Whether it is in the practice of overseas expeditions at home or abroad in the past, or in the training and training in peacetime, how to effectively detect and prevent sneak attacks or ambushes is an aspect that the elite of the volunteer forces attach great importance to, so when the coalition forces had just completed the assembly in the port of eastern Mexico, Shi Yong and others got the news from the Indians who had been bribed. Although the cultural differences are very different, the relative restraint and similar ethnicity make it easier for the team to deal with the Indians.

Therefore, when the coalition forces were ready for an ambush this time, not only Mexico City dispatched corresponding forces, but also Acap Cole drew troops to concentrate them. With a total strength of about 8,000 officers and soldiers, about 4,500 men, the scale of the force was temporarily formed into three regiments, and with the help of the cover of night and the pre-prepared supply storage sites, they soon approached the place where the Spaniards were ambushed by heavy troops.

It was a marked departure from when they first landed, and this time the team was able to carry a lot of equipment and firearms even if they didn't have too many horses, because they had supplies that were readily available.

When the coalition forces discovered that the convoy from the Potosí mines was not carrying gold, silver or ore, and that the baggage they were carrying appeared to be camouflaged light artillery and began to fire a continuous stream of heavy shotgun fire at their own side from a distance of hundreds of yards, many knew that the ambush might have been miscalculated. However, because of the absolute superiority in troops, from the British to the Spaniards and even the Dutch, from officers to generals, did not feel too much pressure. The enemy army is indeed very strong, but in the case that he is not a fish belly, having dozens of times the strength in the battle of the firearms age is enough to transform quantitative change into qualitative change.

Although the armed forces that set out from the Potosí mining area had a strength of 1,500 men, they only had 48 light artillery wagons when they were able to carry a lot of baggage wagons, and most of the artillery barrels were about two or three hundred catties, while the 40,000 allied troops that had gathered a lot of troops to rush over had more than 400 field artillery pieces, and the specifications were often around 3,500.

Although the quality of the artillery, the level of effective use of marksmanship, or the degree of dispersion of the forces of the two sides have brought about differences in the lethality efficiency, and the casualty ratio seems to have a significant upper hand in the artillery battle, there is still a significant difference in the battlefield pressure felt by the obvious comparison of forces between the two sides. This is also the obvious difference between firepower warfare and cold-weapon warfare.

After feeling that the initiative in the battle was still on his side, the commander of the coalition forces was also worried that if he delayed for too long, he was likely to encounter enemy reinforcements, after all, judging from the initial preparations of the other side, it was likely that he had already prepared for this operation. Therefore, instead of attacking as planned, with most of the troops ready to send reinforcements, more than 30,000 of the 40,000 men simultaneously attacked the opponent's position.

The cavalry, which numbered several thousand men in large armies, approached alternately from all directions in an extremely loose formation, and fired one after another at a distance of 200 paces in positions that seemed to have exceeded the effective range of firearms of this era, although the efficiency of killing and wounding was not high, and it seemed that it could play a more or less suppressive role. If the 1,000 or hundreds of defenders in the east, who were already short of troops and ammunition, could be wasted in advance, it would be cost-effective to have a certain number of casualties and losses.

The result, of course, was that even though the continuous fire of the heavy arquebusiers in the distance seemed to have caused some casualties, the officers and men defending the fortified artillery town did not fire at distances beyond the effective range, but only launched a series of counterattacks with light field guns and heavy mortar guns when the enemy approached to a distance of one hundred and fifty paces, which was closer than the previous engagement.

When the attacking enemy soldiers dispersed and approached to a distance of about 100 paces with their shields, the strong bows of about 100 paces began to shoot one after another, and when they had a certain geographical advantage, it seemed that the terrain offset the energy attenuation caused by the wind resistance, and at a distance of about 80 to 100 paces, it also seemed to be like a close-range shooting. Although some of the finest plate armor was able to withstand arrows falling at a certain angle, it was clear that this time it was not the soldiers who were attacking in front and within a certain depth that all the armor was so strong, and soon there were casualties one after another under the continuous blows of arrows and cannons.

Although the casualties of the enemy in the attack were as many as four or five times that of the troops coming from the mountains of Potosí, with a twenty-fold superiority in troops, the losses of the troops defending the established positions in the north in a short time were as high as three or four hundred.

It was also at this time that about 100 or so field guns fired fierce heavy shotguns one after another from a position about one or two miles behind the main force of the coalition forces, and more than 20,000 heavy shotguns fired in just a few minutes caused thousands of casualties to the attacking coalition forces, so that the attacking coalition offensive could not help but stagnate, coupled with the fierce resistance of the defenders in the north, the entire offensive operation had to be delayed at this time.

When the artillery fire was first to send reinforcements, the regiments deployed in the east and south did not dare to delay too long, and soon launched an offensive operation against the rear of the Spaniards. The disparity in the combat effectiveness of the infantry at the grassroots level of the two sides made it difficult for the remaining enemy troops, who had a threefold superiority in strength, to parry, and they began to retreat in a short period of time.

However, after learning some lessons from the previous battles, in order to maximize the annihilating blow to this coalition force with a large number of troops, the reinforced team did not carry out a continuous in-depth assault, but after destroying a considerable part of the field artillery and baggage and even horses used for rear support, they gradually dispersed and launched a thin but relatively tight encirclement and began to encircle the enemy from all directions. Because the defenders, who had suffered a lot of casualties and losses in the previous battle, seemed to have become the hope of the enemy to get out of trouble at this time, and there were still many troops who continued to invest in the case of reduced artillery support, and at the same time, in order to resist the enemy's breakthrough, the defenders were responsible for the battle line and did not shrink, and the white-knuckle combat and grenade blasting pole battles soon broke out one after another.

(End of chapter)