The city of Beijing is already facing a storm, and Naha, Ryukyu, has already experienced a flash flood. Counting from the day the French fleet appeared, it has been four days now. The battle situation in these four days is no longer tragic. Words can describe it. For both the enemy and ourselves, this is a competition of wills.
In the past four days, the two sides have been furious. The artillery fire has not stopped for a day, and the French army assembled in Kunigami Village has surged to more than a thousand people.
The entire French fleet was divided into two. The flagship Glorious and three heavy cruisers have been cruising here, carrying out strategic bombing of the city every day, and looking for opportunities to prepare for landing at any time.
The remaining four cruisers all went north to support the battle in Kunigami Village. Every French army charge received strong artillery support.
During these four days of battle, the French officers led by Moliere and Bruce did an outstanding job. Not to mention anything else, such a sophisticated strategy as a sneak attack on the head of the country was enough for them to be proud of.
The French Army is indeed the strongest in this era. Facing the proud soldiers in the Beishan trenches, they launched charges again and again. Under the cover of artillery, they almost missed in five trenches.
More than 200 artillery pieces from the four cruisers poured out ammunition like crazy. Before the army charged, they had to bombard them hard. After a slight failure, they continued to bombard the retreat. They even bombarded them again in the middle of the night to deliberately disturb the people. In four days, they bombed the Beishan trench area. , it was actually flattened by more than two meters.
The French were bombing hard, and the Ryukyu soldiers were digging hard. When there was no fighting, these soldiers all automatically became engineers. Their daily job was to dig trenches.
Cai Hao and Liang Kun certainly knew the importance of the Beishan defense line. In the past few days, they not only recruited more than 300 veterans, but also sent more than a thousand young people from the militia group. In the end, the number of people guarding the Beishan defense line exceeded 3,000.
This is already the limit of the troops that the Ryukyu Kingdom can squeeze out. After three thousand people were in place, Liang Kun once said sadly, "This is the last batch of reinforcements. Naha will bear greater pressure, and the other beaches will also have to Defense with troops, if you can defend, I will go to the Prime Minister to ask you for credit, if you cannot defend...I will not punish you, let's die together."
This is not Liang Kun's alarmism, this is the current reality of the Ryukyu Kingdom. All men who have received military training have been organized, and apart from the old, weak, sick and disabled, the rest are children and women.
Chu Zhao and Luo Houhou never expected to command so many people in their lives. Three thousand people were the strength of a reinforced regiment. This made the two company commanders, the captain and the deputy, feel even more pressure. Needless to say, the grassroots officers in the organization had already made them I have a terrible headache.
The army is like this. It doesn't mean that it will be effective if you have more people. If you have more people, you must also have an organizational structure. Do you have a group of battalion commanders, company commanders, platoon leaders, and squad leaders under you as the regiment leader? Without these organizational structures, you Don't even think about giving orders.
In desperation, Chu Zhao and Luo Houhou could only choose the most conservative tactic, which was to dig trenches for defense. In the past four days, they actually expanded a single line of trenches into four parallel trenches, with dozens of shelters inside. Bombing bunker fortifications.
These trenches were connected by complex communication trenches, forming a huge iron network to defend the French.
The French Army was so depressed. It was said that they were all top elites. Whether it was marksmanship, cooperation between soldiers, or coordination between infantry and artillery, they had reached the pinnacle of that era.
Many times the brave French army has broken through the first trench and even partially occupied the second trench. However, these Chinese and Ryukyu people are really good at digging. It is very difficult to escape from the third and fourth trenches. Countless dead soldiers quickly rushed out and started fighting hand to hand with bayonets in hand.
This almost rogue style of play made the French soldiers miserable. Many battles that were obviously destined to be won were turned around by these Chinese with physical force.
What's even worse is that these Chinese are so good at using grenades and Molotov cocktails. I don't know where Xiao Letian got his design ideas. He actually produced more than ten types of grenades and put them on the battlefield.
Molotov cocktails are the minimum standard. High-explosive grenades filled with explosives are not uncommon at all. Xiao Letian actually designed many pepper grenades, smoke grenades, poison gas grenades... and even some that burst into bright light after being ignited. phosphorescent grenade.
There are many French soldiers and we have never seen such a positional battle. Just after breaking through the first trench, two phosphorescent grenades were fired. After two dazzling white lights, the leading troops were all blinded. If it were not for the follow-up troops to protect this Everyone has to die here.
What troubles the French is not just the various weird gadgets, but what is even more frightening is the crazy fighting will of this group of Asians.
No one can imagine where the fighting will of this group of inferior ethnic groups comes from. During the day, they are either fighting or digging holes. But at night, this group of people actually dared to launch a night attack on the French military formation. Hundreds of silent soldiers crawled towards the French army. Once they get close to Kunigami Village, they will rush forward with crazy shouts.
