Behind the fortress of Songo, there is a hill crisscrossed by ravines.

These ravines may be deep or shallow, but basically not next to each other.

At this moment, a group of men, wielding shovels and hoes in their hands, were digging forward frantically, connecting the ravines as much as possible to make a road to the fortress.

An old man of nearly eighty years old, wearing a sleeveless cloth coat and holding a shovel, was at the forefront of the procession.

He shoveled down, sank into the dirt, stepped on it again, and with a force on his waist, a shovel of dirt was shoveled out.

The old man turned, threw dirt into the basket behind him, and quickly shoveled a shovel.

"Uncle Danian, you put on your coat, there are too many mosquitoes here, and it is troublesome to be bitten!" A young man took a long sleeve and handed it to the old man, and said bitterly, "Boss Chen asked us to take care of you, if you have three long and two short, how should we explain?" ”

Zhang Danian didn't reply: "Lao Tzu has very thick skin, and he is not afraid of these insects." ”

The young man's face was full of embarrassment: "You are always here to command, not to charge, just leave the matter of digging to us, you are almost eighty."

"Eighty? What's wrong with eighty? Zhang Danian straightened up and turned his head sideways, "When Lao Tzu was fighting Changsha in the Taiping Army, we dug that tunnel, you dug it?" Do you know how to dig? ”

He wiped the sweat from his head with the corner of his coat and continued to dig:

"The soil here is not hard, we have to dig harder, Jianqiu gave us a week, and I told him it would only take three days!"

He turned his head again and glared at the young man, and pulled the long sleeve from his hand and put it on his body:

"Why are you still stunned? Hurry up and carry the basket of earth out! ”

The hard-mouthed and soft-hearted Zhang Danian led a group of people to dig a trench behind Songgo Fort.

This is the secret mission that Chen Jianqiu arranged for him.

Zhang Danian, who was born in the Taiping Army's earthwork battalion, agreed without thinking about it.

The members of his unit were all miners and railroad workers, and they were quite familiar with these things.

Because there are many natural ditches here, Zhang Danian's workload is much smaller, and the terrain is uneven, there are many vegetation, and the concealment is very strong.

From the city walls, there is hardly anything to be seen.

Chen Jianqiu and they made a feint in front of them to attract the attention of the defenders, and at the same time searched for the scouts of the West Tooth who had left the city.

Since the second day of the feint, no living scouts have returned to the city.

Lieutenant Gonzalez and his defenders were now blinded and had no idea what was going on outside.

However, the lieutenant did not feel too much pressure.

First, the commander on the opposite side did not organize a strong attack, and what he said was good was cautious, and what he said badly was afraid of death.

How can you fight a war and be afraid of death? Not to mention the siege warfare.

Second, there are enough supplies in his fortress, and even a lot of water is stored, so he is not afraid of siege at all.

He believed that the rebels would either not be able to hold back and rush up and be beaten to pieces by their two heavy machine guns, or they would retreat as before.

However, the lieutenant began to paint in the house.

He placed his easel in front of his bed.

Draw two strokes, then climb into bed, look at your own drawing, and slowly fall asleep.

In the dream, the lieutenant entered his own painting.

He walked through the jungle alone.

No enemies were encountered.

The Chinese seem to have withdrawn.

Behind the jungle is the vast savannah, where wild dogs, zebras, and antelopes run wild.

The ensuing scene becomes magical.

The animals flew up and down as they ran, floating in mid-air.

A building identical to the Madrid Bullring suddenly rises in the grassland.

The lieutenant's own steps became lighter.

He also floated into the bullring.

There, he saw his sister and brother who had died in the civil war, and the Cubans he had killed!

They have different skin colors, some are white, some are black, some are Chinese.

They actually stood together, waving at themselves in the middle of the bullring.

The lieutenant rushed at them in a fit of rage.

He couldn't tolerate his relatives and his enemies being together.

"You devils, don't try to bewitch me!" The lieutenant yelled.

But a huge explosion suddenly sounded behind him.

The lieutenant looked back and saw that half of the bullring behind him was collapsing.

"Sir! Sir! ”

A voice floated through the air.

"Sir! Sir! ”

Lieutenant Gonzalez snapped his eyes open.

He found one of his own soldiers standing beside the bed, looking panicked, and said to him in a dejected state:

"Sir! It's in! It's in! ”

"What's the fight?" The lieutenant's mind still hadn't turned around.

"The walls behind were blown up by the enemy! The enemy has come in! The soldier wept and mourned.

The lieutenant jerked up from the bed.

He didn't even have time to put on his clothes, put on a pair of pants and rushed out the door, looking behind the fortress.

