"Look!" The shouts of one of the commanders were noticed, "The Spanish army is advancing towards our positions." Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Qin Lang raised the binoculars and looked in the direction he was pointing. Soon, he got an estimate. "There is a regiment, and close to a thousand Filipino servants." He turned to the commanders, "whose troops are in position?" ”

"My troops, Brigadier General." Fan. Commander Dean replied immediately, with palpable pride: his unit would be the first American army to engage the Spanish army and crush it, perhaps with a congressional reward, and perhaps a record in history. Well done, Spaniard.

Qin Lang nodded and opened his mouth—but no matter what he was about to say, approval or encouragement, a mercenary came over and interrupted him. "General, Rear Admiral Dewey asked, if naval artillery support is needed."

"There's no need." Before he answered, Fan. Dean preemptively said, "Please tell the Rear Admiral that I am very grateful for his kindness, but my troops do not need artillery support." ”

The commander's attitude was clear, but the mercenary still looked at Qin Lang until he said, "Reply to the rear admiral according to the commander's instructions." ”

"Yes, General."

Two minutes later, Dewey got a reply. He smiled and said to the captains gathered around him, "I knew that Qin Lang didn't need the fleet to provide artillery support. His army had fought against 30,000 Italians in Abyssinia, and the Spaniards were just a small thing. ”

Unbeknownst to the rear admiral, the mercenaries who had participated in the Abyssinian War were watching from the sidelines, and that the only combat experience of the mercenaries on the ground was in the jungles of Vietnam against the rebels. Of course, this deficiency did not affect the reflexes of the soldiers, but in a few moments, they were ready for battle.

"Everyone is ready to fire, sir." Venthei reported to Thomas, "Company B is on our left, Company C is on our right. They will be aligned with us. ”

"Firearms Company?"

"The firearms company is out of your command, sir." Wen Desi said.

Thomas shrugged nonchalantly. It didn't really matter whether the firearms company was under his command or not: nine machine guns in its establishment had been sent to the infantry company, and now there were only six 81-millimeter mortars left in the entire company - and the commander of the firearms company refused to hand them over because he wanted to give orders himself and make himself more important in the battle, or at least it seemed important.

"But he only has six mortars." The commander thought mockingly, "The only one who will play the main role in this battle is my infantry ......"

A familiar whistling of cannonballs as they flew interrupted his thoughts. Thomas quickly looked up just in time to see an explosion in the middle of the enemy army - the firearms company was fired, and one shell after another fell into the target. The sudden and heavy shelling caused the Spaniards and their Filipino minions to be visibly confused for a moment, but under the reprimand of the officer, the soldiers quickly regained their composure and continued to line up.

Thomas and Wende, as well as the other mercenaries on the ground, though they knew that their comrades who had fought in the Abyssinian War had encountered, were experiencing for the first time such a ridiculous and ridiculous situation: an army was under shelling, and yet its soldiers did not immediately attack, seek cover, or retreat outright, but tried their best to form a standard queue under fire.

It's incredible, it's overwhelming and overwhelming.

"I thought that after the tragedy of the Italians, the armies of other countries should learn a little lesson." Finally, Thomas commented, "No one seems to have taken the Abyssinian War seriously. ”

Wen Deji nodded mechanically, and then said, "If they continue to toss like this, we haven't opened fire yet, and the battle will be over." ”

"Their commander should do something." Thomas was completely unaware of the strangeness of his proposal: he went so far as to demand decisive action from the enemy to get out of the crisis. Wen Deji didn't pay attention to it either. He simply felt that it might be more realistic to ask the firearms companies to stop firing than to expect the Spaniards to act.

In fact, Lieutenant Colonel Osolio had already acted at the beginning of the shelling, but his orders and demands were not carried out.

"The artilleryman refused to fire?" The lieutenant colonel glared at his adjutant, "What does it mean to refuse to fire?" ”

He didn't understand what this meant—before the attack began, he had asked the artillery in Manila for fire support, and when the Americans started shelling, he asked the artillery to fight back, but the adjutant finally came back with the message that "the artillery refused to fire" - what the hell were those stupid pigs trying to do?

"Governor Augustine fears Manila shelled by the American fleet......"

