April 27, 1667, sunny.

These days, God seems to be giving face to the East Coast people. Except for a little rain in the area near the Corner of France, the sun is shining brightly, and the earth is almost oily. To be honest, this weather is actually very beneficial for the East Coast people to drag some spare cannons on naval warships to the hillside. After all, not everyone is willing to roll in the mud.

Of course, although these 18-pound naval long-barrel guns (caliber 135 mm, which is actually slightly heavier than 18 pounds) are not light, they are definitely not so heavy that they are difficult to move. After all, the cannons made on the East Coast have been famous for their light weight due to material matching, and are much stronger than the artillery of the Old Continent. Therefore, with the hard work of the Engineer Corps, the Fengguo Army and some naval soldiers, the East Coast people only spent six days sending these two spare cannons transferred from the arsenal of the bottom cabin of the light cruiser "Southern Cross" to the small earthblock where Captain Lan Fei was located (the height was only a few dozen meters), and then aimed the black hole muzzle at the city area of ​​the French corner. At this point, the shelling operation against the French city can be carried out at any time, and the last straw that broke the camel's back was in place!

In the past few days, the French also removed several relatively light small-caliber artillery guns from the port fortress, and then transferred them to launch artillery battles with the East Coast people. However, their old bronze artillery was not as good as the 105mm (similar to the 8-pound cannons from the Old Continent) and 120mm field artillery. Therefore, the result of the battle can be imagined. After one blows up, one breaks down and three of them are destroyed, the French completely calmed down and gave up the unwise idea of ​​launching artillery battles with the East Coast people. Moreover, their shells and ammunition seem to be insufficient, so they can only passively wait for the attack of the East Coast people.

The French were able to dismantle the cannons and engage in artillery battles with the East Coast people, so the East Coast Army would not sit still. In fact, they have organized several tentative offensives against the Corner of France in the past few days, but they were all beaten back. In fact, this is normal. The people of the East Coast have not been firm in the offensive, which is a bit tentative. On the other hand, although the French lost more than 100 people on small landfills outside the city before, they still had a strong determination to defend their homes. In addition, Corner of France was originally the center of French Santo Domingo, and the only place in the entire colony that can be called a city, there are still some nobles, officials, and big merchants, and they have a strong control over the entire city, so they can continue to persist.

Today, if the installation of artillery is delayed, Captain Lan Fei may be a little unstoppable and give up the current "big health care" strategy that has been privately ridiculed by some naval officers and soldiers, and replace it with some more intense methods. To be precise, he is going to send the infantry of the two companies of the First Mixed Battalion that had been watching the wall a few days ago.

These regular soldiers equipped with Minnie guns and undergo strict training have always been Lan Fei's heart. They have always been with them as the general reserve team, intending to deal with emergencies at any time. At this moment, the Fengguo Army's tentative attack was not strong, so he moved him to the front line to attack the French. Fortunately, the artillery was installed smoothly later, and the guns of the two long-barreled 135mm caliber cannons were aimed at the French Point City in their field of view. The battle seemed to be much easier, so the two companies were temporarily removed.

At about one o'clock in the afternoon, just after everyone had lunch, the surrounding parts of the hill bag entered the fortifications and took their place, two 135mm caliber cannons roared and spoke angrily. The powerful shells passed through the heavy barriers of the air and smashed them hard at the speed of the arrows of the French. The first shell was slightly off and hit a pond in a pond in the city, splashing water columns soaring into the sky, which could be seen clearly outside the city; while the other shells hit the top of a church with the help of gods, and directly cut it off a thin layer, which made people particularly excited to see.

"There is no problem that two giant cannons cannot solve. If so, then four!" Lan Fei turned his head and looked at the two 24-pound heavy naval guns that were still carrying desperately, and thought silently in his heart: "The giant cannon weakens the morale of the enemy, and then slowly advances on land to clear obstacles. The key is not to let the French guys see the hope of their victory. It will be easy to break the city like this. Humph, the big health-care style is the big health-care style, which is safe. At least it is much more clever than the strong-soldiers like Zhou Yafu's rushing and attacking the strong fortress? Our manpower is already a bit lacking, and we still have to occupy this and that, and we have to occupy the place. It's not enough to be unconscious..."

The shells were sent into the city one after another, causing considerable chaos and panic. To be fair, just two long-barreled heavy artillery should not cause much casualties, because they usually fired iron bombs, which would not explode, and could only cause damage to buildings. Even some solid buildings could not cause much trouble because the distance was a little far.

The key to the problem is that in addition to the time when the barrel is cooled, these two cannons are firing constantly. Even if you consider the factors that cherish the life of the barrel, you can send about a thousand shells into the Corner of France every day. These shells rush around in the city, hitting people and animals is considered unlucky. Hitting buildings may also cause certain secondary damage, and they are constantly causing no deaths. However, the damage to morale is too great. Over time, it may cause nerve damage, and of course it may also make people become numb and adapt.

Moreover, after the other two terrifying 24-pound naval guns were also pulled up, you can imagine what the Frenchman would collapse. However, before that, the army could also push forward appropriately, and of course the artillery still plays the leading role!

Starting from April 28, under the pressure of the Second Company of the First Mixed Battalion, hundreds of Fengguo* officers and soldiers, with the cooperation of the First Company of the Independent Field Artillery and four light artillery of the Navy, tentatively attacked the coastal defense fortress near the port, but were blocked by the enemy land defense fortress guarding the fortress.

