Chapter 373: Battle of the Colorado Wastelands (Part II)

When the sun is in the sky, it is red like a fire. The autumn breeze is blowing, and the vast Colorado wilderness is a unique scenery.

The dull sound of horses' hooves sounded, and a group of elite cavalry galloped across the plateau by the river, rolling up a long cloud of sand.

This is the reconnaissance cavalry of the Jaguar and Leopard Cavalry of the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire, looking at the entire Colorado wasteland, there are countless cavalry of this kind of dozen squads.

In order to find out the route of the Spanish army, Ma Guangyuan sent several groups of reconnaissance cavalry to monitor the Mexican army from the direction of the city of Huaruiz.

In the winter of the ninth year of Shenwu, the Chinese Empire America sent troops to attack the city of Huaruiz for a long time, so they feigned defeat and made a strategic retreat, and the jaguar and leopard rode east to attack the Texas region, pulling out the Spanish defenders in Dallas, and at the same time hiding troops in the Colorado wasteland, waiting for the Spanish army to counterattack.

In the spring of the tenth year of Shenwu, Tiquelas, the supreme commander of the Spanish-Mexican army, finally lost his patience and was eager to send troops to recover the northern territory of Mexico, and on February 7, he led a large army out of the city of Huaruiz and advanced towards the Colorado wilderness.

On a plateau, a group of Imperial Chinese scout cavalry stood on top of a cliff, the Colorado River was rolling down, and the advance party of the Spanish army was slowly marching on the other side of the river.

These days, the Spanish march has been harassed by jaguars and leopards from the Chinese Empire, especially the logistical supply convoys, which have been repeatedly attacked and severely damaged.

Originally, Tiqueiras had brought a lot of food and water, but the tank was broken in half, forcing the Spanish soldiers to march along the water sources.

There was only one Colorado River in the Colorado Wilderness, so the Spanish army had to move north along the area around the river.

A Spanish soldier spotted the Imperial Chinese reconnaissance cavalry on the plateau on the other side of the river and fired a warning shot. Several groups of Spanish musketeers then fired across the river to drive the enemy away.

The Imperial Chinese cavalry on the plateau did not pay any attention to each other, and soon disappeared from the sight of the Spaniards.

This has happened many times, and the Scout cavalry of the Chinese Empire will always appear in places that the Spaniards do not expect, spying on them.

Suddenly, a horseman came, and a moment later came to the scout cavalry.

"Report, the division headquarters ordered all reconnaissance cavalry to withdraw"

The captain asked, "Why did they all withdraw and stop investigating?" ”

The signal corpsman said: "The command of the dispatch corps has just sent the air force to support, so in order to prevent our scouts from being captured by the enemy, the division headquarters requires all the scouts to withdraw and the air force to replace the reconnaissance."

"Air Force?"

The captain looked at the team members next to him with doubts on his face, and none of them understood.

The signal corpsman smiled and said, "Forget it, I will make an exception to introduce you to the headquarters sent us a hot air balloon squadron, which is the Royal Air Force that was just formed in China some time ago."

"The more I talk, the more confused I become"

The captain smiled bitterly: "What is a hot air balloon?" ”

The signal corpsman smiled bitterly and said: "I don't know very well, but I heard the commanders privately say that it is a thing that can carry people to the sky, and when I came out, this air force squadron had already set off, and I think we could meet them on the way back."

Something that could take people to the sky, everyone's curiosity was aroused, and they hurriedly returned to the station with the signal corps.

On the way, they kept staring at the sky, and sure enough, they spotted a hot air balloon from the 3rd Squadron of the Royal Air Force.

After seeing the hot air balloons in the air one by one, they were all dumbfounded.

Under the sun, hundreds of meters in the air, a hot air balloon slowly flew into the distance. From the binoculars, you can clearly see the dragon totem symbol on the hot air balloon, as well as the two Royal Air Force pilots in the gondola.

Similarly, the pilot on the hot air balloon noticed that the cavalry brothers on the ground were staring at them, and immediately waved his hand.

"They waved at me"

The captain shouted happily, and the team members next to him happily waved their hands in the air, although they did not have binoculars and could not see clearly, but they were undoubtedly extremely excited.

As the balloon departed, the cavalry hurried back to their station, as they couldn't wait to know more about the Air Force and the balloon.

According to the establishment of the Royal Air Force, the Chinese Empire currently has 48 hot air balloons, which are organized into the First Flying Group of the Royal Air Force. The brigade has three flying squadrons, one squadron is equipped with 12 hot air balloons, and three flying squadrons, each with four hot air balloons. Of these, only the hot air balloon of the first flight squad of each squadron is a mobile reconnaissance balloon, and the second and third squadrons are stationary sounding reconnaissance balloons.

