Napoleon II Reborn Chapter 173

Tudela Zaragoza is not far away, only less than 80 kilometers, which is a two-hour journey for the fast-moving cavalry. Although the cavalry corps sent a large number of scouts to maintain the suddenness of their actions, But it still arrived at Tudela at noon, and at this time the British soldiers stationed here had no news of the French army's attack at all, and there were only less than a thousand British troops here, so the cavalry corps quickly After capturing here, most of the British troops were killed or captured, and only a small number of people escaped.

After the capture of Tudela, the cavalry corps did not continue to act, but garrisoned on the spot. Their task was to prevent the escape of the British army, or the sudden appearance of reinforcements and other variables.

The army led by Xiao Jie was still on the way to Tarazona. By noon, they had only traveled 30 kilometers. It's not that he doesn't want to increase the speed, but because the roads in Spain are so bad that his artillery regiment needs to delay a lot of time. 70 kilometers, I guess it won't be until tomorrow, Xiao Jie thought depressingly.

After receiving the news that Tudela had been captured by the French army, Arthur Wellesley immediately found Frank and said to him anxiously: "The French army has begun to attack, we have to make up our minds as soon as possible."

"Oh, so fast, how many people are there?" Frank asked.

"I don't know yet, but I just received a report that the French Cavalry Corps has captured Tudela." Arthur Wellesley said, frowning.

"What? They captured Tudela, do they know that our reinforcements are starting to land?" Frank asked in surprise.

"Perhaps." Arthur? Wellesley said weakly.

"Then what are you going to do, are you going to retreat?" Frank asked.

"But where are we going to retreat? Tudela is occupied, and our road to the north has been blocked." Arthur Wellesley was very helpless, and it would be great if he could retreat as soon as possible.

"Then shall we fight them? Or retreat to other places?" Frank continued to ask.

"I don't know either." Arthur Wellesley said, shaking his head.

"Report to the general, a French army was found 10 kilometers away from us. It is estimated that there are more than 10,000 people. They are camping now." At this time, a young officer came in and reported.

"It's probably another French army. But are you sure there are only 10,000 people?" Arthur Wellesley asked in surprise.

"Yes, they only have 10,000 people, and we checked. Except for this army and the cavalry corps, the French army did not leave Zaragoza." The young officer answered in the affirmative.

"Do they think 10,000 people can beat us?" Arthur? Wellesley laughed, he had a feeling of being underestimated, which made him very angry.

"Old friend, don't be angry. Since they dare to send only this few people, maybe they really need something to rely on?" Frank persuaded. Seeing that Arthur Wellesley was about to get angry, he knew that something was wrong, so he tried to persuade him.

"By the way, who is their commander?" Arthur Wellesley asked.

"The news from our intelligence personnel should be the head of the 88th Army, the French Crown Prince Andresi." The young officer replied.

"So that's it." At this time Arthur Wellesley felt that he had already understood. He thought that Xiao Jie must have beaten Marmont so much that he dared not come out to fight because he led more than 10,000 people, so he was very angry. Only the same 10,000 people were used to attack them to show the combat effectiveness of the 88th Army. As for the Cavalry Army, it should be specially deployed for fear of him being retreated. Arthur Wellesley thought so, but did things really go as he thought? The answer was no. The reason why Xiao Jie only led so many people was because he believed that these people would be enough to defeat Arthur Wellesley's troops.

Therefore, instead of arranging a retreat, Arthur Wellesley actively arranged for a battle, preparing to have a good fight with the incoming French army.

On the morning of the 13th, Xiao Jie got up early, and every time there was a big battle, he could only fall asleep after the battle was over. Let the people in the cooking class prepare breakfast early, and after breakfast, they are ready to continue marching to Tarazona.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, Xiao Jie and the others finally came to a place only two kilometers away from Tarazona, where he sent a large number of scouts to inquire about Tarazona's news.

At noon, the scouts sent news that everything was normal, and the British army did not evacuate, but was actively preparing for battle. In this way, Xiao Jie's original hanging heart was put back into his stomach. Because he wasted too much time on the road, he was afraid that Arthur Wellesley would retreat from other directions after learning the news of the French army's attack, but he didn't expect that the other party was still guarding here. But then he figured it out. He knew that Arthur Wellesley must have underestimated him, thinking that his 10,000 people would not be able to attack Tarazona, which was defended by the opponent.

There is nothing to say about it, just use the final result to test who is wrong.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the battle began. First of all, the artillerymen of the 88th Corps spoke first. Hundreds of 75mm field guns were pulled out and stopped at 1,500 meters from Tarazona, which is their best range.

