Manresa is located in the great province of Catalonia. It is a small city in northeastern Spain, including the surrounding rural population of only more than 10,000. To the east of the town is a Rotara River originating from the Pyrenees. Crossing the Rotara River is a continuous hills, but to the west, south and north of the river are mostly open areas with a flat river for more than 100 miles. The rare highlands are dotted with sparse small woods.

Since the end of the last Spanish War on the Throne, as one of the main defense lines to defend Barcelona, ​​the strategic significance of the town of Manresa is not very important compared to the city of Figueras, Sawadel and Badarona. There are no particularly strong fortresses or fortifications around the town, but the not-wide Rotara River has become the main defense barrier in the east of the city. However, with the arrival of the French army, the past tranquility of the town of Manresa was broken by the tense atmosphere of war.

Because the town of Manresa will be the main target of the Duke of Sanchez reinforcements, the town of Manresa was painted on the strategic map of the French commander Andrew. Andrew ordered his army to rush to Manresa day and night when he won the previous battle. Before the arrival of the last reinforcement of the Kingdom of Spain, before July 15, he would take Manresa at all costs, and then fight with Duke Sanchez's troops on the premise of ensuring the smooth supply in the rear.

General Boca is an extremely dedicated commander. At the age of 35, he was tall and tall. He was promoted to the commander of the army after being appreciated by His Highness the Duke with his own strength. His decisive, resolute eyes and beautiful curly hair with dark red hair were the greatest charms that attracted women. However, under the lingering of countless beautiful skirts, Boca adhered to his feelings with his wife. Compared with his mischievous senior Spanish general, there was never any scandal on him.

Since he was ordered to be dispatched to the town of Manresa in early July, General Boca presided over the construction of a series of fortifications for the city according to the old duke's repeated instructions.

Considering that the city of Manresa (town) lacks the necessary fortresses and fortresses and cannot effectively resist the charge of French cavalry, when demolishing all the floating bridges on the river, he also ordered the engineers to build dams with huge rocks in the lower reaches of the Rotala River, widening the upper river surface while also raising the river level. The sharply rising river water flooded the low-lying areas near the two banks. In addition to the highland barriers in the west of the city, there was a water town everywhere on the east, north and south. The water surface that was overwhelmed with the originally soft soil, and in just one or two days the grassland became a swamp area that was difficult for people to pass through.

On the southwest of Manresa, about 2 miles away is a dangerous high ground, with an abandoned medieval monastery above. From the high ground, you can look down at the town of Manresa. There are almost vertical cliffs on three sides, and only a gentle slope to the west can be used for progress. When strengthening the defense of the outer villages, General Boca focused on taking care of the defense of the monastery, built simple fortifications on the high ground, equipped with a strengthening regiment, 2,000 soldiers, and more than 20 artillery pieces.

The defense infantry trenches surrounding the frontier of the main city were widened and deepened, and the Rotara River water was introduced into it, becoming a moat pool in front of the city. Behind the pool was a standard infantry chest wall, and artillery positions were closely guarded there.

However, the force was a little tight. Because he wanted to fill the vacancy left by the Brisbane General's main force, Boca had to distribute 10,000 people to defend the defense from the city of Sawadel, Badarona to Barcelona, ​​resulting in only 15,000 infantrymen coming to the city, because his 3,000 cavalry were also forcibly requisitioned by the Brisbane General to transport logistics supplies.

Boca had no choice but to start recruiting militias near the town. Fortunately, General Boca was a good person, his good reputation and malicious slanderous description of the French helped him form a militia of 4,000 people in one day, and a large number of volunteers were engaged in the task of rescue and transporting ammunition. By July 13, the total strength of the entire war defense force in the Manresa area was restored to 19,000 people and 110 artillery pieces.

As the commander, Boca knew clearly that the stubborn Brisbane General's 50,000 main force was eliminated by Andrew's army. After the victory, the French would not stop and reach Manresa within a few days. He could not compete with the enemy in terms of military strength or artillery number. The most optimistic line of defense he was holding was probably only able to resist the French for three days, so Boca's only hope was to rely on the reinforcements of the Duke of Sanchez who was about to arrive on July 15.

