"Smack!"

A piece of paper was slapped on the table.

The person who slapped the paper was Li Sifu, and his emotions looked a little excited at this time.

Chen Jianqiu and Xu Ajiu sat on the chair as if nothing had happened, each swallowing a cigar and exhaling smoke, while exchanging the taste of the original Cuban cigar.

"Would you like one?" Xu Ajiu took out one from the box on the table and asked Li Sifu.

But Li Sifu didn't seem to have the heart to accept Xu Ajiu's kindness.

He pointed to the piece of paper and eagerly asked Chen Jianqiu on the side:

"Boss, what does Sheft mean by that?" Give up attacking Guantanamo and rush to the aid of Santiago'? ”

"Kemanera is lost, thousands of Spanish troops have been wiped out, the gate of Guantanamo has been opened, and the most difficult ones have been gnawed down by us, and the troops will be able to come to the city in a few days."

"Isn't it in vain for us to go to Santiago at this juncture to support Santiago?"

Li Sifu's eyes widened, and his face was full of unwillingness.

"Someone is thinking about picking peaches." Xu Ajiu half lay in the chair and said lazily.

"Damn the Yankees, damn Sheft!" Li Sifu scolded.

"It's General Sheft." Chen Jianqiu tapped the table with his fingertips a few times and looked at Li Sifu with a smile.

"Boss, why are you so good-tempered? People are trying to rob us of our credit! Seeing that Chen Jianqiu was so disapproving, Li Sifu became more and more anxious.

"Eat pineapple, eat pineapple." Chen Jianqiu pushed the pot of pineapples on the side to him, "On such a hot day, why bother if you are in a hurry." ”

Li Sifu is not in the mood to eat pineapple.

Chen Jianqiu stood up.

"It's ours, and no one else can take it away." Chen Jianqiu walked to the gate.

He picked up his cigar and took two more puffs.

"Sifu, you can take 2,000 people to stay here and wait and see what happens."

Rhodesgers and his 2,000 men, he took his weapons and put them back, and he didn't even mean to be imprisoned.

For one, he didn't want to waste food to provide rations for these people, not for a day.

Second, he doesn't plan to hand them over to other American teams.

Li Sifu also complained in private that he let the tiger return to the mountain.

Most of these people went straight back to Guantanamo.

Some of them have no will to fight and are waiting to return home, while some of them are planning to continue to complete their tasks and wash away their shame.

But these things have nothing to do with him for the time being.

Because he's going to support Santiago.

In fact, regarding the order to mobilize the Second Cavalry Support Brigade to support Santiago, Li Sifu and they were wrong to blame General Sheft.

This commander-in-chief really has no intention of reaping the fruits of victory for his own people.

The main reason for issuing an appointment is simple.

The American troops attacking in the direction of Santiago were beaten to the brim.

Except for Chen Jianqiu's team, which landed first, the other subordinate armies of the Fifth Army were all deployed in this direction, including Roosevelt's reckless cavalry.

Due to Chen Jianqiu's previous activities in southern Cuba, a large number of Spanish soldiers actively or passively gathered in the direction of Santiago.

The number of defenders here is far beyond Sheft's imagination (and the actual number of soldiers in history).

To be honest, the US Army in the San Diego direction is not much better than their Marine brothers in the Guantanamo direction.

The Spanish general Rubin led his soldiers to teach Wheeler and Roosevelt a good lesson in Las Guasima using two mountain guns and the jungle.

The brilliant Spanish general fought and retreated in the direction of San Juan Heights, while relying on shrubs, trellises, and vines to hold back the American troops in a layered manner during the retreat.

The American army suffered heavy casualties, while the Spanish army lost only fourteen men.

By the time the U.S. troops advanced closer to San Diego, they were already full of wounded soldiers.

Under the local medical conditions, there is not much difference between an injury and a death.

At the same time, yellow fever was also spreading among the U.S. military, causing shocking non-combat attrition, far exceeding the number of people killed in combat.

Chen Jianqiu's rampage in southern Cuba also caused a second consequence.

Even Chen Jianqiu himself didn't expect this consequence.

