Wickham rode on a tall white Arabian horse, looked at the assembled expeditionary force, and carefully counted the background of this expedition. This was Wickham's first time in military operations, and he didn't want to mess up, or Colonel Aldridge wouldn't have laughed at him.

For this punitive military operation, the Royal African Trading Company assembled a force of nearly 1,000 men, including 184 officers and men of the independent company of the Marines at Wickham, 136 men of a battalion of Hessian mercenaries, two three-pounder guns, and nearly 700 black slaves.

With this military operation, Lin Zihan made a small fortune. The trading company paid the Marines a thousand pounds just for their start-up fees. Wickham gave each soldier a gini of gold, and the other four officers two hundred pounds each. In fact, Wickham originally wanted to give the soldiers three ginis and the four officers a little less. But Ensign Evan was resolutely opposed, because it would inevitably break the current unspoken rules of the British army, and if it was known to the officers in the future, Wickham would not have to mix in the officer circle.

Director Fritz Mellon was also generous, suggesting that all the spoils of Wickham's military operation would be distributed among the Marines. This expedition will certainly not be short of prisoners, and these black captives are also a lot of money when they are put in the slave market, and they can be regarded as a reward for the Marines given by the trading company.

Although in terms of numbers, this military operation was the largest since the arrival of the British on the Gold Coast. However, Wickham still has some confidence in the patchwork force in front of him. First of all, those Hessian mercenaries suffered a loss at the hands of the Amo coalition a few days ago, and there were more than 100 people left in a small infantry battalion with a full complement. Although these mercenaries have a lot of combat skills, they are all frightened by the Ashantis, and it is hard to say whether they will collapse early if they really do it with real knives and guns.

Secondly, the independent company of the Marine Corps has not been trained for a long time, and the reloading speed is much worse than that of the regular army, and in addition, it has not been on the battlefield since it was formed, so it is not reassuring in terms of military skills or psychological quality. Finally, there are nearly 700 black slaves, this kind of slave who has just been captured for a short time, and putting it by his side on the battlefield is simply a timed, bombed, bombed! Anyway, Wickham didn't have much hope for them, and only planned to use them to carry some war supplies and save some effort for the white soldiers. Fortunately, the opponents this time were some Ghanaian princely states that were still in the early days of feudal society, otherwise Wickham would not dare to take on such a task.

The whole group marched unhurriedly along a small river, which, according to information provided by the Royal African Trading Company, had a Moshi village of about 400 people in the upper reaches of the river. According to the original battle plan, the troops led by Wickham would first attack the Mossi village, rest on the spot for a day, and then march lightly to attack the Mossi capital. The trading company didn't expect this motley army to take down the capital of the Princely State of Moxi, as long as it gave these black eggs a deterrent, after all, the Amo coalition army was still eyeing the side.

At noon the next day, the troops reached a place less than half a mile from the village, and some of the Moxi farmers, who were busy in the fields, soon spotted the menacing British troops, and immediately ran back to the village screaming and reporting the news. The head of the Hessian mercenaries is Captain Stanley, this guy is very tall, and his beard makes the whole person look very rough. The mercenary battalion under this German man was not only infantry, but also a dozen dragoons used for reconnaissance.

Wickham was afraid that the farmers would run back to report the news, so he said to Captain Stanley, "Captain Stanley, why don't you send some cavalry over and capture these farmers, if they go back to the village to report the news, our surprise attack will be meaningless." "That's not how war TV dramas are usually played, and Wickham is going to take a picture of the cat.

Captain Stanley rode a Russian Don hippopotamus, and he really had the style of a Cossack cavalryman. I saw him hold the military hat on his head, and said disdainfully: "Lieutenant Wickham, we don't have to pay attention to these escaped farmers. Even if the Mossi village had prepared in advance, what could it do? These black villages don't even have earthen walls, give me fifteen soldiers, and you can catch all of these heretics! ”

Captain Stanley was an experienced German mercenary who had been employed by the British Army and fought in the North American Continent's War of Independence. Their group of Hessian mercenaries in dark blue military uniforms made the Continental Army of the Thirteen States talk about tigers, and he has his pride as a soldier. So when facing a rookie like Wickham, he has no respect from the bottom of his heart, and he won't save any face when he speaks. Anyway, the direct bosses of the two are different, so they don't have to worry about offending people.

Wickham knew that he had basically zero combat experience except for the military training he had participated in in his previous life, so he was not disgusted by Captain Stanley's outspokenness. It would be strange if the stereotypical Germans learned to pat on the back one day. Wickham drew his sword from his waist and shouted, "Form a three-column horizontal formation and march towards the entrance of the village!" As the military order was issued, the commanders of each platoon held their sabers alof, accompanied by snare drums and bagpipes, and slowly pressed towards the village with their own lines.

The Ghanaians are also one of the warlike tribes among the black Africans, and they naturally do not watch the whites slaughter their villages. After a while, about a hundred Moxies, armed with all kinds of weapons, rushed out with some slogans.

Wickham fixed his eyes on Nima, this is really a veritable "peasant army"! The Mossi had weapons such as woodcutters, spears, and even one or two Spanish arquebuses that should have entered the museum a long time ago, but they didn't know if they could be fired. After two or three hundred years of dealing with Western colonizers, the weapons of the Mossi people were upgraded along with the trade, and although those guns were relatively old, they could be regarded as stepping into the threshold of the firearms age.

