The Second Battle of New York broke out at a time when the British did not expect it. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Washington led the main force of the Continental Army of 20,000 people, and cooperated with the Tang Expeditionary Force to send troops from Trenton to New York. The movement of this march was quite large, and the spies of the British army had already heard clues when they sent troops to Washington, and hurried to Henry in New York. Clinton reports. British commander Clinton knew that he did not have the advantage of troops, and he now had only 14,000 troops in his hands, and he was facing the dilemma of lack of supplies.

He also knew that the army of the Tang Republic had come to the east coast and began to operate with the rebels, and Clinton would not be afraid of Washington's mud-legged amateur army if it were not for the advanced weapons of the Tang people. Now not only is the Continental Army "overarmed," but the Tang Army, which is armed with them, has also rolled up its sleeves and appeared in person, which makes Clinton very nervous.

One regiment of his unit was armed with a number of SC-2 rifles captured from the Continental Army, which, while not disproportionately superior, was able to deal more than twice as much damage. If possible, Clinton hopes that his soldiers can be equipped with this rifle, but not to mention that the British War Department has not yet succeeded in copying the SC-2, and even if it does, it is impossible to replenish his army because of the blockade of the Tang Navy.

Clinton already vaguely felt that the British Kingdom could no longer guarantee its interests in North America, and the strength of the rebels was increasing day by day, and the damned meddler was the Tang Republic. The longer it dragged on, the greater the losses and the more humiliating the defeat Britain would suffer.

So Clinton drafted a letter to King George III, in which Clinton said: "...... We are fighting a war that we are completely unfamiliar with with an enemy with whom we are completely unfamiliar. Due to the military weapons and new military ideas of the Don. It has brought the war to a situation beyond our control. They seized our colonies in Florida and the Bahamas. And sent troops to New England. Moreover, Datang's navy, which has a technological advantage, with a small amount of military strength, has made the Royal Navy dare not leave the port, and all our transport ships are in a state of unprotection. I'm ashamed to mention it, but it's clear that we will not be able to win this war. Now, the minister is holding the city for the kingdom in New York, if he is lucky. Then we can at least save some face, and then there is a step, negotiate peace with the colonists and the Tang people, at least we can keep tens of thousands of troops, and keep the northern colonies such as Quebec. ”

The pragmatic Clinton was full of pessimism, and he ordered the letter to be sent to Nova Scotia, and then returned to London by ship from Halifax.

In Clinton's thoughts. Because the Tang people have a navy, New York cannot be defended. So. In the best-case scenario, Burgoyne defeated Gates' Continental Army in Upper New York and dredged the Hudson River, allowing Clinton to lead more than 10,000 British troops and royalists to retreat from New York to Quebec via the Hudson River. If the two armies meet in victory, it will be difficult for the Continental Army to defeat them completely. Then the work will be left to the diplomats, at least they officers will not be able to help much.

Even if all this can be accomplished, then Clinton will definitely be impeached at home because of his poor performance, and even his career will be interrupted from then on, which is also a matter of no way, at least he can retain part of the strength of the British army.

With this negative strategy, Clinton began to defend New York, even if Britain might eventually lose the war, but at least he would win the battle and keep New York, even if the city might be returned to the colonists after the war.

In New Brunswick, the base camp of the British army, Clinton arranged about 3,000 Hessian mercenaries, and he hoped that the Hessian mercenaries could use their professional combat qualities and relatively complete fortifications to block the advance of the Continental Army, at least delay for a while, and it was best to consume the strength of the Continental Army.

However, Clinton's opponent was a soldier who was 200 years ahead of him in the art of war.

"Your Excellency Commander Washington is requested to leave two regiments of infantry to cooperate with our Tang Expeditionary Force to strike at the enemy forces in New Brunswick, while your main army can directly bypass New Brunswick and cross the river on the pontoon bridge built for the Continental Army by our Tang Zhouqiao Force in the east. We had plenty of troops to be held back by a few enemies, and the British could not have imagined that we would be able to appear in their rear so quickly, and that the Continental Army would be able to surprise several important strongholds and completely wipe out the enemy outside New York. Liu Fangwu suggested.

Washington asked, with some skepticism: "The Lalitan River is not narrow, can it really build a bridge in a short time?" ”

Liu Fangwu smiled and said, "Please believe in our Datang sappers." ”

Because the Hessian mercenaries were limited in number and trapped in New Brunswick, they could not do anything about Washington's plans to cross the river east of New Brunswick. With a river at its back and an open plain on front, the city was now surrounded by the Tang Expeditionary Force led by Liu Fangwu and a Continental Army under the command of Liu Fangwu from Washington.

