Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 190: Capturing Fort Santiago
Around 5 p.m.

The ironclad fleet, which repeatedly destroyed Fort Santiago with fierce artillery fire, slowly retreated from the combat area, dropped anchor four or five kilometers away, and ended today's bombardment of the fortress.

Soon two transport ships came by and delivered supplies to the ironclad fleet that had experienced a day of fighting, including a large amount of stone bullets, black powder, food, water and fresh vegetables.

The sailing fleet that covered the landing troops' smooth landing, with two ships in a team, entered the bay one after another and began to search for enemy ships in a dragnet manner, vowing to kill the last Spanish sailing ship.

Of the six-ship Spanish fleet, two man-of-war were sunk, two escaped to the Royal Navy dock in Pasig River, and one was captured in Cavite.

The last remaining ship, the Sir Barmicle, was a brigantine that escaped the expeditionary fleet and hid somewhere in the bay.

If left unattended, it will always be a hidden danger.

In the ruins of Fort Santiago
More than 400 white militiamen in the fortress are organizing themselves to urgently repair the huge collapsed gap with logs and bricks, trying to restore the fortress's certain defensive capabilities.

With such a large gap left here, the Chinese army could climb up along the collapsed brick and stone slope.

If it is not repaired, the white militiamen in the fort will probably have trouble sleeping, always worrying that the Orientals will break through the wall and kill all the white people in the fort.

As for the bombardment from the heavy armored ships that they will face tomorrow, these white militiamen have no way to deal with it.

Now I just have to live one day at a time and not worry about anything else.

Today, Fort Santiago is a ruin covered with rubble and an isolated island besieged by the Eastern Army. The people inside cannot escape and the reinforcements from outside cannot get in.

The fortress was cut off by two personal guard camps. One side faced the bay, and the other side faced the wide Pasig River. The roads leading to the dock and the city were completely blocked, and there was no way to escape.

Unless you jump into the turbulent Pasig River and swim all the way to the jungle on the other side.

After nightfall
There were actually a few white militiamen who did this, but unfortunately they did not reach the other side successfully. Instead, they were pushed into the bay by the surging river, and their hope of survival was slim.

Seeing their companions being quietly swept into the bay, the remaining white militiamen completely lost hope.

Rather than dying in vain, it is better to defend the fortress and survive, maybe you can win a chance of survival.

The white militiamen in these forts did not know that the governor's order to massacre Chinese expatriates had completely angered Marshal Zheng Guohui, who was preparing to take ruthless action against these Spanish descendants.

Especially the white men were wiped out completely, leaving no one alive.

Inside the temporary Marshal's residence

Marshal Zheng Guohui received the latest battle report. The army that had entered Manila completely took control of the entire city at around 10 o'clock in the evening, and trapped the white colonists in the Manila Royal City Fortress, making it impossible for them to escape.

After seeing the battle report, he felt relieved and went to rest after washing up.

Tomorrow will be another day of fierce fighting.

Nothing in the night

The next morning, September 1866, 9, it began to drizzle. Looking at the gloomy weather, it was going to be another rainy day.

The main force of the army that entered the city of Manila did not engage in any important combat operations throughout the day. Instead, it focused on recovering and adjusting its deployment, carrying out armed mobilization of local Chinese expatriates, and conducting another mopping-up battle.

Sporadic gunshots continued to be heard in the city. In just one day, more than 26000 Chinese militiamen were armed, each of them was given a knife and a gun, and they fought together with the army.

This meant that the number of troops in Manila exceeded 4 for the first time.

Due to the rainy weather, the ironclad fleet launched its bombardment much later today, and only arrived at the bombardment area at 10 o'clock in the morning. Then the dull bombardment sound continued to rang out.

After yesterday's fierce bombardment, all four Ordonez 4-pound bronze smoothbore cannons equipped on Fort Santiago were destroyed, and only seven of the 48 12-pound smoothbore cannons remained, greatly reducing the fortress's firepower.

under these circumstances
The ironclad fleet became even more unscrupulous, advancing directly to a range of four or five hundred yards, and launched a devastating attack on the fortress's stone walls with 500-pound stone shells fired from its fifteen-inch cannons.

Every time a heavy bullet hit the stone wall, the entire fortress trembled, as if an invisible coastal giant was bombarding the fortress with a sledgehammer. The huge sound could be heard dozens of kilometers away.

Amidst the smoke and dust, large pieces of stone slabs shattered and cracked, and all kinds of sharp stones flew out, causing heavy casualties among the white militia in the fortress, leaving them with nowhere to hide.

After bombarding for more than an hour

The stone wall on the bay side of Fort Santiago collapsed on a large scale, and hundreds of white militiamen were killed in the smoke of artillery fire.

At this moment

Fort Santiago opened its doors, and the white militia hiding inside faced the collapsed rubble more than 60 meters wide and the crumbling stone walls at both ends, with looks of despair on their faces.

Unexpectedly, the nightmare was not over yet. The ironclad ships "Zhendong" and "Zhennan" received the latest order, which allowed them to use the bombardment shells brought from North America to launch a surprise attack on the white militia in the fortress.

