Chapter 937: The Showdown

Latest website: North of Manila city.

While the Franks in front of the coast were enduring the shelling.

Under the command of Pan Zhang, the Marine soldiers broke through the weak defenses north of the city and drove directly into Manila.

Unlike the desolation of Banbu, Manila was clearly much more prosperous.

Aside from many thatched huts on the outskirts, the further one went inside, the more brick and stone houses there were.

In the center near the coast, there were even buildings in the style of the Franks.

"Quick, quick, quick, occupy the important streets and intersections in the city, find cover, and set up obstacles." Standing on the main road of Manila, Pan Zhang kept instructing the officers passing by him.

Because they did not anticipate that the main force of the Marines would attack from the north.

The Franks had only deployed a small number of soldiers in the north of the city, hoarding their heavy forces on the front coast.

Therefore, when they arrived, they easily broke through their defensive line and killed their way into Manila.

"General, a large number of Frankish soldiers and indigenous soldiers are pouring into Manila from the coast."

Just then, the Marine officer in charge of reconnaissance sent the latest situation on the battlefield.

"How many of them are there?" Pan Zhang asked.

"There are over eight thousand Frankish soldiers, and the rest are indigenous troops," the officer in charge of reconnaissance said.

Pan Zhang nodded and immediately said to the messenger, "Pass on my order: focus the attack on the Frankish soldiers."

According to the intelligence he had received, the Western Lands armies currently in the Southern Region were equipped with quite a few Front-loading Rifled Muskets.

Compared to flintlocks, these Front-loading Rifled Muskets were naturally a greater threat.

Therefore, they had to annihilate the Western Lands troops equipped with line muskets at the first opportunity.

As for the indigenous troops, he truly did not care about them at all.

He did not believe these indigenous people would risk their lives for the Franks.

Their morale was likely not even as good as the Shizu Army.

His order was issued.

The Marine officers immediately led their soldiers toward the direction of the Frankish soldiers.

The distance between the two sides gradually shrank to five hundred meters, and the Marine soldiers who were originally marching on the street immediately scattered.

Some soldiers crouched in front of a pile of wood, aiming at the Frankish soldiers, while others entered civilian houses to aim through the windows.

Still other soldiers climbed onto the roofs to look down from a commanding position.

Before the Marine soldiers arrived, the Frankish soldiers had also entered the city.

Discovering the Marine soldiers, they also adopted Skirmisher Tactics.

One by one, the Frankish soldiers also sought out obstacles, relying on them to stop the Marine soldiers from pushing toward the coast and outflanking them.

The two sides were deadlocked for a time in the west of Manila.

"Charge!"

After the indigenous troops arrived, Colonel Balensa waved his hand, signaling the indigenous troops to charge so they could take the opportunity to shoot the Da Song soldiers.

Under his command, the brown-skinned indigenous soldiers yelled and rushed toward the defensive area of the Marine troops.

"This bunch of robbers, even their way of fighting is the same, phew!" Seeing this, Pan Zhang could not help but spit.

The Northern Di liked to let their auxiliary troops go first when fighting.

Every Da Song soldier was clear about this, so seeing this tactic from the Franks naturally reminded them of the Northern Di.

"Bang, bang, bang..." Just then, dense gunfire rang out, and Marine soldiers poked their bodies out from every corner, shooting the charging indigenous people.

The soldiers on the roofs even pulled out Hand Grenades and threw them into the middle of the indigenous troops.

The charging indigenous troops suffered heavy casualties in an instant.

This group of indigenous people was clearly frightened; having charged less than fifty meters, the first wave of soldiers turned tail and retreated.

"Prepare." Just as the Marine soldiers were firing, the Frankish general had his soldiers stare closely at the roofs in front of them.

They had sent out the indigenous troops precisely to verify a piece of intelligence provided by Britain.

That was that the Da Song army was equipped with a type of firearm that could be loaded from the back.

If that were true, the Da Song army would not stand up from rooftops or behind obstacles to fire.

After waiting for a while, the Frankish general's mood grew heavy.

Sure enough, after the dense gunfire, they did not see a single Da Song soldier stand up to reload bullets; everyone remained in hiding.

"This is a truly terrible fact," Balensa's heart sank.

He understood Front-loading Rifled Muskets, but he did not understand the performance of the Da Song army's firearms.

The British only said that in the Da Song civil war, the Shizu and the Northern Di had been hit very hard by this type of firearm from the Yan Wang Army.

Just as he was thinking, he suddenly noticed that while repelling the indigenous troops, the Da Song soldiers at the front quickly emerged from the alleyway, pushed forward into the alley ahead, and kept closing in.

These soldiers moved very quickly, and as they left their hiding places, the Frankish soldiers immediately fired at them.

However, before they could even pull the Trigger, just as they exposed their bodies from the alley wall, they were attacked by other Da Song soldiers.

Even when they hid on the roofs, they were attacked.

They were clearly covering these soldiers as they pushed forward.

In an instant, along the entire confrontation front, the Da Song soldiers had pushed forward by more than ten meters.

And because they were under attack, many Frankish soldiers fired a shot without having time to aim.

These soldiers were now in an awkward position instead.

Especially the soldiers lying on the roofs; they had to stand up to reload their own firearms.

And standing up meant they were exposed to the enemy's muzzles.