African Nationhood

The Martini-Henry rifle has a shooting range of 450-600 meters, and the sentry in front of you is only 200 meters away from you.

In addition, there was firelight behind him, so he could easily aim at the opponent, take a deep breath, and pull the trigger directly.

"boom!"

Fire suddenly appeared and smoke filled the air, making Qin Liang's eyes blurred for a while.

But he could vaguely see that the other party had thrown himself to the ground. Qin Liang was secretly happy and shouted at the same time, "Do it!"

He took out a bullet from his pocket and loaded it quickly. As soon as he finished loading, he heard three consecutive "bang bang bang" sounds.

His teammates had already fired, and the British on the opposite side, unable to figure out the situation, had to either run away for their lives, or shoot indiscriminately and wait to die.

Sure enough, he heard the horses neighing.

Vaguely, he saw a figure trying to climb onto the horse and escape.

Qin Liang shot directly at the horse illuminated by the fire without thinking, "Bang"!

The war horse was not dead, but it was frightened. It grabbed the British soldier who was trying to get on the horse and ran away.

Wu Dashan and the three of them were also unambiguous. They were "bang bang bang" when facing the galloping horses.

At this time, the surviving horse could no longer run. The British soldier was dizzy after being pulled. When he wanted to stand up and run again, Qin Liang had already arrived. He used the butt of his rifle to directly sweep the British man's head.

With a "pop", the British soldier stopped moving.

Qin Liang was startled, thinking that he had beaten the opponent to death. He tested his breath and found that he was still alive.

It was finally done. Only then did he realize that his head was a little dizzy and his breathing was not smooth.

It must be that he lay down for too long and got up too hard, which made his head dizzy.

He collapsed directly to the ground, breathing heavily while looking at the stars in the sky.

Wu Dashan and others also ran out. When they saw Qin Liang collapsed, they hurriedly shouted: "Qin Liang, what's wrong with you?"

"It's okay, I'm just a little dizzy, please let me slow down."

Since Qin Liang was fine, Wu Dashan and the other three began to check the situation around the bonfire.

"There is someone here who is not dead and still alive."

……

When the four returned to the camp, there was a commotion.

The four of them went out hunting and actually brought back a few British soldiers, two of whom were still alive. This was no small feat.

When Wei Defu, commander of the militia battalion, learned that his men had captured British prisoners, he first praised the four militiamen for their meritorious service, and then called in the clerks from the camp to interrogate the prisoners.

"crash"

The splash of cold water did not wake him up, so Wei Defu slapped him several times.

The British soldier woke up after being knocked unconscious. He opened his eyes and saw clearly that the surrounding people were all Chinese. The fear on his face was very obvious.

"What is your name, what is your position, and what is the purpose of your visit?"

Three questions were asked together, and after being translated by the clerk, the British cavalryman explained them simply.

"He said his name was John Cheney Kempel, and he was a cavalry member of the H Squadron, D Company, A Battalion, C Brigade, the new Cavalry Division of the British Expeditionary Force.

They came here to explore the position of our rear group. Because it was getting late, they did not dare to rush in the jungle for fear of being attacked by wild animals.

Unexpectedly, he was ambushed by our soldiers and he begged us not to kill him. "

Wei Defu nodded after listening to the clerk's words, "How many people do they have and where is their headquarters?"

After the clerk asked some questions, a look of confusion appeared on his face.

"Battal Commander, these British cavalry are near our rear guard camp, at most a camping site more than 20 kilometers away. There are quite a few of them, tens of thousands of them."

When Wei Defu heard that there were so many people on the other side, a chill went down his spine.

"What is their purpose? Is it to attack us?"

"Yes, battalion commander. Their commander plans to rely on the high mobility of the cavalry and we will withdraw after the battle."

After hearing the clerk's answer, Wei Defu felt anxious. Fortunately, his men were brave enough and captured the enemy's reconnaissance cavalry. Otherwise, the rearguard battalion of my own would suffer a big loss if it rushed to the challenge.

"Did the other British soldier survive?"

The militiaman next to him nodded, "It has been bandaged, but the bullet has not been taken out yet. He was hit in the ribs and will not die in a short time."

"You go and interrogate that guy again and compare it with the prisoner's confession."

The clerk followed the militiamen and left. Wei Defu immediately called for a soldier and ordered him to report to the next militia camp 50 miles away.

Then he began to pace nervously, thinking about countermeasures.

After just a few rounds, the clerk came back.

"After comparison, the two men's confessions are consistent. What should we do, battalion commander?"

At this point, Wei Defu had no good solution.

"It's cool, since the enemy wants to attack us, let's make preparations first and wait for them to come."

……

The emergency whistle sounded and departments began to act quickly.

First, the direction of the enemy's attack was determined. According to the prisoners' confessions, the enemy's cavalry base camp was located in the northeast corner.

Then the direction of the attack has been determined. The first thing the rearguard battalion has to do is to dig trenches in the direction of the attack and also lay out mine arrays.

According to the military camp defense regulations issued by the military department, a defensive trench must be dug around the military camp after the military camp is established. They also dug the northeast corner, but they did not dig deeply.

Weatherford quickly decided on a defensive strategy. In addition to trenches, he also had to set up mine defense positions outside the trenches.

In addition, firepower points for the Maxim heavy machine guns must be set up in the trenches.

Heavy machine gun firepower points need to form crossfire to eliminate more enemies.

The Nanhua Army brought a large number of Maxim heavy machine guns with them when entering the country, and the rear guard battalion could use them if they had stock.

In addition, there are also recoilless force guns in the militia camp. These recoilless force guns, like the Maxim machine guns, are stored here, waiting to be transported to the front line.

Now it is just used for defense. As for mortars and grenades, there are no mortars and grenade launchers in the guard camp.

There is an inventory of grenades matching these two types of guns, and they can be used at critical times, but they will not be used until the emergency.

……

When Qin Liang and the four returned to the military building, they were complained by the captain.

The four of them didn't come back until dark, so the captain was naturally worried and sent someone out to look for them.

When he found the warthog thrown on the ground and no one was found, the militia captain thought they had been captured by the British army.

Just when he was about to return to ask the militia battalion commander for instructions to continue sending people to look for him, they came back.

Now the four of them had made a meritorious service, and the captain was envious and a little lucky at the same time.

Let the four of them go to eat first, while he took the rest of the militia members to do the tasks assigned by them.

……

Digging trenches is not an easy job. The trenches must be dug 1 to 1.5 meters deep. Only when soldiers can bend down and stand without being attacked can they meet the requirements.

一个士兵1个小时能挖1.25立方米土属于合格，500个士兵高强度忙碌5个小时，最多能挖掘250多米长的战壕。

There are more than 1500 people in the guard battalion, divided into three teams, each team has 450 people.

It took more than eight hours of intensive excavation until dawn. They finally dug out three trenches with a length of 8 meters and connected with each other.

Maxim heavy machine gun positions, mine arrays, and recoilless force gun positions were all set up.

Facing the rising sun, everyone in the guard camp smiled with satisfaction.

The next step is to see when the enemy will come. If they don't come, it's best. If they come, they will definitely be in trouble! (End of chapter)