On July 13, the vanguard of the French Legion had arrived near the suburbs of Manresa. At noon, Major Rana's troops were from the south, Brigadier General Mura's cavalry brigade from the west, Major General Massena's infantry division from the north, and three armies arrived at the periphery of the city of Manresa (town), gathering a group of Spaniards who were guarding the city alone to encircle them.

The Spanish aimed to defend and not attack, and the French simply surrounded and did not attack immediately. That was because the artillery of the Massena Division did not cross the river in time. When the French arrived at the upper reaches of Manrottala, the depth of the river was no longer at their waists but over their chests. The infantry and cavalry could barely swim across the river through ropes on both sides of the river. But when the simple rafts were loaded with cannons to prepare to cross the river, the continued surge of river water overturned 6 rafts, and more than 20 cannons sank into the water. In desperation, Massena had no choice but to order the engineers to build several floating bridges for the cannons to cross the river. It took more than half a day to carry out this heavy work on the turbulent river.

When they arrived at the suburbs of Manresa, Massena and other officers immediately studied the defensive terrain of the Spanish defenders. Finally, they confirmed that the open area to the west of the city was not disturbed by floods, which would be the main position for the attack of the front troops of the Legion. At the same time, they realized that this was also a key area for the Spanish defenders to defend.

"It's 3 pm on July 13th. Be sure to occupy all the outer fortifications west of Manresa City before the 14th, that is, the three villages in front of you, especially the high ground that is only 1,000 meters away from the city, waiting for tomorrow's army artillery to arrive... Damn the river. I curse you 1,000 times..."

In the temporary command, Massena was making arrangements before the attack. While the commander who was full of Luosaihu kept complaining about the water of the Rotara River, he forgot that he had accumulated the floods of the Rova River that blocked the escape routes of the Spanish defeated troops. The most unfortunate thing was that he could not order the soldiers to pull out the downstream dams and let the floods irrigate under the flood. Because the rest of the army led by Commander Andrew will pass from the downstream. Once the flood is forced to be discharged, not to mention that the army's artillery will not be able to reach the front line, even reinforcements will cross the river.

Ten minutes later, General Massena finally finished complaining and put his attention back on the combat map.

"Col. Rana, how morale is your army? How many soldiers and how many artillery can there be?"

"Report to the commander, the soldiers' courage must be towed by carriages. Apart from a regiment stationed in Sawadell and the casualties, there are still 3,000 warriors. However, there are not many artillery items, only 15, all with 6-pound small caliber. The combat ammunition passed by Sawadell City is not consumed much, and it can only provide two and a half-base launches. However, I still hope to be the first attacking force of the legion, because this is the voice of the soldiers." Colonel Rana straightened his body, raised his chest and shouted loudly.

"Very good, Colonel Rana, your infantry brigade will be the main offensive force of the vanguard. It will launch an attack before 4 pm. The mission is to clear all obstacles, especially the highland that restricts our army from besieging the main city. In addition, the accompanying cavalry regiment will continue to be for you to command. Brigadier Mura, what do you think?" Massena pointed to the combat map, and while giving orders to Colonel Rana, he was also asking for the deputy commander's opinion.

"Of course there is no problem, Your Excellency Commander. Just Colonel Rana, how are my cavalry casualties?" Mura asked to Rana.

"General, the number of employees is reduced by less than 200, and there are still 1,600 people." Lana returned.

"Thank you, Colonel. I wish you a victory!" Although there were not much casualties, Murah still felt distressed. It was just that due to the tension in the battle situation, his mood did not appear on the surface.

...

The battle in the Manresa area first started from an unknown small village. At 4 pm, a team of 100 cavalry team first stepped into the entrance of the village. At the beginning, the French cavalry was not attacked at all, and the entire village seemed quite quiet. Only the crisp "tick" sound made by hundreds of horses' hooves constantly hitting the stone pavement destroyed the originally peaceful atmosphere of the village.

