Chapter 102 Breaking the back road for the Brazilian coalition
At dawn, in the small town of Palmaris do Sul, three small gunboats were moored in the empty military port. Seven or eight fishing boats were docked scatteredly at the seaside port. An early-rising fisherman was sitting on the fishing boat, carefully doing the pre-fishing preparations.
Prepare.
After working for a while, the fisherman yawned and habitually glanced at the sea in front of him, only to see a small boat sailing towards the coast on the misty sea.
The fishermen were a little confused. The warships in the port had been away for five or six days, and the fishing boats out to sea had not yet set off. How could there be ships returning now?
In order to judge whether he was deceived, he stood up, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and looked at the sea ahead with wide eyes.
The boat came with the wind and sailed straight to the coast. As the distance got closer, the figure of the boat gradually reflected in the eyes of the fishermen. The boat got bigger and bigger, and two Chinese soldiers holding weapons appeared on the towering sails in front of the fishermen.
In his line of sight, and behind the small boat, forty or fifty ships, large and small, were sailing on the sea, blocking the passage into the port.
"The pirates are coming"
The fishermen were so frightened that they shouted something subconsciously, then ignored their fishing boats and jumped into the sea and swam towards the shore.
The town of Palmaris do Sul is located about fifty kilometers east of Porto Alegre. It is a seaside outpost in the state of Rio Grande do Sul and serves as a warning to Porto Alegre.
There is a naval base in the port of Palmaris do Sul, stationed with a coastal patrol fleet consisting of seven gunboats and a guard force of 300 people.
However, Palmaris do Sul does not have so many troops now. Due to the tight fighting ahead, the coast patrol of Palmaris do Sul has been diverted from more than half of its ships to perform tasks.
Half of the soldiers in the garrison were also transferred to the front line.
So now Palmaris South is at its weakest military strength.
Brazil has experienced few wars since its independence, and more than ten years have passed since the uprising in Rio Grande do Sul. The defenses of the defenders of Palmaris do Sul, which had lacked war training for a long time, gradually weakened. Therefore, when they discovered that a group of unknown forces appeared on the sea,
, the other party is ready to log in.
In the center of the fleet, Luo Linshan stood on the bow to observe the enemy's defense configuration on the shore.
The port of Palmaris do Sul is located to the west of the town. Through binoculars, you can see three gunboats lined up on the sea. There is a small defensive fort on each side of the port. The Brazilian defenders who discovered the enemy attack were hurriedly unloading the artillery shells.
, prepare to block the attack of the Chinese fleet.
In the fortress east of the port, a group of more than fifty soldiers were coming towards the port for reinforcements.
The port fort was the only weapon that could pose a threat to the fleet. Preventing the fleet from landing required a lot of effort from the fort, so the defenders had to mobilize a small number of troops to guard the fort.
"Two forts, three gunboats, one fortress, and the number of defenders does not exceed three hundred."
Luo Linshan summarized the strength of the garrison of South Palmaris based on the observed situation.
The enemy's garrison strength was obviously insufficient. As long as the Chinese fleet successfully landed, it could mop up the enemy. However, Luo Linshan was not a professional naval general after all. Before making the final decision, he asked Hans, the Prussian advisor next to him.
After the Chinese fleet arrived off the coast of Brazil, the Prussian fleet completed the escort mission and separated from Luo Linshan and others. However, before leaving, the Prussians, in accordance with the prior agreement with Li Mingyuan, left ten Prussian naval officers as advisors to the Chinese fleet to assist.
The subsequent war command of the Chinese fleet.
Captain Hans is the highest-ranking member of the ten-member advisory group, and he also stays with Luo Linshan as the head of the advisory group to solve naval battle-related issues for Luo Linshan.
The question Luo Linshan asked was simple: could the fleet take out the defenders' forts with minimal sacrifice?
In Luo Linshan's eyes, the two forts were huge in size and their dark muzzles would pose a considerable threat to the attacking fleet. If five or six ships were lost due to the attacking forts, it would be too much of a loss, so he hoped to start from Hans
Here is the breakthrough point to capture the fort.
"General, you have overestimated the power of the forts." Hans smiled and said, "Look, although the two forts are huge, the cannons are obviously very old. I guess that these two forts are probably from the former Portuguese colonists.
