Dominate the Country

The dark streets in front of me looked like they had been bombarded by rockets. Under the light of torches, no house was intact. Some of the houses were covered with dried blood and bloody bodies lying sideways.

"Inoue, take your men over there and occupy that two-story building! Yueyue, your men light a fire nearby! Others follow me, aim your guns at the windows and doors, and everyone stay alert!"

The fire in the distance illuminated half of Panama City, but Yoshida Masakazu looked at the dark building thirty or forty meters ahead, and his eyes were full of caution. If he hadn't run out of rockets, Yoshida Masakazu would have had someone shoot at the building.

He just saw with his own eyes a few shadows dragging muskets into the building, and the opposite side shot at him.

The building was dark, and no one knew what was going on inside. No one knew how many people and guns were inside, and no one dared to lead a charge.

"Grenade, throw a grenade to me." Yoshida Masakazu was unwilling to be stopped by a house. The enemies in Panama City had not been completely cleared out, and now was not the time to delay.

His mission was to clear this area as soon as possible, and then attack the Spanish Governor's Palace from the side. The former was important, and the latter was more important.

"Boom boom boom..."

Continuous flashes of fire flashed, and the flames of the explosion lit up the window screens behind the windows. Through this hard-won firelight, Yoshida Masakazu carefully looked at the small building, but still found nothing.

No figure was revealed inside.

"Be careful, aim your guns at the front..." Yoshida Masakazu finally rushed up quietly with a squad of soldiers. Everyone was scattered and distanced, and many people had sweat on their foreheads, staring at different windows without blinking.

"Listen, people inside, surrender quickly. We promise not to kill prisoners."

"No one will be killed if you surrender. Stubborn resistance, death."

When Yoshida Masakazu led the people to quietly approach the small building 15 or 16 meters away, several grenades were thrown by them again, some of which were thrown into the room through the window. The explosion blew the door and tables and chairs in the living room into pieces. But the small building was still silent until they came within 10 meters of the small building. Yoshida Masakazu didn't know that in a corner of the second floor by the window, a pair of eyes were quietly peeping at them. When Yoshida Masakazu and his men came within 10 meters, a spark suddenly flashed from the corner of the second floor, and a black shadow suddenly stood up from under the window, holding a small bucket in his arms and swung it at the window.

"Hua La La..."

Accompanied by the sound of glass and wooden frames breaking, something the size of a small wine barrel fell from the sky. Yoshida Masakazu fired a shot at the window reflexively, and a muffled groan came from upstairs, but a larger ball of fire directly engulfed everyone downstairs.

"Captain..." the soldier of the volunteer team behind shouted.

It was already getting light outside, but the lights were still on in a tavern near the Panama port terminal. This was the headquarters of the expeditionary force's landing operations. Chai Daji had been sitting in the tavern for more than an hour.

The troops' attack on several forts was very smooth. The first reason was that the Spanish were not well prepared. The second reason was that the Spanish army here had only a small number of rockets.

When the attacking troops began to attack the second and third forts of Panama, after a period of rocket bombardment, the Spaniards, who only stored about five to ten rockets in each fort, collapsed.

And then the concentrated fire of four six-barrel rocket launchers scattered a reinforcement force that was urgently organized in Panama City on the spot. There should be more than a thousand people. They were blown away by 24 rockets and fled in panic under the counterattack of the landing force of 200 to 300 people.

The two forts in Panama Harbor were bombarded by hundreds of cannons, and they had no power to fight back. The open-air cannons deployed outside soon became broken into pieces and tatters. The few semi-enclosed and enclosed coastal defense guns fought back and did not cause any damage to the fleet. When the landing troops from the north shore wanted to cut off their connection with Panama City, the Spanish soldiers in the two forts chose to flee in panic again.

After that, the land forces that followed the defeated soldiers into Panama City, the expeditionary force had a comprehensive advantage in the situation.

The tavern was built very simply. After the guards lit the oil lamp, the whole space was as bright as day.

"The situation is set. As long as we take down the Spanish Governor's Palace, the entire Panama City will be in our hands."

"We don't know how many supplies we need are in the city."