Each 15-inch main gun was allowed to fire five bombardment shells.

"Hahaha... Commander, you're finally willing to use these precious shells. These precious shells are really powerful and are very effective in killing foreigners."

Gunner Wang Dali, his face blackened by the smoke from the black powder, laughed heartily, revealing a mouthful of snow-white teeth. Lieutenant Charlie, the commander of the main battery on the Zhennan, also had a blackened face. He could speak some simple Chinese and responded with a strange accent: "Wang, please be careful with your words. I am also what you call a ghost man. Are you going to kill me?"

"No, sir, you are a good ghost, you can't be killed. Those are bad ghosts. The commander-in-chief ordered that none of them be spared, and they must all be killed."

"Oh…well, man, do I look like an idiot?"

"Sir, you're not an idiot. If I were a woman I would marry you. You're a lovely ghost."

"Alright, alright, hurry up and fire these shells. Once you're done, we'll call it a day."

Lieutenant Charlie was so amused by what Wang Dali said that he waved his hand and ordered everyone to take action.

There were nine strong men in the artillery position. Two of them were shirtless and busy cleaning the already scalding barrel. When they put a large wet mop into the barrel, white smoke came out with a hissing sound.

After cleaning the black powder residue in the barrel, use a dry mop to remove water stains.

Three strong men operated the auxiliary loading machine, lifting up the 440-pound black iron shell bullet, ready to load it into the barrel.

A strong man held a large bag of black powder wrapped in silk and struggled to stuff it into the barrel of the gun. Two strong men holding loading rods worked together to stuff the gunpowder bag deep into the barrel of the gun and tamped it firmly.

Lieutenant Charlie personally cranked the handle and adjusted the muzzle, and only when he felt it was about right did he order "load".

Outside the circular artillery position, there are eight strong men responsible for transporting shells into the artillery position.

The space inside the fort is limited, and continuous bombardment requires the transportation of shells and gunpowder, which is the responsibility of these eight strong men.

A group of four people carried 4-pound round stone bullets on a shoulder pole into the artillery position and placed them in order on the side. This was definitely a very physically demanding job.

On each ironclad heavy ship, there were more than 40 bombardment shells produced in North America, each weighing more than 440 pounds, and the iron shell was filled with black gunpowder.

This kind of high-powered bombardment shell means one less shell for every one used, and we are not yet able to produce it ourselves.

Even though this is just a cast iron shell, it also involves a lot of technology and details. At least it must be able to withstand the huge chamber pressure during firing and not fall apart when it hits the ground.

Otherwise, the explosion wouldn't be that powerful.

The "precious shells" that Wang Dali mentioned were these cast iron bombardment shells, and the officers carefully calculated and saved every one of them.

Now that the stone walls of the fortress have been broken, it's time for these bombardment shells to come into play.

The muzzle was slightly raised, and the bombardment shells fired from the 15-inch heavy artillery drew a clear arc and fell heavily inside the fortress.

Just a few seconds later, there was another loud explosion, sweeping away countless iron fragments and debris, like a gust of steel wind and iron rain, causing great damage in an instant.

Wherever they passed, the white militiamen fell down one after another, with blood splattered on their bodies and screams echoing throughout the fortress.

The heavy bombardment was indeed extraordinary. Ten consecutive heavy bombs hit the fortress, which was equivalent to ten nightmarish explosions, causing great damage to the white defenders in the fortress.

It took about an hour to fire these 10 heavy artillery shells.

The second and third battalions of the personal guards, which had been prepared long ago, immediately launched an attack. The sword and shield soldiers were in front, and the musketeers were behind. They climbed up the slope covered with rubble, but the resistance they encountered was weak.

These white militiamen were stunned by the bombing and were hiding everywhere. There was almost no one on the fortress walls.

This made the attack of the Royal Guard Battalion very smooth. After only twenty minutes, the battle was completely over and the ruins of Fort Santiago were occupied.

This is the second good news of victory today. The first good news of victory came from Cebu Island.

The landing force commanded by Major General Huang Shan set up more than a dozen catapults and threw poisonous smoke balls at the fortress where the Spanish white colonists were hiding day and night, and finally achieved results.

The densely thrown poisonous smoke balls left the Spanish defenseless and forced them to raise the white flag and surrender.

This meant that the last nail had been pulled out, and Cebu Island was completely in the hands of the expeditionary force, with no more hidden dangers.

The news of victory arrived at noon on a speedboat from Cebu Island.

A long-lost smile finally appeared on Marshal Zheng Guohui's face. He looked up to the sky and laughed out loud, saying "good" several times.

in the afternoon

Torrential rain came again, turning the docks and Manila city into a swamp of steaming water. Such heavy rain greatly affected the firing of muskets. Even the fulminate of mercury primer could not withstand it, and no battle could be fought.

Marshal Zheng Guohui, still in high spirits, gave orders to send another 700 heads to the Royal City of Manila, directly using catapults to throw them in. They were all white militiamen defending Fort Santiago.

What does it mean?
Needless to say, the brutal Spanish governor would naturally understand.

(End of this chapter)