As the battleship's 148 mm caliber main gun began bombing, the battlefield advantage once again shifted to the Peruvian side. The offshore armored battleship was roaring, billowing black smoke was rising into the sky, and the cannonballs were flying in the sky, one after another, with a roaring sound. The sound of explosions spread across the ground.
Corpses, soil, and all kinds of debris were blown into the sky and scattered like heavy rain. The fortresses that had just been captured by the Chilean army became the focus of the firepower of the warships. Thick smoke and fire shot into the sky. The Chilean soldiers who had just rushed in suffered heavy casualties. The person can only be forced to retreat.
Even if the fragile human body is matched with a strong will to fight, it will be difficult to shake the huge destructive power brought by industrial civilization. The war model of the Middle Ages has gradually faded away. Perhaps on some specific occasions, those war experiences passed down for thousands of years can still achieve some results.
But in the face of the iron and fire of industrial civilization, tradition will be swept into dust.
Tietutuo's new forces were unable to change the current situation, because none of them had effective means to fight against the warships. The Chilean Navy had been defeated, and the coastal defense batteries at the dock were still under the control of the Peruvian army.
How to fight this battle? There was no way to fight... A battalion of troops rushed into a neighborhood with huge casualties. With only two or three bombardments from the warships, the entire neighborhood had already collapsed countless houses.
As soon as the reinforced company of more than a hundred people rushed into the Iquique Tax Hall, a 148-meter artillery shell from the distance followed and entered the hall. After the rumbling explosion, only twenty or thirty people survived.
Such tragic sacrifices were too much for the veterans of the Taiping Army, but victory was right in front of them, just a little bit away, and no one could say the word "give up".
Four of the seven fortresses were captured, and the remaining three were unable to form a crossfire. The city of Iquique had become a dead city, and the fort at the dock had at most two thousand defenders.
After the battle has been fought for this reason, it would be a crime to retreat!
But what can we do if we don’t withdraw? Warships on the sea are an unsolvable problem. When Britain and France attacked the Qing Dynasty, the backward Manchu Green Battalion and Eight Banners soldiers encountered such an unsolvable problem.
Just being beaten, there is no way to fight back. Anyone who has not experienced this feeling can't feel how useless it is!
The first ones who couldn't hold on were the indigenous soldiers in the Chilean army. They lacked a sense of belonging to this war. In their hearts, Chile, Bolivia or Peru were actually one country.
They have the same language, the same culture, free movement of people, and very free intermarriage. In this kind of civil atmosphere, it is difficult to form a spirit of common hatred and hatred.
No matter which country a city belongs to, it is just a change in the flying flag. As for the profits brought by the land and minerals, they have nothing to do with them. Who are they not working for?
This war is purely motivated by money. The amount of rewards after victory is clearly stated, and the pensions for the dead and injured are also open and transparent. Whatever price you give, people will give you as much loyalty as you want.
But no matter how much money you have, there is a limit. If you find that victory is out of reach, saving your life is the first priority.
The first ones to start sneaking away were the battlefield auxiliary engineers, medical staff and the militiamen responsible for logistics. The killings in the distance frightened them. The overwhelming artillery bombardment shattered their last illusion of victory. They looked at each other. Without saying anything, he suddenly dropped what he was holding and ran away.
The deserters spread rapidly like a virus. In the end, those soldiers who were at the front accidentally turned around and saw that the great rout had already appeared in the rear. Those cowards had already abandoned them.
The courage inspired by countless sacrifices suddenly drained away!
"Run! We can't win this battle...the enemy's artillery is too powerful!" Soon, the deserters collapsed like an avalanche.
Sirapizzo fired into the sky angrily, but the frightened soldiers ignored the general's threat and ran as fast as the grass-mud horses on the South American plateau.
"Coward!" Sirapizzo shot three times and emptied the last few bullets left in the revolver. The deserter in front of him covered his chest and fell into a pool of blood.
"Gendarme! Prepare to shoot! Anyone who escapes will be killed without mercy... Ouch!" Before he could finish his words, a black stone hit his forehead with a bang, and blood started to flow down.
"Run! We don't want to sacrifice our lives for these white people! We want to go home..."
How many people are there in the Chief Engineer of the Military Police? In the face of thousands of deserters, they simply did not dare to suppress them. Once they became red-blooded, the few hundred military policemen would not be enough to fill their teeth.
The Chilean army collapsed and turned into an avalanche in just twenty minutes. The veterans of the Kingdom of Heaven on the battlefield looked at this group of grass-mud horses in stunned silence, feeling unspeakably sad and angry in their hearts.
"Are these all a bunch of fucking pigs? This is a bullshit war..."
"Come on! If you run away now, those brothers will die in vain. They died in vain!"
"Brother Weng! It's not worth your death. These are not a bunch of fucking soldiers, they are all a bunch of pigs!"
Tietoutuo closed his eyes helplessly and sighed and said, "Don't make unnecessary sacrifices anymore. Save some energy for us! Let's withdraw too..."
Chen Yonglu yelled, "Did our brothers die in vain? Opposite is Iquique, our future home!"
Tietoutuo's eyes widened, "Then what do you want me to do? How are you going to deal with the fleet on the sea? Let alone the more than ten thousand of us, how was the Kingdom of Heaven back then? What about the Manchu and Qing court now? We can deal with it with hundreds of thousands of troops. We can’t defeat these armored fleets!”
"Brothers! War is no longer an era where victory can be won with enthusiasm. The Prime Minister is right! The future battlefield will be on the sea. Whoever does not have a powerful armored fleet will always suffer. Bully!"
"We are only moving temporarily. We cannot defeat the enemy's warships, but we can attack inland. All the elites in Bolivia have been eaten by us. Now we will fight back, cross the desert, and fight to the capital of Bolivia. !”
"Let's not give up in Iquique. One day the Prime Minister will bring an invincible armored fleet to support us. By then our artillery will be able to set up on the sea to bombard these bastards! Let them have a taste of this!"
Chen Yonglu burst into tears in his heart, "Who can we trust? Who can we count on? Anyway, there are only so many old brothers. One of them dies and one is missing. The eldest brother left first. Sooner or later, we will all have that day... I hope I die before I die." , I can see the scene of the armored ship showing off its power as you mentioned!"
"I hope that Prime Minister Xiao you are talking about will not lie..."
