Empire Rising: Spain

After more than ten minutes of bombardment, Giotto finally ordered the artillery to cease fire, waiting for the smoke to clear before assessing the enemy’s situation.

Once the Spanish artillery stopped shelling, the enemy didn’t show any signs of counterattack, which allowed Giotto to breathe a sigh of relief.

When the smoke cleared, Giotto used binoculars to look at the mountainside, discovering that the enemy’s artillery position had been reduced to scorched earth. The bloodstains and gunpowder marks on the rocks bore witness to all that had transpired there.

Looking further up, Giotto was surprised to find signs of the enemy retreating.

Though there were still many indigenous soldiers on the mid-mountain, the indigenous troops higher up were already retreating to the mountain’s summit. Judging by the scale of these indigenous forces, even if they weren’t the entirety of the indigenous army, they were definitely the main force of the Bam Kingdom’s army.

Having confirmed that the enemy forces in front of them were the main army, Giotto was not in a hurry to defeat them.

Should the enemy insist on retreating, there was nothing the Spanish Army could do. The opposing side was not foolish; having endured several rounds of the Spanish artillery bombardment, the indigenous forces wisely dispersed, effectively reducing the Spanish artillery’s lethality against them.

To defeat this indigenous army, the Spanish Army would have to launch a frontal assault to wipe them out.

However, the issue lay in the enemy’s high-ground position; any charge from the base of the mountain by the Spanish soldiers would inevitably incur substantial casualties.

This was not in line with Giotto’s expectations, so upon seeing the enemy slowly retreat, Giotto immediately planned to stall them.

Elsewhere on the Eastern Front, there were over 6,000 troops sent to launch a surprise attack on the indigenous capital. As long as Giotto could hold off the majority of the indigenous army, the surprise attack from the Eastern Front was likely to succeed.

To bolster the Eastern Front’s attack on the enemy’s capital, Giotto had specially equipped it with over 20 cannons, nearly as many as the Colonial Division had.

As long as the enemy’s main army did not reinforce their capital, just those 20 cannons alone could easily annihilate the indigenous forces.

After all, the situation here differed from that on the Eastern Front.

The current battlefield was still far from the indigenous capital, allowing the Bam Army to choose a strategy of resistance and retreat — fighting as they withdraw.

But the Eastern Front was different. The indigenous soldiers could retreat from there too, but their capital could not retreat.

Should the Eastern Front’s indigenous troops choose to pull back, they would expose the Bam Kingdom’s capital, Fuban, to the Spanish Army.

Without a protective force, Fuban would be at the mercy of the Spanish Army.

Once the Spanish Army took the capital, even these tenacious indigenous soldiers would lose their resolve.

After all, many soldiers and officers had families residing in Fuban, and how could they not worry about their families’ fate if Fuban were occupied by the enemy?

Wanting to hold the enemy’s main forces positioned on the mountainside, Giotto refrained from ordering an infantry attack. Instead, he instructed the artillery to keep bombarding the mountainside and summit while the majority of his troops appeared to set up camp, deceiving the enemy into thinking they had successfully delayed the Spanish advance.

Sure enough, upon realizing that the Spanish were not advancing but merely launching artillery from afar, the indigenous forces on the summit felt relieved.

The Bam Sultan even smiled, suggesting that the Spanish soldiers feared the Bam Army and dared not engage in direct combat, opting instead for sporadic long-range shelling.

With the Sultan confidently saying so, the Bam Kingdom’s officers naturally had to echo his sentiment.

Some officers doubted that the Spaniards would be so timid, yet seeing the Spanish troops apparently encamped at the mountain’s base, they could only trust the Sultan’s words.

Thus, a stalemate ensued between the two armies.

The Bam troops, intimidated by the Spanish Army’s formidable firepower, dared not venture down to the mountainside to engage.

The Spanish Army showed no intention to attack, with soldiers sporadically firing shots and the artillery shelling as per their moods.

As the standoff continued, the smile on Bam Sultan’s face grew. He was convinced of the Spanish Army’s cowardice, consequently looking down on other European colonizers as well.

If it weren’t for the Spanish Army’s overwhelming firepower, the Bam Sultan would have ordered an offensive long ago.

Although temporarily suppressed by Spanish fire atop the mountain, the Bam Sultan confided in his officers about next steps in a strategic meeting.

Should there be signs that the Spanish were running out of ammunition, the Bam Sultan would order a southern offensive to demonstrate to the timid Spaniards the valor and fearlessness of the Bam people.

If the Spanish ammunition seemed plentiful, then they would simply drag out the confrontation. After all, they could transport ample supplies from the capital Fuban, and as long as the rear remained safe, the Bam Sultan found an extended standoff with the Spanish acceptable.

After delaying the situation for two days, Giotto decided to take action to draw the indigenous forces’ attention.

Giotto was concerned that the indigenous forces might secretly retreat to defend their capital Fuban after realizing Giotto’s lack of offensive intention.

If they all returned to Fuban, capturing the city would not be easy.

Given that the enemy had rifles, street battles would inflict significant casualties on the Spanish Army.

Moreover, with their superior knowledge of the terrain, an impulsive attack by the Spanish would only disadvantage them.

During these two days, Giotto carefully reconsidered his strategy.

He planned to stage a performance for the indigenous forces, convincing them that they could potentially defeat the Spanish Army, thus making them more eager to engage.

This way, Giotto could easily stall the indigenous forces in front of him. If the three Colonial Defense Corps could capture Fuban, that would signal the time for a general offensive.

The three Colonial Defense Corps, having taken Fuban, could move south at any moment. With a pincer attack from both north and south, even with a stockpile of rifles and cannons, the indigenous forces could not break through the Spanish encirclement.

On the third day of the standoff, the Bam Sultan was astonished to see the previously timid Spanish troops attempting to advance.

Despite the attacking force being small, it marked a significant change compared to the previous two days of tranquility.

To be safe, the Bam Sultan immediately ordered his army to be ready for combat, deploying his most elite troops, equipped with rifles, 5,000 strong, to the front lines, ready to give the advancing Spaniards a surprise.

As the minutes passed, the Spanish troops edged closer to the mountainside.

Growing impatient, the Bam Sultan, observing the increasing number of Spanish soldiers, gave the order to open fire.

Bam! Bam bam bam!

With orders executed, the Bam Army launched an assault on the Spanish forces.

And it’s true, whether it’s a muzzleloader or breechloader, both inflict devastating wounds on a person, essentially without distinction.

The drawback, however, was the Bam Army’s poor accuracy; after thousands of rounds of volley fire, only a handful of Spanish soldiers were hit.

However, given Giotto’s prior instructions, many soldiers pretended to be wounded, expressing terror as they screamed and retreated.

Some even dropped their rifles to make it more convincing. From his elevated vantage point, the Bam Sultan witnessed the Spanish chaos, thrilled to think the cowardly Spaniards had lost all their resolve.

"Finish them off! These damned Spaniards have lost their nerve. Show them who truly rules this land!" the Bam Sultan shouted in elation.