After resting for two days in the Fort of River, the "grain collection team" led by Xie Hansan set off again.

This time, they targeted the, who lived a semi-nomadic, semi-gathering life on the south bank of the Berg River. Truth be told, these were not wealthy, and some of their tribes could even be called poor. But who makes it very difficult for the people on the east coast now, the food can only last for more than a month, in this case, it is not necessary to be polite and honest, so you can only grab it.

On 6 November, the convoy, armed with four artillery pieces and more than 100 rifles, suddenly attacked a tribe with the last 100 Khoisan slaves. Under the fire of scattered shells from the artillery, the quickly retreated, and the grain convoy did not pursue, but they took over the camp of the tribe, and then seized about 1,000 hides and more than 300 cattle and sheep.

Ten days later, on the evening of 16 November, the convoy once again captured a tribe of who were on the move, and with their excellent armament and good soldiers, they crushed the desperate resistance of the, and took for themselves most of the tribe's possessions, including about 500 cattle and sheep and a small amount of grain.

On November 30, the grain conscription team, which had high morale because of its successive successes, carried out the largest sortie in history. In addition to 100 army riflemen, two platoons (32 people) of local militia and 200 spearmen were dispatched. It is worth mentioning that only half of the two hundred spearmen were Khoisan slaves, and the remaining half were requisitioned from the newly arrived immigrants from the East. These oriental immigrants were the foundation for the development of the East coasters in South Africa, so Mo Ming specially opened the arsenal and distributed a cuirass to each of them as protection.

This distinction also drew the attention of the Khoisan slaves. It wasn't without the Khoisans who shy asked the officers for the same armor, but they quickly got up to work under the blows of the officers' batons.

"Discipline again!" Anda Fifteen hovered expressionlessly in front of two hundred spearmen in four rows. Said: "Listen to the drum and trumpet forward." The pace should be neat and not chaotic! Listen to the officer's orders when engaged. The action should be consistent, keep the queue neat, do not rush forward, do not lag behind, and violators will be executed on the spot! Of course, the most important thing is that no one is allowed to escape, and those who violate the order will be beheaded! ”

Zhang Daniu, who had just trained for less than twenty days, listened to Anda Fifteen's mouth popping out one chop after another. The calf can't help but twitch. I'm a mother, I've never beaten anyone since I was a kid except for fighting with the neighbors' children, and now this official actually told me to kill people, this ...... How does this work? He glanced with his eyes, and found that the left hand of Master Zhang Defa on the right hand holding the shaft of the spear was trembling slightly, and it was obvious that he was also afraid.

The two of them were relatively unlucky. Although Zhang Daniu is a child of a poor family, he is also five big and three thick, not to mention the old man Zhang next to him, who usually does farm work and can keep up with nutrition. At first glance, he is strong and strong. And he's not very old, but he's in his early thirties. Thereupon. The two unlucky men were immediately favored by the militia chief of Fort River, and were conscripted as "glorious" spearmen.

Both of them have been requisitioned, and those few former thieves who are powerful at a glance still have the reason that the militia director leaked out. Even one or two of them were promoted to the rank of platoon commander. Coincidentally, one of them named Sun Shengjun was the platoon commander of Zhang Daniu's platoon, and he was in charge of nineteen of them.

This Sun Shengjun is very young, in his early twenties, but he is very old. He did everything he ordered in an orderly manner, unlike those stupid mud legs who were always lost, so he was quickly appreciated by the sergeant of the 15th Anda Army, who was temporarily the commander of the spear battalion, and was promoted to platoon commander. Moreover, according to some widely circulated gossip that Zhang Daniu heard, this Sun Shengjun is said to be the same villager as Zhang (Sun), the adopted son of Zhang Thief Xianzhong, and he is quite valued on weekdays. This time, if he hadn't been unlucky, he wouldn't have been trafficked to this rampant place, and maybe he would still be eating and drinking spicy food somewhere in Daming.

"Brothers, we are all unlucky and miserable." After Anda 15 spoke, the platoon commanders began to mobilize their soldiers one after another, and Sun Shengjun also began the pre-war mobilization with a strong Shaanxi accent in the "new official dialect" (that is, Mandarin spoken by the public): "But since you have arrived at this place, then your mother will stay in peace and don't think about the east and the west." I've also seen it, and there's nothing to do in this place, and there aren't many people, but it's just a little good. And what? By the way, less people, more people! Shangguan also said that after this battle, everyone is what 'self-...... 'Freedmen' - anyway, it means their own people. Since they are all their own people, the land must be vigorously distributed to the big guys to plant. First come to ten acres by one person, and if you are rewarded for meritorious service in the future, then you will continue to reward him! No land? Then go grab it! Grab it from those Kunlun slaves! If we can't kill those Kunlun slaves, then we'll all die and count the balls! ”

Sun Shengjun took a breath after saying a while, then looked at everyone's expressions, and continued to agitate: "This is all good water to water the ground, brothers!" Think about how difficult it is to get a piece of land to plant in our hometown. Besides, what can you do now that you have land in Daming? How long has it not rained in our Shaanxi? There was nothing to grow in the ground, and the big guys had nothing to eat, so they could only eat wild vegetables and gnaw on tree bark, and even the bark was gone after eating the hardest. That's just ...... Cannibalism! Speaking of the worst, Sun Shengjun probably remembered the previous years of struggling to survive, and his expression was a little gloomy.

