Chapter 2177 - Ambush (Part 2)

Stealthily creeping to the woods' edge, the group raised their heads cautiously and glanced toward the road's center. At this moment, Xiong Pi, who was burying his head in clearing the path, felt an inexplicable chill run up the back of his neck.

"That Hair Rebel with his head down clearing the path will be easy to hit. The Hair Rebel behind him hasn't spotted us yet. Hmm, the Big Lord ordered us to catch scouts but didn't specify how many. Just catching the one in back will suffice. Ah Ze, Ah Jun, you two wait. I'll shoot the front Hair Rebel down with an arrow, and you go catch the one in the back!"

Of the two regiment militia, Wei Ze was a Lang person from Guangxi. His ancestors had been transferred to Guangning by the Ming court to "defend against the Yao" and settled there. He was a local who made a living walking mountains, farming, and hunting. He was short and sturdy, adept at navigating mountain paths. The other, whose formal name was Li Junjun, called Ah Jun, was also of hunter origin. He had good strength and could also hunt in mountains, but his mind was simple and he wasn't very bright.

Given these two's skills, suddenly rushing out to capture an enemy soldier should take no effort.

The two nodded silently to show they understood.

Shao Laosan spat twice into his palm, took a bow from behind his back, and signaled the other militia to prepare shooting. He drew the bow and aimed steadily at the unaware Xiong Pi. Xiong Pi was waving his machete dealing with bushes. After working a while, the back of his neck glistened with sweat in sunlight. At a distance less than sixty paces, Shao Laosan was confident he could shoot him through with one arrow, while the two militia crept toward Li Luhu carrying their swords.

"Hmm?" Deep in the woods, a few clumps of branches shook unnaturally. Li Luhu was immediately on alert. Focusing his eyes, he saw a feathered arrow already breaking through air, flying straight at Xiong Pi, who was unaware of imminent disaster. Without thinking, Li Luhu threw himself at Xiong Pi, pushing him roughly onto the mountain path. Both were hurt by stones, their hands and faces instantly scratched by thorns and branches. This action not only saved Xiong Pi but also saved himself; several feathered arrows whooshed past the position where he'd just stood, hitting nothing.

"F*ck your..." Xiong Pi was confused momentarily and started cursing.

"Enemy attack!" Li Luhu didn't waste time with nonsense. Following regulations, he threw away his machete—When attacked, immediately drop down and return fire quickly with rifles! Don't count on the machete in your hand. The point man's bayonet must be fixed properly; a bayonet is much more useful than a machete! The instructor's roar from years ago had now turned into their instinct. The two leveled their rifles and fired two shots, bang bang, in the direction arrows came from, then fled backward without looking back. Xiong Pi's shot missed, but Li Luhu had been observing the dense forest just now. His roughly aimed shot seemed to hit a pursuing militia member; the crisp gunshot echoed through the mountain forest.

"Ah! Ah!" Li Junjun, hit in the torso, fell to the ground screaming in pain. The Minié ball tore through his right arm, mashing the part below the elbow into bloody mess. Shao Laosan didn't care about the life or death of a few militia. Remembering he had to catch a Hair Rebel, he didn't stop to help but gritted his teeth, held his waist saber, and continued chasing. Several regiment braves rushed from the woods at his shout, wanting to catch these two alert scouts back. They were less than thirty meters from Xiong Pi and the other man. Wei Ze, running at the very front, was almost within reach of the two scouts. He leaped up, slashing at Li Luhu with his sword.

Li Luhu felt cold wind attacking the back of his head. Unable to turn around, he rolled to the left on the spot, avoiding this heavy blow. But due to excessive force, he twisted his left foot and it immediately started hurting. Seeing the opportunity, Wei Ze, who'd followed up, raised his waist saber and slashed again. Li Luhu wanted to pull out the rifle pressed under his body to parry but couldn't pull it out for the life of him. Beans-sized sweat beads rolled down his head. The enemy was close at hand; he could clearly see the ferocious face of this enemy wearing a tattered padded jacket and bamboo hat, and even smell the bad breath spraying from his mouth.

"Kill!" A bloody triangular bayonet suddenly poked through this enemy soldier's chest. With a beautiful lunge and thrust, Xiong Pi's bayonet stabbed from behind, piercing through the body. A look of surprise and unwillingness appeared on Wei Ze's face. Xiong Pi twisted and pulled the bayonet fiercely; a jet of blood sprayed out chasing the weapon, splashing Xiong Pi all over, and the enemy corpse crashed to the ground.

"What are you staring at? Run!" Xiong Pi reached out to pull Li Luhu up. Li Luhu couldn't care less about the pain now. Using the rifle as a cane, he limped backward. But due to this delay, the enemies behind were chasing closer and closer, about to catch up. Shao Laosan's strange Cantonese shouting filled the air.

Li Luhu gritted his teeth, threw the rifle behind his back, and fished a grenade from his bosom. Though Lingao-made grenades were still filled with black powder, they now used compressed black powder, multiplying the power several times, and were equipped with pull-cord igniters, no longer needing to be lit with fire. Li Luhu poked open the oil-paper moisture-proof layer, grabbed the wooden plug, and pulled hard. The fuse immediately sizzled. He casually threw the grenade at the pursuers behind him, then yanked Xiong Pi, and the two dropped to the ground.

