Following Wang Youcai's order, the soldiers of the Liberation Army in the mine began to count their numbers one by one.
At the end, the count stopped at forty-one.
You know, when they left the main force and led away the pursuers for the main force, there were a full fifty of them.
In just a short time, nine people died.
Nine people doesn't sound like a lot, but there are only fifty of them. In comparison, the sacrifices of nine people are already as many as two.
"Damn it, brace yourself and prepare to defend!"
"As long as Hong Mao dares to enter the mine, show them how powerful they are!"
"Everyone, hold on. We have enough food and water to last for three to five days. It won't be a problem. As long as we can hold on, the general will definitely come to save us!"
Wang Youcai cheered up the brothers below, but although his tone of voice was firm, he was also unsure in his heart.
Will the general really send troops to rescue them?
he does not know!
Even if the general sends troops to rescue them, can they persist until that time?
This is also an unknown!
But he knew that he and others could not surrender!
He is one of the five company commanders of the Liberation Army and the leader of the rebels in the eyes of the Spaniards.
Even if you surrender, you will never get any good results.
The same is true for the brothers around him. Since they started the uprising, they have killed many Spaniards one after another. They are considered to have surrendered.
How could the Spaniards not kill them?
Not everyone is that stupid!
If they want to survive, they can only pray that the general can come to save them quickly.
…
Outside the mine, Kayal and Yada stood together, looking at the dark mine.
Yada said.
"Kayal, do you want to send someone into the mine to pursue us?"
Kayal shook his head decisively.
"My dear Master Yada, believe me, sending people into the mines to pursue you is definitely not a good idea!"
"Entering a mine like this is like returning home to those rat-like Chinese."
"But for the brave Spanish boy, the situation in the mine was too complicated and dangerous."
"I don't want the young man to hide and seek with those gophers in the mine!"
Yada frowned and said.
"But what if they keep hiding in there and never come out?"
Kayal shrugged and said.
"The food and drinking water they carry are limited. Without food and drinking water, they cannot hide for long."
"We set up a trap outside the mine and wait until they are so hungry that they can't stand it any longer, so they can just come out and throw themselves into the trap!"
Yada nodded, but he still spoke.
"Should we line up a group of natives to go in and explore the way?"
Kayal did not refuse, but nodded and said.
"Okay, I'll make arrangements right now!"
Kayal didn't want the Spaniards to die in the mines, but he didn't mind sending a few natives into the mines to die.
To him, the lives of indigenous people are worthless!
No matter how many times he dies, he won’t feel bad!
Under Kayal's arrangement, a group of twenty dark-skinned, short and capable natives, naked to the waist, carrying machetes, headed towards the depths of the mine.
Not long after, a burst of neat musket firing came from the mine, followed by a burst of shrill screams.
Then, there was no movement in the mine!
In the silence, Kayal and others waited outside the mine for nearly half an hour. No natives came out. He shook his head and said.
"It seems that those natives were killed by the gophers in the mine!"
"I was right not to send the Spanish boys into the mines!"
"It's better to set a trap outside the mine and wait for them to fall into the trap!"
Yada looked ugly, but she snorted and nodded.
"It seems like this is the only way!"
…
In the mine!
Wang Youcai swung his knife and chopped off the head of the last native, and his round head rolled on the ground.
"Bury all these corpses. If you don't bury them, they will stink after a long time!"
"yes!"
The soldiers around Wang Youcai followed the order and did it.
They dug a hole on the spot, buried the body, and then began to prepare to rest.
Except for someone who was on guard, everyone else leaned against the stone wall and quickly fell asleep.
…
River valley!
Hu Dinggao led people to investigate and finally sent back the exact information.
"General, the Spaniards really have an ambush!"
"We have found the location of the Spanish ambush team. It is estimated that there are between eight and nine hundred and nearly a thousand people. Nearly 40% of them are real red-haired soldiers, and the rest are indigenous auxiliary soldiers."
"Except for the ambush troops, the Spaniards also have two to three hundred red-haired soldiers on display!"
Listening to Hu Dinggao's return, Zhu Hongyu frowned.
Things are in trouble!
Although he expected an ambush from the Spaniards, he did not expect there to be so many.
After the battle of the Liberation Army in the mine, Zhu Hongyu ordered to expand the army.
But it was only an expansion from six companies to seven companies.
Because after the battle in the mine, the Liberation Army only gained two to three hundred young Chinese men.
Apart from some of these two to three hundred men who were transferred to supplement the battle losses of the six original companies.
That means we can only expand a new company.
The remaining people were organized into a logistics team and a medical team by Zhu Hongyu!
Responsible for transporting the food and fodder needed by the army, as well as providing battlefield rescue.
In other words, Zhu Hongyu now only has seven companies of troops, and half of the company, led by Wang Youcai, is surrounded by the Spaniards in the mine.
Zhu Hongyu can now mobilize more than 700 soldiers!
Against five to six hundred Spanish troops and five to six hundred indigenous servants, even if he had known about the Spanish ambush in advance, his chances of winning were not high.
Therefore, he has to think carefully about how to fight this battle!
After thinking for a long time, Zhu Hongyu made a battle plan, and then ordered the mobilization of all soldiers to prepare to rescue Wang Youcai and others.
Since this period of time, the ordnance manufacturing in the weapons workshop has begun to bear fruit.
A total of twenty sets of single-sided breastplates were made, ten matchlock guns were changed to flintlocks, and hundreds of rounds of paper-cased fixed ammunition were made.
There are also small forty three-sided spearheads!
Even ten musket-type bayonets were made, and the equipment was given to the ten matchlock guns that were converted into flintlock muskets.
Prepare to verify whether it works on the battlefield!
Apart from these, what really allowed Zhu Hongyu to face the huge pressure from the Spanish was the intensive production of nearly a hundred thunderbolts in the weapons workshop.
It is about the size of a fist, has an iron shell, and is filled with large and small lead bullets and stones.
The gunpowder used is not ordinary granular gunpowder, but gunpowder with added sugar.
As the saying goes, use one nitrate, two sulfonates, and three charcoal, and add some sugar to make it great!
Adding sugar to gunpowder can greatly increase the power of gunpowder explosions.
Because of such a proverb, in some countries in the Middle East and Africa, sugar has become a war preparation material.
These nearly a hundred thunderbolts are the killer weapons Zhu Hongyu has prepared for this battle!
Zhu Hongyu was a special forces soldier and had studied bomb preparation and weapons manufacturing.
Give him a little time, and he can rub a C4 out with his bare hands.
Now if we improve the gunpowder, it won’t be a problem!
Adding sugar to gunpowder will greatly increase the explosive power of the Thunderbolt, which can cause maximum damage to the Spaniards.