Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 489 Both Sides Need to Adjust
"I have lost many soldiers and generals. Please punish me, Commander!"
Looking at Luo Xiong kneeling on one knee in front of him, Cao Wenzhao's facial muscles trembled fiercely for a few times. After hesitating for a while, he made up his mind: "First, strip this man of his epaulettes and find a place to lock him up!"
"Commander, please show some mercy."
"Yes, Commander, the enemy is cunning, and they also have machine guns. This defeat is not our fault!"
"Military Police, execute the order! Anyone who dares to plead for Luo Xiong will be punished with the same crime!"
As the second commander of Henghai Guard after Ma Chengzhao, Cao Wenzhao was only in his thirties at that time, but his qualifications and prestige were fully established. Therefore, after he gave this order, the commander of the Eighth Division, Du Hongyu, twitched his mouth a few times and dared not say another word. Luo Xiong, on the other hand, let the military police come up and strip off the two-bar four-star shoulder straps on his military uniform with a miserable face.
The previous charge of 3,000 infantrymen was not caused too many casualties by the Spanish artillery: due to the long distance and transportation capacity, the Spanish artillery in the Philippines were still muzzle-loading guns.
What really caused huge casualties to the Ming infantry were the twenty machine guns that the Spanish had deployed in the first trench. In a short charge distance of just two or three hundred meters, at least seven or eight hundred Ming soldiers fell under the abundant firepower of the machine guns.
Then, after the remaining two thousand soldiers approached the trenches, the more than three thousand Spaniards on this line of defense rushed out of the trenches and fought with the Ming soldiers with bayonets.
The Ming soldiers suffered a great loss in numbers, a slight disadvantage in physique, and no advantage in morale... In addition, the enemy's machine gunners were still behind and fired a burst of bullets wherever they saw Ming soldiers gathering. Therefore, after this bayonet fight lasted for more than half an hour, the Ming army was slowly pushed down from the trench line by the Spanish. Finally, Luo Xiong still controlled the troops and did not let the troops collapse in a swarm. Instead, he kept in contact with the enemy's pursuers and slowly retreated - in this way, the Spanish artillery could not bombard them again. After slowly retreating three or four hundred meters and receiving artillery support from his own side, he finally brought the remaining soldiers down.
After retreating, they checked: out of the 3,000 soldiers who went up, more than 1,700 did not return, and the casualty rate was over half! This was the biggest defeat ever seen since the establishment of the Ming New Army!
Luo Xiong, who was in charge of the command, burst into tears and then ran to Cao Wenzhao to confess his guilt.
As a general who had experienced many major battles, Cao Wenzhao actually saw very clearly in the rear: the biggest problem why his soldiers were repelled was that after their soldiers approached the enemy's trenches, they could not fire heavy machine guns while running, so the Ming army soldiers could only use single-shot rifles to shoot at the enemy. In this way, the firepower of the attackers was severely suppressed by the defenders - this was the root cause of the failure of this charge.
Despite this understanding, Cao Wenzhao still had to temporarily dismiss Luo Xiong from his position: this was to protect Luo Xiong.
Since the establishment of the Privy Council, the emperor has returned all the power of specific operations to the military. This practice has caused some dissatisfaction among ordinary civil officials, such as Xiong Tingbi, the imperial tutor, and Sun Chuanting, who were personally selected by the emperor. From this, we can see how much pressure the emperor was under.
Therefore, the battle of Luzon must be won! And it must be won as beautifully as possible! Otherwise, the warriors will be sorry for the emperor's trust and support!
For the same reason, Luo Xiong had to be dismissed from his post this time: with such a great defeat, the news could not be kept secret, and Cao Wenzhao did not want to block it. If Luo Xiong was not dismissed, there would be no way to stop the impeachment from the censors and the counterattack from the civil officials!
"Hey, messenger."
"I am here."
"Send an envoy to the Westerners to ask for permission to send a small number of personnel to the front line to collect the remains of our soldiers."