Due to the large size of the American battlefield and the sparse population, it is difficult for the Empire's intelligence system to carry out the work in the Americas, which brings great inconvenience to the Imperial Americas' dispatch troops. Therefore, the Imperial General Staff considered the situation in the Americas and felt that the newly formed Royal Air Force could be used to help the American Dispatch Force conduct large-scale reconnaissance and solve the difficulties caused by the lack of intelligence.

In the vast Colorado Wasteland, the number of recon cavalry mounted by the Imperial Jaguar and Leopard Cavalry is too small to fully control the reconnaissance operations on the battlefield. To this end, the Dispatch Force Command of the Americas, with the support of the Royal Air Force, immediately sent the 3rd Flying Squadron over.

The hot air balloons of the second and third teams took turns to reconnoiter and set up sentry posts over the ground of the American Dispatch Army. By scouting the situation from a height of the upper meter, you can grasp the situation in the surrounding area.

He Zhi, Li Kai, Ma Guangyuan, Shi Tingzhu and other major officers boarded the hot air balloon one after another, went to the air to feel it, and were full of praise for the hot air balloon.

"Great"

Coming down from the hot air balloon, He Zhi and other officers were full of praise, still reminiscing about the feeling of being in the air just now. However, they don't know how to fly a hot air balloon, so they can only stay in a stationary hot air balloon and cannot experience the thrill of flying hot air balloons. However, Rao is like this, for them "ancients", it is exciting enough, maybe they will be so excited that they can't sleep tonight.

Ma Guangyuan sighed: "With this thing and the Air Force, I think our ground scouts should withdraw from the stage"

He Zhi nodded and said: "Yes, this thing can fly to a position of hundreds of meters or thousands of meters, and it can gain insight into the situation within a radius of tens of miles, or even hundreds of miles, and the movement of our army is clear at a glance.

Li Kai said excitedly: "When we commanded the large corps to fight before, the adjustment and change of the infantry phalanx was quite time-consuming, and it was often difficult to meet the wishes, but now with this thing, I think we can take the lead in arranging the troops, and carry out key raids on the weaknesses of the enemy's formation, which will greatly improve the combat effectiveness of our army."

Everyone was full of praise for the hot air balloon, and at this time, Shi Tingzhu, the commander of the Jaguar Cavalry Division, suddenly poured cold water and said: "You can't hold the air force and the hot air balloon to Tianzhao for me, the shortcomings of this hot air balloon are also very fatal, if we rely entirely on hot air balloons, once we encounter heavy rain and strong winds, our army will become blind."

Shi Tingzhu poured cold water, although He Zhi and the others felt disappointed, they had to say that this was a fact.

Ma Guangyuan said at this time: "I think Tingzhu is right, this hot air balloon can only be used when the wind is good, and if it encounters a heavy storm and rainy weather, we have to rely on our scouts on the ground."

He Zhi and the others nodded in agreement. However, with this large-area reconnaissance tool, there is no doubt that the combat capability of the Imperial Chinese Army has been greatly enhanced.

After the scout cavalry of the Imperial Chinese Army stopped scouting the Spanish army, they scared the Spaniards for several days. However, the cavalry of the Chinese Empire was not found in the following days, and the Spaniards breathed a sigh of relief.

Tiqueiras sent the scout cavalry out for more than a hundred miles, but still did not find a shadow of the Chinese Imperial Army.

In this way, Tiqueiras dared to march with confidence.

The Royal Air Force of the Chinese Imperial Air Force kept a watchful eye on the Mexican army, and the hot air balloons followed the Spaniards wherever they went, knowing everything about the Spanish army.

On the evening of 11 February, near a wasteland more than 100 miles away from where the Spanish army was stationed, the Jaguar and Panther Cavalry of the Chinese Empire and the 3rd and 4th Divisions of the Royal Army completed their assembly.

After several days of reconnaissance, the American dispatch of the Chinese Empire had figured out the march and reconnaissance of the Spanish army.

At this time of the day, the Spaniards' scout cavalry would send someone back to the station to report the situation. No recon cavalry from the Chinese Empire had been found for five days, so as usual, the Spanish cavalry returned to report safety, and Tiqueiras ordered the entire army to be stationed in place.

The Spaniards' scout cavalry had just left and returned to the garrison to report safety. With the help of the Royal Air Force, the Chinese Imperial Jaguar and Leopard Cavalry began to encircle and annihilate the remaining Spaniard reconnaissance cavalry.

