Chapter 859 The Navy, Army, and Marine Corps meet in Alexandria!

The target of howitzer's focus is on attacking is the enemy's artillery position.

Faced with the powerful 105mm howitzer, the Ottoman team's smoothbore cannon was no match for it. After several rounds of shelling, all the smoothbore cannons were blown into pieces and were out of shape. The so-called Ottoman team's artillery was even more dead, injured, and capable of moving, and they were all gone.

However, the enemy is unwilling to give up the delusion of retreat easily. Even without the cover of cannons, they still have to insist on attacking. There is no way, they are indeed unwilling to stay in Damascus to die. If they can open up Holmes' land passage, they may have a little chance of survival. If they cannot be opened, it is better to die here. It must be known that waiting for death to come is a very painful thing. Even if they believe in the true gods, it is the same.

The White Army will naturally not be polite about the attack of the Ottoman team. Howitzers, mortars, heavy machine guns, submachine guns, and semi-automatic rifles all opened fire. The entire nameless highland was filled with flames of bullets. The surrounding area of ​​the nameless highland became a sea of ​​blood. The dry land here absorbed too much blood and could no longer absorb it. The excess blood gathered into streams of all sizes and flowed around.

Without the cover of artillery, they had to withstand the bombardment of the white-clothed army's artillery fire, and the attack of the Damascus defenders seemed even more difficult. Every step they took had to pay a significant price. Under the raging artillery fire, they were like scarecrows, completely torn apart. However, these troops from Damascus were unwilling to retreat easily. They were still moving forward and struggling until they were completely defeated.

Xu Canhuai suddenly felt that his father was still very cruel in some aspects. He was determined to fundamentally eliminate the Green Cult and let the Green Cult completely disappear in this world. His determination did not give in at all. This led to the White Army being particularly tough and cruel to the Green Cult when formulating policies. This means that at least tens of millions of believers in the Green Cult must fall under the butcher knife of the White Army.

These are tens of millions of living lives! In front of the White Army, their lives are so fragile. Since the White Army entered the West Asia region, they have almost been wilderness, with blood flowing into rivers, and nine out of ten rooms are empty. The Japanese servants, Korean servants, and Malay servants, who are dedicated to cleaning up the believers of the Green Cult, will not let anyone who believes in the Green Cult, whether they are a man or a woman, old or young.

Xu Canhuai couldn't understand why these stupid people were unwilling to change their beliefs? As long as they were willing to abandon their beliefs, convert to Buddhism, Taoism, or Hinduism, they could all have the opportunity to survive. However, they did not, they foolishly chose death. Since this was the case, the white-clothed army had to fulfill them.

After a day of battle, the average thickness of the corpse in front of the nameless highland was increased by at least two layers. Xu Canhuai conservatively estimated that in the day of battle, at least 80,000 enemies were buried under various firepower attacks of the White-Clothed Army. After the battle was over, the White-Clothed Army was already numb. They no longer had any passion for killing the enemies. Because those enemies were simply coming up to die. They might as well commit suicide!

However, the huge losses still could not stop the Damascus army's determination to retreat. In the following days, they continued to send troops to harass the nameless highlands. Each time, they had to pay a huge price. Only less than 20% of the enemies involved in the attack could return to Damascus in the end. The others were all lying around the nameless highlands. This caused the corpses around the nameless highlands to continue to increase.

Life was very difficult for the White Army. After a few days of battle, there were actually no casualties on the White Army. However, due to the hot weather, a large number of corpses accumulated and rotted and smelled, and the entire nameless highland was shrouded in a rich stinking smell of corpses. As time went by, more and more rotten corpses were, and the stinking smell of corpses became stronger and stronger.

When there is wind, it is a little better. The breeze can slightly dissipate the stench of corpses and bring fresh air to the nameless highland. If there is no wind, the stench of corpses can completely suffocate. The white-clothed soldiers stationed in the nameless highland had to wear masks. The masks must also be soaked in special potions to remove unpleasant odors.

Even so, the smell of the nameless highland still cannot last long. Normal people can't help vomiting after staying on it for three days. Xu Canhuai simply fell into a coma after being fumed, and Lei Hu and others pinched him to wake him up. There was no way, Li Zicheng and others had to formulate a system of taking turns to garrison. They dispatched another squadron and Sun Dasheng's squadron to take turns to garrison to reduce the damage caused by the odor of corpses to the white-clothed army officers and soldiers.

