Dominate the Country

The Spanish colonial army moved westward along the Salton Basin, and Gaopingshan neither issued an order to stop it nor ordered the southward troops to attack.

According to the plan of the First Army Staff Headquarters, our army has complete geographical advantages and can sit back and watch the Spaniards come to their doorstep.

Whether they move westward along the desolate and water-starved Salton Basin, or directly cross the Salton Basin and head north, the first army can easily deal with them.

For example, in the current situation, the National Defense Forces can block the western edge of the Salton Basin, delay the Spanish's march, and then send an elite force across the Salton Basin to attack the Spanish's retreat.

——This elite force cannot be large, but it must be truly elite. In a group or so.

Because the harsh natural environment of the Salton Basin really cannot allow a large-scale infantry unit to cross safely, especially after they cross the Salton Basin, they will have to fight a hard and long-term battle.

"Shiying, if I want the Spaniards to get into trouble but not stand still. Do you have any suggestions?" Gao Pingshan asked.

"Is the military commander afraid that the Spaniards will be alert?"

"I'm afraid that the troops heading south won't be able to cross the Salton Basin in time and block the Spanish's retreat?"

Emperor Chen took this American War very seriously. Several of his generals were sent to America by him.

The American garrison is also organized into two legions. The first legion is Gao Pingshan, the second legion is Huang Jie, and the one in the rear is Chen Qi.

Several emerging young men in the army, such as Wei Baocheng, Deng Yun, Chen Wei, Dong Wei, Pan Chang, Shen Shiying, etc., were all incorporated into the American garrison. These talents behind them will be the next twenty As the backbone of Chen Han's army, Chen Ming would not let them leave the war for a long time.

Now the 'Shiying' in Gaoping Pass is Shen Shiying.

The reason why he is on the list of young heroes is not because of his father, but because of his own ability in staff planning. Shen Shiying is a bit like Berthier, with strong energy and careful thinking, cautious attitude, and talent for filtering out clues in a mess.

Although the Spanish colonial army on the opposite side had a very aggressive strategy, due to the strength displayed by the National Defense Forces on the national border, Santiago took his investigation and actions very seriously and carefully. He ordered the cavalry troops to conduct non-stop reconnaissance, including several military strongholds in the rear near the Salton Basin. This not only greatly embarrassed the scouts of the National Defense Forces, but also greatly increased the difficulty for the southbound troops of the National Defense Forces to achieve their goals.

Before Shen Shiying said anything, Gao Pingshan shook his head first. "Act according to the plan!" After all, the entire combat plan was carefully designed and deliberated by the entire staff. Gao Pingshan's concerns were all thought of by the staff, and the strategy formulated was the culmination of n number of considerations. His own brain couldn't think of a better way in a short time.

Thirty or forty miles south of Dingnan Town, Spanish cavalry troops galloped down the road on horseback.

It was a settlement at the southernmost tip of Xu State today. It was originally a small town opened by the Spanish, named Said, but now it has become a semi-military 'frontier' town.

The Spanish colonial army was still seventy or eighty miles away from Dingnan Town, but it was normal for the cavalry to extend their investigation scope thirty to fifty miles away. The scope and density of these people's activities have always been very large. Santiago is a very cautious person in execution, which greatly contradicts his boldness in strategy.

Santiago is such a person.

The cavalry men and horses were quite tired, but these Spanish cavalry elites with a keen sense of smell had quickly noticed that something was wrong.

The road in front of them was surrounded by woods on both sides. It was a place overgrown with vegetation.

Several National Defense Force scouts hidden in the bushes stared at the approaching Spaniards. The leading Spanish cavalryman seemed to sense something. The moment the team was about to step into the trap, he suddenly pulled the reins.

Amidst the sound of 'Herodian' war horses, half of a cavalry squad of twenty or thirty people dismounted, and half turned their horses around and retreated a distance.

I saw a Spanish cavalryman take out a stick more than one meter long from his horse, and stuck it on the ground, and then stuck it again, and then after a muffled sound, there was a half-meter-wide depression on the road ahead. , there are five or six palm-sized horse traps around it.

The Spanish cavalry quickly set up their muskets towards the surrounding area, but the National Defense Force scouts who had been ambushed deep in the woods had already fired at the cavalry who were close at hand.

Their number was obviously small, because the gunshots were very sparse, but their shooting accuracy was extremely high, one shot at a time. Soon five cavalry troops were killed on the spot and two others were wounded.

"It's a rifle. Damn it, let's get out of here."

A Spanish second lieutenant yelled loudly. He was very clear about the ecological environment of this terrain. It had been separated from the Salton Basin. The water flow had become denser and the vegetation was overgrown. It was separated from the current road and it was a forest. To deal with several enemies armed with flintlock rifles in this environment, and all they have is flintlock rifles, is undoubtedly a way to die.

Retreating was the best choice, even if they paid a heavy price.

Since the gunfire of the ‘hunters’ rang out, Santiago almost instinctively chose a more conservative strategy, strengthening vigilance and sending out more scout cavalry. He had to wait until the cavalry brought back accurate news before deciding to fight.

