Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 100: The Strategy of Tiring the Enemy Out
Li Tianqian nodded and said, "So that's how it is. Your Majesty has considered everything carefully."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "Now that we have seen the situation, it's time to go back. Let's get out of this forest first. I will talk to you in detail about tunnel excavation."
Lin Fei led the two out of the forest and said to Li Tianqian: "Old Li, when Mr. Qin leads the engineering company to dig the tunnel, he needs a lot of things, such as food, tools, explosives, etc., so I need you to serve as the coordinator between the engineering company and other troops. You are responsible for collecting everything the engineering company needs. Do you understand?"
Li Tianqian nodded in agreement. Lin Fei looked at Qin Xiren again and said, "Mr. Qin, do you think there is anything you need? Ask for it now."
Qin Xiren thought for a moment and said, "You just said that there are rocks under the water. We need to dig a tunnel in the rocks. Human power is definitely not enough. We need explosives. The engineering company is not equipped with explosives. Your Majesty, you must prepare explosives for us."
Lin Fei smiled and said, "Don't worry, I have already transferred 50 kilograms of nitroglycerin explosives from Yanhuang City, which is enough for you to use."
Qin Xiren nodded and said, "When digging a tunnel, we need to transport the excavated soil and rocks to the ground. Our tunnel is 200 meters long, and it is quite laborious to transport soil and rocks. We need wide wooden boards, which can transport a lot of soil and rocks at a time. There are ropes at both ends of the wide wooden boards. The people inside put the soil and rocks on the boards, and someone else pulls the boards from the outside to pull the soil and rocks out and dump them. The people inside then pull the boards back."
Lin Fei said: "I have prepared the wooden planks for you, don't worry."
Qin Xiren said, "There is also a tool for communication. It is definitely not enough to just shout. We need a long iron pipe to make a communication device."
Lin Fei said: "The local blacksmith can make iron pipes, don't worry."
Qin Xiren said: "There is nothing else."
Lin Fei asked, "How long do you think it will take to transport the engineering company and the equipment here?"
Qin Xiren said: "It will take at least half a day ."
Lin Fei then asked: "How many days will it take to dig the tunnel?"
Qin Xiren thought for a while and said, "Our tunnel only needs to deliver explosives to the base of the enemy's wall, so it doesn't need to be very strong. In this way, many protective measures don't need to be taken. I think two days will be enough."
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give you one day to transport the engineering company and equipment here, and another three days to dig the tunnel. Mr. Qin, please come back to the barracks with me first. I'll show you the explosives I prepared for blowing up the city wall. You can take a look at its size and then decide how big the pit should be dug under the wall."
Qin Xiren agreed, and Lin Fei led everyone back to the barracks. Lin Fei went to the artillery company and got a bag of trinitrotoluene explosives, handed it to Qin Xiren, and said, "There is one kilogram of explosives in this bag. I plan to put 150 kilograms of explosives under the Spanish city wall. I made a simple estimate and 150 kilograms of explosives is more than enough to blow up the Spanish city wall."
Qin Xiren carefully looked at the size of the explosive pack, memorized it, and then went to prepare. Lin Fei then asked Chen Jingui lead the logistics personnel to deliver 150 kilograms of trinitrotoluene explosives to him as quickly as possible.
Qin Xiren led the engineering company to prepare to dig tunnels and lay explosives. Lin Fei then called Niu Dalong and said, "Escort all the Spanish missionaries from Palang Village, and send someone to the back to send a letter, asking them to send a batch of Spanish prisoners of war."
Niu Dalong agreed, and the next day, more than 150 Spaniards were escorted to Lin Fei's military camp. Lin Fei ordered people to raise the big flag with "Execution of Spaniards" written on it, and took a dozen Spaniards to a position more than 1,500 meters away from the city wall and stopped. Then he ordered his subordinates to unfold and raise the big flag.
The large flag made by Qin Xiren and his men had two flagpoles. Two people, each holding one, could unfold the entire flag. The large black characters on a white background could still be seen from a distance of 1,500 meters. Lin Fei could only use this method to let the Spaniards on the opposite wall know what he was doing. Otherwise, at a distance of 1,500 meters, others would not be able to see anything clearly. Using sound would be even more impossible, as human voices were not that loud and Lin Fei had no sound amplification equipment.
One thousand five hundred meters is already the limit of the safe distance. The Spaniards have artillery and heavy machine guns, and their firing from the top of the wall can cover a range of more than one thousand meters.
After Lin Fei had someone unfurl the big flag, he waved his hand and had someone bring a few Spaniards over, made them kneel on the ground, and ordered them to shoot at their heads.
