In the early morning of May 27, 1794, an advance team of more than twenty Spanish troops conducted a reconnaissance on the outskirts of the San Jose Guadalupe stronghold and discovered that all the Eastern troops in the fort had been withdrawn. Then they boldly went to the Santa Clara Monastery not far to the north, and found that the place was also deserted.
During this time, a soldier noticed something unusual. About a mile away from them, there was a very strange "bird" floating in the air, making a constant buzzing sound. With his extraordinary eyesight, the soldier observed for a while and found that the "strange bird" was hovering motionless in the air; this was the first time he had encountered this situation in his more than thirty years of life.
However, the second lieutenant who led the team was obviously not interested in the strange bird. He led his men to continue tracking northwest along the horseshoe and wheel tracks. When they came to a hill three miles west of Santa Clara, they finally had a small exchange of fire with members of the Northern Marine Overseas Corps.
The Spanish advance team was surprised to find that in addition to muskets, the weapons used by the enemy also included bows and arrows. And unlike the small bows and arrows used by the local Indians, the arrows shot by the opponent were almost four feet (1.2 meters) long. It can be imagined from this that the bow used by the opponent must be powerful and heavy, with astonishing lethality. After losing several men, the Spanish advance team quickly withdrew to Santa Clara. It was past noon, and the Northern Navy did not launch an attack here.
At dusk, in the Spanish army camp located ten miles to the south, a lieutenant adjutant listened to the report sent back by the advance team, then came to the commander's tent and reported to him.
"Bows and arrows?" All the officers in the tent had strange expressions on their faces, and then suddenly burst into laughter.
A brigadier general raised a crystal glass filled with wine and raised his glass to the highest-ranking general sitting at the end of the long table: "Congratulations, Your Excellency General! The enemy retreated in panic, and we are in sight of victory. We salute you!" "
This general is Pedro de Nava, commander-in-chief of the western provinces of New Spain and commander of this offensive force.
In 1776, in order to cope with the expansion threats of Tsarist Russia, France, and Britain in North America and the increasingly severe Indian resistance, strengthen the defense capabilities of the northern states of New Spain, and promote territorial expansion and colonization, King Carlos III of Spain ordered: Four military districts were established within the governor general's jurisdiction, each responsible for the vast area from the Pacific coast to Central America. The commander-in-chief of each military region only nominally obeys the command of the provincial governor and has jurisdiction over all military and political affairs in the region. The area responsible for the Commander-in-Chief of the West includes the entire provinces of California, Sonora and Sinaloa.
Although California Governor de Arrillaga had previously sent a request for help to the Governor's Palace in Mexico City, and the Governor's Palace of New Spain also raised troops through temporary conscription, the Western Command was specifically responsible for resolving the matter.
While they were talking, a captain came in and reported to Denava: "General, our people found a lot of iron tools in an Indian village. They said they exchanged furs with those from the East. People and things were all Brought it back."
"Let them draw lots, and God will decide everything." Admiral Denava's tone was very calm, and he was determined to kill as a warning to others. "We want them to understand who is the real ruler of this land. Trading with invaders privately without our permission is the result."
"yes."
The captain took his leave and left. Not long after, women's cries, men's shouts, and the drums of the firing squad rang out from an open space outside the military camp. When the drum beat suddenly stopped, the officer shouted loudly, and more than a dozen muskets roared together.
General Denava then ordered that the troops stationed in San Jose Guadalupe tomorrow morning, rest for half a day, and then continue to move towards San Francisco. At three o'clock in the afternoon two days later, thousands of Spanish troops arrived and set up camp 7 kilometers away from the Golden Gate Fortress. The defensive position set up by the Northern Navy was between two hills one kilometer away to the north.
The reason why they are so close is mainly because the actual combat distance of the European armies in these years is so far. In order to maintain the physical strength of the soldiers, the distance from the starting position to the launch of the attack generally does not exceed 300 meters; secondly, in the Spanish army On the left wing, there is a freshwater lake covering an area of nearly 300 hectares, which is convenient for people and horses to drink; and it is only three kilometers away from the west coast of California. Several Spanish warships responsible for transporting supplies can easily provide support to the army.
Well, actually the location where the Spaniards camped was the San Francisco State University campus in another time and space, and the small freshwater lake was Lake Merced.
While his soldiers and civilians were repairing fortifications and building forts, General Denava and his generals observed the enemy positions opposite. Expressed deep contempt for the behavior of all the Northern Navy troops huddled in parapets and trenches. According to the practice of war between European countries in this time and space, he decided to send someone to deliver an ultimatum first, ordering the other party to surrender.
