In the spring of the ninth year of Shenwu, the American army of the Chinese Empire successively conquered dozens of small and medium-sized towns such as Yuma, Phoenix, Albuquerque, and Lawton, and surrounded Santa Fe, an important town in northern Mexico, making it an isolated castle.

The Spanish army in the north of the Spanish Dynasty was inferior to the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness.

The infantry division of the Royal Chinese Army is an all-firearms army, with 10,000 people and 100 artillery pieces as standard, compared with 70 percent of the firearms coverage rate and 30 percent of cold weapons for every 10,000 people in the Spanish army, of which there are 30 artillery guns per 10,000 people, compared with 100 guns per 10,000 people in the Imperial Chinese Army, the gap is very large.

Of course, in this era, only the Imperial Chinese Army was an all-firearms unit, and among the other countries in the world, only the Dutch had a ninety percent coverage rate of firearms, and the rest of the countries had considerable spear infantry as a supplement.

The reason for this situation is that it cannot be said that hot weapons cannot defeat cold weapons. All because the muskets of this era were strongly affected by the weather, especially in rainy days, and musketeers and artillery could not fire at all, so if they fought at this time, then they could only rely on cold weapons.

However, European countries never fight in the rain, and it seems that an unspoken rule has been formed, and each other acquiesces to it. However, there are exceptions to this, and many countries that are lagging behind in firearms will still take the opportunity to fight back. Of course, the big tide is still rainy days and no war.

It is precisely because the armies of some countries still choose to attack on rainy days that the firearms units of European countries do not dare to completely maintain the full configuration of firearms, and must allocate some infantry using cold weapons according to the ratio of 10 or 3 or 4 percent.

Of course, it is more important to note that European musketeers were not able to engage in close-quarters combat with weapons other than long-range shooting, so they had to be equipped with a certain percentage of soldiers who used cold weapons.

This has led to the weaker firepower of the firearms units of Western countries, which of course is compared with the Chinese Imperial Army.

The infantry division of the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire used all-firearms troops, and because of the personal hobby of Emperor Deng Haonan, the Shenwu Emperor, the proportion of artillery in the infantry division was extremely high.

Emperor Shenwu solved the shortcomings of the firearms units of Western countries by equipping the muskets used by the soldiers with long bayonets, so that the musketeers did not need the protection of other cold-weapon infantry.

Of course, just in case, Deng Haonan did not give up the cavalry, and the cavalry and musketeers were used together, so that the army was not only ahead in firearms battles, but also in cold weapons. The cavalry is a combination of the advantages of China and the West, the introduction of the West high war horses, the formation of the Oriental heavy cavalry, so that even in cavalry battles, the army of the Chinese Empire also has an absolute advantage.

The Spanish army in North America and Mexico engaged in a large-scale battle with the Orientals for the first time, and in the face of the absolute superiority of the Chinese Empire's army, the Spanish army was in a weak position in the confrontation of firearms, and in the confrontation of cold weapons, it was not able to resist the heavy armored cavalry of the Chinese Empire.

The Chinese Imperial Jaguar and Leopard rode everywhere to fight in the autumn wind, and the Spanish army did not dare to go out of the city to fight, because they knew that once they went out to fight, they would be killed.

The Battle of Phoenix was still fresh a month earlier, when the Mexican side sent 30,000 troops to fight the Fourth Infantry Division of the Imperial Chinese Army on the grasslands of Thamo on the northern outskirts of Phoenix.

At that time, because the Chinese Imperial Army had only 10,000 men and 100 artillery pieces, while the Mexican side had 30,000 men and 95 artillery pieces, the artillery battle between the two sides was evenly matched, and the number of infantry on the Mexican side was 20,000 more, so it can be said that the Spaniards had the upper hand.

However, just as the two sides were fighting fiercely, God made a big joke and it rained heavily.

The rain was pouring down, and the Spaniards naturally chose to retreat. However, at this time, the Fourth Division of the Royal Army of the Imperial Chinese Army launched a charge.

The commander of the Mexican army thought at that time that the Chinese imperialist army was stupid, and that 10,000 people wanted to attack 30,000 people, apparently looking for death.