"yes!"
"Also, find a communication ship. I will go to the south of the city to meet with Liu Zhaosun."
"Yes, sir."
After transporting the army ashore, Li Guozhu and Yan Siqi's fleet escorted a large number of transport ships back north. However, at this time, the outside of Manila was all rainforest, so the army, which was advancing from north to south, still asked the navy to leave a lot of communication ships to facilitate communication between the generals on both sides.
"We attacked this morning and suffered heavy losses. More than 1,700 brothers did not return."
"Hey, we also attacked, and it was even worse. Nearly two thousand brothers didn't come back."
"Well... after this battle, I feel that the appearance of machine guns has given the defenders too much of an advantage. We need a gun that can be easily picked up by a single soldier and can spray a large number of dense bullets during a charge."
"That makes sense, and I think it would be even better if we had a large steel plate that could move forward automatically."
"Zhao Sun, you think further than I do."
"No, in the words of the Emperor, the development of this world is driven by lazy people. Because lazy people always think about how to save more effort, they will naturally keep making various demands."
"Haha, okay, stop joking. I came here this time to ask for a favor."
"Do you want me to transfer all the breech-loading guns on my side to yours?"
"That's right. Zhao Sun, it seems that we underestimated the enemy. The Western bandits trapped in Luzon have a fighting spirit that is no less than ours. Their defense is very effective, and their firepower is also very strong. If we want to break the deadlock, we have to rely on cannons!"
"Sure. I have nine breech-loading cannons here. I'll pass the order down and ask them to organize people to move them."
"Thank you very much."
"Why thank you?" Liu Zhaosun waved his hand. "According to the position, you are the commander and I am the deputy commander. I have to carry out your orders. According to the story of Zigong redeeming people that the emperor has been telling for many years, since the best 18 cannons in the army are concentrated in your hands, you should be responsible for the main attack. As for me, I will just quietly beat the drums in the south and help you contain some of the enemy troops."
"Okay, I won't be polite either." Cao Wenzhao stood up and said, "Help me transport the artillery here later, and then I will re-arrange the attack plan as soon as I return."
"Hmm..." After a brief pause, Liu Zhaosun also stood up and patted Cao Wenzhao on the shoulder: "Brother Cao, we must . I don't think I need to say more about this. I want to emphasize that since we met in Henghaiwei, the enemies facing us have always been inferior to us in firearms. And this time, it was the Westerners' firearms that were equal to mine. But I always feel that the men of my Ming Dynasty will never stop fighting when we don't have an advantage in firearms."
"...My dear brother, your advice is absolutely correct!"
And on the other side.
"Your Excellency, the Ming people sent envoys to negotiate with us, hoping to withdraw the bodies of their soldiers that were thrown in front of the trenches."
"Agree, but tell them that this process must be completed under the supervision of our soldiers, and the number of people they send to collect the bodies cannot exceed two hundred."
"I will follow your instructions. In addition, there are more than 790 wounded Ming soldiers on our northern and southern fronts. What do you think?"
"Hey..." Henry looked up at the sea outside the window and said, "We are isolated thousands of miles away from our homeland, so we don't know how long we can hold out. In case we are defeated, we can get better treatment. Tell the Ming people to pay for the redemption of the wounded. No matter how serious the injury is, ten double pillars will be paid for each person."
"I praise your kindness, sir."
"Yes." After waving his hand and letting the officials below handle the relevant matters, Henry said to his adjutant: "Abel, how many casualties did we suffer this time?"
"The Ming army attacked Manila from the north and south almost simultaneously this morning, pouring a large number of shells in front and behind our positions... Adding the losses in the subsequent bayonet battle, our total number of casualties on the north and south defense lines this time was 636, and 455 were wounded and temporarily unable to fight."
"Hiss..." Henry took a deep breath and his expression became serious. "So many casualties in just one day. What should we do if it continues for ten days? It seems that we have to change our tactics."
