Chapter 65

Lin Youde woke up to find that four more artillery emplacements had suddenly appeared outside the eastern wall of Dingyuan Fort. In addition, the two artillery emplacements that had been destroyed in the previous battle seemed to have been restored. The Spanish had lined up six large cannons outside the city, their black muzzles pointing at the city wall.

"Damn, they're really persistent," Lin Youde sighed. "They don't sleep at night and just keep digging and building in secret. Do they think they can knock down my city wall with these six cannons?" As he thought about it, Lin Youde's heart stirred. He remembered reading a similar scenario in a military literature book at a local stall before. This can't be! He recalled carefully, and it seemed to be the Sevastopol fortress defense battle between the Russian Empire and the British, French, and Turkish forces. At that time, the Anglo-French allied forces had indeed knocked down the Russian city walls with cannons, but that was with hundreds of cannons. Here, there are only a few cannons, what good are they! Thinking about this, Lin Youde felt reassured again.

At 7:00 AM, both sides resumed the artillery battle. This time, both sides had an equal number of cannons, six against six, and the Spanish cannons seemed to have a slightly larger caliber. The intense artillery battle lasted from morning until noon, leaving both sides' positions in a mess.

Three of the Spanish artillery emplacements were destroyed, two due to the collapse of the fortifications, and one with the cannon completely destroyed. The two watchtowers on the eastern wall of Dingyuan Fort were also riddled with holes, and one 12-pound cannon was hit by the Spanish, rendering it useless and causing casualties among four of the gun crew.

By noon, both sides tacitly stopped the artillery bombardment.

After the morning artillery battle, Lin Youde and Niu De no longer had the relaxed and carefree expressions they had before. In just a few hours, the Spanish cannons had hit these two watchtowers multiple times. Although there were no major casualties, the artillerymen of the second watch were beaten and bruised, and the city wall was damaged in many places.

The performance of the Spanish was far beyond what it had been when they only had two cannons. Sighing, Lin Youde lamented that he could no longer enjoy the overwhelming feeling of crushing the Spanish with just two cannons. Thinking that the Spanish might add more cannons tomorrow, Lin and Niu couldn't help but feel a headache. With only six cannons, the Spanish were already barely manageable; if they added a few more, it would be unbearable. What are the Executive Committee and the Army Department doing? They need to cut off the Spanish supply lines quickly! At least to ease the pressure on us. If this continues, this war will be really hard to fight!

...

The low sound of hooves like distant thunder gradually grew louder on the ground ahead. Looking into the distance, a dark line seemed to appear on the horizon, which was the Spanish cavalry.

His mount snorted nervously, and Xu Yu knew he had hit the jackpot, unexpectedly encountering the main force of the Spanish cavalry while tracking their supply units. Suddenly turning from the hunter to the hunted, Xu Yu felt a bit disoriented. In fact, he knew that since the Executive Committee and the Army Department decided to increase their investment on the southern bank, clashes with the Spanish cavalry were inevitable. In this small area, it would be strange if the highly mobile forces of both sides didn't meet for a long time.

The front lines of both sides at Dingyuan Fort had already fallen into a prolonged stalemate. Apart from some "ineffective" artillery battles each day, there were no other activities. As the attacking side, the Spanish would not proceed with their next move until they removed this thorn in their back. Therefore, the Army Department, composed of inexperienced staff who were purely armchair strategists, drew on ancient Chinese military wisdom and adopted the strategy of "you do your thing, I do mine." Specifically, the Army Department decided to focus its main efforts on harassing the Spanish supply lines south of the Da Yu River. By using a large number of mobile forces to attack and disrupt the Spanish supply lines, they aimed to weaken the morale and combat will of the Spanish troops and reduce their combat effectiveness. To achieve this goal, they were even willing to dispatch more troops to the south of the Da Yu River to achieve greater results.

As a highly mobile force, the cavalry naturally took on the role of the vanguard in this harassment. In response, the Spanish, to protect their supply lines, also deployed most of their cavalry. Thus, the clash between the two sides was inevitable.

