The main force of the former support force participating in the landing operation was temporarily transformed into a temporary marine regiment composed of five 400-man condensed infantry battalions, and the equipment and firepower did not appear to be very prominent. Each person carried a shield on their backs and wore three-quarters of plate armor. The material of the plate armor is very good, but in order to reduce the weight to the maximum, the protection is not much stronger than the ordinary heavy iron armor. Most of the officers and men are only about twenty-two, thirty-four years old, and there are many adults in their thirties, who seem to be in the prime of life in this era, but these people are now the elite of many major battles in civil wars and even expeditions and foreign wars.

For some reason, once upon a time, many people felt that they had already overcome the nervous reaction of being like a recruit, but when they faced the battlefield environment again, many people suddenly felt the pressure of the battle that they had not felt before.

After all, in the past, many people were still young, or in some kind of critical environment, and they were also people who had nothing to worry about, but the mentality of many Marine officers and men who participated in the operation this time has also changed in one way or another.

After seeing that there were not many people landing, the pressure in the hearts of the Spaniards in the castle in the distance, who felt a lot of pressure, was also relieved, and at this time, some people asked if they should go out of the city to engage the enemy army.

At this time, the governor of Manila was full of confidence in the defenders, who were now at least tens of thousands of troops: "Judging from the situation in the telescope, those strong eastern enemies who landed more than ten miles away did not carry firearms such as chariots, horses, and heavy artillery, and we have no need to take risks, wait until they are on the verge of the city to give them a decisive blow and let the cavalry be ready to reap the maximum results!" ”

At this time, the Governor of Manila's greatest concern was, of course, that when the troops in the city went out to engage the enemy, it was very likely that they would encounter the bombardment and attack of naval guns not far away, although the scale was not very large, but it was not small. I didn't know that most of the artillery in the fleet led by Wang Yuan was actually not suitable for carrying out the task of bombing the shore.

The composure of the enemy troops in the distance when they saw the approaching army also made many Marines feel uneasy, because such defenders were either extremely weak fish belly, or they had strict discipline and obvious decent combat effectiveness.

Therefore, the team gradually dispersed when attacking, and finally the team of 2,000 people formed three rows in front and back, and the horizontal line that stretched for about four or five miles approached the area where the Spanish army was stationed.

"Oh my God! Is their commander insane? Faced with such a loose formation? I am sure that even if less than 1,000 of the 1,500 cavalry forces in the city are not very large, a counterattack will definitely cost the so-called elite of the laymen a heavy price... Many of the Spanish officers were also eager to try it at this moment. At this time, the Spanish governor still kept in mind an oriental saying: if something is abnormal, it must be a demon, restrain the urge to launch a counterattack, and prepare to counterattack after launching a round of fierce fire when the enemy army is approaching under the city...

However, the landing provisional marine regiment did not continue to advance when it approached a distance of about a mile from the enemy's city. Rather, it was prepared to carry out fire preparation with the light artillery it carried.

Of course, the artillery carried by the Marines was also a two-hundred-pound barreled gun that could be deployed on ships. However, the artillery ashore was still mainly a three-kilogram bullet-clad steel smoothbore gun equipped on Zheng Jun's ships. The reason is similar to the principle that many rifled guns in the early years of the American Civil War were not popular: rifled guns, although they could fire shells with sufficient penetrating power, were not as effective when firing shotguns.

The ashore troops, composed of five battalions and 20 marine companies, were equipped with only about 40 two-pound rifled guns, each of which was equipped with only two, while the three-pound steel-clad smoothbore guns were equipped with four firepower of up to 80 guns per company. Each also carried two shells, accumulating more than four thousand copies. The experience of many fierce battles and even wars in the past made the staff officers understand that the breech gun does not need much ammunition backup, but the firepower must be sufficient, and only in this case can it deal with all kinds of unexpected situations.

After arranging the light artillery fort positions at a distance of one mile to cover themselves and overcome the recoil to the maximum, the smoothbore guns did not open fire at the first time, but the rifled guns spoke first. A group of four two-pound rifled guns from at least two companies in the vicinity launched a fire aimed at the artillery positions and firing points exposed on the distant city head, with effective coordination.

The crisp sound of artillery was accompanied by white smoke rising one after another, and the initial accuracy of the shelling did not look strange, but after only two or three minutes of test firing, the firepower had become more and more accurate. The fierce artillery fire gradually hit the city wall battlements or the location of the muzzle firing chamber with a radius of no more than a kilometer over a mile distance, and almost every round of four salvos could make a shell hit the battlements of the city wall or the location of the muzzle firing room.

After bombarding with the new black powder and gunpowder standards, the body of about 200 catties played an efficiency that only medium and heavy artillery of about 500 to 1,000 catties could play. As the cannonballs hit the masonry at the speed of sound, the smoke and debris flew violently on all sides, as if the cannonballs were not simply solid shells, but projectiles with explosive grenades. Within about ten minutes or so of the test firing, rifled gunners fired more than 200 rifled guns at the head of the city, killing and wounding at least 30 gun emplacements above the head of the city and even nearby personnel.

Of course, almost at the same time, the defenders of the city also launched a fierce return fire with heavy arquebuses at this distance, and even at a distance of about a mile, the flying grenades could still be felt. It was only after the occasional stray bullet hit the shield or armor at this distance, but it did not bring any lethal effect, and many people began to feel at ease and continue to prepare to move forward.

At this time, with the help of the cover of rifled artillery precision fire suppression, and the fact that the fire on the city head did not seem to be very reliable at this distance, eighty smoothbore light guns approached to a distance of about two hundred paces and launched fierce fire. Although the accuracy of the smoothbore cannon was limited, it also fired no less firepower than the rifled cannon at this distance, making the return fire and resistance of the castle head not much effective.

(End of chapter)