Chapter 1036 Encounter

The last time Sun Zhen came to Taiwan, he had not experienced the baptism of the rainy season. The special operations battalion left Taipei after the battle in March. After a short rest in Penghu, it went north to Zhejiang the next month. And this

Ever since they landed on the Miaoli coast early this morning, the rain has not stopped. Although they are covered by cloaks and raincoats, which can almost perfectly withstand the current level of light rain, after marching for several miles in the forest, the rain on their feet has become worse.

However, my shoes and socks inevitably got soaked, and when I walked around, my feet felt like I was stepping on mud, which was really unpleasant.

In order not to reveal their whereabouts, the team did not even light torches. They relied on two windproof oil lamps for each class to provide lighting along the way, and touched the predetermined area. The process of setting up the campsite was also very simple.

Tear open a square waterproof canvas in the forest, fix the four corners with ropes to the surrounding tree trunks, and then fix the marching hammock below in the same way, and you can sleep for a few hours. But Maolishe is not far away, especially

The soldiers in the war camp could no longer light a fire to keep out the cold and dry their shoes, socks and clothing in this temporary camp.

The candidates for the night watch have been arranged before departure, but there is no need to randomly select. Sun Zhen is on duty in the early morning to guard the last shift before dawn, so he can sleep peacefully for a few hours. He puts on his shoes and socks before going to bed

Take them off, wring them out hard, put them on the rope at one end of the hammock to dry, and then fall down to sleep. Although drying for half a night may not make you dry, but at least it will make you feel a little better, at least psychologically.

Such effect.

The natives on the island of Taiwan will not leave their tribe to go out after nightfall. This is one of the common sense Sun Zhen learned when he fought in Taipei last year, so he dared to take off his shoes and socks to sleep peacefully.

As long as no fire is lit to draw attention, this camp will be safe at least until dawn, and before then, their team must have finished resting and left here.

When Sun Zhen was woken up by the sentry changing the guard, he almost fell off the hammock. It was not that he was not adapted to such conditions, and he often slept in hammocks during outdoor training, but he had just had a nightmare, dreaming that he was randomly

When the large army returned to Denglai, they found that all their relatives were wearing Ming army uniforms and standing at the top of Dengzhou city, scolding themselves as traitors who betrayed their country and sought glory. Although Sun Zhen tried hard to defend himself, his relatives simply did not

Instead of listening, they all took up their bows and arrows and shot at him.

Seeing that he was about to be pierced by thousands of arrows, Sun Zhen was woken up. Although he was thankful, he could not help but feel a little scared. Thinking that he had fled to Haihan for nearly two years and completely lost contact with his relatives in his hometown.

I don’t know if they escaped the military disaster and what their current situation is. If there is a chance to follow the army northward and return to their hometown within this year, I must find a way to find out the whereabouts of their family members. It is best to move them all out of the Ming Dynasty and under the rule of Haihan.

Settle the area.

As for being denounced as a "rebel to the party" by his relatives in the dream, Sun Zhen didn't take it too seriously. His family was destroyed by the Ming army and he left his hometown. If Haihan hadn't provided money and food to help him, he would have been hungry.

He died on the run, and now he is paying his salary, eating military rations, and working his life for Haihan. It is only reasonable.

Sun Zhen quickly packed up, took his rifle and a windproof oil lamp, and arrived at the sentry post outside the camp. Then he extinguished the oil lamp and stood quietly in the darkness. This so-called sentry post was actually just a dump.

Above, one could barely see clearly what was going on in a small area around him, and the sentinel wearing a dark cloak and raincoat standing motionless with his back against a big tree was basically invisible in the darkness.

Sun Zhen did not have timing equipment, so he could only estimate the passage of time. Normally, he could observe the starry sky and the position of the moon to determine the approximate time, but it was still raining in the sky and he could not see anything at all.

Reference. However, he is on the last shift tonight, and there is no problem of handover. All he has to do is wait patiently for dawn.

Sun Zhen knew that the chiefs had a very small timepiece called a "watch". Almost every chief wore one on his wrist. He could tell what time it was just by looking at it. It was equally accurate day and night. And it was extremely accurate.

