Sun Shengjun frowned and observed the actions of the British. Their commander was apparently a very cautious man, and he sent only a small number of men out of the city to meet the dozens of British lumberjacks who had stumbled back from the hills, who were hiding under a canopy and shouting at the British on the hill with firearms in their hands.

"A bunch of cowards!" Sun Shengjun muttered, "It's also a bunch of lucky ghosts!" ”

It seems that there is nothing to be borrowed, the British's response is professional, and the battle should not be pinned on the stupidity of the enemy. Of course, this article is not applicable to the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty, Sun Shengjun complained fiercely in his heart.

In winter, it was dark early, and it would be dark in less than an hour, and there was no Englishman on the mountain at this time, so Sun Shengjun simply sent a few cavalrymen to the flags to give orders, ordering them to retreat in turn according to the plan made in advance. After dark, God knows how many of these natives will escape, so let's gather the men and horses as soon as possible.

After all, Sun Shengjun still overestimated the lower limit of the quality of these indigenous Eight Banner soldiers. A simple, well-rehearsed retreat turned into a chaotic race, in which one of the heralds told the natives that the camp was open, and the gang was caught in a chaotic rush to retreat.

Under the dumbfounded gaze of Sun Shengjun and his colleagues, more than 200 indigenous Eight Banners soldiers spread their feet and ran back, and many people were squeezed down the slippery hillside in the chaos, and the screams were endless. During the battle, there were no less than twenty people in the Eight Banners who did not die during the battle, and no less than twenty people rolled down the hill at this moment, and they did not know whether they were alive or dead.

Is this a bunch of jokes? A sentence that often came out of the lips of the commanders suddenly popped up in Sun Shengjun's mind.

The chaotic operation lasted for more than half an hour, and then the Eight Banners barely returned to the camp. After seeing that the camp was not prepared as they had heard, there were no sumptuous meals. Some Khoisans burst into clamoring. However, they were soon kicked and beaten by dozens of black "elites" of the red and yellow flags. That's when it stopped.

Sun Shengjun looked blankly at the group of Khoisan people who were squatting on the ground and silent, and suddenly felt a burst of despair, these people were even worse than the group of homeless people he had brought back then. Fortunately, the British did not come out to pursue just now, otherwise he would have made a big joke today - the first army on the east coast to collapse itself because of the rumors of "opening a meal".

"Sun Erdan, you go and arrange a guard post." Sun Shengjun said to a cavalryman behind him. Sun Erdan, like him, is an old thief who rebelled from Shaanxi, and has fought in several provinces, and has extremely rich combat experience, so it is more reassuring to hand over the camp guard task to him.

"Open the meal!" After a long day of silence. Sun Shengjun finally held back these two words. Some of the Khoisan servants guarding the camp took out from the baggage piles a number of sealed lime bags, which were specially designed by the military department to heat food. The basic principle is that quicklime reacts with water and releases a large amount of heat, which is used to heat meals with remarkable effect, especially in rainy weather where there is a lack of firewood or when it is necessary to avoid cooking smoke as much as possible.

Today's dinner is sorghum rice and potato beef stew, which is relatively hearty. To tell the truth, since these natives became vassals of the East Coast people, their civilization level and living standards have risen a lot. For example, in agriculture, Hezhongbao has sent many people to guide them to grow crops such as sorghum and peanuts. Before they met the people of the east coast, the Khoisan people did not talk about it (they only knew how to herd), and the agricultural skills of the Xhosa blacks were relatively backward. They don't even know about the use of human and animal manure and deep ploughing techniques.

Among the various tribes of the Bantu blacks, there is a common knowledge that more food can be grown on the land that was once used as a livestock pen. As mentioned earlier. The dwellings of the blacks were in "clares", and at the center of each clare was a cattle pen. Over the years, the Bantu people have discovered that the ground that was once used as a livestock pen tends to be more fertile and that the grain planted tends to yield better. It's a pity that the civilization level is too low, and they have not been able to discover the reason why these lands are more fertile.

It was not until the East Coast people strongly intervened in their lives and popularized the techniques of deep ploughing, manure and grass ash fertilization, the use of cattle, advanced agricultural tools, advanced irrigation techniques, and advanced selection and breeding techniques, that the food production of these indigenous people suddenly ushered in an explosive growth. For the first time after this year's summer harvest, the freedmen (except slaves) of the Upper Six Banners were freed from hunger by increasing their income and doing odd jobs for the East Coasters. And this has also greatly increased the prestige of the East Coast people in their minds, and made them really feel that this refuge is the right refuge.

The natives clumsily hold chopsticks and eat their meals in silence. Some people did not use chopsticks well, and they were just about to eat pilaf, but they were quickly reprimanded by the officers and the people on the east coast. These were all requested by Mo Ming, and the natives who belonged to him had to learn to speak Chinese and learn the way of life of the people of the East Coast. Mo Ming was very envious of the large French-speaking countries in Africa in later generations, so he was determined to establish several indigenous countries in the Chinese-speaking region in Africa, and this can be regarded as one of his bad tastes.

