Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 195 Broken City
It was a rainy night and it was pitch black outside Iyareta.

In the jungle east of the city, thousands of armed young men are densely hidden.

A day ago, after Ma Jizu successfully persuaded Davis to attack the city of Iyareta, nearly a thousand armed men under Davis quickly marched fifty or sixty kilometers and arrived near the fortress in the east of the city before dusk.

After more than half a year of increasing troops to fight against rebel armed forces in the north, the situation in northern Argentina has gradually improved. The city of Iareta, as an important military town in the north, was hit by a devastating blow from the Argentine troops, with only a small number of remnant armed forces fleeing into the mountains and forests, unable to pose a substantial threat to the city.

As the security situation improved, the city of Iareta was designated as a rear military base by Argentine troops. Not only were a large number of remaining troops transferred to other areas, but the local patrol and alert levels were also rapidly reduced.

When Ma Jizu crossed the blockade of Iyareta City for the first time, he observed that there were about thirty soldiers patrolling during the day, but in the evening, perhaps because of the weather, there were only five or six soldiers standing on duty at the battlements of the eastern fortress.

There were only two soldiers standing at the guard post set up at the city gate.

Ma Jizu and several of his soldiers took advantage of the cover of night to approach the fortress and observed the actual defensive situation of the defenders before retreating back to Davis' position.

"General Davis, the Argentine fortress's guards have relaxed their vigilance. They should not have noticed anything unusual. How long will it take for your men to recover before launching an attack?"

After Davis' armed forces grew to a thousand people, he followed Sun Qisheng's advice and changed the name of the army to the Indian Gaucho United Resistance Army. He himself became the commander-in-chief of the resistance army. Therefore, Ma Jizu used the title of general to refer to him.

“It’s raining outside the city and it won’t stop any time soon. My men can’t stay soaked in the rain.

One hour, one hour later the troops will attack."

The eastern fortress is backed by a tributary of the Paraná River, with repaired trench stakes in front of it. In addition, there is a guard post on the left side of the city gate. The only way to break through the fortress is to storm it. Postponing the attack time to late at night will not help much.

Ma Jizu nodded in agreement with Davis' plan and said, "General, you and your men should rest and recuperate first. I will be in charge of the Argentine guard posts and trench stakes outside the fortress. In an hour, make sure all obstacles on the passage leading to the fortress gate are gone."

According to the prior agreement, Ma Jizu was responsible for removing the nails set by the Argentines outside the fortress. However, considering that the other side only had more than 30 men, in order to make the plan successful, Davis reminded, "It's time to clear the obstacles set up by the Argentines outside the fortress in one hour. It's tight. Why not dispatch 50 people from my troops to help you."

"I appreciate Davis's kindness, but clearing the external obstacles of the fortress requires sufficient concealment. Too many people will increase the possibility of exposure."

Ma Jizu shook his head and rejected Davis' suggestion, then continued, "The Argentines have deployed four artillery pieces on top of the fortress. When the general's men are attacking the fortress, they must avoid breaking through the main gate directly, otherwise the attacking force will be directly hit by the artillery fire of the Argentine defenders, resulting in heavy casualties."

"The eastern fortress is surrounded by flat land on three sides. No matter which direction the attacking troops break through from, they will be hit by the defenders' artillery fire. Attacking from the side will not be very effective."

Davis had experience in attacking Argentine towns a few months ago and knew that in order to capture a town defended by artillery and garrisons, in addition to relying on superior firepower to suppress the enemy, he could only take advantage of troop strength and use human lives to create a breakthrough.

"We lack siege artillery, and storming the fortress is the only solution to break the city." Ma Jizu did not deny his disadvantage, but analyzed seriously, "According to the traditional siege method, we need to break through the eastern fortress within an hour and a half, otherwise the troops responsible for the blocking mission may not be able to resist the enemy's reinforcements, resulting in our failure due to attacks from both sides.

Attacking a city by force will inevitably result in a large number of casualties, but we should try to reduce the casualties as much as possible and use the casualties of the troops in valuable ways. "

This was the first time that Ma Jizu independently planned a battle plan. After finishing a paragraph, he paused for a moment, sorted out his thoughts and continued, "The main factor in siege warfare is to gain time difference and complete the goal of breaking the city before the local reinforcements arrive. The eastern fortress that we want to capture, in addition to the main gate and the gates on both sides, has another location that is more suitable as an attack target."

"The eastern fortress is heavily defended. Could there be a more suitable target for attack than the city gate?" Davis said in disbelief.

"The general stopped near Iyareta and should have noticed the structure of the fortress walls."

"The front and west walls of the eastern fortress are about seven meters high. The eastern wall is built on the old fortress and is slightly lower."

Davis said based on his memory, and then realized that the breakthrough point that Ma Jizu mentioned might be the east wall. He shook his head subconsciously and said, "Although the east wall was built a long time ago and the wall structure is relatively old, it is still impossible to destroy the wall with the weapons we have now."

"There are ways to destroy the city walls, but General Davis just didn't see it in South America."

Ma Jizu chuckled and said this, then ordered the soldiers to carry over his trump card for breaking the city. Four soldiers followed the order, using a wooden frame to carry a large thing tightly wrapped in a tarpaulin, and then slowly placed it on a wooden board separated by a tree trunk.

