Chapter 196: Famous Generals Attack
Chapter 196: Famous Generals Attack
Yara village, Sierra Maestra Mountains, Oriente Province, Cuba.
Carlos, a famous lawyer who returned from studying in Spain and the owner of the "De Majagua" sugarcane plantation, stood in his estate with high spirits.
Behind him, several black slaves raised the new Cuban flag of blue, white and red with stars.
In front of him were more than a hundred villagers, some native whites, some mixed-race blacks and whites, and some slaves from the plantation. Most of the villagers held short knives for cutting sugar cane, and a few carried flintlock rifles.
"I declare that the black slaves on my estate are free men. Join us in the uprising and drive out the Spaniards. Cuba belongs to us!"
"Roar!"
More than a hundred villagers raised their flintlock rifles and sugarcane knives and responded enthusiastically.
The declaration issued by Carlos in this remote sugarcane plantation is called the "Yara Call" and has been circulated throughout the world.
Carlos led 147 militiamen of different heights, skin colors, and poorly equipped, and bravely advanced towards Santiago, an important city in eastern Cuba, carrying the tricolor star flag.
Three days later, 147 volunteers, with justice in their hearts, marched into the city of Santiago in a disorderly manner.
The Spanish police chief in charge of public security in Santiago, Dias, was puzzled. A bandit group of more than a hundred people actually entered the city? Wasn't this just walking into a trap?
"Come on, kill the bandits!"
Diaz led more than 200 colonial officials in an orderly formation to deal with this group of ignorant bandits.
The equipment of the Spanish officials is better than that of the Qing Dynasty officials, almost reaching the level of the Green Camp of the Qing Dynasty.
Among the more than 200 officers, more than 80 were equipped with flintlock rifles, and the rest were also equipped with swords.
Sheriff Diaz rode a majestic Andlucian horse, carrying an advanced Colt revolver on his waist, and fought against more than a hundred bandits.
Seeing the riotous bandits coming towards the city hall, the sheriff waved his sword and said, "Ready your muskets!"
More than eighty flintlock rifles were arranged in three rows, some squatting, some bending over, and some standing. The next step was to launch a three-stage fire to let these local bandits know how powerful the Spanish Empire is.
The bandit leader Carlos was also riding on an Andlucian horse, carrying a revolver, and shouted at us, "Hurry up and act!"
"Bang! Boom!"
White smoke rose up and flintlock muskets fired in unison.
The bandits were fine, but Sheriff Diaz was hit in the back by more than a dozen flintlock bullets and fell off his horse.
How can you take on a job without the right skills? Carlos had been planning this for a long time, and the officials in Santiago had long been infiltrated by him.
More than 200 officers rebelled on the spot and joined the rebel army.
The rebels marched to the government office of Santiago, arrested and hanged the mayor appointed by Spain, summoned the citizens, and announced that the rebels had occupied Santiago.
Soon several hundred people joined the rebel army, and the number of rebels already reached seven or eight hundred, with nearly a hundred muskets.
Carlos led his "large army" and marched towards Bayamo, the capital of Cuba's Oriental Province. Along the way, he hanged Spanish plantation owners, freed black slaves, and kidnapped native whites and mixed-race children. When they arrived in Bayamo eight days later, the rebel army had rapidly expanded to more than 5,000 people.
The mayor and the sheriff of Bayamo fled, the officials rebelled, and the rebels occupied Bayamo.
The rebels attacked from all sides and took control of the Eastern Province within a few days. The size of the rebel army had rapidly expanded to 26,000 people.
Carlos' confidence increased greatly. He announced the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Cuba in Bayamo, appointed himself as the interim leader and commander-in-chief of the rebel army, and sent troops to liberate the neighboring provinces of Camaguey and Las Villas.
Seeing that the situation was looking good, Carlos arranged for a spy in Havana to come and report, "Captain Carlos, something bad is happening. The pseudo-Cuban Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Royal Army in Cuba, Lesondi, sent a thousand Spanish regular troops to attack us, and they are already halfway there."
