"Boom! Boom!" In the large field north of Santa Fe, several shells fell on the ground and bounced violently. Several Spanish soldiers in messy uniforms screamed and fell to the ground, but more people were unmoved and still guarded four artillery movements forward. Further away, hundreds of Spanish cavalry were ready to set off. As soon as the East Coast cavalry troops were dispatched, they would also be dispatched to ensure the safety of their precious artillery troops.

The artillery on the artillery tower kept firing shells. When the four Spanish artillery arrived at the preset position, one of them had been destroyed by the East Coast artillery, which made the Spaniards hate him. They immediately fought back, and only a few "boom" sounds of cannons were heard. The whistling iron balls made the East Coast artillery tower with a mixed brick and wood structure shake the earth and the brick chips flew everywhere. The soldiers in the artillery tower were also covered in dust. However, everyone's mood was still stable and their fighting spirit was quite high. Under the command of the officers, they immediately turned the barrel to the Spanish artillery position and quickly fought back.

After fighting back against the two guns in the direction of the Spanish attack, the two guns on the west side were also being pulled over by the soldiers, preparing to attack the Spanish together. At the same time, the army commanders deployed around the artillery tower immediately adjusted the deployment of the Spanish operations. They quickly transferred two light howitzers from the rear, then loaded bombs into the barrel, and attacked the Spanish crowds, with the intention of killing and injuring the Spanish troops.

The two sides started a bloody battle on the front line. Thanks to the people of the East Coast, the establishment of the Spanish Lima colonial army has expanded over the years. The total force has also returned to 80% of its heyday, about 7,000 people. Not only that, the firearm equipment rate has also exceeded 60%: about 4,000 people are equipped with a coercine or flintlock gun. For historical and practical reasons, the firearm popularity rate of the Spanish colonial army has always been higher than that of the European mainland, but the firearm penetration rate of 60% is very rare even in major colonies.

At this time, the troops sent by the Spanish to the city of Santa Fe were even more elite, because this was a pure firearm unit - even the cavalry were equipped with short-barrel muskets, which was enough to make a lot of money. However, the equipment was up, but the combat power and fighting will were not as good as those of the local legions in Europe. This was impossible. After all, the colonies always faced a public security war.

Of course, as their opponent, the East Coast Army, in addition to the rich combat experience of the main company, the combat experience of the militia is limited to the level of public security warfare, which is half a dozen of pounds with these Spaniards. Their so-called advantage is only the frequent training times, the high intensity, and the combat skills are higher and more proficient than the Spaniards. Therefore, the offensive and defensive battle between the two sides was in a stalemate from the beginning.

The Spanish infantry had only more than 1,000 soldiers, but at this moment, they had to attack the artillery tower and then divided their troops to guard against the attack of the East Coast Army on the flank - the militia brigade from Luoqia County. Therefore, the battle was quite hard. This morning (May 21), they had just broken a corner of the artillery tower on the left, and forced the East Coast people to lose 18 soldiers and an artillery; but accordingly, they themselves had lost two artillery and more than 80 soldiers - most of the soldiers were killed and injured under the guns of howitzers from the east coast fired from the side.

However, even so, the Spanish were determined to remove the nails of the artillery tower. They organized a new offensive again in the afternoon. In addition to routine artillery bombardment, a large number of soldiers launched infiltration attacks on the artillery tower with severely damaged walls, but they were all repelled by the prepared East Coast soldiers. When the sun was about to set, the two sides tacitly stopped the battle at the same time, and then they each sent people to the middle of the battlefield to hold the wounded and exchange corpses at the same time.

"Commander. During the day, 11 militias were killed and 15 injured; the 6th company infantry guarding the artillery tower was killed and 4 injured, 9 injured, 2 artillery soldiers were killed and 3 injured." Anda Fifteen's adjutant reported to him in a low voice. "Those Crandy people, the Gaucho people watched the show for a day this year, let them rush tomorrow?"

The forces of the incoming Spanish have been basically understood. After repeated investigations by the military police, the intelligence officers have investigated and summarized them and arrested prisoners and interrogated them, the intelligence staff have confirmed that the Spanish army attacking Santa Fe came from the Lima colonial army, with a total of more than 1,800 people, including about 500 cavalry, 100 artillery, and 1,200 infantry. In addition, there are about 2,000 Indian slaves recruited from Cordoba, Turkmen, Jujuyi and other places - these people are responsible for logistics transportation tasks.

