Read on mobile phone

Although it was only eight or nine o'clock in the morning, as the sun gradually rose, a heat gust gradually evaporated in the jungle. The heat was so humid that everyone's clothes were soaked from the inside to the outside. Even in the dry season (cool season) in tropical areas, it was particularly unfriendly to people!

Especially this group of big-headed soldiers who had just stopped to rest, they were wearing long clothes, long trousers, cuffs, and trousers, and no one unbuttoned the Fengji buttons on their necklines. They were wearing cowhide military boots, jungle-specific rattan hats on their heads, and a rifle cross-body on their backs. In addition to some other fragments, they were carrying a lot of weight. Therefore, under the influence of the hot weather, beads of sweat the size of beans were seeped out on each of them, and the front, chest and back of the military uniform were covered with wet marks, which looked extremely hard.

"Let's have some rest." Major Zheng Dalin, the battalion commander of the Fifth Mixed Battalion who did not ride a horse and walked like the soldiers, ordered. After walking for a long morning, Zheng Dalin, who was no longer young, felt a little tired. Although the lower reaches of Tuanjie River to the mouth of the sea is a mature land passage, and there are many people and animals coming and going every year, after all, this is a road trampled by people and animals, not artificially built, which has many limitations.

For example, some of the pits on the ground are trampled by humans and animals, and some are washed away by floods, for many reasons. For example, is there a thick tree lying across the road? These trees that don’t know how fallen greatly hinder people’s itinerary and have to spend a lot of time cleaning the road.

In addition, considering that this is a tropical rainforest environment, trees grow very quickly. Therefore, a large number of weeds and shrubs often grow overnight on this unhardened road, and many vines will hang down from the sky, making it difficult for pedestrians and livestock passing by, greatly reducing the efficiency of passage.

In short, this road is difficult. Even elite troops like the Fifth Mixed Battalion can be the limit to walking ten kilometers a day. After all, they still carry a large amount of supplies, including daily necessities and combat supplies, as well as exploration equipment and scientific instruments. The latter belongs to a large expedition team dispatched along.

This expedition team looked like more than 100 people, with a large number of instruments. They drew maps along the way, collected animal and plant specimens, collected mineral specimens, and looked for places that might be suitable for human settlement. These people were led by Captain Xiao Guang, the captain of the expedition team, but they were not all of Xiao Guang's men. In fact, he also had a staff travel team from the Army Department.

These teams, composed of intelligence personnel from the military chief and military police command, are mainly tasked with detecting the surrounding environment, finding possible traces of the Indians and drawing maps. In addition, since this road is an important passage connecting the former Portuguese-era General District, the General Saint-Vicente Region and other places, there are still some Portuguese military outposts along the route. These outposts are partially based on slave-produced manors and are important transit stations on the road. They have always been places for Portuguese messengers and officials to rest and replenish.

One of the tasks of the intelligence personnel on the East Coast is to count these strongholds and then expel them on the grounds of hiding bandits and sheltering criminals. If they refuse to accept it, it is very simple and just report it to the Fifth Mixed Battalion. They are not here for fun, right? These military outposts have ready-made houses and the surrounding forests have been cut down, and some farmland has been opened up, which are the best pioneering points. I feel unwilling to accept it if I don’t take it over.

Some people may say that the East Coast and Portugal are currently in a friendly period, and the two countries have very close relations. The Kingdom of Portugal not only provides great convenience for East Coast goods in market and commerce, but also provides a military base in the local Viana Fort, which gives East Coast people an important foothold on the Ilibyan Peninsula.

In addition, the country is still selling the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands with the east coast. Although they are whining about it and are reluctant, anyone with discerning eyes can see that they have decided to sell it in their hearts. The reason why they are entangled now is just to get a good price.

Not to mention, when this country interferes in the Black Sea on the east coast, and when it interferes in the situation in Guangxi, it is extremely obedient to send mercenaries to the east coast to bring people from the east coast to the northwest of India. Therefore, there are still quite a few people in the east coast who have a good impression of this country, even in the military headquarters, which is not an exaggeration. They are more opposed to the army's actions of taking advantage of the bandits in the gold mining area and entering the lower reaches of the Tuanjie River, believing that "myself friends" should not be too stimulated, because it is meaningless and will only make a mess.

