Chen Shouxu walked to the battlefield, and Lin Chuyong guarded him, not leaving an inch.

Corpses littered the field. Today may be the most brutal field massacre since the establishment of the Jincheng Army.

In the final battle, a frenzied Kirichi Dan brandished a sword and rushed into the crowd, leaving behind a field of stumps and flesh.

The rice, fish, pork, and fat that Chen Shouxu had bought for months at the expense of silver provided the soldiers with sufficient nutrition. The mainland soldiers were also physically stronger than the islanders. Even if the natives fled, they could not outrun the pursuing army.

Although the recruitment of a large number of Mon and Che Chi Dan made full use of their existing combat skills, due to their lack of training, they were never as good as the field battalions in terms of military discipline.

Even if Chen Shouxuan repeatedly ordered to capture more prisoners, whether it was the Meng people or the Chezhidan, they still took pleasure in cutting off the heads of the enemy. On the central battlefield, the headless corpses lay all the way, and many places were crowded, apparently surrounded and slaughtered.

The commander of the Chezhidan battalion, Yuan Zhengxin, reported loudly to Chen Shouxu, "My lord, our army has obtained 523 Daoyi heads. ”

The tea in Chen Shouxu's mouth almost didn't squirt out. When you have a heart attack, you can see the smoke and dust of the generals in front of you, and the blood of the enemy is covered with the battle robes.

It is not easy for officers and men on the front line, and cutting off the head is a habit of others, and it cannot be changed in a short time.

He sighed secretly, "Good work." Go down and rest, I have seen all your credits, and I will let the Ministry of Defense reward you. ”

Yuan Zhengxin paid a big salute, "Thank you, lord." ”

The excessive killing resulted in a certain gap between the number of captives captured and Chen Shouxu's estimate. He consulted with Maiden for a while, and called Ludwig. Filhoff.

Unlike Langemann, who is brave and enterprising and good at grasping fighters, Filhoff has a relatively calm personality and does not talk much in ordinary times.

Maiden ordered: "Ludwig, you go and form a battle group. Dispatch a half-company field battalion, all of which are assigned to you, and you can watch the rest of the battalion. Do not carry field guns. Continue the pursuit and try to capture more prisoners of war. ”

Filhoff, "Sir, continue the pursuit into the forest. ”

Maiden said: "Yes, so I let you go." Don't go too deep and aim to catch people. ”

"Yes, sir. I understand. ”

Filhoff left the Provisional Command and found the original letter with a warrant. "Hara, how many more people do you have to attack now?"

Yuan Zhengxin thought for a while, "I can draw 120 people." ”

"So little?"

Hara Masanobu: "I originally only brought two companies out, and after the battle, some soldiers were not in good physical condition to participate in the pursuit. ”

"I'll leave it all to me."

Then Filhoff selected 40 men from the engineer company, 100 from the Mon who were good at jungle warfare, and 110 battle infantry, for a total of 370, to form a capable battle group.

The soldiers hurriedly finished their lunch, took spare arquebuses, and replenished their ammunition. Cao Junfu also joined the battle group, and they advanced along a stream. There were originally some cottages on both sides of the stream, and the secluded stilt houses were empty.

On the way, some scattered natives shouted at them, shooting arrows. These arrows are very dangerous, and the indigenous people have a habit of smearing poison on them. The toxin is generally taken from poison frogs, which is a type of tetrodotoxin. Unlike snake venom, which is a high-molecular protein, tetrodotoxin is an alkaloid that is chemically and thermally stable, and its structure cannot be damaged by salting or sun exposure.

Cao Junfu was a little unbearable, he found Filhoff, "I said brother, give me 10 soldiers, and I will go and cut down all those people." ”

When the translator expressed Cao Junfu's meaning, Filhoff just smiled and shook his head. He had shielded soldiers walk on the outside of the line, and if the enemy was outnumbered, he would send musketeers to disperse the annoying archers.

Unable to inflict actual damage on the scurrying archers, they always went and returned, gathering more and more behind them. At the edge of the forest, Filhof found a village full of people.

The village is on the other side of the stream. The archers who had been harassing them were gone, and Filhoff saw through his binoculars that people were entering the village with bows and arrows on their backs.

"Mr. Cao, I will give you Chezhidan, can you occupy this village?"

Cao Junfu swept the axe in his hand and grinned, "Brother, thank you." ”

The creek was not deep, and Cao Junfu and Chezhi Dan migrated to the opposite bank. More than 300 dingzhuang poured out of the village, armed with bows and arrows and balemic knives. Cao Junfu could have retreated a little to get the support of the musketeers. But he didn't think about retreating and rushed straight into the crowd. Presumably, this style of play was very much in line with the appetite of the Chezhi Dans, and they also rushed in, and soon cut down more than 100 people. Filhoff hurriedly led the rest of his troops across the creek and stopped the massacre of the village.

