New Han Dynasty 1834

Chapter 111 The Devil's Rifle and Shells

Like Mexican generals such as Paredes, Mexican President Bustamante was still unaware of the true strength of the Han army, nor did he know the extent of their advantages or disadvantages compared to the Mexican army.

Upon learning that Paredes had amassed nearly 10,000 troops and was preparing to meet the enemy in Guadalajara, the troops from Mexico City were not immediately dispatched. Instead, the decision was made to observe the situation first.

Both sides have around 10,000 troops each, so even if a battle breaks out, it will be difficult to achieve a result immediately. If Paredes is at a disadvantage on the battlefield, he can send some troops to reinforce him.

Bustamante was concerned that the situation in Veracruz would deteriorate further, and he needed to retain troops to deal with any changes in Veracruz and prevent a Francoist attack on Mexico City.

Over the next month, news kept coming from Guadalajara, mostly indicating that the Han army had not yet arrived in Guadalajara, suggesting that the Han army's march was slow.

Bustamant thought that this Han army was a ragtag force that couldn't even march quickly.

But one day, without any warning, Paredes, along with a dozen or so guards, fled to Mexico City in a very disheveled state, bringing Bustamante a terrifying piece of bad news.

After meeting Bustamant, Paredes described his experiences like a madman: "The Han army are devils! They have gained the power of devils!"

"Their rifled guns had a faster rate of fire than their smoothbore guns, and their breech-loading guns could shoot farther than their muzzle-loading guns."

"Their explosive shells are more than ten times more powerful than artillery shells!"

"That must be the power of the devil; the entire army of ten thousand around Guadalajara was wiped out."

"The devil has surely taken over Guadalajara by now—"

Paredes was truly terrified by that battle. After rushing to Mexico City, he had no instinct to demand the recapture of Guadalajara.

Bustamant looked astonished: "What devil? How can there be a devil? Does it mean that rifles have a longer range and a higher rate of fire? And that artillery shells are more powerful?"

"So they launched a surprise attack, defeated the local garrison, and seized Guadalajara?"

"Come to your senses quickly, we should discuss what to do next—"

Paredes found Bustamant's argument unacceptable: "The Han Chinese might really be devils, otherwise they wouldn't have such an illogical army and weapons."

"We can't face the devil's army; we should go find the archbishop to exorcise him!"

Bustamant was speechless. He ignored Paredes for the time being and sought out the other generals and soldiers who had escaped to inquire about the details of the battle.

Bustamant instinctively felt that Paredes and his personal guards, devastated by their crushing defeat, were deliberately exaggerating the enemy's strength.

Those rifles with extremely long range and high rate of fire, as well as the unusually powerful cannonballs, probably didn't have the exaggerated effects described by Paredes and others.

Moreover, these special weapons are likely custom-made, and their numbers are probably not large.

However, after careful consideration, Bustamante abandoned the idea of ​​leading Mexico City's army to retake Guadalajara and began preparing to meet the enemy outside Mexico City.

At that time, the total number of nominal standing troops in Mexico was only 30,000.

Most of these 30,000 people are still stationed in local areas, with more than 4,000 in the Texas border region.

Two years ago, the 6,000 troops who were preparing to retake California were taken to Veracruz by Santa Anna.

The Northern Route Army of the Great Han Dynasty has just annihilated more than 10,000 troops in the vicinity of Guadalajara.

There are currently fewer than 10,000 soldiers stationed near the capital, Mexico City.

Moreover, these 10,000 soldiers represent the last force that the Mexican central government can directly mobilize.

There are no longer any large-scale regular troops elsewhere.

If they want more troops, they can only mobilize the militia.

Bustamant ordered the army in Mexico City to prepare for battle and simultaneously ordered the mobilization of militia.

Bustamante subconsciously assumed that after the Han army occupied Guadalajara, they would continue their advance toward Mexico City, and he should have one or two months to prepare.

But just three days later, an army bearing the banner of the Han Dynasty appeared in southern Mexico.

Bustamant was taken aback when he received the report, but then he immediately realized: "There's no news from Guadalajara yet, so it couldn't have come from there."

"These Han Chinese troops must have come from Acapulco. Fortunately, I didn't lead my troops to rescue Guadalajara, otherwise they could have directly captured Mexico City."

Bustamant realized that the situation was worse than he had imagined.

All three major ports on the east and west coasts have been lost, the second largest city has been lost, and the mining areas are wide open.

Now the enemy forces have even come directly to the outskirts of the capital.

If Mexico City were to fall, the war would be impossible to continue, and Mexico would have no choice but to surrender.

After a brief moment of consideration, Bustamant made a perfectly reasonable arrangement.

Four thousand infantrymen were assembled and marched out of the city to form ranks, preparing for a direct confrontation.

The cavalry launched the first attack, taking advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold to test their strength.