The equipment left behind, supported by two old-fashioned cannons, can also scare some pirates who have never seen the world, but when the two sides go to war, the role of the fort is limited."
After Hans' explanation, Luo Linshan picked up the telescope and took a look again. Sure enough, he found something strange. The barrels of the two artillery pieces were rusty and the muzzles also had irregular gaps.
"The Brazilians are really interesting. They used two old antique artillery pieces to scare us. Brothers, get ready and let them have a taste of the power of our artillery."
Seeing clearly the reality of the two artillery pieces, Luo Linshan felt relieved and immediately issued an attack order.
After the order was issued, the fleet accelerated forward, and a dozen small boats were separated from the right to land on the beach, blocking the connection between the defenders in the fortress and the port forts. The remaining ships, assisted by Prussian advisors, lined up in a row to bombard the port forts.
"Boom, boom, boom" more than 30 warships fired their cannons one after another, and the waves caused the command ship Luo Linshan was riding to shake.
Luo Linshan held on to the bow mast and observed the battle ahead.
During the first test firing, most of the shells fired fell into the sea water. The shells that landed on the shore did not cause damage to the fort. However, the fierce artillery fire still affected the morale of the fort defenders. Twenty Brazilian soldiers were carrying the shells.
Under the attack of artillery shells, he lay on the ground and did not dare to move, for fear of being hit by the blind artillery shells.
The first bombardment was to correct the position of the port forts. The blow to the enemy's morale was only a blow, and there were not many real casualties. But it was different later. After roughly determining the position of the defenders' forts, one shell after another seemed to be life-threatening.
coming like a roar,
"Boom" a shell hit the fort, and a gap was blown out of the turret under the gun body. The splashed earth and rocks were scattered in all directions. A dozen Brazilian soldiers standing on the fort were the first to bear the brunt. They were injured by the gravel and lay on the ground.
Shouts of pain.
A shell hit the fort, instantly eliminating one-third of the combat effectiveness of the fort on the left side of the port, and the surviving fort soldiers became even more frightened.
After a round of test firing, the fort defenders began to fire back. However, even though the two solitary cannons were powerful, they did not pose a threat to the Chinese ships. After several rounds of firing, most of the shells fell into the returning water. Only one shell was lucky.
, hitting the mast of a warship at the rear of the fleet, causing the ship to temporarily withdraw from the battlefield.
The defenders had bad luck. They had just forced a Chinese fleet to withdraw from the battlefield, but they were hit by three artillery shells in succession. Two of the three shells hit the turret and did little damage to the artillery. The other shell directly
Hitting the cannon body, the huge impact knocked the cannon body tilted, and the shells in the cannon body were also detonated. There was a loud bang, the shells exploded in the gun body, the entire fort was completely destroyed, and the soldiers on the fort were
Almost all of them were knocked to the ground by the impact of the self-explosion of the artillery. Within ten minutes of the battle, one fort was killed, and the subsequent situation was even more unfavorable to the Brazilian defenders.
Here, the Chinese fleet's artillery suppressed the opponent's fort without temper. On the other side, more than 500 soldiers avoided the front of the fortress and landed on the coast more than 400 meters away from the fortress.
Artillery fire was flying across the sea, and both the forts and the fortresses were under the focus of the Chinese fleet. More and more soldiers were landing on the coast, and the fortresses and ports were gradually surrounded by Chinese soldiers.
An hour later, the last fort was also destroyed by artillery shells. Then the surviving soldiers waved the white flag, led by their respective commanders, walked out of the fort and fort, and surrendered to the Chinese troops.
The battle is over, but Luo Linshan still has a lot to do.
Statistics, arranging for captured Brazilian soldiers, unloading weapons and supplies on ships, receiving battle seizures, and planning the next battle plan,
Each specific and meticulous task took up a lot of Luo Linshan's time. He was busy until two or three o'clock in the afternoon before sorting out all the things to be done.
After working hard for a long time, Luo Linshan finally had some time to rest. Just when he was about to lie down to sleep,
Hans came to his room.
"Captain Hans, do you have anything else to do with me?"
Things had been arranged for the morning, and Luo Linshan didn't understand why Hans came to him now.
"I'm sorry to disturb the general's rest, but I have important information to inform the general."
