The counterattack forces are rapidly collapsing. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Colonel Campos and several other senior officers stared at the battlefield in front of the barracks, silent, each with a mixed expression on their faces: shock, anger, panic, disappointment, and apprehension. Like Lieutenant Colonel Osorio, they wanted their troops to withdraw to Manila as completely as possible to minimize their losses, but the rebel maniacs made that hope out of reach.

They rushed into the counterattacking forces, mingled with the soldiers, and exploded. At best, the soldiers could do their best to keep away from the rebel lunatics before the fuse of the bomb burned out, or to finish a short prayer; But most of the soldiers could do nothing, either too late to react or were stupefied by the bloody scenes.

However, regardless of what the soldiers on the battlefield did or did nothing, there was not much difference between the two - unless they jumped into the moat desperately, they could only watch the rebel madmen approach and blow themselves or others into the sky. If lucky, these soldiers die instantly, barely feeling pain, but there are as many people who are not lucky enough as there are people who can't do anything.

Even when they were far from the battlefield and disturbed by the sound of gunfire, the senior officers could still clearly hear the eerie screams of the wounded soldiers, which could have given any otherwise cheerful, open-minded guy a nightmare for a week, while the soldiers in the bastion had stopped firing, either staring dumbfounded, cowering into a corner, and some of them crying out in pain.

Just for a moment...... In a few minutes, the Spaniards' will to fight seemed to be gone.

"We made a mistake." Finally, when another rebel madman "banged" and blew himself and the Spanish soldiers around him to death, Colonel Campos summed up the battle.

The problem is that no one wants to hear this summary - it's just nonsense. The officers are concerned about only one thing. "We've got to get the rest back."

But the request was equally meaningless to Colonel Campos, who had begun to doubt his colleagues' grasp of the situation. "Sending another rescue force will only cause more losses, and I doubt that our soldiers will have the courage to face the rebels." He gritted his teeth and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Osorio and the counterattack force can only rely on themselves-"

"They can't do it!" An officer cried out in despair.

As if to prove his point, the officers suddenly heard an even more ominous sound: a dense, piercing shrill whistling that at least two dozen shells were about to fall. Their judgment was so accurate that even before anyone shouted the word "shelling", the shells exploded among the scattered fleeing soldiers.

Towards the end of the battle, the mercenary artillery joined in, and their first shot completely destroyed all hope of Colonel Campos: the counterattack force finally collapsed completely, the command disappeared, the formation disbanded, and the officers and soldiers flocked to the only way out, only to be huddled together. Rebel soldiers attacked behind them, engaged in a one-sided battle.

In the midst of the chaos, only the officers and soldiers who had escaped early and the lucky few managed to cross the narrow bridge over the first moat, while the others, chased by mortar fire, suicide bombs and bullets, either died, were incapacitated, or jumped into the moat, as some had done at the beginning, or were pushed down by their own men. But Filipino soldiers soon chased down the river and fired bullets at the struggling drowning men with impunity. The soldiers and two machine guns on the triangular fort also diverted fire again.

The Spanish soldiers who fell into the moat had no choice but to dive underwater, but still could not escape the deadly bullets. The river soon added some red and gradually became more and more pronounced.

"Help!" Someone is calling for help.

Only by this time did the senior officers remember that they should provide cover for these soldiers.

"Fire!" The colonel roared at the junior officer and every soldier he could hear, "Fire!" Drive the rebels away from the moat! ”

"Fire!" The junior officers, who had just woken up from a dream, also began to yell loudly, urging their numb soldiers to move with their leather boots and pistol handles. It was only because of absolute obedience to their superiors and instinctive reactions formed through training that the Spanish soldiers on the walls and in the fortresses mechanically aimed their weapons at the banks of the river and the triangle fort, and then returned their death to the elated rebel soldiers.

Captain Alvarez and his men apparently neglected to defend themselves against the threat from Manila, and they were defenseless, losing dozens of men in an instant; The Filipino soldiers in the Triangle Fort also suffered heavy losses, and hundreds of them were unable to recover their bodies from the parapet in time, and as a result, they lost their lives.

At such times, they can only take their attention away from the enemy who has fallen into the water and at the same time hide themselves in a safer position.