Colonel Ludwig of the Hessian mercenaries. Fan. On the bastion of New Brunswick, Abel hesitated: "Why didn't the rebels throw all their forces in front of us, but ran to the east of us?" Do you want to cross the river? But there was no bridge enough for them to pass through, so it wouldn't be the Tang navy that would pull them across the river, and in that case, they would have taken a boat from Philadelphia......

Even if Van Eyber can't figure it out, he also needs to brace himself to face the head-on enemy, judging from the banner, the enemy on the opposite side is a mixed force, which is a combination of the Tang Expeditionary Force and the Continental Army, this is also the first time that the Hessians have faced the Tang Army that has been formed, and Van Eyber also declared with a bit of literature and art: "Let me see how powerful you are, Tang people!" ”

Liu Fangwu, who was standing more than 3,000 meters away from the New Brunswick Fortress, stood on a high ground with a telescope and observed the enemy situation, and he said to his brother-in-law Liu Zhenlong beside him: "The Europeans are much more advanced than us Chinese in modern military fortifications, take this fortress as an example, the defensive effect is much stronger than our various city walls and fortresses of the same period, the cannon batteries with protruding tips are enough to bombard the enemy, and the protruding sides can cross the engineering troops that break into the middle of the road, which is very good." ”

Liu Zhenlong smiled and said: "However, this thing is afraid of cannons, as long as it collapses, everything will be blind." ”

Liu Fangwu nodded, smiled lightly, and asked directly: "Has the position of the artillery battalion been laid out?" ”

The messenger said: "I have just asked, and I am ready, waiting for your instructions, commander." “

Liu Fangwu snorted, and seemed to be talking to himself: "When I was in Ren'anqiang, I didn't think that leading troops could have the current firepower configuration, and I always charged against the fierce artillery fire of others, but now it's our turn to use artillery to teach others how to behave." ”

The artillery battalion has a total of 18 105 mm artillery guns like a textbook to set up artillery positions on the front front and flanks of the fortress, even if the enemy is very weak now, but every officer of the Tang Dynasty is very serious and careful in practicing their military theory. In the artillery department of the Datang Military Academy, there are many explanations for the firepower matching system, which requires the artillery to achieve a more hierarchical, more three-dimensional, and more efficient firepower output through the setting of the position orientation.

As soon as the command gave the order, the howitzers immediately began to fire at the fortress, and at this time, the officers of the Continental Army who were fighting with the Tang Army still did not understand what was going on.

"This distance is probably more than two thousand yards, is it just shelling here?"

"Who knows, I heard that the reason why the Datang Navy was able to sink so many ships of the Royal Navy was because their artillery fired so far, maybe the army's artillery was also so far."

"That's almost certain, there's no reason why the range of the navy's artillery is longer than that of the army."

Just when the soldiers of the Continental Army were discussing, the roar of the cannon sounded, such a big target in the fortress, there was no longer any problem of school shooting, the cannon almost casually pointed, aimed at the fortress, hit the city wall is considered to break the defense, hit the inside of the fortress is considered to be a lethal force, as long as it does not hit close or too far, it is an effective kill.

As a result, in the sight of the soldiers of the Continental Army, almost instantly, a relatively majestic fortress seemed to be surrounded by firelight, the stones on the city wall and the people on it were bombarded up and down, and the powerful howitzer almost the first salvo hit the surface of the fortress full of holes.

It didn't take long for the second salvo to come again, the artillery fire perfectly enveloped the fortress, and then the jaws of the Continental Army soldiers fell to the ground almost all. The fortress had already collapsed in four or five places, and the Hessians on it were already in disarray, and at least nearly a hundred people had been killed and wounded by the artillery just now.

At this time, the officer who led the infantry regiment of the Continental Army received an order from Liu Fangwu: "Wait for three more rounds of artillery bombardment, and you can charge." ”

The officer of the Continental Army swallowed, still unable to understand how the war had evolved like this, and he said carefully: "Actually, you can go now." ”

The signal soldier said with a straight look: "The commander asked you to go up after the fifth round of shelling." ”

The officer didn't dare to argue, and watched as the arrogant Tang signal soldier left. The adjutant beside him said, "Five rounds of shelling? No kidding, just bombard, after the fifth round of shelling, it is not certain whether there are still living people inside. ”

Although this is some kind of exaggeration, the ferocity of the Datang artillery has been deeply implanted in their hearts. (To be continued.) )