The Spaniards had eight teams of scout cavalry, corresponding to eight directions, and made carpet recouts every day. There were only twenty or thirty men in each team, and they would gather together after one patrol in a designated direction at a time.

The jaguar and leopard cavalry poured out, and the warriors, guided by the hot air balloon, quietly approached the assembly position of the Spanish reconnaissance cavalry, and surrounded the Spanish reconnaissance cavalry in the northwest, north, northeast, east and southeast directions.

The Spanish scout cavalry suddenly discovered a large number of Chinese imperial cavalry, and were about to turn around and report back, but they were surrounded.

In the face of the overwhelming enemy army, the Spanish reconnaissance cavalry in five places was completely annihilated, and they didn't understand why they were dumplings by the other party until they died.

And each of them knew that they would not be able to turn a blind eye, because they had just informed the base camp of the news of their safety, and there were enemy troops here. The base camp didn't know the situation here at all, and thought it was safe, which would be very dangerous or even devastating for the base camp.

"Report, enemy sentry cleared"

After getting the news, Ma Guangyuan looked at his watch, just after six o'clock.

"The main force of the Spanish army is camped on the banks of the river a hundred miles away, and the second group of scout cavalry will be sent tomorrow morning"

He Zhi said: "The Spaniards are not looking, tonight is the best time for us to sneak up on them"

Li Kai pointed to the enemy's defense map and said: "Judging from the arrangement of their anti-sneak attack facilities, the Spaniards have not discovered our whereabouts in the past few days, so our vigilance has weakened. Plus tonight their barracks are camped by the river, and I build yì to attack with fire"

He Zhi nodded and said, "Rushing for a hundred miles, our army will approach the enemy's camp in the middle of the night, and suddenly launch a sneak attack, attacking it with rockets, which will definitely inflict heavy damage on the enemy." However, our artillery cannot do a long-distance attack, and if you wait for the artillery to be in position, it is best to launch an attack at dawn tomorrow."

Li Kai waved his hand, shook his head and said: "The battlefield is ever-changing, and the fighter plane is fleeting. If we wait for the artillery to be in place, in case the Spaniards temporarily send additional reconnaissance cavalry, the position of our troops will be exposed. I built yì to use the tiger and leopard ride to carry out a raid"

Li Kai pointed to the supply camp of the Spanish military camp and said: "The tiger and leopard cavalry only need to burn the food and grass supplies of the Spaniards and destroy their ammunition, and we will win."

Li Kai's plan is the most reliable and certain, while He Zhi's plan has certain risks.

In contrast, Ma Guangyuan and Shi Tingzhu agree with Li Kai's view. If the supply of the 150,000 Spanish troops was destroyed, then they would not have been able to get out of the Great Colorado Wilderness alive.

Three to one, He Zhi had to abandon his plan and adopt Li Kai's plan to sneak attack the logistics supply of the Spaniards.

It was the Jaguar and Leopard Cavalry who were tasked with the sneak attack, and He Zhi and Li Kai commanded the infantry division to follow up as a response, because once the sneak attack succeeded, the Spaniards were bound to go crazy and chase the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. The majestic faces of 150,000 Spanish soldiers without food and ammunition were absolutely terrifying.

Twenty thousand tigers and leopards carried a large number of rockets, gunpowder, fire oil and other flammable materials and quickly set off to attack the Spanish military camp.

At about one o'clock in the morning, the warriors of the Tiger and Par Riders arrived five miles east of the Colorado River for a short rest.

The joint camp of the Spaniards was more than ten miles long, camped along the river, and there were many woods and grasses nearby. A few days ago, the Spaniards were afraid of a sneak attack, so they cleared all the trees and weeds within a few hundred meters of the joint camp. Since yesterday, the lazy Spaniards thought it was safe and therefore did not clean up.

At two o'clock in the morning, the tiger and leopard cavalry slowed down and slowly approached the Spanish military camp. Stop in the grass about a hundred meters from the baggage joint camp northeast of the Spanish military camp.

In the dark night, the Spaniard's sentinels were only a dozen meters away, and more than fifty meters away was already pitch black.

The warriors of the Chinese Empire's jaguar and leopard quietly continued to advance, and finally stopped at about seventy or eighty meters away from the Spanish baggage camp, and the other party did not feel it at all.

"Preparation - Ignition"

At the sound of the order, the warriors of the tiger and leopard riders in the darkness lit a torch for each of them, and the next one bent their bows and arrows, and then borrowed fire from the torch to ignite the arrows wrapped in oilcloth.