But this time the Army Department insisted on doing it, and the Executive Committee was unwilling to offend people because it was about to change its term next year, so it did not stop the army's blind movements. This made many officials of the State Council who believed in peaceful rise very angry, but they could do nothing. The strength of the military power on the east coast is a historical issue. They have great freedom of movement. The Chief of Staff of the Military Department has always been one of the members of the Executive Committee, so the binding force of civilian officials headed by the State Council is limited. Just like this time, the task of the Fifth Mixed Battalion is to ensure the public security of settlements and gold mines in the Unity River Basin. This order itself is extremely vague and there is no additional clause to do, so there is a lot of room for free operation.

Therefore, the heads and minds of the Army Department seized the opportunity and transferred the 11th Mixed Battalion and three security regiments to the Tuanjie River Basin to carry out public security operations, and then liberated the Fifth Mixed Battalion, allowing it to gather its troops, and then the entire army advanced into the lower reaches of the Tuanjie River to carry out the so-called "cross-border bandit suppression" operation. They have been setting out for more than a week now.

"Sir Zheng, smoke!" Captain Xiao Guang walked over, first gave a standard military salute, then took a small stool and sat opposite him, handed over a garden cigarette.

Zheng Dalin took the cigarette and lit it, comfortably spit out a cigarette ring, and said, "Are those people under your command okay? Several people got sick yesterday, how are they doing today?"

"It's okay. They are not weak scholars. They are all getting better today. There is no problem keeping up with the big army." Xiao Guang knew who Zheng Dalin was asking. Those people were scholars in the team, surveying and mapping personnel, and botanists. A heavy rain made them sick, but their physical condition was pretty good. They all took it over and saved a lot of trouble.

"Hehe, it seems that they are all carefully selected people, with good physical fitness and good will. These white shirts are just shouting happily, saying that they should not destroy their friendly relations with the Portuguese. What's the result?" Zheng Dalin sneered after hearing this and said, "I said no, but I was rushing to send someone to explore and map and prepare to plan a new settlement. At this time, I don't consider the relationship between the Portuguese? Moreover, these people have good physical fitness and business abilities. How could they be launched in a hurry? They must be carefully selected people. Those white shirts have long had ideas about expanding to the lower reaches of the Tuanjie River, and it's not a day or two. These guys just want us to sing red faces, they just pretend to be good people."

"Actually, this is not bad." Xiao Guang also smiled and said, "We are warriors and rough people. We will do the dirty work of expansion. The white shirt is talking nonsense all day long, and asked them to explain it to the Portuguese. Whether they can get the Portuguese's understanding depends on their ability. Anyway, the land we have expanded will not be handed over, and the country will eventually benefit."

"Well, that's good. It's cheaper for these grandchildren." Zheng Dalin took a sip of cigarettes, then stood up and said, "When he came out this time, he had a separate order. This bandit suppression operation takes the 14-degree south latitude line as the final limit. Don't break through this line for the time being. From our gold mining area in the Tuanjie River Basin to the 14-degree south latitude line, we have advanced hundreds of kilometers. We still need to understand the principle of closing as soon as possible. You can walk along the Tuanjie River to the seaside at the junction of Bahia and Pernambuco. We can't eat this big piece of place, right? There's nothing possible."

"And, this is a large tropical rainforest, which is of low value, but it can easily devour people's lives." Speaking of this, Zheng Dalin sighed silently. Along the way, there were dozens of non-combat reductions caused by snakes, insects, rats and ants. I don't know how the Sao Paulo flag team survived the entire Brazilian inland to capture the Indians. Their casualty rate should be very high!

Of course, everyone knows that snakes, insects, rats and ants are not the most serious threat. For pioneers, once they settle down in a place and make up their minds to change the surrounding natural environment, as long as they pay some price in advance, the surrounding wild environment will always be changed, which is not very difficult. The real problem is that once you live in a long time, facing the surrounding humid and hot weather, as well as strange and dangerous environments, the health of an outsider is easily destroyed quickly. Or even if it is not destroyed, his body may suffer from many chronic diseases, be wiped out by the harsh environment day by day, and eventually die miserably. It is unrealistic to conquer such tropical wild areas without two generations!
Chapter completed!