Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 736: Burning Bogota
"Mortars of the third platoon of the eighth company are in position!"
"There is a large crowd of people gathered at 2 o'clock ahead, about 150 meters away. Get ready, two rapid fire shots!"
The soldiers of the special operations regiment are different from ordinary soldiers. After only seven or eight minutes, the snipers climbed up the wall along the ropes with 6.5 kg sniper rifles. The mortar squads in some companies also used ropes to send 50 to 60 kg mortars to the wall.
Then, when the mortars exploded in the city, Bogota, which was already in chaos, fell into complete panic.
On the Spanish side, most of the soldiers who were originally scattered on duty at other sections of the wall bravely rushed towards the lost section of the wall. However, facing the bunkers built by the Ming army special forces with corpses and debris on the wall, as well as the fierce firepower behind the bunkers, the Spanish soldiers without any shelter were either beaten into a hornet's nest, or the courage they had finally mustered quickly disappeared, and they simply found a place to lie down and pretend to be dead.
The walls were like this, and the city was even worse: as the Ming army snipers took their positions, starting with Louis, whenever a Spanish officer wanted to stand up and organize the soldiers to fight, he would be shot in the head before he could even shout a few words. Gradually, at least in the northern part of the city, no officer dared to stand up.
At 0:28 , with a creaking sound, the heavy north gate of Bogota was opened from the inside by the Ming soldiers! More than 2,000 Ming soldiers outside the city rushed in, and the Spanish army in the north of the city completely collapsed mentally.
What's worse is that since the supplies from Mexico or Europe all come to Bogota from the north , the north of Bogota is now the distribution center for supplies. Prince Luis, who is full of responsibility, has been living in the north of the city for a long time recently. He lives in the north of the city, and most of the senior officers of the more than 10,000 Spanish soldiers, including the city defense commander Martin, also live in the north of the city. Therefore, when the Ming army attacked the north of the city, these people reacted quickly, and naturally suffered the most casualties! In other words, although the Ming army actually killed and injured only a few hundred enemies in just half an hour, a considerable number of these hundreds of people were middle and senior officers!
"Hahaha, Captain, you guys are really quick. I haven't even finished smoking a cigarette outside the city yet, and you guys have already opened the city gate."
"Humph, we have been training for so long and the emperor has spent so much money, isn't it just for this moment? Well, stop talking nonsense. Three things, first, send out two companies to catch the tongue. I want to quickly find their ammunition depot and grain depot and control them. Second, gather the soldiers who can speak Spanish and have them shout on the top of the city wall, 'Soldiers who surrender will be spared, civilians will not be harmed, and nobles will be settled later.' Third, the remaining soldiers, follow me, drive the defeated soldiers here and the nobles who will definitely flee south, and sweep to the south of the city!"
"yes!"
Following Cao Bianjiao's orders, the Ming army's attack became more purposeful. As the Spanish-speaking soldiers in the team shouted collectively, at least many Spanish soldiers in the north of the city began to raise their hands and surrender - the battlefield was too chaotic, especially without the command of officers at all levels, the Spanish soldiers were really confused. Besides, after so many years of the Sino-European War, the Spanish soldiers actually knew that the Chinese generally did not abuse prisoners.
So, let's just surrender for now to save our lives. We'll see if the brothers in the south of the city can turn the situation around.
Speaking of the south of the city... Bogota's urban area is already quite large. So when the Western Army in the north of the city fell into chaos, the Western Army in the south of the city could still gather together from the barracks near the city wall under the leadership of their respective officers and quickly began to build barricades.
"Hey! Hey, hey! Where is His Highness? What? His Highness was killed in action?"
"Where is Sir Martin? I need Sir Martin's orders! What? You can't find Sir Martin either?"
After hanging up the phone, a Spanish major, who was a little thirsty because of yelling at the top of his lungs, took a big sip of water, turned around and said dejectedly to his regiment commander: "Colonel, the north of the city is in chaos, and the city defense headquarters in the center of the city is also in chaos. The regiment headquarters in the north of the city and Mr. Martin are all out of contact."
"Damn it!" He looked at his watch. "It's 0:48 now. How long has it been since our telegram was sent?"
"Seven minutes ago, we bypassed the city defense headquarters and sent a telegram directly to the two Excellencies of Sibat that Bogota was attacked."
As the two were talking, the door to the command room opened with a bang: "Sirs, there's a call from the Sibat front."
The two Spanish officers quickly received the telegram. Through the thin telegram paper, they could clearly feel the shock on the other side: How many enemies are there? How is the battle situation? Protect His Highness Luis! Immediately organize all the forces you can organize to defend on the spot. Reinforcements will be sent immediately, and you must hold on until the reinforcements arrive!
We don't know how many enemies there are. The north of the city is in chaos now, and we don't know the exact situation. As for His Highness Louis...
"Ding~" The colonel took out a lighter and lit a cigarette. He took a deep breath and blew out a large smoke ring: "As I remember, the straight-line distance from Xibart to here is more than 20 kilometers, right?"
"Yes."
