Chapter 599: A Huge Crisis

The next morning's rain finally stopped, his shoes were soaked, and Ushito Jiro who was huddled in the watchtower couldn't take them off. The village is surrounded by forests, and the hot climate is a great test for the Japanese. It's spring, and it's not yet the hottest time, and I can't count the bags of mosquito bites in short-sleeved clothes. The mosquitoes here are so terrible, much more terrible than those natives. The task of the team where Niu Teng is located is to defend this village and ensure that the road to the next village is unblocked.

It's been almost a month since I came to this village, and the squad of a hundred people is thirteen people less, not counting the officers. The deaths of these thirteen people were all related to the woods, one was bitten by a snake and died when urinating on the edge of the forest, and the other twelve were killed by cold arrows flying out of the forest. Now that these mercenaries have learned to behave, they will not go near the woods, so they stay in the village.

The watchtower where Niu Teng is located is at the entrance of the village, and even if his eyes are staring at him, he can't see any movement in the forest. But he did not dare to slacken in any way, and the day before yesterday, three people died on the edge of the barbed wire because of carelessness. It's raining today, so it should be said that it will be safer, but Niu Teng decided to be careful for the sake of his life, so as not to die in vain.

The meaning of holding this village lies in the land and resources near the village, after the natives were driven into the woods, they became more cunning and kept playing sneak attacks, although they couldn't change anything, but for the soldiers, the mental pressure was very high. Now these pressures fell on the heads of the Japanese soldiers. Recently, I heard good news that before the spring ploughing, the garrison was going to launch a large-scale clearing battle to completely remove the natives from this area.

Thinking of this news, Ushitojiro's mood was much better, the village was nothing more than a supply point on a main road, compared to the rest of his compatriots. A town about thirty miles ahead was the front line of the battle. I heard that more than 100 people died the day before yesterday, because an officer came down to chase and was killed in an ambush in the woods.

Thinking of this, Ushito Jiro was a little distracted, and when he heard the footsteps, he turned back sharply and saw Cui Hao, the officer in charge of commanding them. This is a veteran of the Dengzhou battalion. I've been fighting in this area for almost three months. was supposed to be evacuated, but who knew that Captain Li, the officer who led the team halfway, was sent back because of a sudden illness, and Cui Hao had to stay.

"Hello sir!" Chinese is not easy to learn, many Japanese soldiers have not learned many sentences, but Ushito Jiro has a talent in this area, and he can already conduct some simple conversations in front of him. Cui Hao is a very strict person, and he always has a gloomy expression on his face. The soldiers were afraid of him and did not dare to be presumptuous in front of him. The interpreter is a native of Nagasaki. It's called Kameda Masayoshi, and it is said that his ancestor was a samurai for a while, and his family was defeated and became a ronin, because the Ming army wanted to recruit Japanese who could speak the official dialect of the Ming Dynasty, so he signed up and also passed guò.

Niu Tojiro doesn't look down on this guy very much, when facing the Ming officers, he always looks like a slave, but when facing his compatriots. But his face was vicious. Drinking again, he bragged to others. He had been to Katei with merchants in Nagasaki, and everyone thought he was boasting. In short, this guy has no popularity, and he has no character.

"Is it okay?" Cui Hao was in a bad mood, he didn't like this ghost place at all. Especially the road through the village, three hundred meters ahead. Is it a forest road, five hundred meters back, or is it wooded on both sides. In order to solve this problem, the previous Dengzhou battalion had cut down a lot of trees, but the trees that were quickly cut down were overgrown with weeds half a man high. Anyway. The tree cutting business will continue, but according to the instructions above, after a while some natives will be sent in to take charge of the tree cutting work.

"No situation?" Niu Tojiro hurriedly reported, and just as he was reporting, Cui Hao's eyes suddenly widened, and he seemed to see something in the grass less than five hundred meters away from the entrance of the village. "Damn, there are so many people, how did you get here?" After looking carefully through the binoculars for a long time, Cui Hao scolded, turned around and rushed down the watchtower, took out the whistle and blew it vigorously, and the sharp whistle instantly broke the tranquility of the village.

Cui Hao and a few officers were urgently discussing the military situation, and he was very calm, but the other officers were not so good. There are three assistants, all of whom are children of three large families. Cui Hao simply told them: "There are probably more than 1,000 natives who came from the river to the west of the village. This means not the nearby tribes, but the Sukka tribe from further east. ”

"They're not here to do business, are they?" A young officer of the Lin family said a word and rolled his eyes at Cui Hao.

