Chapter 891: The First Battle That Decided the Belonging of the World (4)

At the beginning of the campaign, the navy still played the leading role, and the navy, which was unwilling to play a supporting role in the ground war, mobilized all the marines, a total of three marine divisions, considering that there were too many troops in the direction of Gibraltar, all three divisions were deployed in Malta on standby.

Led by eighteen ironclad ships of the European fleet, assisted by fifty of the most powerful sail warships of the present day, the operation was a blockade and shelling of various ports and seas along the Mediterranean coast of Spain. The battle off the coast of the Strait of Gibraltar broke the backbone of the European navy, and even if it was blocked at the door and beaten, not a single warship came out to meet it. In fact, at this time, there were not many navies in the Mediterranean countries. France, whose sea power is relatively complete, does not have much sea power at all.

On July 1, the first thing to do was not the Army, but the Marine Corps. Under the cover of the European fleet, pounced directly on Valencia. This is the tragedy of Spain, as a Mediterranean country, once it loses its sea dominance, it has to be attacked everywhere. Of course, while the marines from Malta were still on the way, the Afrika Korps European combat units that had set off from land had already begun their offensive.

The first battle to begin was not to go directly north, but to divide two infantry divisions and march in the southwest and northeast directions, with the aim of clearing the perimeter. In fact, similar work was being done all the time, and the Spaniards were confined to the cities of Algeciras and Marbella. If these two cities cannot be captured, the logistical supply lines of the European Expeditionary Force under the Afrika Korps will be threatened, which is an unacceptable result.

This is a decisive battle related to the fate of the Ming Dynasty, and the War Department attaches great importance to it, and the veterans with rich combat experience are all older. This time, it can only be some middle-aged officers who will take the lead. The War Department specially sent Yuan Guanhai, the young and vigorous deputy minister, to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Afrika Korps, sitting in Alexandria, and the former commander of the Afrika Korps Yin Jie, who was reappointed as the deputy commander and concurrently served as the commander of the European Expeditionary Corps, personally came to Lalinea by boat to command the entire European war situation.

It is precisely because it is commanded by Yin Jie, who is safe with soldiers. The preparation period of the European Expeditionary Force will only last for more than two months, and even acquiesce to the unauthorized actions of the navy, of course, this is also the meaning of Yuan Guanhai. Yuan Guanhai's resume is very complicated, graduated from the Liaodong Infantry Non-commissioned Officer School, served in the mountain army for five years, escorted to the Army University Senior Staff College, after graduation, successively served as the commander of the mountain division, brigade commander, division commander, and then transferred to Mobei to serve for five years, at the age of 18 in the army has been a full 30 years of military career.

Because it usually does not show the mountain and does not leak. It has always been relatively low-key in the army, and it is too famous. This is also related to the fact that there are no enemies on the ground around the Ming Dynasty, it can be said that any small country dares to stab and shoot a division casually, and it can destroy other people's countries. The Ming Army, which has reached this point, cannot but be said to be a kind of sadness for the officers.

Algeciras, a city with just over three thousand defenders. Under the guidance of the tactical idea of killing chickens with knives, they faced an infantry division with a three-regiment system. The total strength is more than 12,000. At Yin Jie's request, the troops attacking from both sides fought very calmly and did not rush forward. There are many rivers in Spain, and roads are a big problem. In this case, it is only possible to advance along the main road, and only step by step.

Guided by a sound tactical mindset. It took three days to start the siege of the city, and after the fire of the divisional artillery regiment was prepared, the soldiers with the latest rifles rushed forward with the banner. With just one charge, the assault force easily tore through the city defenses. The resistance of the Spaniards was very resolute, but they remained at the level of arquebuses. Coupled with the superiority in troops, the attacking troops fought very smoothly. The real difficulty lies in the determination of the Spaniards to defend their homeland once they enter the city. The attack of the 53rd Infantry Division of the Ming Army suddenly stalled.

This is an infantry division that has always been formerly known as the Qin Army, and the division commander Guan Zhonghan is a standard three-Qin hero. The disciples of Guanzhong do not have the courage to fight to the death, but in the face of this kind of kraft candy-like street fighting, they are somewhat uncomfortable. The Spaniards hid in their houses, in the streets and alleys, attacking the invaders with rudimentary weapons, and even women and children took up arms to fight.

