The political situation in Peru is chaotic, and the head of state is frequently held by coup warlords. The current interim president of Peru, Pedro Diez Canseco, has relied on coups to ascend to the presidency three times. Thomas, who has not dealt with Pedro, is contacting the opposition to overthrow him.
rule.
At the critical moment before the coup, Thomas would not sit back and watch the loss of his generals, so after receiving a telegram from the Arequipa defenders asking for help, he immediately ordered the army to rescue.
Puno garrison chief Humato and Iquidok both belonged to Thomas Gutierrez's camp. After receiving Iquidok's request for help and Thomas's order, they made the decision to send troops immediately, while Moyando and Cu
Scoo sent troops later.
"Mr. Luo, this is the prince's order, please take a look."
The telegraph invented in the 1830s has been widely used in the West. Even Paraguay, a landlocked country in South America, developed preliminary industries and installed telegraph lines under the management of Lopez and his sons. And Li Mingyuan's Chinese army
It is still in a state of mobile operations and can only use backward manpower to transmit intelligence.
"Mr. Li, the prince has thought more carefully than us. It is much easier to surround a point for reinforcements and set up an ambush halfway than to storm a fortified city." Luo Linshan said after reading the letter.
"The Crown Prince asked me to stay and contain and confuse the Arequipa defenders, and the important task of destroying the Peruvian reinforcements rests with Commander Luo." Li Sandou said in a somewhat sour tone.
"Commander Li's mission is the top priority. If the Arequipa defenders discover our true purpose, they will not be fooled."
"Well, I need to think carefully about how to deceive the defenders in the city." Li Sandou nodded.
"Commander Li, we have rescued almost 10,000 Chinese workers in this raid. We can arm them first and set up more tent camps outside the city to confuse the Arequipa defenders."
"This alone is not enough, Commander Luo, I want your troops to cooperate with me in a feint attack before leaving." Li Sandou thought for a while and said.
"No problem. After the feign attack, I will leave directly with the army."
Li Sandou and Luo Linshan discussed countermeasures and began to pretend to attack Arequipa the next morning.
Iggydok slept under the city gate for half the night. In the morning, he was woken up by soldiers who told him that the rebels were preparing to attack the city. Iggydok didn't wash his face after hearing this and walked directly onto the city wall.
Li Sandou placed 20,000 Chinese troops in the front, and 10,000 newly rescued Chinese workers lined up behind to build momentum.
Once the number of people exceeds 10,000, there are no borders. Thirty thousand people are scattered around the city gate. Even if the city has not been attacked yet, the momentum is very scary.
"Commander, the rebels below the city are not like the vanguard. They should be the main force of the Chinese rebels."
Anderson, who was in charge of city gate defense, pointed at the densely packed troops.
Ikidok looked in the direction Anderson pointed, and saw smoke billowing from the rear of the Chinese army, and countless soldiers holding flags were pouring in.
"The rebel reinforcements are coming, and the more than 30,000 people in front are not their entire strength." Ikidok said after observing.
While Igidok was observing the Chinese troops under the city, Chinese soldiers from two divisions also lined up.
"Commander Li, the troops are ready and can give orders," Luo Linshan said.
Li Sandou nodded, and the officers around him understood and quickly returned to their respective units to launch an attack.
There was a roar of artillery, and 10,000 rescued Chinese laborers pressed the formation behind. 20,000 Chinese soldiers spread out and braved the artillery fire. The mopping up troops did not bring many artillery. When the soldiers marched to 500 meters away from the city wall, the artillery under the city
Only a dozen or so cannons were still firing, and the other cannons either misfired due to excessive use or were destroyed by the cannons on the city wall.
The artillery on the walls of Arequipa is a heavy artillery for city defense. A single shell can kill or injure five or six soldiers. The current artillery uses solid bullets. If it is a shell, the damage to the Chinese troops will be greater.
