In the cold wild mountains, a long army walked into the road between two mountains.
Datini's 30,000 men are Pedro's direct troops. The equipment of the troops is better than that of ordinary places. However, compared with the rearmed field troops of the Chinese Independence Army, it is slightly insufficient.
As President of Peru, Pedro has to maintain a huge army. Huge military expenditures prevent him from purchasing military equipment on a large scale. Therefore, among the 30,000 Peruvian troops, there are 2,000 cavalry troops and a small artillery force.
During this nighttime sneak attack on the Chinese Independence Army, Dartini brought out 20,000 soldiers, while the remaining 10,000 stayed to guard the city of Arequipa to consolidate the newly recovered lost territory.
Datini led two thousand cavalry to march in the center of the army. At this time, smoking homemade grenades were thrown into the Peruvian army.
Hand grenades have a long history and were first invented by the Chinese.
Hand grenades filled with black powder appeared in Europe in the 15th century, and were mainly used for fortress defense and prisons at that time.
In the mid-17th century, some European countries equipped their elite troops with field grenades, and called soldiers who were specially trained to use such ammunition grenadiers.
By the 19th century, with the development of guns and the reduction of castle offensive and defensive battles, grenades were once given a cold reception.
In the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, grenades played a role on the battlefield again. In World War I, due to the rise of trenches, grenades were widely used.
The grenades used in the ambush of the Peruvian army were urgently processed and produced by Li Mingyuan at the Arequipa Military Factory.
Li Mingyuan's original plan was to customize grenades from Western countries, but after discussing with Liu Pu and others, Li Mingyuan decisively gave up this idea.
Because grenades are simple to make and only require three parts: gunpowder, iron shell and fuse, any small arms workshop can complete the production of hand grenades.
During the Taiping Rebellion, the Taiping Army used the same principle to fill iron coffins with gunpowder and bury it under the city wall to blow up the city wall.
After listening to Liu Pu's explanation, Li Mingyuan also recalled that during the Chinese New Year in the countryside, many children took apart the firecrackers they picked up, poured the gunpowder into a small iron box, and then added the firecracker fuse to ignite it. The sound was loud and not very powerful.
Small.
The grenade used this time is made of black powder, and its power is slightly lower than that of grenades made of high-performance explosives.
After this kind of grenade explodes, it usually breaks into seven or eight pieces. It is difficult to kill the enemy directly, but it can cause considerable damage to the enemy and temporarily lose the enemy's combat capability.
The smoking grenades attracted the attention of the Peruvian soldiers. As soon as a few curious Peruvian soldiers picked up the grenades thrown at their feet, they heard a deafening explosion and then fell to the ground rolling back and forth.
As the first grenade exploded, explosions continued to ring out from the Peruvian army, which was dozens of miles long.
The roaring sound frightened the two thousand cavalry of the Peruvian army. Dartini's horse was frightened and suddenly jumped up, knocking Dartini off the horse.
Fortunately, the guards around him had quick eyesight and quick hands, and pulled Datini out. Otherwise, Datini might have become the first Peruvian general to die from a horse kick.
The grenades were thrown by Chinese troops who were ambushing halfway up the mountain. Three thousand soldiers each threw five grenades. Fifteen thousand grenades were thrown within two minutes, which immediately disrupted the Peruvian army's formation.
The reconnaissance battalion and special forces brigade were deployed in the center of the ambush position. After the grenades were thrown, six hundred soldiers from the special brigade and reconnaissance battalion emerged from their hiding places and quickly rushed to the mountain road.
While the Peruvian soldiers were still dazed, they rushed to them and killed the enemies in front of them with the rifles and swords they carried.
The mountain road that the Chinese Independence Army chose to ambush was about 400 meters wide. The Peruvian troops were arranged in a line of thirty people, marching within 100 meters of the center of the mountain road.
Within a hundred meters on both sides of the mountain road, the road was rugged and full of gravel, which not only caused difficulties for the Peruvian army to move, but also hindered the speed of the Chinese Independence Army's attack.
The soldiers of the special forces were good at camouflage and concealment. They used the cover of boulders and earth pits to avoid the search of the Peruvian security soldiers. Therefore, when they cut the Peruvian army in two, the Chinese soldiers who were ambushing halfway up the mountain had not yet rushed down the hillside.
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After the initial attack by the Chinese Independence Army, the Peruvian army quickly reacted. At the interface that was cut in half by the special forces, the Peruvian troops in the two places each assembled five to six hundred soldiers to attack the special forces.
The mountain road occupied by the special brigade and the reconnaissance battalion is about 300 meters long. The soldiers of the special brigade are responsible for the Peruvian soldiers on the east side of the mountain road, while the reconnaissance battalion is responsible for the Peruvian troops on the west side of the mountain road.
"Bang, bang, bang," a hundred rifles fired at the same time. The Peruvian army attacking the reconnaissance camp immediately fell down sixty or seventy soldiers. The Peruvian army's offensive formation was relatively concentrated, and the first round of shooting knocked down less than half of the soldiers in front.
