Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 733 I'm Actually on the Third Floor
As a man whose ancestors had fought against the Japanese invaders and who had read several military books when he was young, Li Zhongzi thought he had already mastered the art of military affairs, at least the first level. After talking with Li Zicheng today, he thought he had reached the second level.
Perhaps his understanding was not wrong. But in fact, Sun Chuanting's arrangement was far more than two layers.
After the fierce battle on the 22nd, the Ming-Indian coalition army rested for only one day before launching another fierce attack. This time, as both sides lost all their heavy artillery, the battle became even more brutal and bloody when the two armies met in close combat. In the battle for many strongholds, there were fierce hand-to-hand combat.
However, when the Ming army almost broke through the enemy's first line of defense again, Raimondo once again sent in fresh troops from the rear, and the Ming army withdrew again.
"Damn it! The Chinese commander on the other side is called Li Zicheng, right? Lord Cromwell, didn't you say he was as cunning as a fox? Why does he seem like a reckless man? What kind of war is this? He just rushes all day long. Yes, he did cause a lot of casualties to our soldiers, but their casualties were just as much. When the forces of both sides are about the same, isn't he committing suicide by doing this?"
(Li Zicheng: What you said is not quite right. When the number of wounded soldiers is similar, my advanced field medicine can save more lives, so the actual casualties are much less than yours.)
"Mr. Raimondo, Li Zicheng and I have been entangled in America for many years. I know him better than I know my wife whom I haven't seen for many years. In short, please don't underestimate him. His command in recent days has been very abnormal. There must be something strange."
"Isn't that weird?" After thinking hard for a while, Raimondo clapped his hands fiercely: "This guy is not trying to create opportunities for the troops on the side by attacking from the front."
"It is indeed possible. In response to the enemy's two fierce attacks, we have already withdrawn two divisions from the five divisions on the northwest flank. If the enemy launches another fierce attack, we may have to withdraw the third division."
"I see. But this fellow called Li Zicheng is too cruel. In order to achieve his strategic goal, he even let his soldiers die in vain. After three days and two full-scale attacks, he couldn't even break through our army's first line of defense... Ugh! That's not right!"
"Raymondo, what's wrong? What's wrong?"
At this time, Raimondo didn't care about Cromwell's question at all. Instead, he grabbed the phone at hand and said, "Call the Operations Department... Operations Department, have we counted the number of casualties today? What! So many? Okay, I got it."
After hanging up the phone, Laimondo said solemnly, "Sir, you are more familiar with Li Zicheng. He is really a cunning fox."
"What did you figure out?"
"Sir." Raimondo walked to the battle map, picked up the baton and pointed: "This is our first line of defense. The day before yesterday, after the fierce attack of the rebels, it has been shattered. Many permanent turrets and machine gun points have been blown up by the Ming army. So today's battle is almost a fair field battle for both sides!"
"Hmm..." After silently extinguishing a cigarette, Cromwell said, "So our casualties today are heavy? How many?"
"More than six thousand people were killed and more than twelve thousand were injured!"
"Hiss~" Cromwell couldn't help but take out another cigarette and light it. His hands were shaking a little. "As I remember, the rate of our wounded soldiers returning to the battlefield is generally no more than 50%, right?"
"Yes." After nodding solemnly, Raimondo lowered his head: "I made a mistake. I expected our spies in the rebels to incite the resentment of the Indian soldiers. So, in order to prevent the rebels from seeing the hope of victory, I had to defend the first line of defense at all costs. But now it seems that why should I insist on continuously dispatching troops to defend the first line of defense, which has almost no ability, and consume the enemy, instead of putting the enemy in front of the complete second line of defense and slaughtering them!"
"Yes. On this point, Li Zicheng is much more clear-headed than us. He would rather give up the first line of defense that is about to be obtained than continue to attack the second line of defense. I think he has seen this in advance."
"Yes, sir. Fortunately, there is still time to adjust now."
“How are you going to adjust?”
"First, adjust the deployment of troops. I plan to leave only nine divisions on this front line of defense. Well, taking into account the casualties, there are actually only more than 90,000 people left, about six divisions of troops. Return a fully equipped division to the northwest flank.
Secondly, abandon the first line of defense and focus on the second line of defense. "
"I agree. This is America. Neither side has complete military production capacity. After everyone's heavy artillery is lost, no one can quickly replenish it. As a result, if the enemy faces our second line of defense, it will definitely not be as easy as facing our first line of defense."
"Yes, sir. But just in case, should we transfer part of the reinforced division in Bogota as the general reserve?"
"I think it's okay. Let's transfer two infantry regiments and one artillery regiment."
"Well, with no enemy troops in Bogota, it would be a waste for a regiment with 30 150mm heavy guns to stay there. We can withdraw the regiment."
