Chapter 2944
The street intersection located in the direction of the Haihan Army's advance has been tightly blocked by locals with tables, cabinets, door panels and other large objects. You can still vaguely see the shadows of people moving behind the barricade. It seems that after discovering the Haihan Army attacking from the north, the defenders adjusted their strategies in time and allocated some manpower to intercept them.
Haihanjun fired several tentative shots at the barricade, and sure enough, the opponent fired back. It's just that the gunfire was messy and there was no clear target. It was obvious that the troops guarding this barricade were not well-trained troops and there was a serious lack of organization and command.
It would take some time for the newly unloaded field artillery to be transported from the shore. After roughly checking the surrounding terrain, the company commander ordered two squads to go around and find other passages to bypass the barricade, while the other two squads explored nearby areas. From high up, try to bring the resisters behind the barricades into fire coverage.
Although the Bangui Battalion is only a security force, it has also received formal military training. Of course, a temporary and simple barricade like this cannot stop them for too long.
The soldiers who climbed to the roof to observe soon discovered that there were at least a dozen resisters holding muskets behind the barricade. It was difficult to use rifles to deal with these targets hiding behind the bunkers. But at this combat distance, the Haihan Army also had other methods to attack difficulties besides rifles and artillery.
Soon, several grenades were thrown behind the barricade, and then several explosions were heard one after another, and there was a sudden scream from behind the barricade. After another test shot at the barricade, there was no sound of counterattack gunfire.
The fighting process was very short, but it took quite a while to dismantle the barricade. The other passages the soldiers found nearby were very narrow and could not allow large equipment such as artillery to pass through. They could only patiently clear these roadblocks so that the field artillery could be pulled outside the fortress in the center of the town to carry out critical operations.
Behind the roadblock were the bodies of six or seven resisters, and some blood stains were scattered on the nearby road. It was obvious that the injured had escaped from here.
After clearing these roadblocks, the fortress in the center of the town was fully revealed to the Haihan Army.
It is said to be a fortress, but it is actually a large courtyard with high walls. According to the information provided by the Military Intelligence Bureau before the war, this courtyard has two gates, north and south, and inside are the residence and office of the colonial governor of Masbate Island.
It is said that the colonial governor had an armed force of a hundred people, but there was chaos in the town at this time, and it is difficult to say whether these armed men were still holding on to the fortress.
There is a four-story tower in the yard. Judging from its height, you should be able to overlook most of Masbate Town from the top of the tower. Since landing in the fishing village, someone from the company headquarters has been monitoring the movements on the tower with binoculars. But after the war started, no signals were displayed on the tower. There were no flags, fireworks, or musical instruments. It was as if this place had lost its functions as a watchtower and command center.
The company headquarters judged that there was only one possibility, and that was that the colonial administrator who was supposed to be commanding here had fled, which caused the resistance in the town to be chaotic due to lack of organization.
The soldiers set up ladders outside the high wall, climbed over the wall, and looked around. Sure enough, they saw no sign of anyone moving inside. A few brave soldiers entered the courtyard and were not attacked. They quickly opened the gate on the south side and let in the large troops.
After a search, there were only a few servants, such as women and cooks, left in the huge courtyard. As for the local magistrate and his armed men, none were seen.
After immediately interrogating these servants, they learned that when the Haihan fleet arrived in the nearby sea area, it had been discovered by the lookouts on the tower. The local official ran away immediately with his men and gold and silver, with no intention of staying. Organize resistance in town. As for where exactly they escaped, these servants didn't know. They probably went south. This situation was a bit unexpected by the Haihan Army. They originally thought that even if there were no regular troops stationed on the island, it would take a lot of effort to capture the town, but they never thought about the commander on the opposite side. He actually ran away before the fight started.
The reason is probably because the several military attacks launched by the Haihan Army against this place in the past have caused a lot of psychological shadow on the Spaniards, so that when they saw the appearance of the Haihan Army, the first reaction was not how to resist, but how to resist first. It's important to escape.
Fortunately, the battle plan formulated by the general staff this time made targeted arrangements for this, cutting off the retreat route to the south first. Even if the Spaniards discovered the intentions of the Haihan Army, most of them would not have time to escape. Now it depends on whether the troops in the south can move quickly enough and intercept the important people here.
After the northern troops captured the undefended fort in the center of the town, they continued their clearing south. At this time, the Haihan troops launching an offensive from the south had also broken through the resisters' defense line, compressing their activity space to a very small area in the town.
Zheng Agui and others have basically entered a fighting state at this time. Their opponents are just ordinary people who have picked up weapons. Their combat skills and armament levels are far inferior to those of professional soldiers like them. They can often defeat each other in a single face-to-face encounter.
At this time, the soldiers no longer fire blindly like they did when they first encountered the enemy. Usually, two people hold guns to open the way, two people are responsible for cutting off the rear, and the middle four are ready to take turns to replenish their guns. There is no more group behind the enemy. They fired at the same time, and when it was over, everyone stopped to reload at the same time.
The last twenty or so resisters were surrounded in a private house. Before the Spanish translator who came forward with a loudspeaker to persuade him to surrender said a few words, the people in the house shot him and interrupted him. It was obvious that he was not allowed to surrender. I'm considering surrendering.
At this time, the battalion commander of the Bangui Battalion had also arrived at this location. He rejected his subordinates' proposal to conduct a strong attack. Instead, he had two field guns pushed closer and aimed at the private house with a round of shelling.
Taking advantage of the break in reloading, Qiu Yong asked Zheng Agui: "Squad leader, is it necessary to use artillery in such a big place? Wouldn't it be the same solution to throw a few grenades in through the window?"
Zheng Agui laughed and scolded: "You know nothing! The firing of cannons only shows that the battle is fierce, so you can go back and ask for credit from the superiors!"
Qiu Yong suddenly realized that he even called the battalion commander brilliant.
In fact, this is not the first time that the Bangui Battalion used artillery in the battle against Masbate Town. After the Southern Route Army landed, they used artillery to blast away the roadblocks set up by the resisters.
But what Zheng Agui said is correct. How many shells were fired during the battle is the data that must be reported after the war. If the number of shells fired is too few, it only means that the situation is one-sided, and a battle without difficulty is obviously not easy. Apply for military honors. When the battle is over, fire a few more shots to make it easier to deal with them later.
The mud-walled house could not withstand the close range bombardment. After a while, most of it collapsed, and there was no sound inside. The battalion commander was still uneasy, so he had a few more grenades thrown in to blow them up before ordering the ruins to be cleared.
(End of chapter)