"Commander Li, our troops have suffered hundreds of casualties. We can order a retreat." Before the Chinese soldiers on the battlefield got within 500 meters of the city wall, they lost two to three hundred people due to heavy artillery attacks.
"Retreat." Li Sandou ordered.
Since fighting in South America, this is the first time Li Sandou and Luo Linshan's soldiers have encountered such fierce artillery fire. Seeing the miserable sight of the soldiers being hit by artillery fire, some of the new soldiers couldn't help but feel weak in their legs.
When the order to retreat was given, the siege soldiers left like a tide.
"Commander Li, the total number of casualties in this feigned attack is one hundred and seventy-four, of which only thirty-two can be saved." After the troops retreated, Luo Linshan did not lead his troops to leave immediately.
"In a war, casualties are inevitable. If you want the Arequipa defenders to avoid suspicion, you can only make sacrifices." Li Sandou couldn't bear to see the wounded soldiers, but if he wanted to fulfill Li Mingyuan's order, he could only make sacrifices.
Can do this.
"Commander Li, if you want to hold back the Arequipa defenders, similar attacks will have to be carried out for two days. If the casualties are so many each time, almost a thousand people will be lost in two days. The prince knows that you have lost so many soldiers.
You will also be dissatisfied."
Before leaving, Luo Linshan advised.
After hearing this, Li Sandou frowned and remained silent for a few minutes, not thinking of a good solution.
"Commander Li, there is no way to reduce the casualties of soldiers."
"Mr. Luo, do you have any good ideas?"
"Didn't we capture two thousand young Peruvians during this raid? We can drive them to attack the city at night, which can reduce the casualties of the Chinese army and not make the Arequipa defenders suspicious."
When the Taiping Army was in the mainland, they had the tradition of driving captured Qing troops to attack the city. After hearing what Luo Linshan said, Li Sandou decided to adopt his suggestion without much consideration.
In the city of Arequipa, after repelling the first attack of the Chinese army, Iquidoc became more confident that he could defend the city.
At night, under the city wall, Iggydock and Anderson stayed in the Tibetan Soldier Cave.
"Commander, we killed hundreds of enemy troops with a single shelling this morning. It seems they are not very powerful," Anderson said after drinking a glass of wine.
"A lot of the rebel artillery was destroyed by us today. If they want to occupy Arequipa, they can only attack by force." Iquidoc didn't care about the hundreds of Chinese rebels who died. His focus was on the artillery of the Chinese army, which could attack Arequipa.
The main danger to the city of Arequipa is artillery. In the morning artillery bombardment, most of the Chinese army's artillery was killed. Although the Chinese artillery was not a heavy siege artillery, after destroying these artillery, the Chinese army could only reach
The artillery was carried back and forth from the rear. By the time the Chinese army arrived, the reinforcements of the Peruvian army had almost arrived.
"Sir, the rebels outside have begun to attack the city again." The two were drinking when a sentry came to report.
"The rebels were thwarted in their siege during the day, and they will definitely use a large army to attack the city at night. Anderson, immediately summon soldiers to defend the city."
"yes."
The two stopped drinking and hurried to the city wall with the guards around them to direct the battle. At night, because the people below the city could not be seen clearly, the power of the artillery was not as powerful as during the day. Groups of soldiers rushed to the city wall with cannons on their heads and muskets.
Attack the city.
Unlike the heavy thunder and light rain during the day, the attack at night was much more violent. When the Chinese army retreated the next morning, more than a thousand corpses wearing rebel costumes were left under the city wall.
For the next two nights, the Chinese troops outside the city would attack, but apart from leaving more than two thousand corpses, they did not shake the defense of Arequipa's defenders.
After staying on the city wall for two days, Iquidoc was quite tired. In addition, the rebels outside the city posed little threat to the city of Arequipa, and reinforcements were coming soon, so Iquidoc's nerves that had been tense for two days were relaxed.