On the city wall of Cotabato City, the Spanish soldiers saw the big words on the flag clearly. They hurried to inform Servetus. Upon hearing the news, Servetus hurried to the top of the wall and looked at the flag with a telescope. He happened to see Lin Fei's men executing the Spaniards, and his face turned blue with anger.
At this time, Servetus only heard a voice behind him: "General Servetus, are you not going to order the attack yet?"
Servetus knew without turning around that it was Rachenauer who had arrived. He did not want to argue with Rachenauer in front of his men, as this would definitely be a big blow to the morale of the army. So Servetus did not speak, but said to his men, "Pay attention to strengthening patrols and guard against sneak attacks by the Chinese Empire's army."
When Lacheno saw that Servetus did not respond to him, he felt greatly insulted and angrily said to Servetus: "General Servetus, can't the army of our Spanish Empire protect the people of our empire?"
Servetus just said coldly: "General Lacheno, please don't say anything more, I am the supreme commander of this city!"
Lacheno snorted coldly and said, "I will report everything that happened here truthfully to Governor Sanders." After saying that, Lacheno walked out with his subordinates. At this moment, he heard a shrill whistle in the distance. Lacheno squatted down involuntarily, and heard a "boom". A shell exploded on the city wall, and a thick black cloud rose.
Then they heard a deafening shout from the opposite position. The Spaniards stood up and saw a group of people walking towards the city wall in a skirmish line.
Servetus said excitedly: "The Chinese Empire's army is coming. Get your artillery ready, your machine guns ready, your rifles ready!"
The Spaniards were also in high spirits. They all wanted to avenge their dead compatriots, so they picked up their weapons, rushed to the wall, and prepared to shoot.
But at this moment, the army of the Huaxia Empire retreated like a tide. The Spaniards couldn't help feeling disappointed. But just half an hour later, the army of the Huaxia Empire rushed up again, and retreated again when it was about to enter the Spaniards' shooting range.
Servetus frowned, wondering what the Chinese pigs were going to do? Why did they retreat halfway through the charge?
At this time, Lacheno came to Servetus again and said in a scolding tone: "General Servetus, do you see this? This is the result of our persistence. The initiative on the battlefield is completely controlled by the Chinese pigs. They fight when they want to and retreat when they want to. We can only respond passively."
Servetus couldn't understand the intention of Lin Fei's troops, and he was unhappy. Lacheno's words immediately made Servetus very annoyed. Servetus thought to himself, you and I are both brigadier generals, and no one is better than the other. I rarely lose battles with the Moros, but you failed in battles with a group of mysterious people. What qualifications do you have to teach me a lesson?
Servetus couldn't get angry directly, so he said, "Come here, ask General Racheneau to go back and rest."
Servetus' men certainly understood what Servetus meant. They walked up to Lacheno and politely asked him to leave. Lacheno had no choice but to leave. As soon as Lacheno left, Servetus suddenly thought that the Chinese pigs had many conspiracies and tricks when fighting, and what they are doing now must be part of the conspiracy and tricks. They just want to make us very tired and then suddenly break through our city walls!
Servetus thought he had seen through Lin Fei's plan, and he laughed triumphantly, and ordered: "Keep a close eye on the Chinese Empire army on the opposite side, and don't let up even a little bit."
As soon as Servetus said this, Lin Fei's troops withdrew in a mighty manner, leaving Servette confused. It turned out that Lin Fei did this just to attract the attention of the Spaniards so that they would not notice that Qin Xiren's artillery company was digging a tunnel.
Lin Fei returned to the camp and gathered the chief officers of various troops to teach them the skills of urban warfare. The biggest difference between urban warfare and field warfare is that urban warfare involves facing many buildings, so there are many special combat skills involved, such as choosing cover. Many cover looks very solid, but can be penetrated instantly by bullets, so it is necessary to accurately identify the cover. These details need to be taught by Lin Fei one by one.
That night, Li Tianqian came back and reported to Lin Fei: "Your Majesty, the preparations by the old craftsman Qin are almost complete. The engineer shovel, explosives, and wide wooden boards have all been transported over. According to the old craftsman Qin, we can start excavation at 11 o'clock tonight."
Lin Fei immediately ordered all the troops to blow the wakeup call at 10:30 tonight, and at 11:00, attack the city wall in the same way as this morning, making sure to confuse the Spanish army.
At 10:30 in the evening, the sound of the reveille sounded throughout the military camp, and everyone shouted and rushed towards the city of Cotabato. The defenders on the city wall estimated the number of Lin Fei's troops and thought that this was a large force launching a general attack. On the one hand, they summoned their companions and reported to Servetus. Servetus believed in his idea and believed that this was a test attack launched by the Huaxia Empire. If they were not prepared for defense, they would attack the city, so he called on his subordinates to defend with all their strength.
