The commander of the French army, Colonel François-Conrobert, was so shocked that he trembled with rage, and his big hand holding the command knife burst into disbelief at what he saw.

According to intelligence;

There were only two companies of German soldiers stationed in the port of Saint-Malo, where did so many heavy machine guns come from?

He was the commander of the current French government forces that repeatedly fought against the Germans (Note; After the defeat of the Paris Commune, it was no longer called "Versailles", but was changed to a normal French government army), which was clearly known; It was impossible for the Germans with two companies to be armed with such an expensive weapon as a heavy machine gun.

Not a single one, let alone six heavy machine guns.

This 6-barrel retortor Colt heavy machine gun Colonel François-Conrobert is no stranger, it has been born for more than 20 years, and was first equipped in the army of the Tang Empire, which once gave heavy damage to the US cavalry.

In the United States of America, France and the Kingdom of Prussia (Note; There were also a small number of imitations, but they were not universally equipped by the regular army, because the consumption of bullets was too high and it was expensive.

The price of a heavy machine gun is almost enough to buy an expensive 6-pounder Colt breech-loading field gun, and the old 6-pounder breech-loading Napoleon cannon can buy 2.5 guns.

Could it be......

Colonel François-Conrobert thought of a possibility and couldn't help but gasp, "Wow......"

Intelligence shows that there are more than 630 Tang escorts in the port of Marlowe, which is equivalent to the size of an infantry regiment, could it be the weapons equipped by these North American nouveau riche?

No matter what, after the artillery bombards indiscriminately, those cows, ghosts, snakes and gods hiding in the house will be blown out, and it will naturally be clear at that time.

The French soldiers were setting up artillery positions from a distance of more than 700 meters from the small stone bridge, and from here they were shelling the stone houses on the other side of the small stone bridge, which was about 850 to more than 1,000 meters away, which was exactly within the optimal range of artillery.

The artillery positions were divided into left and right sides, with 6 guns on each side.

This unit was armed with an old Napoleonic 6-pounder field gun, breech-loaded, steel hoop guns produced in the 40s of the 19th century, with an extended range of between 1600 and 1800 yards.

As for why the French army was armed with such old-fashioned artillery, the reason is not complicated.

Because the French army is equipped with a large number of such breech-loading guns, the total number of which is as high as tens of thousands, and the performance is not enough to deal with the latest artillery of the German Empire, but it is still an advanced weapon in the colonial wars around the world, and it is invincible.

You can't throw it all away, that's not realistic.

Colonel François-Conrobert was ordered to attack the port of Saint-Malo in order to deal a severe blow to the rampant trend from North America and to recover heavy losses for France.

If you can take the opportunity to make a profit, then of course it is beautiful!

The amount of goods smuggled by the Tang Empire was large, the amount was high, the variety was many, and the duration was long, and its harm exceeded that of Britain and Germany combined and multiplied by 2, which made the French customs tax seriously lose blood and was listed as the primary target.

As the world's top veteran colonist, when did France suffer such a big loss?

If you don't react at all when you are bullied, then you are really aggrieved at home.

Speak from the heart

The proud French really didn't think much of the Tang Empire, perhaps because of the traditional arrogance and condescension of the white people.

It may have been the smooth colonization of the whole world that carried away the French, the British, or the Europeans, and fostered a sense of pride in the emptiness.

This is not Colonel François-Conrobert alone, but the whole of Europe has this kind of blind self-confidence and arrogance, thinking that he is superior to others and does not look down on a North American regional power like the Tang Dynasty.

The strength of its military is often underestimated.

For the Tang Empire, it is quite fair to be able to give a second-rate power in the world, and there are only four world-class powers: Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, and the others are insignificant. This also included the Austrian Empire, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tang Empire, which had become a second-rate power.

Some people will say that the Tang Empire once participated in the Anglo-French alliance and won the Crimean War, which is enough to prove its strength.

The French will never agree that the Crimean War was a war for the rise of France, a war for Napoleon III to ascend to the altar, and a landmark victory for France's re-emergence in Europe.

Some people will say that the Tang Empire won the United States of America, and there were more than 20 battles with a scale of hundreds of thousands of people alone, and there were also battles of an astonishing scale of one million people, doesn't this prove its strength?

For this argument, both the French and the British can only hehe.

Does the United States of America have a regular army?

Before the war, there were only a few divisions of troops, and after the war, the rapidly expanding American militia became the main force, Britain and France, etc., the old colonizers had seen too many in the world colonial wars, and the conquest of the Indian subcontinent and the two wars against the Qing Dynasty before and after, weren't they also tens of thousands of troops at every turn?

So what?

It was not completely annihilated by the British and French troops with a very small number of people, and the French Count Baliqiao had a very right to speak, and almost no damage defeated the 5~60,000 people invested by the Qing army, including more than 30,000 cavalry, and only 12 people were lost.

In colonial wars such as the conquests of Egypt, Burma, Vietnam, etc., similar one-sided victories were not uncommon.