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However, these Peruvian soldiers seemed to suddenly become brave and continued to rush forward, stepping on the bodies of the dead Peruvian soldiers in front.
"The first row of musketeers squatted, the second row of musketeers fired."
The Chinese officer directing the battle calmly issued the order. After firing, the musketeer quickly squatted down, put down the musket in his hand, and took out the grenade carried in his waist.
Special forces soldiers charge forward and are inconvenient to carry heavy weapons.
In order to avoid casualties, Li Mingyuan equipped each special forces soldier with ten grenades. As long as the special forces soldiers delayed the Peruvian army for three minutes, the Chinese troops on the mountainside could rush to the battlefield and complete the combat goal of encircling the Peruvian army.
The Chinese Independence Army ambushed 20,000 troops. Although the number of Peruvian troops was smaller than Li Mingyuan estimated, the Chinese Independence Army would have to pay some price to eat them all.
Therefore, in Li Mingyuan's plan, he used the attack of special forces to divide the Peruvian army into two parts, concentrate the superior forces to eat the Peruvian army in front, and let go of the Peruvian army in the back.
After three rounds of musket shooting, the Peruvian army attacked within fifty or sixty meters of the soldiers of the reconnaissance camp. At this time, the soldiers of the reconnaissance camp also suffered more than a dozen casualties.
"Put it down," the commander of the reconnaissance battalion threw the grenade with an order, and then the sound of "whoosh" came to the ears of the attacking Peruvian soldiers.
The "rumbling" sound continued on the mountain road more than 100 meters away. When the sound passed, none of the Peruvian soldiers attacking in front of the reconnaissance battalion could stand up again. They all lay on the ground and screamed in pain.
The blocking of the special forces and reconnaissance battalion soldiers bought time for the Chinese soldiers on the mountainside.
By the time the Peruvian army opposite the reconnaissance camp organized another attack, the Chinese soldiers on the mountains on both sides had already rushed to the mountain road.
The loud shouts of killing reached the ears of the Peruvian army as the Chinese soldiers fought their way down the mountainside. Looking around, there were countless Chinese soldiers on both sides of the mountain road.
It was dark at midnight, and the Peruvian soldiers who were charging on the mountain road thought that the mountains and fields were filled with Chinese troops. The courage they had just been forced to attack by their commanders with guns disappeared in an instant, and they all turned around and retreated.
"The general is still surrounded by rebels and is not allowed to retreat." The person who directed the attack on the reconnaissance camp was a close subordinate of Datini. Seeing the rebels growing in number, he hurriedly waved the short gun in his hand and shouted.
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The mountain road was filled with gunshots and explosions. The Peruvian soldiers retreating in front could not hear the commander's shouts and continued to retreat.
"Bang bang bang" a row of muskets fired at the Peruvian soldiers who were retreating hastily, and a mass of soldiers fell immediately.
"Hold it, if you don't rescue the general, you are all doomed." After a burst of gunfire, the Peruvian officer waving a short gun was shouting crazily. Suddenly, a shot was aimed at him. The Peruvian officer immediately fell silent and stood straight.
fell down.
The person who fired this shot was a platoon leader of the reconnaissance battalion. His identity was exposed by the shouting of the Peruvian officers, which led to the early end of his life.
"Well done, I'll take credit for you after the battle." The reconnaissance battalion commander happily patted his shoulder and encouraged him.
"Thank you, battalion commander." The Chinese platoon leader smiled honestly.
After losing the command of their officers, the Peruvian soldiers who had no intention of fighting in the first place suddenly lost their worries and no longer considered Dartini, who was trapped in the encirclement of the Chinese troops, and retreated back.
The Peruvian army formed a long queue of more than 20 miles. When the front army was attacked by the Chinese Independence Army, there were still many soldiers behind who did not enter the ambush circle.
The fleeing Peruvian soldiers in front disrupted the formation of the army behind. Listening to the exaggerated news from the fleeing soldiers, many Peruvian soldiers followed and retreated.
Then the Peruvian soldiers who could not figure out the reality of the Chinese troops were dragged back. When the news reached the Peruvian officers commanding from the rear, Datini had become a prisoner of war of the Chinese Independence Army.
Although the Chinese Independence Army plundered a lot of war horses, since they had to travel thousands of kilometers, the more army horses and pack horses the better.
Datini, who had been saved by his men, did not escape the fate of being captured. When the two thousand Peruvian cavalry entered the ambush circle, they were noticed by the ambushed troops.
As soon as the battle started, many Chinese soldiers first rushed towards the Peruvian cavalry. The narrow mountain road was not suitable for cavalry to spread out, and the violent explosions caused most of the Peruvian cavalry to lose control of their horses.
Therefore, the first thing the Chinese soldiers who rushed down the mountainside faced was not the charging Peruvian cavalry, but the war horses that were frightened by the explosion and ran back and forth.
After taking control of the surviving Peruvian cavalry, Datini was surrounded by a group of Chinese soldiers in a small space. Datini, who knew the current situation, did not choose to die gloriously, but decisively revealed his identity to the Chinese soldiers, then laid down his weapons and surrendered.