All the heroes under Carlos fell silent and looked at their leader.
What? We have 26,000 soldiers and the enemy has only 1,000. Is that not a big deal? Come on, regular soldiers and government soldiers are totally different. No matter how many rebels there are, they don't have as many bullets as the regular soldiers.
Moreover, the Cuban volunteers were a complete mob and they definitely did not have the courage to charge under bullets.
Spain had ruled Cuba for more than 350 years, and the idea that the Spanish Royal Army was invincible had been firmly ingrained in the minds of all the heroes, including Carlos himself.
If a real battle were to take place, a salvo from a thousand regular troops would probably cause the entire front to collapse.
Carlos was a returnee who had studied in Spain. He knew clearly that the military strength of the colonial power was completely beyond the capability of the bandit forces he had put together to contend with.
However, Carlos was very calm. He waved his hand and said, "Although the enemy is brutal, our war of justice has the blessing of the Emperor of Heaven. We will soon receive reinforcements from the forces of justice to support us."
The subordinates were all skeptical. This old lawyer was a habitual liar. How could we get reinforcements?
The rebels in Bayamo were discussing matters. The rebel leaders were all unsure and were ready to surrender to the Spaniards again at any time.
In the port of San Diego, three warships flying the American flag escorted eight steam troop transports as they slowly approached the port.
The 34-year-old Shi Dakai - ahem, now called Shi Laosan, wearing a bicorne hat, a revolver on his waist, and carrying a command knife, was the first to jump off the troop carrier.
Behind him, soldiers from the 5,100 Mercenary Independent Mixed Brigade lined up in neat rows and filed off the ship.
When he came to America, Shi Laosan had 6,000 subordinates. After the losses in the war, only 5,000 were left.
Now his subordinates' equipment is much better than before. All of them are wearing American military uniforms and bicorne hats imported from the Qing Dynasty Wen Logistics Company.
It is equipped with large leather boots, gun belts, cowhide gaiters and ammunition boxes imported from the Qing Dynasty and produced by Song & Ge Company.
The three infantry battalions were equipped with the newly modified Schneider-Enfield M1853 breech-loading rifles, while the artillery battalion, cavalry battalion, and engineering battalion were equipped with carbines of corresponding models.
Equipped with a battalion of Armstrong heavy siege guns, hot air balloons, Hale rockets, and logistic soldiers were all equipped with four-wheeled carriages.
They are also equipped with a Gatling manual machine gun company and a Williams rapid-fire cannon company purchased for them by Zhang Siwen. They are basically armed to the teeth and are the most advanced in the world.
The citizens of Santiago were horrified. Did the Americans invade Cuba?
No.
The independent mixed brigade disembarked and lined up, immediately raising the flag of the new Cuban regime with a red, white, blue and star ribbon.
The soldiers who had rested enough on the ship did not stop in Santiago. Shi Lao San waved his sword and said, "Send the troops to Bayamo to support our employer Carlos."
God have mercy on them. The 1,000 Spanish regular troops who came to attack were still equipped with flintlock rifles and muzzle-loading cannons, which were not as good as the equipment that Shi Laosan had during the Qing Dynasty. At least the Taiping Army still had the rapid-fire gun unit.
The 1,000 Spanish Royal Colonial Troops on the march had to face 5,000 mercenaries equipped with world-class equipment. The mercenary leader was the first world-famous general to enter Richmond.
This is not shocking, something even more shocking happened.
After sending out a thousand punitive troops, there were still three thousand Spanish colonial troops in Havana.
Governor Lesondi suddenly received a report that "the American Atlantic Fleet appeared on the sea, escorting 20 steam troop transports and landing near Havana."
A division of mercenaries was landing, and their equipment was not much different from that of Shi Laosan’s mixed brigade.
The leader is Chen Yucheng, a world-class general in the American Civil War who killed Confederate general Stonewall Jackson and cavalry commander Brigadier General Farnsworth in battle. Ahem, that's wrong, his name is now Chen Cheng.
(End of this chapter)