By the end of the 42nd year of Haojing (1685), the fleet led by Jie Xuan had been conducting a crescent-shaped land scraping operation around the Gulf of Mexico coast, and did not go to the Greater Antilles to search for prey at all.
This is also the time for Louis XIV to change things, because after the last time he went there, he was secretly photographed without paying attention. Jiexuan has already sent the tip to Paris to see if the European emperor can keep it on his face. …
Jiexuan believed that in the first half of the 42nd year of Haojing, Louis XIV would change the governor of the islands in order not to harm the peace, otherwise he would really be working against the Ming Empire for Spain.
Previously, the Ming Dynasty had transferred the construction technology of the fourth-level and infinite ironclad ships to France, and Louis XIV also obtained samples, but it takes time to digest and absorb the construction technology.
The entire delivery period is as long as fifteen years. Before the payment is completed, Daming will naturally not directly teach the other party, and it is even impossible to learn the construction technology of the fifth-level ironclad ship in the first ten years.
Ming France has been an alliance for almost twenty years. If France openly shields the ships of an enemy country, it is deliberately breaking the agreement.
As the new Emperor of Europe, the smart Louis XIV would not understand this truth.
What's more, if Emperor Hao Jing knows that someone is causing trouble in the Caribbean, as long as he funds a batch of third-generation steam tanks for the Ottomans, plus a certain number of machine guns and aircraft, half of Europe will be disturbed!
Louis XIV has implemented strategic contraction and focused his development on the European continent, so Emperor Haojing will not easily be able to seize the opportunity to make a big fuss...
Once the French Greater and Lesser Antilles and French South America (Venezuela and Guyana) refused to take in Spanish ships, they had no choice but to flee to Britain.
On the premise of not damaging the friendly relations between France and France, Jiexuan must exert diplomatic pressure on Paris to force it not to do harm secretly.
For the sake of his own face, even if Louis XIV thought so in his heart, he would not dare to say it. If it were reported, the reputation of the European Emperor would be directly ruined.
After five months of non-continuous operations, the main reason was that the storms were all coming together once or even twice a month, which resulted in the expedition fleet's land-scraping operations being able to only be carried out intermittently.
Fortunately, the results were quite fruitful. More than 300 enemy ships were sunk or destroyed, more than 500 were captured, and nearly half of the enemy's inventory was destroyed.
Jiexuan estimated that his side should have eliminated at least about 40% of the Spanish ships, and the rest basically did not dare to return to the bases along the Gulf of Mexico.
Their destinations are the Caribbean and the United Kingdom. The former is handled by themselves, while the latter needs to be contacted by Zheng Chenggong.
The next important task is to cooperate with the army to capture the city of New Spain as soon as possible.
The city is not too far from the seaside, but it is certainly out of reach of naval guns.
The fleet is mainly responsible for protecting the fleet transporting soldiers, weapons, and supplies, and there must be no mistakes.
If a troop transport ship is discovered and sunk by scurrying enemy ships, maybe a company of soldiers will just feed the fish...
Although Jiexuan believed that the possibility of such a thing happening was not high, it was not entirely impossible and he had to take precautions.
The second expeditionary force landed in Acapulco de Juarez only two days before New Year's Day.
I originally planned to give Carlos III a big surprise, but now I was completely disappointed.
But Wang Yong is very happy that his old boss Wang Yuncheng, who is also his uncle, can come to command the troops this time.
The one who landed before was the First Army of the Expeditionary Force, and now the Third Army came, still in a mixed configuration.
The Ming Dynasty's army only had 5,000 men, and the remaining 20,000 were Japanese troops, but they were still under the command of Shinichi Abe.
Tokugawa Ietsuna also did not intend to send two veteran soldiers to command a mere 40,000 people in Mexico. There was no need at all.
The second army of the expeditionary force was commanded by Li Dingguo, and the fourth army was commanded by Bai Liangbi, son of Bai Guangen.
The Second Army and the Fourth Army both fought on the northern front, while the First and Third Armies fought on the southern front.
The third and fourth batches of the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth troops arrived in the east one after another. These four armies will also be distributed in this way.
At least 50,000 combat troops will be transported in each batch. In the past few years, the matter of relocation to Min was basically not considered, and all troops were transported.
Wang Yuncheng did not come empty-handed this time. In addition to bringing two thousand machine guns and matching bullets.
There is another good thing, that is the new spring board!
The original spring plate has a capacity of only twenty rounds, while the new spring plate has two capacities of forty rounds and sixty rounds.