The Spanish soldiers did what the senior officers wanted them to do, but death still threatened every person who survived the water for the time being. The mercenaries further increased the density of fire support, and extended the artillery fire a little forward, so that the shells fell right into the moat; And their firing speed was so fast that nearly two hundred columns of water rose in the river every minute.

Obviously, they were not prepared to spare a single person who had fallen into the water, and certainly none of them were able to escape the fire net they had constructed, and it was not long before a layer of corpses floated on the surface of the water.

And only corpses. No matter how hard Colonel Campos tried, he couldn't see a single survivor. The same is true of other high-ranking officers.

"It seems...... No one is still alive. An officer said, his voice inaudible.

"Everybody's dead." The other officer looked more closely for a moment, and then affirmed that he was in pain.

"Damn Yankees!" Colonel Campos's body shook slightly. Now he is full of hatred for those Americans, a visceral, uncontrollable hatred. He had also liked these fellows - neither the evil English opium dealers nor the arrogant Gallic roosters, and the Americans had always given the Colonel a mild and harmless feeling. But now, these guys are acting like cold killing machines. Executioners who ignore the morality of war!

Campos hates them now.

Yet at this moment, it seems that he can do nothing, and will always be. Except, of course, that is already a matter of no doubt, holding on to Manila and making the invaders pay a heavy price. The problem, however, was that the Americans must have tricked the Filipino rebels into acting as the main force, consuming the precious lives and more precious ammunition of the Spanish soldiers with the lives of thousands of cheap natives; When they attacked, Manila was defenseless.

He didn't get a chance to pay them back.

The colonel felt that his future was nothing but pessimism and depression.

A staff officer ran towards him. "Governor Augustine has asked you to report the results of the counterattack, Colonel."

"I will report to His Excellency the Governor on the results of the counterattack, when I have time." He replied distraughtly. The officers and soldiers who had narrowly escaped were entering Manila, but they appeared to be less than two companies, and there was no Lieutenant Colonel Osorio among them.

After a little longer, there was still no lieutenant colonel, and the remnants of the army had all entered the city.

Campos' mood grew heavier, but there was still a glimmer of hope. He walked over to an officer. "Second Lieutenant, where is Lieutenant Colonel Osorio?"

"We're done, sir." The second lieutenant replied.

"Where's Lieutenant Colonel Osorio!"

"We're done, sir."

"I ask you—" Campos paused. He suddenly realized that the second lieutenant had completely broken down, and if he looked at the others, they were no better off than him, or even worse. The colonel sighed and stepped aside to make way for the lost soldiers.

It can only be assumed that Lieutenant Colonel Osorio has been killed. Campos had to admit this fact. This meant that, as the main proponent of the counterattack, he had to bear most of Augustine's anger alone. Thankfully, it wasn't a particularly important issue, and no matter how angry the Governor was, he could still rely on them as professional soldiers, otherwise Manila would have fallen sooner than he had hoped.

Campos straightened his uniform and nodded to the staff officer. "Let's go to see Your Excellency the Governor."

However, at the very moment when he took his first step, perhaps because of the thought of seeing Augustine's comical appearance of anger, he suddenly laughed.

Aguinaldo was laughing, too, laughing loudly, laughing and laughing - the president of the Philippines had been laughing more than ever in recent times, the Spaniards had been driven into Manila, his troops had won two more victories in a row, and finally, Dewey had just sent an officer to bring news that a cargo ship carrying supplies of ammunition had entered Manila Bay and that his fleet was about to rejoin the war. There is no doubt that the day will soon come when the Spaniards will finally be driven out and the Philippines will be freed.

"I am the national hero of the Philippines, and I will go down in history." He thought triumphantly, satisfied that he would leave a mark in the history books. "Perhaps," he continued, "I should have thought of an honorific name." Liberator of the Philippines, Father of the Republic, Distinguished Leader and Military Strategist ......"

"Mr. President," an aide walked in, interrupting Aguinaldo's fantasies—but it was actually Qin Lang who interrupted him. "General Qin is outside, he wants to see you."

"Ah, General Qin!" Aquinado exclaimed, "Please let him in." (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )