"Mr. Chen! They ran! Do we chase or not? ”

He Jianshun rushed to Chen Jianqiu's side and rubbed his hands excitedly.

"Chase, why not?" Chen Jianqiu said while sorting out his gun, "But master the rhythm, like a mosquito biting its prey, like a wolf driving away a flock, don't be trapped." ”

"Okay!"

He Jianshun was just about to go back to convey the order, but after walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned around and asked.

"Mr. Chen, what about these loot?"

"Someone will pick it up, let's just chase and fight." Chen Jianqiu said.

There is a good saying, the poor are not chased, but although these Spaniards fled in the wilderness, they obviously still have a way out, and they are not poor.

They hurried back to San Diego.

There was a carefully arranged defense line by the Spaniards, and the San Juan Hill outside the city was the most important part of the defense line.

When they get there, they're safe.

But the four or five hours journey seemed too long for them.

He Jianshun and Chen Jianqiu followed behind them unhurriedly with less than a hundred Chinese soldiers.

But as soon as they stopped for a moment, a gunshot would ring out behind their butts.

The marksmanship of the soldiers of the rebel army may be commonplace, but the marksmanship of the Long Xiang group and Chen Jianqiu is accurate.

From time to time, someone would be shot and fall to the ground while running.

Without the officers, there is no one left who can judge how many pursuers there are after their birth, and it is an extravagant hope to organize resistance on the spot, and everyone wants to flee for their lives.

It doesn't matter if you can outrun those Chinese or not, as long as you run faster than your comrades.

Some Spanish soldiers even felt that the guns they were carrying were cumbersome and threw them away.

Not to mention the baggage, it fell directly to the ground.

Chen Jianqiu asked He Jianshun and the soldiers to leave those things alone for now, and continue to bite the front and finish the matter.

It's not because he doesn't care about the loot, but because someone will pick it up for them.

While they were fighting fiercely with the Spaniards, Lai Hua and Luo Xiangrong's troops were firing new guns not far from them.

Lai Hua did not follow Chen Jianqiu's instructions and went to the foot of the mountain to find a place to hide.

His team was not far from Chen Jianqiu's location, and sent scouts to observe the situation here.

Once the situation on this side is not right, such as what tricks Chen Jianqiu plays or they encounter the enemy, and the battle situation is not effective, their side can rush over immediately.

The scout soon came with the news:

There was a fight in the river valley, and Chen Jianqiu and He Jianshun met about four or five hundred Spanish soldiers, and the specific battle situation was unknown.

When Lai Hua heard this, he was immediately anxious.

This young man is still too big.

How much combat power his own fighters have, he couldn't be clearer.

Although these men were already considered the elite of his ranks, they would not have much of an advantage in coming head-on with well-armed Spanish fighters.

What's more, the soldiers they brought with Chen Jianqiu were a temporary team, so there was no tacit understanding!

What's more, the number of people is still a disadvantage!

"Luo Xiangrong! Quick, everyone, grab your weapons, march quickly, and go to the valley to support!"

He stood up, picked up the bolt-action rifle he had just gotten, and shouted at Luo Xiangrong, who was firing the gun.

Luo Xiangrong was stunned.

"But, we don't know how to use new guns yet!" He glanced at the fighters around him who were working on a new gun.

"I can't care so much!"

Lai Hua had already taken the lead in walking forward briskly.

He didn't even look back, and his hair grew paler in the sunlight.

"If you can use it, use it, and if you can't use it, use the original gun!"

"Everyone! Hurry up! Luo Xiangrong also picked up his gun and shouted at the soldiers behind him.

The soldiers received the order, and without saying a word, they all trotted after them.

Santos watched the Chinese soldiers pass in front of him one after another, and then looked at the half-empty carriage behind him, a little dazed.

"Lai, Captain Lai! Me, what are we going to do? ”

He shouted at the front of the line.

"Let's go first, you guys slow down and follow behind." Luo Xiangrong turned his head and waved at him.

Lai Hua and Luo Xiangrong rushed to the mouth of the valley with the soldiers as fast as possible.

However, the expected gunshots did not come.

"They're not going to be done, are they?" This was Luo Xiangrong's first reaction.

"What do you see that?" A soldier suddenly pointed to the river and shouted.

The crowd looked and saw a corpse floating down from upstream.

However, judging from the clothing, they were all Spanish soldiers, and none of them were Chinese.

"It doesn't seem like things are that bad!" Luo Xiangrong's face was happy.

But Lai Hua, who has experienced a hundred battles, did not take it lightly.

He removed the rifle he was carrying, pressed the bullet in the same way Santos had told him, and held it in his hand.

"It's possible that the Spaniards did it on purpose, so let's be careful."

The group went up the river bank, and it didn't take long for them to reach the scene of the battle.

From a distance, they saw several familiar figures walking around the river.

"Huang Dakuan, what's the situation?" Lai Hua rushed to one of them with a gun.

"Oh, report to the Captain, we're cleaning up the battlefield."

Huang Dakuan didn't seem surprised by Lai Hua's arrival.

He turned to salute the chief, but found that his right arm, which he was accustomed to, was injured and could not be lifted, so he had to replace it with his left hand.

Lai Hua glanced at the battlefield.

The corpses of Spanish soldiers lay on the ground, with varying degrees of death; Firearms were scattered on the ground, and Huang Dakuan and several Chinese soldiers with minor injuries were collecting the guns and ammunition and bringing them to the corpses on the ground to make up for them.

Wait until the dead bodies can't die anymore, and then take out the useful things from these people.

"We won." Huang Dakuan said with a relaxed face.

He pointed to a few Chinese soldiers who were sitting or lying on the hillside not far away: "We have four dead and more than a dozen wounded, and Mr. Chen asked us to wait for you here, saying that you would help pick up the equipment." ”

"How did he know we were coming?" Lai Hua's mood was not relaxed because of the victory, his eyebrows were twisted, and he asked eagerly, "What about him and He Jianshun?" ”

"Oh, they chased after them." Huang Dakuan replied.

"Leave some people to clean up the battlefield, and the others will continue to chase with me, not afraid of 10,000, just in case, if you are too aggressive, you may be ambushed by the Spaniards!" Lai Hua said to Luo Xiangrong.

At this time, Santos and Díaz arrived late in a motorcade.

"Ahh Mr. Santos! Mr. Dias! Huang Dakuan recognized the two men and waved at them.

At this time, the two men were looking at the corpses all over the ground with a bewildered expression.

"Mr. Chen asked me to bring you a message, so that you can follow the gang and load the looted guns and other loot into the wagon."

"He said these German Mauser rifles were not bad."

Huang Dakuan also pointed to the Makqin at the foot of the mountain.

He also made a point of emphasizing that the machine gun had to be recycled, and that he would find a way to get the bullets.

Santos and Díaz looked at each other.

They didn't quite understand what Chen Jianqiu meant by "recycling", but they still nodded.

So, Lai Hua and Luo Xiangrong chased the soldiers all the way to the other end of the river valley.

They didn't have to worry about losing their tracks, because the baggage and guns dropped by the Spanish soldiers along the way.

They chased and picked up the wagons with them, and the half-empty wagons were not only filled again, but also arched high.

In the end, about a kilometer away from San Juan Hill outside the city of San Diego, Lai Hua and Luo Xiangrong finally met Chen Jianqiu and them.

Chen Jianqiu was standing behind a hillside, holding a telescope in his hand and looking in the direction of the San Juan Hill position in the distance.

He Jianshun stood behind him, bored and guessed with the soldiers.

Seeing that his soldiers were safe and sound, Lai Hua breathed a sigh of relief.

When He Jianshun saw his commander, he stepped forward and reported the battle to Lai Hua.

Lai Hua was a little overjoyed.

It seems that he is overthinking.

is worthy of being a descendant of the King of England, and this battle is also first-class and powerful.

Luo Xiangrong immediately ran in front of Chen Jianqiu and said excitedly:

"Young master, let's continue to pursue the victory, and teach those Spaniards a hard lesson! If we join forces with the rest of the rebels, we might be able to capture Santiago! This is the second largest city in Cuba! ”

The telescope in Chen Jianqiu's hand has not been put down.

He was also observing the positions of the Spanish troops on San Juan Hill.

Although Monte San Juan is a "mountain," it is actually a piece of high ground outside of Santiago.

The geographical location of this highland is unique.

Any army attacking the city of Santiago from the southern seaside must pass through here.

Colonel Francis laid out a very tight defense here.

