July 16, fine, temperature -2 degrees Celsius.

Just when Lin Youde and others at Dingyuan Fort were having a big headache because the Spaniards had added two more artillery pieces overnight, more than ten kilometers away, Peng Zhicheng was seeing off a team that was about to depart.

The core combat strength of this unit is 82 officers and soldiers of the fifth infantry post, and in order to strengthen its strength, it is also equipped with a spearman servant army composed of all and part of the Chalua and European prisoners of war at the first artillery post, with a total strength of more than 250 people. The commander-in-chief was Liao Meng, deputy commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion and captain of the army, and Zhu Liang, a captain of the army who was a trainer of the 1st Battalion.

Liao Meng and the others saluted Peng Zhicheng with the last military salute, then turned around and stepped on the war horse and headed southwest. The main force of the Spaniards was hoarded on the line of Dingyuan Fort, and only about 100 musketeers were sent to guard against the capital. In this case, it is naturally impossible for the War Department to idle the forces at hand. Following the mounted infantry outpost composed of the sixth infantry post as the team last time, the War Department sent Liao Meng's detachment with the fifth infantry post as the core.

Liao Meng's detachment had 82 musketeers armed with 32-B flintlock rifles, 100 spearmen (these 100 men were armed with a small number of arquebuses and 32-A flintlock rifles), 45 artillery (8 artillery pieces), and some logistics personnel for a total of 256 people. In addition, it is equipped with 40 carts, 150 horses, and more than 30 miscellaneous horses. In accordance with the latest order of the War Department, Captain Liao Meng commanded all units, including the cavalry battalion, the mounted infantry post, and the fifth army outpost. After marching to the southwest for about half a day, Liao Meng's detachment converged the cavalry battalion and the cavalry infantry post here, and the army suddenly swelled. At this time, if he encountered Captain Torres's Spanish cavalry again, Liao Meng was confident that he would fight him.

On the morning of July 17, Liao Meng's detachment after the confluence began to enter the area where the Spanish convoys often walked, preparing to cut off the supply lines of the Spaniards. At 8 o'clock in the morning, the sentry of the cavalry battalion returned to report the discovery of the Spaniard's troops. This was not much surprising news, Captain Torres's four hundred cavalry had been operating in the area, and they were not blind, and they would surely be able to spot their own force of considerable size in the first place.

At noon, the troops of the two sides finally met on a plain. Surprisingly, the Spaniards had more than 300 more infantry in their formation. It seems that the Spaniards attach great importance to their own lifeline, Liao Meng thought.

"Array, fight!" Liao Meng began to order. The baggage logistics personnel parked the cart on the left side, and then took out the 32-A flintlock rifles, arquebuses and other weapons they were equipped with, and stood in the car formation to defend the left flank; The 100 spearmen in the middle of the lane held three-meter spears and formed a 20x5 phalanx in front of the formation. There are five elements in the phalanx, with twenty people in each row, and the interval between people is one meter and a half. Behind the spear formation, there were 164 musketeers of the cavalry infantry post and the sixth outpost; The 107 officers and men of the cavalry battalion were on the right flank. Between the left flank and the center, and between the center and the right flank, four guns were placed on each, and the artillerymen were busily reloading their ammunition.

The officers shouted loudly and their soldiers began to line up. The cavalry battalions and musketeers were generally trained in regular military training, and many of them were veterans of war. These veterans seemed calm and relaxed in this situation, after all, many people had experienced a bigger scene, not to mention this small battle in which the total number of troops invested by both sides was only more than 1,000 people. Their composure is well transmitted to the recruits, making them less emotionally stressed.

Compared to these regular armies, the improvised pikemen were a bit unbearable. The officers whipped vigorously with their sheathed sabers, and it was only then that the pirates and soldiers of indigenous origin dragged their formation. In order to boost morale, the officers loudly announced to these people that anyone who persevered until the end of the battle and did not flee would be pardoned for all his past crimes, given the status of a freeman, and rewarded with ten dollars from the ocean. This restored the morale of the soldiers somewhat.

The Spaniards' more than 300 infantry seemed to have been temporarily reinforced from the north bank of the Great Fish River, more than half of them were musketeers, and these men also began to form a loose formation opposite them, with several small cannons in the formation. But this force was supposed to serve only as a foil to the cavalry troops, and the Spaniards had to rely on cavalry if they wanted to win.

Sure enough, a moment later, I saw that the cavalry troops on the opposite side began to accelerate slowly, and the direction was the right flank of Liao Meng's detachment, the cavalry battalion. As long as they break through the cavalry battalion, then the next step is to fight and leave as much as they want, and completely grasp the initiative in the battle. After the cavalry unit was dispatched, the more than 300 infantry also began to move forward. The battle has officially begun!

"Boom! Rumble! "The artillery of the first post of the field artillery was the first to start firing, and the eight cannons fired a concentrated fire on the cavalry units that were slowly accelerating to the Spaniards. The results of the first round of shelling were mediocre, with only four shells hitting the moving herd. However, it was these four solid iron bullets that caused a lot of confusion among these four hundred cavalrymen. Although the ground was a little soft due to the rain and snow for several days, the shells could not form ricochets, but the Spaniards still paid more than ten casualties.

