The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 606 Firefight
The wheels creaked on a dirt road that was wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side.

Behind the ox carts followed two rows of Chinese people wearing hunting suits, helmets and carrying submachine guns. They used machetes in their hands to cut off the branches and vines sticking out from both sides from time to time.

Sweat covered everyone's head.

"It's too hot today, like a steamer!" a young man cursed in a low voice.

Cuba is located in the subtropics and it had just rained last night, so it was humid and hot. White sweat seeped through everyone's hunting suits.

The dirt road was muddy everywhere, and the boots on everyone's feet were covered with layers of mud, making the boots several times heavier.

Not only was the weather hot, but there were also many snakes and insects. From time to time, a snake or other creature would jump out from the grass.

"The wheel is stuck, come and help!" the person in front shouted, and several young men immediately took a few quick steps forward to help lift the car.

The circle of fence next to the ox cart is made of additional iron plates. With the cargo pulled by the ox cart, three or five people cannot push it out.

A group of people were busy pushing the ox cart out, and then they broke branches to fill the mud pit on the ground, and the team continued to move forward.

Unlike a normal march, in this team, there are several ox carts carrying goods for every few dozen people.

1500 people and hundreds of ox carts were mobilized.

In addition to being used to transport supplies, these ox carts are also equipped with a lot of steel plates, which can be used as cover when attacked.

When setting up camp, the steel plates can also be removed to serve as shelters around the camp.

Chen Zhengwei did not plan to command in the early stages this time, as he was afraid of driving the Cubans away, but he also made a lot of preparations for this.

At the same time, on the hillside in the distance, several people were lying behind rocks, looking through binoculars, taking in most of the team.

"Those carriages in the middle! Their leader must be in there!"

As they were talking, a carriage in the middle stopped, the door opened, and a tall man jumped out.

Even though the distance was so far, the attention of these people in the distance was immediately attracted to each other.

There seemed to be some kind of light on the other person, and even among countless people, he could be noticed immediately.

No matter where you stand, it's like standing center stage.

"It must be him!" Even though they had never seen Chen Zhengwei, after seeing this person, they immediately felt that this must be the other party's boss.

Moreover, the information also says that Chen Zhengwei is much taller than ordinary people, more than a head taller than an ordinary person, and has a physique like a brown bear.

Chen Zhengwei drained the water, pulled up his pants, and inadvertently glanced at the distant hillside before looking away. He felt someone was looking at him.

Calculating the position, he and his men were almost at the enemy's ambush point.

It is normal for the enemy's scouts to appear at this time.

We will reach the small town of St. Herman in the evening, and we will be ambushed two to three hours after setting out tomorrow.

After Chen Zhengwei returned to the carriage, one of the people on the distant hillside stayed there to watch, and the others went straight into the woods.

Two hours later, they finally arrived at a simple camp.

"We saw them, less than two thousand people, they are almost at St. Hermann! They will definitely reach St. Hermann tonight!" one of them reported.

"They sent out scouts along the way, ten people each time, with a reconnaissance range of about one mile."

"What else?" The commander here was a dark-skinned middle-aged man. He asked, "Do they have any cannons?"

"There are no cannons, I'm sure. But I saw a man, definitely their leader! He was much taller than the others and very strong. Even among so many people, he could be seen at a glance, just as the rumors said." The soldier continued to report.

"This is good news. He actually dares to come here in person!" The middle-aged man waved his fist.

The person these independent soldiers hated the most was Chen Zhengwei. When they learned that Chen Zhengwei was also in the team, they wanted to rush down with their men immediately.

But he still controlled his temper and asked someone to notify the command center.

Palma Soriano is a small town not far from Santiago, where the command center is located.

After receiving the news, the general of the independence army, Bartolome Mason, immediately called everyone else to the conference room.

Miss Bavia was also among them, and besides him there were some people from other families.

However, their job is just to watch, not to make decisions.

"The news has been sent back. Now, the Americans should have arrived at the small town of St. Herman..." Bartolome Masson marked on the map.

"This place is still 40 kilometers away from us!"

