It's noon.

Lu Ming and 30 army soldiers walked on the Great Volcano (the main island of the Tierra del Fuego Islands) for two days. With the relatively accurate hand-drawn maps and compass, everyone finally did not go the wrong direction. The island of Tierra del Fuego was a bit cold in late March, and every night when camping, the west wind blew even louder. The group was wearing thick military coats, stepping on the muddy grass and moss, and walked forward with difficulty.

I didn't meet any Indians these two days, which made everyone who was tense breathe a sigh of relief. Before this evening, I could almost reach the hilly area on the map. Lu Ming decided to rest there for a night, and then cross the hilly area the next day to reach the beach. The coast of the Magellan Strait is mostly cliffs, which can easily observe the situation in the strait.

"Someone!" A soldier who acted as a vanguard suddenly shouted, and there was a burst of gunfire. The soldiers following him took off their 32-B flintlock rifles from their shoulders without giving instructions.

Lu Ming held a 1633 flintlock pistol in his hand, walked to the front of the team and looked forward. There was a swamp edge, with some short trees growing. There was something faintly hidden in the bushes, and there were waves of low sounds from animals.

"Fabian, Hans, you two go up and see what's going on, be careful." Lu Ming ordered.

Fabian and Hans went around in a big circle, one left and one right, and began to approach the small bush from a distance. After a while, high and short shouts and slight fighting sounds came from the small bush, and then they returned to peace.

The tall Fabian walked out with an Indian wearing animal skin. The Indian was still struggling, but under the care of Fabian, whose arms were like iron hoops, it was useless. Hans dragged a brown beast behind him, and the beast was already dying and seemed to be seriously injured.

Lu Ming knew what was going on after a moment of thinking. The Indian probably dug a pit there to catch wild animals, and happened to meet his own group and hid there for caution. Unfortunately, he was discovered by his side, so he should not have been deliberately hiding there and peeping at everyone.

"Let him go, Fabian. In this place, try not to be too harsh to the Indians." Lu Ming waved his hand and signaled Fabian to let go of his captives.

The Indian who had regained his freedom glared at Fabian fiercely, then walked to Hans, snatched the near-death beast, and was still yelling something. Lu Ming only saw clearly that the beast really looked like the legendary "grass mud horse", uh... to be precise, it should be the close relative of the "grass mud horse" - Luo Ma.

After being interrupted by such a small episode, it was noon. Lu Ming simply ordered the troops to rest on the spot, regardless of the Indian who walked aside, and began to call everyone to prepare lunch. The cooks picked up the engineer shovels, found a relatively dry place to dig a fire pit, and someone picked up the rack and started to set up the pot. In this wet and cold weather, it would be difficult for people to maintain a good physical condition if they could not eat a bite of hot food.

The Indian was clumsy at the edge of the swamp with a bone knife and was so clumsy that he was skinning the beast. Fabi quietly approached the man with a big nerve, squatted down and pointed to the beast. The Indian might have thought he wanted to steal his prey and looked at Fabian vigilantly.

Fabian didn't say much, and took out a sharp skinning knife from his arms and began to skillfully peel the "grass mud horse". The Indians looked at Fabian's rapid movements and their eyes were almost wide open. However, soon the scent of meat gradually drifted from a distance attracted the Indians' attention. He frequently turned back to look at the big pot. The soldiers in the first row couldn't help laughing when they looked at him in this way, and some even whistled.

"Hey, Fabian! Come here for dinner, why, have you made new friends?" someone joked.

Fabian smiled and handed the peeled llama skin to the Indians, then washed his hands and sat around in front of the big pot to start eating. Today, it was a big pot of stew, cabbage, radish, potatoes, beef, and salted fish stewed in a large pot. The cooksmen took a horse spoon and served a large bowl for everyone. Everyone sat together and started eating and drinking.

"Fabian, your new friend seems to be here." Hans said suddenly, and his right hand stroked the hilt of the knife around his waist at the same time.

"Don't be nervous, Hans." Lu Ming pressed Hans' right hand, "He may not be malicious. Matthias, give him a bowl, maybe he is hungry."

The cook, Mathias, looked at the Indian standing not far away, took a wooden bowl and filled the rice, and then handed it to him hesitantly. The Indian immediately took it with his hands with smiles and began to drink the soup. While drinking, he also picked up a piece of meat in the bowl and threw it into his mouth. The Indians on Turbie make a living by hunting a few limited species of wild animals. Maybe he had never eaten these things in front of him, or maybe the salt in the rice was enough. In short, this guy was very happy to eat, and after eating, he looked at Mathias with eager eyes.

