Dominate the Country

In the southeast corner of the Salton Basin, the contact zone between Chen Hanmei's North American Expeditionary Force outpost and the Spanish.

The corpses of people and horses covered the battlefield. More Spanish cavalry squeezed in this narrow place and could not speed up or deploy quickly. There was only one battalion of guards in the protruding expeditionary position. How big could the position of a battalion of guards be? ——There was no way to break through the blockade of artillery fire and volley fire in front. It was nonsense to charge forward! In the end, they had to turn their horses' heads and flee diagonally to both wings.

Pan Chang looked at this offensive and defensive battle with satisfaction. It was very good. At least half of the 1,000 Spanish cavalry who attacked were left.

Although the total force he had was only this battalion guarding the stronghold and a team of militia. But he used the militia to trap the 1,000 Spanish cavalry, and at least 500 people could be achieved. This was the strength of a cavalry battalion, and a team of militia, not to mention all of them died, even if they were really killed or wounded, Pan Chang also made a profit in this battle.

That group of militiamen was from the second group of the Yanzi Camp. If they were really killed or wounded, Pan Chang would definitely have a hard time explaining to the master behind them. Although Chen Shaolin [Chen Erbao's second son] had generously told Pan Chang before leaving the station that he didn't need to worry, Pan Chang really made a group of people miserable, and he would definitely offend people.

However, this battle was just an appetizer before this "feast". The real big scene is still to come.

It was summer, and in the hottest season of the year, the Spaniards finally couldn't hold back. They led their army to attack the west coast of North America.

Chen Han's expeditionary soldiers in North America didn't know whether they had heard some news at home at this time. Anyway, they knew that the Franco-Spanish coalition forces and the Continental Army had just won a victory on the west coast of North America.

- Battle of Yorktown

Seven thousand British lobster soldiers and German Hessian mercenaries were captured, more than 200 cannons, 24 transport ships and a large number of carriages became the capture of the enemies of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the British also sank at least a dozen transport ships themselves.

This battle, which took place in September and October of the Western calendar last year, was of great significance on the North American battlefield. From the perspective of the original time and space history, this was a decisive battle and the last "battle" scale operation launched by the British army on the North American continent.

Although France and Spain will not know the weakness of the British in the future, the war situation is predictable. The British are in big trouble. Daban Ya chose to transfer troops without hesitation. Taking advantage of this favorable opportunity, a large number of Spanish troops were transferred back to the Mexican area from the West Indies, and then Daban Ya's "100,000 troops" were completely formed.

This is the main reason why Daban Ya launched the attack at this time. After the Battle of Yorktown, the British seemed to have lost their souls, or lost their confidence in victory, and were powerless to recover.

Because in this battle, not only a main force of the British Army was destroyed, but also the British North American Fleet that came to rescue.

Cornwallis led more than 7,000 British troops [including more than 2,500 Hessian mercenaries] to defend Yorktown, Virginia. The Franco-American coalition forces, led by Washington and the French veteran Rochambeau, went south to Virginia, and the reinforcements of the French fleet, led by the French naval commander Count de Grasse, flew from the West Indies, entered the Chesapeake Bay, reached the sea outside Yorktown, and repelled the reinforcements of the British fleet, forcing some ships that were delivering materials to the British army in Yorktown to be trapped in the harbor. The French almost completely controlled the sea power on the east coast of North America.

It can be said that this war has the significance of a decisive battle on both land and sea.

But who can know the changes in the future?

First, the big duck saw through the essence of the British "last gasp" and second, they were completely desperate about the intention of joining forces with the French army to attack Chen Han's North American expeditionary army, so they took this opportunity to launch a counterattack on the west coast of North America.

Because an army of tens of thousands of people always defends but does not attack, it is also very costly in terms of material and financial resources.

The Spanish economy is destined to not last long. Don't expect to wait until the war with the British is completely over before wrestling with the Chinese. If you really wait until that time, the army gathered in the Mexico City area should have collapsed long ago.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Pan Chang saw at least a hundred artillery pieces appear on the opposite offensive position. Standing on the high observation tower, Pan Chang saw clearly that every cannon on the opposite side was shining with a metallic black luster in the sun.