Xu Yu raised his telescope and saw that it seemed all the Spanish cavalry was here. This made him hesitate. He only had about a hundred regular cavalry, and with the mounted infantry, he still had less than half the number of the Spanish. This battle would be tough. Thinking about it, Xu Yu felt that a direct confrontation with the Spanish was unwise and decided to retreat. The direction of the retreat was to the right, towards a gentle hill. The terrain there was unsuitable for cavalry attacks, and they could rely on the terrain and their numerous firearms to counter the Spanish. Preserving strength was the priority; it would be a waste to expend valuable cavalry here.

Thus, while there was still time, the Cossack cavalry, under the orders of their officers, began to retreat quickly up the hill. The mounted infantry also slowly withdrew, maintaining a certain distance from the cavalry regiment. At this point, the Spanish cavalry was also speeding up, and the distance between the two sides was getting closer. It was clear that the Gaucho riders were leading the charge, wearing simple leather armor and thin clothing, and brandishing sabers.

The cavalry regiment successfully retreated to the halfway point of the hill, where the terrain had a certain slope. If the Spanish charged, their horses would quickly lose speed, putting them at a disadvantage. The mounted infantry, tasked with delaying the enemy, had just retreated to the edge of the hill, still some distance from the cavalry regiment.

Some of the Gaucho riders who charged quickly were now within the range of the 32-乙 type flintlock muskets. They seemed to think they had an advantage, circling and charging around the thin formation of the mounted infantry, acting arrogantly.

"Spit! Savages! There are always fools, but this year there are especially many. Come on, brothers, give these savages a little surprise! First half turn left... raise your guns... ready, fire! Second row, kneel and fire... Third row, line up and fire... ready, fire! Fourth row, turn right... raise your guns... ready, fire!" Wei Aiweng, the leader of the mounted infantry, was a veteran from the previous war. He knew that if these Gaucho riders continued to wreak havoc in front of the formation, he would not be able to retreat smoothly. Therefore, he commanded his troops to fire in volleys, knocking down some of the closest and most active Gaucho riders. These Gaucho riders, not being regular soldiers, were startled by the long-range muskets and quickly scattered to the sides, fleeing out of the range of the muskets.

With the interference removed, the mounted infantry turned around and maintained their formation, running at a brisk pace. They finally retreated to the hill before the main Spanish cavalry force arrived, then reformed into a tight formation.

Captain Torres led nearly four hundred Spanish cavalry to a stop about a few hundred meters from the hill. He raised his monocular and saw that there were about two hundred Tartar soldiers on the hill, with more than half on horseback, maintaining a loose formation on the hill. The other hundred or so had dismounted and formed a line, with sabers at their waists and muskets in hand, appearing to be mounted infantry popular in Europe.

The Tartar forces, with fewer troops, chose to avoid the battle, which was within Torres' expectations. After all, no rational commander would engage in a direct confrontation with a superior enemy when not in a desperate situation. Torres wanted to seize the opportunity and launch an attack, but he found that the Tartar forces were on a hill, which was very disadvantageous for his attack.

This time, they had finally caught the Tartar cavalry, but could not take the opportunity to eliminate them, which made Captain Torres feel somewhat frustrated. He knew that the Tartar cavalry were equipped with flintlock pistols, and the mounted infantry seemed to have the latest flintlock muskets, with formidable firepower. If his cavalry could not use their numerical advantage to defeat the enemy with sabers and lances on the plain, they would have no chance, as the enemy's powerful firepower would ensure they could easily defeat most of his cavalry, who were only equipped with cold weapons, in a dismounted battle.

Thus, both sides stood off. This situation fully reflected the current strategic posture between the Spanish and the穿越众. Although the Spanish seemed to have the upper hand on the surface, it was hard to say how stable their advantage was, and the situation could change dramatically at any moment.

Half an hour before nightfall, both sides, as if by mutual agreement, disengaged and turned around. The Spanish felt they had no chance of defeating the enemy under these circumstances, and Xu Yu's side also found it difficult to counterattack. Thus, their first encounter ended in a hasty manner.

PS: I've been on a business trip over the weekend and rushed to write this upon returning. The update times are irregular, but I'll try to update every day. I hope for your understanding, as I've been very busy recently.

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