America 1881: Legend of the West

Hushan is a mountain.

This place is very close to the San Juan Highlands and the terrain is very high. If you occupy this place, you can be on the same level as the San Juan Highlands.

However, the slope facing the attacker is relatively flat, so it can hardly be called a dangerous place to defend.

The only thing the Spanish army can rely on here is a factory.

Therefore, Rubin arranged more than eight Maxim heavy machine guns here, and the firepower was no weaker than that of Fort Elviso.

Chen Jianqiu and Roosevelt's Second and First Volunteer Cavalry Brigades quickly reached a place only a few hundred yards away from the Hushan position.

In front of them, there is a small slope.

This was the only barrier between the American and Spanish positions.

After climbing over the mound, there is a large open space without cover.

All those who attack will be exposed to the direct firepower of the Spaniards in the Hushan position.

Roosevelt dismounted and climbed up the slope.

He was just about to climb up and raise his binoculars to observe the situation on the opposite position, but he was unexpectedly pulled down by a strong hand. He almost fell and rolled down the slope.

"What? Who?" Roosevelt stabilized his body, turned his head, and was about to get angry.

But he found that the person who pulled him was Chen Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu didn't speak, just shook his finger.

He waved to the person behind him.

The person behind him carried a bag and took out a mirror with a long pole, two round helmets and two masks.

Chen Jianqiu took the two helmets, handed one to Roosevelt, and put the other on his head.

Roosevelt picked up the helmet, tapped it with his fingers, and made two muffled sounds: "dong, dong."

"Don't you feel heavy wearing this thing?" Roosevelt played with the helmet and took off his cowboy hat, wondering.

"It's better than losing your life." Chen Jianqiu also put the mask on his face.

"What about this mask?" Roosevelt looked at the mask in his hand, even more puzzled, "Is it scary?"

This mask is made of iron, with a dark surface. It does look a bit sinister.

"Really?" Chen Jianqiu, who was wearing a mask, turned his head and rolled his eyes in the two holes.

He raised the mirror in his hand high and placed it on his side.

The situation at the Hushan position opposite was reflected in the mirror.

While Chen Jianqiu was observing, he ordered the young man who just carried the bag:

"Aniu, what are you doing standing still? Work!"

The young man quickly took out an enlarged map and began to mark firepower points on the map according to Chen Jianqiu's instructions.

This kid has been working as Chen Jianqiu's follower since Li Sifu rose to the top and became his own man.

Apart from being a bit green, there are no other major flaws.

Just as Chen Jianqiu and Roosevelt were observing the situation on the opposite side in the mirror.

"Snapped!"

There was a crisp sound.

The mirror was instantly beaten to pieces.

Debris flying
, because of wearing a helmet and mask, Chen Jianqiu, who was closest to the mirror, was safe and sound.

Chen Jianqiu, who was wearing a black mask, threw away the bare pole in his hand and shrugged at Roosevelt.

Roosevelt suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.

"Sniper?" he asked.

Chen Jianqiu nodded.

Roosevelt gasped.

If Chen Jianqiu hadn't pulled him up just now, he would have been cold.

But now that the mirror is gone, it's not over.

Roosevelt was preparing to go down the slope, but he never thought that Chen Jianqiu would reach out to his little brother named A Niu again.

Ah Niu hurriedly took out another mirror that was almost identical to the one before, put it on the long pole, and handed it to Chen Jianqiu's hand.

They changed positions and continued what they were doing.

The mirror was soon knocked off again.

There is an extra circle on the map, labeled Sniper.

Chen Jianqiu extended his hand again.

This time, Aniu simply took out a stack of mirrors from his bag, tucked them under his armpit, bit a pen in his mouth, and followed Chen Jianqiu.

Roosevelt and the officers behind him were stunned.

A Niu noticed Roosevelt's gaze and smiled honestly at him.

After breaking seven or eight mirrors, Chen Jianqiu basically explored the entire frontier position on the opposite side.

He then waved to Roosevelt behind him.

"withdraw!"

Several people climbed down the slope.

"The firepower on the opposite side is so dense." Roosevelt frowned, "How about we see if we can attack upward from several directions."

"No need, just say hello to the 1st and 10th Cavalry Regiments on the flanks. After we start the general attack, we can just rush forward and be done with it." Chen Jianqiu said.

He took the piece of paper from A Niu's hand, read it again, and handed it to his subordinate.

"It's time to show off." Chen Jianqiu patted his subordinate on the shoulder.

His subordinates understood and turned around and walked into their own troops.

After a while, a group of soldiers rushed out from the back row.

Two of them were carrying a small box, and the other was holding another.

Still in a group of three, we came to the front row of the team.

They opened the box, took out a few brackets and an iron pipe, and began to quickly organize and install them in front of the formation.

In another box, there was a mortar shell with a tail fin.

In a short time, eighty mortars were assembled.

A Niu gave the mirror in his arms to several soldiers walking towards him. The soldiers came to the hillside with the mirrors and did the same thing as Chen Jianqiu just now.

These people are observation posts, responsible for adjusting the shooting position of the gunner behind and observing the situation after the shelling.

"Sir, the mortars are ready and ready to fire at any time!" The officer just walked up to Chen Jianqiu, stood at attention and reported to him.

"Let's start fighting when you're ready. The reporters who will be accompanying you later will follow. We have to move quickly." After Chen Jianqiu finished speaking, he walked back to the soldiers with his hands on his hips.

On the opposite position.

The Spaniards who relied on the factory were still confused.

They seemed to have seen the American troops coming to attack Hushan, but they seemed not to have seen them.

There are many excellent snipers in the Spanish team.

But so far they have only seen bright mirrors flashing on the opponent's position.

