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The entrance to Manila Bay is located in the southwest of Manila City. At its southern end, which is the entrance on the right side of the bay, is Port Cavite, about two miles away from Manila City.
The port of Cavite is very small, and ships of 400 tons can barely dock there. The Spanish also strengthened their defenses here, but they are much weaker than those in the port of Manila.
The Daqin Royal Marines prepared to land on the beach near Cavite Port and then quickly capture Cavite Port so that the navy's warships could dock and unload their artillery.
Without artillery, the attack on Manila would be a huge loss, or even a major failure, because there are many artillery pieces in the city. If the enemy bombards with shotgun shells, no matter how powerful the Marines are, they will be blown to pieces.
Therefore, whether or not we can quickly capture Port Cavite is the key to the success or failure of this attack.
At five o'clock in the morning, the night was dark and the waves kept washing the beach. More than a mile away from Bian Winter Port, the night wind blew through the tall and dense coconut trees, making a rustling sound.
He Qingyuan was from Qingyuan, Guangdong. His father was a genuine farmer. To save trouble, he simply used the name of his hometown as his name.
He Qingyuan grew up by the Beijiang River and is an excellent swimmer. He also practiced Southern Boxing since he was young and has great Kung Fu skills. It was he who led the South China Sea Fleet Marines to land this time.
Twenty-five landing craft were quietly lowered from the warship. The shape of these landing crafts was a bit like a dragon boat, thin and long, each with 20 people. They had a flat bottom design and a tilted bow, which was convenient for beach landing.
Five hundred marines, fully equipped, quickly boarded the boat in the dark, and under the leadership of He Qingyuan, rowed towards the coast;
Hai Rufeng's warship was basically damaged and needed major repairs before it could continue to fight. He was beating his children on a rainy day and had nothing to do, so he shamelessly followed He Qingyuan ashore to join in the fun.
The Marine Corps has been practicing amphibious warfare for a long time. They are skilled in sailing and paddling, and swimming. When they go ashore, they can quickly form battle arrays, skirmish formations, and single-soldier attacks according to the infantry drill manual. They are proficient in everything.
Their equipment was also extremely complete. Their muzzle-loading rifles were covered with a waterproof holster made of fish skin. Their ammunition, grenades, etc. were also covered with waterproof oilcloth.
For every five people, there are two small crossbows with poisoned arrows. Rockets and other heavy weapons are indispensable. In short, their equipment can be said to be the best and most complete among the Qin army and navy.
In the dark night, on the 25 landing craft, each person had an oar and paddled hard, like a dragon boat race, quickly crossing the two or three miles of sea and directly rushing onto the beach.
Less than thirty steps from the beach, there was a large coconut grove. "Get off the boat, land! Land!" He Qingyuan growled. This was the situation. I don't know how many times I had practiced daily training;
The Marines worked in perfect harmony. As soon as they jumped off the landing craft, half of them immediately grabbed their weapons and rushed to the beach to enter combat alert status. The remaining half was responsible for towing the landing craft ashore.
At this moment, a sharp whistle suddenly sounded in the quiet coconut grove. The whistle traveled particularly far in the quiet night and was particularly harsh.
"Oh no, we've been discovered by the enemy, charge forward!" He Qingyuan shouted immediately.
In the dark coconut grove, there was a sound of running, coming from near and then going far away. It was obviously the sentry sent by the Spaniards, who was running away.
He Qingyuan was about to order a direct attack on Port Cavite when Hai Rufeng suddenly came up with a plan and said, "General He, wait a minute. Everyone, listen to me. Although we have been exposed, it is dark at night and the enemy may not be able to see how many troops we have.
How about this, General He, you take half of the troops and light torches to attract the enemy's attention, and I will take the other half and go around from the east in the dark. Maybe we can catch the enemy off guard."
The situation was urgent, and He Qingyuan made a prompt decision: "Okay, let's do this. Liu An, Lu Jian, you lead your men and follow General Hai's command. The rest of the brothers follow me, quickly!"
In order to attract the enemy, He Qingyuan and his men simply lit torches and quickly ran towards Port Cavite along the path in the coconut grove. Hai Rufeng, with two hundred people, quietly moved eastward under the cover of night.
Lieutenant Rossel was in charge of guarding the port of Cavite, with two hundred Spanish soldiers and three hundred native vassal troops.
The Spaniards, who were already on high alert, immediately lit large torches when they heard the whistle coming from the coconut grove, illuminating the area near the port. Several cannons were loaded with ammunition, ready to attack the Qin army as soon as it appeared.
It was more than a mile away, and He Qingyuan and his companions ran with torches and arrived quickly.
Rossel looked at the coconut grove illuminated by the large fire, and the shadows in the forest were dim. He couldn't help but say: "Praise the Father, may the Lord bless us, fire!"
boom!
With a loud bang, the roar of artillery instantly broke the tranquility of the night. The whistling marbles shot into the coconut grove, making crackling sounds. The torches in the coconut grove suddenly disappeared and it became dark again.
A Filipino native chieftain named Aquino asked foolishly, "General Rossel, have all the enemies been killed?"
"Idiot!" Rossl cursed, "The enemy is trying to sneak up in the dark, keep firing!"
boom!
There was another loud bang, tongues of fire spurted out, and marbles whizzed away, hitting the coconut trees like hail, but the forest was still silent and not even a scream was heard.
