Chapter 821: Just do your best
Judging from the general armament level of countries in the Far East at this time, the number of city defense artillery in El Salvador can definitely be regarded as a fortified city standard, and it is more than enough to deal with ordinary wars. If an enemy of the Ming Army's level were to attack, even if the city of Salvador was at a military disadvantage, it would not worry about the opponent being able to break through the city defenses. After all, there was an insurmountable gap in weapons and equipment between the two sides. But with Haihan as the opponent, the strength comparison between the two sides suddenly changed. Spain, which was originally dominant, immediately became the weaker side. This psychological gap is really unacceptable.
Although Alcarazo also knew that Ross was telling the truth, if he were to surrender like this, he really would not be able to explain to his superiors after returning to Manila. He had hesitated for so long last night, but he had actually thought clearly. No matter what, he had to at least have a fight. To put it bluntly, after losing the battle, you will definitely have to show your bitterness when you return, but if you don’t kill some people, how can you show your bitterness to the big shots in Manila?
"Captain Ross!" After returning to the city wall, Alcarazo issued combat instructions to Ross: "I order you to command the city defense troops and fight back during the enemy's siege. Although our ammunition reserves are already very limited, we must not The glory of the Kingdom of Spain cannot be lost because of this!”
"Sir, what do you mean... do you want to fight to the death?" Ross still asked cautiously, after all, this is likely to be related to the life safety of the entire city.
Alcarazo coughed dryly and lowered his voice: "Even if we can't defeat the Haihan people, we still have to lose decently."
Now Ross understood it, nodded and said: "Sir, I understand what you mean."
At ten o'clock in the morning, the Haihan artillery, headed by four siege guns, launched an attack without warning. With a huge roar, artillery shells flew from the artillery position outside the city to the top of the city. Takahashi Minami did not try to implement measures such as persuading surrender before then. Deep down in his heart, he did not want the enemy to surrender, at least not before the war started, because this would not allow the special operations battalion to use actual combat to practice offensive operations. Urban warfare tactics. At the same time, he also wanted to see how powerful this large siege gun manufactured by the military industry department was. After all, it took a lot of trouble to transport this thing around. If it was not used on the battlefield, it would be very powerful. Qiaonan always feels a bit pity.
The heavy cannonball hit the city wall with huge kinetic energy, causing debris from the outer wall bricks to fly everywhere. Although the city of El Salvador has an extra layer of protection compared to the city walls of Santo Domingo, it only has a significant resistance to artillery shells under 12 pounds. As for the 48-pound heavy artillery that Haihan invested in the siege, almost every shell that hit the city wall would destroy a large area of wall tiles and leave deep dents on the wall.
The defenders on the city wall felt this even more. Whenever a siege cannon shell hit the city wall under their feet, the vibration was like an earthquake. Although the gunners were still trembling and insisting on counterattack, their energy may have been more focused on how to save their lives in the artillery battle, rather than hitting targets outside the city as quickly as possible. Although the artillery on top of the city was constantly firing shells, the impact points were almost far away from the target and were not enough to pose a threat to the enemy forces outside the city.
Takahashi Minami's mood has basically relaxed at this time. He has been in battle for a long time and can naturally see that the Spanish's counterattack is not strong, and it is even difficult to interfere with his own artillery operations. The impact of our own siege artillery seems to be better than expected. After several rounds of shelling, visible damage has appeared on the front wall of Salvador City. The wooden city gate has also been beaten to pieces, exposing the The stones were later used to pile up and block the passage.
Takahashi Nan didn't have to worry about running out of ammunition. These four large-caliber siege cannons were equipped with a total of 400 rounds of ammunition, which was enough to collapse the front city wall. This does not include artillery of other calibers. If the Spaniards in the city plan to resist to the end, Takahashi Minami will not be stingy with using artillery shells to teach them the principles of life.
On this island surrounded by water, the Spaniards had no way to retreat. Although they still had three ships wandering back and forth on the nearby sea, under the close surveillance of the Haihan fleet, these three armed sailing ships did not dare to approach at all. Sheliao Island, let alone assisting the people on the island to evacuate. If they are not careful, they may be outflanked by the Haihan fleet at sea and completely lose the chance to escape from the battlefield.