Although they don’t know what the Spanish Peru Governor’s idea was and what strategy was implemented, they have now clearly sent reinforcements to support La Plata, which shows that they are unwilling to give up the La Plata area. Or they dare not give up La Plata under the strict orders of Madrid, so they can only organize their troops to come from afar. But no matter what, now they need to conquer the key place of Santa Fe, otherwise nothing can be said.

"The Spanish offensive is nothing more than that." Anda Fifteen stood on the small earthblock outside the city, holding a white handkerchief and wiping the ancestral samurai sword. While squinting his eyes and observing the battlefield still radiating smoke and dust, he said, "In the past two days, more than 200 Gao Qiao people and Crandy people have been running back one after another. Tomorrow you will lead the army to urge them to come forward to take over some army fortifications outside the artillery tower. These guys dare to be deserters, and it is not worth mercy to die. Let them face the Spanish offensive directly to atone for their guilt."

"Yes." The adjutant responded attentively, then took out his notebook and wrote down the order. After finishing the record, he continued to accompany Anda Fifteen's inspection position. The militiamen who were sitting on the fortifications were snoring and eating supper. After seeing Anda Fifteen surrounded by officers, they immediately stood at attention.

Anda Fifteen walked up to them and looked at today's dinner: a pot of clear soup noodles, two meat pies, a spoonful of soybean beef, and a plate of spiced whale meat. Then he asked, "Where are pickled cod? Why didn't you see it?"

"Commander, there are only 2 pickled cods in a month, and it's not until the end of the month." The adjutant reminded softly, "A batch of smooth fish was transported the day before yesterday and has been distributed to everyone."

Anda Fifteen looked at these soldiers who were like mud monkeys. Their faces were serious and their bodies were tight, like sculptures. This made him say with emotion: "I originally wanted to say something to encourage everyone not to relax and fight bravely, but seeing that everyone worked so hard, they could not say anything to their mouths. Adjutant Li, starting from tonight, cancel all the over-rate rations of all officers. All the saved cod, beef, tobacco, sugar, and wine are sent to the brothers. It is really unreasonable to all the hard work we enjoy them freely."

After saying this, he walked up to each soldier one by one, held the brim of the hat and collar for them, and comforted them from time to time. Although these people were militiamen from Luoqia County and Anda Fifteen was not familiar with it, this did not prevent him from chatting with these peasant children for a few words of family matters and then saying a few words of encouragement.

After shook hands with more than 20 officers and soldiers in the fortifications, Anda Fifteen directly asked the adjutant to bring his bowls and chopsticks, and together with the soldiers, he took half a bowl of noodles in the wooden barrel, then poured the soybean and beef into the bowl and mixed it. While eating, he invited the soldiers to sit down and have dinner together. The adjutant also brought Anda Fifteen's wine over and distributed it to each soldier on the spot. The atmosphere suddenly became warm.

"The Spanish guys dared to commit a military taboo when they only had one or two thousand people. They came to attack my strong position for a long distance. This time they didn't want them to suffer a big loss." Anda Fifteen ate two bites of noodles, then held up his chopsticks to cheer the soldiers up.

"Destroy this Spanish and go to Cordoba!" A non-commissioned officer who looked a little older responded first, with a flush on his face, as if it was because of a sip of strong wine.

"Go to Cordoba and grab all the Spanish!" A young soldier shouted out his heart, which caused everyone to burst into laughter. But this is the truth. Everyone is different from the regular army, and they don't even have military pay. Until now, everyone only received two dollars when they set out to board the ship, and the rest of the time they really didn't take a penny to fight to death. If it weren't for the great gains in this battle, everyone would have sent hundreds of yuan in bank acceptance bills to their homes, I'm afraid everyone's morale wouldn't be so high.

"If the superiors really have the intention to attack a prosperous city like Cordoba, no need to mention it at that time, I will ask the detachment leader to be the main attacker. You will not be afraid of life and death and fight bravely. Once the city is broken, I will ask the detachment leader to allow our unit to lead the city with his old face." Anda Fifteen knew what the soldiers like to hear, so he would say with all his heart and say it.

The soldiers were really excited after hearing this, and the glory and benefits of being the first to enter the city were simply endless.

"But we need to withstand the Spanish offensive here first." Anda Fifteen saw that everyone's faces were full of smiles, and immediately changed his tone and said, "The Spanish came from afar and could not last long. We just need to defend with peace of mind. When the blade gradually became dull and the morale was low, we would launch a big attack to defeat this Spanish and achieve unparalleled achievements. And this, first of all, we need to unite our wholeheartedness and withstand the Spanish offensive for the next few days."

"Don't worry, commander, we will never let the Spaniards get a bargain next." Everyone immediately said angrily.
Chapter completed!