Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 536 Putrajaya, Vulnerable! (two)

In the early morning of September 1646, 9, after communicating with each other, the two detachments of the East Coast Army simultaneously launched the final offensive against the remaining Spanish defenders trapped in the inner city of Buenos Aires.

Under the continuous bombardment of 24 field artillery and two 2-pound siege artillery, the southeast corner of the wall cracked and collapsed in the afternoon.Overjoyed, Chang Kaisheng immediately transferred the main force of the artillery to this place, and after a heavy bombardment, the gap was widened, and the Spanish army soldiers who were surrounding the gap suffered heavy losses.The next step is to attack normally step by step. The east bank army once again opened the way with artillery, firmly occupied this gap, and then expanded to the inside.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Xie Han's third detachment, which was attacking in the north of the city, also blasted through the gate on the north side.The Spaniards who rushed to fight did not have time to completely block the gate, so the East Coast Army soon made a frontal breakthrough and used it to attack the city.The Spaniards, who were attacked from the front and back, suddenly lost the courage to resist. About dozens of soldiers were shot dead after trying to break out of the siege, and dozens of others surrendered.General Diego Garcia of La Plata hid many local officials and leaders of the Chamber of Commerce in his general's mansion, and then relied on the last remaining more than 50 Spanish soldiers and about [-] to [-] Guarani servants to carry out the war. Recalcitrant.

The people on the east coast didn't give them a chance to fight head-to-head.The besieging artillery aimed a total of 26 guns at the white two-story building and spent several hours smashing it into rubble.General Diego Garcia of La Plata appointed by the Kingdom of Spain was killed on the spot, and many local city councilors and business leaders were martyred together. Afterwards, the East Bank Army only rescued two businessmen who survived from the ruins.

Chang Kaisheng was quite surprised that the Spaniards had such a tenacious fighting will, but it was just a surprise. In the end, the people on the east bank relied on their superiority in numbers and at the same time gave full play to their artillery firepower, thus completely occupying Buyi. North Aires, Paraná—the second most important city in the Rio de la Plata Valley—is the most important city, of course, Asunción.

The statistics of the casualties of the battle came out soon. Five infantry companies, three artillery companies, and half a regiment of the East Coast Army participated in the battle. A total of 35 people were killed and 62 were injured, 11 of whom were seriously injured. The result of killing, wounding, and capturing 409 Spanish Army soldiers-obviously, this number included many Spanish white farmers who were temporarily armed.

After the two battles, 252 people were killed or injured by the navy and army on the east coast. This made Lu Ming, the commander of the First Fleet who got the news, frowned.Although about a hundred of them were not seriously injured, and more than [-]% of them were able to return to the battlefield, such heavy casualties still made people feel a little terrified.Moreover, the Spaniards did not collapse as quickly as the radical soldiers in the military department thought. They often only fled or surrendered when they couldn't hold on.

It can be said that the tenacious fighting will of these Spanish colonial soldiers made all the soldiers on the east bank who participated in the battle awe-inspiring.Especially the last more than 50 people who followed General Garcia to guard the General's Mansion, all died in the two-story building.Mountains of corpses and seas of blood, fighting to the end, are not unique to my soldiers on the East Coast!

After occupying Buenos Aires, the East Coast Army sent cavalry troops to search the surrounding area to prevent the sudden appearance of the enemy's La Plata infantry regiment. The main force of the army took a rest for a day.At the same time, more than 300 militiamen who landed with the three detachments of Xie Han started another important task, that is, the task of confiscating enemy property that everyone loves to see.

The targets of the confiscation of enemy property were mainly those high-society families such as big businessmen, big ranchers, and big ranchers who had had hostile behaviors with the people on the east coast.For example, those municipal councilors and members of the chamber of commerce who died in the general's mansion when they attacked the inner city of Buenos Aires, the people on the east coast treat them as enemies regardless of whether they were intentional or not.Anyway, what everyone needs is just an excuse. The point is to divide up the property of these people. If the country wants to get rich, so should the individual!Especially those militiamen, why do you think they have no salary to transport supplies to the frontline officers and soldiers without complaint? It’s not for the spoils of war that they have spent so much effort!

On September 9, another 22 militiamen arrived from the port of Buenos Aires.After handing over the supplies to the army, they broke into the manors of these merchants and landowners in the outskirts, led by some white indentured slaves and gauchos from Central and South Europe who volunteered to lead the way.The wolf-like militiamen killed all the opponents with muskets and cannons, and then removed all valuables such as grain, livestock, gold, silver, furs, and agricultural tools seen in the manor.In addition, all the slaves they met were pardoned, and those who were willing to go to the east bank were picked up by boat, and those who did not want to go were given half a bag of grain and left to fend for themselves.