"General Davis, this is the weapon used to destroy the city wall." Ma Jizu pointed to the big thing on the wooden board and explained, "The National Defense Army was born out of the Heavenly Kingdom Army. In the early days of the Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Army brothers used crudely packaged iron bombs to break through the city again and again. Later, the Qing army strengthened the defense system of important cities, and the Heavenly Kingdom Army could not approach the bottom of the city wall to bury iron bombs. This siege method gradually became ineffective. However, for this small fortress we want to break through, as long as your subordinates can contain the firepower of the defenders and cover some soldiers to transport the iron bombs to the east wall, we can achieve the goal of breaking the city."

Large bombs made of iron sheets wrapped with explosives have a huge effect on small fortresses. However, due to the crude manufacturing process and the heavy weight of the bombs, it is currently very difficult to transport the bombs to the heavily defended city walls in actual combat. This is also the reason why Li Mingyuan did not include weapons such as iron bombs and iron barrel cannons in the army's equipment after purchasing a batch of new field artillery. The conditions restricting the use of iron bombs did not exist when capturing the eastern fortress of Iyareta City. Therefore, after thinking about it, Ma Jizu picked up the crude weapons eliminated by the National Defense Army and used the collected gunpowder to urgently make two large iron bombs.

Through Ma Jizu's introduction, Davis became curious about and attached importance to the actual power of the iron bomb. After some communication, the two confirmed the main direction and general details of the operation. …

An hour later, Ma Jizu led his soldiers to successfully deal with the guards outside the fortress and clear the wooden stakes set near the trench. Then Davis's large force launched a surprise attack on the fortress in three directions according to the plan.

Thousands of armed young men rushed towards the gates of the fortress in a disorderly manner. However, after entering within 200 meters of the gate, the losses of Davis' men increased rapidly.

Ten minutes later, after the initial panic, the fortress defenders quickly resumed their combat posture, using the brightness generated by the torches lit on the city walls and the artillery shells outside the city gates to determine the position of the siege troops, and then guide the artillery to carry out the attack.

The rumbling sound of artillery continued, and rows of siege armed personnel fell under artillery shells and bullets, while Davis's men were more than 20 meters away from the nearest of the three city gates.

The combat range of more than 20 meters outside the city gate was very narrow. The ammunition fired by the one or two hundred rifles on the top of the city became a harvesting field for the attacking soldiers. The gauchos and Indians who broke through one by one were hit by several bullets and fell down as soon as they stepped into the rifle blockade.

The killing of the attackers was still going on. In another direction, Ma Jizu forced himself to calmly observe the situation on the scene, and then decisively issued action instructions.

The pitch-black night was illuminated by artillery fire, and Ma Jizu's small team of more than 30 people was inconspicuous among the team of thousands of people.

Mixed in with the attacking troops, Ma Jizu first approached the east gate, and then quickly left the siege team about fifty meters away from the east city wall. The thirty people were divided into two teams, each carrying an iron bomb and rushing to the foot of the east wall.

The night sky was dim and bright under the flames of war. After leaving the city gate where the fighting was most intense and selecting two locations for burying bombs, the two teams of soldiers quickly took off their shovels and raced against time to dig tunnels.

Time passed slowly, and nearly an hour later, several gauchos came from behind to urge them.

Ma Jizu dug out a shovel with all his strength and measured the depth of the tunnel with his right hand covered in mud and water. "It is one and a half meters deep. Stop digging and bury the iron bomb immediately."

Ma Jizu commanded his men to quickly place the iron bomb, then carefully pulled out a fuse and covered it with a rainproof cloth.

After burying the iron bomb, Ma Jizu replied to the gaucho, "Notify General Davis that we are ready. Once the bomb explodes, my men will rush into the city through the gap in the city wall. I hope his troops will follow immediately."

After a brief translation, several gauchos immediately went back to report, and a few minutes later, another team of iron bombs also completed the burial.

Everything was ready. Ma Jizu ordered his men to evacuate 50 meters away from the bomb burial area, and then selected two agile soldiers to carry out the task of igniting the bomb.

The two soldiers who were selected were both veterans under Ma Jizu. They accepted the task and took out the prepared fire starter after the others evacuated. They carefully aimed the spark at the fuse head.

"Zizzi" the fuse caught fire as soon as it came into contact with fire. After the soldier holding the fire stick was sure that the ignition was successful, he immediately turned around and ran back.

Silence, a special silence in the war. Half a minute later, a deafening roar suddenly sounded. Along with the roar, a wall of the eastern fortress collapsed, and a gap about six or seven meters wide appeared in the center of the wall.

Before the soldiers defending the city had time to digest the sudden change, another roar was heard, and the city wall less than a hundred meters away from the gap collapsed again, forming another huge gap.

Smoke and dust filled the battlefield. Two loud noises covered all the sounds on the battlefield. After the noise ended, two teams of soldiers first emerged from a position about fifty or sixty meters away from the gap. Then more gauchos and Indians poured in from the gap, and the eastern fortress of Iareta fell.

(End of this chapter)