The disadvantage is that the longer the veneer is, the easier it is to deform. Even if it has a slight curvature, it may cause bullet jamming when firing.
In this regard, Dai Cang and Dai Zi's father and son built a manual forging press specifically used to press the arc spring plate.
The master behind it, Emperor Haojing, believed that the principle of this object was exactly the same as that of a stapler...
Just like playing drums, the person who shoots is happy, and the person who loads the bullet is angry!
The large-capacity bullet plate has two disadvantages. First, it cannot be loaded in advance, otherwise it will be difficult to ensure that the bullet plate remains straight.
Secondly, you have to manually load the bullets. Each bullet plate has forty rounds. Loading a hundred bullet plates can drive people crazy.
Generally speaking, you can only reload five or six days in advance, or at most one week.
Metal expands and contracts with heat, which is better in winter. In summer, when exposed to high temperatures, the elastic plate may deform if you apply force.
Dai and his son also studied a super spring plate with a capacity of 100 rounds, but they had to give up because it was too easy to deform.
As long as it has a certain thickness, a meter-long iron sheet is not easily deformed.
But the bullet has weight. One end is the bullet supply port and the other end is air. The gravity will cause the bullet plate to fall automatically.
When the machine gun fires, the deputy shooter must hold the bullet plate to ensure that the machine gun receives a stable supply of ammunition.
If it were replaced with a bullet plate with a hundred rounds, even if it was not deformed by the fall, the assistant shooter would be exhausted...
Wang Yong thought that a large bullet with 60 rounds was enough, and it was so enjoyable to let the machine gun shoot this thing.
Few people were killed in the previous attack on New Spain City. Although hundreds of people were injured, due to timely treatment and sufficient anti-inflammatory drugs, there were no large-scale casualties.
After converging with the Third Army, Wang Yuncheng, Wang Yong, and Abe Shinichi discussed and agreed that their side already had the strength to besiege New Spain City.
The new Inca Emperor Polo also sent six ships of fresh fruits and vegetables, plus vitamin tablets shipped from the mainland, so the expeditionary force did not have to worry about sepsis.
The best thing is to fight in winter. The temperature in Mexico can be lower, and you can light a fire at night, saving you the pain of being burned during the day.
The previous attack caused Wang Yong to eat various canned meats and stir-fried cactus for a week...
Even he, the general, is like this, and the people below are naturally even worse.
Everyone doesn't know the wild vegetables here in Mexico. They don't know which ones are poisonous, but they know that cacti are not poisonous.
So the cooks started eating cactus, then eating cactus, and finally fed everyone until they were anorexic.
When the troops retreated to the seaside, the entire army believed that the biggest enemy was not the Spanish barbarians, but the local cactus!
During this time of repairing at the beach, everyone finally recovered.
Wang Yong never forgot to remind this uncle to be prepared to eat cactus for a long time!
In addition to the 2,000 troops and wounded soldiers stationed in Acapulco de Juarez, the expeditionary force mobilized 47,000 troops, including 800 steam tanks, two heavy artillery battalions, two missile battalions, and 50 aircraft. Struggle and advance northward into the city of New Spain.
There were also a thousand cavalry in the attack, because the new Inca emperor Poirot had sent a thousand horses.
If operated in conjunction with aircraft, the expeditionary force's reconnaissance capabilities can be greatly enhanced.
There are planes circling overhead, cavalry on the outside to guard, and tanks around for protection.
The infantrymen were of course very at ease and would not give the Spanish barbarians any chance of a sneak attack or ambush.
Hearing that the army of yellow-skinned monkeys was coming again, Carlos III, who had just been relieved for a few months, couldn't help but become anxious again.
Last time, in order to fight against the invasion of yellow-skinned monkeys, he paid a huge price of losing 70,000 people.
Currently, there are only 50,000 defenders in the capital. If they are mobilized again, they will barely be able to raise 100,000.
This was also the last mobilization. Almost all the men of suitable age were recruited, and the rich kids had already gone elsewhere.
The nobles were completely unsure about being able to defend the capital and repel the yellow-skinned monkeys again.
The kind of gun that can fire continuously is so powerful that it makes everyone feel intimidated.
In this case, no noble or rich man would let his heir die directly.
It is no longer time for a European war. The gap in weapons and equipment between the two sides is already very obvious.
From steam tanks to ironclads, well-informed people have spread the word to everyone at cocktail parties many times.
Everyone said nothing, but their bodies were honest. They took their families and fled to Leon, San Luis Potosi, and even farther away, Monterrey.
At this time, the only people left in the city were the army and ordinary people, as well as Carlos III and a group of civil servants and generals. The families of the ministers had also fled long ago...
