Several large campfires were blazing in the clearing, to get through the night. The mercenaries www.biquge.info Pen & Fun & Pavilion shared the warm glow of this cold night with their Italian captives - keeping their distance as much as possible, of course. During the day's fighting, four hundred and thirty-nine Italian soldiers, including the commander, Major Toselli, were killed and six hundred and ninety-five wounded, half of whom were seriously wounded. Now, the tragic experience of the comrades-in-arms still stirs the nerves of the survivors, who cannot in any way mix with the enemy in a way that is laughing and talking.

The mercenaries don't want to deal with their captives either, they all have their own things to do. Playing cards is undoubtedly a good way to kill time and satisfy their gambling desires, of course, there are people who hide in the corner with a picture of their girlfriend or a beautiful woman to solve their physical needs, but more people just gather together and discuss the ambush during the day.

“…… If every fight could be as easy as it is today, it won't be long before we can go home. Butz screamed happily, causing a burst of approving laughter, but someone poured cold water on it.

"Don't make things too simple, gentlemen." Smith came out of the darkness, stood before the assembled men, and said to them: "If the Italian army is as weak and easy to deal with as you think, the Abyssinians themselves can deal with them - why hire us, then?" ”

"What fighting power can those natives have?" Someone grunted.

"Don't underestimate the natives." "The Abyssinian Emperor's Guard," Smith reminded, "had weapons as good as we did, and they were said to have been rigorously trained by French and Russian military advisers." ”

"It's unbelievable." In the middle of the crowd, there was a buzz.

But what's so strange about that? Since the Emperor of Abyssinia could hire an American mercenary, he could certainly also hire the French and Russians as his military advisers and train his army. And from the point of view of their own interests, France and Russia would also be happy to provide Abyssinia with weapons and military advisers as a means of containing Italian expansion in Africa.

Anything, as long as it rises to the level of national interests, then it should not be surprising no matter how it develops.

Of course, these most ordinary mercenaries could not have understood such a problem, and even Smith did not understand it, so he was not ready to continue wasting time on it. The Reconnaissance Squad Commander made a gesture. "Tell me something else...... Gentlemen, we have a new task. ”

What's new? No one asked, no one spoke, the mercenaries just quickly quieted down, and then looked at their commander without saying a word, patiently waiting for him to reveal the answer.

This made Smith feel uninteresting, but there was nothing he could do. He sighed helplessly and said, "Mr. O'Connor's order, he asked us, and the 504 and 505 brigades to occupy the fortress of Makalay. Commander Shepard put us at the vanguard. ”

"I knew it!" As soon as he finished speaking, Butz cried out, "I knew that the Lion King of Abyssinia would order us to take that damned fortress for him!" God, what I feared has finally happened—"

"Butz, shut up!" Smith exclaimed in a fit of rage. He's had enough of this nasty William Butz, and he's going to kick him out of his squad someday - and of course, he can't do that right now, and he'll have to waste time reprimanding him and giving some unnecessary explanations.

First, of course, a reprimand. "Two things, first, if you are disrespectful to the company's most important customer at the moment, I swear I will let you swim back to the United States, and second, whatever you have to say, you must be quiet until you get my permission, or I will let you swim back. Do you understand, Mr. Butz? ”

Smith roared loudly into Butz's ear, his face almost touching his. Butz was taken aback, and hurriedly replied, "Understood, sir. ”

"I hope so, Mr. Butz." The squad commander snorted, then began to explain: "Gentlemen, I would like to remind you that this task did not come from the Emperor of Abyssinia, but from Mr. O'Connor's own decision. He analyzed the current situation and believed that we have a good chance of capturing Makaray......"

O'Connor's judgment of the situation came from several captured Italian officers. They told him that there were now only 1,200 soldiers in the fortress of Makareal - 2,500 men, half of whom had left the fortress for armed patrols under the leadership of Major Tosseli and had been wiped out in the ambush circle of Commander Shepard - and that the fort's defenses were at their weakest and that it was the best chance to take it.