Two mirrors may be for observation, but what are so many mirrors doing?
In addition, the US military had not yet launched an attack. The Spanish commander of the Hushan position really didn't understand what the other side was up to.

He doesn't understand, and the people below naturally don't understand either.

So, except for the snipers who were still happily shooting with the mirror, everyone else slacked off.

It seems that the other side does not have the courage to charge.

Then, they heard a series of muffled noises coming from the opposite side.

Then, something seemed to rise into the air from behind the hillside, draw a parabola, and fall towards him.

Although I don't know what it is.

But they had a bad feeling.

From ancient times to the present, people have been studying how to throw lethal objects at the heads of enemies.

They tried bows and arrows, catapults, trebuchets, and so on.

The objects thrown ranged from burning oil bottles to explosives to dead bodies.
Therefore, on the battlefield, if something suddenly appears in the air and flies towards you, it is most likely not a good thing.

The Spaniards were about to hide in the trenches subconsciously, but it was too late.

The mortar shells exploded on the Spanish positions, raising thick dust and billowing smoke.

The Spanish soldiers who failed to dodge were instantly blown to pieces.

The Spaniard was just about to get up to see what was happening.

However, Chen Jianqiu's mortarmen did not give him any chance.

The second mortar salvo came again.

These mortar operators did not have long training time, so their shooting accuracy was not that high.

However, their artillery fire covered the heavy machine gun fire points marked by Chen Jianqiu on the map.

Those soldiers who got close to the heavy machine guns were in trouble.

They were bombarded intensively.

Many soldiers were half-killed by artillery shells that were not originally aimed at them.

Including those snipers who were happily shooting through the mirror just now.

In this battle to attack Santiago, Chen Jianqiu gave the Spaniards and Americans some small shocks regarding artillery.

This is an era where speed of fire is king.

The most critical thing is how to pour the most ammunition into the enemy's position in the shortest time.

It was a good deal for Chen Jianqiu to exchange ammunition for the veteran's life.

"Charge!" Chen Jianqiu, who has always been very low-key, rarely gave the order to attack personally after the cannon sounded.

The Chinese soldiers formed a skirmish line from behind the hill and rushed towards the enemy position four hundred yards away.

Seeing this, Roosevelt immediately ordered everyone to charge.

He himself turned over, mounted the only war horse in his brigade, and rushed up the hillside.

"Charge! For America! For the Maine!" he shouted loudly.

The charge of the reckless cavalry is also a skirmish charge.

But the 2nd Cavalry Brigade is divided into groups, and each group has different connections with each other.

Their charge was completely unorganized due to lack of training, and had a primitive beauty.

The officers tried to maintain their formation, but soon found it was a futile effort. They could only hope that the soldiers would rely on their high morale to knock down the opposing position.

When the Spanish machine gunner, who was unable to raise his head due to the explosion, returned to the front of the heavy machine gun again.

He suddenly realized that the enemy was only a few dozen meters away from him.

A distance of four hundred yards would take less than a minute for a fast runner.

One minute of fire suppression can be fatal.

The machine gunner could almost see the face of the person opposite him.

He quickly returned to his position and wanted to pull the trigger, but found that the assistant shooter had not returned to his position yet.

The machine gunner cursed.

He stood up, preparing to load the bullet belt into the machine gun himself, but he was suddenly caught off guard by the Chinese soldier he had just seen who picked up the automatic rifle in his hand and fired a burst of shots at him while moving forward.

The machine gunner was hit by a bullet, his body tilted and he fell on the machine gun.

Chen Jianqiu's Chinese soldiers charged directly into the Hushan position without any hesitation.

Roosevelt's horse finally managed to hold out and rushed up the hill in one breath.

He rode his horse towards the opposite position, raising his right arm holding the gun and shouting.

Such a person will definitely become the target of concentrated fire on the battlefield.

Too conspicuous.

Roosevelt's horse hit the barbed wire and fell to the ground thirty yards away from the enemy position, and both the horse and the rider fell to the ground.

Fortunately, he was not seriously injured and got up from the ground covered in dust.

Roosevelt adjusted his glasses and was about to rush forward, but suddenly he saw two Spanish soldiers in front of him aiming their guns at him.

His heart stopped and he was about to fall to the ground to avoid it.

"Crack! Crack!"

Suddenly, I heard two crisp gunshots behind me.

The two Spanish soldiers on the opposite side had their heads exploded almost at the same time and fell down.

Roosevelt turned his head in shock and found Chen Jianqiu standing behind him with a gun.

"My God, Chen, you saved my life again. Damn it, I owe you at least three lives!" Roosevelt said.

"Let's capture the opposing position first."

Chen Jianqiu didn't say much to Roosevelt, but continued to charge forward with his gun.

As Roosevelt drove his horse up the hill.

Chen Jianqiu was taken aback.

He knew that Roosevelt was a passionate man, but he didn't expect him to be so reckless.

Before landing in Cuba, there were a lot of rumors circulating.

Some people believe that Roosevelt resigned from the Navy Department and went to the United States with a ragtag army in order to gain enough political capital.

Anyone who says this must not have seen what Roosevelt is doing now.

No one risked his life to earn political capital, and no normal person would do so unless it was absolutely necessary.

What Roosevelt was thinking about now had absolutely nothing to do with death.

Maybe it's glory! Maybe it's passion!
Chen Jianqiu originally didn't plan to rush forward.

But since Roosevelt did this, he had no choice but to pick up his gun and follow.

On the front, Chinese soldiers and soldiers of the Second Brigade fought together with the Spaniards.

On the flank, the 1st and 14th Cavalry Regiments also launched attacks.

The battle at Hushan has become fierce. (End of this chapter)