When the morning light was slightly dewed, Gibson woke up from the dense pine forest. Before moving away the fallen leaves covered on the surface of the cloak, he was alert to check the surrounding scenery. There was nothing unusual, but he accidentally twisted his bandaged left shoulder, which made him grin for a while.

The wound on the shoulder originated from Gibson being shot by a French military police a few days ago. Although the lead bullet failed to hurt the muscles and bones and the head was ingested in time, the wound on the left shoulder was inevitably infected and suppurated by bacteria. Fortunately, the British were always strong and immunized, and they rushed over with the herbs they picked on the way to escape. Except for the slight weakness of their body and the unbearable pain in the wound on the left shoulder, the others were no longer seriously injured.

Gibson now regrets it. He was just an impulse and wanted to appreciate how much trouble his carefully planned conspiracy caused to the French. So three days later, he returned to Montijo town by chance, but unexpectedly fell into the ambush circle of the French army. Although the British captain escaped the French army's encirclement and interception, most of his dozens of subordinates were killed or captured. The other five people who were left by their side also passed the checkpoints set up by the French army. In order to avoid being exposed, they had to escape in dispersed ways.

Regret was a foolish act afterwards, and Gibson was very satisfied with his previous planning and actions. However, Xiao Shi's plan made the Aragonese soldiers who defected to the French impulse to launch a massacre against Spanish civilians. I believe that the arrogant and arrogant Spanish general Gesta would no longer maintain a peaceful attitude after learning that his relatives were cruelly killed by French tyrants, and watched the British and Portuguese coalition forces fight the French endlessly.

Half a month ago, Captain Gibson, who was disguised as a Spanish mountaineer, represented General Bellsford, came to a mountain basin 50 miles south of Badajos Fortress, a town called Barros to visit General Gesta, who was stationed in the local area. The British captain hoped that the Spanish troops under the latter would be able to follow the bilateral agreement reached with the British Foreign Minister and follow the instructions of General Bellsford, the Supreme Commander of the Eastern Alliance:

The existing base was temporarily abandoned, and all infantry turned to the Evora Fortress in Portugal, while the cavalry troops took advantage of the situation to carry out uninterrupted harassment of the Desay Division's baggage team, trying to cut off the traffic supply line between the Fortress of Badajos and the city of Melda.

However, the Spanish kept holding their troops after receiving British aid and refused to obey the orders of the British commander. The elderly General Gesta even publicly shouted to the coalition intelligence officer: "He must choose when and where and what scale of fighting the French in the sacred land of Spain, rather than following the arrangements of the British major general with a low military rank."

After two days of lobbying failed, the British captain decisively gave up the above efforts. In fact, Gesta's bad attitude of only benefiting but not cooperating was expected by the coalition intelligence department. So, according to the alternative plan previously discussed with Major Costa, he led his troops to the town of Montijo, successfully provoked a bloody conflict between the Desay Division and the Spanish civilians, which turned into a unilateral massacre.

After the massacre in Montijo, the French, as they did in Spain, simply made mistakes. After shooting all survivors and burning down everything to show evidence of the crime, they withdrew from the town with great fanfare, secretly sent a military police force to wait for the British to fall into the trap. This made Gibson and others unexpectedly win the first half of the victory, but encountered a strong counterattack from the Military Intelligence Agency in the second half. The French found the flaws from nowhere and then locked the culprit on him.

Gibson believed that those injured and captured subordinates could no longer withstand the torture of the French and confessed their identities and whereabouts. Therefore, at the key border roads leading to Portugal, a large number of military policemen were stationed everywhere, Polish cavalry patrolling everywhere, and Military Intelligence Agency spies hidden among Spanish civilians. They checked in detail every passing pedestrian in accordance with the wanted notice.

As a last resort, Gibson had no choice but to give up the shortcut to return directly to Portugal. He endured the pain and walked south, thinking of crossing the Guadiana River, then turning west and returning to the eastern defense line of the coalition forces.

During the escape, in order to avoid the French investigation, Gibson did not dare to take the risk of walking on the avenue and could only detour the rugged forests. It took only less than 20 kilometers from the town of Montijo to the Guadiana River, the British captain crossed the mountains and rivers for 4 days and four nights. His clothes were worn out and barefoot. In order to obtain clothes and fill his stomach, Gibson had to rob a farmer and killed the male owner who tried to resist the invaders, but he exposed his whereabouts.

