I Became The Crown Prince Of The Mexican Empire Novel - Chapter 175
## Chapter 175
< Colombia (4) >
“The enemy has a lot of men, but more than half are farmers who have never fired a gun.”
The revolutionaries were taken aback by the church-landowner alliance’s unexpected manpower mobilization, but they still had many advantages.
“Yeah, and their morale is at its worst. More than half of those troops are peons, and they’re fighting on the side of our army, which aims to liberate peons. They’ll be looking to run away at every opportunity.”
Marquez and Santander said in turn.
Low training and even lower morale.
These were definitely crucial factors in battle.
They had experienced this situation when fighting the Cartagena landowner alliance. The enemy, just like now, had been untrained and demoralized farmers, and even if they outnumbered them, they were prone to running away when the battlefield became chaotic.
“On top of that, the enemy isn’t slowly occupying Cartagena Province step by step, they’re advancing quickly along the coastline, so we’ll have the advantage in a protracted war.”
“You’re being arrogant. What if we run out of food?”
“That means we just have to defend well.”
The officers chimed in.
The revolutionaries discussed freely and prepared to stop the allied forces.
In the hottest time of the year, the allied forces finally advanced to the outskirts of Cartagena.
The soldiers were miserable marching under the scorching sun, but the clergymen and officers rode horses and had fans waving for them.
“Let’s rest for a day and attack immediately.”
Diego Sanchez was confident.
He had twice the number of troops and countless weapons purchased from England. He would crush that tempting Cartagena and make it his own.
Morales had a similar idea. The Church’s power had to be stronger to avoid ending up like Mexico. If the Church controlled Cartagena, they wouldn’t even dream of something satanic like secularization.
They both acted as if they had already won.
“The plan is to attack Cartagena from all sides simultaneously, using all our troops.”
Siege warfare is typically about systematically attacking the enemy’s defenses, but they were only thinking about charging in quickly and ending it.
They thought, ‘We need to finish it quickly so we can use these peasants for the autumn harvest.’
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The artillery battle began.
The gunners of both artillery units were in similar situations. Both Mexico and England had sold them old cannons, so their performance wasn’t much different.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Already?!”
The only difference was their training. The revolutionary artillery unit fired 1.5 shots for every one shot fired by the allied artillery unit.
“It’s better to attack immediately, isn’t it?”
“I think so too. Our artillery is being overwhelmed.”
It was a conversation between Sanchez and Morales.
They didn’t want to see any more of their expensive cannons broken.
‘It’s better to sacrifice something cheaper.’
“Charge! Charge simultaneously!”
The soldiers were terrified as they saw the three-tiered trenches, but the officers ordered them to charge nonchalantly.
The sun was spewing scorching heat, swallowing the earth. The hot wind blowing from the coast whipped at the soldiers’ faces, and sweat poured down their foreheads. Even the officers on horseback were fanning themselves to cool down, but the soldiers didn’t even have that luxury.
They were pushed forward by those with guns behind them, and they had to move forward. Since they were going anyway, running was their only chance of survival.
Bang! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Gunshots began to ring out as the allied soldiers advanced.
Pant-pant-
The farmers, with their thin limbs from lack of food, endured the scorching sun and the fear of bullets flying from the trenches, and moved forward. They had to move forward because if they didn’t, they would be shot in the back of the head.
The allied soldiers thought this place was hell, but they were wrong.
“Damn it, if only we had more barbed wire, we could have shown them real hell.”
One revolutionary officer lamented. The Mexican Empire had offered to sell them barbed wire, but the revolutionaries had to buy more rifles, bullets, cannons, and shells.
Barbed wire, which could only be used in defensive situations, seemed less important, and its priority was lower than medical supplies or food. But now, in this situation, they desperately needed it.
Pant-pant-
The shape of the trench came into view for the allied soldier who had run with all his might. They were sweating profusely too.
One soldier in the trench aimed his gun at him, but the allied soldier was faster.
Bang!
One revolutionary soldier died.
The sound of counterattacks echoed from all around.
Those with good shooting skills or luck could hit the enemy who was sticking their heads and arms out of the trench from afar, but most of the untrained soldiers didn’t have that ability.
