Without keeping Asania waiting, in an existential crisis, most of the Republic's troops were on the front within a week and immediately went into battle.

It was too weak for the Republican forces, and the Fifth Army had already shown faint signs of breaking the defensive line after only organizing a few feints.

At 5 a.m. on June 6, just as it was about to dawn, Asania boarded the transport ship hand-in-hand.

It stands to reason that a professional landing ship should be used for landing, but at present, there is no such thing in the world.

Not to mention the landing ships, most of the ships taken by the Second Army were just ordinary commercial wooden ships, and if they were transported by warships alone, they might have to make more than 20 round-trips from Spain to Cuba.

Shrouded in moonlight, Asania rose and fell slightly along the deck, and at his feet was the flagship of the makeshift fleet, the ironclad Tertuan.

It is one of the seven major ironclad ships in Spain, and it is also the first ironclad ship built by Spain itself.

With a length of 85 meters, a width of 17 meters, a displacement of 6,200 tons, and 30 68-pounder guns, it is undoubtedly the most powerful warship of its era.

Although the Republic of Cuba does not have a navy, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no shore defense artillery or field artillery to return fire during the landing, and if the merchant ship is sunk, it will be a big loss.

This is a very small possibility, but it is by no means zero, the wooden structure of the merchant ship is exposed, and it is not yet capable of fighting back, and it is possible to be killed or set on fire.

In a hurry, the route of the fleet sailed quite close to the coast of Cuba, and when it was closest, it was even a few hundred meters.

On the way, they saw a lighthouse that was flickering, and although they were too far away to see the movement there, it was not surprising that the lighthouse also spotted them.

"Which port is this?" Asania turned to ask the hired guide beside him.

The guide, who claimed to have left footprints all over Cuba, first handed over the oil lamp to the guard next to him, and then pulled out a map from his pocket.

By the light, he pointed: "This is the port of Siwaniku, and their lighthouse is famous in the area, and seeing it means that we are almost out of Camagüey." ”

Asania nodded, the port here was too close to the front line and heavily guarded, not their target.

As for being found...... It is absolutely impossible for a horse to run fast with a ship, and even if there is a telegram in the port - most likely not - it needs to be reported and coordinated before the order is issued, and they have plenty of time to complete the landing.

After sailing for two hours until the sun rose, they were even spotted by some coastal dwellers who had risen early to fish, and the fleet did nothing to them.

The fishermen were left in a daze, glad they had survived.

At 9 a.m., after a journey without danger or danger, the Second Army reached the eastern province of Holguín, less than ten kilometers further on the port city of Mayak.

The landing site was carefully selected by them, the coast was gentle, suitable for landing, and it was not an important port, and the defense force was weak.

It is a small fishing port, and its main role is to provide a place for nearby fishermen to trade, and there is only one garrison to maintain order, and the total number of people is not more than 100.

Considering that most ports in this era would retain some self-defense capabilities, no matter how small the port, the threat of shore defense artillery to ships was always present.

Asania was actually prepared to keep the warship far away, and the first round of saturation shelling would be carried out - even if the guide repeatedly insisted that there would be no danger.

However, Asania's orders were not conveyed, and the captain of the fleet, Julio, was not as cautious as he was, and was quite repulsive to the army's command of the navy.

The vice admiral gagged Asania with a domestic confession to "minimize civilian casualties", and then sent a small wooden boat to row to the port.

There were only four soldiers on board, and the port guard did not dare to do anything to them.

After a short time, the small wooden boat returned the same way, bringing back only two soldiers.

According to them, the port guard agreed with them to borrow the port and had already surrendered, begging the fleet not to open fire.

Two other soldiers did not return, one in charge of the port's only shore defense gun, and the other in charge of his 87 prisoners.

In the face of Julio's pride, even if he was slapped in the face, Asania was not angry, and the whole person was happy.

The soldiers completed the landing without bloodshed, even if the majority of the credit is eaten by the navy, his army can be more or less stained.

For the sake of caution, they first transported hundreds of soldiers by wooden boat to ensure absolute control of the port before starting a large-scale landing.

It is said to be large-scale, limited by the number of wooden boats, and can only transport about 1,200 people back and forth.

The landing process became unusually slow, and the morning passed, and more than half of the people were still on board.

If they had landed so slowly during World War II, the landing craft would have been buried without any firepower.

But now it was a child fight, and more than 3 hours had passed since they took control of the fishing port, and there was no reinforcement from Mayak City, and the whole landing process was as if it was on vacation.

Obviously, Mayak can't spare enough troops to support him, and he is probably desperately gathering troops to protect himself.

This was confirmed later, and at four o'clock in the afternoon, the Second Army, which had finally completed the landing, came to the outside of Mayak and was confronted by the soldiers of the Republic who were waiting for battle, and the number seemed to be quite large, probably 5 or 6,000 people.

They relied on the city walls and attacked head-on, and the Second Army had to pay some casualties.

It's a pity that the city of Mayak is too close to the coast, and there is bottomless water in the north and west of the city.

The convoy quickly assembled on the west side, part of which continued to suppress the port artillery to prevent too many casualties from the counterattack of the shore defense artillery, and another part began to project shells at the walls from afar.

The accuracy of the battleship did not dare to compliment, but the power of the 68-pounder gun was far from being comparable to that of the 6-pounder and 12-pounder field guns, and a random shot would cause a gap in the city wall.

And the fleet has quite sufficient ammunition, and there is no need to fight a naval battle, and if necessary, there is not even a need to keep spare ammunition, and you can fight as many as you want.

The fleet maintained a rate of fire of 1-2 minutes, and on average, about 10 shells fell around the walls every minute.

With the frontal attack of the Second Army, the city wall was breached without holding out for 20 minutes.

Asania is a little strange, the opponent's will to fight is quite strong, but the scheduling is very chaotic.

He didn't know the reason until he entered the city, the upper echelons of Mayak were newly appointed by the Republic after the colonial government drove them away, and they didn't have any property or sense of belonging, and when they saw such a large fleet, they knew that they couldn't stop it at all, and they had already run away.

And most of the top brass of the army are on the front line, which causes confusion in the defense of soldiers.