Their neighbors abandoned Madrid and the entire mainland and came to the American possessions.
I was faced with a difficult choice at this time. Should I retreat to other places temporarily or stick to New Madrid?
Could it be that the name Madrid is unlucky?
Would it be better to change it to Invincible City, Blessing City, or Praying City?
It was too late to think about this now. The scouts said that the yellow-skinned monkeys invaded with more troops this time, estimated to be fifty or sixty thousand, and they also brought thousands of tanks.
Calculated according to the last combat strength, it would be equivalent to two to three hundred thousand people on his own side. Marquis Martinez already believed that it would be difficult to succeed in holding on to the capital.
The last time we were able to repel the enemy was all due to God's protection, luck, and possibly other factors including the large-scale illness of the yellow-skinned monkeys.
Unless there are many factors similar to last time that come into play this time, the chances of your side winning will be very low.
He could only promise to do his best to Carlos III. How far he could fight was anyone's guess...
After the last victory, Marquis Martinez ordered the local indigenous people to dig two trenches around the city.
There are only four passages in four directions between the trenches, and hundreds of thousands of earth pits were dug around them, imitating yellow-skinned monkeys.
Marquis Martinez believed that in this way, the enemy would not dare to launch an siege easily.
A few days later, after the expeditionary force arrived outside New Madrid, they did not launch an siege rashly.
This time, the Spanish barbarians learned wisely and would not go into battle easily. They simply became a coward.
The expeditionary force also has countermeasures against this kind of enemy.
Don't you like digging trenches?
Let us help you dig deeper, even the road will be dug for you!
After the Expeditionary Force tanks are equipped with bulldozers, they can transform into armored bulldozers.
Digging trenches is easy. If there wasn't enough water nearby, the city could be flooded!
What’s next?
It’s definitely not okay to be idle!
Wang Yuncheng led some troops to watch the defenders, while Wang Yong and Abe Shinichi led the main force to attack Puebla to the east of the city.
The defenders of Puebla did not expect that they would be targeted by the yellow-skinned monkeys, and they were unprepared for the enemy's attack.
Trenches were dug, but they were not as deep as New Madrid City, and there was only one trench.
Faced with the earth-filling operation of armored bulldozers, the city's artillery fire responded, but was quickly wiped out by the expeditionary force.
Once the trenches are filled, the tanks can drive directly to the city.
Of course, the tank cannot climb the city, but with its strong power, it can collapse the city wall bit by bit.
Puebla's city defense is far inferior to that of New Madrid, that's all.
Faced with this kind of gameplay of the expeditionary force, the defenders had no choice at all.
If you show your head on the city wall, you will be beaten, not to mention that the city wall has been almost completely shelled before.
Being beaten like wild boars by dozens of tanks, the city wall completely collapsed within half an hour.
With the loss of stone protection, the exposed rammed earth structure was completely unable to stop the swarming Japanese infantry.
I heard that after entering the city, except for special items, people's property can be robbed at will. The Japanese Ashigaru were already red-eyed.
One by one they howled and rushed into the gap, and it was impossible for the defenders to stop them from the other side.
Because the Japanese army threw a large number of grenades to the other side before launching a collective charge.
The defenders collapsed directly in the face of this kind of gameplay, unable to organize effective resistance, and facing street battles were not as good as the Japanese soldiers who were fond of evil and fighting.
Within three hours the main streets were cleared.
The next day, Wang Yong announced that the whole army could eat and drink.
Within three days, the search was completed, leaving a thousand Japanese troops to garrison the city, and then the entire army turned back.
They will not be stationed for too long, up to two years, basically waiting for the follow-up troops to land before completing the rotation mission.
Puebla was the second large city captured by the expeditionary force. Wang Yong believed that Merida and Veracruz on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico should also have been captured, but that was the credit of the Marines.
To the defenders, the expeditionary army was much more "gentle" than the fleet.
Once the commander's favorite place is revealed, I will give you a volley of naval guns without saying a word!
Who can stand being bombarded by the entire fleet for half an hour? ? ?
Everyone felt thrilling just watching from a distance, let alone being beaten...
In comparison, the Navy is much more ruthless than the Army.
Before the city could be attacked, the opposite side turned into ruins.
Even the buildings will be blown to pieces by you, let alone the barbarians inside!
Of course, the barbarians will not understand this, and they still imagine that they can win!
It is estimated that within five years, the strength of the expeditionary force transported from the mainland will reach as high as 200,000 to 300,000. By then, it will be impossible for Spain to survive!
