Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 90: Capture the leader first
Two Maxim heavy machine guns were pushed to the side of the street, facing the position where the Spaniards were charging. Zhao Menggang personally grabbed the firing handle. An ammunition handler picked up the canvas bullet belt and loaded the bullets into the barrel. Zhao Menggang pulled the firing handle, and the Maxim heavy machine gun made a "boom boom boom" sound, firing bullets at the charging Spaniards at a rate of 600 rounds per minute.
The Spaniards fell like straw in a strong wind. As their charging formation was very dense and the bullets of the Maxim heavy machine gun were 11 mm in caliber and had extremely strong penetrating power, many bullets stopped only after passing through two people, which further increased the lethality of the machine gun.
The Spaniards in the east could not withstand the heavy machine guns and fled in a panic. At this time, fires broke out in the south, north and west of the city government, and gunshots rang out one after another. Lin Fei guessed correctly that the Spaniards were indeed attacking from all sides.
There were troops on the south, north and west, and Maxim heavy machine guns guarding them, so the Spaniards began to retreat after leaving behind a field of dead bodies, and the night returned to calm for a while.
When the soldiers saw the Spaniards retreat, they were delighted for a moment, but Lin Fei frowned and asked He Kaisheng: "How many people are there in the city guards?"
He Kaisheng said: "The city guards from the four nearby districts are here."
Lin Fei said: "Hurry up and let them return to their respective guard areas, quickly!"
He Kaisheng was stunned. Lin Fei urged him, "Since the Spanish failed to attack the city government, they are likely to attack Chinese civilians. Let them protect the Chinese civilians immediately. Quick!"
He Kaisheng quickly agreed. Lin Fei walked out of the city government building and came to the defense zone of the eastern troops. Niu Dalong came over and said, "Your Majesty, why are you here?"
Lin Fei asked: "Have you captured the prisoners ?"
Niu Dalong said: "Catch a few injured ones."
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Bring one to me."
Niu Dalong waved at one of his subordinates, who dragged a Spaniard over. The Spaniard's leg bone was broken, and the broken leg was still attached to his body, dragging it weakly behind him. Lin Fei squatted down and asked with a gloomy face: "Who asked you to come?"
The Spaniard gritted his teeth and said nothing. Lin Fei drew out the Saladin Blade and flashed it in front of his eyes. The Spaniard shuddered. Lin Fei pressed the back of the blade against the Spaniard's injured leg and said grimly: "If you don't tell me, I'll make you die of pain!"
The Spaniard's teeth chattered as he trembled and said, "Mr. Brewer sent us here."
Lin Fei had seen Bruel's name on the tax list. Bruel was the richest businessman in Butuan City and owned fifteen factories, including an electroplating factory where Chinese people like Gao Manlu worked. In Bruel's factory, the Chinese's salary was one-tenth of that of the Spaniards. Bruel accumulated his wealth in this way.
Lin Fei pressed, "Where is Bruel?"
"In the Barsac warehouse," said the Spaniard.
Lin Fei asked: "Basak Warehouse? What is that place? Why is Bruel there?"
The Spaniard said: "The Barsac warehouse is where Bruel hides his money. Bruel does not keep his money in the bank. He converts it into gold and keeps it in that warehouse."
Lin Fei then asked: "How many guards are there around Bruel?"
"There is a 300-man warehouse guard."
Lin Fei asked: "Do you have a gun?"
"Yes, all of them are Mauser rifles."
Lin Fei nodded, waved his hand and asked his men to take the Spaniard away, and asked his men to capture the two injured Spaniards and asked them these questions. Their answers were the same as the previous Spaniard. Lin Fei turned around and called Niu Dalong, saying, "Leave one company here to watch, and the others follow me. Bruel is the richest businessman in the city. He must have planned this riot tonight. Let's capture the leader first. Let's capture him first."
Everyone cheered. Lin Fei led his soldiers to the Basak Warehouse. The Basak Warehouse was located in the east of the city, at the edge of the city. After the troops hurried for a while, Niu Dalong suddenly ran up to Lin Fei and said loudly, "Your Majesty, we have arrived at the Basak Warehouse. There is a wall outside. It is not low. I am afraid we cannot attack it."
Lin Fei's heart moved, and he said, "Take me to have a look!" Then he followed Niu Dalong to the edge of a forest. Niu Dalong pointed to the distance and said, "The place with lights on over there is the Basak warehouse. I heard that the people inside have guns, so we didn't go close."
Lin Fei estimated the distance and found that he was about 400 meters away from the courtyard wall. This distance avoided the enemy's firepower. Lin Fei nodded and said "very good", then raised the telescope to take a closer look at the Basak warehouse. He saw that the entire warehouse was surrounded by a three-meter-high wall with a five-meter-wide gate in the middle.
Lin Fei put down the telescope, pointed at the courtyard wall, and sneered: "How strong can the courtyard wall built by a local tyrant be, Zhao Menggang!"
Zhao Menggang answered loudly: "I'm here!"
Lin Fei said: "Use explosive bombs to blow up the wall for me!"