As for the Spanish reinforcements, there is no need to worry. Their nearest base is thousands of miles away. Even if they go south to report now, the war here will be over by the time the reinforcements arrive, and maybe the nearby mining areas will be gone. Excavation has already begun. When Haihan serves as the defender, he won't be as embarrassed as the Spaniards are now. He can teach them what a real coastal defense artillery is.
The artillery battle continued until the afternoon. Two-thirds of the battlements on the front wall of Salvador City had been destroyed by artillery shells. This exposed several gun emplacements that originally relied on the battlements as bunkers, making it difficult to effectively avoid the attacks outside the city. Artillery strikes. In the artillery battle that lasted for nearly three hours, the defenders had lost twelve cannons and more than thirty gunners on the top of the city. And their record was only to destroy one of the attacker's artillery, and the casualties caused were ten times the difference. If the Haihan Army had not taken the initiative to cease fighting, the losses of the defenders might have increased further.
"Captain Ross, how long can our current situation last? Can we survive tomorrow?" Alcarazo, who looked tired in the city, asked Ross for advice again. Although he did not go directly to the city to supervise the battle today, he has always stayed under the city wall and has never left. He also has a relatively intuitive understanding of the Haihan offensive and his own losses, but he still needs to seek professional advice. In order to avoid possible misjudgments of the current situation.
"Sir, we currently still have seven artillery pieces that can continue to fight, but the problem is that our ammunition inventory is really low. If we want to maintain today's firing frequency, then we will consume all the ammunition before the sun goes down tomorrow." Rose explained the current situation to Alcarazo directly. If he could sum it up in one word, it would be "tragic."
"It's okay if I can hold on for one more day. At least I can have an explanation..." Alcarazo breathed a sigh of relief. If the city is lost too quickly, it will inevitably appear that the defenders are too incompetent. As long as they hold on for one or two more days, they can at least make up a statement like "the defenders fought bloody battles and finally chose to conserve their strength when they were unable to defeat the enemy."
"Sir, this is just considering our own situation. If the enemy continues to concentrate fire on the city walls and gate passages, we may not survive tomorrow noon." Ross did not give Alcalazo a chance to relax. He added this The information made the chief of Salvador City frown again.
There is no doubt that after these two days of fighting, everyone has clearly understood the gap in strength between the two sides. It is only a matter of time before the city defense is breached by the Haihan Army. If you want to save your life and leave here honorably, choose a suitable one. The timing of surrender is very important. At the same time, in the Haihan camp, Takahashi Minami and his officers' judgment of the battle situation was surprisingly consistent with Ross's. The commander of the artillery unit believed that it would take at most half a day to destroy the severely damaged front wall. As soon as the city wall falls down, the defenders will immediately fall into an undefendable situation. In other words, before sunset tomorrow, perhaps the Haihan Army will be able to capture the last Spanish fortress in Taiwan, even faster than when they attacked the city of Santo Domingo.
Of course, during the attack on the city of Santo Domingo, the siege artillery did not really come in use. The Haihan army used a clever strategy to force the defenders in the city to surrender, but it also spent more combat time. In the attack on Salvador City, artillery superiority was used to suppress the opponent before landing. Siege artillery was put into the battlefield immediately after landing, further increasing Haihan's advantage in long-range strike firepower. In just two days, the Haihan Army's absolute advantage in this battle has been basically established.
"Do you think the Spanish will surrender?" Takahashi Minami asked this question to the officers at the end of the discussion.
Most officers believed that the Spaniards would surrender after confirming that they could not win. If they surrendered voluntarily, they would at least be able to negotiate terms, such as asking the navy to ensure their safety. If they waited until the city was broken before surrendering, then they would only be able to surrender. Can enjoy prisoner of war treatment. The defenders of Santo Domingo chose to surrender the city very wisely, and the Spaniards in El Salvador were probably not much better off. The blacksmith Jose once mentioned in his confession that the Spanish governor of El Salvador, Alcalazo, He is a guy who is greedy for petty gains, and such people are often afraid of death at critical moments and prioritize protecting their own interests.