"According to the information we received, they have less than 2000 people in total and no cannons... In addition, their boss, Chen Zhengwei, is also in this team!"

After hearing this, the sound of a chair being moved was immediately heard in the room.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Miss Bavia standing up with her fists clenched.

Seeing everyone looking at her, Miss Bavia took a deep breath to calm herself down, then sat down.

Everyone knew why she was so excited.

Because all her family members, except her, died.

Her hatred for Chen Zhengwei could not be washed away even if the whole ocean was filled with water.

"This is good news for us. He is the culprit of all this. As long as we catch him, the war will be over!" Bartolome Mason said excitedly.

"Also, our reinforcements have arrived in Santiago. We now have 2 people, and they have less than 2000!"

"Kill those Americans!" someone shouted immediately.

"Of course! We will definitely do it!" Bartolome Mason glanced at everyone and said.

"They will leave St. Herman tomorrow morning. We will attack here... There is a dense forest here. It will take them about 3 hours to arrive here!"

"If they charge in, we'll retreat! We are more familiar with the terrain and have more people. We just need to keep attacking and harassing them while cutting off their supply lines."

"We will bleed them dry all the way from San Herman to Palma Soriano where we are."

"Gonzalez, you bring 1000 people here to ambush..."

"Cabello, you take 500 men to support us."

"Palencia..."

Bartolome Masson continued to issue orders. These were small independent organizations with only a few hundred or thousands of people, and they were not familiar with each other.

He was trying to make these teams play their roles, consume Chen Zhengwei's ammunition, and reduce the number of opponents.

As for those large independent organizations, such as the 5000-man Betancourt family, these elite troops are used to make the final decision.

After the meeting was over and most of the others had left, Bartolome Mason said to Miss Bavia: "You need to be patient. I promise that you will have a chance for revenge! In fact, everyone here wants revenge!"

"Yes, I understand!" Miss Bavia said forcefully.

……

While the Independence Army was making arrangements, Wen Bingzhong was also making arrangements in the small town of Saint Herman. "We have not been attacked in the past two days, but tomorrow will not be so easy. Every step forward we make will increase the danger!"

Wen Bingzhong took the map and made arrangements for others.

"Starting tomorrow, send more spies!"

According to Chen Zhengwei’s previous markings, we should encounter the enemy tomorrow.

Wen Bingzhong had to admire Chen Zhengwei's vision.

He was full of confidence in Chen Zhengwei's command ability, but it was a pity that Chen Zhengwei did not command this battle.

Otherwise he just had to follow orders.

After the meeting, he went to find Chen Zhengwei and wanted to tell Chen Zhengwei about the arrangements to see if there were any omissions.

"You make your own arrangements! If you want me to do everything, what do you need me to do?"

The next morning, Chen Zhengwei yawned and listlessly ate the breakfast prepared by the chef. There were only a few items and a can of luncheon meat.

There’s no other way, we have to march!
It would be nice to have a cook.

He did regret coming here in person, but this was also the fastest way to end the war.

After breakfast, the group set off again.

Every few meters, Wen Bingzhong would send out a group of spies on horseback to check ahead, while the main force would march normally.

However, everyone received orders, so everyone was looking around vigilantly today.

More than three hours after leaving the town, several spies rode their horses to a stream and let the horses lower their heads to drink water.

Several spies jumped off their horses and looked around. After a moment, they jumped back on their horses, drove their horses across the stream, chopped the surrounding branches and vines with knives, and looked at everything in the forest vigilantly.

And in the woods, a group of people hid in the dense bushes.

Several Cubans watched the other side riding past them a few meters away, and they didn't dare to move at all, not even to breathe.

After a moment, the spy's eyes narrowed slightly, but he remained calm. He gave a quick inspection and left.

A moment later, several scouts rode back on horseback, and the Cubans came out of the bushes, looked at each other, and then ambushed along the bank of the stream.

……

The spies pretended not to notice the enemy and immediately informed Wen Bingzhong after returning: "There is an ambush! It's in the woods across the stream! We don't know how many people there are."