And he didn't have an eight-jin cannon, a ten-jin cannon, or even a five-jin cannon. Otherwise, if the ten-jin cannon was moved forward a little, it would cover the entire artillery position of the other side.

Pan Chang ordered the troops on the position to withdraw neatly. God bless, the militia of Yanziying came back in an organized manner. Although they lost thirty or forty lives, if they hadn't died so many, the Spaniards would not have been so easily caught in the trap.

Now Pan Chang chose to retreat. The position was too small. It couldn't withstand the bombardment of hundreds of artillery. Besides, the strategic location of the position was not important. It was just an outpost. The reason why it was set up prominently was that the expeditionary headquarters wanted to measure the level of the Spaniards.

Now, Pan Chang already knew.

"Boom boom boom..."

Less than an hour after the cavalry was defeated, the entire position was covered by iron bullets and the smoke of explosions.

After twenty minutes of artillery bombardment, the red crowd filled the entire position.

Europeans are not stupid.

Some of the ‘things’ that happened on the Chinese battlefield, if they had indeed ignored them at the beginning. But when China was shouting its own cry to the world step by step, they still looked down on China’s ‘military’ with old eyes, then the IQ of Europeans was low.

Compared with the same period of the original time and space, the artillery fire like now has been a skill point lit up by the entire European military. The scene that only appeared during the Napoleonic Wars appeared early on the battlefields of Europe and North America. Although due to talent, the current European military generals cannot use this trick like Napoleon, but in a hard-to-hard battle, who would not use it?

Pan Chang was still holding the telescope motionlessly, he wanted to continue watching, to see the ‘fireworks’ that would bloom on the battlefield in a moment!

The presence of shrapnel shells in European artillery is also increasing, which is another inspiration brought by the Eastern War to the Western world.

Not far from Pan Chang's second-line position, a number of individual rocket launchers were "ready to go" in the trenches. As long as the signal flares rose into the sky, they would stand up and whiz the rockets in their hands together.

Then they fled back as fast as possible. At the same time, Pan Chang's counterattack would also come.

This is the expeditionary position closest to the main position, a second-line position. If Pan Chang wants to confront the Spaniards at the outpost, then his reserve and reinforcements will be deployed here. This way, he can quickly reinforce and support the defeated soldiers. The distance between the rear support also greatly limits the Spanish artillery power. Because he has some small cannons of two or three kilograms in his hands, and the rocket troops have a limited range.

Sure enough, after a while, the expeditionary force's counterattack was effective. As soon as they poured into the expeditionary position, the Spanish were excited and launched a pursuit of the retreating expeditionary force. As a result, the jubilant Spanish army was first blown to tears by the small artillery and rockets that had been prepared for a long time, and then beaten to a pulp by the main force of the Yanzi Camp that was ready to go.

But all of this was just an appetizer, and the real main course and hard dishes were all behind.

The Spanish, whose total force really reached the level of "100,000", used a division as a pioneer at the first move. Major General Jose de Rivera led 6,000 people as the vanguard. Although the cavalry suffered heavy losses, and the pursuing regiment suffered heavy losses, this did not make Jose feel fear and worry, because there were still 30,000 people behind him. They were the Eastern Route Army.

Although Jose lost a lot of people, as long as he could play a role in the next period of time, he did not need to bear too much responsibility. Jose was very clear about his "failure", so now the most important thing for him was to turn defeat into victory. He had to catch the enemy in front of him so that the Governor would turn a blind eye to his failure.

When thousands of Spaniards attacked the main position from three sides, all the artillery fire was used to bombard the expeditionary army. At an observation post somewhere in the position, Pan Chang's hand holding the telescope was sweating nervously.

There is no advantage to take advantage of now.

The artillery range is not enough, and the rocket range is not enough. If you want to reach the Spaniards, you must be careful. And more importantly, the two armies are going to have a hard fight with real swords and guns.

His mission is to lure the enemy. It is necessary to firmly attract the enemy and prepare for the counterattack of the rear troops. To put it bluntly, they are a bait, but Pan Chang, the "bait", first used the "bait" to attract a small Spanish fish.