On both sides were some villagers standing at their doorsteps. They looked at these uninvited guests without expression. The children were a little novel and opened their eyes wide to look at the French soldiers on the horse's back. The Spanish people who were all the way were quite friendly to the French army and did not show any aggressive behavior. Therefore, the cavalry were a little lazy in vigilance and did not send scouts to patrol the four places as usual. The soldiers were chatting casually on the horse's back, and a guy friendly took out a handful of candy and stuffed it into the children's hands. The children smiled happily, but the adults rushed over, knocked the Frenchman's alms to the ground, forced the crying child back to the house, and closed the door heavily.

"The villagers here are not very enthusiastic." The soldier who gave candy shrugged and said to his companions beside him.

"That's, you want them to hold up the tricolor flag and welcome us like a song and laughter, or shout "Hi, French grandma, I love you?" This takes time, at least not now." The corporal beside him said with a smile.

"Well, for God's sake, we will drive away the Spanish troops on the hills, and maybe when we return to defense, there will be a blonde beauty waiting for me." The soldier on the horse said excitedly.

"Of course, if you have your life in advance, if..."

Before the sergeant could finish his words, a sharp whistle sounded over the village. Then rows of smoothbore gun bullets came out of the bungalows on both sides and flew over quickly, hitting the weak bodies of the cavalry. The sergeant was shot in the head and fell from the saddle without saying a word, becoming the first victims.

"Enemy attack, hide!" the lieutenant shouted, and he pulled the reins and quickly ordered all soldiers to jump off the horses and use the opportunity to fight back.

But the dense bullets from the windows on both sides immediately disrupted the French deployment. In order to avoid the volleyball ferry, the soldiers who had just jumped off the horse were knocked dizzy again. They were knocked over to the ground by the ambushed Spanish gunmen. The number of casualties continued to increase. Two minutes later, more than half of their companions had fallen to the ground. The flowing blood instantly marked the stone pavement under them red. The shouts of the living soldiers and the painful cry of the wounded soldiers were intertwined, constantly destroying the morale of the French.

"Don't worry about me, retreat, hurry up!" The second lieutenant, who was injured on his leg, saw that the situation could not be restored, quickly ordered the alive soldiers to retreat on horseback. When the last row of bullets hit the second lieutenant's back, his eyes immediately blurred. At the moment he fell to the ground, he vaguely saw more than 30 backs gradually moving away.

...

"You do see that Spanish civilians also participated in the attack." In the brigade command post, Colonel Rana questioned the survivors who were ambushed. At the beginning of the attack, the cavalry team as the outpost was suddenly attacked by the Spanish without warning when they entered the three villages, and 150 cavalrymen were lost after the battle.

"Yes, I can see very clearly that two-thirds of the people were wearing peasant-like coarse cloth. After the lieutenant ordered everyone to retreat, we also looked back and saw the Spaniards running out of the room, scraping the guns and ammunition of the sacrificed companions, and using bayonets to kill the wounded people who fell to the ground. There were men, women, old, young, and all kinds of people inside." The soldiers who escaped by luck reported, their eyes red with tears were the scene where he could never forget the scene where the lieutenant tried hard to slap the horse's back and helped him evacuate from danger.

"Okay, thank you, soldier, you can go down and rest."

Rana ordered the cavalry to go down by himself, but he cursed in his heart: "Damn Spaniards, I will give them the consequences." Then he asked the messenger to call two infantry regiment commanders and began to deploy combat missions for them.

“…

Now you will take over the cavalry regiment to attack, the target is the enemy's periphery defense in front of you. Lieutenant Colonel, your regiment will first attack, draw out 2 battalions to attack the three villages in front of you. Within 20 minutes, you must be taken down to ensure that the main force starts to siege the mountain at 5 o'clock.

...

The Spanish army in the village is very cunning. They ambush our team with civilians, so your enemy will be all the Spaniards in front of you, whether they are men or women, old or young, whether they hold a gun or not, they must be killed and stabbed hard.

...

Colonel Rana, who was vicious and evil, issued a killing order to the officers.

"Well, Colonel. Commander Andrew ordered us not to attack or massacre civilians at will." A regiment commander whispered.

"Those who pick up weapons are enemies, follow my orders."

"Okay, obey the order, Colonel!"

...