The Mexican army commander accepted the challenge and ordered all Mexican troops to turn around and face the battle.

A large-scale hand-to-hand combat began.

The two sides scuffled in the heavy rain, but the result was one-sided. The troops of the Chinese Empire quickly overwhelmed the Mexican army's front, inflicting huge casualties on the Spanish soldiers.

The reason is that the muskets of the Chinese Imperial Army were armed with bayonets, and in contrast, the muskets of the Spanish soldiers had become burning sticks at this time, and they were naturally invincible.

By the time the commander of the Mexican army discovered this huge flaw, it was already too late, and the Chinese imperial army quickly overwhelmed the Mexican army, and the 30,000 Spanish soldiers fell apart and fled in all directions.

To the Spaniards' dismay, although the Mexican army had three spearmen who could barely fight the infantry of the Chinese Empire, the heavy cavalry of the Chinese Empire soon rushed to kill them. The spearmen were very effective against the light cavalry, but they were deflated against the jaguar and leopard riders who were all in armor.

20,000 jaguars and leopards and 10,000 army infantry divisions slaughtered 30,000 Spaniards as lambs in a hunt.

When he left the city, he was still 30,000 young master soldiers who showed off his might, and only 33 people came back in the end.

In front of the thirty-three people, they did not escape death, because they entered the city with their front feet, and the cavalry of the Chinese Empire on the back feet killed them, and directly took the small city of Felix.

After the Battle of Felix, the Spanish army in northern Mexico no longer dared to go out of the city to fight, and all of them retreated into the city.

There were still more than 20,000 Mexican troops inside Santa Fe at this time, and the 3rd Infantry Division outside the city was shelling the city every day.

The field capabilities of infantry artillery were naturally a strong point, but bombarding the castles of the Spaniards was somewhat laborious.

There was no high ground around Santa Fe to exploit, so the infantry artillery was not close enough to the elevation angle, and far away was not enough to destroy.

For a time, the 3rd Infantry Division could not capture Santa Fe and could only be consumed.

"I can only bomb the city"

Looking at the Santa Fe Castle every day, the division commander He Zhi finally gave up the idea of making the other side surrender, and had to take the last resort, which was to blow up their city walls.

"It should be possible to dig tunnels to the city in the way of earthwork"

Assisting the 3rd Infantry Division in the battle was the Jaguar Cavalry Division, and it was not a day or two since Shi Tingzhu built a tunnel and dug tunnels. When he was on the mainland, as an officer of the Han Army under Huang Taiji, he did not mention this tactic.

This tactic may seem earthy, but it is the most effective.

He Zhi nodded in agreement, so he ordered people to dig tunnels to the castle of Santa Fe and plant explosives to prepare to blow up the city.

Santa Fe Castle was built for the Indians of the Americas, and it didn't take much effort to deal with them, so the Spanish castle in Mexico was not a powerful star fortress, just an ordinary castle. Since the Indians did not have firearms at all, the Spaniards did not build anti-explosion embankments when they built castles, but simply brick walls to prevent tunnels.

But it was this simple brick wall that also caused considerable excavation difficulties for the sappers of the Third Division. Because the Spaniards cut corners, this underground brick wall structure was very unstable. On the fifth day of the sappers' work, the tunnel collapsed, and the Spanish guards in the city discovered that they mobilized their forces to attack the tunnel, and the first tunnel digging ended in failure.

However, He Zhi was not discouraged, the east side was exposed, and then continued to excavate from the west.

The Chinese Imperial Army was digging tunnels to blow up the city walls, which caused the Spaniards in the city to panic. Although they discovered each other this time, they knew that the Chinese imperial army would not stop.

The invisible pressure caused panic among the Spanish troops and civilians in the city, who were already isolated and helpless, and it was only a matter of time before the city was broken by the Chinese imperial army.

The mental stress has made the people in Santa Fe more and more panicked, and they have been holding out for more than two months, and the lack of reinforcements from Mexico City has made them feel as if they have been abandoned.

Since the city will be broken sooner or later, it is obviously much better to take the initiative to surrender the city than to break the city by the other party. After all, the city of San Jose was not massacred by the Chinese imperial army and could still survive.

