It was raining continuously at night, and it was pitch black outside the city of Iarreta.
In the jungle to the east outside the city, there are thousands of armed young men hidden densely.
One day ago, after Ma Jizu successfully persuaded Davis to attack the city of Iarreta, Davis' nearly 1,000 armed men quickly marched fifty or sixty kilometers and arrived near the east fortress before evening.
After more than half a year of increasing troops to combat the rebel armed forces in the north, the situation in northern Argentina has gradually improved. As a military center in the north, the city of Iarreta, the largest rebel force that originally threatened the city's security, was devastated by Argentine troops, leaving only a few remnants.
The armed forces fled into the mountains and forests, unable to pose a substantial threat to the city.
As the security situation improved, the city of Iarreta was classified as a rear military base by the Argentine forces. Not only did a large number of remaining troops be deployed to other areas, but the local patrol alert level was also rapidly reduced.
When Ma Jizu crossed the blockade of Iareta City for the first time, he observed that there were about thirty soldiers patrolling during the day, but in the evening, perhaps due to the weather, there were only five or six soldiers standing at the crenellations at the head of the eastern fortress.
On duty.
There were only two soldiers standing at the guard post set up at the city gate.
Ma Jizu and several of his soldiers used the cover of night to approach the fortress and observed the actual defense situation of the defenders before retreating to Davis' position.
"General Davis, the defense of the Argentine fortress is relaxed. They should not have noticed anything unusual. How long will it take for your men to recover before they can launch an attack?"
After the armed force under Davis grew to a thousand people, he followed Sun Qisheng's suggestion and changed the name of the army to the Indian Gaucho United Resistance Army. He became the commander-in-chief of the resistance army. Therefore, Ma Jizu used the title of general to call him.
"It's raining outside the city and it won't stop anytime soon. My men can't keep soaking in the rain.
An hour later, the troops will attack."
The eastern fortress is backed by a tributary of the Paraná River, with a well-maintained ditch and wooden piles on the front. In addition, there is a warning post on the left side of the city gate. The only way to break through the fortress is to attack by force. Moving the attack time until late at night will help the siege.
Not big.
Ma Jizu nodded in agreement with Davis's plan and said, "General and your men will recharge their batteries first and leave the Argentinian guard posts and trench stakes outside the fortress to me. In an hour, the passage to the fortress gate will be guaranteed."
All obstacles above disappear.”
According to the prior agreement, Ma Jizu was responsible for pulling out the nails set up by the Argentines outside the fortress. However, considering that the opponent only had more than 30 people under his command, in order for the plan to succeed, Davis reminded him to "clear out the nails set up by the Argentines outside the fort in one hour."
There are obstacles and time is tight, so why not dispatch fifty people from my army to help you."
"I understand Davis's good intentions, but clearing the external obstacles of the fortress requires sufficient concealment. Too many people will increase the possibility of exposure."
Ma Jizu shook his head and rejected Davis's suggestion, and then continued, "The Argentines have four artillery at the head of the fortress. When the general's men storm the fortress, they must avoid breaking through directly from the main entrance, otherwise the attacking troops will directly suffer from the Argentine defenders."
artillery fire, resulting in heavy casualties."
"The eastern fortress is surrounded by flat ground on three sides. No matter which direction the attacking troops break through, they will be hit by artillery fire from the defenders. Attacking from the side will have little effect."
Davis had experience attacking Argentinian towns a few months ago, and knew that in order to attack a town with artillery and garrison defense, in addition to relying on superior firepower to suppress the opponent, he could only take advantage of military strength and use human lives to create a breakthrough.
path of.
"Our side lacks siege artillery, and storming the fortress is the only plan to break the city." Ma Jizu did not deny his side's disadvantage, but carefully analyzed, "According to the traditional siege method, we need to break through the eastern fortress within an hour and a half.
, otherwise the troops responsible for the blocking mission may not be able to withstand the opponent's reinforcements, causing our side to be attacked from both sides and fail.
Storming a city cannot avoid a large number of casualties, but we should try to minimize the casualties during the siege and at the same time use the casualties of the troops in valuable ways."
Ma Jizu independently planned a battle plan for the first time. After finishing a paragraph, he paused for a moment, sorted out his thoughts and continued, "The main factor in siege warfare is the time difference, to complete the goal of breaking the city before local reinforcements arrive, and we want to capture
In addition to the main entrance and the gates on both sides of the eastern fortress, there is another location that is more suitable as an attack target."
"The eastern fortress is well-defended. Is there a more suitable target to attack than the city gate?" Davis said unconvinced.
"The general stopped near the Iare Tower and should have paid attention to the wall structure of the fortress."
"The front of the eastern fortress and the west wall are about seven meters high. The east wall is built based on the old city of the fortress and is slightly shorter."
Davis said based on his memories, and then realized that the breakthrough point Ma Jizu mentioned might be the east city wall. He subconsciously shook his head and said, "Although the east city wall was built a long time ago and the wall structure is relatively old, relying on our existing
Weapons, it is still impossible to destroy the city wall."
"It's not that there are no ways to destroy the city wall, it's just that General Davis didn't see it in South America."
Ma Jizu said with a chuckle, and then ordered the soldiers to carry him as the weapon to break the city.