Such intermittent battles lasted for about three months. The Ottoman team in the direction of Damascus never gave up their attack on the nameless highlands. They would send troops to fight every day. When they were too many, there were about one or two thousand people. When they were too few, there were only three or four hundred people. Rather than fighting for the nameless highlands, they would rather go to the nameless highlands to seek death at the time of desperate situation.

Xu Canhuai, who was careful, carefully counted and found that the number of enemies killed in battle exceeded 300,000. This is just a conservative estimate. Perhaps, the exact number should be more than 400,000. In order to compete for a small highland, it is rare to have so many casualties. It can be seen that the Green Sect has not taken human life seriously at all.

Of course, the defenders of Damascus do not want to live anymore, which is probably an important reason. Instead of hiding in Damascus and suffering, they might as well run out and take a try. Perhaps, one day, the true god finally appears and they will be able to escape from the sea of ​​suffering. Unfortunately, until now, the true god, who is known as omnipresent and omnipotent, has never appeared.

It was not until September 1635 that all attacks failed for three consecutive months, and the Damascus defenders had to give up their efforts to retreat. From the beginning to now, their losses have exceeded 500,000 people. Among them, there are a large number of main troops. The only thing they can do now is to wait for death in the city of Damascus.

The White-Clothed Army also mobilized enough troops to launch a final attack on Damascus in these three months. Due to the need for ammunition and other logistics reserves, the White-Clothed Army's preparation time seemed a bit long. The troops led by Li Zicheng were the first to drive outside Damascus. Then, the troops led by Zhang Xianzhong also rushed to the designated location.

The troops of one battalion cannot take over Damascus, so the above mobilized two battalions to carry out the final general attack on Damascus. In addition, the 105mm howitzer must be strengthened. This is a powerful weapon to break the city. Of course, the 155mm howitzer is more powerful and has better siege. However, due to the needs of combat on the northern front, the 155mm howitzer was temporarily left in Aleppo and did not go south to Damascus.

Xu Canhuai did not follow Lei Hu's team this time, but followed Li Zicheng. Because the previous incident made Gao Jie and Mao Shisan feel too risky. They both knew Xu Canhuai's true identity. At the beginning, Xu Xingxia said something casually to them, and they volunteered to accept Xu Canhuai.

Although Xu Xingxia told them not to give Xu Canhuai special care and treat him as an ordinary soldier, they would still feel guilty if Xu Canhuai had any accidents. On the front line, accidents are most likely to occur. Therefore, they both appointed Li Zicheng to bring Xu Canhuai by his side and did not allow him to run around. Li Zicheng didn't know what to do, so he naturally insisted on executing the order.

Xu Canhuai has experienced several battles and has a full understanding of the bloody battlefield. Naturally, he will not ask to go to the battlefield again. This is not because he is afraid of death, but because he is not necessary. What he needs is just knowing and does not need long-term participation. His identity determines that he cannot fight like an ordinary person. There are many places he needs to learn. Therefore, in this battle against Damascus, he honestly made a document.

The so-called documents are actually very complicated. They seem to have to do anything, but they don’t seem to need you to do anything to the end. Most of the things are actually busy with staff and do not need to intervene in the documents. There seems to be no one in the various regulations of the White Army, which is specifically for the position of documents. It seems that it is not Xu Canhuai’s turn to write letters to the soldiers.

As a result, Xu Canhuai, who stayed with Li Zicheng, was nothing more than just making some simple records. Occasionally, he looked at the map and various military information. However, he was not a staff officer and was not qualified to participate in military meetings. Naturally, he would not think about how to arrange troops and arrange troops, nor did he need to be angry about various emergencies.

When he was bored, Xu Canhuai was more interested in the logistics of the army. At this time, the logistics burden of the White Army reached its limit. There were many complaints in the various reports sent by the logistics department. Some even said bluntly that if they continued like this, they would quit. So Xu Canhuai's eyes were attracted.