But now and only the chance. The three infantry brigades under General Bharatieri were less than two days away from Makaré, and if they did not capture the fortress before they arrived, it would never have been possible to capture it again in this war.

The Abyssinians had no heavy cannons, neither did the mercenaries, and Macaly, with its 20,000 Italian soldiers, would become an impregnable fortress, and it would turn into a terrible meat grinder that would devour the Abyssinian army; As soon as Menelik devotes most of his strength to this fortress, he is bound to suffer.

But he can't afford to fail, and that's not what Qin Lang and the rest of the Umbrella board of directors want to see. So O'Connor felt he had to take his chances and had to capture Macarre before Baratieri arrived.

So he ordered the mercenaries to attack.

"But can we do it, sir?" Zhang Biao asked, "Can we capture the fortress before the Italian army arrives?" ”

"We don't have heavy cannons." The others also shouted.

"Don't think about any heavy cannons anymore, guys, we don't need them." "Mr. O'Connor's plan was a surprise attack, not a frontal assault," Smith said. ”

The captured Italian officers gave many things: the names and ranks of all the officers in the fortress, the locations of the firing points and observation posts, the time of the sentry shifts and the routine of the soldiers, as well as their morale and mental state...... Wait a minute; O'Connor lured the officers with "speed", and the unwarlike guys told them everything they knew.

This led O'Connor to think he could assemble a special commando team and plan another great show.

"The command will select a number of people to put on Italian uniforms and disguise themselves as Italian troops who have fled back to the fortress after being attacked." The squad commander explained, "Of course, in order to make the situation look more realistic, the others had to disguise themselves as Abyssinians who were chasing them. ”

Sounds good, but ......

"Sir," one of the mercenaries said, raising his hand, "we don't speak Italian. ”

"Don't worry," Smith said, "there's someone in the army who speaks Italian, and they'll teach you a few words." Of course, most of the time, you don't need to speak, you just wail. ”

There was another buzz, and another mercenary raised his hand. "Sir, the defenders in the fortress must know the guys we killed, what if they see that we are fakes?"

"We're going to attack in the early hours of the morning, when it's dark, just blacken your faces a little and the Italians won't notice the problem for a short time. And by the time they see it, you're already attacking. ”

"What if they see it before we attack?"

Smith smiled sternly. "It depends. If the gates of the fortress are open by then, all you have to do is rush in, and if not, you can only flee back and pray that you will not be hit by bullets. So, you'd better start praying now that this doesn't happen. ”

The questioner nodded slowly and understandingly, and put his hand down. The squad commander looked at the others, "Is there anyone else you want to ask?" ”

"Yes, sir." Zhang Biao stood up, "We'...... What role should we Chinese play? Of course, he just asked. Internally, he was looking forward to disguised himself as an Italian soldier and take part in the attack directly, but he also knew quite well that this must be a task for white mercenaries only, and the others could only play the role of the pursuing Abyssinians.

Smith's answer, however, surprised everyone. "You belong to the assault force, Zhang." He said, "That's exactly what I'm saying, according to the order, everyone in the reconnaissance squad must participate in the assault unit, except for the blacks." ”

"Why?" Someone asked.

"The company wants to know how our new weapon will perform in real combat." Smith shrugged. In fact, he didn't approve of this risky approach, but this was an order given by Qin Lang himself when the troops set off, so he could only carry it out - and persuade others to carry it out.

But in fact, he didn't need to convince anyone, Zhang Biao because his face was as likely to be exposed as a white mercenary, and if those Italians could see that he was actually a Chinese, they would have already seen that the others were not their comrades. It was only a moment before the mercenaries accepted the arrangement.

"Very well," said Smith, pleased with their performance, "gentlemen, preparations are now underway, and in order to be able to reach the fortress of Makareal in the early morning, the troops will depart in thirty minutes. ”

His men sprang into action. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the WWW.QIDIAN.COM, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )