It was just before night, and the sound of explosions like an earthquake was accompanied by a series of fires around the perimeter of the position. However, after some fierce battles, the tens of thousands of Spaniards stationed near the Somport Pass at this time were no longer as surprised as before. It seems that sufficient preparations were made before the blasting attack was launched, many tunnels were dug and coverings were arranged, so that the storm of 230,000 catties of gunpowder and hundreds of thousands of catties of lead bullets fired from thousands of blasting points only caused more than 1,000 casualties.

However, what the Spaniards did not expect was that the attacking opponent approached the front of the position in less than half a minute after the large-scale shotgun blasting attack, and before the people were fully prepared, they shoved the black powder grenades that had been prepared one after another into the tunnel.

The team's black powder grenades aimed at the general fortification targets of the European armies were obviously much heavier, weighing about two or three catties. No longer rely on the deterrent power of explosives as an aid to melee hand-to-hand combat. These black powder grenades have at least three or four obvious iron bullets, and when violently exploded at close range, there is a considerable chance that they will threaten targets equipped with normal level full-body armor. Of course, the disadvantages of this black powder grenade are also very obvious, because the energy and explosive power are limited, and only a few fragments far away from the danger zone can only be exploded. Even if you have a big first-mover advantage in a raid, you can almost kill or kill one of your own people on average.

However, the formation of the Spanish army, which had just experienced a fierce blasting offensive, was relatively loose, and thousands of people were killed and wounded by black powder grenades one after another when they did not have time to assemble, and in the case of the fortifications, it only brought about 1,000 accidental injuries to the attacking team. Dense and well-organized, the attacking team, which was not left behind, quickly crushed the Spaniards' previously seemingly solid defence with fierce force.

Although the night began to rain as night began to blow out, and the cold guns and cannons of the night caused a lot of casualties to the attacking team, the assault army still attacked like an unwavering torrent, and finally broke the true meaning of the Spaniards.

In the darkness of the night, many of the Spaniards who had retreated from their positions fled south or elsewhere under the cover of cavalry. After the three armies met, this fierce attack did not achieve the goal of annihilating the enemy army.

However, when the sky was completely bright, Xiao Xuan found that the casualties and losses of the entire team in this part-risk attack were not as large as expected, and the casualties of about 50,000 or 60,000 troops who entered the attack and battle were only about 2,000 people, but at least more than 10,000 Spanish corpses were left in the attack.

The successive victories also allowed the team to seize a lot of gunpowder left by the Spaniards, and about one-seventh or eighths of the armor left on the corpses of the enemy could find the armor of the suitable user. In addition, a lot of very fine car shields, horses, and steel shields were also seized; This has also improved the weaponry of the attacking team a lot.

It is clear that in the previous encounters with the Spaniards, the inadequacy of the troops in terms of weaponry was obvious. If it weren't for the superiority of combat consciousness far beyond ordinary armies, victory would have been almost impossible.

The confrontation with the Spaniards was obviously more physically dependent than previous battles, so Xiao Xuan finally launched an offensive against the Spanish hinterland after resting for half a day after the attack.

The troops quickly and completely crossed the Spanish mountain and river barriers in the north during the night march, forcing many of the Spaniards on the defensive line to retreat further into the hinterland. Even Philip IV at this time could not believe that the 50,000 troops left behind in the north had been defeated in such a short time.

Although Spain was a large European country, it was not very deep compared to the previous marches, which allowed the team to break through the northern defense line and quickly approach the hinterland around Madrid.

At this time, the Spanish army gathered around the capital from all over the country had reached about 100,000 troops. Excluding the previous losses and even some of the forces stationed in the port, and even the overseas and naval forces, this is almost the upper limit of the number of troops that the Spaniards can use at this time.

But at this time, unlike many other European armies. Because they did not suffer much loss in the previous confrontation, the Spaniards did not become the same frightened bird as many hostile forces encountered by the main force of the volunteer army in the past, when they had a clear advantage in strength and relied on the defense of the city. According to the feeling of Philip IV and many Spanish generals, those strong enemies are indeed very fierce, but under normal circumstances, it is already the best to be able to attack and defend twice the main force of the Spanish army. After the home field advantage and the intelligence advantage of the cavalry determined that the approaching strong enemy had a total of only about 50,000 or 60,000 troops, Philip IV decided to completely defeat the attacking enemy with a decisive defensive counterattack.

However, what I didn't expect was that it was estimated that the enemy army was likely to use a fierce blasting attack as a cover before the attack as before, but I didn't expect that after capturing a lot of horses, cart shields and steel shields, these strong eastern enemies finally had enough determination to attack the direction of the Spanish army's defensive position north of Madrid before noon.

The fierce artillery battle began before the armies of both sides had even entered the distance of the infantry. The European armies of this era were usually not equipped with too much artillery in field battles, but because of the previous pressure and preparation, when the naval guns and even gunners on many ships also moved to the area of Madrid, the power of more than a thousand medium and heavy guns was the first time that the team led by Xiao Xuan felt great pressure, and they could only choose to start a very reluctant artillery battle with the opponent in the direction of about two or three hundred paces. Although the main force led by Xiao Xuan at this time had a very obvious advantage in hot air balloon reconnaissance and even some artillery skills, because the army could not carry too many medium and heavy artillery and even baggage in the maneuver, it was still obviously at a disadvantage, and it was obvious that even if it was a very reluctant confrontation, it could not last because of the ammunition problem.

Since November 4th, many chapters have been wronged by one hundred, and to correct it, it should be more than 300 chapters.

(End of chapter)