It was a large village, and it was here that Filhoff captured more than 700 prisoners of war. The sappers quickly used village tools to make ropes for tying. Filhoff sent 70 men to escort the captives back to the city.

According to the confessions of the prisoners of war, the Matarans, who had fled from the battlefield, did not flee far, and they gathered in another village in the forest, numbering in the thousands.

Filhoff said to Cao Junfu and the other officers, "Gentlemen, we still have 300 men, and the enemy is thousands, what do you think should be done?" ”

The leader of the Mon tribe was called Pinyadara, and Jincheng gave his people a lot of land in the upper reaches of the Pattanian River, but it was now uncultivated. When Chen Shouxu recruited them, he promised that the captives would be distributed among them.

Pinyedara picked up a baleng knife in his hand, and his tone was very cold, "We want to fight." ”

Cao Junfu and Che Zhidan would not have an opinion, so it was decided.

Several of them tortured some of the prisoners of war and hastily formulated a course of action based on their own experience.

In the evening, after dinner in the village, take a short rest. After midnight, the battle group rose and went straight to the place where the prisoners had confessed. Filhoff was not sure if there would be enemy spies around, so he was careful to let the Mon, who were also familiar with the jungle, walk in front of the line, and the infantry lined up in a dense formation, charging out with their guns.

There was no trouble on the way, and when we arrived at our destination, the enemy in front of Filhoff was in disarray, and there seemed to be some fire in the camp. The Mataran people shouted and shouted in the village, and many people fled in all directions, many carrying large bags and small bags, which seemed to be some gold and silver. In the light of the fire, there are also some water buffalo and local ponies carrying heavy loads in the open space of the village.

Filhoff listened quietly for a while and asked the interpreter, "What are they shouting?" ”

"Sir, they're saying the Southern Crusade is coming."

"The Southern Crusade?"

"It should refer to us."

The astronomical knowledge of the indigenous people certainly did not know the constellation of the Southern Cross, which must have been told to them by hired Europeans.

Filhoff thought it was a good name, "Very well, we are the Southern Crusades." He drew a simple map on the ground, made a few simple gestures with branches, and ordered the officers, "Wrap your wings up and let them be more confused by placing your guns far away." Mr. Cao, I will give you all the melee soldiers, and go around the right flank to the back of the village to block their retreat. ”

In today's battle, Cao Junfu showed the fighting skills he had learned for 20 years. In fact, this was the first time he had participated in a battle with thousands of men, and in the past, he had only fought with his father against a few small pirates.

"It's really enjoyable today, I'll listen to you."

The sections departed at the head. After Cao Junfu's men moved into place, the attached sappers quickly lit the signal flares. Filhoff swung his command knife heavily, "Shoot." ”

The muzzle flames lit everywhere caused the village to bomb the camp, and some people began to kill each other in order to fight for the baggage and the way out. The crowd naturally retreated along the main road towards the rear. However, 30 iron towers in plate armor and Nanban equipment blocked their way, and behind the towers, dozens of soldiers armed with muskets and other weapons were in their way.

In the firelight, Cao Junfu stood at the front of the queue, holding the battle axe horizontally with both hands, and his eyes were like ice through the gaps in his visor.

The battle during the day made the natives deeply remember the killing god in front of them. Some of the soldiers remembered that they had muskets in their hands and hurriedly fired several shots at the towers, almost with little accuracy.

Cao Junfu didn't usually shout much in previous battles, but here he found that shouting can frighten the natives in front of him, and it has a good effect with the swinging battle axe.

Muzzle flames from other directions are approaching the place where the fleeing enemy is gathering. Cao Junfu squeezed forward step by step with the plate armor melee soldiers, and the speed was very slow. The natives resisted a little, and most of them abandoned their last weapons and fled. Some people on the outside fled into the forest in a crawling position. The musketeers kept firing, and the enemy was huddled together with their bare hands, and the corpses in the middle were piled up. Cao Junfu had never seen such a miserable scene.

The natives were even more frightened, and many of them crouched on the ground and stopped running away, their eyes so numb to look at the conquerors.

Counting the spoils, it was too late to count all the supplies, and in fact Filhoff could not count them. A lot of gold and silver were carried into the pockets of the soldiers.

The leader of the Matarans ran away before the battle began, and was not caught. However, Filhoff didn't care where the indigenous leader went, and he didn't plan to go deeper into the jungle any longer, the more than 500 young captives and children in front of him were enough.