The French hid in solid fortifications and used fixed heavy artillery or mobile light artillery to fight against the east coast, which made the offensive extremely difficult. After paying dozens of corpses, they finally conquered only a small position and seized one cannon, which was quite useless. Captain Lan Fei finally had to order to stop the attack on the enemy's solid fortifications. After leaving the regular troops of the two companies on the east coast as a reserve force and carefully looking at the French army on the other side of the fort, the rest turned to concentrate on attacking the French Cape France and did not have any other ideas.

By the way, an 18-pound heavy sea defense artillery that was just taken away by the East Coast people was soon turned around and bombarded the French Point City due to its special location, which further reduced the morale of the French. The only pity was that the ammunition was not enough, and the caliber of the East-made artillery was somewhat different from that of the French. This French coast defense artillery could only be fired for one day and would be stopped due to the lack of shells.

But no matter what, if there is no strong foreign aid, the failure of the French in Point of France is almost certain. When facing Captain Lan Fei's "big health care style" that spares money (only relying on superior artillery to bully people, trying to avoid casualties), the French really don't have many ways, they can only be crushed and flattened by the East Coast people little by little, and they can't even cause major damage to their opponents, because they rarely give you a chance to fight fairly.

As for other French troops coming from French Santo Domingo to support the French Cape Town, this is just overthinking. In a large area like French Santo Domingo, it was actually colonized by the French and developed areas were not as large as people imagined, and they were basically concentrated near the coast. The inland mountainous and forest areas are not convenient to transport, but also the environment is very harsh, so no one has ever settled or opened a plantation.

Regarding this, the East Coast people had already learned about this with the Julien and Mathildes, who had been in the East Coast nationality for many years before the war. Although their information was more than ten years ago, I believe that even after so many years, with the French colonial attitude, the local pattern should not have changed much. Therefore, there is no need to worry too much about reinforcements elsewhere to support Cape France. Most of the French have gathered here. Taking Cape France is basically equivalent to occupying the entire French Santo Domingo.

On May 1, 1667, after several days of hard fighting, after consuming a large amount of ammunition reserves, flattening a large number of buildings in the Cape de France and greatly hurting the defending French soldiers and militias, these colonists finally couldn't hold on. They sent representatives to ask for their "glorious surrender", that is, the East Coast promised their lives, financial security and personal freedom, and allowed them to retain a certain number of self-defense weapons in exchange for the change of ownership of Cape de France-

It must be mentioned that this happened when the East Coast people finally went through a lot of hardships, moved two 24-pound naval guns onto small landbags, and launched a tentative attack on the city. According to the observation post, there seemed to be a fierce quarrel in the Point of France at that time and led to a small-scale ****, but it seemed that no casualties were caused. In the end, the French seemed to unify their opinions, and then sent people to negotiate with the East Coast under the white flag, requesting glorious surrender.

However, after so many days of siege and suffering a certain amount of casualties, how could the East Coast people allow the glorious surrender of Point France? What they want is to surrender unconditionally, otherwise where would they make a fortune? Where would they get the spoils? Isn't this nonsense! So Captain Lan Fei, who was expected by more than a thousand soldiers in the army, naturally refused the French request for glorious surrender and instead asked them to surrender unconditionally, so that they could still keep their lives safe; but if they refuse now, once the East Coast soldiers caused major casualties due to the strong attack, then neither gentlemen (whites) nor slaves in Point France would be able to obtain the safety of their lives.

"...About this, please think about it carefully. Many times, it is difficult for us to control the emotions of the soldiers, because after all, they paid the price of death and injury in the battle. Just as in the Battle of Rocluy in 1643, your army slaughtered the surrendered Spanish Flanders soldiers (later stopped by Prince Conde), wasn't it because they gave the great damage to your army in the battle? After all, the emotions of the soldiers must be vented, and we can't do anything." At the end of the first negotiation, Captain Lan Fei said to the representative of Governor Cranmont.

Although the words were rogue, they were facts. After hearing the French representatives, they nodded constantly and said that they would report to the Governor General truthfully after returning. In addition, from the mouths of some newly captured French soldiers, the East Coast people also knew the root of the chaos in the city: religious forces headed by Father Victor and a small number of conservative nobles strongly opposed Governor Clermont and some nobles. The merchants responded fiercely to the proposal of peace talks with the East Coast people. Of course, they failed in the end, and the desire to survive overwhelmed everything. The French eventually left the city to contact the surrender. Although the request they made was very unrealistic, they were rejected by Lan Fei on the spot.

After the French envoys carrying the white flag left, the East Coast people immediately resumed their shelling of the Cape France, and continued to use one shell after another to destroy the buildings in the city, kill and torture the French personnel. At the same time, hundreds of Fengguo soldiers continued to attack some facilities in the Cape France with the assistance of artillery, kill, wound and capture nearly a hundred French soldiers or militias.

Once this two-pronged approach was used, the French could no longer hold on. Finally, on May 3, they sent an envoy again to express their unconditional surrender, provided that the East Coast people guarantee the lives of the residents in the city. For this condition, Captain Lan Fei, who had killed more than a hundred soldiers (more injured), finally agreed to their request for saving troops, and then asked the remaining French soldiers and militias in the city to line up, hand over their weapons and then live in designated places on the East Coast to avoid unnecessary trouble. As for other free people or slaves in the city, they still maintain the status quo. They can live freely in the city, but cannot leave. The East Coast people guarantee their lives, provided that they pay enough fees - these are old routines, and the French also expressed their understanding.
Chapter completed!