"Platoon commander, I'll you! Damn, in our hometown in Anhui, we share a few acres of land from the owner to plant, and we can't mix up a belly all year round. At the end of last year, my mother-in-law and baby also starved to death, and I don't believe that this world is such a bastard! Lao Tzu wants to earn land, and Lao Tzu wants to marry a daughter-in-law and have a baby! Lao Tzu wants to ...... Woo woo ......" As he spoke, the man in his thirties suddenly cried loudly: "Lao Tzu just wants to live." ”

This man's words resonated with many people, these people are basically homeless people struggling to survive in the Ming Dynasty, and they can't help but feel excited after listening to them at this moment. Even people like Zhang Defa and Master Zhang, who have seen some "world" relatively well, can't help but be a little excited: "I want to revive the family business, I originally had a hundred acres of land, I want to revive the family business......"

Sun Shengjun saw that the emotions of the soldiers had been mobilized, and he knew the truth of striking while the iron was hot, and he had to fool these recruits to rush forward with one breath when they were hot. Therefore, he immediately turned his head to look at Commander Anda XV behind him.

Anda XV nodded approvingly to him, seemingly appreciating his pre-war mobilization efforts. Then he saw that the other platoon commanders had almost mobilized about the same, and at present, the mood of these recruits has obviously improved, and their desire to fight is much stronger than before. It seems that this Sun Shengjun is still a manufacturable material, at least he knows how to improve the morale of the soldiers by mobilizing people's inner desires. I heard that he had been an officer in the peasant rebel army before, and he had war experience, so maybe he could be given a military rank after the inspection.

"Listen to the rhythm of the trumpeter and get ready...... Advance! The drummer played the "March of the Army," and the saber in Anda XV's hand swung down, and the spearmen's battalion began to advance slowly under his command. They were on a gentle slope, and the spearmen had to be careful to control their speed and pace as they descended. At the bottom of the gentle slope was a camp, a large camp in front of which hundreds of shouted loudly, as if to intimidate the invaders. Behind them, more, old and weak, women and children, were packing up their things and preparing to escape.

Xie Hansan led the army soldiers in a neat formation and followed about 100 meters behind the spear array, ready to surprise at any time when the battle situation was unfavorable. However, the were weak in armament and will to fight, and they were generally not needed to do so. On the first two expeditions against the tribes, these Khoisan slave spearmen were often able to fight them out. These Khoisan slaves were still very capable of fighting when the East Coast Army soldiers were in the rear, and they no longer saw the way they fled before they took refuge.

This kind of thing made Army Commander Xie Hansan very confused. He thought of those Ming officers and soldiers who took refuge in Jiannu, these soldiers who were afraid of the enemy like tigers dragged a braid behind their heads, as if they had infinite combat effectiveness, and could even easily defeat those former comrades.

The battle had already been engaged, Xie Hansan didn't think much about it anymore, and observed the battle situation with wide eyes. The artillery on both sides had fired several rounds of shells at the crowded area of before the two sides engaged, killing and wounding many enemies and greatly shaking the opponent's will to fight. As soon as the two sides engaged in battle at this moment, these red barbarians could not bear the strength and retreated. Even with their families and possessions in the background, many people can't help but start backing away.

"Very easy!" Lieutenant Lian Languo, who was standing on Xie Hansan's right, said with relief, "I don't think we may have to make a move." ”

"Hmm." Xie Hansan nodded noncommittally and said, "It's good to let these recruits see blood, but the gold content of this battle is too low, and it can't play any role in exercising at all." ”

"If the enemy is too strong, their losses will be great."

"How can you become successful without going through hard fighting? Expecting training to train a strong army? It's impossible! Xie Hansan snorted coldly, "An army can only become a truly strong army after the baptism of blood and fire. It's useless to rely on good equipment and training alone, that's a fancy army. Well, the enemy has collapsed, and now it's time to reap the benefits. ”

On that day, the East Coast army killed more than 100, completely breaking their resistance, and their own casualties were only about 20 people. The first battalion of spearmen had a good record, and the whole battle did not even involve the spearmen behind them, pushing all the way until the resistance of the was completely crushed.

In this battle, more than 5,000 catties of grain and more than 600 cattle and sheep were captured, which basically alleviated the food crisis in Hezhongbao. (To be continued......)