After 3:30 p.m., escaping the scorching midday sun, fierce fighting resumed.

"Ready, launch!"

"Boom, boom, boom......"

The bronze 6-pounder Napoleonic cannon roared, and in the violent explosion, the oval cast iron cannonball was fired, instantly hitting the high houses, the smoke of the explosion was filled, and the walls collapsed.

Several Mexican gunmen in cowboy hats, who were still shooting from their houses, were crushed in the rubble, unknown for their lives and deaths;

on artillery positions

The thick smoke emitted by the black powder had formed a fog, so thick that it was choking, and after the artillery was fired, they immediately picked up a long brush to clean the chamber from the front to prepare for the next round of artillery firing.

To the sound of snare drums, the marching US Union soldiers attacked along the dirt roads of the streets under the cover of artillery fire, and everyone had a look of fear on their faces.

"Aim, shoot."

"Bang Bang ......"

At the commander's order, the defenders of the Tang Kingdom raised their muskets behind the barricades and fired a dense volley of guns, most of their bodies were covered by the barricades, only a small part above the chest was exposed.

The scorching bullets whistled, and the blood splattered on the American soldiers in the front row, and seven or eight of them fell in a row, like dogs gnawing on the queue.

Accompanied by the uproar and screams of the US military ranks, the US soldiers who were knocked to the ground also howled loudly and painfully, and in the face of death, the panicked emotions could not be concealed, and the scene was chaotic.

"Stand still, the soldier steps forward to fill in his position, ready to return fire." The front-line commander of the US army also had a miserable face.

He stood at the very end of the first platoon, suffering the death blow of the defenders' bullets head-on, the other side hiding behind the fortified barricades, while the American soldiers were completely exposed to their guns and endured the slaughter.

The huge psychological gap and the death faced at all times made the lips of the American commanders tremble; "Gun flat ......"

Before he finished speaking, the head-on "pop pop ......" bean-like platoon gunfire rang out again, and the hot bullets pierced the chest of the American commander, cutting off all the rest of his words, and his body fell to the ground limply and died.

The gunfire of the American troops returning fire was sporadical, but compared with the dense and deadly platoon of the defenders on the opposite side, the American army's return fire was sparse and weak, and many bullets hit the barricades, except for drilling a hole in the wooden board or breaking a small stone chip, rarely achieving a lethal effect.

"Launch!"

The cannon rumbled again, whizzing and smashing on the barricades, which were filled with smoke and dust, and the flying stones and sawdust injured several soldiers, who crouched on the ground covered in blood and were quickly replaced.

The defenders of Rio Rancho's Tang Kingdom had no means to counterattack the artillery, so they could only endure the incessant bombardment of the artillery, with one batch of dead and wounded and one after another, and they held on to the barricade positions in blood.

Most of the casualties of the defenders were due to artillery bombardment.

The U.S. soldiers could only bear the baptism of bullets with their bodies in the formation attack, the attack was repulsed, and the re-attack was repulsed, and the number of casualties increased rapidly, and the U.S. attacking soldiers were almost unilaterally enduring a massacre.

The two sides hurt each other and fought fiercely until dusk.

The town of Rio Rancho is enveloped in an atmosphere of fierce war, with houses and barricades that have been repeatedly shelled by artillery in tatters, littered with fallen corpses and shocking mass of blood.

On the streets attacked by the American army, there were more than 130 corpses lying on their backs, and the black and red mass of blood had stained the streets into spots and put them into a hellish slaughterhouse.

Colonel Stephen Carney's angry eyes were bloodshot and his heart ached as he looked at the corpses of soldiers on the street. The onslaught on this day alone lost nearly 200 people, of whom more than 150 were killed.

If we add the losses of more than 30 people in the vanguard a few days ago, the losses of the Western Route Army have reached more than 230 people, which is more than 10% of the casualties for an army with a total of only more than 1,700 people, and it has to stop fighting and rest.

If the fight continues, the whole army will collapse.

Colonel Stephen Carney was an experienced officer, and he could sense that the morale of the army was shaken, and after repeated severe defeats, morale was unprecedentedly low and could not be fought for the time being.

Therefore, he had to order a pause in the offensive, raise a white flag and demand that the battlefield be cleaned, and the defenders agreed.

In the early summer of New Mexico, there is a large temperature difference between day and night, reaching 356 degrees at the hottest time at noon, and only about 10 degrees in the morning and evening, and you must be wrapped in a blanket to sleep.

In this kind of ghost weather, the corpse will swell and stink after a day, and it must be dealt with as soon as possible.

Faced with the well-defended town of Rio Rancho, Colonel Stephen Carney knew what the crux was, but there was nothing he could do.

The Army's French-made 6-pounder guns were too powerful, and the oval iron shells weighed about 2.6 kilograms, about the size of a man's fist, to break through the defenders' defensive positions and inflict massive casualties.

Mid-19th century

The 6-pounder gun is almost the smallest field gun in the army, and there are 9-pounder, 12-pounder, 20-pounder, 30-pounder, 45-pounder, and 60-pounder guns, and naval sail warships generally use medium and large-caliber guns of more than 20 pounder, and the largest can reach 60 or 80 pounder. The army's super-large caliber artillery that specializes in guarding the port can even reach 100-pound, 150-pound, 200-pound or even 300-pound Parrott cannons, which are proper heavy weapons of war.