"According to the prisoners, the garrison of Panama City is between 2,600 and 7,000 people. There were originally 30,000 residents in the city, but Panama has been threatened by us in the past two years, and many residents have moved away, asking for Colombia or Colon across the isthmus. Now there are more than 20,000 residents left in the city."

"The Spanish built four arsenals here, storing a large amount of arms and materials."

"There is also a mint here. But there shouldn't be too much gold and silver in it."

"Luxury houses, monasteries, hospitals, and schools are all here."

"If we can completely occupy everything here, we can go home directly."

Whether it is the wealth of Panama City or the countless residents here, it is enough to fill the stomachs of the entire fleet.

At dawn, there was no loud gunfire in Panama City. The various departments began to demarcate areas and search for the remaining Spanish soldiers from house to house. At the same time, they controlled various material gathering places. Four arsenals were half destroyed by the Spanish themselves at night, which made Chai Daji very distressed.

"The hostile forces in the city must be eliminated." Chai Daji said to the captain of the gendarmerie beside him, "Captain Xiao, I now appoint you as the security captain of Panama City. Your unit must not only comprehensively check the military discipline of the troops, but also pay attention to the stability of the entire Panama City. You now record my order. Panama City will be under curfew from today until we evacuate. Those who disobey will be suppressed immediately.

Each unit will select a team to be responsible for the defense of the city, and then sweep the outside of the city for me."

There is a road to the east outside Panama City that leads directly to the port of Colon on the Caribbean Sea. This was built more than 200 years ago.

It's just that Chai Daji is not interested in Colon now.

"Today is the first day we occupied Panama City. It is hard to guarantee that some Spaniards who are unwilling to fail will jump out to cause chaos. All units must be alert and must not slack off."

"Yes." The captain of the gendarmerie stood at attention and saluted solemnly.

A serious atmosphere enveloped the two people, and both pairs of eyes were full of cold light. They don't want to kill people indiscriminately, but some people are better off being conscious, otherwise killing people is just a good way to maintain order and dignity.

But Chai Daji obviously overestimated the cohesion of the Spanish.

From dawn to dusk that day, there was no riot as he worried about. On the contrary, many Spanish soldiers who fled into the houses last night chose to surrender under the pressure of helplessness.

The Chinese's inspection was too harsh and strict. Not only did they need the residents of the house to guarantee and verify each other with the neighbors, but they also stripped their clothes and checked their shoulders.

As a soldier, even if they were a mob, the marks on their shoulders from the musket straps were very different from those of ordinary people. Not to mention the yellowing of the thumbs.

These defeated soldiers couldn't escape at all. And once it was discovered that some residents dared to hide the defeated soldiers, the residents would also be faced with an uncontrollable disaster.

Of course, there were also fierce resistances launched by the defeated Spanish soldiers in several places, but those resistances were quickly extinguished.

Most of the urban areas were dead silent.

Think about it, the overwhelming attacking ability displayed by the expeditionary army at night has swept away the courage of these Spaniards. Now that their main army has been destroyed, only these remnants are left. What courage do they have to resist? It's simply an egg hitting a stone.

These Chinese soldiers all carry muskets and wear blue-green and black uniforms. Although they are not very tall, especially those soldiers in black uniforms, the bright bayonets on each musket and the fierce momentum exuded by these soldiers are very bluffing.

Because in the past nearly one year of war, the Chinese have proved their combat effectiveness with facts. How can the Spaniards in Panama City have the courage to resist? Moreover, the pure-blooded peninsula people in Panama City are not the majority, and the Indo-European mixed-race people here are the main body.

Of the 2,600 to 7,000 Spanish soldiers, 1,560 were captured, 500 to 600 were killed or injured, and the rest fled outside the city.

The expeditionary army also suffered many casualties. The casualties of the vanguard team were over 150, and the casualties of the entire army were nearly 300, of which half were killed.

500 to 600 of the 2,600 to 700 people were killed or injured, and the casualty rate of more than 20% exceeded the expeditionary army's expectations of the Spanish army. At the same time, the number of casualties also exceeded expectations. What made Chai Daji look unhappy was that some soldiers were killed and injured not in battle, but because they broke into the Spanish rich families in the city to extort money and molested women. Fortunately, Chai Daji's restraint on these people was stricter. The latter had a number of 20 to 30, but the combat casualties were reduced from more than 200 to less than 300.

