Dominate the Country

The shogunate army arrived at the front line in the afternoon three days ago. They were the first attacking force to arrive in Medellin.

And all 5,000 people arrived in the western suburbs of Medellin without a single one left.

The battle began the day after they arrived, and it has been going on for two full days. The enemy of the Spanish colonial army is no longer the original 5,000 Japanese shogunate army, but a large force of more than 30,000 people.

Some of the newly arrived troops simply set up tents, dug some fortifications, and hurriedly launched an attack. This performance seemed a bit impatient, but it also showed the strong confidence of the attacking troops. Anyway, there are hills to rely on here. Camping on the back of the mountains, whether it is attacking or defending, can rely on the mountains and ridges for cover, which greatly saves the time of the newly arrived troops.

The artillery fire is getting more and more fierce, from the initial dozen hexagonal gun ports to the current fifty or sixty, and there are more than a hundred smoothbore guns. It is not easy to pull these cannons from the seaside through the mountain valleys all the way to Medellin. Cannon after cannon was firing fiercely, making the Spanish squatting in the pit look shabby and unable to raise their heads.

Although the power of the hexagonal cannon is far less than that of the rocket. But today's rockets also need to rely on the hexagonal cannon to exert their power, even if the current battlefield is in mountainous and hilly areas.

The "short legs" can't afford to be hurt.

The battles of the war have long been dominated by hexagonal cannons, supplemented by smoothbore cannons, mixed with rifled guns, and finally rockets.

After the rockets, there are rocket launchers, mortars and small cannons, combined with grenades and a large number of rifled guns. From far to near, the firepower covers the entire "battlefield". It can be said that there is no "blank" area from two thousand meters away to the trench.

"Banzai?! This group of hateful Japanese monkeys! Ignorant idiots, scapegoats for the Chinese!"

Major General Osivison was quite close to the front line, on the north side of a hillside behind the front line. He wanted to "go to the front line" to encourage the fighting spirit of his soldiers. So much so that he could clearly hear the shouts of the shogunate army now.

In the sturdy and hidden observation post, Osivison had a mocking sneer on his face, holding a telescope and looking at the short Orientals in black uniforms in the distance. They were really short. With such a small size, Osivison felt that the Spanish soldiers could beat ten of them in hand-to-hand combat!

As a newcomer who had just arrived in America for less than two years, Osivison had also heard about the ferocity of Japanese soldiers, but that was just hearsay. Now that he saw the real person, Osivison could not believe that the short Japanese would be as fierce as the legend said. If it were the Chinese, it would be almost the same!

But these Japanese are at least very brave and fearless. They can charge desperately under the rain of bullets. They are the most qualified cannon fodder for the Chinese.

"Poor Japanese, they look like children. The Chinese are just using them as cannon fodder." Osivison said with some sympathy and gloating.

"Sir, the Japanese only look weak, but they are really fierce in actual combat." Osivison's adjutant hesitated for a moment and whispered in Osivison's ear. Although the Japanese are short, they are sturdy, muscular, strong in the lower limbs, strong, and well-trained. Whether it is stabbing or blocking, there is a super explosive power in their arms. In contrast, the tall and strong Spaniards seem a little clumsy, and more importantly, not fierce enough.

The adjutant has not really fought with the Japanese, but he has come into contact with many patriots pulled down from the north, who have a high opinion of Japanese soldiers, no worse than the Chinese.

"To suppress a team of Japanese soldiers, we need to deploy at least a battalion!" This is the most common phrase used by patriots who have fought brutal guerrilla warfare with the Chinese in the mountains of the north when evaluating Japanese soldiers in hand-to-hand combat.

Moreover, the fighting spirit and courage of Spanish soldiers now cannot be compared with those of Japanese soldiers in the National Defense Force or the Japanese soldiers in the Volunteer Corps.

Osivison's adjutant said something completely opposite to what Osivison thought. The former felt that he was doing his duty, but this undoubtedly made Osivison very unhappy. But the facts proved that what the latter said was correct.

When the shogunate soldiers in black uniforms rushed to the hilltop defended by the Spanish in a scattered state with the support of powerful firepower in the rear, the two sides started a brutal hand-to-hand combat with bayonets. As a result, Osivison was surprised to see that the hilltop position guarded by two companies of Spanish garrisons collapsed under the impact of a company of Japanese soldiers. They only lasted for twenty minutes, or even less, and ran away with their heads in their arms.

The volunteer corps has been around for more than 30 years.

There are fewer and fewer Japanese soldiers who liked to wield samurai swords in hand-to-hand combat in the early years. More Japanese people have been practicing "gunmanship" since childhood, instead of using samurai swords to chop people.

Yes, gunmanship. The Japanese call bayonet training "gunmanship". More and more Japanese samurai families have abandoned samurai swords and practiced shooting and gunmanship. This inheritance will not last too long according to the development of world science and technology, but it has greatly improved the quality of Japanese military personnel in a short period of time.