Lin Fei's artillery company is equipped with HP-1 mortars, which have a caliber of 60 mm and are equipped with two types of shells. One is a fragmentation shell equipped with a trigger fuse, which is mainly used to kill personnel, and the other is a blasting shell equipped with a delayed fuse, which is used to destroy buildings.
Zhao Menggang loudly ordered his subordinates: "Use No. 1 explosive to blow up the courtyard wall!"
Mortar shells can be replaced with different propellant packs to adjust the range and angle of fire. No. 1 charge is the charge with the least amount of propellant, which allows the shells to accurately hit the courtyard wall at this distance.
The caliber of the mortar is only 60 mm, so each component is relatively light. The gun body, gun mount and base plate are only about 10 kilograms, or 20 pounds. The artillerymen can carry it on their backs. The shells are also very light, with 3 kilograms for explosive shells and 2.5 kilograms for fragmentation shells. Each ammunition carrier can carry six shells.
There are five firing groups, each with ten people and seven ammunition handlers. Each group has forty-two shells. This kind of firepower is already amazing in this era when there are no mortars and howitzers have an extremely slow firing rate because they have no recoil and recovery mechanisms!
Zhao Menggang ordered his subordinates to use slow fire, which could save the most gun barrels. After all, the opponent was not strong, so there was no need to use full-speed fire at the expense of the life of the artillery.
The soldiers of the artillery company took out the barrel, gun carriage and base plate and assembled them into a cannon. Lin Fei waved and called Niu Dalong over, saying, "Push the Maxim to the gate!"
Niu Dalong was stunned and asked, "Will they come out?"
Lin Fei smiled confidently and said, "It's impossible for them to just take the bombing without fighting back. They will definitely rush out to fight us. Then the Maxim will come in handy."
Niu Dalong nodded and led his men to push two Maxim guns in front of the door. Although the distance was 400 meters, the range of Maxim gun was up to 1000 meters, so a distance of 400 meters was no problem at all.
Zhao Menggang reported to Lin Fei: "Captain, the artillery company is ready, shall we fire?"
Lin Fei nodded and said, "Fire!"
Zhao Menggang answered loudly: "Understood!" Then he turned to the artillery and said: "Brothers, fire!"
The artilleryman put the mortar shell into the barrel. The shell fell and triggered the primer, which ignited the propellant. The shell flew towards . Then there were five loud explosions. Thick black smoke rose into the sky and enveloped the courtyard wall. Inside the warehouse, Bruer, the richest businessman in Butuan City, heard the explosion and panicked. He asked, "What's going on?"
A think tank came over and said, "Something exploded on the wall."
Bruer asked in surprise: "The Chinese pigs have cannons?"
The think tank looked serious and said, "The deserters in Jackson's army said that the Chinese pigs used something explosive that was so powerful that the Maxim heavy machine gun vehicle was blown up."
At this time, a guard ran in and shouted: "Oh no! The wall has been blown up!"
Bruel shouted loudly: "Go and block the wall quickly. Don't let the Chinese pigs in. Ibrahimovic, take the guards out immediately, find the Chinese pigs' cannons, kill the people who fired the cannons, and don't let them fire the cannons anymore!"
When the guard leader named Ibu heard this, he led everyone out. In the light of the warehouse, they were particularly conspicuous. Niu Dalong was about to order his men to shoot, but Lin Fei waved his hand and said, "Wait a minute, wait until they all come out before shooting. If you shoot now, the people behind won't dare to come out."
After a while, the guards were almost out of the gate. Lin Fei waved his hand and said loudly: "Fire!"
The two Maxim heavy machine guns immediately aimed at the guards and spit out flames. The guard leader named Ibrahimovic was the first to be killed. The Spaniards behind him fell one after another. The other Spaniards immediately ran into the yard. How could the Maxim heavy machine guns let them escape? The machine gunners aimed at the gate and fired. Every Spaniard who rushed to the gate would be shot into a sieve.
At this time Lin Fei waved his hand and shouted an order, urging everyone to open fire. The soldiers immediately picked up their automatic rifles and fired at the Spaniards. Five minutes later, the ground was littered with the bodies of the guards. During these five minutes, mortar shells tore several large holes in the city wall. After all, the warehouse of the Spanish businessman was not a fortress of the army. The walls were only made of bricks and earth, and could not withstand the bombardment of shells loaded with trinitrotoluene explosives.
Lin Fei roughly counted the dead bodies on the ground and thought that there were not many living people in the guard team. He could attack them. So Lin Fei waved his hand and said, "Charge."
The bugler beside Lin Fei raised the trumpet in his hand, and the exciting charge sounded instantly. The soldiers rushed towards the warehouse like a tiger descending from the mountain. Lin Fei watched from behind with his hands behind his back. After all, he was the emperor of the Huaxia Empire, and there was no need for him to charge into the battle himself.
Lin Fei stared closely at the warehouse, and heard only sporadic gunshots. He felt happy because less gunshots meant the battle was going well. But at this moment, a soldier suddenly ran up to him and said loudly, "Your Majesty, this is bad!"