Needless to say, all kinds of sandbags and semi-permanent fortifications, and the Maxim machine gun, which he was most familiar with, had a lot laid out.

The machine gun positions set up in the open that Chen Jianqiu could see were layer after layer, not to mention the fire points in the dark.

"We can't take San Diego just yet." Chen Jianqiu put down the binoculars in his hand and looked at Luo Xiangrong, "To put it mildly, we can't even beat the highlands in front of us now." ”

Luo Xiangrong was stunned for a moment.

"Yes, we really can't do anything about these cities for the time being." Lai Hua walked up and sighed, "Mr. Chen, do you have any good ideas?" ”

"Withdraw first." Chen Jianqiu picked up the binoculars and said without hesitation.

The soldiers of the Chinese Volunteer Army quickly evacuated the surroundings of San Diego.

They marched north along the Maestra Mountains, preparing to join another Chinese volunteer army, Hood's troops.

"There should be little hope for the big cities and the areas around them." On the way, Chen Jianqiu and Lai Hua analyzed the current situation of the Cuban War of Independence.

During his time in Cuba, he learned a lot from various sources, especially in Santiago.

"These areas should have been set up by the 'butcher' as a fortified wilderness, and with our current firepower and troops, it is not enough to pose a threat to these areas." Chen Jianqiu said.

He pressed his hands on a "table" made of boxes, on which a map of Cuba was unfolded.

"I suggest you go northwest, where there are large tobacco plantations employing Chinese, liberate there, and then incorporate the Chinese inside into your own troops."

Chen Jianqiu drew a circle on the map with a pen.

"And some of the small ports there can avoid the patrols of Spanish warships, so I can bring supplies over."

He straightened up and threw the pen on the "table":

"Abandoning the big cities, attacking and liberating the remote countryside, using the countryside to surround the cities, and strengthening their ranks in the war of movement, eventually become a decisive force in Cuba."

Chen Jianqiu glanced at Lai Hua:

"That's what I suggested."

Lai Hua's eyes flashed with hope.

He said to Chen Jianqiu very sincerely: "Jianqiu, stay and fight for a place for the Chinese in Cuba with me."

Chen Jianqiu smiled.

To create a space for the Chinese in Cuba, that is definitely needed, but now he has another very important matter.

"My wife and I have to go back to the United States." Chen Jianqiu scratched his head, "I have to continue to arrange the next batch of supplies for you." ”

"But those soldiers from the Dragons will stay here and train your soldiers, they are all very experienced warriors." He added.

So, Chen Jianqiu and Camilla returned to the United States.

The two of them even walked in the port of San Diego, where they were still swaggering.

The squad that went to trouble them was dead.

No one knew that the battle that took place southwest of the city of Santiago had anything to do with these two men.

The two of them are still reporters for the New York World.

Although the relationship between Spain and the United States has become somewhat strained by this time, it has not yet reached the point of showing each other's swords.

So Chen Jianqiu and Camilla didn't have any trouble along the way.

Chen Jianqiu's first stop back in the United States was to Roswell.

He headed straight for the Roswell Armory.

At his request, the ordnance factory quickly organized a group of mechanical engineers and artillery engineers.

That's the benefit of being deep-pocketed.

Today, Roswell brings together America's best tech talent of all kinds.

Chen Jianqiu provided them with a high salary and ample research funds.

So, what about deserts? Close to the border, so what?

At the first meeting of the group, Chen Jianqiu put forward his own requirements:

"I need a curved artillery, it needs to be portable, preferably one person can carry it, and at the same time it has a certain power and lethality, I want to have a range of at least 500 meters, and blow up the opponent's machine gun positions."

The mechanical engineers began their reverie, but the artillery experts looked at each other.

They don't really know that there is such a thing in the world.

Fortunately, Boss Chen carried forward his fine tradition.

He continued his career as an "abstract painting" and spent less than half an hour providing a schematic diagram for the engineers:

A barrel rests on an adjustable bipod, and the end of the barrel is fitted with a bowl-shaped seat to absorb recoil.

Use a fabric wrapped in smokeless gunpowder to make a waist bag to put around the bottom of the shell, put it into the barrel, and the fired primer can be fired.

Chen Jianqiu's painting is a little vague, and his words are quite complicated.

But he knew exactly what he wanted.

Mortar.

(End of chapter)