Objectively speaking, since the establishment of the White Army, Xu Xingxia has not paid much attention to the logistics of the troops. In the era of cold weapons, the importance of logistics was basically only the only one. As long as the supply of food can be guaranteed, other aspects are easy to say. In the era of hot weapons, the key to logistics was that in addition to food, there was also ammunition, and there was no sloppy at all.

The White-Clothed Army has developed to this day and is already an army of all kinds of firearms. The power of various automatic firearms is indeed powerful and unstoppable, but the logistics requirements have been increased by several levels. All ammunition of the front-line troops needs to be transported from the far rear. If there is not enough ammunition supply, the automatic firearms in the hands of the White-Clothed Army troops are better than fire sticks.

Fortunately, most of the white-clothed soldiers were used to saving and using ammunition. If everyone was like Xu Canhuai before, they would subconsciously drain all the magazines, but they were afraid that the people from the logistics department would have long been hanged and scolded. However, even though the front-line troops tried to save and reduce the burden on the logistics department, the pressure on the logistics department would still be very big. There is no way, the transportation line is too long.

Specifically, the white-clothed army troops fighting on the Damascus front line, their military supplies, including guns and ammunition, were transported from Leizhou Peninsula and other places. One by one, a ship of transport departed from Leizhou Peninsula, headed to the South Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf. Finally, they docked at the Basra Port, unloaded the ammunition and drug supplies, and then transported to Baghdad by land.

After the White Army occupied Baghdad, it turned it into a huge logistics warehouse. A large amount of materials from the rear gathered here and then distributed to various battlefields. From Bagh to Damascus, the distance is quite far, and it must be transported by horses and camels. If a person carries his shoulders, the cost is too high and he cannot meet the needs of the frontline at all.

Later, the White Army occupied Aleppo, which became a material transfer station. A large amount of materials transported from Baghdad gathered in Aleppo. Now, in addition to blocking the front line of Istanbul reinforcements, Aleppo is also a logistics base for attacking Damascus. All military supplies needed for the Damascus front line were transported from Aleppo.

Obviously, the transportation line from Leizhou Peninsula to Damascus is indeed too long. It is too long to accurately calculate its distance. It can only be roughly estimated. It takes about three months to transport by sea, and about three months to transport by land. Together, it takes half a year. In other words, the bullets used by Xu Canhuai and others are now fired from Leizhou Peninsula at least six months ago.

As for food, it is mainly transported from Nanyang and other places, and some are transported from Tianzhu and other places. The distance is slightly closer, but it is not much closer. Moreover, due to the large consumption of food, the logistics department's transportation pressure is greater. If the frontline troops do not have enough food, they will starve people to death.

In the past, there were only a few thousand subordinates of the Logistics Division of the White Army. But now, the Logistics Division of the White Army has more than 100,000 people and more than 1,000 ships. This is still the direct employment of personnel. As for the indirect employment, no one knows how many ships are. In order to supply the needs of the front line, the Logistics Division has become the largest and most bloated department under the Supreme Committee of the White Army.

Attacking Damascus was exactly the limit of the logistics supply of the White-Clothed Army. Because, in the original setting, when the White-Clothed Army attacked Istanbul, all the logistics supplies would be transported from the sea. After the White-Clothed Army Navy controlled the Mediterranean, the logistics department's transport ships would continuously transport military supplies to the Mediterranean. However, at present, the White-Clothed Army Navy has not yet entered the Mediterranean, and the transport ships cannot unload goods at the Mediterranean port.

Fortunately, from a long-term perspective, the next logistical supply of the White-Clothed Army will be mainly completed through various Mediterranean ports. The fall of Damascus is certain. No one can stop the attack of the White-Clothed Army. After capturing Damascus, all ports along the Mediterranean coast will be controlled by the White-Clothed Army, and all ports will be used. The cost of sea transportation is much lower than that of land transportation and much more efficient. Hundreds of transport ships are coming one after another, which is enough for the White-Clothed Army to launch a major battle.

...

The time for attacking Damascus was set on December 15, 1635 AD. On this day, the weather was sunny and clear and cloudless. Although it was winter, the temperature was relatively comfortable. In West Asia, the temperature difference between day and night is very large. The temperature was pleasant during the day and cold at night.

