Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 281 Greed leads to disaster, tyranny leads to misfortune [Please subscribe]

Because there were too many natives surrounding them, the Ming army soldiers drew their swords and prepared to fight at any time.

Long Qing was not afraid. In his opinion, these natives had no armor and their weapons were almost all made of wood. They were only good at swimming. Even if a real fight broke out, he would not be their match.

He then asked the other two soldiers to spread out their bags on the ground and let the natives choose goods to trade - again, he came here for communication and interaction, not for trading.

When the natives saw the various small commodities in the two bundles, their eyes lit up and they examined them curiously.

The natives took away a few feet of cotton cloth from the bag first, and tied it around their waists and never took it off again. However, they threw down a few fish.

Someone picked up the small wooden box containing needles and thread and studied it briefly, but not knowing what it was used for, he threw it on the grass.

Someone else opened the small cloth bag of coarse salt, tasted it, and exclaimed with joy. Then he called a few natives to take out the coarse salt and taste it together. Soon, the whole bag of coarse salt was gone.

Although the Ming army soldiers did not care about these small commodities, they were still angry when they saw this scene.

Lu Wu, the flag officer, said to Long Qing, "Captain, why do these natives look like bandits to me? If they don't know the value of cloth, needlework, and other things, then exchanging them for a few fish is fine, but how could they not know the preciousness of salt?"

Another small flagman, Qu Tongze, snorted, "I think these natives are just taking advantage of our small numbers, thinking they can force us to buy or sell."

Long Qing said, "Be patient and let them take advantage of us. We will deal with them properly after our Xuanguanwei stronghold is built."

After a while, almost all the small commodities in the two bags were "exchanged" by the natives, and Long Qing and others only got dozens of fish.

Long Qing stepped forward again and gestured to the native who should be the leader. After wasting a lot of time, he made the other party understand that they had more goods and wanted to go to the native tribe to communicate with the native chief.

The leader agreed and signaled Long Qing and others to get on the canoe and go with them.

Long Qing refused, saying that they could follow him on the shore.

After the chief understood Long Qing's meaning, he smiled mockingly and said a few words to his companions. Immediately, dozens of natives laughed mockingly.

Although the Ming army officers and soldiers could not understand the natives' language, they could understand their expressions and were immediately very angry.

If they didn't have a mission, they would have drawn their swords and fought these natives.

Long Qing's face wasn't looking good either, but he still tried to comfort his soldiers, "Perhaps in the eyes of the locals here, the better the water, the more powerful. They think we are afraid of water, so it's normal to laugh at us. Don't take it to heart."

At this time, the native boat had already rowed to the other side of the lake.

Long Qing and others immediately followed and left a secret signal for Long Sheng, indicating that they should follow secretly.

The lake was connected to a river that passed right next to the native tribe, so dozens of natives paddled their canoes all the way to the tribe's gate before stopping.

Seeing that Long Qing and others had used their legs to bypass the small lake and were still able to catch up with them through the jungle without falling behind by much, these natives stopped laughing and instead began to examine Long Qing and others seriously.

The native chief came up to Long Qing and started talking and gesturing.

Because gestures and actions may represent different meanings in different areas, the communication efficiency of gestures and actions is not high.

The native leader gestured several times before Long Qing understood what he meant.

"So they told us to wait outside and not go in."

After the native leader left, Long Qing smiled and said to the other Ming army soldiers.

Small flag officer Lu Wu said, "It's just right that they don't let us in. Their tribe is so large, if there's a conflict after we go in, it's better to escape outside."

Long Qing said, "I hope to go in and take a look to learn more about this native tribe."

Next, Long Qing and twenty-one other Ming army soldiers waited patiently and looked at the native tribe in front of them - they had observed from a distance several times before, so it was not as convenient and detailed as it was now.

I saw that the native tribe was on a high slope. The walls were made of stones and trees, and most of the houses inside were built of wood and thatch, and were in a mess.

Beside the gate and inside the wall, there were some native men holding wooden spears, looking at this side with a little vigilance, but their expressions were more of curiosity.

There were native teenagers and children playing in the village, and from time to time busy native women passed by the Ming army's sight - compared to the native men who only had an apron covering the crotch, the women had an extra bra, mostly made of shells and grass.

The skin color of the natives is yellowish-brown with a hint of red. Their facial features are not deeply defined, and they bear a resemblance to some of the ethnic minorities of Guangxi.

Long Qing and others did not have to wait long. In less than two quarters of an hour, they saw a large group of native men walking out of the village.

The leader was a middle-aged native, wearing a crown with colorful tail feathers on his head, and holding a spear in his hand that looked like a stone tool but had a faint metallic luster.

Qu Tong whispered, "Captain, these natives seem to have ill intentions."

Long Qing felt the same way, because there were more than a hundred natives, and as soon as they left the gate, they dispersed in a manner that seemed to be surrounding them.

He immediately ordered: "Prepare the bird gunners to fire and scare the natives."

"Yes!"

"Oh oh oh!"

Long Qing had just finished giving the order when the natives, who were only a few dozen steps away from them, let out a strange cry and rushed over!

Seeing this, Long Qing immediately shouted, "Fight!"

After saying that, he immediately shot an arrow and knocked down the native who was rushing in front.

Bang bang bang...

More than a dozen crisp gunshots rang out, and several natives were shot and fell to the ground!