This is the same tactic Paredes used in Guadalajara, only with a larger cavalry force of a total of one thousand men.

Having learned from Paredes' experience, Bustamant knew that the Han army was extremely powerful and likely possessed rifled muskets with a very high rate of fire and powerful cannons, so he had a high probability of losing.

However, Bustamant also wanted to send troops to test the waters and confirm the actual situation of the Han army.

However, Bustamant also ordered the probing troops to prepare for an immediate retreat.

Li Anbang rode forward on horseback in the middle and front of the group, constantly receiving reports from scouts at various points.

Upon learning that a large number of troops had appeared outside Mexico City, he was slightly surprised and said, "These Mexicans didn't go to rescue Guadalajara."

Did he anticipate our possible feint, or was he simply too afraid to come to the rescue of his comrades?

Zhang Zongyu, who was standing next to Li Anbang, said with a smile: "I feel that it is both, and the latter should be more prominent."

"Based on intelligence obtained in the previous two years, Mexico is full of warlords, regional governors, and powerful ministers."

"If friendly forces are in trouble, they might very well remain unmoved—"

Li Anbang couldn't help but laugh after hearing this: "Hahaha, these barbarians are indeed barbarians, but it doesn't matter, the staff already had this kind of contingency plan."

"Killing them outside Mexico City would be a stronger deterrent to these barbarians."

"This will also allow the soldiers along the way to accumulate some merit."

17

After Li Anbang finished his assessment, he ordered: "The communications soldier should immediately go to the front and relay the order: when facing this enemy cavalry, try to get as close as possible before engaging."

"Fire when they reach five hundred feet, which is when the cavalry begin their charge."

"The infantry shall be arranged in at least three horizontal lines, taking turns to load and fire, and shall eliminate as many enemy personnel as possible."

The messenger on horseback took the order and left, and soon a battle broke out at the front of the ranks.

The course of this battle was very similar to the battle outside Guadalajara, but it was clearly much more brutal.

Because of Li Anbang's special arrangements, the 2,000 infantrymen at the vanguard of the Southern Route Army deliberately kept their firing distance and arranged for more infantrymen to take turns firing in all directions.

The infantry fired a denser hail of bullets, resulting in a higher proportion of casualties.

Of the thousand cavalrymen that Bustamant had deployed, only a little over a hundred managed to escape after the collapse.

Bustamante knew that Paredes had been completely wiped out, so he was mentally prepared.

But the current battle situation was far beyond Bustamant's expectations.

Bustamant, holding his binoculars, stared in stunned disbelief at the rapidly crumbling and perishing thousand cavalrymen: "This—this really is the devil's rifle—"

"Since the devil's rifle is real, then the devil's shells might also be real—"

"No wonder Paredes' entire army was wiped out—"

Bustamant was stunned for a long time, but when he finally came to his senses, he immediately ordered all the infantry who were not involved in the battle to retreat back to the city.

Having witnessed the devil's rifle firsthand, Bustaman completely abandoned the idea of ​​engaging the army in open field combat and had no desire to test the devil's shells again.

The Han army was not yet fully assembled, nor did it have enough mobile cavalry to stop the Mexican infantry from returning to the city.

After receiving the report from the front, Li Anbang murmured with some regret to his staff and subordinates, "This time, the barbarian general is quite decisive, choosing to retreat and defend. The upcoming battles will be a bit troublesome."

Li Anbang's main force of the Southern Route Army had not yet assembled, nor had he brought enough fast-moving cavalry, so he was unable to stop Bustamant's infantry from returning to the city.

It wasn't until after 2 p.m. that day that the 8,000 troops brought by Li Anbang finally assembled.

Li Anbang's southern army originally consisted of 10,000 imperial guards, but it was impossible for Li Anbang to bring all of these troops to Mexico City to fight.

Two thousand men were left behind by Li Anbang on the road to control important towns, villages, and bridges, and to maintain supply lines and evacuation routes.

After Bustamant withdrew his troops back to the city, Li Anbang reorganized the assembled army and began planning the siege.

They divided their forces to eliminate villages surrounding Mexico City, gathering local indigenous people as laborers and cannon fodder.

The traditional cities built by Europeans had a different structure than the cities built in the Han Dynasty.

The majority of citizens would not be placed in the city center, but rather they would be allowed to live and reside outside the city walls.

The city itself is relatively small in size and is usually integrated with fortresses and castles.

Typically, only lords, soldiers, and upper-class people lived in the city, while lower-class commoners lived outside the city.

After Mexico's independence, the restrictions on these class-based residential areas were eased, but the tradition was not completely abolished.

Mexico City had a total population of nearly 200,000 at this time, and almost half of them still lived outside the city.

This gave the Han army the opportunity to quickly gather civilians as laborers and cannon fodder.