In an instant, the flames burst into flames, stretching for miles like a fiery dragon.

"Shoot the Arrow"

The order was given, and ten thousand arrows were fired.

Countless rockets shot into the air, drawing countless parabolas, like meteor showers.

With the help of inertia, the arrows whizzed into the Spanish camp wrapped in flames. The rain of fire and fire galloped down, and sharp arrows shot lightly into the Spanish camp. The inside and outside of the tent were suddenly filled with arrows, and the flames on the arrows quickly ignited the tent and the meadow, and in the spring, the grass was dry and flammable, and in an instant there were fire points in one place, and then a large fire was formed.

"Enemy Attack"

The Spanish sentinels finally came back to their senses and shouted loudly, and suddenly the entire Spanish army camp was in a noisy and chaotic manner.

"Shoot the Arrow"

Whoosh

Pieces of rockets flew into the barracks, the arrows were deeply rooted in the vehicles filled with grain, grass and gunpowder, the flames burned along the arrows, and soon burned the grain, grass and gunpowder boxes, and the forage piled up near the war horse burned into a fire instantly after the arrow, and the war horse neighed, broke free from the reins, and ran around.

Some of the Spanish soldiers were killed by arrows in their tents, some woke up to find that the rockets had ignited their bedding and clothes, and hurriedly slapped to extinguish the fire, and some did not wake up until the flames spread all over their bodies and were burned alive.

For a time, the Spaniards' barracks were in disarray and chaos.

"What's going on?"

Dressed Tiqueraz, he hurried out of the tent, stunned by what he saw. As far as the eye could see, a sea of fire fell, and countless arrows rained down from the sky, shooting Spanish soldiers running around.

"The general is not good, the enemy steals the battalion"

As soon as he finished speaking, an arrow pierced the soldier's throat.

Tiqueiras was about to be furious, when he saw a barrage of arrows coming straight at him, and immediately the wolf rolled aside. When I looked up again, I saw that the place just now was already full of rockets, and I couldn't help but gasp.

At this time, there was chaos in the barracks, and Tiqueiras shouted several times but no one paid attention to him, so angry that he almost vomited blood.

The jaguars and leopard riders outside the joint camp bent their bows and arrows, lit the arrows, and then shot them into the enemy joint camp. In a matter of minutes, the warriors of the jaguar and leopard riders have fired more than a dozen rounds of rockets in a row. The powerful ones shoot three rockets in one go, and the smaller ones shoot one rocket at a time.

After a few minutes, the warriors of the empire had sore arms, stopped shooting, took the torches from the hands of the brothers next to them, took charge of lighting the fire, and handed over the work of archery to them.

In less than eight minutes, the warriors of the Chinese Empire's jaguar and leopard riders fired up to a million rockets into the enemy barracks.

"Rush"

Seeing that the arrows had been fired, Ma Guang immediately ordered the cavalry to charge.

The Spaniards were in chaos in the barracks, and the jaguars and leopards rode lightly to destroy the simple antler barrier outside the joint camp and slaughtered into the joint camp.

At this time, there was fire everywhere in the joint camp, and the Spanish soldiers looked disheveled and discarded. In a hurry, it was impossible to resist the rush of the tiger and leopard riders.

After the tiger and leopard rode into the Spanish barracks, they slashed and killed the Spanish soldiers like a tiger entering a sheepfold.

However, the Haw Par Riders had a main purpose, and they also carried a large number of canisters of fire oil and gunpowder.

The horses rampaged through the crowd, and the warriors slashed the enemy with their right hands, and ripped off the cans of fire oil with their left hands, and smashed them with grain and grass carts. The canister of fire oil smashed on the grain and grass cart, and the oil scattered on the grain immediately caused a sky-high fire.

And the gunpowder canisters were used to smash the gunpowder carts. Since the gunpowder is contained in the powder box, it is difficult for the rocket to scrap the powder box for a while. At this time, when the gunpowder canister smashed on the ammunition box and shattered, it not only caused a fire, but also the rapid combustion of the gunpowder would instantly penetrate the gunpowder box and ignite the gunpowder inside.

The powder box exploded with a bang, causing the entire powder cart to detonate.

With a loud bang, a huge flame rose into the air, illuminating a hundred meters nearby in an instant, and black smoke rushed straight up, turning into a huge mushroom cloud.

Then, a series of explosions followed, and the Spanish powder carts were killed one after another, and suddenly there was a fierce fire and smoke, and the Spanish army was completely thrown into chaos. M