California, Flood Valley, September 10th.
When gunshots rang out scatteredly, Don Juan Jose, who had been busy for almost a whole day, was having a dinner with his senior officers in a large tent that had just been erected. In this era, the senior generals of the European monarchies were basically reincarnated nobles. In their concept, there was no such thing as sharing the joys and sorrows with the soldiers. Even if they are on the front line, they still have to show off their noble status and enjoy their aristocratic life. Don Juan Jose is no exception... Tonight, in the tent where he ate, there were not only a lot of carefully cooked delicacies and fine French wines, but also several wearing Waiters in wigs and embroidered coats waited on the guests, and there was even a man playing a violin.
Just as Don Juan Jose, the Marquis of Gasparra, and several other generals from Spain or Germany were enjoying delicious food amidst the beautiful music played by violins, the faint sound of gunfire suddenly came from the north. came.
"What's going on?" Don Juan Jose put down the tall wine glass in his hand and frowned slightly.
The older Marquis Gaspara listened attentively, "It should be coming from the middle of the flood valley... Maybe our third infantry regiment there encountered the enemy's vanguard. "
"But it's night now!" said an officer who participated in the Toyotomi War in Japan. "The rate of night blindness among Orientals is very high!"
"It's not 100%!" Another Spanish officer who served as an instructor in the Qing army shook his head, "There are almost no Eight Banners soldiers in the Qing army who have night blindness... I also heard that some troops in the Ming army are particularly good at night fighting. .”
"Night fight?" Don Juan Jose frowned even more.
Night battles test the organizational skills and rusticity of the troops. Only well-trained troops with extremely high morale can conduct field operations at night. Ordinary troops can only stick to the camp at night. If they are forced out, it will be difficult for the officers to control the soldiers, and the soldiers will either be perfunctory or simply desert... basically they will not fight hard. .
"There won't be any problems with the third group, right?" Don Juan Jose glanced at the Marquis of Gasparra.
"There will be no problem!" the Marquis said with a smile, "The Third Regiment has a very strong camp. Unless the enemy carries artillery, it will be impossible to break through the Third Regiment's defense. When dawn tomorrow, the Third Regiment can attack as planned. Nan retreated.”
"That's good..." Don Juan Jose breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the wine glass again, and took a sip of wine.
He knew how small his New Spanish Army was - although the backbone of this army came from Europe, most of the soldiers were recruited locally in the Americas, and many of them were mixed-race whites - that is, whites with part of the Indian ancestry. (In later generations, these people were called Indians, but now they prefer to be called mixed-race whites). Their fighting will and hard work are really not good.
Boom boom boom!
Before Don Juan Jose could swallow his sip of wine, several thunderous roars suddenly came over him.
"This, this is..." The Duke of Florida coughed twice, apparently choking on the wine.
Boom boom boom...
There was another intensive roar, and all the Spanish generals who were dining with Don Juan Jose became nervous.
How many cannons does this require? So dense, there must be dozens of 3-pound cannons firing, right? How were they transported?
The Marquis of Gasparra was still very experienced and he immediately reacted, "Duke, that's a grenade...it's a Chinese grenadier!"
Grenadiers had already appeared in the armies of various European countries during this period, and they were all elites without exception!
The Marquis of Gasparra had already put down the tableware, taken off his napkin, and stood up. "Duke, I'd better go to the third regiment's station to take a look."
Don Juan Jose nodded: "Bring a cavalry company and be careful on the road!" He thought for a moment and then said: "Let the third regiment hold on as much as possible. If you really can't hold on, bring the cavalry company with you." As they move south, I will set up ambushes on the slopes on both sides of the long valley to delay the enemy."
In Don Juan Jose's view, his arrangement was perfect, and there was no need to give up completely. He only needed to make slight adjustments.
After the Marquis of Fagasparra went to supervise the battle and sent two battalions up the mountain to set up an ambush, Don Juan Jose finished his meal and prepared to take a good sleep so that he could face tomorrow's battle in the best mental state. decisive battle.
...
When Don Juan Jose went to bed, he had no idea how terrifying the enemy he had lured by the third group he had placed in the middle of the flood valley was!
What his third regiment encountered tonight were four young guards infantry regiments of the Ming Army led by Qi Yuanbi and Yu Daren!
Nearly 10,000 officers and soldiers of the four regiments set out from the riverside fort, each carrying 50 kilograms of marching rations and ammunition, plus their weapons and various necessary equipment, and walked 800 miles in the mountains without any armor. After 20 days, the number of people left behind was less than 1,000.
By this afternoon, the vanguard among them had arrived in the north of the Flood Valley and discovered the Spaniards who were heading north.
However, they did not choose to enter the battle immediately. Instead, they withdrew from the valley and rested on a relatively gentle hillside outside the valley, waiting for the arrival of follow-up troops and the arrival of night.
Unlike the Red Iron Artillery Army, which likes to fight in the front of the formation in the daytime, although the Young Guards of the Ming Army can also fight in formation, they prefer to engage in melee under the cover of night. Because they are more organized, officers and soldiers have stronger fighting will. They can voluntarily engage in combat without much supervision, and can conduct infiltration operations in platoons and squads.
In the opinion of Zhang Cheng and Zhang Qianhu, commander of the Sixth Regiment of the Young Guards, who led the troops on the night of September 10th, it would be a fool's errand to set his regiment aside to play shooting with the enemy. This regiment of mine was formed to carry out various difficult and complex tasks.
Attacking the valley camp stationed by an unknown number of Spanish infantry at night is obviously a more difficult and complex task.
Of course, this kind of task is not difficult for young Guards officers and soldiers!
The tactics they adopted were not complicated. They were to approach at night and use flintlock rifles to lure the enemy's firepower. After the enemy exposed their target, they had the grenadiers crawl forward and throw wooden-handled grenades when they got closer.
Since there was no way to carry artillery over the mountains, Zhang Cheng's men brought a lot of wooden-handled grenades. Each man brought eight, and the whole regiment brought 20,000!
So tonight, they have enough grenades to throw.
In addition, all young Guards officers and soldiers can serve as grenadiers-but when fighting in formation, grenadiers are usually served by pikemen with larger arms.
And tonight, there were as many as a thousand officers and soldiers responsible for throwing grenades!
Thousands of grenadiers, under the cover of almost the same number of fusiliers, crept forward from the west and north directions (to the east of the camp is a river) to the wall (made up of earth mounds and wooden fences) away from the camp. (composed) less than 20 steps away, and then he kept throwing grenades with fuses lit in a kneeling position. In the blink of an eye, he threw out four to five thousand grenades, two-thirds of which successfully exploded, immediately destroying the Spaniards at the forefront. It was blown up all over the place.
Seeing that the grenadiers' surprise attack had succeeded, Zhang Cheng, who was commanding on the front line, made a prompt decision and issued the order for a general attack.
The order was conveyed using the suona. Following bursts of harsh and sharp suona sounds, the thousands of fusiliers who were originally deployed in a skirmish formation for mid-range shooting (sixty or seventy steps) all completed it as quickly as possible. He reloaded once, then inserted a bayonet into his flintlock, and then shouted and rushed towards the Spanish camp that had been blown into a sea of fire by grenades.
The first climax of the Flood Valley Battle has arrived!
