The main target of the howitzer attack was the enemy's artillery position. [No pop-up novel network]

In the face of high-powered 105mm howitzers, the smoothbore guns of the Ottoman Emperor [***] team were no match at all. After a few rounds of shelling, all the smoothbore guns were blown apart and were out of shape. And the so-called Ottoman [***] artillery team, even more dead, wounded, and mobile, all ran away.

However, the enemy was not willing to easily abandon the delusion of retreat. Even without the cover of artillery, they still insisted on attacking. No way, they really don't want to stay in Damascus and wait to die. If they can open up the land passage to Homs, they may have a slight chance of survival. If you can't get through, you might as well die here. You must know that waiting for death to come is a very painful thing. This is true even if you believe in a true God.

For the attack of the Ottoman Emperor [***] team, the white-clothed army will naturally not be polite. Howitzers, mortars, heavy machine guns, submachine guns, semi-automatic rifles, all fired. The whole nameless heights, everywhere are the flames of bullet sprays. And the surroundings of the nameless heights have become a sea of blood. The parched land here can no longer be absorbed because it has absorbed too much blood. The excess blood gathered into large and small streams, flowing in all directions.

Without the cover of artillery and the bombardment of the artillery of the white-clothed army, the attack of the defenders of Damascus was even more difficult. Every step they take comes at a great cost. Under the raging artillery fire, they were like scarecrows, completely torn apart. However, these troops from Damascus were not willing to retreat easily. They kept going, struggling until they were completely defeated.

Xu Canhuai suddenly felt that his father, in some ways, was still very cruel. He is bent on eradicating the Green Cult once and for all, so that the Green Cult will completely disappear from this world. His determination did not yield in the slightest. This led to the fact that when the White Army formulated policies, it was particularly tough and cruel to the Green Religion. This means that at least tens of millions of Green Cult believers must fall under the butcher's knife of the White Army.

That's tens of millions of living lives! In front of the white-clothed army, their lives are too fragile. Since the White Clothes Army entered the West Asia region, almost everywhere they passed was a wilderness, with rivers of blood flowing and ten rooms and nine emptiness. The Servant Army, the Korean Servant Army, and the Malay Servant Army, which are specially responsible for cleaning up the followers of the Green Religion, will not spare anyone who believes in the Green Religion, regardless of whether he is male or female, old or young.

Xu Canhuai couldn't understand why these stupid people refused to change their beliefs? As long as they are willing to abandon their faith and convert to Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism, they will have a chance to survive. But they didn't, they stupidly chose death. In this case, the white-clothed army had no choice but to fulfill them.

After a day of fighting, the front of the nameless heights, the average thickness of the corpses, increased by at least two layers. Xu Canhuai conservatively estimated that in one day's battle, at least 80,000 enemies were killed under the various firepower of the white-clothed army. After the battle, the white-clothed army was already numb. They don't have any passion for killing their enemies anymore. Because, those enemies simply came up to send them to death. They might as well kill themselves!

However, huge losses still could not stop the determination of the Damascus army to retreat. In the days that followed, they continued to send troops to harass the unnamed heights. Each time, they pay a huge price. Of the enemies who participated in the attack, it is estimated that less than 20% of them will eventually return to Damascus. The rest of them were all lying around the Nameless Heights. This makes the corpses around the nameless heights, constantly increasing.

On the white-clothed army, he was also very sad. After a few days of fighting, there were actually no casualties on the side of the white-clothed army. However, due to the hot weather, a large number of corpses piled up, decomposing and stinking, and the entire nameless highland was shrouded in a strong smell of corpses. As time passed, more and more decomposing corpses were formed, and the smell of corpses became stronger.

When it's windy, it's a little better. The breeze can blow away the stench of corpses a little, bringing fresh air to the nameless highlands. If there is no wind, the smell of corpses can be completely suffocating. The soldiers of the White Army stationed on the unnamed heights had to wear masks. And the mask must also be soaked in a special solution to get rid of the unpleasant odor.

Even so, the taste of the Nameless Highlands still can't last long. A normal person who stays on it for three days will not be able to help but vomit. Xu Canhuai was simply smoked unconscious, and it was Lei Hu and others who pinched him and woke him up. There was no way, Li Zicheng and others had to formulate a system of taking turns to station. They transferred another squadron, and Sun Dasheng's squadron, to take turns to garrison in order to reduce the damage caused by the smell of corpses to the officers and men in white.