When it comes to Jose, I have to admit that his confession did provide a very practical reference for the Haihan Army's preparations, including the weak areas of the front wall of Salvador City, the gun emplacements on the wall, the number and performance of the artillery deployed, and even is the approximate lifespan of the artillery, all detailed information provided by Jose. In this way, when the Haihan Army launched an artillery offensive, the targets and methods used were more targeted. It is no wonder that the defenders' city defense seemed to be vulnerable.
Of course, Alcarazo never dreamed that the most important military secret in the city of El Salvador was betrayed by the blacksmith Jose who had been missing for many days. And this information also greatly accelerated the time for the Haihan Army to capture this place. Otherwise, even if the Haihan Army was obviously superior in strength, it would be unlikely to achieve the current results in only two days.
On the morning of the third day of the war, the defenders found in despair that the three armed sailing ships whose sails could still be seen on the sea had disappeared. It seemed that they had escaped during the night. Although it is clear that even if these three ships stay here, they will be useless in changing the situation of the battle, and they are likely to be attacked by the Haihan army from behind. However, the departure of these three ships undoubtedly took away the last lifeline of the defenders. Straw, causing his psychology to gradually slide to the edge of collapse.
Takahashi Minami continued to adopt yesterday's tactics, using artillery for long-range strikes. He was not in a hurry to invest infantry, and planned to blast the city wall open before letting the infantry enter the city to fight.
However, this plan was not successfully implemented. After only an hour of artillery battle, a white flag was hoisted on top of the city to declare surrender. Although this is good news for Haihan, it is somewhat discouraging news for the soldiers of the special operations battalion who have been waiting for two days on the shore. This means that in the process of attacking the city of El Salvador, the soldiers seemed to be just making soy sauce and did not achieve any actual military exploits. The veterans who had experienced several battles were fine, but the new recruits who entered the battlefield with passion were very disappointed with this situation.
Soon the city sent an envoy to the Haihan camp for peace talks. This envoy was not an unfamiliar face. He was Gesman who had just escaped from the city of Santo Domingo at the mouth of the Tamsui River a few days ago. As one of the few managers in the city who had direct dealings with the Haihan people and had sufficient authority to make decisions, Gesman was entrusted with the important task of going out of the city to negotiate the terms of the truce.
With the experience of the previous contact, Gesman seemed to have become familiar with it. He went straight to the topic and asked the navy to ensure the safety of the people in the city and not to detain anyone from the Spanish side for reasons such as prisoners of war. personnel.
But this time the Haihan people were not as easy to deal with as last time. Takahashi Nan smiled and rejected Gesman's proposal: "Several of your big ships have already escaped. Even if they are all allowed, where can you go?" ?”
Gesman pretended to be calm and said: "There are some fishing boats on the nearby coast that we can commandeer."
Takahashi Nandao: "How about this, I will arrange a boat for you. You first send people south to report the news, and let Manila send a boat to pick up the people here. During this period, we will take care of the prisoners left here. What do you think? Like? ”
Gesman is not a simple-minded guy. After listening to this, he naturally thought that Takahashi Minami might have a deeper meaning for taking such initiative. But he couldn't figure out Takahashi Minami's starting point for a while, so he nodded in agreement with Takahashi Ami's idea. After all, the reality is that the defenders can no longer evacuate here at once. They can only send people south on fishing boats to report the news, and then send ships from Manila to the north to pick up the people. Although this process will take some time, it is indeed the only feasible way at present. But what Minami Takahashi said next made Gesman almost spit out blood.
"Considering that the cost of managing prisoners of war is high, we will charge a nominal fee for prisoner management. The standard is not high, just three thousand taels of silver per day!" Takahashi Minami said very relaxedly, as if it were three thousand taels. Silver is just an inconspicuous small amount.
(End of chapter)