In the dark night, foreign guns are of no use at all. Usually two or three rounds of shooting quickly turn into brutal hand-to-hand combat.
In four days, Kunigami Village has become a sad place for the French. Although their beachfront position has not been lost, everyone's hearts are full of doubts and a little fear.
Molière was extremely angry at the deadlock in front of him. He had roared more than once. In the dark night, the captain's room of the Glorious had become a hell for the expedition officers.
"Idiots... pigs... you are all a disgrace to the empire... Four days, four full days have passed, and you have not achieved any results at all. You should all go to court-martial." Molière smashed the wine on the table , The glass fragments even scratched General Bruce's cheek.
The rear admiral did not dare to complain at all. He stood respectfully in front of the special envoy, bowing his head like a third grandson being scolded.
"Special envoy, please calm down. It's not that our brothers are not working hard, it's just that this battle is too strenuous... I've been riding the Lyra around the island for the past two days. Only when I see it with my own eyes can I know the mountains here. How dangerous it is.”
"On the entire island, only the port and Kunigami Village are suitable for landing soldiers. The other beaches are either small or closed by mountains. We really can't find a better assault position..."
Listening to the Rear Admiral's defense, other senior naval officials also said, "Please understand, Special Envoy, we have really tried our best. In the past four days, the Navy has knocked down five coastal defense batteries, and the remaining five The enemy's fort is also obviously unable to fire smoothly..."
"Look at the Naha port again. One-third of it has been destroyed by us. The enemy's losses are more than ten times greater than ours."
"Shut up." Molière went completely crazy. "This is your record. Just blowing up some houses is your credit. Let me ask you, how much ammunition does our fleet have in reserve? Is it still enough for a quarter?"
"Look at Kunigami Village again. The mighty French army was suppressed by a few trenches for four days. This is a shame, a huge shame..."
Faced with the envoy's madness, Major General Bruce had to explain himself. If Molière continued to scold him like this, it might lead to a mutiny.
"My special envoy, please calm down. Our expeditionary force has tried its best. I think you should think carefully about what a navy is. We are fighting alone on the ocean, tens of thousands of miles away from our mother country. Our supplies are already very difficult... Could it be that you Haven’t you studied at a military academy?”
"The advantage of the navy is its mobility and powerful explosive power, rather than fighting a protracted war. After all, we don't have a continent to rely on..."
"That's enough." Molière angrily interrupted the general's retort, "You have to remember, His Majesty the Emperor wants victory, and your enemies are just a group of East Asian barbarians. If you can't even defeat them, What’s the point of France raising you?”
Molière's eyes were about to burst into flames. There was a stone stuck in his heart that he could not get out. "You are all the elites of the French Navy. Don't you think about it carefully? If we lose this battle with the Chinese... …How can we have the dignity to return to Europe?”
"Even if His Majesty doesn't punish us, do you still have the nerve to survive? You must know that this is East Asia. What we are facing is Ryukyu, which is weaker than the Manchu Qing Dynasty."
Molière had said it all, and the officers present could no longer refute it. Yes, if the French expeditionary force could not even conquer Ryukyu, it would really become the laughing stock of Europe.
But is Ryukyu really that easy to fight? Who would have thought that a small and backward Ryukyu could possess the most advanced coastal defense artillery, the most advanced breech-loading rifles, and countless unimaginable strange weapons and equipment? .
What's even worse is that I don't know how Xiao Letian brainwashed this group of people. This group of inferior ethnic groups actually burst out with a fighting will that far exceeded that of the regular Manchu army. This kind of tenacious spirit is really not like Asians.
Molière looked at the silent officers in front of him, clenched his fists and continued to cheer them up, "Just try harder, the enemy is far more painful than us. We can attack them casually while we are cruising on the sea, but these barbarians can only Being beaten passively, I can guess that the emotions of these barbarians have reached the critical point, and maybe tomorrow will be the time when they collapse..."
"Isn't it just a problem of ammunition? It can be easily solved. I have contacted the British fleet officials in Hong Kong before, and they have promised to sell us enough ammunition... If my guess is correct, there should be British warships in Shanghai, China now. Heading towards us, the supplies we urgently need will be delivered."
With a bang, all the officers present smiled. Since the British are willing to be logistics supply officers, there is nothing to be afraid of. Let's continue bombing until the sky is dark, the sun and the moon are dark, these barbarians will eventually collapse. that day.
"Please rest assured, Special Envoy, as long as we have sufficient arms and supplies, we are confident of achieving final victory, even if we completely destroy this city..."
Just when a group of people were expressing their loyalty, there was a sudden knock on the door outside the captain's room. "Sir, a ship light suddenly appeared in the southwest. It is visually a large ship. An unidentified person is approaching us..."
Well, everyone was stunned. The news of the war in Ryukyu had already spread in East Asia. Even if there were merchant ships passing through this sea area, they would avoid it. How could there be ships approaching automatically?