They had to reach the front of the trench and be able to look down at the enemy before they could finally counterattack.
“Fire! Shoot them in the face!”
The officer who had followed them shouted excitedly.
It wasn’t easy to get here, but it was much easier to attack from above.
Bang! Bang!
The exchange ratio had been overwhelming so far, but the revolutionary soldiers began to die quickly.
“Hold on! Those who try to come down, stab them with bayonets!”
The revolutionaries gritted their teeth and held on. The revolutionaries in the trench fought desperately. Their faces were covered in a mess of blood and mud, but their eyes were still alive. There was nowhere for them to retreat, as they were fighting for freedom and equality. Their hands holding the guns were stained with blood, but they marched on towards victory.
They did not retreat, even though the enemy outnumbered them. They were fighting for their own fate and the fate of their families.
If they lost here, everything would be over.
“Th, these bastards won’t retreat!”
Reaching the front of the trench didn’t automatically put the allied forces at an advantage. It was true that attacking from above was more advantageous, but there were three lines of trenches.
While the front line soldiers held on desperately, the soldiers in the rear trenches shot the allied soldiers who came close.
“Go down! If you go down, they won’t be able to attack from the rear trench!”
The allied leadership said that, but they themselves didn’t have the courage to go down.
The enemy had bayonets attached to their rifles, and with the long rifles and bayonets combined, they were practically spears.
One allied soldier who was about to go down into the trench under the officer’s orders was impaled by a spear. It was practically like charging into a spear.
As the attrition war continued, a revolutionary officer shouted.
“Switch! Retreat and carry the wounded!”
“Yes!”
The three lines of trenches had passages. The soldiers who had been shooting happily from the rear line entered the first line through the passage, and the soldiers who had been holding out in the first line carried the wounded and retreated.
The allied forces, on the other hand, had no such orders.
“Push forward!”
“Aaaagh!”
It was a stupid order.
However, their overwhelming numbers made even this stupid tactic threatening.
The revolutionaries had completed their second shift, and even though it was evening, the enemy was still numerous. They lacked firepower, as they had no barbed wire or machine guns, and the revolutionary casualties were severe.
Even though the enemy was poorly trained, they weren’t missing the revolutionaries right in front of them.
“Th, they’re coming!”
“Hold them off!”
The defense line, which had held strong all day, began to crack.
“Retreat! Eat the enemy who comes in!”
The revolutionary soldiers moved to the passages on the left, right, and rear, shooting the allied soldiers who came down into the empty spaces.
“Tsk, let’s call it a day. It’s too dark to see clearly.”
Morales said, observing the situation from afar.
“Good. Seeing how it went today, we can probably destroy them with a few more attacks.”
The exchange ratio was disastrous, but they didn’t care. They had inflicted meaningful damage on those few revolutionaries. They could replenish their troops.
“Retreat! Make sure you recover your weapons!”
The weapons they had given them were more important than their lives.
“It’s too dark to see anyway! Just pick them up! Anyone who doesn’t bring back five will die!”
The officers forced them to pick up the weapons that had fallen on the battlefield. Many more died in the process.
The battle dragged on.
For the next week, the revolutionaries held on desperately, achieving heroic feats, but the allied forces were gradually replenishing their troops.
“We need to cut off their supply lines. The farmers who bring supplies are joining the enemy’s army.”
The problem was that they were trapped.
“If I had known, I would have left some troops outside…”
Marquez blamed himself.
“We had no choice. We already had a shortage of troops, and if we had left some troops behind, we might have been pushed back.”
Now, they thought it would have been better to have left 1,000 to 2,000 troops behind, but it was all hindsight.
“Should we talk to the Mexicans?”
Santander asked in a small voice.
“…Ask for help? Mexico will be reluctant to directly intervene.”
“We’re just asking to borrow a ship. We’ll use the ship to land on the east coast. The enemy is supplying from Santa Marta along the coast.”
It felt like they were sinking deeper into the mire the more they relied on Mexico’s help, but there seemed to be no other way.
“Okay.”
