the stone bridge is only four or five meters, and there are long and narrow mountain roads on both sides, making it difficult for troops to deploy.
When Kong Desheng arrived at the east side of the bridge, the sharp knife platoon that had just exchanged fire with the enemy had already retreated.
The platoon leader came to Kong Desheng dejectedly.
"Captain, I'm sorry, I didn't fight well and lost a dozen brothers."
"Okay, don't cry sadly, don't rush to apologize, please tell me the situation on the other side first." Kong Desheng said angrily.
"Yes, Captain, because the bridge cannot be deployed, the opponent's troops on the bridge are only a few hundred men. However, the guns they use are obviously rifled guns. The range is similar to ours."
"In addition, according to our observation, the enemy has also set up artillery positions west of the bridge."
Kong Desheng also looked at it just now. The river bed is very deep, and there is no suitable place to cross the river near the stone bridge.
The roads between the river and the valley happen to be crisscrossing.
Therefore, to go to the upper or lower reaches of the river, you have to climb mountains and ridges, and you may not necessarily be able to find a place to cross the river.
"Damn, these enemies are really good at picking places."
Kong Desheng shook his head helplessly.
After all the troops had arrived, Lao Kong organized several attacks. However, except for leaving a pile of corpses, no results were achieved.
Fortunately, the Arequipa Army on the opposite side was just defensive. So the New Second Regiment camped west of the bridge and temporarily confronted the enemy.
In the afternoon of the next day, Tian Fang also rushed to Qiaotou after receiving the news.
"I said, Kong Er, why are you stupid? This road is blocked. Why don't you think of a way around it? Isn't it because the terrain on both sides is dangerous? Did you give back to the instructor everything we learned in the special operations team?" Tian Fang
When I saw Kong Desheng, I was scolded.
The two were from the same hometown and both came out of the special operations team, so they had a good personal relationship. Tian Fang was not polite at all when he spoke to him.
Kong Desheng was scolded by Tian Fang, but instead of getting angry, he laughed. Tian Fang's words reminded him that the special operations team has special training on marching in this special terrain.
"Commander, don't worry. I will take five hundred people and open the road on the other side for you tomorrow morning. But can you support us with hundreds of breech-loading guns?" Kong Desheng paid a military salute and then said
Begging for something with a slap in the face.
That evening.
Kong Desheng selected 500 soldiers, all of whom were elite soldiers with particularly good foot power. They were almost equally divided between Chinese and Indians.
These soldiers marched lightly armed only with muskets and grenades.
After Kong Desheng's persuasion, Tian Fang finally gave him 500 F1853 rifles, and each of them was given fifty rounds of ammunition.
The heaviest thing in the entire team is the bed crossbow.
But this bed crossbow is not used to attack enemies.
Kong Desheng and the others climbed to the top of a steep mountain, where the river bank was a cliff and the river passed through the mountains.
A large crack spanning more than fifty meters was formed between the two mountains.
"Just right here." Kong Desheng raised his fist and signaled the soldiers to stop.
Kong Desheng took advantage of the last rays of the setting sun to observe the situation here. There were several old trees on the cliff opposite, which looked very strong and seemed to be a good place.
Kong Desheng asked several soldiers to install the bed crossbow.
Then a special iron crossbow was installed. The head of the gun was like an anchor, with a huge barb. There was an iron ring at the end of the crossbow, which was connected to a hundred-meter-long rope.
"Okay, let me launch it." Kong Desheng asked the soldiers on the side to move away. There are not many people who can handle this kind of big guy now.
With a "touch" sound, the iron gun flew in an arc into the grove on the opposite side.
Kong Desheng pulled the rope and slowly dragged it backwards.
The anchor finally hung on a tree trunk.
Kong Desheng pulled hard several times, and the rope became tight.
Well, it's okay, it seems to have been successful.
"Monkey, you go over first." Kong Desheng certainly couldn't take the risk of climbing over first.
He called over a thin Chinese soldier. Although this soldier, nicknamed Monkey, was thin, he was very well-dressed.
For the sake of safety, a safety rope was hung around the monkey's waist. In fact, this rope was not very useful, because falling with a rope dozens of meters long was almost the same as falling without a rope.
But this string can give the monkey some psychological comfort.
"Captain, don't worry, I, Monkey, am a professional at climbing ropes." Monkey saw the apologetic look in Kong Desheng's eyes and couldn't help comforting him.
The first person to pass must be responsible for fixing the rope. Before that, the rope was completely hung on the obstacle by the hook on the head of the iron gun. It can be said that the monkey is now completely gambling on his life.
Kong Desheng fixed the rope close to him.
The monkey wrapped its legs around the rope, then used both hands to slowly crawl toward the opposite side.
Everyone's hearts were lifted.
Fortunately, there was no danger in the end, and the monkey finally climbed to the opposite cliff.
He found a relatively strong tree and fixed the rope.
One fixed point was not enough, so he tied the extra rope to another big tree.
Then he waved his hand to the other side.
Kong Desheng ordered someone to tie the rope on his side higher.
In this way, everyone can slide directly to the other side along the rope.
The commander of the Arequipa garrison on the west side of the bridge has just sent someone to report the victory to General Rustu.
Captain Christian Oliver of the bridge guarding force was in a very good mood. He won the first battle, which was a good sign and finally curbed the momentum of the Donghua Army's attack.