Following the two's agreement, the entire Spanish American Legion quickly began to redeploy.
"What did you say? The Western bandits took the initiative to withdraw from the first line of defense? Hahaha, it seems that the Western bandits seem to understand something. Li Guo!"
"What instructions does the Corps Commander have?"
"Execute Jiang Gan's plan."
"yes!"
At noon on the 25th, when the Ming army scouts reported back the news that the Western Army had taken the initiative to retreat, Li Zicheng immediately launched the Jiang Gan plan according to Sun Chuanting's instructions in advance.
In fact, that day in the field hospital, even if Li Zhongzi didn't ask, Li Zicheng would find a way to actively leak out the so-called "feint to the east and attack in the west". Otherwise, how could he implement Jiang Gan's plan?
Who is Jiang Gan? Of course, it was the wounded Spanish soldier rescued by the Ming army.
In the early morning of the 26th, Raimondo, who had finally had a good night's sleep in the past few days, was awakened by his guards: "Sir, our soldiers who were captured on the 22nd have escaped from the rebels' field hospital, and there is a major military report!"
After rigorously questioning the other party about his place of origin, the unit he belonged to before being captured, and a basic loyalty test, Raimondo "confirmed" his conjecture from the day before.
"...Sir, I heard shocking news from the rebels' wounded camp. The enemy's main attack direction is not here..."
"Well, your information is very important. Thank you for your loyalty to His Majesty. Now, go down to claim your reward and rest up before returning to the team."
"Yes. Thank you for your generosity, Your Excellency."
After receiving another "affirmation", Raimondo became more confident in his judgment. After sending off the soldier who thought he had gone through "untold hardships" but was actually "escorted" by Ming soldiers all the way back to his camp, he immediately drafted an order: to have the two infantry regiments and one heavy artillery regiment that had been scheduled to the front line of Sibat and that had set out from Bogota City change direction and go to the northwest flank corps.
On the 26th, the front battlefield of Sibat was silent for the third consecutive day: after the Spanish army withdrew to the complete second line of defense, especially after his side's strategic intention had been achieved, Li Zicheng lost the desire to attack.
And on Zhang Xianzhong's side.
Speaking of which, the person who was most depressed in this battle was Zhang Xianzhong.
At the combat meeting in Lima, he thought that his detachment was the key force on the battlefield: Li Zicheng led the large army to attract the enemy's main force in the front, and he led two divisions plus a special forces regiment to the flank, and then the divine troops descended from the sky and took Bogota in one fell swoop. Tsk tsk, with such achievements, the emperor should give me, Zhang, a general, right?
Unfortunately, the idea is beautiful, but reality is...
After leading the army to the gap in the Xibat Mountains, Cao Bianjiao smiled and gave him a brocade bag. Then he took out Sun Chuanting's handwritten order from the brocade bag, and his first reaction was to jump up and down and curse.
Why? Because Sun Chuanting's order clearly stated: Zhang's attack was also a feint. The real killer move was Cao Bianjiao's regiment composed entirely of special forces!
According to Sun Chuanting's arrangement, first, Li Zicheng's army launched a fierce attack on the front, forcing the Spaniards to withdraw their reserve troops to strengthen the frontal forces. This was the first step.
The second step was to initiate the Jiang Gan Plan and deliberately leak to the Spaniards the fact that the real purpose of the attack was on the northwest flank.
The third step was that when the Spanish mobilized their forces to reinforce the front and northwest flank, Bogota's own defense would surely drop to an extremely low level. Then came the ultimate killer move of this battle: Cao Bianjiao would lead the special forces, not to go along the coastal plains to find a gap with a lower altitude, but to directly cross the Western Cordillera Mountains with an average altitude of 5,800 meters, and descend from the sky to appear north of Bogota City - this plan was named the Ziwu Valley Plan by Sun Chuanting.
Of course, in the actual implementation process, because the first round of attack by Li Zicheng's army was too fierce, Raimondo drew troops from the northwest flank to supplement the front. But soon after, the "smart" Raimondo figured out the trick himself and returned another division to the northwest flank. After Jiang Gan's plan was implemented, more than 10,000 people from the original 20,000 defenders in Bogota were drawn to the northwest flank. In short, the actual implementation was slightly different from the prior plan, but the goal of drawing out the enemy's forces defending Bogota was achieved.
As for Cao Bianjiao's special forces, they did not follow Cromwell's instructions to Louis in advance, to go around the coastal plain for a thousand kilometers and then go back. Instead, they started climbing the mountain directly about 20 kilometers north of the gap in the West Bart Mountains!
Sun Chuanting, the Ming Dynasty's military commander in America, had been on the third floor since the beginning, looking down upon all living beings...