Marquez made the decision. Mexico not only agreed to lend them a ship, but also gave them other good news.
“Those who didn’t join us are waiting on the west side of the city. About 1,000.”
“Really?”
The news of their defeat of the church-landowner alliance in Mompox had spread, and more people were joining the revolutionaries. But when they came, they found the city under siege, and they couldn’t just walk into the middle of a battle, so it was natural for them to wait nearby.
“Then… Let’s bring in about 1,500. Get more weapons.”
“Are you sure? If we stop by the west side, it’ll take longer…”
The original plan was 2,000. But now that they could recruit 1,000 more revolutionaries from the west, they reduced the number slightly.
“We’ll hold on somehow. I’m good at holding on.”
“Hahaha, that’s right. I was impressed when you escaped so quickly after being beaten up by Gutierrez’s men.”
It took a day to travel west by Mexican ship, recruit new revolutionary members, and organize the unit.
Another day to travel east, land, and explain the plan.
It took two days to wait for the enemy’s supply convoy in ambush.
‘They said they would definitely come this way…’
Santander felt like his insides were burning.
Finally, someone appeared.
“Captain, there are 1,500 of them.”
“Perfect.”
It was the perfect size for them to devour.
“Attack!”
Santander shouted like a thunderbolt.
“Su, surprise attack!”
The supply convoy, exhausted from forced marches, collapsed without a fight.
This had a huge impact on the main battle.
“Why isn’t the supply convoy coming?”
“Considering they haven’t arrived by now, something must have happened.”
“…Is that your answer?”
Morales was annoyed.
“Send a scout to the supply route to see what happened. And from today onwards, we’ll only provide one meal a day. Cut the water in half.”
Sanchez ordered.
From that day onwards, the allied forces’ fighting power plummeted.
“Huh? Why are they acting like that?”
Allied soldiers collapsed while running.
“…Did Santander succeed?”
It wasn’t certain, but the enemy’s condition was terrible.
Cartagena was always hot, but it was especially hot from May to September. The farmers, who were already suffering from malnutrition, were made to fight under this sun, and they were given less food and water, so they couldn’t hold out.
The allied army literally melted away. It was as if some evil entity had melted them away in the sunlight.
“Re, retreat!”
Three more days passed.
The supplies still hadn’t arrived.
Unlike Sanchez and Morales, who had commanded from the shade of trees, fanning themselves with fans and observing the battlefield through binoculars, their soldiers suffered from the heat, hunger, and thirst.
The army was practically nonexistent.
A procession of death ensued. The wind carried scorching heat, and the stench of rotting corpses filled their nostrils. The eyes of the survivors were filled with fear. They looked like walking corpses.
“They’re coming out of the trenches!”
“What in the world is happening?”
It was a disastrous defeat for the ages.
“Let’s run away too.”
After all, there were still many farmers on their farms. If they, the owners, survived, they could raise an army again. The revolutionaries had also suffered heavy losses, so it wasn’t a hopeless situation. That was their shallow thought.
They, who had come proudly with an army of 35,000, were reduced to a mere handful fleeing on horseback.
Neigh!
That fate didn’t last long.
The horses, pierced by nails scattered on the road, fell.
Santander’s detachment had caught them.
“…Are these guys really stupid? They’re running along the road like this.”
They were allied officers who had thought they were safe as long as they stayed away from the east, where the supply route was cut off, and were moving along the southern road.
“Oh my…”
They felt humiliated by the tsk-tsk sounds of disapproval, but there was nothing they could do now.
The revolutionaries had finally won.
There were no major forces left in Nueva Granada to oppose them, except for the capital.
Even now, people were joining the revolutionaries, so their revolution could be considered a success.
However,
The revolutionaries had been cracked once.
The revolutionary army had many officers besides Antonio Marquez and Miguel Santander, the number one and two.
They had started as an organization called the ‘Free Citizen Alliance’, but they eventually adopted the form of an army, with a clear hierarchy.
“We’re going to advance to the capital and take over this country!”
Marquez was shocked that seven out of ten of the officers supported this claim.
As the revolutionary achievements grew, so did the greed of the officers.
English