"Captain Hans please speak"
"Among the captured Brazilian soldiers, there was an officer of German descent. He revealed to me the reason for the lack of troops in Palmaris South."
Hans told Luo Linshan in detail the information he got from the prisoners of German descent.
"You are saying that the main forces of Porto Alegre have been transferred to Paraguay, and we can use this opportunity to capture the entire Rio Grande do Sul state in one fell swoop."
Luo Linshan revealed everything at first glance.
"Yes, Rio Grande do Sul's troops are mainly concentrated in Porto Alegre. Now Brazil has transferred most of its troops to reinforce the Paraguay front line, resulting in a serious shortage of troops in the rear of Rio Grande do Sul. We can definitely use this opportunity to sweep away Alegre.
Porto Grigori, bringing the entire state of Rio Grande do Sul under its jurisdiction."
The news brought by Hans was very tempting. Before the fleet set off, the plan reached by Li Mingyuan and Luo Linshan was for the Chinese fleet to occupy part of the land in Rio Grande do Sul, and then wait until the main force defeated the Brazilian army, and cooperate with the main force to capture it.
The entire state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The original plan was steady and feasible, but now that the opportunity to capture the entire Rio Grande do Sul state was presented to Luo Linshan in one fell swoop, he couldn't make up his mind for the moment.
After thinking again and again and verifying the feasibility of the news brought by Hans, Luo Linshan made up his mind: "Just follow Captain Hans's suggestion, strive to completely annihilate the defenders of Porto Alegre, and then threaten the Brazilian army's retreat and flank.
Assist the main force to win the war."
Luo Linshan made the decision to fully capture Rio Grande do Sul, and therefore faced the risk of being attacked by the main force of Brazil. Once Brazil realized that its retreat was cut off, it would definitely send a large number of troops to attack Luo Linshan's headquarters. At that time, Luo Linshan
The troops led by Lin Shan will face a real test.
"General, you don't have to be so pessimistic. As long as the Rio Grande do Sul defenders are completely annihilated, it will take half a month for the Brazilian coalition forces to notice the abnormality at the earliest. I think after half a month, the main force of your army will also fight against the Brazilian coalition forces.
The main force of the side is fighting. Even if the Brazilian coalition forces can send troops to open up the retreat, the number will not be too large, so General Luo does not need to worry too much."
Hans saw Luo Linshan's concerns and explained.
"Consider defeat before you win. Once the war begins, prepare for the worst."
Luo Linshan started from the overall situation and had to consider various possibilities after the war, so there were many aspects to consider. However, what Hans said made sense. As long as the battle went smoothly and the Rio Grande do Sul army was completely annihilated, in the next big battle
In the decisive battle, the Chinese troops will gain a more advantageous position.
Palmaris South is not far from Porto Alegre, and the fighting situation in Palmaris South will soon reach the ears of the defenders of Porto Alegre. Therefore, Luo Linshan gave up his rest and summoned his main generals to announce the battle deployment.
Before departure, the fleet had a total of 20,000 people and 10,000 combatants. Excluding the 2,000 lost during the sea voyage, the total number of Chinese was less than 18,000, of which nearly 10,000 were able to participate in the battle.
Ten thousand people have an absolute advantage against the Brazilian army left behind. However, the Chinese troops not only have to annihilate the Brazilian army left behind, but also occupy the 281,000 square kilometers of Rio Grande do Sul. The land equivalent to the area of two mainland provinces only allows 10,000 people.
Therefore, Luo Linshan decided to send only a small number of troops to occupy other places, and the main force was assembled in Porto Alegre. He would first kill the main force of the Brazilian army left behind, and then cooperate with the main force of the Chinese troops to fight.
Time was tight, so Luo Linshan did not arrange the attack plan in detail. The entire attack plan was simply divided into two groups of troops. The sailors and part of the infantry took the captured gunboats and the two steam merchant ships in the fleet and rushed to Porto Alegre from the waterway.
Blocking the sea retreat of the defenders, Luo Linshan personally led the other team and headed straight to Porto Alegre via land.
The new battle order was conveyed to every troop that landed, and the soldiers who had not had time to repair on the coast set off again, with packhorses, ships, and mighty troops leaving South Palmaris to continue their unfinished journey.