The Spanish clasped their rifles tightly or fiddled with the newly seized saber, and squatted in front of the window nervously and excitedly. The ambush that had ended earlier made them feel the long-lost happiness. Whether it was the soldiers or civilians, everyone was extremely excited. If the French were not going to attack again, they would have to celebrate with singing and dancing, but now they could only wait quietly in the room, waiting for the Frenchman to die again.

But they were about to be disappointed, because the civilians joined the despicable sneak attack. The infantry in charge of the attack mission had just received a massacre order issued by the commander, "Put the bayonet and kill all living creatures in the village. Don't be kind and don't be captured!"

Although they did not understand it very much, the soldiers still obeyed Colonel Rana's will. After sneaking into the village entrance, the infantry dispersed into dozens of combat teams in half a row, and led by the sergeant, broke into the village from all directions.

Some people bent down and walked forward, trying their best to make the sound of footsteps, and carefully groped under the eaves or near the window; some people walked on both sides of the center of the stone road, in dense queues to attract enemy fire.

When the soldiers were ready, the commander issued an attack order. The usual battle sequence was that the soldiers under the eaves slammed open the door, and the soldiers on the other side quickly threw two lit grenades from the door or window, and then the soldiers quickly dodged to one side.

With a "bang", a huge explosion sounded in the room, and together with broken objects, they rushed outside. The soldiers ran into the room and rushed to the living or dead people with bayonets.

The loud explosion, the screams of the French and the Spanish's dying struggle attracted other Spanish gunmen to poke their heads out of the window to look around, but were aimed by French soldiers on both sides who were ready. They also roamed the guns, knocking over the winner more than ten minutes ago. The Spaniard, who escaped by luck, won't take long to survive, and will be double ravaged by grenades and bayonets.

Spanish civilians who had never received combat training were no match for the powerful French soldiers. In addition, with the powerful high-explosive grenade, the battle in the village came to an end in just 10 minutes. In the village where the second lieutenant was bravely killed, 338 Spanish soldiers and the bodies of villagers became sacrifices for the sacrificed cavalrymen. By 4:45 pm, all three villages occupied, and more than 1,000 Spanish were killed. Neither ordinary villagers nor Spanish soldiers, men, women, or young, had almost no one left the village alive. In comparison, the French infantry lost only less than 100 people.

At about 5:00 p.m. on July 13, Major Rana's troops began to siege the west of Manresa City. The only obstacle existing in the entire outer defense area, the abandoned monastery on the high ground.

First, there was a round of bombing. Colonel Rana under the hill ordered all 15 artillery pieces to push to the front position and fire solid bombs at the enemy artillery positions on the hill 300 meters away. First, to attract enemy artillery fire, and then to destroy the number of enemy artillery as much as possible. Obviously, the colonel's plan did not succeed. The Spanish gunners stubbornly supported the flying enemy artillery shells, and did not launch artillery attacks with the enemies at the hill, but instead aimed at the French cavalry troops rushing up.

The grape bombs that dived from the hill had strong destructive power. The remaining explosions scattered everywhere and hit the cavalry's heads or chests fiercely. The tiny shrapnel brought fatal damage. At a distance of 200 from the enemy, a large number of soldiers and their war horses fell on the position one after another and could no longer get up. The subsequent soldiers ignored it, still holding their sabers in their hands, shouting "Ula", and continuing to rush forward.

200 meters!

150 meters!

100 meters!

80 meters!

...

The cavalry, who had suffered heavy casualties, were finally approaching the enemy. The passion for victory made everyone stand up straight. They wanted to meet the victory that seemed to be within their reach. In the front row, the soldiers could clearly see the slightly panicked face of the Spaniard outside the chest wall.

"Be careful, keep calm!" a Spanish officer shouted loudly, ordering his soldiers to cheer up and issue a series of instructions.

"Front row aim!"

"The rear two rows are equipped with bullets!"

"Listen to my order!"

"shooting!"

...

Under the leadership of the officers, the soldiers who had been trained in strict operation quickly returned to their previous calmness. They skillfully loaded and filled in ammunition. The interval between shooting was very short. After the front row shooting, they immediately took the guns filled with ammunition from their companions behind them to support the continued firing. This is a standard cycle step to defend against infantry.