Wen Bingzhong immediately took out the map, then found a high place to look out. After a moment, he called two squadron leaders and asked them to each take a hundred men to go around upstream and downstream to encircle the enemy.

He led the team to the stream, but he was not in a hurry to let people rest. Instead, he asked them to drive a few ox carts to the front and then move the things on the ox carts.

The Cubans lying in ambush in the woods were full of wonder: "What are they doing?"

"Looks like you're preparing to set up camp?"

"Wait a little longer! Wait until they set up camp along the stream bank to rest..." the commander of the ambush immediately whispered the order.

Now there are too few people among Wen Bingzhong's group entering the creek bank, so he wants to wait until the enemy goes deeper into the ambush circle before attacking.

However, before Wen Bingzhong and others entered the ambush circle, he heard a burst of gunfire suddenly coming from the downstream direction.

"Oh no, we've been discovered!" Gonzalez, the commander of the Cuban team, changed his expression.

"Fire!"

The members of the Independence Army who were aiming at the bank of the stream pulled the trigger one after another, and the woods suddenly rang out with gunfire.

At the same time, the security company members on the other side of the river hid behind the ox cart without any instructions, took out their submachine guns and fired towards the other side.

In just a moment of exchange of fire, these Cubans were stunned.

The Cubans were outraged to discover that the fences next to the ox carts were made of iron plates, and bullets would produce sparks when they hit them.

Their old-fashioned rifles would emit a cloud of white smoke when firing, which would directly expose their position. Even if they changed positions immediately, they would still be swept by a volley of bullets from submachine guns.

Bullets rained into the forest like a rainstorm.

People kept falling to the ground after being shot, some were groaning on the ground, and some were covering their wounds and howling in pain.

Several Cubans had just fired a shot, exposing their position, and were immediately hit so hard that they couldn't raise their heads. They lay on the ground and shouted loudly:
"Their firepower is too strong!"

"We can't be here!"

Just as one man looked up to check the situation, another volley of bullets came over from the opposite side.

The man was shot in the head and fell to the ground and died without a sound.

At the same time, the people sent by Wen Bingzhong earlier were also attacking from upstream and downstream, and soon these Cubans could not hold on.

"Retreat! Retreat!" shouted Gonzalez, the commander of the independent army.

The Cubans immediately turned around and ran into the woods. People kept falling to the ground after being hit by bullets from behind.

"Zhu Zi, Da Fu, take your men to chase them!" Wen Bingzhong leaned his head out from behind the ox cart by the stream and shouted loudly.

Two squadrons immediately chased after them and chased them for two miles in the mountains. Suddenly, a burst of gunfire broke out in the front and several Chinese in the front were shot and fell to the ground.

"There's an ambush!"

They encountered the enemy's support team. The two sides hid in the woods and fired at each other. After more than half an hour, the gunfire gradually stopped.

Afterwards, Wen Bingzhong sent people to clean up the battlefield, and the woods along the way were littered with corpses.

In this ambush, the Cubans left behind four to five hundred corpses, and dozens of Wen Bingzhong's men also suffered casualties.

Dozens of Chinese were constantly searching and checking in the woods. When they saw any survivors, they would capture those with minor injuries, and shoot those with serious injuries.

Finally, they captured more than a dozen prisoners and tortured them.

Soon, Wen Bingzhong learned about the situation of the team from these people and then went to find Chen Zhengwei.

"Brother Wei, these people are an independent organization related to the Gonzas family. There are a total of one thousand people ambushing us here, and there are another five hundred people to support us."

"I've already told you, I'll leave it to you to command! You don't need to tell me everything!" Chen Zhengwei sat on a rock, soaking his feet in the stream, and said nonchalantly.

"Just remember one thing: kindness does not lead to military success!"

After resting for more than an hour, the team set off again, and soon after, the Cuban command also learned of the battle situation here.

However, the commander of the Independence Army, Bartolome Masson, was not surprised by this.

It would be strange if the people led by Chen Zhengwei did not have such fighting power.

　The last time I adjusted my work and rest schedule, I failed. Let’s adjust it again!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)