A few senior officers seem to be able to get such rewards. For example, he once saw a watch on the hand of Battalion Commander Gao Qiaonan. It is said that it was a reward given to him by General Qian Tiandun. If he can be promoted in the future based on military merit,

If you reach the position of battalion commander, you may have the opportunity to receive similar rewards.

Of course, what he doesn't know is that there are a large number of cheap automatic mechanical watches stored in the warehouse of the Sanya base camp. They are all models customized in large quantities by domestic manufacturers before the time travel, and they are specially used to reward heroes. If only one is issued a year

Eight out of ten would be enough to be distributed until the beginning of the next century. However, based on Haihan's current industrial development speed, Haihan should be able to create a portable timer before then.

In the early morning, the rain slowly stopped. Sun Zhen stretched out his hand to feel it, then took off the hat of his cloak and took a deep breath of the fresh air in the forest after the rain. Looking at the sky, it was getting brighter.

Sun Zhen slowly moved his legs, feet and waist, which were a bit stiff. When he returned to the camp, he saw that several other sentries on duty had not returned yet, so he first woke up his sleeping comrades.

Because we can't live and cook here, we can't eat hot food for breakfast, so we can only fill our stomachs with dry food and water. However, this operation is only scheduled to last for one day, so it will be over if you just overcome it, and it won't be harmful to the soldiers.

It had a great impact on their condition. After everyone ate their dry food in silence, the platoon leader asked the squad leaders to gather their teams and set off separately to the target area.

Due to the limited information that the prisoners captured before could confess, Haihan currently does not know the specific location of Maolishe. He can only draw an area on the map. This is why the command headquarters wants to arrange such a team.

The main reason for the on-site investigation here. According to the plan made in advance, the entire team was divided into four teams, each of which was one team. The distance between each team was kept at about two hundred meters, and they searched and marched southward in parallel.

Based on the prisoners' confessions, the command headquarters inferred that the population of Maolishe was between 500 and 1,000 people. The reason for such a large margin of error was mainly because the prisoners' confessions were vague and it was difficult to provide accurate figures.

The difference in population will definitely be reflected in the size of the tribe's land, the scope of members' activities, etc. Soldiers may find traces of native activities at any time.

Sure enough, the team only moved forward for about a mile, and they gradually discovered the fields cultivated by the natives in the wild. However, the so-called reclamation was actually just the removal of trees and weeds on the surface, and did not carry out the same farming as the Han people did.

Deep plowing. There are some rice sparsely growing in the fields. They are probably seeds taken from the Han immigrants who came to the nearby area in the past. However, the native people’s farming guards are not lawful. This acre of land is estimated to be able to harvest fifty or sixty kilograms of rice.

Not bad, but there is still a gap compared to the Li and Miao natives who were regarded as slash-and-burn farming by the Haihan people in the past.

Although Sun Zhen looked down on the agricultural cultivation level of the natives, he saw these fields scattered in the forest and knew that the location of the indigenous tribes was not far away. At that moment, he gave instructions to his soldiers and hid in silence.

After walking forward for a while, Sun Zhen saw a puddle with a radius of two feet in front of him. There was no water connection around the pit. It seemed that it was all accumulated rainwater, but surprisingly, there were quite a few in the puddle.

The fish swam around. Sun Zhen was stunned at first, and soon figured out the reason - these fish were probably caught by the natives from Houlong River, and they were temporarily kept in this puddle, and they would be used again when they wanted to eat.

, so that you don’t have to go fishing in Houlong River a few miles away every day.

Sun Zhen also knew that the local garrison fleet shuttled back and forth on Houlong River almost every day to transport supplies. This undoubtedly had an impact on the fishing activities of the natives along the Houlong River. Perhaps this was also the transport of the fish they would catch.

One of the reasons why he came back to live in this puddle. At this time, Sun Zhen no longer had to explore the direction of the tribe, because not far ahead, a few wisps of smoke were rising from the forest.

As described in the intelligence, the Maolish tribe is located at the junction of mountains and plains. There are no strong defenses such as walls around the tribe, only a circle of bamboo fence mixed with bushes. Similar measures,

Sun Zhen also met with the indigenous tribes in Taipei that were dependent on the Spanish. It was not that the indigenous people did not want to build better and stronger fortifications, but they had very limited iron tools on hand and could not even mass-produce quarrying tools, so they could only use

This relatively primitive measure uses limited iron to make weapons and daily necessities.