While the East Coasters and the Eight Banners servants were squatting in the camp in the mountains for dinner, a large number of British immigrants were munching on hard, tasteless black bread in the walled construction site outside Fort Good Hope. They had been fighting in the cold, muddy Cape Town for nearly two months, working for more than a dozen hours a day, eating the same food as they had done back home, and working as hard as they could, which made the immigrants hold back a deep resentment in their hearts.

So far, sixty-nine people have died of exhaustion and disease on the construction site, and if you add the thirty-five people killed in the indigenous attacks today, their death toll is more than a hundred. Even more shocking than the death toll is the number of injured and sick people, according to the latest statistics, the number of injured has exceeded twenty so far, and the number of sick people is ten times the number of injured - two hundred! Many of them were so dizzy and weak that they huddled in the corners of their leaky wooden huts, alone and waiting for God's judgment. They lack adequate nutritional supplements, hot water and warm clothing, and many are getting worse every day. A limited number of doctors and missionaries were helpless.

Many have been having diarrhea for days on end. Their faces were sallow and their lips were cracked. They also have a low-grade fever, and everyone knows that something is wrong with them, but they can't help them, and they can't even change a set of dry clothes for them.

Inside the canopy. Pastor Elkan shook his head and stood up in frustration, the young man from Ireland in front of him had a fever all day, and all he could do was bring him a wet towel and wipe him to cool down. The younger brother of the young man. A bearded Irish man sat silently on the side. After the priest left, he carefully put away two pieces of black bread and a kettle, and looked to the north in the rain and mist. It was already dark, it was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.

There was a sound of footsteps in the distance, it was Aaron patrolling the camp. Second Lieutenant Potter – A former English soldier.

"Good evening, Pastor Elkan, those barbarians may come to the camp tonight, please be careful." Potter's voice came intermittently through the night wind.

"A night raid in such weather would be a suicide, and I don't think the barbarians would do that. The kids are all tired today. Tomorrow they have to work two hours longer to build the walls, and they need more rest. Pastor Potter's magnetic voice rang out.

"Maybe you're right. But Mr. Heywood ordered us to be sure to strengthen our defenses. This damn weather, I wish it had ended sooner. A lot of people complain that I've been sleeping in wet clothes for days, forget it, I've got to go back and drink some spirits to ward off the cold, it's damn weather! Potter cursed and walked away.

Pastor Elkan sighed softly, then walked away with the lamp.

In the middle of the night, a vague figure stumbled through the gap in the unfinished wall, staggering away from the illuminated spots, and then disappeared into the dark northern wilderness in the drizzling night rain. Standing in the corner of the city wall, Reverend Elkan sighed deeply as he watched the empty beds of the two Irishmen and their vanishing backs.

Shire. McKinley carried his brother with a low-grade fever on his back, and ran deep and shallow through the dark, empty field. He wasn't familiar with this land, and he didn't know how to walk on this field full of barren grass, he only knew that Lu Dao went all the way to the north. Yes, he is going to the north! The castle of the East Coast man is to the north, and only when he reaches there can his brother have any hope of survival! He'd seen too many poor people who were sick and died quietly these days, and he didn't want his brother to follow in their footsteps. He was only seventeen years old, and he shouldn't have died so early.

The rain was falling on Charles' back in the west wind, and his brother Harry was covered in a rain cloth. Harry's forehead rested against Charles' neck, and it was obvious that he still had a fever.

"Harry, are you listening to me?" Charles gasped as he walked, "Do you remember the lemon tree in front of your house when you were a child?" Ha, yes, I still remember that sweet taste. ”

"Lemon tree......" Harry muttered softly.

"Yes, Lemon Tree." Charles lifted Harry up and continued walking through the muddy wilderness, "At that time, you, me, Jack, Johnson, and Annie, our favorite thing to do was sit under a lemon tree and bask in the sun quietly. I remember you saying that the golden sunlight shone on Anne's golden hair, and she was as beautiful as an angel. ”

"Anne is dead...... Englishman...... Damn it! Harry's eyes instantly brightened, and his thoughts seemed to become clearer.

"Yes, all England deserve to die!" Charles followed his brother's words and said, "They almost killed you this time, and we can't stay in that damp and dirty castle any longer." Let's go to the East Coast, and they're in the north. They will cure you, they will give us hot water, they will give us cocoa food, and as long as we swear allegiance to the king of the people of the East Coast, it will all be there! ”

Charles chattered along the way, talking to his brother who was lying on his back from time to time, so that he would not fall asleep. He took two breaks on the way and ate a small piece of black bread to regain his strength. However, Harry still couldn't eat anything, and even vomited out the water he had drunk, which made Charles anxious and couldn't help but speed up his pace and run north.

"Wake up, Harry, aren't you determined to be a great navigator?" Charles gasped, he was tired, but more anxious. His brother hadn't spoken for a long time, and if it weren't for Harry's occasional moaning, he would have thought he was dead, "I'm here to test you, how do you realign yourself after losing your bearings?" ”

"Polaris ......" Harry finally had some reaction, and he said intermittently, "Along the ...... The rightmost ...... Two stars...... Look for. ”

In the darkness of the night, there was a burst of barking dogs, followed by the shouting of people.

Charles stumbled in the direction from which the voice came, and then shouted, "Whoever saves my brother Harry, he will have my allegiance!" (To be continued......)