"Ban Zai! The great Chinese emperor Ban Zai..."

When the charge horn sounded, Itakura Katsuaki, the officer of the first squadron of the fifth battalion of the first detachment of the first corps heading south [five thousand Japanese soldiers], was the first to jump out of the trench, and then pointed the samurai sword in his hand straight ahead. Then, sixty or seventy small soldiers in black uniforms came out of the trench, each holding a rifle with a bayonet, shouting and following Itakura Katsuaki, and under the cover of the cannon, they began a new round of charge.

At this time, Itakura Katsuaki was no longer the grandson of Fukushima clan leader Itakura Katsunagi, he was just a low-ranking officer with no weight in the army.

Among the five thousand Japanese troops, there were many officers who came from the Japanese mainland on express ships, because many officers in the volunteer team and the security army were unwilling to return to Japan. The former may have obtained Chinese nationality, and the latter at least got the yellow book. They can fight for China without risking their lives, but they cannot fight for China under the banner of Japan.

So the Japanese shogunate quickly formed a group of local officers and sent them to America on a bumpy clipper warship. Itakura Katsuaki was one of them. Many of these people were Japanese nobles, including some Tokugawa clan members.

Itakura Katsuaki's team had already charged twice today and captured a trench of the Spanish colonial army. They fought two hand-to-hand battles with the Spanish in two charges. From this point, it can be seen that the Spanish are going to fail. Before, the Japanese army could not fill the Spanish defensive position, but now they can charge up every time they attack.

Itakura Katsuaki's team killed more than fifty Spanish officers and soldiers, and they also had fourteen people sacrificed and twenty people injured. But the third charge is still full of energy!

"Oh my God! How can these damn Japanese fight so well! Why are they so loyal to the Chinese?" Osivison finally realized the horror of Japanese soldiers at this time. He didn't understand why the Japanese army would fight so hard for the Chinese? He didn't know how strong the temptation of the land of Africa was for Japan.

Before, Japan only sent its own people to India as mercenaries. So, they were grateful for China's permission. Now China wants to find a piece of land in black Africa for them to control freely and autonomously. The whole of Japan is boiling.

So, after half an hour of bombing, the smoke has not yet dissipated, and the black brigade of Japanese soldiers surged up like a tide. The Spanish Army Major General's hand was almost squeezed out of the telescope. These Japanese soldiers are completely different from the Indians he knows. Although they are all yellow people and not tall, the Japanese are really brave, and their bravery is a bit outrageous.

Attack after attack, braving fierce artillery fire, braving dense bullets, and charging tirelessly again and again. They dared to pull grenades and die with their enemies when they were injured. This is really crazy to the extreme!

Moreover, their individual quality is also high. Whether it is shooting or bayoneting, they are much better than regular Spanish soldiers, and those colonial troops are even less opponents.

The most terrifying thing is that these people dared to charge when their own cannons were firing shells. The cannons would not stop firing until they rushed to a distance of 100 meters in front of the Spanish position, as if they did not care about accidental injuries at all. As soon as the cannons stopped, their shooting and the rockets carried during the charge were thrown like raindrops, which really suppressed the Spanish so much that they could not even raise their heads.

"Boom boom boom..." The Spanish rockets were also fighting back with all their strength. Thick smoke continued to rise from the battlefield.

However, the Spanish positions were constantly lost, and their defense line was constantly retreating. If this continued for a long time, the entire defense line outside the city would collapse.

"Your Excellency, Major General, please leave here quickly and move to Medellin City."

The adjutant who was not liked by Osivison suggested. At this time, a major also ran to Osivison breathlessly. He shouted loudly to evacuate. It is no longer safe here, and the entire defense line outside the city is about to collapse.

In less than three days, they lost more than 1,500 people. The defense line outside the city, especially the defense line on the west side, could no longer continue.

"What? It can't be defended so soon?" Osivison was shocked, and sweat flowed from his forehead.

You must know that Medellin is a valley city. It is located in the Abra Valley on the west foot of the Central Cordillera Mountains and on the banks of the Medellin River. The entire city is due to the terrain - the valley area, the hills outside, if a layer of shell, the valley plain inside, narrow from east to west, and long from north to south. The Medellin River runs through the center of the city.

The Chinese army landed from the west coast and appeared directly on the west side of Medellin. If this western suburbs defense line with several hills as cover can only hold for three days, then how many days can Medellin City hold without this shell?

You must know that the east-west depth of Medellin City is really short, and Osivison intuitively feels that it is unreliable.

After the Chinese gained the strategic initiative on the west side, they could go south along the edge of Medellin City. Once the Medellin River was cut off by the Chinese and Medellin City could no longer be defended, they could only retreat to the border fortress in the north with their remaining troops. This was a dead end!

"Boom boom boom..."

Another burst of rocket explosions was heard, interspersed with thrilling grenade throwing competitions. Whether it was the defenders on the hilltop or the attacking troops on the hillside, balls of fire kept rising...