Chapter 466: Flowers blooming in Yarama

Chapter 466: Flowers blooming in Yarama

Chapter 466: Flowers blooming in Yarama

Zhang Zihuai was originally the chief of staff of Shao Quanzhong's Guards Brigade and a top student who graduated from the Berlin Military Academy.

He was 1.8 meters tall, handsome, and had great strategy. Shao Quanzhong originally planned to promote him to replace Grant and Emery as the Chief of Staff at a critical moment.

He was originally sent to Spain with the intention of training him and helping the Spanish Bourbon dynasty to build a reliable guard.

Zhang Zihuai lived up to his mission and trained a division of well-trained Spanish troops.

Among them, one brigade followed Alfonso I to Paris and is still serving as the French emperor's guard.

Another brigade remained in Madrid and became the guard of the Spanish Bourbon royal family.

After that, Shao Quanzhong wanted to transfer him back, but for some unknown reason, he wanted to stay in Spain, so he stayed in Madrid.

Shao Quanzhong also lamented that it was a pity for such a famous general to stay in Spain for many years where he had basically no chance to fight. Isn't it a waste of talent?

Unexpectedly, the situation changed and Spain became a war zone. The name Zhang Zihuai became the focus of the world again.

With him in charge in Madrid, Shao Quanzhong felt much more at ease.

At present, Isabelle and her son Shao Jishuan are both in Hailing. The only person Zhang Zihuai is left to guard is Shao Quanzhong's mother-in-law, Isabelle II, the Empress Dowager of the Franco-Spanish Alliance.

Zhang Zihuai was very good at commanding troops. On the front battlefield, the two sides had 600,000 troops against 450,000. Zhang Zihuai had fewer men, but he had an advantage on the defensive side. He had dug countless trenches, and it would be extremely difficult for the enemy to break through.

The Yarama Pass leads directly to Madrid. Once it is broken, the rebels will be able to immediately cut off the retreat of the main defensive forces, so it requires elite and determined troops to defend it.

The seven international brigades joined the battle as soon as they arrived and had never trained together.

If they were to fight together on a large battlefield, it would probably be a mess and their combat effectiveness would be hard to guarantee. But defending the pass was very suitable for these warriors who had lofty ideals but had no formal training in cooperation. Zhang Zihuai was using people properly.

After all, the Fenian Society developed from the Irish Restoration Organization, and the 15th International Brigade was mainly composed of Irish people, but also included volunteers from Britain, the United States and Canada.

Following Zhang Zihuai's order, the first batch of the 15th International Brigade boarded light trucks and rushed to the front line of the Yarama Valley.

Spain has always been the rear of the Franco-Spanish alliance empire. Tanks, armored vehicles and the like have to be supplied to the front line. Spain does not have a share of the latest wheeled personnel carriers, but a lot of commercial light trucks have been imported and are now urgently requisitioned by Zhang Zihuai to transport troops.

Without so many vehicles, the Spanish troops could not achieve full mechanization, so the six brigades at the back began to march towards the Yarama Valley on foot with high morale.

Zhang Zihuai walked into the Spanish Royal Palace alone and met with Isabella II.

"Holy Mother Queen, the international warriors who came to support us are now going to fight. I have to go to the front battlefield to command the positional battle. The Maybach sedan is ready. Please go to the Yarama front to boost morale."

When Isabel II heard that she was asked to go to the front line, she immediately trembled. "Fighting is a man's job. An old woman like me has abdicated. It won't make any difference whether I go or not..."

Zhang Zihuai shook his head and sighed, then turned and walked away. He heard the voice of the Holy Mother Queen Mother behind him, "Hani, everything is up to you..."

Zhang Zihuai knew the importance of the Yarama Pass, and the rebel commander-in-chief, Marshal Senora, was a veteran Spanish general and knew it even better.

After breaking through the Toledo Line of Defense formed by the government's militia, his two divisions advanced lightly and headed straight for the Yarama Valley.

These were the two most elite and loyal divisions of the rebels. Marshal Senola's order to them was to seize the strategic location of Yarama Pass at all costs.

The 15th International Brigade had just set up a defense line at the southern end of the valley when the enemy's rapidly marching troops arrived.

As no heavy artillery was involved in the forced march, the 4-pound light field gun immediately sounded and bombarded the defensive positions of the International Brigade.

After the shelling came the charge. The soldiers of the International Brigade had no time to dig trenches. Behind the crude fortifications made of sandbags, machine guns and rapid-fire cannons were used with great force. Slingshot grenade launchers were also used extensively. With the strength of a brigade and the help of the narrow terrain, they withstood three charges by the rebels in a short period of time.

The front of the position was littered with the bodies of the rebels, and the wounded soldiers of the International Brigade were continuously carried to the back of the position.