Matthias looked at Lu Ming, and after receiving permission, he served him another bowl. A few minutes later, the bowl was put into his stomach, but this time he did not ask for another bowl. He quickly ran to the swamp, picked up the intact llama skin, and then ran back, handing the llama skin to Lu Ming, who was the farthest away from him.

This kid is quite generous and has some eyesight, knowing who the two bowls of rice are eating. Lu Ming smiled secretly and signaled Matthias to take over the complete fur.

After the Indians delivered the goods, they returned to the swamp, wrapped the remaining llama meat with a large piece of animal skin, and hugged it in front of their chest. Seeing that he was working hard, Lu Ming simply gave him a pocket. The Indians were saying something repeatedly, probably because they were thankful, but unfortunately no one could understand.

After packing up the east and west, the troops continued to set off. The strange, nervous Indian followed behind for a while and disappeared. Everyone didn't care and continued to move forward. Lu Ming also had to refine the map in his hand while walking. After all, the map of the 21st century was only rough, and it had to be supplemented by each river, each swamp, etc.. Moreover, these work is not useless, because one day the power of the crossing people will expand here. Tierra del Fuego has oil, natural gas, iron ore, gold ore, coal, good pastures, rich forest resources, and whale resources. The strategic location was extremely important before the opening of the Panama Canal. It was a territory where the crossing people would want to occupy it quickly.

The muddy grass, moss and swamps everywhere, created a huge obstacle to everyone's access. It was not until nearly seven o'clock in the evening that everyone arrived at the reserved campground - the coastal hills. There was a westerly wind blowing at night, and Lu Ming probably looked like a level 5 or 6. Fortunately, it didn't rain. Everyone found a place to shelter and set off a tent to rest.

No words all night.

Early the next morning, the sky was a little gloomy. An hour after setting off, the wind began to carry tiny raindrops, and everyone quickly put on their oilcloth raincoats. At this moment, there were vague shouts on the hillside ahead, and it seemed that many people were looking. Lu Ming raised his telescope and looked at it, and he was shocked. He saw about a hundred and ten Indians standing on the hillside. Most of these people were wearing animal skins, and the one standing in front seemed to be the Indian who had eaten for lunch yesterday.

"Note that there is a situation. Check your weapons and be careful not to get wet with the rain. Also, no one is allowed to shoot without my order." After Lu Ming finished speaking, he took off the 1633 flintlock pistol from his waist, loaded the ammunition, and then pulled the hammer to the state of waiting for firing. Regardless of whether the Indians were malicious or not, it was the most important thing to make complete preparations by themselves.

It is very difficult to maintain the power of the musket in this stormy weather. Everyone was a little nervous and didn't know what it meant to gather there. Soon, the Indian man ran towards this side yesterday. As soon as he came, he grabbed Lu Ming's arm, which was so shocked that Lu Ming almost shot him, but then he restrained it.

Lu Ming slowly moved forward under the Indian pull and urged him. The soldiers behind him looked at each other, not knowing what to do, but Lu Ming did not give them a new order, so he had to follow behind and jog in a daze.

Less than a hundred meters away from the Indians, Lu Ming broke free from the entanglement of the guy beside him, whispered to the opposite side, signaling him to explain what was going on.

The Indian seemed to have a good understanding. He quickly understood what Lu Ming meant, then made some meal moves, pointed to Mathias' waist, and then blinked his eyes.

Lu Ming glanced at him and found that there were many pockets hanging around Mathias' waist, and the pockets contained salt. He immediately understood the purpose of these Indians. It turned out that he had liked Brothers' salt. Wouldn't it be better to explain it clearly? It was really scary to have such a big formation. Well, but you still can't be careless. If it was caught in the hands of these vulgar and barbaric Indians, who would you like to ask for advice?

This time, everyone brought a lot of salt, all of which were refined sea salt, so that if it came in handy, they could be given away or traded. Lu Ming nodded to the Indian in front of him, indicating that he could trade salt. The boy ran back to the opposite side and said a few words. The Indians were immediately excited and picked up a lot of things from their feet or around them and rushed over.

Lu Ming was stunned when he saw this. The soldiers behind him were also stunned. They were not fired, nor did they not fire. They watched the Indians rushed to the front.
Chapter completed!