America 1881: Legend of the West

"Snapped!"

A piece of paper was slapped on the table.

The person who took the paper was Li Sifu, and he seemed a little excited at this time.

Chen Jianqiu and Xu Ajiu were sitting on chairs as if nothing had happened, puffing on a cigar each while exchanging their tasting experiences of authentic Cuban cigars.

"Do you want one?" Xu Ajiu took one out of the box on the table and asked Li Sifu.

But Li Sifu seemed to have no intention of accepting Xu Ajiu's kindness.

He pointed at the piece of paper and asked Chen Jianqiu beside him eagerly:

"Boss, what does Schefter mean? 'Abandon the attack on Guantanamo and support Santiago immediately'?"

"Caimanera was captured, thousands of Spanish troops were wiped out, and the gates of Guantanamo were wide open. We have taken down the hardest things to bite, and we will be able to reach the city in a few days."

"If we go to support Santiago at this juncture, wouldn't it make all our previous efforts in vain?"

Li Sifu's eyes widened, his face full of unwillingness.

"Someone is thinking of picking peaches." Xu Ajiu said lazily, lying half in the chair.

"Damn Yankees, damn Schefter!" Li Sifu cursed.

"Call General Schefter." Chen Jianqiu tapped his fingertips on the table a few times and looked at Li Sifu with a smile.

"Boss, why are you so good-tempered? They are trying to steal our credit!" Seeing Chen Jianqiu's disapproval, Li Sifu became even more anxious.

"Eat pineapple, eat pineapple." Chen Jianqiu pushed the pot of pineapple on the side to him, "It's such a hot day, why worry about getting angry?"

Li Sifu was not in the mood to eat pineapple.

Chen Jianqiu stood up.

"It's ours, no one else can take it away." Chen Jianqiu walked to the gate.

He picked up the cigar and took two more puffs.

"Sifu, just take two thousand people and stay here and wait and see what happens."

He disarmed Rodesgues and his two thousand men and sent them back without even the intention of imprisoning them.

First of all, he didn't want to waste food providing rations to these people, not even for a single day.

Secondly, he does not intend to hand these people over to other American teams.

Li Sifu privately complained about him letting the tiger return to the mountain.

Most of these people went directly back to Guantánamo.

Some of them have no intention of fighting and are waiting to return home, while some of them plan to continue completing their missions and wash away their shame.

But these have nothing to do with him now.

Because he was going to support Santiago.

In fact, Li Sifu and others mistakenly blamed General Schefter for the order to mobilize the 2nd Cavalry Support Brigade to support Santiago.

The commander-in-chief really has no intention of seizing the fruits of victory on his own behalf.

The main reason for issuing the transfer order is simple.

The U.S. troops attacking in the direction of Santiago were beaten all over.

Except for Chen Jianqiu's team that landed first, all other subordinate troops of the Fifth Army were deployed in this direction, including Roosevelt's Rough Cavalry.

Due to Chen Jianqiu's previous activities in southern Cuba, a large number of Spanish soldiers actively or passively gathered in the direction of Santiago.

The number of defenders here greatly exceeded Schefter's imagination (and the actual number of soldiers in history).

To be honest, the performance of the US Army in the direction of San Diego is not much better than that of their Marine Corps brothers in the direction of Guantánamo.

Spanish general Rubin led his soldiers to teach Wheeler and Roosevelt a lesson in Las Guasima using two mountain cannons and the jungle.

This outstanding Spanish general retreated toward the San Juan Highlands while fighting. At the same time, during the retreat, he relied on shrubs, grape trellises, and vines to block the U.S. troops in a layered manner.

The American troops suffered heavy casualties, while the Spanish army lost only fourteen men.

By the time the U.S. military advanced close to Santiago, the camp was already full of wounded soldiers.

Under the local medical conditions, there is basically no big difference between being injured and dead.

At the same time, yellow fever also spread among the US military, causing shocking non-combat attrition, which greatly exceeded the number of people killed in combat.

Chen Jianqiu's rampage in southern Cuba also caused a second consequence.

Even Chen Jianqiu himself did not expect this consequence.

Linares, the original commander of the Spanish army in Cuba, was dismissed from his post due to unfavorable war conditions and was replaced by Brigadier General Torres.

Although changing generals on the spot has always been a taboo on the battlefield.

But for the Spanish army, this turned out to be a good thing by accident.

The former is a stereotypical academic veteran.

He had always mistakenly believed that the Fifth Army's attack in the direction of Santiago was just a feint attack. The real landing direction should be in San Diego Bay, so there were not many defensive forces set up in the east of the city.

Tens of thousands of Spanish troops huddled in Santiago.

But after Brigadier General Torres went into battle, he quickly adjusted his deployment.

The general had exchanged studies in the United States, so he didn't take seriously the poor performance of the Fifth Army.

They fought badly not because they were feinting! But that’s how they stretch their hips!

He moved most of his troops east of Santiago.

There are two strategic points on the east side.

One is El Canie in the northeast, and the other is San Juan Heights in the middle of the Royal Avenue in the southeast.

The former is the only place where the canal that supplies water to San Diego must pass, while the latter is the commanding height of the entire San Diego and the gateway to the city of San Diego.

Brigadier General Torres greatly increased the numbers and equipment at both locations.

The situation was changing, and Schefter was confused, so he urgently ordered Chen Jianqiu and his Second Volunteer Cavalry Brigade to quickly support in this direction.

By the time Chen Jianqiu and his men arrived at Elkanie, the battle to attack there had already begun.

Elkanie was originally a small village famous for its small stone church.

Legend has it that in the 16th century, the conquistador Cortez prayed in this church the night before he sailed to Mexico and ruled the Aztec Kingdom.

On a high ground less than a mile southwest of the village is a small rise.

There is a stone fortress above it called Fort Elviso.

The fortress was not big and did not even have a decent roof.

But this does not prevent it from being a veritable fortress.

The view is very good, the walls are very thick, and there are machine gun muzzles and cannon muzzles set up every few meters, pointing in all directions.

The Spanish army relied on this fort for defense.

Originally, there were only a pitiful defense of more than 200 Spanish soldiers and two mountain cannons here.

After Torres took office, he quickly increased the number of soldiers defending here to 75, and also added six mm Knub cannons and corresponding heavy machine guns.

These people were not all concentrated in the fortress, but were distributed in a circle of trenches surrounding the fortress.