At 9:15, the battle came as scheduled.

On the west and south sides, under the cover of hundreds of artillery, 20,000 French troops launched a fierce attack on the positions that the defenders of Zaragoza were defending. This was a battle between the invaders and the desperate. Neither side had any mercy. Neither side wanted to win, so no one was afraid.

Riding on the observation balloon released by the French engineer, the surveyor was unable to determine the target on the map. He was surprised to find that the entire inner city had completely changed. All churches, monasteries, residences, warehouses, streets, and municipal facilities were linked together, without any gaps, forming groups of mutually supportive, interdependent, ugly but solid fortresses.

At the beginning of the battle, the entire battlefield was full of French soldiers wearing blue uniforms, almost unable to see even a Spaniard. Until the artillery fire stopped and the infantry attacked, three or five sentries defending the city began to run back and forth on the streets and call, probably to tell their comrades to prepare for the enemy.

The French soldiers on the ground basically stepped into the inner city of Zaragoza for the first time. Most people had never even seen the city map. Compared with the observer on the high-altitude balloon who could not determine the direction with a high-power monocular mirror, they were even more confused and could not figure out the direction. They only knew that under the leadership of the officers and the strict military discipline, they kept rushing forward. The barricades, churches or residential buildings in front of them were their targets.

When a company of French soldiers climbed over the barricades of two high trembling, there was no sign of being attacked. Everyone was happy. They shouted excitedly, asking their companions to follow and continue to charge towards the next barricade. When the infantry advanced to the middle of the two barricades, the crowded heads began to emerge around. On the balcony of the houses on both sides, countless barrels of gun barrels stretched out from the doors and windows. Bullets like locusts hit the face, knocking down the French in batches. Because the entrances to the houses on both sides were completely closed, the soldiers exposed to broad daylight could not fight the city defense forces to vent their hatred, and became living targets for the enemy in vain.

What's even more terrifying is that the French soldiers who faced the next barricade were directly facing the next barricade, and they were unprepared to be attacked by the Spanish hidden artillery. A large number of grape bullets and solid bullets quickly tore off their weak bodies, turning the latter into a mixture of flesh and blood. Four or five soldiers who wanted to turn around and escape the trap were also nailed to the bricks and stones of climbing the first barricade by several rifle bullets. In less than 10 minutes, a company of more than 100 people was basically wiped out in this narrow passage that was only 80 meters long and less than 5 meters wide.

At 11:15 am, except for General Fuwa's Fifth Brigade successfully occupied half a block, most of the other French troops with heavy casualties retreated from the two lines and regained the defense line two hours ago. The next day, the French commander changed his tactics. The soldiers did not arrange dense formations in the narrow alleyways, but scattered them, using squads as units to fight for house by house. First, they tried to approach the house, then rushed into the house, then suppressed the firepower upstairs, and then occupied them layer by layer, and even had to exchange fierce fire in the basement and roof.

In the early stage, the effect was pretty good, but later, when the French advanced to the dense old city, the battle fell into a stalemate again. Because the Zaragoza people connected almost every building and every room to each other, they used bricks, stones, furniture, etc. to form mazes. Once the houses were invaded by French soldiers and their firepower was suppressed and they could not resist effectively, the rebels would choose to quickly enter the maze, wandering around and fire a cold gun; while releasing signals and requesting reinforcements. When reinforcements arrived, they would gather together and annihilate or drive out the houses of the French who were dizzy in the maze.

On January 18, on the seventh day of the offensive in the inner city of Zaragoza, under the interference of Marshal Rana, the French army changed the siege tactics again. The artillery pushed the artillery to the frontier positions and bombarded every barricade and every house on the way. In areas where the artillery could not be covered, the engineers used landmines (bombs) to blast the houses that were still defended by the Spaniards, turning them into ruins burying the living people under the cover of infantry.

Even so, the Zaragoza people did not give up the ruined buildings. They tried to strengthen their firepower and continuously fire bullets from nearby houses. Under the cover of thick smoke or night, they carried out suicide charges again and again, regardless of the fierce guns and bullets of the French, to prevent the French from setting up fortifications around the ruins.