This is a fairly qualified commander.

Santiago did not act rashly - forward or backward. But he had no idea what tricks the Chinese were going to use to deal with them. His increased vigilance, in addition to stagnating their own marching speed, did not bring him any benefits.

Of course, he also made some subtle changes to the scout cavalry, such as replacing their weapons with rifled guns. At the same time, these cavalry also brought him new discoveries - several deformed lead bullets, which seemed to be somewhat different from the lead bullets they usually used.

It’s just that the Spanish cavalry used rifled guns to shoot at the scouts and snipers of the National Defense Army. It was completely amateurs fighting professionals, and the consequences were nothing but sending food. The number of Spanish casualties soon exceeded one hundred, and the morale of the cavalry was low.

Santiago was nervous because of this round of harassment from the outside. The attack did not only come from the front. He tried to send people to the back, but the soldiers he sent out were also ambushed. Their Spanish colonial army was suddenly "attacked from front and back". If Santiago could still remain calm in this situation, he would be either an idiot or a god of war.

The war started in area 24 marked on the Wehrmacht combat map.

This area is the grave prepared by the Wehrmacht for Santiago's Spanish colonial army. Various design elements have been calculated long ago. Santiago deployed his troops and arranged positions. Although it was very fast and regular, it could not stop the fact that this battlefield was preset by the Wehrmacht.

There was no scene of artillery bombardment in the war. When the Spanish colonial army's artillery fired wantonly and bombarded the blocking positions, the Wehrmacht artillery was preparing for saturation strikes.

You know, at the beginning of this year, the American Garrison completed the new replacement. Now the rifles they hold are all Minié rifles that are one era ahead of the flintlock rifle, and some of their cannons are expensive and heavy hexagonal cannons.

The Spanish are more face-saving than the Russians.

In order to deal with them, Chen Ming upgraded all his armed forces in America. Now he has nothing else except a breech-loading needle-percussion rifle that is not progressing very smoothly.

Today's American Garrison is Chen Han, and it is also the most powerful army in the world, although their total number is less than 50,000.

Gao Pingshan has only 30 hexagonal cannons, 45 cannons account for 60%, 60 cannons have only four pitiful ones, and the remaining eight are the largest 75 cannons. Yes, the statistical method of hexagonal cannons can no longer be based on the weight of the shells, but on the size of the caliber.

The so-called 45 cannon is a caliber of 45mm, which is about one inch and three, but the shells are more than four pounds, very close to three catties.

The caliber of the traditional ball-shaped artillery shells, just a one-pound cannon, has reached 2 inches, which is nearly 5 centimeters, 50mm.

The gap between the two is really too big.

The hexagonal cannon shell is a twisted cylinder with sharp corners, which is much larger than a pure round shell.

But the range and accuracy of the hexagonal cannon are much higher than the traditional muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon. The rules of the latter cannot be applied to the former, so Chen Ming simply decided to consider the caliber size.

So in Chen Han's military system, starting with the smallest 20 guns, 30 guns, 45 guns, 60 guns, 75 guns, a series of gun types came out one after another. And Chen Han's largest caliber hexagonal cannon is the 75 gun.

Gao Pingshan has a full 30 hexagonal cannons in his hands, so they can completely suppress the opponent.

Under the command of the school shooting balloon, no matter how beautiful the Spanish artillery positions are set up, no matter how many willow vine frames are piled up, it is useless.

The penetration of cylindrical shells is much higher than that of traditional spherical shells.

The Spanish colonial army didn't know anything yet, and they were still working hard to dig trenches. At the same time, the Spanish colonial army's artillery was still bombarding the National Defense Army. The iron bullets broke the logs in half and the dust on the battlefield...

But the matter was decided at the moment when the hexagonal cannon and Minié rifle were transported to America.

The example of millet plus rifles defeating airplanes and cannons was based on the latter's strong leadership and the blood and dedication of countless people. If even the Spanish colonial army could do this, the Russian army, which was one level stronger than the Spanish army in the European military, should have been pushed back to Urumqi, Northeast China, and North China.

In the Central and Western American War, Chen Ming's biggest goal was of course to plunder Spain's wealth. But while achieving this biggest goal, he was also advertising for the Minié rifle and the hexagonal cannon, telling everyone in the world how advanced Chen Han's weapons were and how powerful his force was. Let all Westerners be convinced of an unchangeable fact in their minds - the Minié rifle is much more powerful than the smoothbore rifle.

Let Westerners no longer dare to spy on China, and let them fear China from the bottom of their hearts.

At the same time, after the advancement and combat effectiveness of the Minié rifle have been verified, its importance is beyond words. Then, what should the Russian Empire say for stealing China's advanced weapons technology?

Chen Ming is looking forward to the reply from St. Petersburg.

So, in this war in America, Chen Ming requires a crushing victory.

When the American garrison troops and all military forces in America fight the Spaniards, they must display an invincible momentum to completely crush their opponents!