Suddenly, a dozen torches lit up in the coconut grove thirty feet to the right, and at the same time, there were gunshots. The rattan hat on Aquino's head was shot off by the bullets. He was so scared that he fell to his side and shouted urgently: "God bless you, God bless you!"
Rossel didn't care to see if he had wet his pants, and hurriedly ordered the Spanish soldiers: "Quick! Turn the muzzle of the gun, fire, fire quickly!"
boom!
With another loud bang, the torches in the coconut grove went out again, and darkness returned in an instant. After a while, it was the turn of the torches to suddenly light up a few dozen feet to the left, followed by a burst of gunfire.
"Quick! Turn the gun to the left, and fire!"
boom!
... ... ... .
"Right, right, turn the gun around and fire!"
boom!
"Left... Wait, don't fire!"
After turning the muzzle back and forth, Rosser finally realized that the Qin army was luring the enemy. Under the firelight, all the Spanish soldiers stared with wide eyes. Looking at the dark coconut grove, they dared not breathe.
"Aquino, lead your men to set fire to the coconut grove and drive the enemy out. Go quickly!"
"Ah!" Aquino exclaimed, "General Rossel, this..."
When Rossell saw that he was trying to refuse, he immediately pointed his gun at him and shouted, "If you don't go, I will send you to see the Father in Heaven!"
"Don't shoot. Don't shoot, I'll go, I'll go!"
Aquino had no choice but to run towards the coconut grove with a group of Philippine monkeys.
Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!
At this moment, tongues of fire suddenly appeared in the coconut grove, and bullets whizzed in, knocking the Filipino natives who were rushing towards the coconut grove to the ground, screaming in pain.
Aquino was lucky and only had a few scratches. He tried to run back, but when he looked up, he saw Rossel pointing a gun at him. He turned around and rushed towards the coconut grove.
Perhaps it was God's blessing that allowed him to dodge the Qin army's bullets and successfully rush into the coconut grove. There were more than 200 natives who rushed into the coconut grove with him.
What is jaw-dropping is that once these people rushed into the coconut grove, they immediately climbed up the coconut trees one after another, at a speed that even monkeys were dwarfed by.
Bang. Bang! Bang!
As bursts of gunfire rang out again in the coconut grove, screams broke out, and the monkeys on the coconut trees fell down like dumplings. The remaining Philippine monkeys tried desperately to climb higher.
The coconut grove was tall and dense. Once the Philippine monkeys climbed to a certain height, they could no longer see clearly. He Qingyuan was having a headache. If he lit a torch, it would be like the enemy being in the dark while he was in the light. If the Philippine monkeys shot arrows from the tree, things would be serious.
Without a torch, I couldn't see, and even loading the musket became a problem.
In the darkness, He Qingyuan made a gesture to the general flag Du Zhongsheng, and Du Zhongsheng immediately took a few of his men, carrying three rocket launchers and quickly moved to the left. When they reached the edge of the coconut grove, they used their clothes to cover the fire starter and lit the rocket fuse.
Chirp!
Suddenly, a dazzling flame burst out from the woods, like the tail of a comet, and shot towards Rossl's gun position.
"Oh my God, what is that..." Rossl didn't have time to react, the rocket hit near one of his artillery with a "boom!"
A ball of fire shot up, and the cannon was blown over to the ground. Several Spanish soldiers were lifted into the air by the strong shock wave. One of the arms that was blown off hit Rossl's head hard, causing his hat to fly off, his scalp to numb, and his face to be covered in blood.
The Spanish soldiers around were thrown over and screamed, "Fire back, quick!" Rossel got up from the ground and shouted loudly. Two more flames shot out from the coconut grove, and there were bursts of gunfire, like firecrackers, and bullets whistled in. The Spaniards were still very brave and fought back fiercely in the rain of bullets.
The remaining artillery pieces also continued to spray shotgun shells into the woods. The Qin army hid behind the coconut trees and were less likely to be hit.
But the Filipino monkeys on the trees were in a terrible situation. The Spanish artillery spewed out a barrage of horrific bullets, shooting the monkeys on the trees, making them scream and fall down.
Those who survived the disaster were also screaming with fear; Aquino, whose buttocks were scratched and bleeding, kept shouting, "General Rossel... Don't fire, don't fire, God bless you..."
The Spaniards didn't care what you called them. Amid the roar of gunfire, no one heard Aquino's pious call to the Father. Even if they heard it, they pretended not to hear it. They told you to set fire, but you climbed trees instead. This was disobeying military orders.
The Spanish cannons roared and the muskets fired volleys. It was as if a strong wind was blowing through the coconut grove, and the Filipino monkeys rolled to the ground like ripe coconuts.
Aquino, like an Australian koala, clamped his limbs on the coconut tree, hid on the other side of the trunk and shivered, so he had no time to shoot arrows.
Just when the battle between the two sides was at its most intense, Hai Rufeng led two hundred men and came around from the east in the dark, broke through the weak defense line on the east in one fell swoop, and rushed into the Bian Winter Port.
The shouts coming from the east suddenly made the Spaniards who were fighting fiercely in the west lose sight of the big picture and were terrified!
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ps: It's been a bit quiet these past two days, so I give my own rewards and vote for the monthly tickets so that I can see some new information when I refresh the page. I also hope to boost everyone's enthusiasm. Brothers, please give me monthly tickets and rewards. It's embarrassing for me to tinker with this alone!
.(To be continued..)
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