Until September 9, when the main force of the army began to advance to Santa Fe, the Spanish stronghold in the upper reaches of the Paraná River, Liao Xiaoyao, head of the 23th regiment of the Xuebing Regiment, who was appointed as the commander of the Buenos Aires garrison, was still confiscating the enemy. produced actions.At this time, he only had about 35 student soldiers left. He was already unable to control such a large city and a port several kilometers away, and it was too difficult to deploy troops to "rob" the countryside.

In desperation, he could only ask the navy anchored in the port to send some sailors ashore to help, and the force was slightly sufficient.At the same time, he also gathered the released white contract slaves and Indian slaves, about 1000 people, and then ordered them to use pack horses to transport various materials to the port wharf and assist the ten flute-shaped transport ships docked there. The sailors loaded these trophies into the cabin one by one after registering them.Each ship will return to the voyage as soon as it is full of cargo, and return to the port of Buenos Aires immediately after unloading the cargo at the Rocha port to continue loading the cargo.

No one knows how long the entire operation of transporting materials will last. In the first five days, people on the east coast confiscated more than 5000 cattle, more than 900 sheep, more than 800 horses, more than 1 tons of grain, and more than 7000 sheets Preliminarily processed cow and sheep skins, more than 30 bags of wool, more than [-] logs, and various gold and silver coins worth more than [-] pesos.These things, if only rely on the ten flute-shaped transport ships that the people on the east coast have, it may take several months or even half a year to transport them.There are too many materials seized, sometimes it is really a kind of happy trouble!

As a last resort, Liao Xiaoyao asked people to bring a letter back to the mainland. On the one hand, he asked the mainland to send hundreds of militiamen to assist him in defense. Montevideo Outpost.After occupying these two places, the mainland should collect a sufficient number of inland steam transport ships to the La Plata River, and use their high speed to quickly transport cattle, sheep, horses and other livestock from the Port of Buenos Aires to the east. Then send special personnel to drive these livestock back by land.As for the remaining food, fur, coins, wood and other materials, it is really not worth mentioning, and they can all be pulled back by a boat.

Regardless of how Liao Xiaoyao handled the seized materials in Putrajaya for the time being, let us turn our attention back to the main force of the East Coast Army led by Army Captain Chang Kaisheng.At present, Chang Kaisheng's detachment and Xie Han's three detachments that originally attacked Putrajaya have merged again and become a new detachment, with Chang Kaisheng as the detachment leader and Xie Han's third deputy.The detachment has five infantry companies, three cavalry companies, and three artillery companies with about 1400 people. In addition, there are about 1000 militiamen serving as logistical support-of course they also have weapons and can be put into combat when necessary.

If such a force meets the La Plata Infantry Regiment with only more than 600 people, and if it is a frontal battle, Chang Kaisheng believes that the East Coast Army with a complete range of infantry, cavalry and artillery will be able to defeat the enemy in one battle.The only worry is that since the La Plata Infantry Regiment failed to catch up with the rescue operation of Buenos Aires, they probably will not engage in frontal field battles with the East Coasters.They may huddle in the city of Santa Fe to reinforce the fortifications, preparing to fight a stalemate defensive battle with the East Coasters.

Maybe, even those missionaries in Paraguay will organize a large number of Guarani cannon fodder to go down the river to support the battle of Santa Fe City, and even hope to defeat the invading east bank army in World War I, so that the Spaniards will face All problems are solved.Thinking of this, Chang Kaisheng couldn't help thinking secretly whether the troops were a little short, and should he ask the mainland to support more militiamen?Even if there are only 500 or 800 people, it is good!These militiamen are well-trained, and the number of live ammunition shootings even exceeds that of the standing armies of many countries on the Old Continent.

In addition, the naval fleet dare not sail into the upper reaches of the Paraná River, so in order to maintain the long supply line, a large number of small inland steamboats are needed on the east bank to transport supplies and personnel.At present, none of these things are in place, and the materials carried by the detachment alone can't last long, maybe only enough for half a month at most.If the supplies haven't arrived after half a month, where can I go to supply them in these uninhabited places?To put it bluntly, even the robbery could not find the target of the robbery.

Of course, the executive committee and the military department will not forget them. Every move of this army that is currently fighting bravely outside for the interests of the country is eye-catching.Therefore, when they advanced to the upper reaches of the Parana River for nearly half a month, on October 10, the transport fleet led by four "Amur"-class shallow-water gunboats finally arrived.This fleet also included 5 shallow draft 72-ton inland/offshore general-purpose steamers, loaded with a large amount of supplies and nearly [-] additional militiamen from Rocha County.

After the materials and personnel were put in place, the strength of Chang Kaisheng's detachment reached more than 3000 people, and the morale was also boosted a lot.So they began to speed up and strive to reach Santa Fe in the near future.

(End of this chapter)