It should be dawn, and it's just dawning.

In the direction he looked, gunshots and killings shook the sky, and the figures of a group of uniformed soldiers loomed.

"What about the soldiers? Where's my machine gun?" The lieutenant yelled, "Plug it up, go up to the wall and beat them back!" ”

"We tried." The soldier wept and mourned, "There are no people standing on the front of the wall, and if you go up, you will be knocked down, and you will not be able to hit the side at all, as if they came out of a ditch." ”

"In the ditch?" The lieutenant is now confused.

But the battlefield didn't give him much time to think.

More and more enemies are rushing in.

The lieutenant took the soldier's gun and rushed over.

But as soon as he rushed halfway, he saw two Chinese soldiers appear in front of him.

The two sides made a face-to-face.

Without hesitation, the lieutenant and the soldier behind him raised their rifles and raised their hands to shoot, and a shuttle of bullets from the opposite side also fired.

It may be that the fight was rushed and there were no hits on either side.

The lieutenant hurriedly pulled the bolt and prepared to shoot again.

As everyone knows, the soldiers on the opposite side quickly changed their kneeling posture, holding their guns and firing again.

The rate of fire was completely suppressed.

This time, aiming was carried out on the opposite side.

The lieutenant was knocked to the ground in an instant, and the soldier behind him did not hold out longer than him, lying down next to the lieutenant two seconds later.

The same thing happened in other corners of the fortress.

The Chinese soldiers followed the trench to the gap in the wall and rushed into the fortress on the debris that had been blown away.

They carried automatic firearms such as BAR and swept at the Spanish soldiers who were blocking up.

Most of the Spanish soldiers were asleep.

They heard the signal and came out with their guns disheveled, some of the bullets before they could be loaded.

No sooner had they confronted the Chinese soldiers than they were swept to the ground.

The battlefield quickly turned one-sided.

More than 100 Spanish soldiers were quickly wiped out, and the rest were completely demoralized, and opened the gate and fled for their lives.

Half an hour later, Chen Jianqiu walked along the gap into the fortress.

Zhang Danian followed behind him.

"Uncle Danian, you should take the first credit for this battle." Chen Jianqiu glanced at the soldiers who were cleaning the battlefield, and turned back to Zhang Danian.

"I'm not blowing with you, Jianqiu, when I was attacking Changsha City." The old man dug the soil for a few days and nights, but he was still in good spirits, without a trace of tiredness, and he blew spittle and stars flying.

Chen Jianqiu smiled and listened to Zhang Danian's blowing, and then patted him on the shoulder: "Uncle Danian, you go and rest quickly, we have to continue to sweep away the Spanish soldiers on the periphery." ”

"Well, I'll have to squint for a while, not as much as I did back then." Zhang Danian put his hands behind his back and stepped out.

"Boss, what about these surrendered soldiers?"

Li Sifu walked over with a group of Spanish prisoners.

The captives were tied with their hands in front of them and strung together with ropes, one after the other, all of them dejected.

"Throw the rebels away, let them dispose of them, take revenge on those who have revenge, and repay those who have been wronged." Chen Jianqiu glanced at the soldiers and said, "I don't have that much food to feed them. ”

These Spanish soldiers couldn't understand what Chen Jianqiu said, but Li Sifu could understand it.

Naturally, the soldiers of the rebel army did not have much food.

Spain's brutal rule has left the country suffering from poverty and famine.

There is a sea of blood feud on both sides, and the fate of these Spanish soldiers can be imagined.

"What about the enemies who run away?" Li Sifu then asked, "What if they run to other strongholds and reveal our tactics?" Shall we chase after it? ”

"I'm not worried." Chen Jianqiu disagreed, "I have a lot of tactics, and the cannon is also on the way." ”

Since the location of the first landing was not very good, a lot of baggage was not transported.

Chen Jianqiu's artillery is gathering in southern Florida under Danny's leadership.

"And if I were them, I wouldn't have chosen to run to a small stronghold and die a second time, but would have fled directly to Santiago or Guantanamo." Chen Jianqiu continued.

"Huh? Wouldn't those two places be harder to fight in that case? Li Sifu was a little puzzled.

"That's right." Chen Jianqiu shrugged, "But what does that matter to me, I'm not in a hurry to fight over there." ”

In the weeks that followed, Chen Jianqiu and the U.S. Second Cavalry Brigade went on a rampage through southern Cuba between Santiago and Guantanamo, clearing all Spanish strongholds in the area.

They were followed by the Chinese rebels.

When the Cuban people along the way heard of the arrival of this Chinese army, they ate pot pulp to welcome the king's division.