Perhaps shocked by the ultra-long range of the artillery of Liao Meng's detachment, the Spanish cavalry on the opposite side picked up speed again and rushed straight towards the right flank, and the dense sound of horses' hooves was moving. The cavalry battalion couldn't hesitate any longer at this time, Xu Yu, a cavalry commander who was a nightclub security guard, gritted his teeth and drew his saber, and shouted: "Damn, you have to be born and die like this after you have crossed over!" I'm a fucking loser! People are dead and birds are facing the sky, afraid of a ball. Brethren, when I die, you must avenge me. When the time comes, sweep through Mexico, and don't forget to burn some paper for me when you step on Madrid! Wan Sheng, rush! ”

"Ulla!" One hundred and seven cavalrymen of the cavalry battalion drove their horses and bravely met the Spaniards.

The brethren of the first artillery post fired another round of artillery, creating a dozen corpses in the formation of the Spaniards. At this time, the distance between the cavalry of the two sides was already very close, and the brethren of the cavalry battalion fired the 1633 flintlock pistol in their hands, knocking down more than fifty Spanish cavalry in an instant, and then drew their sabers or cavalry spears, and increased the speed of their horses to the extreme, and collided with the Spanish cavalry.

"Fifth and sixth outposts of infantry, forward!" With a whistle, the flintlock muskeviers of the two sentinels cut through the sparse jungle of spears, and then formed a tight formation towards the edge of the battle between the two cavalry; The artillerymen also reloaded with explosive shells at this time, diverting their targets to bombard the Spanish infantry that was moving in this direction.

"The fifth post, the sixth post, all of them, hurry up and put the marksmanship on the level, prepare... Put! Almost as soon as the battle began, Liao Meng didn't care about it at this time, and personally commanded the riflemen of the two outposts to step forward to support the cavalry battle. The ground where the cavalry of both sides was engaged was only a few hundred meters away, and it took only a few moments for the infantry of the two outposts to reach the edge of the battlefield.

At this time, more than 100 riders of the cavalry battalion were retreating to the middle of the battlefield after paying considerable casualties, followed by the Spaniards. Liao Meng saw such a good opportunity to shoot at the target, how could he let it go! 164 flintlock musketeers lined up more than 100 meters away to fire a volley, and the Spanish cavalry that was pursuing behind suffered heavy casualties, at least 40 horsemen fell off their horses, and blocked the cavalry behind, creating a lot of chaos.

"Reloading... Free Fire! Liao Meng ordered loudly. In fact, he could already shut up at this time, where could the soldiers standing scattered on the noisy battlefield hear his command, they had already entered a state of free fire.

A puff of black smoke rose from the battlefield, and it was the riflemen who were shooting. The fierce westerly wind quickly swept away the smoke, and the battlefield was once again filled with more than thirty corpses of Spanish cavalry. At this time, the cavalry of both sides had disrupted the formation in the pursuit, and the remaining dozens of cavalry battalions crossed the entire battlefield, bypassing the chariot formation on the left flank and coming to the rear of the infantry formation. The Spaniards were in hot pursuit, and as they were rounding the formation, they were fired at by dozens of logisticians with arquebuses and 32-A flintlock rifles, and again tragically fell to more than a dozen horsemen.

On the frontal battlefield, the Spanish infantry formation suffered heavy casualties under the blow of 8 guns, especially the more than 100 arquebusiers lined up on both sides, and they were taken care of by explosive shells, and at least a quarter of the soldiers lost their combat capability.

"Spearman, come forward!" After observing the situation on the battlefield, Deputy Commander Zhu Liang finally decided to invest in the last combat force, and there was no need to keep his hands at this time.

"Poof!" A basin of blood splashed on the face of Zhu Liang, who had just finished giving the order, which was the blood of a soldier next to him. An iron bullet pierced the left side of his body, and blood splattered from a powerful heart.

The artillery of the Spaniards opened fire!

"Onward! You cowards! "The veteran spearmen drew their sabers or their loaded 1633 flintlock pistols and stared viciously at the hesitant recruits, spearmen. Under the threat of reality, the recruits finally took a stiff step, and moved forward mechanically under the rhythmic sound of a brass whistle.

The flintlock musketeers of the two sentinels were now gathering together, and there were not many targets left for them to choose from. The number of Spanish cavalry had by this time been reduced to less than two hundred, and it had been divided into two groups. And their opponent, the cavalry battalion that crossed the crowd, still had more than sixty horsemen at this time. The remnants of the cavalry, relying on the infantry of the two outposts, temporarily escaped the pursuit of the Spaniards, and after reloading their pistols, they again roared and rushed towards the enemy.

The eight guns of the second post of the field artillery had been reloaded with chain shells at this time, divided into left and right sides. The four men on the left were still firing at the Spanish infantry formation, while the four men on the right seized the opportunity to shoot at the Spanish cavalry, which had slowed down due to the repeated battles. The high-performance artillery inflicted terrible damage on the Spanish cavalry, and the gaucho cavalry, who were weak-willed to fight, were the first to retreat, leaving the Spaniards to the cavalry battalion cavalry who were rushing at high speed. In the distance, four of the Spaniards' guns were also firing at this side, but their infantry fell again with dozens of men under the attack of chain bullets, and the formation was on the verge of collapse.

The Spaniards are already showing signs of decline.

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