After learning about the whereabouts of British spies, the French sailors began to strengthen round-trip patrols of the Guadiana River from Melda to Badajos Fortress, and the crossing time was limited to daytime navigation. If he was not injured, Gibson's sufficient physical energy was enough to support the safe crossing of the Guadiana River at night. But at this time, he could only stand in the woods on the hillside less than one mile from the Guadiana River, endured the pain, dragged his weak body, and sighed dryly.

Today is another sunny day, and even the last few stars look so round and transparent.

At noon yesterday, Gibson ate all the black bread he snatched from the farmer's home. So far, he hasn't eaten any more for almost 20 hours. He was hungry and decided to take a risk and try to cross the Guadiana River today and completely get rid of the French's siege. Otherwise, even if he is not beaten to death by the French, he will stay in the mountains and forests and starve to death.

Two hours later, when the French patrol back was far away, Gibson quickly emerged from the hidden bushes and trotted to the small town by the river.

We relied on the mountains to eat the mountains and water to eat water. This small town relied on the Guadiana River, which is rich in aquatic products. It was obvious that many of the townsmen were fishermen. At this time, the pier was crowded with various flat sailboats and small fishing boats. When they came out early in the morning, the fishermen who returned at noon began to carry big fish baskets and unload fish one by one. People bent over and went, and the fish baskets kept flowing, making fish scales everywhere on their faces and arms.

Looking at the lively fresh fish in the fish basket, Gibson's mouth was getting more and more saliva. He felt his stomach and intestines gushing, subconsciously searching for food that could be eaten directly with his eyes. In his pocket around his waist, except for a loaded short gun, there were only a few Spanish copper coins left. The money was too little, and it was obvious that he could not run to a nearby bakery or deli to feast.

Soon, Gibson's eyes found a woman who was cooking for the fisherman's husband on the bank of the river, thinking about whether she could get a chance to fill her stomach with only three copper coins.

Two minutes later, Gibson was a little disappointed. The result of his transaction with the woman was to exchange 3 copper coins for only one small grilled fish and two pieces of dried bread that smelled strange. As for Gibson's salivating big bowl of fish soup, the fisherman also told the stranger that he needed to add 2 more copper coins.

"Damn thief!" Despite the endless hatred in his heart, the British fleeing still had to accept the harsh transaction conditions. After ate his simple lunch in small bites, Gibson suddenly found that he was penniless and naturally could not pay the ship to cross the river without money.

Gibson began to take out his pistol, thinking of forcing a fisherman to cross the river for him, but he immediately abandoned this irrational behavior. The town here is different from remote farmers in the mountains. The fishermen on the river bank are coming and going, and whenever there is a turbulence, they can immediately alarm the French patrols not far away and the French sailors on the river.

He wandered around the shore for a whole afternoon, and during this period he had to avoid the French's investigation. At dusk, Gibson decided to take a break in a long abandoned Catholic church outside the town, and then think of other ways to cross the river.

This abandoned chapel is located next to an olive grove. Without the existence of a priest and the worship of God, a ragged and dusty vagabond occupied the place and became the master of the church. At dinner, the vagabond added a triangle stove in the open space in the middle of the church, and firewood rose below, and fragrant fish soup was boiled in the stove.

When he saw an uninvited guest breaking into his territory, the homeless man instinctively picked up a piece of firewood and roared fiercely on the outside, intending to drive away strangers who wanted to get close to him.

Gibson, who was hungry in his stomach, naturally would not be polite. He pulled out his pistol from his waist and pointed it at the homeless man, swung his gun slightly, and threatened the latter to quickly roll aside. The homeless man sat obediently on the steps outside the church door, watching the big pot of fish soup he had worked hard to become a robber's belly.

"Is it delicious?" When a large pot of fish soup came to the bottom, the homeless man suddenly stood up from the stone steps and went up to ask the British.

"Well, it tastes good!" Gibson replied. But as soon as he said that, the British immediately became alert and seemed to feel something was wrong. After thinking a little, the British captain suddenly realized that the homeless man was actually talking to him in skillful English, which was obviously asymmetric with his identity.

When Gibson wanted to pull out his pistol from his waist to resist, his mind was immediately dizzy after a swelling and pain. He looked up and saw a blurry scene. All objects had turned into countless shadows, as if they were rushing towards him with claws. Soon, the British captain closed his eyes and fell heavily to the ground, losing consciousness.
Chapter completed!