Although many of them have nothing left, they are still willing to take out the few cassava and sweet potatoes that they have left in their homes.

The military discipline of Chen Jianqiu's troops has always been very good.

One of the reasons for this is the high income of military salaries and the clear definition of rewards and punishments, and they are also inseparable from ideological education in peacetime.

Everyone in the night school church sang it, whether it was Chinese, black, white, or Mexican soldiers.

Every grassroots contingent has a commissioner in charge of ideological education.

The Chinese soldiers were told that they had come to liberate their compatriots.

Just when Chen Jianqiu led his troops to play a triumphant song in southern Cuba.

Other units of the US Army, which are still being prepared.

But the Navy was not idle.

The American Asian fleet, which received a notification from Roosevelt in advance, left the XG.

Commodore George Dewey led four cruisers, two gunboats, and one anti-smuggling ship to sneak into Manila Bay in the early hours of May 1.

General Dewey was originally concerned that the Spaniards had planted mines in Manila Bay.

But in fact, it didn't.

The main forces of the Spanish fleet were there.

They were soon discovered.

However, General Dewey's fleet had already completed the formation of unfolding.

At about 5:40 a.m., the Commodore ordered the fleet to open fire on the Spanish fleet, consisting of six cruisers and three gunboats, under the command of Rear Admiral Montoyo.

Although the Spanish battleships had a numerical advantage, they were too far behind the new ships of the Americans.

The Spaniards' battleships were old and rather poorly prepared.

The main gunner was missing, ammunition was lacking.

Their shore fire is not even ready.

In contrast, Dewey's preparation was much more adequate.

As early as a year ago, at the behest of Roosevelt, he was stationed on XG Island for six months of training.

The artillery of the American army was much more accurate than that of the Spaniards.

According to post-war statistics, the Americans hit at least 170 artillery rounds, and the Spaniards hit only 15 rounds.

The division of labor between the naval guns of the US ships was clear, with 8-inch large-caliber guns bombarding coastal batteries and 5-inch secondary guns hitting Spanish warships.

The U.S. fleet kept approaching the target and fired again and again, until it was close to a distance of more than 1,800 meters, and then made a 180-degree turn, maintaining a posture parallel to the Spanish fleet, so that it could give full play to the 5-inch secondary gun fire on both sides.

In this way, this naval battle became a one-sided "massacre".

There was no suspense about the outcome of the final battle.

The Spanish fleet was completely annihilated, while the American fleet suffered almost no losses.

Their damage management was very well controlled, and no ships sank.

News of the Manila Bay victory reached the United States.

All the crowd was furious and demanded an immediate attack on the Spanish troops in Cuba.

Most people don't know how many of Chen Jianqiu's troops went to Cuba and how they fought.

They only knew that these Chinese, who were usually despised by themselves, landed on the island first.

It's a shame.

Why is it that a Chinese volunteer army can fight bravely, while the American army, which has always been full of martial virtues, has been slow to stand still?

They guessed right, the US Army, still not ready.

It's not because no one wants to go.

After the conscription order was issued, the War Department received 200,000 applications for enlistment!

The volunteers were concentrated in Florida.

There, their unskilled instructors taught them how to shoot, how to line up, how to march.

These people are all rookies.

A rookie who doesn't know anything except a hot blood.

There were also fights between black and white soldiers at boot camps.

The War Department had to expend a lot of energy to deal with this matter.

Otherwise, before the army has set out, their own people will have to fight in Florida first.

Plus, they don't have enough guns yet.

The Clark rifles produced at the Springfield Arsenal were armed with only a part of the American soldiers.

This is still the premise that the Roswell Arsenal has processed a batch at full capacity.

Many people brought their own guns, which were more advanced than the Kragg rifles, but most of them still used black powder rifles, the ones that would smoke when hit.

There were also not enough transport ships prepared by the army, and they tried to requisition civilian ships.

Coastal fishermen and commercial transport companies are very active, but they are inexperienced.

Coupled with the scorched army, the arrangement of ships was a mess.

In addition to this, there are not enough uniforms for the army and not enough rations for the army.

In short, except for the passion enough, nothing else is enough.

But Roosevelt couldn't help it.

He decided to lead the 1st Volunteer Cavalry Brigade to Cuba.

His friend was already on the island, and he couldn't sit idly by.

After several requests, Commander-in-Chief Schaft finally agreed to his request.

Roosevelt embarked on the journey to Cuba with great vigor and vigour.

But what he didn't expect was that as soon as he set foot on Cuban soil, he was like a stick.

None of the horses or equipment of the 1st Cavalry Brigade were brought over except for his.

2-in-1, 4000 words

(End of chapter)