This kind of intermittent fighting lasted for about three months. The Ottoman [***] team in the Damascus direction never gave up the attack on the unnamed heights. Every day, they would send out their armies to fight for it. At most times, there were about one or two thousand people. When there were few, there were only three or four hundred. It is not so much that they are here to fight for the Nameless Heights, but that they are desperate and come to the Nameless Heights to find death.

Xu Canhuai, who was careful, carefully counted and found that the number of enemies killed in the battle exceeded at least 300,000. This is just a conservative estimate. Perhaps, the exact number, should be more than 400,000. It is rare to have such a large number of dead and wounded in order to fight for a small high ground. It can be seen that the top and bottom of the Green Sect do not regard human life as the same thing at all.

Of course, the defenders of Damascus do not want to live, and it is estimated that this is also an important reason. Rather than hiding in Damascus and suffering, they might as well run out and fight. Perhaps, one day, the true God will finally appear, and they will be able to escape from the sea of suffering. It's a pity that until now, the true God, who claims to be omnipresent and omnipotent, has never appeared.

It was not until September 1635, when three months of attacks failed, that the defenders of Damascus had no choice but to give up their efforts to retreat. From the beginning to the present, their losses have exceeded half a million people. Among them, the main army was quite numerous. The only thing they can do now is to wait helplessly for death in Damascus.

And the White Army, in three months, also mobilized enough troops to launch a final attack on Damascus. Due to the need for ammunition and other logistical reserves, the preparation time of the White Clothes Army seems to be a bit long. The first to drive outside Damascus was the troops led by Li Zicheng. Subsequently, the troops led by Zhang Xianzhong also rushed to the designated place.

One battalion could not take Damascus, so two battalions of troops were mobilized to carry out a final general assault on Damascus. In addition to this, the 105-mm howitzer had to be strengthened. This is a weapon to break the city. Of course, the 155-mm howitzer was more powerful and had a better siege effect. However, due to the needs of the operation on the Northern Front, the 155-mm howitzers, for the time being, were left in Aleppo and did not go south to Damascus.

Xu Canhuai did not follow Lei Hu's squad this time, but followed Li Zicheng's side. Because, what happened before made Gao Jie and Mao 13 feel too risky. The two of them knew Xu Canhuai's true identity. At the beginning, Xu Xingxia said something casually to them, and they volunteered to accept Xu Canhuai.

Although Xu Xingxia told them not to give Xu Canhuai special care, just treat them as an ordinary soldier. However, if something happens to Xu Canhuai, they will still feel very guilty. And the front line, which is most prone to accidents. Therefore, the two of them designated Li Zicheng to take Xu Canhuai with him and did not allow him to run around. Li Zicheng didn't know what was going on, so he naturally resolutely carried out the order.

And Xu Canhuai has experienced several battles, and he has a full understanding of the bloodiness of the battlefield, so he naturally will not ask to go to the battlefield again. It's not that he's afraid of death, it's that there's no need. All he needs is to know, not long-term involvement. His identity determines that it is impossible for him to fight like an ordinary person. He still has a lot to learn. Therefore, in this battle against Damascus, he honestly made a paperwork.

The so-called paperwork, in fact, is very complicated, it seems that you have to do a little bit of everything, and it seems that you don't need to do anything to the end. Most of the things are actually busy with the staff and do not need to be intervened by the clerks. There doesn't seem to be any of the regulations of the White Clothes Army that are specifically for the post of clerk. And to write letters to the soldiers, it seems that it is not Xu Canhuai's turn.

As a result, Xu Canhuai's paperwork, staying by Li Zicheng's side, was nothing more than making some simple records or something. Occasionally, look at the map and look at various military materials. However, he is not a staff officer, and he is not even qualified to participate in military meetings, so naturally he will not think about how to arrange troops, nor does he need to worry about all kinds of unexpected situations.

When he was bored, Xu Canhuai was more interested in the logistics of the troops. It happened that at this time, the logistical burden of the white-clothed army reached its limit. There are many complaints in the various reports sent by the logistics department. Some people even bluntly said that if they continue like this, they will stop doing it. As a result, Xu Canhuai's gaze was attracted.