Natural iron ore is very scarce on the island of Taiwan, and there are even fewer places where the indigenous tribes have the ability to mine it. Therefore, pig iron can be regarded as hard currency for the indigenous tribes on the island, even more practical than gold. Like Maolishe

Most of the native warriors of this not-so-strong tribe don't even have an iron machete. They can do well if they can install an iron tip on their spear. Most of the pig iron and iron tools they have are

The products in the mountains were exchanged for the tribes north of Miaoli, and most of the pig iron came from the Spaniards who used to rule Tamsui and Jilong. They exchanged various furs and mountain treasures for the pig iron, and finally

They all fell into the hands of the Spanish.

However, after the Spaniards were driven away by the Haihan army last year, this kind of trade was also interrupted. The source of pig iron in the entire Taipei area was curbed. Maolishe also did not obtain pig iron and ironware from the outside world for more than half a year. This information is also the same

It also came from native captives. Although the information is not very accurate, it can at least give the Haihan Army a rough grasp of the armed level of the local indigenous tribes. Sun Zhen's team only arrived in Miaoli yesterday, but the early intelligence collection work was still helpful.

They make certain predictions about the enemy's strength during operations.

Sun Zhen asked the team to stop behind the bushes by the puddle, and then sent one of his men to ask the platoon leader in another team for instructions on the next action. His team was the westernmost of the four teams.

One team was traveling almost close to the mountainous area. After discovering the location of the tribe, it had to re-plan its route. Otherwise, it would have to go around the periphery of the tribe and easily lose synchronization with the other teams.

Soon Sun Zhen received a reply, asking him to cut in southwest along the outside of the tribe, circle around the outside of the tribe to its south, investigate the distribution of the tribe's buildings, then turn east, march towards Houlong River, and finally march in the direction of Houlong River.

Meet at the predetermined point on the bank of Houlong River. However, if you encounter an enemy during this process and cannot defeat it, you can retreat to the northwest mountainous area on your own and return to the coastal camp by walking through the mountainous area.

The reason why the mountainous area is designated as the planned retreat route for Sun Zhen's team, rather than returning the same way they came, is because the special operations battalion has always regarded the mountainous area as their own back garden, even if Maoli Mountain is unfamiliar to them.

In this area, this group of people will still think that their combat capabilities in this environment are far stronger than that of the natives. It is easier to escape the enemy's pursuit by retreating to the mountains than to the plains, and they may be able to use the terrain to counterattack along the way.

After receiving the order, Sun Zhen immediately adjusted the marching direction and led his team into the mountains and forests. From this moment on, the team he led moved separately from the other three teams. If everything goes well, he should be able to follow him in the afternoon.

They met near Longxi, and then took the boat that came to pick them up and sailed down the river back to the camp.

Of course, this is only an ideal action plan. Sun Zhen will not relax his vigilance because his opponent is weak. After they landed at the coastal camp, they saw the coffins of the soldiers killed in Miaoli being loaded onto the ship and prepared to be transported back to Penghu. Although

The number is small, but it also shows that the locals are not weak chickens without any threat. After all, this is also the opponent's home field. If they are not handled carefully, even the special operations battalion that is good at mountain and jungle warfare will have a hard time guaranteeing that they will not capsize in the ditch.

.

How to deal with natives in the wild? Several plans were discussed at the preparatory meeting before departure, but no one could say for sure whether this situation would occur. After all, how large is the range of activities of the Maolishe natives?

, it is still difficult to make an accurate judgment now. And their current detection distance can be said to be not particularly safe.

Sun Zhen can now see nearly half of the tribe's buildings without even using a telescope. The buildings here are somewhat similar to the boat-shaped houses on Hainan Island. Although Sun Zhen has never been to Lidong Miao Village, during his stay in Sanya

I went to the naval base to visit the military museum located there and saw related pictures. I immediately ordered a soldier in the class who was good at painting to use charcoal to draw a sketch of the scene he saw as quickly as possible. A reconnaissance team like this was dispatched.

He always carries a waterproof paper tube with charcoal and parchment inside, which is used to draw maps and markers during reconnaissance.

Just as this team was lurking in the forest to investigate the tribe a hundred meters away, Sun Zhen noticed the sound of voices coming from only a dozen meters away, and soon two native men appeared in his field of vision.
Chapter completed!