"That stupid pig!" Osolio roared, "He should be court-martialed!" One day, I will file a court-martialed complaint against him for dereliction of duty and collaborating with the enemy......"

"Lieutenant Colonel!" An officer interrupted him, "Should we let the troops retreat?" ”

"Where are you going to retreat your troops?" Osorio asked angrily.

"Uh...... Lieutenant Colonel...... Maybe ......"

"Shut up!" Osolio's patience had long since run out, and he didn't want to listen to a fool justifying his stupidity—retreat? The trench dug by the Filipino rebels was only a kilometer from the city wall, but this distance was within the range of the American artillery, and if his troops continued to retreat, they would retreat all the way to the back of the wall. There was no point in doing so without considering whether or not the tactical maneuver would make the stupid pig angry - even if the troops were to complete the formation within the city walls and cross the drawbridge, they would be in a mess again.

"Maybe we should stop the formation and let the troops attack immediately." Another officer suggested.

"Perhaps......" Osorio hesitated, not knowing whether he should accept the suggestion or reprimand the madman who proposed it as he had just done. He had never attempted to command a disorganized or non-formed unit into battle, and neither did any other officer in the unit.

And in the lieutenant colonel's understanding, only a defeated army would be disorganized. Stopping the formation and letting the soldiers charge in a chaotic manner is almost impossible to win.

Osoglio had a hard time making up his mind, but his options were quickly disappearing.

"Lieutenant Colonel." The officer who made the suggestion urged, "Either order the troops to retreat, or just attack like this, we have no other choice, the soldiers are dying!" ”

Of course, the officer slightly exaggerated the losses suffered by the troops. Despite the high frequency of the firing, which led to the mistaken belief that a field artillery battalion was being fired, only six mortars did not inflict serious casualties on the Spanish army - the power of the shells was noticeably small. And at the current distance, it is almost impossible for the mercenaries to achieve the desired accuracy of fire, and many shells fall outside the predetermined range.

So far, it was only the morale of the Spanish soldiers that had been seriously affected, there was not much left, and the Filipino servant army was almost on the verge of collapse.

"Lieutenant Colonel, you must make a decision right away!" The officer urged again.

"But with this approach, we're going to fail." Osorio is still opposed.

"If we continue in formation, we will definitely fail." The officer almost shouted, "And now if we attack, maybe we have a chance to pull one back." ”

Osorio turned his gaze to his troops. Realizing that there was little else to lose, the lieutenant colonel finally decided to try this new approach. A minute later, more than 2,000 Spanish soldiers and Filipino servants, still able to move, began to charge at the American positions - the only Maxim machine gun in the entire regiment began to fire, not to hit anything, but only to boost morale.

At this moment, Thomas finally breathed a sigh of relief. "They've finally done something right." He glanced at his watch, "Ten minutes was taken, and it's not too late." All ready. ”

The commander's last words were addressed to his soldiers, but even if he didn't say anything, the mercenaries were aiming for the targets that rushed up. The chaotic formation, although not a neat queue, is still dense and is the ideal target for activity. The mercenaries in the trenches encouraged each other and wished everyone a happy shooting.

And seven hundred yards.

"Mortar fire!" Thomas triumphantly gave the first order - it was his turn to show the power of his 60mm mortar. More explosions were made among the Spaniards, and the frequency increased, and casualties began to skyrocket.

But the soldiers were still charging, shouting loudly, quickly closing in on the second line of death.

Five hundred yards.

"Machine gun fire!"

The gunfire that erupted from the mercenary position instantly overwhelmed the Makqin. It was the first time that Spanish soldiers, including Osorio, had seen eighteen machine guns firing at the same time - but for many, it was the last time they had seen them. As in Abyssinia and Vietnam, the Browning machine gun harvested lives with its usual efficiency, creating large blank spaces in the middle of the ranks of enemy troops, like wheat fields swept by a sickle.

Dewey put down his binoculars. "I don't think there's any need to waste energy on this fight. Qin Lang's mercenaries won, and the Spaniards paid a heavy price, so they should be well aware of their situation. ”

"Regrettably, we cannot accept their surrender." Gridley glanced at the passenger ship that was anchored nearby and Qin Lang was on, "I'm curious to know how long he can capture Manila." ”

"No doubt it won't be long." (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.) )