In the past, when the Spanish were powerful, the indigenous tribes in the Cavite area had to collect all the property, food and hunting income agreed with the Spanish at fixed times every year and send them to this fort. They could only leave after the points were completed, and Get a stable life for a while.
It is said to be a tax, but in fact it is also considered a protection fee.
Whenever there is any possibility of making small moves in the numbers, the Spanish financial accountants will always find out, and the next step is to double the punishment.
If you still refuse, the Spanish soldiers in this military fortress will go out and personally find the tribe who made the small move.
More severe punishment, even murder.
In fact, the number of warriors each tribe can pick out to fight alone exceeds the number of Spanish soldiers in this fortress. However, they do not dare to act like this. The gap between the weapons and equipment of the two sides is too big. It is difficult for the indigenous people to capture this fortress. Ascend to heaven.
More importantly, this is just a fortress. There are many such military strongholds in other areas. There are also more colonial troops in Manila. Their weapons and equipment are very good. If they piss off the Manila Governor's Palace, they will all be finished.
Therefore, they can only swallow their anger.
But this time, things are different.
When the news came that the Manila colonial government had been overthrown and the army had been completely wiped out, the seven major indigenous tribes that had been oppressed and exploited quickly held a joint meeting and excitedly elected one of their leaders, Apu, recognized as the strongest warrior, to lead everyone. With human strength, they launched a counterattack against the Spanish in that fortress.
After bullying them for so many years, now it's time to make those Spaniards pay the price!
Under the ardent expectations of the elders of their respective tribes and with the support of a large amount of logistical supplies, more than 5,000 indigenous troops gathered around the fortress from all directions with various weapons, and surrounded the military fortress.
The Spanish soldiers in the fortress were very nervous as they were facing a powerful enemy. They used all the artillery and firearms. For this purpose, they also used the accountants in the fortress who were responsible for paperwork, the logistics who handled sundries, and the cooks who cooked. They were dragged out, armed, and forced to join the army, and finally a team of 400 people was gathered for defense.
Then the battle began.
The natives carried various ladders and simple shields, brandished iron swords and guns, raised crossbows, and old shotguns, carried guns, etc., and launched an attack on the Spanish fortress.
The Spanish used artillery, flintlocks, bombs and other weapons to fight back at the natives outside the fortress.
To be fair, this fortress is very tall, only about four or five meters, and its equipment and defensive capabilities are far inferior to the serious city of Manila. The biggest advantage is that it is built on a hill, occupying On high ground, you have the advantage of having a good view.
However, with a team of more than 400 people and this simple military fortress, the Spanish counterattack achieved great results.
Artillery is responsible for long-range attacks, and muskets are responsible for short-range attacks. When the indigenous team is far away, they will bombard them with artillery. When the indigenous team breaks through the artillery fire and approaches the fortress, the soldiers will use muskets to attack.
The effect is surprisingly good.
The natives have little defense. Facing artillery attacks, they suffer heavy casualties. Whether it is solid bullets or explosive bombs, they can cause huge damage to them. They often attack nest by nest. Once they are hit by a shell, , it will instantly cause dozens or even dozens of casualties.
After finally breaking through the artillery fire and rushing to the fortress, waiting for them were the soldiers' muskets.
The Spanish soldiers waited for the native troops to enter the shooting range and then opened fire suddenly. The natives huddled together and were beaten to pieces by the group fire. The hit rate was surprisingly high, far better than when the Spaniards fought with other armies.
Although the indigenous people used things like wood or rattan to make shields, this ancient defensive tool was obviously ineffective when facing muskets and artillery, so they launched attacks one after another, one after another. The whole army was beaten until the whole army was annihilated.
Apu is brave, good at fighting, and strong, but it is obvious that his commanding ability is not very good.
First of all, the natives lacked offensive weapons. The only offensive weapons they had were five 16th-century light French cannons with small muzzles and short barrels. They were antique products from the last firearms era and were difficult to deal with light infantry. A lot of effort, let alone a fortress.