Soon, under the orders of officers at all levels, the entire line formation quickly stopped. The soldiers in the first row raised their muskets and waited quietly for the rabble to come into the effective range of the firing guns. In the face of the shouting Moses on the other side, the Hessian mercenary soldiers seemed very calm, and they had long been accustomed to this kind of scene. They just solemnly waited for the officer's order, and with the weapons in their hands, they taught those blacks who didn't know the height of the sky a lesson!

In contrast, Wickham's fully staffed Marine Company performed a little poorly, and some of the soldiers were nervous, and the rifles they were holding were shaking all the time, and if it weren't for the reprimands of Bert and Barnett, they would have opened fire in advance. The limited range of the smoothbore guns of this era, coupled with the considerable accuracy, most British troops tended to fire only when the enemy was at a distance of fifty yards, which undoubtedly increased the accuracy and lethality of the platoon guns. Wickham's Marines also adhered to this principle, and no one dared to open fire early against military orders.

When the Moses advanced less than fifty meters from the entire battle line, the junior officers of the British army at all levels gave orders to open fire. For a while, the gunfire was loud, and a large white smoke filled the battlefield, making Wickham unable to see the details of the battlefield in front of him for a while.

Hit by sudden firepower, the charge of the Moses suddenly crashed like the waves of the sea on the seawall, and the seemingly menacing attack could not move forward. The Moxi warriors who charged at the forefront were undoubtedly the bravest warriors in the village, but this bravery did not bring them good luck, but rather hastened death. The Moxi man in front of him was stunned, and bursts of blood burst out on his chest, and in just one volley, more than thirty people fell there. However, the Mossi maintained the ferocious and belligerent character of the Black Africans, and this resistance was not enough to stop their charge, and those in front fell, and those behind quickly made up.

After the first salvo was completed, the first platoon of Hessian mercenaries began to hand over the fired rifles to the people behind them in an orderly manner, and then took the loaded smoothbore guns and fired a second salvo at great speed! After the first volley, the Marines did not use the Hessian formation in a defensive state, but meticulously followed the offensive formation, allowing the second platoon to come forward and fire a second volley.

However, due to the lack of experience, the process became a bit confusing. Several guys collide together, causing Bert's team to fall into chaos. Fifty yards was not a long distance, but in less than ten seconds, those Moxies took advantage of the firepower on this side and rushed up!

Wickham was sweating profusely, his troops' training time was still too short, and if the Moxies were allowed to stick to their bodies, although they would not be defeated, the unnecessary casualties might increase. At this critical moment, the two three-pounder cannons of the Royal African Company completed their reloading in time, firing hundreds of terrifying grapeshotfire!

Such a dense metal storm swept through the dense stormtroopers of the Mossi like a raging storm, and more than two dozen people fell in one fell at once. And at this moment, the third salvo of the Hessian mercenaries and the second salvo of the marines rang out at the right time, and the Mossi people were immediately dealt a heavy blow, and the strong offensive was dissolved.

The Mossi people in those villages were not professional warriors in the first place, but just a group of ordinary peasants who relied on their courage for a while, and after suffering such a harsh counterattack, some people suddenly couldn't stand it, and they threw down the various weapons in their hands and scattered. Wickham even saw that the arquebuses were thrown in the grass by the Moxies without firing a single shot, perhaps not because the Moxies didn't want to shoot, but because such an old antique couldn't be fired at all.

Seeing that the resistance of the Moxies had collapsed, Wickham ordered everyone to stop firing, and then slowly approached the entrance of the village with bayonets. When a breeze slowly blew away the smoke of the battlefield, the bloody battlefield was presented to the British army: some Moxies who had been hit in the head by lead bullets had their entire skulls burst open, and their brains mixed with blood were splattered on the grass, making people feel sick to their stomachs. The worst were the Moses who were hit by the three-pounder cannon shots, and were basically beaten into a mass of minced flesh by the dense projectiles. There were also a dozen or so Moxies, who were wounded and not dead, lying on the ground screaming miserably, and the terrible screams were terrifying.

Wickham had never experienced such a bloody scene, and his face turned so white that he felt that the roast beef he had eaten in the morning was about to vomit. In fact, except for the veteran Aiwen, everyone in the Marine Corps has a bad face, and some of them have poor psychological endurance, and when the excitement of the first battle has passed, they can only lie on the ground and vomit. The Hessian mercenaries have long been surprised by this kind of scene, coldly holding a bayonet and slowly stepping forward, seeing the Mossi who are not yet dead, they stabbed them with a bayonet, these injured Mossi, even if they are caught, they can't sell it for a few dollars, it is better to give them a good time.

Captain Stanley looked at Wickham, who was sweating profusely on his forehead, and said loudly: "Lieutenant Wickham, I suggest that the whole army quickly surround the village, control those farmers, and don't give them a chance to escape with food!" The British army did not bring much to the door this time, but paid attention to the war with war. If these blacks were allowed to run away with food, then the battle would be meaningless.

Wickham suppressed the sour water in his stomach, and felt weak and powerless, and he would definitely not be able to command the army in such a state. Wickham was also single, and said directly to Captain Stanley: "Captain Stanley, I will now hand over the command to you, and you will be in charge." After saying that, Wickham couldn't bear it anymore, turned over and dismounted, and vomited wildly.

Stanley shrugged his shoulders, he knew very well how a first-time person would react to such a bloody scene, and he had come here like this back then. But as a professional soldier, this is a step that must be taken.

After receiving the order, Captain Stanley ordered the whole army to charge, but only his German mercenaries could still charge. The Marines, like Wickham, spit out.