As of the 21st, the French army involved in the siege of the southern and western fronts finally occupied a quarter of the inner city, but everyone was exhausted. The generals complained to Marshal Rana that their troops must wait for reinforcements or rotation, otherwise the soldiers would refuse to serve. "With the crazy counterattack of the Zaragoza bandits, the damn ruins will become the tombs to bury us."

...

All this was expected by Desai. Urban street fighting was never so easy to fight. Without self-propelled artillery support, tank blockade, aircraft removal, airborne troops occupying strongholds, infantry armor patrols, etc., the rash intervention in street fighting was just a joke on the lives of soldiers.

Desai was very glad that he escaped the attack for legitimate reasons and turned to defend on the spot. In the past few days, in his garrison area, except for a few Spaniards who had tentatively fired several shots a few hundred meters, there was no other war. At least, in the field hospital of the military officer Major Alder, no soldiers from the Desai regiment were treated.

Of course, the war in this regiment is only temporary. For the great cause of Napoleon's emperor, the Spanish war must continue and the city of Zaragoza must be conquered. Therefore, it is better to prepare for the future. Desai must learn from some successful street fighting experiences in later generations based on the existing conditions, and while achieving established results, try to reduce casualties in its own troops.

The city was still fierce, and gunfire was heard, but the outer city occupied by the French army seemed particularly calm. The residents here either took the initiative to retreat to the inner city or were driven to the outside world by the French bayonets. Most of the buildings left behind were empty and silence. At this time, a small group of French soldiers were accompanying Dr. Cava and several of his assistants to collect medicinal materials by the Ebro River. The leader of the soldiers was Corporal Penduath, and his deputy was his fellow Marseille, Silva.

The Ebro River flows peacefully in winter. As the second largest river in Spain, most of its flowing areas are barren and backward. The not-wide river surface is weird with light chocolate. The rivers, which were originally lush vegetation, are mostly withered and yellow on both sides and lack vitality. Occasionally, a few green seedlings emerge in the cold and sway in the wind, appearing particularly isolated.

"Does these guys pick leaves in winter? Why not stay in the church in the city and look for valuable things?" Silva's fingers were full of barren surface vegetation, and he began to complain as usual.

Perhaps at this time, other comrades in the company were active in the occupied areas and intercepted the wealth left by the Spanish. Each church and monastery, each building and public building were all divided into their own work under the careful arrangement of the superiors. Hundreds of soldiers were frantically searching their homes like worker ants, crazily chasing their homes under the shrines, offering seats, bedsides, wardrobes, and even wall mezzanines. The soldiers did not miss any clues, but they replaced the role of the gendarmerie and came here to watch over the herbs.

Penduwas still ignored his expression and continued to perform his guardianship duties and do every matter assigned by his superiors. Under the arrangement of the corporal, the five soldiers were scattered around the herb pickers, holding guns to guard and supervise.

Dr. Kava and his four assistants were very conscious and just collected herbs quietly within the range designated by the soldiers. In addition to a 10-year-old boy who liked to play around, he occasionally jumped out of the soldiers' encirclement, but was quickly called back.

In winter, although there is no plant leaf picking, the underground parts of the plant medicine, such as the underground stems, bulbs, roots and root skins, are exactly where the essence is accumulated. Every once in a while, a female assistant in a nun's robe gathers the collected medicinal materials on a large piece of smooth rock slab, and another person is responsible for sorting and drying, and can be divided after several hours.

Modern herbs are not the patent of the Chinese. When Europeans began to print a small amount of French version of "Compendium of Materia Medica" in the mid-18th century, European doctors, especially British doctors, had redistinguished the value of various herbs, almost nearly 700 kinds, and supplemented them into the London Pharmacopeia. It was not until the mid-19th century that the outstanding contributions of the French Pasteur and the German Koch laid the foundation of microbiology. In addition, the great development of the chemical industry finally prompted the synthetic Western medicine to surpass Chinese herbs in a comprehensive way.

In a corner covered by the shadow of the huge eucalyptus, Penduwas inspected again and came back to rest. The situation is still normal. The little boy who served as a temporary rebel was too active. If Dr. Kava had not insisted, Corporal Penduwas, who was responsible for the sergeant, would never have allowed the little boy to join this herb collection team.
Chapter completed!