Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 535 The Sixth Division Transferred In
“Boom boom~” “Da da da~”
"Commander, you retreat first. I will continue to cover your retreat."
"Nonsense, Luo Xiong, didn't we agree that you and I would take turns covering each other? It's my turn to cover the rear now, why are you trying to steal my job?"
"Uh, Commander, after chasing for half a month, the brothers can't bear it anymore..."
"What? You think I can't hold on this time when it's my turn to cover the rear? Asshole! It's too early for you to be promoted to division commander... Hahaha, don't worry, I'm not even a general yet, I won't die so easily. Besides, we're in the city now, and the defense of these houses is much better than those sandbag fortifications we made in the desert a while ago."
"…Then, take care, Commander. I will be waiting for you 20 miles ahead! After this interception, we will leave the coastline and move inland. By then, the Western pirates' naval guns will pose no threat to us."
"Hey, why are you so long-winded when you are less than 30 years old? Get out of here, and build fortifications in the back so that I can withdraw earlier."
"……yes!"
It was August 5, 1625, 18 days after the Ming Sixth Division blocked the Spanish Army in the village of Roumanai.
After the battle ended that night, Zhao Lujiao and Luo Xiong immediately made a decision: retreat quickly, otherwise they would not be able to hold on in the Sinai Desert once the enemy's large force arrived.
However, because the 6th Division was spread over most of the Sinai Peninsula, it took some time to gather them. What was even more annoying was that the road conditions in the Sinai Peninsula were extremely poor! Although this place was mainly desert, there were no particularly tall mountains to hinder the march. But for the 6th Division's baggage troops, which were not yet equipped with rubber tires, the sand was extremely unfriendly to the wooden wheels, and they would sink into the sand at any time during the march!
All these factors resulted in the army's marching speed being extremely slow. On July 30, they were finally caught by two Spanish divisions.
This is the benefit of having control of the sea: the Spanish army can put food, spare ammunition and other supplies on the ship, and then the whole army can move forward lightly. If there are wounded, they can also be evacuated in time by sea. The Sixth Division of the Ming Dynasty can only measure the length of the earth with their feet.
Retreating from the enemy is a great art and one of the golden standards for testing whether an army is qualified. In the historical plane, the KMT troops in the 20th century never learned to retreat: even when surrounded, they could still fight to the death while waiting for help. Once they retreated, the entire army would often collapse...
The Ming army of this era, at least Zhu Youdong's new army, has attached great importance to retreating from the enemy since the day it was established. Not to mention, the Sixth Division is a meritorious division with the exclusive title of "Iron Wall".
After being attacked by the Spaniards, Zhao Lujiao and Luo Xiong divided the soldiers of the entire division, except for the baggage and logistics troops, into two groups, 20 to 30 miles apart, and then took turns to cover the retreat. One group blocked the enemy from behind, and the other group went forward 20 to 30 miles to build simple fortifications. After the front group withdrew, the rear group continued to block the enemy. The front group ran to the front to continue building fortifications... This repetition ensured that the entire army could always maintain its organization during the retreat, and would not collapse suddenly.
Of course, the most important point in retreating from the enemy is to make the soldiers behind believe that they have not been abandoned by their superiors and that they are not abandoned as broken arms. So at this time, the two division commanders Zhao Lujiao and Luo Xiong must personally lead the soldiers to block the attack.
In short, with the two division commanders setting an example, more than 14,000 officers and soldiers of the Sixth Division fought bravely. Although they suffered heavy losses under the attack of the Spanish army of up to 30,000 and the naval guns of two ironclad ships for five days, they were still well-organized and maintained a fairly good combat effectiveness.
Now, on August 5, the Sixth Division had arrived at Gaza while fighting and retreating. According to the pre-determined route, after passing here, they would advance inland to the northeast. In the places they had passed before, except for the coastal areas where there were some oases moistened by sea water mist, the rest were endless deserts, and there was no way to leave the coastal areas. After passing Gaza, there were scattered oases along the way to Jerusalem, which would completely get rid of the enemy's naval gun attacks.
Moving inland, the Sixth Division not only no longer had to endure naval gun harassment. For the two Spanish divisions in pursuit, their baggage would no longer be conveniently transported by the navy, and they would have to measure the land on foot like the Sixth Division. So until now, the 19th and 20th Spanish divisions no longer rotated after each attack as they had done in the past few days. Instead, the two divisions together opened up a wide front and began a full-scale charge!