The fierce battle lasted for a whole day, and the number of casualties of 300 people frightened Guan Zhonghan. At this time, the 53rd Division had only occupied half of the city. The regimental commanders were called in to ask the reason, and a summary meeting was held overnight and a conclusion was reached that the soldiers were soft-handed, and many times the casualties were caused by some targets they had spared. For example, women, half-grown children, and old men. These targets were not originally targeted, but they used extremely rudimentary weapons to inflict more than 100 casualties on the regular army.

"The summary report was sent to Commander Yin and submitted to Lieutenant General Yuan, the commander-in-chief of the Afrika Korps, that tomorrow's battle cannot be fought like this again. We are not facing a group of professional soldiers, but a group of dead soldiers defending their homeland. I declare ....... ”

Early the next morning, the 53rd Division, which had launched another attack, completely changed its combat style, no longer advancing along the streets to the main target, but instead of advancing to a house-to-house search attack. Each household first shouted and asked the people inside to come out, regardless of whether the other party listened to the official dialect with a Guanzhong accent or not, and threw grenades into it when no one came out, and then took the squad as a combat unit, rushed in and killed or arrested all the living people they saw. When encountering some sturdy buildings, they directly pushed the mountain cannon up and resisted direct fire. This tactic, which disregarded civilian casualties, yielded good results. After a day of fighting, the entire city fell into the hands of the 53rd Division, but the people in the city were killed and wounded, because there were no specific statistics, and it was not known how many civilians were killed or wounded. However, the 53rd Division suffered only eighteen casualties, only one was seriously wounded, and the rest were lightly wounded.

Years later, the Spaniards counted 30,000 innocent people killed in the siege. Of course, this is just a family's words, the Ming Empire does not recognize it, even the Spanish official, there is no clear statement. It was replaced by heavy civilian casualties, because no one knew the exact number. There are also some "historians of Our Lady" in the Ming Dynasty who have made irresponsible remarks on this issue, and the figure they put forward is 300,000 casualties. Well, the Ming Empire committed a lot of blood debts in Spain. Fortunately, in the Ming Dynasty of this era, there is no market for the Holy. No one came to condemn the 53rd Division.

Marbella didn't make a mistake, it was a simple and crude trick. As long as it is still on the mission is the 16th Ming Infantry Division, which is a unit that has experienced a lesson in Egypt, it has long had a clear understanding from top to bottom, and this Nima is still a Japanese division, although the soldiers have changed a wave, but the battalion commander, company commander, platoon commander, and this level of officer. Most of them have experienced urban warfare in Egypt. Regardless of what civilian casualties are involved, in this world, the life of the Ming Dynasty is the most valuable, this is the unified understanding of the Japanese descendants of Nima. If it weren't for the Ming Dynasty's broad-mindedness and open its arms to welcome the lost lamb, where would it be to the Ming Empire's Dongying Province. There was no Ming Empire Dongying Province. How can a group of fishermen and peasants have the opportunity to earn a military salary of 20 yuan a month, and how can they have a chance to earn a double salary in wartime? What is the opportunity to rob other people's land and do some heinous deeds.

Anyway, it's just a sentence, the Ming people are counted as people, the Japanese are counted as second-class people, and the descendants strive to become people, as for other nationalities, you are also counted as people without Ming nationality? I don't know why. The battle of Marbellia was not condemned by anyone, not by the Spaniards themselves. Although the casualties were not at all smaller than those of Algeciras.

After settling the two wings, Yin Jie ordered the main force to go north, and under the complicated eyes of the Spanish civilians, this army embarked on a journey of trampling on the Spanish homeland. In fact, during this period of time, the Spanish civilians clearly felt that these officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were much easier to get along with than the local masters. Buying and selling fairly. Don't rob or rob, as long as you obediently obey the people, you won't even collect Nima tax. The food eaten by the army was bought with the Chinese dollars of the Ming Dynasty, and this thing is honestly hard currency in Europe. A lot of European businessmen. I'd rather use this kind of paper money than gold coins. If you are not at ease, you can exchange it for Spanish gold and silver coins from merchants who specialize in currency exchange. The result of this is to be slaughtered.