Linares, the former commander of the Spanish army in Cuba, was dismissed from his post due to the unfavorable situation of the war and was replaced by Brigadier General Torres.

Although changing generals has always been taboo on the battlefield.

But for the Spanish army, this turned out to be a good thing by mistake.

The former is a rigid academic veteran.

He had always mistakenly believed that the Fifth Army attacking in the direction of Santiago was nothing more than a feint, and that the real landing direction should be in Santiago Bay, so there were not many defensive forces set up in the eastern part of the city.

Tens of thousands of Spanish troops retreated into the city of Santiago.

But Brigadier Torres quickly adjusted his deployment as soon as he stepped into battle.

The general had studied in the United States, so he was unimpressed by the poor performance of the Fifth Army.

They fight badly not because they are feints! It's that they pull their crotch like this!

He moved most of his troops to the east of the city of San Diego.

There are two strategic points to the east.

One is El Cane to the northeast, and the other is San Juan Heights in the middle of the Royal Mile to the southeast.

The former is the place where the canal that supplies water to Santiago must pass, and the latter is the commanding height of the whole of Santiago and the gateway to the city of Santiago.

Brigadier General Torres significantly increased his numbers and equipment in both places.

Xie Fut had no idea what was going on, so he urgently ordered Chen Jianqiu and his Second Volunteer Cavalry Brigade to rush to support in this direction.

By the time Chen Jianqiu and his people arrived at Elkane, the battle to attack there had already begun.

Originally a small village, Elkane became famous because of a small stone church in the area.

Legend has it that in the 16th century, on the eve of his voyage to Mexico and the Aztec kingdom, Cortez, the conqueror, prayed in this church.

On a high ground less than a mile southwest of the village is a small high ground.

There is a stone fort on it called Fort Elviso.

The fortress is not big, and it doesn't even have a decent roof.

But that doesn't stop it from being a veritable fortress.

The view is very good, the walls are thick, machine muzzles and muzzles are set every few meters, facing in all directions.

The Spanish army relied on this fortress for defense.

It was defended only by a pitiful 200 Spanish soldiers and two mountain guns.

When Torres took office, he quickly increased the number of soldiers defending the area to 1,500 men, while also adding six 75mm Knoob guns, as well as corresponding heavy machine guns.

These people were not all concentrated in the fortress, but in a ring of moats around the fortress.

In charge of attacking here was the 2nd Division of the Fifth Army, led by Sheft's beloved general Lawton.

Chen Jianqiu, who had just arrived, led his troops to their southwestern position, and the 6,600 men who were waiting for Fatigue as a reserve took the lead in attacking.

Chen Jianqiu took the binoculars, took Xu Ajiu, Danny and a few other subordinates, and found a small high ground to start observing the battlefield.

Danny and his wife, Teresa, set off from Roswell one after the other.

His wife was with a medical team, and he was with 300 artillerymen.

However, they arrived a little late because they still had twenty of the latest guns to be shipped from Mexico.

Danny also completed the rendezvous with Chen Jianqiu directly on the way to San Diego.

"Boss, look over there."

Xu Ajiu suddenly pointed to a piece of grass not far away.

There was the rumbling sound of cannonballs, and at the same time huge smoke rose.

It was Lawton's artillery position.

They were shelling the fortress on the top of the hill, smashing the fortified walls with their shells.

Chen Jianqiu raised the telescope in his hand and looked in the direction of the artillery position.

He looked at it for a long time before putting down the telescope in his hand and handing it to Danny at the same time.

"Look, I guess we'll have to stay away from these unlucky guys."

Danny took the binoculars and looked at it too.

He looked and shook his head.

"Why are these guys still using black powder as propellant? Isn't this looking for death? ”

I don't know if this group of artillery in the army has not officially fought for too long, and those who don't know are fearless, or the new artillery just purchased by the War Department is not in place.

The artillerymen were attacking the top of the hill in a near-suicidal manner.

Every four or five of them gathered around the artillery, aiming and carrying ammunition.

These people are unhurried, unhurried, and some of them are relaxed and cross-legged, smiling and grinning with the same group around them, not knowing what they are talking about.

If it were a few decades ago, there would be nothing wrong with their behavior.