“Boom~”
60 75mm cannons were deployed in a uniform pattern and began to bombard the sand outside Gaza City. The two ironclad ships, Casti and Catalan, risked running aground and fired at Gaza City as closely as possible.
After all, they were being chased by superior forces, and their mobility was far inferior to that of the enemy due to the bonus of the enemy's navy. So at this moment, all the heavy artillery of the Sixth Division had been blown up and thrown away. So now when they were attacked by the enemy's artillery, the officers and soldiers of the Sixth Division could only hold their heads and cling to the corners of some relatively solid houses to endure.
"Boom~" A shell luckily hit the place where several Ming soldiers were hiding, and then with a violent explosion, these soldiers instantly turned into a pile of minced meat.
In comparison, these soldiers were not the worst: their pain lasted only a moment. As for those Ming soldiers who were buried alive because their houses were destroyed by artillery shells, it was good that they were dug out by their comrades. If they were not dug out, they would have died in agony.
“Beep!”
After half an hour of bombardment, with a series of short whistles, the Spanish soldiers outside the city roared and began to charge into the city with their rifles. But after they had advanced for only five or six minutes, a familiar and terrifying sound rang out from a section of the wall in Gaza City that had been almost destroyed.
"Maldita Sea!" Coutinho, the commander of the 19th Division who was watching the battle on the Casti on the sea and formerly Rudolf's adjutant, slapped the railing fiercely: "How come these yellow monkeys have the vitality of cockroaches? After so many days of pursuit, they couldn't even find a place to replenish water, and they still retreated in such large numbers. How could so many machine gun points survive such a strong bombardment just now?"
"Please be patient, Major General." A hand gently rested on Coutinho's shoulder. It was Viscount Alfonso, the former commander of the Spanish Philippine Squadron. "Look, the enemy has only seven or eight firepower points on such a long front. No matter what, they can't defend such a long front."
"Of course I know that." Coutinho said bitterly, "But for every additional machine gun point left, our charging soldiers will lose at least a hundred more people."
"How can there be no casualties in a war? When our navy loses people, it is really tragic." Alfonso smiled calmly and said, "Sir, according to our pursuit in recent days, there are only half of the enemy here. The other half must have run to the front to set up fortifications. If, I mean if, the enemy escapes to the inland area this time, then our navy will..."
"It's not an if, it's a sure thing. I know that beyond Gaza, there are dense oases inland."
"Well, then what I want to ask is, it seems that your army can only annihilate half of the troops in Gaza City at most. As for the other half, will you still chase them?"
"We've already chased them here, how can we not continue? You know, this place is very close to Jerusalem!"
As the person whom Rodolfo trusted most before his death, Coutinho actually felt the rift between Rodolfo and Philip. Therefore, when Philip said that Rodolfo died of overwork, he was the first to not believe it - His Royal Highness was very strong and it was impossible for him to die of overwork!
But what else could he do if he didn't believe it? The situation was stronger than the person. Moreover, as Rudolf's adjutant, he was inevitably treated coldly after Rudolf's death: the commander of the 19th Division, as you can tell from the number, his division was mainly composed of new recruits.
In fact, the officers that Rudolf trusted the most during his lifetime were almost all treated in this way: the divisions were mainly veterans, and all the officers were Spanish nobles or old-style soldiers. However, those who were most familiar with new tactics were transferred to the new recruits division, under the pretext of "the old leading the new..."
Therefore, deep in Coutinho's heart, even if the Chinese did not retreat to Jerusalem after leading the troops out this time, he was thinking about driving the Chinese there: If our army successfully recovers Jerusalem, you Philip will have to give me a promotion no matter how unhappy you are, right? As long as I can control more troops, one day, I will find out the truth about the sudden death of His Royal Highness the Prince!
"Maldita Sea!" Just as Coutinho was daydreaming, another Spanish national curse sounded beside him.
"What's wrong?"
"Look for yourself." Alfonso pointed at the nearby Gaza City unhappily. "After your infantry rushed forward, a group of Ottoman cavalry appeared out of nowhere. Your artillery is in danger now."
