Rewind the clock to two days ago.

David has long been on the radar of Wenzhou and Hangzhou.

The proximity of these two cities to the sea, the proximity of the deep-water harbours, and the abundance of fish and rice, would be a very suitable bridgehead if they could become British colonies.

Therefore, David secretly made a lot of arrangements for Zheng Zhilong, including sending people to map all the terrain roads from Fuzhou to Wenzhou, so as to provide guidance for their later actions.

Although Zheng Zhilong refused to send troops together, his son Zheng Sen was in high spirits and was bent on revenge against the Qin army, which allowed David's plan to continue.

After learning the lesson of the defeat in the first battle with the Qin army, David learned well this time, and before the main force arrived, he first sent a reconnaissance force of about 500 people to reconnoiter along the way and clean up the environment, so as not to suffer losses again.

The 500-strong British reconnaissance force, led by Zheng Sen's guide, searched all the way forward, and when they reached this hilly area, they found that it was dark.

Moreover, the location of the protrusion in this hilly area also attracted the attention of the British, who also thought that it was a dangerous place, so they sent troops to search this protruding terrain and sent a team of ten people to occupy this area first.

Others found several caves nearby to spend the night.

One of the largest caves was crowded with figures, they were a reconnaissance company of the British, about a hundred or so men.

The wet and cold winter in the south made these British soldiers shiver one by one, although their military uniforms were also thick, but they still could not withstand the cold that seeped into the bone marrow.

Coupled with the gloomy environment of the dense forest, this gloomy coldness was even more contributed, and the British soldiers huddled together one by one.

Although there was a bonfire in the middle of the cave, it didn't make the cold much less.

"What the hell is this, it's so cold."

"It's just that the guy who gave this kind of order should be sent to God, why would we be allowed to come out on a mission in this weather, it's really frustrating."

"I miss my mom and sister, I thought I'd be back with them this Christmas. But now it seems that it is not possible. I really don't know when I'll see them, but my sister should have grown taller again. ”

"I really don't understand why we are allowed to come to this hellish place in such hellish weather and fight this inexplicable hellish battle. Why didn't that damn Zheng Zhilong move their own people, it's really damned! ”

"Their soldiers are a bunch of cowards, at most they can only be pirates at sea, and this kind of thing still needs to be done by warriors like us."

"Warriors? I don't want to be this goddamn so-called warrior, have you forgotten your last defeat? The enemy's firearms are very sharp, not at all worse than ours, and even better than ours.

And their little cannon that could be fired at a curve was like the devil's mouth, and I watched my fellow countryman Brown lose an arm and scream for his mother to die slowly, which gave me nightmares for a long time. ”

"Damn it! Isn't it said that the weapons of our British Empire are the best, why don't we have those powerful cannons? Do we have to watch us die one by one under enemy fire this time? ”

The words of this British soldier resonated with other soldiers, and many began to express their dissatisfaction.

They had all participated in that encounter, and many of them were deeply impressed by the scene at that time, and they felt a little scared every time they thought about it.

"Harvey, shut your mouth if you don't want to be whipped. Gentlemen, close your eyes and rest, this damn weather and this damn battle won't go away because of your complaints. ”

Not far away, the officer, whose eyes had been closed, suddenly shouted.

"Yes, sir!"

The cave was completely silent, except for the occasional crackling of the firewood burning, which made the damp, cold, deep, and terrible night even more lonely and empty.

Two British soldiers who served as sentries were wrapped in raincoats, each shivering against a tree trunk, their rifles on their shoulders.

There were several torches stuck in the branches around them, barely visible to the surrounding area.

In fact, they did not think that in such a cold night, and in such a place, they would encounter enemies.

The sentinels and torches were just there to keep the beasts and animals away if they accidentally ran here.

As the night wore on, the English sentry's eyes began to close slowly, and the surging sleepiness finally overcame his vigilance.

At this time, the reconnaissance squadron of the Second Army of the Wehrmacht, which was also carrying out a search mission in this dense forest, was also about to complete their reconnaissance mission.

However, in the dense forest, it is really difficult to know the specific distance. If you look at the distance in a straight line of ten miles on the map, you may actually have more than thirty miles of road, after all, most places in the dense forest have no roads, and you need to rely on yourself to explore.

At this time, the sapper shovels on the backs of the soldiers played a huge role, chopping all the way, and the vines and grass blocking the road were cleared smoothly.

Liang Song walked at the front of the line, vigilantly observing and listening to the movements around him.

It's just that in this cold and dark night, there are at most the cries of some birds and the roars of some unknown creatures.

The physical strength of the soldiers was also consumed quickly in the confusion, and Liang Song even heard the wheezing of the soldiers behind him.

Liang Song thought for a moment and decisively ordered: "Stop advancing and camp on the spot." The search will continue tomorrow after dawn. ”

At the order, the soldiers also breathed a sigh of relief, untied their backpacks one by one, first cleared the ground with a sapper shovel, and then spread a waterproof military blanket made of oilcloth wrapped in the backpack on the ground, and then put the raincoat on top of their heads, and propped it up with branches to make a simple tent that could accommodate one person.

After eating the dry food he carried, Liang Song arranged for the sentry again, and only then did he close his eyes and fall asleep against a big tree.

Nothing was said all night, nothing happened.

When Liang Song opened his eyes again, there was already a glimmer of light in the forest.

Although the weather was still gloomy, I could barely see the outline of the surrounding scenery about ten meters around.

The soldiers woke up one after another, packed their bags, ate dry food, and continued their search.

The woods were getting brighter and brighter, and the soldiers were searching much faster.

Liang Song looked at the pocket watch on his chest and ordered, "Return after searching for another half an hour." ”

His pocket watch was found from the corpse of the Englishman during his last fight with the British, and it was his trophy.

At this time, the British's reconnaissance company was also facing each other less than five hundred meters away from Liang Song and them in a straight line.

It's just that because of the cover of the dense forest, neither side is aware of the other's existence.