Firing at stationary targets at a distance of about 100 meters is not a difficult subject for the gunners on the Haihan battleship, not to mention that the combat environment at this time is on the relatively calm surface of the inland river, rather than the rough sea, and the difficulty of shooting is greatly reduced.

Four Haihan "Exploration-class" sailing ships lined up on the north bank of the Tamsui River with their starboard side, and 20 guns fired one after another with impunity, bombarding several small boats docked at the dock on the shore. These ships were originally civilian vessels, and their hulls were basically defenseless, and after the shells were hit, sawdust flew sideways, masts toppled over, and soon ships were overturned due to the penetration of the planks near the waterline.

Of course, when carrying out this kind of task of destroying mainly and not worrying about the enemy's counterattack, the navy will not show 10% of its ability to expose it to the enemy's eyes, and the firing frequency will be much slower than the normal combat level, and more energy will be put into the pursuit of hit rate.

Although the Spanish side entered the city early to avoid danger, and there were no casualties in this round of unilateral shelling, López, who was watching the battle on the city wall, was still as black as the bottom of a pot. He saw at least two things from the flaunting power of the Haihan people: first, the Haihan people did not intend to leave them any way out, so they destroyed all the ships on the shore before the official start of the war, which fully proved their bad intentions; second, the hit rate and firepower intensity of the Haihan warships in the shelling were beyond his expectations, and the only thing that made him feel fortunate was that these guns were deployed on the ship and not on land, otherwise he would have had a headache now how to deal with the enemy's shelling.

However, López thought about it, and the Haihan army sent more warships to this place than just a few warships, and the gunfire of the warships was so terrible, so could the army be sent somewhere? At present, there is no artillery position deployed by the other side outside the city, and I am afraid that it is just because the time has not come. If the enemy does sacrifice artillery outside the city later, how will you deal with it?

The shelling did not last long, and it was only about ten minutes before and after. But several Spanish ships on the shore had been battered and looked largely scrapped. For the defenders watching the battle at the head of the city, the visual stimulation and ▼dǐng▼diǎn▼small▼ said, .2※3.▼os_(); The psychological sense of oppression is very strong, and among the enemies that the defenders have dealt with in the past few years, none of them have the strength of Haihan. Even the Dutch, who were able to fight the Spanish by sea, were far less armed with guns than the Haihan ships.

"Maybe you should think about how to ask for help from Chicken Coop Harbor......" Before the official start of the fight, such a thought flashed in López's heart.

However, he soon came to his senses, the posture of the enemy army outside the city did not look like they would release water, and if he wanted to send someone out for help, it was not very likely to break through the encirclement of the other party, at least the waterway would definitely not be able to go.

"Someone, let Delgado of the reserve come to me right away. López gave the order with a calm face, and although there was little hope, he decided that he still had to give it a try.

The ancient surname Delgado (ao) comes from the Santander Mountains and means "thin" in Spanish, but López's Delgado is not a Spaniard, not even a Diǎn of Spanish descent. The owner of the name was actually a native of Bondu who was born in the mountains of northern Luzon, and because his father had worked for the Spanish colonizers, he also received a Spanish title for his father's inheritance.

Delgado is now also a member of the garrison army in the city of Santo Domingo, but because of his lineage, his unit is only an assistant army rather than a regular army, and he spends much more time doing farm work than military training, and has a diǎn similar to the guards in some parts of the Ming Dynasty. It stands to reason that his status is not high enough to be taken seriously by the local commander, but compared to the other soldiers of the Auxiliary Army, Delgado has a special unique skill.

Delgado was a jungle hunter before playing for the Spaniards, and was very adept at hiding his tracks in the woods, and this skill did work after he joined the army. On two occasions, he had sneaked out of Santo Domingo City during the attack on the city, and crossed the Yangmingshan Mountains to seek help from Joncoop Harbor. Although the distance between the two places is less than 40 kilometers in a straight line, it is not easy for Delgado to traverse the area unharmed, given that there are many indigenous tribes in this mountainous area who have a long-standing grudge against Spain.

Having had two successful missions for help, López naturally remembered this hunter who was good at traversing mountains and forests when the city of Santo Domingo was once again invaded by foreign enemies. If he can successfully cross the mountains again to reach Chicken Coop Harbor for help, then perhaps there is room for recovery. Otherwise, everyone will wait together in the castle to die.

However, this time, Delgado looked embarrassed after listening to López's order: "Sir, maybe you haven't noticed, these guys are holding rifles in their hands, not bamboo arrows and bamboo spears, and they are all deployed near several main passages, if you want me to go out of the city, it is very likely that I will die before I enter the mountains." ”

"Delgado, you are a warrior, you can't be so cowardly!" López didn't expect his subordinates to question his decision, and his face became even more ugly.

"Sir, I'm not afraid of fighting, but I don't want to die needlessly. Delgado defended himself: "No matter which direction I go out of the city now, I will be discovered by the enemy, and I will not have a chance to pass through the encirclement." ”

"And what do you want to do?" López asked rhetorically, sensing that he had something to say.

"I need ten to fifteen people, divided into five teams, and when it goes night, I will go out of the city and break through in different directions at the same time. I'll arrange their route and avoid the enemy outside as much as possible. Delgado came up with his idea.