Of course, smashing various countries in Europe, Daming's Chinese dollar is currently a banned currency, isn't that before Daming didn't call? Now, hehehe, who said that businessmen are patriots? Yes, there are very few, and how many businessmen have scolded in private because of the stupidity of the Spanish royal family. Who are you messing with, provoking such a god?

Maybe it's because the European expeditionary force has a good reputation, or maybe the fighting between the two cities is too brutal, and after the main force of the expeditionary force is dispatched, the resistance along the way is not so fierce. As long as you lay down your arms, even if you are a soldier, you will be treated preferentially.

On the contrary, once they encountered a street battle similar to the previous one in the attack, the Ming army immediately turned into a different group of people. The process of transforming from mild and orderly to brutal is very skillful.

On July 15, the red flag of the Ming Empire fluttered over the city of Córdoba, and the European expeditionary force did not encounter any resistance in this city, and the local people did not have the intention of welcoming them, so they all hid at home, from the crack in the door or window, with indifferent eyes, looking at the orderly Ming army when entering the city.

If you have to say ornamental, the clothing of the Ming Army is a bit simple, not as fancy as the military uniforms of European countries. But this simplicity is synonymous with efficient killing on the battlefield.

After repeated alarms from the Madrid side, the French army crossed the Pyrenees and entered the Spanish battle. The commander of the 20,000 French troops was the famous general Condé, and if it were not for the sudden rise of the Ming Empire, there would have been some lingering grievances between France and Spain. The relationship between European countries is too complicated, and France and Spain can fight for an heir to the throne.

At the same time, troops from Sweden, the Netherlands, and Portugal entered Spain, and their destination was Madrid. It should be that only by gathering strength here can the army of the Ming Empire be defeated in a decisive battle. Because they are fighting in a foreign country, they don't have to worry about their homes being smashed, which can be described as a hardship for Spain. But other countries don't think so, hehehe, that's the best choice.

Of course, this is just wishful thinking on the part of some countries, as a friendly country of the Ming Dynasty, after betraying the Ming Dynasty, and also seized the French Empire of Ming merchants, the Ming Dynasty will naturally not forget their "deep friendship". If it weren't for Louis XIV's autocracy, there would have been many voices within France against the Ming Dynasty. In the final analysis, it is all the relationship of interest that is at work. The despotism of Louis XIV brought the benefit that the state made money, and the emperor made money. But many nobles, in the process of changing their faces this time, can be described as suffering heavy losses. But they could not resist the monopoly of power, and Louis XIV, who had a powerful army, could only silently wait for a suitable opportunity to find a place to return.

At this time, His Majesty the Emperor of France did not realize how serious the consequences of this war would be. The authoritarian Louis XIV, during his reign, was not too constrained by a series of successful foreign expansions. In general, there is certainly resentment among the people, but because of the successive victories, the domestic political situation is still stable. But this time it was different, his opponent was the Ming Empire. Although the army was still fighting in neighboring Spain, the main fleet of the navy came to Marseille.

"Is this the port of Marseille?" Ye Hai, looking at the seaside city in front of him expressionlessly, is not big, and the scale of many ports in Daming is much larger than here. Because of the war, a large number of ships gathered in the harbor, and they could only count on the forts around the harbor for shelter. If you go to sea easily and encounter the navy of the Ming Empire, the result will be two, captured and sunk.

In fact, in recent times, everyone has seen many warships emitting black smoke, but before they were one or two with a few sailboats to swing around, this time there were eighteen battleships, all of which were armored warships emitting black smoke.

"I saw that there was no fort, and the cement used was produced by a company run by a Ming merchant in France." Chief of Staff Liu Mingxuan pointed to a fort on the hill and put down the binoculars with a sneer. "The maximum firing range of 150 guns is 5,500 meters, and it is a bit of a waste to hit such a solid target with a grenade." Ye Hai's tone of voice was very cold, and Liu Mingxuan nodded in approval: "It's a bit of a waste." ”

"Then shell the city, send people ashore first, and demand that the French Empire release the detained Ming people within 24 hours. Otherwise, we will speak with cannons. Ye Hai waved his hand decisively and made a decision with great momentum. (To be continued......)