"With such a straight-line distance, if we really have to walk, especially at night... it will take four or five hours for the reinforcements to arrive at the fastest speed." The colonel flicked away the cigarette he had just taken a puff of and began to give orders: "Reply, our unit is quite far away from the battlefield in the north of the city, and we don't know the exact number of enemy troops. Judging from the density of guns and artillery, the enemy troops are no less than 10,000. In addition, according to the city defense headquarters, His Royal Highness Louis has been killed. The authenticity of this news needs further investigation and verification. Our unit will resolutely follow the order of His Excellency Raimondo and rely on the streets and alleys in the south of the city to resist the enemy until the reinforcements arrive."
After dictating the contents of the telegram, the communications staff saluted and left. The colonel's tone suddenly became high-pitched: "Brothers, return to your troops. Let us hold the south of the city and wait for reinforcements. Long live His Majesty Philip . Spain must... What's that noise outside?"
"Captain, it's bad. The nobles and wealthy businessmen in the city are running towards the barricades we just built. Their people actually dismantled our barricades in order to retreat south quickly! What's worse is that the Chinese are following them!"
"F*ck me! Give the orders to the people below. Anyone who dares to attack our barricades, friend or foe, will be shot dead!"
"No, Captain!" The young combat staff officer was about to pick up the phone, but was stopped by the older deputy captain: "If Prince Louis is really killed, even if we escape from here alive, we will definitely be judged when we return home. If we protect these nobles, perhaps someone will speak for us in the future. If we shoot them here? What awaits us must be the death penalty in the country and the burial of our families!"
"I..." The commander, who had been so steady just now, now sat down on the chair with his whole body slumped. After a moment of silence, especially after thinking of his wife and two sons who were less than ten years old in Europe, he waved his hand weakly: "Cancel the previous order, order our soldiers to open the barricades and escort these guys to the south!"
…
"Captain, the enemy in the south of the city has withdrawn on their own initiative!"
"Humph, I knew the Spanish wouldn't dare shoot at their nobles. What's the situation in the city now?"
"There are still a lot of sporadic battles, but we have the overall situation under control."
"Have you found the ammunition and food depots?"
"Found and contained, intact."
"Very good, this way we don't all have to die here."
"Yes, with this batch of ammunition, we can defend the city of Bogota."
"You?" Looking at his deputy, Cao Bianjiao missed his old partner Zuo Menggeng infinitely: that guy was just like him, both were bad. With just a glance, they could understand each other's thoughts. Unlike the current deputy, he was good at fighting, but his brain...
"Old Fang, what's the matter? Are you still planning to rely on Bogota City to block the enemy's reinforcements?"
"Yes, isn't that what you think, Captain?"
"Hey, Lao Fang. More than two hours ago, we were the attackers. A breakthrough would mean a breakthrough across the board. But if we were the defenders... this city of Bogota is too big. We can't defend it with our limited military strength."
"Captain, I understand what you said. But if we don't hold on here, the enemy's main force will be able to retreat calmly. By then, they will retreat to Mexico, and we will have to fight a tough battle."
"Hey, we don't have to defend this place to stop them from retreating."
After saying this, he looked at his watch: It was already 2:30 in the morning. The enemy reinforcements must have gone at least halfway. They really couldn't wait any longer. So he didn't explain to his deputy, but called a few staff officers: "Start giving orders now. First, the quartermaster will immediately take people to the ammunition depot to search for weapons, and then our entire army will change their equipment. Tell the brothers not to use any mortars, but to equip them with more barrels and magazines. Also, send out a battalion to carry food. Our load capacity is limited, so high-energy meat accounts for 80%, and rice and flour accounts for 20%. In short, we must ensure that our soldiers can consume enough calories in the next half month."
"yes!"
"Second, after completing the first order, throw our weapons that cannot be used due to the depletion of ammunition into the enemy's ammunition depot. Then notify the civilians left in the city that a large explosion is about to occur in the city and ask them to retreat south quickly."
"yes!"
"Send a company south to guard five kilometers ahead. If you spot the enemy, withdraw immediately!"
"yes!"
"After you have taken enough ammunition and food, fill the ammunition depot and the granary with inflammable and explosive materials. When our forward company withdraws, the blasting team will immediately detonate the ammunition depot and set fire to the granary! That's all, over!"
"Yes, sir!"
At 2:30 a.m. on the 4th, following the propaganda of the Ming army soldiers, nearly 70,000 civilians and laborers who had remained in the city once again imitated the nobles who had escaped earlier and flocked south.
At 3:20 in the morning, about 7 or 8 kilometers away from the southern wall of Bogota, the Ming army scout company spotted the Spanish reinforcements rushing over. This army was led by Raimondo himself and was running at a forced march. Although they were delayed for a while by the nobles rushing over on the road, they still arrived much earlier than Cao Bianjiao expected.
However, just 20 minutes later, when Raimondo's team was less than three kilometers away from Bogota, 60,000 to 70,000 civilians and laborers swarmed out of the city, completely blocking Raimondo's route of advance.
Faced with this situation, he put in a lot of effort, even shooting and killing people, and it took him until 4:40 to finish the last three kilometers.
But at this time, what greeted him was a huge explosion that shook the city, followed by countless small and medium-power explosions!
The ammunition depot in the north of Bogota contained enough ammunition for at least two large-scale battles for nearly 200,000 Spanish troops. Such a huge amount of ammunition was directly detonated, and in addition to a dazzling mushroom cloud rising in the dark sky, most of the buildings in the entire city of Bogota also collapsed due to the turbulent air waves. And they quickly caught fire due to the high temperature and sparks in the air waves!