But the 7 small cannons in front of him are not satisfactory for attacking solid targets.

With two 12-pounder guns in hand, Colonel Stephen Carney was confident that he would be able to break through this damned town in an hour without incurring such heavy casualties.

But it's too late to say anything now, there are no powerful weapons in hand, so you can only pile up with human lives, and no matter what, you have to capture the town of Rio Rancho and gain a stable and reliable foothold.

As long as the town is captured, it means that the American army has advanced more than 1,300 kilometers to the west and obtained a bridgehead for the attack, which is enough to explain the heavy casualties.

After occupying the town of Rio Rancho, the Western Route Army could get a steady stream of supplies from the rear, including men and high-powered artillery, and then crush the enemy's small towns along the way, uprooting them one by one, and finally reaching the beach of Los Angeles westward.

Otherwise, it would be necessary to retreat more than 700 kilometers north to Denver or more than 1,300 kilometers east to Kansas City, which would mean a complete failure of the westward expedition.

This highlights the importance of the capture of the town of Rio Rancho, which is nothing more than a question of how many casualties there are, right?

With the sheer size of the American Federation, Colonel Stephen Carney has every reason to believe;

The small Tang Kingdom is just a mantis arm blocking the car, and all resistance is in vain.

From a military point of view, this is the point of capturing the town of Rio Rancho, no matter what the cost.

The biggest headache for Colonel Stephen Carney was that these defenders were desperately resistant.

Although the defensive line of Rio Rancho was bombarded, it only took one night to restore the defensive line to its original state. And the Western Route Army is running out of shells, and it can't withstand such a squander!

in town

The battle losses of this day were quickly counted, and the advance cavalry squadron of the Tang Kingdom suffered a total of 43 casualties, of which 19 were killed and 24 were wounded.

The Mexican gunmen who accompanied the battle suffered 13 casualties, including 5 killed and 8 wounded.

Captain James Kahn led his men to a 1-4 victory, which was undoubtedly a huge victory.

The town had stockpiled enough food for three months, and 12 horses (the remaining 300 or so had been sent back to Gallup with the retreating men to avoid consuming too much food and grass) to kill and eat meat, and he was ordered to defend it.

James Kahn led the men around the defensive positions, then went to check on the wounded, arranged the night guard, reinforced the defensive line, etc., and then was able to return to the house to take a breath.

There was a large vat of water in the room, James Kahn picked up the bowl and scooped it up, raised his head and drank it all, touched the water stain on his chin with his hand, and shouted in high spirits; "Oh my God, it's so hot, I feel alive again."

Lieutenant Lu Zhiran nodded in agreement, took the bowl in his hand, scooped a bowl of cool water in the vat and poured it down, feeling that all the depression in his body was gone; "At the height of the battle, when sweat and smoke blinded the eyes of the soldiers, and everyone was fighting on instinct, at that time, maybe death was not the worst outcome."

"We have lost 57 people, the combat strength has been reduced by 1/3, and the army that bears the brunt of the losses is the greatest. If this situation continues, I'm afraid those Mexicans will start to mess up first, Lu, so we won't be able to last long. James Kahn said with a solemn face.

The advance squadron has a total of 157 soldiers, and today it lost 47 people in one day, plus the nearly 20 people lost in the previous day's battle, the number of casualties has accounted for nearly half.

With the exception of the seriously wounded, most of the lightly wounded soldiers were able to continue fighting.

The excellent obedience and tenacity of the Chinese soldiers were fully displayed in the difficult moments, and the troops did not show signs of mutiny and collapse, but silently endured the tempering of the war, gritting their teeth and persevering.

Comparatively

Those Mexican gunmen who voluntarily participated in the war and shouted slogans were much more unbearable, although the casualties were much lighter, but many people were already frightened by the fierce offensive of the US army, and hid in the rear to avoid the battle.

There are even many people who advocate surrender, which creates a lot of panic.

"James, what do you mean?"

"I think we did a good job, we did do a lot of damage to the Yankees, I don't know how many shells they carried, but I can be sure that this kind of high-intensity attack will not last more than two days today. We have to grit our teeth and persevere. James Kahn gritted his teeth and continued; Maybe...... We should take decisive action to purge and imprison some of the demagogues of Mexicans, and integrate the rest into combat units. ”

Speaking of which

He raised his head and looked at Lieutenant Lu Zhiran, and continued word by word; "I know that these Mexican gunmen are volunteers, and they are passionate about fighting against the Yankees. However, they have no discipline and no organization, and when they encounter high-intensity battles, they are frightened, and panic spreads everywhere, which will greatly disturb the morale and morale of the troops. Although it is a little unbearable to ask them to do it, in order to clear up the internal troubles at such a dangerous moment, they can't take care of much. ”

"Sir James, we brothers don't know if we can get out alive? It's a big deal, it's impossible to surrender the ghost guys anyway, just tell me what you want to do, I'll support you. Lu Zhiran only hesitated for a moment, and then categorically agreed.

The Chinese are helpless in this wild North American wilderness, surrounded by high-nosed ghosts and Mexicans wearing big straw hats, with a deep sense of crisis.

The intense pressure brought about by this environment has made the Chinese more united, and the cohesion is unprecedentedly high, even if they fight until the last moment of their lives, it is impossible to surrender to the ghosts.

James Kahn was overjoyed to receive the support of Squadron Leader Lu Zhiran, so he leaned over and discussed with him in a low voice......