But times have changed.

Now it's the world of smokeless gunpowder.

In combat, it is fired with black powder and emits a large amount of smoke, which is no different from collaborating with the enemy.

It's basically the same as painting a few words with lime on the ground in front of you, "Come and up"!

Danny looked straight at Hanako.

"These guys will be educated very quickly, as long as the Spaniard on the other side has a little experience."

The Spaniards in the fortress were clearly experienced.

With another loud bang.

This time the loud noise came from the top of the mountain opposite.

A wave of flowering shells unmistakably smashed into the artillery positions of the American troops.

For a time, it was shrouded in rising dirt and smoke.

By the time the dust and smoke cleared, there were already a lot of people on the battlefield.

The remaining artillerymen got up from the ground and prepared to reload again for a counterattack.

However, since their guns do not have a reloading device, they will be displaced after firing, so they need to adjust the firing angle again.

Before the American artillery was ready to return fire, a second wave of shells came again.

This time, two guns were hit directly and fell apart,

And the unlucky eggs around the cannon also poured a few.

The artillery of the American army was so suppressed that it could not even lift its head.

Chen Jianqiu and Danny couldn't stand it.

But they soon found that these were nothing compared to what followed.

The offensive of the infantry, began.

The 3rd and 1st Brigades, led by Brigadier Generals Ludlow and Chauffeur (not the French Chauffeur), began to outflank the villages under the fort, while Miles, who was given the order to lead the 2nd Brigade to attack the fort directly from the middle.

But the offensive coordination of the three lines can basically be described as sparse.

The progress of the 3rd Brigade was the fastest, and they quickly reached the predetermined position, but were met with a fierce counterattack by the Spanish troops stationed in the village.

Fatally, they were at the forefront of the 2nd Massachusetts Volunteer Corps.

Most of these people are new recruits.

The characteristic of the recruit is that he is extremely brave before he sees death; But after seeing death, I was at a loss for what to do, and the little combat knowledge I learned in the short training was quickly left behind, and then the technical and tactical actions were deformed, and a bullet or shell was reduced to cannon fodder.

What's more, the equipment of these people is not good, and they still use Springfield rifles that use black powder.

The corps was quickly stunned.

Soon the brains of people were beaten sideways, and the corpses fell to the ground, and the flesh was blurred.

When the recruits saw the blood, some ran back screaming, and some hid in the corner shivering.

For a while, the veterans didn't know who to take care of, whether to comfort them, protect themselves, or shoot the fleeing people with one shot.

At this time, however, the First Brigade was still on its way; The 1st Brigade, which was responsible for the frontal attack, was not in a hurry and was slowly assembling.

By the time Miles and his 2nd Brigade officially began their assault on the high ground, it was almost noon.

In the first line, there was the 25th regiment.

It's a black regiment.

Although there was still debate at home about the ability of the Black Regiment to serve their country abroad, Colonel Myers had his own ideas.

Let the blacks rush the first.

If they are sacrificed, then they have exchanged their lives for fame; If they fled en masse, the 1st and 17th Infantry Regiments of the second platoon behind them, as the Overseers, would be able to pack them up.

The Spanish artillery on the top of the hill was fighting against the American artillery, and they still had time to "take care" of Miles' 1st Brigade.

They had to choose a path through the jungle.

In this case, the blow may be a little smaller.

At that time, the battle line was advancing, and it was no longer as lined up as before, playing military music.

However, it is basically a horizontal column, and the collective rushes forward.

After the blacks had crossed the last jungle, the blacks finally saw the fortress ahead.

At the same time as the high fortress appeared, there were several barbed wire fences and a large Baltic area.

From here to Fort Elviso at the top of the hill, there is nothing to hide except for a small amount of bushes, and basically you can only rely on the charge.

The commander of the black unit, gave the order to advance.

And the blacks also followed the original plan, with guns in their hands, and moved forward step by step.

But they don't know that a catastrophe awaits them.

Because in addition to the powerful cannons, there were three heavy machine guns, mounted on the frontal line.

These swarthy-looking heavy machine guns were sitting quietly, waiting to take the lives of the blacks on the other side.

(End of chapter)