"Boom!"

Two hundred meters away, Li Gangsheng's 3rd Platoon had stopped advancing. Whether gunshots or shouts of killing, it meant the deployed point men had encountered enemy attack. Now, what should be done was prepare for combat immediately. Li Gangsheng's brain spun rapidly.

For a marching unit, how many point men to send and in which direction was very particular. For the Ming army, they would only send patrol personnel for units exceeding a hundred men. But the Fubo Army stipulated that the smallest formation to send out point men was an infantry squad. Specifically, when in marching state with unclear enemy intelligence, even a ten-man infantry squad would send point men to operate in front of the team. During search and attack, there were even more particulars. He still remembered the words his company commander, an experienced old officer who'd participated in North Hainan, public security wars many times, had told them:

"Whenever troops are ambushed, it's mostly because they took the road at the bottom of the mountain to save effort. In the end, they get beaten because of laziness. But my officers and soldiers walk on ridges, always maintaining commanding posture. The main force advances in several columns, with point men patrolling front, back, left, and right. Battalions, companies, squads, and platoons advance step by step, like a huge position moving. No matter how complex the terrain or how urgent the situation, the formation is never chaotic, always ready to fight, and looking for the enemy to fight—how could there be any reason to be ambushed? Ma Su of the Three Kingdoms was defeated at Jieting Mountain because there was no water on Hanzhong mountains, but springs on Hainan mountains tinkle and scenery is fine!"

This area of small hills had no ridges to walk on. If it were purely for marching speed, they could have walked the flat road in the valley completely. However, he stubbornly chose to take the mountain path. Sure enough, there were enemies waiting for him ahead. He hit the jackpot! A cruel smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"All units, fix bayonets!" He issued the first order.

Thirty-four soldiers, including himself, took out triangular bayonets from their waists and forcefully fitted them under rifle muzzles. At present, locally produced steel in Lingao still couldn't mass-produce high-quality short-sword type bayonets. Also, compared to the long spears and various armors universally used by the Ming army and Manchus now, the short-sword bayonet was unsatisfactory in both lethality and length. Therefore, the Fubo Army's standard bayonet referenced the British and French armies of the 18th century. Its shape was a socket-type triangular bayonet, 500 millimeters long. Even the cotton armor of Manchus and thick leather armor of the Ming army could be easily pierced.

Fubo Army soldier Ye Canming took the bayonet from the sheath at his waist, forcefully fitted the socket onto the muzzle, and shook it left and right—it was fitted very firmly. The comrades on his left and right were doing the same action. Looking at the cold glint of bayonets, his spirit couldn't help but lift, and a killing aura rose within the formation. He had a premonition that the bayonet wouldn't be fixed in vain today; his bayonet would definitely be stained with enemy blood.

Ye Canming was a precious "local." A few years ago, his hometown suffered disaster and the harvest was bad. Coincidentally, his family had an emergency and borrowed debt. With interest rolling on interest, not only did the creditor take the house, but even his younger sister was going to be taken to pay the debt. Seeing his family about to be ruined, he stomped his foot and fled to Lingao with his whole family. Zhaoqing Prefecture was located in a mountainous area, and the land was much more barren than the Pearl River Delta. Many locals left their hometowns to join the army for a mouthful of food—let alone him who was hiding from debt.

Before the Guangdong Campaign, Guangdong-origin soldiers were treated as precious treasures. After some training, they were evenly distributed among various combat units. Besides infantry skills, they generally had to learn a bit of battlefield first aid and were issued some medicines, alcohol, bandages, and the like. They served as assistants to unit medics and would also be convenient for winning people's hearts when fighting at grassroots level in the future. The Australians called this "doing mass work."

Two stumbling figures were running toward them ahead. Ye Canming saw clearly that they were the two point men sent out in the morning. One ran in front, and one lagged behind limping slightly—unknown if he hurt his leg or twisted his ankle. The point man running in front—it should be Old Li from the Southern Metropolitan Region—threw a grenade backward. With a boom, the pursuers opposite couldn't dodge in time and several were wounded. One of them lay on his back on the ground screaming like a pig being slaughtered; he must be seriously injured. Ye Canming secretly praised that move as beautiful. However, with another shout in the distance, a large number of enemy soldiers suddenly surged from the dense forest depths, charging toward them.

As early as the gunshot rang out, Chiliarch Yang knew things had gone bad; Shao Laosan had failed! The Hair Rebel main body definitely knew there was an ambush ahead. Fortunately, the Kun didn't know how many of them there were. It was still not too late to rush out now—at least they could catch them off guard.

"Uncle, the Kun have noticed. Opportunity knocks but once. Let's attack! Please lead the rearguard and follow your nephew, Uncle!" Chiliarch Yang made a prompt decision and shouted loudly: "Brothers, charge with me!" With that, he led two hundred men, carrying that precious Tiger Crouch cannon, and rushed out of the mountain forest. The gunners set up the Tiger Crouch cannon. Yang Jiao aimed roughly, then extended the slow match to the touchhole.