Objectively speaking, since the formation of the White Clothes Army, Xu Xingxia has not paid much attention to the logistics of the troops. In the era of cold weapons, the important surname of logistics was basically only food. As long as the supply of food can be guaranteed, everything else is easy to say. And in the era of hot weapons, the key to logistics, in addition to food, also ammunition, can not be the slightest sloppiness.

The White Army has developed to the present day, and it is already an all-firearms army, and there are a large number of equipment for various automatic firearms. The power of automatic firearms is certainly powerful and unstoppable, but the requirements for logistics have also been raised by several grades. All the ammunition of the front-line troops needs to be brought from the far rear. If there is not enough ammunition to supply, the automatic firearms in the hands of the white-clothed troops are not as good as burning sticks.

Fortunately, most of the soldiers in white are accustomed to using ammunition sparingly. If everyone was like Xu Canhuai before, when they encountered the enemy, they would subconsciously use up all the magazines, but they were afraid that the people in the logistics department would have hanged themselves and scolded their mothers. However, even though the front-line troops strive to save money and reduce the burden on the logistics departments, the pressure on the logistics departments is still very great. No way, the shipping line is too long.

Specifically, the units of the White Army fighting on the front line in Damascus, their military supplies, including guns and ammunition, were transported from the Leizhou Peninsula and other places. One by one, the transport ships departed from the Leizhou Peninsula to the South Seas, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf, and finally docked at the port of Basra, where they unloaded the ammunition and supplies, and then transported them to Baghdad by land.

After the White Army occupied Baghdad, it turned it into a huge logistics warehouse, where a large amount of supplies from the rear were gathered and then distributed to various battlefields. From Baghdad to Damascus, the distance is still quite long, and it has to be transported by horses and camels. If people carry it on their shoulders, the cost is too high to meet the needs of the front line.

Later, the White Coats occupied Aleppo, which became a transit point for supplies. A large number of goods transferred from Baghdad have converged in Aleppo. Now, Aleppo, in addition to blocking the front line of Istanbul reinforcements, is also a logistics base for the assault on Damascus. All the military supplies needed for the Damascus front were transported from Aleppo.

Obviously, the transport line from the Leizhou Peninsula to Damascus is indeed too long. It's so long that it can't be accurately calculated. It can only be an approximate estimate of the time. It takes about three months for sea transportation and about three months for land transportation. That adds up, that's half a year. In other words, the bullets that Xu Canhuai and the others are using now were sent from the Leizhou Peninsula at least six months ago.

As for grain and the like, it is mainly transported from Nanyang and other places, and some are transported from Tianzhu and other places, which are relatively close, but not close. Moreover, due to the high consumption of grain, the transportation pressure in the logistics department is even greater. If the front-line troops don't have enough food, they will starve to death.

In the past, there were only a few thousand people under the logistics department of the White Army. But now, the logistics department of the White Army has more than 100,000 personnel and more than 1,000 ships. This is still a direct employee. As for the number of people and ships indirectly employed, no one knows. Anyway, in order to meet the needs of the front, the Logistics Department has become the largest and most bloated department under the Supreme Council of the White Army.

The attack on Damascus was just the limit of the logistical supply of the White Army. Because, in the original setting, when the White Army attacked Istanbul, all the logistics materials would be transported by sea. After the White Army and Navy take control of the Mediterranean, the transport ships of the Logistics Department will continue to deliver military supplies to the Mediterranean. However, at present, the navy of the White Coats has not yet entered the Mediterranean, and transport ships cannot unload their cargo in Mediterranean ports.

Fortunately, in the long run, the next logistical supply of the White Army will be mainly completed through various ports in the Mediterranean. The fall of Damascus, for sure. No one could stop the attack of the white-coats. After the capture of Damascus, all the ports on the Mediterranean coast will be controlled by the White Army, and all the ports will be used. The cost of sea transportation is much lower and more efficient than land transportation. Hundreds of transport ships arrived one after another, enough for the White Army to launch a big battle.

…… The time of the attack on Damascus was set on the 15th day of December in 1635. On this day, the weather was fine and the sky was cloudless. Even though it's winter, the temperature is relatively comfortable. In Western Asia, there is a large temperature difference between day and night. Temperatures are pleasant during the day and colder at night.