The other natives were startled, but because they were too close to Long Qing and other Ming troops, some continued to charge, some stood still, and some turned around and ran into the village.

"Kill!" Long Qing drew his sword and, together with several other sword players, quickly killed the dozen or so natives who rushed in front of them.

The remaining natives who were still rushing towards this side finally panicked when they saw this, or perhaps they realized how powerful the Ming army was, and turned around and ran back to the village.

After these people ran back to the village, Longsheng and others behind them also rushed over.

Seeing that the natives were huddled in the village, with only their figures vaguely visible, Long Qing looked over here with extreme vigilance. He couldn't help but angrily cut down a small tree next to him that was as thick as a baby's arm with a knife.

"What a damn bad luck!"

Although they had just fought off over a hundred natives with only twenty men, their mission to communicate with them had clearly failed at this point. Furthermore, the battle had undoubtedly made the natives wary and hostile.

In other words, he couldn't even paralyze the natives.

He will definitely be scolded by Pang Ze when he returns.

Seeing this, Lu Wu said, "Captain, it's not our fault that things turned out this way. It's all because of these greedy natives. Seeing that we are outnumbered, they want to use force."

Long Qing was in a very bad mood and didn't want to say anything. He glanced at the sky and said, "Let's go back to the camp!"

Before dark, Long Qing and others rushed back to the camp. Four people in the team were injured - one was stabbed by a spear while fighting with the natives; two were injured while walking; and another was bitten by a poisonous snake. If he had not been treated in time, he would most likely have died.

When Long Qing saw Pang Ze, he found that Pang Ze's face was not looking good, but he still gritted his teeth and told him what had happened.

Of course, in order to reduce his responsibility, he slightly exaggerated the rudeness and greed of the natives without changing the facts.

Pang Ze's expression turned even uglier after hearing this. He examined Long Qing and said, "This tribe is likely the most powerful within a radius of dozens of miles. They are used to being overbearing. In this situation, even if you can successfully communicate with their chief, I don't think they will be willing to submit to the Ming Dynasty."

"In this case, we can only take advantage of the good weather these few days to defeat this tribe first and then build a camp."

"It just so happens that there are many snakes and insects in this jungle. Many of our people have been injured while clearing the jungle these days, and today more than a dozen people have fallen ill due to acclimatization."

"Once we defeat this native tribe, we can use the captives to do things. This way, our men will have an easier time and suffer fewer casualties."

After a pause, Pang Ze continued, "However, it would be best if we didn't let any of these natives escape during this battle, lest they run off to other native tribes and ruin our reputation, or even join forces with other tribes to attack us."

That night and the next day, the Xuanguanwei camp increased patrols and defensive forces to prevent night attacks by the natives.

I don’t know whether the natives were frightened by the bird guns or they had not yet found their camp, but they did not show up for two consecutive nights and a day.

On the third day.

Pang Ze left only two hundred regular soldiers and more than two hundred remnants to guard the camp, and headed southeast with more than six hundred regular soldiers from the garrison.

Pang Ze's march this time was much slower than that of Long Qing and other spies. Although he did not bring carts, mules and horses to transport grain, he brought several tiger squat cannons and some ammunition.

Therefore, the team set out after breakfast and walked for three or four hours, arriving near the native tribe when the sun was at its highest point in the sky.

Pang Ze said: "Rest for half an hour and eat some dry food to replenish your energy."

After the order was passed down, the Ming army gathered together in units of small flags to rest and eat dry food. Although it was not silent, no one made any noise either. At most, they whispered some necessary exchanges.

This shows the elite strength of the Ming Dynasty's garrison troops at this time. It should be noted that most of these people were remnants of the army before, and they had only been regular troops for less than a year.

The Ming army did not eat too much and did not rest for long. Led by generals, they were divided into four teams to surround the native village.

Although the natives also arranged people to stand guard, they were all stationed at the edge of the wall and not in the woods.

Therefore, the natives did not notice until the Ming army completed the encirclement.

When Pang Ze learned the encirclement was complete, he immediately ordered, "Attack! Seize the gate!"

As the order was conveyed, the trumpeter in the team blew the attack horn first, and the marching drums also sounded.

"Woo~~"

The Ming army's trumpets sounded distant and desolate, as if coming from the grassland, and were out of tune with the humid rainforest.

"Dong dong dong..."

The drumbeats were rapid, like thunder, which seemed to match the rainforest.

The natives in the village were startled when they suddenly heard the sound of horns and drums. They then curiously looked for the source of the sound. When they saw the Ming army rushing out of the jungle and rushing towards the village gate, they realized that the enemy was attacking.

"Close the gate! Close the gate quickly!" The native chief guarding the gate shouted anxiously and took his men to close the gate.

The ground in front of the native village was quite flat and there were not many trees. At this time, some Ming soldiers had already run dozens of steps away.

The leader was Long Qing. When he saw the natives were about to close the village gate, he stopped shooting arrows and shot the native leader to death with one arrow.

Seeing that the distance was almost right, the other Ming soldiers also stopped, lit the fuse and fired their bird guns.

clap clap clap!
When the remaining natives heard the sound of the bird guns, they ran into the village as if they had seen a devil, and no one was there to close or guard the gate.

"Come on!"

Long Qing shouted excitedly and led his men into the native village.

At the same time, the sounds of Ming troops charging and firing bird guns could be heard from the other three directions of the village...

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)