Xu Canhuai followed Li Zicheng to observe the movements in Damascus. From the telescope, the walls of Damascus were actually not very strong. Compared with the big towns in China, it was simply too shabby. Such a wall actually did not require a 105mm caliber howitzer, and even a 75mm caliber field cannon, it could be successfully blasted. As for the powerful ** bag, let alone.

In fact, before that, Damascus had no city walls at all. In the past, Damascus had almost no threat from foreign enemies, so naturally there was no need for city walls. Moreover, the town areas of Damascus were constantly expanding, and even if there were city walls, they were destroyed. In fact, the city walls of Damascus were built only after Baghdad was breached.

However, the West Asian region has always lacked sufficient amount of wood, which has led to the inefficiency and slow progress of the Ottoman team when building the city wall. Although wood will not be directly applied to the city wall and will not be used instead of stone, wood is still very important as a bracket, support, fuel and other equipment. Without enough wood, it will definitely be subject to many constraints when building the city wall.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Thirty-six 105mm caliber howitzers roared at the city walls of Damascus for about twenty minutes and fired about three or four thousand shells. The city walls of Damascus were successfully destroyed. A total of five gaps were opened, and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong commanded their respective troops to enter the city. The defenders in the city had long been unwilling to fight and ran around. Idiots could think of what would happen to them.

New recruits like Xu Canhuai are both clerks and cannot run around, so they can only watch the fun. When he can enter the city, the enemies in the city have almost been cleared out. The streets are full of corpses of defenders. It can be seen that before they die, they seem to have a sense of relief, without any nostalgia. It is estimated that they have been tortured by the White Army for so long that they can't bear it. Death is relief.

The gunshots in Damascus were quickly calmed down. Xu Canhuai was wandering around the city alone. It has to be admitted that Damascus is indeed very beautiful. The palace here is very distinctive. After the white-clad army entered the city, there was no fierce battle, and most of the buildings were well preserved. Xu Canhuai took out his notebook and recorded everything on the record.

He believed that it was necessary for his father to go to Damascus to experience it in person. This town is really beautiful. Xu Xingxia could bring his mother and his concubines here to experience life and enjoy the exotic style.

Xu Canhuai believed that after the White Army controlled this place, it would definitely become more beautiful. In a vague way, he had the urge to settle in Damascus for a long time. What he did not expect was that his wish would be realized in the future. Of course, these are all later stories.

Most of the Ottoman teams stationed in Damascus were annihilated near the west of the city. A small number of people fled south. If the guess was correct, their target of escape should be Cairo.

"keep going!"

"Target! Cairo!"

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong quickly issued an order.

Cairo, which had a population of more than 16 million, was the largest city in the Arab world. Almost no one knew about Cairo's pyramids. However, in the 17th century, it was just a small provincial capital of the Ottoman Empire, unknown. In terms of status, it was similar to Holmes, and not as good as Aleppo.

The defenders of Damascus had to retreat to the north instead of to the south because of this. They had never considered Cairo at all. They knew very well that even if they could successfully retreat to Cairo, they would not last long. Anyway, they were dead ends, so there was no need to go to waste.

However, the White Army was completely different. As a time traveler, Xu Xingxia attached great importance to Cairo. Before the White Army arrived in Cairo, a white Army naval squadron had already landed in the innermost part of the Red Sea with a battalion of Marines. Their goal was to occupy Cairo from land.

In the summer of 1636 AD, the White Marine Corps officially entered Cairo. Two months later, the White Army, which had moved south from Damascus, met with the Marine Corps in Cairo. The two sides joined forces and marched towards the north to Alexandria. Cairo was not a port. The port closest to Cairo is Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.

At this time, the fourth fleet of the White-Clothed Navy had forced the combined fleet of the Western powers to enter the Mediterranean. The Ninth Fleet, as the forefront, drove straight into Alexandria. At this time, the Ottoman team stationed in Alexandria had long known where to escape. The White-Clothed Navy successfully occupied Alexandria.

The arrival of the White Army and the White Army Marine Corps announced that the White Army Navy, the Army, the Marine Corps, and the three armies had officially joined forces. The brothers Xu Canxu and Xu Canhuai also officially met on the battlefield.

6000 words big chapter! Please subscribe!

...
Chapter completed!