"As long as one of the teams can get out, maybe the news can be delivered to Joncoop Harbor. López thought about it for a while, and felt that Delgado's method made sense, so he immediately agreed with his suggestion: "Then you go and choose the personnel now, and the people in the reserve team are up to you." ”

This plan seems to be feasible, but López is not stupid, of course he can think that Delgado probably wants most of them to be cannon fodder to cover his escape, but he will not wear Delgado's mind in person, but this person must be controlled, lest this guy select a group of Spanish soldiers to send to death, this kind of loss is not something López can bear, and Master Gusman will definitely not agree. As for the people in the reserves, they are all natives of the colony, and they can recruit as many as they die anyway, and López doesn't particularly care.

Of course, López was well aware that the defenders would have to hold their lines before then, and that it could take several days. According to Delgado's previous record, it would take one to two days to cross the mountains to reach the destination of Chicken Coop Harbor, and then the local garrison would have a day or two to gather troops to prepare supplies, and then rush from Chicken Coop Harbor to the rescue, at least four or five days later, and this was already an ideal state without any delay in the process. If the rescue organization is delayed due to the weather or other objective reasons, it is possible that the reinforcements will have to wait ten days and half a month before they can arrive.

If it was a former opponent, López did have the confidence to hold on until reinforcements arrived, or even to repel the enemy on his own. But this time the opponent who killed the Tamsui River was not as easy to deal with as before, from the opponent's arrangement and tactical arrangement, López could feel that the opponent was prepared, and tightened the noose step by step, but did not leave any chance for the defenders to counterattack. Without bracing himself and dealing carefully, López wasn't sure he would be able to drag on until reinforcements arrived.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, three lighter 12-pounder guns finally arrived at the front line, and Takahashinan, who was so anxious, immediately ordered the artillery to be deployed to the predetermined position, ready to launch an offensive.

Since the city of Santo Domingo is located on a hillside, the artillery of the special operations battalion can only be deployed on slightly lower ground, which is relatively disadvantageous in terms of range. This time, López did not leisurely watch the opponent's movements outside the city, and immediately ordered the artillery in this direction to shoot at the area where the opponent was arranging the gun position.

Sun Zhen's infantry platoon was fortunate enough to undertake the task of escorting the artillery into the combat position, and as soon as he entered the predetermined position, the artillery on the city head in the distance roared. He looked up slightly to see a cannonball whizzing through the air and smashing towards where he was.

Although he also received combat training in infantry and artillery coordination during the training period, and heard the explosion of artillery fire at close range, after all, it was his own firepower, and he knew in his heart that the shells would not fall on his head, which was completely different from the feeling of the enemy's artillery whistling at him now. Sun Zhen had already killed people in troubled times before he joined the army, and he was a bold person, but at this time, he still felt that his knees were weak, his mouth was dry, and his mind was confused.

"Is it stupid to stand as a live target?" It wasn't until Platoon Leader Wang kicked him in the ass that he pulled him back from his distracted state.

The cannonball that fell from the sky did not hit him, but landed about a dozen meters in front of him, and after two rounds, it stopped in the grass with green smoke. This distance was almost the limit of the defending artillery's range, and if López wanted to make the shells go farther, the only way to do it was to reload the gunpowder with a huge risk. Of course, López may not have the courage to do this, and extreme reloading is a dangerous behavior that can easily lead to the barrel explosion, and both artillery and gunners are important resources that Santo Domingo City cannot afford to lose.

However, even if López fights desperately, it may not be able to cause real trouble for the attacker, because of the limitations of weapon manufacturing technology, the artillery of this era has little accuracy at all in terms of extreme range, and whether it can hit the target or not depends on fate. López ordered the cannon to be fired, and in addition to deterring the attackers, he was more or less with the idea of drawing a prize with bumper luck - what if it hit?

However, the heavens did not favor the Spaniards so much, and the four guns on the wall in this direction fired four rounds in a row without a single hit, and the nearest one was still about ten meters away from the target area, and not even a single hair of the attacker was injured. López was also helpless about such a result, because he did not have the conditions for regular artillery training in peacetime, and he could only have the opportunity to fire a cannon once a year and a half, and he could not be demanding of the gunners.

But López can't show discouragement on his face yet, the people under him are all looking at his expression, if he gets out of control and panics, then these people under him probably have no intention of fighting.

"Don't stop, keep shooting!" López ordered with a straight face.

And at this time, Gusman's servant appeared in front of him again: "Captain López, Master Gusman wants to know the reason for the cannon fire and the current state of the battle. ”

"You tell Lord Sù Gesman that the situation is under control, and the enemy has been blocked from our artillery range......"

Before López's cowhide was blown, there was a roar from the Haihan artillery position in the distance, and a black diǎn sprayed out from the muzzle of the cannon and flew straight towards the city wall.

The people on the city wall watched with their mouths open as the cannonball whizzed past about three meters above the head and smashed into a wooden hut inside the city. It is clear that the trajectory of this cannonball is due to the fact that the angle of the fire is slightly higher, so that it directly crosses the city wall and smashes into the city. Of course, as long as the brain is not particularly stupid, you will also realize that the range of the opponent's artillery is much farther than your own, and people hit high places from low places, which is even farther than their own low places from high places, and the difference in weapon performance is immediately highlighted.

López's heart sank a little more, and before he could come up with the words to explain, Gusman's servant said with an optimistic face: "Although the enemy has cannons, it doesn't look very good!"

López barely squeezed out a diǎn smile and echoed two sentences, and hurriedly sent the stupid servant off the city wall. This guy probably hasn't experienced artillery battles at all and doesn't understand what this phenomenon of artillery straddle fire means. In order to avoid disturbing the morale of the army, it is better to send him away as soon as possible. As for how he will report to Guersman when he returns, López doesn't care so much now. Although the opponent had only deployed three artillery pieces in place, he was already panicked, and secretly prayed in his heart that the sky would soon darken.