Half an hour later, a group of about thirty cavalrymen arrived in front of the Northern Navy formation. One hundred meters away from the position, the cavalrymen stopped, and then an officer led a flag bearer from the team. The horse comes out. When the two came to the parapet fortifications, they did not dismount. The officer directly opened a paper tube full of writing and muttered to it.
Even though the people from the Overseas Corps have been here for half a year, they can't speak Spanish except a few words like "hello", "thank you", "goodbye", etc., so the Spanish officer who came to read out the declaration of war Little did he know that he was playing the piano to a cow.
After he finished reading the content on the scroll, he saw a guy who looked like an officer behind the parapet opposite, showing his yellow teeth and saying with a smile: "De acuerdo! De acuerdo! I have been waiting for you for several days. , this time none of you can go back!"
As soon as this was said, the officers and soldiers of the overseas regiment on the battlefield burst into laughter. The Spanish officer was a little confused and thought to himself, "You keep saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, are you surrendering or not?" Our general will only give you one hour.
When the company commander of the overseas corps who spoke just now saw that the two Spaniards did not respond, he immediately remembered the gesture that Rucci taught him, so he raised his hand and gave a middle finger to the opposite side.
There are rumors that the middle finger originated from the "Hundred Years' War" between England and France. In fact, it has been around since ancient Rome, or even earlier. According to ancient Roman historical data, the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes made a gesture towards the orator Demosthenes in the fourth century BC.
Now the Spanish officer will be a fool if he doesn't understand!
There was no need to say anything more. Their faces were livid at the other party's rudeness, and they immediately turned around and went back.
When he received the report, General Denava and his Spanish generals were drinking coffee leisurely. When he heard that the Chinese people opposite him gave him an ultimatum, the general was silent for a moment. Suddenly burst out laughing. All the officers looked at each other in confusion. After a while, Denava had enough laughter and asked his generals: "Gentlemen, are you ready for your coffee?"
After a while, I heard a brigadier general say hesitantly: "Very good, general."
Denawa said expressionlessly: "Then everyone, hurry up and get ready. First use cannons to show our attitude, and launch an attack tomorrow morning to completely eliminate them!"
Half an hour later, a battle flag with a red cross diagonally crossed on a white background and the crown emblem of the Bourbon dynasty on the four corners was erected in the Spanish camp. It was the Burgundian cross flag, with the red "X" on it representing the cross on which St. Andrew, one of Jesus' disciples, was crucified.
At dusk, a brass military band composed of more than a dozen people came up from behind the Spanish artillery position. After they took their positions, they played a very high-spirited song under the command of the man holding the scepter. song.
"Hey! They even brought a band! What are they doing?"
After hearing the news, Lu Qi held up his telescope and looked at it for a moment, and then listened for a while to make sure that he had never heard it. What he didn't know was that what was being played opposite was a cavalry march called "Desangró", which originally originated from the Moors and means "cutting the throat."
"Chief, the enemy is going to fire!"
Hearing the words of the officer behind him, Lu Qi turned around sharply and quickly walked into the semi-underground headquarters made of wood. Sure enough, in the picture returned by the drone, a dozen cannons were being loaded at a distance of 700 to 900 meters, and heavy iron balls were being laboriously stuffed into the cannons by Spanish artillerymen. mouth.
Lu Qi was about to order his own artillery to fire. Unexpectedly, just halfway through his words, he heard someone behind him say: "Wait a minute!"
He turned around and saw that the person speaking was a battalion commander from the Overseas Corps, his surname was Li and his name was Chang Yu. Before Lu Qi could ask further questions, he heard the other party say in a deep voice: "Chief, the sun is about to set. I thought the enemy fired artillery just to show off their power, not to attack us. They just arrived today and will not attack immediately. If I Fang fired the artillery too early and exposed his strength. If they retreat overnight, wouldn't the previous plan be in vain?"
When Lu Qi heard that it made sense, he hurriedly said: "What do you think?"
Li Changgeng said: "Immediately notify everyone to evacuate the parapets, enter the trenches to hide, and survive this round of shelling! Our parapets are made of sandbags. If they collapse, they will be built up again."
Rucci looked around at the other officers and asked, "What do you think?"
"I think what Battalion Commander Li said makes sense."
"Then let's do it! Order everyone to go into the trench and take cover!"
A few minutes later, more than a dozen twelve-pound cannons and mortars of the Spanish army opened fire one after another. The heavy shells roared shrilly and landed on the ground five to six hundred meters away with huge kinetic energy, and then bounced high. He got up and smashed into the parapet fortifications.
If there are not enough words, I will make up for it tomorrow.
