Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 531 Clash (Part 3)

Under the blazing sun, the earthen-yellow walls of Guadalajara city distorted slightly in the heat.

On the city wall, several Xinhua red five-star flags hung listlessly, their corners occasionally lifted by the hot wind, revealing their bright red background.

Several officers were standing on the south gate tower, observing the Spanish military camp in the distance with monoculars.

"It's been three days already. What are these Spaniards waiting for?" Lei Mingchun, the battalion commander of the Fifth Mixed Battalion, put down his binoculars, his tone filled with confusion and a little irritation.

Staff Officer Shen Conghui rapidly jotted down observation data in his notebook, saying without looking up, "They're waiting for us to make a mistake, or for reinforcements. The Spanish commanders are far more cautious than we imagined."

Qiu Chengsong, the company commander of the 1st Company of the 5th Mixed Battalion, snorted coldly and pointed to the bustling camp two kilometers away: "Setting up the camp so far away is indeed unexpected. At this distance, by the time they carry the siege equipment to the city walls, they'll be exhausted and out of breath."

He spat, "It seems they're terrified of our Xinhua Army, afraid to get too close lest they face our artillery fire or a surprise attack."

Upon hearing this, the officers on the city wall burst into laughter, but their laughter carried a hint of solemnity.

The Spanish camp was built on a gentle slope, and the wooden fence and trenches were already taking shape.

The soldiers continued their busy work, like ants, reinforcing the fortifications and building barracks.

Several heavy artillery pieces were being laboriously dragged to their designated positions by dozens of soldiers and mules, plowing deep ruts into the dry ground.

Outside the camp, squads of Spanish cavalry patrolled, their breastplates and lances gleaming brightly in the sunlight.

"I heard that the night before last, those natives (Indians) tried to launch a night attack before the Spanish camp was completed, but they were defeated by the well-prepared Spanish and lost at least two hundred men," said Zhou Zhiyuan, an artillery staff officer, as he adjusted the focus of his binoculars.

“It seems there’s more.” Li Yunhu, the battalion commander of the Third Mixed Battalion, wore a grave expression. “Yesterday, our scouts reported that the defeated native soldiers had regrouped by dawn, but they numbered less than three hundred. Keep in mind, they must have gathered over eight hundred men to launch the attack that night. As a result, they lost more than half of them in one fell swoop, wasting all the time and effort we spent training them.”

"Who told them to disobey?" Lei Mingchun sneered. "Our Commander Mo repeatedly warned them not to confront the Spanish head-on, and even less to try to take advantage by attacking the Spanish camp. In the past two months, they fought several victories with us, and they naively thought they could fight the Spanish face to face!"

“Who says otherwise!” Li Yunhu said regretfully. “We were hoping they could use their familiarity with the terrain to wage guerrilla warfare against the Spanish, tying down their forces and creating an opportunity for us to inflict heavy losses on the Spanish army. But now, they’ve wiped out half of them in one fell swoop, and now the Spanish cavalry are chasing them everywhere, ruining our plans.”

“I must say, the Spanish cavalry are quite formidable,” Shen Conghui interjected, finally looking up from his notebook. “Their lances are longer than ordinary spears, and their horsemanship is superb. Our scouts have observed that they can maintain a certain level of formation even at full speed, with their lances held at almost the same angle. Now, the open fields outside the city are teeming with Spanish cavalry; the local militia are utterly no match for them. Once they are discovered, then…”

Before he finished speaking, a commotion and faint shouts suddenly came from outside the city.

Everyone hurriedly looked up and saw a group of more than twenty Native American "Free Army" soldiers running desperately toward the city gate about a mile ahead.

They were dressed in rags, many of them were injured, and they ran unsteadily.

Behind them, more than a dozen Spanish lancers were in hot pursuit, like a pack of wolves chasing their prey.

"Open the gate! #@#￥%……Open the gate now!" The Indian "Free Army" soldiers shouted and waved repeatedly towards the city wall in their Indian language mixed with a few broken Chinese words, their faces filled with fear and despair.

But it's too late.

The Spanish cavalry suddenly accelerated and pounced like a pack of wolves. Their three-meter-long lances, propelled by the speed of their galloping horses, easily pierced the bodies of the running Indian soldiers.

A young Native American warrior stared in disbelief at the spear shaft piercing his chest, blood gushing from his mouth.

Another older soldier tried to parry with his rusty machete, but the lance knocked the machete away with tremendous force and then pierced his abdomen.

He was thrown into the air by the enormous impact and then crashed heavily to the ground.

The Xinhua Army officers and soldiers on the city wall watched this cruel scene unfold helplessly.

