Just when the Volunteer Left Army led by Xiao Xuan broke through the encirclement of the Spaniards south of the Songport Pass and continued to wage a fierce battle with the Spaniards, the reinforcements of the Volunteer Right Army of about 20,000 troops led by Zhou Dayong were also surrounded by a total of 70,000 Spanish troops in the area of the Songport Pass.

After all, even if the main force led by Xiao Xuan and the vanguard led by Zhou Dayong combined were only about 50,000 troops, the total number of hundreds of thousands of Spanish army forces gathered in the mountain pass area was still at a significant disadvantage. During the battle, Zhou Dayong also clearly found that these main forces of the Spanish army seemed to be far different from those European main forces encountered before, not only with excellent steel shield protection, but also with outstanding melee combat ability. Many of the advantages that the volunteer forces had in the past when they fought against their opponents did not exist at this time.

Of course, Zhou Dayong knew that he had to break the deadlock as soon as possible, otherwise if the Spaniards brought in more main forces from elsewhere, the whole team would obviously fall into a new crisis.

Therefore, on the first night of the defensive operation, he detonated some of the explosive attacks that had been prepared long ago when the night was approaching, without fear of the cost. Although the Spaniards had encountered this method of attack before, they did not expect to encounter it again when the team had already broken into the opposing position in the night battle. In the face of fierce blasting attacks from all directions, they were caught off guard for a moment and suffered tens of thousands of casualties.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhou Dayong also bravely led the team to launch a local counterattack at night, and all the staff highlighted the encirclement at night. After this battle, the ratio of forces between the two sides became less than 50,000 to about 18,000.

With the advantage of mobility, the team led by Zhou Dayong at this time was of course invincible to a large extent. However, Zhou Dayong understood that if the heavy army group reinforced by these enemy troops in the area saw that he could not take it and reinforce him, the consequences would be unimaginable. Therefore, under such circumstances, he could only continue to lead the team to engage in a fierce battle with the other side, and at the same time, once again put the army in danger of being besieged.

However, the difference from the previous was that because the Spaniards' previous superiority in strength had been weakened, and there were some psychological shadows for organizing attacks at night, Philip IV could only make up his mind to organize a fierce attack during the day. No matter how provocative the Spaniards' gunners and even firearms men were at a distance of more than a hundred paces, the contingent of the Volunteer Right Army always adhered to the principle of firing only when the opponent's army approached within 50 paces, which immediately made the attacking Spaniards begin to face tremendous pressure in the attack battle.

At this time, Philip IV also began to realize that it might be unwise to continue the fierce war against these powerful eastern enemies. While preparing to redeploy a part of the forces to reinforce the battlefield in the south, and to strike first annihilating the vanguard of the strong enemy in the east, the news came that the inevitable strong enemy had broken through and arrived north.

At this time, Philip IV could finally be sure that his previous plan was likely to fail. Although the level of weapons and equipment of these powerful enemies from the east is only unique, and not necessarily strong, these people have the courage to show and withstand high-intensity battles in the face of battle that the Spanish army has never encountered before. Even if the main force of the army with a size of more than 100,000 people is concentrated, it is very likely that it will not be able to eat at least 50,000 strong enemies with considerable mobility and tactical capabilities. As for the troops in some other places or even the troops around the capital? At this time, Philip IV knew very well that because of the lack of some truly elite legions in those ranks, the status of strength was probably much inferior to the status of troops.

At this time, more detailed military information and news were also coming in a steady stream, and Philip IV certainly understood that the powerful enemy who invaded Christendom at this time was likely to be more than these two forces in front of him, and that it was time for the whole of Spain to make plans early.

Philip IV finally gave the order to withdraw, and the main force of the Spanish army besieging Zhou Dayong's division gradually gathered to the south and finally completed the division, and there was no intention of continuing to fight with the main force led by Xiao Xuan in the area of the mountain pass, and only about 50,000 restrained troops were left behind, and the main force led the army to continue south.

After retreating to the area of Madrid in the heart of Spain, Fili IV finally invited the entire upper echelons, including many nobles and generals, to convene a crucial meeting to determine the future strategic direction of the Spaniards. In particular, whether to abandon the homeland if necessary, and to transfer the main wealth, the upper population, and even the core army to the New World by sea.

If it had been proposed in the past, it would have certainly been considered sarcastic. This time, however, the generals who accompanied Philip IV had seen the horrors of the eastern armies, and many agreed with the king's idea of temporarily relocating the core to the New World.

At this time, the Spaniards had been pioneering in the Americas for more than 100 years, not only many Spaniards who immigrated to the past, but also many local natives who were baptized and naturalized.

But not many of the generals who had led their troops against the "terrible Orientals" agreed to abandon Madrid without a fight. If the entire glorious Spanish Empire had to be forced to move strategically, it would have to be demonstrated by the foreign invaders.

Moreover, it was also proposed at this time that at this time it should be possible to unite as much as possible with the old enemies of Nieland and even the British Isles to deal with the calamity that the whole of Europe might face at this time.

In this way, the whole Spanish Empire was swiftly put into action, with the Praetorian Guard in charge of transporting loadloads of precious wealth ready to ship in a reasonable direction to the sea, and mobilizing forces from elsewhere in the northern line of defense to concentrate forces around Madrid in preparation for a decisive battle in the heart of Spain against the powerful enemy from the east. The envoy ship, which was to make contact with the Dutch and the British, also departed at this time.

(End of chapter)