Very solid fortifications were set up on the main position. Although they were all civil structures, the position built by Pan Chang was very solid. There were three "mouth"-shaped trenches with a total length of more than five miles. There were also communication trenches dug between them. The small cannons and rocket launchers in his hands were hidden in the trenches.

The Spanish did not have rockets. Although their artillery power was very strong, iron bullets and shrapnel shells of this era could not do anything to the carefully built trenches. In order to strengthen the trenches, Pan Chang's regiment cut down thousands of trees around.

The war ended in the afternoon. The Spanish also dug a trench around Pan Chang's troops that night. Pan Chang would not let the enemy live so peacefully, but the Spanish garrison was too sufficient, and several harassments were all repelled. If the Spanish were not suitable for night combat, they could even launch a counterattack.

The bravery of these colonial troops in fighting exceeded Pan Chang's imagination.

Pan Chang used to regard these people as a mob. But this afternoon, especially at dusk, one group of Spaniards after another surged up, retreated, surged up again, and retreated again. They seemed to be fearless of casualties, and attacked the defense positions of the expeditionary army again and again. Either they broke through the enemy's position, or they shed their last drop of blood in one attack after another.

Pan Chang didn't know how this "rabble" suddenly broke out. Did the Spaniards organize a supervision team?

The casualty ratio on both sides was roughly maintained at a ratio of 1:3. The casualties of the expeditionary army in a defensive state were much smaller than those of the Spaniards.

But the Spaniards received new reinforcements in the early morning of the next day, and their 30,000 main forces were also rapidly approaching the battlefield. This was one of the offensive forces of the Spanish East and West Armies-the Eastern Route Army, with a total strength of slightly less than 40,000.

During the two-day fierce battle, the expeditionary army lost nearly a thousand people, while the Spanish lost about three thousand. Counting the small fish caught by Pan Chang before, their losses were four thousand. This is a big number. Compared with the small number of contests on the battlefield of the Thirteen States, the Spanish are definitely generous.

Because in terms of the strength of Chen Hanmei's North American Expeditionary Army, if it is a normal battle, they are also at the level of several thousand or tens of thousands of people. Losing several thousand people at once is already a serious injury.

Gunshot wounds in this era are difficult to heal completely, and those Spanish wounded soldiers don’t know how many will die in the next few days.

Pan Chang didn’t know the specific situation in the Spanish army. They also captured a hundred or so prisoners, but the bad luck was that all the prisoners they captured were low-ranking soldiers, and there were no noble officers. But he felt that the Spaniards’ Eastern Route Army would definitely not be good. Four thousand people, this is already one-tenth of the strength of this army, which has touched the cordon in the hearts of many people.

You know, this army is always a colonial army, not a Spanish army composed of real peninsular people. Mexicans have a deep gap with peninsular people, and they would not fight desperately for Spain. Even if there is a certain proportion of peninsular troops in this army, their patchwork rabble can never compare with the pure Spanish army in terms of "psychology" and combat effectiveness, right?

Under the huge casualties, even some people in the expeditionary army are wavering. The total strength of this regiment under Pan Chang, plus the Yanzi Camp, is only 3,000 people. Now the loss is more than one-third, of which 40% of the soldiers were killed, and the morale of Pan Chang's regiment has also declined to a certain extent.

However, the middle and high-level officers of Pan Chang's expeditionary army are determined, and they know clearly what the headquarters is thinking.

Another Spanish Western Route Army is now suffering from the resolute resistance of an expeditionary army.

And the main force of the expeditionary army has now arrived.

In this way, the high-level and middle-level officers in the army are all as hard as stone and unwavering. This obviously greatly eased the morale of the army and stabilized the morale of Pan Chang's army.

However, the loss of four or five hundred people a day really exceeded the bottom line of his army. Pan Chang's army was already in a very dangerous situation. The Spanish did not want to fight slowly. The loss of four thousand people in two days really exceeded their psychological bottom line. But they had a strong foundation and a lot of capital. Like Pan Chang's group, their senior generals were very determined.

If they continued to fight hard like this, in two or three days, Pan Chang's group would be finished.

However, as a pawn in the overall war, Pan Chang and his men were not qualified to know the specific military deployment. All they could do was to firmly execute the orders of the headquarters.