The Spaniards were well aware of the cruelty of colonial wars, and as colonizers, it was natural for them to kill the aborigines after the invasion. Obviously, the Spaniards knew how they slaughtered the Indians before them, and at this time the retribution came, and the Chinese Empire became colonizers, then the Spaniards were aborigines, and the Spaniards were afraid of death at this time.

Fortunately, the infantry divisions of the Chinese Empire were not yet in the habit of slaughtering cities, so the Spaniards in Santa Fe began to consider the question of surrendering or continuing to fight.

Soon, the Spanish troops in the city listened to the underground and heard that the Chinese Empire's engineering troops were digging tunnels in the west of the city.

The news was originally tightly sealed by the mayor of Santa Fe, but it still spread to the hundreds, and soon it became popular throughout the city, and suddenly the Spaniards set off a new round of psychological panic.

At this time, He Zhi was not idle, and while sending artillery to bombard the Santa Fe Castle every day, he also psychologically intimidated the Spaniards in the city, saying that if they did not surrender, they would slaughter the city after it was broken. In the event of surrender, then the Imperial army guarantees that there will be no massacre of the city.

Beat a stick and give a sweet date, this is the usual method of the Chinese Imperial Army, and it has been tried and tested.

With the support of a strong army, the Spanish defenders in Santa Fe finally chose to surrender. They knew that the part below the city wall was not blocked by any blast-proof levees, so sooner or later it would be destroyed by the Chinese Imperial Army. Once the walls are blown up, then they will not be able to hold Santa Fe.

In order to avoid being slaughtered, the mayor of Santa Fe was forced to surrender voluntarily at the behest of most of the city's citizens.

On 3 February, the remaining 3,000 defenders of Santa Fe surrendered.

In the afternoon of the same day, the 3rd Infantry Division and the Jaguar Cavalry Division of the Royal Chinese Army marched into the city and took over the first fortress city in northern Mexico.

The reason why there were only 3,000 Spanish troops left was mainly because most of the other soldiers were militia in nature, and it was obvious that after surrender, the soldiers would be turned into prisoners and imprisoned, waiting for the two governments to exchange prisoners of war after the war, or they would be imprisoned or killed for the rest of their lives. The civilians were different, the Chinese imperialist army promised not to slaughter the city, so the civilians could continue to live. No ruler would kill all the civilians lightly, because the commoners are the source of their wealth, and killing them all is equivalent to cutting off the way to wealth.

When the Chinese Imperial Army entered the city, they first imprisoned more than 3,000 Spanish soldiers in a concentration camp, and then confiscated all the muskets in the hands of civilians in the castle, including any weapons that could kill or wound the Imperial soldiers. The Spaniards, though not happy with this, had no choice but to do so.

The mayor of Santa Fe is the supreme administrator of the city, and the military is also under his control, so he has a lot of power.

The mayor's name is Berrocquede, with the blood of the Spanish royal family, but already a collateral lineage.

However, Berokde flaunted his might in front of the other Spaniards, and he didn't dare to make a noise in front of He Zhi.

The mayor's residence was turned into a makeshift hotel for He Zhi and Seok Tingzhu, and the city hall became a meeting place for military officers.

From the first day of entering the city, Ho Zhi focused on Santa Fe's wealth. After all, as a colonial army, colonial plunder is the first priority.

Santa Fe, Mexico's northern stronghold, is not only strategically important, but also rich in the city.

The imperial colonial army has been plundering northern Mexico for a long time, and it is only a few small and medium-sized towns, and a large city like Santa Fe is occupied for the first time.

Santa Fe's coffers were intact, and Ho Zhi said when he accepted their surrender that he would destroy the disaster.

Berracket naturally understood the meaning of destroying wealth and eliminating disasters, and the more than 7 million silver dollars in the treasury, as well as the gold and silver treasures worth more than 10 million silver dollars, were firmly encapsulated and did not dare to move a single bit, and even forced some merchants, farmers, and miners in the city to raise 3 million silver dollars to donate to the Chinese imperial army as a reward.