After receiving Xiao Jie's order to start the attack, Shu Luke, the new commander of the artillery regiment, issued an order, and hundreds of cannons began to roar. The shells roared towards the city of Tarazona, blasting the city wall into pieces of rock, and occasionally flying one or two pieces of human limbs or internal organs.

The city of Tarazona is a small city, so its city walls are not very strong. Although the British army has reinforced the city walls since they were stationed here, it is obviously still unable to compete with 75mm shells. Under the intensive bombardment of the 88th Army, cracks appeared in many places on the city wall of Tarazona, and it was crumbling under the artillery fire.

"Wellesley, it seems that the enemy's artillery fire is very strong. I doubt whether we are holding on here." Looking at the fierce shelling of the 88th Army, Frank asked with some concern.

"Yeah, their firepower is too powerful." Arthur Wellesley also admired, but he was only admiring the firepower, and had nothing to do with the 88th Army. How nice it would be in his hands.

"Withdraw all the people on the city wall and prepare to start a street battle with the French army." Arthur Wellesley ordered, rather than let the opponent be killed in vain, it is better to retreat voluntarily.

Suddenly, there was a sound of collapse near the city wall. It turned out that after being devastated by the fierce artillery fire of the 88th Army, the city wall of Tarazona finally couldn't hold on, and a section suddenly collapsed, and dozens of British soldiers were caught on it. In this way, the remaining British troops did not dare to stay any longer, and withdrew one after another.

Seeing that the city wall was bombarded, Xiao Jie continued to order: "The artillery starts to extend, and the 1st regiment is ready to attack."

Under Xiao Jie's order, the artillery began to extend into the city of Tarazona, and the first infantry regiment also formed a skirmish line and began to attack. And Arthur? Wellesley obviously did not expect the 88th Army's artillery to have such a long range. In the process, many British troops were killed and injured. Arthur Wellesley couldn't help despising the French army in his heart. He could only win with advanced weapons. However, no one paid any attention to him. Those who should be bombarded should continue to bombard, and those who should charge should continue to charge.

The soldiers of the 1st regiment broke into the city from the place where the city wall had collapsed, and began fierce street fighting with the British army. But they were clearly no match for the 88th Army. The 88th Legion is no better than other legions. Other legions may not be good at street fighting, but the 88th Legion has experienced too much street fighting in the last war. During training, street fighting is also regarded as a necessary training subject. With the addition of various advanced weapons, portable mortars and grenades, the British army who wanted to kill immediately retreated steadily.

Seeing that the French army is so powerful, Arthur Wellesley and Frank were both heartbroken. They both realized that the 88th Army was so powerful that it was indeed not comparable to other French armies. At the same time, it also shattered their hopes of winning by street fighting. Because in terms of street fighting, the opponent's various tactical skills are obviously much better than theirs.

The two of them were not the only ones who admired the 88th Legion, but also Marshal Besières, the commander of the Imperial Guard who was fighting outside the city. It turned out that he always thought that his Imperial Guard was the most powerful army in the Empire, but compared with the current performance of the 88th Legion, he also noticed the gap between them. Although part of the reason is that the weapons of the 88th Army are advanced, as Napoleon's personal guards, they are also equipped with the same weapons as the 88th Army, but obviously these weapons play a much greater role in the hands of the 88th Army than them.

Although the combat effectiveness of the 88th Legion is extremely powerful, there is only one regiment attacking now. The British army just relied on their numerical superiority to block the attack of the 88th Legion~www.mtlnovel.com~ Seeing that the attack was contained, Xiao Jie ordered: "The 2nd regiment attacked." So the 2nd regiment also entered the battle.

"Your Highness, I hope my troops can also go into battle." Seeing this situation, Bessiere pleaded to Xiao Jie. After all, they were placed in the hands of this British army last time, although there were many of them. The reason, but a defeat is a defeat, and Bessière has always hoped to avenge his shame, but now, it is a rare opportunity.

Xiao Jie agreed after thinking for a while. Bessière was overjoyed, and immediately gave the order to attack, so several wolves and tigers of the Imperial Guard soldiers howled and rushed towards Tarazona. It has to be said that the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Guard is still very strong, but in terms of individual combat effectiveness, there is almost no unit in the country that is their opponent, even the 88th Legion.

In this way, under the fierce attack of the French army, the British army was continuously killed and driven out of their positions. In just two hours, a large part of Tarazona fell into the hands of the French army. Seeing that the general situation was over and the troops suffered heavy losses, Arthur Wellesley had to issue an order to retreat. Under his order, the British army abandoned Tarazona and retreated directly to the west, trying to use the Iberian Mountains to throw off the pursuit of the 88th Army.

(To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to .FU., more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

Chapter end