Several young soldiers couldn't help but turn their heads away, their faces pale.

After slaughtering the Indians, the Spanish cavalry did not leave immediately. One of the cavalrymen, who appeared to be an officer, spurred his horse forward a dozen paces, raised his blood-stained lance high, with a bloody head still attached to the tip.

He shouted something towards the city wall; although the exact words were unclear, the provocation was obvious.

The other cavalrymen also joined in with strange cries, brandishing their still-dripping weapons.

"Boom! Boom!"

This was intolerable. The two cannons on the city wall fired swiftly, spewing thick smoke and flames from their muzzles, and huge projectiles whistled towards the arrogant Spanish cavalry.

A shell flew slightly too high, whistling through the air as it passed overhead, striking the open ground in the distance, kicking up a cloud of dust, bouncing a few times, and then rolling away.

But another cannonball struck the Spanish cavalry with deadly accuracy, piercing the belly of a tall Andalusian warhorse. The horse let out a mournful wail and collapsed to the ground.

The shell continued forward, leaving a cloud of blood, and struck the foreleg of another warhorse. The leg snapped off like a withered branch, and the warhorse collapsed with a painful neigh.

The Spanish cavalrymen were thrown into chaos. They frantically pulled the two wounded men who had fallen from their horses to their feet, helped them onto their companions' horses, and then, without pausing for a moment, spurred their horses and galloped away into the distance.

Before fleeing, the officer who had led the provocation glanced back at the city wall with a fierce look, his eyes filled with a mixture of anger and fear.

Damn it, how come the artillery of the Xinhua people is so accurate!
On the city wall, the artillerymen had already begun to clean the cannon barrels and reload them, but the target was long gone.

"Hey, these Spanish cavalry are a real problem for us!" Lei Mingchun smacked his lips. "They're using this highly mobile cavalry to first eliminate our forces outside the city, then completely isolate us, and also demoralize us. Tsk tsk, the Spanish commander does have some real skills; he's not some lazy bum!"

Shen Conghui nodded and said, "More importantly, the Spanish have this cavalry, even though it only has about eight hundred riders. The pressure and constraints it brings to us are still very obvious. Their mobility makes it impossible for us to launch an offensive or retreat easily. Even if we defeat their main force in open battle, we are unable to further expand our gains due to this threatening cavalry."

“That’s right. The Spanish can use their cavalry to cover their attacks or retreats at any time, and they can even attack our supply lines.” Li Yunhu’s face also showed a cautious expression. “If we want to retreat back to the coast, we may not be able to escape the pursuit of these cavalry. In the open wilderness, infantry without any fortifications are sitting ducks for the cavalry.”

“So, if we want to defeat the Spanish, we have to take out those annoying cavalry first.” Lei Mingchun glanced back at the departing Spanish cavalry.

"How do we take them out?" Qiu Chengsong asked in a muffled voice. "We only have about thirty cavalrymen in total, which can only serve as scouts and messengers. How dare we risk our lives against hundreds of Spanish cavalrymen?"

“If we want to annihilate cavalry, it’s not necessarily impossible to do so with infantry,” Shen Conghui said thoughtfully. “In certain terrain environments or pre-planned battlefields, as long as the mobility of cavalry is restricted, it shouldn’t be too difficult to wipe them out in one fell swoop.”

"What?" Qiu Chengsong looked at him in astonishment. "Sir, do you have a solution?"

"Heh, it's not that I have a plan, but that Commander Mo had already made it planned." Shen Conghui smiled.

"Commander Mo?" Qiu Chengsong subconsciously turned his head to look at the location of the provincial governor's mansion in the city, his face full of surprise and doubt. "Could it be that Commander Mo had already made arrangements on how to deal with the Spanish cavalry?"

"Then what do you think those two mixed battalion brothers who left the city three days ago went to do?"

"No way?" Qiu Chengsong's eyes widened. "How can two battalions of infantry annihilate that Spanish cavalry? The Spanish aren't stupid, why would they willingly walk into our trap?"

"Military secrets, don't pry!" Lei Mingchun hissed, glancing warily around before stepping down from the city walls. "Once down there, keep a close watch on your troops and prepare for battle. If the Spanish cavalry is annihilated, we'll have no choice but to leave the city and engage the main Spanish force in a decisive battle!"

The officers, each with their own thoughts, silently descended the city wall one by one.

Only Shen Conghui remained at the back, raising his binoculars once more to carefully observe the movements within the Spanish military camp.

His lips curled up slightly, revealing a barely perceptible smile.

The Spanish camps in the distance remained busy, constantly consolidating and strengthening their forward base.
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(End of this chapter)