It is precisely because of all kinds of past experiences that Europeans generally look down on wars that occur outside Europe, believing that they are low-level rookie pecking at each other, which does not represent any real combat effectiveness.

"Launch, ......"

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

The French artillery positions roared angrily, 12 six-pounder field guns vented their fire one after another, and several houses behind the small stone bridge were hit by shells, making a violent collision and exploding sound, and for a time thick smoke billowed and smoke and dust rose everywhere.

Of the 12 shells, 7 were hit in the first round of fire, showing the superb artillery skills of the French artillery.

After the first round of firing, the artillerymen quickly cleaned the gunpowder residue from the chamber, refilled the black powder packets, oval shells, and reset the gun for the next fire.

The rumbling sound of artillery resounded throughout the world, and the sound of artillery could be clearly heard from more than 10 kilometers away.

The shelling lasted 15 minutes

The French frantically released more than 100 shells, until they bombarded several stone houses into a pile of rubble, and all the houses that had stood tall collapsed into ruins.

At this time, the rousing march song was played, and the French army again organized an infantry attack.

Due to the width limitation of the small stone bridge, the attacking French army adopted a straggler queue of 7~8 people, about 100 soldiers who were put into the attack at one time, and the rear was followed by the second wave of more than 100 infantry, which was probably the size of an infantry company.

When the first wave of attacking French troops passed halfway through the small stone bridge, they were suddenly hit by the defenders standing behind the ruins, and after a burst of rifle fire "crackling", the attacking French army lost more than 20 people and had to retreat.

"No retreat, continue the ......attack," the French commander, Colonel François-Conrobert, ordered with a grim face.

The attacking French were in a disadvantageous position, leaving the open at both ends of the small stone bridge, and the attacking French soldiers were forced to withstand the indiscriminate fire of the defenders from the ruins of the building.

In the chaotic battle in which bullets and bullets were fired at each other, it was obvious that they suffered more losses and suffered greater casualties.

But such is the case with a brutal assault, the attacking side cannot choose a favorable terrain, and can only rely on artillery fire and soldiers to take turns to attack.

More than an hour after the battle

The French had already left seventy or eighty corpses near the small stone bridge, and they still had not been able to cross the thunder pond even a single step.

That's when it happened

A large number of armed militiamen rushed from the town of Saint-Malo, all of them local white young men, numbering about five or six hundred, who rushed to support under the leadership of Lu Shoushan and others, and their morale was greatly boosted for a while.

Inspired by the heavy recruitment of the Port Commission and the slogan "Defend the homeland", the local French in Saint-Malo enthusiastically joined the armed militia, ready to give these aggressive enemies a taste of the situation.

See this scenario

Looking at the high-spirited French militiamen on the other side of the small stone bridge, brandishing guns and shouting provocations, the commander of the French army, Colonel François-Conrobert, turned pale and trembled with anger.

Nearly 500 soldiers had already been put in front and behind, and while the enemy's guards were getting stronger and stronger, the attacking French army was already showing signs of uneasiness.

He wouldn't forget that the defenders also had six heavy machine guns that reaped the infantry's big kill.

"Keep shelling."

In desperation, the French army chose to continue the heavy shelling, in an attempt to deter and weaken the enemy's will to resist.

The intermittent fighting continued into the evening, and the French army had almost emptied all the shells they had brought, and more than 140 people had been hitch on board, but they still did not break through the small stone bridge position firmly defended by the defenders, and had to retreat helplessly.

The fighters were lost, and German reinforcements would arrive on the second day.

And in the evening

It was the Port Committee of Marlowe that mobilized more than 300 local French to come to the rescue, and across the small stone bridge, the attackers and defenders were almost as numerous as they were, and the other side also had six heavy machine guns capable of inflicting heavy damage on French soldiers.

Seeing that nothing could be done, Colonel François-Conrobert could only lead his troops to retreat and leave amid the deafening cheers of the enemy.

The brilliant sunset reflected in the sky, setting off the gloomy figure of the retreating French soldiers, gradually disappearing at the end of the road.

This is the end of this major crisis facing Saint-Malo.

Post-war inventory

The French lost 622 men in this battle, and were unable to take advantage of anything, and finally had to retreat in disgrace.

The port guards on the defending side lost 47 people, the local French militia lost 6 people, and the German soldiers lost 128 people. Fortunately, in the end, they held the port of Saint-Malo and won the battle.

The fact that no further serious damage was caused was a blessing in disguise.

Although Brittania was a German theater of war, the Germans only occupied a few core cities, and the vast towns and fields were still French territory, and they were able to recruit thousands of people at will.

The reason why there was no heroic resistance to the German invaders was that Emperor Napoleon III, who had been on the altar, and the current French government surrendered, and the Paris Commune, which advocated a resolute struggle against the Germans, was bloodily purged, and France is now in disarray.

At this time, France became weaker and weaker than ever.

(End of chapter)