"Well, that's the way it is now, one is that we give up the village and move closer to the small town to the east. But in that case, a convoy that will pass through here in an hour at most will be out of luck. Now I have decided to stay and hold the village, and to send men on horseback to the north, to inform the convoy, to speed up the march, and to move at once to us. Also, this person must come back and have the convoy send someone back to report the news. Cui Hao said a word, and shut up a young man surnamed Li who was eager to try. These disciples of the three major families are not without excellent talents, but there is no shortage of fucked guys. Just the day before yesterday, an officer of the Li family, in a small town with a long name in front, commanded his men to pursue the natives, and was ambushed.

Ushito Jiro was selected to send out to deliver the letter, and luckily, just ten minutes after walking, he met the transport team, and after reporting the news, the transport captain immediately decided to send someone back to report the news, and the transport team sped up into the village. This transport team consisted of more than 300 people, and the captain was a veteran of the Dengzhou battalion, with 200 European soldiers and 100 Dengzhou soldiers, to transport food to more than 3,000 Japanese mercenaries in the town in front.

After the captain Liu Gang entered the village, Cui Hao immediately discussed with him how to deal with the natives of the Suka tribe on this expedition.

"I don't think it's that simple, it should be some indigenous tribes united, otherwise the Sukka tribe is at least five hundred miles to the west of us, even if it is in that kind of boat, it will have to walk for several days. No wonder on my way here, I passed through an indigenous village, and I didn't see how many people came out of that village, probably because they knew the news and planned to wait and see. Liu Gang analyzed it like this, and Cui Hao also felt that something was not quite right.

"Judging by the distance, in an hour at most, they can surround us. I even suspect that the road leading to the town of Puwagara to the east is already in ambush, and I am hoping that we will go that way. As soon as Cui Hao said this, Liu Gang also nodded and said: "Then prepare to fight, just stick to this village, anyway, there is enough food." ”

On both sides combined, there were about 500 people, and Liu Gang brought more than 100 truckloads of grain, as well as a lot of livestock. Without waiting for a break, the convoy immediately put into battle readiness, the village was not big, but it was not small, and the more than 500 people were divided into five infantry teams, each holding four directions, and one team as a reserve. The armament is mainly smoothbore guns, and there are more than 100 rifled guns. Luckily, the weather was fine, and the Dengzhou soldiers of more than 100 people could give full play to the range advantage of rifled guns, so they were divided into five parts and joined other squads as a long-range strike force. Fortunately, Liu Gang also brought four three-pounder guns, which were intended to be sent to the defenders of Puwakada Town in front. Even more fortunately, four artillery instructors followed.

"You, you, you, come with me." A dozen Dutchmen, formerly sailors who were busy repairing the fortifications, were called out, claiming to be able to operate cannons. Liu Gang, with four instructors, chose an artillery position. In the end, I felt that it was better not to expose this cannon first, just where the village entrance to the west, and make a hidden fortification to hide, such as the shed that used to sell tea at the entrance of the village, it seemed to be very good. The half-human height bamboo and wood wall is piled with sandbags inside, and when you need to fire, the bamboo and wood wall in front of you will not affect the shooting effect.

Barbed wire is an indispensable defensive equipment, and a barbed wire fence was pulled to enclose the entire village before, and now the veterans of the Dengzhou battalion have begun to work hard in some open areas, and then pull up a few more barbed wire. As for the natives who were approaching, these veterans were not afraid at all. Just when the rain stopped, it was impossible to attack. However, if the people here run away, they are likely to be ambushed halfway. Even if they were not ambushed, they would not be able to outrun the barefoot natives in this kind of rainy weather.

Cui Hao gave the translator to Liu Gang, and called Jiro Niu to act as a temporary translator and correspondent, the translator, at first glance, looked like he was afraid of death, Cui Hao was worried that he would hide or run away when he delivered the letter. Seeing that Cui Hao has always been very strict, no matter how stupid Jiro Niu To, he knows that something big is going to happen this time.

Before dusk, those natives suddenly disappeared among the grass and trees, and Liu Gang and Cui Hao were even more nervous. This is not a good phenomenon, if you fight at night, the disadvantage is too obvious, and there are many people on the other side. Look at this meaning, he fought with the Dutch.

Several houses on the edge of the village were demolished, dry firewood was piled up, there was a fire a hundred meters away, when night fell, the fire was lit, and the barbed wire around the village was also hung with canned food boxes that had been eaten, and small stones were placed in it, and when the wind blew, it would make a slight noise, but if someone touched it, the movement would be big.

As soon as the preparations were almost complete, Cui Hao ordered to rest, it was best to get a good night's sleep, it is estimated that this battle will not be able to fight in the first half of the night. The soldiers on duty should keep an eye on the fire and add firewood in time. After the arrangement, Cui Hao took Niu Teng to find Liu Gang together, the two of them didn't eat, sat together, simply dealt with a biscuit, and discussed while eating. (To be continued......)