Apu originally wanted these artillery pieces to exert some power, mainly because these artillery pieces were indeed hard-won, but he did not expect that these five artillery pieces and the gunners had just determined their positions and fired only one round before they were discovered by the Spanish gunners at high places. .
So the Spanish gunner adjusted the angle, loaded solid ammunition, and fired the cannon with a bang. Several rounds of about 15 kilograms of projectiles came at once, and they were basically fired straight. Three French cannons were destroyed on the spot, and seven members of the artillery team were destroyed. Seven or eighty-eight, directly losing the ability to launch further operations.
And the round of artillery they fired did not cause any damage to the fortress.
Apu had no choice but to give up using artillery to attack the fortress and continued to use the human sea tactic to launch an attack. As a result, he suffered heavy losses under the attack of Spanish artillery and muskets.
The main fortress is on high ground, and although it can be besieged from all sides, the number of people who can go up in each round is limited.
Therefore, this kind of impact one after another feels like sending someone to death. A group of people rushed up and were killed by artillery. They finally rushed to the bottom of the fortress and were about to climb the ladder. They were beaten by artillery and were beaten to the ground with blood splattering everywhere. Soon everyone The army was destroyed.
Although the indigenous people have high morale, they are still quite powerless in the face of the huge equipment gap.
It's not like Apu hasn't thought of other ways.
For example, all the muskets in the tribal alliance, a small number of flintlock guns, a large number of shotguns, and even ancient muskets, more than two hundred in total, were concentrated on all the musketeers, trying to get these musketeers to attack.
Then in order to protect these musketeers, he sent people to wrap a large amount of wood and rattan together and pile it up thick enough to create something similar to a shield car, trying to fight against the Spanish muskets and artillery.
When the musketeers attacked, they hid behind such a shield car. The shield car was in front to bear the firepower. The musketeers took the opportunity to rush forward and strive to advance to a sufficient distance to launch a musket attack on the Spaniards on the fortress.
The thought is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.
Such a thickness may indeed withstand musket fire, but it is still too fragile for a cannon that can bombard city walls. If you want to use such raw materials to compete with cannons, the thickness and weight are probably not for people like Apu. Able to push.
As a result, the shield car was torn apart under the solid bullet fire of the Spanish. A large number of musketeers were affected and killed. A few people who rushed to the fort raised their guns and fired. After one round of shooting, most of them had no time to reload their ammunition and were captured by the Spanish. A large number of people were shot and killed, and in the end only a few dozen people were able to launch a second round of shooting.
After that, no one can launch a third round of shooting.
The result of their victory was that three Spanish soldiers were unlucky and were shot dead by stray bullets, and five Spanish soldiers were injured.
All the more than 200 musketeers from the seven tribes united were killed in the battle. Only two cannons were left and five gunners were still alive. The firearms warfare method could no longer continue.
After that, their only way was to continue to use human lives, continuous attacks, or simply use encirclement tactics to try to starve the Spanish in the fortress.
It can be said that this tactic is effective, but the effect is not very great.
One night, the Spanish team in the fortress dispatched two hundred people to launch a night attack on the indigenous camp. They broke through one camp and plundered a large amount of food and meat. Then they separated a small force to break through the encirclement to find reinforcements, and the rest returned. Arrive at the fortress.
This wave of actions by the Spaniards not only caused a lot of casualties to the indigenous team, but also took away a lot of food. They were able to hold on for a while longer, and there was a possibility of help from reinforcements.
This fact gave the Cavite tribal alliance a break.
The heads of several tribes gathered together to accuse Apu of his incompetence, asking him to take responsibility, compensate for their losses, and find ways to restore the situation.
Apu himself was also injured, dragging his injured left arm. The strong man looked aggrieved, frowning like a baby who had been wronged.
In desperation, someone in the tribal alliance finally came up with a plan.
It seems that they are unable to attack the fortress independently. If they continue to delay, not only will their own strength be greatly weakened, and the fortress will not be able to take down the fortress. If the Spaniards from other places come to support them, they will be attacked from both sides and the entire army will be annihilated. risks of.
There is only one solution for now, and that is to ask for help.
Instead of asking for help from ordinary natives, he went to Lanfang's army in Manila for help.