He Zhi received a fortune worth more than 20 million silver dollars directly from Berrowkede, but he did not stop. The Imperial Army took over all kinds of shops and shops in the city, and the manors and mines outside the city had long been occupied.

But this time, He Zhi thought of a trick to make money, and after seizing these places from the Spaniards, he sold them at several times the price.

Obviously, this is blackmail in disguise.

The Spanish merchants, the big farmers, and the miners hated it so much, but they couldn't do anything about it. Some were even pointed at guns and had to pay for them with bankruptcy. Naturally, the wealth is the most in the hands of the rich, and compared to the state-owned assets of Santa Fe, He Zhi has scavenged nearly 30 million silver dollars from the rich Spaniards. In this way, Ho Zhi looted about 50 million silver dollars from Santa Fe, breaking a new record for looting since the invasion of Mexico.

Picking out some rare treasures, He Zhi packed them up as gifts for Emperor Shenwu and the concubines of the harem. The rest was transported to the Foggy City Fortress, handed over to the Dispatch Command, and then deposited in the Imperial Bank of America.

People are selfish, and of course the officers and soldiers of the American Dispatch Army want to leave more gold and silver treasures. However, they still have to continue the war, so naturally they can't carry real money with them. Not to mention that the gold and silver treasures are very heavy, which affects the weight of the soldiers, and at the same time, the soldiers are killed in battle, so the property is easy to lose.

Therefore, the Imperial soldiers had no choice but to hand over all the treasures they had seized and the Imperial Government would reward them for their meritorious deeds. In this way, the proceeds of the soldiers were recorded and deposited in the Imperial Bank of America, so that they could take home when they returned home in the future. At the same time, even if a soldier is killed, the property will be returned to the families of the fallen soldiers.

Although most of the money has been handed over to the national treasury, compared with their colleagues who eat in China, their blood and sweat have not been wasted, and the wealth they have obtained is enough to go home in the future and live the rest of their lives in peace. Therefore, the general attitude of the soldiers towards the colonial war in the Americas is still very positive.

Santa Fe, the center of northern Mexico, is actually the central city. After the fall of Santa Fe, the entire three northern states of Mexico fell into the colonial territory of the Chinese Empire.

At the same time, the fall of Santa Fe opened the door to central Mexico, and the American Dispatch Army pulled out the nail of Santa Fe and could drive straight into Mexico's richest central and southern regions.

For a time, the Spaniards in south-central Mexico were terrified.

The Mexican governor, Reynoldsa, could no longer contain the situation and had to report the situation to Spain proper. Of course, he put the blame on the Mexican general Tiquelas, saying that Tiqueiras organized the army to fight unfavorably, and led Mexico to suffer heavy losses, and at the same time canceled the annual normal annual shipment of about 300 million silver dollars to the Spanish mainland, all of which was used as the war funds for Mexico to organize a counterattack against the military invasion of the Chinese Empire.

In fact, Reynosa wanted to swallow up more money for herself. At this time, there was an excuse to say that most of the gold and silver in Mexico had been stolen by the Chinese imperial army, so that there was no need to give money to the Spanish royal family in the homeland.

Reynoldsa is naturally a good idea, and it is simply a shame for his conscience not to make a fortune at this time.

However, Tiqueiras was not in favor of transporting gold and silver back to Spain, because he knew that defeating the military invasion of the Chinese Empire would require a large number of troops and weapons, so a large war would cost a lot of money, and withholding this amount of money would better defend Mexico.

For this reason, Tiqueiras supported Reynoldsa, but Reynosa still made him unhappy with his small report. However, Reynoldsa also wanted Tiqueiras to help stop the military invasion of the Chinese Empire, so he specially allocated 30 million Mexican Eagle Ocean to Tiqueiras as military expenses.

After receiving 30 million eagles, Tiqueiras immediately expanded his army on a large scale, buying large quantities of weapons, ammunition, and various military supplies in the south, which had never been attacked. At the same time, soldiers were recruited for training among the Spaniards who had fled from the north. In response to the cavalry of the Chinese Empire, Tiqueiras also formed a cavalry force of about 30,000 men. V