Several soldiers who violated women were ordered to be confined and whipped, and their dividends from this battle were cancelled as a punishment.

Chai Daji didn't want to punish them too much, but the gendarmerie had recorded the files, so he had to punish them.

Violating women has always been a red line for Chen Han's army. Even if you can play with them openly after two days, the only difference is that you spend a few points, but now they can't be touched. This is the system set by Chen Ming. No one is allowed to disobey.

Chai Daji has been away from the front-line army for a long time. In addition, after he joined Chen Han, he did not choose to stay in the front-line army, but went to the military academy to teach. The military law and military regulations did not leave a deep impression in his mind. Otherwise, the punishment waiting for those soldiers will only be heavier. Many officers will not pay attention to these soldiers who violated military discipline, and will directly throw the soldiers into the hands of the military police and let the military judges judge them. Unlike Chai Daji, he also communicated with the captain of the military police.

As for all the Panamanian residents who resisted, they were naturally all pulled up, and hundreds of men, women, old and young were detained in solitary confinement. In the future, they will be sent to the mines in North America to work as miners, or to the seaports to work as hard labor.

More than a thousand Indians were also "liberated" from the city. These people were all slaves, doing a variety of jobs and different professions. These people were not very happy about the arrival of the expeditionary force, and they were still resistant to a large extent because they did not know the origins of these Chinese. They only knew that China was also a powerful country, and that it had been fighting with Spain in the past few years and had defeated Spain.

Spain organized an army of 100,000 but failed to defeat them. It was obviously a powerful country.

But how long can the Chinese stay here? They are "free", but "freedom" cannot make a living. How will they live in the future? Many people felt at a loss, and then they hated the Chinese for destroying their lives.

Only a few Indians, about one or two hundred, strongly welcomed the arrival of the expeditionary force. When they accepted the task of guarding the Spanish prisoners, their eyes and temperament changed one by one.

They held sticks and stared at the high-ranking masters in the past. Those officers, officials and wealthy businessmen would be beaten if they disobeyed them. The expeditionary soldiers next to them just watched them do "exercise" with a smile and did not stop them.

These officers, officials of the colonial authorities and local wealthy businessmen in Panama all wanted to be exchanged for silver. Aren't Europeans talking about "ransom"? Then use the ransom to redeem people.

When these people return to the Spanish group in the future, it is hard to imagine that they will still have a friendly attitude towards the Indians after suffering so much "humiliation" from the Indians. And as long as they squeeze the Indians more vigorously, they will be assisting Chen Han.

All kinds of confiscated materials in the city were also counted. There were a total of more than 5 million yuan in gold and silver, and 160 to 170 kilograms of various jewelry. Well, it was really difficult for them to estimate the value, even an approximate number, which required an experienced jeweler to estimate the value. Then there were more than 600,000 catties of grain, about 1,000 livestock, more than 4,000 long and short muskets [including arsenals], 53 cannons, and more than 200,000 pounds of bullets and shells. This was the focus. There were 300 sabers, 5,000 bayonets, more than 400 barrels of prepared gunpowder, and some raw materials such as sulfur and saltpeter, as well as more than 30,000 catties of iron and 2,000 catties of copper. The harvest was extremely rich.

Besides, there were 10,000 to 20,000 people in Panama City.

The expeditionary fleet really ate a big fat man in one bite.

There were more than 200 Spanish officials and their relatives who had not escaped, 3,000 to 4,000 Spanish soldiers and their relatives, more than 3,000 pure-blooded peninsula people, and about 1,000 mixed-race people who served as lackeys for the Spanish. Not counting the "liberated" Indian slaves, the number of people who had to be transported reached 8,000.

After the statistical results came out, many people in the tavern looked at each other in surprise. This Panama City was really a place of wealth.

This meal is definitely enough for everyone in the amphibious fleet to eat and drink.

"This place is much richer than Manzanillo."

"Boss, why don't we go along the road to Colon?" More than a hundred years ago, the British Henry Morgan led pirates to break through the Spanish port on the other side of the Isthmus of Panama, and then took down Panama City along the road. Now with the strength of the expeditionary force, they can completely go along the road to Colon Port on the Caribbean Sea.

The latter will only be more prosperous than Panama City.