The battle became intense as soon as it started. The wounded soldiers were simply bandaged, and the seriously injured were carried to a large steam truck for surgery.

There were medical soldiers sent by the Canadian Finney Branch. They were few in number and were not assigned to the battlefield. Their responsibility was to save the dying and the wounded.

The Lincoln Battalion from the Union was serving as a reserve force in the rear, smoking cigars brought by the Cuban Battalion and listening to the fierce gunfire in the front. These retired Union soldiers, who were once comrades-in-arms of the Taiping mercenaries, shook their heads.

"We are fighting the Spaniards here, most of whom have red hair. Why haven't we seen a single Spanish official come to the front line?"

"Maybe it's too late. After all, we came here by car." "I think the Bourbon royal family is just so-so. They are not the same as our Fenian Society. If we don't need them to be in the front as disguise, we should kill these blood-sucking people-eh?"

The president often scolds the American barbarians for their liberal culture, and he doesn't care at all about slandering the Spanish royal family. So why doesn't the usually chattering black warrior brother stop nagging?
In the eastern sky, a huge airship was slowly approaching, with the Bourbon dynasty's white fleur-de-lis flag clearly painted on it.

The airship stopped at the back of the valley, and a heroic beauty wearing a Daxia military uniform and a boat-shaped hat walked down the gangway, holding a six-year-old mixed-race child in her hand.

The child was wearing a small-sized marshal's uniform. He was the Crown Prince of Spain, Shao Jishuan, Prince of Asturias, whose Spanish name was Alfonso XIII.

The Spanish beauty who led him was the current Queen of Spain, Shao Quanzhong's personal secretary, Isabel.

Her Majesty the Queen's presence at the front greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers who came to support Spain.

Isabel did not give any speech. She took her children and went directly to the wounded camp in the rear to visit the wounded soldiers. Seeing that there was a shortage of manpower, she personally helped bandage the soldiers, her hands were covered in blood. She also called Jishuan to help.

"boom!"

A shell crossed the front and exploded next to the wounded camp.

The medical officer of the wounded battalion saluted Isabel immediately and said, "Your Majesty, the soldiers are very touched that you are here. It is too dangerous here. Please retreat to the rear as soon as possible."

She was here, but needed a lot of soldiers to protect her. Isabel did not refuse, but she did not retreat to the rear either.

"Warriors! You have come here from afar to fight for the freedom of the Spanish people. As the Queen of Spain, even if I cannot participate in the battle, I will always be behind you, and so will Alfonso the Younger."

Isabel led her son back and boarded the airship, which rose slowly and hovered above the valley instead of leaving.

"Not good, sir. The enemy ahead is charging one after another. We don't have enough people to defend. The brigade commander is going to retreat and let the wounded battalion go first."

The wounded soldier who had just been bandaged by Isabel suddenly raised the gun in his hand, "No! Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince are watching us. If you have the guts, don't leave the front line even if you are only slightly injured. Follow me to the front line!"

"Roar! Long live freedom! Long live Her Majesty the Queen! Long live His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! Long live Spain!"

The wounded soldiers picked up their guns, supported each other, and rushed to the battlefield.

The fierce battle lasted for an entire afternoon. The 15th International Brigade fought to the death and withstood fifteen consecutive assaults by two rebel divisions. The airship also hovered over the valley.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the next six international brigades arrived by forced march and took over the defense line.

The 15th International Brigade retreated, with only 500 soldiers surviving.

However, opposite their fortifications were the bodies of 13,000 of the rebels' most elite soldiers. Those who were close to the trenches had all died in hand-to-hand combat.

All the soldiers present saluted and paid tribute to the brave heroes of the 15th Brigade.

The soldiers of the 15th Brigade supported each other and saluted the airship still hovering in the sky.

The Canadian medical soldier, his hands covered in blood, played the guitar and sang a song adapted from the folk song "Red River Valley" with lyrics written on the spot.

"There's a valley in Spain called Yarama, and people miss it."

"How many heroes fell at the foot of the mountain, and Yarama is full of flowers."

"The International Brigades remain in Yarama to defend a free Spain."

"They swore to guard the hillside and kill—"

"not good!"

There was a buzzing sound in the sky; more than thirty biplane bombers with vulture logos painted on their wings were flying from the north.

The Condor Squadron is a newly formed air force unit of the German Army. They crossed the French territory and came here to support the rebels.

Napalm bombs were thrown at the trenches that had just been dug by the International Brigade soldiers, and the soldiers present quickly dispersed and hid.

Several German bombers spotted the airship hovering above the valley, circled, and aimed the Maxim machine guns on the planes at the airship, firing bullets at it like a torrential rain.

(End of this chapter)