The four soldiers obeyed the order and used a wooden frame to carry a big guy tightly wrapped in a rain sheet, and then slowly placed it on a wooden board separated by tree trunks.
"General Davis, this is the weapon used to destroy the city wall." Ma Jizu pointed to the big guy on the wooden board, and then explained, "The National Defense Force was born out of the Heavenly Kingdom Army. In the early days of the rise of the Heavenly Kingdom, the Taiping Army brothers used crudely packaged iron bombs.
The city was broken. Later, the Manchu and Qing troops strengthened the important city defense system. The Heavenly Kingdom troops could not get close to the bottom of the city wall to plant iron bombs, so this method of siege gradually became ineffective. However, for the small fortress we want to break, as long as your men can contain it
The firepower of the defenders will cover some soldiers to transport the iron bombs to the east wall, and the purpose of destroying the city can be achieved."
Large bombs made of iron-wrapped explosives are very effective against small fortresses. However, due to the crude production process and the heavy weight of the bomb, in actual combat, it is currently very difficult to transport the bomb to the heavily defended local city wall. This is why Li Mingyuan is buying
After a batch of new field artillery, there was no reason why weapons such as iron bombs and iron barrel guns were not included in the army equipment, and the conditions restricting the use of iron bombs did not exist when they captured the eastern fortress of Iareta City. Therefore, Ma Jizu thought
Afterwards, the crude weapons that had been eliminated by the National Defense Force were picked up again, and two large iron bombs were urgently made using the collected gunpowder.
Through Ma Jizu's introduction, Davis became curious and attached great importance to the actual power of the iron bomb. After some communication, the two confirmed the main direction and general details of the operation...
An hour later, Ma Jizu led his soldiers to successfully deal with the warning soldiers outside the fortress and cleared the wooden piles set up near the trench. Then Davis' large forces launched a sudden attack on the fortress from three directions as planned.
Thousands of armed young men rushed towards the various gates of the fortress without any plan. However, after entering within 200 meters of the gate, the number of losses under Davis's men increased rapidly.
Ten minutes later, after the initial panic, the fortress defenders quickly resumed their combat posture. They used the torches lit on the city wall and the brightness of the artillery shells outside the city gate to determine the location of the siege troops, and then directed the artillery to carry out the attack.
The roar of cannons continued, and rows of siege armed men fell under the shells and bullets. Davis's men were still more than 20 meters away from the nearest of the three city gates.
The combat range of more than 20 meters outside the city gate was very narrow. The ammunition fired by the one or two hundred rifles at the top of the city became a harvesting ground for the attacking soldiers. The Gauchos broke through one by one. The Indians had just stepped into the rifle blockade range.
He was shot several times and fell down.
The killings directed at the siege side continued. In the other direction, Ma Jizu forced himself to calmly observe the situation on the scene, and then decisively issued action instructions.
The dark night was illuminated by artillery fire. Ma Jizu and his small team of more than thirty people were inconspicuous among the thousands of people.
Mixed in with the attacking troops, Ma Jizu approached the east gate, and then quickly broke away from the siege team about 50 meters away from the east city wall. Thirty people were divided into two teams, each carrying an iron bomb to rush towards the enemy.
Go to the foot of the east wall.
The night sky flickered in and out under the flames of war. After leaving the city gate where the fiercest battle was taking place, two teams of soldiers quickly took off their shovels and raced against time to dig tunnels after selecting two bomb burial locations.
Time passed by slowly, and nearly an hour later, several Gauchos came from behind to urge them.
Ma Jizu dug out a shovel with force and measured the depth of the tunnel with his right hand covered in muddy water. "It's one meter and a half deep. Stop digging and bury iron bombs immediately."
Ma Jizu directed his men to quickly place the iron bomb, then carefully pulled out a fuse and covered it with a rainproof cloth.
After finishing planting the iron bomb, Ma Jizu replied to the Gauchos, "Inform General Davis that we are ready here. Once the bomb explodes, my people will rush into the city along the gap in the city wall as soon as possible. I hope his troops will
Follow up immediately."
After a brief translation, several Gauchos immediately went back to report, and a few minutes later, another team of iron bombs also completed planting.
When everything was ready, Ma Jizu ordered his men to evacuate fifty meters away from the bomb planting range, and then selected two agile soldiers to carry out the detonation task.
The two selected soldiers were both veterans of Ma Jizu's army. They accepted the mission. After the others evacuated, they took out the prepared fire breakers and carefully aimed the sparks at the fuze tip.
The "Zi Zi" fuse ignited when it encountered fire. After the soldier holding the fire fuse was convinced that the ignition was successful, he immediately turned around and ran back.
Silence, a special kind of silence in the flames of war. Half a minute later, a shocking roar suddenly sounded. Along with the roar, a wall of the east fortress collapsed, and a six or seven-meter-wide gap appeared in the center of the wall.
.
Before the soldiers guarding the city had time to digest the sudden drastic change, another roar sounded, and the city wall less than a hundred meters away from the gap collapsed again, forming another huge gap.
Smoke and dust filled the battlefield, and two loud noises covered all the sounds of the battlefield. After the loud noise ended, two groups of soldiers first emerged from a position about fifty or sixty meters away from the gap, followed by more Gauchos and Indians.
The enemy surged into the breach, and the eastern fortress of Iaretta fell.