Xu Canhuai followed Li Zicheng to the front line to observe the movements in Damascus. Looking through the binoculars, the walls of Damascus are not very strong. Compared to the big towns in China, it is simply too shabby. In fact, such a city wall does not need a 105 mm howitzer, even a 75 mm field gun, which can be successfully blasted away. As for the high-powered explosive packs, that's even more to say.

In fact, before that, Damascus had no walls at all. In the past, Damascus, where there was almost no threat from foreign enemies, naturally did not need city walls. Moreover, the urban area of Damascus was constantly expanding, and even if there were walls, they were destroyed. In fact, the construction of the walls of Damascus began only after Baghdad was breached.

However, in Western Asia, there was always a lack of sufficient quantities of timber, which led to inefficiency and slow progress in the construction of the city walls by the Ottoman Empire. Although wood is not directly applied to the city walls and is not used in place of stone, it is still important as a support, support, fuel, and other equipment. Without enough timber, there must have been many constraints in the construction of the walls.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Thirty-six 105 mm howitzers roared at the Damascus city wall for about 20 minutes, firing about three or four thousand shells, and the Damascus city wall was successfully destroyed. A total of five gaps were opened, and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong commanded their respective troops and entered the city. The defenders in the city have long had no intention of fighting and are running around. What awaits them will be, idiots can imagine.

A recruit like Xu Canhuai is a clerk, and he can't run around, so he basically only has to watch the excitement. By the time he could enter the city, the enemies in the city had almost been cleared. The streets were littered with the corpses of the defenders. It can be seen that before they die, they seem to have a sense of relief, and there is no nostalgia at all. It is estimated that they have been tortured by the white-clothed army for so long, and they have long been unable to bear it. Death is liberation.

The gunfire in the city of Damascus soon subsided. Xu Canhuai was alone, wandering around the city. I have to admit that Damascus is indeed beautiful. The palace here is very distinctive. Because after the white-clothed army entered the city, there was no fierce fighting, and most of the buildings were well preserved. Xu Canhuai took out his notebook and recorded everything.

He believes that it is absolutely necessary for his father to go to Damascus to experience it for himself. The town, really beautiful. Xu Xingxia can take her mother and various aunts here to experience life and enjoy the exotic style.

Xu Canhuai believes that after the White Army takes control of this place, it will definitely become more beautiful. Faintly, he had an urge to settle in Damascus for a long time. What he didn't expect was that later, his wish would really come true. Of course, that's all for later.

The Ottoman [***] troops stationed in Damascus, near the west of the city, were mostly annihilated. The few who remained fled south. If the guess is correct, the target of their escape should be Cairo.

"Keep going!"

"Goal! Cairo! ”

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong quickly issued orders.

Cairo, with a population of more than 16 million, was the largest city in the Arab world. The pyramids of Cairo, almost no one knows about them. However, in the seventeenth century, it was just a small provincial capital of the Ottoman Empire, and it was unknown. In terms of status, it is about the same as Homs, but it is not as good as Aleppo.

This is why the defenders of Damascus had to retreat to the north instead of to the south. They didn't think about Cairo at all. They knew very well that even if they managed to retreat to Cairo, they would not be able to hold out for long. Anyway, it's a dead end, so there's no need to toss in vain.

However, the White Army is completely different. As a traverser, Xu Xingxia attaches great importance to Cairo. Before the White Army arrived in Cairo, a detachment of the White Army Navy had landed in the innermost part of the Red Sea with a battalion of marines on board. Their goal was to occupy Cairo by land.

In the summer of 1636, the Marines of the White Coats were officially stationed in Cairo. Two months later, the White Army, heading south from Damascus, joined up with the Marines in Cairo. Together, the two sides marched north to Alexandria. Cairo is not a port. The closest port to Cairo is Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.

At this time, the Fourth Fleet of the White Army Navy had forced back the combined fleet of the Western powers and entered the Mediterranean. The Ninth Fleet, as the vanguard, drove straight into Alexandria. At this time, the Ottoman [***] troops stationed in Alexandria did not know where to flee for a long time. The White Navy successfully occupied Alexandria.

The arrival of the White Army Army and the White Army Marine Corps announced the official meeting of the White Army Navy and the Army and Marine Corps. And the brothers Xu Canxu and Xu Canhuai also officially met on the battlefield.

(To be continued)