Seeing the Donghua Army on the opposite side attacking several times but returning without success, he felt that the Donghua Army was nothing more than that.
Perhaps out of fear of damaging the bridge, the Donghua Army did not use artillery.
Commander Oliver seemed to realize this. He deliberately moved the artillery position to the edge of the bridge, and even placed several artillery pieces on the bridge.
Full of provocation.
The Donghua Army had to repeatedly withdraw its camp beyond the range of the opponent's artillery.
In the document reporting the victory, Oliver specifically emphasized that the tens of thousands of Donghua Army troops suffered heavy casualties under the blockage of one of his regiments, and could not advance even an inch. The enemy's corpses covered the bridgehead.
At the same time, he also assured General Rustu that people were at the bridge.
As night fell, bonfires were lit in both camps.
Oliver did not sleep in a tent at the bridgehead camp.
Not far to the west of the bridge is a small town. The most beautiful house in the town has been requisitioned by him.
At this time, he had finished washing and went to bed under the care of the maid.
Unless the Donghua Army on the opposite side has wings, they will not be able to cross the bridge anyway.
Oliver is full of confidence in the defense line he has deployed.
On the east side of the bridge, the Donghua Army's camp, Tian Fang has not rested yet.
Except for the soldiers on duty in the camp, all other soldiers were asked to rest early.
Kong Desheng made an agreement with him to launch an attack in the early morning.
They should have crossed the cliff by this time.
At this time, there was no movement at all outside. This was actually a good thing, as it meant that Kong Desheng had not been discovered.
"Commander, please rest for a while. Commander Kong and the others will definitely succeed." Xiao Wu, the orderly, came over and said.
"It's okay, let me study Arequipa again. If we can capture the bridge in one fell swoop tonight, I don't know if we can reach Arequipa before dawn. You can find some Indians who are familiar with the roads here.
, I will understand the situation with them." Tian Fang ordered.
Seeing the orderly walking out, Tian Fang lit up a cigar.
After taking a deep breath, Tian Fang coughed violently. The cigarettes smoked by South Americans are very strong.
There are still two hours until the agreed time, and Tian Fang now feels that time is passing very slowly.
On the far side of the ocean, Dong Shuheng held the information from the Nanyang Navy in his hand, standing on the balcony of the Western Building of the Summer Palace, staring at the east.
It was as if his eyes could travel thousands of miles away.
From North America to South America, Chinese influence has begun to rise on the side near the Pacific Ocean.
Dong Shuheng’s Pacific Rim China Circle will fill another gap.
I don’t know how many passionate men will be stained with blood this time.
Is it all worth it?
The answer in Dong Shuheng's heart is yes, and it is extremely firm.
When the Nanyang Navy sent back this information, it had not yet arrived in Peru. Therefore, the information was very vague.
It just means that Donghua has started a war with Peru. As for the final result, it has not yet come out at that time.
However, Dong Shuheng still responded based on this information.
A marine brigade of 6,000 people and a large amount of weapons and equipment formed a huge fleet. Under the escort of two frigates of the First Fleet, they had set off from Fujian.
Now that it is winter, the fleet is taking the southern route, and they will pass through Luzon, Guam and other Pacific islands.
All the ships dispatched this time were steamers, and it only took more than a month to reach Peru.
I hope I can catch up.
He believed that the South American side had been holding back for several years, and they must be well prepared for this launch.
Recently, the Renaissance Army's year-end work is coming to an end. Many departments are preparing for the New Year.
Dong Shuheng is also preparing to spend the New Year at the Summer Palace with his family. This is their second New Year spent at the Summer Palace.
According to the Western calendar, it has already entered 1857. What changes will the world face?
"Everyone prepare grenades and rush into the camp in a moment. Throw all the grenades on you first and aim them at the tents so as not to blow up your own people." Kong Desheng ordered.
He and his five hundred elite men had sneaked to the edge of the bridge-defending army camp in Arequipa.
The camp was very poorly guarded.
Maybe the enemy has focused their defense on the bridge.
Oliver never imagined that someone could use a rope to cross the cliff and run to his rear under the cover of darkness.
Not even the most agile llama on the mountain can do this.
Oliver was fast asleep at this time. When he was about to go to bed, a young maid who came into the room to bring him water aroused his excitement.
So he did some exercises before going to bed, so he slept very soundly now. A big hand was still pressed on the maid's white and soft part.
In the Donghua Army camp east of the bridge, the soldiers had gotten up secretly.
Only from a close distance can one hear the sound of Donghua Army soldiers sorting out their equipment.
Although they only slept for a few hours, everyone tried their best to cheer themselves up.
It’s very cold in the Andes Mountains at night. Although Peru is located in the tropics.
However, the temperature difference between day and night on the plateau is very large.
Especially since the mountains here in Peru are mostly rocky, the temperature drops very quickly at night.
During the day, the soldiers were still wearing single clothes, but now they needed cotton-padded clothes on board, otherwise they would be frozen to death if the wind blew them out of their tents.
The first batch of troops to attack the bridgehead were already squatting in the forward position and waiting quietly.
This time they can only rely on their own flesh and blood to open a way.
Casualties are inevitable, and soldiers are ready to sacrifice.
ps: Posting a chapter in the middle of the night, please give me monthly votes and recommendations!