With the order from the commander, the smoothbore gunmen outside the chest wall fired in waves. After the smoke, the bullets jumped happily up and down. With the power of the grape bullets, they attacked the French cavalry in front of them. The French cavalry who suffered special blows caused considerable casualties and could no longer maintain the formation to attack. The French cavalry, who lost their speed, sequence and morale, were finally defeated, leaving more than 300 companions' bodies on the 300-meter hillside.

Time passed by little by little, and the killing in front of us seemed to make the heaven and earth unable to bear to look at each other. Layers of thick fog gathered above Manresa City, causing the sky to gradually dim. The last sunset appeared on the horizon, and the air was still filled with the smell of humid and hot, without a slight breeze. In a few dozen minutes, the other master of the earth, the Dark God, will take over the territory.

It seemed that he was angry by the Spanish provocation. The commander of the cavalry team personally led the team to launch the second and third attacks. However, the result of a series of battles was only to increase the casualties of French cavalry, including the commander, and increase the victory of the Spanish defenders...

Until the fourth time, Colonel Rana was furious and ordered the acting commander of the cavalry regiment to lead the team to attack with only 800 cavalry teams, and he led 3,000 infantrymen who were waiting for the battle into a scattered army, and ran forward with his jerk and bayonet, and followed closely behind the cavalry.

The roar of dozens of artillery artillery on both sides was deafening, and countless shells drove the air to whirlwinds of death and flew towards their respective targets, some even hit directly. The heat from the broken body was lost in the air, and the mottled land was full of sorrow, as if even the stones under their feet were crying.

The goddess of victory finally stood on the side of the French. The continuous bombing finally exhausted the Spaniard's artillery, and the firepower was reduced a lot. The French cavalry, who had been waiting for a long time, took the opportunity to cover it up, and mounted it on one end against the enemy's dense lead-screen bullet walls, or crossed the chest wall, shouting "Ula" to welcome the bayonet camp held by the Spanish infantry...

The sacrifices of the cavalry were valued. French infantry rushed up one after another and engaged in an extremely cruel hand-to-hand battle with the Spaniards around their chest walls.

The sunset shone with ferocious faces, which were extremely terrifying. They rushed forward regardless of the enemy's guns and bullets. The surviving soldiers in the front row squatted or lie on the corner of the chest wall, so that their subsequent companions could use their bodies to climb over the chest wall and fight back against the enemy with bayonets.

This is a tragic scene. The soldiers on both sides do not care about each other's appearance at all. They only value the enemy's uniforms. Everyone is fighting for life and death, and yells in words that the opponent cannot understand. A soldier inserted a bayonet into the enemy's chest. Before he could collect the gun, he was chopped to the ground by another enemy with a saber...

The Spanish had far less troops than the French army's follow-up power. Usually two French people were dealing with one Spanish. The Spanish soldiers who were originally far inferior to the other in terms of individual soldiers. They fought hard with the power of grape bombs, favorable terrain, and the patriotic enthusiasm they stimulated. However, after the first two conditions were gradually lost, their failure was inevitable due to the huge gap in their own abilities and military strength.

But what is infinitely admired is that no Spanish soldiers on the hill want to survive and give up resistance. Even when Colonel Rana ordered the soldiers who knew Spanish to shout "Stop the gun and not kill", no one left their weapons and raised their hands to surrender. However, their courage doubled because they were in a desperate situation. Even if the bayonet was broken and the fire could not be filled in time, they swung the stock at the French, biting them with their heads and then biting them with their teeth, and never groaned at the desperate situation. The pain caused by the gunshot wounds on their bodies became the force to support the battle. Even the most powerful French soldiers had to sigh for this spiritual struggle.

Under the command of the sergeants, the French infantry broke out from contact with the enemy's physical contact. They began to use dense volleys to attack the extremely crazy Spanish defenders, until all the Spanish warriors in front of them fell unyieldingly at their own guns. The winning French soldiers still failed to take another step forward. Everyone just opened their mouths wide and gasped desperately. Everyone could not make any shouts of victory, but just stared at the bloody battlefield, as well as the Spanish defenders on the battlefield.
Chapter completed!